Thats pretty cool!

I tried playing it on the ipad, but couldn't due to requiring keys... hrrmm... wonder if I just needed to bring up the keyboard?

Cheers Josh, thanks for the feedback. Not sure about the keyboard unfortunately. I'll see if I can add mouse support to the next Alpha. To work out where the mouse cursor is lying in the game world, I just have to do all of the calculations I did to create the pseudo 3D effect, only backwards!

Actually wait, a on screen gamepad would probably be more useful than clicking to tell the character where to go, and easier to program. Any useful tips for implementing one?

Works on chrome & linux.. I apparently don't work well with it.

Thats good to hear, though not totally surprising since its an html5 app. Tried Witchblaster on the games page?

Also, regarding your last comment, game too hard or you don't like it or..?

Aye, works great in Chrome.
I love this! I played the original version, and really enjoyed it but this remake is even better. I'm getting a sweet, sweet Smash TV vibe from it! Love the different enemy types and different tactics needed to deal with them.

Thanks for the feedback Sam, and glad you enjoyed it. Smash TV was pretty cool, I've been actually thinking about what other classic games I could remake in the engine (though mostly stuff like Commando and Ikari Warriors).

I find it too hard. But I don't generally play reaction based games other than the slew of FPS I have played recently. 

Fair enough. How do you like WitchBlaster?

I found myself being flanked from behind a LOT as I tend to hug the wall. Some indication that they are going to come from behind you would be nice. :) Also the 3rd boss is insane....

Agreed re: Third Boss, I'll look at making the "Road" between shots wider..

That's pretty impressive with the 3d effect.

I got to the fourth room, but then got killed by all those knight guys. Who is the second charater you can switch too? What is his power?

Earok; maybe it's just a skill level thing?

@michael Cheers. Press X to switch between the characters, the second character is a wizard who can shoot magic missiles. Some enemies in the game are vulnerable to just the magic missiles, others just to the sword. Both characters are needed to defeat the final boss.

@arran Yes, but I want my games to be accessible/beatable by all. I'll probably put in an easy mode sometime.

I'd say the skill level is right so far. I've been casually playing this, coming back to it once or twice a day. Every time, I died in the room *before* that one with the green patch on the floor. Anyway today, on my second attempt, I got further. The next room was pretty intense with all those mummies/block-guys and armoured axe-wielders. The key appeared on the floor, but I died just before grabbing it.

For me, at least at this stage, the difficulty level feels good. It increases naturally and feels challenging, without being punishing. More importantly, even though I get beaten, it makes me want to come back and try again.

Btw, as for my play style - I tend to use Thalia all the time except when I need to kill the mummies.

Alright, definitely getting a bit addicted now. In fact, I'm meant to be filling out a job application form. Quick bursts of HOI are keeping me sane.

This time, I got almost to the end, but the second boss killed me when I was stupid enough to walk into his blast. One of those real 'I can see what I'm doing, why WHY am I doing that?!' moments.

Anyway: Good stuff. Might've mentioned that before :)

On that room with the green patches on the floor... Usually there's a real swarm of 'mummies' but on one occasion, only one (or possibly two) of them appeared. Is this perhaps because I killed the key-carrying guy quickly, which prevented any more from appearing?

Imagine if every game designer somehow had the option of viewing a webcam feed while people were playing their games. I think it would be quite a compliment to see someone clenching their fists and comically mouthing 'Dammit' before hitting 'Z' to give it one more try.

(P.S. I have NOT been playing all this time.)

Re: First comment. A tactic I've found handy is to play as Algernon and randomly biff magic missiles at the doors, often you'll kill things as soon as they appear. Though admittedly it's a very cheap tactic.

Glad that the difficulty feels about right. I wasn't sure how easy it was going to be to have a gradual sloping difficulty in such a short game.

Re: Second comment. Heh, sorry about the second boss. When you reach the third boss, you'll find him very entertaining...

Re: Third comment. On that level all of the enemies are meant to randomly be either a Knight or 'Mummy' (It was actually meant to be an Ice Monster, curse my terrible drawing skills!). Though if it seems like the pattern happens over and over again, it's probably because the pseudorandom "seed" of the game isn't set by anything, so the first playthrough after every load should be identical to every other first playthrough etc.

