Well, this is a first.

My first year without anything published. First such year since… 2004 or so. Not a game, not a comic book, nothing. But there’s a good reason for this.

Nothing was published, yet so very much was created.

Let me elaborate.

The era of free, small games is long over, a sentiment cemented last year by the ending of “10 Gnomes” and “Where is?…” series of games that were born in the online web browser flash era of days gone.

Would you believe there were people caught by surprise, that the 12-year project of 10 Gnomes ended after 12 years. Shocking, I know.

So this year it came as a no surprise to me that there were people asking where is “Where is 2023?” game, after the series clearly ended last year. Clearly. This series ended so much, that I even wrote about it in last year’s wrap-up.

Now. Let’s take a look:

Plan A

Submachine: Legacy. The remaster of all Submachine games smashed together into one, giant Steam release. I need to write completely new engine for this. I also need to retouch some graphics that clearly need some love after a decade of remaining small-sized web games. I also need to export all of those graphics from flash, animate all moving things in Spine 4.0 or newer and finally create all logic from scratch in Game Maker Studio 2.37 or newer. Is this all doable in one year?… Let’s see.

2022 was the first year of working on just one project. That project being the remaster of all Submachine games.

This was my workflow goal since a long time ago, being able to focus on just one project at a time. Now, some people say this may lead to a burnout, and they might be right, though I never experienced that during development of any Submachine game. The solution to this conundrum is simple – long time ago I was also a comic book author, some of you might remember. Switching between two drastically different projects lets you avoid burnout if you feel tired doing one thing for months on end. This hasn’t happened to me yet, but I still have around 5 comic books on the back burner in case I get tired of creating games. Which I assume will happen after the release of Submachine: Legacy. This will be the year of the shift.

But first, let me walk you through the development process of 2022. After taking a brief sabbatical after finishing Slice of Sea, which realistically ended some time after game release (fixing bugs, adding features, monitoring comments and reviews for possible gameplay improvement opportunities etc) I started writing Submachine game template from scratch in Game Maker Studio 2 in March of 2022.

Why from scratch, you might ask, since I already had the template of Slice of Sea to use?

Writing templates from scratch is probably the best part of game development. Everything is fresh, new, the code is not bloated, you find all your own new paths, you get a boost of confidence in your skill, everything is fine and dandy. Even if you wrote particular chunks of code before you write them anew, looking for improvements that you can make on the way.

the only thing I took from Slice of Sea was the inventory, which to this day I consider as my pinnacle of development achievement and the best thing to happen to my point and click games since… Well, since I got the idea to create the first Submachine back in 2005. It’s that good. In my opinion. Which will surely change in few years.

But Submachine navigation is something completely different from what was implemented in Slice of Sea. You had your Seaweed to move around there, remember? In Submachine you just point and click, no walking of any kind is involved. More over, from time to time I still get those things called “ideas” on how to code things in a better and more efficient way. You see, I had one of those “ideas” in early 2022, so all Submachine template preparation I did before that went straight to trash. Well, proverbially, because I maniacally archive everything I create and keep it on external drives as well as on my PC and my server. At least four copies of all projects. Don’t get me started about archiving things, it’s a long story for another time. So all preparation went to a folder in my archive to never be seen or used again.

But that new template, man, that was something to behold. It went so smoothly, that in one month I already had all mechanics implemented. The movement mechanics are so slick that I even had all locations (rooms) from all Submachines added to that new template by the end of April. All traversable and ready for navigation. I was so very focused in by then, design milestones were flying by, in May I had all necessary logic for creating a playable point and click game (finding items, using items, saving object states, inventory, movement and so on).

And then, in May, I entered another development milestone. The one I’m still in right now… Recreating all active elements and animations using Spine Animation and adding all puzzles to the game. The real meat of the game. Recreating complete Submachine Ancient Adventure took me about a week. Submachine 1 – two weeks. Submachine 2 – a month. You see the pattern? Remember that each consecutive game is bigger and more complex than the previous one? Yeah, and here we are in January of 2023 and I’m still recreating puzzles and active elements, by now in Submachine 8. I barely managed to finish recreating Submachine 7 in December of 2022. Mind you – two biggest chapters are still ahead of me, and one of them is Submachine 10, which in itself is like 5 other games put together size-wise. So yeah, the task of compressing 10 years of game development into one big game for Steam is taking it’s time. I know that’s not a problem for you, you will wait as long as it takes to get final build of the game that is up to my standards. I’m not burned out, I am working on the game every day and I can’t wait to finish it and show you guys the result. I can’t wait to see your reactions to the Legacy. But for that – we all have to wait a bit longer.

Plan B

Submachine Card Game. Preparing a Kickstarter (or Indiegogo) campaign. Once funded – print them decks, send to backers and release the game worldwide. There are countless more steps to this entire thing, but these are biggest milestones. I also want to create loads of youtube videos going over rules and unclear situations that might occur during gameplay.

I decided to release this game after the release of Submachine: Legacy. I count on the fact that Steam release might help a bit with popularity of this here card game. So we wait. It is still done and ready, still waiting for Kickstarter campaign, still being played from time to time, being tweaked and improved, some cards are in, some are out, you know the drill. It’s not dead, dammit!

So let’s look ahead to 2023. Even though we know exactly what is in the oven.

Plan A

Submachine Legacy. Finishing and releasing the game on Steam. Please remember that finishing all in-game puzzles is not the end of development. After that comes entire late-development phase, which includes adding all notes (yeah, I still haven’t decided how to display those, that’s why it’s pushed back to the later stage of development), creating intro, outro, cinematics between chapters, also let’s not forget entire sound design that I have to do with ThumpMonks on board. So there is still a lot of work to do. Be patient. I know you are. Be more patient. It will be worth it. I can’t wait either.

Plan B

Submachine Card Game. Plan minimum here is creating Kickstarter campaign and seeing what comes of it. Then plan and execute accordingly. I know, all I’m saying here is  sweet nothings, but hey. I’m neck deep in the Legacy and don’t think about this project that much. Some progress will be made here. Maybe.

Plan C

Blaki 5. Yes, a comic book. Would you believe it. I want to at least try to come back to the idea of drawing a comic book. Try to remember how to do it, at least begin painting that new album. At least try. You know, this entire album is already written and sketched out. All I have to do is draw and paint it. That’s all. So little, yet so much. Just try to begin. You can do this. One page. Maybe just one, single page for the new album. Is that too much? Let’s wait and see.

~~

Ok guys, enough of this pep talk. I just found out Heilung released new album, so I’m off to buy it and plaster it all over my eardrums while I figure out that insane Submachine 8 layering mechanic. Figuring new Submachine mechanics is tight!

See you in a year.

