Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass (Demo available!)

[Housekeeping]

Jimmy dreams of the most fantastic things.  He dreams of big yellow fields of sunflowers.  He dreams of living woodwinds and talking mice.  He dreams of his mom.  He dreams of his dad.  He dreams of all the video games he's played with his uncle.  He dreams of his brother standing beside him like a ten-foot giant.  

Sometimes he has nightmares, too.

Jimmy's about to go on the adventure of his lifetime--and no one's going to know about it but him.
 

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is going to be a full-length jRPG with an emphasis on long-term stat progression and exploration.  Since Jimmy is an empathetic boy, he gains strength by imagining what it's like to be different monsters he comes across.  In practice, the monsters act as different classes that Jimmy can switch between both outside of battle to overcome environmental obstacles and inside of battle to change his stats and give him new abilities.  The classes can also be leveled up, giving Jimmy additional stats and allowing him to equip class skills that he otherwise would only have while swapped to that class.

Battles are random, but there's an indicator that appears above the player's head when they're about to be attacked.  If the indicator is green, the player is a high enough level to avoid enemy encounters in that area with a touch of a button.  This allows high level players to avoid encounters that are beneath them.

While random encounters will be simple, bosses are going to stretch the engine in interesting ways.  Items will also be limited, so critical thinking is going to be a big part of each victory.  If you die, though, you'll just lose some money and get teleported to the nearest safe spot.  

There are going to be a number of other small systems that don't warrant going into detail here, but just to get a few common annoyances out of the way: save anywhere and auto-dash will be enabled.

I'm really stoked about this game.  I've been working on Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass for several months now, and it's probably going to take a few years to finish.  It's going to be a full-length RPG; I'm not far enough in to have an adequate time estimate, but expect 40+ hours.  I'm drawing all the graphics and composing all the music, so I've got a lot on my plate, but, as you can see, the graphics are very much inspired by Earthbound, and I did this because 1) It fits the story, 2) It's something I can actually do at a decent rate, and 3) It's awesome.

While the graphics are inspired by Earthbound, the game is very different.  There's still going to be humor in Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass, but that's more me than anything.  It will also be charming, character-centric, heartfelt, thought-provoking, and, at times, horrifying.  Since players will be exploring Jimmy's imagination, you can expect to run into the things he fears the most, so expect the tone to ratchet between cute and terrifying at the drop of a hat.

Spoiler

Lars's room:

Something emerges from the darkness:

From left to right: Sneaky Lincoln, Happy Little Sunflower, Turtle Stack

Open up the transformation ring on the field by pressing "A."

After selecting your form, the transformation begins:

Congratulations!  You are now a bear:

Skill equip/stat progression screen:

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Download the demo here!

 

[Housekeeping]

I posted this on the tumblr, which you can check out for weekly updates. I'm going to post the bigger game-devvy stuff here, too, though. Anyway:

One of the things I’m pretty excited about for Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is Jimmy’s Imagination abilities. While there is story justification for this system, I want to focus on the practical side of how it works in terms of skill learning/stat progression:
 

This is the imagination menu. It can be brought up from the field menu any time, and it allows Jimmy to look at the stats of each monster he can transform into. It also allows him to equip his skills. By pressing up and down, you can navigate which skills you want, and pressing left or right changes Jimmy’s form. Here’s what each section refers to:

1. This is just the skill description. Right now, the “Bully” skill his highlighted, so that’s what’s being shown. I don’t like guesswork in skill descriptions, so I made sure that all the skill descriptions have clear effects written out in addition to the more flavorful explanations.

2. This is where you equip your skills. You’ll note a few different icons. The stars means that if a skill is equipped, Jimmy can use that skill regardless of what form he’s in. Since Jimmy will be frequently changing forms both in and out of battle, the starred spaces are very useful. The regular bullet points denote skills that, when equipped, can only be used when Jimmy is in his normal form. Skills are also divided into active and passive skills. For those who don’t know, an active skill is a skill that Jimmy actually uses in combat or on the field, and passive skills work automatically. Some passive skills involve increased stats or the ability to stun all the enemies for one turn at the beginning of a fight, for example.

