You Have to Win the Game is an exploration platformer with a retro 1980s PC aesthetic.
Download (Windows only):
http://www.piratehearts.com/TheGame_Install_2013-06-13_07-44.exe (2.89 MB)
Hey! I think I had a problem with the game :/ Maybe something with the shader, idk. When I open the game, I only hear the sounds, but can’t see anything
Also, would you mind sending me an e-mail with some solution? But if not, that’s OK, I’ll come back here ^^
I’m having the same issue, but I’m using Wineskin on OSX, so…
Great game! Excellent gameplay, all the best of the 8 bit genre with a bunch of new twists! Thanks!
This game is super awesome!! I have more nice things to say about it than I know what to do with. Your NERD engine is wonderful and extremely polished. I hope to see more from you in the future!
Beautiful work! Superbly done.
just read about your game on indiegames blog. love the visual appeal, love the jumping physics, love the game! thanks!
…and if you lose the game?
Everyone is screwed and you have to buy a packet of chips and watch Spongebob. Yes. I said that.
cool looking game. Unfortunately it wont run on my PC. First time running, the splash screen came up, then the bug reporter. I tried to fill it out but the program was making the machine so unresponsive i had to kill it.
Second time running, it got to the menu pages but the program randomly halts for about a second. Playing with vsync, low screen resolution, windowed mode had no effect. taskmgr reports it is using 70-99% CPU.
Win XP64
AMD Phenom9950 quad-core 2.61GHz
4GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
This looks fantastic! Is it possible to publish a Mac version? I was thinking of trying to get hold of an old PC laptop just to play games like yours…
Can you tell us about the CRT tube filter you used on the grabs? It game me a 30 year flashback!
Hello there, just wanted to give you some feedback on your game.
First off, I love the style of the game, everything is rock solid. Mostly.
Bug: The Analog Stick can be used to move left and right, but not down, while the d-pad allows both
Bug: The Game seems to take up a very big amount of cpu, could it be that it is kind of running unbound, without any proper restrictions? 50-75% cpu load on a 3.2ghz quadcore just isn’t normal in a main menu or even the game, when it comes to this, vsync is activated btw, to rule that out.
Also, I want to start writing my own games and am looking for good input on what to write in, right now I’m taking a look at C++ with SFML, because I’d also like it to be cross plattform,
But I’m still not really sure.
I’d like to know what you are using for this game? Probably C++ or C# with directx, right?
Greetings
Zerosan
My game suffered severe lag spikes on Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4Ghz with 8 Gig of RAM and a GeForce 9600 especially near the Hollow King’s room. I mean the effect and the shaders in this game are sweet, but my comp runs Skyrim decently, and the fact it collapses beneath a CGA platformer is kind of hilarious.
Fantastic game, a perfect example of how PC platformer games were back then.
Hi, I just downloaded your game (thanks, Kotaku), and I am installing it now, but I am worried about the License Agreement that is in the installer. It seems like a boilerplate agreement, and you ask that people credit you if they redistribute it, but it actually gives anyone the right, “without limitation” to resell your game for a profit. I feel that it would be in your best interest to modify the agreement to restrict that right, and explicitly say that the game is free to distribute as long as it stays free.
Free games and apps are often packaged and sold by unscrupulous marketers for a quick buck, often against the wishes of their creators (you’ll often see disclaimers on freeware that says something like “if you paid for this, you were scammed!”), but you’ve actually given away the right to profit from your work.
It’s a wonderful gift that you’ve given your game away for free, but you’re still allowed to protect the ownership of your work!
Game is awesome! I will say though getting to 80% and then loosing all my power ups kind of made me give up. Solid game though I will be keeping an eye out for more to come!
Hey, going to play this in a bit based on the Kotaku review, did you think of publishing it to Tiggit? Always worth a go :-)
All the best
Awesome! Extremely addicting, also.
