DIURNALITY
"Welcome"
Diurnality (Chapter 1 Week 1) is a first person "horror" game (I say horror here, but it's more in the middle) in which you must navigate a maze-like environment to find "the light" seven times over the course of a week (the waiting can be disabled via the "Auto Skip Wait" setting in the options menu). As the week progresses, the steps required to actually get to the light become increasingly complicated and more obstacles are introduced.
Note: Diurnality cannot save your progress in the browser version. If you plan to return to the game, please go to the title screen's options menu and write down the save code it generates for you. You can load this save code later to restore your progress (although not your settings).
Current Maximum Progress: Chapter 1, Week 2
Download
Install instructions
To play DIURNALITY on windows, please extract the downloaded .zip file, and run Diurnality.exe.
Development log
- Status Update #2 & DIURNALITY Discord Server54 days ago
- Easy Mode & DIURNALITY V1.1.5 ChangelogSep 25, 2023
- DIURNALITY V1.1.4 ChangelogSep 16, 2023
- DIURNALITY V1.1.3 ChangelogAug 15, 2023
- DIURNALITY V1.1.2 ChangelogAug 12, 2023
- Windows Build & DIURNALITY V1.1.1 ChangelogAug 10, 2023
- Week 2 & DIURNALITY V1.1 ChangelogAug 09, 2023
- Status Update #1 & DIURNALITY V1.0.3 ChangelogAug 05, 2023
Comments
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Looking forward to testing out all of your new stuff! It will happen tomorrow though, I am kneedeep in working on my own game at the moment!
I just cant get past day 5, either I suck to badly or the game is a bit too hard. I am not sure. Tried it again yesterday and got smoked by day 4... Anyhow, I added a very small reference to your game in mine since your project was the very first thing I tried out on itch, hope you dont mind. If you do, tell me and I will remove it.
I can't be sure if it's a general lack of players understanding the game, or it simply is too hard. I have beaten both weeks, but it seems a lot of people are having difficulty even beating Week 1, which is the easier part of the game currently. Either way, something probably needs to be done. Although that likely won't be for a month or two since I'm working on a different project for now (I don't think it'll ever be published however). I'm also extremely surprised anyone would make a reference to Diurnality, so thank you for doing so, it means a lot to me.
Played until day 5 for now. You are definitely on to something. There is a surprising amount of tension when you hear the sound-effect of the spikedude speeding up behind you, the work with the sound-effects is quite nice. I would exchange the "sound" in itself though. There is plenty of free stuff at freesound.org, most of it does not require credit. I would use something like more realistic footsteps, but with added echo with dampening raised and lowered so it sounds deeper. I like the visual imagery of the clock more than the other two "enemies", maybe you should go with something more thematic with them too?
This game has a cool concept and has interesting to play!
The ominous atmosphere of mystery and unease work well with the cryptic storytelling, though the story could be expanded upon with the environment and the lore could be hinted at more. Terry0808 said it best!
I couldn't figure out where the light was in the open world on Day 2, so I had to move on. I'll probably come back later.
Had the same problem, perhaps the instructions are a little hard to understand. Basically, you play a "day" each real day, but there is an option to turn that off and play it all at once.
The story is very unclear from Week 1, although it gets hinted at more in Week 2. Thanks for playing, and thanks for the feedback!
Enjoyed the play through you can certainly feel a sense of tension second by second. The building of the sound and the abstract shapes certainly bring about a feeling of unease as you head through the level however once you get to night four it began to get little tricky.
If there was anything I would highlight to improve the experience it would be building out the narrative a little more. Maybe more lore tying the opening story into the experience. And some environmental storytelling to each of the rooms. What was the space originally used for?
Some small changes to the environment with each walk through would increase the atmosphere such as some of the pictures falling to the floor being replaced with pictures of a more menacing tone and maybe messages not quite so helpful and friendly.
Shadows growing larger as they stretch out in front of you giving a visual component to the chase.
Definitely potential to the game play loop and I will be looking out for more updates in the future.
Quick thoughts:
- Speed up the introtext and remove the "clicking" from the soundeffect that plays when the text is presented.
- Too much wobble when you walk, kind of makes me feel sick.
- On the map, change the circle that shows where the player is into a triangle pointing in the direction you are facing.
The presentation and mood is really quite good, also really like the ambient music when you are not in the labyrinth. I cant seem to figure out where to go in the open world on day 2.
Thank you for the feedback! I should probably add an option to turn off the walking animation along with reducing it, sorry about that!
hey good game but the sprint doesnt stop!!
Yeah that's the point, it's less of a stamina thing and more like a speed boost.