The Weight of the Soul

MODULE 01

Demo

Because the original file size is too large, this demo is linked directly to its itch.io page.

MODULE 02

Inspiration Source

Origin

This idea came out of the Game Depth course. To better understand how depth can be strengthened in games, I looked through several papers that used chess as a core example when explaining game depth.

Source Game Depth Research

Chess was used as a key reference point.

Focus Sacrifice

The strongest feeling of depth came from piece sacrifice.

Abstraction Short-term Loss, Long-term Gain

A seemingly bad move can still be strategically correct later.

Translation What Is Short-term Loss in My Game?

I broke that idea down into a game-specific equivalent.

Answer Death

Death became the core short-term disadvantage.

Outcome The Weight of the Soul

From that base, the full concept expanded outward.

MODULE 03

Level Design

Level 1

Level 2

MODULE 04

Reflection

Difficulty Smoothing

The difficulty gap between Level 1 and Level 2 is currently too large. The transition can be made much smoother in future iterations.

Motivation for Resource Conversion

Although death was designed as a resource that affects player operation, the motivation for players to actively convert that resource is still limited. More varied puzzle types could be added later to make the system more interesting.