Heliograph

Appearance

HeliographBank the light. Break the code.

A compact 2D platformer where sunlight is fuel, exposure is danger, and every shadow is running out of time.

Read the game design
Review the architecture

Light is fuel

Sunlight refills the same charge meter that powers the dash and keeps the player alive.

Light is exposure

Bright areas reveal routes and clues, but make the player visible to active sentries.

Code is progression

Light-only glyph mappings feed a substitution cipher solved at the final terminal.

Project status ​

Heliograph is a complete jam build. A fresh launch opens the title screen and plays end to end through four levels — First Signal, Prism Foundry, Lunar Archive, Crown of Dawn — to the win screen and the relay-chain hook.

On top of the original light/shadow/charge/cipher loop, the build now adds:

  • a narrative layer — ACE and THE ORACLE, told through a cinematic comm panel, with a Turing/halting-problem spine (see Story);
  • the light-relay mechanic — carry the light forward through prisms to wake dark sun zones and power the exit;
  • Watchers that begin dormant and turn hostile (screaming EXTERMINATE) after the first fragment is finished;
  • a full audio system — SFX, Watcher voices, and crossfading ambience (see Audio Production);
  • editable level scenes — levels 2–4 are now hand-authorable in the 2D editor (see Editing Levels).

Source of truth ​

DocumentOwns
Game DesignPlayer experience, rules, tuning baseline, progression, and scope
Story and NarrativeACE, the Oracle, the Watchers' turn, the Turing hook, per-level beats
Editing LevelsThe level scene anatomy and how to author new rooms
Audio ProductionVoice lines, SFX/ambience prompts, file paths, and event hooks
Theme and Art DirectionSetting, visual language, palette, UI, audio, and asset budget
Asset Reuse PlanExact Kenney sources, atlas IDs, project targets, exclusions, and missing assets
Jam Level DesignSpatial metrics, room beats, encounters, cipher content, and level cuts
Technical ArchitectureScene boundaries, state ownership, signals, data flow, and tests
Physics and Engine SystemsMovement math, project settings, player states, and required GDScript
Development GuideLocal setup, input map, conventions, and validation commands

When documents conflict, player-facing rules belong in Game Design, spatial encounters belong in Jam Level Design, asset selection belongs in Asset Reuse Plan, and implementation contracts belong in Technical Architecture or Physics and Engine Systems.