I'm Cryptic Paw, and I chose to play and rate Lenna's Inception on my YouTube channel!
I like to analyze games from a casual POV to give indie game devs advice and insight on what worked and how to further improve their games. You can find the rating video at the link below.
I can't find Tressa at the library. I think it's because I've set Paige to be my companion and obtained the locket so now I can't use her as the librarian.
Thank you so much for this tip! I can confirm this is working on macOS Sonoma 14.3.1 on an Apple M2 chip; at least for the beginning of the game getting to the "tutorial" dungeon. Pretty excited to actually get to play this now!
Really liked the game! My only complaint is that its rougelike random world generation holds the gameplay and story back in a lot of places. Also love Paige but wish she had some more dialog, since the game really wants you to keep her around.
Would just like to say that this was a really fun experience! Didn't expect to get lost and immersed in the small open world, and the story was release nice! I also love the idea of procedurally generated overworld and dungeons.
Hi, I use NixOS and had issues running this so I made a simple env file to get the game running. Posting it here because it might help somebody. If certain features don't work, please tell me because I'd be interested and might possibly be able to help.
it was a well put together game with lots of love and was overall fun to play. I do have one complaint and that is the inability to turn on v-sync in the menu had to mess with the files to get that working.
Honestly? You miiight wanna make it so Paige doesn't tell ya where to go tbh. She has a lotta fun dialogue, but ultimately always ends it with "heres where to go next" which is a bit jarring.
I've noticed that I can start it on macOS 12.X, however, I don't know where PageDown and PageUp are supposed to be so I think I'll play it on PC at the end of the day.
Link's Awakening was the first game I really loved. I think I would've been ten when I played it? I think this is an enjoyable, solid game without that connection, but with it this felt like it was made for me personally. Thank you!
1. On my Gameboy, I only ever played Pokemon and Kirby Tilt and Tumble. The Legend of Zelda games, especially the Game Boy ones, are alien to me.
Could someone who has never played the GB Legend of Zelda games enjoy this? Or, are those games a sort of prerequisite to understand what Lenna's Inception is going for?
--
2. Those "archangels" in the description; are those supposed to be actual biblical angels, or just powerful humans loosely inspired by Westernized depictions of angels?
Please excuse second question, partially. Only just after posting this I saw the screenshot showing at least one of these "archangels" is just a cat with a screen on its face.
The question still stands if any are based on biblical angels? If any are outright supposed to be such?
1. I believe you can! Zelda games post-A Link to the Past all have a generally similar structure. You explore, complete dungeons, and the world opens up more as you get more equipment, similar to a metroidvania. They're pretty accessible and so is this game. The only difference is this game is procedurally generated, so it's different each playthrough.
2. As far as I can tell, they're not really based on biblical angels. They're all closer to Eldritch horrors. They're "angels" in the same sense the monsters in Evangelion are "angels." Most of their names are also humorous and silly (ie Catsiel is a giant cat with a TV for a head).
I had just taken the librarian quest of killing 10 Marshmallows, as she was my companion. While in a boss fight, I tried to heal me, but not knowing my potions effects, I tested them all. That's how I drank an hallucination potion. Well, hallucination seems just as tasty as real mobs, the quest was fast to complete.
I am enjoying the game immensely! it has a lot of parody and a lot of fun things to see and do so far! I am just starting the 3rd dungeon! :P I hope you continue developing the game and adding more to it!
I was enjoying this game a lot. I beat the first 2 dungeons as well as 2 mini dungeons. But suddenly the game crashed and I'm not sure what happened. My pumpkin friend Gourdon was poisoned, and I didn't know how to cure him so I swapped him out for Henrietta. As soon as I did so, the game crashed.
I can't seem to figure out how to run this game, on Linux. I've downloaded the folder, extracted it, but there's no .bin file, no .exe file, nothing that I could possibly run? Any advice. Thanks.
Thanks. I did end up figuring out how to run the script, but it kept instantly crashing upon running it. I thought it may be something that I was doing wrong, so I downloaded the Itch launcher and installed it through there. However, the error persists; Exit code 0x1 (1). It also says "You must buy this game to download". This was bought as part of a bundle. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Either my seed is wrong or I'm an idiot, but the 4th dungeon cannot be completed so I'm totally stuck (the bomb item never spawned). Such a shame as I was enjoying the game, not prepared to restart.
Launched the game for the 3rd time and found no 'continue save' option on the main menu. My save files are still in the game directory with the index file, but the game doesn't seem to recognize them
After getting the bad endings, I just replayed this on NG+ for the true ending and I have to say, this game is fantastic! Love the OST, punny writing, interesting story, and clever game design (boss fights, glasses, the DnD phone game, etc.). My first game was Link's Awakening (bomb arrows!) and many indie Zelda games tend to be forgettable derivatives, but this...this one will stick with me. Thank you!
