You Are Alone
A downloadable game
YOU ARE ALONE
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UNREAL ENGINE 4
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This is my first time using Unreal Engine 4 and first time working in 3D
I finally managed to learn how to use UE4 and I must say the biggest thing I learned was the SIZE DIFFERENCE. I MEAN my biggest game on unity which I spent longer on was only 30mb. This was(until I started trying different ways of compressing it and saving space) OVER 1.3GB! I was so scared I wouldn't be able to upload this.
I must say sorry for making it a rar file. I know most would prefer zip files however this was the only way I could get it to compress better.
This game was made for the Brackeys Game Jam 2020 July-August Which lasted for a week. The theme of it being 'Rewind'.
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This is also my first take on horror
I would've loved to have done more however, due to my own limits I was only able to get this much. I really wanted to try to create that eerie feeling not all the jump scares and what not. I really wanted you to leave with a not in your stomach.
So please, tell me how I did?
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Assets
Most of the assets came from the Epic Games Store, they really are high quality. Maybe a bit too high.
I also used sound assets from OpenGameArt
https://opengameart.org/content/dark-ambient-loop-13
https://opengameart.org/content/dark-intro
https://opengameart.org/content/dark-ambient-0
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Further development?
Probably not, I am predicting that I'm about to be quite busy and even if I wanted to, the file is very nearing the edge of the 1gb limit.
However here is the DevLog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4YK81NiNeU
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Final Thoughts
I'm probably going to try to develop more stuff in Unreal Engine 4(and 5 when it releases) and do more blender stuff now:D.
If you enjoyed the game be sure to share it and comment any praises and criticisms.
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Game play
The game play is a simple exploration and search for clues type game. One that tries to make it more eerie as you explore and lead to very unsatisfying endings.
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How To Play
Fear not, for there is a how to play screen in the game.
Download
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Hey there! I included You are Alone
in a video where I play a collection of Horror games that I found on Itch.io! It's sectioned off with timestamps in the description in case you just want to skip to this game! Here's a link!
I have no idea why it put the video in the middle of the sentence, but whatever.
It's fine.
Horror games, specifically note collecting horror games, tend to quickly devolve into "picking up a note" "getting spooked" "door opens," However, in You Are Alone, we have an entirely new formula. "Press E when the massive prompt appears because you wouldn't have figured out what the giant white texture in front of you represents,” "Have a pre-determined atmospheric horror stinger set play in the background while you attempt to decipher semi-broken English.” Finally, "Accidentally find another note in the same room entirely out of chronological order, breaking the sequence of events before throwing in the proverbial towel and mashing interact on every surface and object.” Also, having doors squeal twice as loud as any other sound in the game while also making them automatically shut if you don't immediately sprint straight through them is an excellent way to give your players a headache.
As my video suggests, there's very little here that's a salvageable concept. Still, there is an intriguing idea of being stuck in a house displaced from time and trying to perform a set of tasks to break a curse while having the golden statues move about when you're not looking. Generally, anything gameplay-related is beyond saving. As far as first attempts come there definitely has been worse, learn from these mistakes and improve for the next attempt.
My gameplay experience and inane ramblings to boot.
Was a really good game! I really loved the environment and how even though you just started the game, it seems like something seems... Off about the house. The subtle spooky track in the background when you looked at certain notes added to the atmosphere and also loved how the house is super dark and the player needs to turn the light switches on manually. I felt like that added a layer of spookiness to the game and incentivised the player to explore and also look for other notes. (Oh and video down below if anyone is interested!)
The few suggestions I have are- The first one is with the notes. I couldn't see half of them (for example in the bathroom and on the fridge (shown in the video)) and I might have missed it or glanced over it and if I did, I apologise for that. But I felt like they could have been more obvious and more easier to find. If you did want the players to hunt for them, I think a cool way of making them search for them would be through the previous notes themselves. Like maybe mentioning a location subtly in a note might make the player curious to go there and look for the next note and so on and so forth. Just an idea of course, it would be a great way to tie in both exploration as well as the backstory together.
