The puzzles could be tighter, more elegant (the most efficient moves are often just to backtrack after getting the color change), but I like the idea. :)
I just learned about Ndebele house paintings and it was a nice surprise to hit on something in itch.io. Best of luck in future projects!
Why we can't have nice things (rot13 spoiler: vg'f evpu crbcyr)
Beautiful scenery, from the colors to the models, really loved it.
Physics are a bit iffy.
The story was nice, too, even though I'm skeptical of such "us vs. them" kind of argument, especially when it comes to environmental issues (though of course not entirely devoid of merit).
The big problem I had with it is the hugely repetitive gameplay, bordering on the disrespectful. You do the exact same loop 5 or 6 times with almost nothing in-between (3 or 4 lines of dialogue).
Would be nice if I could hold a key to highlight the state of every district, though (current and target water levels).
Would also be easier to select the water carrier by clicking the district instead of the character (seems more intuitive when you play the card on the district itself).
I'll just mention the game Traitor, by Jonas Kyratzes, which I've recently replayed.
It is an example of a game that has no choice whatsoever, but is still a moral take on an otherwise simple and generic shmup.
So morality can play a role even without choice - but, of course, games are interactive and the possibility of choice is one of the thing that only games can do as a medium, so it's a more important avenue to explore, imo.
The flipside of the whole "The artist who endeavors to enforce a lesson, becomes a preacher; and the artist who tries by hint and suggestion to enforce the immoral, becomes a pander." is the fact that when there is no "lesson", you are just accepting and reinforcing the status quo. One example is Dragon Age: Inquisition, in which the actions of the main character are extremely questionable, but unchangeable (particularly the romancing of character who treat you as "my Lord" and the whole "Freemen of the Dales" thing).
Most games, ultimately, have moral content, whether or not it is acknowledged. It is fine to focus on mechanics and just accept the ethical status quo, but the opposite is also valuable, if done tactfully.
Fallout (the first, maybe second) is one of my favourite games dealing with choice and consequence, beyond Ultima. Also, the game Open Sorcery: Sea++ is extremely good at it. Sometimes the "good" action simply requires a bit more work to find.
Anyway. The game is looking really good, looking forward to it.
Hey Fluttermind. I love how the game looks, and enjoyed the little bit that I've played yesterday.
Has the game been fully released, now? I see only one thread, from a year and a half ago, when it definitely was far from finished.
The game always takes a long time to load into new "maps" (even small ones take several seconds), but was otherwise really cool. I am very intrigued by the dialogue system (I love the "password" system in games like Ultima and Wasteland - and also Open Sorcery: Sea++), looking forward to see how it does in a modern game (as it seems to be a completely abandoned design path, completely overtaken by branching dialogue systems).
(I can not see your reply to my bug post, can't find the post at all - but I couldn't see this comment section yesterday, so itchio was probably acting up)
That's about it haha. Is there more to the game beyond the first area, yet? I seem lots of updates on your twitter, but the last game update seems to have been in 2020, so...
Anyway, I really love the mix of 2D and 3D (also in the top down shooter)! Will give it another shot tomorrow, but looks very promising.
Fair enough about the visibility. Ah, I see - the logic is the same, in the sense of being something of a "new" tech applied to an old (or retro) problem, it's cool! Also, yeah, I noticed it mostly in the landscape, between water and land, and so on.
I did find the answer, but the reference to digging threw me off! Haha I also had the club, but didn't try to punch it since the fists had done nothing.
I'll give it another shot once I have some time. Cheers :)
It's such a small detail, but at the same time something probably impossible to do in the 90s that makes the low-res 3d art feel so much more like "real" (2D) pixel art. Love it.
Is *is* a specific purpose shader, no?
Also, about the game itself - is there a way to leave the first area? I have found the lantern, shield, and a club of some kind, but never a "digging tool" that lets me go through the only passage I see.
Anyway, cool work! Looking forward to your future stuff.
Great! That is also one of my favourites, for sure. It is very simple and has a great balance between chaos and order, and very controllable.
I can send you the Unity project, if you want. Though I'd also recommend trying to implement the basics yourself, since playing around with it helps develop some intuition of how it works. I'll see if I have some time to go over the code and see if the interface is usable at all.
This is also cool! The only problem I have with it is that the game doesn't really respond to "narrative progress". I mean, I find things out, but since nothing reacts, I am left a bit adrift. Is the win-state just about beating a dungeon?
I have one question about the controls - I have found a dude who told me I could borrow his vest. How do I actually accept, however? Or is his vest somewhere else? Same for the shotgun; I believe I have found the correct place, but I don't see the weapon or anything.
I've since found out to press "f" to "flame torch". This is listed in the game commands, but not the manual! :(
That said, I am a bit lost. The dungeons, in first person, can be very disorienting, and there doesn't seem to be any boss or final loot to give a sense of closure? So I never know whether I've cleared them or I just missed a path somewhere (and they all look the same, so navigation is a bit hellish haha).
A couple of questions: 1) how do I use torches? I have them in my inventory, but dungeons are always dark and I can't figure out how to lighten them.
2) do you know of other good games in this style? Preferably "modern" games, do avoid the worst of the aging process. (I will try your other game, Anteform, too).
Well, who are the good guys? (this is a personal peeve of mine haha most games are too cynical these days!) There's also a difference between a flawed character/faction and a flat-out contradictory one. But of course all this may come across very differently on a more fleshed out game.
I only found one Wrea-der log, the ones trapped inside the storage room. I could have replayed it, but didn't expect to find much more optional content with so little "main content". This is not a problem at all in a game jam game, though. You have a functional system in place already, I'll stay alert for where you take it in the future.
Cool! I was very surprised by the lack of content given how much there is to the mechanics (though this is very understandable for a jam gam). Looking forward to where you take this. Felt like a rustier Deus Ex.
Biggest piece of criticism I have is the dialogue - especially with the Resistance. I mean, I guess I get the "gritty, everyone is an asshole" aesthetic, but it's ridiculous when the "Resistance, who fight against the oppression of the people" address you in such an authoritarian way... I mean, the cure is obviously worse than the disease.