so deppression but a great game
Reviews for "The Cloud"
JackAstral responds:
Thanks!
I really love how you designed it. It's beautifully tragic how this story plays out. The gameplay is repetitive and frustrating (stupid smiley faces), as depression can be. I, however, was unable to finish it. I was on Friday ;-;. Maybe I will come back to this and try again. I enjoyed the music and artwork, along with the sayings before the character slept. Thanks for making this, depression should be more well-known.
JackAstral responds:
Thank you :)
I feel the repetitive nature of the game is deliberate to the story. The same thing day after day with no end in sight. Very well done.
JackAstral responds:
Thanks-I appreciate it!
Honestly, I not finish the game, why? I feel the game progress is very slow and repetitive.
And as another reviewer, I also thought that the mini-games you had to grab the "happy faces" to win, but it turns out it was not.
The game is based on pixel art, but personally I do not like these types of games that contain images transformed into "pixel".
The sounds of the game are not bad, but the music menu is repeated several times.
Okay, I'm going to be honest with you. This is not one of your best games.
First of all, the sound effects were way too loud, and the first time I hit the space bar, the sound was so loud that it actually startled me. The pixelized art style was kind of cool, and the grey colors really made it feel depressing. But then I went into the first cloud segment. I saw the happy faces raining down and I thought, "Oh, I'm supposed to get those so I can overcome my depression." But the second I touched one, I DIED.
And that's where the "message" comes in. What were you even trying to say here? That people who are depressed should just STAY depressed until they ultimately kill themselves? That's pretty horrible. I'm not saying you're encouraging suicide here, but that seems to be what this game is hinting at.
In addition, we feel pretty much no sympathy for the character since we don't even know who he is or what he's depressed about. In order to make the player feel sad for the characters, you actually have to set them up first.
All in all, this isn't a terrible game, but it's horribly flawed. I would highly suggest improving the graphics and controls slightly (the character's movement felt kind of slidey), make the character relatable, and don't end it on a "depressed people should kill themselves" message. Again, I'm not accusing you of encouraging suicide, but that's about all I got out of playing this game.
JackAstral responds:
It was saying that this one particular character avoided happiness, not that you SHOULD avoid happiness.
I'll keep your suggestions on sound effects, ect. in mind !