Play game
Spiritual Reversal's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #624 | 3.917 | 3.917 |
| Overall | #874 | 3.676 | 3.676 |
| Presentation | #1084 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Enjoyment | #1212 | 3.361 | 3.361 |
Ranked from 36 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
Board game where pieces' and players' roles are reversed at regular intervals
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the music during the game jam
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Cool ruleset. The AI while dumb still let you get some morsels of fun. Some thoughts on gameplay:
- I don't think you need to make the board that much bigger, but being unable to open with fox is certainly too constrained.
- Being able to influence (in some way) the day-night/reversal cycles could open the strategy space in interesting ways.
- Cycles should probably start a bit more spaced out. First time around, they almost trigger at the same time, so they kinda blend in.
Thanks for the feedback!
- Yes, that was something that bugged me out too! All pieces should be able to make the opening move, but I didn't see how to make it well because of the short time limit. I thought about a 4x4 board, but then the Sun/Moon wouldn't be centered, a 4x5 or 5x5 would leave too much empty space so it'd need a few more pieces, but that would require balancing, and so on... But now that the jam is over, I'll try to think about it more in depth!
- I'm not sure how that could be done... Still I kinda like the idea
- Day/Nights are on a 4~6 turns timer, and Reversals on a 5~7, so they tend to space out only after some time, and in fact I found this problem while playtesting myself too! Only problem is that I saw it too late and couldn't add a wider spacing for the first iteration, but I'm glad someone else is pointing it out!
Some ideas from the top of my head:
- You could add one space next to every open space, so it'd be a 3, 5, 5, 3 board instead of a 3, 3, 3, 3.
- You could add "day-night/reversal symbols" to the current open slots (or perhaps just two of them, although you lose symmetry) and whenever you step in one, the respective countdown goes down by one. In my mind it leads to more situations where you can account for cycles changing to make set-ups, or maybe it doesn't and breaks the current balance, lol.
- You could hard code it to 3 and 6 (or something) for the first turn.
- Ah, right, the board doesn't NEED to be a rectangle! A cross shape could be the right direction, thanks!
- That's what I had in mind too when you talked about ways to manipulate the cycles, but that seems very hard to balance! Although now that I think of it... It could look like two little spirits (think will'o'whisps), one for each type of Mischief, so it dosn't visually overload the board. They could be placed randomly on an empty space after the second or third move, and work exactly as you described: land a piece on it, you either activate the Mischief, or accelerate it by one turn, then it reapears on a another empty space.
I'm not sure if it will work, but there is definitly some idea here.
- I wanted to do something similar by decreasing the range for the first cycle (like 2~4 for D/N and 5~6 for reversal). Fixed values can also work, but you lose the random side of the mischief, so I'll have to test around with different solution to see what works best.
This is very interesting! I love the variety in the ways the pieces can move. It was sadly not super engaging to play against the AI with the random movement, but I think if you take the time to make a proper AI for this it could be very fun. Good job overall!
Thanks!
Yeah, the AI really need some work, because without a good opponent, the game is way too easy :/ (butterfly rush OP nerf plz)
While a bit confusing at the start, I liked the strategy aspect it presented. I would however enjoy an interactive tutorial for it
Man, that lack of tutorial really is brought up a lot, that'll teach me for the next jam XD
I planned one, but couldn't make it in time unfortunately... I'll add it after the jam, and be more careful about that, since it is very important that players are not confused about what to do to play.
Interesting game indeed. I like to see games with different approach in the theme rather "play as the bad guys" or "you control the world instead of the player".
My only complain (appart from the lack of sound, but as it was for a jam is understandble) is the lack of a better tutorial. Its really confusing and hard to understand and know whats happening, and I dont think thats intended.
Complaints aside, you did a great work!
Indeed, when the theme was announced, all the examples showed in the video were around the idea of "Existing concept but the bad guys instead", but that did note resonate with me: I wanted the reversal to be part of the gameplay, something that actively reverses during the game to challenge what the player took for granted.
Don't worry, you're not the only one complaining about the tutorial... (myself being the first :c)
Thanks a lot for the feedback! =)It was planned to be interactive and the code was made for this in mind, but I couldn't make it in time... It will be added after the jam though!
Very good concept that make me think !This could be a good board game
Interesting interpretation of the theme, and very stylish art.
Sometimes it was quite easy, while other times hard, possibly due to the randomness of the AI.
But I still enjoyed the game :D
Thanks, glad you liked it!
When the theme was announced, some examples were given that were more or less all "Existing concept, but you play the bad guys". To me, that would not have been very creative, and I really wanted to make something unique where the "reversing roles" part was part of the gameplay, an action happening during the game that challenges something that the player took for granted.
I mean, technically, you could be playing against the best player in the world! =D
But yeah, I wish I had time to code some basic strategies into it, like at least a way to avoid moving its Sun/Moon into a danger tile ^^'
Very nice, I liked the concept. Personally, I found the role reversal too difficult but it was a fun game nonetheless. Great job!
Thanks!
Yeah, I knew that this wouldn't be for everyone, since you really have to think about your next move with the Mischieves in mind, so it adds a layer on top of the strategy.
But I'm glad you liked it nontheless!
Been a fan of Shogi for some time, so this was a nice twist on the formula. Would be interested to see a bigger board and perhaps a multiplayer mode.
Oh, huh... Well, I have to say: I know about Shogi, but never played it. ^^'
Thanks to your comment, I dug around the games that inspired me for the jam, and they are themselves inspired by Shogi!
So it is not intentional on my part, but my game indeed has a lot in common with it, that's cool!
Other commenters have asked for a bigger board too, so I guess there really is something to do in that direction, I'll have to think about it.
