A downloadable game for Windows and macOS

Buy Now$1.99 USD or more

The Well is a compact (avg. play time 20 mins) one-button horror game based off of a poem by HP Lovecraft. It is entry #1 in a series of small games called Yames’ Secret Games. These games will be regularly released first and foremost for my Patrons ( they will get them first, for free)

CONTENT WARNING:  Death (both human and animal) and body horror are in this game.

If you'd like early access to future Yames' Secret Games (new patrons do not get immediate access to the most recent game but they do get it when it later becomes a part of the back catalogue) please consider signing up for my Patreon. 



StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, macOS
Rating
Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars
(52 total ratings)
AuthorYames
GenreAdventure
TagsHorror, Lovecraftian Horror, one-button, Pixel Art
AccessibilityOne button

Purchase

Buy Now$1.99 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $1.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:

YAMES' SECRET GAMES #1 v1.3.0 - THE WELL.zip 30 MB
ARM-64-YAMES' SECRET GAMES #1 v1.3.0 - THE WELL.zip 39 MB
x86-64-YAMES' SECRET GAMES #1 v1.3.0 - THE WELL.zip 44 MB

Comments

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(+1)(-12)

Pointless game. I do not recommend for the current price point. You pull up a rope, you lower a rope,there is what the author expects you to experience as a 'moment of awe', which is quite lackluster, then it ends. As a lovecraft enthusiast I am very disappointed with the title. You see 99% of the game from the three photos depicted on on this page. I recommend avoiding. Sorry for the negative review, but I do not see many redeeming factors here.

(+2)

womp womp

(+1)

amazing style. great work

(+1)

Love your fucking games so much to the point that i am already loving the art style

(+1)

well, that rocked

(+1)

Great atmosphere, writing, visuals and sound design. 

Just enough interactivity to keep us engaged. I just loved this experience, clearly a great gem on itch!! 

Thanks for this :)

(+1)

A great game to play in October!

amazing!!!! I love all your games

Jingles that cat i had a bad feeling about

thanks for playing!

(+1)

Absolutely loved this game keep up the good and creepy work Yames your style is in a class of its own also here's my video with me failing to do a country accent horribly enjoy.  

thanks so much for playing!

I think this, Water Womb World, and Discover My Body are your best works to date. You utterly NAIL the Lovecraftian sci-fi/supernatural combination, both in writing and in visuals/sound. I eagerly hope you make more games with a similar atmosphere- and even LONGER games :D

Nvm, GMG is your best, holy cow

(+1)

Played this and Growing my Grandpa (need to go through 2nd run yet though). Love them both but this one (probably since being a fan of lovecraft too) hit me incredibly. The bulbous pixelated masses match the sound design in such an unsettling and visceral fashion that makes you extremely immersed in the atmosphere trying to figure out whats on the screen (even if everything is distinguishable) literally drawing you inside the substance of the creepy palpable demonic presence in the game. The choice of what not to show is also very tasteful.
It's an incredible experience worth every penny and more. Also kudos for the take on Lovecraftian aesthetic definetly not predictable and full of unsettling character (rare in lovecraft inspired media).
big ups

thank you !!

(-1)

I see new Yames dropped, i dont feel right playing new Yames without playing old Yames.

Full Playthrough NO Commentary 

not the kitty D: 

fantastic job, very eerie & gives me lovecraftian vibes.

(+1)

Nooo not the kitty :'(

Aside from that good stuff as always. I think ill become your patron. Cant wait to see what u come up with for a full-length 15/20-dollar game :)

(+2)(-1)

When I noticed I could become a patreon that's the first thing I did, and you'll always be my first in that, Yames.

Nobody makes a game quite like Yames AND I love Lovecraft. A match made in heaven that works out perfectly in this medium. Can't wait to play the next secret game.

(+1)(-1)

I just played it. As usual from all the games ive seen from Yames its amazing. 

(2 edits)

Could you please make this purchasable without having to use Paypal?

itch.io handles its transactions through either Stripe or Paypal and I don't have a Stripe account. You don't need to create an account for paypal in order to purchase tho, if that is your reason. If your reason is that you are bothered by using Paypal for ethical/moral reasons, at this time I don't have any other way I'm selling stuff, but I'm working on finding alternatives

(1 edit) (+1)

yeah I'm sorry, I just don't want to use my card on a service i never used before, i hope you can come up with other ways for people to pay, thank you for your time :3

Loved the art, can I ask how you were able to achieve that look?

thanks, but you're going to have to be more specific, the two programs I used the most in making the game are Aseprite and Blender

The objects and art looked like it was converted from an image rather than being drawn pixel by pixel, I was asking if you actually did use some sort of procedure to convert an image or if you just drew it as pixel art (which sounds like a painful process considering the amount of detail).

