Log In  
Page:
1
2

Cart #binaryeye_neath-1 | 2025-02-23 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
152

Controls:
O: jump
X: action
down: crouch
down + O: drop through platform

Abilities:
Once gained, elemental abilities can be used by pressing the action button. Metal (white) allows a dash, which can break blocks. Water (blue) allows a geyser, the water from which can revitalize withered vines. Fire (orange) allows flame, which can be used to burn vines and jump slightly higher than normal (during a jump, press the action button).

Manual (with partial map):

Many thanks to @thisismypassword for Shrinko8, without which this wouldn't have been possible.

152
5

Fun exploration game with a unique ability swapping mechanic.
I made a map to help me navigate in my first run (spoilers, as it shows hidden secrets):

I haven't found the last 2 seeds yet, and I'm not sure if the areas labeled ??? can be reached / unlocked. Maybe someone else will find out :P

This is so cool!! I LOVED the swapping mechanic. I’m looking forward to playing this on my powkiddy :) well done!
1

Nice! I like the simple art style and mechanics. I did get very lost and had to use Verb's map to find the white terminal, so my only suggestion is that there should be a minimap. Fun game :)
3

I don't get it. The fourth room where you fall down into the red pit in is literally impossible to pass? You can't make the jump to the ledge, you can't avoid turning red, you can't turn back, there is no other path to take. I assume there must be some mechanic with the fire ability and the vines that allows you to climb them or something, but there's only two buttons on this thing and nothing seems to work with any combination of them on any tile from any angle. Clearly other people were able to get past it but whatever the solution is, it's way too opaque.

edit: lol. I literally cleared it immediately after posting this. I have no idea what I did and wouldn't be able to repeat it, but I'm not going to question it.
3

Thanks to all for the feedback!

@Verb: After looking at my own map for so long, it's really cool to see someone else's version. Was the 16:31 for your first run? If so, that's really good. The best I've gotten while getting all seeds is in the 12:30 range. Also, just to save any unnecessary frustration, the two "???" on the left side of your map can't be accessed.

@furious: Glad you enjoyed it!

@ooooggll: I would have liked a map system, but I'm fairly sure there isn't room for one. I did recently free up some compressed space and tokens, so I'll see if I can squeeze something in.

@CrystinaZ: Sorry about the lack of clarity about how to pass that area. I've added some info to the original post about how each ability works. I might also tweak how the fire ability works to make it a bit more intuitive. That would allow horizontal movement with fire, though, which could break some sections. So I'll have to do some testing before any potential update.

@binaryeye Thanks for posting the ability details. I was stuck at the same section and it was frustrating. I’m all for jumping into a game with no instructions, but it would be nice to have a signpost in the environment, or something indicating a button combination that’s required to progress the first time it’s needed.

Iḿ really stuck on the third room. You are forced to have the fire ability, and the only way to progress is to somehow burn downwards?? Looks like someone else was having this issue too. How can I get past this room?

@Waterwool press down + O. For the other part with the fire ability, press jump and tap X.

@binaryeye more like 3rd or 4th :p

> the two "???" on the left side of your map can't be accessed.

Hmmmm 🤔

Edit: found them :)

Once I understood the extra fire jump, this was really fun! Thanks to @Verb for the map. I think I would’ve gotten lost without it 😉
2

@binaryeye

Thanks for including the explanation for the abilities! Everything else is pretty intuitive, but the fire jump is admittedly pretty tricky to figure out on your own.

That's really my only quibble though. Now that I'm making headway, this game is amazing! The way the enemies don't hurt you, but swap you to an ability that isn't helpful for the situation is straight up genius. Super creative puzzles, really big world to explore. A+ all around honestly.

can anyone help me with this screen ?

im pretty sure i need the dash but keep hitting the blue things and losing it ...

Beat it! Three hours and seven minutes first attempt. Loved it! Turning into the fire hop into being able to float/hover for a few frames would likely be a major improvement. If I sound like a hater, it's only because I have nothing but glowing praise for everything else and it's the only part that could use a tweak.



1

I've changed the controls for the fire jump to hopefully be more intuitive. If you're used to the way it works, it will take some getting used to, but I think it's for the better.

@CrystinaZ and @mardem1976: Thanks for persevering through the frustrating controls. Your feedback is much appreciated!

@bigjus: The jellyfish move up when you're above them, down when you're below them. Get them to move up before dashing through the opening.
1

New fire jump controls are like night and day! Huuuge improvement!
3

I've added a manual to the original post. It includes a partial map (i.e. no secrets revealed), in case anyone finds it useful.

Didn't comment so far because I intended to do a full play-through before, but now I just have to because of the booklet...
Warning silliness turned to 11 made me chuckle, and the slightly slanted scans with the staple, the slight see through cheapo paper that shows the non scanned cover and back just screams authenticity of a "real" budget game of the mid 80s, scanned, dumped and archived by a fan. The fixed font of the middle pages also suggests a story : maybe that part comes from the tape version of the game, and only the cartridge specific intro page got updated with better font when the cart version was released... (getting GX4000 vibes)

what do I do here?

