Toot-al Darkness by woahitsjeff

It's said that a creature lurks these woods. Few live to tell the tale of their encounters, but those who have mentioned finding some sort of ritualistic items. Collecting enough of them was the key to their survival.
Don't make a sound, stay out of sight... you never know where it lurks at night. Oh, and don't be too nervous - you've got this!
Itch.io link: https://woahitsjeff.itch.io/toot-al-darkness
Controls
WASD - Movement
RMB - Hold breath
E - Interact
F - Toggle flashlight
Tab - See objective


| itch.io | https://woahitsjeff.itch.io/toot-al-darkness |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/toot-al-darkness |
Ratings
| Overall | 856th | 3.245⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 818th | 3.11⭐ | 52🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 852th | 3⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 991th | 3.157⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 887th | 3.11⭐ | 52🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 482th | 3.324⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 301th | 3.382⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 362th | 3.686⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 52🗳️ | 85🗨️ |
@triangle-point Glad you enjoyed it, thank you!
@lavendaggers I'm sorry it wasn't clear enough. Something I'll look into for sure!
@thatzniko A normal reaction 😁
@hotaloca Thanks for the detailed comment, very appreciated! There's definitely something to be done for finding the objective items more easily. Holding your breath is useful when the creature is near, as it can hear your breathing. Thanks for giving it a shot!
@inkajoo Thanks for the kind words! Your comment makes me realize I should have made the player turn towards the creature when they get caught. It's a very good point and I will look into it.
The idea of not been able to see every ten seconds in an FPS is a very good idea IMHO.
Unfortunately I only found battery and none of the objectives. Also I waited and run evrywhere and I had no sign of an ennemy.
Background sound ambience was nicely done !
Rated spooky/10.
@morgan-cabral Thanks for trying it! I uploaded a new version to the itch.io page that should help with finding the skulls. I'm glad it was spooky 😁
@mehigh Glad you liked it, thanks for the kind words!
@kingofnova Thanks for trying it! Glad the mood got you.
@sayurinyooko Thanks for sharing your thoughts! The latest version on itch.io should solve not knowing what to do. I implemented a tutorial window and made the objectives slightly easier to find. Thanks for giving it a shot 😁
You've done a good job of taking feedback and making updates, that's how good games get made!
I did seem to have an issue where I couldn't find the skull items (I found plenty of batteries) not sure if I was being dumb or if there was an issue. I got an error that my graphics driver has an issue with d3d12, not sure if that's somehow related.
Overall, nice job.
I am very happy to see your game made wit Unreal Engine, this is fantastic you dare to use this engine for such a rapid-developed game.
Torch is done very good, I liked it a lot! Maybe you could give a tutorial on how to do a torch light like yours?)
Graphics could be better with such an engine using free assets :)
And blinking with your eyes might be skipped totally, I am not sure about it
Good job!
Oh yeah, I think there is a bug: torch battery level was decreasing even when torch was turned off. Not always, but sometimes that was the case
@amythyst Thank you for the kind words. I will note your comments to look into them!
@yaroslav-gozak I'm glad you enjoyed it! Tutorials would be nice if I could find the time to make them 😅 I love PSX style, so that's what I went with. I will note the bug and look into it, thank you!
It was too dark to know where I was; everything looked the same. Usually I died without ever seeing the monster. The creepy breathing was effective, but again, it was so dark that I couldn't find a place to hide. Holding my breath didn't seem to stop the monster.
Still, it was creepy, so you nailed the atmosphere.
@solah I think you're right, pushing it a bit more could have done wonders!
@gibberingtaylor Thanks for trying it! I'm happy to know you found the atmosphere cohesive. I hear you about the darkness of the map. Some adjustments are underway, but sadly aren't in the LD51 submission version. Thanks for the feedback!
@substain Nervous farts are very real 😁
@robeecodes Thanks for the kind words and for giving it a try!
Maybe it's the strangest game I've ever play at this ld51 :)
You've made a lot of work! Don't stop!
For me, it translated into „Every few seconds you are not allowed to play the game for a few seconds“It's basically an artificially laggy game. The environment is confusing, everything looks the same, and sometimes I get disoriented by the blinking on top of that. This made it so annoying that I did not even get to see the thing that is supposed to hear the farts.
I think you have several absolutely unnecessary mechanics that you should probably just remove and focus on the signature mechanic of your game - the fart. I don't see why battery and blinking mechanics, are necessary or even useful. You probably don't even need the flashlight.
You don't even need the flashlight for the signature mechanic to work but I guess it's kind of necessary for the title pun.
If you are going to continue working on the game, I suggest decluttering. I like the title but not so much the game. I find the mechanic of my eyes being forced closed every few seconds annoying and it was just preventing me from playing the game.
For me, it translated into „Every few seconds you are not allowed to play the game for a few seconds“It's basically an artificially laggy game. The environment is confusing, everything looks the same, and sometimes I get disoriented by the blinking on top of that. This made it so annoying that I did not even get to see the thing that is supposed to hear the farts.
I think you have several absolutely unnecessary mechanics that you should probably just remove and focus on the signature mechanic of your game - the fart. I don't see why battery and blinking mechanics, are necessary or even useful. You probably don't even need the flashlight.
You don't even need the flashlight for the signature mechanic to work but I guess it's kind of necessary for the title pun.
If you are going to continue working on the game, I suggest decluttering.
The game is presenting itself to be about inconveniently timed farts in a horror scenario so don't distract from that. Get rid of unnecessary mechanics and put in mechanics that work synergistically with the main mechanic - the fart.
One possible solution: Make the enemy blind and always near the player.
In the current state, I had no context for why farting is supposed to be bad. I don't know if the enemy can hear it, get to me or if the enemy even exists. (I didn't meet them) It's not terrifying to make a noise where there is no apparent danger. It would be absolutely petrifying if I farted as I am trying to sneak past the enemy and it started to sniff and follow the fart trail.
Anyway, thanks for participating I am glad you made time to make this for us!
@david-broz Holy, thanks for such a detailed piece of feedback, I really appreciate the time you took to write it out! I think you raise some really good points, which I've integrated into the latest version of the game (it's still a work-in-progress). Thanks for trying it out!