Siela by Gnum_
### You play as a necromancer girl who is trying to escape from the island of the dead.
### Your task is to collect the souls of the slain and summon a ghostly bridge to save yourself.
Character Management
- movement - W/A/S/D
- take soul - E
- summon bridge - F
- jump - SPACE
- sprint - SHIFT
There are two types of souls in this location
1.blue soul - this soul will help you get off the island and return home. You need to collect 5 of them.(they are marked with a special label)
2.purple soul - this soul accelerates the speed of movement.(they are scattered in random places on the island)
Backstory
In the distant distant past, our main character named Siela taught and studied the secrets of dark necromancy at the moment when she had to sit in class, she was walking and having fun. After some time, she had to conjure something that she had forgotten and did not remember how to do it, she had to do it on abum and an explosion occurred, because of this she moved to the world of the dead and she had to collect the souls of the dead to get out of there.
| itch.io | https://shgamerk.itch.io/siela |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/siela |
Ratings
| Overall | 1101th | 2.989⭐ | 184🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1201th | 2.301⭐ | 185🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1203th | 2.242⭐ | 182🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1074th | 2.906⭐ | 183🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 700th | 3.566⭐ | 184🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 469th | 3.409⭐ | 177🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1030th | 2.023⭐ | 157🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 556th | 3.58⭐ | 184🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 126🗳️ | 671🗨️ |
But it's kind of empty ...
The game itself is good
<3
Couldn't complete the game at first, there was nothing said about jumping and running so i didn't even try)
But still good job! :heart:
Полноценная игра. Удобное управление
I liked art-style and also i liked that this game in low-poly and 3D
But there are a lot of bugs starting from coat made by plane to jump animations cycling
The bridge effect was really cool too.
I did feel as though the game was paradoxically too simple and too complex at the same time. If I could explain...
Before getting into the game, I was shown the "How to Play" screen, which told me I press E to collect a soul, F to summon a bridge, WASD to move, Space to jump, and Shift to sprint. I hadn't seen any gameplay up to this point, so I expected the game was a sort of action-based platformer about summoning platforms and collecting resources, but it turned out to be an atmospheric exploration game, which was a bit jarring!
With regards to the specifics of the gameplay, you have a lot of mechanics that I'm sure took a lot of time to make and put together, but I'm a bit confused as to the purpose of many of them.
Why should I press E to collect a soul when simply running into it would serve the same purpose?
Why is summoning a bridge mapped to a different button, and why is it mentioned in the tutorial like it will be a core mechanic when it is only used once?
Why is there a jump mechanic if I never have to do any platforming?
Why do I have to press Shift to sprint when there's no reason for me to *not* move at maximum speed at all times (especially considering the time limit)?
The reason I ask all of these questions is because I can see that y'all definitely put some effort into the world-building and environmental storytelling of this game (I liked that all of the blue souls were next to some sort of point of interest that fleshed out the world a little bit). However, the mechanics of the game don't give me any sort of interesting way or incentive to *engage* with the world in some significant way.
If I can jump, there should be an area in the world that requires me to jump, to reach new heights and see the world around me from a different perspective. If not, then the game doesn't need it.
If I can choose to sprint or walk, there should be a reason for me to choose one over the other depending on the situation. If not, then the game doesn't need it.
I can only imagine how much time went into making the sprint/jump/soul-pickup-button mechanics work properly without any bugs. I can also imagine another world where the time spent making those mechanics was instead poured into the world building and storytelling, or maybe additional levels! And I think with the talent that y'all clearly seem to have, that experience would have been a lot stronger! :slight_smile:
All this being said, I really did enjoy my experience with this one (I tend to have a lot more to say about the games I like). Keep up the great work, and I look forward to seeing what y'all make in the future!
Still good job on putting this together, maybe the souls could have included some unlock mechanic to do more than just collecting them.
As soon as I saw a difficulty setting I immediately went into "challenge accepted" mode and beat the hard mode on the third try! I wish I would have known somehow that pink souls make you run faster the more you collect them.
Overall a solid entry! Good job!
