Voice volume is by default way too soft, and even with the music almost completely turned down it's hard to hear, never mind understand her. It's always better to be a little too loud at the loudest setting, and definitely for the voice to be louder than the music.
I really appreciate the split sound settings though, for some reason this has not become the default yet in video games.
Unfortunately that's the absolute loudest the voice lines can be without causing clipping artifacts. I'd like to hire an audio engineer to find a workaround to address this, but won't be able to unless secure funding. We are a small team funded entirely out of pocket so we're operating under a lot of limitations.
Tightly designed puzzles with compelling writing and themes--I'm impressed by how clearly each character was conveyed in only a handful of pictures and notes. The difficulty curve was just right for me, with each Solve screen being "uhh, WTF" at first glance but then gradually realizing I actually can fill the entire thing out. I only felt like I had to brute force one answer, juvpu jnf Enlzbaq orvat fhecevfrq ol gur sveroveq. V zvtug unir zvffrq fbzrguvat ohg V jnfa'g fher ubj gb gryy vg jnf Enlzbaq naq abg nal bs gur bgure zra.
My only point of critique is that it wasn't immediately obvious to me which was on and off in the settings, though I could just be bad at understanding UI lol. Naq znlor gung Nznln'f unaqjevgvat vf fbeg bs uneq gb ernq, rfcrpvnyyl tvira ubj zhpu grkg vf va ure tevzbver. Loved the touch of each character having unique handwriting and art styles though, great from both a gameplay and narrative perspective.
Really looking forward to the full version! And I can't wait to see the analog art.
Congratulations on submitting to the jam! I'm very impressed that one person managed to put (very nearly) all of this together within the time limit of the jam.
I actually played this game once, left it for a couple of weeks, and came back to revisit it. On the second playthrough, I noticed a lot of connections between the clues that I'd missed the first time. I think the connections might have been easier to make if it were possible to distinguish a little more between the painting styles of each separate artist, but I understand that's a big ask with one person handling all of the artwork for the game!
There were a couple of deductions that I didn't feel like I could make with 100% certainty, but overall the narrative was well-reasoned. I enjoyed the music, and the ability to switch between rooms without losing progress made everything much easier to parse. I particuarly liked the variety of objects and media available in room 3. As someone who specialises in fine art, I'd love to know more about the roots of the Surradist movement and why they were so invested in the particular idiosyncratic practices we see in the demo. I think the concept is great, and I look forward to the full version!
You're gonna love the full version: The paintings are all going to be real analog artworks in different media (oil, watercolor, and egg tempera). I'm hoping to commission different artists for exactly the reason you mention--to give each character a distinctive art style.
About the roots of Surradia: I'm drawing pretty closely from the women associated with surrealism, especially the whole muse thing (and pushback against it) and the interest in magic and alchemy. We'll definitely dive more into that in later rooms!
I reallly liked this! The mystery felt very well-paced and designed, and there was rarely a moment where I didn’t feel engaged.
The lore was interesting to read, and I liked that there was almost no clue that was irrelevant or just for fluff.
The difficulty curve was good, room 1 was over quick but room 3 stumped me hard. I wanted to solve each clue through deduction and not just elimination, and the game rarely disappointed - which gave me the faith to tough it out through room 3, and get the sweet reward of solving it on my own.
There was only one field which I had to fill by trial-and-error, without understanding the reasoning behind it. At other times, I stopped myself from using trial-and-error even if it would have allowed an easy solve, due to my playstyle preference.
I grew to care about the story and characters over time - though at first I didn’t know what mystery I was supposed to be solving, just that I had to fill in the blanks. The lack of an overarching ‘purpose’ to my quest felt a little different from similar mystery games.
Overall, awesome work, and looking forward to the full version!
Really cool game, I especially like the setting a lot! I enjoyed that the clues tie into each other in a satisfying way. Also, it's extra impressive that you did *almost* everything all by yourself!
Lovely game, I enjoyed it, but had to use the answer key in some places. One thing that will really help is if you click on something that has multiple pages I think it should go to the next page instead of closing. Then once you get to the last page you close the item. It took me a while to see the Next page button because it looks like the buttons underneath. Maybe put them to the left and right of the pages, but I do think clicking through them would help as well.
V xrcg guvaxvat vg jnf Nyvpr'f Fghqvb naq abg Znk'f. V unq gb ernq gur nafjre gb trg vg. Vf gurer n pyhr gung fnlf vg'f Znk'f? Fvapr fur jnf ng Nyvpr'f ubhfr V whfg gubhtug fur jbhyq tb vagb gur fghqvb gurer.
