TRYH4RD: Conqueror Edition (Post-jam update!)
Hi all!
I've been hard at work for the past month or so working on the post-jam version of TRYH4RD. The original jam version took me about 40 hours of work. The new update took an additional 32 hours of work, which was definitely more than I expected. I poured a lot into the new update, so I hope you all enjoy it! Without further ado, let's talk about new features:
Conqueror Mode
This is the new "Hard Mode" of the game. Bosses have all new attacks and attack patterns in this mode, and each boss also has a unique "Super Attack" that they do on their final phase. The original jam version is now called "Standard mode".
I'm gonna avoid any gifs here, because I don't want to spoil anything, but just to give you an idea of how different Conqueror mode is: Most of my friends were able to beat the original TRYH4RD (which is now called "Standard mode") with 1-5 deaths total.
On conqueror mode, the number of deaths ranged from 21- 60 deaths total. Conqueror mode is hard, but it's meant to be fair. The knockdown system is still in place, so you can keep trying and eventually beat any of the bosses (although bosses will restore a little more HP in between attempts on Conqueror mode).
In general, Conqueror mode is sort of what I had originally planned for the game in terms of difficulty. I wanted this game to be really hard, and to force you to dig deep and learn the bosses, and keep trying. I think conqueror mode achieves that.
Controller Support!
The game now supports XBOX and PS4 controllers! The button prompts in the download version will update to whichever controller you are using. In the web version, the prompts will default to keyboard / xbox controls, but you can still use a ps4 controller just fine.
I think the game feels so much better on a controller. If you struggled with the original game due to the clunkiness of the controls, I highly recommend giving it a second try with a controller of your choice.
Other Quality of Life improvements
Rapid fire time:
- Skippable cutscenes! Hold the "K" key (or start on a controller) to skip a cutscene
- Boss select screen! Press the "9" key on the keyboard to go to the boss select, and pick your favorite boss to re-fight! You can fight them on standard or conqueror mode!
What's Next?
One thing I want to apologize for: I do not think I'll be making a technical devlog for this game. If anyone has any specific questions on how I implemented something, feel free to DM me on twitter or leave a comment. I had originally planned a lengthy devlog, but I'm pretty burnt out from the post-jam version of this game. I'm ready to move onto something new.
No promises, but I'm planning on revisiting some of my past games to see if I can expand on something. I'm also planning on gauging the reception of Conqueror mode for TRYH4RD to see if it's something I want to create a sequel for.
Thank you all
Thank you all SO SO much. I still can't believe TRYH4RD did so well in the jam. I'm so happy that people enjoyed this game, and I'm so glad I met so many great gamedevs during this jam. Thank you all for playing, and I hope you enjoy Conqueror edition!
Thanks!
Abhi
Files
Get TRYH4RD
TRYH4RD
Conquer three unique bosses with your sword!
More posts
- Post-Jam Devlog 1 : Thoughts and ShoutoutsAug 24, 2021
- Jam Release Devlog! Hours spent and plans!Aug 14, 2021
Comments
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Alrighty, feedback time for the second mode! Hope you don't mind the wall of text I'm about the throw :p.
(Oh and for anyone who hasn't played the game, spoilers are up ahead so play first read later please. Trust me on this one)
For the record: I got up 60 times and it took about 30-50 minutes.
Random thought: I was going to write "I got kicked down" instead of "I got up". Saying I got up actually made me feel way better about getting destroyed.
For all bosses I felt like there was too much going on, especially for the special attacks. On the third one's special attack it was actually not that bad and it was a lot of fun, I think that's because of how rhythmic it was.
Another thing, the targeting attacks that the second and third boss used were really frustrating to me, because they made no sense to me and made my little monkey brain angry because it couldn't find a proper pattern.
The keyboard layout is still kind of odd and makes it difficult to play. Just an option to switch to something like zxc instead of xcspace would be helpful. Having the jump placed on space made me neglect it for practically the whole game, and only using the roll actually went fine for me.
