Though I Walk

Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.24
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.97
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★4.52
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.78
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.41
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.45
Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.18
Solve creative platforming puzzles as you guide a wayward hollow through the shadow of death.
Collect all the chalices to show your skill, though finishing is achievement enough!

Notes:
- Try and keep your soul and body on screen at the same time to avoid unnatural death
- The levels can crush you if you're not careful! (You'll see what I mean)
- There are 10 levels total, runtime should be 5-10 mins
- If you're stuck, try moving your soul around!

Controls:
- Movement: WASD / Arrow Keys
- Reclaim Soul: Ctrl Key
- Control Soul: Shift Key (toggles on hold)
Genres: puzzle
Tools: Godot

Comments107

LDJam user 374126
LDJam user 3741262 Oct 2023, 00:04
Love it!!! great use of the theme by changing the point of view of the character!!, great 8 bit aesthestics!!
Great Job!!!
doubley2 Oct 2023, 04:44
What an amazing game! Such creative movement systems and I love the interaction between the foreground and the background. 10/10! Just like my chalice count
LDJam user 375087
LDJam user 3750872 Oct 2023, 06:18
Very unique concept with changing the parallax for platforming. Nice work
Daionet2 Oct 2023, 06:58
Wow, nice idea! The soul controls take a little getting used to at first. However, I have never played a game with such a concept. The game does a good job of showing what possibilities you have with the principle. There are two levels that take a bit to figure out in the beginning, but it's not too difficult. When you get to the solution, it feels rewarding. I definitely had the desire to play a few more levels at the end.
Jiri Hysek
Jiri Hysek2 Oct 2023, 09:34
The visuals are impressive! Also the mechanic is very interesting. Not sure how it's related to the theme, though. But I had hard times figuring out the game with this theme too.. Awesome game anyway!
Btw. source code link doesn't work, maybe the repo is private?
Kaimon
Kaimon2 Oct 2023, 10:23
I'm really impressed about your graphic design ! The mechanic is also really fun ! Good game here !
Dorren
Dorren2 Oct 2023, 11:36
I really enjoy the vibe, music and overall look of the game. the core mechanic of using the soul is really smart but I did feel a bit caught up around the controls of it at first and never really mastered it. great job on this game!
AdamCYounis
AdamCYounisauthor2 Oct 2023, 12:49
@jiri-hysek fixed! I had changed the project name just after submission and wrote the wrong address in the field, but it should be available now.
Dancovich2 Oct 2023, 15:28
It was great seeing you work on this. The concept is great and the artwork is very fitting. I found a bug exiting the screen with the 7th chalice. I don't know exactly how to reproduce it, but it seems that depending on the camera angle I set when leaving the screen, the game will quickly teleport me to a place where I get crushed and I need to restart the screen. Eventually I was able to pass it my making sure the walls aren't too close to me when I exit this screen.
PowerOfSin
PowerOfSin2 Oct 2023, 16:33
Very fun and polished experience. Nice difficulty curve and impressively put together give the development time.

The mood and the graphics are the highlight and it controls pretty smoothly.

My only complaint is the fiddlyness of the edges of the screen at certain levels, but it does help that claustraphobic feeling. Wish there were more levels in tune with the theme like that.
LDJam user 43351
LDJam user 433512 Oct 2023, 16:55
Super cool idea!! When I first noticed that parallax was going to be the game mechanic I was very impressed. Then when you show that I can also control the parallax like that I was even more astonished! Well done!
tanis
tanis2 Oct 2023, 17:38
Awesome mechanics! That was totally unexpected and refreshing. I found it a bit unforgiving when you are close to the edge of the screen as a movement of one or two pixels will just kill you and you have to redo the level. Anyway it's super cool and extremely well done, grats!
Bumble2 Oct 2023, 19:02
The presentation of this game together with the gameplay is top notch!

