You nailed the atmosphere perfectly and I was quite immersed in the game. I just love the eerie "You're alone (?)" vibes. Although I wish it stuck with the mysterious approach of things being slightly off rather than adding supernatural human element at the end, but it was still nicely crafted nonetheless!
It's amazing how everyone feel the same about old games that you know that no one plays anymore, it's kinda of a feeling of loneliness and feeling like you're somewhere you shouldn't be, but at the same time it's kinda of magical, I don't know, but about the game, it was great, I couldn't bring myself to be an asshole and "destroy" the game by beating it, let the guy try to do what he wants to do.
Made a little gameplay of it you can check it here:
There HAS to be something....maybe a story...I mean the Eye asset is named "Ultra Secret" when you check it in unity...then there is that piece of paper...then there's the PNG with the date...then there is the creation date of the PNG which is old as hell...there HAS to be some kind of cryptic story behind it for those who are willing to search deeper xD oitherwise, this is a huge waste of time
Love the short game! At first I was like - does it really have multiplayer?? I did some reading and found out it's just a single player.... and after that, somebody joined the server. Creepy!
so after i touched the 3rd blue flag and everything turned white, my game get messed up. i reinstalled and even rebooted my PC but the game ends up not having any servers to click on? is this a puzzle or is the game actually glitched? did i fuck up the game by not listening to the chat log telling me not to do it?
Nothing fills my night terrors more than the empty void of old consoles, which this game captures flawlessly. The design is perfectly executed as Adam always seems to manage in his games, credit to him where credit is due. It gave me goosebumps the entire way through and despite that, I'm going to put myself through that again to find the added secret.
This game was absolutely amazing! I've never played a game quite like this one! It really took me for a spin start to finish...Not even sure if I even finished this LOL
Is there more than one ending? i see other comments talking about a wife or something, but i never saw anything like that, i just capture the flag 3 times, occasionally seeing a ghost when i do so, and then before i captured the final flag, the chat went crazy telling me not to do it...
Great game, I love the idea of having it in a old ps1 style fps, have you considered creating a separate multiplayer version? I think that would be neat.
your game is broken. if you bring all 3 flag to the goal, the game will end and if i open it back up the servers are gone, even if i redownload the game the servers are gone
I just played this game. It did have an interesting conceit (an abandoned online FPS haunted by a ghost), but the worn-out horror tropes (the RPS review spelled it out better than I could) kind of soured it for me.
Personally, I would have taken out the “VHS tape” aspect altogether and just presented it as an abandoned 1990’s multiplayer shooter, in which only the AI servers were working, and in each one, you had to kill an AI opponent with a female skin. Each time you did, you’d be locked out of a server by someone (who would later make himself known as the game developer), and then you’d go to the other servers on the list one by one, each buggier than the last, and your opponent would be harder to kill.
Bit by bit, the story would be revealed: the developer’s wife had died, and the developer put an avatar based on her (which would also be implied to be possessed by her ghost) in the game to honor her memory. He’d be displeased on how you kept on killing her in-game, and hoped that, as soon as you saw her get tougher in each new server, you’d get the message and leave her alone.
Eventually, however, you’d reach the next-to-last (and most buggy) server, in which the “wife” avatar AI was almost impossible. Beat her, however, and you’d go on the the last server, in which you didn’t have to kill her at all, just make a decision: spare the avatar (thus preserving the developer’s memory of his wife) or kill the avatar (and, it’s implied, free the wife’s soul)?
I think that would have made for a more interesting conceit than “spooky VHS of an anachronistic FPS”.
This is a great concept, thanks for writing out your thoughts! I personally don't like to delve too much into the development behind my games, as I believe it's often better left untold. We had actually thought to add a lot of the elements you discussed. But we didn't have a lot of time for this game and if you want to get a game done you need to be able to settle on a smaller scope. This game would likely never have seen the light of day if it was as large as you propose. However, we decided a story is better than no story and took a risk by putting it in despite the time constraints. At least it provided some closure to the experience. Even if some people don't like the way it's delivered.
If I ever decide on creating a larger game based on this jam project, I will definitely take into account your ideas! Thank you.
