The Dark Heart (My game's demo)

[Rainbow Chara X]

(Edited to make fancier looking)

Sorry for not doing any LP chapters lately, but I've had serious computer problems for months now. Thankfully I did get a desktop from my cousin for free (he just... wasn't using it) and managed to continue all my plans without much of a hassle.

Today though, I bring you something more... special than just an ordinary let's play. My own indie game. (Well an incomplete demo of it, anyway)

"I've been waiting for you..."​

Synopsis:

The dead slowly grow restless as devils crawl out of the shadows they call home. Something evil under the ground starts... stirring, inviting ghouls to your otherwise normal city simply by waking up. You, a relatively brilliant youth blessed with the power to control every element, have to go all across the globe to gather special keys so you can re-seal this evil force.

In the process, you discover truths about the world that had been erased from history and meet all sorts of interesting individuals; some of which become your new friends. Oh and one major thing: your choices matter.

-

This is The Dark Heart, a hybrid blend between an action game like Zelda and a traditional RPG, although more in the line of Earthbound or Undertale than anything else - both in the utilization of a modern setting, witty dialogue and meta elements. It'd also be accurate to say it's like Secret of Mana with how you can attack enemies on the overworld and complete puzzles using your equipment.

Features:

Spoiler:

Features marked with a ★ are in the demo, while ♢ is for the full game release.

★ At least one dungeon
★ Quirky dialogue & humor to add levity to the game
★ A chase sequence oops did i say that out loud
★ Enemies on the overworld, no random battles
★ Being able to choose your gender and name the main character whatever you want
★ A bestiary that lets you see detailed stats about every monster in the game, even what species they are or where they're located
★ Being able to actually use weapons on the overworld
★ Your choices changing the narrative
★ Downing enemies in overworld combat makes turn-based combat easier
★ The Earthbound-style ability to instant kill enemies on the overworld without having to fight them if your level's high enough
★ Hotkeys for key items to avoid the tedium of going into the menu over and over
★ Dungeon keys you collect are added to the HUD so you don't lose track of them
★ You fully heal every time you level up
★ Autosave
★ Strafing
★ Regenerating MP for every character and limited item stack (aka. only 5 of this game's Megalixir at a time, etc.)
★ A Materia system, although it's limited to only one character at first
★ Cutscene skip
★ A quick swap button. Essentially, you can switch out your allies without having to go into the menu.

-

♢ A crafting system in one specific area, only used to gain equipment or items you can't normally get
♢ A maximum of 5 playable characters in a fight
♢ 13 playable characters each with their own unique skill or purpose (you don't get them all at once, of course, and they're spread up/change throughout the course of the journey)
♢ A [redacted] that affects how characters react to you and the ending. You can go [redacted] or [redacted], and it's all up to you.
♢ New Game +
♢ A Mission system that lets you do side-quests
♢ An Extra Story type of thing that lets you play an alternate scenario once the game is completed
♢ A Class System just for the protagonist
♢ Blue Magic for two characters
♢ Enhancing the cutscene skip so it's more subtle
♢ Characters that exist to subvert the Lost Forever trope - any important relic or unique item you didn't collect (say a town exploded and you can't re-visit it), they'll sell it to you for a price.
♢ Big post-game where you have a fair amount of superbosses to fight

And quite a bit more.

Screenshots:

Spoiler:

Characters:

Spoiler:

* Protagonist (Canonically called Nero or Aurora Harmon) - A brilliant youth that lost their parents and home to the world's most powerful necromancer at the time. They have since been relocated by an eccentric-but-well meaning millionaire, and so far their life seems normal again... until the above happens, of course.

* Poppy Beaufort - A robot created by the genius heir of House Beaufort to serve as a flora and fauna surveyor. She's also an experiment to see if robots can not only act like people, but also have souls like them too. Super peppy and one of Protagonist's best friends.

* Hotaru Kuro - A brooding vampire gal that serves as the big sister of your group. She sticks around to see if you're being nice to Poppy and is devilishly skilled with a sword in combat due to her dark past.

* Doctor Lucius Dietrich - Said eccentric millionaire. His goals are a mystery, but he's a pleasant enough guy due to him letting you stay at his university dorms for free more or less.

Of course, these are just for starters.

WORLD & LORE (i promise it's short):

Spoiler:

I'm not gonna tell you how exactly the world of Divixus came to be, of course. I'd much rather you experience it yourself and absorb all that info through the game itself, rather than me telling you.

But there is this: there's nine elements that govern how the universe works -
* Light
* Dark
* Luna
* Space
* Flame
* Frost
* Earth
* Storm
* Null

People can only be up to two native elements at birth (except Null, you can't dual-type Null), and learning anything outside of their scope requires spiritual training.

Magic is a daily part of life on Divixus, taking form through the elements and inherent in most of its people. There's also a lot more species than just humans; there's animal humanoids like bunny people, dog people, fairies and so on.

Deep beneath the earth lie horrible bio-mechanical demons that hunt any creature that crosses their path. Nobody knows where they came from, just that the barrier encircling the planet keeps the demons from surfacing.

The Excavator Guilds were founded to both combat these creatures and explore the ancient ruins they often reside in - basically my excuse to have old-timey adventurer groups in a modern setting.

Current Staff:

Spoiler:

Only me. I am the game's primary programmer and writer, and I'm content with that being my job. Forgive me for the use of default assets and gaia online avatars though, since I am not that skilled of an artist or a musician - this is all placeholder as it is. Yeah, I can draw a mean monster or two, but I kinda need help in this regard.

You can find a credit list of all the resources I've used in the game's files, though.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

THE DEMO!

[Currently removed as I'm sprucing it up. Sorry.]

Extra:

Oh, and for those interested, here is a playlist of all the major things I've done while testing things out and making the game. The stuff in here dates as far back as 2017, back when I first started getting serious with the engine.

 

[mgriffin]

Oh, very cool! Is there a YouTube video that shows off a couple of minutes (or more!) of game play?

 

[Rainbow Chara X]

Oh, very cool! Is there a YouTube video that shows off a couple of minutes (or more!) of game play?

Actually, I do! Here it is.

Had to decide what part of the demo to show off without spoiling much.

 

[mgriffin]

Thanks! That's a really interesting combat system you've got there, I was totally unprepared for the switch to a close-up, more turn-based view after having seen the attacks in the overworld :)

 

[Rainbow Chara X]

Thanks! That's a really interesting combat system you've got there, I was totally unprepared for the switch to a close-up, more turn-based view after having seen the attacks in the overworld :)

Glad you like it. The idea is that the overworld combat and turn-based combat are intertwined in several important ways. Knocking out an enemy on the overworld would give you an advantage like a free turn in the case of most normal encounters. (I messed up in the footage)

It would also give weapons more unique properties than just "stats are better", cause one weapon could be strong but have a slow swing. That kind of thing.

There's also different kinds of behaviors for overworld enemies: ones who back away and cast magic from a distance, etc.