itch.io

https://thunderperfectwitchcraft.itch.io/bjrnstigen

Bjørnstigen is a map for Venzone, a game made by Francesco A. I wanted to explore the possibilities of using platformer games as a narrative medium - how can barriers and difficult situations, passages without checkpoints and uncertainty about the further way be used to convey feelings, emotions, and tension in a story?

The game is based on a real experience, and I remembered the single situations I had in mind, and tried to create screens that might evoke the emotions I had felt back then in my audience. The idea was something I had basically developed for a game jam, that - however -didn't caught much attention.

I'm quite satisfied with the result, and received - up until now - most positive reactions from those who testplayed it. More feedback is always welcome ;). The game/map is rather difficult, and you can well assume that you will need 2-3 hours to beat it.

Have fun!

Thank you!
I use PMWiki for a project atm, but I will consider changing over to FeatherWiki.

Messages from the Universe Graveyard was reviewed by the arcane cache, an utmost underground blog for very underground games:

You connect to a abandoned server of an shut-down and mostly defunct MMORPG. The game is largely dysfunctional, but certain locations of the games world can still be visited: Defunct, industrial spaces, overgrown greenhouses, and astral-surreal places – all of them forlorn, disturbed by glitches, and sometimes seemingly bleeding into each other. The best comparison to describe Messages from the Universe Graveyard’s general atmosphere might be Andrej Tarkovskys „Stalker“, although the spirits that haunt this zone clearly derive from an digital age...Messages from the Universe Graveyard is a well crafted, highly unique, baffling atmospheric, and just overall sparkling game – once you set foot into its surreal world, you are likely to be enraptured by it.

https://thunderperfectwitchcraft.org/arcane_cache/2024/12/17/messages-from-the-u...

Very well done!

Greetings

Thunder

Your works have been reviewed by the arcane cache, our underground blog for underground game:

The games of Cal Michael are a demanding „Gesamtkunstwerk“ – even if you approach them with good will and an open mind, they might largely escape you in the end – but are certainly worth a look. If you manage it to penetrate them, they reward you with a dive into a mystical, enthralling, and unique other-world.

https://thunderperfectwitchcraft.org/arcane_cache/2024/11/02/the-works-of-cal-mi...

Well done!

I like it!

The game concept is cool and already fun, but a bit more polishment could make it really great.

Things I noticed in my quick test:

• Getting your ship out of balance will kill you with no chance for return.  Taking out a bit of speed here to give the player a chance to react would be an improvement, imho.
• The "blobs" that attach to your ship are sometimes not killed by guns.
• The first bosses laser (in round 10) is very strong. It can be only countered by spamming the free segments, which imho is counterintuitive.
• Repairing is rather expensive, forcing offensive builds.

Well done!

Greetings

Thunder

The footage looks great - looking forward to it! =)

Escape Guldur was reviewed by the arcane cache, our very underground blog for very underground games:

Escape Guldur ain’t no dull hack-and-slay game: Your initial health has to prevail for the whole game, creating a need to search for a route with as less enemy contact as possible – you will need to sneak around corners, outmaneuver enemies and kite them if you want to win. ... The basal gameplay principle is well executed here, and for a jam-game of this scale, Escape Guldur has a surprisingly good overall production and balance – playing through it is a fun and satisfying experience

https://thunderperfectwitchcraft.org/arcane_cache/2024/10/15/escape-guldur/

Well done!

Thank you for reporting and helping with the search for the fix! =).

Will bake it into the official release, somewhat soon :).

My bad ;). Uploaded a new one ("Experimental_Patch2"), I hope this works out!

The DLL are only for windows, under Linux your local libraries are used :).

Ehm, just to be sure (since it probably was unclear in the first post): The patch is a executeable/binary; you should be able run it with ./Experimental_Patch ;)

Still doesn't work? The problem is, I believe, a missing "=" sign; as soon as your ration equals exactly 1920:1080, it won't work; the uploaded patch is a updated version with the sign in place, so I hope that it should fix it :3

I see :). Thanks for the detailed description!

I just uploaded a file called "Experimental_Patch" here. Please place it along the normal binary in the game folder and try to run it. Does this fix the issue?

Fun fact: I also use XFCE, but since my native resolution differs from the internal one used by the game, this bug would never trigger for me.

Thanks for your feedback!

