Completed The Tower of Hats V1.2

whichfahim · Aug 11, 2021

Hey I love that you're exploring these themes and bringing them to the mainstream! Also really interested to see what PSDK can do! Your screenshots look amazing.

Haunted Ditto · Aug 11, 2021

I really love the aesthetic and premise of the game! The selection of Pokemon is also quite nice. The menus are clean and pleasing to the eye.
But sadly it lacks alot in the balancing department imo
You have to grind before even entering the tournament and your opponents get strong really fast. So rn it is a circle of grinding and battling.
I'm certain that with some small balancing fixes this game can be an awesome experience. Keep up the great work

👵👵👵 · Aug 11, 2021

Hi, I played a bit of The Tower of Hats and so far it's really fun! I love the graphics and atmosphere, my favorite part is the clever fog lighting effects! I also like the gameplay it's fun to make a pokemon team and the characters who offer unique trades add to that. So far I haven't beat the first tower yet but I wanted to share some of the errors I have found so far.

The game crashes if I exit the options menu

And I encounter this one sometimes by random encounter while walking in the pink grass

And you might already know this but all the gen 7 pokemon (at least the ones I have seen) don't know any moves

I hope I gave enough info to help with the errors that I found. I love the game so far and am going to try to beat it now!

Elle · Aug 12, 2021

👵👵👵 said:
Hi, I played a bit of The Tower of Hats and so far it's really fun! I love the graphics and atmosphere, my favorite part is the clever fog lighting effects! I also like the gameplay it's fun to make a pokemon team and the characters who offer unique trades add to that. So far I haven't beat the first tower yet but I wanted to share some of the errors I have found so far.

The game crashes if I exit the options menuView attachment 6106

And I encounter this one sometimes by random encounter while walking in the pink grassView attachment 6107

And you might already know this but all the gen 7 pokemon (at least the ones I have seen) don't know any moves

I hope I gave enough info to help with the errors that I found. I love the game so far and am going to try to beat it now!

Thank you, I'm looking into it!

Elle · Aug 12, 2021

Haunted Ditto said:
I really love the aesthetic and premise of the game! The selection of Pokemon is also quite nice. The menus are clean and pleasing to the eye.
But sadly it lacks alot in the balancing department imo
You have to grind before even entering the tournament and your opponents get strong really fast. So rn it is a circle of grinding and battling.
I'm certain that with some small balancing fixes this game can be an awesome experience. Keep up the great work

I'll add it to the fix list.

Elle · Aug 12, 2021

Version 1.2 of the game is now ready to download. Regardless if you have played before this update, I recommend you start a brand new game save. I've included in the main thread an update of all the fixes and current known errors. Thank you all for giving your input.

King_Waluigi · Aug 13, 2021

Heya! I just finished the game! I really liked it! Here's my feedback!
Pros:

I loved the graphics, the art, and just the overall aesthetics of the game! They were quite beautiful!
The music fit the game very well!
I liked the story and the motivation for Camille to keep moving on!
The battles were lots of fun!

Cons:

There were a few bugs. (This is just PSDK) There was an error that popped up (I couldn't get a screencap) where whenever I tried to teach Zoroark Punishment, the game crashed.
There were a couple of typos in the game, not a big deal at all!

Oh, it got cut off... Well it says "dest" instead of "desk"

Overall, I REALLY enjoyed playing it! GG, @Elle !

Armin · Aug 14, 2021

Hello! I played your fun little island adventure, and thought I'd share my experiences!

Ahhh... where do I start? It's short, but I love sooo many things about this game. Honestly, I don't know if any of what I'm about to write is your actual intention when you made it, just that it's my personal interpretation as a player.

Atmosphere
Despite the nice, sunny beaches, there's this pervasive air of melancholy I felt throughout the game, whether it's due to the supposed "purpose" of the tournament, the dark fogs used for the lighthouse maps, or the books I read. And yet, there's a certain beauty in this melancholy, one of second chances, renewed purpose, and the spot of "hope" the lighthouse (and the tournament) supposedly represents. The books and lore of the island were truly the highlights of the game for me, especially the "Third Time's The Charm" series, where some of the lines hit particularly hard. My favorites are: "How many times can you mess up and still reach forgiveness?", "The more and more dates you go on though, you're still left wondering how many it will be till you can finally stop." The weariness, doubt and uncertainty conveyed in these lines are not only extremely relatable, but adds on so much to the building of themes of the game as well. Ahhhh I just really love those books a lot.