I hope.

art by Marina

February 27th 2018

– project created

March 14th 2018, PI day

– pre-alpha
– platform + pnc combined (without documents and pictures)

May 20th 2018

– First hand-drawn sketch of a location
– idea of creating entire game by hand on paper appears

October 18th 2018

– small changes to inventory sprites and mechanics
– all major decisions made by now :: ha ha, :D, lol, [19.03.2021]
– game will be hand drawn, lightly watercoloured :: lol nope [10.06.2021]
– locations will have ocean/desert theme :: ah, sweet, innocent times of dreams and plans… [21.09.2021]

January 2019

– changed mechanics for entering/exiting doors/screens to allow multiple entry ways on one screen (exiting via specific door, not previously saved position)
– pressure plate + btn combo

February 2019

– bridge mechanics
– wiggle/animating leafs
– blockable bar door
– disappearing cursor when fading, animating
– new cursor – pen nib
– hero going into door and exiting on the same screen
– darkening hero sprite while goint into door
– item finder reacts to hover

March 2019

– vertical lift
– horizontal float
– game goes to .anime when going into doors
– added draw_curve, item debris, screen shake
– inventory items, levers, buttons check if cursor already is on them when room starts (mouse_over doesn’t execute in that case)
– bugfix: item disappearing from inventory when neighbouring item is picked up while fast cursor movement (issue with not executing mouse_leave fast enough) fixed in item draw action
– hero scaling (0.5, 1, 2)
– pressure plate once
– raising flag
– inventory max items
– valve system
– advanced lever (drawing body, lever, screw, back)
– item nest / storage
– multisave (separate “load game” menu)
– bugfix: saving system retooled to fit multisaving
– stashboxes (empty; with set items; with randomized items)
– graphical design, sketches for backgrounds and separate elements
– delete all saves btn
– moving power lines (gfx)

April 2019

– hero debris bugfix
– proximity lampka
– proximity lampka count machine
– proximity door
– all saves taken msg bugfix
– randomized stashbox bugfix
– play spatial sound once
– sketches
– pressure plate sensitive objects
– ingame btn tutorial
– bouncing scale objects
– responsive menu btns

May 2019

– insertable objects (keys, levers etc) via sprite_draw_part (obsolete thanks to spine bounding box) :D
– fading to menu after deleting all saves one by one
– dynamic settings btns description
– draw texture flush optimisation
– spine: float_01, pressure plate, cave door, btn bar, slide door, windmill
– sinus wave
– stone weight chain door
– menu btns animations
– interactive bat/fly
– more sketches…

June 2019

– sketches
– ink: mountains

July 2019

– inking locations 1,2,3

August 2019

– vacation :D

September 2019

– break for submachine card game…
– inking locations 3

October 2019

– inking locations 3, 4

November 2019

– inking locations 4, 5

December 2019

– room sketches
– hero debris scale
– samples of inked, texture-colored locations (cave, shell)
– new game button transparent if inactive :D

January 2020

– major bugfix – scr_fade didn’t return zoom (camera_set_view_size) to 1 after finishing fading, fixed in scr_fade_destroy o_0
– shortened fade delay when hero enters door (scr_hero_alarm_0) (quicker transition)
– image_xscale/yscale w o_hero_debris_dirt
– reworked curve line anchors and behaviour (Added slight wind movement based on line angle instead of anchor x,y movement)
– added curve width (draw primitive > draw line)
– r001 initiated with graphics
– scanning ink locations
– major update – moving backgrounds based on hero movement (front & horizon)
– tetsing watercolor/ink shadows/clouds
– hero debris cloud
– refined hero debris (dirt)
– background clouds movement
– shadow texture
– color texture
– item name display with bgr
– item name display while taken
– cloud sprites and objects
– hero sprite color based on room lighting settings (ambient color)
– refined item used debris (dirt + cloud)
– inventory full message on screen (in style of inventory item opis)
– animation top and bottom black stripe
– black frame around scr_shake (hides extruding sprite parts)
– [bgr photoshop coloring crunch]
– major update: separate hero collision detection with walls and doors depending on hero scale (room 22…)
– improved animations of going in and out of doors
– 22 Jan – color change that changed everything
– [bgr photoshop coloring crunch restarted from scratch…]
– bridge patrol object (looking at hero checking if lever available)
– lamp / light particles

February 2020

– improved optimisation (sprite flush)
– loading horizons from included files (sprite_add, sprite_delete) (hr001)
– loading fronts from included files (fr001)
– loading main stage background from included files (br001)
– reworked anchor mechanics
– karna shards > included files
– clouds > included files
– scr_hand, scr_idle (from sub engine)
– room thumbnails > included
– credits > included
– bugfixes in cursor behavior in menus
– adding all train locations to the game
– changed light beam particle behaviour (reset & x_dir)
– adding town locations to the game

March 2020

– adding harbor/shipyard locations
– adding seabed locations
– tweaking lamp particle behavior
– setting seaweed spawn in room after loading saved game
– cleaning library
– added stashbox sprite as included json
– reworked stashbox mechanics
– changed the look of stashbox item nests to match main inventory
– pressure plate, flag, doors > spine json included files
– disabled item description when in hand (collided with alerts)
– added onscreen alerts when using larva on doors (in inventory description area) > [larva scrapped in 2021 – moved to future dmt maybe?…]
– cleaning library from frame by frame sprites (doors, bars, etc)
– final bridge animation
– new fronts for mountains, trains
– [Covid-19 quarantine since March 12th…]
– new room 143 (stables in dead end harbor)
– adding new fronts and rooms to the game

April 2020

– rest of mountain missing backgrounds
– rest of trains missing backgrounds
– rest of town missing backgrounds
– all new bgr photoshopped and added to the game
– bugfix – cursor not hiding for fade when hero falls off bottom of the screen
– color change in 024, 025 wood: blue > grey blue
– fr change in 083 – removed moving black wood structure from fr, changed to simple front static in the middle
– disabled texture flush, since only 1 texture page remains, all other sprites loaded from files

May 2020

– ship ink locations
– milestone: all ink br locations done by May 17th
– coloring ship locations
– adding ahio locations to the game

June 2020

– photoshop retouch
– updating hero color in dark places (town, shipyard, tanker)
– tree fronts in town
– gothic buttresses added
– horizon watercolor sketches
– horizon ink/pencil/marker sketches
– sun texture
– change of colors in r033 – raider train
– exec decision: horizons made in 3B pencil, textured in PS. (outline colored rgb 28-89-106)
– unified front and horizon clouds (same size, different movement speed)
– bugfix – removed memory leak of scr_sprite_folder (loading first sprite to measure without removing it later before loading centered sprite)
– change in cloud loading (moving x and y instead of liadong twice)
– added front BIG cloud (3000 px wide) in front of everything, more dynamic movement of front
– horizon movement speed tweaked
– bugfix: floating platform in abe location
– added door side wall in perspective in r126 (zuraw) + darkened shade door
– fixed clipping through foreground in r146 (front containers)
– final version of horizon pencil drawing (r001)
– added new layer for sky texture, separate from horizon
– removed floating table in r102

July 2020

– pencil horizon (hr) drawings and implementation (mnt, train)
– changed further horizon color from greyish to blueish
– fixed bug in o_sky initial position in Abe location (r022) resulted in sky moving at start of room
– all mnt and train horizons drawn and added to the game
– start of pencil hr for town

August 2020

– town pencil hr cont.

