RMMV Soulflowers

[Icelord888]

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Official website: Soulflowers The Game
SECTION A: SYNOPSIS

Spoiler

Soulflowers is a 5 hours long rpg experience that started out as a fun little experience for when I first started to fiddle around with game engines and it has since then, blossomed into one of my greatest projects as I started to construct an epic story around the characters that slowly grew on me. The game follows a mostly linear story (yet somewhat flexible to allow players to tackle it in a way they want) filled with battles, secrets, classic puzzles, riddles and epic boss battles. I also tried my best to give flavor and lore to this small new world and I hope you will like it.

Note: This is my first serious project and my first ever published game. So please be cool while ripping it to shreds !


The game is a classic rpg made in MV that offers:

• Classic rpg sideview battles animated with Yanfly’s Action Sequences
• Engaging boss battles
• Permanent and lasting player choices
• Puzzles, riddles and secrets
• Interesting cast of characters
• Interesting story

IMAGES/SCREENSHOTS

Spoiler

DOWNLOAD LINK

Spoiler

• OfficialSiteDownloadLinks
• Itch.ioLink
• MediafireLink

SECTION B: CHARACTERS

Spoiler

• The Protagonist(Protag) - A man that apparently has done something or has failed in such a way that his former life was left in shambles. He wandered around aimlessly searching some form of solace, but finding none and getting lost in the process…
  
• Lia - The youngest of the two sister witches, her appearance is in stark contrast with itself, having pure white skin and hair, but black eyes and wings. She is a very kind and gentle soul, but she’s not afraid to get rough if the situation demands it. She is also very supportive of her older sister and looks up to her.
  
• Nia- The older of the two sister witches and with a similarly contrasting appearance but less pronounced. She is mostly severe but mellows out if her sister comes into the picture and she also appears to hold a few secrets. Overall, when push comes to shove, she can be quite dependable.
  
• Seron- A sorcerer of considerable power, he likes to keep an aura of mystery around himself. His appearance, arrogance and severe remarks makes him to be viewed by many as being untrustworthy and shunned. Who knows, they may be right…
  
• Ornlog- The guard captain of the small village in the woods, he is a powerful warrior and many in the guard view him as a stern father, yet he doesn't think much of it. He can be a very direct man, but some say this is all an act and that he hides something...
  

SECTION C: STORYLINE/PLOT

Spoiler

Follow the story of a man that ran away from his life and found himself lost in unfamiliar woods shivering and starving, but determined to stay alive. Wandering around aimlessly he finds himself nearly losing his life, yet fate is not yet done with him and his salvation comes in the form of two odd witches. With his will rekindled he decides to return home, but finds that this may be more challenging than it may first seem. Join the nameless man in an epic adventure as he unravels the mysteries and dark secrets of the place he stumbled into, accompanied in this quest by his saviors that aid him for their own reasons.

SECTION D: SETTING AND/OR WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Spoiler

Heavy Spoilers!

Spoiler

The events of the game take place in a pocket dimension created by some nobles, to act as a resort of sorts, yet being a place where they made all the laws and rules, it didn't take long for this idyllic world to become a place of hedonism and decadence. This decay stayed mostly withing the nobles's castle, but it soon reached a climax when some of the nobles ascended into demonhood. The small world would have been doomed if not for the brave efforts of the castle's mage, who sacrificed himself in order to contain the chaos within the castle and seal away the horrors. This seal however was imperfect and some corruption is starting to sip outside...

SECTION E: Trailer

Spoiler

 

[SpicyNoodleStudios]

I only played half an hour to an hour as I'm planning on playing a bunch of games today, but here's what I got so far. Disclaimer, I am not doing QA, this is only supposed to be a review/critique so I won't be giving you exact errors/bugs or the steps to reproduce them.

The intro was solid. Short, to the point, no big infodumps. The dialogue creates emotion and atmosphere and brought me into the game. It didn't make me sit around and watch it like a movie, it let me play it, like a game.

The use of ambient music at the start was nice. That added to the atmosphere and the anchoring of the player. However, the ambient battle tracks used not only at the start but throughout all of what I played were not adding much. The track was really calm, almost creepy but mostly calm, and kept me relaxed. I'm not sure if that's what you intended but I don't agree that players should be relaxed during a battle. You also kept the soundtrack almost solely ambient throughout. It wasn't bad per se, but a solid soundtrack wouldn't hurt either.

I tested the spirit enemy at the start and died. Seeing as how the "protag" is thrown into the location and is trying to survive, I agree with your decision to render him unable to defend himself. Death being the consequence to teach the lesson was fine with me as well. However, if death is going to have a heavy presence, I would think about prompting more saves from the player. Like at the very start, at least.

