Messages

Thank you all!

the controls could use some polish

Please, can you tell me what you would have expect?

Well, there were some times where the characters wouldn't go to the next room, and I had to go back and forth for it to work,
and the cross-hair was pretty big, which made pixel-hunting harder.

The screenshots look nice, I'm definitively giving this a try! 

edit: Just finished the game, and while the controls could use some polish and the ending felt a little abrupt,
the mood and setting was nice and the dialogues made me chuckle.

[Case in point:]

Something that bothers me with a lot of sci-fi and fantasy stories is when they try to use magical beings as a metaphor for real-life oppressed minorities... ... and the oppressed ones in the story have superpowers.

The whole message of "they are harmless people who are just like us and don't deserve to be shunned and feared" falls apart when the large masses have a legitimate reason to fear them.

Case in point:

The mages in Dragon age, people with magic powers who are either locked up in towers away from the locals or hunted down by knights because they either risk becoming mad with power and practice blood magic, or possessed by demons and turned into monsters (and even kind and well-meaning mages risk being possessed against their will). The game treats this as a cruel injustice against the mages.

X-men, and several other Marvel superhero movies, where the government wants to register people with various super-powers, such as shooting laser-beams from their eyes, mind-controlling people and kill them just by touching them. According to the X-men movies, requiring people to register mutants with the ability to kill countless people with a mere thought is considered literally just as bad as Hitler.

And let's not forget almost every single movie about witches, where Salem and the witch hunts are mentioned, but in the movie, witches are real and can do magic. All the people who were executed in the witch trials were innocent, because you can't kill people with magic spells in the real world, so it kind of grinds my gears when people make up stories about witch hunters hunting real and dangerous witches, and are totally justified in doing so.

[A cold blade]

A cold blade

Betrayal... Of all evil that a man can do, betrayal is the one we consider the worst. Do you know why that is?

Ahmed did not say anything, just quietly looked at Kazimir with questioning eyes.

It is so since any other crime can be committed by a man you hate, a cold and unfeeling stranger. But betrayal, betrayal is the very same thing done by a man you love.

Kazimirs eyes shifted and faltered, and then went back to Ahmeds.

And my betrayal is threefold, the worst and deepest form of betrayal, since through the murder I am about to commit I am to betray my land by killing my king and ruler, then I am to betray my promise to him to serve my king and protect him from harm, and last, I am to betray my family by murdering my own brother. And by doing so I have condemned myself to the worst of punishments if it was to ever be known that I, Kazimir, had my brother murdered so that I myself could be king in his place. And by telling you this, I have placed my life in your hands, because I trust you. Because we are family.

Ahmeds chest felt like a cage filled with birds fluttering in fear and joy alike. No less than a year ago he had no family or living relative in the world to care for him, he had been only one of the many young boys living on the streets and stealing food to survive. Few cared enough about a loaf of bread or vegetable to give chase, and if caught, they usually received a beating at worst. But one day, he had decided to risk stealing from a high lord riding by on a great silvercoated horse. He had used a small knife to cut the purse hanging from his belt and ran, but one of the city's guards had spotted him, and managed to grab a firm hold of Ahmeds tunic. He was trembling with fear as they dragged him in front of the lord he had wronged.

In that moment, Ahmed was certain that the theft would cost him his hand as he stared at the sabres hanging from the guards belts. He would have been forever marked as an outcast, forced to sit by the wayside begging for alms. But to Ahmeds, and the guards, great surprise the lord on the horse just looked Ahmed in the eyes and asked: Did you steal my purse just to buy yourself food?

Ahmed nodded. Slowly the noble lord smiled and said: Come with me my child, and I shall see to it that you never go hungry again. The Guards stood aside as he lifted Ahmed up on his saddle and began riding towards his home. The name of the lord was Kazimir.

During the time that followed, Kazimir had treated Ahmed as his own son, or at least how Ahmed imagined a royal prince would live. He had received plenty of food, in a single day he would eat more than in an entire month out on the streets, and felt himself growing both in strength and size. Kazimir was more than happy to accommodate him, let him run and play in his garden and even trained swordfighting with him.

When Ahmed finally worked up the courage to ask why he had taken him in, Kazimir told him that whereas others might only have seen a thief, he had seen something admirable in how quickly and easily Ahmed had managed to steal his purse without him noticing. More so, in him he had seen a purity and innocence, a young man untainted by the depravity and intrigues of the court, and therefore Kazimir had sought to keep him out of the court and its politics as much as he could.

The king, Kazimir explained, was not a good king. He was responsible for many ills and wrongs in the land, and so it had to come to the grim plan he had told Ahmed. The king had to die, but the plots and schemes of the treacherous nobility had rendered him a very suspicious man, so suspicious that the only person he still trusted enough to walk alone with was his own brother. But Kazimir could not kill the king himself. He turned to face the window behind him as he spoke:

As much as what is to come is necessary, he is still my brother. When the moment comes, I might not find the strength to bring myself to kill him. Ahmed, I will only as this once, and I will not force you to if you do not want it. Ahmed my child, will you help me kill him?