Pretty enjoyable story, the gameplay may be a tad formulaic but it works. The gameplay is fun. I'll echo a sentiment I've seen a lot, in that the procedural generation may hold this back, as it makes the dungeons seem a bit more formulaic, especially in comparison to the last one, which had a much more interesting and difficult layout. The real highlight of this game (for me) was the soundtrack. It's genuinely very, very good. Big fan of Broken Showdown. Really had a good time with this game!
The story in this was great. I expected a straightforward Zelda parody, but you really developed it to a surprising extent. In particular, the "capitalist pig" joke was hilarious. I'm really impressed with how you took a Zelda cliche and managed to play it completely straight while simultaneously recontextualizing it in an aesthetic that made perfect sense, and getting a pun out of the deal too. Excellent.
I also liked the mechanic of the glitched second form for bosses. The boss' first forms were always disappointingly trivial to me, but the glitched forms were a lot more challenging and unique. I would have liked for all bosses to get that treatment, though -- the early bosses are still really trivial, especially since they're usually puzzles that Zelda fans are already familiar with.
I think the game could use clearer instruction on how to use the Power of Compassion, though. I kept trying it in battles to no effect, and eventually I thought I was only supposed to use it on the final boss. Would it be possible to give it to the player early, so they don't have to sequence break to even use it properly?
The palace could also really use a map, as other people have complained.
I really enjoyed this, and am hugely looking forward to Cassette Beasts. The only real problem I have is how heavy this seems to be for a Game Boy-styled game. It hiccups when there's a lot of monsters on screen or a few glitch effects happening at once, and sometimes the end boss slows to a ridiculous crawl. My laptop isn't amazing but it exceeds the stated requirements.
A minor improvement I would make is to allow for map notes, so you can come back to a tile/dungeon when you've got the upgrade you need. It's difficult to remember what you need to go back for.
Requires too many keybinds, for one thing. When using my controller, it's impossible to move up or down through menu options one at a time, it almost always skips one and moves by two instead, and trying to use the start button to bring up the inventory screen always double-triggers, so it opens, but then immediately closes. Keyboard works fine, but no other games I've used this controller for have problems like this. Then when trying to minimize the game during the tutorial dungeon, it froze in such a way that I couldn't even bring up Task Manager, I had to restart the computer. I don't understand how something can have so many weird issues like this. I know I'm not the only one.
I'm having the same issue with the game freezing up my whole computer. It makes the game entirely unplayable. It's a shame, because it seems like a good game.
It would be really nice for people who make retro gaming consoles using raspberry pis. The cross-compiling toolchains are quite mature now and it shouldn’t be too much trouble to adapt your existing amd64 build process.
Thanks for considering it!
edit the 4Gb RAM requirement probably makes this impossible
Played and enjoyed up to the castle, then got stuck. Either I'm missing something or the random number generator generated a non-winnable world ("Virpium") for me. I have the blue key, and I can't see a way to get the green key. Either way, constantly being forced back while exploring the castle because I accidentally touched a cyan tile again has sucked the fun out of this game.
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Looks like funny game! Perhaps you might like to check out my game as well https://ekremja23.itch.io/pixeld
Hey there, Pack Members!
I'm Cryptic Paw, and I chose to play and rate Lenna's Inception on my YouTube channel!
I like to analyze games from a casual POV to give indie game devs advice and insight on what worked and how to further improve their games. You can find the rating video at the link below.
Happy Gaming!
Alice of Cryptic Paw
I can't find Tressa at the library. I think it's because I've set Paige to be my companion and obtained the locket so now I can't use her as the librarian.
Reddit pointed me toward editing launch-config.json to set "useOpenGL" to false, and now the game runs. I hope this helps somebody out.
Thank you so much for this tip! I can confirm this is working on macOS Sonoma 14.3.1 on an Apple M2 chip; at least for the beginning of the game getting to the "tutorial" dungeon. Pretty excited to actually get to play this now!
hey do you plan to port this to the analogue pocket at any time?
i was looking for this comment
Really liked the game! My only complaint is that its rougelike random world generation holds the gameplay and story back in a lot of places. Also love Paige but wish she had some more dialog, since the game really wants you to keep her around.
Would just like to say that this was a really fun experience! Didn't expect to get lost and immersed in the small open world, and the story was release nice! I also love the idea of procedurally generated overworld and dungeons.
