Enter this crafting-driven Metroid-like game to plunge deep into your emotions. You must craft spells to defeat monsters plaguing your heart, and explore a dreamscape to unlock the skills needed to defeat your nemesis.
## About This Game
CRAFT SPELLS. DIE. REPEAT.
Heart Lock is a concise, standalone Metroid-like game that introduces players
to its larger sequel, Mind Lock. While there are over 20,000 unique spells to
craft, there is also plenty of loot and secrets to discover in this mazelike
world.
Overview
Enter a world inside your own heart. Watch your memories come to life before
you, as you come to face life struggles that may seem all too familiar.
Heart Lock is a 2D metroidvania experience that welcomes players to explore
strange worlds and craft hundreds of custom spells never seen before. This
game wants you to crave exploration, and to craft your way to success.
Features
## Core Abilities
From the beginning of the game, players are able to perform a few core
abilities: hover, dodge, and shield/deflect. We have created several more core
abilities, but these will be unlocked throughout the game.
## Spells
Players can craft and cast dozens of unique spells with Gems. Soon we will be
adding the “Mod” socket, which allows players to attach special effects to
their spells! Over time, we will improve the visuals (such as element color
and texture), crafting cost, and power of all spells.
## Elemental Barriers
Players will encounter Elemental Barriers that require specific spells to
break. In a typical metroidvania, players are required to unlock abilities
that enable them to progress. In addition to ability-driven progression , we
hope to push that standard by instilling a crafting-driven progression
design.
## Critters
Little monsters run amuck in this world! You must craft spells powerful enough
to defeat them. These critters drop Gems, Dust, and XP. Over time, each
critter will be tailored to have their own unique stats, loot drops, and
behaviors. Currently their combat stats are slightly imbalanced, and their AI
is kinda dumb, but we will be improving this with more player feedback.
## Boss
Heart Lock has one unique boss fight. A dark, mysterious manifestation haunts
you. Upon defeating this boss, new gameplay modes will be unlocked.
## The Pillow Fort
Relaxing as a park bench, and comforting as a campfire. The Pillow Fort gives
players the means to become stronger, and customize their stats to be more
effective in combat. In addition, the Pillow Fort allows players to listen to
music, or even build your own pillow fort!
## Loot
All around the world, players will loot various items to help them on their
journey. Loot currently includes Gems, Dust, XP, and Charms. Players can equip
Charms to increase their stats or movement speed.
## World Traversal
As players explore, they will encounter plants that grow beneath their feet.
As the game intentionally has no map, Tracking Flora was added to help players
keep track of places they’ve already explored. It’s quite pleasing to watch
the world come to life around you!
“Before You Buy”
…wait, this game is free! Even so, here are some things to be mindful of.
What this game offers
An experience derived from Dark Souls and Super Metroid
Though Heart Lock draws inspiration from their mechanics, Heart Lock provides
a lighthearted & whimsical atmosphere. We hope to offer joy in using Heart
Lock’s character abilities and tools.
Alternative gameplay intensities
Heart Lock is designed to be a relaxing experience, however players can unlock
alternate gameplay modes to face new challenges.
An engaging spell crafting system
This is the core mechanic of Heart Lock that sets it apart from other similar
games. This mechanic is so important that we have intentionally left out
physical weapons. Your spells are your weapon.
What this game does NOT offer
Polished graphics
The focus of this game is on the mechanics. Even unpolished, the environments
communicate the desired emotion and mysticism as the developer intended.
Micro-transactions or ads
Heart Lock is a concise, standalone game. It is nothing beyond that, however
the game’s reception & reviews will help us consider building a large-scale
sequel.
Cutting-edge AI
The enemies seen in the game emulate simple behaviors, this is intentional.
The critters are annoying little turds even with their primitive AI scripts.
Crazy platforming sections
Many new Metroid-like games feel obligated to add challenging platforming
sections to progress. In Heart Lock, platforms exist to enable exploration,
versus hinder it.
What this game could do better
Collision bugs!
Like most physics-driven games, Heart Lock still sees players experience
clipping. There is an “enemy floating” bug that has been intentionally left in
the code because it’s really funny to watch.
More spells!
We look forward to adding more fun, weird, or astonishing spells in the
future.
More music!
Nik originally wanted to be a music composer before he became a coder. The
music is on the back-burner because, even if you have music, you can’t have a
video game without the code.
Better menu animations
The current menu system is over a year old, and needs to be re-written. Please
bear with the transitions. Please restart the game if you softlock in a menu
screen.
Hardware inclusion
Though we have carefully architected the game to optimize the performance,
this game has only been tested on a few computers (all of which are mid or
high-grade gaming machines). Even if there is demand, we cannot promise any
specific features toward performance tweaks.
Heart Lock: A Broken Game For Broken Hearts