The first real battle is pretty long though that isn't a terrible thing the first time around. I didn't realize the bear would be so strong, so I hadn't saved before that killed me and I wasn't fighting every enemy in sight so I hadn't gotten as strong as I could have. The early combat also isn't very interesting. It's "attack" over and over until the TP skill is available. Lia has over 3x the amount of health of "protag." Though I understand the reason behind this, it's still weird to see since their other stats seemed more even.

This might have something to do with translation but the dialogue/prose could have stronger. The idea behind all of the dialogue and writing was fine, but the actual wording and sentence structure was not so great. There could have been more expressions from the characters during the dialogue, as well.

As far as design choices go, the early game exploration was interesting enough. Though with the different possible "endings" I definitely would suggest more save prompts, or at least telling the player to save more (though they definitely will learn fast, if they keep playing). Though, some direction options were invisibly barred at some points which didn't fit how open the rest of the game was.

There were spelling errors and bugs throughout the experience. I think the game has potential but for now, it's not as good as it could be. Work on improving the combat and fixing up the bugs, strengthening the translation and making the character interactions more expressive and it will become a solid game.

 

[Icelord888]

I only played half an hour to an hour as I'm planning on playing a bunch of games today, but here's what I got so far. Disclaimer, I am not doing QA, this is only supposed to be a review/critique so I won't be giving you exact errors/bugs or the steps to reproduce them.

The intro was solid. Short, to the point, no big infodumps. The dialogue creates emotion and atmosphere and brought me into the game. It didn't make me sit around and watch it like a movie, it let me play it, like a game.

The use of ambient music at the start was nice. That added to the atmosphere and the anchoring of the player. However, the ambient battle tracks used not only at the start but throughout all of what I played were not adding much. The track was really calm, almost creepy but mostly calm, and kept me relaxed. I'm not sure if that's what you intended but I don't agree that players should be relaxed during a battle. You also kept the soundtrack almost solely ambient throughout. It wasn't bad per se, but a solid soundtrack wouldn't hurt either.

I tested the spirit enemy at the start and died. Seeing as how the "protag" is thrown into the location and is trying to survive, I agree with your decision to render him unable to defend himself. Death being the consequence to teach the lesson was fine with me as well. However, if death is going to have a heavy presence, I would think about prompting more saves from the player. Like at the very start, at least.

The first real battle is pretty long though that isn't a terrible thing the first time around. I didn't realize the bear would be so strong, so I hadn't saved before that killed me and I wasn't fighting every enemy in sight so I hadn't gotten as strong as I could have. The early combat also isn't very interesting. It's "attack" over and over until the TP skill is available. Lia has over 3x the amount of health of "protag." Though I understand the reason behind this, it's still weird to see since their other stats seemed more even.

This might have something to do with translation but the dialogue/prose could have stronger. The idea behind all of the dialogue and writing was fine, but the actual wording and sentence structure was not so great. There could have been more expressions from the characters during the dialogue, as well.

As far as design choices go, the early game exploration was interesting enough. Though with the different possible "endings" I definitely would suggest more save prompts, or at least telling the player to save more (though they definitely will learn fast, if they keep playing). Though, some direction options were invisibly barred at some points which didn't fit how open the rest of the game was.

There were spelling errors and bugs throughout the experience. I think the game has potential but for now, it's not as good as it could be. Work on improving the combat and fixing up the bugs, strengthening the translation and making the character interactions more expressive and it will become a solid game.

That sums up well the beginning of the game, which I agree, from what I gathered it's the weakest part of my game being also the first one I worked on and I hadn't really mastered the engine at that that point. I am also glad that some of the points got through and I am also guessing that you went in blind and didn't look up guide which is also fine as I get an unspoiled feedback from you. I also hope that you will keep playing it, as I got better and better the game did as well, combat should also improve once Nia enters your party and greatly improve once you pick a class for "Protag", I am also confident that the story will be nothing to scoff at either, through I am still thinking what I could do to make the combat better in early since you are supposed to be weak as a noodle... Still thank you a lot for your feedback and I really hope I will hear from you again and that you will give it another shot!

 

[Heartnob]

Hello! I started playing your game this evening, and I'm maybe two hours in. (I'm in the crypts, at the part where you have to gather the four incenses to power the orb). The story is pretty interesting so far, and I'm loving the two sisters as characters. Definitely interested in finding out more of their backstory! I do think it's pretty annoying that you can't run from battles, especially since the enemies move so fast and are hard to avoid. :/

Also, do you think I could have a hint with the "15 25 41" puzzle? I've tried everything I can think of.

 

[Icelord888]

Hello! I started playing your game this evening, and I'm maybe two hours in. (I'm in the crypts, at the part where you have to gather the four incenses to power the orb). The story is pretty interesting so far, and I'm loving the two sisters as characters. Definitely interested in finding out more of their backstory! I do think it's pretty annoying that you can't run from battles, especially since the enemies move so fast and are hard to avoid. :/

Also, do you think I could have a hint with the "15 25 41" puzzle? I've tried everything I can think of.

