Chronophobia by Valkija

[raw]
made by Valkija for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

Chronophobia - The Descent Into Madness

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An atmospheric horror game about a curious researcher caught in a time loop of his own creation. Discover clues to undoing the loop by exploring his lab, all while fighting off the madness that is rapidly overcoming you as the loop draws closer...

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Ratings

Overall 397th 3.79⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Fun 988th 3.19⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 872th 3.276⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Theme 496th 3.882⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 169th 4.288⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Mood 69th 4.269⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Given 59🗳️ 74🗨️

Feedback

CursedEmbassy
05. Oct 2020 · 22:51 UTC
awesome graphics! good job!
AvatarGreggles
05. Oct 2020 · 23:10 UTC
This looks so amazing! I wish I had a Windows device to check it out! I'll leave a rating once I get my hands on one!! But it looks so awesome already!!
UglySwedishFish
05. Oct 2020 · 23:31 UTC
Love the visuals! Especially the god rays creeping through the windows, really adds to the overall mood! :thumbsup:
Scott Hernandez
05. Oct 2020 · 23:46 UTC
Very nice!!! My only feedback would be that it's really hard to tell what is interactable or not. Otherwise, great atmosphere and execution.
🎤 Valkija
05. Oct 2020 · 23:51 UTC
@scott-hernandez Thanks so much for the feedback! Definitely a goal, we realised after the push we forgot a lot of our interaction code. Lesson learned!
IkerNoya
05. Oct 2020 · 23:53 UTC
Loved everything about the game, great job!
NOHUA
06. Oct 2020 · 01:22 UTC
Really cool, and thank you for rating my game as well! Glad to see everyone is being so friendly.
Gilad Bar Ilan
06. Oct 2020 · 09:55 UTC
AWESOME GRAPHICS!
chakaramba
06. Oct 2020 · 10:05 UTC
Not optimized that well to play it without discrete GPU(
Really good graphics, sound and mood, anyway!
AdrianKrawczyk
06. Oct 2020 · 10:36 UTC
gj!
Nehvis
06. Oct 2020 · 10:36 UTC
Nice graphics, sound and mood, but I had no idea what to do
Robean
06. Oct 2020 · 10:48 UTC
very very cool game. good graphics, nice audio and amazing atmosphere. Only problem I had was trying to figure out what I could interact with, but other than that great game!
Frozentape
06. Oct 2020 · 11:00 UTC
Really great atmosphere and excellent storytelling both through the environment and the notes and books scattered around the game. I think I nearly completed it but couldn't quite figure out what to do with the cup of purple stuff! Brilliant audio too, I wonder whether music could have added anything, but I'm not sure - it's creepy enough as it is :)
Crazybot
06. Oct 2020 · 11:01 UTC
What a beautiful game! the sound is also really good (something I struggle with). the mood is great!

there are some small remarks I would like to give though, 1 the collision is missing on quite a lot of objects. 2 it would be great if there was some kind tutorial... I spent like 10 minutes wandering around not knowing you could read the books. and 3 I was able to completely block the game by reading a book while dying.

but as I said the game is still really great!
ClassyBoganStudios
06. Oct 2020 · 11:02 UTC
I have to admit I didn't crack this one but I did want to commend the incredible art (including the paintings!) and setting. Really moody [@hapticfabric for Classy Bogan Studios]
Gautstafr
06. Oct 2020 · 12:20 UTC
These visuals are great, the lightning effect is superb as well, reminds me of Dishonored somewhat. Cool entry!
🎤 Valkija
06. Oct 2020 · 13:07 UTC
@classyboganstudios, @crazybot, @frozentape thanks so much for the feedback! All great stuff to consider and work on, thanks for playing!

