The noon sun blazes over an unknown desert. Scorpions burrow, cacti stand tall, and restless hyenas hunt for prey. An amnesiac woman lies in the middle of a sand pit with a knife wound in her side and blood on the ground. With her strength fleeting, she must find a place to seek shelter, and hopefully to some avail find out who she is before the harsh environment claims its toll on yet another victim.
And thus the story begins...
This is the game I made for the 48 Hour contest in 2001. Since the day the contest ended the game has steadily evolved from being a bug-ridden graphical mess to something that's loaded with details otherwise overlooked in most other games today.
Does that mean it's fun?
Well, yeah.
Features:
Drama, despair, cool music, visual random battles, auto kills, a blonde chick, palm trees, coconuts, random nuts, caves, canyons, and a bunch of puzzles to make your head spin (okay, one really daunting map and a handful of interlinking smaller daunting maps), more NPC animation than a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and an author with an inflated head.
Download today!!!
Also comes with a stash of bonus materials like design documents, short stories, Gilbert's original poster, and the original 48 Hour Edition of the game.
Other Participants:
Blackhat Solaire -- Title screen; some battle background, enemy graphic, and attack graphic help
Specplosive -- Soundtrack (except title, intro--main theme, and endgame song)
Camdog -- Main Theme
Demo will be out soon. No really. I mean it this time...
See...it's here...
Told you.
Update History:
7/1/2001
First version released for the 2nd Annual 48 Hour Contest. On Operation:OHR
or a month.
9/27/2007
Three-day release of latest incarnation. A "Candy Edition" of the original game, but very unpolished and somewhat incomplete.
2/28/2009
The first real release of "Tightfloss Maiden." Includes "Footprints in the Sand," "Dehydration," "Auto Kill," six new maps, and way too many new features to list.
3/15/2009
Repaired the wall in the Wingamabob's Chamber.
Fixed the broken ladder in Trans-Canyon Passage (after collecting the journal).
Restored functionality of random encounters in the passage and the valley.
Major graphic and gameplay improvements coming soon.
3/18/2009
Included some distribution files I forgot were missing. Thanks, Moogle.
4/1/2009
Included an "Intro Selection Screen" upon startup to appease players who fall without saving and wish not to watch the seven-minute opening again. May be very slightly buggy, but it's functional. I tried to model it after Wave Race: Blue Storm's selection screen (if it were based in a desert). Selection screen showcases the new graphics that'll soon be implemented throughout the rest of the game.
Set all textboxes to solid backgrounds. This should make them easier to read. Also adjusted placement of a number of textboxes to improve presentation.
Some error-checking.
12/26/2009
Fully updated Chapter 1, including:
Retrofitted all graphics to account for the new desert palette. Now it looks the way I intended. Also finished updating the walkabout sprites.
Added new statues to the Anthill Canyon for some extra variety.
Implemented "Item Cooking," which allows the player to mix loot items together (and cook them) to form status altering items. Only includes the "No Heat" option. "Levels 1-3" will be available in Chapter 3. Activate from Glass Bottle. (Still buggy if you try to get fancy with it.)
Implemented the Journal. Use to check progress or to verify known successful item mixtures.
Updated the end-of-journey report to include every important thing from the Anthill Canyon to the Forgotten Village. Also added two new status reports to the score evaluation, bringing the total number of possible ranks to seven.
Split conversational dialogue into individual text boxes and added portraits to each one.
Switched out the ripped intro music to the one made by Camdog for the composer contest.
Added widescreen to the majority of cut scenes.
Bugfixed the things that were broken in the last release.
Note: This will be the last Chapter 1 exclusive update. The next update (pending nothing is broken in this one) will feature the continuation of the storyline -- finally.