The Plumber Thing

I've nerfed the amount of girth you can get because girth ended up being a *really* powerful upgrade that trivialized some puzzles. The game has been balanced so that you shouldn't need more than 14 girth to get everything; however, that particular blue room was initially set up badly (and the layout seen on the AuthorBlues video is the old, bad layout); there should be more vertical space for maneuvering there.

However, there's also a semi-unintended trick for that specific room - once you enter, the golden teleport activates, so you can teleport to it and skip this particular puzzle. It's not the intended solution but might save some frustration.

Tempo1 year ago

Is the blue room in question solvable with 14<=girth<=16 and the walk/jump/bite/stick powerups, or do I need to look elsewhere to progress? To be direct, when trying to deduce the necessary steps for solving this puzzle with 14<=girth<=16 girth and only these powerups, the puzzle seems impossible.

That the old layout had to be changed to be three tiles high makes me strongly suspect what the intended solution is here, but with the constraints of a 2x3 body layout, I simply can't see how this is doable without the delete powerup. After scanning videos to determine where to get delete, this seems like the bottleneck I'm going to have to surmount, which creates an unsolvable problem (if I am correct).

I'm aware that I could be making some flawed assumptions that have lead to incorrect conclusions, but at this point I'd like to be told explicitly whether this is solvable with what I have. Discounting speedruns, which I don't want to watch because their times suggest they feature game-breaking exploits, every upload of this game I've found (I've scanned through every playthrough I could find) solves this room either by abusing girth or the teleportation room mechanic.

I just now went and tested, and can confirm that in the version where the button room is one tile taller (i.e. 3 tiles tall in total), you can get through the gate with 16 girth. I was able to do it somewhat jankily with 12, and then less jankily with exactly 16.

Tempo1 year ago

With only walk/jump/bite/stick?

A Friendly Irin1 year ago

Yup!

View more in thread

SunMoonFX1 year ago

Gonna be honest: this game reminds me a LOT of BOXBOY! and the other games in that series. I loved those games so this one was pretty fun!

Definitely confusing, but made it through eventually! 44% completion, managed to make it with probably less than I should have had. 14 limit and the four main upgrade parts.

Thanks for the fun game!

I'm stuck after getting the first upgrade (legs). I can't figure out how to get to the destination on the map. The red section is blocked and I can't progress any further right than the screen where you get the legs. Is there something I'm missing about the legs that would allow me to walk through a one-tile-high space?

A Friendly Irin1 year ago

After getting the legs, your next destionation should be in the top-left corner area (purple). If you found an indicator for the red area, I might've placed the indicator item for that badly.

Okay, made it to the purple area, but I can't figure out how to progress. Got a few coins, but I can't figure out how to go beyond the teleporter or above the central column.

I feel this would be better as a linear puzzle game instead of a Metroidvania. I discussed this when I reviewed Antichamber, a game that did a similar thing: A Metroidvania is based around seeing a barrier and recognizing you can't pass it until later, but puzzle games, by their nature, obscure whether you lack a necessary upgrade or just aren't smart enough to figure out the puzzle; the question of whether you can pass the barrier isn't obvious. This potentially leads players to ignore solvable puzzles because they think they lack the means to solve it while futilely bashing their head against a puzzle that is impossible.

The only "Puzzle Metroidvania" I've seen successfully pull this off is Toki Tori 2, which did it by having no formal Metroidvania upgrades or hard barriers; the only barrier to going off the beaten path is your ignorance of the puzzle mechanics. But if you're replaying the game or are very clever, you can sequence break anywhere you like.

FatCatInc118 days ago

Have you played La Mulana 1 +2 or Environmental Station Alpha? Those are some of the best games ever made imo and are puzzle metroidvanias. Puzzles in metroidvanias can often double as "secrets" which really makes things interesting- especially when they involve lore, world structure, or map knowledge as a part of the the puzzle.

A Friendly Irin117 days ago

ESA is a very straightforward Metroidvania. The only "puzzle" aspects are in the endgame. For La-Mulana, its puzzles are largely disconnected from its ability/item upgrades, so they don't have this problem.

dieserhendrik1 year ago (2 edits) (+1)(-2)

Hey,

The game seems to be completely broken on Steam Deck. No matter which resolution I choose in compatibility settings, the screen is severely clipped. I manage to check "Full Screen" in the pause menu, but it only works temporarily, until the next restart, then the clipping is even worse. Secondly, controller mode is fucked. The game barely recognizes button presses, and when it does they seem to be inverted? I push left on the Dpad and I walk right, for example. Secondly, when I use the K&M setup, Edit mode doesn't work properly, I tried mapping left mouse click in every different way, but nothing happens.

