Andddddd the last one!!! Glad to be here!!! It was all a build-up for the endings, which I think are interesting~ Can't wait to check out Protoviolence!
Spoiler:
My final thought is that the puzzle feels very unnecessary most of the time, unfortunately, even with the easy difficulty/skip button. There's a slight confusion among me of why Cautionne would confront us with a gun instead of just using another death trap, and why the hesitation and sort like I understand he's supposed to be a human character in the end, but during the puzzle times he's not veryyyyyy nice, so what's the change? Is it because he is not directly interacting with us??? Hmmm~
By the time Cautionne's using a gun on you, you've already out-maneuvered several of his puzzle-related death traps. For him, it'd be pointless for him to use one at the end since you've proven you can avoid the rest of the traps.
Cautionne's hesitant with his gun because he's never handled a gun before (which he mentions in one of the endings where he kills you).
Cautionne isn't a nice person, but he's also a child who's grappling with grief and the trauma inflicted on him throughout his life. A lot of his mean behavior earlier in the game is because he's far away from you - so he feels comfortable talking down to you. When he physically faces you at the end, with a weapon he's not comfortable using - the weight of what he's doing properly sets in for him, hence why he acts a bit differently.
Likewise, because you're dealing with a traumatized child villain versus a grown adult like Dr. Danger, that's why you're hesitant to kill him in the Spare Ending. You don't care about the other endings - you're just doing your job.
Let me know what you think about protoViolence. I think you might like it more than malViolence since it's a kinetic novel.
Ah for point one, arguably just locking the door can work? But then again maybe he is not prepared! For point two yeah I know he is not used to handling a gun~ I was just wondering if that hesitation also comes from the fact that this action is more direct than the rest of the trap! Which point three also seems to imply that Cautionne is very different in person and far away~
It is mindblowing. The art, the story, the twist, and the character are just so endearing. Loving a supervillain is an overused trope nowadays but it is a new cliche for a reason. To think that it is completely free! I just want to hug the kid at the end of the story, it is so good!!
WEEPING WEEPING....... Each of the endings are satifing in their own way, but the all clues ending is definitely the sweetest. Worth the elbow grease!! The skip button and fail-safes are very much appreciated for repeat playthroughs.
(Spoilers!!!!) Still can't believe he put rat poison in the kibble....waste of perfectly good pellets :'(
i had to know what happens after protoViolence! highly recommend! these puzzles are varied and challenging. the guide is really helpful-- it's still satisfying to solve the puzzle by using the hints, and i only needed to use the solution for one of them. and the slow-drip of story as you move through the rooms is really intriguing :) 10/10 would be Cautionne's lab rat again
Finishing protoviolence first really helped me feel the full effect of the ending to malviolence! 😭 It was an interesting experience seeing how the two connect.
I’m fascinated by the world of STOP and their schemes, hope to see more of it but excited for anything you make
I admit as I had to toggle down the difficulty level and I’m so glad there are hints in this steam guide that helped me out along the way. All the little post its I would have missed had I not read this!! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2977721903
Took a break from Spooktober games for a pick-me-up by playing this VN. I loved protoViolence so much so I was guessing I would enjoy the sequel too. It was entertaining, just as I knew it would be!
I started out hopeful as I was able to do the first couple of puzzles, but oh boy. At some point I had to cling for dear life to the guide to get past the rest of the puzzles, which were all really well-constructed and challenging! I did so badly that I collected all the ways to die/fail embarrassingly easily. My favorite puzzles were probably the Tetris-like puzzle (since I'm obsessed with Tetris) and the breakfast food one.
The entire visual novel looks incredible, from the colorful and lovingly-accessorized character designs to the backgrounds to the puzzles to the interface. The voice acting was super solid as well.
I loved clicking all the details and seeing how they fit in with the lore I knew from playing the prequel. I was so happy to get Ending C. Cautionne is so precious, and I would do anything for him, truly!
I'd be so down to check out another game in the Violence series, but even if there will be only two, I want to thank you for creating such a wonderfully engaging experience! I love this world and its characters with all my heart! <3
Thank you - I'm glad you enjoyed malViolence! >:3c
I'm glad you found the puzzles fun - even if they were super-challenging. speck did an excellent job writing and constructing them - and kigyo helped a lot with making them a reality. I'm also happy you could click the details in malViolence with stuff that would be elaborate on in protoViolence.
I do intend for there to be more to the Violence series - so this won't be the last you'll see of Cautionne and friends! >:3c I love this world very deeply, and I'm eager to expand it even further...
Also yes - Cautionne is the best, isn't he? It's really cool to see how much Pavel has grown since his escape in protoViolence...
So excited to hear about more game/s in this series! I went back and got the other endings, by the way. I'm choosing to accept Ending C (the one I got before I saw the other ending conditions in the guide) as my canon. <3
Yahoo! I'm glad you could go back and enjoy the other endings too. The future entries/games will also all be based off of ending C, so look forward to that. :>
how dare you chekhovs gun me with the "job well done" ending. I still have one ending left to unlock and if anybody else dies I'm going to be sending you my therapy bills
i love this game so so much from the visuals to the sound design, to the voice acting and the puzzles (even if they were hard for me lol) THE STORY HAD ME SOBBING my boy cautionne </3 the only boy to ever...
thanks to everyone who made this game <3 cannot wait to see the next spin-off (normal grip)
just downloaded the game today and finished it today ! Im such a sucker for puzzles so this was basically made for me, I had so much fun until my world shattered at the panopticon. Its okay though I surpassed using SighingSlider's video yay ! yay !
If i were to rate the game I'd give it aaaaaa 9/10 ! Awesome lore, overall huge brain usage experience but 1. i got a headache midway through LOL 2. Game was TOO captivating finished it in onw (1) day and 3. Major LACK of MERCH !!! Love u Cautionne :,(((((
Very enthusiastically seconding the request for merch 😭 I’ve been wanting to ask if that’s something you’d ever consider, glad to hear it’s not off the table!
This is a very well-done puzzle adventure game! To me, it's quite reminiscent of the Zero Escape games in terms of gameplay and design. Here's part 1 of 3 of my playthrough, if anyone's interested:
I waited until the Steam release with its difficulty changes to play it because the comments seemed to indicate that the puzzles were very hard when it was originally released and I think it's a good idea that I did! I'm generally pretty horrible at puzzle-solving, but at least on the default difficulty, I eventually was able to figure them out (though sometimes I felt I just got lucky).
My only frustration is how there are two objects in the last room that are easily missable (the ones you need to click on to unlock one of the endings). The highlighted area for one of them is just so tiny compared to everything else.
Otherwise, everything about the game is well put together and very professional. Cauttione himself being the main star with his eye-catching character design and dynamic animations. Though, I still don't know if I can forgive him for all the extremely gruesome deaths he inflicts on me! 😩
Thank you - I'm really glad you had a lot of fun with malViolence and its many puzzles!The Zero Escape comparisons are absolutely spot-on - it was one of the games that influenced malViolence's development.
About the locations of the two items - you're absolutely right that their hitboxes are way too small. I'll probably make them larger in a later update - so that future players can find them more easily.
