Norman the Necromancer
Norman the Necromancer stars a shy, bookish wizard who just wants some peace in his graveyard. The local villagers have other ideas. They keep marching in from the right with pitchforks, bows and armor, and Norman answers with lobbed green magic and an army of risen bones.
Dan Prince made the game for js13k in 2022, so the whole thing had to fit in thirteen kilobytes. Aiming takes a mouse and a few actions use the keyboard, all inside a web page with no download.
How to play Norman the Necromancer
Norman waits at the left side of the screen. Point with the mouse and click to throw a spell. Spells curve upward and then fall, so you lead far targets by aiming high. You can hold three casts, shown as small orbs, and one refills every second.
Villagers who reach Norman hurt him by as much health as they have left, and he starts with five health orbs. Many fallen foes leave a body behind. When the bar at the bottom says Space is ready, press it to raise every body on the field as a skeleton that walks right and attacks the first enemy it meets. That power then needs ten seconds to recharge.
Defeated villagers drop souls. Between levels a shop lets you spend them on healing, extra health or casts, and rituals that change how your spells behave. Ten levels lead up to a fight with a crowned king.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aim | — | Move the pointer | — |
| Cast a spell, or start the game | — | Click | — |
| Raise all corpses as skeletons | Space, when ready | — | — |
| Pause | P | — | — |
| Browse the shop | Up / Down arrows | — | — |
| Buy, or pick Continue | Enter | — | — |
Tips
- Aim into the middle of a crowd. Every cast that connects raises your soul bonus, while a cast that misses everything wipes it.
- Let a few bodies pile up before pressing Space. One press raises all of them, so patience turns a lone skeleton into a squad.
- Pick off monks quickly. Each time one acts it heals every enemy still standing.
- Wait for royal guards to lower their shields. A spell that strikes a raised shield gets reflected toward Norman as a gold ball that damages him.
- Early in a run, cheap healing and an extra cast often help more than an expensive ritual, since shop prices climb each level.
If you like Norman the Necromancer, try these
Bounce BackShort roguelite runs and a boss at the end tie these together, with a curving boomerang as your only weapon.
Emoji HordeHuge crowds coming at you and upgrades between fights carry over to fifteen minutes of emoji monster swarms.
Questions
What happens when Norman loses all his health?
The run is over and the game starts again from the first level with no rituals. Every run is a fresh attempt, so each shop choice counts.
What is the percentage beside my soul total?
It is a streak bonus on the souls you collect. Each cast that hits something adds ten percent, up to double, and a cast that misses entirely drops it to zero.
Can I play Norman the Necromancer on a tablet?
Not well. Aiming follows a mouse pointer, and both the shop and the skeleton power use the keyboard, so a computer is the better choice.
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