Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The Mystery Of Dungeon

By Alec Meer on November 20th, 2009 at 8:58 pm.

Oh you bastards

Confession time! I have never played a game by mad-brained indie wunderkind Jonathan ‘Cactus’ Söderström before. No idea why – despite Jim regularly giving his games an approving nod, in that stern, stoic Jim Rossignol way of his, I’ve managed to miss every single one. Dungeon, his collaboration with one Arthur ‘Mr. podunkian’ Lee (what is it with these names? I’ve gotta get me one. Call me Alec ‘Windows Sound Recorder’ Meer from now on, if you will), rather confirms my opinions from afar – that the chap is making splendid but oddball independent videogames that will please anyone who doesn’t scream “pretentious!” the second they’re faced with something even slightly artistically-minded. Not that Dungeon is necessarily artistically-minded – it has another agenda…

It’s a platformer. It’s a hard platformer. It’s a retro platformer. It’s a very short platformer. It tells a story in novel fashion. It will make you swear, a lot. It’s a bit naughty (not sex-naughty. The other naughty). I like it.

To entirely appreciate why I like it, you’ll need to play bonus mini-game Clarity after (seriously – after. Please don’t do it first) you’ve got as far as you care to. All will make sense, and you’ll either chuckle or scream when it does.

To those who finish/decipher it, please avoid spoilers of any kind. You might want to leave your number, though.

__________________

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118 Comments »

  1. 20/11/2009 at 21:13 solipsistnation says:

    12

  2. 20/11/2009 at 21:18 Maarten says:

    42

    Going to check this out though ;-)

  4. 20/11/2009 at 21:25 Sinnerman says:

    I played Dungeon earlier on in the week. Not really surprised by what Clarity told me as I suspected that ludic hijinks and tomfoolery were afoot.

    It reminds me of Jet Set Willy without the colour chart copy protection.

  5. 20/11/2009 at 21:29 D says:

    10

    Which explains why it was so hard to understand what was brilliant about it. But assuredly, it is brilliant. What was yours Jim? Some of those are just evil.

  6. 20/11/2009 at 21:30 gryffinp says:

    03. Though the first time I saw the level, I thought I had 01 until I manned up and tried it.

    Interesting little concept.

  7. 20/11/2009 at 21:35 Dominic White says:

    Hahah.. I had actually played the original version of this a few days ago, but Clarity really does live up to its name.. Also: Son of a bitch! Unlucky 13 – that explains a bit.

  8. 20/11/2009 at 21:36 Senethro says:

    Completed it. Played Clarity. Didn’t get it. Someone explain to me what the punchline is.

    • 20/11/2009 at 21:39 D says:

      Ok, but spoiler free. Clarity has a screen ‘E=MC2′ that explains the rule of the number. Then look at the rosetta number. For instance, I was 10, so..

  9. 20/11/2009 at 21:37 Dominic White says:

    Oh yeah – as for Cactus, the guy churns out a game every few days. Here’s just the ones that he’s left unfinished:

    http://www.vimeo.com/1519005

  11. 20/11/2009 at 21:50 An Innocuous Coin says:

    Er….01?

  12. 20/11/2009 at 21:50 Berzee says:

    I don’t get it either…is it because I played dungeonv2 instead of v1?

    booo! help me help myself! tell me whatcha see

    • 20/11/2009 at 22:11 Dominic White says:

      For those who haven’t figured it out yet, and in an appropriate enough format:

      Gur tnzr trarengrf n ahzore sebz 00 gb 15 onfrq ba lbhe CP, hfreanzr naq bgure enaqbz inevnoyrf. Vg gura gnxrf guna ahzore, naq nccyvrf gur rssrpg sebz gur gnoyr pbeerfcbaqvat gb vg.

      Guvf pna or nf fnsr nf znxvat whzcf rnfvre, be nf pehryyl ivpvbhf nf znxvat gur irel svefg whzc vzcbffvoyr, be rira ercynpvat nyy gur ebbz anzrf jvgu zber nofgenpg gvgyrf. V tbg ‘Ab raqvat’, juvpu jnf n ovg bs n ohzzre.

  13. 20/11/2009 at 21:51 CMaster says:

    02 here, so didn’t come off that badly.

  14. 20/11/2009 at 21:53 Kid A says:

    00. I am disappoint.

  16. 20/11/2009 at 21:58 _Nocturnal says:

    13. Yep! It’s my kind of hell alright.

  17. 20/11/2009 at 22:09 Cedge says:

    Pretentious!