3. These are the monster stats. The experience listing in this field is dependent on the monster, meaning that Jimmy’s monster forms each have their own levels. As you can see, right now the Low-Level Goon form is selected. Every time he levels, Jimmy permanently gains one luck point that stays with him regardless of what form he’s in. The percentage values beneath that are the stat modifiers to Jimmy’s base stats whenever he’s transformed into a Low-Level Goon.

4. These are the equippable skills that the Low-Level Goon automatically has. When you switch to a Low-Level Goon, Jimmy will automatically be able to use them, but if you want to equip them in a different form, you’ll have to unlock them by making it to the appropriate level with that monster. As you can see, the Grift ability unlocks at level 40, so Jimmy can’t equip that yet, but he can still use it while he’s transformed into a Low-Level Goon. Also, I should note that monsters do not automatically get their passive skills. These don’t show up on the screenshot since you have to have a passive skill slot highlighted first. The only passive skills Jimmy can have are the ones he’s unlocked and equipped, as many are quite good. This is why Jimmy’s normal form might start out weak, but, by the end of the game, he’ll be more powerful than any other form!

 

[Geoff Moore]

This looks amazing! Love the Earthbound vibe, and the imagination abilities sound really unique and interesting. Looking forward to seeing this develop!

 

[LostFonDrive]

Those custom graphics are amazing. Kudos to you

 

[Housekeeping]

Thanks, ya'll!  Earthbound is definitely a major source of inspiration for this game's aesthetics.  I'm not much of a visual artist, so I've been really happy with how the graphics have been turning out.

 

[mlogan]

Not sure how I missed this before, but looks really interesting!

 

[themanofpie]

This looks really cool! Reminds me of Yume Nikki or OFF. I look forward to seeing how this development goes.

 

[Housekeeping]

So, Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass got a bit of publicity:

http://indiegamemag.com/screenshot-weekly-preposterous-pulsating-bedfellows/

You can check out a few exclusive screenshots there.  Pretty cool, eh?

 

[Housekeeping]

I’d like to stay pretty transparent about where I’m at in the developing process, so let’s do that: I’m just scratching the surface. One thing I really like to do, though, is knock things off lists, and I knocked a thing off the list a few days ago: all of the monster graphics have been finished.

To give you an idea of the scope of Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass, there are 327 enemy graphics. I wanted to keep the experience consistently novel, so the bulk of the game contains new enemies in every area. I will be revisiting old monsters and mixing them in interesting ways in a couple of bonus areas, but novelty of experience is still going to be stressed throughout.

Another thing to note: although there are 327 separate graphics, some enemies have multiple graphics. For example, an enemy named Rorschach switches between five different forms each turn with each form having different properties; so, he’s got five unique graphics.

Now that I’ve finished drawing all the monsters, I’ll be mainly focusing on designing equipment and items, setting up enemy behavior, and drawing the battle animations. I’m already pretty deep into the equipment and items, and I can’t wait for ya’ll to see some of the fun stuff I’ve got planned!

(Also posted this on the old Tumblr)

 

[Housekeeping]

Field Actions​

So far, I've only really talked about battles/stat progression/story stuff; I’d like to talk for a bit about what happens more on the exploration side of things now. Specifically, I want to talk about field actions.

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass has a pretty strong emphasis on exploration. Since you’re looking through a kid’s perspective in this game, I wanted to make the world a big toy box for the player to have fun in (of course, this excludes the darker areas in the game, which I’ll share more about once I’m deeper into level design).

Since Jimmy can transform into several different monsters, this allowed me to give him several different field actions based on which monster he’s currently transformed into them. Think about them as the on-map abilities you gain in Breath of Fire 2 or the tools in Lufia 2. You can change into a different monster anywhere in the game, and by pressing a button (default: A), your monster will perform a field action.

For example: the Low-Level Goon is a bit of a troublemaker. His field action allows him to grab onto things and either SHAKE THEM UP or PUSH THEM AROUND. For example, you might shake a tree so that it drops its fruit to give you a quick HP recovery. Or, you might push or pull a block onto a switch. Or, you might shake a vending machine and get a free snack. Or, maybe you just want to shake somebody lounging on the beach because you don’t like his stupid face.

