Though this is a collection of games created by multiple developers, papercookies has yet again succeeded in producing a strange and memorable experience. I highly recommend this title!
Really cool concept, it was awesome to see the way certain thematic elements morphed as each developer added to the story. The menu was fantastic as a framing device. I think just one bit of standardization would have been helpful: letting the player know the controls for each game. Here's a quick review of each game, I tried to be vague so as not to give away what happens.
Game 1 - Because the menu used only keyboard input and mouse was disabled, it never occurred to me that you could use the mouse to look around in this one. I played it through a second time using the mouse to move the camera, and it made a lot more sense!
Game 2 - I got stuck here for about two minutes until I realized you had to click to advance the text.
Game 3 - I liked the storytelling in this one, but the controls would have made more sense with just one directional input instead of two (which is totally normal for isometric games anyway). Especially as certain parts of the game had left/right arrow prompts but actually needed two keys held down to register anything, but then at the end there was a part that accepted single direction input after all. The visual flickering was really unpleasant.
Game 4 - Very cool, loved the character models.
Game 5 - The opening cutscene in this one was my favorite in the whole collection. Fun game.
Game 6 - This was my favorite one in terms of gameplay - just a lot of fun.
Game 7 - I find games in this genre really frustrating so I didn't enjoy this one at all. Some music would have been welcome.
Game 8 - Very strange, but I liked it.
Game 9 - The controls on this one didn't feel responsive at all, which might have been by design, but was pretty frustrating. I got very unlucky and lost multiple times in such quick succession that the failure message got overlaid on top of itself.
Game 10 - I liked this one going in, but the camera look sensitivity was so extreme that it was borderline unplayable (and I'm the kind of person that likes to turn the sensitivity aaaaall the way up). The first two times I tried to play I got trapped in the walls and had to force quit. The third time, I fell through the floor and won? I don't think this one is working as intended.
Game 11 - This had a very cool atmosphere but unfortunately I got completely stuck on the geometry after completing a second objective and it took me so long to get there in the first place that I didn't want to start over from the beginning.
Game 12 - Awesome concept & execution, though the ghosting effect was overkill on top of all the other visual effects. I got so disoriented by the ghosting I had to start over from the beginning since I couldn't tell where I was going, but it was worth it in the end. My favorite in terms of concept.
Game 13 - Strange, but I liked it.
Game 14 - This one was a little silly, but fun. I appreciated that you kept your progress even if you died, considering how easy it was to die. The first time I played, after dying I ended up spawning inside an enemy, which meant I couldn't move (trapped inside its hitbox) and couldn't die (enemy wasn't attacking since I was inside of it). Had to force quit and try again.
Game 15 - I find this genre of game pretty dull, but at least you moved so fast that it was easy to outrun any danger and breeze through it.
Game 16 - The look sensitivity on this was so low it felt like moving through molasses, but the puzzle was rewarding to solve.
Game 17 - いいだった。
Game 18 - Super cute, though I almost gave up on it after losing since it puts you at the very beginning and you have to advance through all the dialogue just to get started. Thankfully I got it on my third try.
Game 19 - I think I accidentally beat this one faster that I was meant to. The english needed some proofreading.
Game 20 - Strange, but a great ending to bookend the collection.
thanks for the thorough review!! we tried to hint at the controls in some of the log notes, as a kind of in-universe way of explaining things :) it's certainly not the most accessible way of doing it. we voted on displaying controls on the launcher but ultimately voted against it (also partly because we were running out of time!) thanks for playing! <3
The way this experiment worked is that each developer only got to see the game before theirs when developing their game. The "over-arching" narrative is up for interpretation, there are certainly a lot of themes that stick around for much longer, and I'd like to think there are some general elements that stay throughout the whole chain, even if they're subtle. Thank you for playing :)
Really enjoyed this, my only issue would be that their are a few too many slender style collect the pages games in a short space of time towards the end. Avert your eyes also is an absolute master piece and id love to see more games with this unique style
number 10 is soooo weird... Even though I got stuck in the walls 4 times and had to restart each, I think that this is my favourite, specially because of the previous disks
Very cool stuff, I’ve played through the 20 games on stream!
Visually & Sound-ally the games are really good, the launcher is well-made. It was quite louder than the games though.
