Jill in the Enchanted Palace of Infinite Choice - a new level pack for JOTJ

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GoldenKey
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Jill in the Enchanted Palace of Infinite Choice - a new level pack for JOTJ

Post by GoldenKey »

EDIT:
This game is now being released as a COMPLETE version! Click here to download the latest release of JillEPIC!

EDIT AGAIN: Had to reupload, as I'd accidentally made a puzzle in the Volcano level unsolvable :crazy

Apologies for the delay, to those of you who were waiting for the update. Thank you to everyone who contributed some advice and comments on the demo version; I've fixed a lot of the problems that were present, and added a bunch of new levels too! [including a couple more new endings]
Please let me know what you think of the new content! And don't forget to check out the README file included in the archive, as it has some commentary on what I've done for the game.

Some screenshots of the new content to attract your interest:
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...I don't want to leave any spoilers, but I've put some interesting ideas into this - I hope you enjoy it!
If you have any ideas, suggestions, or comments, feel free to ask! I'd love to hear your constructive comments.
Last edited by GoldenKey on Sat Oct 21, 2023 4:24, edited 2 times in total.
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Roobar
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Re: Jill in the Enchanted Palace of Infinite Choice - a new level pack for JOTJ

Post by Roobar »

Woah! That is an awesome level pack! I like it!

Spoilers warning
I'll recolor the text, just in case someone don't want to get spoiled.

So I have beaten the game (ending 1) thinking that I've missed some things (I was curios what was written there, but wasn't able to return back since you block the player in that place on the world map) and I was really surprised to see that this was only the 1st ending! I was like "oh wow! This pack has multiple endings?"

Then I started playing again and have found many gems I've missed in my first play. Really cool concept. Sometimes you really must be careful not to rush the levels and look for gems. Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, but something that gives bigger replay value.

So to my surprise, it turns out the world map is much bigger with a lot of levels.

Overall, cool and clever usage of tiles and level design. You've added fresh ideas. I was like "how did you do that" and "I see why it took you so long to create this pack".

Most of the levels are medium difficulty, though some are hard and I haven't beaten them yet. The 3rd ending is ridiculous. I think I know what I need to do (really clever idea), but I haven't managed to beat it. The last part with the hidden spikes is really hard to execute. Also, at one point I was thinking I'm missing a bird transformation somewhere, but there must be a way you could avoid gems, though I think it would be a long route.

Probably the only other issue I've had so far was with my dagger getting stuck at places where I wasn't been able to get it back again. But it wasn't that big of an issue. I like that on most levels you save progress.


So yeah. Again, an awesome pack!
NY00123
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Re: Jill in the Enchanted Palace of Infinite Choice - a new level pack for JOTJ

Post by NY00123 »

So, I completed this level pack about 1.5 weeks ago.

Similarly hiding details which cover spoilers by using a different font color:

It is surely a positive thing to see not just what might be the second released Jill level pack, but also a new concept for Jill; Namely, the way the player is encouraged to collect enough gems for gaining access to multiple endings.

There were also less-than-usual uses of tiles, the few around the "city park" sign in level 2 being a good example. I suppose this use of the tiles was on purpose, albeit I'm unsure when it comes to the trees appearing to the right of the sign.

Regarding Roobar's mention of the 3rd ending, it is possible to finish the level. You need to collect not more than a really small amount of gems (less than 5 from what I recall), and no transformation is needed.

In level 13, after morphing into a frog, it's possible to get stuck near the level entrance. I don't know if this was on purpose, but reporting just in case.

Finally, just by rechecking the first level, it turned out to have this room reminding me of the one level from the final ending.


