Разработчик: TPM.CO SOFT WORKS
Описание
GDC2018, INDEPENDENT GAMES FESTIVAL, NUOVO AWARD category Finalist !
TAROTICA VOO DOO was selected as a finalist of the NUOVO AWARD category for the 2018 INDEPENDENT GAMES FESTIVAL(at GDC2018). Of ~600 games entered, only 8 finalists were selected by the ~300 judges! (more info - announce site)
About the Game
(NEW!) Trading card and badges are released! check the news.
In development since 1993, with 5 years of development and 4 years of adjustment, TAROTICA VOO DOO is an uncategorized Japanese adventure game with fully hand-drawn animation (with a mouse!). With its simple controls and interface, the game overturns the modern logic for how a video game can play.
Overview:
・ Explore a haunted mansion while solving puzzles and fighting monsters to cook dinner and save the family before an airplane crashes into the mansion!
・ Engage in combat against a variety of weird foes. Learn the enemies' timing and attack patterns in order to win.
・ There are no items or leveling up. Combat is entirely skill-based, and you can quickly retry if you fail.
How to play:
・ Use the cursor to explore a map of the mansion for enemies, clues, and other interactive objects. Your current room is highlighted in red and you can use doors to move to other locations.
・ Selected objects appear in the upper-right corner where you can interact with and operate them up-close.
・ Manually operate your sword and shield to fight against monsters in the original and intuitive combat system.
・ As you solve puzzles and defeat enemies, you will become able to interact with new objects and gradually reveal new areas of the mansion to explore.
The creator of this game, Ikushi Togo, has been making games for the MSX since the 1980s, and he never stopped. He is responsible for all music composition, programming, and hand-drawn artwork for the game. Retro to a fault, he does things by hand and never takes the automated route. Japan was a tech mecca in the 1980s, and was also the innovation hub of gaming as we know it. Still actively using the distinguished technology of the era, Togo-san keeps that old-school spark alive with TAROTICA VOO DOO among his many other games.
“CHRONICLES OF TAROTICA VOO DOO” is included as a free pdf with the game, and it is far more than a simple manual. This lengthy document, translated from its original hand-written Japanese booklet and once again hand-written in English by the creator, details both the story behind the making of TAROTICA VOO DOO as well as a full technical walkthrough of the game’s programming.
・ Note: A second edition of this document is planned for release (for free) in 2018, detailing the problems leading up to the final version of the game, and the processes and methods by which they were solved.
HELL MODE is a finely-tuned ultra-hard mode designed as a special challenge for players who have completed TAROTICA VOO DOO. And it is included as a free DLC with the game! Do you dare to challenge HELL MODE without saving or loading?
All the tools used to create this game are also included for free, including the game’s source code in BASIC, as well as a licensed version of the official MSX Emulator. This is essentially a virtual MSX computer inside your computer.
With these tools and the full capabilities of the MSX, you will have unlimited power to modify and edit the game, or even create new games from the ground up.
The MSX is a super old-school home computer which reached peak popularity in the 1980s. It was designed to be a universal platform with compatibility across manufacturers. As the predecessor to the far more popular Nintendo Entertainment System, the MSX was essentially a game system with the full power of a personal computer.
The creator of this game pushed the limits for what was possible on the MSX. With data compression, dynamic data loading, and many other modern techniques in play, this is likely the most technologically advanced MSX game in existence. All the tools and systems were created from scratch, for the sole purpose of realizing his vision for the game.
TAROTICA VOO DOO runs on the official MSX Emulator, so even though the game was programmed in BASIC and machine language, it will still run on your Windows PC.
The included MSX Emulator contains save-state functionality and multiple speed settings. Additionally, it is possible to pause execution and run arbitrary BASIC code at any time.