@ProHats69 Jump and use the fire ability to reach a bit higher than normal jump.

Really loved this game. Well done @binaryeye

Beautiful graphics and animation. Lovely visuals clues for the early puzzles. Great mechanics that are well explored through all the rooms.

Took me 2:19 to beat.

Was a little unsure what the seeds were for as I went along. Would be nice to have some visual cue of how many I collected. Does the flowerbed at the end of the game reflect how many you find I wonder?

All in all, very enjoyable and inspiring. I'll have to try harder to finish making a game



@eightshape: Thanks for the kind words. The seeds are just collectibles, something to add a bit more challenge/mystery beyond simply completing the game. There are nine seeds total, three in each main area, and yes, the number of blooms in the garden at the end indicates how many were found. At one point I did have a HUD of sorts that displayed the number of seeds found, but I eventually decided the tokens used for it were better used elsewhere.

I beat it in 1:09! Had a great time with this one!

I didn't require mapping or the controls listed, the game did very well telling me what to do, including the fire power jump-reach that a lot of people had problems with. I must have come across this mechanic in another game before I think.

Based on some screenshots above, I missed a lot of secret orbs, some of them a pretty tough to get. Overall, a bit of a pico-8 highlight in my opinion!

I really enjoyed this game. Like others, the fire-jump was the only stumbling block early on but after that it was a smooth experience. Excellent. I especially love how you layered the abilities to ramp up the puzzle aspect of the platforming. Thank you for making and sharing this game.

Incredible atmosphere! One of the coolest Pico-8 games I've ever seen!

Wondering if there's something interesting behind the opposite gate of the chamber:

While the gate is literally like the water valve, it's still closed even if I activated the consoles in the Aquaduct Zone.

@Verb :
The right ??? room in the Cave Zone is reachable.

Just get the air ability and dash onto the right platform, where some jellyfish are overhead if you wait for a while.

Rooms followed by the ??? lead to the third fire seed, and a shortcut to the checkpoint through a vertical pit.

And for another seed in Aqueduct Zone:


Yes, the left ??? in Aqueduct is inaccessible for now. But in another room where its secret passage is diverted as shown:

Dash to the left instead of going down, so that leads to the second water seed.

And finally I'm sure that's all what I've collected (the red one should be 3 and the water 2.)
1

@thePixelXb_: As I mentioned after Verb's map was posted, the two "???" on the left side are inaccessible (the ship's left hatch and the long left aqueduct room with a missing platform). Congrats on figuring out how to reach the seeds in the aqueduct and cave. The flower colors at the end don't reflect where the seeds were found. Based on the seed locations shown in Verb's map and what you've posted, I expect the one seed you're missing is in the aqueduct area. It's probably the trickiest one to get, both in terms of figuring out the area can be reached and in actually executing the moves to get there. I don't want to outright spoil it, but if you want a hint, just ask.

I really like this game. Even though it took me like 53 minutes and just 3 seeds xd
2

I thought maybe I misunderstood something. How come there's another seed? I thought that was all of them. Nope, there's another one. I think the hint that there's another one in aqueduct area seems sufficient. I wonder what speed record a professional speedrunner would achieve.
Thank you, binaryeye, for the game. It was really fun. It's one of my favorites from Pico ;3!!!

P.S Are there any more seeds?



@stinkycat: Congrats! That's all of the seeds. I got pretty good at speedrunning it while playtesting, but made some changes to the map late in development that made runs slower by 30 seconds or so. Prior to those changes, I know it was possible to get under 7:00 with no seeds and under 10:00 with all seeds. I haven't done any serious speedrunning attempts since those changes were made, so I don't know what's possible, but my guess is 11:40 is pretty good. I'd love to see a speedrun just to see how others play the game and if there are any time-saving techniques I missed.

Fun game! that final room though... hellish

@furious how do I do this? i've been trying to work pico-8 onto my own powkiddy but I cant seem to figure it out.

This game is really cool :)

Hey, @binaryeye, awesome cart!!! Easily earned a star.

Any chance we can get the .p8 version of this cart before Shrinko8?

I'd like to understand how you coded some stuff...
1

@andrejtrindade: What are you interested in? I'd be happy to upload the unminified cart somewhere, but my code isn't the best; it might be easier for me to just explain how something was done.

@binaryeye, I'd like to understand the cartdata format. The minified version doesn't help much, having access to the original variable names would be awesome.

 
function nZ(e,n)
	dset(0,1)
	for e=1,39 do 
		dset(e,o[e])
	end 
	dset(41,f)
	dset(42,e)
	dset(43,n)
	dset(45,D)
	dset(46,Q)
	dset(47,eS)
	dset(48,O)
	dset(49,ed)
	if h.o then 
		dset(44,1)
	else 
		dset(44,0)
	end 
	e8=false 
end

I want to make a "map" cart for Neath. It will load Neath's cartdata ID (read only, don't worry) and show the last checkpoint saved on a map based on @Verb's map and the map from your manual.

By default, secrets will not be displayed. There will be an option for users to show them if they are really desperate.

I just need to know how to determine in which checkpoint the user is, if each seed is collected or not and so on from your cartdata.

