itch.io

Hell yeah! 🔥

While all of this sounds awesome, try not to let the scope creep demon go completely unchecked without your handy dandy scope knife. 😈 😅

Glad to hear that health has improved (I hope 🙏).  I'm looking forward to what your team is cooking up!

Cool concept!  Reminded me a bit of MMM: Murder Most Misfortunate. 👍

Congratulations on your first completed game!  You did a great job! :D

Really cool prologue - I am intrigued!  Even in the first level, it felt really creepy and atmospheric.  Lots of interesting lore and backstory.  The voiced "last message" intro is a nice touch, although I wish there were a written transcript of it too, to make it a bit easier to follow along, since it's fairly lengthy.

As far as suggestions and feedback go:

- I would love to have settings for Audio volume, and Gamma/Brightness especially.  The second level on my particular monitor setup felt a bit *too* dark (more so than intended anyway), even w/ the flashlight, so I was stumbling around a bit in the dark.

- It surprised me that changing graphics quality mid-game restarted the game from the beginning, rather than reloading the graphics but keeping my progress.  If you figure out a way to do so - great!  If not, a warning that changing graphics quality will restart the game would be welcome. ⚠

- Some sort of visual or auditory cues and/or an inventory of the items we're holding would be helpful.  There were times when I interacted with objects and something happened (I could see the white marker disappeared), but there was no text or information about what I had just done or picked up, and I couldn't always tell if these were tied to changes in the objective.  e.g. Examining the box in the backyard, or picking up a key in the library area on the main floor.

(Spoilers for the 2nd level)

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

- As far as bugs go, I experienced a minor but annoying visual bug, where the text for this particular objective kept resizing itself up and down slightly, jittering the entire time it was on my screen (not the note in the middle):

A lot of these suggestions are really just polish on top of a really solid core foundation and experience. ✨  And I didn't run into any game-breaking bugs preventing me from finishing the game, which is another win. 👏

Also, I wasn't expecting much gameplay beyond walking around and examining things, so the puzzles and the riddle were a nice touch!

I am intrigued to find out more about what lurks beneath. 👀

Great job! 🎉

Happy to help, especially with such a solid first game! :D  And I love how to open to constructive feedback you are - that's also a good sign. 👏

Re: the matches, even if I did have more time (another 1-2 minutes may have been helpful for me, but maybe other players might find that too long?), I'm not sure I would have gone back there to have another look during my initial playthrough, since I felt like I had no reason to.  It sounds like you were on the right track when planting that clue though! 🔥

One other random thing I remembered: in the brothers' room, there's that suitcase-like object with a cross type pattern on it - I kept trying to find a way to open it lol, since it seemed like it might contain something hidden inside of it.

If this is your starting point, I'm excited to see the games you work on in the future! 😄

EDIT: And I'm really liking what you've done with the game's itch page now! LET'S GOOOOO! 💀🔪🔍🔥

Wow, so this is also your first complete game?  That's awesome - congrats! 🎉🥳

Yeah, it's definitely a tricky balance to strike when creating a mystery story.  *EDIT: I feel like "The Suspect" is almost there, but it's missing a couple dotted i's and crossed t's, as you mentioned.  There's a reason mystery writers came up with a list of "fair play rules," whether that's Ronald Knox's "Commandments" or Van Dine's Rules.  Kinjo Goldbar, the host of the jam, has a lengthy post and video talking about making mystery game visual novels, although I feel like it applies to any kind of mystery game/story.

Ahhh, gotcha, so that was the intended connection to the storage room - makes sense. 👍  I guess I didn't notice them there, since the storage room was the first place I checked and I didn't seem to find anything near or around the barrels, despite one of the characters telling me to look there for clues.  😅  Maybe I missed them because I wasn't looking for them there, and by the time I found the other ones, the countdown was almost up so I didn't have a chance to double back.

Out of curiosity, have you ever played Murder Most Misfortunate (also available on Steam)?  It's more of a visual novel, but "The Suspect" reminds me of a game jam version of it, which is pretty cool!  e.g. MM has an option for a real live countdown timer, after which you have to present your deductions.

Regarding the lighting and camera sensitivity, I'm glad you're considering adding settings for those in a future build! 🙏  Also, if you wanted to patch those in, on the Mystery Gamedev Discord server, Kinjo mentioned that jam participants can upload additional game builds (with things like updated features, bug fixes, etc.) as separate files (with a new upload file name) - so long as the build of the game submitted for the jam is preserved, for voting purposes - should you decide to do that. (e.g. The Suspect v1.1.zip)

Oh yeah, and one more small suggestion: personally, I find the background colour + text colour combination on the game's itch page hard to read. 🙈  Maybe brighter coloured text would stand out more against the grey background?  Kinjo said on the Discord that it's okay for developers to update their game page even though the jam is over, since that's not part of the judging criteria, so feel free to tweak or mess around with that.