  18. 20/11/2009 at 22:10 M.P. says:

    “in that stern, stoic Jim Rossignol way of his”

    Would the correct adverb for this be “Rossigneurial”?

  19. 20/11/2009 at 22:19 Metalfish says:

    Not entirely convinced I got it.

    13

  20. 20/11/2009 at 22:20 TCM says:

    8, and Cactus is a horrible person.

  21. 20/11/2009 at 22:23 army of none says:

    Interesting… 03…

  22. 20/11/2009 at 22:34 El Stevo says:

    It was unplayably laggy on my system for some reason. I tried it on another computer and I couldn’t even get past the first jump. Not going to waste my time.

  24. 20/11/2009 at 23:02 Mundus says:

    Odd, I got 04 but it didn’t work. :( I still had CP’s.

  25. 20/11/2009 at 23:04 Serph says:

    Haha, brilliant! I got lucky 7, but I have no idea what it does…

  26. 20/11/2009 at 23:13 Serph says:

    Oh, now I realize that it actually never showed up on mine, and it stayed at normal. Bummer…

  27. 20/11/2009 at 23:27 Hmm-Hmm. says:

    Okay, sorry, but I REALLY hate this type of game. I don’t mind whether it’s pixel perfect movement or hard to handle characters, but games like these seem intentionally made to have you fail. Again, and again, and again. And then again. Feel free to remind me again when I’m in the mood to feel annoyed and frustrated.

    I don’t care about the message and to be sure I didn’t play Dungeon for that long, but then again, for what I got it didn’t deserve any more, regardless of message (at the end). The flying pig game was at least rewarding in that it was the pig who could.

    • 20/11/2009 at 23:29 Hmm-Hmm. says:

      *what would be an edit* I mean, games with messages are fine and often interesting. But this game’s first gameplay doesn’t reward it my attention for long enough to make it that far. They should at least make it a bit more worthwhile. Or at least bearable. Although I was surprised they had save points.

  28. 20/11/2009 at 23:34 dadioflex says:

    Each to their own, I guess.

  29. 20/11/2009 at 23:43 EthZee says:

    11. Also, fucking spikes.

  30. 20/11/2009 at 23:56 reindall says:

    That was… interesting. 02, but I didn’t even notice it.

  31. 20/11/2009 at 23:57 Hazelnut says:

    I got 6 and was beaten by the cake.

    LOL

    (it might be worth mentioning to play the original and not v2 until after clarity…)

  32. 20/11/2009 at 23:58 MsGriffin says:

    14!

  33. 21/11/2009 at 00:05 oisomeguy says:

    06. I hate cake.

  34. 21/11/2009 at 00:12 Tull. says:

    [Naughty! I totally said "no spoilers in comments"]

  35. 21/11/2009 at 00:27 PHeMoX says:

    The face looks a bit like that Gesundheit monster to me, nice. :)

  36. 21/11/2009 at 01:01 Kid A says:

    Cactus’s site is down, if anyone knows of any mirrors so I could play the rest of his stuff, I’d be grateful.

  37. 21/11/2009 at 01:03 El Stevo says:

    Ah, so version 2 doesn’t have the effects (unless you use debug mode).

  38. 21/11/2009 at 01:24 vanarbulax says:

    12

    God dammit, that’s why it took forever!

  39. 21/11/2009 at 01:48 PleasingFungus says:

    07. Ha, wouldn’t have guessed it wasn’t the default if not for Clarity.

    Gave me a big guffaw at the end, so I guess I liked the game? Not sure!

  40. 21/11/2009 at 02:00 Pie21 says:

    05, and I failed you Alec. Couldn’t get past Perils of Self Doubt, so I Google’d it before playing Clarity. One of the comments vaguely gave it away.

    Fortunately I’m the kind of guy who can appreciate a joke even after it’s been explained. Thumbs up for pretension!

  41. 21/11/2009 at 02:01 cactus says:

    Thanks for writing about the game. I’m glad y’all enjoy it!

    Almost all my games should be online on my site now (to be sure, try the url my nick is linked to). Sorry for that.

    • 21/11/2009 at 02:30 Kid A says:

      I love how devs actually bother to come on RPS. It tends to mark out, y’know, the good ones. Thanks for the fix. -downloads everything, ever-

  42. 21/11/2009 at 02:05 JuJuCam says:

    02 Cheeky buggers :P

  43. 21/11/2009 at 02:11 wolf says:

    I got 09, but I don’t think it worked.

