You'll get to go back later, nothing is permanently missable! You'll see what these pressure plates are for later :B It's just that there are some sequences of the game where you're confined to certain areas ^^
The Thunderhorn isn't required to continue! It's just a relic you might get if you're lucky enough. You can also refight every boss as many times as you want at the end of the demo, so it's not permanently missable!
The sign at the end of the game does mention the pod and being able to go back to Sablee / Auria ^^
I actually disagree about the clouds and bricks in Auria! The bricks are slightly discolored, but also shake when hovered upon ^^ The clouds are harder to think of, until you encounter these lines of clouds jumping in the background. Although, I'm planning on giving them a better SFX when clicked, and maybe making it so you don't have to click them 3 times to destroy them, that could help.
About the fights, you can always walk back the way you came from when you encounter one, so it's possible to skip them in that sense! Smash also lets you instantly destroy fights if you're 10 lvls or more above the enemy, but yeah that doesn't work on Shape fights, you'll need a Heart dummy for these ^^
That's odd, Itch.io doesn't really do anything like that, it just lets you download the files really. GameMaker specifies where the save files are located, but I've no idea why it would put it on a different user account... Maybe some obscure setting on your side?
In any case thank you very much! This is wild, I've never ever seen a save get borked like that, this definitely seems to be beyond repair sadly... The only solution for the game not to crash on the loading screen might be to remove your corrupted save file entirely...
I just tried crashing the game on purpose right as it's saving and even that couldn't replicate this issue, that blue screen must have really happened at the worst timing imaginable
I did consider adding a backup system before but that since I'd never seen corrupted / lost saves before, it didn't feel worth the effort. Since both you and someone else just had a save issue though, I'll work on adding that soon! It might be a bit primitive though, as in having to go in the save folder and replacing the files manually, but it's better than nothing
Oh that Sablee crash had an error! Damn, it really must have been a rare one then. I guess I've got some work ahead of me still...!
Sorry I couldn't get your save back, but also, thank you!
First of all, there is a Walkthrough available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/119207938 I guess it couldn't hurt to mention its existence in the intro screen... I'll keep that in mind!
If you went through every room of the Night dome and still didn't find the missing stars, even with the radar, you might be missing a secret room! One thing you can use to figure out where it is is the fact that this map is symmetrical ^^
I agree that some secrets are way too hard to find, I do plan at hinting at some of them in various ways in future builds. And, I also have plans to make fights skippable if you've beaten that enemy enough times! The encounter rate is an issue for sure currently.
One last thing, you can get every power orb without restarting! It's possible to go back to Auria and Sablee by using the pod in the top right of the Rietti plains once you've beaten the last boss of the demo ^^
Again, thank you! I appreciate the praises and the feedback!
Huh, that's a lot... Let's answer everything one by one!
I do plan on adding a fast travel system in the future, which will be unlocked later in the story! no worries there ^^
I definitely don't recommend renaming the files...! I'm kinda surprised it still worked after that. More info about the save files below!
The game does have some rare crashes that instantly close the game, without an error log... I'm still trying to figure this out, but these happening as you move into a new room correlates with other reports I've heard. Thank you, I'll see what I can do! I think it might either be a VRAM issue or a problem with GameMaker itself at this time.
Noted for the soul capture, thank you!
As for the bluescreen, I don't expect this was caused by the game since I've never heard of something like this before, but it could have been some real bad timing for sure which corrupted your save... So, the save files are located in "C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\BE_Witches" where XXX is your username. I assume you chose the first save slot, in which case your corrupted save should be named "Save file 0", if possible, do you think you could zip that folder and upload it on say, MEGA, and I can take a look at it? It might be useful to prevent this kind of save file corruption in the future, and with a bit of luck I might also be able to fix your save!
What?! Aw fuck, I'm sorry... I don't expect it but did you fiddle with the save files by chance? Or did you maybe try loading a different version of the game and save in there?
The save files are located in "C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\BE_Witches" where XXX is your username, what do you see if you access that folder? Surely they didn't fully disappear, maybe it got misnamed through some bug or something and the game can't find it for that reason...?
Thank you very much, I'm glad you both like it! ^^
I'll consider alchemy hints. I think it'd be fine if you had to pay for them, either in magis or in shards... We'll see!
Ah, I've been made aware of the Rietti forest puzzle cheese lol. It's actually possible to kinda cheese he one after that too, but I think I'll leave these in, it's kinda like a fun secret ^^
To be fair the + and - aren't very clearly explained, I'm planning to introduce that feature a bit better in a future build of the game!
Thank you so much! And I appreciate the feedback too ^^
1. I guess it couldn't hurt! I'd need to be careful and make it so it won't cause issues if you press M while typing a note for example, but yeah, can do, I'm taking note 2. Aah, that's been brought up a few times before. It's fair especially given this is a BE game, but essentially while I'm not against it, my focus is somewhere else currently! If I do end up doing this, it'll be closer to the end of development ^^
1 bar: random minor power up 2 bars: health (half a heart or a full heart if you're lucky) 3 bars: +1 drop after the fight 4 bars: random major power up
decisionmaking is shifted from perfection to reaction and everything feels more like a fight. As soon as I got my mind away from "solving a puzzle" to "a battle with shapes and fei" it became immediately more fun.
That's a really good way to put it actually. This has always seemed obvious to me, so I never even considered that some might still see the fights as a puzzle where you need to figure out the perfect solution, which would cause frustration. Thank you, I might actually use that in a tuto page in the game!
