Line #49 VideoGame/TowerOfHeaven


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_tower_of_heaven_3_7897.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:May heaven grant you fortune.]]
3
4	An indie platforming game made in 2009 by Creator/{{askiisoft}}. Also known as 天国の塔 (''Tengoku no Tou'', same meaning).
5
6	In this game, you play as a humanoid creature who attempts to scale a gigantic tower against the wishes of the tower's resident god. Said deity attempts to put an end to your progress by enforcing certain laws, such as "Thou shalt not walk left" or "Thou shalt not touch yellow blocks." The player must not only time their jumps and navigate platforms of varying difficulty, but must ensure that they adhere to the laws brought forth by the deity.
7
8	The game's overall feel was designed to invoke old Platform/GameBoy games, with a deliberate greenish monochrome colour scheme and 8-bit style music. Oh and [[NintendoHard difficulty as well]].
9
10	Can be downloaded [[http://askiisoft.com/ here]]. A [[UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash Flash]] port of the game with a few extra features, including a LevelEditor, can also be found [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/544332 here]] on Website/{{Newgrounds}}.
11
12	It later received a sequel/SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/PauseAhead''.
13	----
14	!!This game contains examples of:
15
16	* AnimalMotifs: Butterflies. [[spoiler:The deity himself is one.]]
17	* BadassNormal: The main protagonist, using only his jumping ability and little else.
18	* CatchPhrase: "May heaven grant you fortune," as said by the deity of the tower, though he will twist it a couple of times.
19	* CollapsingLair: [[spoiler:The tower falls to pieces at the end of the game.]]
20	* CutsceneBoss: Once you finally reach the deity ([[spoiler:who appears to be nothing more than a simple butterfly]]), he surrenders, having nothing else to throw at you.
21	* DeadlyWalls: The second rule, "Thou shalt not touch blocks or walls from the side."
22	--> [[JerkassGods "This ought to be interesting."]]
23	* DeathCourse: Almost all of the game.
24	* DeathIsCheap: Unlimited lives are in effect. The game DOES tally up the number of player deaths at the end, though.
25	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The game's {{Retraux}} design uses a UsefulNotes/GameBoy-like color scheme, [[spoiler:except for the ending.]]
26	* {{Determinator}}: The protagonist defies the will of god to satisfy his own goals.
27	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Yellow blocks, spikes, buzz saws, block sides, ''grass'', '' '''butterflies''', ''and '''''walking left''''' can all kill you, once the laws are active. Except the spikes and saws, which are always lethal.
28	* ExactWords: One infamous law: "Thou shalt not walk left." That does mean '''''walk''''' -- moving left by any other method is fine.
29	* FakeDifficulty: The Book of Laws invoke this. Eventually you get a law that forbids you from re-reading the book of laws. The deity DOES mention that he's never had to utilize the book before. [[spoiler:The book shatters on the last stage thus permitting you to walk left and touch the sides of blocks once more.]] Also, see InterfaceScrew.
30	* FissionMailed: Fakes out an {{Unwinnable}} situation in one room, where the deity loses its temper with you and proclaims you'll suffer fiery torment. It's a simple room that would normally involve just a short trek to the level exit as usual, but the exit is caked in vegetation and by that time, you're forced to obey a law that forbids you from touching living things, which includes said vegetation. The solution? [[spoiler:One of the window sills has no vegetation present and is the real level exit, since you can land and walk about on it, unlike other windows in the game.]]
31	* FloatingPlatforms: Naturally, given it's a platformer. Most are static, but some move. [[spoiler:One even transports you to a secret.]]
32	* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:The tower falls and not much else is seen other than the hero letting a butterfly touch his finger, which either symbolizes that he no longer has to abide by the Book of Laws, although it could also symbolize that the protagonist has mastery over the deity, who was also shown to be a butterfly. [[DefeatMeansFriendship It could even mean that by conquering the tower, the hero gains the deity's respect.]]]]
33	* GratuitousEnglish: In the Japanese version, the god's CatchPhrase, "May heaven grant you fortune," remains in English.
34	* GreenBoyColor: The use of monochromatic green is mostly an [[DeliberatelyMonochrome artistic choice]] used to evoke melancholia, coupled with a [[NintendoHard restrictive old-school gameplay]].
35	* HeKnowsAboutTimedHits: The deity tells you the controls in the first level and how to save your game in the third. In the Newgrounds version, it doesn't do either of these things. Both versions have it tell you how to review the rules.
36	* HesBack: "[[spoiler:The Book of Laws shatters.]]" A possible moment for the player, mostly.
37	* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Played with by the deity, who declares that if you're going to scale the tower and claim the reward, you must "shed your humanity", and thus, a law forbids you from touching living things, which amount to the vegetation and roaming butterflies.
38	** [[spoiler:The ending reinforces the knowledge that the laws were revoked with the book's destruction, as he tenderly lets a butterfly rest on his finger with no ill effect.]]
39	* {{Homage}}: To the UsefulNotes/GameBoy platformer games of old, right down to the colour scheme consisting of only black and greenish-yellow. [[spoiler:Except for the full color ending.]] The music is also 8-bit classic. [[spoiler:Except for the ending's piano solo of "Atop the World".]]
40	* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: Since it's a tower, you only go upward to reach the next stage(s).
41	* JerkassGods: Seriously, some of those laws are just malicious.
42	* LeapOfFaith: [[spoiler: Required to obtain the third secret, right before the end of the game.]]
43	* LevelEditor: The Flash port comes with one, which unlocks upon clearing the game. In order to share the level you make, though, you have to beat it first.
