Story

There is a place deep in the wilds where worlds collide. Above a buried dimensional rift, priests of chaos built a temple to harness its power for themselves, delving ever nearer to the rift. But a foolish high priest entered the rift itself and returned wielding a sword he could neither sheathe nor cast away. The sword demanded blood and he slew his entire priesthood to sate the blade, lest it destroy him too. With no one left to sacrifice, the sword slew him in turn. The sword has since passed from host to host, wreaking destruction and death. And through cruel fate, the cursed sword now rests in your hand. Can you cast it back from whence it came, or will its curse claim you too?

About

Cursed Sword is a simple roguelike based on Krystman's game Porklike, and his YouTube tutorial Pico-8 Hero. You can also play it on the PICO-8 BBS here!

How to play

  • Goal: Find the stairs to get closer to the rift on Floor B12!
  • Killer Sword: Your sword demands blood! Kill enemies for more ⧗, or your sword will drain your ♥ with every step!
  • Combat: Enemies move when you move! Bump them to attack!
  • Treasure: Bump chests and vases to see what's inside!
  • Menu: Press (X) button to open a menu, (X) button to make a selection, and (O) button to go back!
  • Keyboard Controls: (X) button = X, (O) button = Z/C
  • Gems: The priests crafted magic gems that can be slotted into your sword. Open the inventory menu with (X) to equip them!
  • Luck: Increase your luck to dodge more attacks, get better treasure, and more!

Credits:

Deepest thanks to Krystian Majewski of LazyDevs academy for the use of his game Porklike as an engine for this game. Much of the code of this game was designed by him, and I thank him especially for his ingenious level procedural generator, and the binary signature technique.

Thanks to Maddog22, who conceived many of the power gems and tested the game thoroughly. Thanks, MD!

The JSON parser program was designed by tylerneylon, adapted by feneric, which tylerneylon has released into the public domain. Feneric's adaptation of it is released under the GPL v3 license.

Some enemy artwork (tiles 192-203,208-213,224-31) licensed from Oryx Design Labs, www.oryxdesignlab.com. These designs are not released under this game's license, and Oryx Design Labs reserves all rights.

The rest, I suppose, was designed by me!

StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux, HTML5
Rating
Rated 4.2 out of 5 stars
(6 total ratings)
Authorcjgibilisco
GenreAdventure
Made withPICO-8
Tags2D, PICO-8, Pixel Art, Procedural Generation, Roguelike, Singleplayer
Average sessionAbout a half-hour
LanguagesEnglish
InputsKeyboard

Download

Download
sword.p8.png 33 kB
Download
sword_linux.zip 700 kB
Download
sword_osx.zip 3 MB
Download
sword_windows.zip 1 MB
Download
sword_raspi.zip 1 MB

Development log

Comments

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(+1)

Although I don't like Porklike, this one was quite fun.  The Witch's Eye is pretty OP imo, though.

Thanks for playing!

(+2)

while never an actual threat, my step count slowly ticking down was constantly looming above me and giving me worry. great game!

"UNUS ANNUS (time is ticking...)"/10

Thanks for playing!

(+1)

Hey I would really like to play this game on my Pico8 Gameboy. For that it would have to be published on the lexafoffle website :D.

Do you plan to release it there? In my experience you get about double the views and clicks from Pico8 games from the lexafoffle community then you get here on itch. And I could imagine your game to be a little gem :D

(1 edit) (+1)

Thanks for the heads up!! It should be on there now, and I added a comment to bump the thread. Apparently it didn't bump when I added a new cart, like it's supposed to. It may have also been stuck in the WIP board? 

(+1)

Also, added link to BBS in the game description!

(1 edit) (+1)

it works now on my handheld

(+1)

Really cool Game :D I love it! You did a great job by getting inspired by a tutorial (which of corse one can see) but than later adapt and improve on it to create something more advanced. Carry on the good work!

Thank you!! :)