In “A Sickly Silver Moon” you can exit the main area by carefully wall/double-jumping up the left side. I noticed the open ceilings, and thought there might be more stuff to get up there. I thought it was the most evil challenge ever. Turned out I was my own worst enemy.
dude, i spent more time than the entire gameplay getting up that wall while drinking, thinking i was gonna uncover the greatest easter egg since adventure only to find a blank inviso-ceiling. super disappointing, totally suggest adding something of value to that section or just removing the temptation….
Thought I was going to give up at 80%, but this game sucked me right back in. Now I’m stuck at 98% and I can’t find a treasure sack anywhere. Wish this had a metroid/castlevania style map system. Anyways great work on an addicting game. Little over 2 hours played time and enjoyed every minute.
Is there any possibility to a version for Linux? :-D
On Linux, with Wine, it works properly but … We see neither the char’ nor bells. It’s really hard to play but POSSIBLE ! :P
It works 100% perfectly for me using Wine. Nothing is missing (as far as I can tell).
I managed to crash the game.
I was at the stage called “A Sickly Silver Moon” and I climbed up the wall to the left. There, the stages are all black and you fall endlessly. It was difficult, but I thought there would be something up there.
I hope this helps.
And greetings for this awesome game! (I’m stuck at 98%…)
The website I posted is a link to a highlight of a bug i found in the game.
Also why cant i get past 99% >.< driving me crazy
Love the game! Amazing! Stuck at 99% even though I’ve been in the last room! I’m going nuts!
Norton 360 Hates this file and deletes it every time. I am Sad.
somebody should port this to c64, excellent game
I love this game
Really good game, kept me entertained for hours (I even draw a map with pen and paper), but I’m on 99% and have searched the entire game several times. If I somehow send you my save, could you put me out of my misery and show me where the final thing is that I’ve missed?
Thanks a bunch, thoroughly enjoyed this game,
Kez.
I’m stuck at 99%. Game’s pretty fun, if a little on the short side.
Just finished with 100%. Thanks for making it; it’s a great game.
I could not get the magic symbol to work though. I have a US keyboard on a Dell notebook running Windows 7, and tried every key on the keyboard, plain and with [shift] and none of them triggered it. I even tried switching out my keyboard layout to another country with no luck. Fortunately, hacking ControlBindings.bnd worked. :)
Hello. This game has one of the best and most fluid controls I’ve ever played. The accuracy of the jumps and grip the wall are impressive. After playing hundreds of games made in flash, and several recent platform games, it is clearly noticeable that there was a concern for the responsiveness of the controls. I played with the keyboard and xbox controller, and accuracy in both cases was also excellent!
The animation has a fluidity which is not in many games 2D today. The aesthetic choice was very well done.
My only criticism is regarding the use of the terminal. Although I have not played computer games when I was young, because I just had a NES, it was relatively easy to understand what should be done, thanks to films like “Cloak & Dagger”, which I saw as a child. The idea is very interesting and combines perfectly with the theme and aesthetics of the game, but can be very unfair to younger players.
I hope you make a new game using this excellent platform/framework created for this game. I believe that you can make a commercial game without problems. (sorry, I used the google translator)
ps: I won the game with 100% :D
Hi, I enjoyed this game immensely but couldn’t finish the game. I’m stuck in “Feline Foreshadowing”. After watching a walkthrough on youtube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kkFWqysmG0 ), I noticed that’s something wrong with my keyboard, although he might have played with a gamepad, my controls’ responsiveness are far worse than his, in fact I can’t continue the game as I said before.
Wonderful work on this game. How is the engine executed? The retro screen?
Recently a game with almost identical gameplay appeared in one of my retro competitions. Not claiming anyone copied anyone, but it’s interesting how same ideas appear to different people. If interested, give it a peek: http://games.freebasic.net/dumpbyid.php?input=182
Wow, I LOVE the clean CGA palette. Reminds me of a game Starquake I played a lot as a kid. And I love that your photo looks like a CGA monitor, FULLY ROUND.
OMG, THIS IS GORGEOUS O_O
You have to support all the three cga palettes too ;D
Love it.
