Ganymede (my 2D platformer with a big story)

[Sacred Jellybean]

rtan halp im stuck How do I proceed from the top of the lighthouse? I can get into this room, but can't figure out the way forward. I can't backtrack either, I'm stuck at the top of the lighthouse in the hub world. Moving in any given direction doesn't work.

Wait, nevermind. I just tried again, and I can climb down from the lighthouse in the hub map. I just wasn't pressing down hard enough on the controller. Okay, so I assume that, in Super Mario World tradition, I need to find an alternate exit on one of the existing levels to create a new path forward. The wings and firebreath will certainly help. I was wondering about that, because it seemed at first that the purpose of the lighthouse was purely to give you power-ups. So that clicks together.

BTW, I found an empty dialog box. This one doesn't show any text at all.



I was curious about the paper with words nailed to the wall in this screen. Am I supposed to be able to read this?



Here's a weird one... not sure if this is an emulator issue. But I booted up the game, and the progress percentage was 55.5%. At this point, I was at the top of the lighthouse. Then I told the emulator to reset the ROM. Once the game booted up, the progress was down to 44.4%, and it put me back at the bottom of the lighthouse. Curious, because this didn't happen if I just exited and re-opened the emulator... only when I simulated a reset. I'm using ZSNES, btw. Luckily, I just so happened to have accidentally saved a game state, a few minutes prior. That lighthouse level was rough.

Other observations:

I thought it was pretty neat that on the precipice of a new level (I think this was the lighthouse), to enter the next world, you literally jump and sink into the bed, explicitly symbolizing sleeping and dreaming. I believe that Hell World followed next. I saw that the Boy had then become a Man in the same house. I thought at first we might have shifted into playing his father, but given the text in the ensuing level, I don't think this is the case.

That reminds me: will there be a way to read all the text in full? Such as after beating the game? I think reading it in its entirety would give it a nice bird's eye view to help the player digest the storyline. This seems particularly helpful if you want them to noodle out subtext.

I'm not sure what the sequence of the lighthouse means yet. So we enter hell world, now as a man. It almost seems like the shadow world of the real world, with Silent Hill vibes. The red eyes reminded me of the portion in the PT demo (i.e. Silent Hills, before it was wantonly, cruelly, and callously scrapped). The Man goes through the same sequence of events as the Boy. Maybe the boy regrets his decision, and the memory of beginning of this journey is tormenting him? But why represent this as a man? I feel like the pieces of the puzzle are there in the lighthouse (i.e. the screenshot below), but I was too focused on the level to put them together. This is the kind of game that likely warrants multiple playthroughs to get the full picture.

I'm not asking for clues, just thinking out loud. It might be interesting to you, as the creator. BTW, for some reason, I'm getting strong Final Fantasy vibes from this level. I really like this aesthetic.



I wonder what is the symbolism of endless book cases?

Oh! Here's another question I had: what's with the food in the status bar? Is there a way to use that? And another suggestion: I didn't realize at first that when the character gets hit, he loses his water. Maybe you could also put in an audio/visual cue for that?