Jim Jitters

 

---DO READ THE HELP SECTION ( 5 ) BELOW FOR A CLEARER UNDERSTANDING OF THE GAME---

1. Made for Game Jam:
   This was made for [Lost Relic Game's] game jam 2022.
   
   
2. Story :
   Recently losing his dog, his anxiety resurfaced. An old friend reached out to reconnect with Jimmy Jitter's. It's his best friend, Sheen, and he wants to meet at Anne's Cafe near the pier.
   
   
3. Gameplay
   Jim Jitters is a 2-button, Memory Puzzle Maze, where players will need to find the correct path  to get him where he needs to be.
4. Controls

   
   

   [ R ] > Navigate arrows using the R button
   [ Spacebar ] >  Activate nodes by pressing spacebar

   

   
   

5. HELP & FAQ

   1. I don't understand the nodes and what's the goal.
      A: We did not manage to get the colour coding in to help in identifying the nodes. There are different nodes in game. 
      
      START node, CHECKPOINT node, ANXIETY node, GOAL node.
      -The GOAL node is the win condition. It is hidden and the player has to find the route(s) that reach it.
      -CHECKPOINT nodes will move Jim across the play area to the current node.
      -ANXIETY nodes send the player back to the start.
      
      
      

   2. What does the text mean?
      A: Initial idea was to give Jim a colour and every other "NPC" their own colours as well.
      Currently, this is how the game uses quotations and brackets to represent thoughts or dialogue.
      
      -( ): Brackets are Jim's own thoughts.
      -"": Double Quotations are NPCs talking to Jim. Player gets a hint of who that is based on the context of the text or based on what SFX/VFX was played.
      -JIM:"" When Jim talks, his name will be shown explicitly. 
      
      
      

   3. What's going on?
      A: This is inside Jim's mind.
      
      The design idea was to go through a mind maze, while giving players a ton of space to imagine what's going on outside Jim's mind. What the players see in Jim's head is merely his own interpretation and how his anxiety possibly warps it. 
      
      
      

   4. I'm getting super frustrated!
      

      A: [Sunbird] advises you to slow down, and explore different paths. He says that it's memory than actual puzzle OR you can brute force all the paths.

      On top of that, unfortunately, our TARGETING control behaviour was not what we expected. We only realized it at day 9 of 10.

      We are aware that the targeting feels quite erratic and gets in the way of progressing through memorized paths. We apologize for that.

      If you reached level 5, it was designed to be that way.
      
      
      

   5. Other things on our [wishlist]:

1. UX elements that we didn't have time to implement: Screen Shakes, Post-processing light warbles, more elegant wisp animation, colour coding of nodes, colour coding of lines, targeting controls, targeting UI to contrast unexplored nodes, more extensive tutorial, simpler levels to get used to what the game is, a prelude/scene that properly sets up the premise of the set of stages.
   
   
2. Obstacles: similar to [locked door] mechanics, Jim collects 'courage' to get pass a blocked area; timing related obstacles, an object that hits the wisp mid-travel and punishes the player; dialogue choices and more.
   
   
3. Tools: Colour nodes for easier memorizing; changing colour path for 1 path; teleport and more.

~~Have fun and  enjoy our short game~~