Very fun, nice idea :D

New fear unlocked haha. Very cool idea!

Haha this game is disturbing and very nice :D managed to reach 119 seconds once I figured out the mechanics of not only the hand but also the creepy crawlies. All the various elements fit together nicely, making it a very solid entry overall. Well done!

Really cool implementation of the theme, and creeped the bejesus outta me (which I'm assuming is intentional) so great job there.

I didn't initially understand exactly what I had to do, but because it's such a tight gameplay loop it became clearer each time I had a go.

Nice tight game :D.

I managed to survive 76 seconds after 2 tries. The title screen is dang amazing, nice use of the tiny creatures there =). I liked the (random?) zooming in and out, really made it uncomfortable and hard to plan for what I was going to do next, which made the gameplay pretty engaging. Nice job!

This is the best title screen I think I've ever seen. Amazing.

This game creeped the crap out of me! I'm pretty sure that's what you were going for, and well done you nailed it. So creepy! So awesome too.

It took a while to get a hand of how to manipulate the hand to keep it from locking onto the scratching areas but once I got the hang of it I felt really good. I really enjoyed overcoming that learning curve, this was really fun.

I think my favorite part is how _visceral_ it felt, I really wanted to just scratch the itches on my monitor myself! Well done!

Just one question - what part of the body has such a massive surface area?

@sockenpuppe hope you enjoy your new fear :wink:

@frib glad that you like disturbing, would have been a bit odd if you didn't considering the game you made yourself. 119 is a very good score!

@slippers very intentional creeping... if I only wish I went a little further with it :laughing: I'm quite the expert on non-intuitive game mechanics so I'm very happy that this one seems to have been more understandable than most.

@jimbly Glad you liked the title screen! the zooming in and out starts after 20 seconds I think and then trigger on random intervals. It was a bit awkward to get working though as the colliders around the edge of the screen are attached to the camera and needed adjusting when zooming in... and i made some mishap in the calculations that made those edges grow inwards as well while zooming. but i figured why not call it a feature, rather than trying to find what the issue was.

@david-york And that you too liked the title screen. by the sound of it, my creepy intentions hit just right. it is a tricky thing to design a non-standard physics based strange controller like that... I guess if I had time and energy it would have been good for the game to be a bit clearer about when the player did wrong, or at least say "nonono!" when the hand accidentally hovers a rash. so that the game could explain its own mechanics a bit better. and to answer your question with another question: could the hands perhaps be very small?

Very cool sound! While playing, my hand involuntarily itched Х)

Ha ha, omg that's horrible - I love it. It took a while to get the hang of it - mostly because at first I thought the hand was the cursor... perhaps it would be good to have a custom cursor (rather than the standard browser pointer that is there on itch.io (also, lol, itch.io)).

Once I got it it was surprisingly complex to stay alive: seems like it should be easy, but it ain't. I couldn't crack 100 seconds... but sooo close.

That was a very unnerving experience. The sound of the scratching, the exhales, BGM and the visuals of those tiny bastards create a very unpleasant feeling throughout the whole game :cold_sweat:

I like to scratch my nerves sometimes, and this game fulfilled my need :sweat_smile: Great job!

This was a very weir experience, but also really well pulled of. The music really complemented the tone and the tiny creatures were on point

I actually found myself getting itchy while playing this, pretty cool that you were able to create something that can universely unnerve everyone who plays it. Exspecially since it was intentially done. Really unique concept here, great work!

Wow, that's nice. Managed to survive 104 seconds on my third try when I get the game mechanics sorted out. Nice combination of gameplay, mood, sfx and graphics, I love it.

This game made my skin crawl, literally. I feel itchy now. Very effective

Incredibly unsettling. Well done devs :no_mouth:

This one reminds me certain game from the previous LD - https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/po-jo-pe

Anyway, itching the itch.io is a new experience for me.

To everyone who got the urge to scratch their own skin, I'm very pleased the game transcended the fourth wall.

@mrspeaker I was considering a custom cursor at one point, and then forgot about it. But you are right that it would have signaled that the hand isn't the mouse clearer.

@annie-owl I hope you recovered from the experience :laughing: I tried to work an unnerving feeling into all aspects of the game.

@a-bond That game looks like it shares quite a few ideas based on the screenshots!

Ahhh, this makes me itchy! Clever mechanic, it took me a practice round to see that the rashes appeared where my cursor hovered and how to steer the hand away from colliding with the rashes, but once I got the hang of it, I did much better (71 seconds).

It's an interesting strategy that you can scratch on non-rashy areas to prevent the hand from being as attracted to scratch the rash. This is something I tried to make use of, but found it a bit challenging to extend my score with.

Overall, really focused game that follows the theme well!

Horrible. Nice job! Started out focussing on the grossness and ended up abstracting the imagery away and getting really into strategy. 😵‍💫 Learnt a little more each time. 136 is my best so far.

The graphics do exactly what they're supposed to and I hate it, so very well done on that too! 👍 It really does feel like it's under there and not on top. The sounds being funny helps me get through it!

Simple game yet a surprising amount of depth to how you play it and with a *strong* presentation to say the least.

really freaky, haha well done was a fun and gross experience :D

Nice and innovative game! It kind of works on mobile too:)

Reached 110! I really loved the vibes of the game. I liked how original the dodging felt. I was reacting to the hand, while also interacting with the swarm. incredible.

Disturbing, but really original concept!

@brendan-milos thanks for the feedback! I agree that the ability to play it smart and trigger the scratching oneself is rather limited. I didn't really want to give the player much more control though simply because there's not enough content in the game, not enough progression, to allow the player to play very long. And I didn't want anyone feeling like they beat the game and could continue for ever.

@ava-skoog That's a very impressive time!!! And glad you liked the graphics :laughing: Funnily enough, the sighs were and are the most disturbing to me. Both recording them and having to hear myself playing.

This was so strange and oddly horrific. Congratulations for a completely unique idea that actually works as a game!

Really bizarre and disturbing game! Not only because of the concept, but also the matching audio design and weirdly zooming and moving camera. Mechanically it worked pretty well, it took me a few moments to figure out how the creatures are attracted to the cursor and you have to balance that with the attraction of the hand and its inertia. It might have been too easy, if it weren't for the disjointed camera movements. On one hand they weren't too disjointed, so the game was still very much playable and didn't make me want to throw anything at the screen. On another they gave the game this sinusoidal movement between moments of rather easy gameplay with time to rest and moments of panic when the camera got zoomed in really close and the rashes were all around you. Pretty damn smart design, I love it!


@lcstark thanks for the detailed feedback! I added those camera movements and zooms precisely so that it wouldn't get too easy for skilled players and also add some sense of progression. Also to hide that the game probably wouldn't be too fun to play for much longer per session than where you got your record. A very good highscore indeed.