Tears of Reality, Updated 11/1/09: Full Demo, Pictures, Information, etc Options

[Supergodjesus]

Tears of Reality

Foreword

This latest update will bring in a new, full demo for people to play. This demo is different than the previous as it now contains the entirety of chapters one and two (the full game will have 18), which is about 2-3 hours of play time (when I played it, at least, but I also know where everything is and skipped all the dialogue, so it will be longer for others I am sure). Further, this demo contains a number of original resources that I have created that were not included in the previous demos, such as some new custom tiles and new custom monsters. I replaced the music with new selections which are all royalty free or were made specifically for this project. Further, a number of scripts have been removed, and a number of new ones implemented, and a number more created specifically for this project, though most scripting decisions were in the interest of making the game run smoother and quicker.

For those of you who have played the previous demo, you will find a more developed storyline from the very beginning on, as well as new cutscenes, sequences, battles, items, minigames, and so forth, so it should provide a new experience.

I have been working on this project for quite some time and can honestly say that I am proud of the way it is turning out. These two chapters have a high level of polish and I have play-tested them multiple times to make sure that they are as free of minor errors as possible. I am sure I may have made a grammatical mistake or two, but I have not encountered anything game-breaking. I do hope that you enjoy what I have created, and if you have any feedback for me regarding any aspect of this game, please share! Thank you.

Screenshots

These are the latest screenshots.

Chapter 1 screenshots:

Spoiler:

Chapter 2 screenshots:

Spoiler:

Battle screenshots:

Spoiler:

Demo

11/2/09 - Uploaded the fixed demos with all resources. I am really sorry about the inconvenience and mistakes.
Non-RTP Demo: Non-RTP Tears of Reality Demo (Approx: 30mb)

Demo with RTP: RTP Tears of Reality Demo (Approx: 68mb)

Brief Synopsis

Two siblings who have known little more than farming their whole lives find themselves becoming the protectors of their little sister who manifests strange powers to shape Reality. Being naive of the world, and inexperienced in martial ways, they must rely on their friends to overcome those who would seek to capture their little sister and use her for their own purposes...

Characters

Darrien and Arae: These two siblings have lived in the small farming community of Brison for their entire lives. They have been somewhat sheltered from the larger world around them, and when events unfold that plunge them into the thick of life and death, they must quickly learn to fend for themselves and rely on their friends to see them through their ordeals. Darrien is shyer than his sister, and without her would miss many opportunities to have fun because of this. Arae is the stronger of the two, more aggressive and assertive. Their little sister, Mai, becomes the focus of a number of insidious agents' when she unwittingly manifests the abilities to alter Reality, forcing Darrien and Arae to look after her and keep her safe. Their older brother, Chris, has been absent for some time, leaving home to study at the Regency University. His letters ceased arriving months ago.

The story's focus is on Darrien.

Simon: A childhood friend of Darrien and Arae's, who also lives in Brison. His mental prowess has made him somewhat of an inadvertant recluse, as he prefers to spend his time performing experiments and doing calculations rather than engage in social occasions. His inventions are, at times, potentially more devastating than helpful, but he means well by them. He will help Darrien and Arae on their journey not only because he is a childhood friend, but because he has a personal stake surrounding the events that unfold with Mai.

Shelly: Another childhood friend of Darrien and Arae's. Her family comes from a long line of apothecaries, though she is uncertain whether or not she wishes to continue the tradition. She enjoys spending time with Darrien and Arae, especially Darrien, and often teases him almost ruthlessly. In the first two chapters, she finds herself in a similar situation as Darrien, Arae, and Simon, ultimately making her join the party on their journey.

Kolt: A young noble who has befriended Darrien and Arae, and lives in the town of Vallen. He possesses his own code of moral conduct and adheres to it at all times. He is hot-blooded, often delving head-first into scrapes that should probably be avoided. He has had training and schooling from noble teachers, thus making him an overall well-rounded member of the group.

Diedre: A noble young lady who is betrothed to Count Vallen, Kolt's father. However, she is not much older than Kolt himself, creating something of an awkward situation between the two nobles. She finds herself at odds with her heritage. She has been groomed her whole life to fill the role of a nobleman's wife, and this does not appeal to her, so when the first opportunity to escape that life makes itself known, she takes it. Due to her upbringing, she is almost as naive and inexperienced as Darrien and Arae.

