Lao's Quest

[eMTe]

This is the fairly unforgiving game, even more unforgiving than Rick Dangerous and solutions to all levels are based on trial/error method, but it is in the same time more puzzle-oriented. It is almost unpassable for less patient people, so you need to be a bit of a psychopath from Pater's signature. But it's still good old, only a little renovated, Rick, so fans should at least have a little glimpse on it.

Developer: JRLS

http://www.curlysworldoffreeware.com/games/view/997
http://www.jrxs.net/laosquest/ (version 2.0)
http://www.victorygames.pl/Lao-s-Quest (guy's original site ceased to exist)

[eMTe]

Well, this is a huge surprise for me. My thirst thought was that this is another game which punishes player for the simpliest mistake, but eventually it occured to me that it pretends to be one of the most clever freeware puzzlers around. The obvious pros of LQ are unexplainable addictiveness (Im not usually addicted to punishment games) and beautiful retro-styled graphics. The obvious cons are the unbalanced difficulty of levels, some deliberate or maybe accidental ommissions (blocks can sometimes be launched by bombs and sometimes not), small bugs (character can get stuck between sprites under certain circumstances) and the relatively deep rip-off of various game elements (graphics, music, ideas etc.).

The charm of this game lies in an approach. If you choose the hard difficulty as the first choice - you'll soon find out that you're not punished for what you do, because you're not skilled enough (well, maybe at times) - you're obliged to learn what to do in order to finish the screen. It is a rare thing nowadays, reminding me of Sierra's quests and, speaking of recent achievements, Jayenkai's NeonPlat Adventures and La Mulana.

Prompting the player to repeat the screen tens of times and eventually making him to laugh "oh, it was that simple, it just required me to THINK" such a game is quite an achievment for a game that resembles platformer, but is in fact, a puzzler.

[JRLS]

awesome , thanks!

btw, this is not the final release of the games btw, final version is here:
http://www.scorpion.speedxs.nl/laosquest/
the blocks that can be blown up looks different from the other blocks (has some cracks in it), this is also in the readme file,
(maybe that's why people missed it, because in earlier versions, it's not in the readme),

[eMTe]

Well, I missed them, because I havent been watchful enough. It makes your game only more worth playing.

Welcome to the forums!

[JRLS]

thanks!
btw, if a level seems too hard or it seems to depend on luck, you might want to do it differently,
the difficulty level should be balanced.

i saw there where some collision bugs in there (i'm working on it),
and also i'm going to add savepoint in the mid of the room/game, so it's easier when played on "EASY".
so, there is a new final v2.0 coming

where did your player get stuck?
(i'm fixing bugs anyway)

[eMTe]

I dont remember exactly, but it had something to do with jumping from lift when it was near the ceiling or something. Anyway, it was one of those collision issues common for many platform games. Sorry, cant really say after all these rooms Ive finished.

Also, in room 313 you're supposed to set the bomb in the bottom right corner to get to living stone. Naturally, to finish the level you dont have to return through the narrow hole, but in the process of solving this level I tried. Once it was easy, but for the second time Ive found it impossible to jump into the hole. After 100 tries I had to restart the level (the trap wall to the right closes as you remember). What's funny it is easy to jump into it from the left screen.

So, to the point - it is extremely hard or impossible at all to jump into the holes that are the same height as Lao, at least in some cases.

[JRLS]

hmm, you got pretty far! - how far are you now?
someone else also emailed me some bugfixes, so i'm looking into them,
also, i will add this strange bug with the small hole in 313. Not sure what's causing it though...

[eMTe]

I'm at the beginning of Tika Temple.

[JRLS]

so, it looks like you like my game
i'm glad you see it's a puzzle game instead of just a platformer ....

Tika temple?? amazing! that's temple 5, so you have maximum 17 levels to go
I hope you finish it!

if you bump into strange things, just let me know!

[Pater Alf]

Is the savegame of the old versions (I downloaded the game from eMTe's original link) compatible with version 2.0? I played your game during the last weeks and I'm at the end of temple 3. Now I want to download the latest version, but I don't feel like starting from the beginning again.

[eMTe]

You can use passwords from readme file.

i'm glad you see it's a puzzle game instead of just a platformer ....

Of course it is a platformer, but the deeper you get the harder it becomes on the brainy side. I think for the person who tried only the first temple or only first few levels Lao's Quest might appear as another Rick Dangerous clone, only with increased difficulty, but it is wrong.

if you bump into strange things, just let me know!

Well, the strange thing (I dont consider bugs "strange" things, they're pretty normal in game development process) is that the bullets are called "bullits". Is it language error or homage paid to the famous movie?

[JRLS]

it depends what version you had before,
i changed the format of the savefile once, but that is months ago..

there is a file "laos_quest.challenges"
there are the medals saved (how fast you finished a level) and how many lives where found in each level, etc
should be compatible .
you can make a copy of the file, then start the game,
if it's not compatible (which i doubt), just let me know, and i'll fix your file.

also, there's other file "laos_quest.settings",
which contains password and game settings (= dificulty level, number of lives, item (e.g. eagle eye) and room).
if it isnt compatible, just let me know and i generate a password with the number of lives you had
(password is generated based on an algoritm)

hmm.. that "bullits" is a language error (english is not my first language), i gotta change that...
and it's supposed to be a brainy rick dangerous game, where i put a lot of effort in the level design. I'm glad it comes through...

[Pater Alf]

I'm stuck at room 403. The hint in the down right corner says "Goose Chase".
Does it mean that there is no solution at all and that I have to search for another way to get out of room 402?

[JRLS]

@Pater Alf:
Yes.

[JRLS]

i updated the game, to take (possible) frustration out of the game:
i added checkpoints where player can save and load within a level,
this way, you can start at your last checkpoint, so you dont have to play the whole level again when you die,

links:
http://www.scorpion.speedxs.nl/laosquest/
http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/games/164844-laos-quest

also, i fixed some bugs, (including the narrow hole bug in room 313)
all in all, the game is easier to play now, and less frustration!

Set the game to EASY and lives to INFINITY to enable the checkpoints,

greets,
JRLS

[eMTe]

i fixed some bugs, (including the narrow hole bug in room 313)

Oh, so was it really a bug?

[JRLS]

yes,
it's fixed in new version,
now, it's easy to get into hole from both sides
you can download new version from link i provided

[eMTe]

now, it's easy to get into hole from both sides

Oh my.

[JRLS]

did anyone finish this game yet??

[eMTe]

I gotta admit that my progress was halted by certain very hard level and I ceased playing. Since I refuse to use walkthroughs my comeback to Lao's Quest may take between months and decades, but it's one of these games (and one of these levels) which I promise myself to finish at some point of my earthly existence.