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Got things mostly planned out, but this month has been so busy I haven't had time to start on the project itself.

Don't see that changing, unfortunately. I suspect this is going on my unfinished MAGS shelf.

Hm! Don't know how much time I'll have this month, but I might try something simple.

A lot of my game projects have a 'bother someone on the phone' element. Could be fun to cut out everything else and make a game that's nothing but phone for a change.

(Also, if anyone needs some extra inspiration, I recommend Coldline by Adam Pype. Evil phone. Evil game.)

[I've assembled and dressed a skeleton. Now what?]

Sorry I didn't see this until now, but thank you for the kind words! I'm hoping to polish it up and release it properly, when time permits. ...Probably with a less evil final puzzle.

Glad you found the solutions, but I'll write some hints here for the next person just in case.

I've assembled and dressed a skeleton. Now what?

Spoiler

• Quoris is known for its necromancy. This is your chance to learn how to talk to the dead.
• You could try blindly chanting spells until you get it right, but with ~81 possible combinations that could take a while.
• If you're never going to give that up, I suggest writing a list of all the syllables first. Possibly in grid formation.
• If you don't want to do that - check the library on the top floor. There's a book on this subject.

[close]

Solution:

Spoiler

Your character doesn't know any magic. The incantations are a red herring. A very specific type of red herring.

Keep clicking "talk to it" until the skeleton talks back. The game will try to fake you out by repeating dialog - just keep clicking.

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(The last riddle is covered under "I have a reason to leave the dungeon. Now what?" above.)

I take worldbuilding very seriously. That's why all my game design documents are in Comic Sans MS.

Good luck with development - I'm excited to see all these planets in action!

Shouldn't the theme be "LGBTQIA+"? 
It seem a bit wrong to leave out the Asexuals. (Especially since there's already a subsection of the LGBTQIA+ community who thinks that they shouldn't be included in the lineup.)

I'm pretty sure there hasn't been any intentional exclusion, and the theme is meant to explore the general subject of gender and sexual diversity.

One of the theme deciders here, chiming in to confirm the exclusion was entirely unintentional.

For what it's worth, I myself am asexual and aromantic. I very much consider asexuals and aromantics to be part of the community (and yes, I've seen exactly the sorts of arguments you meant, Danvzare) and I sincerely apologise for suggesting otherwise.

I admit I struggle with the vocabulary of LGBTQIA+ issues. My choice of words/acronym wasn't suitable. This is part of the reason I suggested to Emma that we link articles on gender and sexuality; the absolute last thing we wanted to do is dictate arbitrary lists of what is and isn't "acceptable"!

Again, I really do apologise and I hope this doesn't deter anyone from participating.

[I have a reason to leave the dungeon. How do I do it?]

I posted these hints on the discord, but I'll share them here too for anyone else who's mad enough to play this game:

I have a reason to leave the dungeon. How do I do it?
If you haven't tried leaving yet, focus on getting back to the top level of the dungeon and go from there.

Spoiler

You can learn the teleportation spell permanently by bringing the 'Godere' Brick to the skeleton. Alternatively, if it's been at least 30 years you can have a new adventurer cut the vines by the entrance, tie them to the hole to create a rope, and carry the brick up yourself.

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If you fail to escape, a friendly NPC will have some more dialog for you.

Spoiler

Your real objective is to figure out what's cursing player characters to prevent them from leaving. This being in the style of those adventure games, the game won't tell you what cursed you or when.

[close]

Spoiler

You can always test whether you're cursed by attempting to teleport through the front door. If you're cursed, it won't work.

Give teleporting a try after anything that seems suspicious and you can narrow it down fast.

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Spoiler

...You might notice you're cursed the second you walk through the door.

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Spoiler

More specifically, you're cursed before you do even that.

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Spoiler

Is there a way to trick the door into letting someone in, without writing their name?

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This is the final puzzle of the game, so there's not much left to see by skipping the puzzle. But if you're truly stuck, the solution is here:

Spoiler

Have a new adventurer write their name on the wall, then turn around and leave. The door should remain open for your next adventurer. Have them walk through without writing their name.