・ MEDIA AWARD Nominee by 'Weekly Famitsu' Magazine - Tokyo Game Show 2014
・ 'NUOVO AWARD' Award Finalist - 2018 INDEPENDENT GAMES FESTIVAL
・ 'Excellence In Experimental' Award Finalist - Busan Indie Connect 2016
・ MEDIA AWARD Nominee by 'Weekly Famitsu' Magazine - Tokyo Game Show 2014
・ Tokyo Game Show 2018 Indie Area
・ BitSummit 6th, 2018 (Kyoto)
・ IGF Pavilion (GDC 2018, San Francisco)
・ WePlayExpo 2017(Shanghi)
・ GamesCom 2017
・ Tokyo Indie Fest 2017
・ Taipei Game Show 2017
・ Global Game Exhibition G-STAR 2016 / BIC showcase (Busan)
・ Busan Indie Connect 2016 (Busan)
・ BitSummit 4th (2016) (Kyoto)
・ Taipei Game Show 2016 Indie Festa / Indie House
・ Tokyo Game Show 2015 Indie Area
・ BitSummit 2015 (Kyoto)
・ Tokyo Game Show 2014 Indie Area
・ BitSummit 2014 (Kyoto)
・ Busan Indie Connect Summit 2017 (As Speaker)
Поддерживаемые языки: english, japanese, korean, traditional chinese, simplified chinese
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Windows XP, 7, Vista, 10
- Processor: Intel
- Memory: 10 MB RAM
- Graphics: N/A
- Storage: 100 MB available space
- Sound Card: N/A
Отзывы пользователей
A game that has been in the making longer than I've been alive, that it even exist at all with all its charm is a blessing.
Even if most people wont see the appeal its still something I feel most should experience
Un juego muy mono. Corto, interesante, divertido, e ingenioso. En mi opinion merece bastante la pena.
Very underrated game that started development in 1993 and runs in an MSX emulator. The whole game is pretty surreal as you play as a little dude with a sword and shield that has to explore a house to evacuate a family from an impending plane crashing into them. You explore in adventure game fashion and battle various enemies and objects in a simple block/attack minigame (the final boss was actually pretty hard tbh). The graphics are perfect and really add to the atmosphere. Highly recommended (and there's a full game playthrough on youtube in case you get stuck, I did in the kitchen area)
The story behind the development of this game is rather cute, much of which is outlined in the wonderful design document it comes packaged with. Development started in 1993 for the MSX as a hobbyist undertaking and reached a presentable state around 1997, where it was intended to be shown off at Comiket. Sadly, Ikushi Togo's disk drive crashed, causing a dramatic loss of the machine language source code and other data. After a lull of many years where Tarotica Voo Doo would lay dormant, an old demo rom was eventually showcased at Comiket in 2014 and received such tremendous support and praise, the developer realised he had to see the game through. Rather than taking the comparatively easy route and developing the game with more modern tools, they instead stuck to their guns and rewrote the game completely from scratch, once again for the MSX.
A self-imposed challenge that paid dividends - Tarotica Voo Doo operates under its hardware restrictions with such clear clarity of intent, filled with design quirks rare and unseen in games old and new. Where the visual style is indeed crude; being the product of mouse-drawn pixel art, it complements the uniquely tactile control scheme to the point where it feels like flicking through charming flipbook animations - watching the mansion map fill out in the same vein as a growing doodle on a bored schoolkid’s workbook margin. The developer has expressed that they find games less interesting when actions are automated, and Tarotica Voo Doo’s puzzling and combat incorporates an utterly fascinating control scheme that demands deliberate movement and interaction. It’s no surprise to me that the developer has their eyes on getting a project to the Playmate system.
I wanted to be a little vague, this is a 2-hour game that deserves to be played and appreciated. I swear to god I think this mansion has left an imprint on me.
Absolutely delightful
TAROTICA VOO DOO is a 2 hour adventure game, but it's also a magic trick. A delightful exercise in pulling a completely unique experience out of 1980s hardware.
The appeal comes not only from experiencing the game first hand, but from admiring the craft required to make it, a mode of enjoyment that is made more accessible by the accompanying pdf, which outlines the principles behind the games code and design.
Some might be put off by the $10 price, but since this is a niche product that required a lot of specialist knowledge to make, I think that the price is completely justified.
