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A roguelike with a strong narrative??

And a friendly interface! And lots, lots more.

For those who are unfamiliar with the genre, a roguelike is a dungeon crawler in which the layout of the dungeon is randomly generated so that every new game is different than the last. This is my best attempt to create a roguelike accessible to a wider audience. It might be described as having a game system resembling that of the Mystery Dungeon series and a story resembling that of Odin Sphere (somewhat).

Story
Mandy can't figure out why every creature she has met since finding herself in this strange new world speaks of her as if she had literally just been born. They all keep referring to a device known as "The Spawn Symbol" as her origin. But if Mandy had really been created by such a device, why is it that her memories of her past are so real?

Her problems are compounded by the apparent absence of anything for a human to drink. Will Mandy solve the mysteries surrounding her sudden presence in this world before time runs out for her?

Game system
- Features pretty much everything you expect from a classic roguelike: Maps uniquely generated at run-time, turn-based combat/exploration, enemies and loot with varying degrees of rarity, an identification system for loot, and (in Survival Mode only) permanent death.

- Make use of a wide range of tactics. Brute force through your enemies, sneak past them while they sleep, bribe them with gifts to persuade them to ignore you or even fight on your side, teleport them or yourself away from the action, use the Demoralize Wand to make them afraid of you, or anything else you can come up with to stay alive in Isterway Sanctuary.

- It's all about the loot! In A Hint of a Tint there is never a worthless item. Some items have important uses not mentioned in their descriptions that are up to you to discover, and almost anything can be thrown at an enemy for small damage or to get her attention.

Two modes of play
Story Mode, while delivering an engaging tale full of surprises, teaches you how to play the game. When you make a fatal mistake in Story Mode you can continue from the start of the room you were defeated in.

In Survival Mode, choose one of the characters who appear in Story Mode to play as with the goal of delving as far into the dungeon as you can before you inevitably make the aforementioned fatal mistake.

---------------------------------------------

2019-6-29 Released v1.2! Who ever saw that coming?
2014-2-14 Released v1.1 which fixes some longstanding bugs.

Latest Blog

Survival Mode improved

It was for nostalgia's sake at first, but I ended up spending the entire week playing the hell out of Survival Mode. (Btw, for those who don't know, you CAN skip Story Mode and go straight to Survival Mode by selecting restart from the in-game menu) It gradually became impossible to ignore the need for an update.

Besides fixing bugs, this update focuses on game balance. In order to certify that no character was too weak I made sure I could clear Survival Mode with each character without resting except in beds.

A common complaint was the resting mechanic being tedious, which indeed it can be if the player relies upon it. The intent was for the player to rest very sparingly; thus reduced vision to make it risky and diminishing returns the longer you rest. I reworded the in-game health tutorial screen to try to convey that point. (also to convey that yes you can hold down the button!)

Anyway, if anyone else has cleared Survival Mode I'd be very interested in hearing which character you did it with! Methinks
Nix
is still the strongest, but a player who didn't author the game might have a different opinion.

Posts

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Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Played a bit of this, despite my utter hatred of rouge-likes. The demo ended rather... awkwardly. I got to a room with a bunch of foes (Or, maybe it was just the Harpy) that killed me. After loading my game, and trying to exit that room, the game gave me and end-of-demo notice, and auto-quit. I don't think I explored all the options available to me, either because I skipped the in-game explanation (WHY DID I DO THAT?), or I just didn't care to explore them (Enemy friendship system sounds a little like gifting the ladies of a certain other game I know of).

Would I play this game when it gets fleshed out more? Maybe. The story is interesting, I grant that. Hell, having a story at all is rather unexpected of this genre, so I might try it again just for that!
From a player who hates roguelikes, I guess hearing a "maybe" is pretty good. Thanks, I'll double-check the trigger that ends the demo.

author=Marrend
(Enemy friendship system sounds a little like gifting the ladies of a certain other game I know of)


Except in this game, the gifted ladies will follow you around and spank your enemies for you if they like you enough =D
You're all about trying out new things, huh, flowerthief?
Yup, including such new things as using Rpg Maker to make an RPG :D
Granted, that RPG belongs to a niche genre of RPGs that the RM community is not terribly interested in. It looks like I may have to go outside the RM community to find testing help.
I can try testing this a bit, if you're looking for testers.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
author=flowerthief
Yup, including such new things as using Rpg Maker to make an RPG :D


What? Use RPG Maker to make RPGs? What manner of profane logic is this?

More serious comment: Wasn't there a rougelike semi-formal competition of some sort on RMN some time back? Wait, maybe I'm thinking of the one that involved text adventures? I don't know. I know I've seen a few screenshots of rougelikes in one of the screenshot forums, but it might have been the "old" one that was locked, and not the one that's currently open.
So, I want to write a review of this for the review drive, but I need to know if I'm allowed to write a review about the complete version, or if I should restrict my commentary to the demo.

Flowerthief, can you get back to me on this?
Probably the demo since it's all that's publicly available now. But I think it would better if you held off; the demo will be replaced by the full game before long.
Adon237
if i had an allowance, i would give it to rmn
1743
A very enjoyable game, though I am not really far into it, is the goal to be impregnated by a male human being? This is the most peculiar game I have played in a while! (that is possibly a good thing) If I finish this game, expect a review!
Answer:
Only in Survival Mode, and only in a joke kind of way.
Glad you're enjoying it.
Adon237
if i had an allowance, i would give it to rmn
1743
Well that alone has made this game memorable. How do you rest? Do you have to be tutorial-ed on it, or what?
If you're in Story Mode you should get the tutorial for it the first time you take damage (and you can review the tutorial by bringing up the main menu). If you're in Survival Mode you can access any tutorial from the start..

Anyway, begin resting by skipping several turns in succession.
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
Wow that 5 minute cut scene at the beginning was a little too long, and somewhat disjointed, which doesn't bode too well, however I do really like the mechanics of levelling via item/medal collection rather than the traditional method, and being able to horde your level points to get a higher bonus that's a bit of a fun twist and makes combat a lot more optional that it would be in other games. The resting to regain health is a little tedious though and whilst I've been warned that I can be ambushed whilst resting that never happened, not sure if that's because I'm in story mode, but it does sort of stagnate the flow of the game having to duck into corners after every combat to rest and recuperate.
Notoh
*Deeply Thinking*
1928
I just downloaded the game today and finished it as well. I really enjoyed it.
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