For a moment, Ahmed hesitated. He had only seen a dead man once before, an old beggar lying on the street with his eyes open in a stare which Ahmed could still see whenever he closed his eyes for long enough. But Ahmed had also been in his fair share of fights with other boys, and now, with Kazimirs nurture and training behind him, he felt more than confident that he could take on a grown man. Besides, he was not to engage him head on or fight the king, all he had to do was to rush up to him from behind, and after a quick stab in the back run back into the shadows just as quickly without even having to look his victim in the eyes. And if he succeeded, Kazimir would be the new king, and Ahmed, once a mere thief from the streets, would be the adopted son of a king, perhaps one day even king himself. It was a dizzying thought. And not only that, but Ahmed would be hailed as a hero as well, for he would have ridden the land of a Tyrant, an evil king. Kazimir had taught him that word, but he had given him so much more as well. Ahmed eagerly said yes.

It was a simple plan. While Kazimir rode through the front gates of the royal palace, Ahmed would slip in a servants entrance, disguised as one kitchen boy among many. From there, he had received clear directions on which paths to take towards the royal garden, where he was to hide in a bush of white roses, just like the games he had played in Kazimirs garden before. Meanwhile, Kazimir would meet with his brother and ask him if they could not both take a walk in the garden, alone together just like they used to do when they were young children. Once the deed was done, and it had to be done quietly, they would meet up and leave the palace together. Kazimir made it very clear that it was important to be quiet and make it look like the king had been murdered by a foreign assassin, for if anyone were to think Kazimir was the one who had killed the king, everything would have been for nothing and both of them would be sentenced to a certain death. Ahmed asked if the plan would work.

Do not worry my child, Kazimir said, he will trust me. He will not deny such a request from his own brother, because we are family.

As he sat crouching in the bush, Ahmed began to worry that they would not show up and that Kazimir had failed him, but to his relief he heard the sound of footsteps slowly coming closer. Kazimir was walking alongside a man in luxurious robes whom could be no other than the king. As he passed by, any worry or hesitation was gone. He flew up and quickly stabbed the king in the back, and then in the throat before the king could even scream. As the king sank to his knees he reached out his arms to his brother in a futile plea for help. Ahmed was going to stab him once more when Kazimir stopped him and took the blade from his hand.

But then Ahmed became greatly confused as Kazimir then hastily slid the blade across his own face and a few times across his arms. Ahmed could only stare in disbelief as Kazimir then screamed Help! Assassin! He's killed the king! and the sound of running soldiers came closer. Not until Kazimir plunged the cold blade deep into his heart did Ahmed realize that he too had been betrayed.

Oh, how exciting it looks!!! 

And I'm still waiting for Neofeud to pass Steam Greenlight. 

Nice, very atmospheric!

I do have an idea, but I'm still working on it...

I agree with slasher there, a short demo or even an unfinished game is better than no entries at all. It'd be a real shame if you can't get at least something out before the deadline.
I also hope someone else also will try to make an entry so that there will be an actual vote this month. 

There is one major flaw with this game and that is:

Spoiler

it's just way too short... 

[close]

Otherwise, it's perfect in all aspects!   

Glad to hear it, and I promise to try and make my next game longer and with more content!

It was tough only choosing three (or four!) but here are my choice:
1: Hobo
2: Scavenger
3: Jim Reed

Gonna so play the shit out of this game tomorrow!

Woohoo!  Gonna get this once I get a chance.

It will be exciting to hear your opinion on my game! 
Also, I just put together a new image so I could add a link to this game on my signature! 

Shadow1000,

Spoiler

The door has a picture of a flute on it, so the key is to find a flute lying on the floor on one of the levels in the recycle plant (can't remember which level though), and use it on the door.

[close]

Good work! 

Shadow1000:

Spoiler

1 refers to the top circle, 2 to the circle at the bottom. The goal is to click the circles until

Spoiler

the sword stabs through the dragons neck and a drop of blood falls into the chalice, then click on the crown.
If you click the wrong circle all reverts back to the original position.

[close]

[close]

I hope it helps!

Concept: Nixxon - I like the swirly shapes!
Playability: gameboy
Artistic execution: gameboy - Nice pixel-art, and I like the colors!

Looks like a cool entry, LostTrainDude! 

I do hope we'll see more entries this month than the last though...

I'm not upset as much as I'm curios, since I saw that name as a punchline in the 1959 movie, and the Blackadder tv show, and in the Penny Arcade video game.
I guess part of it is since I'm not a native English speaker myself, and part since my own name is similar but spelled differently.

Besides, isn't Barbara the name usually associated withe the dolls? 

[Hello my name is PRINCESS ANNA ORGANA and i love you very much you are so beautiful my love and i want to come and see you my loveplease send me 1000 US$ so i can come see u my love please understand i hope to see you soon my love but i need 10000 US$ so i can come and see u my love]

There seems to be some really fun entries here!

May I introduce you to Gertrude, she's had  a tough abused life and is desperately seeking a stable relationship based on real love.

A fun entry, but the name choice made me wonder, is it just me or is the name Gertrude the go-to name when creators want an old and
silly woman's name? I'm just curious since I've seen several different movies and video games use that name as a punchline.   

Anyway, here is my entry:

Hello my name is PRINCESS ANNA ORGANA and i love you very much you are so beautiful my love and i want to come and see you my love
please send me 1000 US$ so i can come see u my love please understand i hope to see you soon my love but i need 10000 US$ so i can come and see u my love