Game News Mysterious Castle, Tactical Party-Based Roguelike, Hits 1.9

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: Mysterious Castle

March 1st saw the release of Mysterious Castle 1.9, a new, significantly expanded version of the isometric tactical grid- and party-based "exploration roguelike" that seems to be quite fun to play already despite still being a work-in-progress.

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Mysterious Castle is a "pay what you want" title with $4.99 being its official price, and you can give it a try by downloading a Win demo, or even a Mac demo if you swing that way. There have been rumours of the game being not quite compatible with Windows 7 x64 at this point (not in everybody's case, though), but that will probably be fixed soon. Mysterious Castle seems to have gathered quite a lot of positive feedback in its own dedicated thread here on the Codex, so by all means give the demo a spin if you still haven't!

Currently, the developer seems to be in the process of squishing some nasty creatures known as bugs. In the future, the game will continue to expand, and big changes are to be introduced. Among the promised features are:

• significantly more story, dialogue, and quests, including a quest generation system, which is supposed to turn the game into a randomly generated RPG rather than "just" a roguelike;
• introduction of more obstacles and puzzles, so that if you manage to cross the river or climb the cliff, you'll be rewarded with some books/weapons;
• a tutorial on using the editor in order to encourage player generated content.

And probably more!

Links:
Official website
Indievania page (you can buy the game here)

Thanks Sovard!

 

[Mortmal]

Its an interisting rogue like, id like to play it more alas its completely unplayable on my computer as its taking 1/8 of my screen and window is not scaling nor resizable.

 

[empi]

Just paid what i wanted for it, so far is simple but nice, if the guy delivers what he promised could shape up to be pretty damn good. Btw am running windows 7 64 bit and is working fine for me.

 

[Stabwound]

Its an interisting rogue like, id like to play it more alas its completely unplayable on my computer as its taking 1/8 of my screen and window is not scaling nor resizable.

Press "Escape" to enter full screen. No, it's not intuitive at all, but that's how it works. So yeah.

I played the demo a little bit. It seems rather shallow at this point, but it looks to be rapidly developed so many it will be fleshed out into something more appealing to me.

 

[Yeesh]

Indie games need your support! Buy a copy for your iPhone® 4 or 4th generation iPod touch®, buy a copy for your Mac or PC, or donate with PayPal® to join thousands of other indie fans who care about great games.

Am wary.

 

[Mangoose]

Oooo party based roguelike.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Indie games need your support! Buy a copy for your iPhone® 4 or 4th generation iPod touch®, buy a copy for your Mac or PC, or donate with PayPal® to join thousands of other indie fans who care about great games.

Am wary.

Give the demo a try, then.

 

[eclectocrat]

Dev here!

Hia! Feel free to ask questions and/or flame me to hell.

There is a free demo you can try on Mac and Windows, and if you like it, but can't afford the full game, or don't have an online payment method, I encourage you to get the full game anyways, you set the price to $0. Of course I encourage paying if you can!

There are some reports of incompatibilities with some 64bit Windows systems. If you can get through the demo without a crash then the full version should work fine. While there aren't many iOS fans here, the latest version for iOS is currently awaiting approval.

The game is currently in a state that I would call it complete, however there are many many changes and improvements planned. Long story short: I want to make it into a randomly generated RPG. I'll be posting updates at the homepage www.mysteriouscastle.com, and dropping by the codex forums too.

 

[Gwendo]

I've tried the game and it's nice, but isn't there a way to choose my own party?

Also, it's very difficult to heal HP, so sooner or later, by attrition, I'll end up dead.

Also, how does the reincarnation works? After I reincarnate, is there a chance to form a party, or I'll be alone until I start a new game?

 

[eclectocrat]

I've tried the game and it's nice, but isn't there a way to choose my own party?

Also, it's very difficult to heal HP, so sooner or later, by attrition, I'll end up dead.

Also, how does the reincarnation works? After I reincarnate, is there a chance to form a party, or I'll be alone until I start a new game?

You can't choose your own party in the demo, but in the full version you can create characters and parties.

