Awesome game and specially love your attention to answer everyone, first I tought maaan this is too hard but then I took my time to learn and figure out what to do and had a blast playing. You're a very talented dev and I hope to see more in the future, cheers
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
That is awesome: the fact that my humble game somehow inspired you to learn GML! In my opinion, the hardest thing is to start to keep studying every day after you've started.
I'm anything but an expert. But I'll very willingly help, as far as I can, and address you to pretty useful tutorials. Feel free to ask if you have any question! :)
Trust me: it's even more frustrating, if you keep skipping dialogues (which contain tons of useful tips on how to deal with pretty much everything)! :D
Btw, I'm glad you liked the game; and I really appreciate the fact you've also made an entertaining video! :)
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
Just a quick typo correction to point out: in the "upstairs" ending, you have istinctive instead of instinctive/distinctive. Anyway thought I would give you the heads up while I remembered, seeming this is the third night in a row I have played your game to one of the endings ^_^
At first I wasn't a big fan of the perma death and decided rather than giving up on it after dying a few times, I would give it another shot the next day. Being more patient with it, I ended up really liking what you've done, and I wouldn't actually take people not liking the lack of save function to heart; it might be frustrating, but it suits the game. I have been intrigued by the other endings, so I will probably give it another shot :)
I'm very pleased to read this. :) Yes, the lack of a saving system could be frustrating in some respects (in addition to being very difficult to address, at this stage) but matches somehow the idea of Their Eyes. Not to mention that, game after game, you get better and faster.
Btw, I corrected the typo! :D You can download the new version 1.1.2.
Reading in forums, it's my understanding that only paid games can be claimed: including a paid game which is on sale, or even free for a limited amount of time.
I may have misunderstood, of course, but it seems a reasonable explanation; since paid games are claimable by default. As a dev, I still have the option to make my paid game not claimable if I want.
Apparently, this is why I can't make Their Eyes claimable. Even if you pay fifty bucks at the download, it's technically a donation - while the game remains free. :/
This game is amazing! I know some are complaining about the difficulty/lack of a save system but I personally love it, very rogue-like and brings to mind the Binding of Isaac and old NES games. I can't believe this is your first game, it's incredible! I'm absolutely in love with the lore.
Thanks a lot! You even made a video! :D I'm gonna watch it asap, I really appreciate this! :) (Also, I'm glad that someone finally likes the lack of a save system - haha)
Ok, so: that was great! It was both rewarding and instructive watching your video.
You wish there was a "medikit indicator"... Well, there is one - kind of! :D I preferred to keep the hud pretty clean, but remember that you can always pause the game and check your inventory by pressing "P" (you never did it, if I'm not wrong).
About the "quantized" ammunitions (you collect up to three bullet, depending on your free slots, and those in excess are wasted): I thought this was a fairly standard mechanic. Deciding the right moment to collect a new ammo pack is part of the "ammo management subgame", isn't it? :D If you have any suggestion, however, I will consider them very willingly!
Also, you think it should be clearer that a ghost is hurting you in the graveyard? I didn't think of that, but it's an interesting idea. I'll work on it. :)
Last but not least, if you're playing again, I would warmly recommend to download the latest version - with bugfixes, improved features and a brand new ending in addition to the existing three.
Medikits are consumable items that allow you to regain one life point - if you're not at full health. You can only bring one at the time. To use a medikit, press TAB (if you're playing with keyboard and mouse) or TRIANGLE/Y (if you're playing with Ps/Xbox pad).
Very cool and atmospheric, but I wish there was a save or checkpoint system, because I keep dying in Lockwood and going through the early game so many times becomes tedious.
Yeah, the checkpoint system is a feature the lack of which has been highlighted by other players too. Unfortunately, while it's pretty straightforward to implement a saving system if you have that in mind when you first undertake a project, adding that same feature at the current stage of a (relatively) elaborate game like mine is far from simple - not to say it's a real pain. :/ Since this is my very first game, I was absolutely unaware of that. Due to inexperience, my idea was to throw in a saving system of some kind, sooner or later; and when I found out the truth it was too late! I'm still trying to implement it, btw. :)
Not that I want to defend my fault, but take into account that, once you know how to deal with the early game, you can beat it and reach Lockwood in five minutes. Also, don't forget that some items can provide you a second chance.
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
Hello? great game but I am on computer how do I equip the items in the inventory? I am terribly sorry if I did not see how to equip the items in the inventory.
Hi! Yup, you're right: how to equip items is never explained. The reason for this is pretty straightforward: you don't have to! :D The inventory is not interactive, actually: it shows your possessions, that's it.
To be more clear: the slots I highlighted in red are for weapons, the green ones are for persistent item, and the yellow ones are for consumables. (The round slots at the bottom are for something else, but you'll find out for yourself!)
For a first attempt at game making, it's a pretty solid game with fresh ideas and beautifully executed.
Kudos to black_and_noir for making this game, hopefully you'll make another game that compliments the game. I would donate some shekels to the author. Unfortunately, i don't have paypal and i don't really trust cc payment from this platform. Is steam items okay? :)
Now for my review.
Pros:
- I really liked the gameplay, i really do. Sure the learning curve is a bit steep, but it's welcomed and fair to me. And i really love how the game rewards you greatly for exploration in items or story + lore which is not too cryptic compared to the other games.
- The fog of war system is pretty much responsible for making this survival game into survival horror. I really like the show and tell tutorial how the fog of war works, and how enemies wouldn't show up if you don't have any vision on them.
- NPCs is amazing at this game, it's very detailed and your actions does have consequences when you do something. The NPCs pretty much makes the game much much more easier if you do what they tell you. or dont.
- The story is pretty simple and sweet. Multiple endings but they aren't cryptic to get, i pretty much know the whole story of the game in 1 and a half hour. But i wish there's a best endings for all three if you know what i mean :)
Cons:
There aren't many of cons for this game, so this is pretty much my nitpicking
- There are a few bugs on the game that i encounter.
