[SA Game Jam 2017] Agra the Agoraphobe

CrissOle

Hi!

Agra is an agoraphobe. He is scared of the ugly outside world. He needs food, vitamin D and people or he will die.

COLLECT bravery as you go outside and gather these things, always returning home to safety!
Here is my submission:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B35JgHpkxw0sX1VfbEFlVGVqSkE/view?usp=sharing



- Solo Hobbyist (this is my first real full game...)
- I have made all of the assets except for three sounds bytes.
- 48hr entry


Much love!
CrissOle

[Original Post]
Agra is terrified of the outside world. He needs to find a way to collect more bravery. He will do this by venturing out of his house in short bursts and trying to gather VitaminD, Food and Social skills.

As he gets braver he is able to stay outside longer and collect even more bravery points!


What do you think so far?

I still have SO much to do!

- Solo Hobbyist (this is my first real full game...)
- I have made all of the assets and intend to do so for the full game (if I run out of time I will add other ones but will credit the creators)
- 48hr entry

Much love!
CrissOle

CrissOle

There's still a lot of sprite work, menus, music and balancing to be done, but this will give you an idea of how it plays if you want to take a look and maybe give me some feedback!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B35JgHpkxw0sdVZxd2h2QlZtV2s/view?usp=sharing

You can use the arrow keys or wasd to move. Make sure you get what Agra is wanting. If you run out of time then you will lose bravery points, if you run straight back home then you won't... oooh... decisions.

Press esc to close!

Skye

Really like the play on collecting for an agoraphobic.
Definitely don't feel free to roam far, which is new.
Clever little twist.

CrissOle

Hi @Skye,

Thanks so much :)

I'm definitely trying to convey the panic and urgency that an agoraphobe would feel with this. I'm still toying with exactly how far I want to let the player roam, but if you're enjoying the closeness of it as well then it's not just me :)

I was also inspired by half-minute hero I think... even though I didn't enjoy it so much (weird). I think after this I'm going to give it another try ;)

Thanks and feel free to let me know if you have any other feedback!

CrissOle

flobar

Awesome concept. Can't wait to play it. The idea reminds me of the game called Minit.

konman

@CrissOle, Good concept. This reminds me of a game in the Pirate Jam a few months ago where you play a melting snowman needing to stick to the shadows to prolong your time. Time running out like that adds urgency to the player's decisions which is a cool mechanic. Looks good.

CrissOle

@flobar, thanks for the comment! I haven't heard of Minit but will check it out and see how they got it done. Maybe learn a lil something.

@konman, LOVE that snowman idea!!!

I'm wanting to (if I carry on with this game) add more decisions through extra levels where bravery can get knocked down if there's bad food or bad social interaction.

Thanks for all the feedback y'all! I'm adding in last things and will upload in a few hours :)

CrissOle

Final submission is up on the first post!

If you do check it out then please let me know what you think!

Much love.
CrissOle!

SleepingSafari

Cool concept with apt title!

Really liked the idea of collecting bravery and it allowing you to explore further, cause now you’re “braver”. Really makes sense. Wish there was more of a reason to explore! Also, cool to see the text changing, indicating your progress.

Game easy to hack though. You can walk in and out the door until an item spawns close to you. Would be cool if it spawned further away, pushing you to explore further.

Cool game and nice concept!

CrissOle

Hey @SleepingSafari,

Thanks so much for the feedback! I hear you on a better 'call' for outside. I would have dug to create a health bar with the three elements that need to be filled and if it drops too low then game over. I toyed with the door hack and decided to leave it in so that if it did get too scary out there for Agra he could return home without consequence. I tried to make sure that only the food would spawn in screen and the rest you would have to do a bit more of a hunt for, there's definitely some more tweaking there.

Thanks again and keep an eye out if I do manage to do some updates in the weeks to come :)

Sean_Goncalves

Hey I really enjoyed this although I might have felt opposite to what you intended as I felt your game in general was of a more calming nature it was a nice relaxing experience, might have been the simplicity in the mechanics, the music or the fact that even if I didn't make it back to the house in time the penalty wasn't that severe so I knew I could make up for it on my next trip out. It was pleasant and enjoyable :)

That being said though its a really cool idea and I'd like to see what you do with it going forward, In terms of the door hack mentioned above maybe a somewhat simple fix might be making a timer in which players need to be in the house after they return; maybe like a comfort level of sorts that needs to be met after each trip out to emphasize that Agra is in their safe place of sorts it'd also discourage players from just constantly entering and exiting the house to hack the system.

Also if you want to maybe push the Agoraphobia aspect further maybe if the timer runs whilst you're out in the world your bravery meter starts to drain the longer you are out as a way to impact more severely for staying out past the timer which could also impact the amount of time you need to spend in your house to recover type thing, Also maybe have two sound tracks one for outside the house that is a little more frantic or uncomfortable to emphasize how Agra is in a space they feel uncomfortable with and juxtapose that with the more calming music you already have being played only when you're in your house.

Also the idea of different locations and situations works well with the building up of Agra's bravery like the braver they are the more willing they are to push themselves to experience new things outside of their comfort zone, all in all its a super cool game, one of my favorites so far :D Good job

CrissOle

Thanks so much for the feedback @Sean_Goncalves!

That's a great fix for the door hack and I really like the idea of different tracks for inside and outside.

I'm super keen to get into the other aspects you recommend such as the timer. Especially the one about losing bravery after your time runs out!

Really appreciate it!