Karina: A vagabond girl turned rebel fighter. She wants little more than to make her older sister proud, but she has not seen her sister in some time. She commands the soldiers of a rebel faction in a bloody civil-war. She meets the party after Darrien and the group flees from their homeland, persued by agents of the enemy. Karina is loyal, first and foremost. She is also a chatterbox at times, especially when nervous.

Skylock: A worldly woman who supports the opposite side of the civil war that Karina is engaged in. She is quiet and reclusive, often becoming introspective. Although she supports the government in the civil war, she wants the war to cease entirely, even if it means giving the rebels their autonomy. She has grown weary of war, as she spent the past several years tending to the wounded. She joins the group because of a certain connection with Mai, and wants to help keep her safe.

Thomas: This man has lost his memory and is unsure of who he really is. He is also unsure as to why he has the ability to detect the shifts in Reality near him, or as to why he possesses a high-level of combat ability, far superior to the average soldier. He is unsure if Thomas is even his name at all. He comes to the groups' aid as they prepare to flee their homeland and are set upon by enemies.

Monsters

There are a large number of new monsters that I have been creating. Not very many of the RTP monsters work well with side-view combat systems, and of the ones that do, there are not many that truly reflect the kind of world my character's live in. So I had to take it upon myself to make some new creatures for the player to fight. Here is a small sampling of some of the beasties you will encounter:

The Class System

Thanks to Yanfly, this game features a complex class system.
Each character can have one Primary Class and one Secondary Class at a time. Each class has its own set of skills that can be purchased through Job Points (though some skills will also have a level requirement prior to being able to be purchased).

There are 8 different Primary Classes, each one giving the character a new look (new sprite sheet) to go along with it.

-Swordsman: The meat and potatoes class, balanced with both offense and defense, with a smidgen of party support thrown in. Deals Slashing damage.
-Archer: A ranged class that deals primarily with inflicting status ailments. Deals Bow damage.
-Spearman: Possesses more attack power than a swordsman, and has a number of MP damaging skills. Deals Piercing damage.
-Gunner: The second ranged class, dealing heavier ranged damage than Archer (and relying more an AGI for damage-based skills rather than ATK), with some emphasis on debuffing the enemy. Deals Gun damage.
-Assassin: Capable of striking an enemy numerous times, this class specializes in speed over attack power, especially since many of this classes' skills rely on AGI for damage instead of ATK. Deals Slashing damage.
-Vicar: A primarily healing class, with some ability to deal holy damage, though very limited. Can cure status effects as well.
-Elementalist: The only primary class which can use attacks of all elements at any given time. Also possesses various protective abilities to shield the party from harm.
-Heavy Fighter: This class specializes in defensive capabilities, and is capable of drawing all of the enemies' attention away from other party members. Deals Blunt damage.

There are 12 different Secondary Classes, and depending on the Primary Class for a character, will yield a new class entirely. Secondary Classes (as well as Primary Classes) will alter a character's base statistics (A gunner, for example, will have a boost to AGI at the expense of some DEF).
All Secondary Classes provide a number of passive abilities (when purchased with JP) ranging from stat boosts to adding elemental or status afflictions to regular attacks, or even protection against status ailments.

-Defender: Adds a number of defensive supporting abilities, as well as boosts to DEF.
-Warrior: Adds a number of offensive supporting abilities, as well as boosts to ATK.
-Rogue: Adds a number of status ailment inducing abilities, as well as boosts to AGI.
-Philosopher: Adds a number of party buff abilities, as well as boosts to SPR.
-Convalescent: A holy-based subclass with a number of healing abilities (although a bit weaker than the Vicar Primary Class).
-Shadow Walker: A dark-based subclass with a number of damaging abilities, including MP damaging ones and potentially instant-death spells.
-Conflagrant: A fire-based subclass.
-Liquifier: A water-based subclass.
-Mountaineer: An earth-based subclass.
-Galvanist: A lightning-based subclass.
-Tempest: A wind-based subclass.
-Crystalist: An ice-based subclass.

Special attention is paid to making enemies weak and strong to various elements. Most enemies will have at least one or two elements they will be relatively weak to, and certain areas of the game will require more emphasis on certain elemental attributes.

Each character starts out with their own Primary Class, and must use a special item to unlock a new Primary Class to switch to. The same goes for Secondary Classes, special items must be acquired and used to unlock them.

In total, there are 96 different job combinations, each with a different title. There are many hundreds of skills implemented.

Other Features

-Crafting: New and unique items can be crafted if the proper ingredients exist.