September 2020

– town pencil hr cont.
– moving cumulus on the horizon
– changed GMS2 version to 2.3, then reverted promptly back to 2.5.5 (2.3 laggy – loading external files to ram) :/
– new front big_clouds (10 in total)
– shipyard pencil hr
– dynamic random front big_clouds (choose from 1 to 10)
– refinement (graphical tweaks, cleaning drawings, changing / adding colors, etc)
– added screentones to hr drawings in shipyard loc

October 2020

– seabed pencil hr
– tanker pencil hr
– milestone: 6.X.2020 – all pencil hr done
– adding screentones to all hr
– adding cloud_big layer to rest of rooms (train, town)
– tibet door spine and code animation (wheels and lines)
– fixed small bug with entering anime state (player now falls down if in midair when anime triggers instead of floating)
– wires animated in spine instead of using draw_curve (draw_curve = jagged lines)
– tibet flags spine animation (customizable setup to change poles, colors and flag number in GMS)
– bridge and rail as separate objects, solved layering issue with drawn bridge approached from right
– scr_move() in wires, flags moved to [begin step] to avoid uwanted movement in relation to fr, hr
– o_wiatrak animated via spine + code
– tibet flags on wires spine animation
– submachine floats spine animation
– nautilus spine animation
– tibetan drums rotating cylinders spine animation
– seabed debris objects
– r004 stashbox
– trees spine animation
– fixed greyed alpha on semi transparent elements of spine animations (premultiply alpha = off)
– bugfix: setting hero_xspeed to 0 when entering anime, prevents clouds from floating backwards in animation triggered while hero moving left
– failsafe on stashboxes that don’t have set items – making them display global ransom stash items from scr_randomize_stash
– final graphical design of clouds: front, back and big

November 2020

– wire anchors and posts
– lamps
– distrubution of background elements throughout entire game:
– clouds hr
– anchors and wires hr, br and fr
– reworked spine animations for wires for optimising load times (wires built from straight line in png 1000×10 px)
– submachine floats hr, br
– nautilus hr, br, fr
– reworked nautilus hr and br spine builds – smaller png atlas
– seabed archeo debris
– reworked tibet flags to randomize flag pattern, flag pole kind and save it’s state
– flags hr, br, fr
– windmill br
– reworked cumulus (following o_horizon, not o_moving) – horizon is the closest obj to cumulus for them to compare speed to, binding them to o_sky or o_moving made cumulus movement janky
– karma shards in trains, town and shipyard
– reef tubes animated + bubbles
– weed ears in reef shrooms (weed) creation logic (scr_weed), graphics and spine animation and distribution (br, fr, hr)
– bubbles final ink gfx
– chest stash “3D” spine animation
– game LOGO final design
– gauges gfx and logic
– Soulstorm Brew bottles gfx and map placement
– o_hero.point_of_interest variable to look at during game in animation state
– invisible passage indicator (flags with “s” hieroglyph)
– windmill 76
– tumbleweeds
– included files structure reorganized (static folder)
– logo spine animation
– logo machine for title reveal
– inventory item alpha variables for idle, hover, taken, other taken
– script polishing
– menu bgr movement based on panoramic_view mechanic
– game settings buttons changed from shells to cogs
– updated o_btn_load_saved_game gfx and design
– code cleaning and tweaking

December 2020

– Seaweed ink spine animation (spr_hero_4, spr_hero_5)
– new fr in town locations shown in title reveal trailer
– inventory item state alpha tweaking
– inventory item description present when taken
– animation stripes position changeable depending on room (for dark inside rooms like 007)
– game reveal trailer, steam store, reddit and website released (Dec 8th)
– code and library cleaning (renaming older sprites to s_ prefix, ojects to o_ prefix, moving older jsons to folders, dev mode vars integrating)
– achievement: daredevil
– achievement: parkour
– unused sr, hr removed from included files (rooms 001 – 165)
– cloud_big, cloud_front lower y when o_hero is low – mostly in town loc
– scr_move_bbox for o_front, o_horizon, o_sky and o_cloud_big to prevent showing sprite edge – movement boud to bbox_top, bbox_bottom
– hero saving precise x, y position and x, y image scale (removed saving through doors and spawners)
– debugging that shit^ because it broke the game (saving and loading hero scale in “small hero” locations)
– reworked scaling, hero sprite from external json, separate sprite for small hero
– o_saver to save hero position right before seaweed falls off cliff (to force position save without user saving by pressing ESC)
– fixing code regarding hero scale, changing older references from my_scale=0.5 to my_scale=0
– removed hero scale control from o_god – hero scale is controlled only by o_hero, o_door and o_hero_make_small (issue fixed)
– o_wiggle_math and o_wiggle_anim as global objects with children loadidng sprites from included, also reworked logic
– game is taking a screenshot when saving (screen_save_part) to use as thumbnails on “load game” page (!)
– hero carried jump height lowered when jumping from big to small hero scale (o_hero_make_small)
– changed o_hero.image_xscale set up in scr_hero_load_carry_variables from room_width dependent to reading carried image_xscale in ds_hero_carry_map
– fixed fatal crash due to o_god.current_spawn not existing (in dev mode using key shortcuts, but still, fatal is fatal)
– complete code refactoring
– optimalisation: sprites for all clouds, wires and flags preloaded into o_god to prevent sprite_adding them each time a room starts
– optimalisation: o_fade fade_max changed from 1.1 to 1 for quicker rooms transition
– o_hero in outdoor state uses color_merge to appear coming out of shadow
– pause menu
– ds_list_clear(ds_inventory) and scr_inv_hide() added to rm_menu room start to remove current inventory – otherwise it messes up “new game” option
– pause settings menu
– inventory inactive alpha and poziom_inv when cursor away (inv_alpha_sensor)
– wiatrak_proper blades are rotating (r103 hr and r109 br)
– o_laser (laser beam detecting if hero breaks it)
– fronts in town and shipyard
– scr_add uses o_blank and instance_change to pass variables to new proper instance create event without fail. Win!
– scr_act uses instance_deactivate_object and instance_activate_object to control puzzle states. Another win.
– additional seaweed size bugfixes (scale 0 locations in trains)
– change of tibet ropes color
– achievement: seaweed, not tumbleweed
– bugfix: removing fatal crash when item_draw call non existent item_stack
– resetting active_sounds ds_map when going back to mainmmenu after pausing the game
– o_lamp_white using c_color to alter colors of the instance

