Message in a Bottle by hechi

made by hechi for Ludum Dare 50 (JAM)

:island: INTRODUCTION :island:

You wake up on a desert island for no apparent reason. The only thing you have nearby is paper and a bottle.

What would you say to the rest of the world?

Message in a bottle is a First Person game with a multiplayer component where you can share messages with other castaways like you.

The game has been created during the ludum dare 50. Theme: Delay the inevitable

*:keyboard: CONTROLS :mouse_three_button: *

WASD - Standard 3D movement

Space - Jump

E - Interect with items

Left clic - Throw item

Right clic - Drop item

ESC- Pause Menu

:green_book: Devlog

Thanks to the feedback from wonderful people who have played the game I have been able to add some improvements and fix the following bugs:

:point_right: Fixed a bug that allowed the player to fly infinitely

:point_right: Fixed a bug that allowed the player to swim out of bounds

:point_right: Added a new option to the configuration menu: Graphics quality

:point_right: The size of the game has been considerably reduced following an optimization of texture and sprite compression

The browser build will have to wait a bit longer, it requires more complex optimization work and due to my IRL job I can’t dedicate much more time to it, sorry for that.

Itch.io	https://hechi.itch.io/message-in-a-bottle
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/message-in-a-bottle

Ratings

Overall	356^th	3.786⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Fun	805^th	3.271⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	65^th	4.071⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Theme	1095^th	3.257⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	108^th	4.443⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Humor	494^th	3.258⭐	33🧑‍⚖️
Mood	154^th	4.059⭐	36🧑‍⚖️
Given		28🗳️	58🗨️

Feedback

ReRonin

05. Apr 2022 · 16:20 UTC

Interesting concept! I think I was one of the first players, so not many messages in the pool yet, but it sure was a relaxing island.

Janku

05. Apr 2022 · 16:22 UTC

I love this concept, great looking game, simple, fun and very inspiring! Great work! :D

LDJam user 224670

05. Apr 2022 · 16:31 UTC

Ahh I want to play this so badly but I'm on a mac!! T_T
I really love games with passive, calm, anonymous multiplayer.

🎤 hechi

05. Apr 2022 · 16:35 UTC

@janku @reronin
Thanks for the feedback :smile:

@midblue
Thanks for your comment! I am currently working on a webGL version

subvertissement

05. Apr 2022 · 17:13 UTC

support for a web version from a linux player! this looks really nice! :)

CursedEmbassy

05. Apr 2022 · 17:16 UTC

very nice looking game. I enjoyed this.

Raphiell

05. Apr 2022 · 17:23 UTC

Had fun with this! Thanks for including the barrel!
![ld50_1.png](///raw/cb3/31/z/4cb52.png)

Nash

05. Apr 2022 · 17:23 UTC

Very inspiring concept. I have always loved the idea of "pseudo-multiplayer" games.

I hope more people will find this game so there will be more messages to read. Now the same couple of messages will circle in bottles.

ErrynDev

05. Apr 2022 · 17:24 UTC

This is a very interesting place to walk around! I really like the concept that the messages are left from other players. I liked that the bottles floated in the water.

Linnet5

05. Apr 2022 · 17:39 UTC

A very cool concept! Had fun with all the messages :)

🎤 hechi

05. Apr 2022 · 17:42 UTC

@subvertissement Working on it! thanks for your interest

@cursedembassy @nash @erryndev @linnet5 Thanks! I appreciate it :smile:

@raphiell Whops... ofc this is a feature! :sweat_smile:

exaggegen

05. Apr 2022 · 18:01 UTC

Finally, didn't stay forever, lucky

![game.png](///raw/eb9/34/z/4cba2.png)

Graphics is enchants, The plot is funny and innovative. In general, I want to add a lot more, to supplement

exaggegen

05. Apr 2022 · 18:03 UTC

to make it more interesting

MalikenGD

05. Apr 2022 · 18:15 UTC

First bottle i made got stuck :( Otherwise neat game, nice graphics.