It’s a bit of a shame a lot of the games lack interesting gameplay but as a game jammer I understand it’s hard especially given the constraint of telling the follow-up of a story that isn’t yours.
Most of the games aren’t that scary until the 14th or so, but all are pretty spooky and enigmatic. I ended up being sweaty at the end so I guess I was spooked alright!
thanks for watching, cool that you found the stream somehow.
Was this the slender-like with the eyes? When I saw the first one from afar, I felt in danger instantly so good job on that!
Such a great collection and a very cool and original idea! I had so much fun playing it. Congratulations to all the devs that worked on this collection.
Hey I'm Luke's Offline and I made the 15th game in C.H.A.I.N! Please tell me what you enjoyed and what you didn't enjoy about the game to help me improve upon it in the soon coming post-release version and so I can improve as a game developer! This was my first ever game release too!
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Though this is a collection of games created by multiple developers, papercookies has yet again succeeded in producing a strange and memorable experience. I highly recommend this title!
Hi. I leave my little gameplay of the first 10 minigames. I have to play the next 10. An interesting experience.
An awesome experience from awesome game devs. You all rule!!
Had fun with this bizarre experience! Not often you find something this unique!
Alright here is part 1 and 2 of the stream i did. only 5 more games left to play and im still confused lol!!
Completely mind blown by the narrative, story, games, mechanics, just brilliant!
Really cool concept, it was awesome to see the way certain thematic elements morphed as each developer added to the story. The menu was fantastic as a framing device. I think just one bit of standardization would have been helpful: letting the player know the controls for each game. Here's a quick review of each game, I tried to be vague so as not to give away what happens.
Game 1 - Because the menu used only keyboard input and mouse was disabled, it never occurred to me that you could use the mouse to look around in this one. I played it through a second time using the mouse to move the camera, and it made a lot more sense!
Game 2 - I got stuck here for about two minutes until I realized you had to click to advance the text.
Game 3 - I liked the storytelling in this one, but the controls would have made more sense with just one directional input instead of two (which is totally normal for isometric games anyway). Especially as certain parts of the game had left/right arrow prompts but actually needed two keys held down to register anything, but then at the end there was a part that accepted single direction input after all. The visual flickering was really unpleasant.
Game 4 - Very cool, loved the character models.
Game 5 - The opening cutscene in this one was my favorite in the whole collection. Fun game.
Game 6 - This was my favorite one in terms of gameplay - just a lot of fun.
Game 7 - I find games in this genre really frustrating so I didn't enjoy this one at all. Some music would have been welcome.
Game 8 - Very strange, but I liked it.
Game 9 - The controls on this one didn't feel responsive at all, which might have been by design, but was pretty frustrating. I got very unlucky and lost multiple times in such quick succession that the failure message got overlaid on top of itself.
Game 10 - I liked this one going in, but the camera look sensitivity was so extreme that it was borderline unplayable (and I'm the kind of person that likes to turn the sensitivity aaaaall the way up). The first two times I tried to play I got trapped in the walls and had to force quit. The third time, I fell through the floor and won? I don't think this one is working as intended.
Game 11 - This had a very cool atmosphere but unfortunately I got completely stuck on the geometry after completing a second objective and it took me so long to get there in the first place that I didn't want to start over from the beginning.
Game 12 - Awesome concept & execution, though the ghosting effect was overkill on top of all the other visual effects. I got so disoriented by the ghosting I had to start over from the beginning since I couldn't tell where I was going, but it was worth it in the end. My favorite in terms of concept.
Game 13 - Strange, but I liked it.
Game 14 - This one was a little silly, but fun. I appreciated that you kept your progress even if you died, considering how easy it was to die. The first time I played, after dying I ended up spawning inside an enemy, which meant I couldn't move (trapped inside its hitbox) and couldn't die (enemy wasn't attacking since I was inside of it). Had to force quit and try again.
Game 15 - I find this genre of game pretty dull, but at least you moved so fast that it was easy to outrun any danger and breeze through it.
Game 16 - The look sensitivity on this was so low it felt like moving through molasses, but the puzzle was rewarding to solve.
Game 17 - いいだった。
Game 18 - Super cute, though I almost gave up on it after losing since it puts you at the very beginning and you have to advance through all the dialogue just to get started. Thankfully I got it on my third try.
