VII by Trevor802

[raw]
made by Trevor802 for Ludum Dare 45 (JAM)

In a world full of chaos and terrors, a group of people has reached an ancient tomb, searching for guidance and hope. In this 2D puzzle game, player needs to go through five levels and escort the Holy Grail in order to summon the Great One.

A Chinese team from the master's program of Entertainment Arts & Engineering (EAE), University of Utah, USA.

Controls

Bring the Holy Grail to the altar within your 7 action points and life limit.

Menu: Click to Start

Move: ↑/↓/←/→

Camera: Press Q to move camera and observe all levels

Credit

Producer: Trevor Alex, Nianqiu Cao, Jingyi Li, Mingxi Zou

Engineer: Jieyi Na, Trevor Alex, Xiubo Zhao, Jingyi Zhang, Qingqi Gao, Xingnan Chen

Artist: Gaopeng Chen, Huang Dun, Mingxi Zou, Jin Jin

Level Design: Nianqiu Cao, Huang Dun, Jingyi Li, Junliang Zhang, Mingxi Zou

BGM: Jingyi Li

Sound Effect: 魔王魂(https://maoudamashii.jokersounds.com/)

Ratings

Overall 696th 3.319⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Fun 533th 3.302⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 522th 3.216⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1065th 2.339⭐ 58🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 727th 3.224⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Audio 484th 3.147⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Humor 790th 2.181⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Mood 555th 3.342⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Given 74🗳️ 57🗨️

Feedback

James Dunlap
07. Oct 2019 · 22:28 UTC
Sorry, but the game seems very broken or else I am completely lost on what to do. In the first room, I get the key and step on the triangle in lower left corner. It lights up and I am teleported to a room that is all water. There is nothing for me to do there. After I use all my steps there, I am taken back to the other room, but I cannot see my character. If that is expected, then I think some explanation is needed.

Also, the audio is quite loud.
Wangshu Sun
08. Oct 2019 · 02:30 UTC
Pretty cool puzzles! I kinda figured out the mechanics by how they looks. Really like the level designs and how the difficulty gradually increases after each level. Overall it looks quite complete.

For the camera issue, I accidentally pressed "Q" and it switched to another room. Pressing it a bunch more times returned me to my character. It may be helpful to add this in the description.
BloodyOrchidDC
08. Oct 2019 · 03:05 UTC
It is good idea for the limited steps and the sacrifices of the cultist. The end scene is creepy.

And the level design is good, by the way, if the devs can change the number of the cultist on each level combine with the mechanics, the player might think more before they move and try to becareful.

I'd like to learn more about the idea of level design, and the way you build the level with 2D and 3D combination.

Another thing to be mention, press "R" can restart the whole game, I think it should be restart the current level.
cottontshirtz
08. Oct 2019 · 03:07 UTC
Interesting puzzle mechanism that leads to engaging gameplay. The sprites and final artwork are quite nice, though I think the ending scene was scaled improperly, as most of the character was outside the window.
frankhjwx
08. Oct 2019 · 03:55 UTC
Fun puzzles and nice mechanics. The designs for the levels are really cool!
revx
08. Oct 2019 · 04:34 UTC
Fun game! I didn't end up finishing it - I think it could be more fun if losing all your cultists just reset you to the start of the level, instead of the start of the game :)
vsquitiro
08. Oct 2019 · 04:37 UTC
I LOVED THIS! This type of puzzle mechanic among my favorites ever! I'd love to see an expanded version of this!
Nisovin
08. Oct 2019 · 04:46 UTC
Cool puzzle game. It took me a couple tries to figure out a specific mechanic, but once I figured everything out it was pretty straightforward.
Lauryn
08. Oct 2019 · 04:59 UTC
Puzzle mechanics were fun but weren't very clear and it took me a little while to figure out why I was dying all the time. The audio was well done and the concept was interesting :)
scalliondelight
08. Oct 2019 · 05:02 UTC
I wish the movement between squares was a bit faster
Drjeebus
08. Oct 2019 · 05:24 UTC
Game Breaking edge case. In first room one collider for a trap is bigger than others. Hit it with Chalice and was unable to pick back up to continue.
BrokenMirrorMedia
08. Oct 2019 · 05:38 UTC
I like the idea, it plays out quite well. It was a bit frustrating on one level where depending on when you spawned you could only exit through the spikes in one direction, since I felt it kinda reduced the options for solving the puzzle, but as a proof of concept it worked really well.
Frozen Spirit
08. Oct 2019 · 05:42 UTC
Cool mechanic. A loved the mood of the whole game and the way that it makes you think. I would of personally referred a system where you have a small amount of lives each level and when you fail you just need to restart the level rather than the whole thing. Good job on the interesting game.
JustusPan
08. Oct 2019 · 05:44 UTC
Final monster seems scary! Nice puzzle game.
radgegames
08. Oct 2019 · 06:27 UTC
Things kept killing me that I had no idea what was happening. Great tunes though
qristjan
08. Oct 2019 · 07:20 UTC
Decent game. Took some time to figure out all the mechanics but a great puzzler game.
Wxzuir
08. Oct 2019 · 07:33 UTC
Finish all the levels!!!
I really love the mechanics and level-design!!
The graphic is a little confusing, and it'll be much better if payer can redo or restart current level.
CyberStarLight
08. Oct 2019 · 13:20 UTC
The music set a really strong mood, I love it, the art too, this is very lovecraftian.

there is a weird space between the wall sprites, and sometimes the player sprites gets under a wall, when it should be above it.

I like the concept with the mind breaking and the limited steps, took me some times to realize the spikes are NOT time based, but just flip each time you take a step.
I also likes the overhead halo as an "hp bar", good idea.

