Cryoloop by Freya C

[raw]
made by Freya C for Ludum Dare 46 (COMPO)

screenshot 1.png

You are a Chrono Agent, dispatched across space and time on sensitive missions to alter the course of history. You have arrived on board an abandoned spaceship, the only living crewmember preserved in a cryo-stasis pod, with 59 seconds until the reactor surges and fries the pod.

You have already failed twice.

Your operator resets you back to the anchor point, and you try again. And again. And again.

screenshot 2.png

Made for Ludum Dare 46 on the theme of "Keep It Alive", using twine 1.4 and bitsy-3d, plus hacks and html/css fun. Somewhat of a homage to mid-90s adventure games.

*edit to clarify controls: Arrows or WASD to move, Spacebar to Start and to exit the Pod close-up passages. Move into things (Pods & Reactor Computer) to interact.

Ratings

Overall 556th 3.398⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Fun 775th 2.965⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 337th 3.523⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Theme 837th 3.256⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 257th 3.807⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Mood 166th 3.698⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

munmungames
20. Apr 2020 · 11:48 UTC
Interesting game ! I enjoyed the retro graphics and UI. Wish it was a bit longer to play ! Congrats
Qazikol
20. Apr 2020 · 11:57 UTC
Love the old-school controls and chunky textures! Has a wonderfully fuzzy, claustrophobic feel. Having some audio to add to the tension would help further that, but yeah, 48 hours :')
VerttiXPertti
20. Apr 2020 · 13:00 UTC
Love the look.
Millhow
20. Apr 2020 · 14:51 UTC
Really cool idea !
Graphics are very nice, and reminds me the graphics of the first Doom but more polished of course

Great job !
Seagull
20. Apr 2020 · 14:53 UTC
Graphics look really cool.
Like the banter with the operator.
Controls are a bit wonky :( I got stuck in the textures couple times.


I think I found the reactor, but didn't understand what to do next.

Also, got stuck on this screen with no way out.![Screenshot 2020-04-20 at 15.49.37.png](///raw/655/z/2d7fd.png)
David Bohan
20. Apr 2020 · 14:56 UTC
I like the graphics and low-res 3D and the whole UI layout. The clunky movement works well with the idea of being in a space suit. Excellent work!
Zypo
20. Apr 2020 · 15:01 UTC
I really liked the graphics. It took me a failure to realize that i was in a puzzle game. You could have made the maze longer, where if you knew where to go, it would have taken you most of the 60 seconds to get there. The animation left and right were good, and you have a more satisfying gameplay just moving at 90 degree turns rather than 45. The gameplay was just short enough for a gamejam! Very nice! Thanks for making the game!
BlipBloop
20. Apr 2020 · 15:02 UTC
Did not expect that! I dig the retro 3d feel, with some sound this game would be perfect
🎤 Freya C
20. Apr 2020 · 15:18 UTC
@blipbloop I'd originally scoped for some background music too, but ran out of time trying to get the integration between engines to work. Such are jams.
Endurion
20. Apr 2020 · 17:20 UTC
Wow, it looks great!
It's a bit short and the movement is wonky. As if key repeat was on slow and even stuck sometimes. With a little bit of background music the mood would be great!
Rob Parker
20. Apr 2020 · 17:24 UTC
The graphics for this are great! Was a fun game to play and reminded me of the first 3D games on like the Sega CD etc.
Brandon JS Lea
20. Apr 2020 · 17:26 UTC
Looks great. Some sound really would help the atmosphere.
Goutye
20. Apr 2020 · 17:26 UTC
Very nicely done art! Really like the mood of the experience! :smile: The agent did not survive :cry: Congrats!
bereg
20. Apr 2020 · 17:30 UTC
I like the retro look, it feels good!
mycosil
20. Apr 2020 · 17:31 UTC
Got stuck with the empty pod screen, clicking on the game sames to work. Cool graphics, but the doors were difficult to detect.
SolidHinken
20. Apr 2020 · 18:32 UTC
Loved dialogs! I really felt immersed
psychic_ash
20. Apr 2020 · 18:52 UTC
interesting, loved the graphics. I didn't have any sound so not sure that was supposed to be the case. the turning twice between directions was annoying. The controls were awkward in that way. I can face forward and turn to the right and forward (45* angle) but I can't move forward that way. I can turn again and now I'm facing full right and I can move forward that way. honestly, the turns should have taken us all the way to 90* on turns. There really doesn't seem to be a reason why not. I did enjoy the game over all. I wish there had been sound or if there is that I had been able to hear it. I enjoyed the dialogue going on. The graphics were great as was the user interface.

Unique and I enjoyed it.
EntityNull
20. Apr 2020 · 19:52 UTC
I love the art style. Reminds me of system shock!
thedashdude
21. Apr 2020 · 01:56 UTC
If it had some spooky sci fi music this would be wicked. Loved the look of the game, wish it was longer.
TheWustache
21. Apr 2020 · 11:46 UTC
Amazing atmosphere! I would honestly love to see what this could become with a full story and sound. The concept could make for a very interesting story. One critique: I found it somewhat difficult to complete the task in the short timeframe and read the dialogue at the same time.

