within
A 5-10 minute narrative game about what exists within us. Contains 3 "endings" and a couple of small secrets.
Featured in Issue #48 of Indiepocalypse.
Click for content warnings
mild body horror, broken teeth, big eyes, big mouthIf you pay $2+ you get a bonus pack containing:
- All sound effects and music layers for the game, plus all Serum synth patches I made for them
- Includes some sfx I didn't end up using
- OGG format
- Free to use in any project - credit appreciated but not required
- A "soundtrack" version of the music
- A 1500-word devlog
- Source code
Everything made by Chris Logsdon, except for:
- ExpressionPro and CompassPro fonts by somepx.itch.io.
- Some photos stolen and sullied from image searches.
Special thanks to Alix Lytton and John Thyer for their continuous support and positivity.
Made August 22 - October 21, 2023 using these tools:
- Love2D (engine)
- bump (collision library for Love2D)
- flux (tween library for Love2D)
- classic (class library for Love2D)
- makelove (desktop builds)
- love.js (web builds)
- Notepad++ (coding)
- Paint.NET, Affinity Photo, Inkscape (art)
- PreSonus Studio One, Xfer Serum (audio)
- GitHub Desktop (source control)
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Played it and read the devlog! I liked it for what it was on its own but I really liked how the additional reading gave me your perspective on things. My own interpretation before that was quite different. I recognised that your intentions were probably more different and more personal than anything I'd be able to guess, but I also thought my own ideas made the game have a different meaning to me, so it was neat to see in the PDF that this was something you'd hoped for!
My thoughts kind of went immediately to anxiety or something like that so it was interesting to read how much more specific it was and it added a whole new context to everything. You conveyed those concepts in a nice, creative way. I liked how you had to poke around to figure things out which fits those themes as well. Took me a while at the beginning to get anywhere. I liked how much weight there was to the actions, with sound, graphics, and mechanics all contributing, all being really good. I did notice the dynamic music but not exactly how it related to events in the game as you outlined. Really good stuff 💜
I got all three endings but after about an hour of trying things I still haven't found the secrets unless it's something like having to grab a screenshot of the train station monitors at a very specific frame. I did actually take screenshots to be able to read the text in the eyes at the start 👁️
Speaking of the train station, it was fun to read about it in the PDF, I did indeed assume/assign meaning to that as well, thinking that for you it was probably either some personal place or an extension of the message (that I failed to guess), and that for me it could be all sorts of stuff, and that in general it kind of fit the breaking out into the light theme, a terminal to get away.
As for the irony of the final message given what happened at the end of development, hopefully it still applies at a higher level, to life as a whole. It certainly suits your achievement with this game! Always lovely to see something personal like this and I'm happy for you to have been able to finish it! 💜 💜 💜
Gosh, thank you for digging into all this! It truly means so much.
The anxiety read makes a lot of sense given the aggressiveness of the visuals and actions. Similar to Far Away Times' comment below, I think my reading and the anxiety one are not necessarily unrelated!
An hour is so long to be in this game! Thank you for engaging with it so deeply though, and I'm sorry the secrets are so obscure! I'll give some hints here:
they're both at the top of the screen, and one of them won't be visible if you're by yourself.Really neat interpretation of the train station. I definitely didn't consciously think of anything like that for it, but it makes a lot of sense. I suppose your initial assumption isn't far off either, actually. It could easily represent the subway stations in Boston or New York City that I used to frequent with friends. I was in a pretty heightened state of creative excitement back then, and those subway stations exist in my memories as a sort of magical liminal space where I contemplated that excitement between destinations.
Thank you so much for the well wishes and the kind words!!!
Cool classic freeware art game, one of my favorite vibes. Technically sound and clear communication (I love the rubble falling from the top of the screen on an effective hop), which lets you be artfully effectively ambiguous with the underlying story. I read it as about an illness as I nabbed the three endings, struggling to grow and consume -- the reading you go over in the bonus pack is really nice though, and complimented mine in a funny way.
Experimental but accessible. I dig the aesthetic and the unusual mechanics. Took me a while to get all 3 endings! Looking forward to what you make next.
I love everything about this little game - its experimental nature, the mood, the art, the sounds, the message - and believe it'll stick with me for some time. Paying for the extras was well worth it - I really enjoyed reading the devlog and the "soundtrack" version of the music came out beautifully. Thank you for making within!!