January 2021

– missing fronts in trn, twn, hbr, shd
– entire room 102 scaled down, to match other interior locations
– fixed mus_on=1 and sfx_on=1 settings bug in listener_init
– reworked o_krata mechanic
– o_lamp_tow (the outer worlds wall laser lamp)
– fixed shards layering conflicts with main_static and o_hero
– roadblock puzzle in r010
– fixed inventory clipping from under o_anime_pasek when it’s displayed too high (r007)
– wheels following front cloud
– o_proxy_glow
– all missing fronts done
– r080, r078 railings
– r108 barrier (boxes)
– o_zoom
– cursor zoom state
– exit btn white
– bugfix: exit btn in pause state snd_btn not playing fixed
– hr and sr in r152 (inside ship) – last missing drawing
– bugfix: fr clipping on top when hero too high on screen (r148) + r078 redrawn not to clip
– fr extracted from br in ship
– new fr in ship
– final ship additions
– r152 front pipes moving separately from fr
– rooms 1-165 br, fr, hr, sr all done
– final touches on all background graphics so far

February 2021

– puzzle design
– o_chain
– r010 roadblock
– r056 hero scale set to 0 (running in further part of the br)
– r056 / r058 clickable back door
– pressure plates (type 1, 2, left, mid, right)
– iventory items only pickable when hero idle or walking (preventing jumping onto pressure plate while holding item)
– sprite extensions in anime_pasek (black rectangles above and below)
– thorgal sequence
– inventory item removes itself in god anime state – when anime is triggered by using an inventory item. Separate switch in item step event.
– deactivated item_finder scaling when hovering over it
– zoomable inventory items (to look at, not use)
– zoomable inventory item acts normally when there’s an opened stash on screen (can be taken in hand and put away in the stash)
– o_stash opens automatically when item in hand is hovering over it
– tibet crooked tower sequence
– abe location sequence
– o_map, o_transporter
– end-of-tibet force field
– scr_snd_pitch using streamed sounds

March 2021

– proxy lamp intro (r028)
– proxy lamp autonomous glow particles tied to target lamp
– laser inverted (o_laser_left, o_laser_right)
– trains puzzles
– scr_electric_arc (from submachine primer)
– r023 levers bug fix (not registering after 1st move)
– o_map mechanics
– inventory map item (warp rune)
– map saving discovered locations ds_list
– seaweed spine enter door animation uses separate sprite for backside torso
– heaven gates + heaven rooms architecture (166, 167, 168)
– r169 – additional town tunnel
– glyph finders
– o_scroll
– tibet drums logic
– steam achievement codebreaker
– heaven loc graphics (br, hr, fr, sr)
– teleports graphics, animation

April 2021

– trains puzzles cont.
– sound design with ThumpMonks
– song by Cat Jahnke
– fixed timing on step debris / step sound
– outdoor / indoor seaweed step, jump, fall sounds
– item finder from animation frame
– r170 (trains)
– pre-town puzzles (wall gate)
– town puzzles
– all map locations

May 2021

– town puzzles cont.
– mouse hand disabled when screen shaking
– o_wiggle_mouse
– rotary proxy lamps
– o_stash_repo_1 > [cut content]
– o_stash_repo_multi > [cut content]
– stash dymek as separate object
– May 13th 2021 – right click inventory system
– music check in every room scr_mus_update
– new stash system, evalued from new inventory
– stash separator centered between stash and inventory displays
– book case stash for notes and books only
– tibet drums turnable only after seeing corresponding note
– ship puzzles
– additional train puzzles

June 2021

– town puzzles cont.
– ship puzzles cont.
– additional train puzzles cont.
– major fix: saving stashes after init, because if stash was not seen, it becomes empty when load game
– all stashes done
– all item displays
– gnome achievement
– shipyard puzzles
– seabed puzzles
– puzzles everywhere

July 2021

– puzzles everywhere at the end of time
– zoom state finder (lokomotif)
– milestone: all puzzles done (July 25th => lol)
– refactoring
– bugfix: separate o_act_item for tablica suwak sliders (o_act_item_suwak_1, o_act_item_suwak_3)
– r172 gfx
– new floating platform logic (still trash though), gfx and spine animation
– mouse wiggles
– r025 tile puzzle
– hero wiggle refactoring

August 2021

– hero wiggles refactor
– straw wiggles
– [6-29 = Chorwacja]

September 2021

– heaven lever sounds
– gfx tweaks and clean up
– changed shipyard crane card reader mechanic (no hovering needed)
– controls btn in ingame settings
– gnome screw + gnome symbol on rudder
– scrolls save update (fr objects)
– bugfix: missing stash_lighthouse save loading (game breaking bug – ds_list not loading and crashing the game)
– controls menu
– heaven valve sounds
– btn_exit aqua version for map menu
– r069 gate code protruding to avoid suggesting item nests
– snd_let_me_go_home
– new version of snd_use
– milestone: all sounds and music done
– btn_load_saved_game bugfix (corrupted non clickable, delete save 10 proper sigdisplay)
– ink: main menus, controls, intro, outro, inhabitants
– photoshop main menu br, pause br
– controls final gfx
– bugfix: prevent seaweed stuck on o_abe_plate after saving and loading game on that plate
– seaweed animations in main menus
– subnautica fish
– debris items
– refactoring random stash pool
– inhabitants / characters
– BUGFIX: animations stopping always, not only in game_state.idle – prevents animations from not stopping in inv or pause
– BUGFIX: added scr_block / unblock to prevent opening inventory or pausing game while small animation is playing (animation that doesn’t trigger anime state)
– refactoring/bugfix animations not stopping at anime_pause while pause/inventory
– softlock failsafe: hero stuck in jumping/falling state (o_hero alarm_1) occoured once, can’t replicate

October 2021

– characters cd
– coins, spotted seashells distro
– tutorials
– intro
– outro
– bugfix: stash_lighthouse part 2: fixed ds_list not saving after init (when game reloaded stash was empty) in scr_stash_2_save_all
– credits
– in-game achievements
– steam api + achievements
– stash-size-active librarian aniamtions
– removed old inventory logic (scr + objects)
– final betatesting
– Oct 27th – sent to Valve for verification
– Oct 28th – game accepted by Valve
– localization prep