Another example: the Revolting Blob is universally hated, so you can use his field action to turn yourself into a target like so:
 

In most dungeons, this will allow you to immediately fight a random encounter, but maybe you’ll find other uses for it as you explore.

While I do have some puzzles in mind for field actions, most of these will be optional. The main goal with field actions was to give lots of room for players to interact and have fun with the environment. There are lots of transformations and each has its own field action, and I’m looking forward to profiling them in future blog posts!

 

[Housekeeping]

Information Guy Explains Status Effects (Part 1)

 

 

Hi. Information Guy here. Have we met?

Have you ever been fighting a pterodactyl and then stepped in a big pile of T-Rex you-know-what? Me neither. But if I had, I might be inflicted with a status effect. I bet you’d want to call a time out, but that pterodactyl wouldn’t let you, because they’re vicious, bitey things. And you stole its eggs.

That’s the problem with status effects. They’re things that make it harder to fight. But, you already knew that, because you probably play lots of video games. I don’t, so this is all quite fascinating to me. The world is a pretty fascinating place if you don’t know much.

Hey. Want to hear about some status effects you might run across? I’m just going to assume so, because that’s the kind of guy I am. I like talking, and I like like teaching.
 

Sometimes something might jump out at you when you’re not ready. Or, maybe someone will act like they’re punching you in the face and then kick you in the shins instead. That kind of thing will startle you, which means you won’t get to finish your turn. You can do the same thing to an enemy, though, so if an enemy is winding up for a big attack, then just startle them and everything will be A-okay.
 

Of course, once you’ve been startled once, it’s hard to do it again. After you get startled, you become alert. As the fight goes on, each time you or an enemy is startled, you’ll become alert for a longer period of time–up till five turns! Think of it like this: if your buddy puts a bunch of feral cats in your backpack, that’s going to scare you pretty good the first time, but if they do it again, you’re going to hold your backpack up to your ear like a conch shell the next time.
 

Sometimes, you’re going to get sick. This may be an adventure, but you know who don’t go on adventures? Germs. If you do get sick, it’ll wear off after battle, but while you’re fighting expect to lose 10 percent of your HP a turn if you don’t treat it.
 

Immunodeficiency. This one doesn’t feel good at all. Unlike sick, you’re not going to get hurt from this, but if you’re immunodeficient, you’re not going to be able to heal yourself. Like most status effects, it will wear off after battle, but if you get this during a tough encounter, you better treat it fast!

What’s that? Why are you sleeping in the middle of the fight? Did someone give you a boring lecture? Did you just decide to take a nice afternoon nap? Well, be careful. Sleeping only lasts three turns, but you can’t act while you’re asleep, and if someone hits you, you’re going to REALLY feel it. Sleeping also makes you vulnerable to nightmares, so be careful to avoid enemies who can enter your dreams and kill you in your sleep…

…Really, that’s a thing.

That’s it for this time. Would you like me to repeat that?

 

[JacobM]

Pretty interesting stuff you got here. I'd love to play this on my stream once there's a demo or something playable out for it. Anyway I liked how you did the update there ^ 

 

[Housekeeping]

Thanks, Drass!  I've been thinking about doing more in-character updates like that.  They're more fun to write, and I hope they're more fun to read, too.

 

[Housekeeping]

I've been introducing the characters slowly on my tumblr, but I wanted to post them here once I finished giving bios for Jimmy's immediate family. And I have! So here they are:
 

Jimmy is eight years old. If you were to see Jimmy at the grocery store with his parents, he wouldn’t be the kid who runs around the aisles using everything in site as prop comedy. He’d be the kind of kid who would hide behind his mother instead of making eye contact with you. He’s so quiet you might even call him a silent protagonist, but he’s not, really. He talks to you in all sorts of ways. Everything you see in the game is a message straight from Jimmy. He might be the most talkative silent protagonist of all time.

Jimmy’s favorite show is Jonathon Bear’s Playtime Forest. Other kids in his grade have made fun of him for it, but they still watch it in secret. He likes to play videogames with his uncle. He looks up to his older brother more than anyone. He loves his parents very much. He doesn’t want a dog; they scare him.

