Eleptoclypse (PC game, (/m) /F, some nudity)

Update: Patch 1.2 added. Contains new executable, to be replacing the old one as well as one file of the data folder. More information on the patch in the enclosed text file 'Ver120.txt'. Patch file is attached at the bottom of this post.


GAME HAS BEEN RELEASED!
Please read below for instructions on how to download, install, start it.

- - ELEPTOCLYPSE - -

WARNING: Contains some nudity!
WARNING: The game is addictive!
WARNING: Contains mature content! (tickling of private areas and a tickle orgasm not excluded)

NOTE: The game is for PC only (but it might run on a Mac with PC emulator - this has not been tested).
NOTE: The game is designed as /F mainly, but a non-graphical mode for /M is available (see customization).
NOTE: All characters in the game are adults and so should you be if you want to play this game!
NOTE: The game is scanned with the latest version of Avast virus scanner, no virusses found.
NOTE: The game is created for your pleasure and does not contain any form of malware.
NOTE: I am not taking any responsibility in case damages, problems or other unwanted effects occur to you or your system.
NOTE: You can play this game for free and are allowed to copy or give away without consent in its unchanged installation form.
NOTE: This game is not suitable for playing at work or other non-private environments.
NOTE: The game is roughly 7 MB (installation size as well as installed size)
NOTE: Maybe you'll find the pub-matches boring, maybe not. The real fun begins in the cave!

INFO: The images on the cards are based on the tickle comic 'Jen', to which I can give you a link if you are interested.


Installation instructions
=========================
1. Download both zip files (EC-inst1.zip and EC-inst2.zip)
2. Extract (unzip) both of these files into the same folder (using WinZip preferably, trial versions are avialable on the internet)
3. The result is six files: setup.exe, setup.lst, elepto1.cab, elepto2.cab, elepto3.cab and Readme.txt
4. Run the setup.exe file (double click it)
5. You should see the setup screen now. Press the button 'ok'
6. Change the folder in which you want the game installed if other than what is shown.
7. Click on the big square button with the picture of the computer on it.
8. Select a different 'program group' if you want to and press the button 'Continue'.
9. Wait till the setup finishes. Close the setup.

After the installation
======================
1. You can delete the zip files and installation files (which were extracted) if you want to.
2. If you want to customize the game, please see below under 'customization'.
3. Unless you changed the program group (see above) you can start the game by pressing the
Windows "Start" button (bottom left of your screen), from there it is under programs and games.

Customization
=============
1. You can do a little customization to the game to make it most comfortable for you, or play a little
and check out the different options later.
2. To customize the game, you have to first locate the folder in which it has been installed.
The default folder is c:\Program files\Eleptoclypse.
3. In this folder you should find a file called Eleptoclypse.ini. Double click to open it.
4. There are some instructions and explanations of each of the settings on top, the settings themselves
are found below it.
5. Change the settings you wish to change and then save the file. If you had already started the game,
you will have to close it and restart it before the settings take effect.

Running the game first time
===========================
1. The first time you start up the game, you should get a black screen with the text "Welcome to
Eleptoclypse". If you entered wide screen mode then you will see that background twice.
2. The game now queries for your REAL LIFE gender. Don't worry, this will not go anywhere outside the
game, it is just so that the program knows whether the NPCs (Opponents, trainers and bartender)
should address you as a man or a woman. The story parts and combat phrases will also be looking at
your gender and be modified accordingly.
3. Gender does NOT influence your strengths/cleverness/statistics or flow of the game, it is purely
there because you have a gender.
4. After choosing your gender you will get three messages to update you on "the story so far..."
5. After you have 'Okayed' these you find yourself in the local pub and the game starts.
6. Note: After this first start you should not get any error messages anymore upon startup, neither
will you have to choose your gender. You will always re-enter the game where you left off, with
the exception that if you quit during a tickle fight, the tickle fight will not be resumed next time.

What to do next?
================
1. Once you have arrived in the pub, it might be a good idea to check out the people in it. It might be useful to start with the bartender. Press the button "Bartender" to start talking with him.
2. Three different buttons take you through a conversation of your choice, one of them is a very brief explanation on how 'the tickle fighting' works. A more thorough description of how the game basics work can be found a bit further down this thread. If all of that is not enough, you might want to just try it out and experiment... or if you have questions, feel free to respond to this thread, I'll try to answer them as best as I can.
3. While you COuLD already dive into the cave right away... it might be smarter to first train a little in the pub... for one thing, you still have to get used to the way the game is played, the cards, their strengths and weaknesses, etc. In addition to that all the fights in the pub are in SAFE mode. Losing won't harm you here, while in the cave your opponent will run off with one of your hard earned cards. While there is no penalty for losing in the pub, you can gain new cards if you win!
4. Before you start to play, or after you have tried it a little, it might be a good idea to have a look at your card deck. You can do this by pressing the 'Deck' button in the top left. It will open a window showing your library on top (all the cards that you have) and the play-deck at the bottom. If you have not won any new cards yet, there's nothing you can customize because the minimum play-deck size is 20 cards and you start off with an unlimited amount of five different cards. With the limit of 4 cards of the same type in your play-deck, your starting deck can only be 4 cards of each 5 types you start with.
5. Once you have seen what cards you have and won one or more DIFFERENT cards from your trainer, then you can start adding and replacing... or mixing and matching to get a deck that you think is most powerful or that suits your playing strategy best. For you maybe a full fledged tickle war is the way to victory, but there are many ways to reach victory. Ultimately all of them will revolve around tickling anyway you look at it.
6. You do not need to save anything (anywhere in the game), this happens automatically. After you have customized your playing deck then you can simply close the window by pressing the red square on the right top. From that moment on you will be using the cards that you put in your play-deck.
7. When you feel ready for the real deal, you can press the button "to cave" and start the big adventure. While the first level trainers have exactly the same play-deck as the level 1 trainer, you will see that on the following levels trainers and cave-lurkers will have slightly different cards. So do a good job to collect the cards you like from each of them.
8. Note that the beginning of the game is basically more difficult than when you get a bit higher up. This is because you don't yet have such a wide range of different cards/strategies at your disposal and the opponent has pretty much the same as you do. In addition, cave inhabitants get to start first, which gives them a little extra advantage. This all adds up to making the start rather rough. I noticed this especially after having played through the end levels for a number of days and then again starting from scratch for the final play-testing. It's something you will have to just work yourself through. If you find it hard to win in the beginning, know that things will improve with good strategy when you have more choice of cards at your disposal.