Again, great job!  The game itself is pretty fun, and the "core" of it feels almost there, which is impressive for your first full game, especially given the time constraints of the jam! 👏

Yoooo, this was SO GOOD!  The game hooked me from the start, and every new discovery made me want to keep digging until I finished it.

Great setting and story for a mystery game, wonderful artwork, GUI, aesthetics and music, and really fun gameplay with just enough hints and information to piece everything together.

The story setting and map feature reminded me a bit of Neo Cab, which was cool.  The CRT/glitch effect shaders used in the GUI were a really nice touch, and I'm glad you added a toggle for that!

Really tight, highly polished experience! ✨  Fantastic job!

Y'all deserve that itch.io spotlight! 🔦 🎉

This was fun!  It was cool being able to explore in 3D, and the environment looks pretty good.

For your first game jam, great job!

A couple smaller issues:

• The lighting, while it does fit the setting, made it hard to read sometimes
• For me personally, the camera speed felt a bit slow when rotating it and it would sometimes go a bit crazy

I like how we can also talk to the victim, who makes a groaning sound - that made me laugh. :D

Thoughts about the story: (spoilers below)

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

First off, I like the initial setup about the other characters and who might've done it, based on the dialogue clues.

While I'm not against the twist of YOU, the player character, being the murderer - I felt a bit cheated based on what I discovered in-game during my playthrough.

I found the debtor's note, the note under the victim's bed ("trust no one, not even yourself"), the poison in the Viking's room, and the poison and matches in the MC's room.  I assumed the MC was being framed, either by the other character who shared their first initial (i.e. random fluke), or the victim's brother, who would have known about the debtor's notice - and could have used that opportunity to kill his brother, frame the player, and become the sole inheritor of the castle & kingdom.

I just *happened* to pick a character name that shared the first initial with another character, so when I saw the "Debtor's Notice," I figured that was referring to the other character, assuming a fair play mystery (which has an implicit assumption that the detective is the not the murderer).

I don't like how a player can have an easier or harder time depending on which name they choose for themselves.  e.g. If we enter a name starting with 'A', there are what, 3 or 4 other character that share that first initial?  Versus picking a name starting with a letter that doesn't overlap at all with the other suspects, like 'Z'.

When I found the note saying "Trust no one, not even yourself", I did have some suspicions regarding the player character, so I went and checked the player's room and found suspicious evidence there... which made me think that the player was being framed for the murder.  Just as the player planted evidence in Bjorn's room, another character could have done the same thing to frame the player character.

Also, not sure if I ran out of time and missed something or just overlooked what was there, but were there any clues during the game itself about the significance of the matches?  I only learned about that after making my guess, and then the game's like "Oh btw, those matches found in your room?  Yeaaaaah, they were really important to the murder", which was a complete surprise to me.  Did I overlook something?

IMO making the player character just a "guest and friend," rather than a/the detective, would've made the twist feel more fair to me.

Anyway, despite all of this, I still enjoyed the game.  Thanks for making it!

Interesting story concept - a device that can read and edit memories, and trying to discover the last words of the inventor who created it.

Unfortunately, I got frustrated and gave up during the 1st memory.  I didn't find it fun having to play through a giant stealth section to connect 5 different pairs of objects with only 3 lives, without being detected by surveillance.  It felt too punishing to have everything reset and have to start over after getting caught 3 times.  And I'm not a fan of how the player's movement speed was decreased for this section, compared to when walking around the lab.

Which is a shame, because I am curious about the story, and I liked what I saw up until that part.

I really enjoyed the story & mystery of the game, so I can tell that you put a lot of focus and care into that!  Especially the ending - it dawned on me why a certain item wasn't working where I initially thought it should have.  Clever! ;)  And you did a nice job tackling the last message theme of the jam.

I agree with MrWarranty about the accusation / evidence system at the end: I appreciate how forgiving it is, and presenting a wrong answer gave me the opportunity to revisit the evidence and think things through before trying again, without worrying about a game over.

Re: the navigation challenge, maybe consider releasing a map of the pyramid as a separate downloadable and/or blog post on itch?  I realized it doesn't necessarily have to be incorporated into the game itself.  Having a visual reference for players who get stuck navigating the place would be helpful, and that's one way of doing so without altering the jam version of the game for voting purposes.  Just a thought.

