[Released] Jupiter's Shadow: a monster-collecting game

[Tek]

History​

Pokémon, along with Dragon Warrior Monsters, are two of my all-time favorite games. I wanted to have a Pokémon game on my phone, so I checked Apple's App Store, but of course the games weren't there. So I searched for something similar, but I couldn't find anything worthwhile that was in the spirit of the monster-collecting RPGs I love so much. What I did find was a lot of people looking for the same thing that I was looking for. So I decided I would make that game!

Plot​

The current working title of this game is "Jupiter's Shadow" (originally, it was called "Dragon's Blood"). It was originally an epic story of FF proportions, but I've scaled it down massively in order to get the project completed and published. The plot line goes like this:


In a tribal village, a young boy named Enoch has come of age. He is instructed to take an animal companion and seek out the temple of Jupiter, the patron deity of the tribe. Along the way, he encounters a mysterious metal man who seems to know many things about Enoch and the tribe.


The village chief and his family look down on Enoch. When the chief sends Enoch on his quest, he tells Enoch to take along a baby bird doomed to die, in defiance of the curse of Saturn. A chimera appears, a sign of the disaster to come...

Features​

-Current Features-

• No Random Encounters: creatures appear on the overworld map.
• A Trusty Slingshot: the player can obtain this projectile weapon, and use it for avoiding creature encounters.
• Creature Fusion: the player can permanently fuse two creatures together to create a new, stronger creature, similar to the breeding process in Dragon Warrior Monsters.

-Planned Features-

• Puzzles! The player will use the slingshot to solve puzzles in the game, a la Legend of Zelda.
• A Mysterious Deck of Cards: scattered throughout the world will be a set of cards that grant power-ups to the player, and also reveal the history and mythology of the game world.

Progress​

The game's engine is mostly complete, as is the soundtrack. Playable demo is available, current version is Alpha 0.64. If you play the game, please share your experience here. Your feedback helps make the game better :]

If you would like to help out with development, just send me a message, or post here! I'm especially looking for pixel artists.


Story: 67%
Side quests: 0%
Art: 33%
Music: 90%
Battle System: 80%
Fusion System: 100%
Card System: 10%


Download link for Alpha Version 0.64
https://www.mediafire.com/download/fm22y8564q2zzau/DB0.64.swf

(Note: the story is complete up to the delivery of Peter's letter.)


Known Bugs and Errors:
- Interacting with the water pots can sometimes cause a crash.
- Enoch is not learning skills as he levels up
- Forgot to remove debug display text
- Enoch can walk in the campfire
- The boat Peter's repairing is invisible (not drawn yet)
- Paradiso II's sprite is messed up
- One of the cactus plants is dismembered

What's next: (Updated Sun 15 June)
- Re-release Alpha 0.64, minus the debug display text. Release Alpha 0.65, ETA 1 month
- Complete graphical overhaul of the battle screen. Basically done, screenies forthcoming!
- Bring forward the improved menu system and HUD from the sister game to Jupiter's Shadow.
- Graphical overhaul of the character info screen (the current menu).
- A list of characters and critters with short descriptions, to be displayed in this post.

Screenies​

Development Tools​

Language: ActionScript 3
IDE: FlashDevelop
Engine: My own, based on a tutorial at kcnhgames.com. Utilizes Flixel and Flixel Power Tools.
Graphics: Grafx2
Map Editing: DAME
Music Editing: Cubase LE 4​

Credits​

Tek aka yznopliongus (concept, programming, story, art, music)
kcnhgames.com (tutorial)
flash games dojo (tutorials)
Adam "Atomic" Saltsman (Flixel)
photonstorm (Flixel Power Tools)
Steinberg (music production software)
Sunset Design (Grafx2)
Charles Goatley (DAME)
Adobe (IDE)
Pokémon, Dragon Warrior Monsters, The Legend of Zelda, Blue Dragon, Fallout, Gwengardia Apocryphe(inspiration)​

 

[Tek]

Welp, I'm playing too much Pokémon behind schedule again. Regardless, production has resumed and the next update should be out by the end of September. See first post for details!

 

[Tek]

Update: This game is on hold for at least the next few months. Unless there is significant interest shown, I will continue at a fairly slow pace. Project completion estimated to be 2020.

I have some new artwork to share and I will also post links to the in-game music I created. I'll update the first post with said content.

If you'd like to use my music in your own project, let me know that you are doing so, give attribution, and send me the link so I can help you share your work!

 

[Tek]

Pretty sure I stopped working on this shortly after the last post. There is some updated concept art I may eventually add to this post. This project is officially on indefinite hold.

If you, reading this, are interested in taking over the project, I'd consider giving you the IP. Slide into my DMs