The Terror Of The Troll Witch

This is Chapter 2 in the ongoing campaign known as The Life And Times Of Seth Serrenson. This game can be enjoyed as a standalone game, or it can be part of a larger roleplaying experience.

Chapter 1 of this series is called "Halls Of The Goblin Lords" and is available on GooglePlay.


BACK STORY
[Be advised that this back story will contain spoilers for people who have not played the first chapter. If you wish to enjoy the full experience, it is strongly advised that you play "Halls Of The Goblin Lords" first.]

You are Seth Serrenson, an axe-wielding (and only axe-wielding) former mercenary once in the employ of the Viscountess Bayette D'Lasio. After a series of goblin raids in your area, she sent you on a quest to locate, and destroy, the goblin shaman who was a leader of the local clans. Using your usual resourcefulness, you penetrated the mysterious Halls Of The Goblin Lords and worked your way through the underground keep to finally locate Gench, the aforementioned shaman.

To accomplish this, you were assisted by an unnamed goblin who feared that Gench was working for a cause contrary to goblin interests. The goblin would tell you no more.

When you finally confronted Gench, he informed you that Bayette had actually sent you to the Halls Of The Goblin Lords so that you would die there. As of now, you have no idea if he was lying or not. He also spoke of a larger plot of which he was a part, seemingly confirming the worries of the unnamed goblin who assisted you. But there were no further details offered as to the exact nature of said plot.

Before escaping the halls, you found two things of importance. One was a map with a Big X marked on a spot near a small village known as Westmoreland. The other item was a potion of unknown contents.

The immediate back story to Chapter 2 is as follows: You decide to work your way towards Westmoreland, hoping to find some answers there. While on your journey, you recall that a hermit-like potionmaster named Oswego has taken up residence near the abandoned Cryssus homestead. Since it is not far out of your way, you think it might be prudent to let Oswego have a look at the potion. Maybe he can identify it.

That is where our story begins...


GAME PLAY
I think it's safe to say that the controls are fairly standard. That big circle in the lower, left-hand side which looks like a joystick control is actually a joystick control. The "attack" and "jump" icons are on the lower, right-hand side and it should be fairly obvious which is which. The Settings "gear" icon is on the upper, right-hand side. Your score is on the upper, left-hand side.

As with the previous chapter, most people won't have a problem "completing" this chapter. If you're just about accomplishing quests, this should be easy. Hardcore gamers, however, have the option of going for a high score. A couple of levels are timed. The faster you complete them, the better your score. There also what I laughingly call "side quests" - optional opportunities to pick up treasure and kill more monsters, all of which gives you a higher score.

So... where is the health bar? There is no health bar. When you get injured, you hear a heartbeat. The more you get injured, the louder the heartbeat.


DEVELOPMENT NOTES
As usual, I scrimped and cut as much as possible to get this thing under Google's 50Mb limit. Lots of normal maps had to go away. Heck, the troll witch itself was over 10Mb!

I used three separate terrains as well - each one taking about 2.5Mb. So I had to cut a lot to get under the magic number. But I did it - just barely.

I hope to continue this series.