  46. 21/11/2009 at 02:25 Sam says:

    02, christ it was awful. At least I could youtube the end.

  47. 21/11/2009 at 02:56 FunkyLlama says:

    That’s numberwang!

  48. 21/11/2009 at 03:36 Cheeetar says:

    I was 02.

  49. 21/11/2009 at 03:37 localcoder says:

    I played thinking “this is actually not too bad” and managed to win. So: Number 14 :)

    The title of the third screen of ‘Clarity’ was a bit of a shock.

  50. 21/11/2009 at 03:54 Serph says:

    D’OH! When he said “bugfree version” on the website, I assumed that it was the one I’d want to play. Considering that you know what aren’t bugs…maybe he should change it to a more apt name?

  51. 21/11/2009 at 04:10 Jacob says:

    04, and I am master of the first jump, thank you very much. But I never made it past the red lion before I gave up.

  52. 21/11/2009 at 04:24 pimorte says:

    I got 6.
    I also beat the cake level.
    doesnotcompute

  53. 21/11/2009 at 04:48 drygear says:

    Mine was 14, so I managed to get through the entirety of Dungeon. Then I played Clarity and didn’t get it because until I read this thread I didn’t know the number it gave you corresponded to which game you played.
    That was supposed to be easier? :-o

  54. 21/11/2009 at 05:41 Weylund says:

    07. Fucking spikes. I swore a lot.

  55. 21/11/2009 at 06:16 Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:

    06. Yeah, managed to beat the Cake level too. After a lot of deaths and crying and timing the momentum of the run and jump just right.

    But, I have to ask, is there more than one ending?

  56. 21/11/2009 at 06:32 quadeh says:

    08, though I felt a bit stupid considering how long it took me to get the ending :).

  57. 21/11/2009 at 06:35 Saul says:

    I got 11. Hella, hella laggy, but then it all made sense.

  58. 21/11/2009 at 07:03 Vinraith says:

    01

    Which, let me tell you, makes for a darn short game.

  59. 21/11/2009 at 07:53 j says:

    05. Which wasn’t too big a deal.

  60. 21/11/2009 at 08:12 Ade McC says:

    02 haha now I understand

  61. 21/11/2009 at 08:22 Simon says:

    Am I the only idiot who can’t jump over that first hole in the floor?

  62. 21/11/2009 at 09:36 Alexander Norris says:

    The one problem I have with this as a video game is that it isn’t “hard” or “oldschool” – it’s just shit. IWBTG is hard, and its controls are very accurate. This? This feels like floating through some sort of mystical matter made of combined molasses-and-ice or something. The controls are stupidly unresponsive, and that makes the game artificially hard instead of it actually being hard and giving the player the tools to beat it.

    Edit: oh, alright, the number’s in the other one. 09, then. Guess I came off easy.

    • 21/11/2009 at 14:04 Dominic White says:

      Also, don’t forget that this was a two-day experimental project. I don’t think there was any balancing, tuning or tweaking planned. Almost the opposite, in fact, as you are now aware.

  63. 21/11/2009 at 09:43 kai says:

    he’s Cactus, not Catcus…

  64. 21/11/2009 at 10:02 Doctor Doc says:

    No. After I got past the lava sperms and fell straight down on the next level I’m not doing it again. I did not give up, I’m not just doing it. The controls are not worth it.

  65. 21/11/2009 at 10:21 woppyce says:

    I played it to the end. 13.
    But I could swear I got 8 too.

  66. 21/11/2009 at 11:15 Dox says:

    06 it seems. Which is odd, because I beat the cake level on my fifth try.

    Unless the cake was a lie… I’ll just take my coat and leave now.

  67. 21/11/2009 at 11:17 Thingus says:

    Is it me, or does 14 take a bit of the impact awayfrom the whole thing? Ho hum.

  68. 21/11/2009 at 11:41 Hazelnut says:

    Did you play v2 by any chance?

  69. 21/11/2009 at 11:43 Hazelnut says:

    That comment was for Dorian Cornelius Jasper & pimorte BTW.