Mouse works fine here on OpenSuse 15.5 in windowed mode. What Distribution/DE do you use? If you have various available, please try to switch the latter (like Gnome->KDE).

"I, The Living Flame" was reviewed by the arcane cache, an underground blog for underground games.

The player controls a girl that has to find a way through a dungeon maze while collecting notes and evading an angry Minotaur that chases her. You have no way of fighting back; the enemy has double your speed, so there is no way of escaping in the open field either – instead, you have to use your wits and get him stuck within his own maze...

The games aesthetics are great: Abstract images are shown between the levels, the texts and the title are somewhat cryptic – the overall atmosphere is mystic, occult, and mythical. ... „I, The Living Flame“ is probably as artsy as a non-abstract 2D Gameboy puzzle game can get.

https://thunderperfectwitchcraft.org/arcane_cache/2024/09/09/i-the-living-flame/

I surely will :).

If I'm not mistaken, you are generally interested in surreal/acid art? If you want, fire me an E-Mail: contact@thunderperfectwitchcraft.org ; we can exchange recommendations :).

Just retried and it still happens for me; using attack and then only defend after the troll lifted his mallet in the first fight. How do I trigger the console?

Your game got reviewed on the arcane cache, an utmost underground blog for underground games:

You walk through various dream-scenes, crossing silent forests, shadowy temples, cold cities, floating palaces… These images and scenes are phenomenal, and the great strength of this game – they are creative, strange, and beautifully realized...Quantum Origination is a great game, and one can tell that a lot of time and thought was invested into this. The level of detail, the craftsmanship used in its creation, and the creativity of the shown world make it a unique game in every aspect, and one of the best „psychedelic“ games I can remember playing.

https://thunderperfectwitchcraft.org/arcane_cache/2024/08/18/quantum-origination...

Well done!

Pocico got reviewed by the arcane cache, a most underground blog for most underground games:

Located in the perfect spot between minimalism and aesthetic, looking like a abstract or concrete painting that came to life, and its pentatonic scaled sound effects and reluctant, for the most time invisible user interface are a perfect fit. [...] Whetever you are a casual puzzle player or an hard boiled enthusiast – Pocico will offer you a good time with its witty, deep gameplay and its great style.

https://thunderperfectwitchcraft.org/arcane_cache/2024/07/28/pocico/

Well done!

Glad it worked - thanks for playing! =)

It is indeed hard, but I found it most enjoyable when asking for a certain precision. If you want, you can tune the difficulty either by the global settings or by editing the mode you play. I have myself quite some trouble  playing the game since I have some difficulties with distinguishing red and green ;).

The idea of Guess My RGB is indeed related - but I'd say that through the absence of a preview of the input color it requires a quite good abstract understanding of the RGB color room - personally, I can only approach the correct solution by tuning the input according to the percentage that is returned =).

Hi, and thanks for giving it a shot! 

Thats my fault - wrote an incorrect command in the readme;

g++ -Wall Toruz.cpp -lSDL2 -lSDL2_mixer -lSDL2_ttf -lSDL2_image -o out

(removing the -c) should produce a working binary!

Have fun!

You are most welcome!

Being a big fan of both underground games and inline skates, I'm look forward to see your project go on! =)

Do you have any ideas for the OST already?

Greetings

Hi Adam;

thanks for the reupload! Played it on OpenSuse using Wine.

Quick Feedback:

-The visual style is great!

-I love the idea of the gameplay.

-I like the idea of the rollback as a sort of "player defined checkpoint-system".:)

-Grinding is underused. I also recommend switching it with rollback on the default gamepad config, since it is hard to reach otherwise.

-Some levels were really fun! I especially liked Level 5.

-You need some polishment regarding the movement and the level design. I just quitted at level 8 since I can't find the exit, and jumping at the wrong place lets you fall from the floor since the "original" gravity is restored. Overall, there are some glitchy things - using the primary shoulder buttons makes you go sideways and lets you rise up walls!

-It might be since I used Wine, but the performance is hellish. Your game really attempted to toast my CPU, and my system is rather beefy.

Greetings

Thunder

ari against the bug blizzard was reviewed on the arcane cache, an utmost underground blog for utmost underground games!

The game captures the atmosphere of old low-budget productions damn well, and felt highly nostalgic for me – while playing probably remarkable better than these titles ever did; the whole atmosphere is dreamy, enrapturing. Fitting to this, the environmental message is there, but – and that has become a rare thing – one with a positive note: The robotic, world devouring flies might still be defeated in the end.

https://thunderperfectwitchcraft.org/arcane_cache/2024/07/08/ari-against-the-bug...