Was really looking forward to play this, but in this shape, it's unplayable on SD.

Edit: regarding the Edit mode issue: it seems the "hitbox" of the cursor is broken for me, only the lower left edge is actually recognized

Ah; I hadn't considered how the game'd behave on the SD because it's not on Steam. Thanks for the report! I have some suspicions as to what causes the issues you're experiencing (apart from the gamepad issues); unfortunately I'll be away from home due to holidays but once I get back, I'll see if I can fix those clipping problems.

dieserhendrik1 year ago(+1)

Thank you, no need to hurry, just wanted to let you know. Happy holidays to you!

Thanks for the understanding, and happy holidays as well!

Rainy Button1 year ago(+1)

Do you have windows loaded on your steam deck?

Nope!

Rainy Button1 year ago(+1)

...Then why are you complaining that a non-steam windows game isn't running properly on your linux system? I have a linux computer too and oftentimes I can get windows programs to work, but it's not the dev's fault if it doesn't.

That's what Proton is for and I was not complaining, just letting the developer know.

Israel Ownbey1 year ago(+1)

In version 1.6e, the controller issues are still present when running the game through normal steam. Thought I would let you know. I’m a huge fan of your work!

Thank you!

TempoRainy1 year ago

hi hempuli, i really love the game but i wonder if i'm experiencing a bug? i'm at 99% completion, but there's one final coin in the upper corner that i can't seem to get no matter what i do. is there something i'm missing? thanks!

Hmm, that definitely shouldn't be there... How many coins do you have in total atm?

TempoRainy1 year ago

32 coins

I'm not sure why the coin indicators are in the top-left corner, but I can say that you're seemingly missing coins in the long horizontal corridor at the bottom of the map

berrrnard1 year ago

is there any chance of a Mac or Linux version of this?

Not for the time being; porting would be quite resource-intensive so I'm a bit hesitant to go forward with it for a game as small as this :(

berrrnard1 year ago

That’s understandable. I’ll see how I go running it with wine

kirbystar111 year ago(+1)

Had a lot of fun playing this game, especially randomly screensharing it to my friends and them being confused why they were looking at a squelching meaty mario game

salmase1 year ago(+1)

I have conflicting feelings with the game. It starts hard, but at some point just becomes easy, also I'm not a big puzzle fan, a friend gifted the game to me. In the end, I think it's an ok game that is a little rough around the edges. Maybe some people that love puzzle heavy games are going to love it.

LarryKapija1 year ago(-19)

scam

scam?

porgsandpies1 year ago(+3)

Great game man, IDK why u r so upset.

Dirjel1 year ago

How do you switch to a newer version of the application without deleting save files? It's not immediately apparent where the save file lives, and the data folder is larger in the newest version than the original, so I don't think I can just swap the exe out only.

The save file is in users\<your username>\AppData\roaming\Plumber\, so replacing the game files won't delete your saves! :)

Dirjel1 year ago

Ah, perfect. Thanks!

Connorses1 year ago

I got stuck after getting the "stick to surface" upgrade and slowly traversing the map looking for the place I can go got boring. Sorry.
I'll try again tomorrow maybe.

I'm planning to add some guideposting; the lack of knowing where to go is a big problem atm. For a hint for you: you have now all the tools to win the game.

RawMark1 year ago (1 edit) (+1)

Great game! Here's some UI suggestions:

Adding more hotkeys, ex: C or Spacebar to confirm, Esc or E to close, G to toggle the grid, and the number keys for selecting upgrade types.
Selecting E from the Esc menu switches to edit mode.
Scroll wheel to cycle between upgrade types.
Click-dragging from blue squares to the edge to preview an upgrade, and then releasing to apply upgrades, or maybe adding the WASD keys to apply upgrades?
Basically it would be nice if I didn't have to move the mouse around the whole screen to do edits.

Thanks for the suggestions! I definitely want to work especially on the usability of Edit Mode.

porgsandpies1 year ago(+1)(-1)

This looks great! I'd like to know what the ESRB rating for this would be and why it would be rated that before I buy it though, I'd appreciate help from someone who played the full game. Thanks!