At some points in time I would have liked the character to move with the parallax platforms on the horizontal axis like it does on the vertical (which would have saved me some context switches) but this is a nitpick :D
0xrainbow2 Oct 2023, 19:43
very nice art and animations. amazing work levels higher than any jam game Ive ever seen
gagouman2 Oct 2023, 21:20
Very fun and well-made game! Love the aesthetics and very impressive for being made in only 48 hours. I had to get used to the controls, but once I got it it was pretty smooth sailing.

If I had some constructive criticism to give, I don't know if it was a design choice, but the fact that the platform sometime "slid" under the player when controlling the soul was a bit confusing and frustrating to me, and I would have preferred otherwise. I also encountered a small bug when trying to go backwards (fell from the level). Other than that great job!
TheJookerful
TheJookerful2 Oct 2023, 23:38
This is the kind of game that makes you suddenly feel like your own game isn't as good ^^` It's really impressive; the game is beautiful, both in terms of pixel art and animation. The concept is fantastic and incredibly enjoyable to play. Congratulations!
If I had to say one thing, it's that I found the game a bit easy except for the last level where it got a bit more challenging, and that was very cool :D
Oznarox3 Oct 2023, 01:20
This is awesome! I fell off the map and couldn't continue. :(
But anyway, this is the best I played on LD54. Great game!
CrumblingSoul3 Oct 2023, 03:39
Great game. I thoroughly enjoyed the level where I was stuck in a little box of foreground and had to move around to figure out the platforms. I feel like there could be an entire game around that.

My only gripe is that having these two entities to control is probably not the greatest of things if this game went on for a long time. Though I feel like that is a very small issue.

I would love to see you flesh out this idea with more levels and make it a nice mini game with polished backgrounds. I want to see more of that background from the red level with lights and details.

Rating: 8.5/10
JosephlDooley3 Oct 2023, 04:40
I was a bit confused at first but I got the hang of it. Last level took me the longest :smile: and I got all 10 chalices!
Great game, very enjoyable with a unique twist I haven't seen before!
digital bacon
digital bacon3 Oct 2023, 05:12
Lovely game. Beautiful graphics and moody sound, just like we'd normally expect from you :grin: Challenging platforming gameplay. Excellent work!
greymouser
greymouser3 Oct 2023, 05:49
Great vibe. Took a bit to understand what was going on but very cool! Very curious how you handled the parallax layer switching. Some kind of sneaky z-movement.
Loka
Loka3 Oct 2023, 06:47
Great game. The mechanic is fantastic and the art makes the game even more outstanding!
Game-mon3 Oct 2023, 06:56
Amazing game! Artstyle is amazing, and that gameplay mechanic is really innovative and solid. Would make for a really cool complete game if you ever continue the project. Congrats!
KnightGames
KnightGames3 Oct 2023, 09:23
Art and mechanic was great, it was very creative! I could never think of such clever mechanics, well done!
LDJam user 296412
LDJam user 2964123 Oct 2023, 10:15
All 5!
This was a masterful creation. thank you so much!
Quackqack3 Oct 2023, 10:17
I liked the puzzle mechanic, very unique
good art too, it was very atmospheric.
LevelUpAdrian3 Oct 2023, 11:41
Really incredible vibe, great art & font design, and an ingenious mechanic. Super small nitpick: There was a room where I walked into facing left, but the map spawned the player on the left side facing right, which was a little jarring, but honestly that is such a tiny thing I noticed in an otherwise excellent submission. Great stuff!
LDJam user 346943
LDJam user 3469433 Oct 2023, 12:28
I like the concept as well as the implementation, though how easy you can kill yourself with that mechanic makes it somewhat frustrating to use at times, a bit of easing or more leeway would help here, then it would feel really polished.
Great game though, from art, sfx to implementation of the theme, good job!
Ian Knowland3 Oct 2023, 12:50
I really enjoyed watching this come together on your stream! Lovely work as always.
AdamCYounis
AdamCYounisauthor3 Oct 2023, 13:05
@greymouser the player collides with both layers, that's all there is to it.
arzi
arzi3 Oct 2023, 13:09
Really strong art style and right up me alley! The idea of using parallax-scrolling as a gameplay mechanic is super innovative, though I can't really see that much connection to the theme. Overall, great work!

