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One major reason is to better emulate an arcade-like experience. This game was not intended to be played in long marathon sessions, nor was it intended that once you had completed something you would never see it again.
Think back to actual arcades - typically, you'd show up with a few bucks in quarters, play for maybe an hour, and then leave for the day. Next visit to the arcade, you'd have to start over, but would probably get further than last time. Eventually after several visits you could beat the game, and if you liked it enough, even get good enough to beat it on a single credit.
That's how Volgarr was meant to be played, in 15-60 minute sessions, each time starting over at the beginning and getting better at the early stages and giving you more time to spend on the later ones.
Another major reason is to eliminate an easy avenue to cheating. While we don't have any problem with players cheating in games when it doesn't affect anyone else, for this game getting a high score on the leaderboards is a lot of its appeal, so we wanted to reduce cheating as much as possible to not spoil the fun for those seeking a spot on the leaderboard legitimately. The easiest way to cheat would be to edit a save file to give yourself more points, reduce your play time, etc. Of course we'd encrypt the file but we all know how quickly it would be cracked anyway, and just about anyone could figure out how to use "save scumming" to their advantage even if they don't know anything about hex editing a save file.
One reason it turned out this way is that it wasn't part of the original design for the game - we fully intended for players to have to start from the beginning every time, just like in arcades (see above question). However, during beta a tester suggested that they sometimes wanted to skip to later levels just because they liked a particular level and wanted to play it again without having to re-do previous levels each time, or maybe they just wanted to beat the game again in a few minutes to show a friend the ending, etc. Point is the World Skip was a late addition that was not planned for and had to be wedged in.
Another reason is that we prefer to avoid using menus as much as possible, again for that arcade-like experience. Notice how there's no menu at the start of the game, or to tally up your score or to allow you to select your Path for the next level, etc. Its all done through gameplay. So we wanted the skip to be done via gameplay as well, and have it be a fun semi-secret in the same vein as warping ahead in games like Super Mario Bros. and Battletoads.
Finally, since the skip wasn't the intended way to play the game normally, we thought having it be somewhat of a secret would make it more obvious that you really should start playing from the beginning each time for the authentic experience (and thus make it more likely you'd eventually find the Path of the Valkyrie and the key to Ending A on your own).
1) Finding out from a friend/the internet - just like you would find the warps in Super Mario Bros or Battletoads!
2) Once a skip is unlocked, a hint appears on the title screen if you wait for a moment that suggests you can skip ahead by going left. It also appears if you pause the game (we figured players looking for a way to skip ahead would instinctively pause the game when they started to look for the option and would see the hint text pop up).
3) At the beginning of World 1, there's a hole in the wall to the left with a yellow arrow pointing left (if the skip is unlocked). If you move right instead, there is a sound and visual animation of the hole being "sealed up". We figured players would eventually notice this, and restart the level to investigate what was in the hole they just saw/heard get sealed up and thus discover the warp.
While it might seem to someone asking this that "no one would complain about more checkpoints!", that's actually not true at all. Far more would complain about us adding more checkpoints than the few currently complaining about how there isn't enough.
Long before the game was even out we had fans telling us to please avoid using frequent checkpoints, sending us links to various articles explaining how the tendency for frequent checkpoints in recent retro games ruins what made the classics so great, and telling us how disappointed they've been with other games claiming to be a hardcore arcade-like experience yet handing out checkpoints like candy.
After release we've had players even buy multiple copies of the game just to show their support once we pledged to not add in any more checkpoints to the game. We've even had multiple complaints that World 6 has too many as it is.
There's no way we'd go back on our pledge at this point and disappoint our core fans, even if we did suddenly decide that that we wished there were more. And that's pretty unlikely anyway, the checkpoints are right where we want them now and we are happy with their placement. If anything the only thing we'd consider changing in this regard is reducing the number of checkpoints in World 6, but even that is unlikely at this point as we don't want to upset players that like it the way it is.
I understand what the developers are try to do. They are trying to make a game with the old school difficulty of arcade machines. However, they are failing. The current system does not add difficulty, it adds annoyance. I'm not interested in paying money to be irritated. If I was, I'd be out playing golf right now.
This game simply does not respect my time and, therefore, is not worthy of my money. Unfortunately for me and many others, Steam does not offer refunds. So, when a developer is pigheaded like this we simply get ripped off.
Remember when games were tough? That's the first thing the store pages says about the game. I think the problem is you.
Just accept the fact that this game was not made for you and please stop reciting quotes that were made by people like TotalBiscuit (like the game not respecting your time).
The game is very respectful of your time by offering engaging and challenging gameplay, which actually makes replaying it a lot of fun. That's what this game is all about: Replayability.
At first, the game hit me pretty hard by making me spend hours just to beat a stage, but now I'm "breezing" through the first 4 valkyrie stages in 40 minutes. That's done by pure skill, and skill (as well as knowledge) is gained by repetition.
