Master the art of shadow manipulation

"Varjo – A Shady Story is a mobile 2D sidescrolling puzzle platformer that lets the player explore and manipulate the surroundings in a new, innovative way. Help Varjo on his adventure to rescue his family by interacting with objects to dissolve and change shadows.

A mobile game concept I'm working on. I've been prototyping the idea (so far only on desktop) which got well received by playtesters. People like the concept but I still need to flesh out the idea to better suit a mobile platform. Especially the design of the levels which currently are too complex for a mobile game.

How to play

more on the high concept

The adventure is set in a big house. What’s special about it is that inside, on the shadows (not in) resides beings without a corporal form. One of these beings is Varjo. Varjo gave up a hedonistic lifestyle for a quiet life as a father. For a long time his family was happy, thinking nothing in the world would change. But in the shadows something started growing: a sly creature, with the motive to overcloud Varjo’s happiness with total darkness. Shaya, as the creature was called, started spying on Varjo. One day when Varjo left his children home alone to find shadow fruits, Shaya snuck out of his hideout and kidnapped all of Varjo’s screaming babies. When he returned, Varjo found his home empty and the children gone. Filled with rage and sorrow Varjo swore to find and bring back all of his children and take revenge on the evil abductor.   

Every stage has 20 children to find and collect. Some are well visible and some are hidden behind tricky puzzles or guarded by Shaya, taking different forms of hand shadows. A rainbow road will appear on the end of the stage when you have found at least 10 children. This rainbow will take you to the next stage selection menu. Some parts of the game are unlocked by collecting Shadow fruits. The game is won by collecting all of the children and Shadow fruits scattered over the game world.

characters

 Fun fact, all the names mean "Shadow" in different languages.