Nonetheless - I'm happy you enjoyed everything else, and I look forward to watching your playthrough!
loved the game! played it with a friend, the mission accomplished ending hit me like a freight train, very effective storytelling all around.
so i think ive encountered a bug! first off; the game refuses to log my achievements, it gives me the banner when i complete the achievement, but even after getting almost all of them the achievements window itself says everything is still locked!
secondly (under the spoiler tag);
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secondly; I wanted to get every ending, and used the guide to help me do so. got the Mission Accomplished ending and the Communication Error endings with no issue, but even after using the guide to find every item, instead of getting the Breakout Rule escape ending as the guide said i would, the game still shunted me towards the Communication Error ending. I checked twice, I definitely clicked every item, is this a known bug? is there any way to fix it on my end?
Thanks so much for the kind words - I'm really glad you enjoyed the game as much as you did.
The first bug is a known issue with the game. We're working on it!
As for the second... did you search for everything? There are a couple of items that are hard to find in room 3 - the clipboard in the top room, and the box in the bottom room. You might need to read all of the diary pages too. Missing those can be enough to trigger the Communication Error ending versus Breakout Role.
Just wanted to swing by and give an update now that I've played the Definitive Edition on Steam.
The rebalances is a very nice change, the game definitely feels much more approachable despite the potion mixing puzzle actually defeating me harder this time? I also appreciate that after you've already got a bad ending you don't have to deal with the limit anymore, at least on base difficulty. It's a nice little change. Also highlighting the things you're selecting is really nice. All the new QoL updated you've added are really nice!
I also noticed that some of the text was more properly timed in the voiced tv screen segments rather than just skipping, but it had a few issues with the unvoiced versions skipping too quickly when a sentence went over two lines.
Also am I missing something with the evidence board puzzle, there's something about striking through notes but I'm not sure where the notes are meant to be?
Thank you so much! I'm very glad you like the new QOL updates. :>
With the evidence board puzzle, the notes can be found throughout Room 2. They're a little difficult to see because they're grey, but when you find them, you'll get key clues to help you solve the puzzle.
As for the text skipping, I can fix that easy-peasy in a new update. I just need to make the wait times a bit longer between unvoiced lines.
Hope this helps! I'll try to get the new update out ASAP with my team.
Damn this game is crazy hard, it's amazing that this was made for a jam because this was way beyond my skill level I kinda feel bad skipping over these puzzles, but also it's impressive puzzles of this level of difficulty were put together for a Game Jam.
I'll go back to this game another time, I'll probably have to skip the puzzles when I do because they are way too complicated for me... I think that I was expecting more of a Zero Escape style lock and key type mini puzzles rather than these more elaborate logic puzzles.
Still, love the chaotic lad Cautionne from what I've seen so far, he's a precious murder creature
Thank you for doing your best with the puzzles regardless! They are indeed very, very tricky, but there'll be a big update to the game tomorrow where the puzzles will be more fair (and with several difficulty levels to choose from!)
I am slightly shaken up by one of the ending, was not expecting that, BUT THAT WAS SO COOL- I did struggle a lot, because i did this during sickness, but got past none the less , great job! :3
Hey! The game was fun. The puzzles are very, very challenging. I like the fact that the dialogue and the story slightly shifts depending on how closely you're looking through the scenery and how much lore you're digging through by doing so.
I made a walkthrough for all puzzles (except for the cybernetics pipeline, which I still can't figure out... Will hopefully solve it and add later) (Got the cybernetics puzzle!) Hope it helps anyone that's currently stuck!
btw congratulations, you made me write a code for solving the sewing puzzle. this is the first time i solved it. i mean in theory it has too many possibilities. just 5 spaces have 36^5 =60466176 possible combinations. but it works out in the end. i calculated only for 8 spaces so that may be a factor lol. but i was actually surprised by the speed of it. it was essentially instantaneous. will code more solutions in the future.
Please tell how to get the busybody and hidden achievements!
Thank you so much - glad you enjoyed the game!!! ;w;
And incredible work on solving the quilt puzzle, by the way - it's that nice balance of being really fun, but difficult.
For those two achievements - the busybody achievement is investigating all of the items in all of the rooms in one run. The hidden achievement is given when you get all of the other achievements.
This is such a fun game!!!! I love the various puzzle elements (and also how they're skippable, since im kind of bad at puzzles lol). The character art and design is super nice and the story pulled on my heartstrings i love cautionne and dr danger ;; everything felt very clean and polished and made for a very enjoyable playing experience!!!
Didn't finish yet because I just don't want to skip the puzzle but I'm currently stuck on that puzzle with the three children 😅. Compared to this one, I found the hacking puzzle a lot easier since only a few moves can only be made at one place and the rest come along naturally.
But I loved the game so far. It's really great to find some challengers puzzles 😁
Loved this game! Very heart pulling story and cool puzzles! One minor bug I came across is I tried losing at every puzzle but I can't seem to get dead end 9, I think it's the maze puzzle but it just says not valid solution when I try to get it wrong. Other than that I've unlocked everything but the A for Effort and hidden achievement
tl;dr: local supervillain gets quirky. explosions are involved. at least one person dies in a glue trap
That aside, this game has such fresh ideas and is so well-executed! The Puzzle Skip setting honestly elevates the experience in terms of accessibility - some puzzles I was able to solve neatly (tutorial wheel, poison-sorting, neuron rewire, three children, scraddle, scrapbook), but some were super crazy (why is there a PANOPTICON in here of all things. what were you COOKING), so I appreciate a feature that lets you enjoy the story regardless of your puzzle proficiency.
The character designs are AWESOME and the story is very nice, I just wish Cautionne and Danger's backstories were elaborated on a little bit more (as it stands I think the latter's development is more extensive, but the former has a stronger "show don't tell" feel to it). Without the stress of a jam deadline it could be something much greater. Overall awesome work and an amazing directorial debut!
(btw please post the ost somewhere I need that title screen theme on loop right now)
[SPOILERS TERRITORY]
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I got all three main endings, but it was pretty interesting to see that one of them - the one where Cautionne gets awesome (read: shoots you in the knee) - has two variations depending on how much of Deidre's diary you read. It's a pretty nice mini-branch.
Also I have no idea how to get Busybody and the hidden achievement. I assume either of them has to do with uncovering every piece of evidence and getting the final "good" ending (you both live), but I still don't have those achievements yet. What are the exact requirements?
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Very glad you enjoyed the game as much as you did, haha.
With the puzzles, I definitely agree with the insane difficulty range; which is why I'm working on a rebalancing update with my team! The panopticon puzzle (among others) should be a lot fairer once it's out.
[SPOILER TERRITORY FROM HERE ON OUT]
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I agree with your comments on the writing too - my assistant writers and I did our best to create something compelling within the 31 days of the jam - but yeah, Dr. Danger gets a lot more backstory stuff, especially in Room 3. Cautionne is definitely more of a "show don't tell" type of character.