Either way, great job, and thanks for making this game! :D

That was a pretty fun supernatural mystery!

Navigating the pyramids was definitely a challenge though - at one point, I got stuck and didn't realize there was an entire wing I hadn't yet visited. 😅

If you decide to update it beyond the jam version, a (mini-)map showing where we have and haven't been yet would be helpful. 🙏

Great job finishing a full game during the jam, especially with such a small team! 💪

It's neat seeing the origins of Glitch Dungeon Crystal.  Nice job!

Haha, will do!

Yeah, I saw you mention the mini DLC on Steam.  Hyped for those updates too (alternate and/or secret ending? 👀) whenever you get around to it 😄! (whether or not you're able to release it by early May, given how real life loves to make a mockery of game dev timelines 😔)

I do love me some secrets and exploration, which is part of the reason I enjoyed the demo so much - so after I stop getting my ass kicked by the rocks fall everyone (read: me) dies boss, I can resume secret hunting again. 🔍  I imagine there are more hidden goodies and nooks & grannies crannies to explore.

Oh yeah, one minor bug: I'm guessing I wasn't supposed to be able to view the Map on the pause/menu screen on a fresh save file, before actually finding the Map? :p

Congrats on the release! 🎉🥳

Been looking forward to the full game for a while now!  

I actually skipped the Steam Spring Sale this year because I was more excited waiting for Babushka Time. 🧹💪👵

Congrats! 🥳🎉

Damn, this game went HARD!  Really interesting story arc, lots of neat world lore, quirky characters to romance, a good soundtrack and sound design, and nice looking retro-VN-style artwork!

After getting the 3 main endings, I did a few partial playthroughs to get the remaining romanceable character endings, but I'm still missing quite a few Gallery entries (BGs I'm guessing?):
- 1st one on page 1
- entries 2, 7, 8 on page 3
- everything except the last one on page 4

Also, is there a way to return to the Title screen from in-game without using your Keyboard? (i.e. is there a mouse equivalent of pressing ESC?)

Now that the jam's over and time constraints aren't an issue, I'd love to see an optimization patch, because when I first launched the game (v1.01?), it took something like 2+ minutes after launching the executable before I could even see the game window anywhere (task bar or otherwise), and it ate up more than 6 GB of memory initially(!!) before settling down in the 2~3 GB range.  Plus, when unzipped, the project is almost 5 GB in size.

So any performance improvements would be very welcome. 🙏

I liked the stat system - simple but effective - and the "text-based combat" was pretty neat too.

When I saw some of the stat checks, like the Major's relationship requirement, I assumed the game might play out similar to Edge of Eternity (MC dies, goes to Valhalla, restarts the game as a "New Game+" while inheriting their previous stats, allowing players to gain stat scores above 10 - and thinking that might've even be a requirement to "finish" the game).  Even though that didn't happen, I still enjoyed the twists and turns along the way!

Also, Khara best girl. <3

Awesome job yet again!

That was really fun!  Reminded me of classic point n' click games, but without their rough edges.  The compass system to change areas is nifty, and I'm really impressed at how we can click to move Rosey to that spot, like an actual adventure game (despite using Ren'Py).

Love the gorgeous pixel artwork. ♥  Rosey, Trine, and Fell are each interesting characters in their own right, and I enjoyed seeing how the events unfolded in each ending.

If I had one minor critique, lower the default music and SFX volumes. 100% volume was a bit too loud for me.

I also appreciate how you managed to fit in lore about the characters' histories and the setting in such a short word count.

Wonderful job!

Really enjoyable demo!

I like how interesting and varied the cast is, including our mystery MC (was hoping to learn more about Myah, then the demo ended 😔).

The music is really good, and I love the art style and the colour scheme!

And so many different choices for the MC, both in how to react to everything and who to get closer to (plus the character customization).  I'm eager to see the result of these choices in the final game.

Looking forward to playing the rest of the game once it's ready!

Really enjoyable demo!

I like how interesting and varied the cast is, including our mystery MC (was hoping to learn more about Myah, then the demo ended 😔).

The music is really good!

I did notice a handful of typos while playing.  Most of the ones I noticed were related to wrong pronouns or character names.

e.g. I checked the attic with Myah, but there was at least one instance where the game referred to Poseidon as my pair-up instead.

A typo for "hhe" when referring to Felix I believe?  And in the kitchen, there was one that looked like multiple pronouns mashed together, something like "Shehethey".

I played v0.1, but I don't recall when I downloaded it, so it's possible some or all of these typos have been fixed already.