Starting over
=============
As mentioned above, your game progress is automatically saved. This results in the fact that while you can keep playing (even when you have beaten the final boss opponent) you can not actually go back to the beginning and start off from level 1 and build up your card deck again. There is a way to do this, however. In the folder where you have installed the game "Eleptoclypse" you will find a file called "ResetGame.bat". Doubleclicking this file will reset the entire game, remove all your cards and gained levels, rewards, etc. So make absolutely sure you want to do this before running the file. After doing this you will find out that an error message pops up when you try to start the game. Don't worry, this happens because all data is suddenly gone, but it will also only happen this once. The default data will be loaded and you will have to manually set up your starter deck this time (4 of each card that you find enabled in your library). When you have done that everything continues as it did when you started the game the very first time.

General tips
============
1. To reach a level, you have to win at least 5 games against a trainer of your own level and win at least 5 games against a cave inhabitant of your own level or higher. If you see that your exp number isn't raising anymore even though you keep on winning fights, it would be a good idea to go back to the pub (or to the cave if you are in the pub) and score a few more wins there.
2. Make sure that you collect a healthy amount of cards of the type that you like to use. Whenever you lose a fight in the cave you will lose a card that the opponent selected from your play deck and these will be automatically replenished from your library... if possible! So, if you have four cards of a certain type and you lose all of them in a fight, you will find that you don't have that card anymore.
3. Trainers will only train you while they still have some skill they can teach you. Once you become more experienced than they are they will stop giving you training. Therefore it is a good idea to get the cards they have to offer while you can, but in most cases you will see those cards reappear also on higher level opponents in the cave, so no need to get worried if you do happen to run out of a certain card.
4. Once you reach the second level two important things happen: The Rewards button becomes available and the bartender will offer the option to switch the tickle fight dialogue off. The Rewards button will take you to your own personalized certificate which shows your rank, accomplishments and your own name (you are queried for this the first time you press that button, be sure to match your name to your real life gender or it might look funny). It also takes you to a picture showing the level 1 opponents as encounter and being tickled. Every additional level you gain, another reward picture will be unlocked and once you finish the entire game (meaning you defeat the end boss) the last one is unlocked.
5. There are a couple of chests in the cave, containing new cards for you to use. In the first chests you will find cards that you might see reappear on higher level opponents as well, but nearing the lowest floors of the cave there are a couple of really limited or rare cards. If you like them, better try not to lose them!
6. The game can always be closed but you will get a warning if you try to do this during a tickle fight in the cave. This is because if you abandon a tickle fight you will lose a card. Even pressing your computer's power button will not save your stake card if you are in a fight, so the only way to keep it is to really play out the fight and win it (or escape, but this is an exceptional alternative that you might only learn at the very end). Nevertheless, if you are in a hurry, you can quit the game and close it down, just know that it comes at the cost of your stake card.
7. All of the opponents can be beaten through normal play provided that you have a play deck that is appropriate for your level and that you yourself are of an appropriate level to fight them. Going down to floor 4 is technically possible while you are still a level 1 tickle fighter, but expect the opponents to sweep the floor with you! Also, using the beginner deck against an opponent of level 4 or 5 will most likely get you crushed because even if they have similar endurance and starting advance as you, it doesn't help if they
have better cards.
8. Some of the low level cards remain useful (you will discover yourself which ones they are) while others become pretty useless once you find stronger cards. Sticking only the highest of the highest cards into your play deck is generally NOT a smart move because if the opponent drains your advance a little you will soon find out that you can't play a single card! A few cards with low play cost can save your day if they do what you need most.
9. Don't throw in the towel too early. Through my play testing (and I did a LOT of tickle fights!) I have seen plenty a fight go quite bad and then suddenly I got a chance to climb back up, destroy the opponent's chances and in fact win the match. You just need to make sure your play deck is well balanced so that a good chance remains for the cards that you might need most to turn up. Sticking 25 tickle cards into your deck and then 3 cards to recover a bit or gain some advantage back probably won't cut it. The key to getting a deck you like and that works well for you is simply experimenting. And playing several matches vs your trainer in the pub can help you a lot here as it doesn't matter if something doesn't work and if it does you can stack up on some extra cards. It's a win-win.
10. The amount of cards of each type is limited. While the starting cards list '99' (they are unlimited), other cards you gather have a limit of 20 each. This should be more than enough, even if you are losing cards regularly. Exceptions to this is that some cards simply can not be found that many to even approach that number. Chests generally contain anywhere from 1 through 3 cards (the amount is NOT random, so don't feel sad if you get only 1 card... then this is coded that way). For example the Eleptoclypse card is only one in existence, but that's also a special one: you can't lose it. And it's the strongest tickle card in the game, although you probably want to keep it for later when you get your advance up a little faster and easier.
11. Beware also that a playing deck that works NOW might not work your entire career! First of all, the higher level opponents you fight, the better cards they have. To keep your deck effective, it is recommended to customize whenever you feel you can make it better. Be especially wary of floor 8. It's common opponent is extremely cute but also extremely dangerous. She will likely make you wonder if she is overpowered but all you need to do is rethink your strategy and build your deck accordingly. Doing it right means you will not have such difficulties beating her anymore.
12. Floors generally have a common encounter (opponent of the same level as the floor number) and a smaller chance of a uncommon encounter (opponent from the floor below). You might see the higher level encounters maybe one out of ten roughly. If that happens, you'll have a tougher fight but also a chance on winning a card you haven't seen yet.
13. Once you gain your level, you will not run into opponents of that level (and lower) as frequently anymore as you did before. This makes it easier and quicker to navigate the caves, for example when you need to go back to the pub for training.
14. After level 5 there is no more training. Once you have slain the first boss opponent (you can reach level 6 before you do this) the game will take a dramatic turn and after you have talked about your accomplishments with the bartender you can descend to floor 6. From that moment on you won't have to run back and forth between the pub and floor you were fighting on anymore. Just wanted to note that to those who get frustrated about the trip getting longer and longer... the game changes a bit after level 5.
15. "Sometimes taking a step back is better than taking two steps forward". A card like "Burn the Bridges" may not seem very appealing for you to actually use, but I can tell you that in a number of tickle fights it has been the difference between losing and coming out victorious. When you can't tickle very much and your opponent seems to beat you within a few turns this card can give you the breathing space you need, gather some new advance and hopefully get the time to get a few better cards into your hands. "Burn the Bridges" is just an example of these 'utility cards', for most such cards you will certainly find excellent uses in times of need.
16. If you're totally stuck on how to put your deck together, why not take an example from your opponent? Before each fight starts you can browse through their deck to see what cards they have in their play-deck. During play you can see what their strategy is and that can possibly teach you something about how you could change your strat. Experience does not only come in numbers of won fights, it also comes through learning how to master the card game, to experiment and look at how opponents play it.
17. A final tip still about your deck. Be sure to keep a little bit track of which cards you are losing (if possible) and that your play-deck and library are still in good shape. When losing too many cards of a certain type from your library, it will not be able to replenish your play-deck anymore and you might simply run out of that card completely, which might badly impact your strategy and chances on winning. So beware of holes falling into your play deck. You WILL be warned when your play-deck gets smaller than the minimum of 20 cards (and you NEED to put new cards into the play deck before you can continue when that happens) but if you just lose a couple of cards from it (when it's bigger than 20 cards) you might not notice.

