The Clockwork Castle

[prester john]

The Clockwork Castle is a puzzle/tactics/strategy game with a focus on exploration and execution. It uses RPGMVX RTP graphics exclusively, and thus far does not use any scripts.


It has a few surprises in it, so please spoiler your comments.


This demo lasts until a little after the end of the first major section. Each new section has a markedly increased difficulty level; I'm posting this version so  I can gauge the reaction of the community and fine-tune the following section to have a fair but challenging increase in difficulty. I'll probably do this for every section after too.


If you wouldn't mind answering a few questions to make the game better, I have a survey at the end.


And now, on to the Summary:


Characters


Ralph

Spoiler

Ralph's natural charisma quickly puts him in charge of any situation. While his fencing is exceptional, his plans are never really more than half-baked. He never has trouble getting people to go along with them, however.

Ulrika

Spoiler

Ulrika learned to fight in her father's unruly tavern, and she never quite had that wildness trained out of her. Disdainful of the criminals and adventurers of her place of origin, she joined the military as a way to see the world and to use her skills productively.

Bennett

Spoiler

Bennett lives a life free from the difficult questions that make others doubt their faith. A lifelong cleric of the sun god Chridor, he was asked by his bishop to assist the military with his healing skills and faith-based magic. He sometimes feels useless because he isn't a very good fighter.

Ylva

Spoiler

The day that Ylva discovered she could set objects on fire with her mind was like Christmas for her, and like Halloween for her siblings and classmates. She was going to be sent to a school for delinquent children, but the Mage's Guild heard of her case and decided to intervene. Now a Journeyman Witch, she is assigned to help the military as a part of the Guild's public relations program, but also to keep an eye on them.

Zaltor

Spoiler

The Dark Wizard Zaltor wages a permanent war against humanity with his army of summoned monsters and undead servants. Zaltor has been a threat for most of the lives of the other characters. The royal army, the only thing standing between the peaceful peasants and total oblivion, always seems to be evenly matched with his armies, sometimes gaining ground somewhere but always losing it somewhere else. That is, until the traitorous Lord Winton declared his support for the dark wizard, and all of a sudden the royal army doesn't seem to stand a chance...

Screenshots

Spoiler

There certainly is, Ylva, there certainly is...

Ralph explores a cave.

A hidden room.

Once you reach this screen, you are at the end of the demo.

Survey

Spoiler

Don't look at this until you've played the game.



Spoiler



I mean that.



Spoiler



1. Which character did you pick?


2. How many soldiers did you try and fight just to see what would happen?


3. Did you use the potions?


4. Did you feel like the game was too difficult, fair but challenging, or not challenging enough?


5. Do you have any predictions for what the plot of the game will be?


6. Did you ever have to restart from the beginning of the game because you saved in a situation where you couldn't continue?

Known Issues:

Spoiler

 - Getting hit by a spike with your back to a wall permanently stuns your character


 - Some rooms can be solved more easily by saving and refreshing the save to move event locations back to their starting position

EDIT: For some reason the file I attached didn't show up. Maybe it's because I had the tab open for a couple of days. Anyways, here's a Google Drive link so nothing like that can happen again: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6LIZZWhZFf-Vm5uWFpzdlRORUk

 

[Marquise*]

So your heroes are Rubyz anagram?

 

[prester john]

So your heroes are Rubyz anagram?

I looked up what the Rubyz are and now my ears are bleeding.


p.s.  you can play the game now

 

[Marquise*]

I was just referring at a weird street talk for rubies...  Althought it help managing characters with the I, the E, the S, in a Z!


But yay!  I can now encourage another Christian band!    TYVM.

 

[prester john]

Bumping because I think I did something pretty cool and original with this game, and I need people to test so I can make it polished.