Nah, there's a fair few ways to beat him.
I've taken down The King using an straighforward armor+Sword build (Just let the spikes slow down, and with spikes of your own beat regen), an Arrow build (Who cares about spikes if I am long ranged!) and a Metal Wand/broken ring build. It's doable, just a bit tricky and weird.
WELL...
I have just finished the "special level", burning through ~70 lives in the process... and can I just say: This game is sick. Truly the result of a diseased mind. The difficulty ramp up is perfect, starting out "Sure fine", and ramping up to... uhhh... truly deranged levels. All the hidden knooks and crannies feel great, and reward exploring. The various "key coins" are hidden in great spots. And the story elements from the orginal video are woven in nicely.
Gotta say, did take me a while to figure out what the controls are the controls. (Up is speak? "Special" is both roll and used mid jump to "pop")
Very cool. Very nicely done. There is so much I love here, and so much I hate (God damn those Drop platforms in the special level with the roll-jump-hop needed).
Thanks for a great game.
Wait.... WAIT....
Your character, has perpetual bad luck and Bad Juju.
Runes tells us that its 1000 years of bad luck to talk about "it".
... is that the explaination. Did we literally get told the grand plot? In some past life or whatever, our chatacter talked about something and earned themselves 1000 years bad luck?
Cause like... that would be hilarious. The entire plot revealed in act one, by the joke character, as part of a joke
A+. Good sokoban puzzle/metroidvania, with just enough story line to give a sense of progress (as opposed to pure sokoban Lvl number).
Nice use of having some solutions be available only from certain directions, and the gradual short cut and ability accumulation through-out the game. Very well balanced, and good feelings of returning to old places and being able to solve them in new ways.
Seeing Owl early and previewing all those final puzzles over and over again before FINALLY being ready for them? Very good feel.
So, option D above is already true (cost of 2 coins after 3 views).
Option 1 above is also kind of true (you get given nine coins, so there's one spill over coin for a "free" re-roll.
Option 2 is cool. Note sure about suggestion 3 - what are you hoping to gain there? Personally I like the speed of ramp.
Idea 4 listed above is already implemented (little spiral arrow, bottom right, took me ages to find as well).
^ This.
A couple dumb requests:
I feel like a "Teleport" spell to swap the location of two of your troops would be cool as hell, and tactically very deep (while having limited direct "power".
I feel like have special ending if you manage to hit the king with a Level 3 Succubus would be cool (high level succubus are generally kinda pointless, but having them gift a special ending feels like a cool trade off for the investment?)
I feel like a "bomber" skeletonne with bad stats, but high castle damage would be awesome.
Uhhhhh... Oh! and not sure if it's good gameplay, but having a UNIT which grants spying would be cool (possibly replacing the "pay two gold to spy" thing?).
Not sure.
Overall, the game is beutifully balanced, and now I just want other things which mess with the balance in interesting ways.
Yo, just started reading, and just wanted to say: this setting is cool as hell.
Am really enjoying the weird/offbeat world set up and vibes, the formatting is sleek, and art is cool.
Looking forward to getting into the rules/characters etc. this whole thing looks really well done. (Will post more updates as I go)
So, this game was weird.
The RNG just kept giving me Archers, and I kept taking them (6 archers by round 3, 10 by end of game? so like... nearly half my units?) Mid game consisted of just... archers killing everything before my armies even made contact?
Turns out: 1 or 2 archers= chaotic and inconsistent, 4 x lvl 2 archers= kill everything. Archers are better in high volumes.
Early Lvl 3 archers gave access to early succubus, and then Medic building cranked up her HP. Absolutely wonderful
Hell. Fucking. Yes.
Turn 7 victory. Earliest I done before is Turn 9.
Hey, so as a random question, about 1/3 of the time I'll be halfway through a run, and then the window just goes black and stays that way (sound continues).
I figure if its just me, probably not worth worrying about, but if other people are having similar things, might be worth looking into?
(Excellent game btw, beautifully balanced, so many strategies. I am currently sad, as I just lost a run where I was on track to deal 20 damage by round 3. )
Amazing. Beutifully well balanced.
First run, thought I was hot stuff, fought may way all the way to the king, saw his army. O_O
Okay, cool fine, did that battle.
Missed victory by 2 points of damage. -_-
TWO POINTS OF DAMAGE.
I love it. I love that the game is so fantastically well balanced, and the synergies between different units are very cool. The "limited spying" is also a lovely mechnic.