Hi, I use NixOS and had issues running this so I made a simple env file to get the game running. Posting it here because it might help somebody. If certain features don't work, please tell me because I'd be interested and might possibly be able to help.
https://gist.github.com/sagehane/74ffc1fd358adb897fbd7168df33f0d6
Also, I haven't finished the game yet but the concept is nice and it seems quite interesting. Thanks a lot for the Linux support.
it was a well put together game with lots of love and was overall fun to play. I do have one complaint and that is the inability to turn on v-sync in the menu had to mess with the files to get that working.
Honestly? You miiight wanna make it so Paige doesn't tell ya where to go tbh. She has a lotta fun dialogue, but ultimately always ends it with "heres where to go next" which is a bit jarring.
does it port to analogue?
Looks cool, but feels very unfinished.
the game will not start, windows.
make sure you have Java installed, I had the same issue until I installed java.
thanks but I have Java 😃
huh, i wonder why it wont work then? weird!
i tried to play this on windows but the game is not starting up
make sure you have Java installed, I had the same issue until I installed java.
I've noticed that I can start it on macOS 12.X, however, I don't know where PageDown and PageUp are supposed to be so I think I'll play it on PC at the end of the day.
Page down is fn + arrow key down on some macs :)
sooooooo can i somehow send this to my GBA? i am willing to get a flashcart if there is a way
Sadly, this is not a rom.
:(
would be a lot cooler if it was
Which game engine have you used?
LI uses a custom engine made in Java with pieces of Lightweight Java Game Library, the engine Minecraft uses. [Link]
I guess it's 32-bit and that's why it won't work on later macOS versions?
I'm a Unity developer but I could attempt a 64-bit build of this game if you'd like.
Link's Awakening was the first game I really loved. I think I would've been ten when I played it? I think this is an enjoyable, solid game without that connection, but with it this felt like it was made for me personally. Thank you!
Two questions.
1. On my Gameboy, I only ever played Pokemon and Kirby Tilt and Tumble. The Legend of Zelda games, especially the Game Boy ones, are alien to me.
Could someone who has never played the GB Legend of Zelda games enjoy this? Or, are those games a sort of prerequisite to understand what Lenna's Inception is going for?
--
2. Those "archangels" in the description; are those supposed to be actual biblical angels, or just powerful humans loosely inspired by Westernized depictions of angels?
Please excuse second question, partially. Only just after posting this I saw the screenshot showing at least one of these "archangels" is just a cat with a screen on its face.
The question still stands if any are based on biblical angels? If any are outright supposed to be such?
The first question remains entirely unswayed.
1. I believe you can! Zelda games post-A Link to the Past all have a generally similar structure. You explore, complete dungeons, and the world opens up more as you get more equipment, similar to a metroidvania. They're pretty accessible and so is this game. The only difference is this game is procedurally generated, so it's different each playthrough.
2. As far as I can tell, they're not really based on biblical angels. They're all closer to Eldritch horrors. They're "angels" in the same sense the monsters in Evangelion are "angels." Most of their names are also humorous and silly (ie Catsiel is a giant cat with a TV for a head).
Hello, I think I found a little "bug".
I had just taken the librarian quest of killing 10 Marshmallows, as she was my companion. While in a boss fight, I tried to heal me, but not knowing my potions effects, I tested them all. That's how I drank an hallucination potion. Well, hallucination seems just as tasty as real mobs, the quest was fast to complete.
he was killed... HE WAS KILLED!!!
I am enjoying the game immensely! it has a lot of parody and a lot of fun things to see and do so far! I am just starting the 3rd dungeon! :P
I hope you continue developing the game and adding more to it!
I was enjoying this game a lot. I beat the first 2 dungeons as well as 2 mini dungeons. But suddenly the game crashed and I'm not sure what happened. My pumpkin friend Gourdon was poisoned, and I didn't know how to cure him so I swapped him out for Henrietta. As soon as I did so, the game crashed.
I can't seem to figure out how to run this game, on Linux. I've downloaded the folder, extracted it, but there's no .bin file, no .exe file, nothing that I could possibly run? Any advice. Thanks.
There's an executable file called `lennasinception`. Or if you're using the itch.io launcher that should find it!
Thanks. I did end up figuring out how to run the script, but it kept instantly crashing upon running it. I thought it may be something that I was doing wrong, so I downloaded the Itch launcher and installed it through there. However, the error persists; Exit code 0x1 (1). It also says "You must buy this game to download". This was bought as part of a bundle. Any suggestions? Thanks.
I just found Lenna’s Inception from one of Clemmy’s videos and I’m instantly hyped. 😎👊
Please consider bringing it to Playstation.
Wonderfully imaginative; much more than just a Zelda parody. Has some notable Undertale vibes, but brings plenty of its own tricks to the table.
I enjoyed Lenna's Inception so much I added it to my Hidden Gems Series :)
Youtube Link
A like/subscribe would be a huge help to continue these. <3 Enjoy your day!
Either my seed is wrong or I'm an idiot, but the 4th dungeon cannot be completed so I'm totally stuck (the bomb item never spawned). Such a shame as I was enjoying the game, not prepared to restart.
Launched the game for the 3rd time and found no 'continue save' option on the main menu. My save files are still in the game directory with the index file, but the game doesn't seem to recognize them
This game was insanely fun until the fight with the Chairman- the timing for hitting his ball back is bs, and why I'm giving up on this game.
After getting the bad endings, I just replayed this on NG+ for the true ending and I have to say, this game is fantastic! Love the OST, punny writing, interesting story, and clever game design (boss fights, glasses, the DnD phone game, etc.). My first game was Link's Awakening (bomb arrows!) and many indie Zelda games tend to be forgettable derivatives, but this...this one will stick with me. Thank you!
We really enjoyed playing & discussing Lenna's Inception on Indie Game Club (it’s like a book club for indie games)! You can watch it here:
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/potionsandpixels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PotionsAndPixels/videos/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/yc-2xXrYLwk?t=6009
Keep up with Indie Game Club from POTIONS & PIXELS here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PotionsAndPixels
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PotionsPixels
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/potions_and_pixels/
Pretty enjoyable story, the gameplay may be a tad formulaic but it works. The gameplay is fun. I'll echo a sentiment I've seen a lot, in that the procedural generation may hold this back, as it makes the dungeons seem a bit more formulaic, especially in comparison to the last one, which had a much more interesting and difficult layout. The real highlight of this game (for me) was the soundtrack. It's genuinely very, very good. Big fan of Broken Showdown. Really had a good time with this game!
The story in this was great. I expected a straightforward Zelda parody, but you really developed it to a surprising extent. In particular, the "capitalist pig" joke was hilarious. I'm really impressed with how you took a Zelda cliche and managed to play it completely straight while simultaneously recontextualizing it in an aesthetic that made perfect sense, and getting a pun out of the deal too. Excellent.
I also liked the mechanic of the glitched second form for bosses. The boss' first forms were always disappointingly trivial to me, but the glitched forms were a lot more challenging and unique. I would have liked for all bosses to get that treatment, though -- the early bosses are still really trivial, especially since they're usually puzzles that Zelda fans are already familiar with.
I think the game could use clearer instruction on how to use the Power of Compassion, though. I kept trying it in battles to no effect, and eventually I thought I was only supposed to use it on the final boss. Would it be possible to give it to the player early, so they don't have to sequence break to even use it properly?
The palace could also really use a map, as other people have complained.
I really enjoyed this, and am hugely looking forward to Cassette Beasts. The only real problem I have is how heavy this seems to be for a Game Boy-styled game. It hiccups when there's a lot of monsters on screen or a few glitch effects happening at once, and sometimes the end boss slows to a ridiculous crawl. My laptop isn't amazing but it exceeds the stated requirements.
A minor improvement I would make is to allow for map notes, so you can come back to a tile/dungeon when you've got the upgrade you need. It's difficult to remember what you need to go back for.
Requires too many keybinds, for one thing. When using my controller, it's impossible to move up or down through menu options one at a time, it almost always skips one and moves by two instead, and trying to use the start button to bring up the inventory screen always double-triggers, so it opens, but then immediately closes. Keyboard works fine, but no other games I've used this controller for have problems like this. Then when trying to minimize the game during the tutorial dungeon, it froze in such a way that I couldn't even bring up Task Manager, I had to restart the computer. I don't understand how something can have so many weird issues like this. I know I'm not the only one.
I'm having the same issue with the game freezing up my whole computer. It makes the game entirely unplayable. It's a shame, because it seems like a good game.
Would you consider making a Raspbian build?
It would be really nice for people who make retro gaming consoles using raspberry pis. The cross-compiling toolchains are quite mature now and it shouldn’t be too much trouble to adapt your existing amd64 build process.
Thanks for considering it!
edit the 4Gb RAM requirement probably makes this impossible
Played and enjoyed up to the castle, then got stuck. Either I'm missing something or the random number generator generated a non-winnable world ("Virpium") for me. I have the blue key, and I can't see a way to get the green key. Either way, constantly being forced back while exploring the castle because I accidentally touched a cyan tile again has sucked the fun out of this game.
The castle isn't randomly generated, it's just very confusing. If you need help, you can look up a walkthrough for it.