That's all. I hope you're having as much fun playing and collecting the cards as I did. Personally, especially in the beginning, it felt wonderful to gain a new level and see my cards becoming easier to play... or see them become less useful and better cards become available in their place. Personally I very easily kept forgetting to go to my deck and adjust it a little when I meant to... then I thought of it once I ran into a new opponent at which point you can't change your deck until the match is over again... at which point I had again forgotten. The fights are fun, captivating, can be challenging and hmmm... enjoy!


IloHnoH.

So the game Eleptoclypse is a card-game. And not just any card game, it's what they call a "customizable card game" (or CCG). Those of you who are familiar with games such as Magic the Gathering, or the Pokemon card game, this is a game quite like that! (Except that it is not a copy of those games, it works a little different and has some different rules).


First of all, for those who are unfamiliar with the concept of CCGs: Basically these are collectable cards which in Real Life you generally buy at a store. Which cards you are exactly buying you never know beforehand, there's generally a randomized set of cards in the bags/box, unless you buy a presorted starter box. You can start playing with these cards with friends, and you can always keep adding new cards to your collection by buying more 'booster packages', commonly containing some common cards, uncommon cards and a rare card. From these cards you create your play deck. For most of these CCGs they also keep national or even international contests.

So that was just the basic information... let's have a look at Eleptoclypse now. Because here you don't have to buy your cards in the shop. It works different.

When the game starts you will already have a pre-made deck to play with. You find yourself in the pub (see initial teaser picture) and there's a number of people there. You can talk to them and challenge them to a "Tickle Fight Duel". While the duel itself is considered "an actual tickle fight", the fight itself plays out by playing the cards. Each of the cards represents actions which will translate to what you are doing in the actual fight.

The bartender is a special NPC (Non-player character). You can't duel with him, but he is useful for the storyline and giving you some explanations, instructions, etc. Through him you can also switch the story-mode off (once you have reached level 2 or higher... you'll be playing in story mode for the first level, to get a hang of it and decide whether you really want to continue that or not).

Please have a look at the first screen shot attached to this post, but beware... it looks rather complex from first sight. Don't worry, you'll get used to this lay-out fast and once you know 'what is what', it'll be quite easy to handle. This game isn't as difficult to pick up as you might think from first sight.

Let me start at the left. On the top left you see some red boxes with symbols and statistics. Those are your opponent's. Generally, everything that's marked in red affects the opponent. Everything marked in green belongs to you. So indeed at the bottom left you see the same boxes in green.

