Kael

Developed by Grégory .M, Game Design & Development first-year student at Creative Seeds, Brittany, France.

THE GAME

You play as Kaël, half-spectre and half-human, whose memories have been stolen from him. To get them back, he must push forward through the Rift, defeat the enemies in his path, and reclaim what he lost by defeating the final boss.

A turn-based roguelite deck-builder where Kaël sinks deeper into madness to strike harder, all to recover the memories scattered across the Rift.

FEATURES

• Double-edged cards : Your cards come at a price. Greater damage means greater risk, forcing you to weigh every play against what it costs you.
• Sanity : A core resource tied to Kaël's descent into madness. The more he loses his mind, the harder he hits , but the closer he edges toward losing control.
• Dice cards : A layer of chance woven into your deck. Outcomes hinge on the roll, rewarding bold gambles and punishing reckless ones.
• Continuous combat : Encounters flow into one another with no reset. Your health, your deck, and the consequences of your choices carry forward, so every fight shapes the next.

ART

The game's visual style is dark and ethereal ; deep shadow pierced by spectral teal light, with shattered fragments of Kaël's stolen memories drifting through a ruined, dreamlike world. The contrast between oppressive darkness and luminous decay reflects his half-spectre nature.

THE PROJECT

This game is a 10-week end-of-year Godot 2D project made during the first year of the Game Design & Development programme at Creative Seeds.

The chosen theme was dichotomy ; division and opposition between two forces. It runs through every layer of the game: Kaël is half-human, half-spectre; sanity is both a weapon and a threat; and the cards themselves embody the idea, each one offering power and consequence in the same play. Every meaningful decision asks the player to balance two opposing pulls at once, so the theme is expressed through the core mechanics rather than just the narrative.

Two main challenges shaped development:

• Building a scalable, durable system : The card and combat architecture had to support adding, tweaking, and combining effects without breaking, so the design could keep growing throughout the project.
• Balancing the game ; The goal was to make decisions based on evidence rather than guesswork, and to avoid breaking the difficulty curve (infinite turns, runs that drag on too long).

ASSETS CREDITS 

Student project ; non-commercial use. Thanks to all the creators whose resources made this game possible.

Graphics & sprites

• Flying Demon (2D Pixel Art), xzany, 
• https://xzany.itch.io/flying-demon-2d-pixel-art
• Boss Demon Slime, chierit,
•   https://chierit.itch.io/boss-demon-slime
• Bringer of Death, clembod, 
• https://clembod.itch.io/bringer-of-death-free
• Fire Worm, LuizMelo, 
• https://luizmelo.itch.io/fire-worm
• Monsters and Creatures Fantasy, LuizMelo, 
• https://luizmelo.itch.io/monsters-creatures-fantasy
• Wizard Pack, LuizMelo, 
• https://luizmelo.itch.io/wizard-pack
• Undead Executioner, DarkPixel (Kronovi), 
• https://darkpixel-kronovi.itch.io/undead-executioner
• Forest Monsters (Pixel Art), MonoPixelArt, 
• https://monopixelart.itch.io/forest-monsters-pixel-art
• Goblin sprite, creator to be found

Visual effects (VFX)

• Thunder Spell Effect / Wind Spell Effect / Ice Spell Effect, pimen, https://pimen.itch.io

Fonts

• Garamond (or similar font), Calisto MT Bold, Constantia Bold, Deutsch, Cinzel

Voice - Generated with ElevenLabs Images - Generated with Google Gemini (AI) Music - Composed with Suno (AI)

Audio & sound effects oxid videos, floraphonic, Crunch Pix Studio (Freesound), David du Mais Audio, recopicsound, Dragon Studio, Freesound Community, yodguard, coghezzi

CREDITS 

Special thanks to Nicolas .L, our mentor, for the supervision.

Trailer - audio & visuals created with generative AI (Google Gemini, Suno, ElevenLabs).