Midnight Ritual

Controls

Left and Right Arrows to move the character around.

Z to shoot horizontally.

X to shoot vertically.

CTRL+R to reset the cart.

Rules

You control a wizard who wants to perform a Magic Ritual.

They must first gather the correct ingredients, then return to their home and ward off the evil spirits trying to stop them from getting their wish granted.

There are two sections to the game:

Gathering

The wizard is outside their home, and must get the 3 ingredients to perform the ritual.

The player can move left and right as far as the screen will scroll, and will collect the ingredients just by touching them.

After collecting all the ingredients you have to return home, and the game will progress.

Magic

Magic must be used in the search for the ingredients. It can be used to destroy enemies and obstacles that are blocking you.

Before you can perform magic attacks, you must find the two magic elements.

Wand

Lets you shoot forward in the direction the player is facing. Shoots with Z

Staff

Lets you shoot upward, to hit enemies and objects that were once unreachable. Shoots with X

Ingredients

There are 3 ingredients necessary for the ritual:

• a flower
• a frog
• a moth

Remember that the moth is flying high, and it must be hit with a Magic Beam before it will fly to the ground.

Enemies

Enemies will start appearing around the level after you've collected your wand. They will swoop down from the sky and try and touch you. If they touch you, you die.

They can be dispatched with one Magic Beam.

Death Counter

Every time you die, you will respawn soon after. Your Death Counter displayed at the end of the game will go up. Can you complete the game with the least deaths?

The Ritual

After entering your home, the ritual must be performed.

Step one is simple enough - shoot the center of the sygil to create it and let it expand.

The Monster

Did something go wrong with the ritual? Is he part of it? Regardless, he wants to stop you from completing your work!

The Monster's head is the weak spot: keep on hitting it.

Spit

The head of the Monster will spit downward at random - be careful not to be hit!

Hands

They don't hurt you, but they close in on you and make it harder to move. Hit them with your magic to move them back and give yourself more space!

Monster's defeat

After the monster is defeated he'll retreat, and you'll be able to complete the ritual.

I wonder what will happen to our friend wizard...

Behind the Scenes

What a great experience this game has been.

A weekend of work, and for once I feel like I haven't wasted a single moment. I really did my best with this one!

After the long, multi-level effort of "Will of the Spider" a short, two-level game is just what I needed.

Plus, this meant that I could put in more detail around the place that I wouldn't have had the time to otherwise. Especially the music and little animated moments there are.

Plus, Sin and Cos are very useful, did ya know???

Credits

Game made in Pico8

Design and Programming by KaaSnake

Music and SFX by KaaSnake