The Trader of Stories:
Bell's Heart
The Trader of Stories: Bell's Heart is a new point-and-click adventure by Marek and Marcin Rudowski with help from Pastel Games. You take control of Myosotis and travel through a town in a beautifully drawn world trying to fix your wagon wheel and learn the story of a wiseman named Derrida. Though short and fairly easy, Bell's Heart is a great, wonderful looking game.
Read More93 Comments
Very well done. Beat it without any external help.
I wonder what type of walkthrough would be appropriate for this game.
Lovely little game!
Hint
When you find that you need a cauldron, visit the old house by the blacksmith.
To get in, use the bell thing from the graveyard on the dor bell.
Oh wow! Nice game! Not too challenging, and a glamorous mood. Very, very nice. I hope the sequel will come soon.
I don't know how to make a potion. I have lit the oven and have every ingredient but I'm missing a vessel?
Great game so far but I can't seem to light the fire in the stove... I know I'm missing something but I can't figure out what! Absolutely gorgeous game though!!
JIGuest:
I was looking for a vessel for a long time, too. Check the inn.
JIGGuest
Have you entered the house beyond the blacksmiths? Look for a vessel there
Now _I have all the ingredients and a vessel but they refuse to combine. Any ideas?
I'm missing the last of the story, and I've exhausted everything.
Bottom middle panel? I've talked to everyone, including the dead guy.
Brilliant and atmospheric - just what one expects from Pastel. I'm intrigued with the concept, since Skutnik can spin off multiple tales of this sort, and they'd be very welcome.
uhh im soo lost :S
what is the purpose of the amulet of power?
Never mind. A character who I thought wouldn't take something, did.
why does the
drunkard take the amulet? it makes no sense!
OMG SOLVED IT! :)
Chiuni:
He was probably just too drunk to object when you put it on him.
LMAO aww SonicLover, you made my day :)
Trader of Stories Walkthrough
Except for a few things, most actions can be done in any order.
Wagon
Pick up wheel.
Pick up the bag of food.
Give food to the Zephyr pulling your wagon.
Click the town or the copse of trees in the distance.
Outskirts
Click the little pile of acorns in front of the stone.
Click the flower to the left of the path.
Click the stone, when the screen changes, click it again, go back to the original screen.
Click the copse of trees to the right.
Forest
Click the tree without any ribbons on it.
Click on the bell clapper strapped to the tree. Go back.
Go back to the outskirts, then proceed toward the towns.
Run Down House
Click on the house.
Click on the cat.
Click on the paper on the ground. Click it again when it's in your hand.
Go back, go towards town.
Center of Town
Click on the ladies on the ladies by the well.
Click the horseshoe on the sign post.
Stable
Talk to the woman leaning against the wall.
Ask the woman about Derrida
Return to the signpost tree and go to the next location
Forge
Click on blacksmith
Give broken wheel to the smith.
Ask the smith about Derrida
Go back, click on the house on the hill
Combine the bell clapper with the bell, click the complete bell
Go inside
Old Woman's Home
Grab the amulet on the left hand table
Grab the pot to the left of Myosotis
Talk to the woman, then ask her about Derrida
Go back to signpost, go to next area
Wayside Inn
Grab the pile of acorns on the right side of the round
Click on the cart down the road
Talk to the merchant, then talk to him again to buy the two recipes
Go back, enter the inn
Grab the flint on the table to the left
Click the drunk
Click the bartender
Talk to him, then ask him about Derrida
Grab the bottle above the bartender's head
Click the curtain to the side of the bartender
Click a bottle of wine, buy it
Leave, go back to the signpost, go to the town hall
Town Hall
Click the door up the stairs to the right
Talk to the mayor, then go back and ask him about Derrida
Go back, then click on the door to the left, then click on the waterfall in the distance
Click on a lily pad
Go back to the signpost, go to the rundown house
Run Down House
Go insde
Use flint on the tinder in the oven
Place pot on oven
Put flower, drunkard's hair and amulet in the pot IN THAT ORDER
Put cat's fur, lily pad and wine in the pot IN THAT ORDER, then use the empty bottle on the pot
Go back to the Wayside Inn
Wayside Inn
Go inside, use the amulet on the drunk
Go back to the stables
Stables
Give the drunk to the woman
Go back to the waterfall
Waterfall
Use potion on water
Talk to Derrida
Return to the mayor, give him the story of Derrida
Finishing Up
Go to the forge, buy back your wheel
Go back to your wagon and use the wheel on the wagon
Lovely little game! I really liked it. Three buggy bits though.
