Castle Paradox

Description [-]

This was my first released Ohrrpgce game (although not the first released Ohrrpgce game I worked on -- that was Wingedmene, or the first non-released Ohrrpgce game I worked on -- that was Ergintandal). It was for the first annual 48 hour contest (I forget what place it took, but it didn't win). I call it a Level-Up Mystery because most of the game is spent Leveling-Up, but in a fun way. The only problem is that some of the enemies near the end were quite impossible to kill, but the trick was to use the escape button, which can be used to flee from almost every enemy in the game.

And& was widely liked -- I still like it myself (I've played through it at least 3 times) -- due to its simplicity and challenge. It's amazing how long a game you can make in 24 hours (only half the 48 hours was actually used due to an attack on Charbile by failure) if you simplify as much as possible (there are only 4 maptiles and only 1 palette-swapped walkabout), and work very intensely (I didn't sleep at all). Even if the game has no wider merit, I save it as a monument to the first time that I maintained a focused effort for an extended period of time.

The story is the best I could come up with on such short notice. It's about a girl named Ampersand who lost (or never had) her memories, and has to go find and fight enemies to steal new ones. The theme may not be readily apparent from the game, but it's the idea that memories are worthless unless you yourself formed them.