Discolored (Demo)
A downloadable game for Windows
PLAY THE FREE DEMO!
A lonely roadside diner in the middle of the desert. The locals say it’s lost all its color. You are sent to investigate.
Discolored is a strange and surreal puzzle adventure, taking place over two-or-so hours in a single desolate location. Your mission: restore the color to this once-vibrant world. What caused the colors to disappear? How can they be brought back? As you explore, you'll solve an array of inventive puzzles and uncover a selection of clues - leading you to discover the deeper secrets of this strange place at the end of an abandoned highway.
Features:
- First-person exploration fused with intricate and inventive puzzle-solving
- A single environment that changes and expands as you play
- A striking, pared-back aesthetic, with a beautiful haunting soundtrack
- Designed to be experienced in a single sitting - playable in two-or-so hours
The demo is about 20% of the full game. If you enjoy the demo, check out the full version on Steam or Apple Arcade
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/933860/Discolored/
Apple Arcade: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/discolored/id1479350739
Download
Development log
- Discolored out now on Steam and Apple Arcade!Nov 15, 2019
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
It's AMAZING! So I bought the full version on Steam and played it. The only issue I have is, there's no connection to the clues so it was extremely difficult for me to solve it, that's why I had to get a gameplay to guide me through it. Overall, it's an awesome game!
Thank you for checking out Discolored! Glad you enjoyed it for the most part. :)
The game is so fantastic, I played for several times!! So dark and misterious that keeps you on toes. And the music...wow, i liked it very very much. Do you guys know where, if i can, i can find it on internet? Because i wanted to download it! Thank you
I mean, the music. Do you know where i can find the music of this game online?
Thanks for checking out Discolored! Glad you enjoyed it. :) I don't have permission to distribute the music tracks, but most of the music can be found on YouTube and other streaming services. Below is a list of the composers followed by their music pieces that show up in the game:
Chad Lawson
Goldmund
Hi Jason, yes I understand, of course, i would have immagine. But thank you, I'll go check out these composers. Thanks so much another time!
I love goldmund :D
Me too! Malady of Elegance is my favorite album.
Show post...
so nice game
Thank you!
nice game! i wishlisted it on steam, i like the general idea of recoloring a world. played the demo, and in a way i’m both thrilled for more… and i was expecting something like “search” which i love. i mean, a 2d point’n’click. so, in the demo, moving with the mouse wasn’t as fun as i thought, and i’m not using the keyboard! then i remembered i have an old gamepad i almost never use (i play mostly mouse games) - logitech dual action. it works in the windows settings, and i’m pretty sure i used it a few months ago in a (??) game. while i’m not really a gamepad user, for discolored i would really enjoy it way more than the mouse. but i don’t get it to work, in the settings there are fields for the keyboard and the mouse, not a gamepad, and pressing around the gamepad in the mouse fields is no use. what can i do to get this gamepad to work in discolored? i mean, i could play the full game with the mouse… but i know i’ll get upset a lot about the moving around. i plan to get it from steam this week.. if i get the pad to work..
EDIT: tested it on https://html5gamepad.com/ - works perfect!
Hi, glad you enjoyed the demo! The full game actually has compatibility for more gamepads. I haven't updated the demo for quite a while. Other gamepads that didn't work in the demo now work in the full game.
Also I am working on an update for the full game where you will also be able to use point-and-click movement to navigate, very similar to The Search. It might be another week or so before that update goes live though.
Either way, if the gamepad doesn't work you could wait until the update for the point and click movement. You could refund the game too if none of that works. ;-)
sure i enjoyed it - love the coloring & discovery! ^^ well, i wouldn’t ask for refund, i’m sure i’d love the full game anyways, i’d just enjoy the actual movement a lot more with a pad, lol. but the discovery part stays the same = interesting. but i’m glad you’re offering the p&c option now (soon). so that’s a buy then. i might wait until after the update to play it - if i can XD btw… if you ever thought of making a “search” sequel, i’d buy it too! loved those doors, and the paint brushes ^^ wink, nudge
just bought it thru steam - and the controller works perfect afaik! yay! maybe it’s the full game, or the steam client, anyways i can enjoy “real” spatial gaming now ^^
Glad to hear it! :)
Thanks for playing! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Tried the thing - really enjoyable game. Love the visuals and the emptiness of it. Puzzles are straight forward which makes them really enjoyable for a dum dum like me :D
Very pleasant experience!
Thanks for playing the demo! Glad you enjoyed it :)
I played this one on Youtube check it out!! I have nothing but love for this game and can not wait for the full version!!!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Can't wait for the full game!!!!!
Thank you! In the meantime, if you want to help the game gain more visibility please consider wishlisting it on Steam since their algorithms love those wishlists :)
Way ahead of you :) already did that when I finished the demo! the game was a fresh breath of air nothing like I've played before!
Awesome, great to hear that! Thanks :)
Very, very VERY nice concept game. Colour puzzles are quite interesting. I'm impressed with the idea. Hope further updates soon, right?
Thanks! I'm hard at work finishing the game right now. The full release will come soon :)
Thanks for playing the demo! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Really enjoyed this! Wishlisted as well! Very chill and relaxing and I am looking forward to playing the full version! Best of luck!
Thank you! I appreciate the wishlist add also :)
Wishlisted on Steam!! Absolutely my speed light puzzle game. Beautiful music, cool concept (even in the demo I had a couple of "oh HO I see" moments), lovely graphics, just an overall soft and mellow gaming experience. Can't wait to play the full game someday!
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the wishlist add!
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for playing! The thumbnail of you picking up the moon is awesome! :)
This game is very interesting. I had a lot of fun playing it. I definity felt I was left with wanting more. Has been added to my wishlist on steam and I can not wait for the full release.
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the wishlist add!
Played this for a series on my channel called That's Not Horror!? Thursday! The game was VERY good and interesting. I really enjoyed the puzzles and the difficulty on them felt perfect, so no complaints there! However, My video was copyright claimed due to the music you have in the game. (Chad Lawson claimed the song: The Waning Moon Starting at 6:52 - 8:01) Maybe remove any copyrighted music and either add royalty free music or compose your own. If you're looking for an honest and more in-depth review, i give just that in my video below!
Hey thanks for taking the time to play the demo, glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, sorry about the copyright claim. I actually bought a license on Musicbed to use it in the game, but unfortunately it will still get tagged if you want to monetize videos.
It's alright, just try to consider that moving forward as some creator make their living off of ad revenue. Having copyrighted music in a game means less people are gonna be showing off your stuff. Really did enjoy the game though. Keep up the good work!
i had a lot of fun playing the demo!, i look forward to the full release keep up the good work amigo! (Spanish Play-Through)
Awesome, thanks for playing! Love the Bob Ross thumbnail you used for the video. :)
haha thank you!
Very cool demo Jason, and I'm looking forward to playing the full release version. Love the concept and aesthetic, the whole mood of the place, it all fits together well. It seems like it's very well thought out. Especially given how, the setting you designed looks great in every possible set of color schemes.
I'm struggling a bit on that personally on my upcoming 'Miniature Multiverse' game, adjusting all the puzzles and story to both 'belong' seamlessly in the world, as there are some sections where either the imagery or a puzzle idea is kind of dominant, and my game at times feels a little bit like a widely variable set of interesting interconnected vignettes... not a cohesive, fully unified thing (choice of using panoramic photography inside detailed O scale miniature models for every world aside).
What was your design process like for this - how did you plan things out when developing Discolored? What inspired this, and how did you go about expanding on that first initial idea? Moreover, what sort of tools did you use to make this once the core design was figured out?
You don't have to answer but I always like hearing about the creative process on things like this.
Hey Matt, thanks for playing and leaving a comment. Your game looks cool! Going analog for your sets instead of purely digital seems like a daunting task, but I've seen other examples of people doing this with success.