I love the art style and the colour scheme!

And so many different choices for the MC, both in how to react to everything and who to get closer to (plus the character customization).  I'm eager to see the result of these choices in the final game.

Speculation time:

- Something tells me that the monochrome + red colour scheme isn't just a stylistic choice, but could also be a plot point / potential clue regarding the MC.

- Between the profile listing ??? being 38 feet tall, and the game's title, I'm leaning towards ??? being the (haunted) house itself, perhaps with the trapped MC as the "heart" of the place.

Looking forward to playing the rest of the game once it's ready!

Really charming and witty, with a delightful aesthetic.  Great job! ♥

Wow, this is really well done! 👏

I love the art style, the music fits nicely with the tone of the game, the world lore and characters are really interesting, and the length feels just right - the game doesn't overstay its welcome.

The lantern mechanic is cool - simple but effective. 

And you finished this game in only 2 weeks as a solo dev, with very little prior Ren'Py experience?

That's super impressive, so awesome job on everything! 🥳🎉

Wow, this is really well done! 👏

I love the art style, the music fits nicely with the tone of the game, the world lore and characters are really interesting, and the length feels just right - the game doesn't overstay its welcome.

The lantern mechanic is cool - simple but effective. 

I did notice a couple small issues:

- Typo: "an nearly-filled"

- 1 or 2 dialogue lines where the speaker name is missing (e.g. "Wise Woman Claire", "Claus", etc.)

You finished this game in only 2 weeks as a solo dev, with very little prior Ren'Py experience?

That's super impressive!  Awesome job on everything! 🥳🎉

Really great visual presentation.  The sprites, animations, and CGs all look awesome! 🤩

Each of the characters was interesting and distinct, from the wayyyyy too chill Mr Rib, to the wacky dynamic of Hip / Hop (and Rap lol), and Mona the bitter, lonely, emo teen.

And it was cool seeing the different perspectives on Mona, as well as the shop patrons (however tragic...  😢).

Great job!

First off, nice pun with the game name: Hell's Pawn (Hellspawn). 😂

Really great visual presentation.  The sprites, animations, and CGs all look awesome! 🤩 (Is there a way to hide the UI to see the CGs better?)

I liked how the dialogue had a good mix of sass, humour, and also crushing realism regarding the characters' circumstances.

I was really confused by the demon book initially.  Took me a while to figure out how to use the magnifying glass feature, or that I could click + drag the Notes up from the corner to look through those (the "v" arrow made me think that clicking on it would make the Notes slide up, like a toggleable button, rather than a mostly hidden draggable).

Outta curiosity, how many of the runes / symbols can actually be deciphered in-game?  (I haven't tried piecing together what the symbols for the other paraphernalia in the shop do, like the body parts, the doll, the cat's collar, etc.)

For repeat playthroughs to see the other combinations + endings, I wish the Void sections (videos?) were skippable.

Each of the characters was interesting and distinct, from the wayyyyy too chill Mr Rib, to the wacky dynamic of Hip / Hop (and Rap lol), and Mona the bitter, lonely, emo teen.

And it was cool seeing the different perspectives on Mona, as well as the shop patrons (however tragic... despite her circumstances, she deserved better 😢).

Great job overall!

Glad to hear that about the feedback. 👏

That makes sense re: the special ending - the time crunch is real lol.  It's honestly impressive how much artwork y'all finished in just one month for the jam! ♥ 💪

A 12 hour shift for a "full" release would be cool. 👀  Should give ample time for some calmer sections in between story beats, and even give you a chance to add more patients, if you wanted to and/or flesh out (heh) existing ones.

IMO, 24 hours would prolly run the risk of (even worse) scope creep: true horror when it comes to game dev. 😱 😂

Also, oof... sorry to hear that about your pandemic shifts.  That sounds brutal even during "normal" times. 😢

Wow, Mr. Rib's opinion about sand is totally MOIST! 😏 (the specific phrasing can't be a coincidence... right?)

Haha wow, no kidding!  Clearly the foreshadowing is solid then, if it's so subtle even your team didn't pick up on it! 💪

An expanded version of the game would be really cool! 😄

One thing I think the game would benefit from is more moments of rest and downtime in between all the high octane horror.  Once Lia's shift started, the intensity felt like it was at 8/10 or higher all the way until the very end, when suddenly her shift is over (if she lasts that long 😈 ).

(Possible spoilers below)

.

.

.

.

.

.

Especially considering Mr. X will die if not attended to quickly, and his story is really intense, so padding out the story with more short moments of slower pacing so we can catch our breath between the (jump)scares would be welcome.

