RMMV Threshold of a Dream

[Okra]

Check it out!



Get it here!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dl5q57pl3truddd/Theshold_of_a_Dream_Master_Quest.zip/file



Threshold of a Dream is a classic JRPG style adventure in which two boys find themselves in another world. This game is heavily influenced by both the Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda franchises. Turn based combat, character customization, dungeon crawling, level grinding, random encounters, secret areas and items, retro graphics, and 8-bit inspired music will induce a wonderful nostalgia trip for any seasoned gamer.
"I created this game for a handful of reasons. I have always had very vivid dreams and I've always wanted to find a way to share them with other people. I had always thought of writing a book, but the process has never seemed to flow well for me. One day I saw a video on Lazy Game Reviews about a kid who had made a game using RPG Maker VX Ace. I got really excited because this seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to finally share this adventure in my head with other people. A few years later I made the final touches to my game. Learning to use RPG Maker has really taught me a lot about fleshing out a story while at the same time creating interesting game play and environments. Writing a coherent story line is only half of the work for a game designer. Creating a functioning world that sounds, looks, and feels good is a large chunk of the journey. I chose the JRPG style because I had just finished playing through Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls, and also because I wanted the game to be accessible to different kinds of gamers. Turn based combat allows players time to think about their actions and also avoids the learning curve that controls often present to new gamers. I feel that this format of game also feels more like reading a book, which is how the story originally formed in my head."
-Caleb Camp, creator of Threshold of a Dream
Threshold's soundtrack is a collection of remixed classic video game music by independent artists, mostly using the Threshold of a Dream album from OCREMIX. This album is an interpretation of music from Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. The game, Threshold of a Dream, is also heavily inspired by Link's Awakening's melancholy feel and sound.

 

[rue669]

Downloaded. Will play this week and let you know my thoughts.

 

[Okra]

Downloaded. Will play this week and let you know my thoughts.

Awesome! Enjoy

 

[Fooljastic]

Alright I played for a good 5h and 23minutes now, but I am royally stuck at the swamp temple... in the Swamp Shrine: Basement 2 to be precise.

I dont get the riddle. The pictures are all the same on the stone statues and randomly pressing buttons for the last hour didnt get me very far...
Could you at least give me a hint at what I am supposed to do apart from pressing buttons?

Well anyways now that I grinded a lot (lv 15 Caleb, lv 15 Sean and lv 13 Basudan) because of that I have some impressions of the battle system I wish to share:
Magic seems to scale badly, you have low values but it seems like you are using the base say 250 base damage + x2 matk - mdef (x2?) while the magic state itself is pretty low ( 37 for caleb lv 15) so the enchance spell is basically useless if you dont make it like x3 matk state. You should try to improve the magic scaling (like 250 + x6 matk -x4 mdef) so that magic doesnt become obsolete late game as it is in so many games. (But I like it that the MP cost isnt to high at least... Well but it may change to the better with later spells maybe I dont really know yet so take that with a grain of salt. (Saint is seriously OP for the mobs near the swamp temple... xD)

Seans accuracy is horrible. He misses like every third to second attack.... could something be done there? (I might just have had bad luck for a few hours but it seems to be the case for me....) Guess magic is at least a secure means of damage...

The beetles in the swamp shrine deal ~500 damage per hit.... I have a feeling that this might be a small mistake on your part if not.... you are crazzy a bit...^^

On the other hand so far I like the shopping experience... prices arent overwhelmingly high and all is purchasable with a bit of grinding.

Furthermore I also like the death cries of enemies its a nice touch.... mapping isnt that great though and animations used are the base animations which get boring if you always see them everywhere.... I remember lexusX made a lot of animations for the rpg maker vx ace which should be compatible with rpg maker mv if i remember right.... you could maybe use some of themto make new spells and the like.... i think the link to his animations was here: https://www.deviantart.com/lexusx. (Not for commercial use).

Well so far I do like the game... apart from the riddle where you dont even provide hints... or the room of death how i like to call it with those tiny glowing thingies that hurt when you touch them (you can seriously get stuck there if they move to block the hallway.. maybe remake the mapp to allow for bigger passageways.)

