I am quite impressed by how thoroughly you explored the parameter space of just one simple bounce mechanic without repetition or artificial grind. Sublime design.
This is the single best Flash game on this (or any site). For that matter its equal to (or better than) about 95% of commercial games on any platform of much larger profile. This game succeeds on every level: enjoyable and challenging core gameplay, great level design, solid production values, and a simply fantastic story. On occasion when i reach the end of a particularly good book I have a sense of sadness that the story is wrapping up and wish for it to never end. I have felt that feeling over a video game on extremely rare occasions (Dragon quest V, FFVI, and maybe phantasy star 4), and this game brought those feelings up inside me as well. From the bottom of my hear thank you for making this game and letting me play it.
What would be cool would be a special challenge toggle on each level that would get rid of the checkpoints, and the final portal does not unlock unless you collect all three lightning bolts from that level on that run
For those wondering about the meaning of the riddle/poem its the key to the tree puzzle: The fifth line ('what tree fed') is the clue to what the poem is for (getting an item from the tree). Lines 1,2, and 4 in order give the codes for the three parts of the tree code, describing the number and orientation of symbols. 'stood' = vertical line, 'hollow' = O, 'dead' = horizontal line. The third line im not totally sure what it means, I took 'had best fled!' as a clue to disregard that line as describing part of the code. Otherwise its possible the 'Or' in line 4 implies there are multiple solutions and line 3 somehow describes one, but only one symbol in the third ring opens the tree when the symbols form line 1 and 2 are set right, so i dont know.
This is the best game of this genre that i have played (on any platform) since Geometry Wars. Revelatory in its enemy and weapon design, simply stunning. Well done, Sir.
Fun casual RTS game. One thing i find annoying is that for the side missions of 'survive X:XX', you don't get the mission marked as complete (and thus had to replay) if you WIN the mission in under that time. If the goal is to survive 4:00, and i wipe out all the foes in 2:00 then obviously i could survive the entire 4 minutes. I had a few such missions where i had to intentionally hold back in order to take that long completing it to get the side mission shield.
Hmm I got the medium badge before the easy badge because i wasn't paying attention and i kept qualifying for pole so I was getting few overtakes. Very rare occurence to get the medium before the easy
Wow i love it when a great game from a long time ago gets badges.. Had completely forgotten about this game's existence, now a great reminder and excuse to play it some more.
This game sends a very bad message to the youth. To all the kids playing at home: if you get trapped in a nightmare dimension filled with monsters and deadly traps, don't worry about collecting your miscellaneous junk like buttons, pencils, puzzle pieces, baseballs, ice cream cones and cupcakes - just forget about that stuff and get out of there as fast as you can, for heaven's sake!
The dragon definitely is scaled to the day he shows up. Was able to beat a dragon early on (day 10?) just by getting lucky and meeting him when i had decent EQ (lvl 4 sword, lvl 5 armor) and just an elixir. Definitely feels like theres too much luck compared to player input here. maybe if there were forks in teh road and you had to make snap choices it would feel like there was more player agency?
Wow, this game just blows me away with the level of depth, even compared to the already really deep Gemcraft gameplay. And it makes a whole bunch of new convenience functions that make it less about the micro - i love the ability ot forge specific gems, and the 'duplicate+combine' function is great. Masterful game, instant 5/5 and deserving of the top-rated spot.
5 upgrade points is possible with score of 900+. <700 = 0-2 points (not sure of cutoffs), 700-799 = 3 points, 800-899 = 4 points, 900+ = 5 points. Not sure if 1000 gives 6 points, my best is 924. Gold remaining at end factors into points, sell off your towers like mad just before finishing the level. You only get the points for your best score, so if you score 750 you will get 3 points, and then if the next time you replay you get 850, you will get 1 additional point.
upgrade points seems based on score only - i've gotten +3 and +4 both with only wisdom medal missing. 800 seems to be the break point, higher than 800 gives 4 points, lower gives 3. Not sure about the cutoffs for 0,1,2 upgrade points