Made in just three days for Ludum Dare, Jezzamon's Tamamystery is a deceptively innocent throwback to older, Tamagotchi-er days as you handle the care and wellbeing of a tiny virtual critter. The are only two buttons... left can be triggered with [A], [Z], or the left [arrow], and the right button with the [S], [X], or [right] arrow. Hit both buttons at once to enter or leave buildings. There's more to Tamamystery than its clever papercraft design, as the title implies, but talking about what, exactly, would definitely spoil it even though the big twist comes a few moments in, though you may take a clue from looking at the game's rating if you're concerned about content. Though a little clunky to handle, Tamamystery is creative and clever, not to mention a fun spin on the "two button" and "growing" themes of the competition. Check out the official Ludum Dare page here, and when you're done, you can join me over here being crushed beneath the guilt of all those Tamagotchis we all begged for as kids, swore we'd take care of, and left to starve until their batteries died years ago after a week. Yaaaaaaay.
The idea is interesting, and the controls are simple but effective.
However...
I won the game by mistake, very early. I accused a guy randomly, just to try an item, and that was the culprit. That's... weird and disappointing. :/
Very bad interface: nothing was happening, nothing was happening, I kept feeding my poor critter and nothing was happening, still nothing was happening, have I mentioned that nothing was happening?, and finally in a fit of rage I started hitting the arrow keys pretty much randomly... and something happened, namely the instructions for how to play the game *finally* came up... and promptly disappeared.
And all this while the most maddening "soundtrack" in the entire universe was assaulting my poor defenseless ears.
If I could give this negative mushrooms, I would.
I agree completely, Reka. The only thing I got from this "game" is reminders of why I HATED the original Tamagotchi that I had in fifth grade.
The whole two button operation is annoying, but I think that's the whole point of it being a Tamagotchi game. Otherwise, it would just be another retro looking game.
Some hints for if you get stuck
In the shop, left button changes which item your 'cursor' is over, right button actually selects it to put it in your 'inventory'.
If nothing seems to be happening, go get different items.
If there seems to be a reaction to something you're doing, keep doing it until something else happens.
If a character mentions an item, go see what happens if you have that item.
You may want to go examine the original scene at some point
Without the control issue, I found it fairly straightforward.
I had written a frustraded diatribe about how broken this game seemed to be, but just before I posted it I gave something one more try, got one step further along, and then somehow managed to guess what you're actually supposed to do. The instructions and hints in this game are extremely lacking, and I suspect that at least some of that is due to the author assuming that players would be familiar with how an actual Tamagotchi works. After I figured it out, I did find Tamamystery to be an amusing and interesting (albeit very short) game.
So, here are some additional things you might need to know in order to play this game:
-- MOST IMPORTANT: Pushing both buttons at once acts as a virtual third button. Even though Dora mentioned this in her description, I missed it, and it really needs to be in the game itself.
-- Sometimes, the game will move on from a message or screen on its own after a short time, but mostly you will need to advance it manually by pressing either button (the buttons will not perform their depicted action when this happens).
-- The "shop" requires no money; just take what you want.
-- The top row of items in the shop are "toys" (will be tied to the left button), while the bottom row are "food" (will be tied to the right button), and will replace whatever you were carrying before entering the shop
And some hints (in a rough order from least to most spoiler-ey):
-- Neither Blomgus nor Dogbert are the murderer; they are only there to give you hints as to the identity of the murderer.
-- Make sure to investigate your Tamagotchi's corpse for "clues".
-- Dogbert wants a bone, but there are no bones available in the shop (Even though it clearly has a bone sticking out of it, the meat doesn't count).
You didn't investigate your Tamagotchi's corpse yet, did you?
-- Blomgus loves to eat. It'll eat anything, and grow a little with each morsel. Until it pops its house...
-- Once you have received clues from both Blomgus and Dogbert, a new toy will become available in the shop: the megaphone, which is a "toy" used to accuse a Tamagotchi of being the murderer.
-- Most houses contain similar-looking Tamagotchis that say nothing, but will react in one of two ways (happy or depressed) when you give them food or toys.
-- The murderer is the Tamagotchi which reacts with happiness to both the food mentioned by Blomgus, and the toy mentioned by Dogbert.
-- Once the murderer has been accused, you will need to chase them by following them left and right as they try to evade you. If you lose them, simply visit their house again to restart the chase,
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