I'm happy to look at your code and find out for myself if it's too much trouble for you to detail all of this. Don't worry about your code, I'm sure I'll like it much better than you think.
2

@andrejtrindade: These are the relevant cart data storage slots:

 
00: save data available (0 = false, 1 = true)

switches (0 = false, 1 = true)
01: metal on
02: fire on
03: water on
11: metal off
12: fire off
13: water off

seeds (0 = not collected, 1 = collected)
21: caves (top)
22: caves (middle) 
23: caves (bottom)
24: ruins (right)
25: ruins (center)
26: ruins (left)
27: aqueducts (right)
28: aqueducts (left)
29: aqueducts (middle)

save points (0 = inactive, 1 = metal, 2 = fire, 4 = water)
31: caves top (room number 15)
32: caves bottom (29)
33: caves middle (37)
34: ruins left (53)
35: ruins right (54)
36: ruins center (67)
37: aqueducts left (78)
38: aqueducts bottom (7)
39: aqueducts right (26)

player
41: current room number
46: total seeds collected

If you want a more complete map, let me know. Now that all the seeds have been found, I don't mind sharing it.

Thank you so very much for this, @binaryeye! It would be a pain to reverse engineer what I need from experimentation! :D

 
save points (0 = inactive, 1 = metal, 2 = fire, 4 = water)

What does this mean, exactly? For example, in the cartdata I'm testing, the value of the first three save points are dget(31)==14 / dget(32)==16 / dget(33)==15 right now...

Besides, I noticed this value doesn't change as soon as you go through the save point. It changes later, but I haven't been able to notice exactly what triggers that change.

41: current room number, however, changes as soon as I go through the save point, so it's easy to know the currently active save point.

> If you want a more complete map, let me know. Now that all the seeds have been found, I don't mind sharing it.

Yes, pleeease!!! It will be awesome to make my companion cart based on your official complete map...
1

Hm. It's possible I made a mistake and it worked as intended, anyway. I'll have to check the code.

For 41, "current room number" probably wasn't the best description. It records the room number of the last save point passed through so the game knows where to load a saved game.

Here's the map.

Thanks for the map, @binaryeye!

> For 41, "current room number" probably wasn't the best description. It records the room number of the last save point passed through so the game knows where to load a saved game.

Don't worry, that was pretty clear already.

> Hm. It's possible I made a mistake and it worked as intended, anyway. I'll have to check the code.

I tested some more and now think I got it.

When you go through a save point the game saves stuff, like collected seeds, switches' states... And the element of OTHER save points!

I believe the element of the current save point is probably saved somewhere with the player status (indexes 41+).

Now I'll go make the cart. It will probably take me a few weeks, as I don't have a lot of free time right now, unfortunately... I'll post it here when it's done!
1

I had forgotten I changed the save points to be recorded as the actor number for the beam, not the player color, and I hadn't updated my notes. So for the save points, the values are 14 = metal, 15 = fire, and 16 = water. Player color is stored in 45; 1 = metal, 2 = fire, and 4 = water.

Awesome, @binaryeye! I already started the cart. It will be simple, but I hope it will be helpful. At least for me! Still haven't collected all the seeds...

A really nice and unique concept! Had some trouble in third room as well (jump on that cliff is super hard, don't know how I managed it) but after that I had some fun :)
2

Cart #neath_map-0 | 2025-10-29 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
4

About

This cart loads Neath's cartdata (read only, don't worry) and shows your progress on a map.

You can choose how undiscovered stuff will (or will not) be displayed.

Here are some spoiler-free screenshots...

Second screen

I suggest you run Neath Map on a separate PICO-8 window / browser tab.

Whenever you activate a new save point in Neath, press ❎ on Neath Map to reload your cartdata and update your map.

It feels like playing a DS game!

Special thanks...

... to @binaryeye:

  1. For making and releasing Neath!
  2. For sharing cartdata info and complete map. Without your help, Neath Map wouldn't exist!

Now go enjoy Neath with the help of a map!

Pardon me, please. Got stuck in this room, and can’t find a way out yet—the fire form can’t reach the lowest platform, and the water move can!t be done in mid-air. Any tips, please?
2

@Retro_Pup_Pico_8, the blocks on which the character is standing in your screenshot act as a one-way gateway. You can burn the vines if you come from below, but there is no way past those blocks when coming from above.

Just leave this area and go explore somewhere else.

If you don't know where to go, I suggest you use my Neath Map. Just open it in another tab and press ❎ to update it whenever you find a new save spot, discover a new seed or flip a new switch.

I want to point out that many people have a hard time using fireball extra jump.
I tried the very first section when you need it. It's incredibly easy on a pc with keyboard, but it is incredibly hard, or even impossible, with touch controls on android. I really don't know why

@binaryeye I thought the intro and ending music was really pretty and cute, so I extended it on piano. Enjoy! https://onlinesequencer.net/5307170

@Mizar001 is that what it is? i was wondering why i couldn't get it to work no matter how many times i read the explanation or tried :( i wonder why
1

totally missed this gem!
really well done and atmospheric


Page:

[Please log in to post a comment]