So, the graphics look great, excellent job on that! I would have paid more attention to the camera movement and character animations since you spend a lot of time looking at these, but overall very good for a prototype done so quickly. The audio was a little annoying, mostly because the crow wouldn't stop cawing repeatedly in the same pitch -- there's a neat trick where you can randomise the pitch of an audio without having to create/use multiple audio tracks. If you did that and decreased the frequency a little bit it would be a lot more tolerable.
Overall I think you achieved what you were looking for, so nice job!
- love the atmosphere, it was cool and creepy.
- Art was effective, I love well executed low-poly art.
- great sound design.
The Not So Good:
- gameplay felt lacking, like there was nothing really to do.
- Camera control was way too sensitive and lagged behind, making looking around difficult and disorienting
- People have mentioned the voice acting, but it struck me as very odd, like it was maybe AI generated. If I'm wrong about that I apologize.
- map markers glitched a few times, I would be facing a blue soul and then strafe or step back and it would wig out and put the marker behind me.
Design Thoughts:
- why a jump button if there is nothing that requires a jump? Feels a bit odd.
- I would give the player something else to do, as it stands there are no puzzles, no enemies, just walk between points.
- Why are the souls so far away from one another?
TL;DR
Very cool atmosphere, an excellent mood piece, gameplay is a little lacking and felt padded out. Also was not a fan of the voice acting.
Nice atmosphere and starts to some real neat character art. I like the skull shoulder especially. I second the desire for a spooky enemy chasing her around.
Either way, the mood of this game is incredible. Love the low poly aesthetic, and the atmosphere set by the lighting and the audio. Good job!
**With these soul i can leave the island 1/5**
**With these soul i can leave the island 2/5**
**With these soul i can leave the island 3/5**
**With these soul i can leave the island 4/5**
**With these soul i can leave the island 5/5**
*Siela leave the island.*
Realisation is good, voice acting is top (but maybe repetitive),but the gameplay is very poor just follow icon, collect 1 to 5, go to the bridge. The exploration is not interesting, not rewarded, no battle, no special abilities...that's a shame, all the basic is here, the game could have potential.
As for moving, if you press shift before running, the animation doesn't start, but that's not really a problem, and quite normal for a Jam game ;)
The music is a little redundant, though, and crossing ends up being a bit of a pain (but maybe that's just me).
Gameplay-wise, I find it a little lacking in exploration interaction, given the size of the environment. But it all works, and the visual indicators help a lot.
Well done to the team.
It would have been cool if the lantern was magically floating with a glowing effect like the summoned bridge — since the lantern wasn't attached to the character it was distracting seeing her hand clip through it.
I really enjoyed playing it guys, great work!
Having some real danger and possibility to loose would add a lot. Maybe it could be someone hunting us, or
dangerous holes to jump through. Time is nice idea but it's very simple to gather all souls in time.
Controls were easy to understand.
The marker system to tell you where to go was super helpful.
Loved the art an sound design, they combined well to make a spooky atmosphere.
Great work!
I like the game, nice art and story! But I think there is very few mechanics. And it is laggy in the webgl
Anyway, thank you for your game!
Great entry regardless, good job!
Excellent job!
Gameplay is a little slow and repetitive, but it works nice and plays well.
The mouse is far too sensitive for my liking, but I completed the game and enjoyed it. Great job, well done!
The atmosphere is top-notched.
I would sure have freaked out from even the simple noise of footsteps behind me.
But nothing really happens in the game.
Once you find out you are not in danger but just running from point to point, the atmosphere crumbles on itself...
The potential is here tho, so good work.
If there were some puzzles or other things to do than just walk through repetitive scenery, it would be better. The problem with narrative driven games developed in such short time, is the content. It is hard, or even impossible, to get enough interesting content in.
I would have loved to do something else besides collecting souls, tho. Maybe something involving the morals of it? Something to make the player reflect on how ethical it is to collect souls in order to save themselves, and themselves only? Something involving choices and consequences.
I think the story kind of lends itself for drama.
The design has a certain charm and austerity about it. All that's missing are the enemies.
A job well done!
Nice work, strong story and very atmospheric and vibey.