-Exploratory Incentives: Granted some items may be found in chests or in shops, but a large chunk of them will be found on the maps themselves, hidden in tufts of grass or other similar places. When walking over a tile with an item on it, a question mark will appear above the character's head. Hit spacebar or enter to gather the item.

-Sidequests and Minigames: I decided to put more emphasis on these than previous as when properly grounded within context of the game, they can provide a necessary break from other, more prevalent aspects of the game. There will be a number of these, most of them will be optional.

-A more complex combat system: In most games, you just have to stack ATK power for the most part. That is no longer the case here. Depending on the Primary Class, skills will utilize any combination of all of a character's stats for determining damage. A spearman's skills may rely heavily on ATK, but are also augmented by the SPR stat. Assassins utilize primarily the AGI stat for their damage, with some supplimental damage from ATK. Elementalists use primarily SPR, with ATK and AGI being factored in close behind. Heavy Fighters tend to rely on their DEF stat for determining damage as well. This adds a new level of strategy for the player to consider.

-Beastiary: Pretty straightforward, but also can be very helpful when needing to determine the weaknesses and strengths of certain enemies.

-Dynamic Equipment: Most games have equipment that just boosts stats, or give resistance to certain ailments or elements. Equipment in my game will do all that and more, such as adding new states to the wearer (regen ring, anyone?) automatically, or providing super guard bonuses or doubling the effectiveness of items.

-Original Artwork: I am not entirely comfortable using certain resources from other sites when I am not entirely clear on their licensing issues, plus I always like to keep my options open with my projects and decided to take another step towards having a completely original project with original resources. There will be completely original face-sets for the characters (these are not yet complete). I have done a number of edits to the RTP tiles, toned down the brightness of them so they look less cartoony and fit more appropriately with the atmosphere I want to make, plus made a number of original tiles.


Sneak peak at some of the first drafts of the custom faces being drawn:

Spoiler:

I hope you all enjoy my game and I hope to hear from you, whether you loved it or hated it!

Support Tears of Reality

Feel like supporting Tears of Reality? Here's a userbar and link to use!

Thank you.

This post has been edited by Supergodjesus: Nov 5 2009, 08:37 PM

[StartatZero]

Oh man, that bites...This was a pretty good game to, but now as you said you have a chance to make it bigger and better than before.
I'm downloading the demo now, I'll tell ya what I think.

[The Almighty Tik...]

*mourns the death of Tears of Reality*

I'm glad Supergodjesus worked his magic to remake it. If Tears of Reality was never finished... all hope would be lost.

[Oceano]

I might recommend...
Use http://sendspace.com
it is much easier, dosen't take for ever to load, and is quick.
Other then that, this looks good

[Oceano]

Ok i played, and i must say this game was awesome.
The intro scenes made me emotional.(Not in a crying way)
I can't wait for the real version!
I definently think this game is going to be a sensation.

-Oceano

[The Almighty Tik...]

Ok i played, and i must say this game was awesome.
The intro scenes made me emotional.(Not in a crying way)
I can't wait for the real version!
I definently think this game is going to be a sensation.

-Oceano

It was. It never got the attention it deserved. Although it looks even nicer now, maybe this time it will.

[Super Sevith]

Oy, that's a damn shame . C'est la vie and goodluck with the reboot (hey, just think of it as a new and improved remake!).

Moved to project dev and old thread closed.

[echorev]

Hey!

I'm still playing this game and it's really late at night so I should sleep but I just wanted to say it is extremely impressive! I can tell I'm going to really have a fun time with it. Very nice job!

[echorev]

Ah, I just tried it again and it crashed. Missing $Galathan

Let me know if there's any way to fix this! I really would like to play? Also, where did you get the music? The character pictures? The rain script? It all looks very very good!

Thanks!

[Hugh Clair]

Is it me, or does Simon remind me of Rita from Tales of Vesperia?

[Supergodjesus]

Hey everyone, thank you very much for your supportive words! And I am happy that you are pleased with the game.

@TikiShades, Really, you have always seemed to have more faith in the project than me, and for that I thank you!

@Echorev, A bug, I apologize. I forgot to switch one of the graphics. I will update the demo to fix it. If you don't want to re-download (and its really not necessary anyways) you can just edit one of the events to make it run just fine. The scene in which this happens is under the Brison catagory of maps, under the Field subcatagory, then the Festival Hall, and finally the one with the word dream in it. In the middle event, there is a move route that changes one of the event's graphic to $Galathan. That can just be changed to $GalathanAssassin, or $GalathanSwordsman, or really whatever graphic. It does not matter for the demo. Should take like 2 seconds to fix. I apologize for the bug, though.