And a big thanks to everyone else for the lovely kind comments and for trying it out! :) I'd @ you all but that'd be big spam haha
Gonzalol
06. Oct 2020 · 14:13 UTC
It's incredible how a small game like this, with a few rooms and elements, can be so scary. Great atmosphere, the music, the lights... awesome. I can use some clues.
Cargamoni
06. Oct 2020 · 14:35 UTC
I like the dark theme of game, bit confused but good !
Bajtix
06. Oct 2020 · 14:43 UTC
It is really atmospheric, but I'm not really into this type of games. However, I loved this one and I think you did a great job with the graphics and sounds!
ANRQAngel
06. Oct 2020 · 14:50 UTC
Great Graphics, great concept, good and scary.. Great job
Wedmer
06. Oct 2020 · 14:53 UTC
Atmosphere is great!
Matootsy
06. Oct 2020 · 15:01 UTC
Yes the horror atmosphere is very well made. And the sounds are scary as well. This game is difficult, because we don't have time to explore quietly what happen around and what we have to do. Perhaps more explanation would be required. A small introduction? I'm agree with scott-hernandez, it's hard to understand what object we can take. Need a bit more feedback. One bug on my side: There's a freeze at the beginning of the third loop. This game is too difficult for me but I liked this scary experience. 5/5 for the mood. Congratulation.
Loren Heubert-Aubry
06. Oct 2020 · 15:27 UTC
Easily the best game I've played so far. Great visuals, audio, and atmosphere. Great puzzle design as well! The only issue I had was that it wasn't totally clear what the difference was between running out of time and activating the machine.
Szatku
06. Oct 2020 · 21:27 UTC
Very nice graphics, and audio. Atmosphere is also good. Horror is rather not my favourite games, but technically everything is ok.
etrealjunior
07. Oct 2020 · 09:41 UTC
I liked your game my congratulations, I also did one if you want to know, and give me your feedback I am very grateful, this is the link https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/resurrection
Hexa3
07. Oct 2020 · 10:32 UTC
Cool idea, a bit hard to understand what you have to do, a hint would be appreciated, overall great job.
TheCreator
07. Oct 2020 · 14:25 UTC
Great idea, It took me 6 loops before I figured out the books existed :joy:

Managed to get the machine working, for a long time I got confused as to why the bottle fits in the m3 pipe slot lol
jk5000
07. Oct 2020 · 18:41 UTC
The visuals is great, and the atmosphere amazing. I have no real idea what to do, and when I try to do something it's difficult control the stuff you pick up. The loops also felt a bit short.
Sengi
07. Oct 2020 · 18:43 UTC
It was hard to understand what to do at first, but this type of gameplay is typical to this genre. Great work on art and mood, you've managed to do quite a lot in this short period of time, you can surely be proud of yourself!
Curly
07. Oct 2020 · 18:45 UTC
Awesome amazing, cool idea, nice graphics, can't say anything bad after the game test, well done!
Minus
07. Oct 2020 · 18:54 UTC
Graphics and mood are amazing, any feedback from game that given object is interactable would be awesome.
I couldn't get what I had to do, but if I spent more time with this one I'd be able to understand it.

Some kind of menu would be also a good addition, turning game off by ALT+F4 is a little bit weird after all.
Jakob Reborn
07. Oct 2020 · 20:55 UTC
Great graphics and Amnesia vibes. After random amounts of loops I couldn't move after i died/went insane. Also an outline would be nice so player will know he can read books. Also it was really hard to read them letter colours to grey? There was so much to do and I couldn't figure out the whole process. Still very enjoyable game. I'm amazed that it was made during such a small amount of time
Cakii23
07. Oct 2020 · 21:05 UTC
I fuel my cell put my pipe on the machine then what? I use the levers to work it but couldn't find out how to end the game... But overall great game 4/5.
necauqua
08. Oct 2020 · 00:10 UTC
Very visually pleasing game, and the mood was built right, gave me chills :)
LelulaGames
08. Oct 2020 · 05:10 UTC
I'm going to admit I didn't play too long... it was creepy and scary and I closed it. Yep, that's a horror game right there, and a well done one. I don't even want to know what's behind the door!
SamDemaine
08. Oct 2020 · 11:37 UTC
interesting concept, I had good fun playing. Graphics are pretty nice, overall really good! Could I get your feedback on my game? :D
Frigow
08. Oct 2020 · 13:50 UTC
I really like the visuals and spooky mood of the game. As other said, it was difficult to tell wich object was interractable, but in the end the notes and books helped narrow down the possibilities. The theme was well integrated, so overall a really solid entrie!
Toccio94
08. Oct 2020 · 17:49 UTC
That was a nice horror atmosphere. It instantly set the mood, I was scared, the sound design is what truly help the atmosphere.
Visually is nice, I like low poly style, but maybe it was all a bit too confusing and dark, I also had vertical sync issues.

I really like the loop mechanic as learn through repetition, and I like overall this kind of games where you have to always learn a bit more of a tiny space. It makes it more believable.

The painting are pretty scary, if u made them good job!