Also, I think I've watched some of your videos recently :sweat_smile:
Yorsh
Yorsh3 Oct 2023, 13:32
Wow that's a very good idea. It's also almost perfectly executed. I say almost, but taking into account that it's a compo, it's perfect for me. I felt like when I had to play too close from the edge (the top mostly), it wasn't as enjoyable, that's all.

Side note, the early part to introduce the mechanic, before you get control of it, is really nice too. That would probably make a cool game as well.
Martynas
Martynas3 Oct 2023, 14:22
This game broke my mind multiple times. Such a simple and genius idea with a great execution. Great job!
Martynas
Martynas3 Oct 2023, 14:22
Double post error [IGNORE THIS]
WeeFairyFabi
WeeFairyFabi3 Oct 2023, 14:33
Such an amazing game with wonderful art and a super interesting mechanic! I love this submission
herman60063 Oct 2023, 14:37
Never seen this concept before. Got all chalises and I loved it.
LDJam user 250905
LDJam user 2509053 Oct 2023, 14:46
Nice, I enjoyed that! I'm gonna *try* to keep an unbiased opinion as someone who watched through a good few hours of you making this, but we'll see, haha. I think your level design was superb, there really were a good number of different interactions you could squeeze out of the idea -- though I do wish it were more puzzle-y given the mechanic we're working with (I collected all 10 chalices only figuring how to grab them at a glance). And the way you introduce the main mechanic with animated souls (essentially, what portal does) was a creative way to explain it without a textbox, which I appreciate! :D

I really wanted my character to stick to platforms as I was moving them, especially for the last(?) area where the whole idea is to traverse upwards, back and forth across the screen. The art was really lovely, and I think you *nailed* the less is more aesthetic you were going for -- something tells me I'd benefit from an artstyle like this in my own games! :laughing:

But, I'll end off by saying, this was *fantastic for your first Godot game!!!* I'd be proud if I could get anything done (especially for compo) only having learned the engine earlier that week. I may have to come back here and scale my ratings after playing more than *two games,* but overall, I loved that! Nice work, as always! :beers:
LDJam user 377116
LDJam user 3771163 Oct 2023, 15:28
Hey Adam! Super cool concept! I enjoyed the mechanic and collectibles very much! Thank you very much for your videos and hard work! I'm so happy you tried Godot and congratulations again!
jotson
jotson3 Oct 2023, 15:44
10/10 that was a great game! Really surprising and interesting mechanics here!
kenevil1
kenevil13 Oct 2023, 15:45
What a cool concept, loved playing it and the mechanic was super innovative.
akitl
akitl3 Oct 2023, 16:02
awesome concept, ai love it !!
satacat
satacat3 Oct 2023, 18:19
its really unique and something new for sure. faced the difficulties to understand controller but then it got easier, really awesome game!
firellon
firellon3 Oct 2023, 18:21
A great idea and execution!

