Hey! Over the last four years, I made an action platformer called Mask Quest together with Stephen Lavelle, aka increpare whom some of you may know for his puzzle games such as Stephen's Sausage Roll. It started as a weekend jam, but then we got carried away 😅

We tried to get the game out in 2020, but it took much longer than we expected. Now it's finally releasing on October 17th – way too late for it to be thematically relevant, but too soon for people to be nostalgic about the pandemic. 🙃

The game is satirical and has a unique breathing mechanic, where you have to press a button to inhale and release the button to exhale. If you breathe too litte, the blood oxygen gets too low and you die. If you breathe too quickly, you hyperventilate and you faint (which is also game over). So the central challenge in the game is to control your breath while doing some old-school platforming.

If you have any questions about the game, I'd be happy to answer them! 😁

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[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't think people are ever going to be nostolgic for the pandemic, just like I don't think they'll ever be nostolgic for the aids outbreaks of the 1980s.

[–] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I'm somewhat nostalgic about parts of it. It clearly had a much wider impact on society than the AIDS outbreaks, and many people didn't end up with anyone close to then dying or with any serious long term effects.

To lots of people it was just a time of staying home and trying to work that out. At least in the parts of the world I was.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 month ago

Thanks, but the horrific reality of my obstructive sleep apnea is enough for me.

[–] PlantJam@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

unique breathing mechanic, where you have to press a button to inhale and release the button to exhale

I get that a satirical game about the pandemic probably just isn't my cup of tea, but this breathing mechanic sounds like such unnecessary tedium.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This game is such a terrible idea in its entirety, I’m starting to wonder if this is satire.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And yet we keep getting downvotes. Come on dev, self-reflection!

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I definitely have 2 downvote gremlins stalking me

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I mean, I’ve said some mean things about this game, but I’ve said them with my whole chest, with my fucking name attached to them. None of this anonymity with downvotes. At least I stand by my opinion, that this game isn’t a good idea to have been created.

[–] spunge@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

this is hilarious.

"just breathe" being the mantra of the last few years. cute.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world -2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

This sounds poorly conceived. It’s not interesting, just tedious and it opens wounds that haven’t even begun to heal.

You spent four years on this? No self-reflection about your audience, or what they would want to play?

Look, the sunk-cost fallacy is a thing. Don’t over-invest in this.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Also the fact that every single comment here so far is panning your game should give you pause.

I suppose what you should reflect on is this: most folks have a favorite video game. What type of people are you courting in the hopes that those people say your game is their favorite? I don’t actually even see a core audience for this. A few people will buy it as a curiosity, but I don’t expect people would log more than an hour or two.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago

While I’m going on and on, three million people aren’t gonna get to play this, cause they died during the pandemic.

No one wants nostalgia for that.