Or alternatively, I could have it so that you wouldn't have to fight the avatar at all, just encounter her in increasing glitchy/freaky ways while playing CTF.
As you got locked out of each server, the next one would be glitchier, and the one after that glitchier, and so on. You can't kill the AI, because the dev didn't program that in on purpose, because he couldn't bear the thought of losing her again. He hopes that the gradual glitchyness of each new server would turn you off the idea of playing CTF on the servers.
If, however, you persevered and went into the last server (one with killing implemented), you'd be given a choice: kill the "AI" (and, it's implied, have the ghost of the wife rest in peace), or play the last game of CTF and leave the developer and his wife-avatar in peace.
omg, that was really scary! not being able to move properly and not able to shoot making me totally vulnerable for what is incoming on me is a nightmare I have had several times in my childhood. You made this really good!
Hi there, have to say I really loved this game. The lonely atmosphere, the music from the record player, the creepy vibes and little jump scares. At the end I captured the flag and killed the server, because although I felt bad for the dev guy losing his wife and trying to get her back, he said himself she would be set free if the game ended. I'm posting my video playthrough here, and you can see how I hesitated at the end. lol. I might reset it and see what else happens.
I did have a few issues at the start though. First 3 or 4 times I tried to start it crashed. No idea way. Still, 10/10
I wanted to keep this a bit secret, but people kept asking so. If you're looking to reset the progress of the game (clear your save data), just enter the konami code in the server browser screen. It should play a sound when entered correctly.
If you don't know what a "konami code" is, just Google it! It's great piece of video game history.
Hi, you can reset your progress by entering the konami code in the server browser screen. It should play a sound when entered correctly and the server will pop back up.
I had no idea the "server" status remains constant no matter if you reinstall, TO ANYONE LOOKING FOR THE CONFIG FILE the directory is
C:\Users\YourLogin\AppData\LocalLow\Adam Pype - Viktor Kraus
sorry papercookies, just really wanted to give it another go (i annihilated the server too early because i wanted to see what would happen xD) . Well done for the immersion though!
Edit: nevermind, deleting the config there didn't bring the servers back :(
Made an account just to write this comment. I love the aesthetic a ton. The bleeding record player was real eery, and I really like the interactivity between the admin and player. But as others said, the plot is kinda meh. Also, is there any way to restart the game? I've uninstalled/re-installed and its still broke. I'm a huge sucker for games that play with save files like that, though.
one of the other players was hacking and then another one tried to troll me in chat but wouldn't join the other team to fight me and then he crashed the servers cuz i wouldn't talk to him can u fix the servers also my friends couldn't find me even when we joined the same server so theres a glitch
The game crashes on startup, with a default NoPlayersOnline.exe has stopped working.
Also, the crash doesn't seem constant, with different things loading before it crashes. Sometimes the border shows up, other times a unity error bar thing appears before the crash. Hopefully this gets fixed, the game looks cool.
I played the game and I liked that it gave you that feeling of loneliness when there is no one online to play with. I initially watched a gameplay video of it, then I decided to play it in order to figure out if there is another ending. As some suggestions, you could try implementing cheats mechanics and external file writing like Doki Doki Literature Club does. Looking forward for new versions.
I'll be honest, I didn't like how the whole backstory was spelled out at the end like it was, I think that made it sound really cheesy and took me out of the game. But the game itself is great on an atmospheric level, I felt every bit of the loneliness as I wandered back and forth, and by the end I felt a sense of dread every time I turned a corner. I'd love to see more like this, it's a simple concept but executed very well, with the exception of the "supernatural/haunted video game" backstory.
Thank you for the fair review! You make a good point and I'd love to have expanded on it, and perhaps eased the player into the story more. But time eludes me. Thanks for playing!
I wasn't expecting the game to turn into a seriously difficult moral conundrum where I had to sit there and think about what I was going to do because either way somebody is going to get hurt probably, but I appreciate it.