Jimmy’s core character trait is his empathy. Combined with his imagination, this allows Jimmy to transform into a number of monsters he comes across. At the start of the game, Jimmy might not be very strong, but using his powers of empathy, Jimmy will slowly gain strength and learn abilities from the monsters he transforms into.
 

There are two things Buck loves more than anything else: pumping iron and punching nerds. If you went to high school with Buck and he found out you had a Tumblr, chances are he’d stuff you in a locker. I don’t even want to know what he’d do to me once he figured out who created him. He’d probably have an existential crisis after the swelling went down in his fists.

His favorite band is a hardcore thrash band called Gut Punch who are known for producing harsh, nonsensical noise rather than music, and if you put a stethoscope to Buck’s forehead, then you might just hear that same anarchical static playing continuously. But, you’d never get a stethoscope anywhere near him. Doctors have stethoscopes–and doctors are nerds.

There’s no getting around it: Buck’s a bully. He resents having to live with a household that is 3/5ths nerd. And, Jimmy–Jimmy’s the worst. Such a weak little kid. Buck looks after him because his mother asked, but that’s it. Buck can see that the way his mother coddles Jimmy means that he’ll never get any stronger, and Buck can’t stand that more than anything. But, Jimmy looks up to his brother. It’s the way things go; little brothers always look up to their big brothers.

Buck might be brash, but that just makes him all the more menacing in fights. His skill set is built around intimidation and straight-up clobbering, and he naturally has a chance to attack twice.
 

Jimmy’s mother, Helga, is sunshine in human form. She loves smiling more than anything. No, she loves her job more than anything. Wait, no, she loves gardening more than anything. She just loves everything. Well, maybe she loves her family the most, but that doesn’t mean her boundless love for everything won’t distract her from time to time.

Helga is the emotional core of Jimmy’s family. She protects and encourages Jimmy, and she’s the only member of the family who Buck respects, both because of her strength and, well, she’s his mom.

Helga is so optimistic that she refuses to let anything get her down, including most common status effects, which she’s immune to. This works well for her, as most of her skills are centered around healing, so, like in her family, she’ll hold the team together in combat.
 

Fact: Andrew is Jimmy’s father.

Fact: Andrew is a professor of paleontology.

Fact: Andrew is the smartest person in the universe.

Okay, so the third one might not be a fact, but, to Jimmy, that’s an absolute truth. Andrew is an infinite fountain of information, not all of which Jimmy understands, and every day at school Jimmy tries hard to learn so that one day he won’t feel so stupid around his father. It’s a difficult task, though, and Jimmy often feels ashamed about it.

That’s not to say Andrew ever puts Jimmy down. He’s just the kind of guy whose emotions are a bit subdued. While Helga would be concerned with maintaining happiness in the household, Andrew only wants contentment. For example, if Jimmy is upset because his homework is too difficult, Helga might try to lift his spirits with a trip to the movies. Andrew, on the other hand, knows from firsthand experience that the struggle is an important part of the learning process, so he would let Jimmy work through his own problems. He just might not be good at voicing that reason to Jimmy.

Andrew is erudite, which gives him a passive MP regen in combat. This allows him to use his powerful science skills without fear of depleting his resources, and if push comes to shove, he can quickly burn through MP in order to make his skills much more powerful.
 

Uncle Lars…never really took off in life. He tried, though! I mean, not particularly hard, but you know how the job market is, and being out of work for so long, well, employers don’t really know what to make of that. Then there are his self-confidence problems. A lifetime of being verbally beat down can be incapacitating.

But, something strange can happen, too. Years of insults, self-doubt, and sponging have helped Lars obtain a curious zen state. “Why does it matter if you hit me? I’m already lower than slime,” he might say.

After Lars’s parents passed away, Helga let her baby brother come to live with them. Andrew and Buck were not happy by this turn of events, and Lars is aware, but, much like barnacles slowly weigh down a boat, they do so knowing that this is what they must do in order to survive. Well, not really, because barnacles can’t think. But if they could, they’d sure be a lot like Lars.

Jimmy, on the other hand, loves his uncle. They play video games together, they watch anime together, and over the years, Lars has collected all sorts of neat toys; his room is like a treasure hoard to Jimmy. It’s a palace of wonder. And, to Jimmy, Lars is absolutely wonderful, too. A friend, really. A best friend.