A change of perspective is a rather interesting mechanic to use for the game design!
Brusi
Brusi3 Oct 2023, 18:35
Original and super-cool mechanics, great level design, awesome art and atmosphere! This game is a keeper!
thetatautau3 Oct 2023, 18:47
Very impressive compo. The physics is sometime a bit weird (the character don't move with the platform he is standing one). But everything else is perfect.
LDJam user 03 Oct 2023, 20:04
I like the fading from scene to scene.
minjutin
minjutin3 Oct 2023, 20:20
So pretty and atmospheric, the cage level was my favorite, such a genius idea and ways to implement it. Beautiful
Donitz
Donitz3 Oct 2023, 21:42
Another great take on the genre of perspective-based games. This was quite a cool concept and I wish it had been longer. Pixelart was lovely, especially the protagonist.
ValentinWB
ValentinWB3 Oct 2023, 21:56
Gotye imo ! (love the style and gameplay, good job :] )
Phillip Scott
Phillip Scott3 Oct 2023, 23:32
Concept was great and the art was fantastic
Subsage
Subsage3 Oct 2023, 23:51
Great take on the theme. It felt a bit wobbly going back and forth between character/soul, would have like it to different/snappier. Nitpick aside, fantastic work.
simbishy4 Oct 2023, 00:25
This is incredible. Extremely well balanced - challenging and rewarding, but also fun. The mechanics/gameplay is innovative. Could actually feel my brain whirring as I played this. Most excellent work!

p.s. this is Chloe. Jamie & Lucy's Chloe.
H3L3N4 Oct 2023, 02:14
Its hard to find something wrong about this game, but I did catch a few. Some of the controls were wonky and not really intuitive. That did add a challenge but it would have been nicer to make it easier to move the walls and your character with it. Some levels were frustrating because of this. I nearly stopped playing.
I reeeeeeally wish there was a soundtrack to it. Something atmospheric, epic and orchestral to go with the art would've been really cool. Otherwise excellent job! Unique gameplay, mixes with the theme really well.
EarthToThien4 Oct 2023, 04:07
This was a very clever puzzle platformer! I love being able to change perspective in order to create easier paths! Very solid mechanics and very easy to catch on.
Neeko69
Neeko694 Oct 2023, 04:13
Very solid game, very well done! nice puzzle and very polish overall game!
Vera Babchenko
Vera Babchenko4 Oct 2023, 05:04
My game froze at the red level, but the art and animation of the main character is very cool! The white light betrayed me! hahaha
LDJam user 2374134 Oct 2023, 10:05
Cool game, would have liked an ingame tutorial, but otherwise was pretty good.
Jared Weinstein4 Oct 2023, 10:29
One of the best puzzles games from a Game Jam I've played! Creative and engaging mechanic!
Erkberg
Erkberg4 Oct 2023, 11:17
Awesome all around! Really creative, unique and immediately understandable core mechanic.
I also love the visuals and the music in the beginning, super atmospheric! Unfortunately the music stopped at some point and it was a bit quiet for the rest of the game, but I think this is the only thing I can criticise :)
Amedea4 Oct 2023, 11:32
Really loved everything, very cool concept and art! :)
HellHound
HellHound4 Oct 2023, 15:50
Awesome perspective changing game, really beautiful artwork and game resposibility
Nomus
Nomus4 Oct 2023, 17:01
amazing concept !
Enver Arco
Enver Arco4 Oct 2023, 17:27
Nice concept, its quite innovative
walaber
walaber4 Oct 2023, 18:00
excellent entry, which is no surprise of course. the main mechanic is super interesting and this served as a great initial exploration of the possibilities. very, very well done!
farouchelark4 Oct 2023, 18:58
This was captivating. Really good and intuitive controls, fun puzzles, absolutely a great time and such a polished game for a jam.
Flobo4 Oct 2023, 18:58
This was very beautiful game. The art and sound sets a really cool mood. The game mechanic is very unique and is something i have never seen before.

Controlling the soul was sometimes difficult and I was thinking maybe it would be nice to control it with the mouse.

