Callous by MateusBoga

[raw]
made by MateusBoga for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

poster1.jpg

A game where you explore the depths of the subconscious of a patient diagnosed with a rare mental disorder.

Screenshot_102.png

INSTRUCTIONS:

Click on totems (which take the form of miscellaneous objects) inside of the mind of Samuel to enter a deeper state of mind. (Flowers are special)

Samuel is haunted by the ghosts of his past. Don't get caught by them or you will lose all your touchstones!

Use touchstones to abandon a level of consciousness and get back to the previous one.

Find the cypher codes to unlock each new area, and find the origin of Samuel's disease.

Screenshot_103.png

CONTROLS:

Left Mouse Button - Interact

Right Mouse Button - Use Touchstone

Mouseover edges of the screen - Walk

Play here: https://mateusboga.itch.io/callous

Ratings

Overall 128th 4.1⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Fun 969th 3.309⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 94th 4.114⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 8th 4.614⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 36th 4.629⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Mood 6th 4.629⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Given 22🗳️ 49🗨️

Feedback

SandToise
27. Apr 2021 · 01:28 UTC
Itch.io seems not to be working. I'd love to give this one a try but it's currently unplayable.

Edit: Awesome, going to check it out now.
🎤 MateusBoga
27. Apr 2021 · 01:42 UTC
@sandtoise I had the page on private by mistake. Should be public now, sorry about that! ^^'
SandToise
27. Apr 2021 · 02:18 UTC
This is beautiful. I love the atmosphere. There's a lot of emotion in this short game, and it feels very lovingly polished. The character designs are great, and the story feels very sincere. This is a really neat take on the theme, and I really enjoyed playing it. This is impressive.

My only issue is that I was really confused on what exactly would take me to the next area (flowers seemed to be the right one) but I didn't know what the other things seemed to do.
🎤 MateusBoga
27. Apr 2021 · 11:41 UTC
@sandtoise Thanks so much for the feedback!

Flowers take you to the "Cave of Instincts" which lets you know the cipher to unlock the gate to the next area. The other objects are just a way to explore each area (also its randomly generated every time)

Each area is technically endless, so you can just keep going "deeper and deeper" until you run out of patience (or your browser runs out of memory)

Thanks for playing! :D
CaioLima
27. Apr 2021 · 14:16 UTC
Congrats for the entry @mateusboga! Great art style and theme, It's a very sensitive topic and your project cover it beatifully, the sound and backgrounds really creates an atmosphere! I think some little tips, as game of this genre uses to do would be a nice adjustment to avoid been stuck in some areas (like I did haha). Really loved it and I'm following your work!
🎤 MateusBoga
27. Apr 2021 · 15:39 UTC
Thank you @caiolima ^-^
Yea I think I did some mistakes in game design, and I ran out of time to add tips and more dialogue. Thanks for playing!
Jakob Willforss
27. Apr 2021 · 17:36 UTC
It was great! I enjoyed the atmosphere, and the take on the theme. And the end :) I struggled with the game mechanics though - didn't realize I was looking for the portal code first (didn't see the portal in the beginning) and searched for long for flowers. When the game said 'you have to persist when you are the verge of giving up' I was really on the verge. But skillfully told story with the aesthetics and story. This is one of my favorites!
Vaanrile
27. Apr 2021 · 19:09 UTC
Excellent game ! I found the storytelling and the concept quite excellent, but more importantly, I really loved the graphics and atmosphere, which were really great. I had trouble at the beginning figuring out what to do because I thought, based on the different colors and different interactable items, that they were a pattern to follow in order to progress, although I guess it turned out to be a bit different.
Aside from this minor problem, congratulations for making this game, I hugely appreciated it !
🎤 MateusBoga
27. Apr 2021 · 20:42 UTC
@vaanrile @jakob-willforss Thank you for the feedback :) Yea sorry if the puzzle was a bit hard to get, its an issue of the genre as well. Thanks so much for playing!
BeachBoogeyman
27. Apr 2021 · 23:00 UTC
neat idea for a survival horror game! art is great, and i enjoyed the prychological themes.
🎤 MateusBoga
27. Apr 2021 · 23:31 UTC
@beachboogeyman Thank you ^^
zenbarista
28. Apr 2021 · 09:46 UTC
I really like this game. The atmosphere is quite disturbing, and the endless walking really evokes that feeling of being completely lost. I gave up on finding the ending after a while, but will go back to it and try to solve it another time.
VeryGenuineCraze
28. Apr 2021 · 12:47 UTC
Very nice game and atmosphere!
I loved the mood.
Same feedback as @caiolima, maybe more tips during the game :smile:
🎤 MateusBoga
28. Apr 2021 · 13:40 UTC
@zenbarista @verygenuinecraze Thank you guys for the feedback :D
pedrohph
28. Apr 2021 · 15:19 UTC
I felt lost sometimes. But I was super curious about how this story ends.

Graphics are beautiful and you succeeded in telling a good story in the game.

Great work :smile:
🎤 MateusBoga
28. Apr 2021 · 15:21 UTC
@pedrohph Thank you so much :)
Akronsus
29. Apr 2021 · 11:17 UTC
Was super lost at first and didn't know what to do. Manly because I haven't seen the gate at the beginning and because a skull and flower totem spawned right above each other leading me to believe that the flowers are not special xD

Finished with 14 stones
🎤 MateusBoga
29. Apr 2021 · 13:00 UTC
@akronsus Yea the spawning of objects is bugged, sorry about that :c I will try to fix that in a post-jam version once I get to it.

