Deus ex Submarine by Jod

[raw]
made by Jod for LD29 (COMPO)
You are Captain Clarence Giles of the HMS Elizabeth, a Valiant-class Nuclear Submarine. Ten minutes ago a critical hull breach occured. This seemed to be caused by an unknown object.

Will you be able to save the surviving crew? Or will you fight for your survival over their dead bodies? Will you find out why in heaven's name there is a pair of sunglasses on your desk in a submarine? And will you be able to resist the lure of the minty chocolate wafers?

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EDIT: If you want to scroll through text you've already read, hold CTRL. The game will automatically stop scrolling at choice-menus and text you have not read yet.

EDIT: If you don't hear any sound or music, that's not your computer's fault. The game was made in fourteen hours and making music just fell of the list of priorities.

Deus ex Submarine is a Visual Novel made in Ren'Py. It has six different endings (will you be able to get them all?), quite some replayability and was made in fourteen hours.

Apologies to anyone who actually knows anything about submarines or liquid dynamics :).

Ratings

Coolness 71% 3
Overall 3.38 360
Audio 1.56 1015
Fun 3.03 540
Graphics 2.92 712
Humor 2.88 295
Innovation 2.87 699
Mood 3.50 196
Theme 3.74 162

Feedback

Jonathan Whiting
28. Apr 2014 · 10:48 UTC
The mix of melodrama and comedy did not sit that great with me; and I felt like the captain was coming up with plans whilst I sat back, rather than me *playing* the captain.

Did enjoy the weird mix of art though, and the idea is pretty nice.
Lacaranian
28. Apr 2014 · 18:19 UTC
That lieutenant got what was coming to him. I assume. Delightfully silly! Good jorb.
skymen
28. Apr 2014 · 18:23 UTC
Graphics are pretty cool, and the theme is respected but there is no sound... In my opinion it wasn't fun to play, but the multiple possibl ends were a good idea.
muramasa
28. Apr 2014 · 18:29 UTC
Well, I died. But I regret nothing! This game is pretty cool, and I think it is by now the best I've played in terms of mood in this LD. It feels pretty human. I don't know. It's great.
There is no audio. But my mind did the work for that. I could listen to my captain voice!
Zupoman
28. Apr 2014 · 18:29 UTC
I didn't like the mixup of drama and comedy either. The lack of music didn't disturb me at all. The narration is good, there are multiple choices and endings. Great game, good work!
Jason Lay
28. Apr 2014 · 18:34 UTC
This was good. However, I felt like I didn't have any control over what was going on.
Zerkruemler
28. Apr 2014 · 18:36 UTC
This is like an somehow interactive book. Nice idea. Some sound effects would have been a good idea.
AnnaGavaldaKedavra
28. Apr 2014 · 18:50 UTC
Some good ideas and funny dialogs, but it's a little hard to get what you are doing. I'll try again.
Ellian
28. Apr 2014 · 19:30 UTC
Not exactly new, but enjoyable nonetheless. Good mood, definitively interesting. Good work in such short time!
🎤 Jod
28. Apr 2014 · 19:47 UTC
Thanks for all the feedback everyone, I really appreciate it! Sadly, I did not have time to make (some) sound at all, as I only had 14 hours. It's definitely something that would've added to the game. Once again, thanks for taking the time to comment!
lorancou
28. Apr 2014 · 19:58 UTC
"Captain's favorite cup shattered": how dare you call this TRIVIAL? INCOMPETENTS!! My emperor penguins!

Great narration, I enjoyed it :)
mjau
29. Apr 2014 · 00:05 UTC
I'm glad i tried again after the first attempt. That took an unexpected direction =). It did get a bit tedious going through everything for every retry though -- maybe you could've simplified repeated sections a bit on replay, since you already detect that anyway? Stuff like not having to check the list of what's wrong again and such.

Also, i got ending 5 twice, in two very different situations. Second time i'd actually managed to save the sub and some of the people in it =), but the first time was when i just went for a swim straight away, leaving everyone to die. I don't think that's right?

Would've been nice with some ambient sounds.
🎤 Jod
29. Apr 2014 · 08:49 UTC
@mjau: Thanks for the tip! You can press CTRL to scroll through text. Kinda late for you, I guess, but maybe others can use it :).

As for ending 5.. uhm... that might be a bug. Damn. :)
miwuc
01. May 2014 · 11:28 UTC
Nice game! Replaying was a bit tedious but I did it several times anyway and saved them in the end! (well the few that were still alive).
I had mixed feelings about the sunglasses thing (no spoilers). On one hand it was a pleasant/funny surprise, on the other hand it kind of clashes with the very serious atmosphere set by the rest of the narration.

Just a detail but I don't think that's how a submarine works though :) (doesn't a sub go up a down with ballasts rather than propulsion?)
🎤 Jod
01. May 2014 · 17:06 UTC
@miwuc: You are most likely completely right :). Thanks for reviewing!
AtkinsSJ
01. May 2014 · 20:27 UTC
I liked the comedy personally. After all the tension of the first couple of playthroughs, the surprise twist was a nice relief!

I didn't manage to save anyone in half a dozen playthroughs, so I'm ending there. Even with the skipping, there's a lot of repetition. Still, one of the better games I've played this time around! The atmosphere is perfect. :D
JavadocMD
02. May 2014 · 05:43 UTC
I like a good choose your own adventure book, and this one was pretty good. :) I got a chuckle out of the silly endings. At least you took this in an original direction!
Ragzouken
02. May 2014 · 13:25 UTC
interesting game, i think the humour detracts from the cool mood you were building, and it'd been nice to add some ambient sound in there to reinforce it
baykush_figtree
03. May 2014 · 02:08 UTC
Great writing! The replay thing was quite neat.
Good entry!
HybridMind
03. May 2014 · 16:10 UTC
I appreciate that you attempted an experimental blend of seriousness and humor. I am not quite sure how I feel about it in practice though. When I restarted I was kind of thrown out of the immersion and mood you had been establishing. I guess I was kind of disappointed for a bit. But then I just kind of dealt with it and went through the story. I reached 3 different endings out of 6. I will say that the "sunglasses" ending is bugged. I bailed on my crew and it still said I got the "not a monster" ending. (Trying not to overtly spoil here, but I want to provide the bug report.) I like the mix of text and art assets, nice work overall.