Overall a very good game 😀
pauljs
pauljs4 Oct 2023, 19:18
Nice game! Really well done!
okshirl4 Oct 2023, 19:35
Innovative puzzle design, I liked the concept! Impressive art and mood as always. I encountered a bug the first time I try to claim a soul, where the player gets stuck in animation and is unable to move but the soul animation was still playing.
LDJam user 372085
LDJam user 3720854 Oct 2023, 23:37
really nice! very well scoped jam game - awesome main character animation
Pious
Pious5 Oct 2023, 02:07
Holy moly dude you learned Godot recently and with what you had you made some big brained design ideas. This is totally going to make me binge watch your livestream on this now to know your thought process. What a great entry. Pixel art is cute and adorable but I love the religious vibe you put into the game. Wonderful.
LDJam user 178793
LDJam user 1787935 Oct 2023, 02:08
Awesome game! You can tell you're an experience ludum dare participant, the game is polished and well scoped with some good gameplay elements.
Montigor5 Oct 2023, 11:54
Amazing game! Such a unique mechanic.
sbeif5 Oct 2023, 15:49
Great game! Brilliant concept and very polished. The cutscene at the beginning gave me a very serious and professional blasphemous-like feel. It just missed some background ominous music to be perfect. Oh and I go stuck a couple of times in a level where I think I was squashed by the two layers while I was exiting the level, but I saw a glimpse of the next level before dying so that was quite confusing, but other than that it was amazing
asfdfdfd5 Oct 2023, 20:49
Definitely one of the best game on this LD. Interesting mechanics. Fantastic visuals.
Haley Peiris5 Oct 2023, 23:12
Woah, the fact that you can change the way platforms by moving your soul around is really cool
kairuma
kairuma6 Oct 2023, 00:16
Really neat puzzle platformer. Loved the core mechanic of shifting the multiple layers and also your choice of colors.
LDJam user 3526526 Oct 2023, 04:53
Great game! The mechanics are fun and the controls are easy to grasp, although I did end up stumbling at first. Having read the controls going into this, I found myself stuck trying to control/reclaim the soul on the stage where the perspective shifting was first introduced. It wasn't until I cleared that screen and reached the next, that I realized I was getting ahead of myself.
fairyouth6 Oct 2023, 08:31
Incredible little game! Loved the feeling and the oppressiveness of the black lethal borders fit the theme perfectly. The art was standout, clearly a phenomenally talented and hardworking individual. The soul-moving wasn't perfect sometimes, felt like reversing Y even though I'm not an inverse controls type of guy usually (I'd also push for KBM), & there was a bit too much sliding in a platformer. Liked the understated music and sounds, fit the aesthetic pretty well. Overall a brilliantly innovative little game, fun to play!
FiveCyclops
FiveCyclops6 Oct 2023, 14:53
Great pixel art and excellent gameplay. Good job !

Really cool to play !
DSFAN
DSFAN6 Oct 2023, 17:57
Nice game! Amazing idea with the soul gameplay and great level design, the 2 layer setup looks really cool. I think for a game like this even a short little soundtrack would be very nice to have.
ArtofLuba6 Oct 2023, 18:39
Probably my favorite game so far during this LD.
LDJam user 352490
LDJam user 3524907 Oct 2023, 02:01
This was one of the neatest uses of parallax I've seen in a game, and the game is gorgeous too. Only critique is that it was often hard to get the foreground where I needed it before my character hit the edge of the screen (resetting the parallax). Otherwise the controls were really smooth.
OldDog
OldDog7 Oct 2023, 05:59
genius design, love this game so much,,,hoping there are more content of this game
UkuleleFury
UkuleleFury7 Oct 2023, 07:36
:) Very cool mechanic! The first moment I saw the foreground interacting with my character, my brain went "oooooooooooh", and I was very impressed. This would be a _great_ mechanic to explore in a more full-fledged game!
The sprites were great. The audio fit the mood. I loved the deathly theme. All-around, good job!

