Hey! Thanks for your (very well-worded) question! We were actually hoping someone would ask this.
You are 100% correct in your assumptions! If you have the skills to work with your engine of choice, then you are more than welcome to experiment with the SOUP-like format as long as its kept within the same general spirit and limitations, as you mentioned. The only reason we don't explicitly say this is allowed on the jam page directly is because we didn't want people to misunderstand and just submit regular walking sims to the jam. Anything submitted should still clearly be inspired by SOUP and follow similar minimalist creative restrictions.
For example, absinthe is inspired by SOUP while still doing its own thing, and MaximumWalk (while not being inspired by SOUP as far as I know) is a similar type of game that feels like it was molded from comparable thought processes.
All of your examples are excellent ideas and would be allowed. We experimented with the SOUP-like format ourselves with SOUP ROOMS by adding an "interact" screen layer that appears when you get close to the central object, changing the left-click pop-up image for each room, and a few other relatively minor things (like animated screen layers) while still keeping the general SOUP format the same.
Thanks for inquiring and for your interest in the SOUPJAM!
It's a fun idea and one that we wish we had the time and money to implement, but unfortunately due to the nature of how ROOMS are made (raw uncompressed files in a nested folder system) file sizes get very large very fast and storage quickly becomes an issue. Something like SOUP ROOMS is well over 500 MB, for example. Hosting potentially thousands of ROOMS would be prohibitively expensive and not something our (very) small team has the means to do. We wish we could though!
It's probably not the most "fun" solution, but we do recommend and encourage others to upload their SOUP-like games to Itch.io like we did. We've also been keeping a personal list of SOUP-like games that pop up here on Itch.io and recommend checking them out if you're interested in the microgenre and its history.
Sorry if this wasn't the answer you were hoping for. We hope you still have fun exploring and making ROOMS!
Hey thanks! I really love your Bitsy games. They're some of my absolute favorites. Thanks for checking out our stuff!
I fell in love with the original SOUP over 18 years ago and was captivated by how it evoked so much by using so little. The SOUP-like format is a true triumph of minimalist digital expression and I love seeing people explore its strict limits. I feel like digital spaces are often severely underappreciated and misunderstood. Sometimes, simply getting to exist in a digital space is enough, even if (or even because) there's "nothing to do." Who needs goals or achievements when the place itself is its own reward?
Is there some critical aspect of the gameplay that I'm not understanding? I made it all the way to the area that requires the four keys and I can't seem to figure out how I'm supposed to traverse the long horizontal spike room.
Easily the best incremental game I've played on the Playdate. I only wish it lasted longer as it took me just under 45 minutes to get every Achievement.
Really looking forward to this and I hope development has been going well.
I grew up playing Shadowgate Classic on the Game Boy Color and it quickly became one of my favorite games. Thanks for helping to keep its legacy alive.
This is a stolen game that's been uploaded without the creator's permission and has been sitting here for far too long. Please take a minute to submit a report.
Please, please, please make more of this. I am begging you on my hands and knees with tears streaming down my face. Shadowgate + Vermis is something I desperately need more of in order to survive.
From what I can tell, doing "bad things" causes those Japanese businessmen enemies to appear, and doing more bad things causes them to become increasingly aggressive. It does not appear to affect the ending in any way.
After beating the game, a new NPC appears in the King's Doorway. They have a few different dialogue routes you can go through but it otherwise doesn't appear to affect anything.
Likewise, going through all of the No Go Door paths doesn't appear to affect anything either.
It just feels like there should be more... Maybe I'm simply missing something? Or maybe that's truly all there is.
In any case, this was a worthwhile and interesting experience.
A fun little game with good controls, fluid movement mechanics, and appealing character designs. Reminds me of the N64 Castlevania games (which is a good thing).
My only complaint is that some of the areas tend to blend together (which is understandable due to the tight development period) and I really wish there was some sort of in-game map due to how often I got lost (or maybe there is and I just missed it?).
