String Tyrant

The game has no audio when launched through the itch.io client. I notice that manually launching the same executable (StringTyrantSDL.exe) first opens a command-line window which does not appear when using the itch launcher; not sure if that’s related, or how those differing behaviors are even possible.

I'm trying to figure out what tfs and endings there are, I know of the rubber Mary tf but don't know to get it. Also seems like the v2 artpack is not showing in the itch downloads. The gold dolls are hard to deal with even on easy.

So I bought the game on steam just today, and well I noticed something:

The Art Pack is missing at least a couple pieces of art.

Admittedly, I'll need to play more of the game to know for sure how much, but at the very least the Claygirl art is missing

The Itch App will preferentially run from the ZBlockaudio.bat. I'm not sure what that batch file is for, but for me, it means that it will load without sound. Renaming it to remove or change the extension or deleting it outright will make it ask for an exe to run and fix things. I could possibly also just remove the -blockaudio option from the batch file contents.

My reaction, just wow! I really loved the concept and the style of the game. After finishing the game I just wanted to play again and to explore more. Dolls, claygirls, card-combat, and much more. |
Happy to see a part 2. Awesome work!

Pros and cons are down below) Check out the first minutes of the game here if you want to (but don't forget to like and sub ;))

1. Game mechanics are very interesting. At first it was a bit confusing but after the tutorial, I started enjoying them a lot. I think it's original and creative. I loved both exploration mechanics and fighting. Great job!

2. The art syle is unique and lovable. Creates a very cool ambiance!

3. The game has a weird appeal to it. And by weird I mean that I can't even figure out what exactly draws me, but I just want to play more. It's just so much fun. I mean, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking when I'll be able to play more. It's very cool!

4. Also, liked the story and the amount of endings (haven't reached any of them yet, though). I like that there are missable notes that can reveal more about the story or characters. 

Disadvantages:

1. It would be a nice touch if the items the player equips would affect the appearance of Marie. I think that would be neat, though I can imagine how much time it would take adding these details.

2. For me personally, hiding mechanics were the hardest to understand. I spend a lot of time in the tutorial trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Turned out that I have to be mindful of slashes and type "close door n\". That made me thinking that the game would benefit a lot if the tutorial would have examples of the stuff you can write (like not in the brackets like they are now but in a text so even dumb-dumbs like me would figure it out). Something like that: "you can also hide in the game. In order to do that close the door behind you. For example, the command "close the door s\" would close a particular door on your south but the rest would stay open, be mindful of that." I know that this suggestion might seem funny but I really had a hard time and more examples would be very helpful. You can even add them in a different part of the tutorial just for people like me.

3. Also a list of verbs that a player can use would be really helpful at the start. Maybe like in the different window on the right when one can see equipment. Or maybe it was there then it would be nice to point it out in the tutorial that a player has it because in that case I missed it. It would be helpful a lot because at some point I forgot about going "up" and "down" the stairs ans tried to "ascend" and "descend".

Overall:

The game is a bit confusing so the tutorial is obligatory. But after that, it's just so much fun to play! I definitely recommend it and I'll definitely play more. I rate it 5/5. It's interesting and original and weirdly addictive. Great job, devs!

Hope my feedback was useful!

Just played through this and really enjoyed it.  It's too bad I hadn't heard of it before the bundle, because it's definitely my jam.  I might end up buying it on Steam just to give you folks a little extra support.

Maybe it'd be too much trouble, but a gallery of the different sprites and artworks you've seen would be really nice.

could someone do a walkthrough of this ? the games great but i have the puzzle solving skills and patience of a two year old.

Oh, this is some wonderful stuff.  Interesting combat system (though I was a little unclear on just what Water/Stone were actually doing and how they were helping me, although I was on the Turn Mode rather than Active Mode; maybe that would make a difference), and some lovely artwork for the whole thing.

That said, I will say that a couple of things disappointed me.  First: While I love all of the looks that were there, I was a little disappointed that only the Goth and Dancer ones were available as ways for one to end as a doll.  I totally get why Dancer is where it is; there would be a lot of extra artwork needed otherwise.  However, I was more than a little surprised that only Goth ever happened with the earlier situations.  Given that the ending screens for the doll endings don't make it clear just which doll is Mary, I might have expected it to be more random.  Or maybe I just really wanted to run around as Princess Mary for a bit.

Second, and this is perhaps more of a nitpick, but:  If you lose in a battle against one of the Resin Dolls, while the transformation you undergo into a doll is different, along with the character artwork being an alternate hue, everything after you regain control of Mary is simply a replay of the normal Doll ending path.  It seemed surprising to me that Resin Mary would remember having undergone the same plastification process that the normal dolls do, along with subjecting her sisters to the syringe rather than the same process she underwent.  Similarly, I might have expected different ending text (and perhaps a palette swap on the ending screen) given that the Resin Dolls are explicitly described as being a sort of warrior caste within the Manor, as opposed to the lesser dolls running around alongside them.

Also, though maybe this is just me not quite understanding what's going on, is there somewhere to view all the endings, or do I need to have a big pile of save files for that?

