itch.io

First I’d like to say thank you, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten even slightly invested in a games story - not saying that the writing is bad, it’s usually just too much, and gets so twisted up within itself that I get lost, then eventually don’t care… this is nice and simple, but PLEASE take that as the compliment it was intended to be! 

I always play a game with myself where I try to guess what happens in the first few minutes of a movie/game. and have hit it on the head quite a few times, but even though there may be only a few different possible outcomes here, I got it wrong… anybody else do this kind of thing? What did you picture the ending being? 

I thought the hero character was going to be faking death when the queen dropped her wand-thingy, and stab her through the heart when she was hugging his lifeless corpse (yes, I’ve been told my thoughts are dark many, many times) 😬👍

I GOT IT, I GOT IT - IT'S ZIGGY!!! I must be getting smarter... only took me 3 months to remember!

no, but strangely enough that guy does look familiar... and I'm outing my old age again!

sorry so late... just looked it up, he doesn't look familiar, and never seen it before.

Well, I'm clearly the only one who enabled "earthquake mode" otherwise there would be a wall of angry people... it's so enraging after only 1 second!!! Not blaming you Dev, but has anyone else mentioned the screen goes crazy while playing the web version?

that character with the glasses reminds me so much of a cartoon character, but It’s sitting right on the edge of where my mind’s eye can see it…. and of course Wario also, yes, but it’s someone else… or maybe i’m combining multiple characters into one who doesn’t exist? 

Because he’s like 30% Penfold, 20% The Tetris Plus “FEN-TESTIC” guy, 40% Wario, and 10%…I don’t know, Simon from the Chipmunks? 

Is anyone even going to know who any of these references are?!

But just know that as I ask you this... Was this actually floating around before 2018? because I could swear I'd seen images of it maybe 2016 or so... (Continued) that in my mind I was still asking THAT question! But seriously, it looks fantastic, and I'm obsessed with iso racers, so I'll never get sick of this style!

I $#it you not, for the first few seconds of seeing this thumbnail, I was convinced someone had finally made a Billy Crystal/Whoopi Goldberg beat ‘em up! And believe it or not, that’s not even the strange part… I was kinda psyched at the thought of it (but I find them both really annoying, so it makes absolutely no sense!)

I tried buying it, but the price changes from 3.69 to 9.99 every time I click the buy button… any chance you can help me out?

Hey there, I was gonna message you on steam, but you never know if it’s worth doing since they’ve turned it into a ghost town, and barely anyone checks messages…!but if it helps you in any way, just let me know and i’ll do it next time (I don’t think this social media crap does anything other than eat up valuable moments I could otherwise spend picking my nose, but it takes me 45 minutes to get on youtube, so what TF do I know?)

Anyhoo, just wanted to say I dig the game, is the demo here the same or more updated? How are things going with it? And just in case you don’t have anything posted here, do you have other games you’ve made anywhere?

Thanks, hope all is well 😬👍

I actually just popped in to let you know that A. The demo is brilliant! B. The price is beyond brilliant! C. Which in turn, makes you quite brilliant yourself there, handsome! And D. I’m going to get it now (I would actually much rather get it through “itchy-tasty”, but (long story longer) I don’t use credit cards, and I don’t even know if you can get gift cards for here? 

I was going to send you a message on steam, but there’s no point in using that crap factory for anything other than getting your games as quickly as possible, and getting TFO! I just end up getting enraged watching the good devs with games like yours getting buried under random 50¢ shovelware, then end up stop making games because nobody finds what they’re looking for (I have to go to either steamdb or steampeek to search for games because their search engines actually function, and WAY better than the company their site is based off of… How does that even make sense when Steam makes all the money?! Cheap bastards!😬👍

Geez-us! there’s a 32:9 now?! It’s like living in the not too distant future!

Good for you though, I definitely would've gone nuts if I got that far, only to hit a wall. BTW, being old is only the initial hurdle (and hardly the biggest one) laziness is the one that stops me dead in my tracks, and procrastination is never far behind as a "just in case". I actually got your game yesterday, just about to spend some time with it (but I already know It's great)

Hey, I just saw your game released today, I played the steam demo version  a while ago, but didn’t know you were over here too …not like I’m ever over here to check. 

