Played it last night, had a great time with it! Loved the world-building, the art and the scenario in general! I have recommended it to my friends, cheers~
Thanks for checking! It’s just a bugfix of the sound issue mentioned in the previous post. I was waiting for the Mac version (I can’t compile that one myself) before I post a devlog.
I'm running it on linux. The game looks amazing honestly.
At first I got the permission denied issue. But I just used `chmod u+x` the files and that solved it.
The game started, but it has no sound for some reason. I run it from the terminal as in typing `./ShardsofGod`. Nothing peculiar about the output. Perhaps these 2 lines?
> Unable to init voice pack 'speech.vox', file not found or of unknown format.
> audio.vox found and initialized.
Turns out at least for the copy I downloaded from itch, "Shards_of_God_Linux_v1.2.zip", I needed to unmute the sound on the main menu.
Thank you for reporting! I don’t recall hearing about permission issues on Linux, I’m only aware that this is a big hassle on Mac. But then again I wouldn’t know, I’m not a Linux user myself - glad you sorted it!
The muted audio is my bad though, it’s a known bug I haven’t gotten around to fixing :(.
Happy you’re enjoying the game otherwise!
I love your art style and the way you intellectually piece everything together, even when the dialogue came up with choices i didnt choose they were questions i had for myself anyway. I don't know how or why your brain functions the way it does, but its truly a work of art and i hope you never stop creating things with it
I discovered your game at the end-of-devcom 2024 demo party in Cologne. As someone who grew up with Monkey Island, Simon the Sorcerer et al and being a HUGE Dune nerd this was - of course - a no-brainer for me to play. First game brought home from the week on my list and I gotta say...
... absolutely a ridiculously well thought-out experience and a glorious enjoyment through-and-through. I will be telling people of this game for years to come. This has re-affirmed my perspective on games that they can be small, self-contained pieces of art. Thank you. :)
As others mentioned it is ESPECIALLY commendable that the mystery can actually be solved if you take the time and really put the right clues together. Amazing writing.
I discovered your game from a Canard PC article and I agree with them: The writing is deep, the whole design is soo nice and the puzzles are well balanced. Actually, I love adventure games but I'm very bad at solving puzzles and Shards of God is juuust hard enough for my little brain ;).
This was amazing…beyond amazing. The graphics were so detailed, which definitely could not have been an easy thing and the character arc of theirs…
Spoilers:I really loved how reading the scrolls about farm laws and such became a very important role, a connection I could never make otherwise. At one point I thought Mother Superior herself was a killer, which we know she isn't. I do wonder who killed the General though, I don't think it was ever mentioned.
In addition to that, the idea of the King placing power on people who do not believe in the religion is a fascinating thing overall. Only they are truly vigilant enough and distant enough that they see the truth of the matter but still lie in order to keep the harmony. I wonder if Flint was also killed by the end of it…
HEAVY Spoilers:
The three other leaders killed the general. They first tortured him to make him confess to killing the judge, then killed him. Tiabata says it (she doesn't literally say "you killed him", but it's heavily implied), and shows a picture of them in the act:
I must say... wow. I cannot describe how much of an 'impact' this had on me, not in behavioral sense, but... just in general. I'm not going to lie (and im sorry for my next words), I didn't have high expectations, I thought it'd be quite simple storyline. Although, I was met with amazing pixel art and quite short but really GREAT story! The more I played the more interesting it got... also extra kudos for making hint system (a very creative one in my opinion) cuz i dont belong to the smartest ppl out there. If anyone's reading this before playing the game, YOU TOTALLY OUGHT TO!!
I think that's all, without getting into too much into my little yap cuz i don't wanna spoil by accident... but let me say it once again, this game was a blessing for me and has all of the "lore" stuff i absolutely LOVE in games like this one (e.x. creating a whole new religion just for the sake of the game, mystery and much much more)
Wonderful. Solid story with excellent character development, and a mystery that you can actually solve if you're paying attention. I loved the ending *sly wink*
That sly wink implies that I know something about the ending.
Love your games!! I'm also an AGSthe rest are just bare bones developer (robotragedy1 and 2, recently 2080 wall city Lockdown and others.) I'm playing Shards and I love the interface. I'm not a coder and creating a game is always a nightmare for me and i'm never happy with the interfaces. Except the thimbellweed template the rest are just bare bones. I have an odd request for You sir. Can you make a template from your Game, removing of course many assets so I can use it as the base for any future game I might develop?
