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The Dark Castle
The Dark Castle
By joror
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 49 | 4.08 | 58 | |
| Fun | 130 | 3.86 | 58 | |
| Innovation | 475 | 3.27 | 57 | |
| Theme | 771 | 3.17 | 57 | |
| Graphics | 461 | 3.67 | 57 | |
| Humor | 535 | 3.00 | 54 | |
| Mood | 13 | 4.40 | 57 | |
Comments
remco
2017-12-05 09:17
- I like the way the background noise starts soft and ramps up. - Speaking of which, the atmosphere is tense and pressing :slight_smile: - You can choose 'rescue boyfriend', but it still assumes you're attracted to the demoness (although that might be correct for some people as well...) - I've got the 'remorse' item twice. Maybe I can use it twice, but it still looks a bit strange when you see it the first time. - Perhaps those options that would be possible, but clearly instant game-overs could have some sort of warning icon? At least as a toggleable option. Or would that make it too easy? - Oooh, the endings are shown on the left. Nice touch! And they're clickable :slight_smile: - On my way to a third ending, I found a screen where none of the options where possible: daan40_bugged_screen.png The secuence goes like this: _1, 2, 2, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 1, no options_
I want to try the 'corruption' ones as well, but my old 'handicap' of 'never choose the evil option' rears its head... :upside_down:
All in all, lots of work in 3 days, but I think it payed off! By which I mean it's very compelling.
rixium
2017-12-06 16:10
It's awesome! Well done! You probably know what is good about it, but I'll tell you what I think anyway. I love the UI, I know there isn't much of one, but it's well designed, and everything is very easy to understand. I love tabletop and this reminds me of something that could be a tabletop (Do you have a tabletop inspiration? I want to buy it.) I like the idea, and I think you should expand on it and polish it some more.
Recommendations: - Better transitions between screens. - More sound effects so you can hear what you do. - Variation in the music, as it was fairly repetitive.
None the less, it's really good, and one of the best I've played in the JAM.
PS. I'm a dirty little succubus plaything, btw.
Ummm.... That was inappropriate. I'm sorry, but that was offensive.
goddess
2017-12-06 16:37
I got here. Sorry, I don't know what exactly I did to get here but here I am. Hope it's useful anyway. castlepic.png
Loved the game tho!
The UI is nice, and the music is well chosen. Well done!
There are some places I feel railroaded though, like I was given the choice of being a bit more noisy, with 3 noisiness already, or doing something silly.
Also, I got to a place where I could basically do nothing, because I had none of the prerequisites needed for any of the choices. The list was completely red.Screenshot from 2017-12-06 19-16-05.png
joror
2017-12-06 18:37
Hi guys, thanks for the feedback - there was a bug with some logic preventing certain paths to complete! Uploaded a fix.
@notpresident35 I am sorry the game was not to your liking - I have added a mature content warning.
@joror Thank you!
Absolutely fantastic. I like seeing some more story driven choose your own adventure games/ visual novels in these jams. I loved the concept of the different emotions/moods/actions effecting your journey and the story was compelling from what I have played so far. The visuals were also very nice. I like the replay value that it has through the multiple endings (something I love about games like the nonary series). I need to rate some more games but yes, I will very happily return to this one when I have the time.
pepri
2017-12-06 20:18
I really liked the music and the story. Though, some parts of the story were quite strange, but that might also just be due to my decisions.
Oh! It's like a visual novel! I love those. This was fun to play. Great job!
I liked this a lot! It was fun to fail in different ways, and it looks like there's quite a large number of different things that happen. The audio did a really good job of setting the mood, also.
Great job setting the mood and making me think trice about what to do + setting up for replayability to find out the events that I missed. At the woman on the sofa part I wish there was an option that say "beat her with the broom and run like a mad man! Run for you life!" lol Maybe there is and I just didn't have all I needed ;)
kappaix
2017-12-06 21:04
On the whole I was really impressed by the depth of options and the overall quality of the writing. Few typos and rough areas, but it was an ambitious task for a Jam and I think you pulled it off.
