Ludum Dare #55compo
Soul Purpose
Play on itch.io
Currently the game is having issues on OSX :( will post if I manage to fix this, if anyone is familiar with exporting web games for mac with Godot 4 I'd love any advice
In this game you play as Infernus Blackwood, a down-on-his-luck summoner. He's addicted to the magical gacha-game that is soul-summoning. During the day, Infernus works a menial job to pay for his ritual supplies. And every night he spends his earnings on ritual candles to summon random souls as many times as he can. His sole purpose is to find the spirit of his departed love.
Perhaps he'll find some unexpected lessons. There are 17 different souls you can collect, and 2 endings in this game.
Some gameplay tips:
- I made the office phase a little fast. When something is relevant to a complaint category, the text is bolded. It's better to be fast than exhaustive-- you can skip the name or checking categories and get partial credit. Gotta keep those calls moving!
- You can skip the summoning animation (button in top right) if it gets tedious
- Some content will trigger after a certain number of days. You should be able to get an ending in 5-10 days.
- Game Engine - Godot
- Sound Effects - SFXR and Recorded in Audacity
- Font - Open Sans (packaged with Godot)
- Art - Drawn in procreate on iPad
Devlog:
- 6pm - There seems to be a crash/memory issue affecting mac users. I have not been able to repro on linux, but I am investigating to see if any build setting can be tweaked to make web more performant.
- 6:30pm - Seems like it does not work on Mac at all currently-- I blame Godot 4 but I'll see if there's any setting that makes it work.
- 6:50pm - Uploaded version with mobile renderer and faster text that should lag less badly on slower machines.
- 2024-04-16 - Minor bugfix addresses off-by-one error in pull logic.
Currently the game is having issues on OSX :( will post if I manage to fix this, if anyone is familiar with exporting web games for mac with Godot 4 I'd love any advice
In this game you play as Infernus Blackwood, a down-on-his-luck summoner. He's addicted to the magical gacha-game that is soul-summoning. During the day, Infernus works a menial job to pay for his ritual supplies. And every night he spends his earnings on ritual candles to summon random souls as many times as he can. His sole purpose is to find the spirit of his departed love.
Perhaps he'll find some unexpected lessons. There are 17 different souls you can collect, and 2 endings in this game.
Some gameplay tips:
- I made the office phase a little fast. When something is relevant to a complaint category, the text is bolded. It's better to be fast than exhaustive-- you can skip the name or checking categories and get partial credit. Gotta keep those calls moving!
- You can skip the summoning animation (button in top right) if it gets tedious
- Some content will trigger after a certain number of days. You should be able to get an ending in 5-10 days.
- Game Engine - Godot
- Sound Effects - SFXR and Recorded in Audacity
- Font - Open Sans (packaged with Godot)
- Art - Drawn in procreate on iPad
Devlog:
- 6pm - There seems to be a crash/memory issue affecting mac users. I have not been able to repro on linux, but I am investigating to see if any build setting can be tweaked to make web more performant.
- 6:30pm - Seems like it does not work on Mac at all currently-- I blame Godot 4 but I'll see if there's any setting that makes it work.
- 6:50pm - Uploaded version with mobile renderer and faster text that should lag less badly on slower machines.
- 2024-04-16 - Minor bugfix addresses off-by-one error in pull logic.
Comments23
LDJam user 7085015 Apr 2024, 03:25
Gosh darn it Dave, go away. I'm trying to summon my girlfriend!
What a cute story. Why don't they have a rating for story?
What a cute story. Why don't they have a rating for story?
LDJam user 37215015 Apr 2024, 03:26
This was a really funny play! I got the Candice ending, and ended up summoning Dave 7 times. I did encounter a bug where I had -1 candles. I think it's because I tried to buy 2 candles, and it only gave me 1? Not exactly sure, but on the first day I was too slow to even do 1 task. The office portion does go by quick, but you did address that in your post.
sirJupitron15 Apr 2024, 10:36
Nice art! Thank you for your work.
stmatn15 Apr 2024, 18:31
This was so nice! I even replayed it to get the second ending. However, I am missing one soul. Is there a list of all souls?
When I finally summoned the girlfriends ghost and he mentioned her needing a body I expected to get another decision about finding a body 😅 luckily it did not get that gruesome ;)
Also I hope that it is not too annoying to be summoned by your players all the time ;) keep up the candle-rific work!
When I finally summoned the girlfriends ghost and he mentioned her needing a body I expected to get another decision about finding a body 😅 luckily it did not get that gruesome ;)
Also I hope that it is not too annoying to be summoned by your players all the time ;) keep up the candle-rific work!
Owtuvammo16 Apr 2024, 01:22
This was awesome.
I didn't have the patience to get the girlfriends soul, but I really like that there is some morale here. Just move on and go out with the cute girl at the candle shop, dude!
If this doesn't win in the humor category, then I am convinced there is no god.
I didn't have the patience to get the girlfriends soul, but I really like that there is some morale here. Just move on and go out with the cute girl at the candle shop, dude!
If this doesn't win in the humor category, then I am convinced there is no god.
maymay16 Apr 2024, 23:17
@cibums @lexgear @sirjupitron @owtuvammo thank you!! I'm really glad that you enjoyed my game :))
@vegeo Interesting! I'll see if I can figure out that bug.
@stmatn I just tried to put a list of souls on the listing, but I don't think there's any option for spoiler tags here. I'm just going to assume anyone reading this far into the comments has played though and post them here for you:
1. Dave. 2. Alice 3. Barry 4. Kevin. 5. Long-Fingers Larry 6. Trudy 7. Ruth 8. Lab 8 Researcher 9. Piano 10. Jimothy 11. Orpheus 12. Patient 45683 13. Blademaster 14. Infernus 15. Mesopotamian Copper Merchant 16. Maya 17. Charlotte
@vegeo Interesting! I'll see if I can figure out that bug.
@stmatn I just tried to put a list of souls on the listing, but I don't think there's any option for spoiler tags here. I'm just going to assume anyone reading this far into the comments has played though and post them here for you:
1. Dave. 2. Alice 3. Barry 4. Kevin. 5. Long-Fingers Larry 6. Trudy 7. Ruth 8. Lab 8 Researcher 9. Piano 10. Jimothy 11. Orpheus 12. Patient 45683 13. Blademaster 14. Infernus 15. Mesopotamian Copper Merchant 16. Maya 17. Charlotte
fusionnist17 Apr 2024, 00:29
A very touching game, I found the endings to be beautifully written. Also loved all the writing and cool art, and genuinely found the menial minigame fun to play! Congrats!!!
Sheepolution19 Apr 2024, 01:18
I'm not really a visual novel guy, and because of the lack of gameplay this did feel more like a visual novel. That's also why I really liked the addition of the customer support job. It's unfortunate that that went by so fast. It's funny how you keep summoning Dave.
Kyoryucomic20 Apr 2024, 03:39
very charming game, easy to figure out and the work minigame was very neat
dasilvacontin20 Apr 2024, 06:45
macOS, just crashed for me. I won't rate, I'd find it somewhat unfair.
It crashed when I clicked "Skip animation". In case that's helpful.
Very on theme, nice humour. Would have loved to finish the game.
It crashed when I clicked "Skip animation". In case that's helpful.
Very on theme, nice humour. Would have loved to finish the game.
KriSsS Gonko20 Apr 2024, 06:47
Oh jezz, gosh darn it, sorry for summoning you away @maymay !
I hpe you made it back to your body safely ;D
Ps. best easter-egg I found in this Jam so far xD
I hpe you made it back to your body safely ;D
Ps. best easter-egg I found in this Jam so far xD
brainles etertainment20 Apr 2024, 06:53
The office phase is really fast, I can't do more than two calls per days.
Yxure20 Apr 2024, 14:23
Loved the hand drawn art style and the gameplay loop. Good job!
Cole Cecil20 Apr 2024, 16:05
DANG IT DAVE!!! (It was quite a charming little game, though.)
maymay20 Apr 2024, 16:17
@krisss-gonko I understand, these things happen :p Glad you found the easter egg haha, I made it to be the second-rarest pull in the game.
@dasilvacontin Yeah, the crash on OSX is a known bug. It has something to do with Godot 4, and maybe the settings that I'm using to publish to HTML5. I may just release a native OSX build if I can figure out all the signing required for that. Unfortunately I haven't got a mac to test on :/
@brainles-etertainment yeah-- I do wish I had made that a little longer or maybe used something other than a timer (like a fixed number of calls per day)
@dasilvacontin Yeah, the crash on OSX is a known bug. It has something to do with Godot 4, and maybe the settings that I'm using to publish to HTML5. I may just release a native OSX build if I can figure out all the signing required for that. Unfortunately I haven't got a mac to test on :/
@brainles-etertainment yeah-- I do wish I had made that a little longer or maybe used something other than a timer (like a fixed number of calls per day)
Bochinator20 Apr 2024, 20:27
Cute little game, the humour is on point and the hand-drawn art is great.
elemel20 Apr 2024, 20:35
Nice take on the theme. Great characters, art, and storytelling. I also kept summoning Dave all of the time. Eventually, the game felt too repetitive and I gave up. But reading the comments here, I kind of want to give it another go...
pres230020 Apr 2024, 20:37
This was really well written! I do wish I had more time to read the customer complaints. Some of them were hilarious. I understand it being a game mechanic, though. Nice work!
magicdweedoo21 Apr 2024, 00:02
funny and interesting story, i wish i had the attention span to read more and see the rest of the characters.
Brainbetter21 Apr 2024, 22:39
Charming game, nice art and good writing.
I wish the call center mechanic didn't discourage reading the text in depth, because it's quite funny - the game's writing is its strength, and having the mechanics push you to skim was a bit of a loss in my opinion.
Also, as a fellow sufferer of the Godot 4 Mac Bug, my sympathies. Hopefully Godot folks can fix this before next LD rolls around.
I wish the call center mechanic didn't discourage reading the text in depth, because it's quite funny - the game's writing is its strength, and having the mechanics push you to skim was a bit of a loss in my opinion.
Also, as a fellow sufferer of the Godot 4 Mac Bug, my sympathies. Hopefully Godot folks can fix this before next LD rolls around.
zirconcode22 Apr 2024, 19:34
Was exciting to summon each time, seeing what you would get. Relatable maya haha.
The earning money game was fun too, I wish the timer weren't so fast, it was fun discovering the world like that.
Reminds me a little of west of loathing =)
The earning money game was fun too, I wish the timer weren't so fast, it was fun discovering the world like that.
Reminds me a little of west of loathing =)
Lone_Wolf23 Apr 2024, 01:43
This is an impressive compo entry.
The customer support job could probably be made to feel a little less manic. One thing that might be nice is a clear countdown time (I've only hurriedly glanced at it a few times though, so maybe I missed something) or maybe having your current ticket auto-submit when the day ends or whenever you get everything right.
The game makes up for the aforementioned roughness with the well-told story and world you built around it though, great work!
The customer support job could probably be made to feel a little less manic. One thing that might be nice is a clear countdown time (I've only hurriedly glanced at it a few times though, so maybe I missed something) or maybe having your current ticket auto-submit when the day ends or whenever you get everything right.
The game makes up for the aforementioned roughness with the well-told story and world you built around it though, great work!
It was fun and funny. When I read about one of the character I really wanted to see what the next one was, so I continued playing.
Good work :)