Acephalus
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Assemble the commodity-chain for a rare mushroom in my attempt at a post-structuralist puzzle game. Based on Anna Tsing's The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins.
Also many thanks to Eli Cauley (@small_signs on Twitter, Crawlspace on itch.io)! He very generously shared the effect from his wonderful game Cabin, which is used here for the edge of the map. His comments on a draft build also infinitely improved the game's final quality!
CONTROLS: AWSD to move, QEZC to interact
Download
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Comments
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its a cool game but I suck aligning the circles. is there a trick to it?
Hey! Yeah, that puzzle turned out a lot more difficult than I intended... You've got to align them so that all the icons overlap in the very middle of the screen. Here's a screenshot of the setup: https://imgur.com/a/94zIIqZ
Hope that helps!
thank you for the solution! but I feel like such a loser asking what I do next after I aligned. I want to see the ending lol
No worries! There are four separate puzzles which you have to complete:
Then when you do all that, just interact with the centre pedestal to finish!
i appreciate it and wish you the best of luck in all future endeavours!
I too got a bit stuck. I figured out the mouse wheel movements (I think) and I moved the circles around but . . . I made it no further than Coconut Mousse. Is there more to the puzzle than shown in CM's video? Is there an obvious ending?
That said, thanks for pointing out The Mushroom at the End of the World! A copy is winding it's way to me via the Brooklyn Public Library and Ms. Tsing's work in general looks very interesting.
There is an ending, yeah - did you manage to align the icons on the circle screen? The idea is to get them all to overlap on a single point.
And I'm really glad to hear you'll be having a look at the book! It's a wonderful read on so many levels, and this game really only delves into a small part of it.
Thanks! I went back and aligned the icons. (I _thought_ I aligned them earlier and they didn't do anything but apparently I just got close the first time.) I quite like the design of Acephalus and it's great to play with a game that is different from other games. Considering it's a short game, the feeling that a much larger world of mushrooms is condensed into the experience is an amazing design feat! However, I'm going to wait until I've had a chance to look at the Tsing book before I say more. (And, as much as I like Lieve Oma, I'm not going to mention Lieve Oma here :))
Excellent little puzzle game! I think it turned out really well. And I'm still such a fan of the mushroom colored almost sketch book aesthetic of the whole game. I can' wait to what you have in store next.
i dont understand what this puzzle is? i made some video of this game, this is a great game but we need a little hint please. hope this game get better update. i dont know if its a glitch or not and when i recording it, it has no sound
Hey, thanks for the video! Two quick hints: try scrolling the mouse wheel in the main room and try dragging the circles on the screen with the rotating parts. Hope that helps!
thanks for your quick response, i will try it later :D