That said, the game is a bit too unbalanced.
The text are not clear as supposed to, but maybe a bit too much with all the other confusing stuff.
You have pot over the library, a magazine with a lot of stuff but only 1-2 thing visible that are hard to see, and those that are above the shelf are too hidden.
There are the levers to activate the lights, but I saw the other lever to pull when you set the code (just next to the others) just when I had discovered all the other things and was wondering what was missing.

The purple thing is cool, but too precise, I counted 5 drops but it was not enough, so the text was also not correct =/

Time is also maybe too short, and I wanted like a reset button, because if I failed just one thing I had to wait the end knowing I wouldn't been able to do it in time.

There is really to many things that adds to the confusion and makes it too much. I'm with you with disorienting the player, but if you exaggerate it ends up in frustration and lack of immersion as it did to me.
At first I, was immersed and scared searching for a way out, a last I was just running up and down not even knowing anymore I was in a horror game.

It's an issue I've felt into too, that is making the game too hard thinking that "harder is funnier/better" but it's totally not. Especially for a game like this that heavily relies on immersion!

Of course, being your game, you must follow what you feel is right, but try to keep this in mind and see if it seems meaningful to you.

I don't want to sound harsh, I really liked this (and think I've completed it?), those are just suggestions! Great work =)
uchiro
08. Oct 2020 · 19:31 UTC
Thank you for the game! I really like the time loop theme. Although it appears only in the narrative I was happy to solve all puzzles. I liked the atmosphere and good level design.

As already mentioned above, if the player is reading the book before starting a new loop the game freezes.

I made a short video for those who stuck but wanted to see the end of the game.


https://youtu.be/fANPSmhZ1KM


**Spoiler-Start**
*Do I correctly understand that there is no way to exit from the time loop?*
**Spoiler-End**
🎤 Valkija
08. Oct 2020 · 21:09 UTC
@toccio94 Thank you so much for the detailed feedback! I agree with you on pretty much all points - while the build here will likely recieve only a few fixes, we're keeping on with this project for Devtober and hope to have all of these points improved upon by the end. Some of these were fixes we had in the pipe that got wiped by a severe git issue in the last hour of the dare, but there's a lot of good points there that definitely need looking at. Sincerely, thankyou!

@uchiro I'm incredibly flattered and thankful you made an awesome playthrough video for those who got stuck! A huge concern of ours was whether people would figure it out given the features we didnt manage to get in, so im glad some people are (even though its very obvious some QOL changes are needed to facilitate that, and a bit of a better push for people to start from.)

As for your spoiler text - yes, that is correct :) during the devtober continuation of this project we'll be elaborating more on that rather than just leaving you in the dark!
Toccio94
08. Oct 2020 · 21:30 UTC
@valkija if you want to have more feedbacks on future builds feel free to contact me at eliaducceschi@hotmail.it
Hank Ather
08. Oct 2020 · 22:25 UTC
I'm really impressed by this, good job. Great use of the theme, the mood and pacing was perfect.
morrilet
08. Oct 2020 · 23:05 UTC
This was super neat, and absolutely gorgeous. Great work! I had a hard time finishing it, but I don't *think* it was because I didn't understand the solution. The biggest issue for me was that for a long time I wasn't sure what I could and couldn't interact with, which was compounded by the fact that some things had interaction buttons and others didn't. Also, for the liquid, it'd probably be good to have some place to place the you-know-what so there's no ambiguity about how much has hit it. Trying not to give too many spoilers here... Really though, great work!
Eugenik
09. Oct 2020 · 01:47 UTC
So cute and so fun! Great job! :)
weeping-rupee
09. Oct 2020 · 15:55 UTC
Hey, I played your game on stream if you're interested the VOD is posted here.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/765179109
Dark Prince Zen
11. Oct 2020 · 06:47 UTC
Really like the atmosphere and environment. Mood and theme are awesome. Hard to distinguish what I could use/read a lot of the time and felt the timer before the loop restarted might have been a tad short but otherwise it was a really cool experience. Awesome work.
VPhyre
12. Oct 2020 · 21:50 UTC
Graphics and sound are excellent. There is a whole atmosphere of mystery that the atmosphere of the game brings. I liked the mechanics of interaction with the scenario. Good job.
Narom42
23. Oct 2020 · 16:35 UTC
Great horror atmosphere, I agree with most comments above. Awesome graphics, great sound design, lack of feedback to understand what can be done and time loop a bit too short to understand what needs to be done. With such a short time loop it is a bit annoying that the view gets blurred so often preventing us to read or see what we're doing.
Some fine tuning but a great entry overall !