Oh, and the bare bones story of "Rent is due, therefore lets burn down society using necromancy" is hilarious.
Oh no. :(
I'm sorry.
Also, sorry if comment came off as stating the obvious- Is no tutorial in Paperlily, so I thought maybe someone who hadn't played Kat might get tripped up. For the running, I suspect the difficulty of the puzzle might be like... computer dependent, as the level of lag etc plays into things.
Best of luck!
So, as a couple hints:
1) I can confirm, the game is possible and not broken.
2)Have you played project Kat? If not, that game is something of a tutorial for this one.
3) there is ALWAYS an alternative way of doing things.
Hence, for example, the fuse puzzle is perfectly possible if you are willing to pull out a few of the fuses from below (you don't NEED everything powered).
4) Getting behind the bars in the lab is useful, but not needed. (Also, there is no valve there).
There are guides to get you through elsewhere in this comments section if you need them, but for now I'd encourage you to try without. Good luck!
Okay, so, finished game, and lots of thoughts (And feels!)
Uhhh... so first off, the game is fabulous, absolutely enjoyed, great characters (RUNE! I love Rune so much! Rune is the most adorable demon.). The Art is lovely. The music rocks, characters are fun. We got to see our Girl Kat again. Fabulous. Puzzles are good and fun, and I already know that this was while playing the "Standard" playthrough, and that there will be all sorts of alternative solutions to those puzzles once I try for alternative endings (So many unexplored locked doors!)
**SPOILERS BELOW**
Sai is suspicious as all fuck, and I love it. (Did he knock you out in the stairs? I'm pretty sure there's no one else available who COULD have knocked you out)
I'm... going to play around with some critique, not to give crap, but just because it sounds like you are working on polishing things, and maybe it will be helpful.
Something that really stood out here compared to Project Kat is... I died a lot? Like A LOT. Death was cheap- you just get killed "You died. Retry?" And that.... creates a *very* different tone to Project Kat. Like, at the end of Kat, death is *heavy*. Actions have consequences.
Chpt one leans more on jumpscare, less on creeping dread? I think it also leads to sort of... when you win, its like "Well yes, THIS Lacie survived, but 100 others didn't" - it feels less Lacie wins through being smart, but just through the power of save scumming.
...I'm not entirely sure where to go with that though, as the death and danger are an important part of gameplay, It's just something I noticed. Whether you *should* change anything is a question I'm not sure of, but figured I'd flag it as "this is a thing."
I wish the results of burning things in the wrong order were more than just "Game over, try again", though I do like the phrasing "You have made a terrible mistake". EDIT: Oh- apparently the alt endings will be in the full version. Never mind them, looking forward to it!
OH! The clocktower room.
The clocktower room that Sai can't enter is magical. I love it.
That room by itself just does like... so much work to sell this sensation of "Rituals are weird and mysterious and *no one* knows how this works", which I think is super important in a game like this... and having moments even Sai is flumoxed by is really nice.
Hey Chucklemaster: glad you've enjoyed so far.
For example NPC's... in theory it should all be there already *goes and checks*....
....
...
And I commented out an entire chapter by mistake. :|
My Bad.
Thank you for spotting!! Much appreciated.
Okay, have updated the document and its all there now, if you re-download then you should have an entire chapter of monsters and NPCs, along with some tips on running combat.
Argll, god damn room 2 has a lot going on in it. So many obvious puzzles you can't solve at the start of the game, and a subtle puzzle you don't notice. Got me stuck, and wasn't till hours later when I was away from the computer that I realized. Very nicely done.
I'm assuming you referring to garbled text there? Is Rot13, a very basic cypher often used in comments sections to avoid spoilers. https://rot13.com/
Guvf vf na rknzcyr grkg.
Further exploring, more updates:
*The Ritual states that you can't abort after the Candles are lit.... but the game locks you in the moment you start on the chalk (staircase, girls disappear, etc). Feels weird that the envelope and the game disagree on where the point of no return is.
* I wish I could open the curtains during the ritual. Possibly after Kat going "These should stay closed", "Are you SURE you want to open them?" or something, but I feel like deliberatly ignoring the curtain instructions should be possible (and a very bad idea).
*I wish I could deliberately do the ritual in the wrong order. (candles before chalk or something). Not sure if this results in failed ritual and nothing happening, or more evil ritual.