This was so much fun. I loved the characters (especially the depth of the Vigil Mother), and the endings were SO satisfying. You truly have a gift for storytelling.
Does it say something like "Shards_of_God_v1.2 is damaged and can't be opened. You should eject the disk image"? If so, then please follow the instructions in the readme file, you should be able to run the game.
I'd heard about this from a short article in the French video games magazine Canard PC. I just finished it, I have to say it's a delightful little game! The story is very tight and well written, the game feels quite polished. It's short, but in the best way: there is no padding, just the content needed for the story to work and to keep the player guessing until the end. Great job!
Yes, I took it as trolling and deleted it. The comment was bizarre, very arrogant and had earned a record number of downvotes. The fact that you also spammed the thread with 20 or 30 similarly nonsensical and/or antagonistic responses to other commenters didn't help either. More posts like this will lead to a ban.
Nice game! The animation and art were top notch. And the story was good with simple, realistic puzzles. My only complaints are lack of voice acting, which I understand since it's expensive and bad voice acting can ruin a game and some of the conversations were too long. Great game otherwise!
I got stuck right at the end by a bug. (Spoilers ahead)
When Tiabat summons the witness, the game just sits there, not going further. I've been waiting for five minutes and nothing happened... I want to see what happens next :(
Oops, sorry! I did a silent update this morning (just to correct a mistake in one line of dialogue) and it seems that this part got broken in the process. Please download again and load the latest autosave (should be labeled "[somebody] arrives"), hope it works now.
Thank you, it works perfectly, now! It was amazing, surprisingly well written and with astounding music and art. I really hope this will be just the first chapter!
Very nice.
A good two hour game, lots of fun characters, I managed to nail the killer on my second guess. The reveal at the end was lovely, and I got to put a hammer to good use. Wonderful.
fantastic story, art, and twist! took about two hours to complete while also getting lost a few times, but it's not difficult given that the game is good about giving hints. (not overbearingly so, i often tried to refrain from seeking them out to complete the puzzles myself, but it's nice that they're there regardless)
i also appreciated that the game gets interesting VERY quickly.. the whole experience goes by so fast because of how fast & smooth everything is :]
Got it for free; played it and went back here to pay for it. Great story, nice graphics and animations, balanced puzzles: everything was really well-done, congrats to the developer and artists!
Hi Honza! That was amazing. The levels were splendid and the dialog equal parts witty and deep. I enjoyed it a great deal.
Quick question: are you interested in a fan translation? I'd love to do one (I'm a professional translator), but extracting dialogue from an AGS is a hassle. Let's talk about it! (I've messaged you already on twitter.)
Thanks again for this great game, looking forward to the next one!
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Played it last night, had a great time with it! Loved the world-building, the art and the scenario in general! I have recommended it to my friends, cheers~
Yo... so I just got an email saying you updated... but there is nothing in the Devlog.
....just wanted to check in, is this an actual update (would love to hear new schemes!), or is it potentially the same issue as 3 months ago?
Thanks for checking! It’s just a bugfix of the sound issue mentioned in the previous post. I was waiting for the Mac version (I can’t compile that one myself) before I post a devlog.
Good to know! This makes sense.
I'm running it on linux. The game looks amazing honestly.
At first I got the permission denied issue. But I just used `chmod u+x` the files and that solved it.
The game started, but it has no sound for some reason. I run it from the terminal as in typing `./ShardsofGod`. Nothing peculiar about the output. Perhaps these 2 lines?
> Unable to init voice pack 'speech.vox', file not found or of unknown format.
> audio.vox found and initialized.
Turns out at least for the copy I downloaded from itch, "Shards_of_God_Linux_v1.2.zip", I needed to unmute the sound on the main menu.
I use Arch btw.
Thank you for reporting! I don’t recall hearing about permission issues on Linux, I’m only aware that this is a big hassle on Mac. But then again I wouldn’t know, I’m not a Linux user myself - glad you sorted it! The muted audio is my bad though, it’s a known bug I haven’t gotten around to fixing :(. Happy you’re enjoying the game otherwise!
