Jaws of Earth by IceEye
Jaws of Earth is a short narrative game about following in the footsteps of an archaeologist who went missing while exploring a mysterious ruin in the Ecuadorian Rainforest.
WASD to move, E to interact, ESC or Q to close menus.
We had to make the game under increased restrictions due to our work schedules, however I'm still pleased with what we managed to create in such a short time. We're submitting early because neither of us will be able to work on it for the last day unfortunately.
3D Assets, Environment, and Character by Sara Hames (AKA SoapyBits) Programming, Writing, and Backend by Joshua Hames (AKA PottedFox)
Additonal assets from FreeSound.org and Mixamo
| Game ZIP | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IJZbWznIa-8uLXbDgoIsZFOJxaU1vpNr/view?usp=sharing |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/jaws-of-earth |
Ratings
| Overall | 1737th | 2.868⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1845th | 2.368⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1309th | 2.921⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 752th | 3.763⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1478th | 3.053⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 1175th | 2.658⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1076th | 3.368⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 24🗳️ | 7🗨️ |
Ps: The game size is pretty high. It would be nice to have a webgl build
Feedback:
+ The shader on the walls when they collide with(?)/pass the camera is awesome. Y'all have a cool minimalist art-style. I was hoping for some more props/scene dressing, as well as ambient audio to reinforce the tone, but was still generally satisfied.
+ The SE & NW direction animations are broken for the 8-way-directional-movement
+ JOURNALS:
- I wondered if I would've been more compelled by the story if we received the journals not in chronological order?
- I felt that 'E' should also be able to close the journal entry, and I kept tapping it once I finished reading.
- Once I was about halfway through, I started wishing for a notebook that I could refer to & re-read past journal entries.
- Towards the end, I also wanted more media type to interact with, other than journal entries. The "Prayer?" got me excited, but I think expanding the variety of interactable objects could help keep players moving forward intrigued. (Like an empty water canteen, a photograph, a makeshift map of the cave structure, markings on the walls, etc.) It would also create an opportunity for the person we're playing as to provide feedback, share opinions, and clue the player in on what this means.
In addition, the atmosphere is very well managed, and the story is well told.
There is a little animation bug when moving up left and down right ... but nothing serious.
Well done !
I like the cutaway effect, though it does let you see through to lower parts of the level at times.
The perspective and darkness makes it difficult to admire some of the level though.
I enjoyed the story, but some more interactables to investigate would have been nice.
As a suggestion, some music would make the game much more immersive. By the way, you seem to have forgotten to implement the walking animations when going northwest or southeast x)
Good job, keep it up!