Enemies pathfinding is kinda laughable since they tend to get stuck on walls when you're on evasive maneuver especially the walking beginner's trap.
You can dodge the tentacle to brazil? (Either bugged or intentional)
- The artstyle is pretty confusing at first, i thought the game takes place at night? But the NPCs said it's noon or morning? And it's going to be dark?
So the black ground is pretty confusing for me. I would change the ground into light brown and then transitioning into brown and then dark brown.
Houses and buildings should've been drawn for more aesthetics, and then change the "?" symbols with more fog of war or just darkness.
- The combat is pretty much TLOZ-like but with guns, i don't really like the delay on the reload. It should be either refined (like adding reload animation) or remove the delay. And i don't like the touching = you get hurt mechanism, for me it's kinda lazy and pretty much makes the combat pretty shallow. I would add attack animation so getting hit is fair and 100% your fault.
I try to respond to your remarks - not to defend my work, rather to explain why it's how it is! :)
Yeah, I kept the pathfinding system pretty basic. There are a couple of reasons for that: the first one, pathfinding is very expensive in terms of resources; I initially implemented a more refined system, but that was resulting in performance issues, and I'm still not good enough to optimize that. :D Furthermore, I thought that exploiting the "dullness" of enemies' pathfinding could have been part of the strategy: bad guys are numerous and dangerous, but you can outsmart them. I'm not saying I made it as it is on purpose: at some point, I just felt that the algorithm was good enough for such a simple game.
Uhm... Which "upper door in the inn" do you mean? It may be a bug but, as far as I'm aware, each door in the game can either be lockpicked (if locked) or be opened (if not).
You can dodge the tentacle, yes: that was intentional. :)
Speaking of the artstyle, something you may not know is that the whole game was originally in black and white (except for the blood and the red eyes). About one month before releasing it, I decided to recolor the white outlines, adding few details to make the graphics more readable. I kept the black background, though. Not because it's realistic, but simply because I like it; and I find it helps the other elements to stand out.
My philosophy, in every aspect of the game, was: try to keep things simple. I was aware that, as a novice developer, the project was quite ambitious; and a lot of things could have gone wrong. In addition, drawing is something in which I have some experience; and since I wanted to spend my best efforts learning something new (i.e. coding), my philosophy for graphics and animation was even stricter: try to keep things very simple. That's why you don't have a color transitioning (you have the wind, though, that grows as the night approaches), buildings aren't drawn in a more aesthetic way (I love architecture, so keeping things simple in this regard was very hard), and some enemies don't even have an attack animation (which would have implied a dodge animation for the player, but he's not a warrior and I didn't want to put too much emphasis on action).
I never played any of the Zeldas, unfortunately. :/ I probably should! Don't you find that reloading without delay would make the combat even more shallow? In my opinion, the delay itself plays an important role in making the player feel vulnerable.
Last but not least, I must confess I have no idea of what do you mean with "steam items". But the kudos are more than enough! Thanks again for your time and your words. :)
Don't get it wrong, your two cents are really appreciated! :)
I've been using Steam for a while, but just for playing; I was totally unaware of the donation feature.
I'm thinking of adding a fourth ending, yes. Another very difficult thing, for me (as for many others I guess), is to decide that a project is finished and nothing else should be added! :D Nevertheless, the "opponent" can actually be sent to the shadow realm... It's quite a hidden mechanic, probably, but far from impossible to discover. :)
Thank you! :) What do you mea? Maybe a couple of keys for controlling the master volume during the game, instead of doing that by the OS or the speakers?
Is there a way to change the controls? my middle mouse wheel can't click correctly (I need to press it really hard) so I can't really reload easily at all
There is no way to rebind the keys, actually. But - for sure - I could implement a secondary key, as an alternative to middle mouse: I'll do it tomorrow! :) Any suggestion about the alternative key?
Thank you so much for your feedback! :) It's very important to me.
Yup, the game does not lead you by the hand: that's for sure. (I warned you! :D) I've tried to make the learning process fairly quick, though, and more rewarding than an "easy" game would have been.
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
Ha ha ha Ok, got it... This never happened to me, but I will try to prevent it from happening anyway. Btw, at least the bridge to Lockwood was clear! :D
really awesome game, i think you did a really really really great job on it, I don't think I have beaten it yet, and it seems to me there are a lot of hidden things that I have yet to find.
Thank you for your words, I'm really glad you are enjoying my efforts. :) Yes, I have to admit I tried to put pretty a bunch of stuff in this game; and I'm still adding a few contents with each new version...
I would very willingly add save points. To be honest, this was also my original idea! But, due to my inexperience, I've been working on this game for months without following any plan in particular. Which means, I've put together monsters, graphics, and all the fun stuff, leaving the "boring" save mechanic to the end. That was NOT very smart, as you can guess. As I found out, implementing such a mechanic is pretty easy... if you do it at the beginning. But once you have tons of code (pretty messy, noob's code :D) it is a very hard task, almost impossible with my current skills... :/
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
im just going to say this since it confused me, the windows and mac downloads are opposite, so, the windows ver. is the mac download and the mac ver. is in the windows download(version 1.0.7 dont know about others) <3
I love the pixel art Aesthetic desing, one thing i am curious about is how did you make the gun rotate without breaking the pixel art, games like Enter the gungeon also do this with their weapons, how do you do it?
In my case, the answer to your question is pretty trivial: Their Eyes has a true low res of 320 x 180, unlike other games that "simulate" that resolution just by drawing big pixels (take Minecraft, for instance). Therefore, as you rotate the rifle, it is automatically redrawn to match the angle: the pixelated effect is retained, but the drawing itself is pretty messed up - as a result of an automatic process.
Enter the Gungeon, on the other hand, looks as the result of a much more accurate work. It doesn't matter the angle, the drawing is always pixelated and always very aesthetic: maybe I'm wrong, but I would say each gun has been manually redrawn for each fraction of 180 degrees and then just mirrored to complete the circle.
