Delicious Fruit
Download Game Screenshots
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by Kilgour22
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by CanusAntonius
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by Gizmo
Creator's Comments:
phgQED [Creator]
After letting a very small amount of time pass, I'm mostly okay with the reception this game received. My main worry is that people won't have played the original Tethys or its immediate derivatives enough to understand why my approach to needle design was so constrained. Normally, a map needs 3 things for it to feel like 'me': fruit, water, and an f-jump. You can get two out of three here, but my inclusion of fruit is actually kind of controversial in regards to Tethys-likes (at least in my opinion, in that I haven't seen it done before).
The original Tethys is almost entirely straightforward 32px needle for the first half, and many of the screens had jumps I studied directly. In this endeavor, Serotonin was more of a guidance, and the things I took away from that game were t-boned gates and diagonals—lots of diagonals, with 16px block layouts. If possible, it might be more fun to look at this game as a direct inspection and attempted recreation of those specific elements—or, you can just say, as a needle game, it is quite limited and generic. That's a consequence of it being my first game, which is hopefully something I can overcome in the future.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to play and review this game. I'm blown away at how many people left their thoughts and feelings. It's my sincere hope that the next 'real' game I release will be more approachable and enjoyable for everyone. <#~
The original Tethys is almost entirely straightforward 32px needle for the first half, and many of the screens had jumps I studied directly. In this endeavor, Serotonin was more of a guidance, and the things I took away from that game were t-boned gates and diagonals—lots of diagonals, with 16px block layouts. If possible, it might be more fun to look at this game as a direct inspection and attempted recreation of those specific elements—or, you can just say, as a needle game, it is quite limited and generic. That's a consequence of it being my first game, which is hopefully something I can overcome in the future.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to play and review this game. I'm blown away at how many people left their thoughts and feelings. It's my sincere hope that the next 'real' game I release will be more approachable and enjoyable for everyone. <#~
Tagged as: Needle
Tethys-like
[0] Likes
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
May 5, 2022
26 Reviews:
cLOUDDEAD
neat visuals and music, but the needle leaves a lot to be desired. Pretty much every save is 2-3 jumps, so the difficulty balancing is pretty volatile. Most saves are around the low 50s in terms of difficulty, but a few stand out with excessive precision to the point that anyone looking for a 50-60 needle game would likely have a lot of trouble getting past at all. this, combined with the number of saves that can be skipped by just shooting a save when you aren't suppose to makes it feel like the testers really let the maker down here. with a bit of polish, this would be a pretty serviceable mid difficulty needle game. I'ts definitely the most fun needle I've played from phg at least.
Tagged as: Needle
[3] Likes
Rating: 5.0 50
Difficulty: 60 60
Apr 26, 2022
Jopagu
What a phenomenal game. PhgQED set out to imitate Tethys, and did so really well. AIW is the best kind of "x-like" game, where it uses much of the style from the original, but deviates in significant ways that create a unique feel. AIW is very much its own game, and it's very much a Phg game. One of the places this is most prominent is in the incorporation of apples. They're used as decorative elements, in one notable screen dividing the screen into regions, and they're also used to create interesting jumps, that make this game stand out from other pure needle. The inclusion of rarely seen elements like apple walks definitely contributes to the uniquity of this game. Other aspects feel like Phg needle, but they're more nebulous so I'll just let you see for yourself. One final note here, Phg composed the music for this game themself, which is an incredible achievement, and he displays mastery of composition by creating very Dopamine feeling music that contributes to the themes of the game, something that's super hard to do.
The game itself is really fun. I personally found that this is a more enjoyable game than Tethys, which contributes to its higher rating, even though I think there are other things Tethys did better. The needle is more distinct, and there are fewer annoying tight jumps. This connects to my interpretation of the themes, but it also just makes for a better flowing experience. There is some imbalance between saves, but it's frankly not very egregious, and nothing felt significantly different from its surroundings. The screens use a lot of different layouts and block/spike designs, creating diverse and memorable screens. The jumps also flow really well, and saves are good lengths. The game isn't afraid to have a longer save followed by a single jump save, and that works well for avoiding awkward saves.
That's it on the gameplay, but I want to spend some time analyzing the themes. According to the readme, AIW is a word referring to life force, and eternity. To me, this is immediately evocative of divinity. And given that it is a proto-Indo-European word, this is an ancient divinity. A God that's watched over this world as since the first amoeba emerged from the primordial sludge. A god to whom the life of a human is but a fleeting moment. The first stage approaches one way of reaching this god, through death and bloodshed. It's hidden behind the blocks and the spotlight, but the background here is a bloody scene, with swords impaled into vague gore. Death is the end of vitality, and the beginning of eternity. So it's no surprise it's used to evoke AIW, while giving a nod to the liminality that's so heavy in Tethys. There's a lot of cool stuff in this stage, but I want to mention one specific screen, that has you travelling between pillars of blocks. To me, this conjured images of trees. Specifically ancient trees, like great redwoods. These trees tower over mankind, and care not for our passing. Our blood spills on their roots and it matters not. In a lot of modern fantasy media, and classical mythology, trees have a place as divine beings, notably the World Tree Yggdrasil. The image I had of these massive tree very much felt like a meeting with the divine.
The second stage is another way to approach a god, through altered states of consciousness. Many cultures throughout history used these to commune with divinity, through drugs, starvation, lack of sleep, and more. The second stage's tileset uses rainbow spinning visuals to create a trippy drug-like feeling, like you're using an altered state of consciousness to commune with the eternal. The background is a barely there image, fading in and out of view. It creates the feeling like you're seeing God at the edge of your vision. It's a transcendent experience, but one that you can't fully see, and that can't be put into words. The game captures this feeling really well, and it was something special to play through.