Well done, congratulations!

Hej moult;

this is great! :D

We just found a bug: Resetting the level will restore your lifes! Chance for a fix? (Note: I just purchased the game, but please don't feel obligated to update it because of this - it is, with the bug, a great game!).

Go on!

Greetings

Thunder

edit:

Also, noticed that you can spawn your web over the exit of nests if they are on a wall; not sure if this is intended.

This looks extremely cool, but I can't unpack the .zip file :/. Not sure if the error is on my side, but usually this isn't a problem. Can you check out and maybe re-upload?

Greetings

Thunder

Have read some Lovecraft, but seemingly didn't stumble upon this one :).

Tuned to see what there is to come!

Hi Bela,

really like the game and the effort you poured in. One can tell that this is a true labor of love :).

My attempts to create a stabil ecosystem did, however, not yet succeed:

apparently, the gas eaters can reproduce and survive without food, making them flood the room. Any tips on this?

Maybe a short description of the default blobs would be helpful :).

Greetings

Thunder

Hi Schmidt Workshops!

I really love both the aesthethics and the humorous, yet cool setting :). Never played a "drugged isekai" in a videogame, I think.

Work on the gameplay is clearly needed. You need to find a way to give the fights some depth - right now, it seems to be mainly hit and hope that you gain a level quick enough to heal.

Greetings

Thunder

Hi.

I can't block the Trolls attacks! Even if I use "Defend" in both turns before he attacks, he will still attack with a yellow dot :3.

Tuuli was reviewed by the arcane cache, an utmost underground blog for underground video games.

The writing is the strongest point of the game. The places are evoking, the scenes atmospheric, the characters well fleshed out, and even the short dialogues feel vibrant; you don’t feel the absence of graphic- and sound effects for a single second. The writing style feels natural and fitting for the story – coherent, just direct enough, without falling for any of the common traps for fantasy settings.

...

The finale, the ritual, and especially its whole follow up, is the highlight within this great game. Highly tribal, without employing cliches; dark, tragic, and brutal without being cynical; emphatic and loaded, but still ambivalent. Tuuli is not only a stunning video game, but also a magnificent piece of fantasy literature that you might find on par with many of the genre classics.

https://thunderperfectwitchcraft.org/arcane_cache/2024/06/24/tuuli/

Your game got reviewed on the arcane cache, our utmost underground blog for underground games!

Kryftolike is a game as pure and clear as water, but makes a lot out of its simple concept: Even though violence and fighting are nearly non-present, the game is highly thrilling. While the landscape mainly consists of auto-generated dungeons from a rather limited set of possible elements, it evokes some real sense of exploration and adventure. And even though you just play for a highscore the game is so well made that you might end up playing it again and again.

Well done, congratulations!

I agree that it somewhat feels like a struggle against windmills, but what alternative is there to trying anyway?

The Lemmy community never got much activity either. Not sure if we should retry it there or try something entirely else.

Go and try it! ;)

What a great response! Thanks a lot, I'm glad that I could evoke such feelings with my text :).

I go gladly with game!

The engine, Incoanhyto, is an attempt to allow true intertextuality - beside "Fluid Worlds", there are some other stories already available that I tried to link in my text :). New stories and additions are most welcome, just try it! (its free, libre, and strictly noncommercial) =)

Thank you :).

It is indeed a bit ambitious, and I somewhat struggled with it at times and did various changes and revisions. Eventually I came to the point where I thought it was as good as I could make it, and I'm somewhat satisfied with the result. Glad that you liked it!

Hi, and thanks for your nice feedback!

Glad that you liked it - one note about esoteric ideas: While most esoteric schools assume the existence of a spiritual world that is more meaningful than the reality, I'm the opposite: As a materialist (in the Marxist sense) I do believe that our ideas and ideals (which you could consider an ideal/abstract room, or some lair of spirituality if you prefer) are a result - and as such an existing part - of our reality. Why it might seem a bit like the same as a result, I'd feel safe to say that it isn't.

Greetings

Works now ;).

Neither me. Is it possible that just this title card was included?

I sometimes considered to go and try to produce a zero budget movie; cool that you people did it - it was surely fun!

This is pretty crazy. I like it!

Buggy like hell, though ;).