Tiny Castle

Tiny Castle is an action-platform game released April 6, 2010. The player is a knight whose goal is to try and rescue a princess locked in a castle. It is shown on a large screen, and it allows for there to be slightly more complicated gameplay.

Controls
left right Left, right arrow keys - Move left and right

up down Up, down - Move up and down ladders, jump.

* Note: down can also be used to interact with teleporter skulls.

Levels
There are nine levels in Tiny Castle, displayed as checkpoints that allow game play to be continuous.

Start
Go up a ladder then go left and up another ladder. Go right, jump over the gap, go down the staircase, smash the wall, then go down into the room. The player will now come across a serpent creature, which is optional to kill. Smash the wall, jump over the two spikes, go up the ladder, then the other, now push the switch.

Checkpoint 1
Walk off the edge, then when the knight touches the ground, jump over the spikes. Grab the key (killing the monster is optional), and run straight all the way over to the flashing yellow door. Unlock the door, run foreword, go up the ladder, and kill the monster if it is in the knights way.

Go up the other ladder, up the staircase, and up the next ladder. When at the platform connecting to the ladder, jump over the gap, smash the wall, and go up the ladder. Smash the green crystal ball (smashing all of them is needed to progress to the next checkpoint), kill the creature, and get the key. Go back down the ladder, and go down the gap.

Go foreword, enter the room with the two rats, and kill them both. Smash the crystal ball and grab the key. Move foreword and go down the ladder going down. Go past all three flails, and smash the ball.

Checkpoint 2
Jump down the gap, jump in front of the platform in front of the knight, kill the creature, go onto the ladder, climb up it, and get onto the platform. Go down the drop, jump over the spikes, and whack the leaking pipe with the knight's sword. The player should then swim over to the staircase near where the knight was at the start of the checkpoint.

Jump out of the water, go up the staircase, kill the serpent, go up the ladder, jump over the gap, and get the key. Killing the serpent is optional. Now, go down the gap, go foreword, into the room, kill the serpent. The next section is optional: go up the three squares, jump onto the platform with the yellow flashing door, enter the room, and kill the serpent. Open the chest by slashing it. Now, exit the room, and go down the gap.

Go to the recently extended ladder (near the bouncing eyeballs), go up it, and hit the pipe with the sword. The water in the area will expand. Go down the ladder, into the water, swim all the way down to the second fish, swim down the staircase, turn around, and swim that direction.

Go down under the two stone walls, and swim past the fish, until a wall is met, then swim up until you get to the ladder. Now, go up the ladder, avoid the fireballs, and get to the knight firing them.

Checkpoint 3
Now, kill all four knights. A helpful tip for this battle is that, when the player's knight attacks a single enemy knight, run away from that attacked knight. In a case with being cornered, keep attacking. Three of the Knights will yield Turkeys, grab them if the knight has two or more health.

When the knights are defeated, run onto the candelabra. When the Knight has reached the ground, kill the hands if the knight needs health. Now, go up the long ladder leading to the pipe near the picture, then go down. The entered room will feature a picture with a white knight, who will immediately come out of the picture, commencing this mini-boss fight.

The easiest way to defeat it is to stand on the square and repeatedly attack (stab with sword) when it comes near. Repeat this until it is dead. After killing him, all the lights go out. Now, go foreword, fall down the gap, go backwards, fall down the other gap, go backwards, smash the wall, and fall down that gap. Now, fall down the gap, go down the ladder, and hit the statue holding the torch.

Checkpoint 4
Now, go down the ladder in the platform the knight is on. When the player goes down, watch out for the skeleton, try to get behind them and try to kill them. After that, go foreword and hit the statue Holding the torch. Now, go back, and go onto the second ladder. Go up the ladder, up the stair case, but wary of the nearby skeleton. Kill the skeleton, run foreword, and hit the statue holding the torch. Three walking fireball enemies will emerge out of the shadows.

Now, go backwards, but watch out for the serpent. Kill the serpent, and precede down the Ladder. When the dungeon is entered, watch out for the skeleton. Now, go up the ladder beside the ladder the player came down from. Now, go up the other ladder, and the other, then go left. Kill the walking fire enemy when it is walking towards the player.