To conclude, it's great to have not just another uncommon occurrence i.e., a Jill level pack, but also one which adds its own concept.
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Re: Jill in the Enchanted Palace of Infinite Choice - a new level pack for JOTJ

Post by JM2006 »

I'm sorry if I bump a month old thread

I am on Ending 3 and 4 and have been unable to get past them

On Ending 3, its impossible to avoid gems and on 4, I cant seem to open the pillars that block my exit

Could I be privately messaged a walkthrough please?
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GoldenKey
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Re: Jill in the Enchanted Palace of Infinite Choice - a new level pack for JOTJ

Post by GoldenKey »

Thanks for the comments, folks. It's good to know that other people are having fun with this game!
Sorry for not responding earlier - I got to the point where I'd been working on this game for waaay too long, and got fed up coming up with ideas. But I've had a break, I've taken your comments to heart, and here are my responses:
Roobar wrote: Sun May 23, 2021 17:39 Spoilers:
Most of the levels are medium difficulty, though some are hard and I haven't beaten them yet. The 3rd ending is ridiculous. I think I know what I need to do (really clever idea), but I haven't managed to beat it. The last part with the hidden spikes is really hard to execute. Also, at one point I was thinking I'm missing a bird transformation somewhere, but there must be a way you could avoid gems, though I think it would be a long route.
First of all, I MADE THIS SECTION WAY TOO HARD AND WILL UPDATE THIS IN THE NEXT VERSION :dead
You know that thing where a game developer gets too comfortable making the game and, as a result, underestimates how difficult a section can be? THIS IS THE THING, and it's why it pays to get feedback. So, thank you!
The premise is basically to avoid the gems instead of collecting them. The ideal route is marked by the blue gem tiles - follow those, and you'll be on the best route. By "best" I mean "possible", not easy... Regardless, I'll be reworking this puzzle by the next release.
NY00123 wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 22:17 There were also less-than-usual uses of tiles, the few around the "city park" sign in level 2 being a good example. I suppose this use of the tiles was on purpose, albeit I'm unsure when it comes to the trees appearing to the right of the sign.
In level 13, after morphing into a frog, it's possible to get stuck near the level entrance. I don't know if this was on purpose, but reporting just in case.
This is why it would be nice to have a tile editor; I wanted it to look like a thicket of trees, but those black edges make it look weird. Oh well, work with what you have. Also thanks for pointing out the whoopsie in my level design, you're referring to the rocky overhang with the boulders in the Ant Colony I assume - this will also be fixed.
JM2006 wrote: Fri Jul 02, 2021 11:08 Spoilers:
On Ending 3, its impossible to avoid gems and on 4, I cant seem to open the pillars that block my exit
I mentioned Ending 3 above, but as for Ending 4, there aren't any switches that will open those doors to the exit, so you'll have to try something a bit more drastic (one that seems unthinkable but fits within the framework of the game). I hope that helps. If not, throw me a message and I'll tell you what you need to do.

...Thanks for your comments. I've made a few more levels than what you see here, and I'll be adding those to the game for the next version... which I'll aim to put out by the end of September. I hope you're all keeping safe and healthy!
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GoldenKey
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Re: Jill in the Enchanted Palace of Infinite Choice - a new level pack for JOTJ

Post by GoldenKey »

Image

Heads up!
Just thought I'd let you all know that I've released a completed version of JillEPIC - so I've edited the link in the first post.

Let me know what you think!

- Goldenkey
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Re: Jill in the Enchanted Palace of Infinite Choice - a new level pack for JOTJ

Post by entropicdecay »

I don't think I realised it wasn't completed before... I'll have to give it a replay. Congrats on finishing it!
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Re: Jill in the Enchanted Palace of Infinite Choice - a new level pack for JOTJ

Post by Violet CLM »

I played through some of the levels in this last night. It's cool how much you're leaning into the things that are specific to Jill, like carrying gems into the map, and the specific jump heights for platforming puzzles, and of course the signs everywhere. Using various level tiles to portray locales they were never meant to portray is very authentic DOS platformer. I think there could be more combat, though--often the enemies seemed too low to hit, like they were just there to dodge, which is fine here and there, but I want to be able to beat some things.

For all that the multiple endings, gem collecting stuff seems to be the main point of the episode, it's still a little unclear ingame. Some doors have gem locks in front of them in the hub world, and it's hard to guess whether going in them will be good or bad for my gem total. I also have no idea how many gems I'm supposed to be trying to collect, either in individual levels or total, so there's no way for me to know if I've already messed up and need to restart the game. Maybe if the goal numbers could be explicitly written somewhere? Or the gem doors to get to the ending/s were next to the start of the hub world, so they're a known target?
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