The door will still close behind them, but they won't be cursed. Visit Qintus, then teleport out the way you came.

[close]

Yeah, sorry about that one. That's a visual glitch not intended to be a puzzle. I'll post the answer here for posterity:

Once the door to the east is unlocked, it won't automatically open. You still have to click it afterwards.

(Though I sure do have an idea for a push/pull door puzzle now.)

Ohhhhh, that makes sense.

I'm stuck...but I'm not convinced this isn't a bug. As I pmed you, it's telling me that the game doesn't know why I died.

My colors:

Spoiler

cup-green, heart-yellow, bird-white, fire-purple, leftover symbol-red, blood(solid droplet)- blue, water (white droplet)- orange and tree-black. I've also tried swapping blood and water in case I misunderstood.

[close]

Gah, that's embarassing. Early drafts of the puzzle were supposed to kill you if you got the colours wrong (as a nod to ye olde copy protection), but I thought I'd taken that out. Thanks for letting me know!

Spoiler

That said, you have mixed up two of the symbols.
Cup - Green
Heart - Yellow
Bird - White
Fire - Purple
Blood - Blue
Tree - Black

The leftover symbol is the creature's helmet, which the manual notes as orange. That leaves the water/damp room podium as red.

[close]

Adding both to the list of things to tighten up...

@Falsely

I'm having trouble with a thing which might or might not be relevant, but finding it difficult.

Spoiler

Trying to translate the ancient tablet...these characters are smaller and look different so I'm doing a lot of guessing.

So far I have

_ O D E _ E
B A R E L Y
K _ O C E R E

But several of those I'm not 100% sure on. Also I still don't have translations for G, J, Q, W, X, or Z at all.

I have no idea where to start with the orbs other than the painting upstairs, which seems really obscure hints if that's the case. I know that each orb room has a picture for a label. I got the orb from the candle and the orb from the candy.

[close]

I am so sorry about this one, but it translates to:

Spoiler

GODERE? I BARELY KNOWERE
I, uh, needed to make the tablet look magical.

[close]

There's an in-game way to translate important text (although I'm delighted to see people can solve the extra ones on their own!) Check your inventory. If the game won't auto-translate it for you, it's something silly.

As for the orbs, some clues:

Spoiler

• Once you've placed all the orbs, click the tablet to check your answers. It won't tell you how many you got right or wrong, but I know some people missed that so I'm leading with that hint first.
• You're correct that the colours are related to the mural. Have you checked the game manual? There's a coloured picture of it there! ...Or there would be, if someone hadn't photocopied it in black and white. Hmm.
• Most of the colours are explicitly stated in the manual's journal entry. One is explicitly stated in game.
• The last player attempted to colour the emblem on the cover page in. If you can't see it on your screen: the heart is yellow, the dove is white, and the cup is green.
• The last colour can be worked out through process of elimination.

[close]

If you're still stuck after that, let me know and I'll post the solution.

Meanwhile I wanted to see if I could take bad or generally shunned mechanics and somehow make them enjoyable. Definitely interesting seeing all the different approaches to the prompt! 

Not sure if I'll be able to complete any of the other entries on my own but I'm gonna try before I go asking for hints.

Spoiler

I made it!!
I'll try to be vague to not spoil others that might be tempted to look.. and I'm going to go back and delete that orb post to foil them

I swear I had thought about teleporting up there, but thought it was an ocean or something above me. (I'd used the knife up there and the animation from that made me think it was water coming down).

That last puzzle is great, that only took 15 minutes or so to figure out   I thought that might come into play, but hadn't tried to mess around with it
(the text in the l+f room made me think I had to take/leave certain things for a bit).

I still only have a vague idea what the Dark Servant was, or what happened, but it all worked well with some 'calm adventure and exploration' youtube music.. Love the interplay between the manual and game - I've been trying to think of a copy protection that worked as well... Please make more!