One last thing:  I wouldn't mind it if there was an Endless Mode of sorts that unlocked upon reaching endings 5, 6, or 10.  Could be fun to have something akin to the way that House of Pandemonium plays in Corruption Mode, where you can train up your own plastic army.  Maybe get to know Eileen a little better at the same time... :)

This is quite an amazing game. I love the fact that you continue playing as the enemy once you get defeated as well.

(Wow I made this comment way to big; I just had a lot to say about the game because I care and love it; it is honestly a really good game)

The story is fairly interesting but leaves some room to be improved. I'll elaborate a bit:

The statue form of yourself is very much a favorite it seems. This version of yourself has a lot of text that was really fun. Of course it can be the same droning text over and over but I do wish some of the other forms Mary had additional text when carrying the supporting cast members. 

Maybe also differing speech and thought text depending on what type of doll you get transformed into (i.e. the punk doll probably shouldn't speak or think like the rest of the dolls since they're apparently rebellious but loyal to the creator, whereas the princess doll should be fairly royal in their speech patterns) but those are really just minor nitpicks.

I did encounter a typo in the game when I was playing; if you get defeated by Jessie as a statue it says "As swing your stone..." instead of "As you swing your stone...." That itself is a minor typo though. So far I haven't encountered any other typos.

The only mechanical problem seems to be that most of the time when I move my mouse and the game is open, it freezes for a second or two. Fullscreen also seems to make my mouse disappear on the title screen. This may just be a problem on the Starlight Engine for me, but its the only game I have that does it constantly.

As for combat, I have a lot to say:

There doesn't really seem to be an incentive to use water or earth cards. They do impede some slowness on enemies, but I found myself building a pure fire and wind deck (with the life and death cards) since the Torch is one of the best weapons in the game as of right now because of its +2 to fire damage. Combined with the appropriate gloves and the best armor in the game, this can give you a total +5 to your fire, which can just incinerate (literally) enemies in the game. I put wind cards in the deck because their biggest bonus is drawing additional cards every time. Sure some enemies have a weakness to water or earth, but fire is the most common weakness in the manor, and the +1 weakness damage just doesn't cut it. For a turn-based run-through of this game, wind is definitely an element you need in the deck to play. While a certain awesome sounding item is in the late game, I just didn't use it because there was no incentive to. I had the torch; the torch is an item you need in one part of the game, and I just never bothered to unequip it because there might of been an area needing it later.

I believe I have gotten 13 out of the 15 endings on my first play-through of the game, since I do not know how to get the Betrayal or the Submit endings. I don't particularly mind as much. Perhaps in my next play-through of the game (Most likely on Normal or Hard difficulty; Easy just seems really easy except for the Stranger one or two times. That later just was a pushover fight like the rest of the enemies, however.), I will try to figure it out, but other than harder difficulties and getting the endings, the game itself doesn't really have a replay value in a sense.

Speaking about harder difficulties:

Maybe on Hard mode the game should disable save glyphs or just make them much more rare in the game. I never had to use one since a fountain was always nearby. Or even then you could add a new mode that removes the aspect of "playing fair" and if you get found by a doll there's no combat, you just lose hit points and the doll gets disabled for a while (depending on the weapon and possibly its weakness it could be stunned for a longer amount of time). Getting attacked by the stranger could either instantly kill you or you could get hit for half your health. As the game progresses, the dolls deal more damage and the stranger could instantly kill you. Maybe having all three members of the party will make too much noise and you'd have to hide them in a safe place (such as a fountain area) after you scout out enemies in the game. This could bring the stealth aspect of the game more into fruition without over-impeding that core of the game. I did see the marble item in the game's coding, but never encountered it in the game; that would be a great thing to add into the game for this hypothetical mode if it isn't there and I didn't skip over it.

I do feel as though Jessie and Lauren should be harder to beat the farther you go into the game, or better yet maybe they should be really difficult (like the stranger) to beat on harder difficulties; maybe they run away after you beat them and you have to defeat them a total of three times to finally cripple them. Most of the endings to the doll-part of the game are too easy it seems. I honestly wish the think command did not give me the exact location of Lauren and Jessie, maybe just a part of where they are in the manor. 

It would probably help that doll!Mary got the full map added to them to help with this harder Jessie and Lauren. 

I really, really love this game and I want there to be more added to it, including maybe a "true ending" that shows how far you went like in other survival horror games. While it may seem like I am thrashing on the game's mechanics and its combat, I really enjoyed the first time I went through this game; especially since I went through the game blind as a bat. Lauren is someone I want to protect and make sure nothing happens to; Jessie is pretty funny at some times, and Mary is the main character.

I do want more of the game and the doll manor to play through; more replay value and harder difficulties would be great. While I don't think anything will be added, it is a brilliant game that I wish to see more of.

Starlight Studios, you made quite a brilliant gem and I hope to see more of your projects in the future.

Thank you for (possibly?) reading this really long comment. If you've stayed here for this long it means you actually wanted to read my comment. So cheers!

I finished the entire game I guess, great experience. Although I found it rather hard to get betrayal and submit endings since there was no option to do it via the menu, you had to type in command yourself. It ended up in me searching in Lua files for a few hours. :I Still, great game.

Started playing game, in an update would be cool if in options you added a list of all found endings and could click on one to view it again.