The knight will now be on fire, this is good (the player will be on fire, but not invincible, and will not be able to burn enemies with a touch of their body). Now, kill the other fire above the knight, then the other forward in front of the knight. The player would have probably realized a blue crystal ball, this is needed later in the game.

The knight has to now light up all the torches. It is best to light up the dungeon torches first, the area with the two fire enemies second, everything else third, and the place with the second blue crystal ball last. When the player goes into the dungeon, kill the serpent the knight finds, and the skeleton. Now, go foreword, up the ladder, and slay the skeleton.

It is now safe to run about the Castle lighting the torches, as the player cannot sustain any damage from enemies, as they are all dead. When the eighteenth torch is lit, the light for all the castle will return.

Checkpoint 5
(If the player starts near the four pictures, move the knight over to the second blue crystal ball) Go up the ladder near the knight's left, go across the water, and smash the two walls. Now, enter the room, jump onto the platform in front of the knight, then the other, then jump onto the other platform. The player should grab the key, and exit the room. Now, enter the room, but remember to avoid the flail.

Kill the serpent. And press the down arrow key at the teleporter skull. Now, pick up the key, go down, and enter the wizards room. Now, exit the room. Go down the stairs all the way to the teleporter skull and enter it (press down when in front of the skull). When the knight comes out of it, go and kill the serpent and go up the ladder.

Now, go and hit the blue crystal ball where the rat on the knights left is, hit the crystal ball, and go and hit the one the rat on the left is at. Now, go back down the ladder near the middle crystal ball. When at the bottom, go across the water, down the ladder, kill the rat, but do not hit the crystal ball.

Now, go down the other ladder, kill the serpent, and go down the other ladder. Kill the Rat, and turn right, then go and kill both serpents, and hit the crystal ball. Now, go backwards, and up the ladder the player came down, then the other. The player should then go up the other ladder, then go across the water, up the ladder, and hit the middle crystal ball. Now, go and hit the last one.

Checkpoint 6
Go down the ladder, kill the sword, then the other, and kill the sword. Kill the other sword, then the other, then smash the wall. Now, kill all three ghosts. The room the player comes into has several picture. Look at the Pictures carefully, and hit the place the picture next to the women in white (Queen Victoria) is pointing.

Hitting it will extend a ladder down. Climb up the ladder, go right, and jump up all the small platforms. Now, jump up to the big platform in front of the knight, avoid the fire ball-shooting knight, and jump down the platform with the ghost. Now, move the knight down to the treasure chest, and hit it.

Checkpoint 7
Move the knight up to the top of the platform before the fire shooting knight, killing all enemies in the knight's way. Now, jump up in front of the platform in front of the knight, run and drop down, avoiding the flail. Now, make way past the flail, drop down, kill the rat, and avoid the flail.

The player should drop down, kill the ghost, drop down, and kill the tat. Now, the wall will drop down, making a way for the knight across the gap. Cross the gap, kill the rat, go up the long ladder, go up the staircase, and kill the serpent. Now go down the staircase, and up to the princess.

Checkpoint 8
The final checkpoint in Tiny Castle. The player must now kill the black armoured knight. Now go up the ladder, up the staircase, and avoid any attacks. When its head starts flashing white, go over and hit it.

It attacks with shooting fire from its hand at the knight, shooting a large purple blast from his helmet, bringing purple glowing boars down on the three closest platforms to it, and approaching the player. Hit its head three times to kill him.

Enemies

 * Serpent - These creatures will move slowly on the ground. It has no attack, but is dangerous to the player.
 * Skeleton - They move back and forth in an area until the knight kills them. They take a single hit to kill, and when killed, scream out.
 * Knights - These knights first appear as statues, then attack the player when the room is enclosed. They take 2 hits to kill, attack with a Sword, and appear in a group of 5.
 * Fish - These enemies swim back and forth in the water. They have no attack and will disappear when the Water Level is lowered.
 * Rat - Rats scurry back and forth, pausing occasionally, giving the player an opportunity to hit them. They take 1 hit to kill and move farther than the serpent creature.
 * Hand - These enemies crawl back and forth. They punch the player if he/she goes near.
 * Bouncing eyeball - These enemies bounce back and forth. Because in the air, they may be difficult to kill. They take one hit to kill.
 * Ghost - Almost invisible, ghosts are visible by wisps of smoke. They can be killed in 1 hit with a sword.
 * Cloaked knight - A large sword that goes back and forth. It makes a slicing motion when the player nears it. It takes one hit to kill.
 * Walking fireballs - These fireballs have no eyes, so walk with their arms extended out. They take one hit to kill, and when killed, the knight will catch on fire. This however will not harm the player nor enemies.