XeviaN
STUDIO EVIL
This is one of the best exploration games I’ve played because every location is memorable and none of the tight gameplay systems don’t outstay their welcome. It is important that there is no map because if it was there you would use it and when you use a map you are not having as much fun. For the people incapable of memorizing or the games that don’t build anything worth memorizing, a map will help, but in this case I’m very glad it wasn’t included.
I also love the art style. But if it was me making the game I would add some music or sound effects in some areas and take out the jokes and movie quotes (nothing wrong with them except that they clash with the creepy atmosphere). There’s no need to be self conscious and jokey about this type of game, it would stand up to a completely serious presentation!
Help! Stuck in the forgotton tunnels .. I managed to get the $ sack with only the double jump power up (and the 2 invisible block powerups) .. now im stuck there and cant get out!!! .. I think I broke the game :x
It is possible to make a .rar of the game? I can’t install games on this computer =/
your game is fantastic,
Unfortunately I can not run on my old pc,
The CGA card + CRT monitor simulation is… TO DIE FOR!
The idea is beautiful, and the realization is (1) artistically sublime (2) technically spotless (3) truly evocative, i.e. effective in provoking fond memories.
Seeing that made me so envious! Must have been fun, with so many different effects in action, all contributing to the final results from different directions!
But, a practical question to the author… share your secrets: how did you make the control so smooth (they are fun to play, responsive?). Certainly it is a matter of quick response, but I would assume that any game going at 60 FPS which responded to key-presses the next frame does the same, in this respect. So, it could it be just careful choice of acceleration/friction/speed values? Seeing how much this game controls feel better of basically any competitor, I would think that there is something else, but I cannot imagine what. Keeping track of subpixel position? Some arcane magic? It would be terrific if you could share something of what took you there.
Double post! [with spoliers]
Let me add a couple of suggestions:
A) upon Starting a New Game or Continuing from the main menu, you could hear the familiar sound of a loading 5.25” floppy, as if the map and graphics were loading. When the loading sound is over (1-2 secs is enough), the game would start. A sound like here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xz2xBGUfn4 (at sec 0.0.49)
B) the typing sound (classy!) could be heard when the player actually typed on the keyboard (anything but the keys to move or jump), e.g. to input the magic word. BTW, I would include the “enter command” interface inside the actual old monitor, not in the… meta-interface. Then, I would remove the typing sound when the title or the final words are “typed” by the game (because they are not actually being typed in a keyboard).
C) upon winning (not losing) the game with 100%, when the game restarts, the view could stay fixed as in the current final-congratulations screen, i.e. with the monitor seen a bit from afar. I think it would feel like this: “you finally won the game, so, while you still play it if you want, you the player now feel a little detached from it (as if feeling superior)”! (beside, it would be cool to exploit that you can animate the game even when the monitor is rendered from any point of view).
Well, that was amazing – just finished 100% after three loops, not once realizing I’d seen the word a few times. I was overthinking it… again.
Though on thing bothers me… WHY is the word… what it is? Is there something to it I missed?
hey, i made a facebook page just to spread the word on this awesome game :D http://www.facebook.com/YouHaveToWinTheGame
One of the best games I’ve played this year. I adore the graphics and the gameplay is like VVVVVV, except harder. Great work.
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Hi there ! I loved your game. Very simple yet very challenging. Reminds me of “I Wanna Be The Guy” !!!
So congrats for your work and I hope to see more games like this one in the future !
I love this game it’s very close to have I have been looking for in a game for a long long time. I finished it in one go and now I feel sad because it’s over :P Congratulations on this amazing game that hit’s all the boxes: great graphics, an appealing main character, awesome sound effects, really fun level design, solid gameplay and carefully placed difficulty.
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Brilliant. An ios port would be a blast. Would it be possible ?
Filippo
needs a soundtrack
I don’t suppose anyone has a composite picture of all the rooms arranged in map form? I’ve beaten the game, but only with 99.22% It’s maddening!
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This game is excellent. Any chance of a level editor for the community to extend its lifespan?
Awesome game! I love how the game gets fresh air every time you get a power up and suddenly you have even more to explore.
Cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor! cave editor!
Do you plan to release a mac version?
Very well created game. Good music, and old fashioned graphics.