Well thats it from my end. Dont have many opinions for the story yet, apart from wondering why Caleb doesnt freak out over him having magic... i somehow doubt that was normal from where they are....^^ Well didnt see much of the story yet so I wont say anything anymore.

 

[Okra]

Alright I played for a good 5h and 23minutes now, but I am royally stuck at the swamp temple... in the Swamp Shrine: Basement 2 to be precise.

I dont get the riddle. The pictures are all the same on the stone statues and randomly pressing buttons for the last hour didnt get me very far...
Could you at least give me a hint at what I am supposed to do apart from pressing buttons?

Well anyways now that I grinded a lot (lv 15 Caleb, lv 15 Sean and lv 13 Basudan) because of that I have some impressions of the battle system I wish to share:
Magic seems to scale badly, you have low values but it seems like you are using the base say 250 base damage + x2 matk - mdef (x2?) while the magic state itself is pretty low ( 37 for caleb lv 15) so the enchance spell is basically useless if you dont make it like x3 matk state. You should try to improve the magic scaling (like 250 + x6 matk -x4 mdef) so that magic doesnt become obsolete late game as it is in so many games. (But I like it that the MP cost isnt to high at least... Well but it may change to the better with later spells maybe I dont really know yet so take that with a grain of salt. (Saint is seriously OP for the mobs near the swamp temple... xD)

Seans accuracy is horrible. He misses like every third to second attack.... could something be done there? (I might just have had bad luck for a few hours but it seems to be the case for me....) Guess magic is at least a secure means of damage...

The beetles in the swamp shrine deal ~500 damage per hit.... I have a feeling that this might be a small mistake on your part if not.... you are crazzy a bit...^^

On the other hand so far I like the shopping experience... prices arent overwhelmingly high and all is purchasable with a bit of grinding.

Furthermore I also like the death cries of enemies its a nice touch.... mapping isnt that great though and animations used are the base animations which get boring if you always see them everywhere.... I remember lexusX made a lot of animations for the rpg maker vx ace which should be compatible with rpg maker mv if i remember right.... you could maybe use some of themto make new spells and the like.... i think the link to his animations was here: https://www.deviantart.com/lexusx. (Not for commercial use).

Well so far I do like the game... apart from the riddle where you dont even provide hints... or the room of death how i like to call it with those tiny glowing thingies that hurt when you touch them (you can seriously get stuck there if they move to block the hallway.. maybe remake the mapp to allow for bigger passageways.)

Well thats it from my end. Dont have many opinions for the story yet, apart from wondering why Caleb doesnt freak out over him having magic... i somehow doubt that was normal from where they are....^^ Well didnt see much of the story yet so I wont say anything anymore.

Thanks for the feedback! There is a sequence in that basement. Basically if you are doing it correctly, the tile will stick. So the goal is to discover which tiles stick, and which do not.

I look forward to you getting to the end of the Swamp Shrine. There's another milestone of the story revealed there

 

[Fooljastic]

Oh well I am done with the water temple... the "riddles" if I were to call them that were simple guessing games... kinda disappointing. Or button smashing. Anyways I am now 9 hours and 2 minutes in (lv 23 all of 'em) and I challenge the water temple boss level 22 which probably means I was overleveled... but thanks to the high encounter rate in the shrine I leveled from 15 to 23. But it took me an hour+ to finish the shrine. (mostly due to bad guessing and lots of encounters.... the encounter rate may be a tad high.)

Anyways I liked the boss fight I got. Even if I cheesed it a bit thanks to abusing sleep to give me some breathing room (I was positively surprised as it worked on the boss... most make the boss immune against such things... xD) (though I was sad I didnt get any of the drops the boss has... maybe increase the drop chance of at least one item?)

To the story: Nothing very unexpected altough I am still surprised the Protagonists just go with it. I mean from a normal human to fighting the supernatural easily is not a small feat. Maybe make them struggle a bit more mentally and empathize on how they just may want to go home or whatever. Currently they don't feel like good characters. I am sorry if I cant explain it better english isnt my first language.