Well done!
I didn't make it to the end. I played a couple of times and I did enjoy it quite a lot. Maybe I'll come back to it one more try later on to try and get a bit further. The sounds and the art was really nice. As well as the UI and its interactions. I enjoyed the story but it wasn't the most compelling part for me. All in all it is a really impressive work you made for this LD.
One suggestion would be to help the player some by not letting the accidentally commit suicide. So if an option is available but would put you at 4 in some category maybe have a generic "but wait, this is suicide" vs "I'll do it anyway" type of warning.
Very good game though!
picapica
2017-12-08 21:07
I got hooked! Hmm... I'm probably going to try a couple of more times to see if i can get more endings. I appreciate the amount of text and story you've created! And having an inventory full of intangible stuff like "crows gratitude" and "remorse".
Nice entry! I made an interactive story-game for my entry too although this one is a lot more interactive. I got three endings but it's cool that there are a whole 18. The different negative stats are an interesting take on the theme and I like how they effect what kind of choices you have available. Art and sound really set the mood.
gris
2017-12-09 15:34
You create a really good mood with the music and story. Different style of game, I really liked it. Congrats!
Awesome style of game, really enjoyed it. Music is a nice touch to add to the feel of the story. Loved the branching story, nicely written and a really nice system of determining when you fail the game.
hezo
2017-12-09 16:44
I really like this game. I think the graphics could be more inspired, but still good. Great work !
blay09
2017-12-09 17:08
Very nice! Love the audio and concept. It feels like there's lots to discover, I might just try and unlock some more endings later. Well done.
lmb
2017-12-09 17:27
Quite entertaining! I've spent a good deal of time on it and still plan to play through it some more times. Great mood, sound and graphics help to build tension. I see the relationship with the theme, but it I think it is only marginal.
Nice job, thanks for making it!
sgadrat
2017-12-09 17:37
Wow that is an impressive work, drawing all these screens and writing all these paths. It makes for a captivating game. The drawings not showing the action directly is suprisingly good at putting the atmosphere up and let the player's imagination forge the details.
mgadrat
2017-12-09 18:30
Amazing game ! I played several times and liked a lot. Learned some new words too ;)
This was a delight! I played at least seven or eight times to see what the other options were (though I didn't manage to beat it yet...), but I had a great time!
I only got totally stuck once - since I was unable to choose any options (see screenshot). Capture.PNG
joror
2017-12-09 18:52
@affinitychris Thanks! Ahhh, I thought I had caught all dead paths.. alas. (that last option there should always be available)
jelch
2017-12-09 19:17
The most content I've seen in a choose your own adventure yet. Nice!
ezyryder
2017-12-09 21:13
I loooooove this game! It took way too much of my time but it was worth it :D
This is really well done. I haven't seen a text adventure with this much replay value on LD before. I couldn't defeat the dark lord...
Really good game, I had fun exploring various paths - really impressed with how many options there are to discover for a jam game. I think I'll come back to this later and try to get more endings!
falak
2017-12-09 21:25
I LOVE THIS GAME! The way we can choose our purpose to be here! I'm confident I will back to it after the jam!
hayzar
2017-12-09 22:24
I tried few paths but I couldn't beat it yet, Infact I'll make sure to try every single path. The narration was soo great, I loved the atmosphere, I even got kinda worried at some point. Was soo enjoyable overall.
I suggest adding some sound effects to some of the actions such as footsteps.
Thank you for your inspirational work
zambini
2017-12-09 22:30
Classic narrative based gameplay! Love it! Great work!
This was amazing. Really good narrative, the audio matched perfectly and the art was really good. Such a well made game, purely text adventure like I hadn't seen in a long time. Can't really point anything except that I don't think it fits with the theme.
Also, like Hayzar suggested, having more sound effects could be really good. Overall, great game!
Loved this! The narrative was great and the audio and visuals really complemented it well. Didn't really manage to get to any good endings, even though I spent quite a while playing it...