November 2021

– achievements blocked if steam is not initialised
– failsafe hero position not carrying over in scr_hero_load_carry_variables (added idle state to carrying + reworked respawning)
– reworked hero_make_small, hero_make_big logic to be triggered by hero, not other
– block god esc (saving) when hero is on floating platform (heaven)
– font variable set in o_god
– localization pl
– langugage settings menu
– new main font: comfortaa (latin ext)
– stash names bug fix (library was accepting non-books after switching language in room r092)
– alerts language fix
– inventory item description stash_opis position tweak (font specific x, y offsets)
– localization (21 languages)
– final betatesting
– prerelease 8/11/2021
– door-flag hint in 035 (apparently going in between trains is not obvious) :D
– 1.0.0 (11/11/2021) release build

release

1.0.1 (11/11/2021)
– esc disabled in main menu (prevents game from closing when in main menu and alt-tabbing)

1.0.2 (12/11/2021)
– added more clearly visible passage between trains in r035 (stairs and handrail)
– fixed stashes behind drum/picture in r024 not stopping animation when [close stash] > [move the picture] too quickly
– anime skip btn no loger activates mouse enter when invisible (sound)
– unnotarized mac build sent to patrons
– language fix (spanish, latin)

1.0.3 (13/11/2021)
– language fix (japanese, porto B, porto P)

1.0.4 (13/11/2021)
– volume slider in settings
– steam screenshots enabled
– language fix (italian)
– rudder screws in r163 active only in o_god idle state (were making noise when clicking on them with inv item)
– bugfix: hero entering door while reacting was causing game crash – blocked

1.0.5 (14/11/2021)
– map portals active only when hero is idle or walking

1.0.6 (15/11/2021)
– esc key doesn’t work anymore in main menu (alt-tabbing doesn’t return to main menu)
– language fix (russian, hungarian)
– disabled game saving itself in the outro (via alt-tabbing or quitting or steam overlay)

1.0.7 (17/11/2021)
– language fix (multiple)

1.0.8 (18/11/2021)
– language fix (chinese T and S)
– fixed clipping gfx error in hr152

1.0.9 (22/11/2021)
– language fix (finnish)
– gfx change: symbol on monitors in r149 changed to be more visible for sight impaired players
– scrolls opening sound only in game_state.idle;

1.0.10 (23/11/2021)
– Mac build fixes (proximity door, o_wiatrak)
– door tutorials in r035, r002, r004

1.0.11 (24/11/2021)
– reworked screenshot mechanic to properly take save screenshots in windowed mode

1.0.12 (25/11/2021)
– scr_unblock when door finishes animation in r074
– one more russian language fix…
– one more german language fix…

December 2021

1.0.13 (21/12/2021)
– croatian language fixes
– added Korean language
– thank you note at the end of the game

January 2022

1.0.14 (9/1/2022)
– removed arrow sign and steps from r035 (they unnecessarily doubled door tutorial function)
– door tutorials in rooms: 38, 69, 93, 101, 131, 135, 137

1.0.15 (16/1/2022)
– ALT key saves the game (to prevent softlocking after ALT+F4 is used to close the game)
– o_r043_crane lever bugfix (save on item use, not frame 30 – prevents softlock after ALT+F4 while animation goes from 0 to 30)
– o_r055_wieko bugfix (scr_unblock added to animation end and item collect – prevents softlock after ALT+F4 while animation is playing)

February 2022

1.0.16 (7/2/2022)
– scr_save > saves immediately to savefile (to prevent softlocks when game crashes)
– scr_inv_save > saves immediately to savefile (to prevent softlocks when game crashes)
– scr_stash_2_save > saves immediately to savefile (to prevent softlocks when game crashes)
– scr_init_var > to use when new game starts to save all initial variables – so they don’t save to file 20 times at once

1.1.0 (8/2/2022)
– switched to GMS2 IDE v2.3.6.595 (Runtime v2.3.6.464) [last IDE before requirement for Spine 4]
– graphical change in br095 to emphasize proxy lamp placement on the wall
– laser beams widened from 2px to 4px
– fixed seaweed jump / landing animations in Spine (10 frames > 60 frames) for proper animation mixing
– removed all debris inventory items
– r137 – one coin moved from ground to treasure pot (one slot freed by removing debris items)
– r024 – tile_2 moved from trashcan to wardrobe

1.2.0 (11/2/2022)
– switched from GMS IDE v2.3.6.595 to newest IDE v2022.1.1.610 / Runtime v 2022.1.1.483
– switched from Spine 3.7.94 to Spine 4.0.61
– updated all Spine animations (export in 4.0.61)

Slice of Sea – mořská řasa na cestě domů.

Logická adventura s názvem Slice of Sea je zajímavým počinem od vývojáře Mateusze Skutnika. Slice of Sea je hra ručně kreslená na papír, v naprosto unikátním stylu. Společně s mořskou řasou budete prozkoumávat pustý svět, sbírat předměty, řešit hádanky, a hlavně se budete snažit najít cestu domů.

Dobrodružství mořské řasy.

Slice of Sea je jednou z těch her, ve kterých naleznete spoustu předmětů a některé z nich jsou skryté přímo před vašima očima. Je tedy potřeba dávat velký pozor v každé oblasti. Tento aspekt hry vám nejspíše bude silně připomínat hru Samorost. Je zábavný a klade velký důraz na malé detaily v daných oblastech.
Slice of Sea je trošku osamělejší dobrodružství. Není tu mnoho NPC, se kterými by se dalo komunikovat. A tak vaším nejlepším společníkem v této hře bude vaše tichá mořská řasa, která zoufale hledá cestu domů. Bohužel zde nenaleznete ani příliš mnoho vyprávění, což je trochu škoda, protože svět kolem vás je tajemný a působivý a jistě by mu nějaké pěkné vyprávění slušelo. Ze hry Slice of Sea jsem ale měla pocit, že je v ní jakési podtextové vyprávění o životním prostředí.

Hádanky.

Hádanky v Slice of Sea jsou poměrně přímočaré. Najdeme tu sekvenční hádanky, ale i hádanky, které se dají vyřešit jen pomocí vodítek z prostředí. V tomto dvou- až tříhodinovém dobrodružství je tak akorát hádanek, aby to hráče neunudilo a zároveň aby hra zůstala stále poutavá. Hra se hodně opírá o průzkum prostředí, a tak hádanky občas nebývají příliš obtížné. Najdou se zde však i hádanky, které jsou pro hráče doslova výzvou. Některé z hádanek dokonce zahrnují do svého řešení různá zařízení a struktury, které jsou neznámé, skoro až mimozemské. Což od hráče vyžaduje trochu více myšlení. Občas také musí hráč některé hádanky řešit i v několika oblastech naráz, aby došel ke kýženému cíli.

Něco jako Metroidvania.

