Perseverance by ql28
Perseverance is a quick (?) experience about failing, failing and failing again while pushing farther each time, delaying the inevitable. ( <-- Hop, putting the theme in the description, check ✔)

In this narrative experience / QTE hell, you'll be tasked by a mysterious lady to partake in a strange experiment. Follow her lead and discover what lies behind your inevitable failures.

We are well aware that narrative content is not the best kind of entry to produce for a game jam, but the idea was so enticing in our head and the challenge so out of our comfort zone that we decided to try anyway ! I hope you'll find it intriguing enough to keep trying till the end. Pro tip: Take a pen and a paper if you want to reach the end... Or have a good memory I don't know...
If you really don't like to torture yourself, you'll be presented with the option to access an alternate ending after your third failure. We promise we won't judge you...


| Link | https://horyzone.itch.io/perseverance |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/perseverance |
Ratings
| Overall | 885th | 3.389⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1250th | 2.75⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 615th | 3.389⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 906th | 3.472⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 316th | 4.111⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 498th | 3.472⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 233th | 3.944⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 10🗳️ | 14🗨️ |
I actually failed almost at the very start (guess I didn't hold SPACE for long enough), and then I failed again because I kept shaking one button, like it told me to do, until the next one appeared, and my clicked might've not registered well. And then I failed because I let go too early. Am I the one at fault? Or is it psychological warfare against the player? I'm starting to think that might be true. Just what do you want from me, game?!
~~It reminds me of the all toxic relationships I had in the past.~~
I lasted enough to at least pass the calculus bit, and then I believe I failed the QTE because I panicked and needed to look at the keyboard. And after that, because I used both of my hands to hold keys and ran out of fingers to click on yet another button. Arggh!
So, among the bugs I noticed, sometimes the '15+7-1' field doesn't clear, so when I click on it and type, I get 'answer21', which of course doesn't register and makes me fail. Sometimes the 'shake' and the 'hold space' options trigger a bad end even if I'm doing everything as told. Sometimes I'm not sure what the rules are: should I let go of 'space' to click on the next button? Should I avoid shaking it over other buttons?
I'll investigate more.
At least the narrator believes in me and is proud of me.
Less of a test of perseverance and more of a test of reading cursive.
After repeatedly getting to this screen and mashing every button on the keyboard, I was ready to start decompiling the binaries to find out what this letter was until I realized I'd be better not staying up till 2 am when I have work tomorrow.
However it was quite sweet and the message was cute. One thing I would suggest is a slightly more readable font and the ability to click to advance text (I occasionally wasn't reading fast enough and would miss a few words).
First up: Artistically, this game is just beautiful. Loving the colours, the music and, of course, the image of Perseverance. I found the extensive text from Lady __Patience__ very fitting, added with the cursive font and the roll moving on a bit fast, talking (or rather listening) to her even felt like a gameplay element.
I had to adjust to the game overwhelming me and started skimming the text patiently, not worrying about details too much. This exact learning curve worked out greatly for the game, as the more I got used to how the text would appear, the more I understood what the experiment was about, the more I got the feeling that there will come a point where execution of the task will become impossible. I still insisted on completing it, even while knowing that it is futile, but at some point I truly gave up... I think it was 2 trials after she stopped talking to me. Which was another fantastic trick - letting me get used to her just to teasingly take away the sole motivator of the experience. I was not shocked nor disappointed by what Perseverance had to tell me before letting me go :)
What I think you did brilliantly was hinting and foreshadowing that the player cannot win and has, in fact, almost no control over the situation... something I really would've needed for my game this time around.
tl;dr: I loved this experience! Thank you for your lovely entry <3
We know that it can be rought around the edge and that some mechanics could have been polished, thanks a lot for taking the time to highlight where improvement can be made. We plan on potentialy perfecting it a bit after the jam and making it freely available.
@trexxak This is a message from me to you more than a message from the team. Thanks. Thanks for getting it, for not letting go long enought to fully appreciate what the game was about, and above all thanks for taking the time to make us know how you've experienced it. To be honest this Jam was not easy for me (I'm the art and writing guy by the way ^^) as I'm usualy a 3D artist and this was way out of my confort zone. Going fo a pretty simple esthetic was simultaniously an artistic choice and a confession of my own inhability to do pretty things in 2D like animated sprite etc... So my part on the visual was quickly dealt with and I passed most of my time on the Jam working on the narrative and the feelings it was supposed to bring to the player. I really tried to do my best to make it touching and it was hard for me sometime as I felt like I was a burden for my mates asking them things like "I need this to do that very quietly with a ease of" or "No really, it's important to have her talking almost each try at the begining", having to justify my demands to them will they were already struggeling on their side. So when the game was finished and a lot of player complained about that fact that Patience was talking to much, that they just wanted to retry faster, that the font should have been simpler, that some things were too hard... I really felt useless and I began questioning if I was even able to transmit anything with my writing or my art.
So thanks for letting me know I touched at least one person as I intended to.
You just rekindled my own perseverance.
I'll make sure to experience your game with the same attention et open mind you bestowd upon mine.
Here is my attempt:
https://youtu.be/LN8wLd3ENb0

Anywho, first off; I really appreciate that you went for more of a narrative game. I always do narrative design for the projects I work on, as well as casting direction etc. It's nice to see other games go down a similar path!
On the note of casting direction, if you are in need of voice actors for a future, similar project, let me know! My pro voice actors are always down for jams!
Right, back to Perseverance. The visuals are largely quite pleasant, though I did find the text a little hard to read at times and with no control over how quickly it passed, I missed a couple of words here and there. Art direction is very pretty, though!
Sounds are simple but effective. The best kind of sound design is that which doesn't get distracting and yours blends nicely!