[#PROTOSHI] 2 ADVANCED - Shattered Whisper

Pierre

As the HOST : This is a no-competitive submission.

Here is a small clip of the game...
https://youtu.be/5Tv7mSSQUCI

SHATTERED WHISPER ...is a game where you play as a Crystal elf called WHISPER. You have to make your way through a dangerous environment. A mysterious BLACK BOX is your only companion.

You can download the game here: https://mathbear.itch.io/shattered-whisper

Recommended Keyboard controls :
MOVE : A & D
JUMP : SPACE
MOVE box : Arrow Keys
Also supports game controllers.

Prototyping journey :
I started off with the idea of a black box that can be used as gravity, allowing for grand acrobatics.
However I lost several days trying to make the mechanic fun without being overpowered.
By Friday, I gave up on the idea and tried to simplify the mechanics.
Saturday I finally managed to create a fun responsive tool out of the box.
I then added additional code to crush the player and/or NPC's, thereby tying in the FRAGILE theme.

Although I failed at nailing my original concept, and I was tempted to give up several times...
I decided to make the best of it, and in the end I am quite fond and proud of this alternative result.

iamdavidnight

Awesome concept Pierre! Digging the puzzle aspect of it. Could see this becoming something quite epic down the line.

ashashza

Ooo, this was interesting. I managed to get to the end. Took me a while to figure out that you can only control the block when on a blue area.

The controlling different avatars (Whisper vs block) reminds me a lot of Lost Vikings & Trine. What's interesting here is that Whisper needs to be stationary while controlling the block.

A few things that I really enjoyed about this:
- You can kill "yourself" using the block. If maneuver into whisper, he explodes. This feels silly and clever at the same time and as a player I feel like _I_ made the silly / clever happen, which is cool.
- You have infinite lives. Instantly made me relax when I realized this. Means I had infinite time & attempts to solve the platforming puzzles.
- Wow, the music. Where'd that come from?
- Really liked the character design. Glass effect felt like a subtle yet clear take on "Fragile"

Pierre

ashashza said:

Ooo, this was interesting.
- Wow, the music. Where'd that come from?

Wow. Thanks for the detailed and positive feedback.
The thing where you can break yourself, was added in on Saturday night. I wasn't sure if I should put it in or not, but in the end the game didn't feel REAL without it. (If the box is so heavy and dangerous, then it would make sense that the player needs to be careful with it.)

As for the music.
It's public domain music from "open game art".
You can download and use it freely here...
https://opengameart.org/content/convert
I was lucky to find it because the music is almost perfect for this setting.
It took a long time googling.

VMASTER

I really the art style and masking effect you did with the environment. It took a while before I realised that I had to be on the platform to move the box. Only complaint that I have, is that I feel like the buttons were mixed for the lift and drop... but I think it has to do with the fact that I was using a PS4 controller to play. But all in all, well done.