1. I couldn't read the story all the way through after i'd finished. Couldn't scroll through it all and just got the first part.
2.
After telling the mayor the story and completing the game I went to a couple of places before leaving, like the undecorated tree. I accidently got 3x D's story and couldn't go back to the mayor. And the icon was in the same place that the fixed wheel was so I had to jiggle for ages to get around picking up the story and somehow get the wheel.
3. The music is still playing although I've exited the game?
The scrolling is very buggy. The arrows don't work properly. Clicking and dragging on the square seems to be effective, but only if you don't let go.
Namedrop (and cameo as the Mayor) philosopher Jacques Derrida (and arguably cleverly so)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Derrida
Am impressed... (not that I wasn't already impressed by Pastel games...)
On the site you guys linked to, it loaded instantaneously, and when I hit play, it goes back to the loading screen with play. Kept hitting play with no result.
[Try disabling your browser extensions and/or update your Flash Player. There is likely a conflict with your setup. Also, rights to the game were purchased by Games Nitro, which is the sponsor. That's why we linked to that site. -Jay]
Nothing. Flash is updated and no add ons are conflicting. Everything else seems to work.
[If you list what versions of browser/os/flash player you are using maybe someone could try to reproduce the issue. I can't reproduce it on any of my systems (Windows or Mac) in any browser. -Jay]
Im desperate to play this game but it just wont work, I cant get past the first screen! I give Zephyr the food and it keeps telling me I have to feed him before moving on, its so frustrating! Ive cleared my cookies and have the newish flash player so I dont understand why its not working :(
[There is no point in clearing cookies with Flash games. Flash games don't use cookies. If you give the bag of food to Zephr and he eats it but the game doesn't let you move on, then try clearing your cache (not the same as cookies) and reloading the game and start again. I hope that helps! -Jay]
Very nice little game! Atmospheric and easy to play-- except for the buggy arrows. More please!
The bottle you have to use for
the formula of the summoning of the drowned,
is that actually the
empty wine bottle?
I can't do anything after I added the last ingredient! Clicking the pot or bottle does nothing.
@Isa WP: That's not the correct container for the potion. To get the correct container,
go talk to the bartender again and click on the round blue bottle behind his head
. From there just use the inventory system to use it on the cauldron!
Lovely game, though I had the same scrolling bug as a couple of other people. If the arrows in the scrollbar don't work, you may be able to read everything by manually dragging the scroll box up and down.
Aside from that, the only other problems I had were occasional English errors -- the writing is generally good but sometimes it's clear that the writer isn't a native speaker. But again, lovely, and I especially like the way it gives a sense of a larger world -- especially because it means we'll probably get sequels!
The signpost was great too; sometimes navigation can be needlessly obscure in Pastel games, but this worked like a charm.
Ok, I know this isn't a help forum for technical issues, but I have been having some problems with the flash player for the last few days playing games here. I had an update recently so I guess it started after the last update. Anyway, my problem is that when I play flash games now, the game is larger than the screen that it is displayed on. Sometimes I can right click and click 'show all' and that fixes the problem, but when I went to play this game, right click didn't give me the option and I got to a scene in the intro that I couldn't see a next icon.... Any help or suggestions? Thanks in advance... I'd like to give this game a try if I can see it properly...
[It's kind of strange that this problem has come up several times recently by different people. I've created an FAQ on our Support Page for problems and issues like this. I think your issue of "flash games too large" is due to a zoomed browser. Check for the solution there. I hope that helps! :) -Jay]
Lovely story and pretty fun.. only problem I had, was that I had to make the amulet of power before I could make the potion to summon the drowned, even tho I had all the stuff for both of them. Was there a reason for doing it that way that I perhaps missed?
