Hey, basically reposting an update from /v/ last night.

The starting screen. On a big grid, it would be at R3.
This place probably looks at least a little familiar. The caves are to the right, after going through the caves to the plains I racked up a couple life ups. I feel good.


In this game, you can walk.
By the way, notice how these are all full resolution screen shots for once. I decided to make it square and went with 512x512 instead of 512x480. Right now, there are just life ups laying around and collecting one increases your life by one heart, which has four hits, like in Zelda games.


If you weren't expecting it, I guess it can surprise you.
And, like in Zelda games, there are places on the global map that are totally separate, have their own maps, bosses, treasures, etc. Because I figured out that this adds a lot of area to the game, I'm thinking about totally doing away with the timer. Either that, or only run it while you're outside in the mountains, plains, or canyon.


Just tap up to go in.

To exit, just head out the hall to the left.
Anyway, unlike most games and more similar to La Mulana, the map of each dungeon isn't always located in the dungeon itself. If there's a puzzle or maze you can't figure out, chances are you missed something. Sometimes, however, the map is close by. The map for this first dungeon (I say first because it's closest to the start, you can tackle them in any order, or even skip them if you're going for the quick end) was located in the building right outside. Let's take a look at it.


It's a bunch of scribbles on a floor plan.
Pressing Space brings up the menu and map, but I might change that to Enter. At first, you probably won't get it completely, which is kind of the point. You can also see the position of the dungeon in relation to its area in the main map. That's the entire map for the western facility in the upper right, the rest is an overhead view of the dungeon's layout. Usually in a dungeon you'll have to get your bearings, so let me just give you a quick run through of how to do that in case you can't imagine.


Just find a landmark.
There was a two floor building just outside the entrance, and I'm in a hall with three doors and two hallway junctions, so I'm in that north/south corridor with three doors. It's just that easy. Next, we should probably check out the rest of the map's markers, starting with the nearest circle.



There's claw marks on the walls, and the floor is in pretty poor condition. There's something else down this hall, so let's look for consistency with the circles.

More claw marks, and that exclamation mark was probably for the poison hazard. Broken pipes spew out poisonous clouds that drain your life. The circles probably mean something was sighted at a particular place. I did mention each dungeon has a boss, right?

Of course, you don't have to get your bearings at any point, or piece things together. If you prefer, you could stumble around blindly without using a single map.