I love your art style and the way you intellectually piece everything together, even when the dialogue came up with choices i didnt choose they were questions i had for myself anyway. I don't know how or why your brain functions the way it does, but its truly a work of art and i hope you never stop creating things with it
I discovered your game at the end-of-devcom 2024 demo party in Cologne. As someone who grew up with Monkey Island, Simon the Sorcerer et al and being a HUGE Dune nerd this was - of course - a no-brainer for me to play. First game brought home from the week on my list and I gotta say...
... absolutely a ridiculously well thought-out experience and a glorious enjoyment through-and-through. I will be telling people of this game for years to come. This has re-affirmed my perspective on games that they can be small, self-contained pieces of art. Thank you. :)
As others mentioned it is ESPECIALLY commendable that the mystery can actually be solved if you take the time and really put the right clues together. Amazing writing.
I discovered your game from a Canard PC article and I agree with them: The writing is deep, the whole design is soo nice and the puzzles are well balanced. Actually, I love adventure games but I'm very bad at solving puzzles and Shards of God is juuust hard enough for my little brain ;).
Anyway: I enjoyed your game very much!
I don't know if it's easily doable in ags studio but If you're interested in translating your game in French, I could do it for you (for free of course, I'm not a pro translator ;)). I've already done a full translation of Into the Breach (Subsetgames) (with a friend and before the official french translation went out) : https://subsetgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=33355 And a full translation of ShardPunk Verminfall (all by myself this time) (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1183800/Shardpunk/) : https://www.nexusmods.com/shardpunkverminfall/articles/1
Just ping me here or at X (@Mengpo6) :)
Absolutely brilliant!
This was amazing…beyond amazing. The graphics were so detailed, which definitely could not have been an easy thing and the character arc of theirs…
Spoilers:
I really loved how reading the scrolls about farm laws and such became a very important role, a connection I could never make otherwise. At one point I thought Mother Superior herself was a killer, which we know she isn't. I do wonder who killed the General though, I don't think it was ever mentioned.In addition to that, the idea of the King placing power on people who do not believe in the religion is a fascinating thing overall. Only they are truly vigilant enough and distant enough that they see the truth of the matter but still lie in order to keep the harmony. I wonder if Flint was also killed by the end of it…
Thank you very much, happy you enjoyed the game!
HEAVY Spoilers:
The three other leaders killed the general. They first tortured him to make him confess to killing the judge, then killed him. Tiabata says it (she doesn't literally say "you killed him", but it's heavily implied), and shows a picture of them in the act:The character development is so well done. I found myself really caring about them.
I must say... wow. I cannot describe how much of an 'impact' this had on me, not in behavioral sense, but... just in general. I'm not going to lie (and im sorry for my next words), I didn't have high expectations, I thought it'd be quite simple storyline. Although, I was met with amazing pixel art and quite short but really GREAT story! The more I played the more interesting it got... also extra kudos for making hint system (a very creative one in my opinion) cuz i dont belong to the smartest ppl out there. If anyone's reading this before playing the game, YOU TOTALLY OUGHT TO!!
I think that's all, without getting into too much into my little yap cuz i don't wanna spoil by accident... but let me say it once again, this game was a blessing for me and has all of the "lore" stuff i absolutely LOVE in games like this one (e.x. creating a whole new religion just for the sake of the game, mystery and much much more)
This is the dream game for me...
¿Por qué ésto no está en Steam? ¿Estás loco?
Maybe :). But it should end up there eventually.
One of the best games I've played recently!
Very beautiful and a big inspiration.
Wonderful. Solid story with excellent character development, and a mystery that you can actually solve if you're paying attention. I loved the ending *sly wink*
That sly wink implies that I know something about the ending.
Love your games!! I'm also an AGSthe rest are just bare bones developer (robotragedy1 and 2, recently 2080 wall city Lockdown and others.) I'm playing Shards and I love the interface. I'm not a coder and creating a game is always a nightmare for me and i'm never happy with the interfaces. Except the thimbellweed template the rest are just bare bones. I have an odd request for You sir. Can you make a template from your Game, removing of course many assets so I can use it as the base for any future game I might develop?
My email is pijin73@gmail.com
Thanks for your games and talent!!
Thank you, fellow AGSer! I sent you an email :).
