Hard Mode

The markings of a mouse in shaman hard mode.

The markings of a mouse in normal shaman mode.

Hard mode is a shaman setting introduced on January 30th, 2011. It allows the shaman to hone their skills by limiting what they can and cannot build after they have saved 1,000 mice. After a mouse first hits 1,000 mice saved, they need to restart Transformice for them to be able to use hard mode, though. To turn on hard mode, you must select the blue feather icon next to the emoticons in the game screen.

The differences between Normal Mode and Hard Mode

Functional

1. The shaman cannot use the spirit tool in the map.

2. The shaman cannot use red anchors unless they are part of a totem.

3. The shaman is able to create Totems which he/she can spawn only once per map.

4. Every mouse saved is counted as normal save and as a hard save. You can view the amount of hard saves in your profile. There are special titles for hard saves.

Visual

5. By default, the shaman has golden decorations on its body instead of blue decorations. As of Patch 0.161, the golden decorations can also be changed to any color you can imagine. You can use this Shamancolor tool to do it (The shaman to the right, for example, would be #97FC00). You can also use an art program (like Photoshop).

6. The feather in hard mode is laid back, but in easy mode it's pointing straight up. In addition, a smaller feather is also added.

7. There is only one triangular marking on a hard mode shaman's cheek, while in easy mode there are two.

8. Hard mode shamans have an extra marking above their eye, shaped in a half-circle.

9. There are three ornaments attached to the tail by a string in hard mode, and only two in easy mode.

However, if the shaman is in a shaman battle, catch the cheese, or conjuration map, none of these apply.

Totems

Totems are the pre-made systems shamans use on Hard Mode, which are modified using the Totem Editor. The spirit tool is replaced with a feather, and spawning the feather will create your totem. However, you may only use your totem once per map.

Totem Editor

Map444, which was originally a debug map, is now used for the totem editor, with some modifications of course. It now contains several buttons on the bottom marked Reset, Save and Cancel, and the shaman spawn menu contains all of the shaman objects and nails to make your totem.