itch.io

Yep, it's a bug. Unfortunately it'll require another client update (I always try to avoid updating the client as much as possible). I'll put a new devlog out when it's available (within 30mins from now hopefully)

Just did a quick test, and it does indeed seem that if the character name exists, it just gets stuck in a loop. Essentially, that's a Name already taken error that's failing to show.

Exit the game by going to home from the system menu, then come back in. It may show the name you tried with "Name already taken" under it, but if you try a new name (and that name doesn't exist!) you'll advance to the appearance selection screen and be able to continue.

Added to the bugfix list!

I posted these tips in Discord the other day, see if any of this helps!

- You do need to be close to your wifi point as the Playdate's wifi radio seems pretty weak.

- I've found that resetting my router/access point sometimes helps

- You could try fully restarting the PD (Settings->Restart Playdate)

- Failing all that, if you're able to connect your PD to a PC with the simulator running (simulator comes with the SDK) you can see the console logs for the game, might be something in there.

- You could try renaming your save game and creating a new character to see if that helps. Again, only if you can connect your PD to a computer, but go into data disk mode and find the com.garethiw.pq folder and rename it. The game will then boot up as if it was a fresh start. If that works, I can help you get your character back if you want to.

Oh snap! If you were looking for a certain fish in a certain "secret" location, that loot table was broken at launch. It's now fixed.

Character slots are now in! Oh, and the crank (in a way)

Explore to the east of the forest outside the village

You need to explore east of the forest outside the village!

Definitely on the list to do character slots. And we've had some rigorous discussions about avatar customisation on Discord. A top/middle/bottom body selection was deemed most likely, probably with parts as rewards/drops.

Thanks for the feedback on the voice chat! It'll help me with a bit more testing, and hopefully make it more stable in future!

We only have a thread on the Playdate Squad discord in games-and-apps.

I think the first expansion definitely covers some of your points here! 

Voice chat has always worked better if you get right up on the mic. I tried a few methods to boost the volume/sensitivity, but it ended up blowing out the audio and making feedback.

As far as crank use goes, when I do end up using it it'll likely be for non-combat stuff. I guess it's a very personal preference, but I'm not a fan of games that require crank use along with dpad or a/b. I know PQ isn't exactly twitch gaming, but you do sometimes need to reposition/use targeting quite rapidly in some situations and throwing in some use of crank there just feels like it'd be uncomfortable to me.

How do we all feel about fishing?!

As far as secrets and puzzles go - i would LOVE to do more of that kind of stuff as well.

Thanks so much! And yeah, would love to get it on catalog one day, but I fear there will be many hoops to jump through to get there...

Your regular keys will be renamed Rusty Key and will still work in chests fine - just not in the new areas :)

Was bugged, should now be fixed!

My biggest tip is to be as close to your WiFi point as possible. In the options menu, turn on net stats for a bit of a debug display:

P=Last ping time A=Avg ping D=Disconnect count.

An average ping around 200 is usually smooth.

Might also depend on your location - the server is eastern US.

cheers Guv!

aaaaand the new content got pummeled in the first 30 mins! 😂

I'll post them as devlogs, this one just went up! https://gareth.itch.io/pq/devlog/1555767/pointlessquest-first-content-update

Not exactly patch notes, but I'm terrible at remembering everything that changed - I need to keep better notes!

interesting! But makes sense, yeah. I'll have to look into making a Mac-compatible library. I'm guessing the DLL stripping is either a security feature of the simulator, or maybe defender is culling it?

The download here on the itch page will always be the latest version you need. You can download it and drag+drop it on the https://play.date/account/sideload/ sideload page and it'll update your installed version (you may have to nudge the playdate to update it from the Folders section!)

Have you registered the simulator? I think you need to for online stuff to work.

It should pop up and ask for internet permission, maybe you chose no by accident? You can check the permission in system->settings

It definitely does work with the simulator, so keep trying stuff!

For now, consider this board the official place for feedback, suggestions and questions. If the game continues to grow, I will make an official Discord for us.

This does sound like your save is possibly corrupted :|

If you can, hook your Playdate up as a USB drive, and copy the saved data for Etad to a computer (the whole folder including all the "mapstate-x.json" files), zip it up and send it to me (gareth@garethw.net), and I'll get you fixed up.

Yep, no big secret to this one! All the cranks are out in the swamp on tables. Try northwest-ish 😉

This all looks bloody amazing, congrats! I played a lot of 688 Attack Sub on the Amiga as a kid, so I'm hyped for this.

The version on Catalog is the exact same as on Itch. They're both the complete game with all three chapters.

Itch doesn't have spoiler markup, so I've made a gist with graded spoilers for this one!

https://gist.github.com/GarethIW/3fb0559968d35c771f8390759cb695a7

Huh. That's concerning.

Did you put the first three keys in the door before looking for the 4th?

If so, sounds like your save got corrupted somehow.

You can fix it yourself by editing mapstate-9.json, search for "hasKeys" and change it to 4.

Or send mapstate-9.json and playerstate.json to gareth@garethw.net

Oh no! That certainly is something I hadn't thought of.

I'll need some time to patch this, but I can fix it for you right away if you are able to send the `playerstate.json` file from the save folder (via data disk mode) to gareth@garethw.net

OR, if you're comfortable editing json, simply change "position" (near the bottom of the file, with only one indent) from "x":21 to "x":18 in the playerstate.json file

You're not the only player I've had to give hints to for this key - I think I underestimated the logic of this puzzle! Might need to patch in a hint or rethink it entirely 😯

Itch still somehow doesn't have spoiler markup for comments, so I made a gist with graded hints. 

I'm assuming this is the key you're missing, but let me know if it is a different one.

I don't have a complete walkthrough, but reply with where you are in the game and what items you've found and I'll give you some hints :)

Simply download and sideload the new version. Your save game will be intact as long as you don't delete it yourself.

Edit: I should mention that you need to sideload the same way (either via web or usb) that you did with chapter one as the game directories are named differently on device depending on the method you use.

The save that I supplied is far from a "perfect" save, but does leave you with plenty of food and a few rocks iirc. While I applaud you for getting through C1 without using food, it is there to be eaten 😅

If you do need to use the save file for any reason, instructions are at the bottom of this post.

It's a save game at the end of chapter one. You can ignore it :)

It's a save at the end of chapter one in case anyone lost their save. Explained here: https://gareth.itch.io/etad/devlog/463304/legend-of-etad-chapter-two-update-out-...

Ah whoops, that's for the chapter 2 launch on Friday 😅

Oooh, I quite like the idea of a compass, at least as a held item. Added to the to-do list :)

I was thinking the other day it would be fun to give some of the bosses voice lines... but there's simply not enough ram to spare!

Hey! Thanks for the kind words. I posted some spoilered hints about the spider mines here