Completed Faerïs

​

The origin of Latent's Universe​

A short, co-op, asymmetrical puzzle game​

Made for the Relic Castle Game Jam #8 using Essentials v20.1​

Trailer and Screenshots

Spoiler: Screenshots

Story

Faerïs is the origin of the Latentverse, a fictional universe first created with Latent - Prologue that has since been expanded upon.

The Latentverse is a never-ending repeating cycle.
Every few years, decades or centuries, the lonely planet where Latent takes place transitions to a new age. After a certain number of repeating ages, it cycles itself back to the start. But it was not always like this. Before, during Faerïs, the universe was full of planets, moons and stars. Time passed by linearly.

However, The Event started to disintegrate the universe. A streak of light is seen impacting against the stars in the sky. As quickly as it came, it and the object it hits fade away. One by one, all stars start to fade. The sky grows silent and empty. This planet is all that is left. A streak of light is now seen coming in its direction.

In hopes of saving their world, Faeris and Leru venture forth in to a long since abandoned place. Some call it a place of worship. Others, unhallow ground. Tales say that a past God-Queen was taken to this place to live in isolation for the rest of eternity. As to why, the true reason has been lost to time. But as long as there is a chance for salvation, and if this deity may hold it, they will seek it out.

Gameplay

You take the role of either Faeris or Leru. This is recommended as a two-player game, using solely voice-chat to communicate with your partner. Explore and figure out clues, context and hints around you that may help you solve the puzzles and progress. Not all that you see may be useful to you, but to your partner as well.

The game can be played solo by running the game twice and playing on both windows. Though the former is recommended instead.

Made by: Ott with music by LJ

Credits

Spoiler: Credits

Faerïs

Game
Ott

Music
LJ

Sound effects
Mixkit

Special Thanks
Marin - Vendily

v20.1 Hotfixes v1.0.2
Maruno

Essentials
Flameguru
Poccil (Peter O.)
Maruno

Contributions
AvatarMonkeyKirby - - - Marin
Boushy - - - MiDas Mike
Brother1440 - - - Near Fantastica
FL. - - - PinkMan
Genzai Kawakami - - - Popper
Golisopod User - - - Rataime
help-14 - - - Savordez
IceGod64 - - - SoundSpawn
Jacob O. Wobbrock - - - the__end
KitsuneKouta - - - Venom12
Lisa Anthony - - - Wachunga
Luka S.J.
and everyone else who helped out

mkxp-z
Roza
Based on "mkxp" by Ancurio et al.

RPG Maker XP
Enterbrain
Made for and uploaded exclusively to: Relic Castle's forums. This is not a Fangame. No permission is ever given to distribute this game elsewhere.

Notes

Keep your eyes out for August 17th, 12:00 GMT
Secrets will be unlocked

Download

Faerïs v1.2
Resources

Alternate Graphics
Merely copy and replace the game's Graphics.
(Not entirely flawless, I just made them for fun. Default graphics are recommended.)

Spoiler: Alternate Graphics

Blue

Pink

Purple

Gold

GB

​

 

[Ott]

Updated v1.1 (Aug 29th, '22)

• Typo fixed (darnkess to darkness)
• Tile error fixed (rook had a single pixel missing)
• Map error fixed (missing Leru clock, missing sign in level between Puzzle 1 and Puzzle 2, secret king switch was broken and could be spammed)
• Better user feedback and reworked/added hints (added a note to Faeris clock puzzle, changed Leru clock puzzle note, added Leru chess puzzle note, changed secret king switch hint, removed dotted lines from Leru room puzzle map)
• Added a confirmation message before moving to the next puzzle (Game asks if the other player is ready before moving on to the transition map between puzzles, to prevent story cutscenes from activating before the played intended to)
• Made a small reference a bit more obvious (take a guess)

Resources and Alternate Graphics have been updated to match.