Re: Fourth comment. Heh I would have loved something like that when one of my mates from the South Island attempted (but ultimately failed) to beat The Kiwi's Tale. On the Tokoroa level apparently his room mate could hear him yelling a continuous string of four letter words at the level..

Cool an easy mod.

A webcam? I think a "record + save play through" would be good too. Especially if there is irritative development of the game going on as there seems to be.

One thing with HOI I would like to know how many rooms there are in total. I don't feel a sense of progression as I played. But that was just myself. (It felt rouge like.)

Algeron seems very weak compared to Thalia as the fireball is essentially harder to use at a distance compared to Thalia who seems to be able to damage anyone in the 3 sqaures surrounding her, and this can be done _while_ moving. Algeron you have to line up the shot and quickly move out the way. So I tended to use Thalia more too.

An easy Mod? As in, the game is easy to mod or..?

Heh, "Iterative" development I think you mean, although the development has been irritating at times!

In all seriousness, nothing really helps see problems with a game like standing over someone's shoulder while watching them play it. Unfortunately opportunities to do that are few and far between.

There's only eight rooms from memory. I thought about programming a "fly over" of the entire game backwards before the first level starts to give an idea of the length. The reason why the game is so short is the first Global Game Jam required that a gameplay session couldn't run for longer than five minutes (The Blitz3D version also had a time limit per room).

I tried to make the two characters relatively balanced, though having them perfectly matched would be very difficult. Also it's probably just plain more fun swinging a sword around. I might bump up Algernon's speed a tad to give him slightly more parity.

A modification allowing an easy mode in the game. :P

Yes you are right. I was tired when I wrote it I guess. At 2pm in hte afternoon. ;P

A fly over wouldn't be too bad. Support++

I think Algernon could do a lot better with a strafe mode. Maybe there is one and I don't know it?

Suggestions (not sure about these, though - possibly use these for a 'harder' mode?):

- Randomising which door each creature comes out of? (The first couple of levels are easy to memorise at the moment. Of course, having a set pattern can be good: I like the parade of three knights that appear out of the same door later on. And for the later levels, it doesn't matter if there's a set pattern as the enemies appear so fast).

- Having the orcs(?) throw their axes *at* the player?

- I suppose there could be a harder mode where you only regain a couple of health points after each level, instead of the full amount.

Note: Despite the fact I'm making these suggestions, I still haven't finished the game. It does keep me coming back though, even if I rarely get to the first boss! :D

Note2: I really like the random assortment of ice-monsters () and knights on that level I mentioned before. Keeps it fresh.

Note3: Being able to see the upcoming levels is a huge improvement in this version. Nice!

Aaaaa!!!

@arran Heh, if my hazy memory serves me correct, there was a strafe function in the Blitz3D original. I have made a note to add strafe to this version, thanks for that.

@sam Awesome! I might steal that screenshot for the games page once I bless the Monkey port as being the 'canon' version. I agree with your suggestions for the hard mode, though with the Orcs I'd rather not have them throw the axes "directly" at the player, just more accurately (I know at the moment they have a habit of throwing their axes left/right when it'd be better for them to throw up/down). Most of the difference for the easy/hard modes will be in the enemy stats. For instance, on easy a Knight could die with one hit and move slowly, on hard it could require three hits and move quickly.

That picture's not great IMO, because Algernon is facing the wrong way. I'll send a better one if I happen upon such a conglomeration of ice-beasts again.

Heh, it'd be a great pic if it looked like Algernon was fleeing for his life.. might fit his character.

Edit - Actually maybe you could photoshop it. Doesn't really matter if no one can tell the difference between a photoshopped screenie and a real one.

Good point.

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2009957/Photoshop-picture-Chinese-officials-inspecting-road-ridiculed-world.html

Yikes. Does any real news come out of China? At all? Ever?

I think I joked to Arran on Twitter that the Chinese news service is exactly accurate all of the time - for a China in an alternative dimension.

Heh. Maybe make the easyness adjust itself? Like some modern games supposively do?

I think Hyrda9 is calling for a level editor! :P

China Smack is a great source for the insides to china: http://www.chinasmack.com/ Their article on the matter: http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/pictures/floating-chinese-government-officials-stun-netizens.html

Anyway. Yeah that sounds vaguely familiar. You did say something like that at some stage. Don't know when or if it was on Twitter or not.