I would love to elaborate more on both him and Dr. Danger in the future in different ways. Dr. Danger in terms of how she behaves in a day-to-day setting, and Cautionne with how his experiences have affected him (though I think the spare ending in the base game may have already addressed that somewhat. I don't mind going into more detail though). I've grown really attached to them both over the past month...
I do have plans for an OST release soon - I'm currently working on the cover art for the OST ATM, so please look forward to that.
To get Busybody, you do need to discover every piece of evidence in one run! As for the final achievement, I believe you need to get all of the achievements in the game to obtain it.
Again - thank you so much for playing and enjoying my game! I'm glad you had a great time with it. :>
I'm really enjoying this game even if I'm horrible at puzzles, but I saw in an update post that it's possible to skip all puzzles, and like, how? I don't see any option to skip the puzzle I'm on (hacking puzzle oml its so hard). Also, I found a bug sometimes its possible to interact with the game options when you are on the save menu. Other than that the game has been really fun so far (sorry if I sound rude I'm not trying to be)
Goddamn this game is amazing. I got so attached to Cautionne the ending I got kinda broke me a little even though I feel like its a "good" one- like, the cliffhanger definitley made me wanting for more, but I feel like settiing up like that was intentional. That said, while waiting for the ending guide I'll try and see what the other endings are like and go from there-
I only got the one where the protagonist finds out the truth, but he goes like "As long as they pay me it's not my problem lol" which pissed off Cautionne and he shot him (Which in my opinion was good, because the protagonist pissed off me too lmao)
Woo! I finally finished it! I loved it!! The story was compelling, and I love Cautionne. There's something really fun about knowing what a character's inspired by- it's a nice bonus. But that knowledge isn't necessary either; the story and character are great standalone. Compelling in its own way that isn't derivative.
The only reason I didn't finish this day one is because I was too stubborn. I'm pretty bad at games like Layton and Zero Escape- I end up looking up guides and FAQs for the puzzles. When I realized this VN had that puzzle escape room set up, I did react like, "oh no!!!!!!!!" But I still wanted to try to solve the puzzles!!
In the end, I only gave up on two puzzles. The one involving liquids and, uh... the other one that involved spinning & symbols, I don't know how else to describe it. Funnily enough, I recognized that the liquid puzzle was veeery similar to a Layton puzzle. I had a laugh when I realized I could solve the puzzle by copying a video showing the solution for the Layton puzzle. The numbers are different, but the principle is the same! Makes sense, makes sense. (That being said, I don't know if I could solve the puzzle guideless if I opened the game right now... This one's beyond me)
It's great that the game has a skip option. I was just stubborn and wanted to try solving the puzzles. And it was worth it! It feels great when I finally solve them, even if it takes hours. The hacking one is probably the most satisfying because of how everything lines up in the end.
That ingredient puzzle is probably the easiest for me, but it did give me trouble on my first go. I had trouble understanding the premise. I'm only bringing this up because it's very silly on my behalf. Trying to read the instructions... I had this thought of, "Wait, do I need to know food groups to solve this??" I was starting to write things down, like, okay maybe the strawberries and blueberries can touch each other because they're in the same food group. And then I was like- "... are those mechanical nuts????? um????? I guess that's a food group of its own??" LOL. Needless to say, it took me a few minutes to realize the actual rules were much simpler than that. I guess that is a natural aspect to puzzles and riddles- accidentally overthinking it. But I still feel silly about it.
Alright, alright. Story-wise, I wish I had a lot to say- it's mostly just "I like it." I did enjoy my experience with realizing there's multiple endings and quickly figuring out what I had to do for them. That felt good. What didn't feel good was that one ending where you quickly & heartlessly escape... By the end of this, I was very attached to Cautionne and his story. My heart was so torn by that!!
I'll wrap this up by saying I think this is a very solid VN. Very polished. Putting the puzzles aside, the only nitpicks I have are just some moments where the dialogue advances by itself. I was still able to read it, but it felt kinda sloppy? Not sure how to explain it. And I did have a moment where I undid puzzle progress by accidentally scrolling my mouse wheel, which opened up the story log thingy. But other than that! Music, voice acting, writing, art, etc.-! Wonderful!! Great job everyone!
WOW, thank you for the super-long and kind comment! I really appreciate it...
I'm happy you decided to try the puzzles anyways - that means a lot to me. ;w; I don't blame you for giving up on the panopticon puzzle though, that's one of the two puzzles that needs severe rebalancing (the other was the hacking puzzle). Glad you had fun with the mise en place puzzle too!
I'm also glad you enjoyed the story too. I agree that the kill ending is very rough on the heart though - especially after you know Cautionne's whole deal. ;_;
Again - thank you, thank you, thank you for the generous words! I appreciate them so much...
BTW - for the "dialogue advancing by itself" issue - was this with the voiced cutscenes? That was a way I tried to address the voiced lines that had multiple sentences... but I think it can be alleviated by changing the text speed of the game.
Yeah, I think it was the voiced lines with multiple sentences. I've never thought about this stuff before, but ideally it would be nice if the text matched what you're hearing timing wise. But I'm not a programmer so I don't know how you'd do that exactly.
Oh I tried many many times, but it wasn't easy at all. As a last resort, I could've split the lines in two and then applied them to their respective sentences, but I think the gap between cuts would've been really noticable... ;_;
I simply cannot get past the hacking puzzle, but I'm too stubborn to skip, I spent almost an hour and a half on it by now. So I'm stopping for the time being. If anyone has any idea how exactly I'm supposed to parse this Jenga tower, I'd appreciate it.
Oh, the hacking puzzle is definitely one of the toughest ones in the game. You are NOT alone in finding it really hard...
Me and my team are currently working on a rebalanced version of the game where the hacking puzzle is WAY fairer to the player - so if you want to play it properly, please look forward to that.
Apologies on my behalf! I was the one who wanted it to be hard, and now I've sent so many people into puzzle hell...
Hm, interesting… I’ll send this over to the team for checking, but in the meantime - is your graphics acceleration hardware working on your computer? :o
Really enjoyed this! Some puzzles were quite difficult (I did need a hint for one of them, and there were a few puzzles that I spent like 2 hours on each...), but I found them to be quite fun to solve, and satisfying when I finally got it right. Besides the puzzling, I really enjoyed the story. I thought it was interesting and emotionally satisfying, surprisingly so, given how short the game is outside of puzzling time (and you have the option to skip most of the puzzles if you just want the story). And the game felt and looked quite polished. I especially loved the artwork. Overall I'm super happy I played this, I thought it was great, and impressive for a game jam game.
Thank you so much - I'm very glad you enjoyed both the puzzles and the story! ;w;7
Me and my team did our best to make the game a polished experience, particularly in the storytelling parts. If I had more time, I would've loved to make the story longer, but since we only had a month to build malViolence, I wanted to focus on making the story a quality experience.
Again - thank you for enjoying the game! I'm happy you had a good time...
