Soulacing
Soulacing is a puzzle game about experiencing different emotions and achieving solace to help souls enter the afterlife.
Made for the Pirate Software Game Jam 15 in 2 weeks!
Sorry there's no music or SFX, this was my first game jam and my time and scope management was poor. On the bright side you can put whatever background music you want :)
KNOWN BUGS:
- If you activate all the altars (the things with the kanji/chinese characters), the exit will remain open (not visually) after you die, but not if you restart the level with R. This occurs most commonly on level 6 that has the message "...but emotionless souls thrive in it" but it can occur on any level with the voids (the black circles that kill you). To avoid this bug so you don't skip unintended solutions, if you activate all the altars and can't find a way to get to the exit (because that solution is not intended) or die before getting to the exit, PRESS RESTART before any moves.
- If you are a specific color and move towards a gate with your color but change color midway through that move, you'll still go through the gate. This bug was found near the end of the jam but the levels are all still doable and designed to avoid it.
Game Design Document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRqKY708mEiWhhAmCieiBG44ScH57m2ZomAT...
Comments
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nice puzzles, the ending took me a good while.
Great work!
Really cool puzzle game !
Hard as it should be, and with interesting mechanics.
I completed even the last level, it took me 10 min worth of try but it was really a good feeling completing it.
Stylewise is super cool, bnut I wish it had a chill background music and some SFX; Keep it up !! GG
Usually puzzle games aren't my jam but I enjoyed this one a lot and actually finished it.
The progression and introduction to different mechanics was absolutely spot on. I never felt overwhelmed or confused at any point.
The depressing messages throughout were kinda heavy though haha If that's the vibe you wanna put out there for the world that's cool though.
I wish there were some sound and SFX it was the only thing missing in an otherwise really well put together game.
The graphics although simple fit the game very nicely. I won't pretend to understand what any of the kanji(?) means bit I would assume it was related to emotions or souls in someway. (please let me know). The character you play as was nicely animated although I think it could have been doing with a little outline to make sure you know where it was, at one point I looked away from my screen and totally lost my position (I was inside one of the flame/colour changing things)
I'm not sure if it was a bug on the last level there's a green and blue gate near the end, if you go towards the blue flame/gate even if you turn blue you still pass through the green gate anyways and die. Really confusing.
Also the gate to the next level remains open even if you die after solving the puzzle, not sure if that was a bug or by design.
Overall I had a lot of fun and I don't usually stick around too long for puzzle games but this one really caught my attention and I enjoyed it :)
I enjoyed your demo. This is very impressive puzzle game, especially considering the conditions it was created under. Good job. I’d like to see if and where you go with it afterwards.
Wow! I thought that this was so cool all around. The theme/design was very unique. I really really loved the text giving small story beats, and I think it created a very abstract and emotional theme, which is impressive for a game with a colored circle that is sliding around! (I relate to this a lot, my first game jam entry was very similar :))
The movement felt great, and the animations were very snappy. I think the difficulty ramped up a bit quickly by the final level, but I felt very comfortable with how everything worked because it was shown off very nicely in the previous levels.
What this was really missing for me to take it to the next level was music and sound. If there was a somewhat emotional/introspective song in the back, I really think that would have made the emotional tone hit home. The mechanics introduced worked very well and could lead to a TON of interesting levels. Speaking of, I thought the level design was fantastic! I have always found puzzle level design complex and difficult to understand, so this is VERY impressive to me.
Another 10 points in my book for having your GDD LINKED IN YOUR GAME?? Ingenious. Overall, I thought this was an absolute treat, and was only a step or two away from being a perfect 10 in my book, which is MASSIVE for a two week prototype. I am really looking forward to what you accomplish in the future! Keep it up my friend :)
Thank you so much for such a lengthy review! As I've mentioned to others I'll be sure to add music once the judging is complete and definitely add more levels to slowly ramp difficulty before those complex levels!
I'm too dumb for this. Well done, I like the movement animation and the level design, the glow is also gorgeous, and your games page is amazing, well done!
Would love some calm music for it in the future!
I didn't have time this time because I wanted the level design to be well crafted but I'll be sure to add it! It'll really add to the ambience
I love the puzzles and the narrative, awesome job! I like how the levels progress gradually in size and complexity to give players time to understand the mechanics without feeling frustrated.
Thank you! I heard that the jump of difficulty on the final level was a bit much but I wanted to incorporate a really complex level in this demo/prototype :D
It took a bit of head scratching, but it wasn't too bad once I figured out the key element on the bottom left :P
Was a fun game , I like the theme
Thanks :)
Really well made puzzle game!
Would definitely play more lvl's if they get added later.
A 1 move undo would be a really nice feature especially on "I'm Sorry" :D
Thanks for the kind words! I don't want to add 1 move undo because I want players to fail fast, feel frustrated and be able to quickly get back up on their feet so they can feel more satisfied when they get the solution. This is why I made the movement really fast, so you can die or restart and easily complete the level with your new learning seeing the death as a learning point rather than a setback.
nicely done - the last level was tricky!
Thank you, I did put a lot of effort into combining all the tips and tricks you learn from the previous levels into that last one!
I really like this, I've played the 'move in directions nonstop to get to exit' type games before, but adding colors and representing emotions with a story is very fresh, I did have a bug though, the level before it says 'Sometimes emotions hold us back' I activated 2 of the colors, died, then went straight up through void holes into the exit and to the next level, other than that great work
Can you try and recreate the bug and send me a recording? And thank you for the kind words :)
My inspiration for the movement was this entry for the gamedev.tv 2023 jam called Entangled check it out!
Update: I have fixed that bug and will publish it once the game jam judging is done!
Amazing take and really fresh! I don't remember a game like this.
As said, the puzzles were the right amount of difficult, thus the solving was rewarding.
I really liked it! Congratulations!
Thank you very much! My inspiration for the movement was this entry for the gamedev.tv 2023 jam called Entangled check it out!
A charming and entertaining puzzle game. The solutions were always super satisfying and thus rewarding :)
Thank you very much, im glad you enjoyed it :D