RMMZ Avery's Reverie

[tumsterfest]

(Wanna help make something cool? Visit my Project Recruitment thread.)​

Spoiler

For fans of:

• Old-school RPGs
• Chrono Trigger
• Celeste
• Final Fantasy (duh)
• Girls
• Girl dads
• Other kids
• Other parents
• Dad jokes?

Features​

• A lighthearted, earnest story about growing up and finding balance in yourself (and berries). Written by an actual writer.
• A party bursting with personality, & plenty of silly dialogue to show it
• Custom, professional character art
• Each “real” & “imagined” world is different than the last, with secrets abound
• Diverse moment-to-moment gameplay -- fight, solve, explore, chitchat, upgrade, photograph, & more
• Many fights are optional, and none are mindless filler
• Choose passive skills to learn and equip (at a cost)
• Is probably better than Xenoblade 2*

(*According to my dog)

I'll add more gameplay details soon. Have some final decisions to make on the battle system's features first. For now, I can tell you there's no experience points, no grinding, and lots of goodies hidden around the world. Virtually every weapon/armor you find will have a unique quality, rather than just boring strength/defense increases.

Spoiler

Tired of doing chores "literally" all the time (and literally tired from staying up past bedtime so much), Avery grumpily trudges up the dawn-lit hill behind her rural home. A quest to pick berries for Grandma's pie turns into a trip through the mind of a kid struggling to understand what "growing up" should look like.

Explore colorful forests, spooky temples, winter wonderlands, ancient civilizations, and even outer space as you seek a way back to "normal." Along the way, Avery meets the four idols of her dreams, and they happily agree to safeguard her journey. Cloyingly wholesome lessons are learned, even if someone is out there scheming, trying to teach Avery the painful way ...

Spoiler

​

Avery is a kid, with very kid-like attitudes.

She’s curious … but not always motivated enough to seek answers.

She’s a dreamer … but lacks the brave voice to turn dreams into reality.

She wants to believe in herself … but she’s sensitive as a newborn’s skin.

She wants to be a grown-up … but can’t get by without her parents.

Who will she become?

Quin​

Quin is Ireland's most gregarious export. Her nicknames include “The Irish Samurai” and “The Hardest-Working Woman in Pro Wrestling.” Now she's looking to add “hardest-working mom” to the list. Her obsessive training for her post-pregnancy comeback to the ring leaves time for little else -- except lame dad (mom?) jokes.

Saylor St. Cloud​

Saylor is a singer-songwriter ... who won't write a word or pick up an instrument. The stress and criticism that comes with worldwide fame finally caused her brittle exterior to crumble. Holed up in a remote cabin near an equally crumbly temple, she scrolls social media feeds and ponders when -- or if -- she’ll return to reality.

Emerié​

Ruler of a snowy kingdom and one of its few remaining citizens with the magical power to control weather. Polite, astute, and professional, Emma hates to burden others, always attempting to problem-solve alone, despite living with 100 servants. Long before Avery knows it, Emma is working behind the scenes to preserve her safety ...

Ferra​

Ferra is an animalistic-yet-compassionate whirlwind of motion. Despite her feral appearance and behaviors, she’s considered a thoughtful, intelligent leader among her tribal peers. Her courageousness, though, can turn into recklessness -- will she keep Avery out of trouble, or lead her right into it?

Spoiler

(Walking sprites of three party members and a VIP NPC)

(Saylor's skills get their names from songs on her albums.)



(Seems welcoming?)



(Designs for a matching minigame.)

(The closest things they had to elevators a bajillion years ago.)



(I like colored lighting.)


(Étienne Snowfields)



(Émerie, lead character of the animated film "Meteor Maid")



(The modern fairy lives a cushier lifestyle.)




(Foyer of the Nameless Temple.)

Spoiler

Developer:​

Me, since August 2020. To cover my weak spots, I've commissioned artwork on Fiverr and party battlers on here (Low).

To cover even more weak spots, I have a small Discord channel with folks helping me out (music, Action Sequences, etc.).

Want to help? Good Lord, I need it. Project Recruitment thread is here.

Status:​

• Mapping: 70% (most areas are done, but a few are embarrassing attempts from my early RPGM days that need redone)
• Art: 90% (wrapping up commissions for custom battlers; may expand field animations for party, i.e. sitting)
• Sound: 90% (music almost entirely sourced; may add character speech for battles if it's not a massive ordeal)
• Gameplay, non-battle: 60-75% (menus and minigames need fine-tuning)
• Battle system: 50% (testing out row system for AoE and shielding mechanics)
• Story: 90% (would like to add more "flavor text" conversations and flashbacks)

​

Thanks:​

Full credits to come, obviously, but thanks to Pandamaru, Avery (no relation to my character or project), Starbird, Sturmfels, whtdragon, TheRealFusion, and other forum and non-forum folks who generously share their talents.

 

[Villhelm]

Doing a good job of capturing the light-hearted tone in the writing on this post. I’m interested in seeing where you take this (and to see plenty of dad jokes).

 

[tumsterfest]

Thanks! More to come shortly.

 

[tumsterfest]

Some more screenshots as I continue to avoid the difficult work:

Spoiler: Semi-Pretty Pictures

Any guesses!?


Why call them lakes when you can make up a more pretentious-sounding term?


Weird-forest wildlife coming soon. P.S. I would give PandaMaru $1,000,000 to come out of retirement


Before and after: the first one I did following a YouTube tutorial in my first few months of RPG Makery; the second I just did, about 15 months later. (Comsho/REFMAP/Tonbi tiles are amazing, and I take no credit for actually improving haha)

Current work:

• More rework of embarrassing old maps while dealing with Cyclone plugin suite issues (either bugs or human error)
• Finalizing an expanded concept of the battle system, and what plugins will be needed
• Considering a Project Recruitment thread because I cannot physically do this with two kids and a full-time job *curls up in fetal position and sucks thumb*

 

[TheGentlemanLoser]

I'm genuinely confused, is this a fangame of our resident pixel Queen @Avery ??

like, earnest question

 

[Soulrender]

No download? It feels a little "toady".

 

[tumsterfest]

I'm genuinely confused, is this a fangame of our resident pixel Queen @Avery ??

like, earnest question

Lol, no. Avery has been one of the top 20 most-common female baby names in the U.S. for the past decade, and is the name of someone close to me.

No download? It feels a little "toady".

I'm sorry; I'm not sure what this means. An internet search tells me toady means "a person who praises and is artificially pleasant to people in authority, usually in order to get some advantage." ... I'm not sure how this applies to my posts?

 

[ATT_Turan]

A few bits of feedback:
- Your whimsical, humorous tone comes through really well in your descriptions. Overall it's written well.

- The temple in your bottom screenshot looks very lovely. The picture on the wall to the left seems like it's too high up. Typically artwork is placed at about the same height so that it's easily visible to the eyes, regardless of how tall the walls are.

- The dialogue box in the screenshot above that shows spaces before and after every ellipsis - this is nonstandard, and looks rather odd to read.

- That Hallucinova Forest is trippy.

- Take this for what it's worth, with individual artistic tastes. My first thought when I looked at your logo was that the two different fonts didn't work well together. Having one word being fluid and cursive, and then the other using a more traditional angular font is jarring to me (I don't know if the "Reverie" being jiggled and bent contributes to that at all). But it wouldn't, like, stop me from clicking into the game to read about it.

(I also have no idea what "a little toady" means )

 

[Soulrender]

@ATT_Turan, @tumsterfest:

@tumsterfest your search is correct and I won't be hiding it, I'm an honest man to the core and I think your game is just to fancy/appeal Avery, hoping that Avery will tell us about your game in more visible section of this board, thus you will get more attention and more views leaving the competition far behind. Even though I have C***19 and an extremely high fever (39,9°C) I was able to calculate the probability percentage of success of this approach, it's 0,0167%.

I do not criticize either you or your game, but your post and the number of assets used made by Avery are against you. What I really like are portraits, especially Quin's portrait.

Unless Avery from your game and Forum's Avery's names are pure coincidence, then I bow with apologies

 

[TheGentlemanLoser]

@Soulrender um...lol...funny...joke...post? Or you are an actual crazy person in which case more power to you, I guess.

Lol, no. Avery has been one of the top 20 most-common female baby names in the U.S. for the past decade, and is the name of someone close to me.

Wild, I had no idea, @Avery is the only Avery I know of online or IRL. I checked and you are 100% right though, it's #19.

 

[Soulrender]

@TheGentlemanLoser Hehehe, oh you have no idea how much I'm crazy though "crazy" is a very light description, I prefer when someone tells me I'm insane. Sorry for the off-top, but I need to share with you my story from the work I encountered couple days ago.

My manager ordered new productions machines and they finished assembling them 2 weeks ago, last Thursday these "brand new" machines didn't work as they should so the service arrived - to replace a simple 25A fuse... They plugged 3 laptops for diagnostics and 8 engineers tried to fix it. After 7 hours malfunction still wasn't resolved... I lost my temper and called my manager and those engineers to yell at them "You morons!! Do you really need 3 laptops to learn that a fu***g fuse blew up? Jesus fu***g Christ! If it was up to me, you all would be fired instantly!!". My manager tried to calm situation but I stopped her with simple "Shut the f**k up, you too can't do anything right as it should be, so don't dare to lecture me." (Allegedly I was heard in half of factory I'm working and believe it's not a small place to work)

I went for cigarette to chill... I'd like to mention I'm not in any kind of decisive position, I'm basically just a "delivery guy".

 

[ATT_Turan]

Avery is a common name. I wouldn't presume that the OP is naming his game after someone on these forums based on that.

If it were an obscure name, like Yanfly, or words that aren't a name, like Soulrender, then I'd give it some credence...but there are tons of Averys. I've met several just in the course of my life...I think your accusation was a pretty big leap (like, Superman-over-buildings leap)

 

[Soulrender]

Perhaps you're right, if I'm mistaken then I start a new thread and I apologize both Avery and OP.

 

[tumsterfest]

A few bits of feedback:
- Your whimsical, humorous tone comes through really well in your descriptions. Overall it's written well.

- The temple in your bottom screenshot looks very lovely. The picture on the wall to the left seems like it's too high up. Typically artwork is placed at about the same height so that it's easily visible to the eyes, regardless of how tall the walls are.

- The dialogue box in the screenshot above that shows spaces before and after every ellipsis - this is nonstandard, and looks rather odd to read.

- That Hallucinova Forest is trippy.

- Take this for what it's worth, with individual artistic tastes. My first thought when I looked at your logo was that the two different fonts didn't work well together. Having one word being fluid and cursive, and then the other using a more traditional angular font is jarring to me (I don't know if the "Reverie" being jiggled and bent contributes to that at all). But it wouldn't, like, stop me from clicking into the game to read about it.

Thanks for the feedback! This was helpful. Writing and marketing are about my only skills, so I'm glad the writing came off well. I've also become capable of producing somewhat pretty maps, but still have "duh" moments where I forget logic (like hanging pictures way above people's heads).

That forest is the MC's first foray into the "dream world," so trippy is an accurate word haha.

I'm glad to hear feedback on the logo, as I'd never made one in my life. I like it for the most part, but you've given me things to think about.

@tumsterfest your search is correct and I won't be hiding it, I'm an honest man to the core and I think your game is just to fancy/appeal Avery, hoping that Avery will tell us about your game in more visible section of this board, thus you will get more attention and more views leaving the competition far behind. Even though I have C***19 and an extremely high fever (39,9°C) I was able to calculate the probability percentage of success of this approach, it's 0,0167%.

I do not criticize either you or your game, but your post and the number of assets used made by Avery are against you. What I really like are portraits, especially Quin's portrait.

Unless Avery from your game and Forum's Avery's names are pure coincidence, then I bow with apologies

Dude. My daughter's name is Avery, and the game is basically a love letter to her (and old-school games). It's also, as I mentioned, a very common name where I live. It's not like I named my game Touchfuzzy's Reverie. If we could stop derailing the thread for my project I've poured hundreds upon hundreds of hours into, that'd be swell.

@TheGentlemanLoser Hehehe, oh you have no idea how much I'm crazy though "crazy" is a very light description, I prefer when someone tells me I'm insane. Sorry for the off-top, but I need to share with you my story from the work I encountered couple days ago.

My manager ordered new productions machines and they finished assembling them 2 weeks ago, last Thursday these "brand new" machines didn't work as they should so the service arrived - to replace a simple 25A fuse... They plugged 3 laptops for diagnostics and 8 engineers tried to fix it. After 7 hours malfunction still wasn't resolved... I lost my temper and called my manager and those engineers to yell at them "You morons!! Do you really need 3 laptops to learn that a fu***g fuse blew up? Jesus fu***g Christ! If it was up to me, you all would be fired instantly!!". My manager tried to calm situation but I stopped her with simple "Shut the f**k up, you too can't do anything right as it should be, so don't dare to lecture me." (Allegedly I was heard in half of factory I'm working and believe it's not a small place to work)

I went for cigarette to chill... I'd like to mention I'm not in any kind of decisive position, I'm basically just a "delivery guy".

 

[tumsterfest]

I've had finished commissions sitting around for quite a while, but haven't posted them for some reason. Here's character art for Quin:

 

[JamieSabriel]

1] This looks fantastic but I have one very important and powerful complaint, which is that I can't play the game right now
2] I read the little note that you wanted peeps to comment on which Quin design they liked the best, and I was going to say the long-hair version in #3 - looks like you already chose that one, so I believe I win everything forever

 

[tumsterfest]

1] This looks fantastic but I have one very important and powerful complaint, which is that I can't play the game right now
2] I read the little note that you wanted peeps to comment on which Quin design they liked the best, and I was going to say the long-hair version in #3 - looks like you already chose that one, so I believe I win everything forever

Wow, thanks! A demo is admittedly a ways off. Customizing the battle system is the area where I still need the most outside help, and it'd probably be frowned upon to release a conflict-free demo haha

Thanks for the feedback on the character design. Looking forward to sharing another in a few days.

 

[JamieSabriel]

Wow, thanks! A demo is admittedly a ways off. Customizing the battle system is the area where I still need the most outside help, and it'd probably be frowned upon to release a conflict-free demo haha

If you need any help with it, let me know! I've been in the board game design industry for my whole life as a hobby and six years in a more professional sense, and I have several thousand hours of playtesting games under my belt.

Always happy to help fellow designers flesh out ideas!

 

[tumsterfest]

If you need any help with it, let me know! I've been in the board game design industry for my whole life as a hobby and six years in a more professional sense, and I have several thousand hours of playtesting games under my belt.

Always happy to help fellow designers flesh out ideas!

Cool! Yeah, I don't have an official recruitment thread at the moment, but I'm open to any assistance. I can share a Discord channel invite if that's something you're interested in.

 

[tumsterfest]

Spent like a week where I did little else but tweak art I already paid for haha. Teaching myself to recolor stuff effectively in GIMP has become addicting.

Spoiler: Original

Spoiler: Once More, With Pop

For context: This character (and the scene depicted in the full picture with background) is met when the MC enters the dream world for the first time. It's dark, unusual, and dangerous -- hence the higher saturation (maybe too high?). Daytime areas of the game will feature a more "happy dream" palette of soft colors.

Oh, and I also wrote out more of the latter stages of the main-story dialogue. There is now a receptionist on the moon. At the moon train station. For your moon passports. Obviously.