And of course, I need to mention the sirens! Such an cool concept to base your island around, and the way you wrote about them was no less interesting! I remember thinking to myself, "Damn, this game really subverts your expectations on sirens, huh? Instead of man-eating monsters, they're altruistic creatures who heal and rejuvenate lost souls (literally and metaphorically), how fitting for the game (jam)..."

And then I got to the bottom of the tree, and I feel betrayed, and everything suddenly makes a lot of sense. Well played! Like those hapless sailors, I was lulled into their trap by the beautiful song that is this atmosphere you created. From there, rejuvenation starts to take on a different meaning, it seems!

About The Different Endings
I tried out the good, bad and neutral endings, but the supposed "good" ending left me rather unfulfilled (perhaps, on purpose). The neutral ending, however, really, really spoke to me on quite a deep level. "If I were to die anyway, at least let my death be worth something (even if my life wasn't); at least let me die on my own terms, with me reclaiming my value and purpose." - that's what I personally inferred from Camille's final scene. I wonder if the true rejuvenation of this game isn't in healing or maintaining the sirens' life, but in the destruction of an old evil. Kind of like a phoenix, where the ashes of the dead trainers gave birth to a new blank slate and true peace at last.

That being said, I can't help but wonder if opening the password-locked safe below the tree will unlock a fourth ending? I didn't manage to open it because the mechanism was kind of glitchy for me - the digits increase/decrease by 2 (instead of 1) every time you press the up/down keys + you can't really use the left/right keys to select adjacent digits as it'll always skip a digit (if it makes sense)... a PSDK issue? Plus, I can't find a password anywhere either. So, if there's really something in the safe, I'd like to know what, ~~Pandora be damned~~! Or at least some clues on how to open it.

Some errors + Balance

Entering the password to the safe can get rather glitchy
Trainers in the lighthouse can be challenged even after beating them once
Cancelling a trade makes you trade anyway, with the last Pokémon being exchanged
Fresh Water heals for 50HP instead 30HP as stated in the description, and I believe this applies to all other drinks as well
I tried trading away the Infamous Trainer's Infernape before battling the Blue Hat (to see if I'll get another ending lol), yet the game acts as if I still had Infernape in my team.
A tile error and a typo:

Some of the balance choices are a bit suspicious, especially when it comes to the level curve and Pokémon choice, but with Rare Candies, I managed to make my team strong enough. I'm still not sure how I feel about the opponents having "illegal" fully-evolved Pokémon, with some of them being more challenging than the Hats themselves! Also, wild Kartana in the grove??? I was so shocked when I saw it. Perhaps that's a little too powerful...?

My team, should you need it for reference purposes

To the dev team, thank you so much for making this game! Sorry if my comment's a bit too long and rambly and all-over-the-place, this just happens to be one of those games where I have a lot to talk about and gush about! Needless to say, I enjoyed it very much!

Sailorxraven · Aug 15, 2021

I've played both versions of the game and I have to say it definitely has a lot less grinding in the update.

Though I do miss using the tents to teleport

As others have pointed out there are a few typos here and there. But overall it was an enjoyable experiance.

Elle · Aug 28, 2021

King_Waluigi said:
Heya! I just finished the game! I really liked it! Here's my feedback!
Pros:

I loved the graphics, the art, and just the overall aesthetics of the game! They were quite beautiful!

The music fit the game very well!

I liked the story and the motivation for Camille to keep moving on!

The battles were lots of fun!

Cons:

There were a few bugs. (This is just PSDK) There was an error that popped up (I couldn't get a screencap) where whenever I tried to teach Zoroark Punishment, the game crashed.

There were a couple of typos in the game, not a big deal at all!

View attachment 6213 Oh, it got cut off... Well it says "dest" instead of "desk"

Overall, I REALLY enjoyed playing it! GG, @Elle !

Thank you and sorry for the late reply! I appreciate the feedback and notifying me about the issues. Out of curiosity, were there any other noticeable typos?

Elle · Aug 28, 2021

Sailorxraven said:
I've played both versions of the game and I have to say it definitely has a lot less grinding in the update.

Though I do miss using the tents to teleport

As others have pointed out there are a few typos here and there. But overall it was an enjoyable experiance.

Thank you for pointing that out! Sometimes I type so quick that I have typos. lol

King_Waluigi · Aug 28, 2021

Elle said:
Thank you and sorry for the late reply! I appreciate the feedback and notifying me about the issues. Out of curiosity, were there any other noticeable typos?