I've no idea what the official rating for this would be, but the game contains splattering blood, body horror (including spider-like transformations), meaty squelching and such. It's very cartoonish in style, but especially the sound design has been too uncomfortable for some, so do consider this before buying.

Tungerman1 year ago(+1)

One of the coolest games I've played this year so far, really interesting and flexible main mechanic explored to surprising depths. I'm not the biggest puzzle fan and generally not very good at them, but this one was just the right difficulty for me and I love how there are multiple solutions to many of the challenges.

I had a similar issue with this as I had with ESA, which is constantly running into dead ends after clearing several rooms and then having to go back having found nothing of use, something that hinders the joy of exploration I usually get from good metroidvanias. It's a bit different here because there's a lot of puzzles that require creative thinking, meaning it's often hard to tell which ones are solvable and which ones are outright impossible until I come back with the necessary upgrades. I was also not always sure if my solution is intended or a cheese, e.g. using the momentum from walking which carries over for a bit after entering and exiting edit mode.

Overall it's a bit rough around the edges, I assume due to time constraints, but for something made for a small Itch bundle I didn't expect to spend a good 5 hours on it and have such a good time.

Thanks! I understand the issues you had with guideposting; I'm intending to add some stuff in the game that at least points you towards powerups so that you can have a clearer idea of where progress might be.

IGU1 year ago

Are there any specific exploits that would result from being able to delete modified parts directly or is that just a limitation of the editor?

товарищ Havoc DC FC HC TU [NU]1 year ago

It started out as a UI limitation (normally you can never select upgraded bits) but I think I had a hunch it could be relevant for some puzzling. I'm less sure now that I think about it; I'll add adjusting that to my to-do. Thanks!

Finalmeich1 year ago(+1)

so bad nintendo copied this game :(

Ik :(

jonah-srg1 year ago

It's Metroid, it's Mario, but actually it's The Plumber Thing. No spoilers, but if you haven't played it yet, there's an irresistible twist. The way the the player character options and control develops throughout the game is extremely clever.

IKSM_pasta1 year ago

When you start the game, the floor is not displayed and the character falls.
It seems to be incompatible with my PC environment and there are others who have encountered the same bug.

This issue is most probably caused by the game being placed in a folder that has read/write permission conflicts. Could you try to place the game files in a folder on the Desktop or the C:\ root and see if that helps? Alternatively, does the data\ folder contain a file called just "map"?

IKSM_pasta1 year ago

Thank you, I was able to start it correctly by moving the game file to C:\.

Hmm, someone else had a similar issue; I wonder if the game files are somehow especially "suspicious" in Windows' eyes, leading to these issues...

WilfredTheBoss1 year ago

Can you add save data management? I wanted to erase a save file to make a new one and i had to look through all my folders then so i could delete it manually.

Other than that though it was a wonderful experience, as you can probably tell from the fact that i want more than 3 total saves lol. Great job :)

Yeah, that's a fair point. Glad you enjoyed the game! You can currently hold right mouse button on a save slot to erase it, but this isn't indicated anywhere in the game.

Cyberboy20001 year ago(+2)

"- MAJOR FIX: The top-right corner of the map had been rendered pretty much inaccessible by accident"

Ahh, not going insane.

One very small nitpick is that I think the jump upgrade could have a more distinct button. I sometimes used it when I actually wanted to use the legs, although I've gotten more used to it by now.

I'm sure you've noticed, but the metroidvania aspect can make it hard to tell whether a certain powerup is required or I just need to try harder. Although the only time I've felt stuck (aside from trying to get to the top-right corner) was before getting the sticky upgrade, ended up doing something similar to hotfist's clip. On the other hand, now that I have some size upgrades, I've run into the opposite issue. It feels like I'm cheesing puzzles that were supposed to be harder, because I can often just build a path directly to the checkpoint or coin.

Other than that, it's great. Haven't beaten it yet but it feels like I'm approaching the endgame.

Yeah, I've noted the jump/walk buttons being a bit annoying like that; same for the lack of progression indicators. Thanks for the feedback!

