Pouring Rain by T C
When you receive a signal, how can you be sure what's on the other side?
A point-and-click adventure game with puzzle elements.
Controls: left click, interact/select. Hover - see if something is interactible.
In the rain-drenched city of Legeia, Inquisitor Stergrane embarks on a mission to find out what happened to one Coraline Finch...
Explore a world awash in mysterious rain!
Solve puzzles, and outwit your mysterious foes.
Can you follow the clues and make it to the end of the line - alive?
This is a direct sequel to our last Game Jam, "Rain," but you don't have to have played it to follow along.
If you get stuck, follow our handy walkthrough:
!> Talk to the drunkard, find out he wants something to drink.
!> Pick up the bucket.
!> Go to the edge of the dock, fill the bucket with water.
!> Go back to the drunkard, give him the water.
!> Go to the bouncer, show him the new hand signal.
!> Enter the interior door.
!> Talk to Pearl or Karl, pick 2 different conversations. The phone will start ringing.
!> Pick up the phone, talk to the mysterious person.
!> Talk to Karl, ask him where the phone line leads.
!> Go out the back door.
!> (Not required) - Pick an incorrect path, get lost.
!> (Not required) - Ask Pearl if she can help you navigate through the city.
!> (Not required) - Examine the bookshelf, see the story written on it.
!> (Not required) - Go back outside to the phone pole, examine it.
!> (Not required) - based on the story and the names of the places on the phone pole, figure out the correct path (2, 5, 4, 3, 1)
!> Enter the 5 different alleyways in the following order (from left to right) - second to left, rightmost, second-rightmost, middle, leftmost)
!> You are now in a forest. Nothing required on this screen yet.
!> Go to the screen to the left where a cabin is. Click on the light to turn the light on.
!> Go back to the first forest screen, there is now a key hanging from the anglerfish's tooth. Grab it.
!> Go back to the cabin and enter it. Click on the phone.
!> Examine the painting in the cabin, it changed. Use the phone again.
!> See the painting changed AGAIN (spooky!) - examine it. Then use the phone again.
!> Exit the new cabin, you find yourself on a beach. There's a shell that now exists that looks like the one in the painting.
!> Click on it.
!> Click on the reflection lake thing.
Tools Used: Beepbox.co - music
Audacity and a microphone - sfx
| Link | https://theworldsquid.itch.io/rainparttwo |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/pouring-rain |
Ratings
| Overall | 208th | 3.879⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 236th | 3.672⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 604th | 3.069⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 597th | 3.362⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 137th | 4.31⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 125th | 4⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 135th | 3.724⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 28th | 4.448⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 34🗳️ | 48🗨️ |
fyi I ran into a block if you get the drunk to flip you off after he tells you the actual hand symbol it replaces it so you can't go inside
@julia-nistel Thanks for the kind words! We included a spoiler log in the description in case anyone gets stuck and would just like to see the end. So if you're curious what happens next (you're most of the way to the end!) you can use that if you like.
@5n4k3 Thanks for the kind words! We definitely were going for vibes this time around, so I'm glad it worked for you.
@tanjou Ab-so-lutely. We ran into an issue with the scenes being in different perspectives, so sometimes the sprites needed to be scaled or positioned differently. Things to keep in mind for next time for sure! Glad you liked the mood.
@alvminum Yeah, that was definitely the trickiest part for sure. Creating puzzles like that, it's always tough knowing if it'll be too easy or tough. But you can always try brute force! It'll work eventually! :laughing: Also, the rain isn't *JUST* going upside-down in the final page, but also in the entire beach scene, and when you're in the 'other' cabin screen (you can see it going up through the window) - It was fun changing up a rain particle system to make it go backwards! Thanks for playing!
I did struggle with the maze, but the disappearing phone lines helped. I understand now what the script in the book meant, but before I missed that the Cathedral and 4th way were separate steps. I thought the Cathedral was the 4th step.
The art and sound really impressed me. The upside down rain in the house was a great storytelling touch.
@viktor-kovachev Wow, thanks for the kind words! We definitely tried really hard on nailing the atmosphere/oddness of the whole thing. And also that the puzzles weren't too obsure/frustrating. It's a tough balance for a game jam: I've found you don't want players feeling stuck or frustrated, almost ever :shark: so it's a tight rope walk with point and click adventure puzzles. Thanks for playing!