Pretext: I'm really enjoying the game so far! The UI, the camera movements, the sprite work, the voice acting — amazing job! I really can't believe you all pulled this off in 30 (31?) days... like wtf, get some sleep! D:<
I've already mentioned this to Kigyo on Discord, but on behalf of myself and fellow colourblind players, I do want to mention how frustrating the Tutorial puzzle was to solve. 😞
I had no problems figuring out what had to be done, i.e.
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but then I massively struggled to figure out which colours on the actual lock itself corresponded to these, as well as which colours the teardrop (navy blue? dark purple?) and '0' shapes (light green? bright yellow? some sorta orange?) were supposed to be.
So even though I "solved" the puzzle, getting from this stage to the actual answer was an exercise in frustration (especially since the colours used on the lock itself were different hues...I wasn't sure if that Purple was actually Navy Blue, or if the Cyan Blue was a Light Purple. Ditto w/ Yellow/Light Green.)
Someone in Kigyo's Discord was kind enough to provide this for me, which was massively helpful, so I recommended including some sort of "Colour Dictionary/Alphabet" like this in-game, to help fellow players like me, who struggle with colour puzzles in games. 😢
Anyway, I appreciate y'alls efforts to make the game more accessible in general (why are you even considering accessibility during your 1 month grind?! shouldn't that be a post-release stretch goal? insanity! xD), so even though this puzzle was a strugglebus for me, I'm still enjoying the game overall, and I'm happy to see other forms of accessibility being included. So thank you all for that! ♥
Thank you for the kind words on malViolence - I really appreciate it! Accessibility was something me and my team wanted to include from the get-go, so that as many people as possible could enjoy this title on release.
I also appreciate your critique of the tutorial puzzle. It's actually one of the puzzles that the upcoming puzzle update will rework. We're gonna try and find a way to make the puzzle more accessible so that colorblind players can enjoy it to the fullest.
Again, thank you so much! I hope the next version of malViolence can be even more enjoyable!
For anyone struggling with the Panopticon puzzle, I've made a solution video with what I believe to be the fewest possible moves. (Yes, I know there's new "Skip" tech now. ;p)
I’m currently working on a solution document for all of the puzzles - but this is easily one of the hardest ones. Thank you for providing it for everyone to see!
Just started playing through this! I've been loving the game so far, but some of the puzzles are basically impossible to solve - setups where if you know the solution you can solve them, but if you don't there's no way to make actual progress.
Specifically, the hacking puzzle in the lab is one of these: there's not any 'clean' way of doing it deductively that I can see, and every move affects what future moves are available pretty drastically.
The 'panopticon' is another; the only way I can think of to solve this is to make a spreadsheet, find the correct final configuration, and then use linear algebra (the branch of math, not "y=mx+b") to find the correct set of inputs.
As a very experienced puzzle solver, I get the impression that these puzzles might not have actually been testsolved. Am I just missing hints, or some other method of 'cleanly' solving them? Or is brute force intended - and if so, do you realize how large the state spaces are?
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Edit: In the third room, you can softlock on the plushie puzzle, and you can't skip the sewing puzzle.
Thank you so much for the very thorough comment - I really appreciate it!
I apologize for the state of the puzzlea. I did intend for this to be a difficult, but rewarding experience, but you're absolutely right. We did rush through the beta-testing/test-solving part of puzzle-making so that we could make the jam deadline in time. The puzzles are in a state where they are solvable (one of my friends is already on Room 3) - but also really hard.
In the near future (possibly next week - but unsure right now...), me and my team have plans to neaten them up so that they can be solved more "cleanly", instead of being brute-forced. That way, there's a neat balance between the puzzles in terms of difficulty and solvability.
Yeah, I definitely agree, especially for these two puzzles in particular.
Because of the complexity, trial and error will most likely get you nowhere. And yet the alternatives, in order to intentionally and meaningfully work towards an actual solution, are wayyyy too involved, and most likely not even "satisfying" for players.
And yeah, that's more or less what I did to solve the Panopticon puzzle. ^^;
Personally, I had fun spreadsheeting it all out, but I suspect that the large majority of players will give up out of frustration and just skip it entirely (which is what I did w/ the Hacking puzzle, b/c of the current difficulty).
I understand that y'all had a tight deadline to make, which is why you ended up releasing the impossible "harder" version of the Hacking puzzle, so I'm appreciative that the team is working on things like a puzzle difficulty revisit in a future patch! ♥ (although I'd enjoy having a choice between the current difficulties, and a toned down version for those 2 puzzles in particular, rather than completely gutting them in future version updates).
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Certified Cauttione moment, someone should lock him in a room with 4 humidifier filled with milk *thumbs up*
Defeating Supervillain with this one simple trick!!! [Skip Button]
Andddddd the last one!!! Glad to be here!!! It was all a build-up for the endings, which I think are interesting~
Can't wait to check out Protoviolence!
Spoiler:
My final thought is that the puzzle feels very unnecessary most of the time, unfortunately, even with the easy difficulty/skip button. There's a slight confusion among me of why Cautionne would confront us with a gun instead of just using another death trap, and why the hesitation and sort like I understand he's supposed to be a human character in the end, but during the puzzle times he's not veryyyyyy nice, so what's the change? Is it because he is not directly interacting with us??? Hmmm~
Either way, keep it up!
Thanks for playing!
As for the stuff you mentioned (SPOILER WARNING):
Let me know what you think about protoViolence. I think you might like it more than malViolence since it's a kinetic novel.
Ah for point one, arguably just locking the door can work? But then again maybe he is not prepared!
For point two yeah I know he is not used to handling a gun~
I was just wondering if that hesitation also comes from the fact that this action is more direct than the rest of the trap! Which point three also seems to imply that Cautionne is very different in person and far away~
But yeahhhhh, can't wait for Protoviolence!!!
It is mindblowing. The art, the story, the twist, and the character are just so endearing. Loving a supervillain is an overused trope nowadays but it is a new cliche for a reason. To think that it is completely free! I just want to hug the kid at the end of the story, it is so good!!
Thank you so much! Cautionne deserves all of the hugs...
WEEPING WEEPING....... Each of the endings are satifing in their own way, but the all clues ending is definitely the sweetest. Worth the elbow grease!! The skip button and fail-safes are very much appreciated for repeat playthroughs.
(Spoilers!!!!)
Still can't believe he put rat poison in the kibble....waste of perfectly good pellets :'(i had to know what happens after protoViolence! highly recommend! these puzzles are varied and challenging. the guide is really helpful-- it's still satisfying to solve the puzzle by using the hints, and i only needed to use the solution for one of them. and the slow-drip of story as you move through the rooms is really intriguing :) 10/10 would be Cautionne's lab rat again
Thank you so much! I'm very glad you enjoyed malViolence and its puzzles.
Glad you enjoyed Cautionne too. >:3c
Finishing protoviolence first really helped me feel the full effect of the ending to malviolence! 😭 It was an interesting experience seeing how the two connect. I’m fascinated by the world of STOP and their schemes, hope to see more of it but excited for anything you make
I admit as I had to toggle down the difficulty level and I’m so glad there are hints in this steam guide that helped me out along the way. All the little post its I would have missed had I not read this!! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2977721903
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed malViolence!