It's like on one hand I thought in the end the best thing to do is free her. Since it seems cruel to try and chain her to this game instead of letting her move on. Like even if he succeeds and nothing goes wrong (And that is a pretty big IF) what kind of existence would that be? He would not even be able to interact with her or touch her anymore directly you know? And she would just see a floating gun or some shit, wouldn't even be able to go anywhere outside that tiny map. And this kind of obsession is not a really good way to deal with grief I think, I think its making him unhinged to say the least. On the other hand the anguish I probably caused him by throwing his work away I took no pleasure in. It needs to be done and he needs to move on but there was a part of me going "well what if he kills himself" or something like that. I basically had to consider it for a bit. It was not an easy decision for me to make.
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You nailed the atmosphere perfectly and I was quite immersed in the game. I just love the eerie "You're alone (?)" vibes. Although I wish it stuck with the mysterious approach of things being slightly off rather than adding supernatural human element at the end, but it was still nicely crafted nonetheless!
I made a vid on this and went a little beyond where I thought the game would let me go. This was super cool! (The video just went live)
It's amazing how everyone feel the same about old games that you know that no one plays anymore, it's kinda of a feeling of loneliness and feeling like you're somewhere you shouldn't be, but at the same time it's kinda of magical, I don't know, but about the game, it was great, I couldn't bring myself to be an asshole and "destroy" the game by beating it, let the guy try to do what he wants to do.
Made a little gameplay of it you can check it here:
I wish it had multiple endings ;o These kinds of games 'need' it
Creepy little game! Very much enjoyed it.
This game... Its about loneliness. Both choices give you nothing. There is no releif, just memories and an illusionary feeling of presence. Brilliant.
There HAS to be something....maybe a story...I mean the Eye asset is named "Ultra Secret" when you check it in unity...then there is that piece of paper...then there's the PNG with the date...then there is the creation date of the PNG which is old as hell...there HAS to be some kind of cryptic story behind it for those who are willing to search deeper xD oitherwise, this is a huge waste of time
Love the short game! At first I was like - does it really have multiplayer?? I did some reading and found out it's just a single player.... and after that, somebody joined the server. Creepy!
Really, nice experience!
so after i touched the 3rd blue flag and everything turned white, my game get messed up. i reinstalled and even rebooted my PC but the game ends up not having any servers to click on? is this a puzzle or is the game actually glitched? did i fuck up the game by not listening to the chat log telling me not to do it?
It's intended, don't worry!
Okay so it's a puzzle to solve then?
You can get back the list of those servers if you insert the Konami code with your keyboard. The Konami code is:
[Arrow keys] Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.
Enjoy ;)
Nothing fills my night terrors more than the empty void of old consoles, which this game captures flawlessly. The design is perfectly executed as Adam always seems to manage in his games, credit to him where credit is due. It gave me goosebumps the entire way through and despite that, I'm going to put myself through that again to find the added secret.
This game was absolutely amazing! I've never played a game quite like this one! It really took me for a spin start to finish...Not even sure if I even finished this LOL
Is there more than one ending? i see other comments talking about a wife or something, but i never saw anything like that, i just capture the flag 3 times, occasionally seeing a ghost when i do so, and then before i captured the final flag, the chat went crazy telling me not to do it...
Great game overall. Very terrifying, but I felt like it could've done without without the whole "dead wife" thing. It felt kinda forced.
Great game, I love the idea of having it in a old ps1 style fps, have you considered creating a separate multiplayer version? I think that would be neat.
Yes actually! I would love to make a simple online fps with these aesthetics. But networking is hard man haha
I understand m8
i like the whole game and the idea of it, it really sent chills down my back and i love it.
EVEN THO IM AN ADULT AND I DONT NEED TO PUT MYSELF THROUGH THIS BUT I DONT REGRET THAT I DID
your game is broken. if you bring all 3 flag to the goal, the game will end and if i open it back up the servers are gone, even if i redownload the game the servers are gone
Mate... I'm pretty sure that's the point. It did say, if you bring the last flag, all the servers will shut down.
The story only makes sense if you read the story.
Really creepy game. I like the idea of some kind of old possessed video game.
I just played this game. It did have an interesting conceit (an abandoned online FPS haunted by a ghost), but the worn-out horror tropes (the RPS review spelled it out better than I could) kind of soured it for me.
