Lonely Sound by Ethanthopkins

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

Engine: GameMaker 2.3

Hi guys! I'm Ethan and this is my 4th game jam. I started learning to program about a year ago. These jams have been a great way for me to finish a game and learn with the pressure of a deadline.

This is a simple game based on a true story about three soldiers trapped in the bottom of a sinking boat. (link to story). Obviously the exact events in the game probably didn't happen. There's not a lot of information about the details of the story.

I put a lot of work into it the past couple of days so I hope you enjoy. I'll admit there's quite a bit of spaghetti code in there but hey it works. Constructive critism and feeback in general is very welcome.

Screenshot (20).png Screenshot (21).png Screenshot (26).png Screenshot (28).png

CREDITS:

Programming: @ethanThopkins

Art: @RenderByDavid

Sound:

“Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com“

"Nocturne No. 2 in E-flat Major"

Ratings

Overall 1063th 3.439⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1223th 3.141⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1093th 3.078⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Theme 751th 3.766⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1320th 3.281⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Mood 422th 3.875⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 46🗨️

Feedback

cireneikual222464
27. Apr 2021 · 00:40 UTC
I like that it is based on an event, and it fits the theme well! I ran it on Linux with wine, so I don't know if it was that or not but the sounds bugged out a little but. Other than that it ran well though.
Diego Pontes
27. Apr 2021 · 00:58 UTC
Great mood on the game, the sound loop was a bit too harsh to listen, but the dialogue and the final scene was awesome :) great work for 1yr and 3 game jams!!!
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 01:02 UTC
@cireneikual222464 hey thanks for playing. it could have been but I'll be the first to admit that the sound system code is hanging together by a very thin thread lmao.
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 01:03 UTC
@diego-pontes thank you! was the sound just looping at a point that didn't flow or like was the balance out of wack or something else?
Benosuke
27. Apr 2021 · 01:13 UTC
That good, I realy like the Horror theme, but that don't have much "gameplay" (I think is legit with the genre ^^') GG in any case
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 01:32 UTC
@benosuke yeah that's something I struggle with adding in interaction. I'm getting better though with every game! thanks for playing.
Kaabiikaze
27. Apr 2021 · 04:56 UTC
Wow. I was NOT expecting to play a story driven game in this jam!

Where to start, I really like the art direction, it's charming! Reminds me of minecraft avatars haha. There's also some moments that gave me a good chuckle, like how in the beginning if you take too long to get the supplies, you get yelled at. I was not expecting that haha!

I liked the pacing on the game, considering the length and time you took to make this! I did get apooked out when the screen said RUN, caught me off guard.

As for some feedback, the movement is a little sluggish. For a story game that is fine, but the map you are in is a little barren. Although, I will say that the interactivity of the objects really help patch that up. Also, I really like the dialogue bubble you made, it's really good! The color and the format is a little weird at times, but besides that I like the take on it.

Overall, good job on this! Definetly one that I will remember.
Gates
27. Apr 2021 · 05:12 UTC
Overall very good game! The repeating sound can be quite irritating, and the last bit with the guy chasing you down was pretty buggy, but other than that I really liked the art (except for MRE haha), and the mood was really good and engaged me into finishing the game! Good work!
Exiled Burger
27. Apr 2021 · 05:12 UTC
Enjoyed the story and most of the art! Different twist on what I envisioned for the theme.
Dane Tesla
27. Apr 2021 · 11:57 UTC
So cool that it was based on a real event! I really liked the atmosphere getting more dense with each moment. As some people mentioned, the sound is a bit irritating after some time, maybe a "sound off/sound on button would help?
Ourten
27. Apr 2021 · 12:30 UTC
Really good story! The despair and oppressing atmosphere was good. The interactions were a bit simple but efficient for the narrative driven context.
Peco
27. Apr 2021 · 12:30 UTC
Nice!! I really like the idea of taking a real story and turning it into an interactive game.
I think with the music and screenshake, you were really able to convey the panic and horror!
The pixel are was decent too.

