Thanks for all the feedback! I'm surprised how positive it's been (including that mention on Bytejacker). Since the coding here is a little embarrassing to me - especially those text-box-deaths - I'm moving ahead with plans to re-make this as something proper. Since it's post-assemblee I'll be drawing a lot of graphics myself to better fit their usage in the game. Among other things, I've been trying to get down the "style" of Arne's giraffe.

(Of course, I also still have to check with Arne to make sure he is okay with me using his design. I'd hate to give up these weird, large-headed giraffes, though)
Then I found a book, skipped through it, walked further into the room and got a "oops you died" box. Did I miss something? Are you introduced to the monster(s) at all? It almost felt like a grue "hey you aren't supposed to explore here so here's an instant death" thing to me.
The monster actively tries to attack you from behind. It's possible to glimpse the monster before it "activates" by going north at the first corpse, but it's a little easy to miss this (lack of beta testing does that). Sorry it came across as a hard-coded insta-death!
Wow. I had never read this beforehand, but you described my game almost perfectly. Sorry for telepathically stealing your idea

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