Henry Super Brain
Experiment with unconventional connections between your keyboard inputs and Henry's actions inside his brain, finding creative ways to navigate the room, solve puzzle mechanics and collect rewards.
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A game mechanic prototype for the theme "Shadow and Alchemy",
inspired by "Henry", a real ferret in PirateSoftware’s ferret rescue.
Due to a brain condition, 60% of Henry's brain is scar tissue and can't function normally, sometimes leading to funny behavior. But his brain found creative ways to rewire itself, forming new connections so that he can still live a happy life.
Can you help him learn new skills and make friends?
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🏆 Winner of the July 2024 PirateSoftware Game Jam
(and my first time publishing a game!)
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Game Design Document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15VqbnnmV1nyj-9W0VKRvny2lbaAQx77oZ67I5YAhn48/...
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Made in Unreal Engine
Art: Photoshop
Title music: "Silly Intro" by Alexander Nakarada | https://creatorchords.com
In-game music: "Comedy Cinematic Inspiring" by RomanSenykMusic
Uses CC0 licensed sound effects found on freesound.org as well as hand-made effects by me.
Ferret dook sounds: Ferret by J.Zazvurek -- https://freesound.org/s/155115/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
Development log
- tiny updateAug 21, 2024
Comments
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Truly a captivating game.
16min to finish this total gem of a game. Not sure if anyone outside of our community would like it, but that makes it just a bit more precious. Not going to speedrun it though, pretty sure it would break the last vestiges of sanity I have left :D
Thank you!
Need an "Onion" escape game next
This was an awesome game. The concept and gameplay were so unique! Also ferrets!
What unreal engine version did you use?
4.23, as it was the last version that supported HTML5 export.
I really enjoyed my time playing this game. The control mechanism was weird but just weird enough. Gathering the fifth brain wire was challenging but not unreasonable. Solid, will keep an eye on what you make next.
Brilliant, I'm really interested in how the mechanics were made
I love this, its really fun and silly and I love it. I also noticed it gives you a perspective of how controls are to someone newly learning to play modern video games
The controls are so clever, and I like the logic to justify the inability to use more conventional controls, it's really smart.
Also I'm a bit stuck. I've found 5 friends, and im not sure what the hooded guy up there wants, I tried creating the pattern of his message, both the staff and the dots around it, I've circled the map many times and rolled the ball to no avail, help would be much appreciated!
Hi, glad you like it! I'm sorry that you felt stuck, but you already were on the right track with interpreting the cultist`s message! Sounds like you just didn`t hit the right pattern... :/ It`s definitely a harder puzzle but that`s also intentional. Maybe I`ll make it so that this one is more optional and doesn`t leave the player with the feeling of being unable to finish the base game. You didn`t miss any more content beyond that at the current state though, so maybe you want try again after I release an update :)
Alright thank you then! I'll give it a shot right now, and congratulations on the win!
I completed it, i see exactly where i went wrong in the last puzzle, thank you so much for your help!
how did you do it? i cant figure it out!
Amazing art and recreating real stories, this made my day so cute!!
glad you like it! :)
An adorable game! The concept of breaking the control norms regarding the theme is genius! Good job!
thank you very much :)
I think this a super neat and endearing concept for a puzzler. But I fail to understand what it has to do with Shadows & Alchemy. I guess you decied you liked the concept enough you ingored the theme?
Edit: Nevermind Im a dumbass
Lovely game for a lovely cause! Awesome mechanics, fantastic art and sneaky easter eggs!
Incredible design based on super real things. I love how some of the keys can't be bound to the others, making this a real game of skill. Great mini game, and can't wait to see more levels!!
Adorable and creative concept. Very well done!
Love the art and the puzzle. Just put a really big smile on my face.
This game is amazing, I love the concept! Well Done!
This is such a cool and cute game! Really love the concept with the controls
Very solid entry all around. The music selection is great, the game play mechanic is fun and frustrating (in a good way). The story is told well. Your GDD is also very well made. Great work! Oh yeah, clicking to pet ferrets is such a fun easter egg.
P.S. I love how you interpreted the theme.
This is my favourite game of the jam so far!! Love the concept and implementation! Only thing that really got me was how the horizontal vs vertical movements could only be aligned with their inverse (i.e. W/S for left/ right rather than A/D, as it left me thinking more about the controls than the game at times so felt like an extra barrier to the puzzles)
Figuring out how to get the 5th wire was really fun though!
Yes, blocking the conventional controls to make you fiddle around with the connections and find a way around it was the key idea for this game's mechanics. But I feared that it could become too frustrating for players, that's why the map itself is kept relatively simple. And once you find out about the multi-connections and have enough wires, you can actually build pretty convenient controls that make the basic movement easy again (guess I can make this clearer for the player). But this could be a starting point for more complex environmental challenges in the future. Anyways, thanks for the feedback! :)
Its an interesting design choice for sure! Guess it depends whether you want the puzzle to be between the player and keyboard or the player and the screen/level (both are valid!) There are other games that have similar player to keyboard puzzles that work well too! It definitely fits the theme of your game and when I shared it with my partner the reason clicked for them immediately!
The multi-connections make for a really fun time experimenting, although by adding in the more linear paths later it makes the game feel almost too easy for that stage lol, but its such a cool concept I truly hope you stick with it and produce a longer game, it's one I'd love to support!
Loved it! Very well put together!
this was amazing to play! so charming and novel. the scar tissue preventing certain connections was fun to work around, and it felt like I was in Henry's shoes.
this is delightful