@derek-glennon Thanks for playing! It was a fun one to make and build out for sure, and we continued our LD58 submission with this one... so who knows maybe we'll keep the story going for future LD games
@dan-whiffing Thanks! We hammered out art assets and getting everything in place, well before we had ANY content. It was a scramble at the end just to have things to do in basically every screen past the first. That's definitely what the walkthrough is for! Not all point and click puzzles work for everyone, so letting people pick how much or little time they want on anything before moving on I think is important for us to do. Appreciate the play and comment!
@mr-flower Yeah, definitely didn't try for much mechanical complexity. At some point we just had to take what we had already built and find ways to make puzzles with that, and I was panic-working putting stuff in up until exactly the deadline. I finally made time for sound, so glad you enjoyed! And YEAH, we continued the story of the first "Rain" we made for last Ludum Dare, (where you (unknowingly) played AS the shapeshifter) but integrating the shapeshifter in this game got tabled because of time. Definitely wanted a Shadow-Stergrane-Impostor walking around and doing weird things and causing trouble, but that idea had to get discarded. Thanks for playing!
I haven't played the first part, but I think it's as good as this one. Well-designed locations, and music that goes well with them.
Sometimes I was stuck while playing, but that's normal.
Overall, the game is good, good luck with the next Ludum.
I gotta admit I needed to look up the solution once or twice, but overall a great mystery! Gives me cosmic horror vibes and shivers down my spine! Great job!
I love the art and vibes!
But maybe some more telegraphing of what to do and where to go next would improve the game a bit? Nevertheless a great story that I enjoyed till the end! :)
@tosmaster Yeah, some of the puzzles definitely needed a bit more time to setup and explain for sure. Definitely put the spoiler log there for a reason! :laughing: Since most of the actual game came together pretty late, I had to just... hope that what I typed out telegraphed things enough, and definitely did not as much as I'd hoped! Glad you liked the atmosphere, that's what we focused on a LOT. Thanks for playing!
@alex-de-la-cour Glad you liked the atmosphere! It was fun to build and design for sure. Definitely that puzzle is super confusing. We had the idea of having to go through the alleyways in a certain order to progress, but it was a very quick/dirty "solution" we came up with to let the player even know that this was what we were trying to do, and also then give hints about it. Turns out, you can't just have the main character say out loud "this is like the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time!" :laughing: Also, yeah the routes were supposed to be telegraphed by the phone poles, but I also completely missed out on adding something a lot of point-and-clicks do, which is let you press a key like 'alt' and it will show all the interactible objects. Thanks for the suggestions and for playing!
@hazzardt Glad you liked the style! Yeah, that puzzle in particular was definitely supposed to be the trickiest, but I think might have just not had enough to push the player naturally in the right direction. Thanks for playing!
@oddballdave Yeah, that back alley puzzle got a lot of people for sure. We wanted to leave it brute-forceable with visual indicators just in case, but next time definitely need to do a better job hinting to the player the correct solution. Thanks!
@rynti Wow, thanks! Luckily, from a programming standpoint, the point-and-clicks were actually the easiest genre to make a game jam game for. It did put a bunch more work on the art side of things, though.... which I did 0% of :laughing: So no problems for me there! Glad to know other people are fans of point and clicks!
@gdman Thanks for the kind words on the overall atmosphere! Definitely what we were focusing on for most of this one. Thanks for playing!
@casualnothing Nothing like a good point and click every once in awhile! About a decade ago I rediscovered the genre after playing some as a kid and there are some pretty neat ones out there. Tough not to be inspired.
@johnnyalfonso Glad we could get a laugh or two out of people! :laughing: Definitely try to sneak in a bit of humor here and there, regardless of the submission/overall tone we're going for. Thanks for playing!
I really like MC's portrait. And overall vibe of the game. A mystery, rain, noir vibes... Perfect +v+
Pearl is so pretty!! Coraline, too :)
Oh wow, ending already? I was getting invested in the story!! There's def something supernatural going on... Next part next jam ig? :D
**In conclusion**: It was very fun! Love the design, the visuals, the atmosphere and the story :) The writing seems very good to me!
I couldn't see an option to add a file to a Ludum Dare 58 page, so I put a download link on the itch page for the first game. Also, I didn't test it out, so if there's something not working on it let me know!