As for the music, some of it is RPG Maker XP RTP music. The .ogg music is converted MP3s. One of the artists advertised in the resource section, Maestrorage, so you can find his stuff there. One of the other artists made some of the music specifically for me. The rain script (it handles a number of weather effects) can be pulled right from my demo if you like, or it can be found somewhere in the scripts section of this site, I believe. The character pictures were generated (the generator should be able to be accessed from the resource section of this site)

@Hugh Clair, I have never played that game, but it does not surprise me that Simon would be similar to other brainy characters from RPGs. Momo from the Breath of Fire series was the first that came to my mind.

Anyways, thank you everyone for the encouragement, and I hope you enjoy the game. If anyone has any feedback or reviews of the demo, I certainly would thrive on it.

Thanks!

*Edit: Fixed demo uploaded

This post has been edited by Supergodjesus: Jun 8 2009, 01:46 AM

[StartatZero]

I played through the demo, and it was awesome! I liked it better than the original. The game is missing files $Galathan, $Arae, $Simon, but I just renamed files of their characters and imported them since it was unencrypted. I'm glad you connected the town and the farms cause it was boring running back and forth with the original. But where's the silent poet and Galathan? I was hoping to see them in this demo, but I'm sure they'll be in the next one right?

The random battles were a little annoying, i think yanfly made a script so they wouldn't start every 2 steps you take, because even if you put in every 30 steps the number of steps you take to go to battle is kinda random. the new Class and subclass system is great to. I like the new way you're telling this story, I can't wait till next demo!

Edit: I forgot to mention the hidden items. It's a good idea, it's always great when you're running low on potions, but it seemed like there were just a little to much of them.

This post has been edited by StartatZero: Jun 8 2009, 01:44 AM

[Supergodjesus]

I played through the demo, and it was awesome! I liked it better than the original. The game is missing files $Galathan, $Arae, $Simon, but I just renamed files of their characters and imported them since it was unencrypted. I'm glad you connected the town and the farms cause it was boring running back and forth with the original. But where's the silent poet and Galathan? I was hoping to see them in this demo, but I'm sure they'll be in the next one right?

The random battles were a little annoying, i think yanfly made a script so they wouldn't start every 2 steps you take, because even if you put in every 30 steps the number of steps you take to go to battle is kinda random. the new Class and subclass system is great to. I like the new way you're telling this story, I can't wait till next demo!

Edit: I forgot to mention the hidden items. It's a good idea, it's always great when you're running low on potions, but it seemed like there were just a little to much of them.

Thanks for the comments!



I think I have fixed the missing files thing, but just to be sure, do you remember where the missing $Arae and $Simon file errors were?

As for Silent Poet and Galathan...

Spoiler:

They are both there in the demo.

Silent Poet's real last name is Kinley (he's the teacher) and he will have a larger role to play in the story in a bit.

Galathan is in the demo as well, in the dream sequence. He will be included in the game as well and be featured prominenantly.

I found the random battles to be a bit much at times, but the way the RPG Maker handles the random encounters is a bit buggy I think. Even when I cranked up the steps to like 60-70ish, sometimes I would still get battles after only four or five steps. I will look into the Yanfly script, but I think that isn't exactly what I need. We'll see.

Only the first few areas have a lot of potions, and that is mostly to reward those who explore with a decent supply for their trials ahead. As the areas become more difficult, the hidden items become more diverse. I -think- that is what you were referring to; if not, let me know!


*Edit: I took another look at the Yanfly script in question. I think I misunderstood what it did the first time I looked at it. I put it in my game and tried it out, and it definitly makes for a large improvement as far as random encounters are concerned. I counted the steps, and pretty much the battles occurred within a few steps of the set number, so it really makes it much more accurate, and no more 4 step battles. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

This post has been edited by Supergodjesus: Jun 8 2009, 02:21 AM

[The Almighty Tik...]

Yo, SGJ, I can try to see if I can help you with a "Monster Spots You" event system if you wanna gimp the random encounters. I don't know if I have it completely down with the respawn timer and everything, but I'm slowly getting it with my own game.

This post has been edited by The Almighty TikiShades: Jun 8 2009, 11:02 PM

[Dyblee]

From what i saw in the screenshots it looks like you have some mapping skills
im liking the 8 diffrent classes that change your apearance depending on class
Good work Supergodjesus

[Hobonicus]

Very nice game so far, but I've encountered a bit of a problem that stops me from continuing.