Another suggestion is to use the statues around the house. The notes mention that one must not touch the statue and though they are spot-table around the house, one cannot interact with them in any way. Maybe making them move around or maybe face you whenever you turn away and turn back might add some depth of creepiness in a way.
Another thing I found a little lackluster is that there is no monster or actual scare. The notes talk up Chronos (or Kronos for the Roman version) but nothing actually happens? Again, I might have missed something, and if I did sorry about that.
Oh also another small thing; the doors were kind of weird. They only opened if you were standing right in front of them and instantly closed when the players moves away from them, and it took some time to get used to the fact that the door clips through the player and then allows them to pass. But it was a little confusing at first and a more traditional door interaction might be better to make things a little more smooth.
And speaking of the story, I also feel like if you maybe added footsteps when the player starts exploring it would tie in with the note which tells the player that the owner left as you came in. Would make a complete circle and make the player that much more engrossed into the game!
Also the ending was very abrupt and sudden? Maybe I missed something but it happened very randomly and didn't add much to the story. Maybe adding a scene where you are doing the same thing as the previous owner might have made the game go full circle and also incentivised the player to explore and find the notes more as they would understand what the ending meant. And this also makes me think that maybe adding the notes over time would make the game not only longer, but also a lot more engrossing and interesting. Like the first note that you get when you enter the house at the start of the game is the only note for the first day/ night. Then after the player does what they have to and then go to bed, the next day yields another note, and so on and so forth. This would make the story unfold a lot more slower but also a lot more interesting and keep the players hooked and expecting the next thing to happen.
Keep in mind that the above are suggestions, and not saying that the game is bad in any way. In fact I would say the opposite. You've nailed the atmosphere; the dark rooms were really creepy and I was on edge while turning the lights on and also going through them. When the lights went off in the second floor; which I think was a glitch, but even if it was or wasn't I thought it was good and really spooked me when I came out of the room and it was pitch black. And one thing that sets your game apart from others is that you have a really, really, REALLY good story. I mean, I cannot stress how well thought through it was and how well written it was. It was REALLY good. The way each note describes the backstory and hence tells the current story along with it was really well done and very few games achieve this.
So yeah, it was honestly a great game and worth playing and spending time on. Definitely needs some polishing, but other than that it's a really well made game. Keep up the amazing work and also good luck on future updates and projects and take care!
Hi Lucifer, thanks for the awesome and detailed feedback.
I definitely like the idea of giving clues to the players on where to find the next notes, I feel like I could've gave the notes a more chronological order with that. I'm definitely keeping that in mind in case I make another game similar to this!
I was also hoping to use the statues, and I see many other players also wanted something to happen with the statues, for some reason I convinced myself I would have to pack another 10 massive functions in the level blueprint. In hindsight, I could've made it in it's own blueprint :(. Brain problems.
My devlog also talks about why I made the game with no jumpscares:
Although, I understand horror games do far better with the occasional jumpscare. I think I'd probably include them next time I do a horror game.The doors was definitely bad, I can't deny that, I'll try to make them more smoother next time. Out of interest what do you mean by traditional doors?
Ooh I like the idea of having footsteps around as we're going about the house, the only thing I thought of was having lights turn on/off, thanks for the suggestion.
Yeah the ending was a failure :'(. There was supposed to be 3 possible endings with 3 end cards to read. Unfortunately it just cuts off, DAMN THESE BUGS!
Never had a coding experience, so my knowledge about game making is little to none (ironically I literally just downloaded Unity to give it a go just now) so all I can talk about is from the perspective of a player.. That being said, I am quite a fan of putting the story together myself. Not going back over my suggestion; though I still think it would be a cool thing to do, and it would take the game on a different perspective (if that makes sense?) So yeah, I personally liked how the notes were scattered around the place and I as the player had to piece it all together. So your original idea on that part was good!
And I didn't mean a traditional door, sorry about that. I mean tot say traditional door opening mechanic; a lot of games have doors as a still object which opens when the players clicks on them. The door opens whether the player moves or is standing still and the animation still goes on after the player moves. Other games have this mechanic where the player and their camera freezes while the door opening animations take place. The doors in this game felt more like the latter. And there's nothing wrong in having that type of mechanic! I think that would give this game a little bit creep factor as the payer would have to sit there while control is taken out of their hands and anticipate a scare.
