Soul Knight by Apace

made by Apace for LD 44 (JAM)

You are one of the damned souls who have been sent to Castle Moldark to spend the rest of your life among other exiled ones. Legends say the castle is ruled by the most evil of souls - a mighty marble, a greedy ghost and an evil eye (watch out, it's truly evil!). Defeating them all will grant your soul pardon and allow you to live a happy life once again.

Game Mechanics

The game is a 2D platformer in which your life total - souls - can be traded for at a merchant. The merchant will trade you other souls which grant you special powers. Until you lose them, that is, by taking damage from evil creatures in the castle.

How to Play

Use Arrow keys to move

Use X to attack

Use Space to interact (doors & merchant)

In the merchant GUI, use the mouse to get souls from the merchant (bottom) in exchange for yours (top). You can also use the top screen in the merchant GUI to reorder your souls. The order is important, as the souls get damaged from right to left.

Screenshots

Credits

Apace - code monkey, Unity guy, credit author, humble

Raphnika - powerful art wizard, contemporary John Williams, incredible level designer

Merle - helpful ideas, boss names, but most importantly, keeping the devs alive with awesome food

Special thanks to Sebastian Lague for his great 2D character controller which we modified and used for this game. We couldn't have done it in time without it.

Windows	https://apace.itch.io/soul-knight
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/soul-knight

Ratings

Given

27🗳️

34🗨️

Feedback

enichols

30. Apr 2019 · 08:41 UTC

This is tough! I really enjoy the trading mechanic, it fits the theme perfectly. The knight's "legs" are a nice touch, too.

Riper

30. Apr 2019 · 12:03 UTC

Almost original) Good game turned out, just a bit complicated:)

Sciman101

30. Apr 2019 · 12:13 UTC

This is fun! Tough, too. One recommendation I'd make is that when you hit an enemy, they should get knocked back a little so you don't have to immediately jump after hitting them. Still, enjoyed it overall. Good work!

mimusangel

30. Apr 2019 · 12:33 UTC

Complex, but the theme is very well represented!

Raphnika

30. Apr 2019 · 14:12 UTC

Thank you guys for playing our game and giving us feedback!

@sciman101 I thought about that, but I think it would make it too easy since you could just stand there and spam the attack button.

Krassenstein

01. May 2019 · 01:26 UTC

Cool game! I didn't get to the shop, the slimes were super difficult and I liked that you gave the player multiple choices.

VagantB

01. May 2019 · 14:25 UTC

really like the classic artstyle and gameplay.
The snowman is nice :smile:
minor mistake to fix: the help is behind the title

Hopeen

01. May 2019 · 17:51 UTC

One tough game, but I loved playing it, definitely has potential. The combat is a bit too difficult and not fair IMO. I agree with @sciman101 about a knockback mechanic, could be balanced with attack cooldown and enemies that parry or something like that. But, all in all wonderful game.

Shuu

02. May 2019 · 07:35 UTC

Having some problems, I downloaded the game and ran it, however when I enter the second room I cannot get up on to the ledge. I tried every key on my keyboard and also a controller, but nothing seems to make you jump.

Raphnika

02. May 2019 · 07:40 UTC

@shuu The 'UP' Arrow key allows you to jump. Try holding it to maximise your jump height. If you are still having problems, please let us know :)

Peppsen

02. May 2019 · 08:50 UTC

Nice game and quite polished, I liked the idea. Not sure about the loop though, I got lost and didn't know how to progress. I’d also like the knockback effect and then you can make the game harder in another way.

Nico Fallosch

02. May 2019 · 09:44 UTC

Nicel ittle adventure. I liked th snowman enemy xD
just a tutorial ingame with key bindings ould be nice (btw you can move your character with 'A' and 'D' aswell but you can't jump with 'W' that was quite confusing on start)

Notekri

02. May 2019 · 09:59 UTC

Cool game its very well made, the graphics are well made and the games difficulty is good, its not too hard, and its not too easy either.
I really enjoyed playing this game, it was fun.
This is a really good game.
Well done.

Ryano

02. May 2019 · 10:19 UTC

I enjoyed this game. The soul replacing system was clever and the bosses were challenging. Nice work.

MasseAlex

03. May 2019 · 23:43 UTC

I really liked the main character design and the responsive controls, good job! As other mentioned, I was a bit confused at first because I used wasd to move. Other than that, really well made, congrats!

treslapin

04. May 2019 · 17:30 UTC

Really like the idea! I think this has so much potential. Especially with placement of your soul when you trade, that was a really cool strategic part. The combat could have been a bit more polished, I didn't like that I had to get hit to effectively kill the slimes, or run and tag them if I didn't want to lose health. I really hope you continue working on this after the jam!

Dorkulon

04. May 2019 · 17:31 UTC

I liked the concept of your abilities being tied to your life. Really cool idea! The controls and combat could have used some work. Firstly, and this might be a personal preference, I would've liked the jump button to be the spacebar and entering door or interacting to be the up key. Secondly, I kept getting hit by the enemies as I was hitting them, which basically meant that combat turned into a game of hit and run. Overall, though, great job on this.