"Out Of Hand" is a point-and-click visual novel where you play as someone diagnosed with Alien Hand Syndrome. Experience the everyday experiences of someone with AHS, and learn about this rare disease along the way.

A post-jam update exists that prevents you from sleeping on day 1 before completing your to-do list: https://dragonsproutling.itch.io/out-of-hand-post-jam-update. This post-jam update is not for judging, since it was completed after the deadline.

All character, item, and background assets are AI generated, as well as all of the music and the majority of sound effects. They are all used non-commercially.

For accessibility purposes, this game only requires one hand to play. The controls are below:

Mouse Movement: move cursor

Left Click: Interact / Select / Skip

Keyboard: Used for the one-handed typing minigame (press enter to submit a word)

All feedback is welcome! Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think about this game.

Be sure to visit https://patient73.org to learn more about rare diseases!

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Developer's Note:

Above, I explained what 'Out Of Hand' is and how it was made. Below, I will explain how I tried to embody the different judging points in my game.

1. Relation with the Gamejam's Main Theme

- AI: All character, item, and background assets are AI generated, as well as all of the music and the majority of sound effects. They were made with non commercial rights with the assistance of HotPot AI, DeepAI, Soundraw, and jsfxr. A lot of time was put into generating and improving the assets in such a way that they produced a cohesive style and image on the screen.

-Rare Disease Awareness: This game is centered around the main character's struggles with Alien Hand Syndrome throughout day-to-day life. The game was kept as real as possible so that the player could understand and play through the true experiences that someone with AHS might have. Also, learning about AHS is built into the game itself; as you progress through the story, you learn specific things about AHS, which unlocks information about the disease under the information tab in the top right corner of the screen.

2. Innovation

- A lot of visual novels have no gameplay beyond clicking through text and choosing dialogue options, allowing for a focus on story. Most point-and-click games are puzzle games or require the player to find hidden objects, but the allow for more interactions. I combined the two, keeping the focus on story from visual novels while incorporating interactions from point-and-click games without detracting from the story focus.

- I also added a minigame for further gameplay, but I make the players use one hand, just like someone with Alien Hand Syndrome. Because of this, players do not just read through the experience of someone with AHS; the players also experience it for themselves.

- Finally, I made the mouse cursor into the main character's hand, grounding the cursor in the world itself. 

3. Fun

- The story of the game falls under the Slice Of Life genre, where the story focuses on  everday interactions. While this means the story is not an epic Shakespearean drama, it's not supposed to be grandiose, and the players can find enjoyment by living through the main character and gaining new experiences. This game aims to give players enjoyment through this story about doing normal things through the lens of someone who is not normal due to AHS.

4. Quality of Interaction (Inclusiveness)

- This game only needs to be played with one hand, allowing someone with Alien Hand Syndrome to play the game. Also, computing power in the game is kept low. This means that the game can be played on devices with low computing power, allowing more people to play it.

- The game is also mobile-friendly, allowing for touch controls. However, the resolution will be smaller, so it is recommended to play on computer.

5. Aesthetics

- As mentioned earlier, a lot of time and effort was put into the generation of assets, sounds, and music to produce a cohesive aesthetic theme. The colors of any theme are kept coherent, while important icons like the map and information tabs are kept as black and white to make them stand out to the player. Anything the player can interact with gets a white outline and grows in scale whenever the cursor hovers over such items, clarifying what can and cannot be clicked on. Important unlocks also cause the corresponding the corresponding tabs to pulsate and draw the player's attention to them.

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Thanks again to Patient73 for creating this gamejam and spreading awareness about rare diseases! Visit https://patient73.org to learn more about rare diseases!