After the Crash by Nalozyc Shade

After the Crash is a narrative driven game about a family dealing with the immediate consequences of a bad car accident. The story is told partly through text and partly through short driving sequences that play out in the main character's mind.
Controls: Spacebar to scroll text. Left/Right Arrows to steer car.
| Windows | https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1IOeM5wsBQCNThwNHZ2UjBZUVU?usp=sharing |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/after-the-crash |
Ratings
| Overall | 448th | 3.321⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 638th | 2.815⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 56th | 3.964⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 564th | 3.276⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 70th | 4⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 33🗳️ | 14🗨️ |
Like:
- the memory flashbacks and the narrative were very good
- I liked the difficulty of getting the car under control
- it's an interesting experience
Try differently:
- running out of power was often so quick, I didn't know what I had done.
- you don't need to make an x64 build, windows 64 users can run the x86 one just fine. :)
Overall:
- very decent entry, another one with a dark twist that leaves a memory
Cheers, thank you for making this!
But good job nonetheless.
- sometimes you see the black border when you drive all the way up the scene
- the cars in the final accident seem to not be exposed to any friction, they just keep going, rotating away
The story is told really well, the first sudden context switch to the accident scene really makes you feel helpless. Then you desperately want to find out what happened to Breanna. It is really emotional for a game jam entry, great job on that.
The stressful music in the first accident fits really well, later on it is rain which is an interesting detail. Seems like the dreams change a little every time.
Overall a greate job that you did here, keep up the good work!
Some graphics during the story part might be nice, but still a good work overall. Well done!
Giving the sense of "if only I had done something differently" through gameplay is very well implemented. Also, not giving the player any choices during the dialog sequences actually supports the feeling of irreversibility. Though the story is appropriately sad, it kind of lacked emotional depth. The characters seemed somewhat generic.
I disagree with some other comments that say that this is a "interesting" or "weird" game. I think this is exactly what a game should be. It tells a captivating story while increasing the player's immersion through interactivity. There are few subjects or emotions that are harder to convey than loss, death of a loved one and the feeling of powerlessness. However, you have achieved just that! Well done!