If you're passionate about game design or game/programming history, then there is a lot here for you.
(note, my time playing this game is actually 2 hours, I accidentally left it running)
If you don't like this game there's a special seat for you on the shortbus
What a quirky little game. The aesthetic is very neat, and some of the puzzles are pretty clever. Combat gets crazy-hard by the end, but it's also forgiving in that you can just keep trying until you get the timing down.
It stands out among all the retro games.
Unique but exactly what i enjoy to play (Puzzle+RPG). It is hard yet enjoyable.
This game deserves more attention.
頑張って
TAROTICA VOO DOO feels like a blast from the past. Not just because it comes with an MSX emulator that the game runs on, but it also feels like it came from another era of game design. However, that is only partly true.
If you purchase this game, I recommend also downloading the "Chronicles of TAROTICA VOO DOO", an e-book detailing the development of the game. In it you will find extensive details on the development of the game (in English and Japanese), including information on how it was programmed from the ground up. You will also learn that back in 1998 when the game begun development, it was unique compared to other games at the time, and received a mixed response. It was only within the last 5 years, when the developer started showing the game again, did he receive a positive response. Despite feeling like a game from the past, it only continued development when tastes began to change in its favour. I think that's interesting. You can find all this information and more in the Chronicles DLC.
What about the game? While it is definitely a technical achievement, that doesn't tell you much about how it plays. There are essentially five buttons that you will be using: The arrow keys, and the spacebar. You will either be moving a cursor around the map and selecting things with the spacebar, or fighting rhythm-based battles using the up and down keys. The game encourages exploration, but it is not opaque enough to not know what happens next. There are posters around the map that will generally give you a good idea of what direction you should be going in. All in all, I finished the game in a little under two hours. That may not seem like a lot, but I do not believe my money was wasted, hence the reason I am writing this lengthy review.
Besides Chronicles and the game, modding the game is possible (with instructions given in Chronicles). I do not necessarily know the extent of what is possible, but if that is what you are interested in, if you would like to be able to poke around in the game's code or if you would like to make an entirely new game from scratch within the system, there are options available to you in the game.
In conclusion, I'm really into this game! I'm looking forward to the release of the free Hell Mode DLC, which may include an updated version of the Chronicles DLC. If any of the above sounds interesting to you or if you think the graphics look neat/cute, I can definitely recommend this game.
(8-bit FMV cutscene plays, what the hell)
>OPEN DOOR
no u
>WAIT WHAT
I only understood you as far as wanting to wait.
>WHAT
That's not a verb I recognise.
If you like the look of this game you should buy it. Just do it. It took me 2 hrs (which is a good length, didn't overstay it's welcome) and now I can't stop thinking about it so now I'm writing this review for why this might be one of my favorite games in recent memory.
You're some person with a sword and shield who, by some coincidence, arrives just in time to a haunted mansion that a plane is going to crash into, occupied by a family, completely oblivious to the danger they're in, that refuses to leave for own safety until you cook dinner for them. That's your mission and basically the entire story of Tarotica Voo Doo. It's completely nonsensical and perfectly complements the experience of playing the game itself, bizarre but engaging.
It's a point and click basically? Except it's more like an arrow and spacebar, since space and the arrow keys are all you need to play. Clicking on hotspots of the map, based on the room you're in, usually brings you to a minigame where you press up and down to go through frames of animation, for doing things like opening doors or lighting a torch. Some people will think opening door after door this way is annoying, I think it necessary to make the world feel more tactile, more like I'm walking through rooms than just clicking on the map.
Combat is similar to these minigames, controlled with up to go for a stab and down to return to your shield, all based on the rhythm of the enemy's attack animation. Dying is no big deal, it just means restarting the fight, and you'll likely die alot while you try to figure out the timing of the battle. Its not that deep, like the rest of the game's systems, but it's cool to feel out when you can go for that greedy third hit, maybe even a fourth, and oh no you ate shit before you could return to your block. Also there is one fight in the game that's actually impossible to tell you to try something else, youll know when.
