Silk by hoqjed

[raw]
made by hoqjed for LD31 (JAM)
Created by Farhan Qureshi and Dylan Gallardo. The web version is highly recommended.

Controls
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+ Left-click to select and place rocks

+ (If in web browser) Press F11 for more window space. You might have to click outside the game screen to make this work.
+ Hover your mouse in the top right corner of the screen to reveal the game menu.

An atmospheric puzzle game where you move rocks around. These are special rocks though, and they have special properties. Try to put all of them into the sandbox to complete each puzzle. Don't let their simplicity fool you.


*NOTE* MAC and LINUX versions are untested.


Sounds Found from freesound.org
-------------------------------
http://www.freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/sounds/176587
http://www.freesound.org/people/monterey2000/sounds/2234
http://www.freesound.org/people/jorickhoofd/sounds/169546
http://www.freesound.org/people/mikobuntu/sounds/127652
http://www.freesound.org/people/Littleboot/sounds/196712

Ratings

Coolness 81% 2
Overall(Jam) 3.91 63
Audio(Jam) 3.66 123
Fun(Jam) 3.57 149
Graphics(Jam) 3.62 341
Innovation(Jam) 3.80 100
Mood(Jam) 4.28 9
Theme(Jam) 3.62 432

Feedback

madcapacity
09. Dec 2014 · 02:54 UTC
What a great game! I loved the effect of the rocks coming through the sand. Also the game itself is clever. Well done!
Ryan Kline
09. Dec 2014 · 03:00 UTC
I love it. It's just great. The atmosphere is nice, everything about it is just peaceful, levels are intuitive and interesting, and were never frustrating, which only reinforced the peace. Thumbs up. Like, billions of them.
Pierce_Z
09. Dec 2014 · 03:08 UTC
Really neat idea, I beat the whole game! Relaxing too.
SoulGame
09. Dec 2014 · 03:11 UTC
Peaceful game. First levels were quite challenging but since level 5, challenge disappeared when the sandbox became larger for not enough pieces to play. Concept was simple but maybe it miss a good use of it.
semdog
09. Dec 2014 · 03:18 UTC
This managed to calm me down after 72 hours of stress. Really soothing. Thank you. <3
Rose
09. Dec 2014 · 03:37 UTC
This was a fun and unique puzzle! I appreciate not having instructions but I was a little confused on the first level with both black and white tiles. It might help to introduce white in a level by itself so that its properties are revealed.
andrewkennedy
09. Dec 2014 · 03:43 UTC
Nice game! It was very atmospheric and calm :)
Tortoise
09. Dec 2014 · 05:14 UTC
Great game! It felt really calming to play and the audio and visuals matched perfectly. The difficulty didn't increase much over the levels, though I don't think that's a bad thing.
EvilObjective
09. Dec 2014 · 17:11 UTC
Wonderful experience. You always have phenomenal atmosphere! I couldn't get past the second to last level, yet I wasn't frustrated - very relaxing play playthrough.
floorman
09. Dec 2014 · 22:48 UTC
Nice puzzle game.
StackAttack
09. Dec 2014 · 22:53 UTC
Nice and relaxing puzzle game. I really enjoyed playing it. I found it a little hard to understand what was happening the first time I played and I lost all my stones off the edge of the display. On the 2nd go, I figured out what to do and completed all the levels. The levels were interesting, but didn't seem to increase much in difficulty as you progressed.
danidre14
09. Dec 2014 · 22:55 UTC
Nice concept! The audio is really cool, and the graphics and fun: *o*!
Hob623
09. Dec 2014 · 22:59 UTC
What a wonderful game! Puzzles are quite easy but that only reinforces the peaceful mood and the feeling of play. It never feels like it is scolding you or even really teaching you, just pushing you in the right direction thanks to intuitive and easily understood mechanics and puzzles. Very nice!
hbocao
09. Dec 2014 · 23:27 UTC
I'm just gonna say this: let me know when it come out on mobile. Really. Awesome job.
savethejets1
10. Dec 2014 · 01:38 UTC
Awesome job!

My puny brain couldn't beat the second last level.

Everything was so good!!
5k0d
10. Dec 2014 · 21:21 UTC
Nice Atmosphere, perfect for a coffee break!
Sounds are nice too
fancypants
10. Dec 2014 · 21:26 UTC
Great game, very innovative.
chibiFlux
10. Dec 2014 · 23:56 UTC
Amazing puzzle game, did manage to beat it after ages... amazing mood and very relaxed!
Magicolo
11. Dec 2014 · 14:35 UTC
-Took a few levels to fully understand the logic, but when I got it, everything went smoothly :)
Zarkith
12. Dec 2014 · 10:30 UTC
The mechanics were as simple and elegant as the sand garden theme. Well done!