Slice of Sea vás bude posílat zpět na místa, která jste už prošli. Avšak nyní jsou v těchto oblastech nově přístupné doposud zamčené lokace díky nově získanému předmětu. Hra dost spoléhá na to, že hráč si bude pamatovat všechny místa, kam se musí vrátit. Upřímně přiznávám, že po hodině hraní už jsem nevěděla, ani kde některá místa leží a jak se k nim dostat. Nepomohly mi ani teleportovací body, které sice šetří čas díky rychlému cestování mezi oblastmi, ale ke konci je jich tolik, že v nich začíná být chaos. Doporučuji si dělat poznámky, kde ještě co zbývá, ať nemusíte zbytečně běhat čtyřicet minut kvůli nalezení konkrétního místa.

Herní mapa.

Herní mapa Slice of Sea se povětšinou skládá z polí, jež směřují doprava nebo doleva. Občas se sice stane, že hráč může jít také nahoru a poté do stran, nebo také vstoupit do různých budov, jeskyní, vlaků a podobně. Toto vše vytváří rozvětvené cesty, ve kterých je velice snadné se ztratit. Dá se tak říci, že navigace mezi oblastmi není úplně nejlepší. Určitě by jí pomohlo lepší označení.

Moře detailů.

Slice of Sea si zakládá na velkém množství drobných detailů, které najdete na každém poli, kterým vaše mořská řasa projde. Od zrezivělých konstrukcí, vyřezávaných pilířů až po propracované město, vlaky a různé mechanické stroje. Je vidět, že autor svému dílu věnoval opravdu hodně lásky, neboť se to odráží na každém kousku obrazu, jejž namaloval. Společně s mořskou řasou projdete pouštním prostředím, uměle vytvořenými prostory a vše je spojeno do něčeho velmi estetického a zároveň je tu cítit i hluboká atmosféra.

Hudba.

Atmosféru ve hře Slice of Sea dokresluje i hudba. Melodické klavíry s ambientní ozvěnou a temné syntezátory pomáhají dotvořit tento tajemný svět. Tato kombinace melodie tak propůjčuje vašemu průzkumu místa ponurý nádech. Tuto skvělou hudbu vytvořili Thumpmonks. Určitě mnoho hráčů zaujme i ústřední píseň hry Slice of Sea, již napsala a nazpívala Cat Jahnke. Tato píseň nese název Let me go home.

8.5/10

[source]

Slice of Sea: A Pretty, Pixel-Hunting Point-and-Click Puzzle!

Slice of Sea is a heavily stylised adventure and puzzle game with primarily point-and-click style gameplay. Players take on the role of Seaweed and explore the desolate, dust-filled world in which they must collect items, solve puzzles and lead seaweed back to the ocean!

Players can control Seaweed with keyboard controls (WASD or arrows) and the characters movements are entirely separate from any mouse interactions as Seaweed does not need to be near an item in order for the interaction to take place. There is a fast travel system that can be accessed from specific points throughout the game to speed up travel. It is also impossible to die, if Seaweed falls to their doom they simply respawn at the location that they fell from.

Whilst there is some variety in the puzzles types, including jigsaw, hidden object and environmental, the majority of the game is made up of familiar inventory-based puzzles. Slice of Sea gets off to a good start in this regard but things soon go downhill.

There are very few interactable objects, some of which are not clear at all and easily missable; this means players are left roaming what eventually becomes a vast and sizeable map in search of one, often obscure detail. There is often little logic or direction, the current objective is often unclear and the lack of a viewable map or hint system means there is no assistance if players get stuck. To further confuse matters, a large number of totally useless items can be collected and stored in the inventory so finding something doesn’t necessarily mean progress.

Slice of Sea features no narration, dialogue or text and contains no explicitly delivered narrative. Unfortunately, the wishy-washy attempt at telling a story through the gameplay and environmental elements is vague and speculative at best. Players will probably know from the game’s description that they are helping the protagonist Seaweed back to the ocean but there is nothing to explain who or where the character is, why they need to get back, why there are broken trains and other machines everywhere, etc.

Since there is very little sense of story progression (if any), motivation to trawl through a laborious pixel-hunt across dozens of scenes is stifled further. This also adds further confusion to the gameplay as players have no idea what Seaweed’s goals are beyond eventually reaching the sea.

Slice of Sea’s aesthetics are its best feature and serve as some consolation for the disappointing and often frustrating gameplay. The unique, hand-drawn artwork has a sketchy, cartoon style with lots of detail and texture and charming animation. The moody colour palette of dark, muted shades perfectly match the dusty, desolate environments full of broken machines and helps create a very atmospheric experience.

The music is similarly evocative and consists of mostly melancholy tunes featuring eerie vocals and the distorted twangs of stringed instruments that complement the visuals well. The minimal sound effects are not especially noteworthy but do help to create a more well-rounded environment overall.

Whilst Slice of Sea has some fantastic artwork and music, this is not enough to counter the convoluted nature of the gameplay. This game has the potential to be very confusing, even with the aid of a walkthrough and is, in my opinion, not a great example of a point-and-click game. I’d only recommend it to those with a keen eye for detail, a good memory and the patience to essentially pixel-hunt their way through the game if/when things become too frustrating. I was looking forward to this game and wanted to enjoy it but struggled to do so beyond the first half an hour.

[source]

You’ve probably played a game like Slice of Sea before: it involves exploring a 2D environment and picking up items that are then used to solve puzzles and get past impeding obstacles. It’s straightforward and easy to jump into.

But as familiar as the gameplay is, the game stands out because of the other factors it has going for it.

LOTS TO DO, LOTS TO SEA.

Slice of Sea is one of those games with a lot of items to find, many hidden in plain sight. This aspect of the gameplay reminded me of Samorost, which also led to me spam-clicking when I got stuck in particular areas. But this aspect of finding items is fun and puts an emphasis on focusing on small details in every area.

Puzzles are fairly straightforward and range from sequence puzzles to those that must be solved using environmental clues. There’s just enough puzzle-solving in this two-hour adventure to keep things engaging throughout. The game tends to lean on more on exploration, though, as puzzles felt secondary, and they aren’t too difficult or obtuse, offering just the right amount of challenge.

Some puzzles involve devices and structures that are more unfamiliar or almost alien, they requiring more outside-the-box thinking. Thankfully, it doesn’t get too ridiculous – like, say, using a dried flower as duct tape or anything like that. It’s more contextually logical in that regard, which I appreciated.

THE OCEAN IS A DESERT WITH ITS LIFE UNDERGROUND.

In order to create a more lonely adventure, there aren’t many NPCs to interact with. There isn’t much of a narrative to get invested in, either, which is a bit of a missed opportunity because the world in which Slice of Sea is set is mysterious and compelling. I do feel, however, that there is a good amount of environmental storytelling which kept me curious enough to see more of the game’s world.