There were a few more, but I honestly don't remember them lol!

Elle · Aug 28, 2021

Armin said:
Hello! I played your fun little island adventure, and thought I'd share my experiences!

Ahhh... where do I start? It's short, but I love sooo many things about this game. Honestly, I don't know if any of what I'm about to write is your actual intention when you made it, just that it's my personal interpretation as a player.

Atmosphere
Despite the nice, sunny beaches, there's this pervasive air of melancholy I felt throughout the game, whether it's due to the supposed "purpose" of the tournament, the dark fogs used for the lighthouse maps, or the books I read. And yet, there's a certain beauty in this melancholy, one of second chances, renewed purpose, and the spot of "hope" the lighthouse (and the tournament) supposedly represents. The books and lore of the island were truly the highlights of the game for me, especially the "Third Time's The Charm" series, where some of the lines hit particularly hard. My favorites are: "How many times can you mess up and still reach forgiveness?", "The more and more dates you go on though, you're still left wondering how many it will be till you can finally stop." The weariness, doubt and uncertainty conveyed in these lines are not only extremely relatable, but adds on so much to the building of themes of the game as well. Ahhhh I just really love those books a lot.

And of course, I need to mention the sirens! Such an cool concept to base your island around, and the way you wrote about them was no less interesting! I remember thinking to myself, "Damn, this game really subverts your expectations on sirens, huh? Instead of man-eating monsters, they're altruistic creatures who heal and rejuvenate lost souls (literally and metaphorically), how fitting for the game (jam)..."

And then I got to the bottom of the tree, and I feel betrayed, and everything suddenly makes a lot of sense. Well played! Like those hapless sailors, I was lulled into their trap by the beautiful song that is this atmosphere you created. From there, rejuvenation starts to take on a different meaning, it seems!

About The Different Endings
I tried out the good, bad and neutral endings, but the supposed "good" ending left me rather unfulfilled (perhaps, on purpose). The neutral ending, however, really, really spoke to me on quite a deep level. "If I were to die anyway, at least let my death be worth something (even if my life wasn't); at least let me die on my own terms, with me reclaiming my value and purpose." - that's what I personally inferred from Camille's final scene. I wonder if the true rejuvenation of this game isn't in healing or maintaining the sirens' life, but in the destruction of an old evil. Kind of like a phoenix, where the ashes of the dead trainers gave birth to a new blank slate and true peace at last.

That being said, I can't help but wonder if opening the password-locked safe below the tree will unlock a fourth ending? I didn't manage to open it because the mechanism was kind of glitchy for me - the digits increase/decrease by 2 (instead of 1) every time you press the up/down keys + you can't really use the left/right keys to select adjacent digits as it'll always skip a digit (if it makes sense)... a PSDK issue? Plus, I can't find a password anywhere either. So, if there's really something in the safe, I'd like to know what, ~~Pandora be damned~~! Or at least some clues on how to open it.

Some errors + Balance

Entering the password to the safe can get rather glitchy

Trainers in the lighthouse can be challenged even after beating them once

Cancelling a trade makes you trade anyway, with the last Pokémon being exchanged

Fresh Water heals for 50HP instead 30HP as stated in the description, and I believe this applies to all other drinks as well

I tried trading away the Infamous Trainer's Infernape before battling the Blue Hat (to see if I'll get another ending lol), yet the game acts as if I still had Infernape in my team.

A tile error and a typo:

View attachment 6221 View attachment 6222

Some of the balance choices are a bit suspicious, especially when it comes to the level curve and Pokémon choice, but with Rare Candies, I managed to make my team strong enough. I'm still not sure how I feel about the opponents having "illegal" fully-evolved Pokémon, with some of them being more challenging than the Hats themselves! Also, wild Kartana in the grove??? I was so shocked when I saw it. Perhaps that's a little too powerful...?

View attachment 6223
My team, should you need it for reference purposes

To the dev team, thank you so much for making this game! Sorry if my comment's a bit too long and rambly and all-over-the-place, this just happens to be one of those games where I have a lot to talk about and gush about! Needless to say, I enjoyed it very much!

First off, I love long ramble comments, they're a lot of fun to read! Also sorry for the late reply. To be honest I wasn't expecting many if any to play, so I totally forgot to re-check my thread after posting the new version.