Alexthehuman2

05. Apr 2022 · 19:53 UTC

Beautiful graphic, wonderful ambient, funny memes. 10/10 would submit deez nut jokes over again. Jokes aside, it's a really relaxing, chill game where you submit a message throw out, then read others messages. You might find a sob story, you might find gold, you might find memes (as if memes aren't gold). But it's an incredible experience to play a bunch of ludum games, get your thoughts out by playing this, and then go back to rating others!

Frasse

05. Apr 2022 · 22:19 UTC

This is so cool. And pretty! I hope someone finds the poem I ~~stole~~wrote.

Okamit

05. Apr 2022 · 22:24 UTC

Really like this, great graphics and mood, and it's fun to see what other people have written. Could be expanded upon, but really sweet as is as well.

Good job!

🎤 hechi

06. Apr 2022 · 07:02 UTC

@exaggegen It looks like you found a way to escape from the island :sweat_smile:
Thanks for the feedback!

@malikengd) Sorry about that. I will try to reproduce this bug to fix it. Thanks for the comment.

@alexthehuman2 It was a lot of fun watching you play on your stream, thanks for that :heart:

@frasse @okamit I'm glad that two such talented guys have this opinion about my game, thank you very much.

Lichead studio

06. Apr 2022 · 18:46 UTC

The graphics are beautiful and i like the atmosphere it gives together with sound!

mortus

06. Apr 2022 · 19:03 UTC

Wow, the graphics are stunning! Really like the concept, but I was hoping for more interaction, like maybe you have to create messages out of words (like in dark souls) but you have to find words somewhere first. You know, some more gameplay.

Anyway, I've spend quite some time just fishing for bottles even as it is. :D Will have to return in a few days when more people would have casted their bottles into the sea hopefully.

Joror

06. Apr 2022 · 20:24 UTC

Neat treat! A very beautiful island - loved to hide in the bushes and look out, hoping another player would pop in somehow.

My message to the world: We're all immortals, but only in-game.

:pray:

EagleV

06. Apr 2022 · 21:15 UTC

Very cool concept! I would maybe suggest not to have the messages repeat, it's a bit disappointing to make a full tour and read nothing new.

PSV Games Studio

06. Apr 2022 · 21:22 UTC

Very interesting concept! I really liked the graphics and the atmosphere of the game.

Weirdybeardyman

06. Apr 2022 · 22:11 UTC

Beautiful and really interesting concept. Something about the setting of the game made the simple idea of reading other peoples messages really fun. I did get quite a few duplicate messages though, as others have said that would be nice to patch.

Matt Rice

07. Apr 2022 · 00:03 UTC

Really beautiful game and great concept! The movement felt smooth and the textures were on point. Some of the grabbing was a little awkward, and I couldn't grab the bottle to put the message in. Also I accidentally re-opened the message I wrote, and accidentally button mashed "e" when trying to pick up the bottle, and erased my message :(. Nevertheless, really fun and great job!

gdesecrate

07. Apr 2022 · 00:12 UTC

I wish there was option to turn graphics down to increase FPS.

Hekateras

07. Apr 2022 · 00:46 UTC

Unfortunately I couldn't get quite it to run at a decent FPS on my potato PC, but I appreciate the idea a lot! I love the concept. Seconding the request for less demanding graphics settings.

Wendel Scardua

07. Apr 2022 · 01:51 UTC

The island was really beautiful, and I liked the idea of sending and receiving actual messages in bottles. One thing that I had a bit of trouble was trying to grab my own bottle to throw, but other than that everything was fine.

eDiamonds

07. Apr 2022 · 08:01 UTC

Good concept! If add some NPCs chatting with the player by letter and good story, it may become a awesome indie game:)

benjamin

07. Apr 2022 · 09:19 UTC

Simple idea and flawless execution, the game is gorgeous. Also, first time I give a game a good humor rate for texts the authors didn't write !

Aeonarch

07. Apr 2022 · 09:41 UTC

Loved it, I happened to know where the assets come from, but still you put them together beautifully!
It was fun reading people's messages, this makes me realize one more time how awesome people are at generating content. The theme is also present, so great job overall :)

YukimiItsuka

07. Apr 2022 · 10:05 UTC

But hole!

ffffchai

07. Apr 2022 · 10:07 UTC

I feel relaxed. Nice job.

