Sol Game Demo
A downloadable game for Windows
Welcome to the Sol Game Demo!
This is a vibrant high quality 3D adventure game demo where you smoothly control a young character wandering through a choose-your-own-adventure.
You enjoy relaxing games with simple mechanics?
You like wandering through beautiful natural environments while listening to soothing soundtracks?
Then this might be for you.
Your Path — Your Choice
You play as a vagabond trying to carve out a way through dense forests, across mountaintops and through sinister caves. You are not exactly alone in this world. Players before you have had to make the same pathing decisions as you. Will you follow them and be part of the herd or go on a stray path and discover something new?
Each level has distinct traversal goals for you to overcome, points of interest to visit and gorgeous vistas to marvel at while listening to an emotional Original Soundtrack.
You are determined. Your destination is clear. But which path will you choose?
Features
- Various traversal methods (Jumping, Crouching, Climbing)
- Boosts and PowerUps
- Hand crafted & diverse environments
- Cinematic & seamless cutscenes
- Original soundtrack
- In-game tutorial
- Full gamepad support
- Made without generative AI
- Language: English
- A playthrough takes ~30-40 mins.
User Study
This experience is part of a master's thesis project in the field of games user research. The project aims to embed various visual techniques to represent the pathing decisions of other players in 3D adventure games.
The demo collects basic personal information and continuously asks you for feedback regarding your playing experience. You can only participate once in the user study. Replaying the demo allows you to play freely without a server connection.
Controls
| Mouse & Keyboard | Gamepad | |
| Look | Move Mouse | Right Stick |
| Move | WASD | Left Stick |
| Jump, Climb | Space | X (PS), A (Xbox) |
| Crouch | C, Ctrl | Circle (PS), B (Xbox) |
System Requirements
| Minimum | Recommended | |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | AMD Ryzen 5 5500 |
| RAM | 8GB | >=16GB |
| GPU | NVIDIA RTX2060 (6GB) | NVIDIA RTX 3060ti |
| Disk Storage | 2.8GB (HDD) | >=3GB (SSD) |
| OS | Windows 10 | Windows 11 |
Download
Install instructions
This demo is solely available for x64 Windows 10/11 systems.
(1) Download the above .zip-folder.
(2) Unzip the contents and run the executable file SolGameDemo.exe
(3) Sit back, relax and have fun!
Note: If you get a pop up by Windows Smart Screen when starting, press "More Info" then "Run Anyway".
You may need to add a Windows firewall exception if your computer does not prompt you. This is only relevant for the user study.
Development log
- Minor Update (v1.0.3)48 days ago
Comments
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Fun experience.
If you look at it purely from a game perspective, it was a bit rough on the edges. Given that it was master thesis research, I understand the priorities.
I’m curious as to what exactly the research is about. I’d love to read the final report. Can I sign up?
Hi, thank you so much for playing! Yes, gameplay-wise there is a lot more potential and I am looking forward to carrying the project further and make a proper game out of it.
The thesis is about visualizing the paths of other players. We want to evaluate whether they influence player decision making when navigating environments in 3D adventure games.
I can post an update here on where to find it when it is published :)
Really enjoyed my time, wonderful moments and visuals. I have to say the character design, while certainly not the focus I personally did not enjoy, the cape I did however. In the right moments it is truly a gem to play and one of the final scenarios had a nice puzzle which I did not expect but very much welcomed. I liked the vastness and IMPACT and MYSTERY the environments feel. Similar to Journey, it leaves those monuments with barely a comment, leaving the imagination to wonder. I do wonder however if giving a tad more context could or could not benefit. I am not talking dialogue or whatever but perhaps some more visual storytelling in the smaller scales could work wonders without fully giving away the mystery and emptiness (in a positive way emptiness) from the game. Lastly, I really hope the demo being as "restricted" as it is is a demo thing, cause man I wanted to ascend all those structures and explore them! Which is good I think, when it leaves one wanting more!
Thanks for the thoughts! Yeah, I am also not too happy with the character design yet - couldn't give it enough time next to all the other features and requirements that needed to be there. Right now, there is not too much to do yet but its great to hear that the overall tone and mystery is enticing. The demo really just focussed on the aspect of visualizing the paths of other players. This could be a semi-multiplayer feature that makes you feel connected to other players even though it is inherently a single player game. They way games like Journey, Elden Ring or Death Stranding do it is pretty interesting to me.
Glad you enjoyed it, Sir Mr. Stein!
Cool little experience, reminded me of Journey. Good luck on your Master's thesis.
Thank you! Journey is one of the inspirations :D When the thesis is done, I will make it into a full game^^