Local multiplayer is coming after the jam! It was initially intended, but I put it aside since I figured most testers would be playing solo. The code is already made for it, it just needs concrete implementation =)
My face went "Ooooohhhh" the moment the first reversal happened. What a great concept, and even better implementation. Well done! I hope a lot more people get to experience this magic.
Thanks a lot, I'm so glad some people are enthusiastic about the reversal since I wasn't sure people would like having the rug pulled under their feet: it works well if you like thinking around it, but not everyone is into deeply strategic games.
So the positive reactions mean a lot to me! =D
Very charming and unique game. It took me a little while to work out what was going on but once I did, it was fun to work out different strategies to win. Also impressive to see that this was just made with Javascript, wow!
Thanks! There should have been an in-game interactive tutorial to help players grasp the rules better, sorry it couldn't make it ^^'
(I'll add it after the jam)
About the JS, small anecdote: I use it because being a Web dev originally, this is the only language that I actively work with, so it's always fresh in my mind, instead of having to learn a new one that would only be used very rarely and probably very badly, making it more of a disadvantage during an already short jam!
(PHP too technically, but not going to use that for a game :v)
That makes sense regarding the JS, I figured it's just a lot of extra work needed for things that just might be a drag and drop and click of a checkbox in a game engine, which could be seen as a disadvantage from that perspective so respect for that. But yeah, its often best to work with what you are comfortable and familiar with :)
A bit short but the game can be done multiple times by testing differents strategies and by playing with the random moment of night and reversal. I really like it.
Good job !
Great game, I would like to see post jam version, in case there are some thing you might add.
Super short, but interesting game.
Thanks!
Post Jam, I intend to add a two-players local mode, rework a bit the UI (like: the counters at the left of the screen are just... there), and maybe make the IA a bit smarter so single-payer mode could be a bit more challenging
I loved it! The play was super simple but against a real human this would be super crunchy. As a board game enthusiast I am excited to see more videogames experimenting in that space. Also using the dots to indicate directional movement is so sleek and elegant.
10/10 En Passants
Holy hell, thanks a lot!
I love board games too, I really wanted to recreate the feeling of real piece and movements.
At first, it was designed as a two-players game, but it got changed since I figured testers would be playing solo. But I intend to add the two-players local after the Jam ; the code is already there for it, it just needs a bit more work ^^
Honestly, the dots are just a holdover from the time when the game was just plain without animations for maximum functionality and ease of debugging: I just needed any visual indicator to be sure my pieces behaved correctly, and it stuck when I started working on the design since it worked pretty well! =D
This was a lot of fun. It seems so simple, yet there's a bunch of complexity underneath. I could imagine playing this on a larger board would also be a lot of fun. Great job!
Thanks!
Another player commented about the possibility of a larger board, and honestly I'm all for it, but I have no idea how to balance it XD (will it need more pieces? Better timed mischieves? How large: like a chess board, or more of a small upscale, say 5x5 or 5x7? So much to think about! But a really good exercice in game design too)
This made me think a lot! Always move the wolf up first is my strat :) The spirits are very temperamental with their skill level too. I keep on coming up with elaborate strategies but then winning on the next turn haha. I found it fun, but with a good AI I feel like this would be a really good game! (a local-coop mode would work too, and it wouldn't be too hard in a post-jam version.) Visuals were really polished. Very cool game!
Thanks!
IA does indeed need some work about the whole... play randomly thing ^^'
Two-players local is planned for after the jam! It was the initial idea, but got scrapped once I figured mostly all testers for the jam would be playing solo.
i really enjoyed the gameplay! the concept is quite unique :)
i wish that spirits would try a bit harder to beat me though :D and probably the board could be even bigger, so that the game would last longer. you just begin to think about strategy, but in two moves you win :)
hope to try a full version if you are planning to work on it!
Thanks!
Yeah, the IA is the main problem with the game: since it is fully random - and thus makes really dumb moves - it's veeeery easy to win, so I don't really expect a high Enjoyment rating ^^'
I guess you could have a bigger board variant with more diverse pieces, that'd be fun!
But a lot harder to balance, chess have had some thousand years for that XD
I plan to make a two-player local mode at the minimum, and maybe improve the computer if I find how to "teach" it to play better =)
Quite a unique concept and the graphics are really clean and fluid, nice work!
Even after like 5 attempts the rules are a bit abstract to me. I got the main idea, but it seems something it's not clicking at some level. Also, my respect for using Illustrator, my beloved 😂. If you can make it more obvious how exactly to win (maybe with an easier level first) then the game might flourish.
Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah, initially, I wanted to make an in-game tutorial, but time got too tight :/
I had to write it in the description underneath instead ("Game rules" section). I should probably use some images to illustrate it better, because I know plain text can be difficult to understand.
I really want to complete it after the jam, both with a complete interactive tutorial and a two-player mode!
It was nice, I loved the visuals, even though the game itself is quite easy (you can just rush with the butterfly piece). Good work!
Your game looked superb! Loved the animated backgrounds and fluid movements of the tiles. Also, the game itself seems like a pretty cool board game that would be fun to play in real life! Only downside was mostly the Ai being a bit tooooo easy to beat at times. BUT I understand that in a two day game, creating a smart Ai can be a HUGE challenge. So for what your game is, it's definitely well done! Overall, great job :)
Thank you very much! I love board games and I wanted to mimic the feeling of playing one, so your compliment means a lot!
Yeah, the IA acts 99% at random, I really wish I had time to implement at least one or two basic strategies to it (like, oh idk, do NOT move your most important piece right into a danger zone :v )
Thanks again, glad you liked it! ^^