Demon Castle
Demon Castle is a Castlevania-style game for PICO-8
Story
An evil sorcerer is trying to summon an ancient demon into the world. You are the only one who can travel to the sorcerer’s castle and prevent him from completing the summoning. Best of luck.
Controls
At the title screen, use the arrow keys to select your difficulty, then press the Z or X key to start the game. Use the arrow keys to move, and press up or down to start climbing stairs. Use the Z key to jump and the X key to attack with your whip.
If you prefer, you can use the C and X keys instead of Z and X.
Items
Heart Crystal
When you defeat a level boss, it will leave this behind. Collecting it will increase your maximum health, and end the level.
Chicken
This secret snack can be found hidden in secret walls throughout the game. If you’re lucky enough to find some, your health will be fully restored.
Crypt Key
This old key has been lost for centuries. Where could it be now, and what could it unlock?
Stone of Sealing
If you are unable to stop the sorcerer, these stones will be your best chance to reverse the summoning. You should try to find as many as you can.
About Hard Difficulty
At the title screen, you are given the option to pick either Normal or Hard difficulty. When playing on Hard, you will start the game with less life than on Normal. You will also encounter more enemies in more difficult locations. Finally, when playing on Hard, you will not be given checkpoints throughout a level, so you will need to start the level from the beginning if you lose all your life.
Tips and Advice
- Sometimes, after you beat a level, you will be given a choice of which way to go next. There are multiple paths through the game, and you can see the path you’ve taken so far on the map.
- There is no “correct” path through the game, and the game can be fully completed using any path on either difficulty.
- Be observant. Investigate suspicious-looking areas for hidden items, and more.
About the Code
Due to the size of this game, it was necessary to reduce the size of the code before the game could be released. I used the picotool library to reduce the size of the code, at the cost of readability. However, the original code, before being reduced, can be found on GitHub, here.
This game is also hosted on Lexaloffle BBS here.
Comments
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Got the deathless run, good game
I am very disappointed there is nothing here, this seems like the perfect spot for a secret
I'm glad I was able to clear it on my first try!
crypt key unlock this door, and can help you acquire the third orb
I really like the originals and this version is just as great, although a little short, but this is PICO-8 after all!
this game is bad' until i read the controls (i was like why when i press spacebar key its not jumping) i mean after its so nice game and their are stares i was try so hard to jump and was stuck for a while :-) nice game
Really awesome work. It surprisingly gave me flashbacks!
what programming language does this game use? can someone tell me?
The game is made in PICO-8. It uses a slightly modified version of Lua.
Demon Castle included at 1:04:01. I got the key, but no idea what it was for.
Can you make a downloadable version please?
I beat hard mode!
deaths:3
time:7.46
B)
So the game is easy to pick, not that long, and full the whole way. I adore that. Also the different levels are different enough to feel like you're really exploring a new place when doing multiple gameplays.
My only problem is that the game is really easy, even in hard mode. But that isn't much of a problem. I would have appreciated if the key served more use than "just another way to win" because I've been to the end 4 times, and I was pretty let down by finding that this item I've kept on me through all of the 3 precedent playthrought was just an equivalent of the orbs for one of the road.
Outside of that, excellent, just plain fun, I'll recommend it to some people.
this is a great game, would you happen to have a downloadable version?
where in the world can I use the crypt key?
In the first "the path splits here" if you go down and keep going from there there is a door when you get to the mid level to the castle screen where you can go to a locked door.
Excellent game! I liked so much to play this!
Well done! I loved this. :)
This game was super fun to play! The controls are fluid, the art is great, and the atmosphere is awesome! My only complaint is that I could not find where the crypt key is supposed to go no matter how hard I looked, but I guess it's supposed to be hidden
I loved the game !
Great vania little gem!
Great game! It has nice artwork and pleasant movement, I loved it!
I love this game! Bosses are kind of a pushover on normal tho.
Awesome game, I hope it's coming more like this :3
Absolutely loved the art and music. Great game man. Especially those enemy designs 👍
Made a video
Awesome!
Demon Castle takes everything I have trouble with in Castlevania and makes it fun and speedy. I dig it. It's also cool seeing a PICO-8 game with multiple paths rather than strictly point A to point B travel.
Good job, dev. Would whip again.This was freaking great!! I enjoyed it to the end.
Really cool!
Short and Sweet, i loved it!.
This was amazing! I really enjoyed playing this game and the music was absolute fire. This was such a fun game to play and it really took me back, keep up the good work :D
I don't know if you've heard of Game Development World Championship before (gdwc2019) but it's a competition for indie game developers where they can submit their games and it's free! It's great if you want some more visibility for the game and it only takes a couple of minutes to join :)
Speedrun in 3:39 (Normal Mode).
Someone beat this.
HAHA, I got 3:19 by the up path
Yesssss managed to beat it in <4 minutes!
Nice.
Incredibly simple, took roughly 5 minutes to finish. Fun while it lasted but still felt a little too easy. Perhaps as if the whip was too powerful. Absolutely enjoyable, though!
Added note: This was my first exposure to a PICO-8 game, so I apologize for my unfamiliarity.