I am glad you like it, just wait until you get out of the crypts , I made a guide https://soulflowers.web.app/Pages/Chapter3 and you can find all the answers here, but to answer your question its 067, because you see 15+25+1 is 41 and 25+41+1 is 67! (The One reminder bit is important too!)

 

[Heartnob]

Thank you for the solution. I went ahead and finished the game! The final sequence in the castle was very intense, and I'm wondering how it would have been different if I'd chosen to train with the Noble Jester earlier. Is there a whole "evil" path you can take? Anyway, I'm guessing I got the best ending. Staying with Lia is the easiest choice I've ever made in a game.

I do have just one question, though. What's up with the flower you pick right at the start? I figured it was one of the titular Soulflowers, and that it would be important later, but then it just... never got mentioned again.

Anyway, great job! If this is your first real project, I'm eager to see where you go from here!

 

[Icelord888]

I do have just one question, though. What's up with the flower you pick right at the start? I figured it was one of the titular Soulflowers, and that it would be important later, but then it just... never got mentioned again.

Spoiler

To get an ending were you get to stay with one of the sisters, you need to have that flower. Also regarding the endings:

Spoiler

There are 3 in the game 2 good(you get to stay with one of the sisters) and one neutral where you go back to your own world. A forth one was planned, an evil ending were you sacrifice the two to a different demon and then rule over the small world as it's new overlord, you would have had to pick the jester class or the mage class for this and side with Seron for the option to become available, but in the end I decided to scrap it due to lack of assets and time . Also the last boss battle was supposed to be much harder and even after you would have used the astral bomb it would still be unwinnable, but then the two sisters in an act of desperation would have temporarily transformed into their full angelic forms and only then would you win. I searched for ages and i was even pondering of comisioning an artist to do two awesome angelic sprites for me and I am still blaming myself a bit for not doing it, but life has a strange way of placing constraints upon oneself and I am still glad that I got to finish the game when I did! It may not be the best possible version that i could deliver, but I am proud of it nevertheless!

Also the simple flower is not really titular in any way, the real soulflowers are the characters (especially the two).
And thank you for sticking with the game to the very end, having some random person telling you that they like your game... It's just a dream come true !

 

[Rockenberg]

I played this for a little bit and I liked its atmosphere a lot!
Sadly, when I died, I accidentally pressed the "Load Game" option without a save file and it made the game crash.

 

[Icelord888]

I played this for a little bit and I liked its atmosphere a lot!
Sadly, when I died, I accidentally pressed the "Load Game" option without a save file and it made the game crash.

Yes I became aware of this bug, tough it may be a bit hard to fix, also note that there are zones where you can't save your game(because of paralel events so don't try to push the system too hard or you might end up deleting your save files (through I do not know how to solve this yet).

 

[Icelord888]

Update!

Added:

• The ability to switch between windowed and full screen
• A file containing sensible tips & controls know how

Released a new version fixing:

1. Save corruption and deletion when trying to save in some areas of the game.
2. Game crashing when trying to load non-existent load file after defeat.
3. Combed through the early game dialog for spelling mistakes

Thank you again for your awesome feedback, I really appreciate it!

 

[Komm]

I've played this game and it was amazing, the soundtrack, the story and the lovable characters were woven into one heck of an experience! Good Job man!
The only observations I have that I think should be improved are the following:

• A few images showing off the events that unfolded in the page collection part would have greatly increased the immersion
• Some bosses were a bit weak while others were a bit strong (I may or may not be overgeared or undergeared so take this with a grain of salt)

 

[Ghermanz]

You almost got me fooled! I thought this was gonna be a low effort game or a game made by someone inexperienced, I am happy to have been proven wrong .

 

[Icelord888]

Soulflowers Aniversary!

I cannot believe it has been a year already since the game was first released and I really hope this game brought you as much joy as it did for me.

To celebrate this occasion, I commissioned a great artist to do a real masterpiece depicting one of the greatest moments of the game. (You can also find a landscape version of it on the game's page on Itch or on rpgmaker.net)

Vision for the future:

I plan on doing a sequel of this game and I really want it to outdo its predecessor in every way, but alas it will have to wait a bit as I am currently working on a 3d multiplayer game in Unity to sharpen my skills as a game developer, but rpg maker games still have a special place in my heart and I haven't yet shown how great they can be. Even if it will take me 20 years I promise that I will deliver a worthy sequel, Soulflowers story still continues!

For any fans and players of the game:

First of all thank you for trying out the game. Unlike what others may think or say I constantly check on the game and if someone leaves a comment or something I will certainly see it, so please comment and give some feedback I love to read it, even if it is criticism or a simple thank you, it will do wonders to my health.

And if you abandoned the game, please give it another go (it starts slow & check the guide if get stuck), I have yet to meet someone who finished it and didn't like it.

With that being said, thank you and game on through the gems of the world!