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Congratulations on finishing, and thank you very much for the kind words! I've gone ahead and edited some of my own hints down too.

(Big ol' spoilers in this comment. This turned into a bit of a postmortem, oops.)

Spoiler

Good instincts RE: the ocean. It was originally going to be completely flooded, resulting in a timed puzzle to unlock the door and escape before you drowned. But I struggled to think of anything that wasn't a carbon copy of Return to Zork, so I focused my efforts elsewhere.

Glad the final puzzle was easy enough to intuit! I wanted to capture the ridiculousness of a "you mean I have to start AGAIN?" puzzle without actually forcing a reset.

And, yeah, sadly there's a lot of cut/wonky story content due to time crunch.

The way I picture it: once upon a time there was a single afterlife, but it got blown up in some cosmic disaster. The main god of death died, and the "Servants" that worked for it (guardian angels, I suppose?) rescued the ghosts and moved them to other safe places.

Quoris's Servant was injured and never really recovered, so it accidentally let the ghosts that were in its care loose in the world. Hence why they were able to haunt the town freely. Centuries pass, most people forget the incident. The Servant grows sicker and sicker, and I guess at some point it half-remembers what it's supposed to be doing and forces all the ghosts underground to protect them from a threat that's long since passed.

It's not hostile, just very unwell.

I kinda visualize its effect on the dead like a ghost magnet. If a ghost in the area isn't grabbing onto something (like the player possessing an adventurer, or Qintus haunting his own skeleton), they get sucked into some deep, dark part of the dungeon they can't escape from.

Naturally, very little of that made it into the game or manual. Gamejams!

I blame the vagueness on me writing the bulk of Qintus's dialog at one in the morning. If/when I come back to the project the pacing's gonna get a lot of reworks. ...Prrrrrobably also a third section to the dungeon, too, so I can fit in some of those spells and mechanics I scrapped at the last second.

Regardless, I'm pretty happy with what I accomplished in a month. And I'd certainly like to do more games in this style! It's a shame feelies only exist in collectors editions these days, because they have so much potential.

OMYD's manual is sort of a mish-mash between the manual for The Lurking Horror and Bivotar's journal from Zork Nemesis. The latter is well worth a read if you like this style of game. While not actually copy protection, it works hints into its story in a very elegant way.

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Spoiler

This has just been fantastic, I think I'm at 3-4 hours, but enjoyed it a ton... 
.. I am also stuck again and wanted to confirm this isn't a bug.

I've brought Quintus back, and he 'retired' me and sent me to open the door from the other side...
It felt like the goal here was to return to the crack and talk to him and he'd tell me what to do.. but I can't talk to him through the crack.

I have the key, I have the lost and found tree (I'm assuming this is the only way to pass items over right now?). I don't think I can lost and found the translation spell over?  Am I just trying to open the door on my own?  Please tell me I don't have to rearrange orbs

[close]

Nope, not a bug! You've hit the point where the puzzles get really mean. Partly because of the theme, and partly because I ran out of time to put in proper hints. (Fair point about not being able to talk to him through the crack. I hadn't thought of that! I'll see if I can add that in a post-jam release.)

Some hints, if you want to try and puzzle it out on your own:

Spoiler

• The Lost and Found Box and Tree can't be used to sneak items into other parts of the dungeon. They'll only respawn items that belong in the East and West respectively. (It'll also bring back 'personal' items, i.e. the adventurer's weapon.) If it doesn't bring an item back to you, then rest assured it's either fulfilled its purpose or is a junk item.
• Don't worry, you're done with the orbs. They were a one time thing. 
• The key is a red herring. There are no keyholes in the Dungeon.
• You'll need Godere for this. If you haven't experimented with it much, it will teleport you exactly one room in the direction you're currently facing. And I mean ANY direction you're facing. ...So long as there's space for a person.
• Is there a direction you're forgetting?
• What might suggest there's a room behind all that brick?