As for my process, a lot of my inspirations for this game were examples of using only what is essential. For example, in the game "Limbo" there isn't any color most of the art is just light and shadow and a focus on silouettes. For my previous game, "The Search" I went crazy with detail everywhere and while it was fun and I felt it turned out well artistically, I felt it made me lose focus on the gameplay and puzzles. This kind of detail is fine if you're a AAA studio with a lot of time and cash but I'm just a solo dev so I have to be more focused in my efforts. Traditional artists like John Register and Edward Hopper were inspirations for the art style of Discolored. Especially if you look at Register's work, again mostly light and shadow doing the work, simple shapes and use of color. There are other games that do this as well like The Witness. I could go on and maybe I'll write a blog post about it later. :)
As for my tools, I kept everything digital. Using Unity for the engine, 3ds Max for modeling and lighting with Vray to render out lightmaps because I don't like Unity's current lighting system. Also using a few plugins in Unity for functionality like Playmaker, Rewired, and Adventure Creator.
Anyway, hope that was helpful and best of luck with your game!
Really great game. I didn't know what to expect going in, but i was pleasantlysurprised.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! Love the "Ketchup or Mustard" title on the video. :)
Really loved the puzzle mechanics and the idea behind the story is really cool! Looking forward to doing more mystery detective work and restoring color to this world! Also stealing more planets and moons would be cool!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I agree, stealing the moon and planets turns out to be pretty fun actually! I tried to put a few other cool moments like that in the final game :)
Hey, i made an itch.io account just to comment on how well done this demo is, I was sincerely a little sad when it ended because of how fun the puzzles were, the music was perfect for the sort of vibe the game gave off and even though it was repeating I didn't feel as though it got annoying like some other game's soundtracks are. the puzzles although not difficult still made me feel good about doing them and the whole thing gave off a sort of slight melancholy nostalgia (but that might have just been me) and it was delightful. I cannot wait to see this game finished and I thank you very much for surprising me with such an enjoyable experience
Hey, thanks for taking the time to sign up, comment, and for playing the demo! I kind of felt the same way about the music here. It can get repetitive, but it's not too distracting. However, I am doing something different with the music in the final game so it evolves along with the visuals as the puzzles are solved, and hopefully in this way too it won't get so repetitive.
So unfortunately, my sound capture failed while I was playing this, and it didn't get ANY of the sound. I didn't want to scrap the video because I genuinely loved this SO much. It's such a good game. The puzzles aren't painfully hard, which makes the game even more enjoyable. I can't wait to see the full game!
Thanks for playing! Bummer about the sound capture fail, but glad you decided to still upload it. Happy to hear you enjoyed it :)
I played your game and I enjoyed it. It was well developed.
Thanks! Glad you liked it :)
love the concept and look forward to the full game. definitely going on my lets play list.
Thank you!
no prob :)
The framerate was so bad
Sorry about that. Did you still run into issues when changing the quality setting to Medium or Low in the pause menu? The final game will be optimized more.
Im not sure Ill check
I LOVE THIS GAME. VERY DOPE CONCEPT.
Thank you!
This was a fantastic concept for a puzzle game and the atmosphere worked really well with the mysteries behind the diner. A minor point, I feel it lacked a bit of story, I don't know if you can add hidden notes or similar that might reveal more about why the diner has lost it's color? Keep up the good work, I'll be sure to check out the full version when it's out!
Thank you! Yes, in the full version there is more of a story in there. I'm trying to keep the text I use to a minimum, to stay with the minimal theme, so there will be more showing than telling when it comes to the story. :)
Toho who let you on itch.io get back on minecraft
While I like the idea, some elements fall outside the screen when the aspect ratio is not 16x9. (had to use 640x480 to get a decent framerate on my work-pc)
Sorry you ran into performance issues. I admit the demo isn't as optimized as it could be and the UI elements need adjusting for different resolutions too. I plan to address this in the final game (and hopefully in the demo too, time permitting) :)
Really liked the puzzles and how they are tied to the colors. Not having guidance meant exploring a little bit aimlessly at the beginning but I think once you get the first few interactions things roll nicely from there.
Thanks! Yes, I'm going for a minimal aesthetic with this game, trying not to explain too much (which I understand could be frustrating for some), but glad you were able to figure things out. :)
Что то новенькое в жанре головоломок, а главное интересное. Сыграв в демо-версию почувствовал глоток свежего воздуха в этом жанре, огромное спасибо.
Thank you for playing!