Alchemist's Mountain

[crisiworks]

Alchemist's Mountain is a hi-bit pixel art game of devious dungeons. It is an adventure of achieving transmutation: turning sorrow into joy, and bringing meaning into the meaningless.

DEMO
You can play the demo on Steam or on Itch.io. (there is a small gift (limited in number) for those who complete the game and give me feedback through Discord)

DEVELOPMENT
Alchemist's Mountain was born in Metroidvania Jam 2 on Itch.io in 2018. It won first place there spurring me to go with it as a fully fledged game.
Over time (and like a hundred iterations) it has drifted away from it's metroidvania origins and properly taken on a format most similar to old school Legend of Zelda games, with an overworld, and dungeons to discover, explore, and unravel, containing items that expand the player's abilities. My personal challenge is to design dungeons which can rival if not beat those of Zelda (high aspirations, I know).

From a narrative perspective, Alchemist's Mountain tells a story to shed some light in a world that needs hope. So with a crew of awkward and lovable characters, I hope it achieves that.

UPDATES AND COMMUNITY
I primarily give updates on the Discord every Friday. Do join us there if you're interested. But will most certainly be back to update this page as development continues.

 

[CMAllen]

Looks fabulous. Some of the animations and movement are a little on the slow side, but that's just how it felt to me.

 

[Japster]

Agreed! - Looks great! - is the slight sluggishness down to the video speed (ie. 30 FPS), or is your game perhaps running at that because it's pushing things, as opposed to room_speed being set at 60 FPS?

 

[crisiworks]

Looks fabulous. Some of the animations and movement are a little on the slow side, but that's just how it felt to me.

Thanks! Yeah I'm unsure if its the video quality or just the number of frames/animation. Definitely after some feedback I'm considering removing the walk and just have the character running

 

[crisiworks]

Thank you very much. Pretty sure the game speed is set at 60 fps. Unsure if the video speed is 30 fps. Probably since I'm using windows native screen recording. So far people only comment on the sluggishness when watching videos of the game. But no one playing the game has commented on it (other than they preferred if she just ran automatically instead of having to hold down the run button).

 

[Japster]

Thank you very much. Pretty sure the game speed is set at 60 fps. Unsure if the video speed is 30 fps. Probably since I'm using windows native screen recording. So far people only comment on the sluggishness when watching videos of the game. But no one playing the game has commented on it (other than they preferred if she just ran automatically instead of having to hold down the run button).

I tell you one thing - my game 'TetraLogical' ran at 30 FPS even though I'd set it at 60 FPS using "room_speed = 60".

Drove me mad!!!

Then I realised I was using a 2K (2560x1440) monitor res to test in. The HDMI cable and port I had used, had defaulted the update to 30 FPS at that res.... I then used Display Port, and that worked flawlessly at 60FPS again... Even the videos I originally took only captured at 30 FPS speed as a result of using the HDMI option.

May be worth a try, as that red herring made my game animate and move sluggishly!

Of course, if it's an internal screen, then scratch that advice...

 

[crisiworks]

Then I realised I was using a 2K (2560x1440) monitor res to test in. The HDMI cable and port I had used, had defaulted the update to 30 FPS at that res.... I then used Display Port, and that worked flawlessly at 60FPS again... Even the videos I originally took only captured at 30 FPS speed as a result of using the HDMI option.

Sorry could you tell me what you mean by you used Display Port?

 

[Japster]

Sorry could you tell me what you mean by you used Display Port?

No worries - it's just a different type of connection / signal cable if your monitor has the correct port on it (and PC, otherwise you'd need an adaptor/adaptor cable) - failing that, I think HDMI 2.1 supports 60 FPS 2k/4k res, or drop the resolution to HD maybe? (IF you're currently on a higher resolution... )...

Again, could be a red herring for you, and I don't mean to add confusion, but this was absolutely the cause for my 30 FPS issue....

 

[Japster]

If it's not simply a case of using a HDMI 2.0+ compatible port on an external TV/Monitor, I found these tips on a forum, which might help if it's an external display, or NVidia setting issue:-


noob 19 Jan, 2020 @ 6:51am


For the longest time I was stuck at 30 HZ for 1440p on my 4k TV. But I could get 60 hz on a 4k resolution [in my NVIDIA control panel settings] I have FINALLY fixed it! Here is the steps I took


1 'Game Low Latency' Input lag settings, low for gaming [TV Menu Settings]
2 Used HDMI 1 port on TV which has more functionality than the other HDMI ports [on my TV]
3 'Active full array' to High [TV Menu Settings]
4 'Computer' picture display option [TV Menu Settings]
5 Got an HDMI 2.0 cord, no longer than about 10 feet [if too long they lose functionality]

Before, I could not get more than 44 HZ on a 1440 resolution, even with forcing NVIDIA to produce a custom resolution. BUT! After doing the above steps and watching a tech video I simply went back into NVIDIA control panel, and the option for 1440p at 60 hz magically appeared and I am using that resolution now on my 4k TV. It took some thinking and scouring the online TV manual to understand what settings there are and what my options were.

#21

xSOSxHawkens 19 Jan, 2020 @ 7:51am


As a fellow 4K TV gamer, I suggest the following:

Use 2160/60 in windows and make sure it is what is active.

Use Borderless windowed in games, so it respects windows desktop rez/refresh

Run borderless @ full native and/or 2160p borderless.