I loved this game. Can't wait for a sequel.
Wait .........
So Derrida was both the neighbor AND the drowned man? What?
That was awesome. I hope there are more!
ulch. I am stuck in the same place as Shudog. Bottom centre panel. I have done everything. But still missing something...?
Jay,
My problem was that my browser (i.e.) wasn't set at 100% viewing size. That fixed the problem. Thanks! Now I can give this game a shot.
[Thank you for confirming that! I'm glad you fixed it. :) -Jay]
Just a gorgeous game. The one point I wasn't sure about was collecting the potion ingredients before getting the recipe. I didn't know why my character would want to carry around cat fur and a bell pull. I also wish it had been a bit more challenging. The "questing" atmosphere of the game was canceled out a bit when I stumbled upon many of the clues by accident.
Still, this is by far my favorite of the Pastel games.
Mateusz and Pastel Games just keep soaring higher and higher into artistry. A story about a traveling collector of stories....fantastic! The music was just great and relaxing, the story and characters, poignant and memorable,the landscapes utterly breathtaking,. Mateusz is truely the Miyazaki of point and click games can't wait for this story to continue!
What perhaps hasn't been noted ... the narrative unfolds beautifully no matter what order you work out the clues. There's only one paragraph that doesn't quite make sense. Small detail, as the art, the corresponding clue, and the text all lock together in an interesting way.
Add to the tiny list of games that successfully play with narrative.
(I should note that JIG should really credit the individual artist who contributed. They have a blog.)
Thanks, Shudog. I've pulled a couple quotes from your comment and incorporated it into the review.
As for the individual that we should credit, who did we miss? Marek Rudowski? Or are you talking of Pastel Games in general?
I just want to say that I'm glad everyone's digging this game as much as I did. Every game I review are games I enjoyed, but this one really bowled me over. It's nice to know other folks appreciate it as much as I did.
Definitely some technical problems with this game. The biggest one (for me) is that the screens as designed are too tall for use on a netbook. In fact this is probably the tallest screen size I have seen on a flash game so far. Game designers need to keep in mind how many people use netbooks these days when setting up screen dimensions. Wider would have been much better than taller.
Like others I also had problems getting the PLAY button to work. Eventually I got it to work by using NOSCRIPT and blocking everything but the main website domain.
the trader of stories: bells heart, it comes up as a blank page, no sign of the game.
Thoroughly enjoyable despite the numerous bugs and glitches.
for what it's worth, i have the exact same problem as bdd458, on a mac, on both chrome and firefox (latest versions for both, extensions disabled, flash updated).
[I'm also using a Mac (10.5.8) and both Chrome (6.0.472.63) and Firefox (3.6.10) play this game without issue in Flash Player (10.1.82.76). -Jay]
I have the same problems as bđ458. Game takes me back to loading screen. I'm using Firefox and Adobe Flash Player (both the latest, I think)
[Please list your browser, os, and flash player versions if you wish someone to try to reproduce your issue. Without them we can only guess as to what you're trying. Thanks! -Jay]
Wow, this is amazing! I am hypnotized by the very story and art! I though I already used to pastelgames awesomeness, now they surprise me with more awesomeness!
A bit of problem and bug found, the game height is slightly higher for my browser with just menu bar, navigation bar, tab bar, and the very bottom status bar. I have to disable my navigation bar to be able to read the texts on dialogues and items :/ . As the bug, I could get Derrida's story again after telling the story to mayor and go back to the waterfall-- though it doesn't seems to break anything.
I had the same problem as @bdd458 but it just worked when i tried it the next day :S such a great game, i managed to get through it with minimal help yaaay :D
For anyone still having an issue running the game at the Games Nitro site, please try it at this link:
https://jayisgames.com/games/the-trader-of-stories-bells-heart/
Does that work for you?