Healing HP is one of the main challenges! If you're having trouble staying alive you can generate an easier level (there will be more fruit and mushrooms), but the demo is designed so that you definitely CAN beat it. You can also use the troll in the full version, he has regeneration. It's also important to tailor your strategies to avoid losing lots of life. Many RPG gamers are used to simply moving forward and killing, in this game it's important that you move backwards and select the most advantageous positions to fight in. Sometimes your better off just running away.

Once you reincarnate, that's it, you're alone, but the next version might introduce NPC's who can join and leave your party.

Thanks for playing!

 

[SuicideBunny]

Btw am running windows 7 64 bit and is working fine for me.

crashes not even a minute into the demo for me on 64bit win7.

 

[Mangoose]

Will there be romances for the new NPCs?

 

[20 Eyes]

Btw am running windows 7 64 bit and is working fine for me.

crashes not even a minute into the demo for me on 64bit win7.

Same, which is too bad because this game seems pretty awesome.

 

[Stabwound]

Does running it in XP compatibility mode work at all? I only played for a few minutes with Win7 x64 but didn't notice any trouble.

 

[20 Eyes]

Does running it in XP compatibility mode work at all? I only played for a few minutes with Win7 x64 but didn't notice any trouble.

Nope. Just tried it, and the same thing. I crash when I move about 10 tiles away from the start point.

 

[Kosmonaut]

Btw am running windows 7 64 bit and is working fine for me.

crashes not even a minute into the demo for me on 64bit win7.

Same, which is too bad because this game seems pretty awesome.

This gives me vibes from Prelude to Darkness...

 

[20 Eyes]

Btw am running windows 7 64 bit and is working fine for me.

crashes not even a minute into the demo for me on 64bit win7.

Same, which is too bad because this game seems pretty awesome.

This gives me vibes from Prelude to Darkness...

It's a little early for that comparison, I think

Anyway, I just changed the Config from DirectX to OpenGL and it seems to be working now. Unfortunately, I have to run so I won't be able to play for a few hours.

 

[mahdi]

It crashed on me too so I switched to opengl and then it didn't. I don't know if it is related.

 

[Mortmal]

Ah thanks for the escape tips, its really not intuitive to press escape to maximize the windows, getting rid of the panels after reading them is not either...I played a bit more, id like to know if the other classes in he full version allow you more tactical options . Its a nice concept but i think it could use more pregenerated sets of encounters to allow more strategical depth.Dont get me wrong its a nice start, i like the fact for example that terrain matters +1 for high ground, different type of attacks, but id like to see a little more complexity into this.
It also crash for me on windows seven ultimate 64 bits, unless i use opengl.

 

[Lord Chambers]

I walked into a dead end and the elf came right up behind me and blocked me in. I can't end my turn and the movement pathing has the current tile I'm standing on selected. Waiting is not an option, all I can do is sneak and unsneak. I cannot select the elf since I'm in movement mode, or whatever. I had to quit.

I like the game's music, especially the opening theme. It reminds me of the Elder Scrolls.

Also, sliding a menu out from the right side of the screen by pressing left is counter intuitive. Arrows point. I want to point at the menu I wish to access.

I am playing on Win7 64 bit and had no problems for the 7 minutes I played.

 

[Angelo85]

Workaround solution for the crashes on 64 bit systems:

Huge, huge thanks to Alextended aka Al3xand3r (right?), who basically single handedly found that the source of crashes on 64 bit systems is the minimap. I guess there’s a problem with streaming textures on some systems. I’ve had 2 (two!) confirmations that by turning off the minimap, the game no longer crashes. The minimap is pretty darn important, it’s not ideal to simply turn it off, so I’ll be hacking away at the code while on the plane in an attempt to have something testable soon.

 

[eclectocrat]

Switching to OpenGL should also stop the crashes, run Config.exe to change the renderer. I'm working on the directX issue now.

 

[Jasede]

This seems pretty cool, let's try it out.

 

[Davaris]

I really like the way he has made the world abstract. I hope the Codex interviews this guy. I'd like to find out about origins of this game. What inspired him to make it, etc.

 

[Jasede]

So I played it for a couple of minutes yesterday (the demo that is) and I think it has a lot of potential. I like the graphics and the font. Call me a graphics whore, but if I am going to stare at pixels and tiny text for hours on end they better be pleasing to my eyes. Can't really say more about it yet.