Thanks for playing!
Brainloaf Studio
29. Apr 2021 · 23:27 UTC
Woah, I really enjoyed this! It's a really unique take on the theme, and I really enjoyed progressing to understand the story (that twist at the end, though!). The art is impressively polished, I especially liked the portraits. The environmental work looks really nice too, the parallax effect and color tinting adds a lot. The only issues I had was that I didn't spot the touchstones at all until a few layers in - they might be a little hard to spot - and that I wished the movement speed could be faster at times, or to add some kind of sprint button while searching. Those were just minor things though, and the overall experience was excellent. Awesome entry!
🎤 MateusBoga
30. Apr 2021 · 00:10 UTC
@brainloaf-studio Thanks so much for the feedback ^-^
BeatrizW
30. Apr 2021 · 18:53 UTC
Vey well executed!!! Really impressive.
With a good background music it would have been absolutely perfect!
Nonetheless, everything else is perfect!
Great Work!!!
Nisovin
30. Apr 2021 · 19:06 UTC
Very cool game here, with good atmosphere and story. Wandering left and right did feel a bit slow a times, but still a cool experience.
🎤 MateusBoga
30. Apr 2021 · 19:15 UTC
@beatrizw @nisovin Thank you so much! :D
oddarock
30. Apr 2021 · 19:53 UTC
I really enjoyed the game (or story). One of my favourite so far. I was lost at first, but this was not really a problem, I just went deeper and deeper collecting touchstone on the way, while enjoying the walk and the atmosphere. I will probably dream of clocks, flowers and telephones !

The story is very well balanced between the texts and the environment and all makes sense at the end which is very satisfying.

Amazing entry.
Krapht
30. Apr 2021 · 20:22 UTC
Loved it! might have been nice to have a little more explanation within the game about finding the cyphers and returning to the base level to type in the code.
unpronounceable
30. Apr 2021 · 20:36 UTC
Playing the game was a bit tedious and confusing, but the art and story more than made up for it. Really enjoyed the ending.
🎤 MateusBoga
04. May 2021 · 00:02 UTC
@unpronounceable @krapht @oddarock Thanks guys! ^^
Papaver
05. May 2021 · 15:33 UTC
Cool and interesting entry! I really enjoyed the graphics and the mood. I was a bit confused about what was happening and what I had to do, but that kind of fitted the theme. :wink: I found the end eventually. Well done!
Peace Of Cake Games
05. May 2021 · 17:03 UTC
What a deep experience.... very mysterious and sad....

The fact that the touchstones are not only your only way of going back, but they're also how you get scored at the end of the game, is pretty neat.
fabula_rasa
05. May 2021 · 17:31 UTC
That's a very nice take on the theme! The backgrounds and the sparse soundscape create this atmosphere of introspection, perfect for this kind of game. And the angry shadow, along with the environment change was a great touch.

I would suggest adding some graphic element at the right-left edges of the area, so that the player never sees the edge of the world and the illusion isn't broken. Some mist would do nicely in this case, or some clouds or waves (to represent the vast, unexplored mindscapes :)).

The slow walking pace of Samuel fits the mood but gameplay-wise it gets a bit tedious when you want to backtrack through the area. Maybe allow running and let players decide on their preferred pace of exploration :).
XariusExcl
05. May 2021 · 17:35 UTC
Wow what a beautiful game! Took me a while to complete, I did not understand that the flowers made you go deeper, but I wouldn't have explored the game more if I knew. Although there was not much to explore, it's definitely important for the mood of the game. And dang those ghosts are scary.

One of (if not my) favoutite entry! Well done!
🎤 MateusBoga
05. May 2021 · 20:00 UTC
@xariusexcl @fabula-rasa @peace-of-cake-games @papaver Thank you guys so much for playing and for the feedback! ^^
ItsIsaac
06. May 2021 · 13:23 UTC
Holy crap! What a crazy game! (in a good way) Very moody and well done! I quite agree with @fabula-rasa that you should make the levels go round in a circle so you never see an edge. But other than that it was delightful! Good job!
OrcPaladin
06. May 2021 · 13:27 UTC
Stunning visuals style! Nice implementation! Good job!
nablaz
06. May 2021 · 13:48 UTC
I really enjoyed the experience! I was a bit lost at the start, but then I got a grip on it and worked my way through the maze (you wonder at first why there are so many touchstones lying around...). Although I found the exploration (and sound) a little repetitive, the game has a very interesting concept and implementation and I think the lostness/repetitiveness works in favor of the player's immersion. Oh, and I loved the graphics! It's a very nicely crafted story and original design, I think you did a great job with this! Cheers
Kotzi
07. May 2021 · 23:27 UTC
Great aesthetics and take on the theme, it was really a touching experience. Congrats!
🎤 MateusBoga
08. May 2021 · 13:13 UTC
@kotzi @nablaz @orcpaladin @itsisaac Thanks so much for the feedback :)
fy0
09. May 2021 · 10:48 UTC
Really good design, I can't believe it was made in three days!
one-seed-fruit
13. May 2021 · 05:04 UTC
Incredible art! You even have a walk cycle! I'm still not quite sure what's going on, but there's a mysterious feel to it. Wish I can run though, haha.
ColeSlaughter
18. May 2021 · 07:39 UTC
What a twiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiist at the end! I really appreciated how you ended this. :slight_smile:

The art in this one was absolutely gorgeous, and a super neat way to represent the inner workings of one's mind. The game did run a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle slow on WebGL, but I'm glad I was able to stick it out and see this through to the end.

Also, it took me a while to figure out there were rocks I could pick up. Maybe making them easier to spot (especially in lighter backgrounds) would be a good idea.

Overall though, this was a really stellar entry, excellent job!!