Hey everyone!
I'm going to start with a gif of a level I'm not sure anyone got to ;)
If you want to attempt to get past level one, and you are feeling cocky enough to beat all 8 levels, give it a try!
I felt like doing a blog post on my game, things I've learned, what went wrong, what went right, and where to go from here.
Issues with the game
Level Size
One issue I found was that the levels were a bit too big with no clear indicator of where you were supposed to go. Because of the limited resources provided on the map, players find themselves running out of ammo and batteries without figuring out where to go. As a developer, I didn't even think of this. Since I already knew my game, I would subconsciously walk towards where I was supposed to go. This is a doubly bad issue because it is the first level where this problem is most pronounced!
Hidden mechanics
One issue I found is that players didn't realize they had a soft time constraint. Because the spawners spawn endlessly as long as you are on the level, you need to beat the level really fast so you don't get overwhelmed. That created a negative synergy with the Sanity effect, which increases the mob-spawning rate by up to 2x if you are at 0 sanity.
Lack of visual feedback
Enemies don't have any sort of indicator they are being damaged or what health they are at. Because enemies can have variable health due to the combining mechanic, and because shots pass through some enemies, players found that they weren't sure if their shots were doing anything.
No tutorial
There are actually a lot of different mechanics in this game. Each enemy functions totally differently from one another and the light affects them differently but the way they function isn't immediately apparent. On top of this, players found themselves not knowing how to light lampposts (whoops), not understanding the sanity mechanic, and being completely confused on the first level making them give up in frustration.
What went right
Mood
The lighting and shader effects, though subtle, made a really nice mood for the game. Adding a simple lerping of color on the light made it really come to live. Also, the audio effects I added to the crow sounds, the creepy laughing, and the music I made came together really nicely. It definitely had an unsettling feel to it.
Core idea
The idea of a horror/action game where you need to use the light to strategically take down enemies is really, really cool. I've been playing with the idea in my head for a while now and it was so refreshing to finally get it out. I always liked the horror genre, and I think good pixel-horror is underrepresented. Some of my favorite games are Lone Survivor and Distraint, so I've always been really inspired by them. The core mechanics of using the light to slow enemies and navigate a pitch black level works really, really well. Unfortunately the level design doesn't always compliment them so well.
The Sheer amount of content.
The game is hard, meaning players spend a lot of time on one level. It requires learning the mechanics, level layout, and strategy of each level. Each level has a different objective and mechanics, and each world has a different enemy as well as boss. And on top of that, there are 8 levels total in the game. There are also 3 different environment tilesets. There is a lot in this game. It takes me 10 minutes to speedrun it on hard and I know all of the level layouts front and bback. Although, unfortunately, players have no way of learning the mechanics to see it all.
The Soundtrack
For something I put together in Ableton in less than an hour, the three songs in the game sound really nice. One of my friends was shocked to learn that I had made it myself and it wasn't something I downloaded. On top of that, I did a really good job of manipulating the pre-recorded audio effects to be really creepy
What to do now?
So I have this game, it has it's flaws but the core idea is fun and great... so what do I do with it?
Well I've struggled to make a complete game up until now. And now I have a basic prototype and fun idea, so I guess I'm going to try to make it into a full game!
Same core, different execution
I like the idea of the gameplay a lot. But the levels were too big and the game focused more on action over survival. So maybe next time I can focus on making the game take place in smaller, more claustrophobic hallways with each room being loaded as an individual entity instead of one large amalgamation. Giving it a more resident evil 1-esque feel to it maybe. I feel like I could do more with smaller areas and less crazy/aggressive enemies and it would be more manageable to be broken down into smaller bits.
Re-working some ideas.
I like the way that you have to keep moving forward due to the limited batteries, though maybe I should make something to help players out. Maybe a giant pile of batteries that you can go to at any time to get batteries? I'd ideally like to have no spawners and more static enemies, which would go better with my smaller rooms idea. I found that having spawners that spawn every 4-8 seconds eventually produces an unwinnable scenario.
Better story
I basically BSd my way through making a story. There is no real overarching plot, so maybe I could make one? I have some ideas I can merge this with, and maybe make something cool.
Less Rush
I like the tension the game adds on the player due to the constant rushing, but sometimes I feel like it's too much. The doors in the level 1 areas kill enemies, and I kind of like it that way. It gives you a place to feel safe and catch your breath, if only briefly.
Overall I think this was a really fun game jam!
It was my first time doing one of these and I've learned so much about game design as well as Unity. If you haven't played/rated my game yet, it is available here. Thank you all for making this such a wonderful and positive learning experience, and I hope to come back with some friends as team members for the next one!
If you have any questions at all, or if you want me to play your game, leave a comment below this and I would love to check it out! I've rated ~67 games so far and I've been having a blast seeing all the cool concepts people have cooked up.