[close]

And if you're truly stuck, here's the solution:

Spoiler

When you're in the water room, look up. There's a crack in the ceiling that's leaking. Cast Godere on the ceiling and you should find yourself up a floor and very damp. (Your screen might turn green while doing this - that's a cosmetic bug. press Down to fix it.)

You can undo the lock from there. Then, hop back down and open the door.

[close]

I will say I'm a bit worried about the next puzzle in particular. I was very tired when implementing it and the dialog surrounding it. Sorry in advance. P:

[edit:]

Been having a fantastic time with One Million Years Dungeon, hoping you can give me a nudge...

Spoiler

I have mapped the dungeon. 
I have all the orbs.
I've tied vines to get back to the entrance.

I've been swapping orbs based off all the hints I can find, but can't seem to get the eastern door open.

-snip-

I'm not sure what the white thing on the floor of the Head pedestal room is...  any help appreciated

[close]

Wow, I wasn't expecting anyone to enjoy the game. Sure!

Spoiler

Those colours are correct! Shame some idiot printed the manual in black and white. There's no "solid" hint for the sea, other than process of elimination.

When you've got everything in the right place, return to the tablet and place your hand on it. It won't unlock the door in the damp room, but it should help you get going again. (There IS a way to unlock it, but since you haven't mentioned certain things yet I'm going to err on the side of caution.)

The white thing on the floor is a badly-drawn puddle. You don't need to do anything with it.

Also, condolences on already having the vines set up. I see you've met the mimic. 

[close]

edit: Ugh, just noticed an obnoxious glitch relating to the eastern door. It's not game-breaking, but I'll write it here just in case.

Spoiler

Attempting to push an item through the crack in the wall will cause it to drop onto the floor of the current room, not the other side. You can retrieve the items from the floor by leaving and returning.

There's still a way to get items past the door, so I don't know if it'd be acceptable per MAGS rules for me to patch it out. But it does make the next section a bit harder.

[close]

@Falsely - The download on itch gives "invalid game" error message.

Bah. One of these days I'll submit a MAGS entry properly on my first attempt.
Swapped it out for a Google Drive link that should work and should hopefully be the right build. Thank you!

[ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON]

ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON
- An Exercise In Frustration -
Google Drive (because itch wasn't cooperating)

The friendly ghosts of Quoris have gone missing, and all trails lead to the local dungeon. Seize control over the poor adventurers who keep wandering in there and see if you can escort them to answers - and then back out alive.

You probably wont. Good thing the townsfolk have people to spare, eh?

Rules broken: Cheap deaths, mazes (bring a pen and paper!), copy protection puzzles, a jokey pixel hunt, puzzles that don't really make sense and if you want to understand the backstory you're gonna have to do some homework.

Other notes: No audio, rough art, and an incomplete story because I ran out of steam. There's like 80 rooms in this thing. Send help.

Save often because even after vigorous playtesting I'm not sure everything works. (There aren't supposed to be any walking deads but the game loves to prove me wrong.) Anywho, hopefully you get a laugh or two out of it!

The camera is a bit funny sometimes. If your screen turns green, press S or the Down arrow key to put it back to normal.

Thirded on the request for an extension. I'll have something done before then, but the extra time would let me finish at a more sensible pace.

Still chipping away at mine. Things definitely got away from me, but I should have something semi-playable by the deadline. Will it be good? Bad? Who knows! 

Well, this is delightfully evil.

I just finished playing Return to Zork, so I've had dumb deaths and mazes on the brain for a while... 

Oh, I somehow I missed the ping! Glad you had some fun with 'em, @heltenjon. All my games are made in AGS, but the ones that don't make it to the database are either ancient student projects or borderline tech demos.

The Zork comparison is pretty apt, @TheTMD. Grand Inquisitor is one of my favorite games. One of these days I'll sit down and rewrite the Panorama3D module to be less laggy so I can get some prerendered CGI backgrounds going, but I'm still fond of how things look in 2-bit.

I'd also like to do a full version of Imposter Syndrome one day but it's a low priority right now. That said, some of the characters in it have snuck into my other projects... 🤔