Parentage by CandleBird

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

https://youtu.be/K2CnFwodc9Y

Delve into the depths of the ocean in search of your lost father.

Parentage suspenseful story-driven game (the first one I've made!) with a bunch of optional scannable items to get more bits of the story (16 in total if you're into 100%-ing).

HighresScreenshot00002.png

Avoid naval mines and scan any oddities you come by.

Dive deep to uncover the mystery of what your father left behind.

If you like my stuff, come follow me on Twitter (I'm making a pretty rad robot survival game)

https://twitter.com/CandleBirdGames

Tools: (Made everything solo during the Jam except for the sound effects)

-Models/animation: Blender

-Game Engine: Unreal Engine 4

-Music: Ableton Live 9

Thanks to my girlfriend for helping come up with the original idea and to my brother for helping me test!

Ratings

Overall 642th 3.667⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 895th 3.36⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 835th 3.28⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 18th 4.5⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1137th 3.48⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Audio 196th 3.98⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 17th 4.54⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 28🗨️

Feedback

drom1x
26. Apr 2021 · 18:18 UTC
The mood is really spooky and desolate, I really like how the overall situation addicts to this
Geckoo1337
26. Apr 2021 · 18:46 UTC
Really good mood with an amazing work on the sounds - a litle bit spooky. I was feeling inside a little submarine going deeper. Controls are smooth and all works well as expected. A strange, but good experience inside the ocean. However I noticed that some objects appear too near from the submarine. I guess that you should increase distance value when they are instantiated. Just a little thing which doesn't alter fun playing. Well done ++
Hjorthen
26. Apr 2021 · 18:47 UTC
Really well made! I was a bit disappointed with the ending. Was hoping for something a more scary =]
lazzoro
26. Apr 2021 · 18:48 UTC
The mood and theme is captured really well in this game. I would've wished for some more meaningful gameplay, but this can be ignored since it's obviously a story driven game. Amazing use of sounds.
Kovi
26. Apr 2021 · 18:48 UTC
Well that was certainly more of an experience than I expected. The mood/atmosphere was done very well I feel, it was genuinely unnerving in the moments it was meant to be, likely more so because I happened to be using headphones.

As someone who's typically focused on games that emphasize speed or intensive gameplay it does feel a bit slow going, but that's also very necessary to give the experience it's meant to. I've never really tried completely narrative focused games or "walking simulators" before, but I actually feel more open to the idea after trying this, so I think it did what it was meant to quite well. Really the only negative I felt was that the mines were popping into existence pretty abruptly and in large numbers, which felt a bit distracting.

It's definitely not the kind of thing that will appeal to everyone, but for those it does I think it does a good job of it.
🎤 CandleBird
26. Apr 2021 · 18:55 UTC
@hjorthen I agree! I've never really done any horror games and that was the only ending I could scrap together for the game jam. Thanks for the feedback!
🎤 CandleBird
26. Apr 2021 · 19:57 UTC
@kovi Thanks! I'm glad you tried it out. I'm in the same boat in terms of story games. This was my first try and it let me practice my storytelling a bit. Totally worth it!
Leon Regula
27. Apr 2021 · 06:24 UTC
Very cool game! You really want to know how it ends!
Ambear
27. Apr 2021 · 06:56 UTC
Wow, I felt your game absolutly!
Great game and great ending, I was watching through the my fingers at the ending ha-ha, that was scary
Good job!
Franciszek Pyrć
27. Apr 2021 · 07:34 UTC
Such a good looking and fun game. The story is nice the artstyle is amazing and sounds sound the best
xJazzaXx
27. Apr 2021 · 08:17 UTC
Enjoyed this! Great mood/atmosphere. I'm not too good with spooky games, but the atmosphere kept me going. Great submission.
LDJam user 235694
28. Apr 2021 · 15:20 UTC
Its so cool atmospheric, so cool mood. Good job!
LDJam user 58658
28. Apr 2021 · 15:36 UTC
Wow this game was really creepy. I kinda expected what was going to happen but it didn't help at all in the end :D The overall presentation was nice, but the game was pretty slow at start. I felt like the game could have had some small element in the beginning to make the beginning of the game a little more exiting as I first thought that the game was bugging out as there were nothing to see for like the first minute.
Becher
28. Apr 2021 · 15:53 UTC
sometimes it hard to really know where you're going, but otherwise your experience is really scary for a "thalassophobic" like me :) good work
ItsIsaac
04. May 2021 · 13:47 UTC
A great experience! Really wasnt expecting that, but boy was it good :D I loved how youve handled ascending to high aswell ! :fish: Good entry!
belser
06. May 2021 · 02:52 UTC
Solid experience, especially for a jam! Nice main menu music too :)
pushxtonotdie
06. May 2021 · 03:34 UTC
Really nice progression and narrative! The pacing was great, with a fun payoff at the end. Really tight experience!
JGUR
06. May 2021 · 07:34 UTC
Really enjoyed this! The mood was very well established with the darkness and great sound. The suspense made me feel like something was going to emerge from the darkness at any second and I loved it. Great twist at the end, and the story to follow really helped with immersion. Great Work!
LukiX
06. May 2021 · 08:01 UTC
Nice mood ale reference to jam theme. I like this game but the buttons in main menu are so bad.
Knipsch
17. May 2021 · 23:10 UTC
This was a really cool experience! Audio was great, and essential in an experience like this one that relies so much on the atmosphere. I thought the difficulty level was perfect; I didn't have trouble dodging the mines, but I also just found myself wanting to see more of the story, so I'm glad I could avoid hitting anything. The odd comms messages were nicely disturbing. Pacing was mostly very good, although I would have preferred the first part with the light blue water to be a bit shorter; it was more effective and easier to get oriented once the color of the water started getting darker and deeper. At least in my playthrough, I really liked that some mysteries still weren't solved at the end. Great job overall!
Knipsch
17. May 2021 · 23:12 UTC
Oh, also, the robot game you're developing is extremely cool! I highly encourage everyone who reads this to check out the developer's Twitter that is listed in the description.