The Hiding Place
(Content Warning: Self-Harm, Suicide, Swearing)
(NOTE: IF YOUR STUCK WITH JUST A TREE, TRY A DIFFERENT BROWSER (FIREFOX WORKS BEST), AND/OR DONT FULLSCREEN)
Created in 2 weeks for Pirate Software - Game Jam 15
The Hiding Place is a puzzle platformer centered around things changing in the dark. You play as a girl named Bell. She is trapped in a place called "The Hiding Place." She doesn't remember anything about how she ended up here. Join her as you uncover the dark corners of your past as you shine light on your hidden memories.
Game Jam theme: Shadows and Alchemy
I interpreted the "Alchemy" part of the theme to mean change, and made my game all about how things change in shadow. This idea plays into the main gameplay mechanics of the game, as well as the story.
One little detail about the way I made this game is I participated in two jams during its development. The other was the OST Composing Jam #7, where I made most of the soundtrack for this game. The theme for that jam was "Inside My World," which partly informed my choices for this game. You can check out the OST I submitted here. (Note that the final OST that made it into the game is slightly different)
Controls:
- A/D - Move
- Space - Jump, Continue Dialogue
- E - Flip Switches
- Mouse - Aim Orbs
- Left Click - Throw Orbs
Game Design Document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nXUk0xQOEK7oUwEk3YZlWlO-GtbjU1svQjRR21XqJE4/...
Credits:
Everything made by me - CodeRed (except a couple CC0 sounds and fonts)
Comments
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I just love where you went with the theme. A very unique and compelling idea.
The music fits really well and caries the heaviness of the story.
The artwork is simple but fits really well. Especially the background touches me and fits perfectly.
The game mechanics are simple and easy to understand even without a tutorial and make for some interesting puzzles.
However I could not finish bc the being hunted was just too much for me in combination with the already established tension but I do understand why this might be a necessary part of the story.
My one point of critique is that the intro story with Rain requires a lot of clicking continue and doesn't have the best readability. Putting that email into one block of text as if we are reading the actual email could pull one into the story more thoroughly.
I'm a bit sad that I couldn't finish the game but glad that I saw at least part of it. This is a really good entry.
Wow, incredible experience! The story telling was amazing and very emotional. I definitely resonated with the story and can empathize with Bell. On top of all that, it has fun puzzles and an amazing OST! I hope to see it finished!
Thank you!! The story is pretty personal to me, so it means a lot to hear that you connected with it. I'm so happy to hear that you're excited to see it finished! I plan on this eventually becoming my first release on Steam, but it's going to be a while before I think it's ready for that. Glad to see someone is looking forward to it :)
This was good! The presentation was well done and I thought the soundtrack was especially good and accompanied the visuals very well.
The light mechanics were clever and created some interesting puzzles. I would've personally favored some more complex puzzles over the timing based platforming challenges. I do think the game could have done a better job introducing some of the mechanics as it took me a bit to figure out what was going on at times. Some better visualizations and some very simple introductory puzzles could help with this. Also, maybe highlight elements that changed for a brief moment when they're revealed?
The story was a little predictable (although I can't really blame you for the content warning at the start). Despite that I felt like the dialogue worked well for me, especially the relationship between Bell and her Sister was well executed. Even though I knew where it was going I enjoyed discovering how it would get there.
All in all a great game! I'm interested in seeing how it develops further.
Thank you! Yeah the light mechanics were a bit tricky to make puzzles for. On top of that, since the cutscenes took so long to make, I didn't have much time to make puzzles, so I ended up opting to have more simple timing stuff. I definitely would've loved to make some more complex puzzles for the game, just didn't have enough time.
The introductory puzzles are a tricky thing because I really wanted to try and communicate the main mechanics without actually telling you anything. I think that some of that worked, but I get that some of it didn't. I'll think carefully on how I want to change that for the future. Also, I like the suggestion of highlighting stuff when it changes - that could definitely aid in the puzzle-solving process.
I'm glad you liked the story! I totally get that it's a bit predictable - I realized pretty early on that I'd have to have a content warning, and that would end up spoiling the game pretty bad, but I don't think there was any way around that unfortunately.
Anyway, thank you so much for the detailed feedback! I'm glad you're looking forward to future developments - I'm planning on this eventually becoming my first Steam release, but it'll probably be a while before that happens. Feedback like this is invaluable toward getting the game ready for that, so I really appreciate it. :)
Well I got to the second screen with the platforms that alternate with the light, couldn't figure it out, walked back, saw the shadow girl, noticed that you can push her. Pushed her to the top of the stairs and she disappeared on room transition. Then I got bored. It looks cool, I wish I wasn't stuck early on.
yeah, I don’t know why I kept the ability to go back to previous rooms. Breaks the game in a lot of places…
If it’s the level I’m thinking of, you just gotta walk in front of the light on the second platform. But regardless thanks for playing :)
I like the music and the first art of the tree the sun and the houses. Felt like I was really pulled into it by the calm animation and I felt sad.. Then I felt sad when I realized none of my browsers, chrome and edge can see the text and Ill be stuck with the sad sunny tree forever :(