The worst thing I'll say about TVD is that it, true to old school adventure games, likely has at least one moment where youll get stuck, especially if you're not used to how these games work. The worst offender is when you activate something only to have something change in a completely different room. That being said, the game remedies this a little by having a limited number of things to click on, keeping it from being a pixel hunt. And most of the time there IS a strange logic to the puzzles; the one time I got really stumped, near the end, had a solution that made sense in a way that I couldn't get mad. I went into it expecting way worse from a game that started development in the 90s.
But anyways the real reason I love Tarotica Voo Doo is for its immersive quality that I don't know if I can describe properly. I felt more like an adventurer in a mysterious dungeon in this than in games that actually have you as an adventurer in a dungeon. Navigating the mansion feels so technical and imperfect, like piloting a rover on Mars, yet moments of it are seen it up close through simple but incredibly charming animations, some of which you push and pull like a flip book. It feels both like it's perfect for the MSX system but also too nuanced to be anything like the games the system is known for. This is kinda gushy but that's how I felt just playing the game. It's old school but in a way actual old school video games never were. Far from perfect, but if it tried to be perfect I'd like it less. Tarotica, with all its simplicity and messiness and jagged edges, has value just as it is.
Cute, but short.
Disclaimer, this is a point-and-click adventure game built on MSX-era gameplay and the graphics are completely hand drawn. If neither of these are appealing, this may not be the game for you. The fun is in figuring out what needs to be done and the results of your actions.
The initial premise is pretty goofy and points you at the overall tone of the game, an airplane is about to crash into a mansion and your job is to convince its occupants to evacuate before impact. Although you'll fight dogs and monsters along the way, the focus of the game is solving puzzles while interacting with the household.
The interface is very simple, just the keyboard arrow keys to move a cursor and spacebar to select. Interacting with most objects involves pressing up and down to toggle between ON and OFF states. There is a map in the center and a cinematic window on the top right, but there is no traditional menu outside of this. While this can be criticized as being lacking in gameplay features, it is the result of highly focusing on an experience that harkens back to older games. There is a primary map for navigation in the center and a few windows on the side for animations, only the necessities. As a result of this, the game doesn't have a built-in save function and it is necessary to use the emulator's save states. However, the game is only a little over 1 hour in length, so you may not even need to save.
I really enjoyed the animations and how they portrayed the lives of the mansion's inhabitants in contrast to you breaking into their home. Since I didn't grow up playing any MSX games, it is interesting to play something that is clearly from a different generation. I haven't looked at it, but the game also includes a document that details development of the game and technical specifications. Development that focuses on electric circuits rather than dedicated video game engines brings us back to the dawn of programing.
All in all, I recommend this title due to how unique it is compared to whats currently available and my preference in aesthetics, but know that one playthrough will only take about 1 hour. You'll only get a bit of enjoyment from this title if you do not have any interest video game development from a generation where games only had 4 colors, 1 sound effect and maybe 2 soundtracks.
Short (took me about 2 hours), strange and quite charming. The wobbly animations are lovely :)
Worth a try if the screenshots look appealing to you.
Some obscure indie games are beautiful gems waiting to be discovered, and some are just too rough. TAROTICA VOO DOO has been developed since 1993 and, unfortunately, it feels woefully underbaked and dated. Everything from the black bars to the unskippable intro just make me cringe. The gameplay is clunky and boring (and glitchy). With three decades of developement - you need to be mindful of the times and make sure to update things accordingly.
Really, it's the price that is the deal-breaker. What about this title merits ten bucks?
For those that put more time into this - please let me know if I am off-base, and I would gladly give this another try, but for now it's just not going to happen for me. Reading over the manual should be enough to set off warning signals for anybody. The last paragraph tells you to play the game first. Why wouldn't you state this first? You put the spoiler warning *before* the spoilers.
This is a hard pass for me.
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Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | TPM.CO SOFT WORKS |
| Платформы | Windows |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 01.02.2025 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 93% положительных (15) |