Atmosphere:
I'm glad I was able to convey the mix of the diguise of fun sunny beaches, yet the lingering melancholy beneath. Trying to find that balance was kinda tricky. I'm glad you enjoyed the books; some were harder than others were hard to write out, but all things considered it was probably my favorite part of writing events in the game. I wasn't sure whether or not the messages would be relateable, but knowing they do does make me feel a little more proud of the project. I should say that I am so happy someone found the secrets from the books. It has taken a lot to not spoil that and I wanted to keep it as hidden as I could, which adds to the fun. Reading your impression of the sirens pre and post finding the truth is also a very satisfying feeling as it's kinda what I had hoped for. I will say, I was hesitant to tell people that I used the theme because that would mean spoiling the game, so really so far only you, my team and the judges know the secret bits. Kinda makes it feel special in a way to be a limited few who found the truth?

Different Endings:
The endings were unfortunately rushed due to time. The normal non-secret ending is pretty much left as what it is. The ending where you take the ship and leave was rushed. I initially wanted to add a scene where one of the hats ask where you're going and you make up an excuse to leave without leaving suspicion and then shows an image of you on the boat leaving the island. The Infernape ending was super rushed, was missing a whole area and a chunk of story to better explain it; not to mention the conditions to get the event need to be tweaked. Post judging I will be making a final patch that will include bug / typo fixes as well as the missing content and also some gameplay fixes / feature upgrades. As for the password thing, I will have to look into that, because while it is a little glitchy, it worked fine for me. I'm just glad someone found the safe and wondered the question "is there more to this...?". Because that is what my game has been all about; surface level it is a simple concept, but for those who explore and question the game itself, they are rewarded with deeper content.

As for the safe, it does contain a fourth (final) ending. The information on the password is actually at the end of the credits; the credits you can access from the title screen. It is slow, but I did that on purpose so that once you reached the end, you could read easier. Just like how you meet our balancer Infamous, get a Pokemon and it influences the ending story, in the 4th ending you meet me, get a Pokemon and it influences the ending. I think it is both creative and unexpected, but also really cool. So check it out and if you still can't work the password adding thing then let me know and tell me if you wanna be spoiled or not.

Errors + Balance:
Challenging trainers unlimited times isn't an error, I did that on purpose for those who wanted to grind money and exp. I heard about the trade error and will try to fix that. I'll look into the item thing, that's odd. As for the trading, so far I'm not sure how to make it so you can't trade Infernape, but I will keep looking into it. Thank you for the tile error, I will add it to the list. As for the levels, initially I designed it so that it was way too high level and as such, the Pokemon suited their levels. But when I was told it was too hard, I shrank the levels and kept the Pokemon as they were. I may have to look into making the Pokemon suit their levels. As for Kartana, yeah, adding ultra beasts may have been a bad choice on my part. To be honest I was running out of rare Pokemon spottings that suited the area. I will look into it all again as I do the final patch.

All in all, I loved reading this, hearing all your thoughts and appreciate your own tips to help. I mean it when I say this really made my day, so thank you for playing, sharing and thank you for being one of the few who decided to dig deeper!

Elle · Aug 28, 2021

King_Waluigi said:
There were a few more, but I honestly don't remember them lol!

No worries, I will keep looking!

smooth719 · Nov 19, 2021

i just downloaded and started playing is there any way to change the window size? its really small and doing alt+enter stretchers the game graphics

Elle · Nov 25, 2021

smooth719 said:
i just downloaded and started playing is there any way to change the window size? its really small and doing alt+enter stretchers the game graphics

As far as I know. maybe, but I will have to look into it. Thank you for asking.

Alpal76 Falcon · Dec 15, 2021

Hey Elle, I know how to save but it does not go to the save folder. Is it not saving or would it be located somewhere else?

Elle · May 11, 2022

Project isn't dead. I have only a few bug fixes left, then a bit of testing and I will be good to post the final release. To those who held off on playing my game and those who wanted to play again when I finished it, I appreciate your patience and support.

Elle · Jul 22, 2022

Well, with my fingers crossed that this is the final release, here we are with a new download for both game and asset pack! Now hopefully I can put this game to rest. lol

Completed The Tower of Hats V1.2

Attachments

whichfahim

average Pokemon enjoyer

Haunted Ditto

Creator of Pokemon Pandora and Pokemon Climate

👵👵👵

🌯🌯🌯

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few

King_Waluigi

The King of Waaahh!

Armin

☆★★☆

Sailorxraven

I exist!

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few

King_Waluigi

The King of Waaahh!

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few

smooth719

Rookie

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few

Alpal76 Falcon

Rookie

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few

Elle

Maker of Many and Finisher of Few