Demon's Hymn

Now that Low Rez Jam is over and critical bugs are patched, I can finally write a little about the game! Last year for Low Rez Jam, I made Mr. Knucklehead. That was a great experience, but this year I wanted to do something a little darker. I wanted a game with blood, demons, magic, and all the good stuff. I also wanted really tight controls, with fast-paced wall jumping and dashing. In that regard, I think Demon's Hymn is a success! Special thanks to Charlie McCarron for his fantastic work on the music.

My initial plans for the game were a lot bigger. Bet you haven't heard that before! I wanted the player to go through the church basement and fight a priest at the end. The priest would then call upon his dark god and become a demon, and cast you far out of the church, across the land. The game would be a Castlevania-esque adventure as you trek back to the church, slaying newly-awoken demons along the way.

As ambitious as that scope is for a game jam, I think I could have done it if I didn't have 2D Con right smack dab in the middle of the jam! Since that took a lot of time, I ended up working right down to the last minute trying to cram as much content as I could into Demon's Hymn. It ended up with a "second quest" sort of thing- after you beat the boss, you find yourself going through the same level, with some different graphics and more challenging enemy placement. Then it's topped off with a harder iteration of the priest boss.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is... I'm not sure if I'm done with this game! I'm currently working on Atmocopter, my main project. But I'm gonna need something to work on next. So if you like the Demon's Hymn prototype, and if you're lovin' how I described the rest of the game above, let me know in the comments! I might consider this concept for a full game.

Thanks for reading, and happy demon-slaying!

- Will (Demon's Hymn programmer and artist)

--Version 1.01--

• Critical bug fix for final boss.
• Made final boss slightly harder.
• Smoother transition after you beat the first boss.
• Fixed drawing issue with wizard and boss fireballs.
• Enabled automatic update support.
• Added credits.
• Increased window size from 512x512 to 768x768. (The base resolution is still 64x64, as per the jam rules.)

--Version 1.0--

• Initial release.