HEAD MAN (FULL RELEASE)

Head Man is a mod that I have been working on, on and off, for nearly a year now. As of the final version, it has three unique worlds, three bosses, 8 unique dream sequences, and some gnarly art and music (mostly) made by yours truly. This mod isn't exactly meant to be taken seriously (do note that this is not a shitpost mod!), however, I have put a lot of time and care into polishing every aspect of the mod to make it as original as possible. Most sound effects are unique, all the art is original, and none of the music comes from Cave Story.

This isn't your average Cave Story mod.

DOWNLOAD
DOUKUTSUCLUB MIRROR
SPEEDRUN

Spoiler: (Outdated) Screenshots

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ORGS
Tinned_Duck - "The Joys of Losing Your Mind"
Masro - "Seventh Park"
Duncathan - "no matter how high we go, the stars are still so far away"

MODDING
CSMC - General feedback/assistance
Brayconn - Omega XML
Txin - ASM Hacking
BLink - ASM Hacking
SlightlyIntelligentMonkey - ASM Hacking
CipherScriptures - Art + Support
Tpcool, Safusaka and CookedChef - Family Guy Story

BETA TESTERS
Ewan Green
Sora655
MetallicLurker
Katina
MaxSpec
CipherScriptures

MISC
Rhombidandy - DoConfig
Serri - Orgview Help

 

I can vouch that this mod is promising and something I would like to see develop.

 

I can vouch that this mod is indeed promising and is already quite good. It is a very quirky and unique mod, with lots of new visuals and sounds.

 

Seems like a nice juicy succulent mod to do a let's play of and I can vouch that this is @2DBro's first "good" mod

 

Very strange, maybe a head of its time

Spoiler

Was this inspired by Yume Nikki ?
Love the SFX

 

Here is the let's play

 

Spoiler

Was this inspired by Yume Nikki ?
Love the SFX

Spoiler

Yes, Yume Nikki was one of my major inspirations.

 

Nobody seems to have actually reviewed this mod except Extra Life for some reason. Maybe there's a secret reason for that...

Oh well, I'm doing it anyway.

Spoiler: Mod Review Note Thingy

Alright, so I already played an earlier demo before this, but who cares.


Are you SURE this isn't a shitpost mod?


That is doing yes, my friend.

Nice TV too, would watch 24/7.

Nice, you stopped me from falling off the smiley platform.


Wow, this is completely different.

Like the ASM (?) exclamation-mark above the sign, LOVE the subtle tutorial on no-smile blocks. Will say, it kinda makes the sign seem useless. But it is like the deepest thing, so I'd be fine with keeping it.

this gun is my new favorite weapon



oh my god its hyperrealistic

now all we need is bleeding eyes



For some reason these enemies remind me of the weirder games in Action 52. That's not an insult, this mod is amazing

Holy shit i just noticed that helicopter sound and its the worst thing ever. I don't remember when it started, but it drowns out the music and it goes on until you get the double header. It didn't even stop when I got the bird to stop singing. Is it a bug or what?



Okay, so does it double your health? That's the only thing out of the phrase I can gather.



That's kinda weird that the boss breaks the theme. I mean, I thought World 1 was meant to be about body parts. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a brain or something like that? I dunno, maybe it's just my ignorance on the latest references. Or you just felt like putting a shoe as a boss. I can't blame you if the latter is the case.

OK, what was that, 10-15 jumps without opening his mouth? Why change Balfrog's pattern like that, it only drags out the fight.

Now it only did 6 before opening its mouth. Did you randomize it or something?

This is the most minor of nitpicks, but the weapon energy bouncing sound is a bit annoying if there's more than 5 of them at a time.

ok i beat it

Kinda sad that you can't revisit levels. Not that there's much to miss in them, but still.



Funny that the dream world is more realistic and sane than the real world

also headmans eyes are closed its a ripoff of undertale yume nikki



what

this is like LSD Dream Emulator on DOS

also i hid headman

go find him

ok i have no idea what is solid or not

You are really good at disorienting the player, this is like a challenge to see properly.

Alright, I got the star thingy. I'm assuming these are in every dream.



Thanks sign, without you I wouldn't know I are the demons.

The way the FUCKING DEAD dream ends is just like my weirder dreams. Something super shocking happens and it just stops.

So for some reason I can only put in 10 images, even though I thought it was a lot more. So these will be continued in the next post!

 

Part 2 of my mod notes!

Spoiler: Mod Notes Thingy 2

Love the 5 year old's drawing aesthetic of the 3rd dream.



So is this owned by some mega-corporation?

