ZoomGame 1.0

How the story make me feel: definite "ugh too real" feelings! Of course I have a hard time not seeing things from the point of view of the professor, and I'm also mad at the professor for being too boring and rushing through questions. But it's grim.

The art and music reinforce this "droning" feeling -- like everything has had life leeched out of it, or is reduced to a simple waveform / black & white lines. The most lively part is the gallery of faces -- of course, that can be draining too (the wall of Zoom faces) but everything else is so stark and low-personality that it stands out, for just a second before we don't see it any more.

As the player, we don't have much choice in whether to look at classmates' faces because the character doesn't spend long on it. I'm not sure whether this feels deliberate ("character is zoning out because it's hard / awkward to feel like you're staring at other people's faces") or like something I wish the game gave me more control over.

The choices feel very sparse -- like there's one of significance, then a single-choice (call mom) near the end. This is doing a little bit for the "just march ahead in a straight line... try to hang in there..." desperate-boring-circumstances feel, but it's pretty subtle. As a player, I don't know if there are few choices because it's meant to feel that way or if there are few choices because it's a quick early prototype. To get a deliberate feel, you'd need more choices that reinforce monotony, or feel futile, etc. (I also find myself wondering if audio might alter based on choices, which would be interesting because some of the audio definitely feels like it's in the character's head, reflecting feelings!)

Where's the story going to go? Well, I do know it's meant to be dark. I don't know exactly how. Maybe more weird stuff happening while looking at Zoom. Maybe dreams where the hotel room changes? A little reminiscent of Silent Hill 4, maybe? (Probably less gory / hellscapey though.)

How did the story make you feel?

- You know, I like to think I handle a lot of this pandemic zoom culture a lot better than I have before. i gotten my sleep schedule fixed up, my home life is separate from my work life, and i know when to take breaks when needed. i also just gotten use to being prepared for zoom in general, such as, you know, making sure my laptop is plugged in and what not. so a lot of this game was like "is this what other people go through?"

its okay that everyone doesnt feel this sort of dread from your game. like i said, my problems with zoom is wholly separate from others, but i still understood what you were going for with the tone and the visuals.

How did the art and music affect your experience?

- it was nice and simplistic, although since its all white it feels a bit too bright...not unlike how zoom doesnt have a dark mode! so thats a good thing.

How did you feel about the choices?

- they were pretty normal choices. people tend to struggle with what to do when in a zoom call, so it makes sense that sometimes the choices presented can be mundane.

Where do you expect the story to lead?

- my inevitable demise. 

Other feedback?

- good use of renpy! would love to hear more chilling unsettling music and sound effects. maybe an actual lecture? an air conditioner providing the only sound? people typing? go wild. 

-also there really isnt a lot of zoom in this zoom game. when people are on zoom youre stuck staring at the brady bunch rows of videos and whatnot, and it can be quite draining. maybe incoporate that more

I was not expecting this! And don't think that's a bad thing!

1. The story (so far) is pretty sad. You're stuck due to the pandemic and you can't enjoy the day like you usually would due to your Zoom Classes.

2. I like the art! It's simple but really defining. The music made the experience even better.

3. The choices were good so far since this is a short snippet of the game, there's not much I can say. When you add more to it tell us! 

4. i'm expecting something to appear out of our comp screen an drag us into Zoom and when that happens I'm expecting some a strange tune like something from the Earthbound/Mother series!

SUGGESTION: You may not be doing things like jump scares and other scary tactics but if you want us to feel scared or nervous select your game's OST carefully! The music helps sets the mood and if there are a bunch of high-pitched unsettling noises or even silence (use sparingly for it to make an impact) it will keep us nervous yet interested!

The story made me feel like terrible things were happening to me that are out of my control, like I'm being haunted by some supernatural force that doesn't want me to attend class. I think the music is fittingly spooky but while I like the black and white visual style, I found the mc and professor looked a little similar. With this art style, I think there can be some more variety in this sort of exaggerated character design. I thought the choices were natural but I think maybe a choice to check my alarm on my phone to see if it went off might be good also? Idk tho. I expect it to either actually be some supernatural entity messing with me or it was actually just my own fatigue and lack of motivation all along.

• The story reflected feelings I already have about living in a pandemic; trying to cling to normalcy in a world of monotony, irregular sleep patterns, missing loved ones. I think it's a good start to evoking feelings of melancholy during difficult times.
• I liked the art and its abstract nature. Being in black and white lends to the feeling of monotony I mentioned earlier. It makes everything feel the same in an eerie way. Also the face shapes of the people in the zoom call were irregular and distinct from one another which I enjoyed. I liked the music in the beginning, but the music in the zoom call was a miss for me. I think it evokes a creepy feeling, but is too short and after looping a few times I got sick of it. The beeps reminded me of a Commodore 64 for some reason.
• I played through twice hoping the choice of looking out the window and returning to class would lead me down different paths, but they both felt mostly the same to me. Maybe checking out the window leads the player to hearing less about the artifact that gets talked about, or the professor can notice you're missing and call you out on it. I expected the zoom meeting to get spooky once the player was the only one left in the call but perhaps there is some more you want to do design wise before leading up to it,
• I expect the story to lead back to the class again, and perhaps each time the player goes to class some new creepy or unsettling thing happens, culminating to a big zoom haunt!

1/2. It's definitely a good set up for the story! Though to be fair when the professor was cutting off, I expected it to be a case of bad internet, not a case of falling asleep lol. Not sure how to fix that, or if it would be better to just jump straight into the weird zoom part of it instead of prolonging the intro, depends really on what you're planning to do but sadly I can't tell you much since I'm not sure what you're planning to do ; v ;

3. The sounds and music definitely add to the story, I feel like they fit well, especially that drawn out creepy sound towards the end. 

4. I'd love it if the art actually had a little more contrast to it, something to make it feel less like a doodle and more polished if that makes sense. Just have there be Really Dark Shadows to emphasize some of the creepiness more? 

5. Not sure at the moment I'm afraid, there isn't much for me to think of other than something might go bad with the mom phone call or the subsequent zoom calls, but thats mostly just because I know what the general premise of the game is about. Otherwise, if you were to give this to me without any context, I probably wouldn't be able to figure out much :(

I feel an immense, overarching dread right off the bat. 

The art is lovely and very human, yet stylized very well; it creates that dread you're probably aiming for. The lack of color only helps, however I'm fairly certain that it'd give a lot more credence to the story if certain actions — like the Player almost dozing off — were actually visual rather than solely textual with the player's face comprising the only image seen.

The music assisted in making the experience unsettling as well! Are these Jackie Originals:tm:?

The choices, while there're only two of them, felt pretty logical and straightforward. I didn't really feel railroaded onto one path, even though I was.

I expect the story to gain a pretty damn eclectic sort of air, one of dread and smelling strongly of stale honey. I also expect colors, few of them, maybe colors that I've never seen before. Mom won't answer the phone, but she will be on Zoom instead.

I like it! The style is pretty slick, though I can confidently say that I want more.