At one point, I wandered off to the left, hoping I could get back to the previous screen, but instead, I just got stuck offscreen (screenshot attached).
Paul Maaswinkel7 Oct 2023, 11:15
Wow, great concept, art and animation! Loved the perspective take. Reminds of something I'd do as a kid: closing one eye, and trying to make objects close and far away touch and interact with eachother by moving my head. Haven't seen a game before doing exactly this!
Tatu Heinämäki
Tatu Heinämäki7 Oct 2023, 20:05
Awesome interpretation of the theme! I had so much fun fiddling with the parallax layers and solving the puzzles. The game's world seems mysterious and with the religious under (or over?) tones the removing your soul seems like a fitting mechanic. Definitely potential for a longer puzzle game here. Grats, this ruled!
José Bonilla
José Bonilla7 Oct 2023, 23:21
Really, really nice game. Beautiful graphics and super cool concept. Apart from an occasional bug where I got stuck, it's amazing. Music and more levels is the only thing it lacks.
NuiN
NuiN10 Oct 2023, 05:38
Really creative idea
Hawkin
Hawkin10 Oct 2023, 12:01
Using parallax as a way to traverse the level is such a brilliant mechanic. The art is effective as always, and you use a simple palette well.

Well done!
kleinzach11 Oct 2023, 01:20
This is such a cool mechanic that I've never seen before. Great job!
FloTheSnitchy11 Oct 2023, 15:14
I love the take on the theme, I've never seen that use done before with the soul - very cool. Loved the graphics as well and the SFX, would've loved some music. Hope you keep developing this idea:)
rasblo12 Oct 2023, 09:41
Games like these kind of blow my mind. Extremely creative idea. I'm not the biggest fan of pixel art (blasphemy I know), but I love your visuals here, has a Dead Cells feel to it.

Missed some atmospheric music. Grats and good luck!
blobo12 Oct 2023, 18:18
Hot dang, that's cool. In the Super Mario World romhacking community, there's a very similar effect called "Layer 2" where the parallax layer can have collision, and it's always a treat! The artwork is incredible (I need to play around with backlighting more) and oh wow the player animations are rad! Great work.

(I almost made it to the end, but I accidentally hit ctrl+W which closes the tab apparently... cursed firefox)
Darkmax1412 Oct 2023, 21:32
Really cool mechanics and gorgeous art style :smile:
TPace
TPace14 Oct 2023, 23:38
Really creative game! I hope it becomes a full, commercial game- actually, I fell like it already is!
Rafael Garcez
Rafael Garcez15 Oct 2023, 12:13
crazy mechanics and really good graphics! Congrats!
Jonathan Lorenz
Jonathan Lorenz17 Oct 2023, 14:26
Oh wow, that's really clever! It was making my brain melt but I really enjoyed the mechanic. Not sure how much you can do with it but I can easily see this expanded into a full release. Very good job!
LDJam user 372635
LDJam user 37263518 Oct 2023, 03:20
I still find this concept really impressive! Very polished and impressive entry. Loved the overall vibe, the animations are so smooth and the sfx interrupting the silence really ads a lot to the vibe. I found a little bit hard to get the controls but was a really cool experience, I can totally see this being transformed into a full fleshed game, feels there is a lot to explore in this idea! To watch you doing it on stream was a wonderful experience to had while I was working, I got completely desperate when Godot started to fall apart lol Really happy you managed to make this great little game! :)
LDJam user 297867
LDJam user 29786718 Oct 2023, 19:01
Very unique concept! I love games where you can play with perspective.

One problem I had was the character didn't stick to the platforms he was standing on, sliding off instead, but I enjoyed the game nonetheless
LDJam user 372515
LDJam user 37251520 Oct 2023, 07:04
Lol, using parallax scrolling as a game mechanic is such a game designer idea - genius. This game is pure vibes. Even with basically no story to speak of, it manages to evoke a sense of mystery and loneliness. I liked playing with perspective, but I did find that switching between my player and his little perspective changing sprite felt clunky and slow at times. Have you considered using mouse input to change perspective?

I feel like there's a ton of depth in this mechanic waiting to be explored should you choose to. Really fun and beautiful entry.
jitspoe
jitspoe4 Nov 2023, 10:01
Godot engine and silhouette art style! Now you're talking my language! 😉
mofox19 Jan 2024, 04:12
really great

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