Clarity during the fights has always been an issue, and yeah as you said being aware of what spell your enemy is going to cast next is currently one of the main problems with the fights I have to solve. Since a big announcement in the middle of the screen would get in the way, I've been thinking about adding an SFX that would change depending on the spell category (attack, heal, buff, debuff, special), which would trigger when the spell starts being cast and when it's close to being launched. Maybe change the board's background color could help too... That'll be among the changes I work on for the next version, along with a bunch of QoL more generally ^^
I'm glad you weren't afraid to experiment with the various Heartpowers as well! Each has strengths and weaknesses as you said. Most people have some trouble with the Yoyo and the Mines actually ^^ The Swatter though, that one got improved some time ago but I agree that it still needs more. Actually, just right now, I realized that making the Swatter and Fly follow the Heart might help a lot! It would be a lot easier to track their movement and trigger the splat at the right time if you know to do it when they reach the Heart, which you'll already be looking at, rather than having to keep an eye somewhere else on the screen. Definitely worth experimenting with! Thank ye :B
Sorry, having to click the spells is an integral part of the gameplay, so I won't add shortcuts...!
I do plan on reworking he encounter rate / system a bit though, possibly by making it so fights can be skipped if you've already beaten that enemy enough times. There is currently a way to insta destroy lower lvl fights by using the ability obtained in the second town if said enemy is 10 lvl or more below your highest lvl party member (I might lower this to 5 lvl in the future). There are also consumable items with that effect ^^
Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it! The composers put a lot of effort into the OST, so this means a lot ^^
I see what you mean about the star radar. I'll consider it, or alternatives, but no promises...! I do have plans for fast travel between save rooms, this will become available later in the story ^^ And I also have plans for fast XP grinding to catch up low level Witches! Their level currently depends on your highest level Witch at the time they're revived, but that will probably change later in development. But yeah, no worries there! ^^
- About the fights, I suppose that's subjective! I could smplify the match 3 part, but it would lose a lot of what makes them interesting. I love the feeling of being overwhelmed and having to figure out the best course of action as fast as possible, as well as buttons having multiple uses. So these will stay as they are, though I do plan on adding some difficulties option, including potentially one that would make the whole thing somewhat more of a turn based system!
- Having the combo spells trigger automatically would be too strong, and potentially a negative in some cases. For ther same reasons as above and because it's also more tactical, I want them to be triggered by the player! It's not impossible that some spells would be combo only, but no promises there
- The forest boss (and the forest in general) are definitely too tough this early in the game, I agree! The difficulty will be rebalanced in the next major update ^^
- Aw shoot, I've been having reports of mysterious crashes for some people, which might either be a memory issue or because of Game Maker itself. These have been very difficult to identify, I'll do my best to figure these out...!
The segfault issue is very strange, that one I hadn't heard of... I'll keep an eye out but I'm not sure I'll be able to do anything about it for the time being.
In any case, thank you very much for reporting these!
- And yes, there will be a fast travel option later which will work exactly as you described! It will be unlocked later in the story ^^
Again, thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts, it means a lot!
This is an incompatibility issue that will occur when loading a save from the previous demo with the new demo! You'll need to start a new save with the new demo to avoid this.
Alternatively, you might be able to load that save by launching the old demo (also available in itchio), loading this save there and doing this alchemy in it, saving and turning it off, then loading that save again in the newer build once you're done. It's not ideal but I believe this should work if you don't want to start from the beginning!
No, it's accurate! ^^ It's just that every other witch you fight (in this demo at least) is in fact rank 1. I do actually have a lore explanation for that too, especially for the more powerful ones, but the main reason I wanted it to be that way is that I prefer to have the player discovering the higher ranks through their efforts of amplifying the characters after they join your party
Aah, sadly the tab in freeze isn't something I can fix, this is on Game Maker's side, I can only wait. Thankfully there is a temporary fix shared in the README if it does trigger, pressing F6 will toggle fullscreen on/off, which should fix the freeze!
I've never heard of something like that happening with the cursor... Is there any chance this could have been because of a hitstun after destroying a Shape maybe? Would you happen to have a video of it?
It depends! Generally, reviving after dying of unnatural causes will preserve the rank (and size), but a natural death will reset both on revival. There's a bit more to it I'm keeping to myself for now, but that's the gist of it ^^
Thank you! I'm aware of this issue (though I didn't know it could trigger that way) but sadly this isn't something I can fix currently, this is an issue with the engine itself so I've no choice but to wait for a fix... I do have some workaround solutions listed in the README though! Not ideal, but it's something...!
It turns out this crash occurred when dying in this fight, but only if a mini brain is present! I actually fixed this error just yesterday, if you redownload the game, you should be good ^^ You'll be able to keep playing on your save too!
Hi! That purple totem is only a part of the puzzle, the one in the north east part of Sablee is the one you can put items in ^^ You should be able to spin the heart by scrolling the mouse wheel, does that not work?
- Changing your display's refresh rate (both increasing it and decreasing it work depending on your machine... The logic behind why is beyond me!)
- Pressing F1 in game. This should fix it, but it will also unlock the mouse from the game window. Not really an issue if you're playing in fullscreen on a single screen setup, though it might make certain sequences where the cyrsor is meant to be locked in a certain spot act a bit weird, but still playable.
Hope that helps...! These are temporary fixes, this is a Game Maker issue and I've no choice but to wait for the engine to receive a definitive fix.
This was occurring on Windows too, and was due to a mistake of mine. It's fixed now, but you'll need to redownload the game! You'll be able to keep playing on your save file so no worries there ^^
Thank you ^^ Damn, the music volume is only supposed to lower when getting closer to the sea. I'll look into it but I can't promise a fix for this too soon since I'm not currently able to test the Linux version directly. But I'm taking note of it and I'll take a look at the code!