Personally, I would have taken out the “VHS tape” aspect altogether and just presented it as an abandoned 1990’s multiplayer shooter, in which only the AI servers were working, and in each one, you had to kill an AI opponent with a female skin. Each time you did, you’d be locked out of a server by someone (who would later make himself known as the game developer), and then you’d go to the other servers on the list one by one, each buggier than the last, and your opponent would be harder to kill.
Bit by bit, the story would be revealed: the developer’s wife had died, and the developer put an avatar based on her (which would also be implied to be possessed by her ghost) in the game to honor her memory. He’d be displeased on how you kept on killing her in-game, and hoped that, as soon as you saw her get tougher in each new server, you’d get the message and leave her alone.
Eventually, however, you’d reach the next-to-last (and most buggy) server, in which the “wife” avatar AI was almost impossible. Beat her, however, and you’d go on the the last server, in which you didn’t have to kill her at all, just make a decision: spare the avatar (thus preserving the developer’s memory of his wife) or kill the avatar (and, it’s implied, free the wife’s soul)?
I think that would have made for a more interesting conceit than “spooky VHS of an anachronistic FPS”.
This is a great concept, thanks for writing out your thoughts! I personally don't like to delve too much into the development behind my games, as I believe it's often better left untold. We had actually thought to add a lot of the elements you discussed. But we didn't have a lot of time for this game and if you want to get a game done you need to be able to settle on a smaller scope. This game would likely never have seen the light of day if it was as large as you propose. However, we decided a story is better than no story and took a risk by putting it in despite the time constraints. At least it provided some closure to the experience. Even if some people don't like the way it's delivered.
If I ever decide on creating a larger game based on this jam project, I will definitely take into account your ideas! Thank you.
You're welcome, thanks for replying!
Or alternatively, I could have it so that you wouldn't have to fight the avatar at all, just encounter her in increasing glitchy/freaky ways while playing CTF.
As you got locked out of each server, the next one would be glitchier, and the one after that glitchier, and so on. You can't kill the AI, because the dev didn't program that in on purpose, because he couldn't bear the thought of losing her again. He hopes that the gradual glitchyness of each new server would turn you off the idea of playing CTF on the servers.
If, however, you persevered and went into the last server (one with killing implemented), you'd be given a choice: kill the "AI" (and, it's implied, have the ghost of the wife rest in peace), or play the last game of CTF and leave the developer and his wife-avatar in peace.
omg, that was really scary! not being able to move properly and not able to shoot making me totally vulnerable for what is incoming on me is a nightmare I have had several times in my childhood. You made this really good!
Hi there, have to say I really loved this game. The lonely atmosphere, the music from the record player, the creepy vibes and little jump scares. At the end I captured the flag and killed the server, because although I felt bad for the dev guy losing his wife and trying to get her back, he said himself she would be set free if the game ended. I'm posting my video playthrough here, and you can see how I hesitated at the end. lol. I might reset it and see what else happens.
I did have a few issues at the start though. First 3 or 4 times I tried to start it crashed. No idea way. Still, 10/10
Thanks for checking it out and recording some footage! No idea about the crashes but it seems to happen to other people as well so I'll check it out.
[SPOILERS]
I wanted to keep this a bit secret, but people kept asking so. If you're looking to reset the progress of the game (clear your save data), just enter the konami code in the server browser screen. It should play a sound when entered correctly.
If you don't know what a "konami code" is, just Google it! It's great piece of video game history.
Thanks for playing!
Thank you for revealing this! now I can continue to play around without other spoilers
I really want to show this game to some friends, but (as others have pointed out) I can't replay it. Can you pretty please let me know how to do that?
Hi, you can reset your progress by entering the konami code in the server browser screen. It should play a sound when entered correctly and the server will pop back up.
I tried che code but...
SPOILER
when the guy ask me to shot 2 times I can't do that cause my gun is empty...even if I didn't fire a single bullet after the "code-reset".
Is this intended? I used all my bullets in the PREVIOUS run, not in this one...
hit r to reload
Thx but I still think is a bug.
You shouldn't need to reload when you didn't fire a single bullet.
That was fun. Interesting concept. I love the old school VHS style.
Great work! Happy to see more of this.
This one was strange. I enjoyed it but i am not sure if I finished it right.