I am also curious to know a bit more about "Fatima" (if that's her actual name), from Mr. X's epilogue CG, and also the (nameless newbie) Nurse - does she have her own epilogue?

     "The empty rooms did have a special ending tied to them, but I would like some inputs!"

Oh interesting, maybe I missed that ending then...?  I got the Bad Ending, Normal Ending, and 5 Epilogues along with all the CGs so I figured that was everything.

I guess I'll wait until the guide is out to see what I might've missed.

Also, I would find it really helpful in the in-game Extras menu if missing CGs had text hints or hover tooltips with some guidance on how to unlock them - so that it's not necessary to check the upcoming guide on itch except as a last resort if really stuck (even if such hints only unlock after getting at least 1 ending, or 1 epilogue, meeting specific conditions, etc.). ♥ 

!! BEWARE, MULTIPLE JUMPSCARES !!

Ahem.  With that out of the way...

A surprisingly heartfelt story and cast of characters, considering how creepy it comes across at first!

Really well done!

I'd never been exposed to those aspects of Indonesian folklore, so thank you for sharing that.

Took me a while to get the final ending; had a feeling I knew what I needed to do, but figuring out the correct order was a struggle. ^^;  Worth the effort though! 🕯

(Spoilers below)

.

.

.

.

.

.

A nice mix of morbid tragedy and (largely) positive outcomes in the epilogues, especially the special ending.  The state of healthcare workers is definitely still precarious, so thank you for shining another light on the topic, and also for the hopeful ending re: the possibility for change in the industry.

I do wish the "empty" rooms played more of a role in the game.  From what I could tell, they could be mostly or even entirely ignored while trying to get the different endings and epilogues.

Also, good use of foreshadowing!  I did notice early on how Lia and the nurse's sprites moved back and forth, meanwhile Satriya's were stationary the whole time - just didn't know what that meant (if anything) until Mrs. Mulyono's revelation.  Clever!

A surprisingly heartfelt story and cast of characters, considering how creepy it comes across at first!  Really well done!

Awesome, glad to see this gem of a game on itch now too! ♥

Really enjoyed it, and looking forward to the full release!

Great use of character and camera animations.  The UI is clean, easy to read, and matches the aesthetic of the game.  The music and sound effects fit pretty well, and are used to good effect.  The writing held my attention all the way through.  The artwork looks really nice.

My only real beef is the pixel hunt in the point n' click segment—some way of making that more obvious would be appreciated. 🙏

Not being all that familiar with Greek mythology, I don't know where the story is going, but I'm intrigued!

DAMN YOU, who's chopping onions while I'm playing...? 😭

For real though, amazing job!!  Everything about the game, from the writing, the CG variants, the use of NVL mode, the GUI, the music... it all coalesces together into a beautifully orchestrated symphony of heartbreak. 💔

To convey all of that in only 1000 words, and create it all in just one week?!  Hot damn... 👏👏👏

And as usual, you always include awesome accessibility options, even for such a short game jam.

Awesome job! 🎉🎊🥳

Wholesome and adorable/10 😊

Thank you for sharing such a personal, heartfelt story with us!

I can't stop smiling now after playing this. 😁  Keep being you! 💖

Looking forward to it!

Awesome job, for your first ever game and game jam! 🎉🥳

The art style is charming, the cast is quirky, and the gameplay reminds me of classic point-n'-click adventure games — which is a plus!

I look forward to finding out who Abigail's going to terrorize, once we find out whodunnit. 😈

Cool spin on the Prisoner's Dilemma.  I found it quite engaging, with more drama and build-up than I was expecting from a demo!

I look forward to seeing how the rest plays out beyond the demo.

Great job unlocking your potential with this game jam exercise! ;)

Short and sweet, so far!  Nice job!

In terms of the case room mystery, since I can't remember, I am kinda curious about... (spoilers)

.

.

.

.

.

the location of the bullet.  Did it get lodged inside the body?  If not, was there some evidence of it elsewhere in the room?  I also don't recall if there was any blood on the scene from the gunshot wound.

Because similar to "the voice," this first case room looks relatively simple at first glance.  But I can't tell if there's more to it that I haven't yet noticed and/or didn't make it into the demo. 👀

I enjoyed the demo!

As the previous commenter mentioned, the game definitely starts off slow, but once it picks up, it held my attention.

Love the character dynamics, especially with "Massimo," once everyone groups up into teams.

The puzzles were fun, the "meta mystery" has me intrigued, and I'm curious to see what lies inside that location.

Nice job to everyone who worked on this!

Also, holy verbose MC batman lol.