Ji

About

Ji was developed during the Linux 2023 Game Jam. It is a small fragment that will grow over many releases.

https://itch.io/jam/linux-game-jam2023

Framework, Language, & Tools

• Godot (framework and application)
• GDScript (language)
• Pixelorama (art)
• Soundtrap (music)

Objectives

Clues for the objectives are listed when you start the game. The game is kind of a puzzle, so part of the game is figuring out what the clues mean.

The game will save what objectives you've completed. I would love to see a stream of anybody completing them.

Tips

The hardest objective to complete in any amount of time is Diligent Dragonfly. If it turns out to not be humanly possible, I will make it a little easier.

The easiest objective to complete in any amount of time is probably Tricky Tiles, but doing it the fastest possible way is hard.

I'll add a timer later, so it will be easier to track the fastest times.

Story 

There is not a full story yet - just concepts - but I am going to enjoy telling it through the game. The two main characters are Ji and Irla. They are on a journey together!

Mechanics

Health

Ji has health - you can see the health indicator at all times. When the health indicator shrinks all the way and disappears, Ji will die.

Ji loses health when hit by an enemy or projectile. The amount of damage Ji takes depends on the soul combo of the enemy and the soul combo currently held by Ji.

Soul

Enemies and Ji have combinations of soul, which affect their properties like damage, knockback, move speed, friction, etc. Most enemies Ji encounters will have a fixed unknown soul combo.  

Enemies can potentially heal off of some combos instead of taking damage. There is a maximally damaging combo for every enemy.

Ji does not have the ability to heal off attacks the same way enemies do. But Ji will take more or less damage from enemies depending on Ji's and the enemy's soul.

When it comes to calculating damage, the affinities for soul work like this:

• red is strong against green, and weak against blue
• blue is strong against red, and weak against green
• green is strong against blue, and weak against red
• yellow has no strength or weakness - it's neutral

Special Abilities

Ji can use the soul combo to trigger a special ability, but only if that ability has been learned. You can always see the soul combo Irla is holding. Some abilities have a cooldown time.

You start off knowing three special abilities:

• red red red red
  • fire shield: grants temporary invincibility, which prevents most enemy attacks from killing you. Some types of enemy attacks ignore invincibility. Using the flame shield when it's cooldown is active will cause you to take burn damage.
• green green green green
  • dragonfly: enter dragonfly form. Dragonfly Ji moves at a constant speed in one direction until the Attack/Recall button is pressed. Dragonfly Ji cannot call or recall Irla. There is no cooldown for dragonfly.
• red blue green yellow
  • omnigate: teleport to a fixed location. your current location can influence the target location. Ji is invincible after using omnigate, until the teleport finishes. There is no cooldown for omnigate.
• yellow yellow yellow yellow
  • cloud: Ji enters cloud form automatically when this soul combo is held. Cloud Ji has no ability you can activate (and thus no cooldown). However, Cloud Ji can still throw Irla.

Irla

Irla will fly forever when thrown, only returning when recalled or upon hitting something. Irla will return instantly to Ji's side when recalled. Irla always points the direction Ji is aiming to throw.

Controls

i - add red soul

o - add blue soul

p - add green soul

[ (left square bracked) - add yellow soul

; (semicolon) - throw / recall Irla

' (single quote) - use current soul combo

right,left,down,up - move Ji

Issues

• At least on my platform, I can only hear the game's audio when I already have audio playing in another application. That's not a great description of the problem, but I haven't had time to look into it yet. If that happens on other platforms, it would be nice to know! Just leave a comment or something.
• The windows build may or may not be broken - I would like to know if it doesn't work for you.