Thank you for the video, I watched it immediately! A real hoot. :D Also, in case you decide to play again I'd recommend to download the new version - with bugfixes and extended endings and few extra features. Even better, I would wait until tomorrow for the version 1.0.7 - since, thanks to you, will be further improved! PS: I didn't really think about it, but forgetting the key bindings can happen to anyone... I added a recap on the game's page. :)
Well the game itself is short... mostly because you die after 30 minutes! That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of things to discover. :D Wild playing is great, and his voice acting is hilarious! I really enjoyed his video.
You cannot shoot, right at the beginning. Once you've found the rifle: - LEFT TRIGGER to aim, RIGHT TRIGGER to shoot, SQUARE / X while aiming to reload (if you are playing with the pad); - RIGHT MOUSE to aim, LEFT MOUSE to shoot, MIDDLE MOUSE while aiming to reload (if you are playing with mouse & keyboard). :)
Uhm... Now, this is an interesting question! As a mac user, I'm working on MacOS and then I just create the Windows executable from my Win10 partition; so, I am far from familiar with the Windows environment. I'll try to find out if's possible to build a 32 bit executable from a 64 bit environment... I'll keep you posted! :)
(if anyone of those who read this post has the answer, I'd be very grateful for letting me know!)
For a first-time effort, this is a really well put-together little game! All the little secrets you can find, the changes in character dialog after different events... it's obvious you've put in a lot of planning and effort.
As you said, there is a little bit of a learning curve for the first part of the game - I died a few times after making it to the village, where I immediately got mauled to death by a dark man and a wolf after going right into the first house. But the first section is short enough and the game compelling enough that it sucked me in, and replays became more of a challenge than a frustration. Plus, with each death I learned more about item and enemy locations, and which order to gather the items in to make my life easier (if you're wondering: boots, ax, stamina potion, belt, pendant, goggles, lantern, oil). I also appreciated how the enemies are still tough enough to keep you on your toes even after you find weapons.
I will say the abruptness of the endings was a slight letdown, especially after taking the time to find everything while still beating the clock - sort of like beating one of those old Nintendo Hard 8-bit games only to get "YOU ARE GREAT PLAYER! SEE YOU NEXT TIME" - but the game is still a lot of fun. At least they make for a good sequel hook!
A few points of constructive criticism:
1) The tutorial for the lockpick is somewhat opaque. It took me quite a few tries before I finally got the knack of how to use it. One thing that contributed to my confusion is the character's idle animation where he looks from side to side - I thought at first I was supposed to match the button press timing with that. Some sort of visual cue, or rewording the tutorial text, might help.
2) It wasn't immediately obvious how to defeat the giant. Most bullets bounce right off him, of course, and the dialog from the priest made me think that perhaps I needed to find a way to pacify the giant, rather than killing him. I eventually had to turn to a YouTube playthrough by Manly Badass Hero (which is where I first found out about the game) to learn how to defeat him. Maybe the hunter's dialog could be tweaked to drop a hint to aim for the head?
The addition of the cursor when aiming the gun in the latest version is a *huge* improvement, by the way.
Once again, a great first offering. Hope to see more from you!
First of all, thank you for the detailed comment. It is really appreciated.
I am very happy that the learning curve was not frustrating, of course. Once you're experienced enough, the whole game is playable in about ten minutes: but this assumes that players also find the experience itself somehow rewarding.
To be honest, my original idea was to make this pretty long game divided into four chapters. After working for five months on the first one I decided that, well, maybe as a first project was a bit too ambitious. This might explains, even if it does not justify, why the endings feel so hasty and unexpected. I can work on it, I guess.
About your criticism:
1) Can't argue with that. Again, the idea was to keep the animations to a minimum (two frames for walking, no specific animation when the player heals up, and so on), but I agree that it can be ambiguous in this case. I’ll try to come up with something.
2) Hints for defeating the giant can be found talking with the hunter, although pretty vague ("I've hit it right! But the bullet bounced off its belly skin."); and mostly speaking with the priest ("Look into its eyes! They're so sad, so fragile!") or reading his notes ("Without me by its side, this unlucky creature would be weak and lost."). However I acknowledge that those informations are unclear, especially because (I didn't think of it!) they can wrongly suggest that the player has to pacify the giant. Definitely, I have to leave some more direct clues!
Thanks a lot, and expect some improvements soon. :)
Again about the lockpick: starting from the next version (1.0.5, out tomorrow I guess) the main character will comment every failure while attempting to pick a lock; so the player will know if it was too slow or too quick. This should help a lot! :)
very cool game I liked it a lot! but what was I supposed to do with the cat ? should I bring it to that oil blooded demon or something ? but well I finished the game and got the resurrection ending
You're asking me what you should have done with the cat, but you should probably ask that question to the old lady in the forest - who feels so lonely, and for which a little company would be priceless... Never tried to bring the cat to the demon, though. That sounds a bit cruel but interesting too; I should try, sooner or later! :D
Thank you for the feedback! It's very important to me. :)
There should be! Are you playing on windows or mac? Either way, and even if the fullscreen icon is greyed out, you should be able to switch to fullscreen from the menu bar.
I will try to implement a keyboard shortcut for this feature, btw. If I succeed, expect it in the next release - that I will hopefully upload within the next twelve hours.
not sure what fullscreen icon or menu bar youre talking about but im on windows and f11 doesnt work, i went ahead and played a bit and really enjoyed it
I'm uploading right now the mac version 1.0.2 (windows version will follow in half an hour or so): this one should start in fullscreen and allow to switch between fullscreen and windowed mode by pressing F1. Hope you'll enjoy! :)
fullscreen is great, only problem however is the fullscreen hides the mouse and makes it near impossible to aim with the gun so a cursor would be appreciated
edit: looks like the mouse is actually always hidden now
Yes, the cursor was intentionally hidden in this version. I found it was just ugly to see, and I was pretty sure it was unnecessary: since you don't use the cursor to aim with the pad, I though it wouldn't make much difference to do the same with the mouse...