Va gur frpbaq npg, V xrcg guvaxvat Pbevar jnf qbvat gur fcryy, naq fbzrubj gung fghpx va zl urnq, fb V unq gb ybbx ng gur nafjre ntnva gb xabj vg jnf Nznln va gur guveq npg, ohg znlor gung'f whfg zr. V nz abg fher ubj gb xabj gung vg yrsg ure nccerurafvir? Vf gur fgbel gung Nznln cerqvpgrq gur jne svefg, gura frag vg gb Znk, jub jnf jbeevrq nobhg gur jne naq gura jrag onpx gb uvf snzvyl?
I am inordinately pleased to get my first Rot13 comment. Pages: this is a good idea, I'll add it in the next revision. (I was going to put the buttons by the sides of the pages but Godot was not cooperating.)
Gur pyhr gung vg'f Znk'f fghqvb vf gur abgr jvgu gur xrl. Znk vf gur bar jub bjaf n qbt, naq ur'f nyfb gur bar jub'f bhg bs gbja naq jbhyq arrq fbzrbar gb purpx ba uvf cynpr.
Nznln qvq gur qvivangvba orpnhfr fur'f gur bayl bar jub qbrfa'g nccrne ryfrjurer va gur 48 ubhef arrqrq gb cresbez gur fcryy. Ure orvat nccerurafvir vf whfg sebz gur abgr fur jebgr va gur obbx bs flzobyf. Vg'f abg eryngrq gb Znk (ur yrsg gur qnl orsber fur fgnegrq pnfgvat vg)
The idea is neat and the story is interesting and engaging. There are some riddles that I honestly could not figure out and got by accident - notably the very last one. Even knowing the answer - and I was looking in the right spot - I can’t figure out how I could reach that conclusion.
Nonetheless, it was a good experience and the game as a lot of potential! Keep up the good work.
Thanks for playing! I've been working on revising these puzzles to make them clear--want to share anything about your thought process and where you got stuck? (In Rot13, if you wouldn't mind, for spoiler reasons.)
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Voice volume is by default way too soft, and even with the music almost completely turned down it's hard to hear, never mind understand her. It's always better to be a little too loud at the loudest setting, and definitely for the voice to be louder than the music.
I really appreciate the split sound settings though, for some reason this has not become the default yet in video games.
Unfortunately that's the absolute loudest the voice lines can be without causing clipping artifacts. I'd like to hire an audio engineer to find a workaround to address this, but won't be able to unless secure funding. We are a small team funded entirely out of pocket so we're operating under a lot of limitations.
Oof, that's rough. Loved the demo otherwise!
Friend of the Forge Kamataya becomes the first to try out our new demo release!
Tightly designed puzzles with compelling writing and themes--I'm impressed by how clearly each character was conveyed in only a handful of pictures and notes. The difficulty curve was just right for me, with each Solve screen being "uhh, WTF" at first glance but then gradually realizing I actually can fill the entire thing out. I only felt like I had to brute force one answer, juvpu jnf Enlzbaq orvat fhecevfrq ol gur sveroveq. V zvtug unir zvffrq fbzrguvat ohg V jnfa'g fher ubj gb gryy vg jnf Enlzbaq naq abg nal bs gur bgure zra.
My only point of critique is that it wasn't immediately obvious to me which was on and off in the settings, though I could just be bad at understanding UI lol. Naq znlor gung Nznln'f unaqjevgvat vf fbeg bs uneq gb ernq, rfcrpvnyyl tvira ubj zhpu grkg vf va ure tevzbver. Loved the touch of each character having unique handwriting and art styles though, great from both a gameplay and narrative perspective.
Really looking forward to the full version! And I can't wait to see the analog art.
Congratulations on submitting to the jam! I'm very impressed that one person managed to put (very nearly) all of this together within the time limit of the jam.
I actually played this game once, left it for a couple of weeks, and came back to revisit it. On the second playthrough, I noticed a lot of connections between the clues that I'd missed the first time. I think the connections might have been easier to make if it were possible to distinguish a little more between the painting styles of each separate artist, but I understand that's a big ask with one person handling all of the artwork for the game!
There were a couple of deductions that I didn't feel like I could make with 100% certainty, but overall the narrative was well-reasoned. I enjoyed the music, and the ability to switch between rooms without losing progress made everything much easier to parse. I particuarly liked the variety of objects and media available in room 3. As someone who specialises in fine art, I'd love to know more about the roots of the Surradist movement and why they were so invested in the particular idiosyncratic practices we see in the demo. I think the concept is great, and I look forward to the full version!