The Steam guide is really helpful, isn't it? One of my team's beta testers made it... He did a great job!
Yes! Having different-level hints is so thoughtful too! These puzzles are so advanced, I feel so proud whenever I solve one without help haha!
Took a break from Spooktober games for a pick-me-up by playing this VN. I loved protoViolence so much so I was guessing I would enjoy the sequel too. It was entertaining, just as I knew it would be!
I started out hopeful as I was able to do the first couple of puzzles, but oh boy. At some point I had to cling for dear life to the guide to get past the rest of the puzzles, which were all really well-constructed and challenging! I did so badly that I collected all the ways to die/fail embarrassingly easily. My favorite puzzles were probably the Tetris-like puzzle (since I'm obsessed with Tetris) and the breakfast food one.
The entire visual novel looks incredible, from the colorful and lovingly-accessorized character designs to the backgrounds to the puzzles to the interface. The voice acting was super solid as well.
I loved clicking all the details and seeing how they fit in with the lore I knew from playing the prequel. I was so happy to get Ending C. Cautionne is so precious, and I would do anything for him, truly!
I'd be so down to check out another game in the Violence series, but even if there will be only two, I want to thank you for creating such a wonderfully engaging experience! I love this world and its characters with all my heart! <3
Thank you - I'm glad you enjoyed malViolence! >:3c
I'm glad you found the puzzles fun - even if they were super-challenging. speck did an excellent job writing and constructing them - and kigyo helped a lot with making them a reality. I'm also happy you could click the details in malViolence with stuff that would be elaborate on in protoViolence.
I do intend for there to be more to the Violence series - so this won't be the last you'll see of Cautionne and friends! >:3c I love this world very deeply, and I'm eager to expand it even further...
Also yes - Cautionne is the best, isn't he?
It's really cool to see how much Pavel has grown since his escape inprotoViolence...So excited to hear about more game/s in this series! I went back and got the other endings, by the way. I'm choosing to accept Ending C (the one I got before I saw the other ending conditions in the guide) as my canon. <3
Yahoo! I'm glad you could go back and enjoy the other endings too. The future entries/games will also all be based off of ending C, so look forward to that. :>
SPOILER WARNING FOR THE ENDINGS
how dare you chekhovs gun me with the "job well done" ending. I still have one ending left to unlock and if anybody else dies I'm going to be sending you my therapy bills
Hee hee... Glad you enjoyed the ending! >:3c
I hope you enjoy the others, too. Let me know what you think of them.
THIS GAME WAS SO shakes you furiously
i love this game so so much from the visuals to the sound design, to the voice acting and the puzzles (even if they were hard for me lol) THE STORY HAD ME SOBBING my boy cautionne </3 the only boy to ever...
thanks to everyone who made this game <3 cannot wait to see the next spin-off (normal grip)
WAH thank you so much for enjoying the game!!! I'm very glad you liked malViolence, and that Cautionne made an impact on you... ;w;
this game was super adorable to play!
I liked the first appearance of Cautionne so much that I had to replay it just to watch again
overall, the storyline is touching and interesting, and puzzles are quite hard, but that made sense because of the plot
thank you for the game!!!
Thank you so much!!! I'm very glad you like the story and the game overall.
just downloaded the game today and finished it today ! Im such a sucker for puzzles so this was basically made for me, I had so much fun until my world shattered at the panopticon. Its okay though I surpassed using SighingSlider's video yay ! yay !
If i were to rate the game I'd give it aaaaaa 9/10 ! Awesome lore, overall huge brain usage experience but 1. i got a headache midway through LOL 2. Game was TOO captivating finished it in onw (1) day and 3. Major LACK of MERCH !!! Love u Cautionne :,(((((
I'm really glad you enjoyed the game, eeeeeee!!! Thank you so much...
I'm glad we both feel the same way about Cautionne too. ;_; Maybe I'll do some merch of him in the future?
Very enthusiastically seconding the request for merch 😭 I’ve been wanting to ask if that’s something you’d ever consider, glad to hear it’s not off the table!
This is a very well-done puzzle adventure game! To me, it's quite reminiscent of the Zero Escape games in terms of gameplay and design. Here's part 1 of 3 of my playthrough, if anyone's interested:
I waited until the Steam release with its difficulty changes to play it because the comments seemed to indicate that the puzzles were very hard when it was originally released and I think it's a good idea that I did! I'm generally pretty horrible at puzzle-solving, but at least on the default difficulty, I eventually was able to figure them out (though sometimes I felt I just got lucky).My only frustration is how there are two objects in the last room that are easily missable (the ones you need to click on to unlock one of the endings). The highlighted area for one of them is just so tiny compared to everything else.
Otherwise, everything about the game is well put together and very professional. Cauttione himself being the main star with his eye-catching character design and dynamic animations. Though, I still don't know if I can forgive him for all the extremely gruesome deaths he inflicts on me! 😩
Thank you - I'm really glad you had a lot of fun with malViolence and its many puzzles! The Zero Escape comparisons are absolutely spot-on - it was one of the games that influenced malViolence's development.
About the locations of the two items - you're absolutely right that their hitboxes are way too small. I'll probably make them larger in a later update - so that future players can find them more easily.
Nonetheless - I'm happy you enjoyed everything else, and I look forward to watching your playthrough!
(Also Astolfo fan? *shakes hand* Good taste.)
Congrats on the release of a definitive edition!
Wahoo!!! Thank you!!!
Bug: The screen seems glitched, which seems to have nothing to do with the settings I've checked off and on.
Spoilers for the very start of the game -
I haven't progressed past this point, but I wanted to wait until it's been fixed. I'd love to be immersed by the game once it is.
Oh, this looks like a graphics card issue! Have you updated your graphics card driver or switched your video renderer? :O
loved the game! played it with a friend, the mission accomplished ending hit me like a freight train, very effective storytelling all around.
so i think ive encountered a bug! first off; the game refuses to log my achievements, it gives me the banner when i complete the achievement, but even after getting almost all of them the achievements window itself says everything is still locked!
secondly (under the spoiler tag);
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secondly; I wanted to get every ending, and used the guide to help me do so. got the Mission Accomplished ending and the Communication Error endings with no issue, but even after using the guide to find every item, instead of getting the Breakout Rule escape ending as the guide said i would, the game still shunted me towards the Communication Error ending. I checked twice, I definitely clicked every item, is this a known bug? is there any way to fix it on my end?
Thanks so much for the kind words - I'm really glad you enjoyed the game as much as you did.
The first bug is a known issue with the game. We're working on it!
As for the second... did you search for everything? There are a couple of items that are hard to find in room 3 - the clipboard in the top room, and the box in the bottom room. You might need to read all of the diary pages too. Missing those can be enough to trigger the Communication Error ending versus Breakout Role.
Let me know how that goes for you.
owo
turns out i missed the clipboard
oopy doopy
thank you stranger on the internet! i loved this and so did my friend :3
Thank you! I'm very glad you enjoyed it. :>
Just wanted to swing by and give an update now that I've played the Definitive Edition on Steam.