You did a really good job in creating this dark athmosphere making the narrative even better.
lars-dk
2017-12-13 06:04
Well that was cool. I liked how you could go back and see previous endings you've managed to get. It made me wish for an undo button haha. The narrative was enticing and the art moody. The UI seemed large but was otherwise ok. Music was atmosphere done right. Sound effects and theme use were a bit minimal. I really enjoyed playing this game for a couple of playthroughs.
A succubus totally did not take my soul and force me to write this.
This was a very interesting game! I like the text-adventure approach, and I find the takw on the theme to be very cool as well. The music was great, and definitely fit the game. Great job!
flubz
2017-12-14 03:33
Gotta love some text adventure, miss the days of good old Monkey Island :monkey:
And thaat soundtrack was absolutely brilliant, so eerie and ambient, perfect for the game! Also loved the artwork, crazy to think that it was done in 2 days! Well done, brilliant accomplishment! :clap:
A wonderfully complex text adventure, it reminds me of playing Fighting Fantasy gamebooks as a child! I loved most every element of this, so my criticisms are closer to nitpicks than anything serious.
That said, I did notice that Loudness is hard to control early on, which means it's easy to get pushed back into that ending even when trying for other paths. Also, I ran into the same screen as affinitycris got, even though you said you'd fixed it. Did you forget to upload the fix to the web version, or is there a bug at play here. I think the hex option might have said missing item too, even if I was a witch (I presume that's what you need for a hex).
Overall, this is one of the best games I've played so far this jam. Congratulations on such a superb entry!
lorenzos
2017-12-17 21:36
I never played a text adventure, I liked it! I re-played many time (I think I unlocked something like 8 or 9 endings), but I never managed to complete my goal. Looks fairly hard. Maybe I'll retry later.
Graphics are nice, I don't know how exactly, but they perfectly convey the sense of "lord's castle, darkness, evil, mystery". Music is nice too: the long dark ambient drones are just what a game like this needs, not more. Writing is excellent; I'm not a native English speaker, but it was all clear and I also learned a couple of new words.
Just one suggestion: it'd be nice to have some sound effects for the most important action you choose.
I'm not sure I got the theme here, maybe the stats penalty (the more, the worse)? If that's it, maybe it's a little bit weak.
blinry
2017-12-17 22:24
This game has an intense atmosphere! :O I enjoyed the writing and the soundtrack, the different attributes, and the items ;) The first play-through was rather frustrating, because I didn't know what to look out for at all. But mood-wise, this worked really well!
mars
2017-12-19 12:14
Well done, you've put a lot of content into this! I wasn't able to find all the endings, but I did get at least half of them. The amount of thought that's gone into the different routes and options is great, I feel like this is the type of game I wouldn't be surprised to see as a finished entry on one of those old game sites like miniclip / kongregate. It really doesn't feel like a quick weekends work, it feels like a thoroughly fleshed out and finished game, and that's pretty rare with these Ludum Dare games.
The ambience really helped set the mood as well, overall a good game!
Impressed with how much content you were able to get in. Liked that you encourage more playthroughs with the different endings and how your choices did have an affect on how things played out and the options you were left with. The art also worked well in setting the atmosphere of the story.
lamossus
2017-12-20 18:34
Got only 7 endings so far and will definetly play more of it! I saw your post about how you made graphics and it is fantastic how you used your skills to make such great visuals, they really add to the atmosphere. I didn't quite understood how is the theme implemented, I guess it's the more attribute you have the worse it is for you but that's kind of a stratch
lamossus
2017-12-20 19:47
Ok, got to 11 endings, have no idea how to get others. I'm pretty sure the part where you come closer to the lord to stab him is bugged, I had 3 corruption but the dialog box still said (not corrupted)
joror
2017-12-20 19:53
@lamossus : Yeah, it is quite likely that there are one or two choices broken at this time. Was hard to run through all of them. :( (did fix a few of the larger ones)
I like the premise of starting the player with an objective. How fitting, then, that this first choice establishes certain choices gives items, changes story, updates stats, etc. I also like the clear indication of what choices are limited due to your character's shortcomings. And the writing is pretty decent.