Nice idea! I really like artstyle

FYI, I got 404 trying to play the LD57 web version.
Good job! Got the vibe of those classic first person low-poly horror games.
I suggest changing the link type to HTML though, since it is a web build on itch, not quite the source code. I almost thought I have to download and build it.

It's both a funny and scary game at the same time! :). I like the idea of binoculars, I just recently bought one for myself and wanted to add to the game too. The atmosphere of the game is cool. I think you know, but you do not run the game on the page Ludum

I got 404 error while trying to play the game too =(

I like the concept of making bird watching actually fun, but to me it was the opposite >.<
appreciate the loch ness monster though

@dywanix @keith-wang @kotolazer @510 @letmebeme
Thanks for playing glad you enjoy it! Yes I should of known that the Ludum Dare website would be buggy with the embedded feature. I thought it would work this time :stuck_out_tongue: It won't let me delete the Ludum Dare embedded game from the page either :laughing: I'll try again later..
If you want to play the game, use the itch.io link https://thesoulgrinder.itch.io/dark-ness

Ah it worked, there's only the itch.io web link now :smile:

"Ah there it is!". I spotted some birds and it was surprisingly chill and not unnerving at all...

The strange visual style and rather ridiculous situations evoke the mood of old funny horror films. Cool!

Interesting idea, it would be nice to add more interactivity to the birds, and of course I feel sorry for my Spacebar. The animal models are cool, and the nature atmosphere is great.

small and funny game! controls and mechanics are a bit clumsy but it was worth it, awesome!

I had to play it twice because i just didn't see the Nessie as I wasn't paying attention to it :D Overall i had fun, the uncanny graphics are interesting to look at. Good old horror movies is what came up to my mind.

Really liked the story telling part, good stuff :+1: mini games were okay, especially the fishing one where I destroyed my space bar :joy:

I liked the sounds and the atmosphere as a whole, it was an enjoyable experience

This was a lot of fun. The concept is cool and the fishing mechanic is probably my favorite part of the whole thing. I don't know if I've seen anyone do it like that before, it really does give the impression of hooking and reeling something in. I was a little annoyed by having to wait for the hook before I figured it out and then I was thinking "Oh, but this is actually like reeling it in, you pull for a bit and then have to wait for your next pull."

The comedic sound design was great and sets the mood nicely. Overall I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for playing Deep Bat Rage and commenting. And congrats on finishing!

Fun, creepy and unusual game. Thank you!

Nice game! Atmosphere, minigames and "Nice" voice, Kudos!

Nice work, the itch io link is listed as "Source Code" so I almost missed it. The graphics are nice I'm impressed you got it all together for the jam, good voice work too, well done!

@the-stewarts @ronalchue @jester1454 @leumas @ezduzzit @jtap @buckmeister @aveezavr @7uc4s @shadow64 @scott-r-howell
Thanks all for checking it out and leaving some much welcomed funny/nice comments!

@aveezavr @7uc4s @shadow64
Sorry about the spacebar guys, mine took some punishment too during testing lol, I was going to have a retro golf game style bar you need to do a few times to catch the fish but due to time constraint this was easier and required less time to do lol

@scott-r-howell
Good catch thanks! I didn't notice I did that and changed it now from Source Code to HTML5(Web)

Cool idea! Reminds me of that Pokémon game where you had to take photos of them.

@indiealesha
Thanks! Yeh if I had more time I would of expanded on the bird and variety haha would of been cool.

Really cool vibe!

I liked the game! It's really nice that the game has several mini-games with a plot twist.
At first I thought I did something wrong when I saw the "game over" screen :D

Very cool solo entry!

@bartholomheow) Thanks, glad you liked it!

@surweaver
Yes ironically by reaching the game over screen you completed the game :smile: Thanks glad you enjoyed it!

Good Job... cool watch bird mini game


Cool game! was interesting to look for the different bugs, like it!

@batthecat Thanks, glad you liked it!

@batthecat Thanks, much appreciated! Yeh there's a couple of bugs, birds, Nessies and fish to find lol

Wow this was very complex! And also 3D! Props to you.

This was a lot of fun to play. I was waiting for a jump scare the entire time when staring out for some birds. You had me on the edge of my seat and it never came! I like the low poly and the minigames. Very well done. As a nitpick, there seem to be some bugs where there's a delay from input to action, but it didn't take away from the experience too much

I felt like I was really playing a game made by someone who likes birdwatching. reminds me of those Fear to Fathom games. I was also waiting for a jump scare. At the end i was just hoping to be dragged under water. WHY WOULD I FISH after getting creeped out by the swan haha. And I mean that in jest, just found it funny to be fishing in such a creepy environment. good job

Hi! I really enjoyed playing your game. I liked the chill atmosphere. Though fishing at night was a bit scary — I kept expecting some kind of monster to appear, like in a horror movie.

@rachenite @jddoesdev @brian-russell @jscommander
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I wanted to put some jump scares, like a cat jumping out of nowhere and stuff like that, but I spent most of my time on the models, minigames and the 4.5 minutes long title screen and ran out of time as always :smile: Yeh I'm not sure why he would feel the need to go fishing at night after the Swan incident, he really had the survival instincts of a lemming lol.