The rebalances is a very nice change, the game definitely feels much more approachable despite the potion mixing puzzle actually defeating me harder this time? I also appreciate that after you've already got a bad ending you don't have to deal with the limit anymore, at least on base difficulty. It's a nice little change. Also highlighting the things you're selecting is really nice. All the new QoL updated you've added are really nice!
I also noticed that some of the text was more properly timed in the voiced tv screen segments rather than just skipping, but it had a few issues with the unvoiced versions skipping too quickly when a sentence went over two lines.
Also am I missing something with the evidence board puzzle, there's something about striking through notes but I'm not sure where the notes are meant to be?
Thank you so much! I'm very glad you like the new QOL updates. :>
With the evidence board puzzle, the notes can be found throughout Room 2. They're a little difficult to see because they're grey, but when you find them, you'll get key clues to help you solve the puzzle.
As for the text skipping, I can fix that easy-peasy in a new update. I just need to make the wait times a bit longer between unvoiced lines.
Hope this helps! I'll try to get the new update out ASAP with my team.
AAAAAA I don't know how I missed that!!! Thank you so much
No problem! They're a little difficult to find - but when you do find them, everything will fall into place. :>
Damn this game is crazy hard, it's amazing that this was made for a jam because this was way beyond my skill level I kinda feel bad skipping over these puzzles, but also it's impressive puzzles of this level of difficulty were put together for a Game Jam.
I'll go back to this game another time, I'll probably have to skip the puzzles when I do because they are way too complicated for me... I think that I was expecting more of a Zero Escape style lock and key type mini puzzles rather than these more elaborate logic puzzles.
Still, love the chaotic lad Cautionne from what I've seen so far, he's a precious murder creature
Thank you for doing your best with the puzzles regardless! They are indeed very, very tricky, but there'll be a big update to the game tomorrow where the puzzles will be more fair (and with several difficulty levels to choose from!)
Cautionne is great, isn't he?
I am slightly shaken up by one of the ending, was not expecting that, BUT THAT WAS SO COOL- I did struggle a lot, because i did this during sickness, but got past none the less , great job! :3
Thank you so much!! I'm VERY glad you enjoyed the game. :>
Hey! The game was fun. The puzzles are very, very challenging. I like the fact that the dialogue and the story slightly shifts depending on how closely you're looking through the scenery and how much lore you're digging through by doing so.
I made a walkthrough for all puzzles
(except for the cybernetics pipeline, which I still can't figure out... Will hopefully solve it and add later)(Got the cybernetics puzzle!) Hope it helps anyone that's currently stuck!https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QeD5hpYcXqNdXPnKcAg0BxBuHlH0aOetb0ymTjZoWgM/...
Thank you so much for enjoying malViolence - and for the walkthrough for this build of the game!
I should say - me and my team are actually working on an official walkthrough for the updated version of the game.
Would it be alright if we could use your solutions for our guide? (since we’re planning difficulty levels) If so - we’ll credit you in the document!
Absolutely! Glad to help!
My god such a amazing game!
btw congratulations, you made me write a code for solving the sewing puzzle. this is the first time i solved it. i mean in theory it has too many possibilities. just 5 spaces have 36^5 =60466176 possible combinations. but it works out in the end. i calculated only for 8 spaces so that may be a factor lol. but i was actually surprised by the speed of it. it was essentially instantaneous. will code more solutions in the future.
Please tell how to get the busybody and hidden achievements!
Thank you so much - glad you enjoyed the game!!! ;w;
And incredible work on solving the quilt puzzle, by the way - it's that nice balance of being really fun, but difficult.
For those two achievements - the busybody achievement is investigating all of the items in all of the rooms in one run. The hidden achievement is given when you get all of the other achievements.
This is such a fun game!!!! I love the various puzzle elements (and also how they're skippable, since im kind of bad at puzzles lol). The character art and design is super nice and the story pulled on my heartstrings i love cautionne and dr danger ;; everything felt very clean and polished and made for a very enjoyable playing experience!!!
Thank you so much for playing! I’m very very glad you like the game (and of course, my family of villains!) ^u^
Didn't finish yet because I just don't want to skip the puzzle but I'm currently stuck on that puzzle with the three children 😅. Compared to this one, I found the hacking puzzle a lot easier since only a few moves can only be made at one place and the rest come along naturally.
But I loved the game so far. It's really great to find some challengers puzzles 😁
Thank you - I’m very glad you’re enjoying the game!
As a hint - did you click on the pink sticky notes around the room? :>
Thanks for the hint. I didn't saw the sticky notes but with it, the answer is obvious
Glad I could help! ^u^
Thanks so much - very glad you enjoyed the game!
I’ll send this bug over to my team and get to it ASAP.
I think in the meantime, turning off "easy-mode"/puzzle skips should allow you to get the achievement.
That worked! Thank you :D
No problem! >:3c
Nice! Loved the writing! You had me doing puzzles all afternoon lol.
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the game. :>
Overall, I liked it, as a puzzle game. Great job from all the team.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed. :>
tl;dr: local supervillain gets quirky. explosions are involved. at least one person dies in a glue trap
That aside, this game has such fresh ideas and is so well-executed! The Puzzle Skip setting honestly elevates the experience in terms of accessibility - some puzzles I was able to solve neatly (tutorial wheel, poison-sorting, neuron rewire, three children, scraddle, scrapbook), but some were super crazy (why is there a PANOPTICON in here of all things. what were you COOKING), so I appreciate a feature that lets you enjoy the story regardless of your puzzle proficiency.
The character designs are AWESOME and the story is very nice, I just wish Cautionne and Danger's backstories were elaborated on a little bit more (as it stands I think the latter's development is more extensive, but the former has a stronger "show don't tell" feel to it). Without the stress of a jam deadline it could be something much greater. Overall awesome work and an amazing directorial debut!
(btw please post the ost somewhere I need that title screen theme on loop right now)
[SPOILERS TERRITORY]
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I got all three main endings, but it was pretty interesting to see that one of them - the one where Cautionne gets awesome (read: shoots you in the knee) - has two variations depending on how much of Deidre's diary you read. It's a pretty nice mini-branch.
Also I have no idea how to get Busybody and the hidden achievement. I assume either of them has to do with uncovering every piece of evidence and getting the final "good" ending (you both live), but I still don't have those achievements yet. What are the exact requirements?
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Very glad you enjoyed the game as much as you did, haha.
With the puzzles, I definitely agree with the insane difficulty range; which is why I'm working on a rebalancing update with my team! The panopticon puzzle (among others) should be a lot fairer once it's out.
[SPOILER TERRITORY FROM HERE ON OUT]
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I agree with your comments on the writing too - my assistant writers and I did our best to create something compelling within the 31 days of the jam - but yeah, Dr. Danger gets a lot more backstory stuff, especially in Room 3. Cautionne is definitely more of a "show don't tell" type of character.
I would love to elaborate more on both him and Dr. Danger in the future in different ways. Dr. Danger in terms of how she behaves in a day-to-day setting, and Cautionne with how his experiences have affected him (though I think the spare ending in the base game may have already addressed that somewhat. I don't mind going into more detail though). I've grown really attached to them both over the past month...
