Yea I had trouble with the cipher instructions. the instructions were just a definition for what a cipher is, and then nothing is labeled so I didnt know what I was looking at. After reading the solution, I was saying to myself : "But 'HAPPY' is not alphabetical order?"
Actually I finally get how the puzzles work. They're neat but the steps for solving them could be explained better.
I really like this game. the tone is very lain-like.
I think the combat system is very clever, a bit like undertale but different in an interesting way, and it feels fitting to be shooting a gun for some reason.
It wasn't clear to me that you needed a bullet to heal and I died at the second monster, it respawned me in front of the brainserver and the game broke, it played the brainserver introduction again despite the first enemy being dead, then every time I loaded in the previous area it kept respawning the rope, resetting the computer and the combat encounter.
Restarted and killed the second enemy, this time the game remembered I took the hook rope and that the computer's cipher was solved. Interacting with the computer again makes the second enemy visible but it doesn't reset the combat encounter like in the first playthrough.
Spamming E in the bunny dialogue makes the text appear slightly before the textbox, which isn't a problem but it is odd that they aren't parented.
I still have no idea how to solve a cipher, I just stared at the letters until I kinda spotted a word and guessed it right both times. It's not your fault because it's a hard thing to understand without a clear step by step example but maybe you could replace it with a more easily understandable puzzle.
It's a fun demo, I liked the atmosphere and I'd play more just to see where the story goes.
Thank you! Man you really brought a smile on my face when you mentioned From Dream. So neat that someone remembered it. I actually made a game between this and From Dream called Midnight Search but never polished/completed the final level(s) so I never published it.
Thanks for the feedback and bug info. So you didn't get to use the hookrope on the ceiling? Well you didn't miss much in that case. It just had an ending screen thanking the player and a character sprite (the same girl that is on the cover).
There seems to be bugs on the saving... it was one of the last things I implemented before the demo so not a big surprise there. That's still weird, it should make a new safe file every time you close and open the game again. The file can be deleted (or edited) manually, on windows it's on %APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\virus_brain and on linux ~/.local/share/godot/app_userdata/virus_brain.
Yeah I have already decide to make another type of puzzle for those computers. Happy that you managed to brute force it.
I like the cypher puzzle, but it took me forever to understand the instructions. I think you could rewrite the instructions to better guide the player. After you get it the first time, it's pretty easy to guess what the message is on subsequent ciphers.
I was a bit confused in the fight. I shot 3 bullets then I didn't know what to do? Eventually the mind virus attacked me and I got to shoot again.
Ok the fighting is weird. It doesn't say anywhere that I have to hit spacebar to advance. And then how do I buy health? Edit: ok I get it now. A little confusing until you get into it.
Yeah the columnar transposition cipher can be a bit hard for the first time. And the game lacks a guide or in-game tutorial and high-lights tips as of now. I have the controls written on the itchi.io page but sadly it doesn't seem so show up on the jam page. Any way I'm happy you liked the demo!
Comments
Yea I had trouble with the cipher instructions. the instructions were just a definition for what a cipher is, and then nothing is labeled so I didnt know what I was looking at. After reading the solution, I was saying to myself : "But 'HAPPY' is not alphabetical order?"
Actually I finally get how the puzzles work. They're neat but the steps for solving them could be explained better.
I really like this game. the tone is very lain-like.
I think the combat system is very clever, a bit like undertale but different in an interesting way, and it feels fitting to be shooting a gun for some reason.
Nice, I got immediate From Dream flashbacks.
It wasn't clear to me that you needed a bullet to heal and I died at the second monster, it respawned me in front of the brainserver and the game broke, it played the brainserver introduction again despite the first enemy being dead, then every time I loaded in the previous area it kept respawning the rope, resetting the computer and the combat encounter.
Restarted and killed the second enemy, this time the game remembered I took the hook rope and that the computer's cipher was solved. Interacting with the computer again makes the second enemy visible but it doesn't reset the combat encounter like in the first playthrough.
Spamming E in the bunny dialogue makes the text appear slightly before the textbox, which isn't a problem but it is odd that they aren't parented.
I still have no idea how to solve a cipher, I just stared at the letters until I kinda spotted a word and guessed it right both times. It's not your fault because it's a hard thing to understand without a clear step by step example but maybe you could replace it with a more easily understandable puzzle.
It's a fun demo, I liked the atmosphere and I'd play more just to see where the story goes.
Thank you! Man you really brought a smile on my face when you mentioned From Dream. So neat that someone remembered it. I actually made a game between this and From Dream called Midnight Search but never polished/completed the final level(s) so I never published it.
Thanks for the feedback and bug info. So you didn't get to use the hookrope on the ceiling? Well you didn't miss much in that case. It just had an ending screen thanking the player and a character sprite (the same girl that is on the cover).
There seems to be bugs on the saving... it was one of the last things I implemented before the demo so not a big surprise there. That's still weird, it should make a new safe file every time you close and open the game again. The file can be deleted (or edited) manually, on windows it's on %APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\virus_brain and on linux ~/.local/share/godot/app_userdata/virus_brain.
Yeah I have already decide to make another type of puzzle for those computers. Happy that you managed to brute force it.
Yo this is cool!!!!!!
Great presentation and style.
I like the cypher puzzle, but it took me forever to understand the instructions. I think you could rewrite the instructions to better guide the player. After you get it the first time, it's pretty easy to guess what the message is on subsequent ciphers.
I was a bit confused in the fight. I shot 3 bullets then I didn't know what to do? Eventually the mind virus attacked me and I got to shoot again.
Ok the fighting is weird. It doesn't say anywhere that I have to hit spacebar to advance. And then how do I buy health? Edit: ok I get it now. A little confusing until you get into it.
This was fun, cool gameplay and cool world.
Thanks for playing.
Yeah the columnar transposition cipher can be a bit hard for the first time. And the game lacks a guide or in-game tutorial and high-lights tips as of now. I have the controls written on the itchi.io page but sadly it doesn't seem so show up on the jam page. Any way I'm happy you liked the demo!