MMmmm fish. Anyway, I liked the bird section and didn't like the fishing section because it was a bit too long.Special thanks that the game is in 3d and you can play in the browser it was very nice to see.

@nicknickolas Thanks, much appreciated! Yeh I usually do 2D games for jam but I'm giving 3D a go lol, I always do a browser version though, most people prefer them. If you quickly and repeatedly press space bar when the fishing hook icon is over the fish icon it is much faster

Cute little game. Fishing wasn't the most polished, but it did lure me in (no pun intended) to a false sense of security.

Spooky! Spotted it 1 times only.
Fun take on fishing simulator vibes :)

Love the artstyle!

Always cool to see a more narrative game in a jam! Nessie teasing us during the birdwatching segment was quite funny. Gameplay wise: for the birdwatching segment the way the animation plays when you spot a bird felt a bit awkward to me; it would often zoom out only to zoom back in or pull me back after i had already started looking somewhere else. I think having the camera instantly lock and only zoom in might feel better. For the fishing minigame, there was no reason not to just spam space as hitting space without the hook on the fish just did nothing; adding some sort of punishment for hitting space at the wrong time would force the player to actually play the minigame. Fun experience overall, good work and thanks for the game!

Funny little game! I spotted Nessie twice in the first part, and when I spotted it at the end, it was already too late...
Great atmosphere on that second "stage", it felt really uncomfortable to be on that boat!

This was great! I had chills. :) I spotted Nessie a couple of times. The tension-inducing build-up in (between) each of the mini-games was great! Loved the bits of spoken audio.

Thanks for the hint on... time duration... at the end. Checked it out and it was a great additional reward for fi(ni)shing.

You've done an excellent job, and the result is really good! It's a very amusing idea. The musical arrangement is amazing, and I also really liked the voice acting. The mini-games with photography and fishing turned out to be interesting and add variety to the gameplay.

A strange "bird" constantly appears in the camera, which isn't voiced in any way, but I think it's just some bird I didn't know about. Simply its presence already creates anxiety, which works well for the game's atmosphere.

Fishing lacks a bit of impact because, honestly, it should be more tense. You can press the spacebar many times, which causes a loss of focus concentration. If I were constantly focused and pressed, for example, as in Stardew Valley, at the right moment, it would have scared me even more, especially when I caught the last fish.

@robertfishfellow @jepjoh2 @alvaroromeral @linky439
Thanks, much appreciated! Glad you enjoyed it!

It's been quite a while since I had to spam my poor spacebar this much, however the sound that that made kept me from falling asleep quite well :p
Nonetheless, well done on the game.

@p1x3lc0w
Thanks for feedback, it was good fun to make and yes the birdwatching zoom animation is a bit whacky, the fishing is a bit space bar heavy and there was a couple of other little things I'd of like to of fixed before I ran out of time lol

@mashedpotato
Thanks glad you enjoyed it! Nessie is in 3 places in the title sequence, 3 in the birdwatching level and 3 in the fishing level too. I spent too much time making and improving that title sequence really, I just enjoyed making the sequence. Think I'll make a more sequence based game next jam if the theme fits lol

@kurakurture Thanks very much! Was fun to make, I don't usually make games with camera sequences but is something I'm going to practise more. Totally agree with you on the Space bar fishing minigame, I was going to have the retro golf swing mechanic that you do a few times per catch and also have Nessie animation pulling you into the water but ran out of time, but oh well it'll have to do :smile:

@ping78 Thanks, much appreciated!

Really liked the atmoshpere and sound design of the game, the gameplay was also more interesting than I anticipated :D

Nessi is really cute (mostly, spotted her 2 times) and especially considering you did everything alone, this is a great submission!

@alem26 Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! She is cute until you get too close, lol. You can spot her in 3 spots during the title sequence, 3 while birdwatching, and 3 while fishing.

Nessie, are you there sweetie? Come inside, you're going to catch a cold. Nice game, funny and scary at the same time. I took a while to get that you needed to spam the spacebar to catch the fish quicker, but once I did... Poor keyboard! Congrats on the game

@texugo Thanks, much appreciated! I know, sorry about space bar fishing lol, I forgot to update the instruction text and the mini game so it was clear and was more fun but ran out of time.

Very calm and soothing, the gameplay is reeally great !

@lucasito Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I was going to contrast calm and relaxing activities with some jump scares, but instead it ended up being a relaxing horror lol

Atmosphere is excellent! I like how the intensity grows and the camera mechanic felt very natural.
I would love to have like a collector book that stores the captures of the animals in the lake.

@binaryprinciple Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated! I agree, it would of been nice to include a collection book for the birds and fish.

I like birds! Oh, swan! Wait what. Great experience, art, sound. Also I found myself clumsy at fishing. Good luck.

Cool game! You did a great job building the environment and ambiance with the 3D art and the great ambient sounds. The minigames were well made and I had a lot of fun spotting Nessie though I can't believe she was a red herring! Good thing you mentioned the title screen in the credits, otherwise I would have missed it, and what a masterpiece, such great camerawork!

@gdman Thanks, much appreciated! :)

@borabee Thanks, glad you liked it! I spent far too much time on the title screen to be honest lol, good to see people were patient enough to enjoy it. I don't usually do scenes like that but it was really fun to mess about with.