It's a really nice concept, the first days I though there should be more to do but as days pass it's always less time to do even just three things, that's good... the problem is that it's too hard to get food. There was a moment when all the bushes in game where clean, no hare at the sight and so poor Sam died from starvation.
On the other hand, the atmosphere is well done, except for those "trytoscareyou" pictures that bumped out of no where and with no use at all... they are sort of cheap and make the game loose a lot. It's got potential.
Ps.- PLEASE, INCLUDE A PAUSE BUTTON, IT'S REALLY NEEDED XD
Reviews for "Snowdrift"
Was enjoying the creepy vibes but first time playing menu wouldnt pull up and game froze at 18:00. Reloaded and everything seemed to be going well but soon could only move if menu was pulled up, making it impossible to perform actions. Easy playability simple obectives to stay alive but difficult enough at times to present a challenge. And of course some creepy noises to keep you company as you perform them. DONT get tired in the woods.
I want to say first off that I like what you have here, and what's about to follow is a pretty rough critique. Don't let it get you down, because I really like your direction, or just don't listen. You're getting a lot of praise, so just take it with a grain of salt if you like.
First of all, I'm seeing a lot of people who are complimenting how you've created an immersive and unnerving horror environment, and this may seem unintuitive to some, but I don't agree with that at all. I think you've created an environment where it snows a lot and where it gets dark and where the dark is dangerous, and these are scary things. You seem to be quite aware that ambiguity is exciting and scary, and so you're building on that. That's a good place to start and that's where the more sophisticated works within the horror genre usually are coming from. But past that, past the part that I would call an "environment"--that is, a nuanced atmosphere with enough continuity to place me there and enough subtle surprises to put me on edge-- I would say past the parts that you did well, what you mostly have are a lot of isolated and interchangeable instances of stuff that flashes at you. Like, the bloody ribs, or the dog head, the screamer stuff, creepy sounds and stuff. Technically, yes, it does create an environment, but it doesn't really aid too much in the creation of this particular one, because you could have just as easily made a game starring the Teletubbies, going on some regular Teletubby adventure, and inserted the dog head and whatnot, and then you would have a horror game. It's just too easy and it's too overdone. It's not just a pet peeve, I really didn't react to those things, I rolled my eyes at them. If I did react, it's the same thing as if my girlfriend sneaks up on me in the dark and says "boo." There's nothing of the sublime in it, nothing truly terrifying, just a jolt.
Also (and this is sort of a pet peeve), the hooded guy. To me, nothing is less creepy than a hooded guy, because it's been done to death. And for that matter, the creepy little girl (I know it's his daughter, but still...) is the same thing. There are too damn many creepy little kids in horror these days. It's just a dead horse in my opinion.
I may have said some problematic things here. I'm not saying you have to have consistent continuity in a satisfactory work, just look at Surrealism or Dadaism (or real life, in some cases), and I'm not saying that you can't use these jumpy scare tactics at all, but right now, these things seem uninventive to me, and they go into the "cheap trick" category.
I'd say keep it simple. Shorten the intro, explain very little. Keep the dialogue with the hooded guy to a minimum, he needs to not say things like "You can't imagine what I want" or whatever. To me, that says "I'm a scary mysterious guy who's probably bad, okay?" It's mechanical, gives this unimaginably powerful figure a role that we've all seen before, and makes him way less interesting. I think the ambient sounds are working for the most part, but just don't overdo anything. The ambiguity needs to be the biggest thing. To get me in the environment, I need to be working things out, wondering what happened to the world, what's the next thing I'll have to deal with. And you've done this! And you did it well, but there needs to be more of that and less flashy bump-in-the-night stuff. More survival stuff too, that was very strong and needs more attention. The things that did scare me were, for instance, "It's getting dark already? It's must be getting dark earlier! Shit! Will I make it back to the house?" That sort of thing. Think less scare tactics, more ambiguity. That's my advice.
I'm taking my asshole hat off now. I'm running out of room here, so if you did like this review and thought it was interesting, you can PM me and we'll talk about it. Sorry for the long-ass post, and I hope I didn't say anything to hurt your feelings or anything, because that's not my intent. I think you've got a really good thing coming along here and a lot of talent. Good luck.
I really like the idea of it, just needs some work on the graphics :)
It's a really cool idea, one that I have a special love for because I've had a similar-ish concept in mind for ages but never had a good way to make it happen. But I had a LOT of problems, particularly with the choice of graphics (You can only use an oil lantern but you have torches on the doors and candles everywhere and they never go out; the house is huge and full of shelves but you can't store anything, it's a constant blizzard but you have to go to a somehow-un-frozen pond instead of just melting snow for water?)
I also seem to have run into some fatal glitches; things where the clock would stop running or I stopped being able to move, and I know it says that you can't get an ending until someone knocks on your door three times but I managed to survive for 32 days, but nobody ever came!
Long story short: cool idea, but buggy as hell