• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS

(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
  • 108982
  • 39
  • 4389

Posts

Pages: first 12 next last
author=TungerManU
O hey, you made it here, too. Welcome to RMN.
Loved the game, maybe I'll write a review.


Thanks for the welcome. And I'm glad you enjoyed the game!

If you have the time, a review would be appreciated, yes.
So so kute I gona play it ahhhhh...
Jump is buggy; whenever I use Jump and try to walk at the same time, it doesn't work. (Like. when I press both keys at the same time).

Overall, though, it's great but too short.
Just submitted a review, hopefully it will be up soon.

Very nice, by the way.
author=EdgeOfChaos
Jump is buggy; whenever I use Jump and try to walk at the same time, it doesn't work. (Like. when I press both keys at the same time).

Overall, though, it's great but too short.

What do you mean? Do you mean that if you press both at the exact same time, that walking overrides jumping? I'll look into that because if that's true then it's an easy fix. EDIT: Yeah, just tested it myself, and that is the issue. I'm surprised you found that since the timing to get it to happen is very precise.

Also it's a short game since it was made for the 2014 Indie Game Maker contest, so I only had 30 days to make it. I'm planning on making it longer later but my character artist is going to be busy for a few months with school, so development will be halted for a short while.
I'm impressed you managed to make this in 30 days. Very nice, really. I'll make sure to play it again when the longer version comes out!

Hope the bug is fixed soon! Also, I made a video of the game for any who want to see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozxg2n5JDLI#t=1043 . Watching the tower section is a bit.. painful, because I keep running forward and falling when I fail to jump..

I probably time it like that because I changed my jump to the Up key, and I press them both with the same hand.
I'm excited about this game. :D It has a lot of charm and it's really polished, too. The only problems I ran into were some issues with sound glitches (I think there were too many EXP bouncing around the screen, not sure though) and a small amount of trouble with the controls, but otherwise it's very sharp.

I have to say there's great use of color, too. The whole limited-palette thing is trendy, but most people seem to go either grayscale, red/white/black, or gameboy (pale-green monochrome). This one is mostly greens but knows just when to deviate to abruptly change the mood or make you pay attention to something. It just gives the whole game a really cool retro-meets-modern feel that I like.

I can't wait for the expanded version. The story did seem incomplete and I feel like I need the rest of it.
author=Breakingchains
I'm excited about this game. :D It has a lot of charm and it's really polished, too. The only problems I ran into were some issues with sound glitches (I think there were too many EXP bouncing around the screen, not sure though) and a small amount of trouble with the controls, but otherwise it's very sharp.

I have to say there's great use of color, too. The whole limited-palette thing is trendy, but most people seem to go either grayscale, red/white/black, or gameboy (pale-green monochrome). This one is mostly greens but knows just when to deviate to abruptly change the mood or make you pay attention to something. It just gives the whole game a really cool retro-meets-modern feel that I like.

I can't wait for the expanded version. The story did seem incomplete and I feel like I need the rest of it.


By trouble with the controls, do you mean just the key placements themselves, or something else, since the key bindings are reconfigurable via the Escape Menu. And could you provide additional details on the "sound glitches", and if they were reproducable? (I've seen the sound engine break when playing a certain sound sometimes but normally changing maps seems to fix it since it refreshes the sound player).

Also I'm glad to here you enjoyed the game so far. The story is probably one of the most lacking aspects of the game right now IMO, and this was sort of a result of the time limit that the 2014 Indie Game Maker Contest imposed on development. So I'll be looking to polish and grow the story more in the expanded release.
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.
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).
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.
congratulations getting on the front page yo.
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)
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?
This game looks great. IMMA PLAY IT NOWWW!!
author=nom300
What this software?


The game was coded in Java. Primarily uses the standard Java libraries.
Just finished this up! I'll be writing a review of it soon. :)
author=Merlandese
Just finished this up! I'll be writing a review of it soon. :)

Looking forward to it!
Pages: first 12 next last