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Soul Chain's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Overall | #6 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Feel | #6 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Innovation | #28 | 4.333 | 4.333 |
| Aesthetics | #187 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
Ranked from 3 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your submission match the theme?
Game Maker's Toolkit Game Jam 2017 Submission
Use the power of the soul chain, and the soul well to defend hold out as long as you can from the invading trolls.
Controls:
If Using Keyboard:
Enter - Activate Keyboard and Mouse Controls
LMB - Fire Soul Hook/Retract Soul Hook
Mouse - Aim
WASD - Move
If Using GamePad:
Start - Activate GamePad Controls (Activated by Default)
Right Trigger - Fire Soul Hook/Retract Soul Hook
Right Analog Stick - Aim
Left Analog Stick - Move
Debug Controls (Available at All Time)
Escape - Quit
R - Restart
C - Spawn New Troll (If you want to jump in difficulty quickly)
Tip: You if you hook the Soul Well, pressing the button again while retracting will detach it early
_____________________________________________
To fit the theme of the Game Jam, all combat in Soul Chain is centered around the use of the titular spell/weapon.
Shooting your soul chain's hook directly into enemies will skewer and stun them as well as doing damage. If you want to try to defend the vessels, (they won't last long) it's also an easy way to pull your enemies off of them from across the room. Pulling the hook back to you will also pull all chain links you've created back to you. Any chain links that touch an enemy will become charged, filling your soul meter when they are returned to you. Your soul meter will automatically power the shield around you, which will damage enemies that touch you, but will be drained each time it damages an enemy. The soul chain can also pull the soul well to you. Any enemy that touches the soul well, living or dead, is instantly reduced to ash.
TLDR: Firing your hook and chain can be used to pull enemies away from your vessels, skewer and stun enemies in your way, pull the deadly soul well around, and lay down links to charge your shield.
Third-party resources
Built to run on PC.
Built using Game Maker Studio v1.4
Song used - "Comfortablement installe-e" by Monplaisir
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Monplaisir/
Contributors
Game was made by Nathan Simms.
Special thanks to Taylor for constant support, encouragement, and for finding the music.
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Comments
That was very fun.
The sprite order is a bit off though because dead bodies were shown in front of the living which got distracting after the absolute carnage I just wrecked on the trolls.
The mechanics were very interesting and made the game exciting as I tried to figure out how things worked while protecting the vessels. I still don't know what they were for though. Perhaps they should recharge your shield automatically until destroyed?
Slinging the soul well around like a ball and chain was great. It would be nice if it actually followed the chain path instead of going straight towards the player. I know this would be both unrealistic and difficult to implement, but it would make the game more fun as I trace patterns across the screen before the portal whips around, wiping everyone out.
Though not the most polished or complicated , it is probably the most fun game I have played here and I am glad you made it.
Lol that chain took most of Friday and a chunk of Saturday morning to get working that well. I had to fight the urge not to keep working on it. I can't believe I forgot the corpse layers. Thank you for the feedback. This is a game I think I will definitely come back to and update.
Cool. I look forward to playing the updated version. I used GameMaker for a while and have no idea how I would have added the chain mechanics, so good job with what you did manage.
Very nice game, I really liked the shooting and pulling mechanic. It's really fun when the hordes get insanely huge. It's kind of a relief knowing that death is inevitable, it allows players to relax while they're alive :P
I've read down there that this is your first game, congratulations for that, you have a brilliant future if you keep going at this.
A tip for your next jam is to avoid creating a installer for your game, it's slower than unzipping and much slower than playing on the web, and most people rating games on game jams prioritize games that are faster to start.
Thank you so much! And I'll try to keep that tip about the installer in mind for next time.
This is really cool! The chain hook gives a lot of great action. And combined with the ball, it allows different kind of strategies.
It can be a bit messy by the end. I was nevere sure when my shield was effective, why some souls were charged and some not, and if I effectively killed the targeted trolls... And it feels a bit strange to protect the fires to see them destroyed without loosing anyway.
But the game is still really fun to play! Shooting the hook at an ennemy, running across the other, then retracting on them, it just feels great! Really awesome mechanic.
Thanks! This was my first game and I really appreciate the feedback.
Originally, protecting the vessels mattered. But I realized that it was most fun fighting huge waves of enemies, which would never happen if the vessels were a potential fail condition. If I go back to this game, I definitely want to make them actually valuable to defend.