Overall it's a fun game, too bad there are some visual glitches, but that's a small issue.
And OMG the image of the great one at the end was spectacular, very good work you guys!
randdir
08. Oct 2019 · 16:11 UTC
Nice entry a pleasure to spend some time on it. Like the ambiance a lot and the music fit very good. Keep it up team !
sbackus
09. Oct 2019 · 01:55 UTC
Nice little puzzle game. I tried a couple times but couldn't figure out the 4th room.
hwaet
09. Oct 2019 · 02:12 UTC
The puzzle idea is a good one! It wasn't clear at first where the character's hit box would line up with the stage's dangers, but once I figured that out the puzzles were a fun challenge. The music was very suitably spooky! For the opening text: the lack of a text background and the jumpy word wrap make it a bit harder to read, I recommend tweaking that if you rely on text for your next project.
Mungo_
09. Oct 2019 · 05:41 UTC
Nice game, I like the puzzles and the music. I think this game could have benefited from the use of a tile-sprite system, as some of the elements didn't really line up properly. Mechanics wise, I loved it! It only took a couple of deaths to figure out the mechanics and adapt play style accordingly. Great game!
Welliton
09. Oct 2019 · 06:02 UTC
This game has some cool puzzles. Sometimes I felt stucked due the timing of those thorns, they made me start the whole game again many times (sometimes just to pass trough them, I was wasting 2 or 3 movements to compensate a past error). I liked this lovecraftian game!
Bip
09. Oct 2019 · 06:37 UTC
Very cool puzzle game, sometimes I felt it moved a little slow, but overall it was very fun.
Porocyonak
09. Oct 2019 · 06:43 UTC
pretty alright, neat concept. I got confused as to why there was a camera switch when there is only one level at a time
SuperLee
09. Oct 2019 · 07:30 UTC
Nice puzzles and music, but you guys should pay more attention to some detiles. Anyway, interesting game.
还有一件事,能不能加个微信啊亲们,我要申请犹他大学eae啊!!!!
Hajden
09. Oct 2019 · 07:33 UTC
Good intro story, but the text would be better served contained on a clear background for ease of read (with clear separation of "press space to continue").
I like the mood of the game, the music is great. The puzzles are clever and the whole theme of dying and using your corpses is good and very occult feeling.
Technically I would like to see faster player movement and a better grid system
Nero Cao
09. Oct 2019 · 08:28 UTC
Whoa! Didn't expect this much love from the community, and I have to apologize as I have just figured out I could respond to comments in this way. I'm one of the designers for Level-3 and Level-5, and it's the first time ever for me joining a GameJam and doing level design on an actual game. So I'm really stoked about the feedbacks y'all have provided.

There are definitely a lot of room for improvement, and we are planning on fixing many of the issues in the next few days, including the tile placement in levels, re-spawn to current level, narrative box, etc. Again, thank you so much for playing and commenting on our games! And plz come back and play again once we have fixed many of the issues you guys brought up.

Anyway, Y'all are amazing! Thank you so much for playing our game!

PS: Dun Huang is one who designed Level-4, and she really wants to know how do you guys think about her level. Plz leave a comment if you got rly strong feelings about Level-4 (I know I do, cuz that level is brutal >_<)


@hajden @superlee @porocyonak @bip @welliton @mungo @hwaet @sbackus @randdir @cyberstarlight @wxzuir @qristjan @radgegames @justuspan @frozen-spirit @brokenmirrormedia @drjeebus @scalliondelight @lauryn @nisovin @revx @frankhjwx @cottontshirtz @bloodyorchiddc @wangshu-sun @james-dunlap
Nero Cao
09. Oct 2019 · 08:29 UTC
@superlee 你可以加我的微信就好啦:Aa951029
cmcoto
09. Oct 2019 · 14:36 UTC
Awesome Game! Loved it! Keep it up!
Emmatw
09. Oct 2019 · 20:58 UTC
Very nice game, the puzzles were challenging enough to be fun and had a clever design, and I liked the idea of having to sacrifice your life.
panda-express
10. Oct 2019 · 03:06 UTC
Very cool game. The mechanics is nice and smart! Loved it!
🎤 Trevor802
10. Oct 2019 · 03:16 UTC
# Update Log 10-09-2019

## Add
1. Main menu buttons hovering animations.

## Modify
1. Traps collision (thanks @drjeebus)
2. Default resolution is set to 1280*720
3. Adjust levels and sprite layers order
Savvy Community
10. Oct 2019 · 10:27 UTC
Haha, it was awesome! Kind of 'Soltice' / Die n retry, it's super cool!
Congrats!
Daitse
11. Oct 2019 · 11:10 UTC
Nice game! Everything fits nicely together. There is even a small background story that you managed to properly include in the game. Congrats !
polly715
11. Oct 2019 · 16:38 UTC
The tiles are misleading while I count how many steps I need to take. But overall, the game is good, and the puzzles are really interesting and doable. The ending image confused me a little. I would prefer a success message.
rroni
13. Oct 2019 · 16:29 UTC
Hey that was a cool little puzzle game! I liked it!
ColeSlaughter
16. Oct 2019 · 04:05 UTC
Like the puzzle design in this one! The concept is pretty unique, and there are just enough curveballs in each level to make them unique and interesting. I do kind of wish the tiled movement was conveyed a little better though. On multiple occasions I felt like I was going to move to the space below some spikes, but I walked right on top of them. :(

Overall though, a very solid entry! I'll actually be applying to the MEAE program at Utah this year, so it's cool to see this kind of quality stuff! :thumbsup:
Vilja
18. Oct 2019 · 22:05 UTC
It is a very good puzzle game especially for the nice level design!! After figuring out the mechanics, I really enjoyed it.