I felt like the first all-white pebble level would have been better placed one level earlier, otherwise the difficulty ramped up perfectly.

The whole game was pretty slow to control though. I know it's supposed to be zen and all, but when art gets in the way of fun it irks me a bit.
Elemental Zeal Games Studios
12. Dec 2014 · 23:37 UTC
Very soothing with a nice atmosphere. Nice job!
Jacic
13. Dec 2014 · 04:19 UTC
Nice puzzle game. It got quite difficult at the end. :)
Victory Garden
14. Dec 2014 · 03:34 UTC
I BEAT IT!!

I really enjoyed playing this. Really good experience, required a lot of thinking towards the end, (especially the puzzles with asymmetric solutions, like the last one and third-from-the-last) and extremely relaxing. You also did a good job of letting us figure out the sandbox's rules ourselves. Thank you for the great game. I could have played this for hours.
BoxedMeatRevolution
15. Dec 2014 · 02:26 UTC
Fun. Very peaceful. Great sound effects, and relaxing puzzles. I do wish some of the puzzles had been a bit harder, but then maybe I'd have become frustrated, which may have ruined the experience. Well done
ehtd
16. Dec 2014 · 23:09 UTC
I really liked the music, it creates a nice atmosphere.
Budaniel
19. Dec 2014 · 09:27 UTC
I loved this; it was the kind of spacial-perception puzzle I enjoy. The subtle movement in the backgrounds was noticeable yet never annoying or distracting. This is one of my favorite games so far this LD.
SolomaZ
19. Dec 2014 · 10:24 UTC
This was a satisfying experience. I loved how he game space took up the whole screen and even the menu was integrated. The mechanics were also very intuitive.
fierysquirrel
19. Dec 2014 · 12:44 UTC
Very intersting puzzle game, nice animations
Canyon
19. Dec 2014 · 23:33 UTC
I think a few puzzles in the middle could have been cut, as they were repeating the same notion. But going through the categories, I gave you 5 Stars all round.
Darthone
21. Dec 2014 · 22:55 UTC
Really relaxing and fun game to play through!
gameattack
21. Dec 2014 · 23:14 UTC
Well done ! It has its esoteric mood to it. It looks pure and simple.
rodobodolfo
22. Dec 2014 · 01:41 UTC
Love it! great mood, solid mechanics and quite challenging game. Great job!
Chris M
23. Dec 2014 · 08:11 UTC
Much to love here, most pertinent is how perfectly the elegance of the theme fits the puzzle mechanics you have created. The slow transitions and long meditative sound effects set a pace conducive to contemplating the relationships between these stones. Usually with LD submissions I'm rushing to get through all the content as quickly as possible, but you managed to slow and engage me right up to the last puzzle.

The ramp in difficulty works very well, although I felt around levels 3-5 (or thereabouts) more confused than I perhaps should have been around the difference between the stones. If this is an issue other players have experienced, it might be worth looking into unconventional (i.e. asymmetrical) board designs to better teach the particulars of each stone.

The last three levels I though especially well designed, concerned as they were with one core peculiarity that arises from the interaction of the stones. The first of the three I was stumped on for a good few minutes, aimlessly moving the stones around until an idea well into my lap. The next two, literally expanding the idea as they did, could be progressed through very easily, giving me the feeling that I'd actually learned something. It is the most powerful experience puzzle games can offer, and you really nail it here.

Few small things that I'm sure is already on your backlog for the next version- a reset button and better handling of invalid stones (either move them to a position closer to the board, or highlight their invalidation somehow).

As many others have said here this merits in a full release, and I'd personally love to see where you go with the concept.
DDRKirby(ISQ)
25. Dec 2014 · 02:43 UTC
Short and sweet! It's hard to design good puzzles; I admit some of yours were't very compelling and I bet this would have been wonderful with one extra bead type of some sort but it was great for LD.
Omiya Games
26. Dec 2014 · 23:01 UTC
Some minor convenience additions. Reset button. When hovering over a space maybe have some "ghost lines" and indicator showing if any rocks will be removed.
GREAT JOB!
Alexandre Szybiak
27. Dec 2014 · 10:22 UTC
I loved it, I kept playing until the end, time goes by real fast, the concept is pleasant and the levels are not too hard, which fit nicely the whole zen vibe. I like the visuals and the sand effect. Great job !