I encountered the loading problem, too. I think there is just a goof up in the coding somewhere in its initialization. After ignoring it and looking at everything else on the page (my mind sometimes pretends to be a hummingbird mind), I clicked "Play" again and it continued normally. Just give the game a couple minutes by itself after it loads (I checked that my connection was idle to prove it stopped loading), and it should correct itself. I hope this helps.
Gosh, I would have checked my grammar if I knew you would front-page me. Thanks!
And I misread a name somewhere; I meant Rudowski. The blog has some really cool behind-the-scenes art.
This was a beautiful game, I hope there is a sequel!
Near the begining of the game I gave the wheel to the blacksmith. I didn't have money so he said to bring him some. After telling the story and reselling the recipes I returned to the forge to get the wheel. I then noticed the wheel wasn't in my inventory and assumed that the blacksmith had been keeping it for me. He didn't. What now?
Oops. Just realised that he HAS been keeping it and that I just had to click him a second time. Out of desperation I clicked the rock and now I have lots of completed stories.
Windows XP SP3, Firefox and adobe Flash player (I don't care much for the numbers, but they're all newest versions)
The JIG link doesn't work either.
[Try uninstalling Flash and reinstall. There are a huge number of issues being reported like this recently. I'm thinking it's probably due to Flash bugs (we've seen a lot of Flash Player updates since they reached 10.0). If that doesn't work, the other likely culprit is any browser extensions you may have installed (ad blockers are notorious for causing problems with Flash games). I just tried the game, both links, using Windows XP SP3, Firefox (3.6.8) and Flash (10.1.85.3) without any issues whatsoever. -Jay]
I think I'm stuck at a certain part.
I talked to the Mayor before doing the two main tasks with the potions. Now that I go back to the Mayor he says to get the story, which I thought I already had.
Nevermind, the power of posting.
I love Pastelgames. Although I do wish the game was more challenging, their work is always gorgeous. :) I can't wait for more.
sigh. now i can play the game but can't get past zephyr. i feed him but still can't go into town. clearing the cache doesn't work. so sad!
@little_geoff
bottom middle panel showed up for me when I asked the Blacksmith about Derrida.
Now, I've played through, both by myself and using the above walkthrough, twice and can't seem to get the top middle panel. Any help?
Never mind, power of the post
You get it by talking to the bartender, but not asking about Derrida. I went back to my old saves and could not talk to him having done everything else in the game, so that one at least needs to be done earlier then other things.
Not sure what I did wrong, but I followed the walkthrough to make sure I didn't miss anything and I couldn't finish it by talking to the mayor. I've still got one last square missing.
That's not good. I'll check it tomorrow evening to try to figure out what's missing.
I also cannot get past the beginning. I feed Zephyr and still cannot leave.
On one of my computers when I start a game I cannot get past the very beginning where you need to feed Zephyr. I feed him but still cannot leave. I just started it on a different computer and found that apparently I'm supposed to start with three items(book; acorns; notes). On the first computer I ended up starting with none of these items.
Wow, I feel really bad for thinking that this was enitirely a game from pastel. The true world and the makings of it belong to Mr. Rudowski! If you ever see this, I want to let you know that I think you truely have an artist's eye for scenes and storytelling, much like my favorite and possibley greatest anime director of all time, Hayao Miyazaki,have you heard of him? For anyone who wants to know more about him check his blog here. http://traderofstories.blogspot.com/
Smoothfonzo, I went through the game using my walkthrough, not working ahead, just doing it step by step, and the story was completed. If you follow everything it should work.
If you're still having the problem, let me know which piece you're missing and maybe I can help you.
I really enjoyed this it was both graphically and game wise one of the best point and clicks I've played, i hope they do more trader stories games.
missing the middle piece
Where do you get the top left piece
Just a quick tip for those who are missing pieces. Make sure that you talk to everyone and ask everyone about Derrida.
Awesome game! Really cool graphics
Umm, hi. I was playing this game on Kongregate, and I was stuck on the second half of the game, so then I came here. Anyways, this game has a badge that says "Complete Book of Stories". I have gotten everything in there. I'm confused. Is there anything I'm missing or something?