The first box contains the word "Endurance". Endurance is possibly the MOST important thing in the tickle fights! Logical, of course, because if you can't endure a lot then your opponent doesn't have to tickle you for long to win. The higher your endurance, the more tickling you can endure. You see that this box contains a symbol (arrow pointing up). This is the symbol for endurance. It is in the box to help you remember that. You will see this symbol later on the playing cards as well, so you know that when you see a red arrow pointing up, it is about the opponent's endurance. When you see a green arrow on a card, it tells something about YOUR endurance.

The second box has the word "Advance" and the letter A. You probably already understand that the letter A is the symbol for 'Advance'. Once again, there's a red A and a green A. The former is your opponent's and the latter is yours. Advance is basically your aggressiveness, or your strength. You can understand that while you are being tickled heavily, it will be hard to retaliate... but e.g. when your opponent loses balance, you actually have an advantage. You might indeed see this as your 'advantage' in the fight. The height of your advantage defines what techniques (basically cards) you can use. And that brings me to the dollar sign you see on the right of the Advance number. This has nothing to do with valuta as such, but the dollar symbol is used in the meaning of "card cost". Each card has a so called "card cost". Basically, the card cost is the amount of Advance you have to have in order to be able to play that card. That's why Advance is linked to $.

Finally, there is the box with the word Level. I guess level speaks for itself. The higher your level, the tougher you are and the more difficult you are to beat. If you tickle-fight with an opponent who is lower level than you are you'll have an easy go, if you fight with someone who's tougher than you you'll have a rather hard time... but depending on strategy, your cards and a bit of luck you might still win. Your level defines your maximum Endurance (also marked in the Endurance box) and your starting Advance for each fight. On top of that, a higher level tickle fighter commonly has also a few 'better' cards in his or her hand. In the green 'Level' box you also see the word 'Exp.' This number increases through tickle fight training (with trainers in the pub) and through real field experience (in the cave outside the pub). You to have enough of both in order to gain a level.


Okay, so now we know that in the tickle fights Endurance and Advance play a big role, as well as the cards you have and play. Let's take a closer look at your card deck now. In the second screenshot you can see all the cards that you have (well, 5 at the time, there's more, you can scroll through them on the top part, called the 'library'). The bottom of the screen is your 'play deck'. Those are the cards you're shuffling and using in your next fight(s). Up to 30 cards can go into your play deck and you can drag cards from the library (on top) to your deck (on the bottom). You can see some big numbers on top of the cards. This is the amount of cards of that type that are still in the library. When you drag a card into the play deck, you'll see the number decrease by one. You see that there's a card with the amount of '99'. That means you have unlimited of those cards. All the starting cards are unlimited. This is done so that you can never run out of cards to build your deck to the minimum of 20 cards. You see one card with a question mark on it in the library (actually, at the beginning most of the cards in the library have a question mark). This means you do not have any card of that type yet at all. You will have to find it, or earn it.

By the way, if you think the texts on the cards is rather small, don't worry, hovering over the card always enlarges it, so you don't have to squint.


Let's go back to the first screen shot again, so I can start to explain how you earn more cards to put into your library, and into your play deck. On the left of the screen you see a box with the word "Stake". There is a card at the bottom (in the green-ish area) and a card on the top (in the red-ish area). You probably already guess it: The card in the red area is one of the opponent's cards. More precisely: This is one of the cards of the opponent's PLAY DECK. Before the tickle fight starts, you get to browse through the opponent's play deck and select a card from it that they have to put up as stake. If you win the tickle fight, you get to KEEP that card. Add it to your library and be happy! But... you already guess it... the opponent will do the same thing. They will choose a card from your play deck and it will show at the bottom. If you LOSE the fight, you will also lose that card. One note with this: When you play with a trainer (i.e. in the pub) losing does not have this penalty for you. The trainer who is teaching you how to tickle fight and build up your skill is not going to take one of your cards. That's also why in the screen shot you see that the card on your side is 'face down'. But if you win from the trainer, you do get to keep their card and that is your first way of collecting a few cards that you did not have yet. Once you go into the cave (where the real danger awaits you) things will be more challenging. If you lose you will also lose a card.


Before I'm telling more about the first screen shot, let's have a look at the THIRD picture attached to this post. I enlarged one of the cards to show it to you. It is the "Exposed Advantage" card. This is one of the many 'tickle cards'. On top of it you see the title of the card, below it a picture. These have little other meaning than to just give a bit an impression of 'what the card does' and to easily recognize it. In the beginning you probably have to read every card but soon enough you'll see that you remember what a card does and can play it quick and easily because you know what the card stands for. You see a series of green and red boxes on the card again. Let's start with the green one on the left top corner of the picture. It says '$2'. As I explained earlier, $ is the card cost. So this card "costs" 2 to play. And that is 2 Advance. (remember: the $ is in the box with the "A" and word "Advance"). The card cost won't reduce your Advance, but you have to have enough in order to play it!

Below the picture are four more boxes. Two green ones: one with A (Advance) and one with the arrow (Endurance). The same counts for the red boxes. Well, in the green box with the arrow is a number: "-1". This means, that if you play this card, your Endurance (that's what the arrow stands for) will be reduced by 1. It is 15 right now, so it'll go to 14. In the box with the RED arrow is a number "-4" however. The red arrow stands for the opponent's endurance. So basically your opponent's endurance will be reduced by 4 if you play this card (right now it's 15, so it will go from 15 to 11). You see that this card does a little bit of harm to yourself, but quite a bit more to your opponent.