If you like, I will implement a feature in the next release (out in few hours, I guess) to show an optional cursor. :)
Hi Chimoix! First of all, thanks for downloading the game. I'm aware of the problem (I am a mac user too), which does not depend on me and I've not yet managed to settle. I thought I included a message in the download page, explaining you just need a single line of code in the terminal to fix the issue: https://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us/articles/216753558-Mac-says-apps-damaged-whe... Let me know if it works (it definitely should)! :)
I did, it was really easy to do it, thank you a lot. About the game, I think the game is amazing, I would love this as an extended game. BUT, it was hard and I do play challenging games and I still die a lot. And when I had my 1st try managing, I had a glitch. On the graveyard, it moved me out of the map when those skulls hurt me. So that was really annoying, I could go all around the map even in between the trees below the town but in the end couldn't access from anywhere, :/. So I would suggest a save item, for example at least to be used once. I had to replay the 1st map too much many times. I got really frustrated by all of this. But very well, he also did a playthrough already and it gives an opinion in case you haven't seen it. Thanks for creating this.
I'm really glad you liked it and, wow, thank you so much for the video! :)
The glitch you've experienced in the backyard is the unwanted result of a script that my characters (included the main one) use to unstuck in the rare event they end up overlapping a solid object. In a nutshell, you get pushed towards the closest empty space. I guess the ghost squeezed you against the skull pile, or something like that? Not that it really matters, actually, since I'm aware of the glitch and I perfectly understand how frustrating it can be. I should probably make the invisible boundaries of the graveyard (and town) thicker, in order to prevent such an unpleasant scenario.
About the savegame feature... My plan, as a noob developer, was: ok, let's make this game without any planning and fill it with everything I can think of and, then, I will implement some sort of savegame item at the end. Problem is, I found out that a savegame feature is pretty easy but does require a lot of planning ahead, since you have to organize your code consequently. Which I didn't. Implementing a savegame for Their Eyes at this stage, with my current skills, is a pain... So, I gave up. But I will try again: you got me. Can't promise to succeed, but I'll try my best! :D
Thank you for the time spent playing my game!
EDIT: Yup, the invisible barrier was insanely thin on the northern side of the graveyard! Thanks again for reporting me the issue, I should have fixed it.
This is a really cool game! I got 2 endings (get 4 coins then go down the well or go down the well without collecting coins). Are there any more endings I missed? Do the four statues (one in each area) have any significance?
They do, actually, although it's not easy to find out. To be more precise, is not something that you can discover from the statues themselves.
There is one more "good" ending, and it's related to the coins (as well as the statues themselves). Problem is, you cannot achieve it by playing well: instead you have to fail somehow in order to get it.
I know it all sounds very convoluted, I'm just trying to avoid spoilers! :D
And by the way, thank you so much for the time spent playing my game. I'm really glad you liked it! :)
Hi! Thanks for the reply! Any chance I could get another clue? I tried letting the time run out of time but that didn't work. The screen just faded to black. Maybe I have to kill the kerosine guy first then let the time run out?
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Awesome game and specially love your attention to answer everyone, first I tought maaan this is too hard but then I took my time to learn and figure out what to do and had a blast playing. You're a very talented dev and I hope to see more in the future, cheers
Thank you for your words, man! :)
I hope to make more in the future, too.
For sure, next time, implementing a check point system will be my first concern! :D
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
Hope you'll enjoy it! :)
I can't find the fuel for the lantern, can anybody help me?
Well, some npcs can give you a clue! You should talk with someone in Lockwood, for instance. Or with a hunter, somewhere north...
I enjoyed your game, the whole mood, the pixels, the story. Awesome! You inspire me to learn GML too.
That is awesome: the fact that my humble game somehow inspired you to learn GML!
In my opinion, the hardest thing is
tostartto keep studying every day after you've started.I'm anything but an expert. But I'll very willingly help, as far as I can, and address you to pretty useful tutorials.
Feel free to ask if you have any question! :)
:-)
:)
Trust me: it's even more frustrating, if you keep skipping dialogues (which contain tons of useful tips on how to deal with pretty much everything)! :D
Btw, I'm glad you liked the game; and I really appreciate the fact you've also made an entertaining video! :)
Ah, I see that now, I should've read that. I'm so impatient XD
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
Hope you'll enjoy it! :)
Oh, wow, you even made a video! Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. :)
nb acc really liked it
Just a quick typo correction to point out: in the "upstairs" ending, you have istinctive instead of instinctive/distinctive. Anyway thought I would give you the heads up while I remembered, seeming this is the third night in a row I have played your game to one of the endings ^_^
Gosh! I'll fix it asap!... :D Thank you for pointing that out!
(The THIRD night!!! O_O I'm impressed!)
At first I wasn't a big fan of the perma death and decided rather than giving up on it after dying a few times, I would give it another shot the next day. Being more patient with it, I ended up really liking what you've done, and I wouldn't actually take people not liking the lack of save function to heart; it might be frustrating, but it suits the game. I have been intrigued by the other endings, so I will probably give it another shot :)
I'm very pleased to read this. :)
Yes, the lack of a saving system could be frustrating in some respects (in addition to being very difficult to address, at this stage) but matches somehow the idea of Their Eyes.
Not to mention that, game after game, you get better and faster.
Btw, I corrected the typo! :D You can download the new version 1.1.2.
If I come across anything else, I will let you know :) But yeah, this has been a solid play and I'm really glad I stumbled upon it!
Why is this Game not claimable?
Uhm... What do you mean?
I don't think I understand.
It mean i can not claim the game. This mean i can not add the game to my account.
Could you make it claimable?
