This game was made for Ludum Dare 31 Jam. Game development was rushed and I can't sincerely say it was finished, but it's a solid 90% of what I meant to implement. Gameplay-wise being a clone/spin-off thing of a really old "text adventure games", I think it does a good job in reimagining those forgotten little pearls of game design. ~Xitilon.HD408
THE GAME
Explore the mysterious castle full of monsters and secrets in a quest to collect all the treasures (that will also protect you from the curses on your way). The game won't let you exit the castle, no matter how you try. Neither will it notify you of any winning conditions - there aren't any, in contrast to the many ways of losing it (just like a small decent Rogue-like game).
CONTROLS
Press Enter to start the game Press 1, 2 or 3 to select a hero Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity at the hero selection screen are the maximal values which that hero can get. Strength is both for life and attack power, intelligence is both for mana and spell power. Dexterity affects your attack accuracy. Hero can lose when either of those parameters is below zero!
ON THE MAP
Arrow keys to walk around F to use a flare Z or Enter to perform action (attack, open chest, read book, buy potions, use the stairs, gaze into an orb) X to cast spells 1, 2 or 3 to select a potion to buy or a spell to use
ARTEFACTS AND CURSES
Opal VS Blindness - you forget the map and don't see any new rooms Pearl VS Forgetfulness - you don't remember where were you going Ruby VS Lethargy - monsters get the first turn to attack Diamond VS Weakness - your minimal attack power drop to 1 instead of your strength value Emerald VS Bad luck - ...actually, this isn't implemented! Blue Fire VS Bookstuck - book sticks to your hands and you can't attack anyone in this state
SPELLS
Web prevents the monster from attacking and lasts 1-3 turns. Costs 1 point on intelligence. Fireball is obvious enough. Costs 2 points on intelligence. IQ instantly kills your opponent if it's intelligence is less than yours. Otherwise, you lose. This spell doesn't spend anything.
PROGRAMS USED
Game Maker 8.1 Standard sfxr/bfxr FamiTracker FL Studio 10 MS Paint Notepad (obviously, for Readme.txt)
CREDITS
Xitilon.HD408 - game design/adaptation, programming, sound generation BSOD - graphics, music, sound design, testing Inspired by Leygref's Castle etc.
It's has a really cool style and concept, but it's feels a bit unclear how it works. Where is my HP? Also the text at the bottom of the screen wont get deleted before the next text comes;
I bet a lot of effort went into this. It is just so luck based that it's hard to get going. If you happen to find some torches then there is a change otherwise it's usually just game over. Also nice music.
I was rather disoriented by not knowing what my HP was at any given time, nor how to interpret the "N at M" message when encountering enemies, nor exactly what events were happening as I moved into/out of rooms containing enemies.
The way the UI for current floor was arranged top-to-bottom was also confusing, since up-stairs moved me down in the UI, rather than up, and down-stairs vice versa. The fact that a down stair on floor 1 went to floor 8 was surprising also (I should have paid attention to the game's title). Between that, the random teleports to arbitrary floors, and the frequency of difficult monsters even on the early floors, I had a hard time staying alive. Most of my deaths felt random, not due to my own mistakes.
Edit: Ah, now I see that STR is essentially HP, and INT is like MP. Rather curious how one gets weaker as one gets damaged, and gets dumber as one uses magic. Finally managed to clean out the entire castle; was pretty easy, but only after getting lucky enough to find better equipment as a warrior.
i really liked the game idea. The characters are a litle umbalanced or is hard to see the pros and cons of each class. I liked also the random generation in the map, but some times you get closed in two or three steeps, also it's hard to say what lays under you without moving first. Congratulations for the game :D its quite addictive!!
This was great. I think it lacked some feedback about your health and how battles played out, but I enjoyed exploring it. The character choices were cool. A wolfman Rogue is badass.
Really loved the idea, even though it was very, very hard. Almost impossible to clear out a floor, really. And had I not read the description, the "stats are health" would not have been super obvious (plus they make battles increasingly harder). But I think that is an idea worth exploring further. Good job!
I had such a great time playing this game! I will definitely be keeping it on my computer and come back to play more. I loved that the music and graphics that gave it that mysterious feel and I loved figuring out the mechanics. The spellcaster was my favorite character, IQ is such a powerful spell! :D
This was fun! I managed to max my str with a warrior since I found a vendor on the first level. With some graphical & feature polish this game could do well on the app market.
It was not very intuitive and I almost gave up on my first play. Then I played again later and had a lot of fun with it once I understand what was happening. I like the torch mechanic but a very large part of the game only rely on it. And also i'm a totally fond of your menu bgm. I added it to my 8bit music collection.
Comments23
The way the UI for current floor was arranged top-to-bottom was also confusing, since up-stairs moved me down in the UI, rather than up, and down-stairs vice versa. The fact that a down stair on floor 1 went to floor 8 was surprising also (I should have paid attention to the game's title). Between that, the random teleports to arbitrary floors, and the frequency of difficult monsters even on the early floors, I had a hard time staying alive. Most of my deaths felt random, not due to my own mistakes.
Edit: Ah, now I see that STR is essentially HP, and INT is like MP. Rather curious how one gets weaker as one gets damaged, and gets dumber as one uses magic. Finally managed to clean out the entire castle; was pretty easy, but only after getting lucky enough to find better equipment as a warrior.