You're gonna love the full version: The paintings are all going to be real analog artworks in different media (oil, watercolor, and egg tempera). I'm hoping to commission different artists for exactly the reason you mention--to give each character a distinctive art style.
About the roots of Surradia: I'm drawing pretty closely from the women associated with surrealism, especially the whole muse thing (and pushback against it) and the interest in magic and alchemy. We'll definitely dive more into that in later rooms!
I reallly liked this! The mystery felt very well-paced and designed, and there was rarely a moment where I didn’t feel engaged.
The lore was interesting to read, and I liked that there was almost no clue that was irrelevant or just for fluff.
The difficulty curve was good, room 1 was over quick but room 3 stumped me hard. I wanted to solve each clue through deduction and not just elimination, and the game rarely disappointed - which gave me the faith to tough it out through room 3, and get the sweet reward of solving it on my own.
There was only one field which I had to fill by trial-and-error, without understanding the reasoning behind it. At other times, I stopped myself from using trial-and-error even if it would have allowed an easy solve, due to my playstyle preference.
I grew to care about the story and characters over time - though at first I didn’t know what mystery I was supposed to be solving, just that I had to fill in the blanks. The lack of an overarching ‘purpose’ to my quest felt a little different from similar mystery games.
Overall, awesome work, and looking forward to the full version!
Really cool game, I especially like the setting a lot! I enjoyed that the clues tie into each other in a satisfying way. Also, it's extra impressive that you did *almost* everything all by yourself!
Well, not the music. But everything else.
Lovely game, I enjoyed it, but had to use the answer key in some places. One thing that will really help is if you click on something that has multiple pages I think it should go to the next page instead of closing. Then once you get to the last page you close the item. It took me a while to see the Next page button because it looks like the buttons underneath. Maybe put them to the left and right of the pages, but I do think clicking through them would help as well.
V xrcg guvaxvat vg jnf Nyvpr'f Fghqvb naq abg Znk'f. V unq gb ernq gur nafjre gb trg vg. Vf gurer n pyhr gung fnlf vg'f Znk'f? Fvapr fur jnf ng Nyvpr'f ubhfr V whfg gubhtug fur jbhyq tb vagb gur fghqvb gurer.
Va gur frpbaq npg, V xrcg guvaxvat Pbevar jnf qbvat gur fcryy, naq fbzrubj gung fghpx va zl urnq, fb V unq gb ybbx ng gur nafjre ntnva gb xabj vg jnf Nznln va gur guveq npg, ohg znlor gung'f whfg zr. V nz abg fher ubj gb xabj gung vg yrsg ure nccerurafvir? Vf gur fgbel gung Nznln cerqvpgrq gur jne svefg, gura frag vg gb Znk, jub jnf jbeevrq nobhg gur jne naq gura jrag onpx gb uvf snzvyl?
I am inordinately pleased to get my first Rot13 comment. Pages: this is a good idea, I'll add it in the next revision. (I was going to put the buttons by the sides of the pages but Godot was not cooperating.)
Gur pyhr gung vg'f Znk'f fghqvb vf gur abgr jvgu gur xrl. Znk vf gur bar jub bjaf n qbt, naq ur'f nyfb gur bar jub'f bhg bs gbja naq jbhyq arrq fbzrbar gb purpx ba uvf cynpr.
Nznln qvq gur qvivangvba orpnhfr fur'f gur bayl bar jub qbrfa'g nccrne ryfrjurer va gur 48 ubhef arrqrq gb cresbez gur fcryy. Ure orvat nccerurafvir vf whfg sebz gur abgr fur jebgr va gur obbx bs flzobyf. Vg'f abg eryngrq gb Znk (ur yrsg gur qnl orsber fur fgnegrq pnfgvat vg)
Also agree about the pages! I missed a few pages at first before I realized the button existed
Watch no_xiruo livestream solving this game! They did it in 2 1/2 hours...could you solve it faster?
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2008021268
The idea is neat and the story is interesting and engaging. There are some riddles that I honestly could not figure out and got by accident - notably the very last one. Even knowing the answer - and I was looking in the right spot - I can’t figure out how I could reach that conclusion.
Nonetheless, it was a good experience and the game as a lot of potential! Keep up the good work.
Thanks for playing! I've been working on revising these puzzles to make them clear--want to share anything about your thought process and where you got stuck? (In Rot13, if you wouldn't mind, for spoiler reasons.)