The Book of Summons by TROGDOR 20X6

[raw]
made by TROGDOR 20X6 for Ludum Dare 55 (JAM)

A puzzle game where you have to decipher a spell book and summon all kinds of monsters. This is my first game jam, the game is built using Phaser (a js library) and Tiled. All sounds are from Zapsplat and the music is "Giant Wyrm" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).

The book: screen1.png

The summoning circle: screen2.png

SPOILERS!!! Solutions: https://geoffreylhart.gitlab.io/zenithref/demos/ld55/solutions.txt

Bug Change Log:

4/15/2024 10:52 PM EST: Fixed X Contrast Issue (changed from black to white)

4/16/2024 11:00 AM EST: Added solutions.txt link in description

Ratings

Overall 324th 3.8⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 716th 3.32⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 240th 3.771⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 22th 4.54⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 138th 4.375⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 43th 4.313⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 11🗳️ 23🗨️

Feedback

PandaPuffsForBreakfast
16. Apr 2024 · 01:32 UTC
I liked the theme, I didn't solve it.
Mcgank
16. Apr 2024 · 01:42 UTC
Really cool art style. When it comes to gameplay, I struggled to find out how to solve the puzzles without some level of guessing, though I was able to solve a few of them. I loved the music, it really set the tone of the game. Great job.
Matt Swieboda
16. Apr 2024 · 01:44 UTC
wow this was really fun, loved trying to figure out the combinations, great work overall!
BoroBoro
16. Apr 2024 · 01:45 UTC
This one really made my head scratch, but it was really fun to solve the puzzles once I understood what was going on.
Antisage
16. Apr 2024 · 01:48 UTC
A nice take on attempting to understand the intricacies of summoning. The UI was pretty good, though the close buttons could do with more contrast. I found that the last page required some brute force, but the rest were relatively intuitive.
7uc4s
16. Apr 2024 · 01:54 UTC
Didn't figure out the logic to solve the puzzle (solved only one ^^"), but loved the graphics!
drahmen
16. Apr 2024 · 01:55 UTC
Absolutely nailed the art and vibe. Music was very creepy. In the first 5 minutes, I was convinced I was going to maybe get 1 solution, and then quit. 15 minutes later, I'm looking at the victory screen. A bit challenging, but very good.
Whysguy52
16. Apr 2024 · 01:55 UTC
Got it! great job
LocksmithArmy
16. Apr 2024 · 02:00 UTC
This was fun :)
little clues in the scirbbled out part,

You Win

Go Back

seemed more like a warning than a choice tho.

I woudl have really liked to see a clear button in the book. I wanted to right click and wipe away the rune i had placed.
K4su
16. Apr 2024 · 02:08 UTC
Couldn't figure out the solution :,( Will have to try again later :D

Really like the art-style :D
TomisGreen
16. Apr 2024 · 11:19 UTC
I have not the *slightest* Idea how to solve this, but I love everything else about this, the art, the music, the concept, the mood everything is super vibey
saintchristopher777
16. Apr 2024 · 14:44 UTC
Terrific art, and I like the atmospheric music! Theme/vibe are great! Pretty difficult to solve though (not necessarily a bad thing).
Donamougou
16. Apr 2024 · 17:21 UTC
The ambiance and artistic style are very well executed, congratulations!
That's funny, we had the same approach for the game theme, but with two very different results. It seems sizing puzzle games correctly can be challenging, especially with just a weekend to do everything. Unfortunately, I only managed to uncover one summoning, and I have no clue about any other approach than randomly testing combinations to discover the other summons.
🎤 TROGDOR 20X6
16. Apr 2024 · 22:15 UTC
@donamougou
Yes I noticed as well. I anticipated there'd be some difficulty in the players trying to read my mind, effectively, but not by enough. I didn't want folks to miss the content I worked on, but I also didn't want it to be so easy it didn't feel like a game. But I at least tried to allow for brute forcing by some amount.

I promise there's a tenuous clue for every single rune/summon, and that's only thanks to putting in that bare minimum effort. It's hard to think of good clues since that sometimes means more assets you need to do (how do I make it clear what this rune means? by making 3 other summons with that same property? by just telling them outright like the others? etc), and it feels like you're wasting precious time just sitting down and thinking instead of working.
Donamougou
16. Apr 2024 · 22:52 UTC
@trogdor-20x6 I'll give it a second chance then !
K-toll
24. Apr 2024 · 21:39 UTC
I really like the idea that each symbol has a translation, making it a kind of riddle. It reminds me of “Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure” or “Loom”, it seems to me that there's a similar mechanic to deciphering and playing a musical score.

The atmosphere is excellent, and it really feels like you're experimenting with summoning.

I didn't find everything on the first try, so I used the solution for ******** and ******. This gave me 10/10 in incovation but 0/7 in solved pages...?

In any case, great work!