Welcome to Station Alpha by Theogen

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

You are riding a metro train. And something is not quite right...

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Ratings

Overall 1166th 3.24⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1405th 2.74⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 799th 3.34⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 328th 4.02⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 677th 3.7⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Audio 391th 3.652⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 313th 3.86⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 27🗳️ 28🗨️

Feedback

MatchaFlavor
06. Oct 2020 · 04:23 UTC
Looks cool, but it's very short and you basically just walk around and interact with a single object as far as I can tell.
🎤 Theogen
06. Oct 2020 · 04:32 UTC
@matchaflavor Yes, unfortunately the game turned out way shorter than I initially planned due to time constraints. I'll keep working on it to add more interesting story and interactions!
MatchaFlavor
06. Oct 2020 · 04:36 UTC
@theogen I look forward to it!
Lihpten
06. Oct 2020 · 05:05 UTC
Neat little idea and the aesthetic is very well put together. I got the atmosphere/mood this game was going for immediately, and if the loop is truly infinite, then I'm really impressed and I really like where you went with this. I also really appreciate that you could use both space and mouse for the dialogue, though I would have loved a sprint button... Very much on point with the theme and it was a very nice way to relax after the stress of the Jam.
🎤 Theogen
06. Oct 2020 · 05:13 UTC
@lihpten Thank you so much, it's nice to see some positive feedback! I'm very glad that the atmosphere worked for you, I tried hard to make it appealing. And I was thinking of adding a sprint button myself when I was testing the tunnels, ha ha! I'll do that for sure.
🎤 Theogen
06. Oct 2020 · 05:16 UTC
@lihpten And the game is not truly infinite at the moment since it's currently limited by floating-point precision, but I'm planning to fix it.
dokthar
06. Oct 2020 · 05:18 UTC
This train give me the feeling that we are in Gordon Freeman's dream ^^.
Nice scene and models. I Liked the mood.

Ps: I couldn't run the game on linux (segfault somehow related to vulkan).
I didn't have much time to investigate... Just reporting the issue.
Worked fine on Macos
🎤 Theogen
06. Oct 2020 · 05:34 UTC
@dokthar Wow, thanks so much for reporting. Can you tell me what GPU are you using and what distribution are you on? And does it help if you run the executable with `-force-glcore` argument?
🎤 Theogen
06. Oct 2020 · 06:22 UTC
@dokthar I've uploaded a version that uses Mono as scripting backend and OpenGL as renderer for maximum compatibility. Though I had strange graphic artifacts with OpenGL, that's why I didn't want to make it default.
dokthar
06. Oct 2020 · 13:41 UTC
@theogen, thanks for your answer.
-force-glcore fixed it.

