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(here is a link to a short video trailer)

Tess is a platformer run-and-gun game. It follows the story of Tess, an odd little girl who had a bad day.

You run and you shoot and you can pick up exp to increase your total number of hearts.

This game was made in Java so it should work on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Playable in the following languages:

English
French (Français)
Korean (한국어)
Japanese (日本語)
Spanish (Español)
Chinese (中文)
Portuguese (Português Brasileiro)

Features:
# Original Soundtrack
# Original Spritework
# Character Art from happyhyoo
# Jump and Shoot Gameplay
# Cast of strange characters who wear masks

How to run the game:

1) Extract the zip to its own folder.
2) Be sure that you have the latest version of Java installed for you computer. You can download the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) here: https://www.java.com/en/download/
3) If you're on windows, double click the "Tess (RUN ME).exe" to start the game. Otherwise run the "Tess.jar" to start the game if you're on another Operating System.

Default Keyboard Controls:
(these can be changed from the Escape menu)
Up, Down, Left, Right: Arrow keys
Jump/OK: Z
Shoot/Cancel: X
Investigate: Spacebar
Switch Weapon Left: A
Switch Weapon Right: S
Escape Menu: Escape Key (immutable)
Toggle Full Screen: F11 (immutable)

Gamepad Controls:
Up, Down, Left, Right: Left analog stick/D-pad
Jump/OK: A button / button 0
Shoot/Cancel: X button / button 2
Investigate: Y button / button 3
Switch Weapon Left: Left button / button 4
Switch Weapon Right: Right button / button 5
Escape Menu: Start button / button 7

Please make sure you have the Gamepad plugged in before starting Tess if you want to play with the Gamepad.

Feedback is appreciated, since it will help me improve the game going forward from here.

Tess OST (bandcamp)

Latest Blog

Tess sequel development has officially started



Development on the sequel has now officially begun. I'm keeping a devlog on the tigsource forums for the sequel, which you can see here:
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=53726.0
  • Completed
  • GIRakaCHEEZER
  • Custom
  • Platformer
  • 08/01/2014 11:33 PM
  • 10/14/2022 06:42 AM
  • 06/30/2014
  • 108975
  • 39
  • 4389

Posts

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Thanks for the information, I will try to figure it out for more. Keep sharing such informative post keep suggesting such post.
This game was REALLY fun. It was pretty difficult at first but after a while, I got the hang of it. It has a very dark and somewhat creepy atmosphere, which is probably why I liked it so much.
author=Nyapurgisnacht
Also, would it be alright if I made a post about your game on my blog with a link back to here? :3


Yeah, it would most definitely be alright!

Plans for an "expanded" version have since been scrapped in favor of developing a sequel instead, for various reasons.

The secret ending isn't really a "happy" ending, but it's not too hard to find I think. It's kind of an early ending, if you get it.

Anyways thanks for playing, I'm glad you enjoyed the game.
Pretty sweet that I got to sync achievements with gamejolt~ I only got the normal end, (and I'm not sure if I agree with Tess's actions, but that has nothing to do with the game~) I am curious as to how the happy end turned out. I'll have to try beating the boss without taking damage too, I see the pattern >;D

I really liked it! Nice and simple, the introduction of the different 'levels' and figuring out how to progress was really intuitive. Even though I'm not good at platformers, there wasn't much of a learning curve though, and every time I was getting tired of trying to get through one level the next would start, so I can say its paced nicely. People around me while I was playing were complimenting the melancholic music, and I mirror those. The graphics of course are lovely, and the little noises the characters make when they spoke were nice. I liked the boss-guys laugh a lot x_x I liked the clear style presented in every stage. The level near the end rather struck me, the enemies were quite emotive.

I see you're working on an expanded version, I'd really like to see the story explored more, you have interesting characters and a unique world set up!