As for the size upgrades, I've noticed the same issue. In general I don't *mind* the player being able to cheese some puzzles, but with full powerup set it gets a bit much. I'll probably try to either find a way to disallow that via puzzle design or tweak the numbers in a later update.

myrontaslov1 year ago

Having fun with it, but I'm not sure how to use certain things. Like I just got the "sticky part," and I can't figure out what to do with it. I've tried moving blocks with it, I've tried using it in conjunction with the feet to climb walls, nothing. How am I supposed to use it?

If it's against a wall, it prevents you from falling. I should've put a proper tutorial right after it, sorry.

hotfist.com1 year ago(+2)

The combination of body horror, mario and metroid is absolutely amazing, and the title screen was such a great gag.

Some feedback - It's REALLY easy to press R by accident. I'm guessing you don't want to add remappable controls or controller support, but maybe add a "long press" for R to respawn - could even have mario vibrate for a sec before he pops while you hold it as a little warning and it could look really hilarious.

The menu never moves from the top left, so this can occasionally make it extremely difficult to work your way up into the top left.

WASD is sort of supported for moving out parts in edit mode, but it seems especially in the early game to lose the cursor and this confused the heck out of me at first as I was just trying to use the keyboard or controller with keyboard keys mapped to it.

I was able to squeeze through this gap in the green area -
https://clips.twitch.tv/MistyStormyAubergineCorgiDerp-I0vdKdNfV7IiDZOi
I have no idea if this was cheese or intended, but if it's cheese I have NO IDEA where I was supposed to go. I feel like I've been able to proceed normally from here, though, but that power up down there, sticky, keeps respawning.

Overall experience was just amazing though. I'm having so much fun with it, and excited to finish it. I'm still kind of awestruck that somehow this combination of my favorite things - body horror, mario and metroid exists and was made by the creator of my favorite game ever and was just so goddamn fun.

Thanks a lot for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it!

For the controls suggestions, my initial plan was to have support for keyboard-only & gamepad input, but dropped those plans due to lack of time. My intention at the moment is to return to those features once I've rested a bit from the development, though. The WASD input you mentioned in Edit Mode is leftovers from this attempt to support non-mouse input, just left unfinished.

The route shown in the clip is indeed unintended, but in a way I'm glad it works because the game as it is lacks any guideposting so it's probably fairly easy not to know whether a given approach is correct or not. I might try to help with this a bit with later updates. The respawning powerup is definitely a bug, though; whoops.

Dirjel1 year ago

I'm trying to play this on my steam deck. It runs fine, but the image is clipped really badly around all the edges of the screen. Can the resolution be changed?

Would it be possible to get a screenshot of what it looks like? There are some things I can do to potentially help but it's harder to know how to approach this without extra context.

Dirjel1 year ago (1 edit)

Yeah, sure. 4k TV, deck and game both output 1080p.

I was able to fix it by changing the resolution for the game in the steam settings for the game, under "properties" on the game's page.

(i had to add this to the steam launcher to play it on my TV)

Ah, interesting! I'll try to add a fullscreen option in later updates, I'd imagine that it'd fix cases like this by using the monitor resolution for figuring things out. Glad you found a fix, though!

Two questions:

1. Which resolution did you use in Compatibility? Everything I tried was - like you said - clipped. I managed to check the Fullscreen option in-game, but on the next start up, it was clipped even worse.

2. How did you manage Edit mode? No matter what I tried, the game didn't register the mouse clicks. If I choose gamepad mode at start up, the controls barely work and seem to be inverted?! Pressing right makes me walk left for example.

Dirjel1 year ago (1 edit)

0) I've been playing version 1.4.1 of the game, if all else fails, maybe try downloading that earlier version?

1) I have it set to 1920x1080, and I have the "Set resolution fo internal and external displays" option checked. I don't even see a full-screen option in-game?

2) I've just been playing by mapping the steam deck controls to keyboard + mouse. There was no gamepad support for the version of the game I was playing.

---

So I downloaded the latest version to play with it. Looks like gamepad support is, indeed, totally borked. Left stick down works, left stick right is left, and up and left do nothing at all, haha. Restarted the game, disabled gamepad input. Controls as follows:

Set dpad/left stick to WASD for movement

Start = E for edit mode

Select = Escape for map

A = space for jump

B button = R for restart

Right stick = mouse, R2 for left click

Just gotta' use keyboard + mosue control mapping and it seems to work fine still. And try unchecking the full screen box. You might have to launch the game in desktop mode if it's off-screen. Good luck friend!