To the combat system:
It is as I feared while tackle did a good 500-600 now that I am well equibbed which is more than twice the strongest spell on Caleb, and almost twice the power of saint on the peak, nevermind that my highest crit I got so far was 1200 damage from Sean.... its insane and annoying that magic right now is relatively weak. But I want to add that I like it that mobs dont have infinite health while you bulldoze trough with sheer strengh. The mobs in the water temple were an actual challenge. And be it only because of their skills. I actually had a somewhat good fight before I figured out what each can do.... even if the special lamina almost slaughtered me when I encountered it first.

Another side with good animations if you decide to revamp them:
https://mrbubblewand.wordpress.com/download/ (you can read the terms of service yourself if you decide to use it. xD)

Anyways thats it for today.... gotta do other stuff now =P

(Also I found the lightning blade.... I like it. Maybe some more magic on it would be good... xD) Maybe you could add magic states to more swords. That may help out with balancing magic (alas making magic stronger.... =P Alright I just love OP mages... xD)

*Edit: My highest damage now is 1,5k with the lightning blade... just to tell you how OP it is for grinding purposes in the water temple... Now Calebs magic is useless..... apart from Sleep. Good old trusty sleep.

 

[rue669]

Had a chance to test this out. I only have early impressions so far:

- overall the mapping is functional. I would try to make some of your maps smaller and tighter, especially for interiors. The town map at the start could also use some work. It’s a little sprawled and the houses are so tiny!

- battles were a lot of button mashing attack and when you have a high encounter rate that can get daunting. I’d consider changing things up for the battle system a little. Spicy it up! It might just be that I was too early in the game though.

- I thought some of the music choice was off but if the theme is a dream or based off a dream, then I suppose the surreal music works.

-there was a sound with the dialogue that just did not work for me. Some games do this, especially old school games, but the sound effect used made it seem like everyone was under water. I think picking a different sound would fix this.

- story is a bit confusing. I had a hard time figuring out if this was fantasy or in the modern world? There’s swords and magic, a forest with giant bats and rats, those things aren’t in the normal world. And some of the character motivations were off. Yes, Caleb is a sword collector but does he actually know how to use that sword?

Anyway, pretty good game overall. Just some tightening up and polishing is needed.

 

[Fooljastic]

Had a chance to test this out. I only have early impressions so far:

- overall the mapping is functional. I would try to make some of your maps smaller and tighter, especially for interiors. The town map at the start could also use some work. It’s a little sprawled and the houses are so tiny!

- battles were a lot of button mashing attack and when you have a high encounter rate that can get daunting. I’d consider changing things up for the battle system a little. Spicy it up! It might just be that I was too early in the game though.

- I thought some of the music choice was off but if the theme is a dream or based off a dream, then I suppose the surreal music works.

-there was a sound with the dialogue that just did not work for me. Some games do this, especially old school games, but the sound effect used made it seem like everyone was under water. I think picking a different sound would fix this.

- story is a bit confusing. I had a hard time figuring out if this was fantasy or in the modern world? There’s swords and magic, a forest with giant bats and rats, those things aren’t in the normal world. And some of the character motivations were off. Yes, Caleb is a sword collector but does he actually know how to use that sword?

Anyway, pretty good game overall. Just some tightening up and polishing is needed.

I personally liked the music.... I am done btw.

The story doesnt get much better, much is unexplained and plain doesnt make sense he just included it for whatever. (I thought all of that was a dream... but the end shows the forest they entered from destroyed so whatever they did had effects outside of it... maybe they were knocked out and survived some kind of nuke and dreamed than? I dunno)
The bosses are not special they get more HP later on but they dont have anything to make them distinct like charging up for a full power attack you would have to guard or so, no they just use random skills they have and pray get a burn or something like that. But the boss doesnt come any time soon... you will need to get to the water temple for the first boss, second boss is in a forest of you get lost and the third boss is in a vulcano and the fourth and fifth appear at the end. ( I wont spoil what each boss is, but I will say that they like to use burn or freezing effects and some simply do damage.)

Battle animations are basically MV and so on and forth.

Also I recommend grinding in the water temple and restock before you enter.... grind at least 500k gold or so and bump it all into the magic state of Caleb. it will make your life easy.

 

[atoms]

Hey there!

I played through some of this game two days ago, I've decided I'll drop it for now but only because I am busier and have plans to try other games too. So far where I left off was near the start still after the ice area and you get the next party member and I have the same points as @rue669 .

I actually DID like the music though. I thought everything you choice so far fitted the game well.

I felt the battles really could've been spiced up and customized a lot more rather than mostly button mashing.

I also did not like the sound effect on the text, but since there was an option to disable it after gaining access to the main menu and that happened almost right at the start, that pleased me, glad you put that in.

I also was confused as to what type of world I was in, but I thought you had some good ideas going with the story otherwise. Sadly though I felt it was expressed in a plain and dull manner, nothing wrong with the story and the ideas just how they came out. Could've done with more mystery and suspense or something to catch my attention, if that makes enough sense?

Overall, from where I left off, I would not say your game is a bad game, but with the gameplay and story factors I mentioned, not a good game either but great potential to become a good game. Between the two. I think the battles could do with a huge workaround and the story just needed something more to it along the way. I still like the ideas for the story though and I'd rate that as very good if it were used better.

 

[Okra]

Thanks for the feedback so far! This is my first delve into game design so it's great to get any kind of constructive criticism. I spent like 80% of the time on this project making it a playable game that feels ok, so feedback on the story line is very welcome. I look forward to seeing what else everyone has to say about it.

 

[mal007]

I am really enjoying the game but can't for the life of me find the Mysterious Ruins. Have found a little island near the top but it won't let me in. Any help appreciated - thank you.

 

[Fooljastic]

I assume you are talking about these ruins:

Do give good feedback to Okralord... he deserves it for finishing the game as bad as some parts are right now xD

Edit: Only the lower two parts are "landable".

 

[mal007]

Thanks for your help. Am going to give it a go right now!

 

[Fooljastic]

Knock Yourself out =P I trained to level 62 in those ruins lol the Endboss was a walk in the park with those levels and my overgrinded mage =P

 

[mal007]

I must be doing something wrong, I'm only level 23!! At the moment I'm stuck at the door where the lights keep going on & off. Will try a bit longer but have to go to bed soon to be up for work. Thanks for helping.

 

[Fooljastic]

Meh that is just me overleveling..... but I was level 40 as I entered the ruins at first.... gotta love the training in the water temple lol Got me enough gold to increase my matk stat on Caleb by about 600.... made grinding very easy if you can oneshot most things and two shot the others.

Anyways be careful in searching in the ruins there are keys hidden you need to proceed.... and there is a shaft you need to enter at some point I am not entirely sure where you are but I think thats where you need to go if you have found the keys:

There is another shaft somewhere to but I forgot where... i only remember it was somewhere on the left side...

Edit: Also a little hint: Talk with every robot one of them you need to talk to twice to advance the story.... took me quite a while to find that out. Bad design to a degree and the ending will be disappointing but hey at least he finished the game.

Also my prove that I am level 62 and that I overpowered Caleb:

 

[mal007]

Wow!!!! I bow before you Thanks for the help, will be playing again later but somehow don't think I will be anywhere near your level!

 

[Okra]

I'm so enjoying getting to see you guys play my game! It's super cool!!! Maybe eventually I'll take this input and spend some time really polishing the game. I've spent like 90% of my time on it just making a playable experience. What I mean is that I've spent most of the time learning the engine and trying to make it not feel like just another RPG Maker game.

 

[Kupotepo]

@Okralord, your beginning scene of dreaming, the bright colors (yellow, light green, and red) changed is hurting my eyes. The dark colors of the dream scene are ok. I would advise you to change the bright colors to be less bright. I am not finished playthrough your game yet. If I find something that in my opinion need to be fixed, I will report to you in a later time.

 

[onekksu]

Awesome!