This was so much fun. I loved the characters (especially the depth of the Vigil Mother), and the endings were SO satisfying. You truly have a gift for storytelling.
Played this a while ago, real nice look and great mood. Liked the sound of it a lot. Good job!
Было бы классно увидеть на русском языке :)
the game is very very well written and has a great sense of humor! congrats!
Thank you for this game, it was an absolute masterpiece! It reminded me a lot of the games Dune (from 1992) and Beneath a Steel Sky.
Just a little piece of art. Simple but beautifully crafted. If there is a release on steam, I will definitely buy this thing.
MacOS Ventura tells me the disc image is damaged. Any chance of a reupload?
Does it say something like "Shards_of_God_v1.2 is damaged and can't be opened. You should eject the disk image"? If so, then please follow the instructions in the readme file, you should be able to run the game.
That worked. Fantastic game.
Happy to hear that, and thank you!
What an incredible game! I absolutely loved every moment of this compact and gripping story. Thank you!
Very interesting.
Would you be interested in having the game available in brazilian portuguese?
is the game complete or is it a wip?
It's complete.
Brisk and gorgeously rendered pastiche with plenty of characterful dialogue and an unerring focus. Looking forward to exploring your other works!
I'd heard about this from a short article in the French video games magazine Canard PC. I just finished it, I have to say it's a delightful little game! The story is very tight and well written, the game feels quite polished. It's short, but in the best way: there is no padding, just the content needed for the story to work and to keep the player guessing until the end. Great job!
Mine comment is missing.
Yes, I took it as trolling and deleted it. The comment was bizarre, very arrogant and had earned a record number of downvotes. The fact that you also spammed the thread with 20 or 30 similarly nonsensical and/or antagonistic responses to other commenters didn't help either. More posts like this will lead to a ban.
Nice game! The animation and art were top notch. And the story was good with simple, realistic puzzles. My only complaints are lack of voice acting, which I understand since it's expensive and bad voice acting can ruin a game and some of the conversations were too long. Great game otherwise!
ahh my mac (m1) still cant open the game... says the item is damaged
Did you follow the instructions in the readme file?
I got stuck right at the end by a bug. (Spoilers ahead)
When Tiabat summons the witness, the game just sits there, not going further. I've been waiting for five minutes and nothing happened... I want to see what happens next :(
Oops, sorry! I did a silent update this morning (just to correct a mistake in one line of dialogue) and it seems that this part got broken in the process. Please download again and load the latest autosave (should be labeled "[somebody] arrives"), hope it works now.
Thank you, it works perfectly, now! It was amazing, surprisingly well written and with astounding music and art. I really hope this will be just the first chapter!
Very nice. A good two hour game, lots of fun characters, I managed to nail the killer on my second guess. The reveal at the end was lovely, and I got to put a hammer to good use. Wonderful.
You got to make a sequel where a murder happens in the Order!
fantastic story, art, and twist! took about two hours to complete while also getting lost a few times, but it's not difficult given that the game is good about giving hints. (not overbearingly so, i often tried to refrain from seeking them out to complete the puzzles myself, but it's nice that they're there regardless)
i also appreciated that the game gets interesting VERY quickly.. the whole experience goes by so fast because of how fast & smooth everything is :]
Whaow ! 😃👍👍👍
Got it for free; played it and went back here to pay for it. Great story, nice graphics and animations, balanced puzzles: everything was really well-done, congrats to the developer and artists!
It was truly amazing!!!
I loved playing this!
Hi Honza! That was amazing. The levels were splendid and the dialog equal parts witty and deep. I enjoyed it a great deal.
Quick question: are you interested in a fan translation? I'd love to do one (I'm a professional translator), but extracting dialogue from an AGS is a hassle. Let's talk about it! (I've messaged you already on twitter.)
Thanks again for this great game, looking forward to the next one!
Amazing Game ! too much chit-chat but beautiful animated . The graphics/music are just fabulous ... thank :)
This isn't a game. This is AN EXPERIENCE.
I had a crazy theory in the first minutes of the story, about a potential end twist. I was wrong, and the actual twist surprised me.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
At first I thought Mother Tiabata was the culprit, and only asked us to recreate the murder to frame us.
The reveal that the victim wasn't who I thought he was took me off guard.