For the past few months, I have been working on a one-level Yoshi's Island hack. This was originally intended to be my entry for the YI level design contest, but I decided to polish it up and give it an "official" release.
With that said, I present to you Yoshi's Castle Escape. This hack is (very loosely) based off of the visual-novel/puzzle game, 999. You don't need to have played the game to understand this hack, but if you have, then even better! (The game is definitely worth checking out if you haven't played it, btw)
The core mechanic of this hack is choosing between multiple paths. Basically, you're trapped in a castle and you're faced with several doors to choose from. Each of the doors leads to a locked area, and the only way to proceed is by solving a puzzle to find the key. The goal is to find the number 9 door and escape, which can only be achieved by going through the correct combination of doors. Additionally, the path you choose affects your final score. All of the wrong paths will lead to a "bad ending" where it is impossible to get a 100%. There are a few hints placed around the level to guide you to the right path, but you'll still likely end up playing the level a few times before getting it right.
This is a very long level. If you're going for 100%, it can take hours to beat, and that isn't an exaggeration either. I highly recommend giving yourself a savestate at each of the midpoints, just in case you start to feel too burnt-out and want to take a break from playing.
Here are some screenshots:
Lastly, I just want to say that I really enjoyed making this hack. One of my goals for this hack was to come up with new and creative puzzles that have never been explored before in a Yoshi's Island hack. This hack took a lot of planning and experimentation to get it to turn out the way I wanted, but overall I think it paid off. I hope you too will have as much fun playing this as I did making it! c:
(Though if you aren't a fan of puzzles I can't guarantee that you'll enjoy this, heh)
DOWNLOAD
With that said, I present to you Yoshi's Castle Escape. This hack is (very loosely) based off of the visual-novel/puzzle game, 999. You don't need to have played the game to understand this hack, but if you have, then even better! (The game is definitely worth checking out if you haven't played it, btw)
The core mechanic of this hack is choosing between multiple paths. Basically, you're trapped in a castle and you're faced with several doors to choose from. Each of the doors leads to a locked area, and the only way to proceed is by solving a puzzle to find the key. The goal is to find the number 9 door and escape, which can only be achieved by going through the correct combination of doors. Additionally, the path you choose affects your final score. All of the wrong paths will lead to a "bad ending" where it is impossible to get a 100%. There are a few hints placed around the level to guide you to the right path, but you'll still likely end up playing the level a few times before getting it right.
This is a very long level. If you're going for 100%, it can take hours to beat, and that isn't an exaggeration either. I highly recommend giving yourself a savestate at each of the midpoints, just in case you start to feel too burnt-out and want to take a break from playing.
Here are some screenshots:
Lastly, I just want to say that I really enjoyed making this hack. One of my goals for this hack was to come up with new and creative puzzles that have never been explored before in a Yoshi's Island hack. This hack took a lot of planning and experimentation to get it to turn out the way I wanted, but overall I think it paid off. I hope you too will have as much fun playing this as I did making it! c:
(Though if you aren't a fan of puzzles I can't guarantee that you'll enjoy this, heh)
DOWNLOAD