Nice touch with the borders being an old Macintosh computer. Felt it was an actual Mac game on a mac.
Steam name: [AA] Tyster
Awesome! You should really get a cool 8-bit track to go in the background :)
this game is really one of the best retro games ive ever played yet!
I LOVE IT!
@ 96% now…
YOU HAVE TO WIN THE GAME ;)
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Installer won’t run on Windows 8, x64. Only error message provided is “This app can’t run on your PC. To find a version for your PC, check with the software publisher.” Not saying it’s necessarily a problem with your installer, but I haven’t been able to find any more information on the error other than it sometimes occurs when running an x64 application on a x86 system. As I’m running x64, I don’t see that being an issue. Any chance you’ve run into this?
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I finished your game 100%. Kinda feel though that the magic symbol should be more visible. What is this doesn’t really say magic symbol revealed here. I ended up looking up the answer then realizing i had passed it. The word is blood red kinda more of a indicator. Still fun challenging game enjoyed what i played.
Here’s a remake of the game for the Commodore 64: http://csdb.dk/release/?id=114055
Interestingly, the C-64 remake runs perfectly smooth on its 1 MHz 8-bit processor, and is just 49kb in size, while this original 2.8mb PC version stutters even on a modern 2 GHz PC.
It’s hard to come by well-informed people about this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanκs
Lots of thanks for releasing this ultra awesome game for free!
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Hey – I think something is wrong with the install file. Norton is not liking it at all, and has removed the file after several download attempts. I found a mirror of the file elsewhere and everything worked fine.
Norton is also telling me that this file has only been up for a week…
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I found out about this perusing Steam Greenlight (gave it the upvote, the trailer was very appealing) and I’ve really been enjoying the game. Still at 98% but it’s been a very fun experience, and encouraging me to remember the value of patience! I think the general retro aesthetic is well executed and the gameplay really hits that great spot of all the enjoyable parts of old school platformers without the really frustrating elements. I agree with some remarks I’ve seen around the place that if possible a soundtrack might go well with the game – watching the trailer, the lovely Sycamore Drive piece playing over it really contributed to my interest in trying it out. Regardless, it’s a very enjoyable game, so thanks!
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Thanks so much for making this game! It reminds me also of past times, again like StarQuake, Spiky Harold, Manic Miner, Roland in Time on my old Amstrad, and many, many more. I wish more games had such an awesome implementation of a simulated screen! Hell I’d love to see this kind of screen emulation in actual emulators, too. VICE has a fairly good screen emulation but yours is curved, and as strange as other people mind find that, it adds a whole new dimension.
Literally.
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Awesome game :)
I enjoyed it a lot
Controls are smooth, old fashioned design is very well rendered and difficulty is hard enough to make it worth it.
You did something really great ! Congrats !
I have to say that this game was fun. But there are some shortcomings :
- first of all : i have a dual-core CPU + multithreading and it was raging to run the game. When i look at the stats, it seems 3 of the 4 threads were totally used.
- second : i’m french and it was annoying to find the place of the magic key.
Pour l’emplacement de la “magic key”, c’est la touche ² en dessous d’échap.
So fun to play, ty for the game =)
I’m wondering if the speed problems are related to specific graphics cards or drivers? I’ve been running this on a dual core 1GHz PC with a Radeon 3600 card(bought about five years ago), and have had absolutely no speed issues at all.
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Hard to finish. I make circles with my mind. I love this game but i’m lost. My brain have been smashed and burned definitively. Help ! lol… Great really oldschool game. how many souvenirs ?! Like a certain Bruce Lee nearly on C64… Nice. Arghhh. May the force will be with me !?…
I just found this game…installed and BOOM!!!!!…back to the 80′s. Love it! Thank you very much!
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A very good game, I’m back to my childhood ^^. I’ve made a review on my website for the French retrogamers.
So, when YHTWTG 2 will be released ? ;-)
http://xn--rtrogaming-b7a.fr/2013/06/11/you-have-to-win-the-game/
Neat little game! Thanks for giving it away for free!
How about a version for the OUYA?