A game that is only worth playing once and then tossed aside has very limited appeal.
If you prefer being rewarded by games that let you win on purpose so you feel good about yourself, that's completely fine. Just understand that this is not that type of game.
Völgarr is the type of game that gives you the tools to reward yourself instead of the usual, effortless, instant gratification pushed by big publishers to make gaming as pleasant as possible so you buy more of their games.
Oh, and please get over this "I paid for it, so you have to do what I have to say" mentality.
They made you an offer and you accepted it. Deal sealed. You don't pay the devs, you buy their product. Don't you ever think you've got any authority over them just because you're buying their product. That's just perverse. You're a customer, not a boss.
In this day and age, information is available pretty much everywhere for those who are willing to look for it. It's not like you were scammed or tricked by anyone. They marketed this game as a hardcore experience for those who loved certain classic games, so why the heck are you complaining about it being exactly as advertised?
People love games like Völgarr and Dark Souls because they do their thing without compromise. They're deep, challenging, unique, and rare experiences because of that.
If you want easier games with lots of checkpoints, there are PLENTY other games for you to play. Just let the hardcore niche enjoy one of it's very few, decent titles instead of arguing about messing everything up just because you can't handle it yourself.
That's just super ignorant.
Thanks for your comments.
Actually it's your view that is the minority, and a tiny minority at that. The vast majority of people don't want to keep having to restart at the beginning 16,000 times and spend 15 hours in one sitting trying to beat a game because of having to do that. People want to play an hour or two here and there, save and come back later. That is why saves were invented.
This lack of checkpoint/save system is nothing like old games. Before saves you used to have passcodes to skip ahead to where you left off. You didn't have to start over at the beginning. In arcade platformers, you simply put another quarter in the machine and you started where you left off. This lack of a system was put into Volgarr to make the game appear longer than it is, and to appease the "holier than thou" crowd.
Like I said, I have no problem with a hardcore mode for elitists who want to spend their entire day replaying the same level over and over again. More power to you. However, the 99% of the world who don't would like to have a save feature...or a refund. I think the arrogant refusal by the developers to include one prevents this from being a game I and most others can play and enjoy.
I just want to make one point clear here - we totally listened to our community, and it has said that it prefers the checkpoints as they are. For every rare person that complains about them being too infrequent, we have several times that many that reply and say they prefer it the way it is.
Even long before the game was released, there was a huge thread about it on NeoGAF with posters telling us to please, please do NOT put in frequent checkpoints because it ruins good arcade-style games.
Since release, we've received about as many complaints about how World 6 Crystal Path has TOO MANY checkpoints as we've had about the game having too few. If we made any changes at this point to checkpoints (which is unlikely) it would be to reduce the number of them in World 6 Crystal Path.
It would make no sense for us to make a change that would upset the vast majority of our fanbase to appease the handful of people that have asked for more checkpoints. And yes, that same fanbase has said that they don't want to have an "easy mode" added to the game.
As for the "not respecting time" argument, I'm going to quote a poster from the checkpoint thread at http://steamcommunity.com/app/247240/discussions/0/846965056727179788 responding to someone saying that without checkpoints you might feel you didn't get anywhere when you play the game each time:
This game can be beaten from start to finish in less than 20 minutes. If a game like that doesn't respect your time, I don't know how you ever make time to play video games. Did you really want to beat it the first time you played it? Do you think games like Spelunky would have become as popular as they are now if it had checkpoints instead of making you start the whole game over every time you died? Would you feel it was worth the money for a game you could beat in half an hour on the first try, because it didn't require you to practice and learn to get better before you could beat each section, and you could just bum rush to the next checkpoint that was always nearby?
I'm sorry you aren't satisfied with your purchase, and honestly if Steam allowed it I would just give you a refund, but we aren't going to upset the majority of our fanbase by changing something that only a handful of people want from this game. If it would help, I could tell you how you can hack the game's save data a bit to let you skip to later levels without having to beat the previous ones.
That said, I don't think this is a grindy game. If you pay close attention to enemy patterns, play in short sessions, and have some general platforming experience, you can improve at a reasonable rate. Your progress isn't dependent on something like gold or experience farming.
That allow to be interrupt during a run a continue it later. It do not allow to cheat because their is only one save that can be load again.
This allow some people like me that are not super player to enjoy your game while having a life.
For example : I took 50 mintues to reach the second check point. I'm not good enought to complete the first level on a 10-60 minute session.
That's kinda the point, next time you play it, that 50 minutes to get to the 2nd checkpoint become 25 minutes... then 15... then 10 and so on and so forth.
I understand but I do not love to redo what I achieve yesterday.
That disapoint me the most is that otherwise your game is great, good gameplay, lot of difficulty.
The game is about player improvement.
If its too hard for you, or you cannot be bothered to put in a little time to learn how to play the game, then this isn't the game for you.