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A jam submission

NightmareOSView game page

An impossible horror mystery OS game.
Submitted by The XENO Studios — 2 days, 3 hours before the deadline
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NightmareOS's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Innovation#1623.2413.571
Theme#3093.3713.714
Audio#3212.9173.214
Graphics#3992.9823.286
Overall#4172.8303.119
Fun#5692.2692.500
Game Design#5992.2042.429

Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game fit the theme?
The player must dive deep to unravel the mystery of death of a untold genius. A simple OS game, where the player must dive in the realm of directories and avoid horror at all cost. Otherwise it may cost the player his life.

Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
Yes, the 3D model. every single line of code and most of the things are made by me (Done within the time limit). Just the Sound and UI are from before.

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Comments

Submitted (1 edit)

Really cool concept, and you created a really unique horror atmosphere. This is always what I'm afraid will happen when I open up system32.

I wasn't able to complete the game, there were a few things getting in the way:

  • I found the visual effect way too intense and couldn't look at the screen for too long. I had to write down the files and try to solve the codes on paper
  • I put in a solid effort at solving the codes, and I am no master but I wasn't able to figure anything out. I tried some basic things like applying the Crypt*.txt keys and offsetting the letters in the cipher. Maybe I am just dumb, but here's my very subjective take: In my experience most good puzzle games I have played start by teaching the player the rules of the game with simple puzzles before moving on to complicated puzzles. If the player has to guess the rules of the game while solving a complicated puzzle then they have no chance of solving it. I guess what I'm saying is I would have expected one of those basic techniques to work somewhere just to tell me I was on the right track, before moving on to anything more complicated.

That said I still did have a great time playing the game.

I also figured out you could click and drag the battery to get more time. I learned this on my first playthrough by dragging it to zero and giving myself the jumpscare lmao.

Developer

Your honest reply is the best thing I have heard. I am really sorry that the puzzle got way to tough. I wasn't able to add a good tutorial due to time limit. And I am shocked that you are the only one yet to notice the timer thing. XD. And I thought to decrease the glitch, but it was too late. And thanks again for your awesome reply. Happy that had a good time. I hope that you will be able to solve the game when you try again. (My Tip: Go Even deeper. There is a clue for the clue :)

Submitted

I gave it a shot, but ended up closing it out without finishing it. The static and time limit were pretty frustrating to play around, and having to go back to the menu to read the commands was annoying. I wish you could just type "help" in game to get all the commands. I also couldn't seem to open any .txt file with a space in the name. 

Developer

Extremely sorry for the frustration. I really feel sorry that I didn't add a "help" command. But hey, it is not always about winning, it is the fear and anxiety you gain from playing ~ Said by "A Wise Man". Hope you will try again and win as 3 persons have already won. Good Luck ;)

Submitted (1 edit)

The game overall is really cool, atmospheric, and grabbed me immediately which is amazing. I love the concept, but I had to give up because the puzzle was too hard for me trying to read the text and think was giving me a headache. It sounds like others were able to get further into the game, I think I'm just a low skill player :)

Developer

Don't say it that way. Maybe you were busy and already were tired. So you couldn't give it your all. I hope that you will try it when you're free and win within 1 minute. I know you got it ;)

Submitted

Very novel.  Nice ambient music.  Graphics were decent, but the glitch effect made it difficult to read.  Together they created a nice horror atmosphere.  Highly polished.  

Developer( 1)

I am really glad to hear your thoughts. I thought to decrease the glitch amount. But it was too late. And also, really appreciated :)

Submitted

I thought it was pretty fun.  I'm no developer by any means and even for me figuring out how to move between folders and files wasn't too difficult so nice job making it pretty clear how to play.  The audio and environment really set the tone, all the effects like the static over the camera all seemed appropriate so great job with that.  

Developer

Thank you very much. Really appreciated. And happy to hear that it wasn't difficult for you.

Submitted

I am used to terminal commands, but got frustrated a bit.

Could not get the cryptkey code to work in the correct directory, no matter what way I typed it.

I had to play your game since the concept is so similar to ours, I appreciate what you build, and it was properly spooky. I enjoyed the more spooky decryption style puzzles implemented.

Great job on a dificult implementation!

Developer

Thank you very much for playing it. Really appreciated. Will try your game too. But how did the ideas match :)

Submitted

Love how the theme was incorporated into typing commands into a UNIX terminal. I thought the atmosphere was also spot-on. I wish the glitch effect could have been reduced as it obscured the text on the screen when viewing from some camera angles, but regardless, this is truly an underrated entry in this game jam! Incredible job!

Submitted

Honestly I'm really surprised that this game isn't more popular. The graphics are amazing, especially the menu. The audio as well. It's really atmospheric. 

I also like the idea. I wasn't able to complete the game, since the password didn't work even after converting it. Still, the idea is really good. Though, honestly, the timer was kinda redundant since you can always just continue where you left of last time without any consequences. 

Also you can't really see a lot with the blur effect so you have to use the last camera angle. 

There's a lot of potential here. Good job!

Developer

Thank you very much for playing. I am really sorry to hear that you got the password and still wasn't able to win. (Try putting the password in root menu and all caps :) I am also sad that I have hardly got any rating. The system was really tricky to make. Hope people will find my game. Thanks again.

Submitted

Nice job! I really like the atmosphere and music, and the main menu is incredibly good. I think a help command would have really been useful in giving new players a way to quickly understand the commands. Other than that though, I liked it, good job!

Developer

Thanks a lot for playing the game

Submitted

I think the visual glitch was applied too heavily.

Developer

Maybe you are right, should have increased the glitch interval

Submitted

Really great atmosphere

Developer

Thanks

Submitted( 1)

Woah the menu is a masterpiece

Developer

Is that a compliment or a hint that the game in unplayable. You can say it directly as I won't mind. I have come to realize that it is impossible to beat. Hence the description...

Submitted (1 edit)

Is a compliment and about gameplay I forgot all the commands I can use and I was looking for a list but I had to go back to the menu to see the list and try again, overall it looks like a full game with future updates, a "help" command listing all commands available would be great!

Developer( 1)

Now thank you. Btw, I completely forgot about adding a help command. That would've been nice. Btw it is pretty easy for a Linux guy. That's why...Anyway thanks a lot.