(+1)

Oh yeah, definitely some of it was converted from images, a lot of the cutscenes were images that were edited and then color indexed so that they were converted into the two colors in the game (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indexed_color )most image editing software can do this but Aseprite can do it and also apply dithering patterns. then i go over and add details by hand

Thank you!

(+1)

Really liked your art style!

Very good, i will wait you next works! Your style is awesome!

(1 edit) (+1)

I really liked the mood of this. The art style was unique to me, kind of one-bit, sometimes-tiled, dithered, I guess. Similarly the music had a limited palette and contributed a creepy atmosphere and effective stings. This game absolutely passes the "can you pet the dog (cat)?" test - thank you!
Oh, also I really appreciated the F button customize options!

(+1)

This looks great! Any chance for you to enable card payments?

Thanks! I believe you have the option to pay with a card via paypal, you just have to sign in as a guest

(+1)

This was awesome!

Sick game dude look forward to the future ones.

(1 edit)

bought and downloaded - I consistently get "damaged, move to trash" when right-click opening the apps (have re-downloaded and re-verified). (on x86-64 mac, Catalina)

Same for me on Bigsur.

Hi, thanks for letting me know. replying to you just in case you don't see the above reply. two solutions: 

  • download the game through the itch.io app (itch.io/app)
  • open up a terminal window and type xattr -d com.apple.quarantine and then drag the downloaded .app file onto the terminal window so it will add on the full path to the app. make sure there is a space between the .app path and the command. press enter and then try to open the .app file again. (this article goes into a little more depth and has some screen caps to help https://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us/articles/216753558)

let me know if you still have trouble

How odd, i have the same system and it works just fine

(+1)

Amazing game, I was laughing when I started petting the demon cat.

Can't wait for more secret games, I'll support you on patron to get the second game as soon as possible.

(+1)

Thanks for compiling an arm-64 bit version for mac!

dollars Im afraid I only have gold pressed latinum  game looks really good

(+3)(-1)

I really love the world you created and it’s great to hear that you have so many stories planned (I subscribed to your Patreon, I don’t want to miss any updates). This was so fantastic, your story-telling - as usual - was so well paced, unnerving and hinted at so many things. Your games are always so much bigger because your world building is phenomenal.   

(+1)

thanks so much for playing! and I'm so glad you like what i'm doing and your comment about the worldbuilding is one of the nicest/encouraging things I can hear ! :D

(+2)

I love your videos of games from this developer!!!

(+1)

Aw, thank you so much. Great games inspire good Lets Plays :) 

(+1)

great* Lets Plays!!

(+1)

what is the title of the poem it was inspired by?

(+1)

its sonnet XI right here https://hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/poetry/p289.aspx

(+3)

yames games yames games

(+8)

babe wake up new yames game dropped

(+1)

I watched ManlyBadassHero's playthrough of your game. It's a well-written nod to Lovecraft, that's for sure! I enjoyed the visual aesthetic, too.

(+1)

yay more yames \o/

(+1)

ah sweet new yames game

(1 edit) (+1)

good game, rather liked it. surprised how well you wrote a Scottish accent (atleast i think it's scottish) though it was a bit too slow in the first half it was perfect in the seconded half. also the H and M look the same. not sure if that was intentional or not but it took me out of the moment at times

Oh yeah the font at that size is a little bit hard to read with some of the characters, you can actually hit F5 to change the font into something a bit more legible. thanks for playing!

Is there a way to make the game fullscreen

(+1)

f4

yep F4! will upscale the window first and then switch it to fullscreen. then F4 if you want to go back to 480x270

(-1)

You were my introduction to body horror so I'm back again. I can't say I've read deep into HP Lovecraft stuff but this was interesting so I think I'll dedicate sometime to get into his works. 

The way your style portrays bodies coming apart, together, or morphing into something else really creeps me out and I don't think I'll ever reach the fluency required to articulate the sensation of my spine crawling when I'm put into those weird situations your games present but it's there and I love/hate it.

I hope to see some longer stuff eventually but I do love these shorter games too.

Thanks for making games!

Hey! Thanks so much for playing, also I really appreciate your kind words. and I do have some longer stuff coming down the pipe it'll be ready eventually haha