Lars might be lazy, but this means he doesn’t get excited much in battle, allowing him to keep his cool. He slowly regains HP as a defense mechanism, allowing him to take a lot of heat, and his skills revolve around taking hits for the team–because while Lars might not be motivated, he sure is a nice guy.

 

[RainbowGrenade]

I am in love with how stylish and creative this game is!

 

[Housekeeping]

Information Guy: Status Effects 2 (Rare Status Effects)

 

Hi. Information Guy here. You look familiar.

I might not look like it, but I’m a big-time traveler. So, I’ve come across my fair share of monsters. Here’s another little fun fact about me: my family has the worst luck. Seriously. One time my dad said to me, “Son, did you know the horned lizard has a defense mechanism that allows it to shoot blood from its eyes?” Then a giant dragonfly swooped down and carried him away in its mandibles. I haven’t heard from him since, but I bet they’re good friends now.

So, all that’s to say: there are lots of monsters out there, some even in your backyard. And sometimes monsters will have really rare status effects that only a few monsters share. Heck, some monsters will use status effects that only they have. Not horned lizards, though; there are fifteen different kinds of those bad boys. Talk about palette swaps!

Here are a few of the rarer status effects you might run into:
 

Some monsters have so much razzle dazzle that they make you feel really, I don’t know, “blah” by comparison. This is called ennui, and it’s that feeling you feel when you just want to lay around in your pajamas all day. Sure, that might be fun, but you’re not going to get any experience that way, and fighting a battle where you get no experience is sure going to be crummy.
 

Sometimes monsters just want a hug. The only problem is that they’re three times your size and have arms as thick as barrels. If you find yourself grasped by a monster like this, then you’re not going to be able to move. On the plus side, neither is the monster, but if the monster is big enough, they might squeeze you every turn that you’re grasped. They’ll let go eventually, but if you startle them, then they’ll immediately let go!
 

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. You’ve been infested by a Gut Worm. Don’t panic. Well, if it were me, I’d be panicking. I’d be running in circles screaming. But that’s just because I know that I’m going to lose 40 percent of my HP every turn until the battle’s over. And, now I guess you do too. Sorry about that. At least the gut worm who infested you is inside of you and can’t do anything else for the rest of the battle (other than continually gnawing your intestines until you’re just a skin balloon filled with gore).
 

One time a little girl sold me a box of super dry cookies for way too much. You might say that she mind controlled me. Actually, I was just hungry. Hungry and stupid. But, if a monster mind controls you, you’ll be attacking your buddies for the next three turns.
 

The doc’s got bad news. You’re terminal, kid. Don’t be sad; everyone dies. It’s the natural order of things. I mean, even one day, I’m going to die. You, though…you’re going to die in three turns. And, there’s nothing you can do about it. But, it’s not about how you died. It’s about how you lived your life. And, you’ve got three turns to live your life to the fullest. Will you write a beautiful poem? Will you fall in love? Will you enter full-on berserker mode and try to exterminate the monsters before your untimely demise?

That’s it for this time. Would you like me to repeat that?

 

[Housekeeping]

Let's Get to Know You, Revolting Blob!​

 

 

 

Ah. The Revolting Blob. Sleek. Elegant. Pungent. The Revolting Blob lives in the dumpster inside all of us. The Revolting Blob shows up late to meetings. It eats onion rings and belches in your face. One time it was handed a book of manners, which was promptly eaten without a second glance.

When Jimmy transforms into the Revolting Blob, he gains the power to be universally hated by everyone. But, that’s okay. The Revolting Blob is immune to criticism. The Revolting Blob is resilient. The Revolting Blob will hock up something gross on you and laugh as you punch and kick his gooey body.

The Revolting Blob isn’t particularly strong or fast, but he has high defense, and he can solidify his body, making himself even tougher. He can also taunt enemies and make them sick, which will injure them every turn while the Revolting Blob absorbs their counterattacks with ease. A high-level Revolting Blob can increase his defense even further and get immune to the sick status effect.
 

Outside of battle, the Revolting Blob can use his taunt to immediately trigger an enemy encounter, so if you’re looking to hunt a specific monster, the Revolting Blob is perfect for the job. Being hated has its perks!