A gorgeously simple short game - perfect for a casual sit down. Don't have as much time as I'd like to play games, and when I started it I thought "oh no, this is going to consume me till I get it done!", but it was less than half an hour. PERFECT! Thank you for sharing.
ok so i followed the instructions, but the thing left a puzzle piece out. So i did it all over again and it still left a piece out but instead it was a different one this time. I have no clue why and i followed the directions ....:(
All right, since people still seem to be having trouble I'll outline where you get every piece. This guide will go from the TOP DOWN and from LEFT TO RIGHT. So, if I say "third row, third space," that means the third row from the top and three spaces over.
1st row, 1st space
Ask the bartender about Derrida
1st row, 2nd space
Just talk to the bartender
1st row, 3rd space
Click on the tree without ribbons in the forest
2nd row, 1st space
Click the stone on the first screen away from your wagon
2nd row, 2nd space
Just go to the front of the Butterfly woman's house
2nd row, 3rd space
Just go into the forest
3rd row, 1st space
Ask the Butterfly woman about Derrida
3rd row, 2nd space
Ask the stablewoman about Derrida
3rd row, 3rd space
Talk to Derrida
4th row, 1st space
Just go to the waterfall
4th row, 2nd space
Ask the mayor about Derrida
4th row, 3rd space
Just talk to the stablewoman
5th row, 1st space
Just talk to the merchant down the alley of the Wayside Inn
5th row, 2nd space
Ask the blacksmith about Derrida
5th row, 3rd space
read the paper on the floor of the run down house
I'm not sure what I did wrong. I can't figure out how to give the story to the Mayor. I did everything else. When I click on the book of stories it just opens for me to read. I can't click the mayor anymore either. I wish I could finish!
Rosemary,
If you truly did everything else there should be an item on your inventory bar that represents the completed story. You don't give him your book of stories, but rather that item. If I recall it's square and has Derrida's face on it.
Beautifully written and wonderful puzzle. I enjoyed every second of this.
You forgot to put the part about getting the fixed wheel and putting it back on the wagon
Thanks for the heads-up, Tevon. Fixed it.
Bug:
I can't put the stuff in the kettle for making potions. Have lit the fire and put the kettle on it but it won't let me add the ingredients.
I tried it both yesterday (when the game crashed right after this happened) and today, and have also double-checked with the walkthrough to make sure I wasn't messing it up. Must be a bug, right?
Vederblich:
Are you making the potions in order? YOu have to make Amulet of Power first. Also, you have to put the ingredients in in the exact order they appear on the recipe.
If that's not the problem it could be a bug, but one that I never encountered and no one else has brought up.
So who was it that helped to put the wheel on the wagon? Deidra or the drunk?
there is a glitch that won't let me use the bottle on the drowning potion, what do i do about that?
can't get the bottle to pick up the formula of summoning drowned. help?
Where do you get the empty bottle. Ive tried to use the empty wine bottle but it didnt work
Are there any more like this?
Krizpy,
There are no more Trader of Stories but if you search this site for narrative you'll get a list of all games similar to this one.
Some of my favorites include Aurora and anything by Hyptosis although, admittedly, they don't have the same pleasant charm as Trader of Stories.
You might be interested in other Pastel Games' games, too... especially the Sneak Thief series.
~elle
Beautiful game, played it after A Grain of Truth. Thanks to JIG for letting us know of this series and other games like it (read through the comments). Also, I didn't encounter any bugs/glitches except some non-intuitive exit points for some scenes, but everything else was smooth and really impressive.
Is there anyone that can tell me the order of the games?
I followed the walkthrough and played the game twice- It will not let me talk to the mayor after meeting Derrida and there is no item in my inventory.
Not sure what to do. I've got everything but one story piece.
I thought I asked everybody about Derrida, and I definitely DID speak to everyone, but the top middle piece (bartender) didn't fill in and now, according to somebody's post above, it's no longer possible anymore.
This was already my second attempt because the first time through I didn't realize what
"Who's Derrida?"
was for until too late. *sigh*
Other than this, I want to call it a nice laid back game. Hahaha, well the concept, music, and unfolding of the story are really well done either way. :')
This is one of the best games I've ever played, as is its sequel. Point-and-click puzzles and interesting plot wrapped up in a nice little adventure.
