Duncan_B wrote:Bump. Didn't know Tingalan had a manual, I must've missed that somehow. If you haven't tried out Tingalan yet, you're missing out. Yes, you will die a lot, but it is mysterious and fascinating and I especially love the added use of sound. Okay, so some parts are a little non-standard for ADRIFT expectations, and maybe some parts could use a little brush-up, but for my money this was ADRIFT's game of the year in 2017.
Thanks for the kind words Duncan!
Tingalan has picked up a bit of a following outside the conventional ADRIFT world as well. A lot of people in the Slate Star Codex community are playing it and it is getting a pretty good showing over there too:
http://slatestarcodex.com
Because it's so popular, I've gotten a lot of feedback...so more tips and information largely based on responses I've gotten:
* This game took me hundreds of hours to make. I don't say this solely to brag, but to emphasize that it is quite large. There is a lot of stuff hidden out in the woods. Certain discoveries will vastly change the "typical" playthrough. If you think you've run into everything, you probably haven't.
* The most important key to survivability is explore explore explore. A big misconception a lot of people had about the game is "the map is random"...which I think lead a lot of players to just sorta wander and invariably get eaten by something hideous. Ill stress: The map is predictable and navigable, just not in a way humans generally operate. I know of one player that has some understanding of how it works. I've been amused by the sketches people have drawn in their attempts to map the forest. The general hint is that the map is very predictable over "short" distances but WILDLY unpredictable over long distances, at least at first.
* Books can be read multiple times. It's possible to start the game with stats of 2 or 3 in various skills. Playtesters have in my experience seriously underestimated the value of books.
* Singing works multiple times. Every time you sing you get a "hint" and some other...uh...interesting stuff. Singing the song "all the way to the end" is an accomplishment in its own right. I came up with the song first and then designed the game around it.
* A key design decision was making it so that you could "role play" the game even though you had played it dozens and dozens of times. Atmospherically, tingalan "works" even if your strategy is to play over and over again until you figure out where stuff is and how the map works. The farther along you get in the game the more you'll understand this tip.
* You start the game in merch. If you search in Merch, you might unlock options that will dramatically change the game.
Even if I've never really reached a good ending.
* The current high score is still 38, MY high score is 45. There are ways to get "home" from the deeper parts of the forest but they are hard to find and rife with terrible dangers. If your score is zero, try doing a "coward's run" where you slip out into the forest, stay close to town, and the moment you find anything valuable you dash back.
Those links above should always go to the most current version of the game. I also uploaded it to my website here:
http://www.theodidactus.com/tingalan/
The0didactus, can we expect a second release? Are you working on any other projects?
I made Tingalan largely because I knew I was going to toddle off to law school for three years and have no time to work on anything fun. Over winter break, I tried to release a 2.0 for Tingalan (The "Deeper Sky" expansion) which added two things I had always envisioned to be in the game, but didn't have time to implement in this version (canoeing and snowshoeing). However, I ran out of time. Someday I'll probably expand the game.
I am ALWAYS updating the game, so if you find glitches or bugs, please feel free to write me at
Theodidactus@gmail.com or post them on this thread. I want it to be the best possible game.
Despite my pressing real-life concerns I AM working on two other ADRIFT text adventure games, which may come out in 2018:
* Skybreak, which might be functionally described as the exact opposite of Tingalan, in that you are a nearly invincible space hero who flies around the universe kicking monster hiney
and
* The Watchers, a "tactical" text based adventure game where you coordinate a squad of 5 semi-trustworthy individuals on a mission to investigate, and destroy, an alien menace that threatens to devour the universe. The twist here is that the titular "watchers" you've been sent to destroy are nearly omnipotent reality-twisting mad gods that can change the rules of the game at any time. I intend to make this game even more punishing than Tingalan, in that the game directly "plays" against you by changing the rules.