The text below the four boxes is just a flavor text. It says something about what the card is about or stands for... like a little bit of extra explanation.


Okay, time to go back to the first screen shot one more time. On the top you see five cards (the back of the cards facing you). That is the opponent's hand. Not his/her deck! From the deck you always draw five cards and put those into your hand. Whenever you play a card then you replenish from the play deck (not shown on the picture) and if you happen to want to discard a card (put away without playing) then you also get a new card from the play deck. Once the play deck runs out of cards, then the deck will be reshuffled and reused. So you can't run out of cards to draw.

Now the bottom of the screen is much more interesting. That's where your hand shows. And those cards are of course visible to you. In the picture you see that you have one "Attack Armpits" card, a "Focus" card, two "Exposed Advantage" cards and a "Tickle Frenzy" card. It's up to you what you want to play next (it happens to be your turn).

Okay, as you can see, you can't play the "Tickle Frenzy" card. There's a big red label "Blocked" on top of the card. Also at the bottom (if you can read it) is a text reflecting that you do not have sufficient 'Advance' to play the card. If you have been following and understanding the story I have been writing so far you can see why: Your Advance currenlty is 2 and the "Tickle Frenzy" card cost is $3. You will need to have at least 3 Advance before you can play that strategy. Note, however... if you examine the "Focus" card... you see that you can easily get there. (I know you can't magnify it now, so you'll have to make do with the small numbers right now). The focus card has no number at all as card cost (which means it's free... you can even play it if your Advance is reduced to 0) and this card builds Advance. There's a "+1" in the green arrow box. So in this situation, if you now play that card, it'll not tickle your opponent, but it will bring your Advance from 2 to 3. Now if your opponent doesn't lower it again in her turn, you can play the Tickle Frenzy card in the next turn after.

The last thing I have to explain is 'discarding' and then I'm done for today. If you can't play a card (such as the Tickle Frenzy card right now) you do not HAVE to keep it until you can play it. You can also choose to remove it from your hand and take a new card in its place from the play deck. This is called "discarding". In case of the blocked card, you can click the entire card to discard it, but if you want to discard a playable card then there's a little red square with the letter 'd' in it that you can click instead. Discarding can only be done during your own turn and beware that if you choose to discard a card, that's also the only thing you can do that turn! You can not play a card and discard a card in the same turn and neither can you choose to discard multiple cards within the same turn.

Last, but not least, with every card played a descriptive 'tickle fight' text reflecting the strategy just played will appear onto the screen (in the screen shot you don't see much of this but there's a better example of that in the last picture. The latest entry from the story text each time goes on top, so you basically have to read them from bottom to top). Both your 'actions' as well as what the opponent does are translated into story form. It will form a complete overview of how exactly the particular tickle fight is playing out. In this respect, each fight will take slightly different paths in one way or another and the higher level you get (due to more strategies being known) and the higher opponent you challenge, the more variations will open up.

Phew. I think that's a pretty good play guide for now. Easier for me to explain this all now than later when the game is released because people are then more impatient to play and don't want to read the whole lap of text.

I forgot a thing though. Just for the record: There are a couple of 'chests' in the caves. If you find these and open them you'll find a couple new cards. Beware that these are generally cards that can ONLY be found in these chests. They can't be won from opponents and they are limited in number. Use them wisely and don't lose them! There's an exception to this rule again and that is the 'golden card'. In the entire game there is an ultra rare card which, once you get it, can't be lost. It's the very strongest tickle card in the entire game and once you get it it is 'bound' to you.

And that is the card named "Eleptoclypse".

Edit: I added two more pictures below. One is the first picture that went public, the other is a "wide-screen" view, for those with a bit larger monitors. Instead of the opponent you see a silhouette on that last picture... this is a setting that you can do if you rather want to read the story (168 different combat texts to go with the tickle fight!) and picture the opponent and tickling in your head, rather than being limited by my artwork.

There's a LOT more to the game than what I have described above, but it's all too much to tell you in one go... if you want more information, please say so.

Alright, in spite of myself, I find this interesting.

This looks fun!!

Sounds great. Looking forward to it.

Similar to one created already simply called the Tickling Card Game. http://www.freewebs.com/ttcg

Yours sounds much more advanced and more features. Plus, the site I supplied above hasn't been updated, the pictures of the cards can't be enlarged anymore and I can't get the game to actually play.

I'm skeptical but interested.

Skulls said:

Sounds great. Looking forward to it.

Similar to one created already simply called the Tickling Card Game. http://www.freewebs.com/ttcg

Yours sounds much more advanced and more features. Plus, the site I supplied above hasn't been updated, the pictures of the cards can't be enlarged anymore and I can't get the game to actually play.

Click to expand...

I had a quick look at the game you linked. I can actually still play it (provided I launch it in my Internet Explorer... for some reason FireFox doesn't want to run the content). Indeed the cards there can't be enlarged (now) and the numbers on them are a little harder to figure out than on Eleptoclypse cards (even though they are small, they're still distinguishable).

From what I could see so quickly, the only thing that Eleptoclypse and the game above have in common is the fact that they use unconventional cards. And they represent tickle actions.

The game you linked seems to follow the MTG system more than Eleptoclypse does in the way that you use cards to block and attack. In Eleptoclypse you only attack but that's not all you use cards for. There are also cards to regain your strength or to get advantage over your opponent. It is more a turn-based card play than a card battle field a la MTG if you know what I mean.