 

[Housekeeping]

Information Guy: Status Effects Part 3 (Enemy Buffs)

 

 

Hi. Information Guy here. I feel like it’s been a while. Do you know I sleep in a cat carrier?

You know, monsters aren’t all that bad. All they want, really, is to eat your eyeballs and drink the blood from your skull like one of those big festive novelty drinks. Is that so different than you or me? I mean, I’ve been called a monster in my day, but that’s just because I’m really good at Monopoly.

Sometimes, monsters are going to take a moment to help out their friends in combat. That’s right: monsters have friends, too. Of course, those friends are also monsters, and by “help out,” I mean they’re going to work together to kill you faster. Let’s look at the fun ways they can do that!
 

Have you ever tried to punch a ghost? Let me tell you right now, it’s like trying to punch runny jello salad, and, if you’re like me, you’ve ruined many a Christmas dinner with THAT kind of horseplay. Ethereal monsters, like ghosts, are highly resistant to physical attacks. Some monsters can shift in an out of ethereal states, while others are naturally ethereal. Good thing energy-based attacks will still work, so you’ll need every laser gun, magic spell, and cherry bomb you’ve got to take on these bad guys.
 

What’s worse than getting punched in the face? Everyone getting punched in the face. And, that’s what might just happen once a monster’s attacks get extended. Get ready, cause all of their old single-target skills are going to affect your entire party. What’s that? What about their multi-target skills? Well, I guess those are exactly the same. Boring, I know, which is why I wasn’t going to say anything until you asked all those silly questions.
 

Sometimes, you’re going to run into winged monsters. Normally, they’re going to be like anything else, but once they start flying, they’re going to be trouble. You can’t just bash something that’s flying around–they’ll just dodge it. Sure, you can zap them with magic, but you know what I like to do? Startle them! It’s a known fact that if you put on a mask and yell, “WAAARRAAUGGGHH!” at a seagull mid-flight, they’ll naturally plummet to the ground, allowing the stalwart hunter to easily thunk it on its head and partake in the sweet seabird meat.
 

Monsters can get down in the dumps, you know. Maybe they got fired. Maybe they skinned their knees playing kickball. But, they’ll get over it. You see, all it takes is a nice pep talk to get them motivated, and once they’re motivated, they’re going to be physically stronger so they can face the day with a big, fangy smile on their face.
 

*Cough!* *Cough!* *HACK!* *Wheeze…* Sorry. I’m trying my hardest here, but that monster is so darn smoky. Most of the time, monsters will never dodge an attack, but when a monster makes itself smoky, it’s going to dodge everything half the time. If a monster starts inhaling like it’s going to breathe out something worrisome, it might be a good idea to stop it before things get too nasty.

That’s it for this time. Would you like me to repeat that?

 

[Bakuda]

I can totally see the Earthbound influence in this.  I look forward to trying it out.

 

[Housekeeping]

Let's Get to Know You, Low-Level Goon!​

 

Nobody likes being the low man on the totem pole. But, if you remove the low man on the totem pole, what have you got? Just a new low man on the totem pole. And a shorter totem pole, but that doesn’t matter–nobody said these analogies were perfect. The important thing is that there’s always going to be a guy at the bottom, and, in the lucrative field of gooning, that guy is the Low-Level Goon.

As a Low-Level Goon, you’re going to have to deal with a variety of odd jobs: knocking off liquor stores, roughing up the homeless, throwing rocks at windows, hand-washing everyone’s leather jackets–it’s not an easy or particularly fulfilling life, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

Because of the wide range of jobs a Low-Level Goon must perform, he’s become a pretty well-rounded guy. His lack of education means he’s not the brightest bulb in the box, but he’s physically capable and surprisingly lucky. His skill set is pretty broad: he can apply first aid, rough monsters up, rob them blind, and, if you stick true to the path of goonery, you might gain a keen business savvy so that monsters give you more money.
 

The Low-Level Goon is a bit of a troublemaker, so his field ability allows him to shake things up. Literally. He’ll shake trees, animals, innocent bystanders–basically anything to get his jollies. Do you like it when someone shakes you? Of course not. But, when you’re a Low-Level Goon, you’re too busy pretending to be tough to care about other people’s senses of equilibrium.