Also, would it be alright if I made a post about your game on my blog with a link back to here? :3
author=Riddleriddle
I really enjoyed this game. The atmosphere created from the music and the characters left a kind of melancholy impression on me after I played it. I really wish there was more to it, it was good but far too short, and it left a lot open.


Yeah I wasn't able to make the game as long as I would have liked to due to the original time constraints of the project. The whole thing feels very rushed, looking back on it.

I guess we'll just have to wait for Tess 2. I'm trying to plan it out better, story-wise.
I really enjoyed this game. The atmosphere created from the music and the characters left a kind of melancholy impression on me after I played it. I really wish there was more to it, it was good but far too short, and it left a lot open.
Ebeth
always up for cute art and spicy gay romance
4390
This was an awesome game! Great atmosphere, (I really liked the music), engaging gameplay (even though I'm absolutely terrible at games like this a died countless times). The title "screen" was a really unique presentation and a great first impression. On another note I the sound effects when characters spoke were done well. Usually it gets really irritating really fast when games do that but in this case it actually fit in perfectly with the atmosphere!
author=EdgeOfChaos
My screen goes dark after logging in with GameJolt and doesn't respond.

Yeah there was a bug with the gameJolt API (getTrophies) if you didn't have any trophies achieved yet, so I'm uploading a fix for it right now. I was using it so that if you had the trophies on gamejolt it would achieve them in the game for you (so it would work across multiple computers), but the API function I need to do that is bugged so I'm just going to cut that out for now.

Edit: The fix has been uploaded.
My screen goes dark after logging in with GameJolt and doesn't respond.
So far I think this should be called "Gosh Darn it, Milly!"
author=Merlandese
Just finished this up! I'll be writing a review of it soon. :)

Looking forward to it!
Just finished this up! I'll be writing a review of it soon. :)
author=nom300
What this software?


The game was coded in Java. Primarily uses the standard Java libraries.
This game looks great. IMMA PLAY IT NOWWW!!
author=amderrsom
i dont even know how you got front page,the plot is the most cliche thing ive ever seen. ever since freaking alice in wonderland the plot of "falling into a hole for curiosity and not notice that you are dead" exists,at first i was like "oh,so much original stuff on the description,must be good" and the only cool thing i liked was the character artwork,the music was terrible,and even if it was bad quality on purpose,it was annoying,loud and repetitive,gameplay looked a lot like cave story,and platforming was extremely basic,with nothing special,and the mirrored level didnt even had ANYTHING special. the most difficulty i had was at the last boss,and i died only on the first try. extremely easy,didnt take more than around 1 hour on first time playing (and only time playing)


alice dies?
i dont even know how you got front page,the plot is the most cliche thing ive ever seen. ever since freaking alice in wonderland the plot of "falling into a hole for curiosity and not notice that you are dead" exists,at first i was like "oh,so much original stuff on the description,must be good" and the only cool thing i liked was the character artwork,the music was terrible,and even if it was bad quality on purpose,it was annoying,loud and repetitive,gameplay looked a lot like cave story,and platforming was extremely basic,with nothing special,and the mirrored level didnt even had ANYTHING special. the most difficulty i had was at the last boss,and i died only on the first try. extremely easy,didnt take more than around 1 hour on first time playing (and only time playing)
congratulations getting on the front page yo.
I started playing this game and I already like it a lot. It`s pretty atmospheric and addicting but the thing I like the most is soundtrack.
author=EdgeOfChaos
One recommendation about the controls is that Jump and Up (in menus) should be the same key. After all, you won't be jumping when you're looking through a menu. Then reconfigure the key to default up the up arrow key. This way you can jump with the same hand that you move the character with, and that's good as jump is a form of movement.


I've always preferred the Z/X combo for jump/shoot keys, and it's sort of a common standard among keyboard controls for games I've found. Also jump acts as the OK key with dialogues/choices too, so it can't really share a key with up.

But yeah I think you might be among the minority here with your key preferences (but that's why we have reconfigurable keys in the first place, so everyone can have it their own way).
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