Small update v1.1.1 (Aug 29th, '22)

• Fixed a map where you could look in to the void (Leru room puzzle map, at the very end)

Small update v1.1.2 (Sep 1st, '22)

• Added missing quotation marks (One sign in the map between Puzzles 1-2, and all signs between Puzzles 2-3)
• Added version number to the "Best played with" splash title (It'll be updated if there's more fixes but not mentioned ofc)

Update v1.2 (Sep 14th, '22)

• Changed clock icons (Changed the 6 icons to hopefully easier to read/describe)
• Updated Puzzle 1 (Inverted the colour of the clockface icons, to offer a better hint)
• Plants now change state (Plants change from being 1, to 2, to none. All except Faeris's hint or "dark rooms" plants)
• Changed Faeris's note (Changed one note event to offer a better hint to the player)
• Fixed a transfer (Leru's transfer from Puzzle 1 to the map between Puzzle 1 to Puzzle 2 was half-finished)
• Slowed down chess (Changed the move speed of Leru's chess pieces from Speed:3 to Speed:2)
• Fixed typo ("merficul" to "merciful")
• Choices now appear below the dialog, with the dialog (big kudos to Vendily and Tech for pointing me in the correct direction! Before the dialog would vanish and the choices appeared on the top-left)

Resources and Alternate Graphics have been updated to match.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

I finally got a chance to do a call with a friend and play through! This was a really fun and unique experience!

Spoiler: Praise

This was some really inventive gameplay! I love the challenge of coordinating puzzles over a call like this! I know this isn't the intended way to play, but we ended up switching partway through from a voice call to screen sharing (clock symbols were a little too abstract for us to describe, haha), and it was really neat seeing the other navigate our reflection! And I especially loved the moments where Faeris and Leru would monologue together, and we would alternate reading the lines, it had a fun, dramatic feel to it!
On my end, I'm usually pretty restrictive about who I voice call with (at least, who I let actually hear my IRL voice), so this was a good opportunity to drag an IRL friend into the jam! He even ended up checking out a few other games afterwards!

The aesthetic of this game is really impressive! The artstyle stands out and looks great, and everything seems adapted to RMXP perfectly! There's so much attention to little details, too - the simplified pause menu and options menu, removing all the excess graphics that would normally come with Essentials- it's really an impressive amount of polish!

I didn't understand much of the story, but I enjoyed the way the lore was presented! I'll have to check out the other games in the series and get the full picture, haha.

Spoiler: Critique

So, the clock puzzle is still really confusing - I think we spent most of our playthrough on it, and we only got through because of the hint in the discord. Most of the puzzle is clearly communicated, what was tripping us up was the journal entry about plants.

At this point in the game, things are becoming asymmetrical between Faeris and Leru - they're getting different journal entries, different routes, different symbols, etc., but they tend to still parallel each other. So when I read the journal entry about "maybe the plants can help us", we had taken that to mean that to mean that Leru would be counting the pillars for Faeris, and Faeris would be counting the plants for Leru, and wasted a fair bit of time trying different ways of counting the plants. I think it also adds to the confusion that this is the first time one player has a puzzle where the other doesn't - it's clear afterwards that the puzzles won't be 1:1, but at this point, it felt very possible that all three symbols would be visible to both just by walking around)

It may be a bit too on-the-nose, but I think it'd be nice to have a message saying something about how the plants were causing a problem with the clock - that way, it's clear that the plants have to be sorted out before the clock, and that they're not a side puzzle/something to do later. (It also still links the plants with the clock, so players might think to try messing with the clock to clear the plants - although, maybe this route would lead to players ignoring the clock to try to figure out the plants first. )

Alternatively - maybe the plants in the other room could reflect what the journal said about how they keep growing back in different places? You could have them alternate their positions based on a global switch when the player enters. That way, the plants can't be reliable counted, outside of the ones by the spikes, so it's clear they're not going to be the code for the clock.

The chess puzzle moves a bit quickly - I think it'd be nice if the player could do it step-by-step rather than have it all go at once.

Spoiler: Errors

I'm not sure if this was intentional, but it seemed like every choice option was put in the top left corner instead of by a text box.

Fate wished to be merficul - merciful

- Extra ! at the start

 

[Ott]

I finally got a chance to do a call with a friend and play through! This was a really fun and unique experience!