🎤 hechi

07. Apr 2022 · 12:45 UTC

@lichead-studio @wendel-scardua @ediamonds @benjamin @yukimiitsuka @ffffchai @aeonarch
Thanks a million for your feedback, I really appreciate it :heart:

@mortus
I understand perfectly what you say, I was thinking of adding some more features like being able to vote the messages, include a fishing system and a radio with channels, but due to time issues I couldn't include anything else.
Anyway, I think your idea is quite interesting, thanks for the feedback!

@hekateras @gdesecrate
Sorry for that, in the next version I will include the graphic configuration, thanks for your interest!

Fredrik Rosell

07. Apr 2022 · 12:50 UTC

Fantastic idea, and the mood/audio/graphics just came together to form great experience overall. Great game!

And to the unlucky person that opens my bottle, I'm sorry...

Simon Rahnasto

07. Apr 2022 · 16:53 UTC

This was such a nice idea, and the execution is just superb! I enjoyed swimming around and reading each and every message; knowing that they where written by fellow jammers who where in the exact same situation as myself. I will be returning to this game (Which is quite unusual in game jams) from time to time just to read the new messages!

Oh and it was a nice touch that a new bottle spawned from another player during the game!

🎤 hechi

07. Apr 2022 · 19:02 UTC

Thanks to the feedback from people who have played the game I have been able to add some improvements and fix the following bugs:

:point_right: **Fixed** a bug that allowed the player to fly infinitely

:point_right: **Fixed** a bug that allowed the player to swim out of bounds

:point_right: **Added** a new option to the configuration menu: Graphics quality

:point_right: The **size of the game has been considerably reduced** following an optimization of texture and sprite compression

The browser build will have to wait a bit longer, it requires more complex work and due to my IRL job I can't dedicate much more time to it, sorry for that.

@hekateras @gdesecrate Sorry if this mention bothers you, but I just wanted to let you know that the game already allows to change the graphic quality, thank you very much for your feedback!

@simon-rahnasto I apprecciate a lot your nice words, thanks! :heart:

Hekateras

07. Apr 2022 · 20:17 UTC

Thank you for letting me know ^^ Tried it now, greatly enjoyed it. Honestly, this is a wonderful idea with so much potential

Hare Software

08. Apr 2022 · 00:34 UTC

This is a super cool experiment that fits the theme and is perfect for an event like Ludum Dare. It was really fun reading all the different approaches people took. Well done!

Langotriel

08. Apr 2022 · 16:57 UTC

I couldn't help myself. I wrote a terrible recipe for pancakes and if somebody sees it and wants to make it, I will personally paypal you the money to do so :smile:

I love the bottle mechanic. It adds a lot of fun to the game!

F1Krazy

08. Apr 2022 · 19:28 UTC

I love it when people try more experimental things like this. This is a really fascinating social experiment, seeing the kinds of different things people send. Some people are taking it seriously, some people are just having a laugh with it, a few people sent blank messages, and one guy just quoted *Frozen*.

Can't help wondering whether anyone will ever see my message. I suppose I'll never know, and I suppose that's the whole point. This game is a simple, yet powerful statement. Well done.

potkirland

09. Apr 2022 · 01:07 UTC

left my message. very chill and exciting to read peoples messages will it work after the jam?

also left my message. thank you @hechi very cool

🎤 hechi

12. Apr 2022 · 09:13 UTC

@hare-software @langotriel @f1krazy
Thank you very much for your feedback and your nice words!

@potkirland
Yes, the game will continue to work after the jam. Thanks for your comment!

Molpe

18. Apr 2022 · 21:37 UTC

Beautiful game with a nice idea! Loved to read messages from others! :slight_smile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P1i3uqMjuw

🎤 hechi

19. Apr 2022 · 06:41 UTC

@molpe Thank you very much for playing the game and for recording yourself while doing it. It's always very nice and helpful to see people's reaction live. I had a lot of fun watching it :smile: