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A jam submission

Dreams of Joy DepartedView game page

A surreal RPG. A tragedy with turnbased combat and a hidden morality system.
Submitted by horbror (@horgrunt) — 2 days, 23 hours before the deadline
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Submitted (3 edits)

Played version: Demo6.7
The visuals are stellar and the style is really unique, the soundtrack is great (DRINK THE BLOOD, EAT THE FLESH) and the overall presentation of the game is just really nice and unique. The whole idea of gear and story synergy is really interesting, and even just the implications of using some gear affecting the story is great to make you think better about what you equip (even more so if that's actually a thing, or planning to be a thing). The enemy designs are great, the pace of the game never felt too grindy, the encounters didn't end up too repetitive - was able to beat all bosses (and even optional ones that I found) without having to grind, though sometimes only after a few tries (especially bosses that have multiple turns and can either do lot of damage or nothing/statuses can be a bit RNG whether they decide to give you a breather or just continually devour you without a break). Regarding the story, the only thing that's confusing to me is what's James role is supposed to be, as the focus very quickly shifts away from him and staying on Sarah and Billy, though this might be explained and tied up in the end - unfortunately I wasn't able to see the full ending, as the game freezed up after the second phase of the shadow boss (after the two Sarah boss phases) with the following: "Uncaught LoadError,chrome-extension://njgcanhfjdabfmnlmpmdedalocpafnhl/movies/wallslam.webm,() => { this._element.load(); }".

Apart from the overall impression, I drafted up some bugs/findings during my playthrough based on the notes I've been taking:

ACT1

Typo on act name (re-emergAnce), unsure if intentional
"Agency" text briefly flashing during intro transitions before going away
Some items doesn't seem to have their directions locked: the chest south of the house turned into a meatcube during interaction and talkin with the mirror from the side/back makes it disapper (consistent through all the acts)
Map south of the house, i was able to use ladder without picking up from the house, was able to pick up the ladder form the house too to end up with two ladders
Boiling noise doesn't go away after exiting the house, have to go to the south of the tree (or other are that has a BGM set up) to reset the bgm
Not a fan of the Euthanasia fight - shock too op and otherwise the fight is simple, there's no strategy just a binary check of whether you equipped the shock-resistant card (supposed to be a tutorial?)
The muzzle flash for Billy appeared for James, probably because I took off the Deerhunter 3 form Billy and gave it to James (probably shouldn't be able to do it)
SO HAPPY KO'D PEOPLE STILL GET XP

ACT 2

White text in white background during the pc section is hard do read - one of the options (third one I think) seems to be broken
Sad that can't bait enemies into beartraps
Sarah(teenager): muzzle flash shows up at James' place during the deer boss fight if you use her skill
Can equip Farm Girl as James and Billy - in fact only style that is locked for a character is James' suit, the rest can be given to anyone
Crackerlacker is OP, there's pretty much no need to use attack if you have more than 10 SWAG since it's super cheap and generates more SWAG than it uses
Gunsmanship card isn't really great for billy evne though it's implied for him - his only damaging gunsmanship skill is an AOE attack and 90% of the fights are against single enemies (also even after trying to test it didn't notice any change in skill damage)
Generally the team is too much James-loaded: he has the best damage (Crackerlacker), can heal and buff/debuff while apart from Sarah's curse skill the rest of the team is pretty much just there to soak up damage
Sudden Teen Spirit
Chest on the frozen lake south of the house changes when interacted too (direction doesn't seem to be locked)

ACT 3

Knife attack under skills just worse version of regular attack?
Good tutorial combat with the gopniks to explore the new character mechanics with how they keep getting themselves drunk
Interacting with the shelf next to the bed brings up the sleep dialogue (why you wanna sleep on the shelves Sarah)
Second set of blockboxes south of the motel room don't block the hallway fully visually, giving the implication that you can go through
Can equip titslitter on James
Saint of the blind eventually stopped attacking for me and just let me take turn after turn
Rememberance keeps swag at 100 (refills after use)
Exiting the room map I was able to redo the open package event the second time (was not able to reproduce after even though I still had the package in my inventory)
Can talk to the side of the 999 door and then it changes sprite (direction not locked)
Can go back into the black book and fight Memory of Haakon a second time after beating it and doing Sarah's sequence (doing so seems to be breaking things pretty bad, especially if you do it after having flesh-Billy instead of ghost-Billy)
Act 3 James party definitely has lot better synergy than Act2, though ghost-Billy felt more usefuly than flesh-Billy
Phone ringing sound during Sarah's part is reallyquiet
Mosca being the Jack instead of Queen?
Fifth week, Sally sprite disappears in the uni hall before sarah starts talking
Talking to reika (blue haired girl) after getting fucked up from the drinks removes the pink filter
Some core memory is under STUFF, some are under Key Items
Curse status doesn't show on the main menu so you end up just mashing dolls through everyone
After getting flesh-Billy, bit unclear what to do next - ended up clearing the grind pit and getting the 4 locks of hair before finding the stairwell (or was that a requirement for the stairs to appear?)
Even during the second Sarah vs coyote boss fight using the gun is "now not the right time" - framing implies it's out and should be useable

Developer

I will give you a more thorough answer later but I will tell you this right away. You had finished act 3, you were at the cutout point where you would have gotten to act 4 if everything would have been finished. Two out of three endings for chapter 1 are done (still needs some more polish) you can reach them if you use the cheating room. Act 4 is all different endings depending on choices made, but these things are still worked on. 