Bosses

 * White knight - A white knight is stronger than normal knights. It is first seen in a stained glass window, but breaks out of the picture when the player enters the room. It attacks with a medium sized flail, and takes four hits to kill and must be hit from behind, making him the strongest knight in the game.
 * Black armoured knight - A huge black armored knight with no legs. It attacks by firing fireballs, shooting a big laser blast, bringing purple glowing boars down, and running up to the player. It takes three hits to head to kill. It can only be injured when its head is flashing white.

Interactive Objects

 * Ladders - The player can go up and down Ladders. They are used to get to higher areas.
 * Breakable wall - The player can smash these with their sword. These walls need up to three blows.
 * Green crystal ball - Three of them must be smashed in order for the scene to change. Once the player smashes all three, the black armored knight will charge through the lower level of the castle, rearranging the area. They resemble crystal balls, but with a green ring around them.
 * Blue crystal ball - The five of them must be hit in the correct order for the player to progress. The correct order is: top left, top right, lower center, top center, lower left.
 * Pipes are only found twice, one in a bottom corner and one near the the stained glass window. Smashing these will flood the castle.
 * Only one push switch appears, right at the beginning. Pressing it will complete the intro stage.
 * When treasure chests are smashed, lots of coins will spill out. Three are come across, two must be destroyed to continue, and one is during the White Knight battle.
 * Statue torches are found in the dungeons after the white knight battle. The player must find and attack all three to continue.
 * Other sorts of torches are found, except these ones cannot be attacked. The player needs to defeat a walking fireball and then move past them to light them up.

Hazards

 * Spikes - These spikes are dangerous and are found throughout the Castle. They cannot be destroyed, just avoided.

Game startup leak
A few months prior to Tiny Castle's unveiling, Mat and Jon Annal revealed an image of a the startup of upcoming game at the Flash Game Summit 2010 in San Francisco. Due to Mat and Jon Annal not knowing this was being broadcasted on a live stream on the GDC website, this image was accidentally leaked to all who were watching.

Mat later said that the event was not intended for fans, and was an industry event.

Glitches
Along with new avatars, Tiny castle got glitch, where the main character is invincible (nothing can't kill player)

Beta elements
The walking fireballs have an unused image and an unused animation associated with themselves. Present in the game's code is an animation of a fireball without any feet or arms. It is possible that this indicates that fireballs were meant to be without arms or legs, or it indicates that the arms and legs were meant to be a separate sprite.

Also present in the game's code is a single frame for a fireball with a face. As this frame exists without any other frames similar to it, it may have been part of a scrapped idea of fireballs having a face. Notably, the fireball's face appears differently, as if turned to the side.

It may have been planned that the face sprite was supposed o be included with the walking sprite (as shown in the fourth below animation), however, its exclusion from the final sprite is not a glitch, as including the face sprite in the final sprite makes the cut to the face sprite rather rough.

Awards

 * Jay is Games
 * 2011
 * Best of Casual Gameplay 2010
 * Best Platform game of 2010 (Browser games)
 * Nominated
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Trivia

 * The black armoured knight resembles Phantom Ganon from the Legends of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure.
 * If the player has just smashed a green crystal ball, and then pauses, pressing continue will make the Ball smash all over again.
 * There is a glitch that sometimes in water, if the player presses up while submerged in water they will swim up, and swim all the way up even when there's no water. If there is a platform above them, and they stop pressing the UP arrow key, they will go through the platform.
 * This was the last game to be programmed by Heather Stancliffe before her departure from Nitrome.
 * Because the game is one level with 8 checkpoints, the player ends of fighting two bosses in one level.