Shards of God

Honza · Mon 17/07/2023 14:02:10

On a distant desert planet, a crime has been committed. As Mother Tiabata and Sister Ava set out to solve the mystery, they soon find themselves facing an impossible conundrum: how does one murder a god?

Shards of God is a retro hand-painted point and click murder mystery - think Agatha Christie in a fantasy/sci-fi setting. It was originally started as part of AdvJam2023, and the full game was then finished within two months.

Check it out here:
ITCH | AGS database

Credits:

Written, drawn and coded by Jan Vávra

Music by Paco Diago

Sound by Maxim Grachev

Enjoy!

RootBound · Mon 17/07/2023 15:42:09

I had the pleasure of play testing this game, and it is fantastic. The art and music are amazing and the lore of the setting and story go very deep even though the game is short. The puzzles are logical and not too frustrating. Really great fun with a fascinating story. Highly recommend.

KyriakosCH · Mon 17/07/2023 23:04:13

I will have a look

(first impression is that it is very elegant)

heltenjon · Tue 18/07/2023 00:53:40

I played this today, and I have to agree with RootBound. The game is nothing short of great all around.

The first thing you notice, obviously will be that it looks magnificent and sounds superb. But in addition, is is brilliantly written. The world building is fascinating, and the characters came alive to me. I really enjoyed this a lot.

KyriakosCH · Tue 18/07/2023 07:47:44

I am stuck. How do I

Spoiler

create some background noise, after I've given the priest the scroll to examine?
I have to suppose that after I extract the rod, I will use that in the machine at the forge, to create a knife version - which likely was the murder weapon

[close]

Honza · Tue 18/07/2023 09:22:26

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Tue 18/07/2023 07:47:44I am stuck. How do I
Spoiler
create some background noise, after I've given the priest the scroll to examine?
I have to suppose that after I extract the rod, I will use that in the machine at the forge, to create a knife version - which likely was the murder weapon
[close]

Did you

Spoiler

examine the center-left carving and speak to Catalus about the fact that it needs renovation? You're right about the rest!

[close]

KyriakosCH · Tue 18/07/2023 19:57:08

Thanks ^^ Not sure how I missed that. I thought I had

Spoiler

examined all, multiple times. Maybe it was triggered by talking to the priest only after examining the room - ie it didn't matter if you had examined everything in previous attempts? Anyway, thanks, I will do the rest now.

[close]

Game is great, by the way

Honza · Tue 18/07/2023 20:30:17

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Tue 18/07/2023 19:57:08Thanks ^^ Not sure how I missed that. I thought I had
Spoiler
examined all, multiple times. Maybe it was triggered by talking to the priest only after examining the room - ie it didn't matter if you had examined everything in previous attempts? Anyway, thanks, I will do the rest now.
[close]
Game is great, by the way

Thanks, glad you're enjoying the game!

Spoiler

Examining the carving at any point in the game counts, but I guess it's easy to forget to right-click each picture.

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KyriakosCH · Tue 18/07/2023 21:20:04

Finished the game now.
Beautiful, well done

If I wasn't in a difficult financial situation, I'd support by buying. I hope many others do.

Catch22Alk3 · Wed 19/07/2023 07:23:33

AGS 2023 GOTY

heltenjon · Wed 19/07/2023 14:21:47

Quote from: Catch22Alk3 on Wed 19/07/2023 07:23:33AGS 2023 GOTY

So far, it's definitely a contender, together with Dreams in the Witchhouse. We'll see which full length games comes out during the remainder of the year. I am sure I will nominate this one in multiple categories. I agree with Wiggy that mother Tiabata is a scene stealer.

KyriakosCH · Wed 19/07/2023 23:24:42

Oh, Dreams in the Witchhouse is also excellent! I just thought it wasn't made with AGS (?).

jfrisby · Sun 23/07/2023 00:47:34

This was fantastic, thanks!

MIGGO · Mon 24/07/2023 20:49:31

Oh my, this game really nails it in all fields. Only gripe I might have would be the shortness, but then again there are so many games and so little time that it's pretty much just welcome. Wonderful game!

Dave Gilbert · Tue 25/07/2023 14:13:07

This game was exceedingly good. Well done!

KyriakosCH · Tue 01/08/2023 12:59:12

Apart from the gfx (and some animation), the plot also was pleasant. Humorous, despite the murder and political intrigue. The aesthetic, however, imo is what makes the game memorable and I hope to see more in the future

Shadow1000 · Fri 04/08/2023 02:38:31

I absolutely enjoyed every minute of the game. As others said, the graphics and animation are top quality. Puzzles were on the easier side and things just fell into place intuitively without really getting stuck. In my opinion, the story is outstanding and just keeps getting more complex as you play.