Oh thank you so much Tech for playing it!! :D

Spoiler: Praise

Thank you so much!! All good however you end up playing, I can only recommend, not enforce anyway :p (ill talk more about the puzzle in critique). And yea! I tried to have both characters have their little bits of story and pov. When together at the start and at the end, they talk to each other, but when going through the puzzles, they basically just talk it out from their own perspective. They're also walking similar paths though this dungeon, but not the same exactly, so the puzzles are different, but the paths between were build similarly. I could have made those different too, and originally i was going to, but the deadline was creeping in so i focused all on the puzzles.

Super glad I could help bring your friend in to the jam and have them check out other games too!! I really wanted to make a game people could play together, if able. Hopefully have people who were interested in the jam entries talk to one another and get together to play it! Honestly i didn't think of people bringing irl friends from outside the community in to it (even though it's... kinda obvious really) and then checking out other games, so that is honestly awesome!

As for the story, yea! I wanted to keep it a bit minimal, cryptic, something that will flesh out more, and connect with, once I remake White Rose and (someday) release Latent. Leave questions for people to ask, pieces for people to puzzle together too. "Who's this "Queen" the signs refer to? Why is it unhallow ground? Why was this place built? Why so many warnings to turn back if this is where we're looking for salvation?", that sort of stuff.

Spoiler: story

The basic gist of it is just: Eons ago, Esyn, Queen-Goddess of Rebirth, knew that The Event (something that would wipe out a whole universe) was going to happen sooner or later. She had a plan to preserve life, gathered some followers, created the "orbs" and basically spread doomsday propaganda. Not everyone believed her so they, alongside with Fate, decided to lock her. Her followers followed her in too (the statues near the end). People rebranded her as Death. If something bad does happen, they believe that she's to blame and lied about saving them. Faeris and Leru knew about this through folklore and other ways passed through generations, of course somewhat innacurate to the truth. Since The Event was coming, they thought it might be worth checking if the tales were true than just waiting to die like everyone else. They find the dungeon, go through it and eventually kickstart what Esyn had prepared for. It didn't stop The Event completely, but maybe it did something else.

Spoiler: Critique

It's hard to balance puzzles with something like this, and im having a particular hard time with the clock, so this feedback is extremely appreciated and will help balancing it better!! Before I read the 3rd paragraph, I had the same idea! Rephrase it a bit to better hint at the clock and the obstacle to the door, as well as make it clear "this hint is for you!". Though I never thought about changing the position of the plants That is quite clever and I may implement that, if that's okay!

As for the chess, that is intended. It's fast so one player has to try and both remember what is moving, to where, and then flip it around for the other player. A sort of "playback". But I can slow it down a bit!

Spoiler: Error

At the time, I tried figuring out how to have the text show up on the middle of the screen and somehow position "Yes/No" also in the middle, below it, without the textbox. It always showed on the top-right next to the text. I checked the scripts but couldn't find where it was. So I added a wait to remove the text and then show the options, which sadly always show up on the very top-left. It isn't intended, no, i just couldn't figure out how to properly modify it and still haven't :p I'll try and give it another look and see if I can correctly position it now!

The typo ofc will be corrected! Another one that passed me by. But the extra exclamation mark is intentional. They are signs so some may have extra or missing punctuation (like the "Lies lies lies lies" one not having commas or a period).

But once more, thank you so much for playing and writing down your thoughts and criticism! They're very helpful and its good to hear where people struggled, what was done right or wrong so hopefully things only get better for this game and future ones! :D

I'll try and get the v1.2 update out asap, taking this all in to consideration! It will probably be out tomorrow evening at the latest.
Edit: v1.2 is out!

 

[Tomix9tomix]

Played through this today with AceGamerAndy on stream!
Some thoughts:

Spoiler

I had a lot of fun! Co-op games are fairly rare to come by nowadays but when they do they sure are fun with a friend, and this was no exception. So much in this game felt really well done, the art was fantastic, the enigmatic lore was fantastic, and for the most part the puzzles were fantastic!

Obviously you know this already but we struggled for a long time on the first puzzle, I think it came down to us not realising that the pillars in the environment were important and actually different across our versions. I was actually quite shocked to see how different the maps were when I went and watched Andy's POV afterwards . But once we got that down that the pillars were to be counted, we made it through that puzzle fairly smoothly, just getting slightly hiccuped on the plant part.

Both the puzzles after that felt well balanced though, especially the chess puzzle! That was a lot of fun, and it was very clear thanks to the note what had to be done. I had a really fun time with that one. And the room puzzle was cool, slowly piecing together that andy was sending me on a treasure hunt, interacting with objects in a specific order.

Tech actually mentioned this exact thing but I liked how the dialogue worked, reading it out loud alternating with andy set quite a cool vibe.

But yeah! Good game, I enjoyed it a lot, a fun addition to your little universe of games!

 

[Ott]

Played through this today with AceGamerAndy on stream!

It was super fun and a big learning experience watching it!! Thank you both!!

Spoiler

Obviously you know this already but we struggled for a long time on the first puzzle, I think it came down to us not realising that the pillars in the environment were important and actually different across our versions.

Yeaaaa, I'm still trying to nail that one down. Offer a better hint or make them stand out a bit more. I doooo have an idea on how to do it better, but I may need to wait till judging is over to fix it, as it'd involve a rework of the map and graphics Cus once people notice that and say "hey, there's X pillars near to the Y symbol" (and the plants/spikes thing), the puzzle is done! But its really good feedback to see how people struggled with it, even though too much struggling is a "bad" thing :p

I was actually quite shocked to see how different the maps were when I went and watched Andy's POV afterwards

Yea! They're similar but also quite different in layout! At least the puzzle ones. A way to sorta say "hey, youre both in the same dungeon, going down different paths but towards the same goal!", reason why the cutscene has both talking together at the start and end, but by themselves during the rest of the game!

the room puzzle was cool, slowly piecing together that andy was sending me on a treasure hunt, interacting with objects in a specific order.

Having watched the stream, gotta say, its amazing how you easily caught on to it before Andy did and you just went for it asap! It was amazing to see!

Tech actually mentioned this exact thing but I liked how the dialogue worked, reading it out loud alternating with andy set quite a cool vibe.

Honestly this surprises me, seeing you and tech do this!!! i had a tiny bit of hope people would do that, cus there are parallels to each of their dialog (like the "but I don't want to" quote), even though each dialog is independent of each other and it'd be neat to see people catch on to it, so im glad to see this is (so far) working!

And lastly!

But yeah! Good game, I enjoyed it a lot, a fun addition to your little universe of games!

Super glad y'all enjoyed it! It was really fun making it and having it connect with the Latentverse. And as you guys said in stream, kudos to @LJ_Ele118 as well for the fantastic music! The game wouldn't hit the same if not for his work!

 

[KennyCatches]

Hey Otter! Congrats on the judge spotlight! I thought this game was super cool!

Spoiler: Thoughts

I played this with Ranko and had a lot of fun with it. The overall aesthetics were very nice. I loved the cute and simple graphics.
The puzzles were definitely puzzling at times, but they weren't too bad! Although, we kinda cheated by screen sharing for some of the puzzles sorry haha

• We understood most of the clock puzzle, it was pretty well designed. However, the part with the spikes wasn't as straightforward. I know the notes linked the number of plants with the clock switch, but I think it could've been a little bit clearer. or maybe we're just dumb
• The chess puzzle was cool! To be honest, the rooms with the cat and the skull distracted me a little because I thought I had to open the gates or something haha.
• The final puzzle was great too! I don't really have any critiques for that one.
• I thought the orange/red balloon (?) thingies were related to the puzzles, so they were kinda distracting. I didn't know they were for the bonus room until I watched Tomix's playthrough.
• I had no idea what the story was about. The signs and text were super cryptic, but I was interested!
• Loved the music! Nicely done, LJ!

Loved this! This was a very creative puzzle co-op game.
I kinda want to make a small indie game like Faeris now?? Playing it kinda inspired me!

 

[bobdog]

Might just be me doing this solo, but I've been at the clock puzzle for ~2 hrs. Is it meant to be complicated or am I just overthinking it?