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Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
Trader of Stories Walkthrough
Except for a few things, most actions can be done in any order.
Wagon
Pick up wheel.
Pick up the bag of food.
Give food to the Zephyr pulling your wagon.
Click the town or the copse of trees in the distance.
Outskirts
Click the little pile of acorns in front of the stone.
Click the flower to the left of the path.
Click the stone, when the screen changes, click it again, go back to the original screen.
Click the copse of trees to the right.
Forest
Click the tree without any ribbons on it.
Click on the bell clapper strapped to the tree. Go back.
Go back to the outskirts, then proceed toward the towns.
Run Down House
Click on the house.
Click on the cat.
Click on the paper on the ground. Click it again when it's in your hand.
Go back, go towards town.
Center of Town
Click on the ladies on the ladies by the well.
Click the horseshoe on the sign post.
Stable
Talk to the woman leaning against the wall.
Ask the woman about Derrida
Return to the signpost tree and go to the next location
Forge
Click on blacksmith
Give broken wheel to the smith.
Ask the smith about Derrida
Go back, click on the house on the hill
Combine the bell clapper with the bell, click the complete bell
Go inside
Old Woman's Home
Grab the amulet on the left hand table
Grab the pot to the left of Myosotis
Talk to the woman, then ask her about Derrida
Go back to signpost, go to next area
Wayside Inn
Grab the pile of acorns on the right side of the round
Click on the cart down the road
Talk to the merchant, then talk to him again to buy the two recipes
Go back, enter the inn
Grab the flint on the table to the left
Click the drunk
Click the bartender
Talk to him, then ask him about Derrida
Grab the bottle above the bartender's head
Click the curtain to the side of the bartender
Click a bottle of wine, buy it
Leave, go back to the signpost, go to the town hall
Town Hall
Click the door up the stairs to the right
Talk to the mayor, then go back and ask him about Derrida
Go back, then click on the door to the left, then click on the waterfall in the distance
Click on a lily pad
Go back to the signpost, go to the rundown house
Run Down House
Go insde
Use flint on the tinder in the oven
Place pot on oven
Put flower, drunkard's hair and amulet in the pot IN THAT ORDER
Put cat's fur, lily pad and wine in the pot IN THAT ORDER, then use the empty bottle on the pot
Go back to the Wayside Inn
Wayside Inn
Go inside, use the amulet on the drunk
Go back to the stables
Stables
Give the drunk to the woman
Go back to the waterfall
Waterfall
Use potion on water
Talk to Derrida
Return to the mayor, give him the story of Derrida
Finishing Up
Go to the forge, buy back your wheel
Go back to your wagon and use the wheel on the wagon
Posted by: Brad
|
October 1, 2010 1:43 PM
All right, since people still seem to be having trouble I'll outline where you get every piece. This guide will go from the TOP DOWN and from LEFT TO RIGHT. So, if I say "third row, third space," that means the third row from the top and three spaces over.
1st row, 1st space
Ask the bartender about Derrida
1st row, 2nd space
Just talk to the bartender
1st row, 3rd space
Click on the tree without ribbons in the forest
2nd row, 1st space
Click the stone on the first screen away from your wagon
2nd row, 2nd space
Just go to the front of the Butterfly woman's house
2nd row, 3rd space
Just go into the forest
3rd row, 1st space
Ask the Butterfly woman about Derrida
3rd row, 2nd space
Ask the stablewoman about Derrida
3rd row, 3rd space
Talk to Derrida
4th row, 1st space
Just go to the waterfall
4th row, 2nd space
Ask the mayor about Derrida
4th row, 3rd space
Just talk to the stablewoman
5th row, 1st space
Just talk to the merchant down the alley of the Wayside Inn
5th row, 2nd space
Ask the blacksmith about Derrida
5th row, 3rd space
read the paper on the floor of the run down house
Posted by: Brad
|
October 10, 2010 10:39 PM