Which I really should be, because there are a ton of interesting projects you don’t find elsewhere (plus, at least you can reach out to others easily,  try a demo for almost anything on here, etc.) 

Anyway, I was just curious about when you said you’ve always been a developer stuck in prototype hell, what do you mean by that? 

Games of your own that never seem to go anywhere, working for others, or something completely different?

Sorry, I’m clearly a motormouth, and a bit too nosey. Always wanted to make a game, but I think I’m too dumb, too old, and too dumb to figure out how (and no, that 2nd “too dumb” wasn’t a mistake… in fact, I’d say it probably deserves 3 for good measure!)😬👍

Tis no wall of text, me matey, but a decent length of half a conversation, says I. 

The only ones who get angry at anything longer than the latest catchphrase, or buzzwords are really  doing you a favor by letting you know that they’re chimps who don’t deserve your time! 

as you can probably tell, I can be a big fat motormouth at times, so I’ve had more than my share of run ins with these types… and trust me, chimps throw far less poo!

I don’t think a day goes by where I don’t see game art with this similar action/adventure theme. Then upon delving deeper, come to the inevitable disappointment.

“Oh, looks like another one of them-there ‘deck-builders’ aye?

…happy-happy, joy-joy😐”

Enjoy folks, it’s just not my thing

hey man. just saw the steam page, and it's looking great! The only thing I'd suggest (as long as it's not already set in stone) would be to change the name, or add a subtitle to incorporate the word "abyss"... I'm telling you, and no joke! There's something about that word in the title that makes people want it!

sup Casey Kasem?

I played a little of the updated version where you added the map a while ago, but I was able to spend more than an hour with it today and just wanted to give some feedback.

It’s so different from the first few I played, and 99% of the changes are for the better (on some of the old ones I would die in the first room very easily), and the only things I would maybe consider changing are because the older builds had this distinct feeling that’s hard for me to describe, but I’ll try my best…

-the opening where that King (I guess that’s what he was anyway) sentences you to the pit, although it was annoying figuring out how to give him the paper, it kind of added to what got you there in the first place, and I liked the touch of being left with only a bible (that was the book you started with right?) and having to throw it into the pit to start the game again was such a great way to convey how hopeless your situation is!

It’s probably too much to change back to make everything revolve around it, but I would suggest the opening start in that pit room, and some text explaining the Bible being your last piece of hope as you’re forced to throw it in by those 2 guards, then they leave and lock you in. (let me know if you think that’s too much, it seems cool in my head, but I’m not a religious person, and I don’t even know what kind of headaches that could cause you if you went that route)

And the only other thing is there’s something that feels off with the character having a map (Again, I’m probably overthinking it, and I don’t really know the story, or the reasons behind the decisions, it’s just the way it seems in my head) but if the map were given to him by someone who has been in there for far too long, and it was only partially complete, I think that would be a cool way to fit it in.

Anyway, it’s great man, really love it so far!!!

DUDE! You must make another 2 games within the same world, the names…

 “Die on rhea” the game follows the transition of the character from the original game after death. 

 and “Diner Rhea” uhh, I don’t know, make it one of those stupid simulation games that all the dummies seem to like where it’s really just working a job on a screen, but not getting paid (the important part is that the title sounds like diarrhea!)

i forgot to hop back on and tell you... i don't know what you did exactly, but it definitely feels a little different, but in a good way. Did you tweak the characters A.I.? they really come at you like they're getting a free lunch out of the deal (if i knew how to add an emoji, there'd be a laughy face here)

I hate to be a pain, but any chance I can try the demo? or if you need testers, I'm not what you'd call "busy", and I'm the type of player who smacks every wall with the sword looking for secrets... well, most walls anyway.

I always see these interesting looking games get the boot from steam, yet they have no problem letting 8 billion diarrhea-soaked Atari looking platformers that have 1 level for $3 or more… what happened with your game? And please don’t tell me it had anything to do with the quality, because that would be the biggest joke ever!