I wish there was more choice to the game. Was there an option to not kill the guy in the end?? XD

Keep making games :D
Gulcasa
27. Apr 2021 · 16:38 UTC
Pretty nice! It's obviously simple, but it doesn't feel sloppy at all. The soundtrack was actually pretty good, some slight challenge, and it flows by quickly enough that the downsides aren't grating. Game ran on a weird resolution that was larger than my monitor's vertical resolution and some of the game box was hanging offscreen. Consider picking a nice free-use font for the next time!
Eugenik
27. Apr 2021 · 17:50 UTC
nice game.
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 18:01 UTC
@peco I wanted to much to put choices in the game so much! I ran out of time though. Thanks for playing! :)
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 18:01 UTC
@gulcasa I was worried about that because resolution is something I just don't have a good grasp on yet tbh. I think that's what I'm gonna work on next.
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 18:02 UTC
@kaabiikaze thanks for the feedback!
systemeffect
27. Apr 2021 · 19:17 UTC
Brilliant! I like the mix of humor and horror near the end. Nice to see some great story driven stuff out there! Also the piano key sound when you pick up the MREs is SUPER SATISFYING!

Thanks for a great game!
AutoGibbon
27. Apr 2021 · 20:17 UTC
The whole thing felt like a dream, and quite surreal. I think you nailed atmosphere with the never ending drone, but I'm not sure if I got killed or if I killed the guy at the end when I picked up the blade. I thought I'd done something wrong and broken the game! If you've only been coding for 1 year this is quite an achievement. The text felt slow, but thankfully you gave us space to speed read, great! And lastly, I laughed when the text started shaking for dramatic effect. I wish we'd done that in our game.
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 20:58 UTC
@autogibbon Thanks, that is exactly what I was going for! I could've made that a bit more clear at the end I agree. For the record...it's up to interpretation lol. I imagine your player killing him
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 20:59 UTC
@systemeffect Thanks :)
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 21:23 UTC
@dane-tesla going to take that into account in my future games. It's something I never thought of until now. Thanks for playing
🎤 Ethanthopkins
27. Apr 2021 · 21:23 UTC
@eugenik Thank you!
xpoho
28. Apr 2021 · 01:07 UTC
"И съели Кука..."
Игра времен Второй мировой войны? О, это отлично! Очень мрачная история - мне по душе!
Совет! Тряска экрана говорит игроку о том, что трясется весь корабль, поэтому для нагнетания напряжения лучше оставлять экран статичным, а вот буквы в тексте пусть трясутся. Так делали в Undertale, хорошо работало.
Ну и, может быть, сделать матроса чуть более быстрым в начале? А потом замедлить его.
Игра мне понравилась, спасибо! ^_^

P.S. Если тебе нравятся подобные игры, залетай ко мне - я восстановил ссылку ^_^
🎤 Ethanthopkins
28. Apr 2021 · 02:02 UTC
@xpoho спасибо за игру и за отзывы. Я вижу, что многие люди говорят о скорости, поэтому я собираюсь изучить это в будущих играх.
Videt
29. Apr 2021 · 08:08 UTC
Nice graphics! The sound is extremely loud tho to the point where it starts to be annoying. Volume control would be a nice thing to add
🎤 Ethanthopkins
29. Apr 2021 · 15:03 UTC
@videt hearing that a lot. Definitely something I'm going to do on my next game
Invixel
13. May 2021 · 14:36 UTC
Nice game! I tried to do a story based game last jam, but I didn't have time to add anything to make it fun. You avoided that pitfall, and actually had gameplay! (which is great)

The mood was great because of the dark theme and the sound, but in my opinion, it was a bit too dark. That might be because I'm playing on a 2560x1440 monitor and i couldn't get the game fullscreen, but it was still something that annoyed me a bit.

Looking past that, I enjoyed the dialogue and story, you conveyed the psychological horror wonderfully!