  70. 21/11/2009 at 12:08 Ed says:

    09. Completed it twice because I was sure I had missed the point first time round.

  71. 21/11/2009 at 12:23 mr. podunkian says:

    copy and paste this into notepad or something to read what i’m saying as it may be a spoiler!:

    ‘clarity’ wasn’t released until after around 24 hours or so of the game’s release, and until that point, many people had argued about x level being easier than y level, or that the game was impossible vs. how easy the game was (which is what 14 did). the best example of this is shown in the tigsource forum post. the post here SORT OF (very narrowly) misses the point, as it reveals the twist of the game (which is almost impossible to not do since ‘clarity’ was released), rather than letting the discussion take its unfortunate course.

  72. 21/11/2009 at 12:53 faelnor says:

    Lucky with a 7, which made the first run through so much more interesting. Great.

  73. 21/11/2009 at 16:04 fuggles says:

    Got 06, finished it.. Is this lies?

    Slippery controls + pussy == nightmare.

    Out of context that actually looks quite wrong :z

  74. 21/11/2009 at 16:53 fearian says:

    04 and I beat the game. what was 04?

  75. 21/11/2009 at 17:51 Elyscape says:

    I had 02. Which made the Great Bat Tango impossible.

  76. 21/11/2009 at 18:26 underproseductor says:

    The game is annoying as fuck even without, er, those numbers (btw, I had 06; and 00 with XP mode)

    Cool idea, bad execution.

  77. 21/11/2009 at 18:55 The Unbelievable Guy says:

    05, and I hate this Cactus man.

  78. 21/11/2009 at 19:09 Ed says:

    I should have known this was a Ludum Dare 48 hour compo entry – http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-14/

    I dunno why, but I find that most LD48 entries have a certain vibe about them.
    It probably has something to do with sleep deprivation…

    …not to mention that 99% of the devs in the LD community like their games bastard hard.

  79. 21/11/2009 at 21:25 An Innocuous Coin says:

    …but the first jump wasn’t impossible. D: It was easy, even.

  80. 21/11/2009 at 21:56 Paul says:

    4 For fucks sake. I read Alec’s post as don’t play clarity until after you finish the game, and spent ages coming back every few hours. What a huge waste of time. :/

  81. 21/11/2009 at 23:09 Nobody in particular says:

    14 … But I played directly the v2.0 (unaware of what the corrected “bugs” were)
    Now I’m probably the only one feeling sorely cheated for playing the bugfree version.

    Pussy was aaarrrrghh!

  82. 22/11/2009 at 00:54 JonFitt says:

    Also 1. Dammit.

  83. 22/11/2009 at 02:28 disperse says:

    5

    And the “self doubt” level seems impossible… other 5s concur?

    • 22/11/2009 at 06:52 Glove says:

      I concur, it did SEEM impossible. When I got over the second spike, I was genuinely taken aback. 5 made “Pussy” a right pain in the arse.

  84. 22/11/2009 at 02:55 Andrew says:

    I also had 04 T_T

    The Leap of Faith screen was how far I got before trying second version and playing Clarity.

    04 = No Checkpoints. Harsh.

  85. 22/11/2009 at 13:55 wiper says:

    12 – just thought the game was unusually punishing ^_^

    Did finish it though – despite the frustration towards the end!

  86. 22/11/2009 at 19:33 mister k says:

    yeah, got stuck cause I had 10, then changed and discovered the controls were still annoying enough to make me not want to play it… kind of a practical joke of a game really.

  87. 22/11/2009 at 20:46 Juhkystar says:

    02.

    I spent ages on the Bat level trying to jump through thinking I was just really bad at timing.

    Gaaahhh.

    Brilliant!

  88. 23/11/2009 at 03:33 Donut says:

    I played the bug-free version. Then I read the TIGSource thread.

    Brilliant.

  89. 23/11/2009 at 08:17 Lightbulb says:

    Ok I played this for about 20 seconds. I need to go to work now but could osmeone please tell me this:

    What the hell button is jump?

  90. 23/11/2009 at 11:39 Cooper says:

    Cooper love cactus

    cactus make simple but fun and interesting arcade games

    Ad Nauseum 2 is the pinnacle of pick up and play SHMUP games. Also it has an evil vagina on a pin up model which shoots medical paraphenalia at you as the boss

    Cooper loves cactus

  91. 23/11/2009 at 18:53 Lightbulb says:

    Thanks pimorte

    Well what a waste of 5 minutes THAT was…

  92. 24/11/2009 at 18:30 Kavika says:

    14. Fucking Cactus…

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