Spoiler:

I spent a ridiculously long time on the Vile Vegetation boss and never finished because it just wouldn't die. Using Assess showed me that it's HP and MP were 0 but it kept fighting like normal long after its health reached 0. Its strategy with the mandrakes seemed to change a bit later in the fight, I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. Instead of summoning the mandrakes and giving me a chance to kill them it would consume them at the beginning of the very next turn. Once the boss' health hit 0 consuming the mandrakes would no longer heal it.

EDIT: I cheated a bit to get past my road block but it turns out it was the end of the demo anyway

You mapping was very nice and all the scripts you used seemed to blend very smoothly. The combat was actually fun which I find rare for most RPGs (including commercial games). I love all the little gimmicks you added like finding random items in bushes and looking at your unencrypted game file shows that you've put a TON of effort into this.

I'm looking forward to the completed version

This post has been edited by Hobonicus: Jun 9 2009, 12:20 AM

[Supergodjesus]

Very nice game so far, but I've encountered a bit of a problem that stops me from continuing.

Spoiler:

I spent a ridiculously long time on the Vile Vegetation boss and never finished because it just wouldn't die. Using Assess showed me that it's HP and MP were 0 but it kept fighting like normal long after its health reached 0. Its strategy with the mandrakes seemed to change a bit later in the fight, I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. Instead of summoning the mandrakes and giving me a chance to kill them it would consume them at the beginning of the very next turn. Once the boss' health hit 0 consuming the mandrakes would no longer heal it.

EDIT: I cheated a bit to get past my road block but it turns out it was the end of the demo anyway

You mapping was very nice and all the scripts you used seemed to blend very smoothly. The combat was actually fun which I find rare for most RPGs (including commercial games). I love all the little gimmicks you added like finding random items in bushes and looking at your unencrypted game file shows that you've put a TON of effort into this.

I'm looking forward to the completed version

Hey, thanks for commenting!
I am not sure why you had that problem with the Vile Vegetation boss. I looked through it for awhile and there is nothing that would make it live forever. I test played it several times and it worked just as intended for me. Did you fiddle with any of the enemies or troops in the database before playing? I just can't reproduce this problem myself. If anybody else comes across this, please let me know.

As for the Mandrakes in the fight and the Boss's interaction with them:

Spoiler:

That is intentional. There are multiple things happening in that fight. If the two mandrakes are killed, the boss will eventually resurrect them both. If the boss falls below 30% hp, he will eat the mandrakes if they are both alive and regain a chunk of health. The strategy is generally that of a balancing act: kill one mandrake (thus preventing the boss from eating both or resurecting both) and try to keep the other silenced, or slept, or otherwise controlled. This is not always easy because there are a number of skills and RT abilities that will hit all enemies or random enemies, thus inadvertantly killing the controlled mandrake. If you just let the mandrake live, it could put your entire party to sleep and that may cost you dearly.

I am glad you enjoyed the combat. I spent the most time making it smooth and as fun as I could, and it is one of those combat systems where (I hope) combat does not get boring over time, but more interesting as new job classes (both primary and secondary) are unlocked, allowing for new skills and RT abilities, new combinations, etc. At its heart, this is a strategy game disguised with a side-view battle system. Monster and Boss weaknesses and strengths will play more and more key roles in determining what job combinations are optimal for certain parts, and being able to have 8 characters with different job combinations interchangable in battle also adds another layer of strategy to consider.

Anyways, thank you for playing, and I am happy that you enjoyed the demo. You may just want to double check the troops database and make sure you didn't mistakenly make the vegetation boss immortal or something.



@Tiki: Yanfly's script helped remove the arbitrariness of the random battles (removing the 4 steps between combat annoyance); however, I could still use a good monster-spots-you system for minigames and puzzles, if you are still willing to share. Thanks!

[Oceano]

For some reason when i open this thread i get a Malware warning... o.O

[Tarrund]

For some reason when i open this thread i get a Malware warning... o.O

Same with me! It just happened, and I'm kind of concerned.

(Seriously, my PC got completely ruined a few months back, and I
had to install everything again.) Any reason for the Malware warning...?

Oh, and by the way, I really like how your game is going. Cool screenshots
and a good concept.

[Oceano]

I think its the Ad, or the download link has a link on is page thats infected.

It didn't say it when i just opened it, so idk what it is.