Diary of Broken Dreams (Demo)

hello there, thank you for playing through it again. I don't have a final release date yet and progress has been slow for a bit since I'm solo developing this title as my very first project. It's been a hell of a learning experience for sure. I'm back on track with development though and if you'd like, I can make sure you're one of the first to know once I have more done. Since you've played through the first part of it twice now though, I and others have played through it at least once as well I'll be looking into a way to let you and others skip straight to what comes next once I get it put together.

I'm really sorry you've been waiting so long for more but thank you for the support and interest you've shown. It really does mean a lot to me. Thank you. 

For some reason neither the reddit post shows up nor the video you made on youtube. That said I'm really happy that you enjoyed the experience so far and I'm glad that your wife has someone like you in her life to be her anchor. I'm very grateful that you decided to include the suicide hotline numbers in your video. Thank you for doing that and being thoughtful.

That said, this game is definitely still in production. The rules of the ' Finally Finish Something Game Jam' allowed for game demos to be submitted and not just finished games so as someone who has always wanted to make games I used it to get me to actually finish at least just a demo of something which is what this project currently is, an alpha demo. By the time I finish this game I intend for it to be at least an hour long experience and I have so much still planned for it. My current plan is to create roughly 10-15 minutes of more gameplay and story narrative every 2 months or less until I reach that goal of making it an hour long experience. While I do have intentions to add at least one monster; I want to continue as I have with it to keep the game's focus on the subject matter. I also want to keep players as immersed as possible within the game's atmosphere. So even the planned monster is going to be contextualized within the game's narrative and subject matter. I actually have a stand in for him in the game that no one's noticed yet while I wait for the 3D artist I'm working with to finish the character model. He's intended as a monster that doesn't actively seek to scare you though so it works that no one's really found him yet.

With regards to the flashlight, I have made some adjustments to it to make it less frustrating. I'm not going so far as making it infinite because the flashlight is meant to be a gameplay mechanic that simulates the way depression can feel dark and hopeless at times, however, I also don't want the flashlight to be so frustrating that it takes people out of the experience. For now I've made it so that the flashlight lasts slightly longer and the batteries now will fully restore the flashlight's duration instead of just a fraction of it. That change will be part of an update planned for the end of next month that will also feature at least 2 new puzzles and more story elements to progress through.

Sorry for the wall of text reply but thank you for playing the game and also thank you again for being there for your wife and also thoughtful enough to add the suicide hotline information to your content.

Thank you very much for playing my game and giving me your input! I'll look into how my flashlight works a bit because you're not the first person to comment about it and honestly I wasn't all that happy with it's current implementation either. I don't know if I want to go so far as making it infinite though either but I'm going to keep a note to myself to consider it because I agree with you about dark not necessarily meaning scary. My intent with it was to simulate a sense of anxiety without necessarily having to throw a monster at the player. It's a tough balance to strike between anxiety and just plain old frustration though.

I also appreciate your input on the subject matter of my game. I'm attempting to be personal about how I tell the story instead of just telling it for the sake of telling it so hopefully you don't need to worry too much about where I take it. That said, as an artist and writer I am well aware that I can sometimes get carried away and even go a little overboard so getting critique on my story elements like you did is likely to be extremely vital in helping me keep things as tasteful as possible for the subject material.

Thank you again so much for playing though and I'm very happy that despite your criticisms you were still able to get into and enjoy what I have here so far!

Thank you for playing and sharing your video!

I have every intention of seeing this game through to its completion. My end goal is to create an experience with at least an hours worth of gameplay or more. By the game's completion there will be more locations and environments, more and also improved music, several more puzzles, and other things that I don't want to spoil at the moment.

Thank you so much for the feedback and video!

When watching your video I noticed a couple things that actually weren't supposed to happen and am working on fixing them right now. The barrel that killed you being one of them. That debri in that area is actually all physics assets like the glass bottles and are meant to be grabbed and moved. I failed to ever explain that to players though so that's high on my priority list to fix right now.

I definitely have intentions to expand the environments in the game though too. I want to add a School setting, a playground setting, and a few others still but just couldn't fit those in to my 30 day deadline for the FFS Game Jam. Gameplay-wise though I'm leaning more into making it an atmospheric horror game that focuses on puzzles and storytelling so I'll take your input into consideration toward emphasizing those elements.

Thank you again for playing though and thank you for the honest feedback! :D