That's so great to hear! And don't worry about whenever you reply, I rarely ever check my email, or any of this social media garbage, but mainly because I'm absolutely horrible at figuring out how these apps work. (things used to be user friendly, I guess they don't care?) Also, it's kinda funny, you're the 4th or 5th person in the last few weeks who said I motivated them (maybe I can be the next Tony Robins, and yell phony positivity slogans all day... but first I gotta figure out how to motivate myself HA!) But I don't go crazy emailing everyone, I just like to tell a handful of people when I see they have that "special something". I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I get this weird thing with music,  where it could be anything about a song (vocals, guitar/bass riff, drumbeats, whatever) and it just hits you right in the gut! It's a bit different with games, like something about it makes me feel like a kid again for a second (which was something only Nintendo could do up until recently, but their games don't have the magic anymore, very sad) BUT that's where indie games came in, and there are just way too many games to follow! For example, even if you just followed metroidvanias on steam, you couldn't play them all.  I'm sorry, I babble a lot. I'll give you a quick list of games from a few other people I think have the thing, and strangely enough, most are free - 2 steam (ogre chambers dx, rogue glitch) and 1 itch.io (into the necrovale-alpha, also fraukis adventure $5 steam) 1 last thing, I think more people would reach out if 1. they were aware of the game, 2. they weren't running around like headless chickens trying to get by, I just happen to have the time , ya know? You HAVE TO BE exhausted from this, go take a nap! (insert laughing emoji) HA!

ok, I promise I’ll shut up after this! I just checked out your twitter, and saw that side scrolling action game from a few years ago, and that looks almost as good as this game! I mean, if I have to choose one, I’m going with the isometric rogue game… but I’m just saying man, I wouldn’t wanna be the guy who disappointed all those orphans on Christmas Day! But hey, the world is made up of all kinds of different people, and maybe you’re the kind who gets his kicks by disappointing starving orphans who only have one shoe to share between the 8 of them, and are forced to sleep on blocks of ice in the winter, and burning hot coals in the summer (but only after being force fed pizza that is so hot that it causes blisters on the roof of their mouth, and to ease the pain, the head of the orphanage will only let them drink room temperature gingerale that lost its fizz so very, very long ago). But anyway, sleep well tonight on your comfortable bed while you’re counting starving orphans… I mean sheep, starving sheep!

Hey there, I just wanted to say that… well, first of all I can’t believe that nobody else has left a comment, so I’m gonna have to assume that everyone’s internet went out at the same time, and didn’t kick back on until a few days later (or however long it took for your game to enter, and leave front page news).

If you can get things looking this polished in pre-alpha, then I don’t even wanna see what you’re capable of when it comes time for the beta/full release! (Insert Ben Stein’s voice/cadence here) Because quite frankly, I don’t think my heart can take that kind of excitement… does anyone under the age of 35 even know who Ben Stein is? I don’t think the chances are very good. 

Anyway, PLEASE make sure you don’t abandon this project, and whenever you get done, I want you to keep making games until you’re at least 65, because whatever it is that a person should have that makes their art a few notches above the “average joe”, you have that thing! And I think you were given a double dose of it, because this is just as good as any AAA Roguelite/Zelda-like/or whatever genre you wanna call this. It kinda reminds me of a cross between Zelda, enter the gungeon, and that “Rogue-something-or-other: Ruins of Tacos?… Tabasco?… TALOS!” That’s it!

And I know it’s a long shot, but if you just happen to live anywhere in/near NJ, or the tri state area, and would like to work on a side project, let me know, because I have a ton of ideas for games, and absolutely zero skill to actually make them (but then again, having no skill never stopped me from doing anything before) Also, I’ll try to send you some dough when I’m able to, which should be sometime around 2027 if things continue down the same road they’ve been going.

awesome! All I can say as of right now is that it’s going to be heavily inspired by crazy taxi gameplay, but will be either top-down or isometric view (hopefully isometric, because when games are just straight top-down, they look really weird (and quite frankly, very ugly!) And as long as it’s not too difficult to do, I plan on having a TON of little inside jokes for old time gamers, mostly from the NES era. I was told to keep it simple, and that’s probably advice I should stick to, but if I do then I’ll have to immediately start working on a sequel the moment it’s done, because I have a really good idea for what I assume would be the “campaign mode”, but it would be something that needs so many different assets because it would essentially be like having each level be it’s own game (probably not a great idea when making your first game)