44	* LoopholeAbuse:
45	** At one point, you are forced to obey a law that forbids you from walking left. [[spoiler:Of course, the player is meant to discover that the law never says anything about not jumping or falling left.]]
46	** More significantly: as soon as you pick up the Book of Laws, the deity tells you "Within the walls of this tower, you must obey what it commands, or I will smite you." [[spoiler:When you exit the tower via a window and climb from outside, you cease to be within the tower's walls, causing the Book of Laws to shatter.]]
47	* MadGod: [[spoiler: The Tower God starts slipping into this as you ascend the higher levels of the tower.]]
48	* MeaningfulName: The level editor for the Newgrounds version reveals the protagonist's name as [[spoiler:Eid, which is "Die" backwards]]. Now, what does [[GodIsEvil the deity]] want you to do? [[NintendoHard What are you probably going to be doing a lot of the time in this game?]] That's right...
49	* MultipleEndings: Depending on whether you found both the secrets or not, the deity's final words may change. That is to say, [[spoiler:finding both secrets results in an ending that describes you "emerging with vast riches"]]. In the Newgrounds version, [[spoiler:beating the game with all three secrets will add an additional screen after the result screen]].
50	* NintendoHard: Since it invokes old UsefulNotes/GameBoy games, this is in effect. You have to combine Platforming skills with adherence to the laws. Said laws also escalate in cruelty, from simply not being allowed to touch yellow blocks, to not being able to walk left, not touching blocks or walls from the sides, not touching living beings and eventually not being allowed to look at the Book of Laws again. [[spoiler:At least until the final level destroys the book and revokes all but one of the laws. In the Newgrounds version, all the laws are revoked, but the obstacle remains (albeit changed)]].
51	* NoNameGiven: There has been no name given for the deity. The protagonist was also unnamed until the Newgrounds Flash port. [[spoiler:According to the level editor, his name is Eid.]]
52	* OneHitPointWonder: Contact with a spike or saw or breaking one of the laws will result in instant smiting.
53	* PlatformHell: Basically the whole game. There's two levels where, if you don't make a move within the first ''second'', you die. The first of those levels has an exit to the mere left of you. But this is the same level where you're forbidden from walking left. How do you beat the level? [[spoiler:[[LoopholeAbuse Abuse the loophole.]]]]
54	** And then the final level combines spike traps, skull blocks, saw blades, various other vicious traps, and a classic BottomlessPit, and is one of the longest levels to boot.
55	* PressXToDie: Later in the game, one of the laws is "Don't open the Book of Laws".
56	* RecurringRiff: Most of the songs have the same recognizable motif. According to [[http://music.flashygoodness.com/album/tower-of-heaven-original-soundtrack the composer's Bandcamp page]], "Atop the World" was composed first, as a piano improvisation, and all the other songs are based on that melody.
57	* {{Retcon}}: The Newgrounds version changed the golden blocks in the final level to skull blocks, in order to fill the PlotHole of [[spoiler: golden blocks still killing you after the Book of Laws is broken.]] The composer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkBnQ27-Qrs&feature=related explained this]] (spoilers in the comments) on Youtube as well:
58	--> Rur 539: Huh... I know in the newgrounds version in level 11 the golden blocks were skulls, but since they are gold/yellow in the playthrough [[spoiler: and the Book of Laws shatters]], wouldn't that mean you could have walked on them?
59	--> flashygoodness: That was a problem in the original game. The yellow blocks still killed you [[spoiler:after the rules were nullified]] in the original version, hence the decision to change them to a different type of block in the new version.
60	* SdrawkcabName: The main character's name: [[spoiler:Eid, which is "Die" backwards.]]
61	* ShoutOut: One of the achievements is [[Music/TenaciousD Tenacious Eid]].
62	* SpikesOfDoom: Well, they're here.
63	* SuddenlyHarmfulHarmlessObject: Butterflies and plants once the fourth rule, "Thou shalt not touch a living thing," comes into effect.
64	* ThemeAndVariationsSoundtrack: Majority of songs use the same melody at different speeds and tempos.
65	* TheTower: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin It's right there in the title.]]
66	* TimedMission: [[InvokedTrope Invoked in-universe]]. At the start of the game, the deity tells you they have no patience for slow workers, giving each stage a time limit. This doesn't apply in the treasure rooms or the rooms between areas, however. [[spoiler:The timer goes out the window for the final level - by exiting the tower, you free yourself from the deity's power.]]
67	* TriumphantReprise: The final level [[spoiler:has all the laws repealed]] and so features the most upbeat incarnation of the main theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp9eRncVbcY Luna Ascension]].
68	* VillainousBreakdown: The deity gradually gets more desperate to stop you the further you get into the tower, enforcing crueller laws in his anger. Particularly notable is this line:
69	--> "[[WhoDares How dare you]]... [[WhyWontYouDie How dare you continue to live?]] Is it merely to spite me? [[YouFool You damn fool.]] Those covetous enough to seek my reward deserve only fiery torment. You will share that fate soon enough."
70	* YourHeadASplode: When you get smited.
71	----
72	->''[[MysteriousStranger I saw the traveler make his way toward the monolith]],''\
73	''That thin gash amidst the clouds;''\
74	''An open seam between heaven and earth that eluded the Eye of God.''\
75	''Or perhaps it had not; perhaps it beckoned from one realm''\
76	''To the other, wedded And ruled as one;''\
77	''For look how clean it splits the horizon 'twain, absorbs it,''\
78	''Makes it Strange,''\
79	''An indomitable beam,''\
80	''A [[TitleDrop tower of heaven]].''

Context VideoGame / TowerOfHeaven