I do have plans for an OST release soon - I'm currently working on the cover art for the OST ATM, so please look forward to that.
To get Busybody, you do need to discover every piece of evidence in one run! As for the final achievement, I believe you need to get all of the achievements in the game to obtain it.
Again - thank you so much for playing and enjoying my game! I'm glad you had a great time with it. :>
I'm really enjoying this game even if I'm horrible at puzzles, but I saw in an update post that it's possible to skip all puzzles, and like, how? I don't see any option to skip the puzzle I'm on (hacking puzzle oml its so hard). Also, I found a bug sometimes its possible to interact with the game options when you are on the save menu. Other than that the game has been really fun so far (sorry if I sound rude I'm not trying to be)
For the puzzle part I just saw the option in settings, I just had it disabled so ignore that.
Yeah, it's just the option in settings! >:3c
Also - we are working on a rebalancing update - so if you do want to tackle the puzzles on a more even playing field... please look forward to that!
Goddamn this game is amazing. I got so attached to Cautionne the ending I got kinda broke me a little even though I feel like its a "good" one- like, the cliffhanger definitley made me wanting for more, but I feel like settiing up like that was intentional. That said, while waiting for the ending guide I'll try and see what the other endings are like and go from there-
Thank you, thank you! I'm glad you like my lil villain :'>
Good luck with the other endings!
Wait! Are there more endings?
Yes! >:3c There are three main endings…
How do I get the other two?
I only got the one where the protagonist finds out the truth, but he goes like "As long as they pay me it's not my problem lol" which pissed off Cautionne and he shot him (Which in my opinion was good, because the protagonist pissed off me too lmao)
I'll also be detailing this in the puzzle + endings guide I'm writing, but here's the long and short of how to get the other two endings:
Hope this helps!
is there a guide somewhere?
I’m writing one at the moment! :> It’ll be out with the rebalancing update.
thanks! i wanna do the puzzles myself instead of skipping, cuz i wanna know how theyre done. but id also like help XD
No worries! >:3c I feel the same way whenever I play Professor Layton, so I get the feeling completely!
Woo! I finally finished it! I loved it!! The story was compelling, and I love Cautionne. There's something really fun about knowing what a character's inspired by- it's a nice bonus. But that knowledge isn't necessary either; the story and character are great standalone. Compelling in its own way that isn't derivative.
The only reason I didn't finish this day one is because I was too stubborn. I'm pretty bad at games like Layton and Zero Escape- I end up looking up guides and FAQs for the puzzles. When I realized this VN had that puzzle escape room set up, I did react like, "oh no!!!!!!!!" But I still wanted to try to solve the puzzles!!
In the end, I only gave up on two puzzles. The one involving liquids and, uh... the other one that involved spinning & symbols, I don't know how else to describe it. Funnily enough, I recognized that the liquid puzzle was veeery similar to a Layton puzzle. I had a laugh when I realized I could solve the puzzle by copying a video showing the solution for the Layton puzzle. The numbers are different, but the principle is the same! Makes sense, makes sense. (That being said, I don't know if I could solve the puzzle guideless if I opened the game right now... This one's beyond me)
It's great that the game has a skip option. I was just stubborn and wanted to try solving the puzzles. And it was worth it! It feels great when I finally solve them, even if it takes hours. The hacking one is probably the most satisfying because of how everything lines up in the end.
That ingredient puzzle is probably the easiest for me, but it did give me trouble on my first go. I had trouble understanding the premise. I'm only bringing this up because it's very silly on my behalf. Trying to read the instructions... I had this thought of, "Wait, do I need to know food groups to solve this??" I was starting to write things down, like, okay maybe the strawberries and blueberries can touch each other because they're in the same food group. And then I was like- "... are those mechanical nuts????? um????? I guess that's a food group of its own??" LOL. Needless to say, it took me a few minutes to realize the actual rules were much simpler than that. I guess that is a natural aspect to puzzles and riddles- accidentally overthinking it. But I still feel silly about it.
Alright, alright. Story-wise, I wish I had a lot to say- it's mostly just "I like it." I did enjoy my experience with realizing there's multiple endings and quickly figuring out what I had to do for them. That felt good. What didn't feel good was that one ending where you quickly & heartlessly escape... By the end of this, I was very attached to Cautionne and his story. My heart was so torn by that!!
I'll wrap this up by saying I think this is a very solid VN. Very polished. Putting the puzzles aside, the only nitpicks I have are just some moments where the dialogue advances by itself. I was still able to read it, but it felt kinda sloppy? Not sure how to explain it. And I did have a moment where I undid puzzle progress by accidentally scrolling my mouse wheel, which opened up the story log thingy. But other than that! Music, voice acting, writing, art, etc.-! Wonderful!! Great job everyone!
WOW, thank you for the super-long and kind comment! I really appreciate it...
I'm happy you decided to try the puzzles anyways - that means a lot to me. ;w; I don't blame you for giving up on the panopticon puzzle though, that's one of the two puzzles that needs severe rebalancing (the other was the hacking puzzle). Glad you had fun with the mise en place puzzle too!
I'm also glad you enjoyed the story too. I agree that the kill ending is very rough on the heart though - especially after you know Cautionne's whole deal. ;_;
Again - thank you, thank you, thank you for the generous words! I appreciate them so much...
BTW - for the "dialogue advancing by itself" issue - was this with the voiced cutscenes? That was a way I tried to address the voiced lines that had multiple sentences... but I think it can be alleviated by changing the text speed of the game.
Yeah, I think it was the voiced lines with multiple sentences. I've never thought about this stuff before, but ideally it would be nice if the text matched what you're hearing timing wise. But I'm not a programmer so I don't know how you'd do that exactly.
Oh I tried many many times, but it wasn't easy at all. As a last resort, I could've split the lines in two and then applied them to their respective sentences, but I think the gap between cuts would've been really noticable... ;_;
I simply cannot get past the hacking puzzle, but I'm too stubborn to skip, I spent almost an hour and a half on it by now. So I'm stopping for the time being. If anyone has any idea how exactly I'm supposed to parse this Jenga tower, I'd appreciate it.
Oh, the hacking puzzle is definitely one of the toughest ones in the game. You are NOT alone in finding it really hard...
Me and my team are currently working on a rebalanced version of the game where the hacking puzzle is WAY fairer to the player - so if you want to play it properly, please look forward to that.
Apologies on my behalf! I was the one who wanted it to be hard, and now I've sent so many people into puzzle hell...
I loved the game, and I just want to ask for one thing, PLEASE TELL ME YOU WILL MAKE A SEQUEL TO IT!!!
I've really been left with the intrigue of what Cautionne's future will be now that he is without Dr. Danger, and what will happen to the world...
(If you do a sequel, please do something like "HerovsVillano", because I really love how you have made Cautionne so stylish as a villain<3)
Thank you so much!! I'm very very glad you've grown so attached to Cautionne as a character. He means a lot to me too... ;w;
I'm very happy with the response to malViolence, so I would love to do more work set in the same universe (and yes, more stuff with Cautionne.)
