Undying Dusk : an adventure game in a PDF
I have just released an adventure game I have been working for the past year:
This is a video game in PDF format,
with a gameplay based on exploration and logic puzzles,
in the tradition of dungeon crawlers.
Featuring:
* ~ 200 000 PDF pages
* retro aesthetics: 160x120 resolution & a 16 colors palette
* grid-based world with 50+ distinct tiles & 10 maps to explore
* more than 30 treasure items, weapons & spells to pick up in order to face 15 enemy monsters
* 20 music tracks
* thousands of "Game Over" pages, and a single path to victory
* 4 hidden secrets & a concealed epilogue
* an online hall of fame
Graphic assets mostly came from this amazing website: THANK YOU to the whole OpenGameArt community!
If your curious about it, check out https://lucas-c.itch.io/undying-dusk
So far really enjoying this. A PDF, yet there is more content than the original Heroine Dusk.
--Medicine Storm
Thank you for the feedback!
You're the first player detailing their experience with puzzles in depth.
That's very valuable to me, so thank you!
* to improve the shortcut over the fire enigma, do you think adding a visual hint like this on the wall, maybe hidden by ivy and revealable with a click, would make it better?
* for the portal incantation puzzle, I'm going to add this hint:
* the folk song enigma is indeed too convoluted, I realize that now. It's based on the directions taken by the king in the ballad, directions that should be interpreted into lever positions. I'm going to improve the enigma, not sure exactly how for now.
* for the "page unavailable" song links, I'm afraid I don't know what happened, but glad it works for you now!
blog - itch.io page
--Medicine Storm
P.S. I did also enjoy the nod to day the earth stood still and/or army of darkness on the portal incantation puzzle. An excellent red herring (or alternative solution, I guess)
--Medicine Storm
Ahaha, I'm very happy you liked the puzzles & "winks" to other works of fiction :)
I'm going to release a new version today including hints from our exchange here.
I've implemented the first two, and for the ballad I wonder if making only those slight changes of word could be enough:
What do you think?
blog - itch.io page
Wait... Either I have entirely missed a clue that connects those locations to this puzzle, or all the locations in the song do not correspond to their in-game locations. According to the game's map, it would start in zuruth plains, go north to the temple (quite far north, actually... or north-northwest), then south (or south-southeast) to the college, then (after a short jaunt back north a bit) east across the river:
Also, there seems to be multiple names for these places:
That, or none of the places referenced in the song are experienced by the player up to that point. Which, if that is the case, how is the player supposed to know where those locations are in relation to one another?
Regardless, I think including the specific compass directions in the song is an adequate solution. If it were me, and there was room for one more bookshelf in the mausoleum, I would leave the explicit compass directions out of the song, but add an atlas somewhere that shows the general location of the places mentioned in the song, so the player can put together their relative directions themselves:
Though, maybe there isn't enough pixel-real-estate for a map like that.
--Medicine Storm
Hi!
I delayed the new release to take the time to improve a bit more this puzzle.
You are totally right, I got the directions messed up due to how my development tools having the map reversed...
Also, awesome hand-made map! Good job on assembling it.
The "multiple names" issue also concerns me. I'm going to try to uniformize that.
Your "extra book with a map" idea is excellent, but not sure I'll go with that due to my limited graphical skills...
I'm a bit in a hurry right now, but I'll get back to this later this week.
blog - itch.io page
Take your time; I've got plenty of pages left to explore. :)
That certainly explains things. It makes me feel better about not being able to figure out that puzzle. Hahah!
Well, I'll try my hand at making somthing like that for you. If you don't end up using it, I will still have had fun making it. :)
--Medicine Storm
Here's what I've got:
It should be fairly easy to edit, too. Let me know if you'd need something adjusted in order to use it. (License: CC0)
Source file: undying-map.xcf
--Medicine Storm
Wow!
This is awesome! Your map is splendid :)
I came up with this on my side:
A lot less prettier, but it fits in a book, and matches the DawnBringer palette.
I'm going to include my version in the game, but I will feature yours on the game page in a moment!
blog - itch.io page
A new release is out!
https://lucas-c.itch.io/undying-dusk/devlog/250052/v101-extra-hints-and-...
Thanks a million for your feedbacks MedecineStorm.
I hope you'll manage to beat the game ;)
blog - itch.io page
Yes! good. I am glad you've decided to have a map book, even if it isn't my version. I'm going to start over with this new version (I like new beginnings). Thanks for making this game.
--Medicine Storm