You can also watch the two completed endings here if you are interested: 

Developer(+1)

the only thing that's confusing to me is what's James role is supposed to be, as the focus very quickly shifts away from him and staying on Sarah and Billy

A lot of things may seem clearer at the end of chapter 1, but the story of James is just beginning. This is chapter 1 out of 6 in the script, once it is done I am starting to work on chapter 2. This will be a big game. James place in everything will become clearer and clearer as he goes through the lives of other people. 

reezed up after the second phase of the shadow boss (after the two Sarah boss phases) with the following: "Uncaught LoadError,chrome-extension://njgcanhfjdabfmnlmpmdedalocpafnhl/movies/wallslam.webm,() => { this._element.load(); }".

You did not miss anything, this is the point where the game will calculate what ending you will get, but those are not reachable natively at this point. Equipment will affect this btw, some of that is in, some of it is not, yet. 

Apart from the overall impression, I drafted up some bugs/findings during my playthrough based on the notes I've been taking:

ACT1

Typo on act name (re-emergAnce)

Originally it was a typo, one I have made so consistently that I have decided to go with it. Reemergance does have a slightly different meaning in universe than reemergence. Maybe I will fix it... 

Not a fan of the Euthanasia fight - shock too op and otherwise the fight is simple, there's no strategy just a binary check of whether you equipped the shock-resistant card (supposed to be a tutorial?

Yes, it is supposed to force you to try the card. But it is a bit uninteresting as a fight, combat gets updated and fiddled with continuously, the oldest fights are the ones that has gotten the least amount of polish so far.  That will change, but there is a lot to do. 

 The muzzle flash for Billy appeared for James, probably because I took off the Deerhunter 3 form Billy and gave it to James (probably shouldn't be able to do it

This is the reason, will have to think about this one. 

White text in white background during the pc section is hard do read - one of the options (third one I think) seems to be broken Sad 

I hate the look of all the computer stuff, it will be completely remade at some point. 

that can't bait enemies into beartraps 

One day. 

Bugfixes: 

Thanks for the extensive reports, adding all new things to the lists. 

Knife attack under skills just worse version of regular attack? 

It's the same, someone asked me to put it in the "knifebox" so they would not have to go back when they noticed they did not have enough swagger for cuttabitch. 

 the gun is "now not the right time" - framing implies it's out and should be useable.

The functionality for Jackie-0 is just not done, will be working on it soon though since its more featured in the haterun section of the game. 

Submitted(+1)

Game's oozing with atmosphere. Couldn't stop to wonder how much work went into every shot. The only thing in terms of valuable feedback that came to my mind was after using certain items on self, game could get back to previous menu. Love direction you're going for and can't wait for more to come.

Developer

Thank you, still some final work content wise for chapter 1, and a bunch of polish. Touching up or replacing a bunch of scenes and maps I am not satisfied with. Menu setup is wonky at best at the moment, making such things better will be part of the final polish process before chapter 2. 

(+1)

This is an amazingly made game, I expected Ren'Py and was pleasantly surprised by a highly customized RPGMaker game. I really like the unique look, the surrealist aspect of the game definitely is the  most unique part. Even though its very rooted in American culture, hanging around the chans helped me understand most of the story, it was very clear to me even though I am not too intimate with rural American life!

Time flew and I cleared two acts in two hours, gameplay-wise its very basic and doesn't deviate from the base RPGMaker defaults (statuses are even unchanged etc), I did enjoy the unique naming takes on everything, it contributed greatly to the atmosphere. I could see how some stuff worked under the hood because I mess with RPGMaker a bit, I quite enjoy the ingenuity!

Part 2 is more polished and I like the straightforward simplicity compared to part 1. I enjoyed the little twist for the last rung of the fetch quest.There are some difficulties with the bosses, but nothing not overcomeable with time and a revive.

Some notes on part 1

Bugged out space? - There's a bug where returning from the mines and going past the campfire leads you to a space you are not suppossed to go. You are hardstuck there with no exit. This is before the rope segment. I have attatched a picture to show where it is. Pretty sure the deer is for decoration.

No idea how this is replicated, but you might want to check the coordinates where the door leads if the campfire map moves you to different maps on different switches.