The game has you trek through a number of detailed desolate spaces. Whether decaying manmade machinery or abandoned structures, there is plenty of sightseeing to be had, and it’s all lovingly crafted. There isn’t much of a variety between areas, but I enjoyed exploring the many mysterious locations on display.

There is some backtracking to be had in this game. Kind of like a Metroidvania, Slice of Sea sends you back to places that are now accessible thanks to a newly acquired item. It relies on your ability to remember locales and places, so note-taking is advised. The backtracking doesn’t become an issue, thanks to the fast-travel system implemented into the game, but this doesn’t stop the world layout from becoming confusing at times.

The game map is mostly made up of spaces going left and right, but there are times in which you are able to go up, which then can also go left and right. This creates branching, forked paths to the game which makes it easy to get lost. I wish there was better detail on offer for navigating between areas.

DEEP-SEA ATMOSPHERES.

There is so much detail within every screen of this game! Small details on rusted structures and carved pillars are abundant. Clearly a lot of love went into creating this hand-drawn world. Whether it’s desert environments or abandoned man-made spaces, the muted color palette ties everything together into a very pleasing aesthetic, and the pervasive high level of detail creates something deeply atmospheric.

The atmosphere was also enhanced by Slice of Sea’s musical score. Melodic, ambient echoed pianos and dark moody synths help flesh out the world. It makes exploration feel gloomy and leaves areas feeling more morose. I really appreciate a soundtrack that’s able to make a world feel dark and gloomy while still being melodically pretty enough to make it an enjoyable experience.

Slice of Sea is a puzzle exploration game worth your time. It features captivating visuals along with a stellar score. Exploring can be overwhelming at times, and puzzles offered the right amount of challenge. It’s a wonderfully detailed world that enraptured me. There is a lot to like here, making it a game that is sure to please fans of atmospheric adventure games.

[source]

Slice of Sea wants you to point and click every inch of its hand-illustrated landscapes.

Slice of Sea’s beautiful and soothing façade hides a prickly adventure from the Flash era.

I grew up playing point-and-click adventures, cutting my teeth on Sierra’s crushingly cruel quests before settling down with Lucasarts’ more freewheeling romps, but I would never consider myself an expert at the genre. New adventure game Slice of Sea reminded me why: There are evolutionary branches of the adventure game that my brain is just not made for, and this game is a direct descendant of a particularly demanding and thorny lineage.

Slice of Sea is the latest hand-painted puzzle adventure from prolific comic author and indie developer Mateusz Skutnik, who’s been releasing games since the Flash era. Most notable are the thirteen adventures in his Submachine series and the eight Daymare Town games. These escape room-esque adventures were defined by their detached and lonely vibes. Aside from the occasional scrawled note and item name to nudge players in the right direction, progress came purely through poking and prodding at strange devices across multiple screens, intuiting their connections and purpose. There were no cruel and sudden deaths to suffer, but progress required your intuition to line up with the developer’s intent.

Slice of Sea initially appears to be different. Players control Seaweed, a little oceanic gremlin piloting a pair of Wallace & Gromit-esque techno-trousers. Using the arrow keys (or WASD) you can steer them through a gorgeous watercolour world on a wordlessly-told pilgrimage to return to the ocean. Seaweed can’t do much by themselves, so it’s up to you to click on the world to interact with its many objects and machines.

The biggest twist in Slice of Sea’s point-and-click adventuring is that despite having a character on-screen and an inventory of items, there’s no physical restrictions on what you can interact with. Seaweed standing on one rock pillar and an item you need sitting on another, nowhere within reach? Doesn’t matter. Click and the item just blinks into your inventory, ready to use anywhere.

Much like in the Submachine games, you are a disembodied presence, interacting with the world one click at a time. Aside from having to stand on the occasional pressure sensor, Seaweed is just along for the ride as you clear their path.

What a lovely path it is, too. A softly shaded and beautifully illustrated set of scenes, the world of Slice of Sea is fragmented and crumbling, dusty and desolate but not abandoned. There are pockets of civilization and strange people of many species seemingly disinterested in an ambulatory frond of sea flora bounding past, as if this is just a daily occurrence. A seemingly sealed train car half-buried under a sand dune might contain a passenger engrossed in a book, nonplussed at your arrival. There’s this constant sense that this world—its very laws of physics fraying at the edges—is just doing its own thing as you pass through to somewhere else.

If the intent is for the player to linger on each screen and fully absorb what they see, then it’s reinforced—or forced, really—by constant, repetitive pixel-hunting. Interactable buttons and objects are often just a dusting of pixels wide, even on my massive curved monitor. Optional collectibles (for achievements, mostly) are even more hidden, often appearing camouflaged on distant foreground or background items. I frequently found myself sweeping my cursor back and forth, looking for it to change shape for a moment, indicating that I’d brushed something usable.

Even with steady progress and the occasional peek at a video walkthrough, Slice of Sea took me a whole day to finish, and if I’d not had someone else’s notes to crib from it would have taken far longer. My brain was screaming for a hint; a line of dialogue to tell me what is or isn’t working or just a button to highlight interactable objects and room exits. And yet if Slice of Sea handed me any of those things it would lose its identity as a descendant of the Submachine and Daymare Town games. It would no longer be part of the legacy of Flash adventure gaming. It would no longer be Slice of Sea.

While Seaweed’s journey was more of an uphill struggle than I’d expected, I still enjoyed my time with Slice of Sea, even if I did have to turn to others for assistance. Its world is sumptuous and every new screen is a lushly illustrated treat—an intrinsic reward for progress. Every complaint I could level at it could be considered a positive by fans of Skutnik’s earlier works.

I wish I’d enjoyed it as much as I think they will. This is a treat for people who spent hours patiently puzzling their way through the Submachine series, with detail-oriented minds and eagle-sharp eyes.

As frustrating as my experience with it sometimes was, Slice of Sea really is a treat for the eyes and ears. Seaweed’s adventure took me on a tour of a strange and fascinating twilight world, crumbling to dust but still full of life. It was also a reminder that the point-and-click adventure genre is a bigger, more varied place now than ever, filled with interesting mutations in game design. If you’ve the patience for it, don’t mind a little pixel-hunting and (ideally) cut your teeth on the unforgiving Flash era of escape rooms, Slice of Sea is easy to recommend, and it’s out now on Itch.io and Steam for $24.99/£19.49.

But if like me you found solace in Lucasarts’ easygoing puzzle design, perhaps pass on this trip to the beach. Some sandcastles are best observed from a distance.

[source]

Slice of Sea im Test (PC): Seegang ohne Reiseführer.