I'm not sure WHAT yet... but I do have ideas floating around. Again, thank you for enjoying the game so much!
I am super sure that I will love them<3
I'll pray that Cautionne has a happy ending, the poor thing has already suffered too much (T_T)
By the way, I loved the voice actors, they really made me cry with the emotions they put into their performance<3
Thank you so much! Carrick and Vyn did an incredible peformance within the game. I’m very proud of their work…
(Also yes… only good things for Cautionne!)
I don't know if anyone else has had this issue but I'm getting a horizontally split, misaligned background screen and other scrambled images/graphics.
Oh, could I see pictures? I'll report this to my devteam immediately.
Hm, interesting… I’ll send this over to the team for checking, but in the meantime - is your graphics acceleration hardware working on your computer? :o
So I did try to update the hardware and now everything seems to be fixed! Thanks for the suggestion!
No problem! Glad to have helped. :>
Really enjoyed this! Some puzzles were quite difficult (I did need a hint for one of them, and there were a few puzzles that I spent like 2 hours on each...), but I found them to be quite fun to solve, and satisfying when I finally got it right. Besides the puzzling, I really enjoyed the story. I thought it was interesting and emotionally satisfying, surprisingly so, given how short the game is outside of puzzling time (and you have the option to skip most of the puzzles if you just want the story). And the game felt and looked quite polished. I especially loved the artwork. Overall I'm super happy I played this, I thought it was great, and impressive for a game jam game.
Thank you so much - I'm very glad you enjoyed both the puzzles and the story! ;w;7
Me and my team did our best to make the game a polished experience, particularly in the storytelling parts. If I had more time, I would've loved to make the story longer, but since we only had a month to build malViolence, I wanted to focus on making the story a quality experience.
Again - thank you for enjoying the game! I'm happy you had a good time...
Another puzzle solution video, this time for the "Connect 4"(ish) Puzzle:
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i.e. the Plushie Puzzle
Thank you!! Will definitely consider this for the puzzle guide document.
Pretext: I'm really enjoying the game so far! The UI, the camera movements, the sprite work, the voice acting — amazing job! I really can't believe you all pulled this off in 30 (31?) days... like wtf, get some sleep! D:<
I've already mentioned this to Kigyo on Discord, but on behalf of myself and fellow colourblind players, I do want to mention how frustrating the Tutorial puzzle was to solve. 😞
I had no problems figuring out what had to be done, i.e.
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but then I massively struggled to figure out which colours on the actual lock itself corresponded to these, as well as which colours the teardrop (navy blue? dark purple?) and '0' shapes (light green? bright yellow? some sorta orange?) were supposed to be.
So even though I "solved" the puzzle, getting from this stage to the actual answer was an exercise in frustration (especially since the colours used on the lock itself were different hues...I wasn't sure if that Purple was actually Navy Blue, or if the Cyan Blue was a Light Purple. Ditto w/ Yellow/Light Green.)
Someone in Kigyo's Discord was kind enough to provide this for me, which was massively helpful, so I recommended including some sort of "Colour Dictionary/Alphabet" like this in-game, to help fellow players like me, who struggle with colour puzzles in games. 😢
Anyway, I appreciate y'alls efforts to make the game more accessible in general (why are you even considering accessibility during your 1 month grind?! shouldn't that be a post-release stretch goal? insanity! xD), so even though this puzzle was a strugglebus for me, I'm still enjoying the game overall, and I'm happy to see other forms of accessibility being included. So thank you all for that! ♥
Thank you for the kind words on malViolence - I really appreciate it! Accessibility was something me and my team wanted to include from the get-go, so that as many people as possible could enjoy this title on release.
I also appreciate your critique of the tutorial puzzle. It's actually one of the puzzles that the upcoming puzzle update will rework. We're gonna try and find a way to make the puzzle more accessible so that colorblind players can enjoy it to the fullest.
Again, thank you so much! I hope the next version of malViolence can be even more enjoyable!
For anyone struggling with the Panopticon puzzle, I've made a solution video with what I believe to be the fewest possible moves. (Yes, I know there's new "Skip" tech now. ;p)
(Go go Gadget Spreadsheet lol)
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Awesome, thank you so much!!
I’m currently working on a solution document for all of the puzzles - but this is easily one of the hardest ones. Thank you for providing it for everyone to see!
Got here from Reddit just now, love the way this is presented, visuals and aesthetic both. Can't wait to give it a shot!
Thank you, thank you! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the game as a whole once you're done. :>
It took me time for the puzzles but overall it was good
Thank you - I'm glad you enjoyed the game!
so good! some puzzles are very challenging (but I've been given word that the difficulty is being tweaked)
love the design of cautionne!
Thank you so much!! Very glad you enjoyed. :3c
Just started playing through this! I've been loving the game so far, but some of the puzzles are basically impossible to solve - setups where if you know the solution you can solve them, but if you don't there's no way to make actual progress.
Specifically, the hacking puzzle in the lab is one of these: there's not any 'clean' way of doing it deductively that I can see, and every move affects what future moves are available pretty drastically.
The 'panopticon' is another; the only way I can think of to solve this is to make a spreadsheet, find the correct final configuration, and then use linear algebra (the branch of math, not "y=mx+b") to find the correct set of inputs.
As a very experienced puzzle solver, I get the impression that these puzzles might not have actually been testsolved. Am I just missing hints, or some other method of 'cleanly' solving them? Or is brute force intended - and if so, do you realize how large the state spaces are?
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Edit: In the third room, you can softlock on the plushie puzzle, and you can't skip the sewing puzzle.
Thank you so much for the very thorough comment - I really appreciate it!
I apologize for the state of the puzzlea. I did intend for this to be a difficult, but rewarding experience, but you're absolutely right. We did rush through the beta-testing/test-solving part of puzzle-making so that we could make the jam deadline in time. The puzzles are in a state where they are solvable (one of my friends is already on Room 3) - but also really hard.
In the near future (possibly next week - but unsure right now...), me and my team have plans to neaten them up so that they can be solved more "cleanly", instead of being brute-forced. That way, there's a neat balance between the puzzles in terms of difficulty and solvability.
Yeah, I definitely agree, especially for these two puzzles in particular.
Because of the complexity, trial and error will most likely get you nowhere. And yet the alternatives, in order to intentionally and meaningfully work towards an actual solution, are wayyyy too involved, and most likely not even "satisfying" for players.
And yeah, that's more or less what I did to solve the Panopticon puzzle. ^^;
Personally, I had fun spreadsheeting it all out, but I suspect that the large majority of players will give up out of frustration and just skip it entirely (which is what I did w/ the Hacking puzzle, b/c of the current difficulty).
I understand that y'all had a tight deadline to make, which is why you ended up releasing the
impossible"harder" version of the Hacking puzzle, so I'm appreciative that the team is working on things like a puzzle difficulty revisit in a future patch! ♥ (although I'd enjoy having a choice between the current difficulties, and a toned down version for those 2 puzzles in particular, rather than completely gutting them in future version updates).