Not all horror games have to have scares! Again, I am a fan of games using atmosphere and ambience to amp up the scare and creep factor of the game rather than using jump scares every now and then to scare the player. I usually do not like bringing up other games in reviews, but a good example of this is a game called Between These Walls. That game definitely has a lot more refining to go to but as I did say in the review of that game, that the atmosphere alone was good enough to make me be on the edge of my seat. Again, I am not comparing games. Each game is their own, and just wanted to reinforce that a game does not need to have jump scares in order to be scary in any way!
And sorry about the bug at the end! Having three endings definitely seemed like a good idea but sorry it didn't work out. And also, I just realised that after watching the video you linked that the player had to rewind the clock every sixty seconds. I didn't know this and thought that it only had to be done once. Maybe adding a sound cue might've been a good thing to make the players understand that they have to keep resetting it? Then again, I think it's a cool thing to not tell the players since you had three endings in mind; one ending which everyone gets. Another ending if players are more careful and understand what they have to do with the clock and the third as you said, escape. But again, understandable that something went wrong, we're all human and sometimes things don't work out and we overlook things. Still a great job on the game on your fourth try I believe? Very well done!
(Also, Chronos/ Kronos/ Cronus was not a god. He was a Titan (Sorry just thought I would mention it.) He did eat Poseidon and Hades but Zues was helped by Rhea; Chronos' wife and then helped his brothers and sister escape. )(Also just another game I thought I would suggest checking out is a game called Bright Memory. This game was made by a person with literally no coding experience and only used the drag and drop feature of Unreal. It's a cool game and thought you might like to see it!)
Also, just realised how long this is, sorry about the long read!
hi, big thx for the game. greetings from rosti 😁
Thanks for playing my game Rosti :D
Had some issues with the doors, but this was a pretty creepy game with an interesting story.
Thanks for playing my game Flamez, had a great laugh when you were bouncing on the bed. You wasn't even supposed to get up there :'D
Hello, I played this game and it was fun, I tried to get the other 2 endings but the method to get those other 2 endings doesn't work (at least for me) I tried many times to do what was told but I wasn't getting the prompt to leave after doing them, sadly I couldn't get other ones and also that the door animation and sound effect is pretty good but opening the doors is very annoying, over all neat game, good work :)
Thanks Stella! Yeah, unfortunately it seems that the endings didn't work as intended. Nice to now that one of them works tho :') *dying on the inside
The doors was a bad game design on my part, sorry for that
Hey Tanicorn,
I thought it was a cool project. I t definitely gave the creepy vibe. I enjoyed the change in music when finding the clues.
When finding a clue and hitting E, I assumed that the clue would go away pressing e again, but didn't realize I had to leave that area for it to get off the screen. The door feature was great, especially the noise. My only concern was having to wait there, and when I would try to step back a distance it would auto close, and I had to do it a few times. One of the clues I think had a spelling issue (bedroom I think) -
Ending threw me a curveball. I was anticipating more, but it still left me sitting here like "wait, what?" and curious.
I think for what you made, it's a cool project. I'm excited to see what other content you put out in the future! I made a vid as well, and talk a little about what I mentioned above. Good job once again!
Thanks for the review Flip, I don't think I'll be updating this project as it's close to the 1gb limit and... i'll be real with you, the blueprint is a mess. I am too scared to look back in there.
It was nice to see the ending work, and looking at it from your video, it definitely was abrupt. Thanks for letting me see it!
Show post...
SO GOOD
Thank you Queen!
The story's pretty cool in this game. I liked that. It felt like the game was starting to get pretty creepy toward the end but the ending was kind of a dud though. One of the notes got a funny read because I let google read some of them for me and it was great when it got to the part that said "I'm sorry" 5 times in a row haha
Oh wow. Thanks so much man. That's great to see someone play my game. I didn't expect there to be that many bugs, woops. Thanks for playing and recording my game!