Soul Traveller by Jiri Hysek

You are an entity cappable of possessing bodies of other living beings. Unfortunately after possessing a new body the old one dies.
This game is a moody puzzle-platformer. Don't expect it be too easy! Sometimes you'll have to come out with an original way how to overcome an obstacle.
The game has 3 levels with 3 types of bodies to possess with different abilities.
Have fun!
Mini post-mortem of my progress: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/soul-traveller/mini-post-mortem
Controls - WAD or Arrows ... movement - S or arrow down ... possessing body of a wretch - space ... action (depends on current body) - R ... restart level (there are checkpoints but in case you'll stuck somehow)
Used tools - Godot engine - Inkscape - Gimp - FL Studio - Audacity


* Walkthrough * Spoilers! Play the game first!
https://youtu.be/1NXiC42g1e8
| Windows | https://jhysek.itch.io/soul-traveller |
| macOS | https://jhysek.itch.io/soul-traveller |
| Linux | https://jhysek.itch.io/soul-traveller |
| Source code | https://github.com/jhysek/ld43 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/soul-traveller |
Ratings
| Overall | 13th | 4.173⭐ | 80🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 45th | 3.91⭐ | 80🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 37th | 3.892⭐ | 81🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 69th | 4.051⭐ | 81🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 31th | 4.222⭐ | 81🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 24th | 3.994⭐ | 81🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 9th | 4.291⭐ | 81🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 67🗳️ | 24🗨️ |
I really like that each possession is a checkpoint, but I can't get past the second level though x__x
Congrats on the entry!
The controls are awkward, though, (especially the jump button behaviour), and the physics glitchy (you can get temporarily stuck on platform corners). I had a *very* hard time getting through the first level, where you must jump from very small platforms.
@frank-gevaerts happy to hear that, it's hard to ballance difficulty in compo game (there's just no time for it) so I'm always affraid of making it too hard and get people frustrated...
An amazing entry. Good job. :slight_smile:
@zsolt @tosunami @jk5000 @angelnm @vilix64 @derek-volker @kasperejros: thanks for the kind words! I'll play your games as well :)
Overall a great job!
@drskort Thanks for your feedback, I'm glad you like it! Bird's movement is more like flappy bird (which was kind of intentional) than real bird's fly. I only decreased falling speed (comparing to flappy bird) because I'd like it feel more like flying then constantly falling like a brick. About a yellow guys - Limbo wasn't only inspiration, I was also inspired by the Sin City movie (music and yellow guy kind of reference on it) :) There are more color element - a blood, exit emits blue light, yellow guy with yellow bullets.. i like it that way but it's subjective, anyway thank you for your opinion.
@zombie-virals awesome, try it! I cannot judge it's 3D stuff but for 2D games is Godot really great!
@mtanton @vimlark @themarioga @zuzupd @erick-santana-rodrigues @arvejeitor @renan-moura Wow, thanks guys for a lot of positive feedback!
The soul taking mechanic is really creative, especially having to use of the dead bodies as a platform to jump higher. And possessing the bird was an amazing moment in the game.
Overall a really good game!
Your ground detection is also slightly off, it wouldn't register as grounded when I jumped at the edge of a ledge. Again possibly due to the collision shape, but you could also fix this with coyote time, where the player has a small window after being ungrounded that they can still jump.
The duration of the soul travelling felt a little long and awkward, but that's a personal opinion. I think half the time would have a better feel to it. Thanks for making such a great game, plus Godot ftw. ;)
About ground detection and coyote time - I kind of like when it is a bit forgiving. You are probably right about duration of possessing... I originally intended to make some puzzle situations where you have to think about correct timing of possession, but I didn't have time to handle properly a situation when possessed body leaves area before possessing ends, so at this point it 2s duration of possessing does not make sense.
Anyway, I'm happy you like the game and thanks again for the feedback :)

The only note I wanted to point out is that the jump react is slow when I press it while walking.
I would prefer the jump to not continuously activate if you held the jump button. Also, running off the ledges when you wanted to jump instead, seems to happen more than often because of the ground detection. Otherwise, the platforming was cool with the varied mechanics. Great graphical style with the shadows, and lovely mood and audio makes this really well done!
Neat entry. I like the visuals and the main mechanic. The puzzles were an appropriate difficulty.
@theonethatneverwas My one man team thank you :)
@lazertrax I'm glad you like it, maybe I'll expand it to the full product, we'll see...
@randomphantom Thanks a lot for your feedback! I'm making post-jam version and I already fixed continuously jumping and fiddling with colliders.
@maissara Thank you for your feedback.. I didn't noticed slow jumping but I'll investigate it. Anyway, I'm glad you like the game :)
@jeremy-ryan @tanis @gaming-night @thomas-lagana @hav24 @velvetlobster Thank you a lot for kind words, I'm really happy for the positivity I'm reading here..
I really liked the birds. The gun guys were cool, but I wished they contributed more mechanically to the puzzles; they mostly were just used like a different colored regular guy
The mood is so cool!
very nice job ;p
I’ll keep an eye on the forthcoming developments!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTeUPXVSPps
If you'd like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/346056526?t=26m22s
Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D
💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady
https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin