Winter
A downloadable game for Windows
A game that some in the old Verge/ika communities may remember, Winter can be considered one of the classic ika games. It was originally made in a gamejam/ competition in the winter of 2003. It features a Zelda style battle system, leveling up, secrets to find, powerups to acquire, a very expansive mountain to explore both inside and out, and of course a ton of killer bunnies with sharp pointy teeth!
In the original version I took a back seat on coding for the most part, and instead worked on a good number of the maps and scripting. Andy, the original creator of ika, actually was the lead coder on this one. Corey of course provided the artwork, and Thrasher also worked on maps and scripting. Overall it was a very successful collaboration.
The original game though was somewhat difficult to play through, and so I wanted to bring it into a bit more of a modern standard. It still uses the ika engine, but I added some additional quality of life features such as damage indicators, an automap, rebalanced difficulty, and customizable controls. I also changed a bit of the gameplay - some new maps were created and some existing ones re-ordered, and optimized where some items are collected, so anyone that has played the original before will have a new experience. Along with completely new/updated story scenes.
This remastered version of Winter was released on December 24th 2021, for the big old price of nothing! (But please feel free to name a price if you feel the game is worth it!) You can expect about 1-2 hours of exploration gameplay.
Download
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Development log
- Winter 1.02 updateJan 09, 2022
- Winter 1.01 updateDec 27, 2021
- Winter is here!Dec 24, 2021
- Winter Release Date!Nov 22, 2021
- Winter is coming...Nov 12, 2021
- More Winter Progress!Jul 15, 2021
- Winter progress!Feb 06, 2021
Comments
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Can someone help me, I'm kind of lost?
Like I got the first 2 runes, last one was the fire sword.
went through the now availlable shortcut to the first boss room, also went to the other 2 ice places (the rune one and the one with green wolves).
but what now?I likely need another rune but dont know any unexplored place.
I got that dynamite in my pocket by zero clue where its needed or how I even use it.
I'm lost :-(
problem solved. realized by sheer luck that this game has a map and on it the place to go was plainly marked. :-)
Okay, this timeI might be really lost:
I am in the rune temple.
last skill I got was the gap dash thing.
Am in the rune temple. cant do anything there.
top is the weird eye portal looking thing, middle green carpet.
bottom left flame book, bottom right fog.
cant do anything in there.
explored everything else (according to map also).
only map wise to the left in the dark brown area towards the top the long room there has an exit to the top right I cant go cause purple crystals in the way.
a bit further to the left, in the gray area, there is a tent at the top and a rock at the bottom right next to it.
there, bottom left of said double room, I cant continue either cause purple crystal.
Now I dont know how or where to continue.
was the other guy right that I should have gotten another rune/ability by now, maybe from those brown like yetis?
oh, and of yourse, in the serpent lair I obviously cant continue either due to purple crystals :-/
Hi! If you’re still lost, what you need to do is return to each of the rooms where you got the original three runes, you should find a Soul Reaver monster at each location. Once you’ve done that, return to the rune temple. :)
The boss runes don't seem to spawn where they should, on the glowing patches of water, and the final rune isn't there at all, unless it's a puzzle, which there's no indication of.
Holy run-on sentence, Batman!
Doesn't fullscreen.
Hello! Yes, unfortunately due to the engine it uses which I can’t really change, and the game’s low resolution, fullscreen is not guaranteed to work. Sorry about that!
Oh gods! This game had a huge effect on me way back when I played it, and today I thought that I need to find it again. Only to find that it's been remastered!
Seriously. This is the first Zelda like I ever played, and it inspired a game idea of my own (not yet come to fruition).
Well, I know what I plan to play once Nanowrimo is over.
(edit: And yeah I'm the same icecheetah who complained about the bunnies' screeching on the old rpgmaker page).
Hi there! Glad you managed to find it again, and that it had such an impact on you. I’m pretty proud of how it turned out, there’s a few quality of life enhancements and gameplay/story changes, among other things I’ll leave to you to discover! I can’t promise the bunnies don’t still screech, but it has been lessened by a good amount at least. :) Have fun!
I certainly didn't mind the screeching this time!
It took me just a little over two hours to reach the end, and I remember that when I first played it, I had to grind to even beat the first Yeti, but this time I managed to beat all the bosses first try, without any deliberate grinding! I used the technique where you jump back after an attack a lot, and I don't think I used it in my playthrough of the original.
I only died once, though I had many, many close encounters where the only thing that saved me was spamming the healing spell while trying to escape the swarm of bunnies I got caught in. Might be a bit overpowered that... .
The game map was very welcome.
I also found a small drawing glitch right near the end. Look at the bottom left side of the PC, on the left edge of the map.
Heheh, I caught many of those layering errors but there’s definitely still a few here and there like the one you found I’m sure. Thanks, I will make note of that one for if/when I do release any other patches. Glad you had an easier time of it! Though yeah I may have overcompensated for the difficulty curve a little bit. Ah well. :)
what a cool game Hatchet! can't wait to try it out!
This game looks so amazing! Gives me big feels of like, Secret of Mana!
I especially love RPGs. And this one in particular looks spectacular. I guess it’s made under the RPG Maker 2000 engine. It reminds me a bit of FFVI. I hope for an early release (a beta or a demo). Best of luck!
Hello, thank you for the interest! It’s actually made using an engine called ika. It’s definitely similar in vintage to RPGMaker 2000, but a lot more customizable with Python scripting. :) And yeah, the cliff tileset is definitely FF6 inspired.
You won’t have to wait long, the full version will be out in about a month, and you won’t have to pay for it either.
Hope you download it then!