Who needs sleep??
!>I think old lady wants to use Caroline's body to "move into it" so to say. Remembering the 2nd game and how Caroline's soul was in some weird place, I assume her body is vacant now, but not technically dead. Old lady "left" her all the money and estate BECAUSE she intends to move her own soul into a young healthy woman's body (with the help of her doctor) and this continue living, young and healthy now for a while again, while still having all her money and stuff :)
Also, I found it interesting that the 1st part showed special abilities of the Inquisitor, and it was a big part of gameplay. I don't think that was present in the 2nd part? I really liked that Astral Projection "mechanic" though. From the sound of it the priest actually "turns" into another person, and when he talks to someone, they actually believe that real person is talking to them! That's crazy :D
Ok, I've finished the 1st part...
!>Her actual body dropped on the water... I think they wouldn't let that happen if my crazy theory was correct ^^' Mummer is a huge suspect tbh since he disappeared, and considering the comments others were making about him. Did he "possess" Caroline? Did she actually go to the weird place both soul and body, after dropping into the river?
So many questions! I hope you intend to continue the story and that you have it all planned out! x3
So, the reason the first game had special abilities, and this one did not, is because
!> In the first game, you are an otherworldly impersonator, not the real inquisitor!
We tried making that something explored far more in part 2, but adding in the actual plot came together so late that we knew we had to scrap it. The only reason you had abilities in part one is because we struggled finding a way to tie the theme of "Collector" into the story we already had. But we knew we wanted to start with the base of the story that JackOfCups came up with, so you played as someone you don't quite expect!
And yes, we do have a decent amount of the full story at least outlined, and the structure a full point-and-click game would follow if we could design it and build it. I'm not totally sure if I'd like to keep making nothing but point and clicks in future jams, but it might be worth considering!
Finally, The text of the second game really did get cut short. Sadly, another thing that I think really got lost with the time constraints! We would have really enjoyed putting many more things in there. But alas...
Thanks for playing and for commenting. Much appreciated!
Also,
!>I didn't realise about impersonator at all, but that honestly makes a lot of sense! They were just using the "essence" of that inquisitor, of course.
The puzzles, I think I mostly brute forced rather than really understand them. Though, tbh this is kind of how I think of puzzles in many full release point and click adventures.
Impressive amounts of painting for a jam. I liked the style a lot.
Play-through:
https://youtu.be/7NTTDg_KTvU
@local-minimum Thanks for the recording, and for the comment! Sorry about the font. Last jam our point and click got a criticism of the font being the default Unity one, and I was shown how to make your own.... so I did. And apparently I'm not very good at them! :laughing: - It's tough to make one that's both interesting and legible. I guess next time either just find a better premade font, or really try to understand what makes fonts legible and work on it. And we definitely didn't have a whole lot of time to make the puzzles better/have more signposting to the player. Hopefully if we make another, we'll put more effort into that aspect. Thanks for playing!
I was amused at how close you were to brute forcing it on the very first try! So close!
And I see the same issue arose from the next screen, not really having a clear idea which "direction" you came from. Although in this case, you aren't meant to be able to return to the city, it still threw things off as to where you should go next if you were under the impression that you came from the left side. I definitely was running low on time getting to this screen, and I agree you should have been able to inspect far more things on the screen with the anglerfish statue. You also actually didn't really sequence break anything, although I can definitely see how the way the game was presented gave you that impression.
I also was amused at you getting the clue from the painting in the cabin immediately, before even making it to the beach. I think natural curiosity makes you want to go back and forth between cabin rooms and see the differences, and it definitely is not telegraphed well what "forward" is- at basically any point.
And since you got to the painting before talking to Coraline, things just made... even less sense than what they were supposed to :laughing: I'm happy that you at least got to speak with her before the ending, because you can indeed skip it! I also really liked that you instantly noticed the rain falling up. It was hard for even me to notice it visually when working in Unity's Editor.
And yes, finally I do agree that going back to the options list after a conversation would have been better than forcing you into the introduction text each time. Definitely something that should have been smoothed over, that didn't make the cut of things to get into the game.
Thanks again for playing, and for the video!
The fint was cool, I would rather argue to have an option to toggle to a simpler font when in need. Like almost all released games have text in fancy and fitting font but also allows you to see the text in clean font with a button press.