Other things that Eleptoclypse offers that I don't see in the linked game:
- Winning cards and through that collecting new cards you didn't yet have
- Putting your own deck together (so the computer does not decide what cards you play, but you do)
- You see a visualization of your opponent.
- You see that opponent tickled if you win (trainers are an exception)
- There's a cave to explore, cards to be found inside.
- There's a background story to the game (although not very big)
- Draws are resolved by a Jan-ken play-off.
- I think it is less confusing (I got quite overwhelmed by the linked game)
- There's a personalized* certificate showing your up-to-date accomplishments, of which you can take a screen shot and print out, hang on your wall, or whatever you like to do with it (I'll attach a sample of that to this post) *= By personalized I mean, the certificate will show your own name (or whatever name you give it when accessing it first).
- Every level you gain you unlock a special reward picture which is a collection of the opponent that you saw on the latest floor (both as encounter and tickled).
- Tickle fights are 'better' described, in a flowing story mode...

Maybe there's still stuff I am forgetting to mention now... Anyway, it feels huge and it is.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing this. I played the other one that was linked, and some decent effort went into it, to make it as 'CCG-like' as possible. This new one sounds interesting as hell, though!! Ready for more updates!!!

W

This looks really interesting! Are there actually */m opportunities in the game?

Spudmobile said:

This looks really interesting! Are there actually */m opportunities in the game?

Click to expand...

Let me start by saying that there is no /m ARTWORK in the game, but that does not mean that you can't play the game with /m content. If you are willing to play the game in "silhouette mode" (meaning the encounter and tickle pictures are switched off) then there is an option for the story texts to be modified for male encounters. So you might get a text like this during the tickle fight:

"You push his face down onto the floor and take seat on top of his back. With him pinned against the floor by your full body weight he has nowhere to go. You grab hold of one of his ankles and begin rasping your fingernails over his foot, making curvy moves through its arch. This puts him into an extremely excruciating laughing fit."

Alas, if you were hoping for artwork then I have to disappoint you, but the only thing you are really missing is the "encounter picture" and the "tickle reward picture" (the latter being shown when you win a tickle fight).

Then, one of the tickle trainers in the pub is male but although maybe not the kind of man you were hoping for, tickle pictures of the trainers also aren't included.


Then on request, a bit more information...

The story so far...


In the depths of a cave just outside a little town resides a queen... They call her the Tickle Queen. She has cast a spell on the cave and it also affects the whole town outside it. The spell blocks anyone from receiving physical harm by weapons, fist, etcetera. Of course the law enforcers can't use force to keep people from stealing or other crimes... and the cave in which she lives is filled with her minions; a bunch of beggars, bandits, pirates and more. You can't get by them without fighting them... but with all means of doing harm banned... there's no way to get to the Tickle Queen and have the spell undone.

But there is one loophole. The Tickle Queen loves tickling... and tickling is the only way to have victory over someone opposing you. Only by exhausting the opponent enough so that they can't resist you any longer you gain passage past them. This has lead to a new trend: Tickle Training. The town desperately needs a hero who is skilled at tickling and can take a bit of tickling him-/herself as well. Of this hero is requested to travel down to the depths of the cave and tickle-fight their way through. On the way they might learn new tricks and moves which can help them fight even more effective. You, of course, are that hero. And luckily you're not all on your own. A number of citizens have already gained a bit of skill in tickling and are more than happy to provide you some training to help you on your way.


Some other facts...

- In total 42 different collectible cards (you start the game having only 5 of them)
- Roughly 160 different combat phrases which intelligently switch point of view between opponent and player
- A slightly randomized cave system (built first time you launch the game) with 9 levels, in total roughly 320 locations.*
- The player starts at level 1 and can fight him-/herself all the way up to be a level 10 Tickle Fighter.
- Higher level of course comes with more power... and with the possibility to aqcuire better cards.
- There are no tickle pictures of the trainers (in the pub) but all the other opponents out in the cave (10 unique ones, 9 of which have two colour variations, giving them a little diversity) have.
- The tickle queen herself is at floor 5 of the cave, which intentionally was to be the bottom floor. I was having thoughts of releasing the game and then adding an expansion later... but quite quickly I saw that it was easier and maybe smoother to just take a bit of extra time and include the extra content right away. The result is that the story takes a dramatic turn after you beat the Tickle Queen and there are 4 more floor, 3 more opponents and 12 more cards than were initially planned in the game.



*) Note: Don't expect too much of the 'cave locations'. All of them look pretty dull and similar, but I figured it was wasted time to try and invest a lot of time on the appearance of the cave, I don't think anyone is playing this game because they're interested in seeing wonderful surroundings. To prevent getting completely lost (as you could easily get on just one floor) I have included a little mini-map as well as coordinate display showing your X, Y and floor. These can be switched off in the ini-file if you don't want them, along with some other stuff (such as encounter graphics). Anyway, I didn't mean for this game to become "the impossible maze where you get hopelessly lost and frustrated" so when I saw it was rather hard to explore it without getting completely lost I added the map after I already decided to show coordinates on your screen. The compass was already in, and to keep its functionality I decided to place a little 'dot' on the map instead of an arrow showing you the way you're facing.

Releases of computer games often tend to slip.

However, instead of being delayed, you may be able to get Eleptoclypse one day early!

The fact is that I like special days and one such day is coming: The Equinox. This year it falls on the 20th of this month (coming Friday) and that's one day ahead of the planned release date, so I am working hard to get it all ready for then. Your weekend and the fun may thus begin a day early.