*I wish I could complete the ritual AFTER fpnevat gur tveyf bss jvgu cynag zheqre. V trg jul vgf rnfvre gb whfg phg fubeg gurer, ohg pbagvahvat gur tnzr, pbagvahvat gur evghny, naq gura univat lbhe sevraqf ABG fubj hc qrnq ng gur raq bs gur tnzr (orpnhfr gurl yrsg rneyl rabhtu) jbhyq srry ernyyl avpr.
Vs lbh jnagrq gb cynl vg sbe ynhtuf, unir gur 3 qrnq tveyf ercynprq ol 3 qrnq cynagf va gur svany unyyjnl. Vs lbh jnagrq gb cynl vg frevbhf, unir gur ibvpr gryy lbh ubj lbh ner nyy nybar, naq cbgragvnyyl zbpxvat lbh sbe abg orvat jvfr rabhtu gb sbyybj lbhe sevraqf.
*What the hell do the protective runestones do? (I assume this is something explored more in the full sized game, not in the prolouge)
*The more I play, the more I come to appreciate that the "size" of each chapter is just *perfect*. The school feels big enough to explore, but small enough that you feel like you can explore all of it and get a handle on things. The Hallways and school are similar. The pacing is *exactly* right, and a big part of that is how the authors have made all the spaces just the right size. It's really well done.
*In the underworld, there are signs telling you not to run, and there's long hallways and jumpscares encouraging you to run and... there didn't seem to be any consequence of running? Maybe I missed something.
*In the supply closet after you Tb qbja gur vzcbffvoyr unyyjnl naq zrrg gur "phygvfg/tnheqvna" guvat... gurl gryy lbh nyy gb tb ubzr (terng nqivpr). Ohg nyfb ol gung cbvag va gur tnzr, gur fpubby vf ybpxrq qbja jvgu ab rkvgf (pvephyne unyyjnl, pybfrq jvaqbj). Fb... vgf abg yvxr gur tveyf PNA sbyybj gur nqivpr naq "whfg yrnir".
Vg jbhyq or pbby vs bar bs gur tveyf zragvbaf guvf, naq gur tnheqvna fnlf "Gur jnl vf abg bcra", be "bcra gur phegnvaf", be FBZRGUVAT gb rkcynva ubj gur tveyf npghny trg bhg.
As always, these suggests are made with no knowledge of the other design decisions you are juggling at your end, so might be that none of them work.
That.... was pretty god damn awesome. Think I'll have to play it again, see if I can get a different ending. Very cool. Thanks for making this.
Oh, one fedback: The movement at the start in the garden felt... lurchy. Like I kept pausing, lagging etc.
Didn't have that problem elsewhere, maybe it is just me, but figured I'd mention it, since you guys were asking for feedback
Other notes/feedbacks: needing to press "Z" to walk out of the occult room felt really unintuitive. If there's a door, pressing Z feels fine, but when its just a "fade to black", It feels like walking at it hard enough should work.
Similarly, if I have the theatre key, I feel like Kat should automatically use it to unlock the door (instead of just commenting "Hey, I have the key", and then forcing player to use inventory.
Now.... maybe there are important design reasons you did things this way, but those are just some rando thoughts to make the game smoother to play.
Does the PLAYER need to wait 5 minutes before burning the hair, or is the flashback sequence already covering that? If it is, maybe have Kat mention "and, that's five minutes!" so that players know. Otherwise, being the cautious Practioner that I am, I'm going to sit there waiting.
Also, because the game really emphasizes the importance of taking multiple paths at the start, its really frustrating when Kat refuses to do things.
In particular: Once I have the hairpin, she refuses to open mystery classroom off on the west side (at least, so far). Obviously you have finite game making resources, but having the door THERE, and the lockpick in hand, and the character refuses is disapointing. Maybe remove the door if it doesn't do anything? ...or make it less mysterious? ("Oh, this is history class, that's boring").
Similarly, when I use the lighter on the black ooze, Kat talks about it maybe being combustable, and then refuses to light it ("I shouldn't"). Even if you don't want to code anything, just having her TRY to light it (possibly after some encouragement), and then go "Oh... guess its not flamable" is still more satisfying, cause it feels like the world, not the character is blocking you. Or have something happen! Maybe you just get blown up and die! I don't know, just tossing ideas around.
EDIT EDIT:
Nevermind- most of this stuff actually works, I just had to get the ordering right. I'm still looking for the 4th protective runestone and a way to use 9000 sticks of chalk.
