A Snowball's Chance - Level 3 Edition
A downloadable game for Windows
A game by Fallingstar Games.
Welcome to Frostel Island!
It was once a haven for the logging industry before it left and took all its business with it. Its economy hasn't been quite the same since.
However, on this island there is a mountain that hikers from all around come to climb at least once. It is called Trial Mountain. It's not too difficult with a good trail guide, but they often cost a pretty penny to hire.
That's where you come in.
Your name is Coda, and this is your first time guiding a crew of tourists up Trial Mountain.
It's also your first time setting foot on Trial Mountain.
You also happen to be a cold-blooded temporic who's only been able to survive in this cold climate due to your frustration-fueled fire magic.
...Yeah, you're probably screwed.
But what else can you do to escape this island? Keep working your dead-end restaurant job?
Can't keep doing that forever.
Thanks to a little bit of encouragement from a stranger who looked a lot like that dude on your favorite bag of chips, you decided on a crazy plan: borrow the courage and ambition from your original character to do something bold enough to fund your escape from Frostel Island.
So now you've got a party to lead up that mountain. Maybe they'll even like your cooking; who knows?
---Controls---
Directional keys: Standard movement
PG Down/PG Up: Turn while moving
Spacebar: Examine, Talk to others
A key: Toggle HUD
S key: Collect water/??? water
Shift: ??? (unlocked later)
D key: Diary hotkey
ESC: Menu
ALT: Screenshot
F12: Pause
---Gameplay---
The gameplay is split into two parts: exploration and downtime.
During exploration, you must guide Coda and their party up the mountain, foraging for extra food along the way. With each leg of the journey, new dangers will emerge and new challenges will need to be conquered. Choices must be made and resources must be expended. Your skills as a hiker (and leader) will be tested here.
During downtime, Coda and the group will share some time to eat dinner and reflect upon the day's events. It's up to you to make sure that everyone gets a meal they're satisfied with. Your clients' happiness is important in this journey. Just keep in mind that one of them is vegan and the other is an obligate carnivore. But that's nothing you're not already prepared for, right?
---Characters---
Coda Diamondback - Age 25
Somewhat childish but always sincere and hard working. They want to see the world beyond Frostel and leave their adoptive mother behind. They love to cook and draw, but rarely gains an audience due to their lack of social skills.
Topaz Lunabun - Age 21
A local celebrity often seen on stage at the Iliana Theatre. They are extremely pacifistic and concerned about the welfare of animals to the point that they refuse to eat meat of any kind. They can be picky and at times temperamental, but be around them long enough and it's easy to understand why they are so well renowned in the theatre community.
Vern Castaway - Age 20
Topaz's closest friend and bodyguard. Having been kicked out of his home in his teenage years for his sexual orientation, he had to grow up fast on the streets. While saving Topaz from a run-in with some thugs in a back alley, he fell in love with their incredible voice and has stuck with them ever since. As a big cat at heart, he loves all sorts of meat and fish.
Frie - Age 17
Not much is known about her, being quiet and difficult to read. Rumor has it that her heart is frozen solid, even. Who is this enigma?
Francis Tilapia - Age ???
An odd fishman who's been seen near popular fishing areas. He's quite the flirt, especially with other men. Really likes to eat worms, odd as that sounds.
Arctos Ursa - Age ???
A bear. A literal grizzly bear. Approach with caution.
-----
This package contains levels one, two, intermission, and three, with a combined approximate play time of 3 hours.
There are a great deal of fixes and tune-ups but the most significant one is the revamped cooking system, which now uses multiple slots to store meal data. Old save files are technically usable, but may interact strangely with the equips.
Download
Install instructions
Install BPixelDouble and CodaHandwritingP before starting the game!
Otherwise you'll have to deal with comic sans.
Double-click the Game.exe to run the game. That's the orange ball gear thing.
This game does not require rtp. If you don't know what rtp is, don't worry about it.
Development log
- Level 3 update!Oct 16, 2023
- Intermission demo release!Dec 16, 2021
Comments
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I lost track of this game ages ago after Twitter went south, and I only just learned there's been a full new chapter (apparently, a whole year late). I did run into a few bugs and typos though while I've been replaying the earlier chapters (and finally getting to the intermission, I evidently never got to that?) though. Should I report those here? They're all quite minor.
Either way, it's really been delightful to play this game again, I forgot how much I liked it. All of the characters, the actual progressing up the mountain and cooking, and the journal entries, all delightful. The intermission I really liked too, I had never seen that before, and I really liked how the characters interacted there (plus it was great to see Finn, didn't realize it was the same Finn from just being the name on the bag of chips). I'll have to play it again to make some of the choices I didn't make this time once I've re-finished it. I'm looking forward to playing through the third chapter tomorrow.
Completed chapter 3, and it was really excellent. The final scene with Lauren was legitimately powerful. Seriously, the art for that scene with the fire smoke trailing up towards the moon, especially after hearing about Tem... it just came together really well. As previously too, I really loved how all of the characters interacted, and the actual climbing the mountain was great, puzzles, and collecting items to cook with was great (although I'll admit, my party took quite a beating to falling into water A Lot, snackmaking was Very Helpful). I greatly look forward to seeing the next chapter some day. Hopefully I'll learn about it when it comes out next time, since I'm following here now.
thank you for returning to continue playing my game! I'm glad that the writing is still good :D
it will take a very long time for level 4 to be released, as I'm currently working on an entirely different game project that will likely take a year to finish. I'm still working on it though!
I'm simply glad to have learned that this wasn't dead, so I certainly don't mind waiting (plus I've definitely got experience with waiting for updates). I look forward both to this, and to whatever else you're working on (plus apparently there's more chapters of None Pizza With Left Beef since I played the first, so I'll have to check out those too).
The kind of thoughtful storytelling that can only be done by a seasoned RPG Maker dev. Great intermission, hoping for all the best in future chapters!