I can't seem to find any more of the star thingies. Maybe they're super secret. Or they're only in the first dream, that could be it.

family guy ok

ok



this mod because of this dream

Oh, it's my parents. I think.



Gotta say, like the graphics in this world.

I also noticed that the star thing was a "DREAMKEY1" because the sparkly has the same icon as the star.



I've always liked upside-down water in mods. This is no different.



Okay, every boss is a boot. I love it.

Okay, I beat the Bigger Boot.

uh

I checked if there were any new dreams and used the bed in the dream world. When I woke up the real world bed disappeared. Is this a bug, or...

Whatever, I'm pretty sure I've done everything in this demo.

It's really weird, but also really good. This mod's got a lot of promise.

 

i'll see if i can get some of those bugs ironed out. thanks for the feedback
the big boot boss fight isn't set on a random counter, it functions identically to the vanilla balfrog fight: you have to jump over it before he can touch the wall, or else he restarts his cycle
i can't seem to replicate the "helicopter" sound bug?? when did this happen
edit: that's the mouth blowing kisses, i should probably just get rid of that sound

Spoiler: DREAMKEY

The dreamkey is one of two things you need to find to unlock the 7th dream.

 

i'll see if i can get some of those bugs ironed out. thanks for the feedback
the big boot boss fight isn't set on a random counter, it functions identically to the vanilla balfrog fight: you have to jump over it before he can touch the wall, or else he restarts his cycle
i can't seem to replicate the "helicopter" sound bug?? when did this happen
edit: that's the mouth blowing kisses, i should probably just get rid of that sound

Spoiler: DREAMKEY

The dreamkey is one of two things you need to find to unlock the 7th dream.

That Big Boot thing is nice to know.
The helicopter sound definitely started after I got the bird to play his song, but I only noticed it a minute or two after the bird started singing. The thing is, it sounded much less obnoxious than the vanilla helicopter sound, less intense. For all I know it could have been something else in the background, or (more likely) a result of my constantly unfocusing the game to make comments and take pictures.

EDIT: oh alright it's just an enemy

 

Quick hotfix includes bug fixes, starting area improvements, and general audio balancing for sound effects.
Download here or download in the original post.

 

So for some reason I can only put in 10 images, even though I thought it was a lot more. So these will be continued in the next post!

Out of interest I checked the forums settings. You can still put up to 100 images in one post, but you uploaded yours as attachments, which you can only have 10 of at once. If you want more than that you'll need to upload them somewhere else.

 

For some reason these enemies remind me of the weirder games in Action 52. That's not an insult, this mod is amazing

"Time?"

 

New version is out. Includes fixes to multiple flags (thanks Brayconn), a redesigned Home (again), and Dream 8.
Download here or in the original post.

 

Another update. This includes a new 'ending' to dream 3 as well as including hints to aid with unlocking dreams 7 and 8.

 

I finally got around to playing the hot new mod.

Spoiler: Notes

First off, the presentation is fantastic. The amount of variety in each area (the dreams specifically) is so important for a mod with this kind of concept to get right. It manages to be playfully wacky during the dreams, and charming, yet not over-the-top for each world. The premise of the mod itself is unique, so much so that I'm still not entirely sure what the overall goal is. It has worlds, which are the more traditional levels, and dreams, which all seem to be interconnected in some way via the riddles. Having such an open-ended and loose idea of what you're supposed to be doing creates a wonderful feeling of exploration, but I think it's also my biggest complaint with the game. All of the dream sequences are cool because they're so distinct, but often times I had no idea what to do, and I blame that on what little direction the game gives you. All of the hints that I could manage to find were the two located in the third dream. Not only do I think that the hints could be spread out more between each dream, but neither were particularly useful to me. The one that mentions the four things after completing the first riddle sounds like it could be useful, but it's too vague for me to piece together what to do. Like, do I have to satisfy a certain condition in each dream that it mentions? Do I just complete them in order? What's the "Robot" part it mentions? Is that the fourth dream? I wasn't able to complete this, as far as I'm aware. I did the other riddle where I had to talk to the dead, and that one was probably a good enough hint but I kinda just found it on my own. I'm not really sure what do do now, though. I have two dream keys but not much direction. For all I know I could already be done with the game, but I'm pretty sure I'm not.