Then a little more information that I think I skipped earlier:

Initially I had written the code in such way that if both of your endurances would drop to zero simultaneously (yes, this is possible) the opponent would automatically win and walk off with your stake card. I have since changed that. Included into the game is what you could call a little mini-game that is triggered when this situation occurs. So, if you see that you can't win or have too big a risk of losing, but one of the cards in your hand drains the opponent enough to get his/her endurance to zero while also doing the same to you... you can decide to 'go for broke'. What follows is a cute representation of the two tickle fighters (you and your opponent) in a so called Jan-ken play-off (rock-paper-scissors for those who are not familiar with the Japanese name). A very brief view of that can be seen in the trailer I posted on top.

-> Now this situation arose fairly easily for me while I was play-testing the first level(s) but later on the numbers are all a bit bigger and chances to get this opportunity somehow seem to really diminish. I might give an opportunity to play these little mini-games on the reward pages as well (once a reward is opened) so you won't have to miss out on those. There will be no catch and nothing to gain from the rewards page, those will be just for fun.

Something about the Eleptoclypse.ini file. There will be an ini file coming along with the game, in which you can make a couple of settings. I'll explain a bit about those now.

- Widescreen: The game comes in two shapes: A compact version and a widescreen version. In the compact version everything is a bit more clumped together while in the wide screen version I have separated the graphics+story section from the card play area, making it a bit easier to see the picture and having also more space for the tickle combat phrases. By default this setting is set to "auto" which makes the program check whether the wide screen version fits on your screen. It will then either display the wide screen version or the compact version. You can override this (either way) by changing the value from "auto" to "on" or "off". Restarting the game is needed for this to take effect.

- Minimap: This setting defines whether you will be seeing the mini-map during your cave exploration. I recommend it switched on (which is also the default) but for those who like getting lost or draw maps by hand and make their life more exciting (?) can switch it off. Again, restarting the game is needed for a change to take effect.

- Coords: This is a related setting. If you switch the mini-map off I would recommend keeping the coordinates at least on, so you can see where in the cave you are. But... up to you!

- Visuals: This setting is on by default, allowing you to see the encounter images and tickle images. If you switch it off you will only see a general encounter silhouette. This is useful for those who like to imagine the scenes in their heads rather than having to rely (or being limited to) what's shown in my artwork.

- Horror: By default this is switched 'on'. I implemented this one after seeing that the artwork of the common floor 7 encounter was rather spot on... and possibly more of a turn-off than a turn-on to a number of people. So this setting will replace the related art during your encounters for THIS ONLY NPC into a common silhouette, taking away some of the otherwise rather unavoidable imagery. Other NPCs will remain seen as usual, unless of course the settings 'visuals' has been switched off.

- Slashmale: (basically /m). This is by default "off", resulting in that all encounters in the cave are female. When switched on they will be male, except for the BOSS NPCs. There are not many of the latter (one on level 5 and one on level 9). As I wrote earlier, there is no artwork for these (unfortunately for those who like /m content) but it was simple enough to at least cater to that group in some way. The combat text is tuned for male encounters that way and e.g. a "beautiful princess" suddenly becomes a "handsome prince". Setting this /m function to 'on' overrides the setting in visuals, to prevent that you see pictures of females while the combat text talks about men. Trainers (in the pub) are NOT affected by this in any way. There's no tickle picture of them, only a general picture. One is always male, four are always female.

ohh man how much longer do I have to wait ^-^

Looks promising! And I hadn't seen the other game mentioned in this thread, that was a fun find too. I'd actually started to write a game like this a while ago until I shelved it (the rules were probably too complicated anyway), so I'm eager to see how it turns out!

Kunzite said:

Looks promising! And I hadn't seen the other game mentioned in this thread, that was a fun find too. I'd actually started to write a game like this a while ago until I shelved it (the rules were probably too complicated anyway), so I'm eager to see how it turns out!

Click to expand...

It was quite a lot of work to get it all together... and then the tuning... but I did it. It's finished and I'm doing some final testing now.



A final update before the release. I'm going to say this again, but I want to say it twice because I think it's important.

The first levels are NOT easy. One of the reasons for this is that the opponents in the cave get to start first (which gives them already a small advantage compared to the training fights where you get to start first). Other than that, there's not too much possibility for strategy yet when you have so few different cards and your opponent basically has a very similar deck.

Only as you start gathering more and better cards you get more and more chance to really build your own strategy and make your play-deck exactly into what fits your playing style best. I think that by level 3 you will begin to see your power grow a bit if you build your play-deck smart. But at the levels below it you will probably see a handful of losses because you are basically equal to your opponent and if they are having a luckier hand than you it easily goes bad at that phase.

I have been playing the upper levels in the last few days (for play-testing), before returning to the beginning of the game and starting from scratch and the difference is very well noticeable. So... if you find the game hard at the beginning... play a lot with the trainer in the pub to stack up on cards well, and try to get at least five wins in the cave. Just know that things will get better for you once you get used to how the game works and what strategies work best for you (or against an opponent).

I also very strongly recommend that people reply to this thread giving their own strategies and even play-deck configurations because that will help those who are not so good at strategy or building a customized deck on their way... and it will possibly bring new ideas for alternative or better strategies to people who hadn't thought of them. This is not really needed for the first two or three levels I suppose, but the higher you get, the more cards you can acquire and the choice of what you play becomes much and much more interesting, varied and even important.

Having that said, there's not one "best strategy", but rather a lot of different ones.

The game will arrive tomorrow (Friday).

Ilo.

I'm pretty excited for this now! Is this going to cost?

