Out of Chalk by JustCore

[raw]
made by JustCore for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

ChalkedOutGif1-ezgif.com-optimize.gif

A sokoban where you resort to black magic to pay your debts.

Play on Itch.io: https://justcore.itch.io/chalked-out

Ratings

Overall 208th 3.759⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 181th 3.69⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 373th 3.276⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 405th 3.655⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 153th 4.207⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 63th 4.089⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 38th 4.328⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Given 11🗳️ 1🗨️

Feedback

DmitriyCI
Oct 07th · 15:11 UTC
A very good game! It features impressive visuals and appropriate background music.
Gyzra
Oct 07th · 21:06 UTC
I love these kinds of puzzle games. The combination of strategic object movements with the matching enemy pathing adds a level of challenge and planning that is really fun. The visuals are sleek and the sound design is atmospheric without being distracting. Love it!
robert18
Oct 07th · 21:07 UTC
Amazing graphics and atmosphere, love the addition of the story beside the gameplay
Maytch
Oct 07th · 21:15 UTC
Cool intro, story and atmosphere to it! It's a little too dark for my screen, I couldn't always tell where the holes were
Faust_Mi
Oct 07th · 21:24 UTC
A huge plus for the ambient sounds! A special plus for the tutorial!
The puzzle level was interesting to solve and not too difficult!

It's was funny! =)

Good job! Thanks for the gaming experience!
raysplaceinspace
Oct 07th · 21:30 UTC
Clever little puzzle game! I like the way the world steps with you.
michlau
Oct 07th · 22:26 UTC
i really love the premise but im so bad at puzzles, i got stuck in 3rd lvl... but i think puzzle lovers will appreciate this one! what i can say is that the atmosphere and visuals are great, and u did an awesome job!! congrats!!
Flinge
Oct 08th · 08:24 UTC
I’m not usually a fan of this kind of game, but this one was simple and comfortable to play. I got a bit stuck on the last level, though. The narrative and atmosphere were absolutely amazing — such an incredible vibe, I really loved it!
Placeholders
Oct 09th · 18:35 UTC
that ending :crying_cat_face:
this game is a good reminder of how narrative and atmosphere can hold the experice.
loved it, the art and puzzle design was great!
LDJam user 246128
Oct 09th · 19:05 UTC
Extremely cool game, with lovely puzzles and incredible atmosphere! Although a bit too dark for my liking (literally. I couldn't see a thing sometimes and basically stumbled in the dark until found a way).

Loved that you can lock enemies in place strategically with spikes.
Eugenik
Oct 09th · 19:40 UTC
Very good mood, love the atmosphere and clever gameplay.
🎤 JustCore
Oct 09th · 21:13 UTC
Thank you, everybody, for playing and leaving your feedback, I really appreciate this!! :D
🎤 JustCore
Oct 09th · 21:33 UTC
@t90 About the darkness, I've actually received quite a few comments mentioning this problem (not only here), so I plan to add a brightness slider at the start, like most dark games do.

(should've added it from the start :sweat_smile:)
Rogaven
Oct 10th · 20:26 UTC
Cool game. Yep, to have a brightness slider will be great
HNKXOBKA
Oct 12th · 15:20 UTC
cool game! sokoban is my love👍
mr_mesmer
Oct 12th · 16:17 UTC
Загадки сокобана прикольные, правление приятное, но вот вся эта история - не зашла совсем. По мне, продажа души за ништяки - настолько избитое клише, что ну не очень интересно. И из-за того, что главного героя мы не знаем, не сочувствуешь ему
ScrapMetal
Oct 12th · 16:20 UTC
The atmosphere, art, color palette, audio and mood are all sooooo good!! Wow. So much polish to the movement and everything.

The puzzles are really well done. The difficult ramps dramatically though :grimacing: :sweat_smile:

I was able to finally do it, but had such trouble with the 3rd one I think? Then gave up on the next. :grimacing:

The puzzles might be TOO good. My brain is tired now.
oller125
Oct 13th · 20:19 UTC
Loved the atmosphere and sound. And I liked the twist on the standard sokoban by including moving enemies.
Roroto Sic
Oct 13th · 20:57 UTC
Great game !! atmosphere is well made with good story and imersiv audio !
The puzzles are fun, the world is entertaining !
![Capture d’écran 2025-10-13 225424.png](///raw/d93/94/z/6f5d9.png)
CameronPenner
Oct 14th · 03:15 UTC
Wow, really well done! All around, every aspect of the game was pretty tidy, graphics, audio, story, puzzles, everything felt cohiesive and deliberate. I really enjoyed the pacing as well. The puzzles were just tricky enough for me to have to get creative, but not so hard or monotonous that I got annoyed with them. The story was great, I love a jam with an actual ending, and this one delivered. Really good touch with the brightness slider too, for a game that is grounded in darkness, that is a really important accessibility option most teams (never mind solo devs wow) would not have had time for.

Big kudos, this was a great experience. Thank you for making this!
Catusfelony
Oct 14th · 03:21 UTC
Now I'm wondering if there are multiple endings.... That was a fine entry! Lots of fun. :)
Franciszek Pyrć
Oct 15th · 12:07 UTC
Really good use of the sound effects. Even though there is a lot of silence, the rest makes it feel like it's a part of the game
zidan-banan
Oct 24th · 22:04 UTC
The atmosphere is awesome! I also liked the story and ending! It feels great to play.

The gameplay was a bit lacking. The puzzles are simple. The Sokoban field is scorched by Steven's sausage, Patrick's paradox, and so on. We're waiting for more Sokoban from Jonathan Blow. Therefore, the requirements for Sokoban are very high, although interesting ideas are still emerging. The creator of Baba from You had a series of short Sokoban games - https://itch.io/c/4014684/tiny-block-pushers

I love puzzles in general, and I'm happy with any puzzle game, so thank you. There are very few puzzles out there, especially good ones. Here's a good article on how to make puzzles with interactive examples based on Sokoban - https://auroriax.com/puzzle-explorable/
🎤 JustCore
Oct 24th · 23:47 UTC
@zidan-banan Thanks for the useful links! Yeah, I admit the gameplay in this one wasn't very strong. Still, I really appreciate the thoughtful feedback and the resources you shared. They'll definitely help me improve next time :D