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Spectrum of Shadow's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Playability | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Cleverness | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Theme | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Artistic Style | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
Ranked from 2 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
- This is a really cool game, and really interesting interpretations of the theme components! Very clever idea to use "beams" of shadows, and giving them their own properties, and mixing the beams to match ritual-circle-like patterns. Nice choice of aesthetic too, well done!
- Incredibly clever puzzles that weren't too easy to solve and just enough challenge to keep me engaged and not too frustrated. I did have to read the "how to play" to finally get a grasp on the game, so I would maybe add some form of tutorial in the game to at least help players get started. Other than that, this is a solid puzzle game.
Did you include your Game Design Document as a Google Drive link?
Yes
Seriously... did you include your Game Design Document?
Yes
Is your game set to Public so we can see it?
Yes
Tell us about your game!
Manipulate light and shadow to conduct alchemy. Spectrum of Shadow is a 2D puzzle game where you assume the role of an alchemist and experiment with the tools at your disposal!
We included 3 modes:
Standard Mode contains 18 hand-crafted puzzles. How far can you make it? What wild solutions to the puzzles will you uncover?
Infinite Mode is an experimental (*cough*) mode where random puzzles are generated. Some may not be solvable, but they do end up looking cool!
Sandbox Mode is exactly what it sounds like. Play around with limitless items and see what cool combinations of glyphs you can design!
Extra Notes
We didn't have time for an in-game tutorial, though we did design the first few levels with introduction to mechanics in mind. On the game page there is a "manual." We implore you to look through it if you feel lost!
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Comments
I dig the aesthetic of the game! It’s visually beautiful and the puzzles are pretty neat! I did think the drone of the music was a little loud and grating at its default volume until I lowered it, and it would have been nice to see the individual items give a bit more of a description of how they could be used, at least at first. Our game shared similar woes regarding teaching the player how to play, though, so I definitely know how that goes.
Though the manual felt a bit overwhelming when starting the game at first, it helped a lot as a reference once I actually dived in. Though the thing I was most lost on at first was the fact that you even needed to click on the items after they were placed in order to actually use them properly. Once I figured that out, the rest was smooth sailing!
Overall, fantastic game, and congrats on a job well done!
Thank you so much for the feedback! Your note about items needing to be click in order to have their menus opened is definitely something we noticed post-upload.
We've already updated it (just can't patch it until the judging period is over) so that the menu for the item just placed opens upon placement, which I think makes for a much better experience. Spot on observation!
And we are DEFINITELY in need of a tutorial at the start of the game; it's being worked on right now, along with a slew of quality of life updates and tweaks.
Once again thanks so much for checking it out, means a lot.
How to play manual was much appreciated. I loved the puzzles. The music, atmosphere, art and the mood of the game is superb. Very clever interpretation of the theme, too. Awesome game!
I think a lot has been already Said. Awesome work. I especially like the atmosphere you created.
Very addicting !
Thank you so much for the kind words! <
This game is dangerous! I could see myself getting lost in this one. Awesome game! And I love the transitions and animations, the slight movement of the colors under the lens is just *chef's kiss*.
Thank you so much!! I’m glad you enjoyed it. We’re very happy with how it came together. We’re excited to keep working on it!
Extremely cool! I love the puzzles and how all the different items interact to fill out the shape, its a super cool concept and really fun to try to solve!
Thank you so much for checking it out! <3
This game is honestly incredible, such depth with such a short time.
It was hard for me to completely understand the goal, as some of the others have stated. A tutorial would go a long way. Outside of that though, great game. Very Tetris Effect vibes for me with the ambient music.
Thanks so much for trying it out! A tutorial is absolutely on our to-do list. I'm glad you enjoyed the vibe! <3
Admittedly it took me a bit to figure out you could click on the items to change what they do. Great game, love the puzzles and vibes.
How many good levels!!! This game is incredible. The sounds and music fits perfectly with the theme! The art is awesome and the puzzles are well made and challenging. I couldn't stop playing, congratulations!!
Wow you two. Just wow. The ambience, the sound when you move the prisms, the art, specifically the smooth dithering is excellent. I love it. I'll admit it took me a minute to figure it out, but it all works so well. bravo.
Thank you so much! Means a lot coming from such a great artist!
Honestly this was just... incredibly well made. Such well thought out puzzle mechanics, it was a blast trying to figure out interactions and arrangements. This one needs a full version, for real!
Thanks so much for checking it out! Your words mean a lot.
Has nice puzzles and mechanics that were fun to tease apart! The visual style and music provide a solidly mysterious and appealing foundation for the game's aesthetic, along with the fact that you are thrust into a task you don't fully understand. Really cool!
Very neat puzzles paired with some very slick aesthetics. Love the soundscapes!
Super fun and challenging puzzles, with a very cool art style! Recommend everyone check this out!
thoughtful puzzle game, with a great pixel art aesthetic and fitting sound design.
Very interesting game, cool mechanics and even cooler Audio / Visual design. One of the most engaging puzzle game i've played in a long time.
I really like the look AND sound of the game. It has some seriously nice ASMR to it which I love. Excellent work in such a short period of time!
I enjoyed the game a lot. I think the art style is really awesome and cohesive, with the simple shaders and animation breathing a lot of life into the environment and unifying the light theme and feel. The light scenes are extremely picturesque as well. The music is ambient and fits the game tonally. The eye for environment makes the game feel complete and is so impressive for a jam game.
It did take a minute to even understand the logic of the game, even with the instruction booklet... but other than that blip, it was well telegraphed, and played flawlessly. I was skeptical about the logic of the game and how far you could take the light mechanics, but I found myself puzzling along seeing the increasing challenge (and realizing that yeah you can probably take this pretty far if you wanted, especially by restricting items). I thought shadows were a really inventive take on these light puzzles.
Unfortunately, I did not see a win condition due to a black screen bug in normal mode after about 12?15? levels.
Any criticisms I have about the game are minor and mostly out of scope for the jam. A few quick things in-scope would be: Level indicators in normal mode would be nice and a level reset/step-back button would also be nice.
Otherwise, outside of the jam, my number one add would be an in-game tutorial.
Other opinions I have: I didn't necessarily feel like scrolling between light sources added too much to the challenge. I feel like it would have been fine for each level to have one light-theme. I am a little conflicted on the items menu UI collapsing; it tends to add more clicks than necessary, especially flipping between items and item settings but I wasn't annoyed by it so it was noticeable to me but also probably fine.
Finally, I think that levels can get really, really busy with the million light rays which become more of a challenge to deal with than the actual puzzles, but I have no clue how you'd rectify this and it's probably totally fine and a skill issue for me.
Very prolific dev work, congrats to you both for the release!
Thank you so much for the thoughtful and detailed response! Your thoughts are certainly being considered for future updates. Once again, appreciate so much that you took time to play our game and type out such detailed feedback <3
Thanks for taking the time to play through the game and leave us your feedback! We taking a lot of notes from the people who have played and we agree an in-game tutorial and a handful of QoL updates are in order.
Looking into that black screen bug this morning, I am happy to inform you that you indeed did beat the base game! After beating the pre-determined levels provided, there is a silent hand-off to Infinite mode. And we've found the bug lies in that handoff.
So in addition to the note to make the win condition more apparent in a future update, congrats on beating the demo and proving your craftiness as an alchemist of light and shadow!
Lovely aesthetic for a neat puzzle game with interesting mechanics!
Very clever puzzle game! Amazing artwork as well. Very incredible that this was made in only a week!
I had a fun time with this! The puzzles are satisfying once you get comfortable with the formula and the music creates a great atmosphere.