Tidas said:

I'm pretty excited for this now! Is this going to cost?

Click to expand...

No, not going to cost anything.

All my tk related works (pictures, comics and games) are completely for free.

The only thing it'll cost you is what you pay to your ISP for online time. If you are on a dial-up connection, you might like to know that the download is about 7Mb in total.

Eleptoclypse has been RELEASED!

See the first post on this thread for more information and for the download.


I hope all of you are having fun with this one. Reactions and comments are very welcome (if the popularity of this game shows, you never know, I might be motivated to make more games in the future)

You're also encouraged to reply to this thread with strategies and your favourite play deck construction, it may give other players ideas of how they can beat the game if they are not good at making their own strategies, decks or if theirs is not working very well.

So once again, enjoy! If you have questions of any kind, you can reach me by replying here, or by PM.

Ilo.

well,i've played it a bit, and it seems like a decent game, but i hate the money/advance element to it. I've been killed too many times because i simply don;t have enough cards to give me money. That being said, perhaps in time, with playing around with my deck, i'll figure out a way around this problem until my character is a little stronger and has more money making cards.

Once again Iloh, you've put out a good game i'm sure many people will enjoy.

Thanks for your feedback, Cosmo ac.

As I said, the beginning is rough, one of the reasons is just the fact that you have so few cards and thus possibilities to change your strategies.

The 'Focus' card is really the absolute basic 'money making card' and doesn't help you much at all if you want to be playing cards that are 2 or 3 higher cost than you currently have. Having that said, things do get a lot easier further on.

Firstly you will get to collect a new card (called "Sticky Business") when you start fighting level 3 opponents in the cave. This one gives you 2 Advance in exchange for 2 Endurance (your starting endurance then being 20). At that point you may want to be a little bit careful with it still, but as your level gets up, spending 2 Endurance isn't at all a biggie unless you're dangerously low on it already.

Additionally, every level you gain, you will start with one more Advance. So at level 3 you will start with 3 Advance, at level 4 you will start the fight with 4 Advance. You will see you get to play cards easier and easier and 4 advance is (with Sticky Business) worked up to 6 advance in an instance.

There's also a card that tickles your opponent while you get 1 extra advance in the process and a bit further on there's even advance transfer (leech) cards. They take away advance from your opponent and give you more. The ultimate Advance card (one in existence and found in the cave) gives the both of you +20 advance. That pretty much makes you able to play any card you wish (there's no cards with a cost that high) but at the cost that your opponent can as well.

It's a juggle between Endurance and Advance, I know... but that's how the game has been designed. Without it it wouldn't have been as dynamic.

I just tried it for a few minutes; it looks like a lot of fun! And just so you know, the /m function is working.

If you happen to find yourself in the situation where the mini map is 'running off the screen' and other content also appears to be incorrectly located... (wide screen mode only) then you probably face a problem that very few seem to have dealing with some resolutions/monitors. There is a simple solution: switching the wide screen mode off. This can be done from the eleptoclypse.ini file which you find in the folder where you installed the game. Just change the following line:

From:

Widescreen=auto

To:

Widescreen=off

Don't forget to save the changes to the ini file. You need to close the game and start it again before the change takes effect.

This is actually quite entertaining. It takes some thinking, and some work, not to mention the additional aggravation. But it's definitely worth playing and working with.

Nice game. I love card games like this and i thank you for combining that element with tickling. Having a little trouble finding the world of the undead or the tomb or whatever it is but i'm sure i'll get it.

5150 said:

Nice game. I love card games like this and i thank you for combining that element with tickling. Having a little trouble finding the world of the undead or the tomb or whatever it is but i'm sure i'll get it.

Click to expand...

It's on the same 'side' of floor 5 where you fought the Tickle Queen, from her room you just have to go a bit more south and then walk around to the west and north and it's somewhere there.

As you might have found out, floor 5 is split in two sections (West and East) which are not connected to each other, save by floor 4. It's the only floor in the game that acts that way. So if you're in the wrong section you have to go up the rope back to floor 4 and take the other rope down (they're next to each other but not as such reachable without walking a bit around). Tricky to explain but I hope you get the idea. Oh, and the East section is of course the place where you can find the biggest tickle card in the game.

Thank you for this addictive little piece of PC wizardry, Ilo. Time flies by so quickly while I'm playing! I enjoy the mechanics, which work well to drive the game of resource management

I've found that at Level 7 the risk involved in acquiring enough A to play the heaviest-hitting cards is usually not acceptable unless i'm already dominating the match, but that might just be a weakness of my deck.

In case you'll be continuing to update this game, here's my wish list! (Caveat: i don't know how difficult these features would be to implement.)

* Bug fix: Program crashes if a fight lasts too long. Possibly triggered by discarding all the cards left in the deck? This has happened to me several times, and i assume my stake card was lost.

* Bug fix: Enemy image remains on screen if player is attacked while exiting cave. Requires restart? (Didn't try initiating a new fight, though.)

* Feature: Mapping the forward/left/right buttons to the W/A/D keyboard buttons. Would make cave navigation more intuitive.

* Feature: While choosing a stake card, a view of all the opponent's cards at once (small + zoom) for easier selection.

* Feature: While choosing a stake card, a number indicating how many of each card you already possess (deck and reserve combined).

* Most Wanted Feature!: An ini variable to control card animation speed.

This list is by no means knocking this gem of a game -- they're just some things which might add some extra user-friendliness to it


Thank you again, Ilo! Bravo!

-PJ