You Have to Win the Game

By: Derek Yu

On: June 24th, 2012

You Have to Win the Game is a free platformer by Pirate Hearts. Reminiscent of games like Locomalito’s L’Abbaye des Morts and Terry Cavanagh’s VVVVVV, YHTWTG doesn’t venture too far from its roots but is nonetheless a fun “explore ’em up” with plenty of tricky sections and interesting locales. It also features a neatly-done visual gimmick that makes it look like its being played on an old CRT monitor.

TIGForums: DevLog for You Have to Win the Game

TIGdb: Entry for You Have to Win the Game

Posted in Freeware, Platformers, Windows | Tags: PirateHearts

Johnny Polai

8-bit lover here. Great game! Excellent gameplay, all the best of the 8-bit genre with a bunch of new twists! Thanks!
http://twitter.com/phubans Paul Hubans

Charming visual style and I was really enjoying the game for a while, until I got to the “Forever” room… When you’ve got to pull of 3 feats of timing in a row before you can proceed, and you end up dying off the bat dozens of times, the game is no longer fun; this is bad design. I was relieved when I finally made it through that room, only to take a wrong turn and end up right back. That’s when I stopped playing.

Awesome visual concept but I’m really not a fan of punishing platformers like this.
http://www.facebook.com/IM.dagamer Исмаил Магомедов

Really great and addictive game!
http://twitter.com/phubans Paul Hubans

I hope I wasn’t too harsh in my wording, having just dealt with that scenario immediately prior to posting that… I think the overall design of the game is very well done, but I found that one part to be overwhelmingly unbalanced. Anyways, I got past it and DIDN’T go left this time (much to my chagrin I might have avoided that whole scenario had I read the next room’s title).

Anyways, I’m at a point where I *think* I’ve explored everything I can and everything that hasn’t been reached seems like I need some kind of add-on ability like high-jump or float-fall… Not sure if these mechanics are in the game, but I’m otherwise not sure how to proceed through some areas.

Also, I think this game would benefit greatly from a Metroid-style mini-map with 3 states per cell: unexplored, explored, and complete (complete being the state it gets when you’ve collected the bag in the room/done everything you can there) – Granted not all rooms have a bag but maybe they should? Though that might screw with your current %age complete algorithm.

Anyways, I’ll post this in the devlog, too. Cheerz!
gamecreator

Paul: yes, there is a double-jump, as well as a wall jump and “switches” to turn on both red and blue blocks (where they’re dotted before). I got to the “end” and I think I know why I “lost.”
gamecreator

Oh, and the punishment for losing is quite harsh, in my opinion. But I can’t think of how it could be better designed at the moment.
Josh.R

This is a really great retro game. Lovely presentation, not overly frustrating -even the very hard bits are quite short-, and tons to explore.
@twitter-258217323:disqus (*Slight Spoiler I guess*) There are ways to get new abilities, they are usually after rooms where an enemy is shooting a lot of things at you. They are difficult, but once you clear it more of the game will open up.
Maxim

I like this game so far, it has a pretty damn cool map. There are a few too many checkpoints and it’s a little unbalanced, but it also feels very authentic (like hand-painted China). Little more smooth than it’d be with an authentic CGA adapter, but that’s probably a good thing. I appreciate the ability to turn the CRT effect off too, ’cause I’m actually using a CRT here :P
Maxim

Oh man, I had to break the game too apparently. I managed to get to the bottom of the Forgotten Tunnels board using double jumping and there’s no way back out. I can BARELY make it to the right-side platform’s height if I try to get the highest jump possible, but I think I might have done something the designer didn’t account for.
Maxim

Nevermind, I escaped it but that was truly awful. Then I died again :P
Maxim

It’s easier than I thought: You Have to Double Jump after Walking off the Platform.
Fart Commander

“Reminiscent of games like Locomalito’s L’Abbaye des Morts and Terry Cavanagh’s VVVVVV”

Ever heard of the ZX Spectrum?
Jake Dlugolecki

Was the developer unaware that some of us still use actual old CRTs to play retro games?
guest

Was the commenter unaware that a lot (most of?) us don’t cave old CRTs to play retro games? Hint: You can turn it off and play it on your CRT if you’re lucky enough to have the space set aside for one.
Dialock

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-E153fp-15-inch-Panel-Monitor/dp/B0009F7NH4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1340637768&sr=1-1&keywords=15+monitor

There you go tiger. Still use one of it’s predecessors at the office and it is acceptable for all game play.
Jotaf

I really wanted to enjoy this game that emulates ZX Spectrum graphics, but I can’t because apparently it requires shaders v2.0 … (the irony just kills me)
Jake Dlugolecki

If you’ve got the option to turn it off then that’s fine. But I find this “screen within a screen” filter to be rather cynical and silly. Why not just have scanlines and/or phosphor burn?
guest

I loved it, personally. I don’t want it on every indie game, just this one. It genuinely gave me a nostalgia trip combined with the color scheme.
Maxim

It’s actually a simulation of IBM’s CGA, a 4-color 15khz video adapter designed for the original IBM PC.
Johnny Polai!!!!

You guys should post Salvation Prophecy, not because it’s a good game but so someone can write about the game to help me decide if I should buy it or not… Not some damn reviews!!! Thanks.
Johnny Polai

I meant I need some damn reviews of that game! Thanks, lol.
http://profile.yahoo.com/K6N65ORLG2DBZQFVKU3EI6SVR4 JoseD

I love the TV effect. All I deactivatged with the white tv “frame”, was a little distracting… but I loved the screen curvature, shiny pixels, scanline, even the screen specular! Loved all that!
http://twitter.com/j_younger Jason Younger

Agreed, that one room was unnecessarily difficult. Much, much more so
than any of the other rooms I came across. I tried playing from the
start twice, the second time hoping I would find something to help me
pass that room. After realizing that no, you just have to deal with it I
just uninstalled the game. The rest of the game is hard, but doable…
it’s just that one room that has a ridiculous and unbalanced difficulty
spike.

Really a shame, I was enjoying the game quite a bit up until that point.
DereYuk

“Don’t be hasty” was a dick move. Stopped playing there.
Annoying Nerd

Actually, CGA graphics would typically only be found on 16-bit (rarely 32) platforms.
Thomas

That *was* pretty crappy. :(
Belánszky István

Love that CGA GFX at first sight!
http://twitter.com/Epimetho Tyler Finn

That fake television look really reminds of Pixel Junk Sidescroller!
http://twitter.com/gamblore Adam Metcalf

I got 89% of the things and got the losing ending. I knew the magic symbol but not the magic word. :(