As soon as I find out how to do it, I’ll do it very willingly! :D
Perfect:-)
Reading in forums, it's my understanding that only paid games can be claimed: including a paid game which is on sale, or even free for a limited amount of time.
I may have misunderstood, of course, but it seems a reasonable explanation; since paid games are claimable by default.
As a dev, I still have the option to make my paid game not claimable if I want.
Apparently, this is why I can't make Their Eyes claimable.
Even if you pay fifty bucks at the download, it's technically a donation - while the game remains free. :/
https://grandrabatte.itch.io/their-eyes Hey someone has uploaded a version of your game and its a virus I would just watch out
Thanks, man!
That is really unbelievable.
I just reported the fake game! :/
You're been truly helpful...
This game is amazing! I know some are complaining about the difficulty/lack of a save system but I personally love it, very rogue-like and brings to mind the Binding of Isaac and old NES games. I can't believe this is your first game, it's incredible! I'm absolutely in love with the lore.
Thanks a lot! You even made a video! :D
I'm gonna watch it asap, I really appreciate this! :)
(Also, I'm glad that someone finally likes the lack of a save system - haha)
Ok, so: that was great! It was both rewarding and instructive watching your video.
You wish there was a "medikit indicator"... Well, there is one - kind of! :D I preferred to keep the hud pretty clean, but remember that you can always pause the game and check your inventory by pressing "P" (you never did it, if I'm not wrong).
About the "quantized" ammunitions (you collect up to three bullet, depending on your free slots, and those in excess are wasted): I thought this was a fairly standard mechanic. Deciding the right moment to collect a new ammo pack is part of the "ammo management subgame", isn't it? :D
If you have any suggestion, however, I will consider them very willingly!
Also, you think it should be clearer that a ghost is hurting you in the graveyard? I didn't think of that, but it's an interesting idea. I'll work on it. :)
Last but not least, if you're playing again, I would warmly recommend to download the latest version - with bugfixes, improved features and a brand new ending in addition to the existing three.
Thanks again for your time and your tips! :)
I have a question. What are medkits for? Otherwise it is a FANTASTIC game.
Wow, thank you man! :)
Medikits are consumable items that allow you to regain one life point - if you're not at full health.
You can only bring one at the time.
To use a medikit, press TAB (if you're playing with keyboard and mouse) or TRIANGLE/Y (if you're playing with Ps/Xbox pad).
Thanks so much!
Very cool and atmospheric, but I wish there was a save or checkpoint system, because I keep dying in Lockwood and going through the early game so many times becomes tedious.
Yeah, the checkpoint system is a feature the lack of which has been highlighted by other players too.
Unfortunately, while it's pretty straightforward to implement a saving system if you have that in mind when you first undertake a project, adding that same feature at the current stage of a (relatively) elaborate game like mine is far from simple - not to say it's a real pain. :/
Since this is my very first game, I was absolutely unaware of that.
Due to inexperience, my idea was to throw in a saving system of some kind, sooner or later; and when I found out the truth it was too late!
I'm still trying to implement it, btw. :)
Not that I want to defend my fault, but take into account that, once you know how to deal with the early game, you can beat it and reach Lockwood in five minutes. Also, don't forget that some items can provide you a second chance.
Everything aside, I'm glad you like my game! :)
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
Hope you'll enjoy it! :)
Hello? great game but I am on computer how do I equip the items in the inventory? I am terribly sorry if I did not see how to equip the items in the inventory.
Hi!
Yup, you're right: how to equip items is never explained.
The reason for this is pretty straightforward: you don't have to! :D
The inventory is not interactive, actually: it shows your possessions, that's it.
To be more clear: the slots I highlighted in red are for weapons, the green ones are for persistent item, and the yellow ones are for consumables.
(The round slots at the bottom are for something else, but you'll find out for yourself!)
Thanks for the help I really appreciate it!
For a first attempt at game making, it's a pretty solid game with fresh ideas and beautifully executed.
Kudos to black_and_noir for making this game, hopefully you'll make another game that compliments the game. I would donate some shekels to the author. Unfortunately, i don't have paypal and i don't really trust cc payment from this platform. Is steam items okay? :)
Now for my review.
Pros:
- I really liked the gameplay, i really do. Sure the learning curve is a bit steep, but it's welcomed and fair to me. And i really love how the game rewards you greatly for exploration in items or story + lore which is not too cryptic compared to the other games.
- The fog of war system is pretty much responsible for making this survival game into survival horror. I really like the show and tell tutorial how the fog of war works, and how enemies wouldn't show up if you don't have any vision on them.
- NPCs is amazing at this game, it's very detailed and your actions does have consequences when you do something. The NPCs pretty much makes the game much much more easier if you do what they tell you.
or dont.- The story is pretty simple and sweet. Multiple endings but they aren't cryptic to get, i pretty much know the whole story of the game in 1 and a half hour. But i wish there's a best endings for all three if you know what i mean :)
Cons:
There aren't many of cons for this game, so this is pretty much my nitpicking
- There are a few bugs on the game that i encounter.
Enemies pathfinding is kinda laughable since they tend to get stuck on walls when you're on evasive maneuver especially the walking beginner's trap.
You can dodge the tentacle to brazil?
(Either bugged or intentional)- The artstyle is pretty confusing at first, i thought the game takes place at night? But the NPCs said it's noon or morning? And it's going to be dark?
So the black ground is pretty confusing for me. I would change the ground into light brown and then transitioning into brown and then dark brown.
Houses and buildings should've been drawn for more aesthetics, and then change the "?" symbols with more fog of war or just darkness.
- The combat is pretty much TLOZ-like but with guns, i don't really like the delay on the reload. It should be either refined (like adding reload animation) or remove the delay. And i don't like the touching = you get hurt mechanism, for me it's kinda lazy and pretty much makes the combat pretty shallow. I would add attack animation so getting hit is fair and 100% your fault.
Well that's it for my review.