Tiny thing, the elevator is drawn in front of the sword fx while the ground is drawn behind which is a bit meh.
Another tiny thing, most attacks don't cancel when you defeat the boss so for the long attacks so they keep playing during the "finish" sequence.
The audio gets pretty crowded in the more dense parts, might be something to think about.
Now this is very much a taste thing, but I really like when things are pretty strict patternwise, so I would have liked the attacks to be a bit more strict in how they go. That would make it more predictible for me and would just make things a tad less random-feeling. Once again, that's a thing that is very subjective.
The laser attack for the third boss is really weird, it's super awkward that it is red, as red always has been a telegraph for something up to that point.
The third boss getting up so many times were really suprising to me but I liked it. The last one's final phase (I have no idea if that is the right spelling, I don't know if it's phase or faze or fase or whatever) actually made me let out a lil "oh fuck yeeeeee" before absolutely kicking my ass for ten minutes.
The second boss's style also got me this time, I just found him to be pretty funny. That was really nice after the previous asswhooping.
Oh sweet bloody floor, I think that's all. I hope so at least heh. It was nice to come back to this, great work with it!
Last thing, can I remix the last song?
Wow thanks for playing conqueror mode! 60 retries is not bad, a few of my friends were around there too.
There's definitely a lot going on for each attack. The attacks are entirely deterministic (no randomness, same attack patterns each time), but they're definitely really complicated. I'm glad you liked the rhythm of the final phase's super attack, that was definitely fun to script.
Ooh so the keyboard layout actually has a few options. You can actually use "zxc" and it works fine! If you scroll down on the main page, it should show all the controls and alternates. That said, I highly recommend using a controller for the game (it's really impressive you beat it with keyboard!).
The bug where long boss attacks continue after you win is definitely known, but I got kinda lazy towards the end and decided to say screw it and leave it in haha.
Thanks for the feedback on the audio, that's something I've kind of been wrestling with for a while. I'm not very good at balancing sound effects and music all together, so everything I make inevitably contains a mish mash of very crowded noise.
As for the attack patterns: I hear you on them feeling a little unpredictable. The attacks are all technically deterministic (the same attacks are used in the same order on each attempt) to make it a little easier to learn the patterns, but I can see how it would be confusing.
In general, I try to make the attacks have a clear pattern that's at least consistent between attempts, but I need to acknowledge that as the developer, things that are clear to me are totally new to my players! So I definitely hear you with respect to some of the patterns feeling random.
One thing I need to get better at in general is tuning difficulty. I think the original jam version (Standard Mode) was perfect in terms of difficulty, but Conqueror may be a little overkill.
Ah I didn't consider the laser being red and being confusing with the red warning indicators, sorry about that! I should have used cyan or orange for the lasers.
Thanks again for playing and for all the feedback!
You can absolutely remix the last song! Send me a link if you do!
NGL i think that the final boss switching away from the pattern, randomly blitzing the player and reacting to their movements helps with the pacing, feeling like a true high speed, high stakes duel, and while I will admit it was a little annoying how many times the boss got back up, my brain just went "OMG CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT MOMENT" every time they got back up
Amazing update for a great game! Keep it up!
Thank you!
I'd love to see this game be made into a full title 😍
hahaha aww thanks a ton! I'd love to make some kind of successor to this game someday, but I've also got a huge backlog of game ideas that I want to try out, so maybe someday! Thanks again for playing!
Heh Jignons descent would be pretty cool. Oh and by the by the do you have more games that are not out on itch?
Hahah I really wanted to come back to Jingnon's ascent and remake it/expand it, but ever since the devs from titan souls released Death's Door, I feel like if I came back to Jingnon, it'd just be a worse version of Death's Door.
As for other games: All of my finished games are on itch. I think I have 2 or 3 forever unfinished games that only a few of my friends have seen, but those games were mostly just prototypes.