It grabs your interest extremely well with the intro and that is a 10/10 . I Recommend giving this one a go for your self as I am kinda stuck.
heres a video of my playthough:
I had no idea the "server" status remains constant no matter if you reinstall, TO ANYONE LOOKING FOR THE CONFIG FILE the directory is
C:\Users\YourLogin\AppData\LocalLow\Adam Pype - Viktor Kraus
sorry papercookies, just really wanted to give it another go (i annihilated the server too early because i wanted to see what would happen xD) . Well done for the immersion though!
Edit: nevermind, deleting the config there didn't bring the servers back :(
Shh don't tell the others, but try entering the konami code in the server browser :)
O_O holy crap that worked !!! 10/10
Spoilers, obviously
Made an account just to write this comment. I love the aesthetic a ton. The bleeding record player was real eery, and I really like the interactivity between the admin and player. But as others said, the plot is kinda meh. Also, is there any way to restart the game? I've uninstalled/re-installed and its still broke. I'm a huge sucker for games that play with save files like that, though.
Spoilers, too
I liked it as well, and would like to know if there's a way to re-experience it, I ended it early cause I thought necromancy was bullshit!!
Formulaic, not scary. 0/10
one of the other players was hacking and then another one tried to troll me in chat but wouldn't join the other team to fight me and then he crashed the servers cuz i wouldn't talk to him can u fix the servers also my friends couldn't find me even when we joined the same server so theres a glitch
The game crashes on startup, with a default NoPlayersOnline.exe has stopped working.
Also, the crash doesn't seem constant, with different things loading before it crashes. Sometimes the border shows up, other times a unity error bar thing appears before the crash. Hopefully this gets fixed, the game looks cool.
That's really weird. What are your specs? I would try to run it in administrator mode or compatibility mode.
Tried compatibility and admin, Windows 7 64 bit, 12gb of ram.
Edit: it's working now. I don't know why.
Weird, glad you got it working!
I played the game and I liked that it gave you that feeling of loneliness when there is no one online to play with. I initially watched a gameplay video of it, then I decided to play it in order to figure out if there is another ending. As some suggestions, you could try implementing cheats mechanics and external file writing like Doki Doki Literature Club does. Looking forward for new versions.
Amazing game, loved it! Are you planning to expand it?
[SPOILERS]
I'll be honest, I didn't like how the whole backstory was spelled out at the end like it was, I think that made it sound really cheesy and took me out of the game. But the game itself is great on an atmospheric level, I felt every bit of the loneliness as I wandered back and forth, and by the end I felt a sense of dread every time I turned a corner. I'd love to see more like this, it's a simple concept but executed very well, with the exception of the "supernatural/haunted video game" backstory.
Thank you for the fair review! You make a good point and I'd love to have expanded on it, and perhaps eased the player into the story more. But time eludes me. Thanks for playing!
So I didn't play the game, but the first 3D shooter was made in the 90s, so 0/20, you don't pass this course Adam ;p
Ok I played the game, very cool, and that's all I'm gonna say, I don't want to spoil it for other people
Haha thanks for checking it out Matei! I should've known that, but an 80s fps game just sounds a lot cooler :v)
I wasn't expecting the game to turn into a seriously difficult moral conundrum where I had to sit there and think about what I was going to do because either way somebody is going to get hurt probably, but I appreciate it.
Oohh I'm very glad I was able to make you stop and think! Thanks for checking it out :)
It's like on one hand I thought in the end the best thing to do is free her. Since it seems cruel to try and chain her to this game instead of letting her move on. Like even if he succeeds and nothing goes wrong (And that is a pretty big IF) what kind of existence would that be? He would not even be able to interact with her or touch her anymore directly you know? And she would just see a floating gun or some shit, wouldn't even be able to go anywhere outside that tiny map. And this kind of obsession is not a really good way to deal with grief I think, I think its making him unhinged to say the least. On the other hand the anguish I probably caused him by throwing his work away I took no pleasure in. It needs to be done and he needs to move on but there was a part of me going "well what if he kills himself" or something like that. I basically had to consider it for a bit. It was not an easy decision for me to make.
quit yapping stupid nigger