Game 19 - I think I accidentally beat this one faster that I was meant to. The english needed some proofreading.
Game 20 - Strange, but a great ending to bookend the collection.
thanks for the thorough review!! we tried to hint at the controls in some of the log notes, as a kind of in-universe way of explaining things :) it's certainly not the most accessible way of doing it. we voted on displaying controls on the launcher but ultimately voted against it (also partly because we were running out of time!) thanks for playing! <3
Glad you enjoyed Game 6 (ours) so much :D
im really glad you didnt enjoy game 7!
Maybe I'm an idiot. The first 3 kinda ran together pretty well but can someone explain what the overarching narrative was? I couldn't quite catch it.
The way this experiment worked is that each developer only got to see the game before theirs when developing their game. The "over-arching" narrative is up for interpretation, there are certainly a lot of themes that stick around for much longer, and I'd like to think there are some general elements that stay throughout the whole chain, even if they're subtle. Thank you for playing :)
Really enjoyed this, my only issue would be that their are a few too many slender style collect the pages games in a short space of time towards the end. Avert your eyes also is an absolute master piece and id love to see more games with this unique style
When I was making game 15 I forgot slender existed haha, by the end I realized and it was too late xD
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number 10 is soooo weird... Even though I got stuck in the walls 4 times and had to restart each, I think that this is my favourite, specially because of the previous disks
Everyone involved did a phenomenal job on this collection! An amazing show of talent from one of the best indie communities around.
Aw thank you!
Show post...
THIS IS WOW! NOW PLAY PART .1 --GUYS GREAT JOBSVery cool stuff, I’ve played through the 20 games on stream!
Visually & Sound-ally the games are really good, the launcher is well-made. It was quite louder than the games though.
It’s a bit of a shame a lot of the games lack interesting gameplay but as a game jammer I understand it’s hard especially given the constraint of telling the follow-up of a story that isn’t yours.
Most of the games aren’t that scary until the 14th or so, but all are pretty spooky and enigmatic. I ended up being sweaty at the end so I guess I was spooked alright!
The broadcast is available here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/788828167
Sorry the first half is mostly in French because I had just a friend watching but then I switched to English when others arrived.
I think the most scary was the library one and the most creepy was the one where you burned those weird balls.
Enjoyed watching you play some of the games! I made the 15th game and it's always the last book that's the most annoying to find haha!
thanks for watching, cool that you found the stream somehow. Was this the slender-like with the eyes? When I saw the first one from afar, I felt in danger instantly so good job on that!
Yeah the slender with the eyes on, I forgot about slender until I'd finished the game haha. And thank you! :D
Am I the only one who can't play nº15? Every time I try to open it, it crash the entire game.
I think so... perhaps your pc lacks something or perhaps there is a missing file. I say it is the last one, so try to re-downoad it
Why I only own a mac... I really need to get a PC to play more games
google Bootcamp
I know that. My mac is old and not enough space. It would run horribly :/
Try assembling your own one. I heard that an entry level Mac can cost almost twice the amount required to assemble a Windows PC
a. what an incredible way to spend halloween!
b. incredible idea, it really kept me engaged and excited for each one.
c. holy cow, how the last one ended made me gasp. that was a really great way to conclude.
Such a novel idea! Played through it in one sitting, it was fantastic.
Hope you had as much fun playing as we did creating! :D
Such a great collection and a very cool and original idea! I had so much fun playing it. Congratulations to all the devs that worked on this collection.
So glad you had fun! We had fun making it too!
- Luke, Creator of Specimen 15
this is what its all about, MORE LIKE THIS PLZ DEVS THIS WAS FUN AS HECK
You can expect more from us all individually in the future too!
- Luke, Creator of Specimen 15
Bruh, this looks sick. I'm bit scared to play it tho.
Hell yehhhhhhh
Hey I'm Luke's Offline and I made the 15th game in C.H.A.I.N! Please tell me what you enjoyed and what you didn't enjoy about the game to help me improve upon it in the soon coming post-release version and so I can improve as a game developer! This was my first ever game release too!
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This is great! That launcher is the most awesome thing ever!
Absolutely amazing.
thank you!!!