Pretty solid game and most of all, enjoyable.
Wow, thanks a lot for the detailed feedback!
I try to respond to your remarks - not to defend my work, rather to explain why it's how it is! :)
Yeah, I kept the pathfinding system pretty basic. There are a couple of reasons for that: the first one, pathfinding is very expensive in terms of resources; I initially implemented a more refined system, but that was resulting in performance issues, and I'm still not good enough to optimize that. :D
Furthermore, I thought that exploiting the "dullness" of enemies' pathfinding could have been part of the strategy: bad guys are numerous and dangerous, but you can outsmart them.
I'm not saying I made it as it is on purpose: at some point, I just felt that the algorithm was good enough for such a simple game.
Uhm... Which "upper door in the inn" do you mean?
It may be a bug but, as far as I'm aware, each door in the game can either be lockpicked (if locked) or be opened (if not).
You can dodge the tentacle, yes: that was intentional. :)
Speaking of the artstyle, something you may not know is that the whole game was originally in black and white (except for the blood and the red eyes). About one month before releasing it, I decided to recolor the white outlines, adding few details to make the graphics more readable.
I kept the black background, though. Not because it's realistic, but simply because I like it; and I find it helps the other elements to stand out.
My philosophy, in every aspect of the game, was: try to keep things simple.
I was aware that, as a novice developer, the project was quite ambitious; and a lot of things could have gone wrong.
In addition, drawing is something in which I have some experience; and since I wanted to spend my best efforts learning something new (i.e. coding), my philosophy for graphics and animation was even stricter: try to keep things very simple.
That's why you don't have a color transitioning (you have the wind, though, that grows as the night approaches), buildings aren't drawn in a more aesthetic way (I love architecture, so keeping things simple in this regard was very hard), and some enemies don't even have an attack animation (which would have implied a dodge animation for the player, but he's not a warrior and I didn't want to put too much emphasis on action).
I never played any of the Zeldas, unfortunately. :/
I probably should!
Don't you find that reloading without delay would make the combat even more shallow? In my opinion, the delay itself plays an important role in making the player feel vulnerable.
Last but not least, I must confess I have no idea of what do you mean with "steam items". But the kudos are more than enough!
Thanks again for your time and your words. :)
Wow thanks for the detailed reply :)
After i replayed it the upper door in the inn wasn't locked in the first place, my bad.
Now i know how you want to direct this game, it's just my two cents how to polish the game
to be more of my acquired taste.I meant i can donate through steam inventory items (the popular online game distributor) haha
And also is it possible to get another ending? Since you can
send your opponent to the shadow realm?Don't get it wrong, your two cents are really appreciated! :)
I've been using Steam for a while, but just for playing; I was totally unaware of the donation feature.
I'm thinking of adding a fourth ending, yes. Another very difficult thing, for me (as for many others I guess), is to decide that a project is finished and nothing else should be added! :D
Nevertheless, the "opponent" can actually be sent to the shadow realm... It's quite a hidden mechanic, probably, but far from impossible to discover. :)
Yep! I discovered it after getting insulted and got really surprised by the secret.
This is why i love the game to bits, the attention to details :D
Please, add a settings menu to change the volume, great game
Thank you! :)
What do you mea? Maybe a couple of keys for controlling the master volume during the game, instead of doing that by the OS or the speakers?
yeah, that's a good solution :)
Is there a way to change the controls? my middle mouse wheel can't click correctly (I need to press it really hard) so I can't really reload easily at all
Hi Oleg, thank you for playing my game! :)
There is no way to rebind the keys, actually. But - for sure - I could implement a secondary key, as an alternative to middle mouse: I'll do it tomorrow! :)
Any suggestion about the alternative key?
I don't know if you ever noticed, but I added an alternate key (CTRL) to reload. Hope this helps!
I'm in love with that art style, it's absolutely beautiful.
Oh, wow... I'm very happy to hear that. Thank you! :)
Masterpeice absolutely stunning!
I'd say that is a considerable exaggeration, but thanks! :D
I'm really glad you like it.
how did you find my account? But otherwise great game!
Your account is very interesting. And your account name is gorgeous! :D
Thank you! How is my account interesting? I'm glad you like my name!
I like the Future Games thing. :)
Awesome Game. But A Little Hard.
Thank you so much for your feedback! :)
It's very important to me.
Yup, the game does not lead you by the hand: that's for sure. (I warned you! :D)
I've tried to make the learning process fairly quick, though, and more rewarding than an "easy" game would have been.
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
Hope you'll enjoy it! :)
neaat game!!
Thank you! :)
Хорошая игра,жаль что русского нет, но это лично моё желание, это не делает игру хуже!
Спасибо! Но признаюсь, что плохо владею русским языком ... :D
very game
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! :)
vewy skery gaem
Thanks! :)
epic glittches
Ha ha ha
Ok, got it... This never happened to me, but I will try to prevent it from happening anyway.
Btw, at least the bridge to Lockwood was clear! :D
yeah it is really easy to get him stuck there, and you can not get him out.
will you also be adding a setting menu, to change controls and what not
I'm not very good with menus, so far. :D
I'll think about it.
really awesome game, i think you did a really really really great job on it, I don't think I have beaten it yet, and it seems to me there are a lot of hidden things that I have yet to find.
Thank you for your words, I'm really glad you are enjoying my efforts. :)
Yes, I have to admit I tried to put pretty a bunch of stuff in this game; and I'm still adding a few contents with each new version...
good to know, i have more stuff to look forward too.
This game is awesome. I can't believe how good the graphics look and the little narrative that envelopes you into a mystery.
Although the Tall grass does give me some eye assault, care for any advice boss?
Also, PLEASE. Please add save points! Make them scarce! I like games with difficulty!
Thank you so much for your feedback!
I would very willingly add save points. To be honest, this was also my original idea!