Some questions I'm still asking myself: what does pressing the button in dream five do? How did I find dream eight? How did I find the key on the subway (I'm guessing I found it on the seat)? What was the first key for? What is the point of playing through the worlds (is it just health upgrades)? I feel lost a lot of the time, especially when I haven't made any tangible progress for a long while. I'd really hate to see this mod become linear and lose that sense of exploration, so I definitely wouldn't want you to scale back immensely on stuff like that, but overall what I'm trying to say is that a bit more of a sense of direction would be appreciated. The confusion I get does make me a bit bored with the game, but I have to stress that I still love the idea behind it and I think it just needs some tweaking for it not to feel like an old NES adventure game where I have to look up where to go.

One thing that bugs me about visiting dreams is that it takes too long to get to where you want to go from your home. It gets a bit tedious to keep going into your bed, entering the door, and then picking the dream door that you want to go into because you have to do it so many times (like probably around 30 in my playthrough). It could also be cool if the dream doors were more distinct so you could tell which one you're entering instead of it being a lineup of generic doors.

Something I mentioned briefly before was the worlds. Is there a point to them (well, I say them, but I guess I only mean the second one because the first one is required)? It seems that they are only for health upgrades. I don't think that's a bad thing if that's the case, but I'm curious is all. The first world was quite basic, but I guess it's supposed to be since it's the introduction. I like the reskinned enemies a lot, but the combat was pretty vanilla. I liked the second world a ton. Awesome background, great reskinned enemies again, and the variety in the platforming and combat was great. Having the horizontal bugs act as fish in the water is not only creative, but also puts that enemy in a position where you don't normally see them, and it works very well. It feels kinda lame to discover the worlds via invisible passageways in the home area, especially because I completely forgot about that gimmick once the dreams appeared, but I'm not sure if that's something you'd feel necessary to re-implement in another fashion.

Oh yeah, and the music was awesome and added a lot to the mood. Having vanilla music would have crushed the creativeness of each dream, so what you have works wonders. You already know this, but I love the home theme (it's a great song to keep hearing the beginning of). For some reason the song for dream five fits the Family Guy characters so well.

I think it's likely I said something inaccurate in my notes, so please correct me if that's the case. I really enjoyed the mod and wouldn't want to misrepresent it in any way. The mod just had me confused, which you could probably tell.

It's a great start, and I'd hate to see this unfinished. I see the words "potential" and "promising" thrown around for a lot of mods that don't really deserve such accolades, but this is one of the few that truly does feel like it will be something special if it is fully completed. There are definitely a handful of issues I have with it in its current state, but it has the foundation to make those issues less noticeable until they are hopefully fixed and the mod is more fleshed out.

 

I finally got around to playing the hot new mod.

one thing i should point out before answering your questions
dreams aren't the main focus of the game (they're a side thing, worlds are meant to be the ''story mode'')
anyways

Spoiler: headman q&a

Do I just complete them in order?
yes
What's the "Robot" part it mentions? Is that the fourth dream?
also yes
what does pressing the button in dream five do?
completes a part of the sequence.
How did I find dream eight?
no clue since you didn't complete the robot part? i should get around to fixing that
How did I find the key on the subway
it was on the ground or something, more or less these little things are supposed to be secrets for the side mode so they shouldn't be obvious (intentionally keeping it vague because its supposed to be a secret ending incentive, something along those lines)
It feels kinda lame to discover the worlds via invisible passageways in the home area
yeah im probably going to have to make these a lot more obvious because people can't seem to figure out that the main things are hidden right under their noses and they barely have a clue. the hint given probably isn't enough either

unfortunately with what you said earlier the worlds are intentionally linear and sort of level-based like megaman (something along those lines) and there really isn't any exploration involved, but i may add some secrets and side areas to unlock some special dream sequences or bonus content or something

 

New update. Download is in OP.
UI rehash, various changes to effects. Flashbacks now occur after world 1 and 2 to make the story more comprehensive and less secret-based.
Cameo added.
(Fixed bird script after leaving loser lounge)

 

yay this mod is better (even though it was good before but you know)

Spoiler: mod

Okay, so I had this whole notes thingy typed and ready, but I realized it would only cover the same ground as before and be way too long. So instead, here's a really short review thingy.

This mod is really good. It's technically impressive, with (I'm pretty sure) 100% new graphics and music. The worlds are fun, and the dreams are funny. A few of the secrets are a little too secret for my tastes, but a few are really clever. I found the World 2 flashback hilarious, mostly how Headman just keeps smiling and blinking. As for the 7th and 8th Dreams, the only content I hadn't experienced at all until now (though I assume it was there from around the start), Dream 7 is funny and charming, and Dream 8 shows a lot more story than before. I think.

I'm assuming there's nothing to do after 2 Worlds and 8 Dreams (despite there being another World entrance block that doesn't work), so that's all for my review.