Nereids' Sea by Tifu

[raw]
made by Tifu for LD29 (COMPO)
Control a deep sea diver as he seeks his lost treasure.

You have a terribly basic radar that tells you how far you are from the treasure, but nothing else.
When you get very close to the treasure, the radar will not give you a clear reading.

There are hostile creatures in the water, if they are alerted to your presence (by looking at them), they will turn towards you - if you move while they are alerted, then they will kill you. Wait for them to swim away before proceeding.

Find your lost treasure!

Ratings

Coolness 82% 2
Overall 3.22 508
Audio 3.10 342
Fun 2.98 587
Graphics 2.93 706
Humor 2.27 679
Innovation 3.44 299
Mood 3.73 103
Theme 3.95 59

Feedback

primaerfunktion
28. Apr 2014 · 13:47 UTC
At first I was like: "Jeah, lets take a underwater stroll!" And then I was like: "WTF?"
Franklins Ghost
28. Apr 2014 · 14:22 UTC
Really liked the exploration and the way the visuals are cutoff as though you're in a diving suit in an alien world with these mermaid like predators waiting for you.

Bit to hard for me though. Best distance was 310 away.
Jellycakes
28. Apr 2014 · 14:50 UTC
Oh this looks like a pretty fun game. Oh cool I'm a diver, Imma go explore the ocean floor. Yeah this is really cool, is that a person? Oh thats prett- WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUCK
Zyper
28. Apr 2014 · 14:52 UTC
Very nice gameplay. :)
And a little bit scary!
Luis Anton
28. Apr 2014 · 14:55 UTC
Awesome idea! So claustrophobic :D Those creatures are unnerving X) It would be nice being allowed to scare or lure them away, instead of just waiting for them to swim away. But great game. Oh, and a radar that tells you the exact distance to your goal is not that crappy ;D
VDZ
28. Apr 2014 · 21:24 UTC
The atmosphere is great. Everything (circle as viewport, fog, audio, etc) works together to create an exciting atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the gameplay keeps breaking the immersion so nicely built up by the graphics and sound. Enemies remain completely static until you attract their attention, and it is only after you attracted their attention that they decide to swim away - wtf? Why would you remain on guard until there's an intruder, then decide 'nah, everything's okay here' AFTER you spot your target? Rather than stealthily trying to avoid the enemies, the game forces you to attract the attention of enemies, but not too much or you'll die. This unintuitive style of play is not very fun (the 'wait' part of 'attract their attention and wait' isn't too exciting) but more than anything it does not at all fit the 'avoid the danger that is lurking everywhere!' atmosphere the visuals and audio build up. The fact that one mistake is instant death adds insult to injury; although it makes sure you want to be very careful, dying after getting pretty far doesn't really motivate you to do it all over again. In my last attempt I died right in front of the treasure, and although I'd really like to complete the game to better judge it, I just can't bring myself to go through all that again.
🎤 Tifu
29. Apr 2014 · 00:27 UTC
VDZ: If you got right up to the treasure, you're not really missing anything - there's a tiny tiny tiny scripted scene and then it ends. There's no further gameplay to judge after you reach it.

I agree with AI stuff, I'd certainly have done it a lot differently if I had more time/was more familiar with coding such things in Unity.

Thanks for checking out my game everyone :D
Korwegian
29. Apr 2014 · 00:46 UTC
:O Is that a mermaid?! CAN I TALK TO A MERMAID?! *walks closer...* ACK! NOE!
oatsbarley
29. Apr 2014 · 11:07 UTC
You've done a good job of making the diving suit feel claustrophobic! Well done!
quill18
29. Apr 2014 · 12:03 UTC
Holy crap is this ever creepy. The breathing. The view port. The sudden death.

My only complaint is that it's a bit hard to tell if I've aggro'd something until I'm dead.

Good job!
danbo
29. Apr 2014 · 12:09 UTC
I think an air gauge would make this all the more tense. Good work either way
Seraphina
29. Apr 2014 · 12:18 UTC
Those mermaid things are creepy! But I managed to beat it first try. Go me! Great job on this. I love the atmosphere.
Custard Games
29. Apr 2014 · 14:25 UTC
Cool game. The gameplay was lacking as it was more of just whether you have patience or not, but the strong point in this game was the mood created by the breathing and visibility. Would love to have seen some more variety in the ocean like some plants or different coloured fish.
xerohuang
29. Apr 2014 · 18:23 UTC
A great game! It's hard to win but a will try again!
TheLastBanana
29. Apr 2014 · 23:14 UTC
Really creepy; great work on atmosphere. I found the gameplay got a little stale because of how long it took to get to the treasure. I never did get to the end, because a Nereid caught me just before I found the treasure and I didn't feel like doing it all again.
Balint197
30. Apr 2014 · 20:21 UTC
I'll be honest and tell you the first time I saw one of those things, i laughed then said wtf :D The atmosphere was good, but the waiting part of the gameplay was a bit boring.
Impmaster
01. May 2014 · 08:17 UTC
Great atmosphere, really felt like I was a diver, what with the sounds, the limited FOV, and the massive helmet. Bit boring though, cause I didn't know which way to go once I hit those big walls and there seemed to be monsters blocking the way.
Manuel Magalhães
02. May 2014 · 17:30 UTC
I liked the game. The breathing and the helmet made the game feel pretty claustrophobic, so I could see this working well with an Oculus Rift.
icereci
03. May 2014 · 11:56 UTC
nice graphics.
Martin_Monosys
04. May 2014 · 12:25 UTC
Cool game with a really creepy atmosphere... Sadly, I couldn't bring up the patience to find the treasure, maybe it was just too creepy for me! :)
MintArcade
04. May 2014 · 20:21 UTC
Bit scary gameplay. Didn't find treasure - Best distance 640 ;) Need some sort of defense at least. Interesting idea anyway.
🎤 Tifu
05. May 2014 · 15:24 UTC
640? You were walking away from the treasure =/
Clément Duquesne
06. May 2014 · 11:40 UTC
160 here but I had trouble figuring how to avoid the guys. Very efficient ambience & gamefeel though. (and i really like the distance radar choice for the goal)
Ragzouken
06. May 2014 · 11:50 UTC
Managed to get near the treasure but died before I found it! The atmosphere was good, perhaps a few more things to view or interact with would have been cool? I found that once i got on the right path i was basically just holding the up arrow until i made it to the treasure
JaJ
10. May 2014 · 11:26 UTC
Very scary, games like these freak me out easily :p
DonovanWu
10. May 2014 · 18:42 UTC
I've done a game with similar mechanics before, so finding the direction of treasure isn't hard for me. But I got killed by some monsters that are so far away from me that I cannot tell if they're staring at me, and then I had to start over, which is kind of frustrating. However, as a game made in 48 hours it is amazing enough! So I shouldn't ask too much from it. Perhaps for further development, some mechanics of zooming the sight or escaping a monster can be added.