HEY LOOK, GUYS! I'm trying to revive an old 64D idea. You know, game making? Haven't had enough of those lately. This is mostly a community site, but an occasional game can't hurt, right? Right?

Maybe this one can. It's not really a quick casual game. You might need to sit with it for a while. The demo can take twenty minutes (if you're me) to more than an hour (if you're just plain bad).

Well, minus the cutscenes. There are a lot of them to start with.

Oh, and 64D still has issues uploading ~10MB files.

Awwk. Anyway.

Did I tell you I was going to finally get a demo of this game? Yeah, I estimated last week. But now, after quite a bit of hard work on it, it's ready for a test run. Since I plan to have a near-wall-of-text, here's the download link if you want to save yourself some time.

DOWNLOAD ME

Unzip the file. The game stores your save data and you may not be able to load it if you don't unzip first.

Details

Genre: Real-Time RPG

Mediocre graphics

MIDIs with one MP3

Lots and lots of headbanging

Controls

Arrow keys - Move around

Z - Menu selection, talking, use Ether Spark (combat)

X - Hold to run

A (combat) - Hold to recharge 20 Ether Points

S (combat) - Use equipped spell (Ether Wave is the only one for now)

Q/E (combat) - Cycle through your current spells

Enter (out of combat) - Show inventory

As far as the story goes, I'll go ahead and spoil it a bit. The demo covers the character's youth portion, and ends right before he grows up. So if you feel like you can't connect with this kid, then rejoice, as you'll get to play as someone…more your age.

Description

The cutscenes aren't fully polished yet and some of the character battle animations suck, but I hope you'll realize that this is indeed a WIP, and I nearly settled for no animations at all.

Anyway, the combat system is probably the most interesting part of the game. For now, there's only one type of enemy, and two bosses. The enemy is a fly, which is pretty much my test dummy. They don't attack you, but you might have to chase them around a bit.

Another thing is the real-time party system. There are a few different types of party members: attack, support, or strategy. Each of them have different tactical priorities. The tactics are:

Idle (stand, usually only after the battle is over)

Retreat (try to get away from an enemy. Attack characters never retreat)

Support (return to the player to heal or buff. Even when healing themselves, they get near you so you can protect them)

Attack (attack nearby enemies. Support characters rarely attack)

Pursue (follow an enemy until an opportunity opens. Strategic characters use this most, but attack characters might)

Flee (run wildly without regard to allies or enemies. After the player dies, party members will often flee. A good party member might try to revive you instead)

Your sister is your only party member for now, but she fights with you, and it actually gets pretty fun. She's a support character, so she won't attack or pursue an enemy. When your character's health gets low, she'll forget about everything else and try to heal you. So if you find yourself low in health, stay near her.

Anyway, I need a few comments on the difficulty of the game, especially the transition between fighting flies and the first boss. The last fight can potentially be won at level 1, but you probably won't get past the first boss without a little attack power. Extra HP helps too.

Finally, let's get some screenshots up.

So there it is. Please feel free to give the game a try. Let me know of any bugs, suggestions, or pretty much anything.

I guess this is when I see how many people are actually interested, eh?

And if you're having issues with a boss, I'll give hints here if needed.

Happy playing.