My graphic card seems to lack proper vulkan drivers, according to http://vulkan.gpuinfo.org/.
Switching to opengl worked, had some glitches here and there but hey it ran...
🎤 Theogen
06. Oct 2020 · 14:46 UTC
@dokthar Sorry about graphic glitches on OpenGL, I'm working to fix them!
🎤 Theogen
06. Oct 2020 · 15:47 UTC
@dokthar I've just fixed the glitches, the game should run fine on Linux now!
Klaus Peter
06. Oct 2020 · 23:51 UTC
It's really short and a bit more of story would have been nice. But I liked the graphics and the music.
🎤 Theogen
07. Oct 2020 · 04:09 UTC
@klaus-peter Thanks! I'm working on expanding the game with more story!
Danial Jumagaliyev
07. Oct 2020 · 06:45 UTC
It was very satisfying to ride the metro several times, with the sounds, the music and the well looking models! With even more interaction, and perhaps plot twists, this could potentially become a fully fledged game.
🎤 Theogen
07. Oct 2020 · 15:47 UTC
@danial-jumagaliyev Thank you!
Jonas Michael
08. Oct 2020 · 10:54 UTC
Beatiful music and mood! I liked the story as well, but it seemed really short. A little more interaction would make this game probably a lot more fun. Anyways, I liked how suddenly the station behind you would turn into another station, so well done at that point!
Vivien Fargette
08. Oct 2020 · 11:11 UTC
Really nice music and graphics. The story was a bit short but nice. On my first try, I got thrown out of the metro tho (I was standing at the end of the last wagon and suddenly, the metro was continuing without me, so I think it's a collider issue where I was ejected from the train because of that). The game would gain from more depth in gameplay (but it goes with a longer story) but the idea is nice and perfectly fit the theme
Gonzalol
08. Oct 2020 · 11:23 UTC
Great terror atmosphere. It fits with the theme. I finally managed to arrive Beta Station, it could be a little more difficult to resolve.
saurterrs
08. Oct 2020 · 12:02 UTC
Very atmospheric, looking forward for a full version )
🎤 Theogen
08. Oct 2020 · 14:23 UTC
@jonas-michael @vivien-fargette @gonzalol @saurterrs Thanks so much everyone! I agree that the game is a bit short, I really want to expand it with more story.
🎤 Theogen
08. Oct 2020 · 14:25 UTC
@vivien-fargette Sorry about the collider issue! I need to redo my first-person controller, because it doesn't currently play well with fast moving objects. Or I could make it so that the train doesn't actually move, but the world around does... We'll see!
Vivien Fargette
08. Oct 2020 · 14:46 UTC
@theogen np, I said it more to let you know about the issue than to criticize, I explored a bit for two stations and then restarted the game :p. A way to "patch" the bug would be to let the player go back on the station ground when he is on the rails as I could not climb back at the extremities (it would be best to not have the bug but it could be a temporary solution)
🎤 Theogen
10. Oct 2020 · 06:39 UTC
@vivien-fargette I've just pushed an update that fixes the collider issue (among other things). I went with the second approach!
Koolruz
10. Oct 2020 · 15:12 UTC
This game made me experience nostalgia for something that I didn't even realize that I was missing due to covid - The normalcy of walking around in a subway station and getting on a train! It might be because of quarantine, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the station itself - The graphics and audio both came together well to set the mood.
🎤 Theogen
10. Oct 2020 · 15:41 UTC
@koolruz Thank you, I'm so glad that the game managed to bring you some joy in these hard times!
Kszaku
10. Oct 2020 · 17:10 UTC
Interesting idea, I liked that! I would like to play a puzzle game centred around idea of solving puzzles (or gathering clues), and timing that with metro schedule (Idk, maybe there could be some dar, lovercraftianesque force following protagonist). Only thing that annoyed me was the music, I don't think it fitted the game well. But anyway - cool game ;)
🎤 Theogen
10. Oct 2020 · 18:19 UTC
@kszaku Haha, I literally chose the music 20 minutes before the deadline! I just wanted the game to have *some* music, otherwise it would be kind of boring. And thanks for your ideas, I would love to add some interesting puzzles to the game!
GOD COLO
11. Oct 2020 · 10:50 UTC
Nice sounds! I love the models! Did you make them yourself? Greato Jobu my friend! :smile:
🎤 Theogen
11. Oct 2020 · 14:56 UTC
@god-colo Thanks! Yes, all the models were made by me.
Jare
11. Oct 2020 · 21:31 UTC
Great work, pretty ambitious for a jam game, and who cares if it fell a bit short, you got the important ideas in!
🎤 Theogen
11. Oct 2020 · 22:43 UTC
@jare Thanks a lot, that's very comforting to hear! The game definitely was too overscoped for a solo project and I'm very glad that I managed to finish it in time. I still would like to make it longer, as I initially planned! There are some ideas that didn't make it to the final product. :wink:
MrBamboo
12. Oct 2020 · 14:13 UTC
Enter into matrix haha ! Nice concept ! "Welcome to station beta"
🎤 Theogen
12. Oct 2020 · 15:44 UTC
@mrbamboo Thanks! I was in such a hurry that I couldn't even come up with proper station names! :smile:
Jvdwijk
12. Oct 2020 · 18:20 UTC
This was interesting but I felt like it was missing some gameplay, maybe making it a bit more challenges to escape the loop ^^
MikoziQ
12. Oct 2020 · 22:09 UTC
The game has a unique potential. You have a solid foundation for the story and you're going in the good direction in terms of execution. As other people said, the game longs for longer story and possibly more puzzles, more interactions etc. I understand the graphics are quite sparse (even though the models are good looking), they need more polishing of course. I like the mood of the game that it's not a horror but rather a puzzle game, something similar to Turings Test. Please keep up the good work!
🎤 Theogen
12. Oct 2020 · 22:36 UTC
@jvdwijk @mikoziq Thank you very much!
Anguss
12. Oct 2020 · 23:17 UTC
Very interesting idea and it was executed very well, the looping was seamless and i really liked the mood of the game. only left wanting more as it was quite short, could possible implement into a sort of 3d puzzle thriller/horror game
🎤 Theogen
12. Oct 2020 · 23:45 UTC
@anguss Thanks for playing! I actually want this game to be more of a calming experience, not an horror. Though I guess you could make a great horror out of this!
coderTrevor
13. Oct 2020 · 02:49 UTC
Short and sweet, good for a jam-game! I know how it goes to not be able to put in all the content you wanted, but you did a good job delivering something playable. I liked the graphics and the audio. The mood was spot-on for a subway station. Good job!
🎤 Theogen
13. Oct 2020 · 20:11 UTC
@codertrevor Thanks a lot for kind and encouraging words!
Fatal-Exit
21. Oct 2020 · 19:31 UTC
Really cool idea, really enjoyed it!
🎤 Theogen
22. Oct 2020 · 03:06 UTC
@fatal-exit Thanks, I'm very glad that you enjoyed it! :smile:
xlomid
24. Oct 2020 · 19:20 UTC
Nice concept and great atmosphere! I wish this was a longer experience, but great job making it in 3 days :)
Jesús González
24. Oct 2020 · 22:01 UTC
We had kind of the same concept in our games, but I liked your execution much more. Very well done, the mood was perfect.

Did you also implement the looping with teleports?
🎤 Theogen
26. Oct 2020 · 14:54 UTC
@xlomid Thank you!

@jesus-gonzalez The looping is done by moving parts of the level that are behind you forward. I thought about teleports, but I was worried that I couldn't make it smooth (considering that I have to teleport both the train and player inside it).
island-jam-2-group-3
26. Oct 2020 · 21:58 UTC
Way too sort but you nailed the atmosphere and the mood, good job!
🎤 Theogen
27. Oct 2020 · 00:01 UTC
@island-jam-2-group-3 Thanks! I would definitely like to make it longer.