But, due to my inexperience, I've been working on this game for months without following any plan in particular. Which means, I've put together monsters, graphics, and all the fun stuff, leaving the "boring" save mechanic to the end.
That was NOT very smart, as you can guess.
As I found out, implementing such a mechanic is pretty easy... if you do it at the beginning. But once you have tons of code (pretty messy, noob's code :D) it is a very hard task, almost impossible with my current skills... :/
I'll keep trying, btw! :)
That's Awesome I'm definitely going to give this a try as someone without game making experience, that want's to get into the field.
I hope you like it, but I'm very open to constructive criticism! :)
Just letting you know that the new version with "casual mode" is here: an easier gameplay, designed to reduce frustration and allow casual players to delve into the disquieting secrets of Lockwood.
Hope you'll enjoy it! :)
im just going to say this since it confused me, the windows and mac downloads are opposite, so, the windows ver. is the mac download and the mac ver. is in the windows download(version 1.0.7 dont know about others) <3
I'm not sure I understand... You mean, the file called Their_Eyes_mac is the Windows version, and vice-versa? :/
yeah, at least that what it was for me, sorry if it didnt make sense! ^^'
Well, that's weird... I'm a bit confused now, but thank you for pointing that out! :)
I love the pixel art Aesthetic desing, one thing i am curious about is how did you make the gun rotate without breaking the pixel art, games like Enter the gungeon also do this with their weapons, how do you do it?
First of all, thank for your feedback. :)
In my case, the answer to your question is pretty trivial: Their Eyes has a true low res of 320 x 180, unlike other games that "simulate" that resolution just by drawing big pixels (take Minecraft, for instance). Therefore, as you rotate the rifle, it is automatically redrawn to match the angle: the pixelated effect is retained, but the drawing itself is pretty messed up - as a result of an automatic process.
Enter the Gungeon, on the other hand, looks as the result of a much more accurate work. It doesn't matter the angle, the drawing is always pixelated and always very aesthetic: maybe I'm wrong, but I would say each gun has been manually redrawn for each fraction of 180 degrees and then just mirrored to complete the circle.
This game is awesome. Very nice work on it! The atmosphere and style is fantastic. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Thank you for the video, I watched it immediately! A real hoot. :D
Also, in case you decide to play again I'd recommend to download the new version - with bugfixes and extended endings and few extra features.
Even better, I would wait until tomorrow for the version 1.0.7 - since, thanks to you, will be further improved!
PS: I didn't really think about it, but forgetting the key bindings can happen to anyone... I added a recap on the game's page. :)
That was awesome. "Short horror game." Too modest! There's so much to see and explore, the lore.. man!
I really enjoyed seeing Wild play, he's my go-to for seeing things played and this was quite great~ First game! <3 Awesome.
Thank you for your words!
Well the game itself is short... mostly because you die after 30 minutes! That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of things to discover. :D
Wild playing is great, and his voice acting is hilarious! I really enjoyed his video.
I'll definitely get tomorrow's version then, and use that one for the follow-up! Thanks again, friend!
how do you shoot?
You cannot shoot, right at the beginning.
Once you've found the rifle:
- LEFT TRIGGER to aim, RIGHT TRIGGER to shoot, SQUARE / X while aiming to reload (if you are playing with the pad);
- RIGHT MOUSE to aim, LEFT MOUSE to shoot, MIDDLE MOUSE while aiming to reload (if you are playing with mouse & keyboard).
:)
is this available for Win 32 bit?
Uhm... Now, this is an interesting question!
As a mac user, I'm working on MacOS and then I just create the Windows executable from my Win10 partition; so, I am far from familiar with the Windows environment.
I'll try to find out if's possible to build a 32 bit executable from a 64 bit environment...
I'll keep you posted! :)
(if anyone of those who read this post has the answer, I'd be very grateful for letting me know!)
Ah, alright thanks!
Muy bien hecho tu juego, felicidades!
¡Gracias, me alegro de que te haya gustado! :)
For a first-time effort, this is a really well put-together little game! All the little secrets you can find, the changes in character dialog after different events... it's obvious you've put in a lot of planning and effort.
As you said, there is a little bit of a learning curve for the first part of the game - I died a few times after making it to the village, where I immediately got mauled to death by a dark man and a wolf after going right into the first house. But the first section is short enough and the game compelling enough that it sucked me in, and replays became more of a challenge than a frustration. Plus, with each death I learned more about item and enemy locations, and which order to gather the items in to make my life easier (if you're wondering: boots, ax, stamina potion, belt, pendant, goggles, lantern, oil). I also appreciated how the enemies are still tough enough to keep you on your toes even after you find weapons.
I will say the abruptness of the endings was a slight letdown, especially after taking the time to find everything while still beating the clock - sort of like beating one of those old Nintendo Hard 8-bit games only to get "YOU ARE GREAT PLAYER! SEE YOU NEXT TIME" - but the game is still a lot of fun. At least they make for a good sequel hook!
A few points of constructive criticism:
1) The tutorial for the lockpick is somewhat opaque. It took me quite a few tries before I finally got the knack of how to use it. One thing that contributed to my confusion is the character's idle animation where he looks from side to side - I thought at first I was supposed to match the button press timing with that. Some sort of visual cue, or rewording the tutorial text, might help.
2) It wasn't immediately obvious how to defeat the giant. Most bullets bounce right off him, of course, and the dialog from the priest made me think that perhaps I needed to find a way to pacify the giant, rather than killing him. I eventually had to turn to a YouTube playthrough by Manly Badass Hero (which is where I first found out about the game) to learn how to defeat him. Maybe the hunter's dialog could be tweaked to drop a hint to aim for the head?
The addition of the cursor when aiming the gun in the latest version is a *huge* improvement, by the way.
Once again, a great first offering. Hope to see more from you!
First of all, thank you for the detailed comment.
It is really appreciated.
I am very happy that the learning curve was not frustrating, of course. Once you're experienced enough, the whole game is playable in about ten minutes: but this assumes that players also find the experience itself somehow rewarding.