Mateusz Skutnik bringt mit Slice of Sea eine salzige Brise auf den heimischen Computerbildschirm. Wir haben das handgezeichnete Point-and-Click-Adventure getestet. Hier unser Urteil!

Wir haben Slice of Sea schon im Februar in die zehn vielversprechendsten Point&Clicks des Jahres 2021 aufgenommen. Damit dürfte die Frage nach dem Genre geklärt sein.

Doch worum geht es eigentlich in dem Abenteuer von Solo-Entwickler Mateusz Skutnik? Diese einfache Frage ist nicht ganz so einfach zu beantworten, denn Slice of Sea verzichtet vollständig auf Worte und Erklärungen.

Wir werden recht unvermittelt ins Geschehen geworfen und machen uns direkt auf den Weg. Jegliche Schrift erinnert an ägyptische Hieroglyphen, sodass die Spielenden bei der Deutung des Geschehens auf sich selbst gestellt sind. Nur die Items sind mit Namen beschriftet. Dass Slice of Sea auch auf Deutsch spielbar ist, bietet also nur einen kleinen Vorteil.

Das Werk eines kreativen Geistes.

Die Beschreibung, die auf Steam zu lesen ist, verrät uns, dass der Protagonist Seaweed sich außerhalb seiner eigentlichen Heimat aufhält. Nicht weiter überraschend, da es sich bei Seaweed um einen laufenden Seetang handelt. Seaweed trägt einen metallenen Anzug, aus dem nur sein Kopf mit den Seetangblättern herausragt.

So gegen seine staubtrockene Umgebung gerüstet, macht er sich auf dem Weg zurück nach Hause. Dabei durchquert er eine ebenso fantastische wie dystopische Welt, die von verfallenen Bauwerken, antiken Ruinen und alter Technik nur so wimmelt. Gigantische Kreaturen durchschweben oder durchwandern den Hintergrund und erschaffen eine Atmosphäre voller majestätischer Melancholie.

Slice of Sea ist komplett auf Papier handgezeichnet. Für die Outlines benutzt Comiczeichner und Entwickler Mateusz Skutnik Tusche, für Hintergründe und Kolorierung kommen Wasserfarben zum Einsatz. So schafft er einen einzigartigen Stil, der durch seinen Detailreichtum und die meergrünen Farben besticht.

Die Umgebungen, die Seaweed durchquert, besitzen alle drei Ebenen: einen Bildvordergrund, in dem Items liegen können; eine Ebene, auf der Seaweed sich hin- und herbewegt und einen Hintergrund, in dem sich die fernen Bauwerke und wandernden Gestalten befinden.

Ein Schritt vorwärts, eine Schnellreise zurück.

Die Steuerung gestaltet sich denkbar simpel: dank Tastatursteuerung kann die Maus frei zur Erkundung des Bildschirms eingesetzt werden. Dabei werden Items eingesammelt, die automatisch in einem unbegrenzten Inventar landen.

Außerdem müssen Maschinen aktiviert, Schalter betätigt und Gegenstände bewegt werden. Das funktioniert zwar intuitiv, es gibt aber keine Möglichkeit, sich die interaktiven Spots anzeigen zu lassen. So haben wir das eine oder andere Mal einen Gegenstand oder ein Rätsel übersehen und mussten umkehren.

Dank eines praktischen Schnellreisesystems mussten wir dabei keine Wanderungen unternehmen, sondern konnten den nächsten Portalstein aufsuchen und zu einem der anderen Portalsteine springen. Das erleichtert das Backtracking, das einen elementaren Bestandteil des Gameplays darstellt.

Immer wieder erhalten wir einen Gegenstand, der uns an einen bereits besuchten Ort zurückführt und dort eine neue Tür öffnet – sprichwörtlich oder tatsächlich. Nicht immer ist direkt ersichtlich, was genau für einen Fortschritt benötigt wird, aber wer die Augen offenhält, kann sich die Zusammenhänge herleiten.

Wahrhaft ein Puzzle-Adventure.

Jene Rätsel bilden das Herzstück von Slice of Sea. Es wird uns Spielerinnen und Spielern selbst überlassen, sie uns zu erschließen. Das kann durchaus herausfordernd sein. Wir haben uns oft den Kopf zerbrochen, wo jenes spezielle Item hingehören könnte, an welcher Ecke wir einen Hinweis übersehen haben oder wo sich das letzte Puzzlestück befinden könnte.

Grundsätzlich funktionieren die Rätsel alle ähnlich. Seaweed setzt Technologie wieder in Gang, die, wenn aktiviert, hellblau aufleuchtet. Viele Türen öffnen sich erst, wenn alle Mechanismen aktiv sind, sodass wir mehrere Bälle gleichzeitig in der Luft halten.

Audiovisuelles Feedback hilft uns, zu erkennen, ob wir uns auf dem richtigen Weg befinden, aber bereits zu einem frühen Zeitpunkt wird ein Notizblock unerlässlich, um die überall verstreuten Hinweise zu notieren – selbst, wenn ihr Zweck noch nicht enthüllt wurde. Denn ein Hinweissystem gibt es nicht, ein Aspekt, der sich gerade für Anfänger als zeitraubend herausstellen dürfte.

Zu den Schwächen von Slice of Sea zählt nicht nur die Kennzeichnung von Interaktionsmöglichkeiten, die leicht zu übersehen sind, sondern auch die von Durchgängen. Es ist öfter passiert, dass wir einen Durchgang und damit ein ganzes Areal übersehen haben, das zur Lösung der Rätsel notwendig war.

Das ist darauf zurückzuführen, dass Seaweed nicht nur nach rechts und links, sondern auch in die Hintergrundebene hineinlaufen kann. Diese Passagen sind nicht immer eindeutig zu erkennen.

Fazit.

Slice of Sea ist ein Point&Click der alten Schule im modernen Gewand. Mateusz Skutnik versteht es meisterhaft, die Puzzle-Elemente miteinander zu verweben und damit unsere Gehirnwindungen zu verknoten. Dabei werden wir nicht mit Tipps verwöhnt.

Wir empfehlen, bei völliger Ratlosigkeit einen Guide zurate zu ziehen, um keinen Frust aufkommen zu lassen. Für den ist in das entspannte Adventure einfach zu friedlich. Atmosphärische Musik, die von Thumpmonks und Cat Jahnke erschaffen wurde, lässt uns tief in diese Welt voller wunderlicher Bewohner und verfallender Zivilisation eintauchen.

Wir hätten uns mehr Interaktionsmöglichkeiten mit nicht lösungsrelevanten Gegenständen und Personen gewünscht, um dem Protagonisten noch mehr Leben einzuhauchen. So verschwindet die rudimentäre Handlung vollständig hinter den Rätseln.

7/10

[source]