Fish and Randomness - This segment left me with a seething hatred for fish because I backtracked for a long time before I realized I had to kill stuff to get to the next area (level up lock) since I mostly avoided the random mobs. The fish are randomly inflicting confusion and have a pretty much 1hko move unless you use the gimmick. This means you can be locked into attacking and die randomly at every fish. I would suggest lowering the speed stat of the fishmen so this happens less frequently/ when you recover you get to heal instead of taking a fish blast.

Similarly, there's a forced segment on the house roof later in Act 2, I can see the potential for a soft lock here as well. Possibily adding a pickup/revive item inside the house would help the underprepared. (I never go anywhere without revives after Act 1 though)

One final note that I think is good is that there are a lot of custom animations/ shorts that a fitted between scenes, it really helps bring the story to life. The hunt scenes in act 2 are quite the kick in the feels.

P.S: I think I got most of the conspiratorial references, my time browsing /x/ was well-spent!

Developer

"This is an amazingly made game, I expected Ren'Py and was pleasantly surprised by a highly customized RPGMaker game. I really like the unique look, the surrealist aspect of the game definitely is the  most unique part..."

Thank you, I really appreciate it! 

 (statuses are even unchanged etc)

There are some alterations to most of these, getting more important over time and additional features are added to them later on. Sleepstat for instance gets a chance for enemies to use alternate, heavier attacks, in the part I am working on now, among other things. The visual stuff for some of the old rpg maker elements is getting replaced as I continue to work.  A lot of the combat systems still need a lot of polish, and more unique features. I am not satisfied with keeping them "ordinary". 

"... hood because I mess with RPGMaker a bit, I quite enjoy the ingenuity!"

Very nice to get some input from someone who is familiar with rpgmaker, I am still a bit of a beginner, recently learning to abuse common events and states to create some more advanced effects and combinations. 

Part 2 is more polished and I like the straightforward simplicity compared to part 1. I enjoyed the little twist for the last rung of the fetch quest. There are some difficulties with the bosses, but nothing not overcomeable with time and a revive.

Visually, act 1 has received an overhaul and some more polish, storywise the game gets increasingly complex in its structure each act, it's more or less traditional escalation. 

"Bugged out space? "

Thanks for pointing this out, I know what caused it. Changed the map when I overhauled the visuals, must have missed replacing one of the transfers so you are being teleported to the position appropriate for the old map. 

Fish and Randomness -

Lowering the speedstat is a good suggestion, will do.  The initial thought was some forced tutorialisation, to get people to change between moods and cards, just as with the early Euthanasia boss which can stunlock you eternally unless you switch up your gear a little. 

"Similarly, there's a forced segment on the house roof later in Act 2"

Did actually think about this, if you die, you do not get a gameover but are instead teleported to the central tree. 

One final note that I think is good is that there are a lot of custom animations/ shorts that a fitted between scenes, it really helps bring the story to life. The hunt scenes in act 2 are quite the kick in the feels.

These get increasingly better, will remake some of the act 2 stuff. You wanna sneak a peek at how they eventually end up you can look at this: 


P.S: I think I got most of the conspiratorial references, my time browsing /x/ was well-spent!

; )

Submitted(+1)

Your game is too good for me to ruin it by playing snippets of it every once in a while.
I'm going to wait for the whole thing~

Developer(+1)

Download it anyway... increase my metrics...

Submitted(+1)

of course, i always do, i'm kind of a hoarder actually.

gotta milk the algorhythm and all

(+1)

I checked out the savior ending, pretty sweet! 
The whale-saving cutscene in particular was great.

Looking forward to the second chapter.

Developer

Thank you! Still a lot to do before I get there. Next chapter will not have as much alternate paths, more single addons based on choice. Going full Witcher 2 for chapter 1 might have been some scopecreep... 

Developer


DD - UPDATELOG:

Since last DD Normal Ending has been finished and can be reached from the cheating room. 


Act1 has went through some fresh polish, received a coat of paint and the boss has been revamped. 


General polish, updates and bugfixes, such as new icons continuously being made. Some enemies have been fiddled with a bit, as well as some combat-mechanics and other stuff. 


Some early haterun stuff in the darker version of act 3 can be accessed from the cheating room. Part 1 of it is now done, it adds roughly 40 minutes of gameplay.


Mouse-controls have been removed since they kept creating problems. 


Cheating room can be accessed by not enabling the tutorial, moving towards the SWIRLING TREE map, waiting until the deer sprite passes and then moving back towards the beginning. 


Cheating room is logistically a bit of a mess, it will be fixed in the future. 


Use CRABMAN to jump ahead to act2. 


Use TVMAN to jump ahead to act3. 


Use Preacher Arthur if you wanna peek at the haterun stuff. 


No ending can at this point be reached natively, this has to do with the morality system not being fully completed yet. Once all the main content of chapter 1 is done it will need a lot of balancing too. 


Endings available: Saviour Ending, Normal Ending.


Yet to be done: Punisher Ending.