To be honest, my original idea was to make this pretty long game divided into four chapters. After working for five months on the first one I decided that, well, maybe as a first project was a bit too ambitious.
This might explains, even if it does not justify, why the endings feel so hasty and unexpected.
I can work on it, I guess.
About your criticism:
1) Can't argue with that. Again, the idea was to keep the animations to a minimum (two frames for walking, no specific animation when the player heals up, and so on), but I agree that it can be ambiguous in this case.
I’ll try to come up with something.
2) Hints for defeating the giant can be found talking with the hunter, although pretty vague ("I've hit it right! But the bullet bounced off its belly skin."); and mostly speaking with the priest ("Look into its eyes! They're so sad, so fragile!") or reading his notes ("Without me by its side, this unlucky creature would be weak and lost.").
However I acknowledge that those informations are unclear, especially because (I didn't think of it!) they can wrongly suggest that the player has to pacify the giant.
Definitely, I have to leave some more direct clues!
Thanks a lot, and expect some improvements soon. :)
Again about the lockpick: starting from the next version (1.0.5, out tomorrow I guess) the main character will comment every failure while attempting to pick a lock; so the player will know if it was too slow or too quick.
This should help a lot! :)
very cool game I liked it a lot!
but what was I supposed to do with the cat ?
should I bring it to that oil blooded demon or something ?
but well I finished the game and got the resurrection ending
You're asking me what you should have done with the cat, but you should probably ask that question to the old lady in the forest - who feels so lonely, and for which a little company would be priceless...
Never tried to bring the cat to the demon, though. That sounds a bit cruel but interesting too; I should try, sooner or later! :D
Thank you for the feedback! It's very important to me. :)
Nice game. Very nice.
Thank you! :)
this is it loving this
Thank you!
I'm so glad you liked it. :)
this game seems really cool and i wanna try it pretty badly but the windowed mode is unbearable, is there a way to make it full screen?
There should be!
Are you playing on windows or mac?
Either way, and even if the fullscreen icon is greyed out, you should be able to switch to fullscreen from the menu bar.
I will try to implement a keyboard shortcut for this feature, btw. If I succeed, expect it in the next release - that I will hopefully upload within the next twelve hours.
Thank you! :)
not sure what fullscreen icon or menu bar youre talking about but im on windows and f11 doesnt work, i went ahead and played a bit and really enjoyed it
I'm uploading right now the mac version 1.0.2 (windows version will follow in half an hour or so): this one should start in fullscreen and allow to switch between fullscreen and windowed mode by pressing F1.
Hope you'll enjoy! :)
fullscreen is great, only problem however is the fullscreen hides the mouse and makes it near impossible to aim with the gun so a cursor would be appreciated
edit: looks like the mouse is actually always hidden now
Yes, the cursor was intentionally hidden in this version.
I found it was just ugly to see, and I was pretty sure it was unnecessary: since you don't use the cursor to aim with the pad, I though it wouldn't make much difference to do the same with the mouse...
If you like, I will implement a feature in the next release (out in few hours, I guess) to show an optional cursor. :)
Says it's damage when I launch the app on mac, :/. I'm on Mojave.
Hi Chimoix!
First of all, thanks for downloading the game.
I'm aware of the problem (I am a mac user too), which does not depend on me and I've not yet managed to settle.
I thought I included a message in the download page, explaining you just need a single line of code in the terminal to fix the issue:
https://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us/articles/216753558-Mac-says-apps-damaged-whe...
Let me know if it works (it definitely should)! :)
I'm really glad you liked it and, wow, thank you so much for the video! :)
The glitch you've experienced in the backyard is the unwanted result of a script that my characters (included the main one) use to unstuck in the rare event they end up overlapping a solid object. In a nutshell, you get pushed towards the closest empty space.
I guess the ghost squeezed you against the skull pile, or something like that? Not that it really matters, actually, since I'm aware of the glitch and I perfectly understand how frustrating it can be.
I should probably make the invisible boundaries of the graveyard (and town) thicker, in order to prevent such an unpleasant scenario.
About the savegame feature... My plan, as a noob developer, was: ok, let's make this game without any planning and fill it with everything I can think of and, then, I will implement some sort of savegame item at the end.
Problem is, I found out that a savegame feature is pretty easy but does require a lot of planning ahead, since you have to organize your code consequently. Which I didn't.
Implementing a savegame for Their Eyes at this stage, with my current skills, is a pain... So, I gave up.
But I will try again: you got me.
Can't promise to succeed, but I'll try my best! :D
Thank you for the time spent playing my game!
EDIT: Yup, the invisible barrier was insanely thin on the northern side of the graveyard! Thanks again for reporting me the issue, I should have fixed it.
This is a really cool game! I got 2 endings (get 4 coins then go down the well or go down the well without collecting coins). Are there any more endings I missed? Do the four statues (one in each area) have any significance?
They do, actually, although it's not easy to find out. To be more precise, is not something that you can discover from the statues themselves.
There is one more "good" ending, and it's related to the coins (as well as the statues themselves). Problem is, you cannot achieve it by playing well: instead you have to fail somehow in order to get it.
I know it all sounds very convoluted, I'm just trying to avoid spoilers! :D
And by the way, thank you so much for the time spent playing my game. I'm really glad you liked it! :)
Hi! Thanks for the reply! Any chance I could get another clue? I tried letting the time run out of time but that didn't work. The screen just faded to black. Maybe I have to kill the kerosine guy first then let the time run out?
EDIT: Ah, it's Okay I got it, thanks! :)
Well, I'm impressed. I never expected you to find the answer so quickly! :)
Really loved the game, it's such a fascinating world to explore. Did a playthrough video:
and wrote a short article on it too: https://www.freegameplanet.com/their-eyes-downloadable-game/Wow! I'm surprised and really happy! :D
Thanks a lot!