As for the things Tethys does a bit better, the first is the mid screen. The one in AIW isn't very memorable, and just uses an apple jump that's not very unique. It's still a thematic experience, but the one in Tethys feels very special, and resonates much more. Secondly, the clear screen. AIW's clear screen is very good, but the visuals are a bit lacking. I love the music, and how there's a haunting melody that kicks in only if you linger on the clear screen, which I was motivated to do by how thought provoking the game was. However, Tethys uses a specific image, that's one of the single most memorable images I've seen in fangames. It's legitimately haunting, emotionally evocative, and thematically resonant. I don't think AIW does a bad job here, but the one in Tethys is just such an incredible thing, it's impossible to beat.
[2] Likes
The game itself is really fun. I personally found that this is a more enjoyable game than Tethys, which contributes to its higher rating, even though I think there are other things Tethys did better. The needle is more distinct, and there are fewer annoying tight jumps. This connects to my interpretation of the themes, but it also just makes for a better flowing experience. There is some imbalance between saves, but it's frankly not very egregious, and nothing felt significantly different from its surroundings. The screens use a lot of different layouts and block/spike designs, creating diverse and memorable screens. The jumps also flow really well, and saves are good lengths. The game isn't afraid to have a longer save followed by a single jump save, and that works well for avoiding awkward saves.
That's it on the gameplay, but I want to spend some time analyzing the themes. According to the readme, AIW is a word referring to life force, and eternity. To me, this is immediately evocative of divinity. And given that it is a proto-Indo-European word, this is an ancient divinity. A God that's watched over this world as since the first amoeba emerged from the primordial sludge. A god to whom the life of a human is but a fleeting moment. The first stage approaches one way of reaching this god, through death and bloodshed. It's hidden behind the blocks and the spotlight, but the background here is a bloody scene, with swords impaled into vague gore. Death is the end of vitality, and the beginning of eternity. So it's no surprise it's used to evoke AIW, while giving a nod to the liminality that's so heavy in Tethys. There's a lot of cool stuff in this stage, but I want to mention one specific screen, that has you travelling between pillars of blocks. To me, this conjured images of trees. Specifically ancient trees, like great redwoods. These trees tower over mankind, and care not for our passing. Our blood spills on their roots and it matters not. In a lot of modern fantasy media, and classical mythology, trees have a place as divine beings, notably the World Tree Yggdrasil. The image I had of these massive tree very much felt like a meeting with the divine.
The second stage is another way to approach a god, through altered states of consciousness. Many cultures throughout history used these to commune with divinity, through drugs, starvation, lack of sleep, and more. The second stage's tileset uses rainbow spinning visuals to create a trippy drug-like feeling, like you're using an altered state of consciousness to commune with the eternal. The background is a barely there image, fading in and out of view. It creates the feeling like you're seeing God at the edge of your vision. It's a transcendent experience, but one that you can't fully see, and that can't be put into words. The game captures this feeling really well, and it was something special to play through.
As for the things Tethys does a bit better, the first is the mid screen. The one in AIW isn't very memorable, and just uses an apple jump that's not very unique. It's still a thematic experience, but the one in Tethys feels very special, and resonates much more. Secondly, the clear screen. AIW's clear screen is very good, but the visuals are a bit lacking. I love the music, and how there's a haunting melody that kicks in only if you linger on the clear screen, which I was motivated to do by how thought provoking the game was. However, Tethys uses a specific image, that's one of the single most memorable images I've seen in fangames. It's legitimately haunting, emotionally evocative, and thematically resonant. I don't think AIW does a bad job here, but the one in Tethys is just such an incredible thing, it's impossible to beat.
Rating: 9.1 91
Difficulty: 56 56
Jul 15, 2022
voraciousreader
Difficulty based on hard mode
Hard mode review: it's basically the easy mode with less saves, but since the save placement was my main gripe with the easy mode, I'd highly recommend going straight to the hard mode if you can handle 60 diff needle
Easy mode review:
Enjoyed it overall, great visuals and music and mostly fun and fresh jumps (except a few zigzaggy drops and 16px landings)
The difficulty balance is a bit all over the place, with some very short saves and a couple jumps that stick out. I feel that it would be even better if the save length and difficulty was smoother, but all in all if you like the style you'll enjoy AIW
[2] Likes
Hard mode review: it's basically the easy mode with less saves, but since the save placement was my main gripe with the easy mode, I'd highly recommend going straight to the hard mode if you can handle 60 diff needle
Easy mode review:
Enjoyed it overall, great visuals and music and mostly fun and fresh jumps (except a few zigzaggy drops and 16px landings)
The difficulty balance is a bit all over the place, with some very short saves and a couple jumps that stick out. I feel that it would be even better if the save length and difficulty was smoother, but all in all if you like the style you'll enjoy AIW
Rating: 7.9 79
Difficulty: 59 59
Apr 27, 2022
moogy
For some reason this reminded me more of the Uhuhu Spike games than anything. Some cool usage of apples, most jumps were fun. I usually hate this sort of visual style but it worked for me here; it's easy enough that having to scout ahead a bit with the spotlight adds some spice instead of just being obnoxious.
Also this is one of the rare fangames that is not illegal... actually apparently it uses some sprite rips. Almost!
[2] Likes
Also this is one of the rare fangames that is not illegal... actually apparently it uses some sprite rips. Almost!
Rating: 7.0 70
Difficulty: 59 59
Apr 27, 2022