Soul Technician by Nathan Franck

[raw]
made by Nathan Franck for Ludum Dare 55 (JAM)

Keep the machines alive to engage the power of the summoning chamber

🎮 * Controls *

  • Move - Cursor Keys / Left Stick
  • Repair - Space / A Button
  • Dash - Shift / B Button

🛠️ * Tech *

Game logic written in Zig and built to a wasm bundle (custom json interface)

Graphics written in React and WebGL (custom wrapper)

✨ More details on Github!

💖 * Credits *

Art - Oscar Romero

Code - Nathan Franck

Ratings

Given 6🗳️ 5🗨️

Feedback

FramboiseDodue
15. Apr 2024 · 11:41 UTC
The design is cool ! But when I fix a machine, I'm stuck until I press shift to leave it. And level 3 seems impossible, or maybe i'm just not good ?
🎤 Nathan Franck
15. Apr 2024 · 18:32 UTC
@framboisedodue Thanks for playing! Yeah fixing is on a toggle, in case you want to repair for longer. Shift can move you around faster, it is possible to do!
RubixNoob13
24. Apr 2024 · 03:31 UTC
Neat concept. The artwork is cute. Even with using the dash, I haven't been able to get past the 3rd wave/stage.

Some sounds or music would have been nice.

Overall, pretty solid entry, would like to see a more polished version down the line, maybe with a slightly less steep difficulty curve :slight_smile:
🎤 Nathan Franck
24. Apr 2024 · 03:34 UTC
@rubixnoob13 Thanks for playing!
NaPlz98
24. Apr 2024 · 04:04 UTC
Interesting concept! I couldn't pass level 3, the 3 reactors break almost at the same time and not even by dashing and getting into position before they break I couldn't manage to repair them.
![image.png](///raw/e7b/e5/z/64c04.png)
LDJam user 383763
24. Apr 2024 · 05:59 UTC
I also got stuck on level 3. Impressive game regarding the technologies used here (senior web developer here ;) ). Some SFX + Music would make this game even better. Also, I'm missing some level design, because the levels are not changing in any way except the machines are broking faster xD.
LDJam user 374168
24. Apr 2024 · 06:09 UTC
It's cool that you used Zig to create this game, not often you find games made without a dedicated engine. I think for me, the biggest issue is the difficulty; getting through the first 2 levels is not too bad, but the last 2 levels are a huge jump in difficulty. The best strategy I found was repairing something for a bit, then moving to another one in a circle pattern, but it wasn't clear when things would start breaking, so maybe a health bar above each machine would be more alerting to players.

The art looks good, though it feels a bit empty without sound. Either way, nice job on finishing this!
🎤 Nathan Franck
25. Apr 2024 · 17:03 UTC
@wildcodeplay Definitely check out the source code if you have time! I had a lot of fun with the code structure and I'm hoping to keep running with it in the future! Unfortunately, yeah... not enough time to actually build more variety in the game. I think I might retro-actively reduce the difficulty of the later levels, just so people finish
🎤 Nathan Franck
25. Apr 2024 · 17:08 UTC
@alzhu1 Yeah health bars were definitely in the cards, didn't really take the time to experiment with them, though maybe I could glue some in post-hoc. There was barely a game design here, so my main fear was if people saw the health bars the optimal strategy would be obvious, thus there'd be nothing for the player to 'discover'. Ultimately it's just totally under-baked :)
🎤 Nathan Franck
28. Apr 2024 · 01:17 UTC
Update: In version 1.1 I tweaked the numbers on the levels to be a bit easier