hey bud, hope everything is going well, I wasn’t sure if you got my reply because I didn’t see the message for so long, but I think it’s the coolest! Anyway between you and this dude I found on discord (he made a cool game called ogre chambers DX, and lake of creatures which is coming out really soon) you 2 have inspired me to try to make a game. It’s literally at the very beginning where it’s just the planning stages, but the idea is solid, and I’ll be working with a friend who actually understands computers, so as long as he stays alive, so does the project. I think my favorite part of the whole thing is the Easter eggs I have planned as a shout-out to you and the other dude (I keep forgetting his name, but here’s a link to his game  Antenna Games) and I started a dumb discord page where you can talk about anything because I don’t like how all the groups have so many ridiculous rules, nobody is allowed to have an opinion unless it’s inoffensive to everyone (which is impossible, and essentially saying “don’t have an opinion”) so if you’re bored you can swing by https://discord.gg/3nGxmdwa

Take care bub

I’m glad, I hope it didn’t come across as “you stink at making games, so just stick to art”, you should definitely keep making games, I just meant it as an “if all else fails”… I always forget how hard it is to read intentions. I wonder if this is  a big part of reason for people thinking  I’m an asshole? Nah, it’s just because I’m an asshole!😬

I have a bit of a dilemma here... I hate when people leave kiss-ass comments, because the person usually goes overboard with compliments, which just comes off as phony, and insincere. But, I also can't leave without letting you know that I think that your art is really cute, and stylish (especially for a first try!) ...so just in case you decide to never make another game, keep making pixel art, you/re already can make assets for other people. There is one thing I'll suggest though, pixel art characters almost always looks nicer with a thick, light/dark outline around them (depending on the scenery, lighting, etc.)

Well, I guess I just joined the "kiss-ass commentor" squad, and now everyone I ever made fun of will hunt me down...there is nowhere to run!

I’m also spitting out blood! But I guess  that’s what you get for sucking on rusty daggers all day, who’d-of-thunk-it, aye?!

No comments, really? What is wrong with you people? Download this brilliant game and play it! It’s better than most of these so-called AAA games you’re spending $60-$70 for.

I just had to stop my browsing, so I could tell you that you absolutely nailed the first part of getting someone to stop dead in their tracks, and check out what’s going on in here! Being a cat psycho, I can tell you that almost nobody gets it right (meaning a game centered around cats) so don’t feel bad if you don’t succeed in making it THE cat game to own. But I can also tell you that I’ve only seen a few to get more than 1 thing correct, and you already have 2 without me even having played it! You nailed the perfect “cute and cuddly” graphics on top the thumbnail, so I’d say you’re off to an amazing start! I’ll pop back in after I’ve checked more out later. Always remember people, cats are not our “pets”, they are our friends and/or family, so in the future, try not to disrespect them by thinking that you own any part of them, because if anything, they own us!

hey just wanted to let you know that I always get your game and a similar one (I think it’s called Roadout or road out 2-words) but I like both, even though the whole “survivor” thing annoys me, there are a few that just work!  I’m gonna pick this up on steam soon (only because I have credit to use there, but I wish I could support Itchio because they do some things way better… like being able to comment without jumping through hoops!) anyway keep making games bub, I like your style.

DUDE WTF?! As if I wasn't already too excited about this game, now you went over the line! And that clearly seals the deal, your games are the first thing I'm talking about when I start the show up! I'm still not 100% settled on the name because I haven't decided if I'm going to only talk about games (but if I do it'll probably be called "the games-over-girls podcast" because we used to do a website and podcast by that name. some are on youtube if you're ever bored, but i warn you ahead of time, the language can get quite "blue") and if I'm gonna talk about all of  my main passions in general, it'll be called either "ready to die" or "waiting to die" basically because I can't wait to leave this hellish pit of existence, and I'm a miserable curmudgeon- have been since I was like 16... but I'll let you know as soon as it's coming anyway... so cool, you really made my week!

Does the dev ever read these things? 

