Silent Sands WEB

 IF YOU ARE NOT A JUDGE PLEASE DONT PLAY WITH THE LINK, USE THE DOWNLOAD VER. 

(FOR JUDGES ONLY) WebLink to play game https://share.arcware.cloud/v1/share-3cc38b27-11a7-44d2-86df-24be279449ec

I had the wrong link posted the whole time. So I'm probably disqualified, oops. (2/3/25)

GDD - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qm4JCoMz5uSjM9Cvzck3Lrjx_mVcUlXOKoG0RAUA2I8/...



I used UE5 which does not have native support for Web Export so this is the best I could figure out. It is limited to 15 days and a total of 60 mins of playtime (total not just for one person). Best experienced with a downloaded ver.

An immersive sci-fi horror experience that emphasizes isolation, narrative depth, and atmospheric tension. You explore a mysterious outpost on a barren desert planet. Through exploration, environmental storytelling, and Logs from those who once resided, you unravel the truth about your mission and the anomaly. Surreal encounters with  unique threats fill you with adrenaline, while dynamic interactions using the environment challenge the player's critical mind.

In total I spent around 150hrs over the course of the Jam on this as the same time as my full-time job. I learned a lot and it was very fun. I almost cried when I accidentally deleted the Arboretum level on the last day and had to remake a worse version from Scratch (I overwrote the level file). 

I highly recommend not turning off lumen if possible as the lighting in the game was only built with lumen in mind (unless you're tired of the darkness). Try to scale everything else down first. It did run perfectly fine on my computer with everything on high though (I have a 3060 and a ryzen 5 3600). 

I do think that I will continue development on this. At the very least to make it have a much more polished and full experience. I really like the narrative and aesthetic. I also just love horror in general and I feel like the type of horror games I like are few and far between. 

Current known major bugs. 

- Things kinda break when loading saves. Mainly levels are not loaded (didn't have time to setup the level loading into the save system). Keys in inventory might also reset. (Tip, try moving around a bit near where you spawned in at a save. I made the load level triggers right next to the autosave triggers, so they should load in if you hit them).

-Previous area doors locked with no way to open them when the level gets reloaded, sometimes.

- Arboretum door is supposed to be locked (only one is)

- I thought I toggled off the battery/durability, I didn't my bad.

- Some settings don't seem to have a noticeable change, like FOV

-Some key bindings not working when overlaped

- Inconsistent Sound cues from enemy

- If the player dies in the later stages, the level loading will not have the exterior unloaded and therefore block progression (moving from the Water Plant to Engineering) This can be solved by backtracking to the level loading triggers that unload the exterior, but should obviously be addressed. 

Current Main Issues (from feedback)

-  Too Dim, both the light sources and general environment

- Not enough audio cues from enemy

- Direction is kinda unclear (I realized only just now that I somehow forgot to include the entire prologue explaining why you're even there in the first place)

- Frankly the inventory sucks and needs to be overhauled

Things I'd love feedback on
- Visuals (the levels are all basic blockouts with materials slapped on them, so more so the atmosphere)

- Feelings invoked (What things made you feel what way? Like did the music do a good job at making you feel tense?)