Progress Thread: Cheril the Goddess

[dougeff]

Donald Duck is pantsless. And still appropriate, somehow.

Any pixels that could be considered genitalia or pubic hair would obviously be NO. Nipples, also No.

A strange nude creature with no genitals and no nipples, might be Ok. Better if non-human...like an alien or anthropomorphic animal.

Edit, 'Art' sometimes is given a pass...see Michelangelo's David...however, Stephen Colbert noted....

"For Michelangelo's statue of David, Colbert can only show "a distant picture of the David for a total of two seconds.""

[na_th_an]

Thanks for the input. Besides, very interesting lecture, WheelInventor. Clears up a few points.

Of course, everything is in the eye of the beholder. But I'm not the one making the rules, so as noted, if it is required that I add some pixels to somehow remove the perception that the character is nude for this game to be included in the multicart, please tell me. It's just a matter of spending a few extra minutes in a few edits so, really, no problem.

If so, maybe it would be better to change the rules in future events so they explicitly forbid human nudity Maybe it's the language or cultural barrier, because, to my initial (and obviously wrong) understanding, the rule was about games with a sexual subject matter, and had nothing to do with nudity.

[na_th_an]

Well, long time no see :*)

Gameplay is complete. Time to add some graphics, the fixed screens (title / intro / game over / ending) and some pixels to the sprites.

Goodies soon.

[na_th_an]

The game is finished. Haven't submitted it yet, there's still some playtesting to be done, and some rough edges to polish.

[FrankenGraphics]

Nice! Keeping the essentials of the manual within the rom is a good move. Making them look good is even better. The rounded egdes are a very nice touch.

[na_th_an]

Thanks. You can easily skip them as well once you know the drill

I'm afraid this game is not very intuitive. I've tried my best, but one still needs to read the instructions to know how to play or what to do.

[na_th_an]

Well, it's finished. Let's hope there are no game breaking bugs

blurb.txt

Code: Select all

Name:           Cheril the Goddess

Submitted By:   na_th_an

Category:       1 (the contest)

Description:    Cheril must obtain the Skull of Podewwwr and use its power to
                become a goddess. In order to do so, she must open three gates
                and unlock a magic column.

                The gates are magically locked by the temples of Stone, Paper 
                and Scissors. You must break the seals using the proper 
                medallion in each temple, which you have to find.

                The magic column is unlocked using a key in the keyhole located
                next to the column.

                Cheril can get three magic charges from the pedestals with two
                hearts engraved. He can use such charges to gain super powers
                for a short while (being able to fly around and becoming invin-
                cible) or to activate teleporters which will take her to the
                center of the map.

                You can open the gates and the magic column in any order. You
                can also take a look at a map telling you where everything is
                located. You can only carry one object at a time.

Controls:       D-pad: Movement
                Select: Continue (title screen) / Map (ingame)
                Start: Starts the game from the beginning (title screen) / Pause
                B: Interact / use / action, etc.
                A: Jump
                B + UP: Activate super powers.

Rom info:       Mapper 2, UNROM 64K with vertical mirroring
                Filesize 64K
                Special peripherals Needed: none

Credits:        na_th_an - Design, Code, Levels & Graphics
                Davidian - Music & SFX
                Anjuel - Ines
                Shiru - Neslib & Famitone2

Other:          When you continue you lose the item you are carrying, but other
                than that, progress is saved.

                If you get lost, take a look at the map. The map is updated as
                you progress.

[M_Tee]

I absolutely love the palette choices and title screen.

[thefox]

Lots of awesome entries this year, it seems!

[rainwarrior]

Pretty neat. I haven't figured out what to do with the scissors I found, but I'll get there eventually.

I'm personally a little disappointed about those "extra pixels" you added (I really liked the original version), but you gotta do what you think is best.

I had a curious moment where I flew into a little gap (1 tile high) in a wall, and I ended up inside a solid wall on the other side and zipping across the map as a result. I wasn't able to reproduce it, though. I thought it happened right here, but the gap in the wall has never appeared here again. (Or I could be misremembering...)

mojon-twins--cheril-the-goddess-0.png (6.99 KiB) Viewed 10438 times

[FrankenGraphics]

The graphics are really moody, i like the high contrast/bold use of brights to get the feeling of a full moon somewhere off screen. That's great stuff!

Should future compo multicarts have a parental lock setting (preferrably stored in non-volatile memory)? That could enable contributors to do content that isn't "E for everyone" and still get it included without altering their original concept.

[na_th_an]

Thanks for the comments.

@Rainwarrior - I have to polish the map a bit. I'm sure I let the player slip into an obstacle during the transition due to tile misplacement. Easily fixable, but I didn't have much time to check, sorry. If we are allowed to resubmit the game with fixes for the multicart, I'll try to find and fix the inconsistences.

About the object, you have to find a temple in which you can use it. That will open one of the gates. press SELECT to bring a map. Temples are near the corners. Hint - the concept is based upon the good ol' Jan-ken-pon game.

The extra pixels are for the multicart. We will release the game in ROM format in our site at a later time and you will be able to choose which version you prefer.

@FrankenGraphics - that was exactly the feel we wanted to achieve, so I'm *very* glad you noticed.

[calima]

Judging verdict: pretty but confusing.

I couldn't figure out how to do most things. I couldn't interpret the minimap, couldn't find out how to gain powers, use items, teleport, heal, or kill enemies. At one point I found a rock, but pressing B still did nothing.

So, with only being able to jump, I died around some bats that couldn't be avoided.

I liked the art, but the discoverability was terrible. It would have needed a tutorial level and better level design. Also the minimap should have used a contrasting color for "you are here".

[na_th_an]

Yeah, I knew that this game wouldn't be very popular for some players as you are required to read the instructions to play. I made sure that your progress leads you to the first charging pedestal, and you are also required to fly to exit the temple, so you can't really begin your quest without having to recharge and activate your powers.

But even that way, you have to know beforehand that you have to interact with stuff pressing B (i.e. the pedestal to recharge) and that super powers need to be activated with B+UP. So I guess you are right. Could the introductory text be made more enlighting?

Thank you.

[calima]

I read the text, and still failed to make the things work A tutorial level would be a much better way of introducing different things. Like the cliche'd example of Mario's first level.

edit: Rather than the text being unclear, I think the issue is too much at once. I forgot how the different pedestals looked by the end of the text, for one.