Hey there Mr. C 

I just wanted to reach out to tell you that I’ve only glanced at the games you have up on steam or here, and haven’t actually played anything yet (to be honest I doubt I ever will based on my backlog), but I think it’s so weird and amazing that you would put up that simulation one for a buck, yet have a huge downloadable manual that I couldn’t even begin to imagine reading let alone writing. I’m sure you get a ridiculous amount of annoying messages asking “what you’re on”, so I won’t be doing that, but I will ask “have you ever seen something really F-d up that would make you believe that this really was a simulation (or at least seem to operate like one - if that makes sense)?If you’ve never heard of the Mandela effect, I’m referring to that. I was unfortunately given the “gift” of eyes to see, but apparently the big guy skipped out on putting in a processor to understand (basically I’m really dumb, and all it does is freak me out, and put me into a worse depression than I already had). Anyway, just curious, take care.

I know that we as gamers, can sometimes be ravenous beasts, who do nothing but bark out orders for what we want (and God help you if you don't have it ready by 5:00PM YESTERDAY!!). Sometimes we can forget that the nameless, faceless entertainment factories on the other end of our demands, are actual human beings. And as a human being, are therefore subject to the same every day life BS we all are (I often hear it called "The human condition", but I just call it "Hell" (so much easier, and I honestly couldn't think of a better word that sums up life as perfectly as it does, but I'd love to see somebody try!) But anyway, let's give the man a break, and let him have some time to himself to sort things out. That means there will be no more 

"WHEN'S IT COMING OUT-WHEN'S IT COMING OUT-WHEN'S IT..." And absolutely no more of this type of malarkey                                           "HEY, WHERE'S THE DEV-WHERE'S THE DEV? ...OH NO, THE GAME HAS BEEN ABANDONED!!" (having waited a whole 2 minutes after writing, asking them for 10 new playable characters, and 5 new stages)

Trust me, I'm at the top of the offenders list! But I feel terrible every time I leave a message like that, only to find 10 thousand more of either the same exact message, or ones very similar. No wonder they never want to message 99% of us numb-skulls back, we sound like morons... insane morons at that!

take care of yourself bub, I'll try my best to hit you with at least 5 of the dumbest questions/comments you've ever heard when you return 

I stumbled on this randomly browsing steam games about a month or so ago... I really need to start checking Itchy first whenever I see anything interesting, because if 9 out of 10 times there's a demo, it'll always be here, but on steam maybe only 4 out of 10 will put it there. I can only assume they either charge you, or have some kind of nonsensical stipulations to put it up there... God I hate "The Man"!

one of the best metroidvanias I’ve ever played. I was born a natural critic, and can always find something wrong with anything, no matter how big or small… the only thing wrong with this game is that I got stuck a couple of times not knowing where to go next, but luckily there were walkthrough videos to help (unlike Betrayer curse of the spine, which only has one, and that guy seems to be running a different version of the game than the one I have… sorry, had to vent, it drives me crazy that I can’t finish it) 

I meant it as the director telling me, the player to… *sigh* I can’t do anything right.

Anyway, everything seems to be working just fine, but before I start kissing your butt, I have a question or two.

1. Did you put a controller option in this? Because mine was working, but I never know if it’s because steam is interfering with my games outside of steam. It was controlling beautifully, then something happened where it stopped working, but now it is again… I was a console gamer up until the last few years, and no matter what, I will never be able to do mouse/keys, it just kills my hands and feels unnatural.

If it’s just a fluke, I highly suggest you do, because it feels great, but without being able to map keys properly I wasn’t sure what to do about the potions, or other items I come across. The roll automatically mapped to the L trigger, right stick controlled the characters facing position, but I had to manually drag the letter to the guy at that start, and that was giving me trouble for some reason.

After I explored a bit, found the sword, went in the cave and fought a bunch of rats. I don’t get what makes the despair grow or how to slow it down, it seemed to just keep climbing and I died… am I just being an idiot, or doing something wrong? 
I appreciate you fixing the issue, and I’ll try to keep my bothering you to a minimum. But if you want feedback on things, I’m happy to give it.

From what little I saw, I really think you have something special here. I especially like the effect you put on the still images, the female one is creepy (the text seemed to go on for too long, but that was when the controller crapped out, I was mashing buttons to skip and probably messed something up)

Ok I’m done, can’t wait to see the finished product! Hopefully I’ll have my game channel going by then (if I ever get off my lazy ass that is), I’ll definitely be talking it up.

I don’t even know, but I’ll double check And as they say in show biz… “OK PLACES PEOPLE, *SNAP* Necrovale, take 75”