Also, man, that ending.
Ben Taylor
21. Apr 2020 · 12:00 UTC
Uhhhh this was so cool! I really loved the world building, the graphical style and the core time loop mechanic. I find that often game jam games are too hard, but by building a timeloop into it you've made it possible to try and try again to get different outcomes. Very cool. Thanks for making something so interesting!
njm_games
21. Apr 2020 · 13:02 UTC
Cool experience, wish it was longer! the only things I didnt like was the controls felt a bit janky even for old school gaming. and the doors look a bit like dead ends. The concept is really interesting though! :D
Generic Games
21. Apr 2020 · 13:51 UTC
Absolutely love the style of the art and UI. The dialogue while you play was a really nice touch :) Agreed with njm_games (^ above), the doors look quite like dead ends.
AronMS
21. Apr 2020 · 18:24 UTC
It's a cool concept and the grapic style is nice.
But the controlls arn't very responsive - I kept geting stuck randomly. Also found the reactor but wasn't sure what to do next.
Overall a fair effort.
garygreen
21. Apr 2020 · 19:27 UTC
That was such an engaging story. :) At first I kept forgetting to look at the dialog as I was wandering around with the tight deadline. Integrating the Bitsy 3D & Twine narrative and visuals worked really well.
eva
22. Apr 2020 · 06:07 UTC
Cool game! I like everything about the presentation. Like everyone said, could use audio.
saucygames
22. Apr 2020 · 07:08 UTC
I really wish there was some immersive sounds even if they were done with 8bit noises. I had some camera problems kept over spinning. Not sure if it was due to my keyboard however. Good work loved the old 3D style!
nk_x_x
22. Apr 2020 · 18:19 UTC
Whoa, never seen these bits of tech put together in this way before. Very cool! Cool look, too.

My brain got really focused-in on the 3d screen and I could've maybe been helped with an unsubtle visual (or audio) cue to let me know me when the line of dialogue changes - I felt like I missed a fair chunk of it, even after playing through twice.

Like other folks above I also was confused by the doors, especially as there seems to be an unopenable door that doesn't look different to the others. I really liked the effect of the door opening once I worked it out, though! Proper spooky space vibes.
Junebug
22. Apr 2020 · 21:18 UTC
I love the retro feel! This is my first time seeing anything done in bitsy 3D, so it was an interesting first taste. I was about to ask if you were going to do a post-mortem, thought "I should check her twitter first just in case she's already talked about it" and now I might be subbing to your patreon soooo... good job! The retro horror aesthetic was well executed on, I loved the grainy textures on the interface. Echoing what others have said about audio, but otherwise this is an awesome compo entry.
minibobbo
22. Apr 2020 · 22:14 UTC
I agree with some of the other comments that it wasn't clear what I should be doing. I found the reactor but wasn't able to do anything that I could find.

I would also recommend not letting the player look at the 45 degree angles if you aren't allowed to walk in them. It makes navigation difficult :)

I liked the banter between the operator and the time agent!
ROBOWARRIOR1982
25. Apr 2020 · 16:00 UTC
That's good dungeon crawler, there is no sound it's shame, because the graphics and the HUD are perfect for the ambient. Somme little problems, when push left or right why don't turn to 90° automatically if i don't move in diagonale ? Strange, other thing the time limit, i don't have time to read the texte and speed up to find my way in the ship. It's a good prototype it lack nothing to make it a really good and immersive game ! (Really amazing work for a compo game)
Solifuge
26. Apr 2020 · 18:18 UTC
Loved the mood and setting here! The chunky, angular geometry felt very retro sci-fi, the CRT effect is real nice, and I really appreciated the bits of low-fi greeble! The lights, and faint view of components within the vents and so on make the setting feel bigger than what we get to see, in a neat way!

My first loop was spent listening to the banter instead of doing my actual job, which probably pissed off my operator/partner. But hey... I assume time loops are on the client's dime, not ours. With more time, would've been neat to have their conversation change between loops, in a way that maybe characterized the player's character and/or the operator (depending on who all retains memories/information between time-loops!) Also left me wondering if the CRT effect is meant to imply we're viewing a video log of time-loops... perhaps we're an investigator later on, considering the footage of the strange Space Mystery that resulted... hmm! Really piqued my curiosity, so good work crafting a bite sized narrative that left me wanting more!

Like some folks said I appreciated the 45-degree-angle view, even if part of me wishes I could move diagonally too. Makes me want to look into modifying Bitsy's movement code to support that now! Also, more stuff to examine and distract you from actually doing your job would've been fun too, given more time. It created a neat sort of tension between farting around because I technically had all the time in the world, while also being pressured to solve a very time-is-of-the-essence problem. A classic sorta sci-fi "What If...", rendered into a simulation. Cool stuff!
Rojola
28. Apr 2020 · 10:54 UTC
This looks so awesome! Very nice atmosphere and something I would have wanted to experience more. I just was not skilled enough player to be able to get anywhere. The movement system got some time to get adjusted, it was probably a grid based thing? I was so hoping to hear some sounds and music in this, they could have really elevated the mood. Game reminds me of Terminator Future Shock, some how :D