Well done.

vertigoaddict · Mon 18/09/2023 07:15:11

This looks gorgeous and I love the premise. I have a long day ahead of me and I can't wait to unwind with this later

Honza · Tue 07/11/2023 06:40:44

Version 1.2 of Shards of God is out! First, a word of warning: YOUR OLD SAVES WILL NOT WORK IN THE NEW VERSION! Now that that's out of the way, here's (some of) the new stuff:

A clever autosave system which creates separate labeled saves throughout the game's story. Even obsessive types shouldn't have to worry about saving manually anymore (the option is still there though!)
Mother Tiabata now acts as a hint system. If you're stuck, she'll nudge you in the right direction
Volume controls!
More interactions give meaningful responses (eg. using items on characters), and one puzzle has been sliiightly streamlined
Some small changes and additions to dialogue. For instance, the lamp puzzle is somewhat better motivated now, you can ask Radina about Plint leaving, etc
A few cosmetic changes to backgrounds (can you spot them?)
A fancy new Mac launch screen, courtesy of Nahuel! That readme file should be harder to miss now

All in all, if you haven't played yet or feel like revisiting the story, now's the time!

Mandle · Sun 26/11/2023 06:51:43

Just picked it up!

Honza · Mon 04/12/2023 23:27:09

Quote from: Mandle on Sun 26/11/2023 06:51:43Just picked it up!

Great, let me know what you think!

Rik_Vargard · Mon 22/01/2024 10:37:34

Wonderful graphics, visuals, animations and music! The overall ambient felt great.

Spoiler

I also feel like some of the information that was given at the end could've been found by playing.
I felt like "Well yeah, if I did have that information before."

[close]

A had great fun playing this great little gem!

Honza · Tue 23/01/2024 23:40:34

Quote from: Rik_Vargard on Mon 22/01/2024 10:37:34Wonderful graphics, visuals, animations and music! The overall ambient felt great.

Spoiler
I also feel like some of the information that was given at the end could've been found by playing.
I felt like "Well yeah, if I did have that information before."
[close]

A had great fun playing this great little gem!

Thank you very much, happy you enjoyed it overall!

Spoiler

I think most of the information should be there throughout, at least to the extent it would be in a typical Agatha Christie mystery. With some small exceptions, I did my best to not have Tiabata use any clues you didn't have as well (you were her "eyes and ears" after all).

About that final scene... I'm a sucker for the "genius detective who's always ahead of the Watson character/reader" trope, and I feel like game mysteries tend to be somewhat bland exactly because you have to design them so that the player can figure them out step by step, so you lose the effect of the detective connecting all the dots in the final "gather everybody" scene. So the idea here was to try to get that effect - give you some agency by letting you identify the killer, but then have you play Watson at the very end. I get that it's frustrating for some people, but it was by design, making the reveals more gradual would have ruined the kind of finale I wanted. Now that I've got it out of my system though, I think I'll try to make the ending more interactive next time

.

At least you can still try to guess passively for yourself even when your character can't, as if you were reading a mystery novel. I've seen some people more or less figure most of it out just before Tiabata's reveal, so it's doable

.

[close]

Rik_Vargard · Fri 26/01/2024 20:16:15

Hey, thank you for your reply. I do understand better what you did now. I really like this little exchange of views because it's inspiring to me.

Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and all those "Mystery Murder" movies i've seen.
I guess that when it's a movie and I'm passive it all OK. But when here, I'm active, I got that Sherlock/Tiabata complex where I had to remember myself that I was just a Watson indeed. I was tasked to find the "HOW" and that was it but I got ahead of myself and thought I was THE investigator. I forgot my place.

Do you see what you did to me here?

Spoiler

I wasn't frustrated by your ending. I thought it was epic, well written and amazingly put together with all those wonderfull/incredible(!!!)-how-did-he-do-it animations. And i loved the fact that I could choose how it would "end".
When I was asked about who the killer might be, I really sat back on my seat and started thinking about who it might be. And that's something, that's how much I was into your game.

If there was any frustration on my side at the end, it was in fact that I wanted this game to be longer (and yeah, to be the Sherlock/Tiabata).

And I think you had a great idea there, to make the ending somewhat interactive. Like with quesyions, and even if the player gets it right the Sherlock/Tiabata will always prove why at the end the player will always be the Watson.

This is an inspiring little exchange, thank you for that.

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Potajito · Mon 25/03/2024 12:08:08

Just managed to play this after the awards ceremony remind me of it.
Really nice game, great art, also loved the humor and contrast between serious and not so serious. My only gripe is that it had a bit too much of exposition towards the ending with a long monologue that I felt should have been fed slowly throughout the various "checkpoints" of the game.
All in all, great one!