Dead Content [Full Game] A Home Far Away

[Strangeluv]

A boy will wander.

A pirate will have a mid-life crisis.

Bunnies will be stolen. Monkeys will be caught. The stairway to heaven will be climbed.

...and in May 2008...

HOME WILL BE FARTHER THAN YOU THOUGHT.



http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/ ... e/T1-1.png[/img]
(title screen done by Arulon)

Engine:
RPG Maker 2003

Genre:
Adventure/RPG

Status:
Complete

Playtime:
Approximately 6 Hours

Production Date:
January 2007 - February 2008




Plot


"A Home Far Away" starts off in the serene village of Everdale, and on a day that the village is preparing for a birthday party for one of its citizens. Brother and sister, Danais and Farrah, are very close and Farrah usually does everything for her little brother, Danais. However, on this day, she is too busy to purchase a birthday present and sends Danais to do it instead. However, she has given Danais too little money to buy the gift and he ends up doing a number of chores for the villagers to earn the extra coins.

And alas, as soon as Danais collects his presents, a mischievous thief, Skarsgaard, bumps into him, steals them and darts into the woods. Infuriated that what he worked so hard for was so easily taken away, a chase ensues until they come to the end of the forest and to a rather high cliff, with a turbulent river below. With its cunningness, the bandit tricks Danais and shoves him off the cliff and into the river. The river leads to the port town, Montrose, where a band of pirates is visiting. Captain Grizzlybeard laments that he never had a family nor a son. It is not long before he meets Danais and believes him to be the striking image of how he used to look as a child. Grizzlybeard and his cohorts take Danais aboard their ship, the Mighty Matey, unaware that Farrah has snuck aboard to look for her brother. After a lengthy misadventure, they are dumped off on another continent and must find their way home.

"A Home Far Away" tells the tale of the bizarre and wacky journey of these siblings as they try to make friends with the odd-ball strangers in a town and by doing favours for them and getting into all sorts of misadventures, try to make them help them find their way home.

http://www.hostdump.com/host/out.php/i10798_NemoYea.png[/img]
Fan-art by random faggot member.


Special Stuff


I dislike RPG Maker battles a lot so I tried to cut it down to a minimum in the second half of the game and make it more quest and mini-game oriented - just think Majora's Mask Bomber Notebook stuff if you've played that game.

Instead of having multiple towns, I decided to make the game revolve around one vivid town and fill it with interesting enough characters that your quests will revolve around. I tried to take this game in a different direction away from DBS battles. This game mostly deals with trying to solve people's problems by picking whatever sequence of quests you want and doing them. To do this, you have to adhere to people's schedules that run with a day/night system.

To the lower right of your screen is displayed a running clock that displays the time according to A.M. and P.M. The time will stand still while you are in any type of building, for example; someone's house, a shop, the library, etc. But time will run anytime outside of those, even in the town.

Certain stores in Willow Town only open during the day, such as Amis' General Store and Samson's Weaponry, while others only open at night, such as the Acorn Tavern and the Potpourri Shop. Different NPC's appear at different places at different times, and different enemies emerge during the night.

Here is Willow Square during the night and day, respectively:

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l198/ ... ZTime1.png[/img]  http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l198/ ... ZTime2.png[/img]

You can let time pass quickly by sleeping, which will let 8 hours pass anytime you do.
Times to note are:
6:00am - Daybreak
8:00pm - Nightfall
3:00pm - End of schoolday.





Screenshot Strawberries!



http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/ ... fe/F13.png[/img]
There will be poultry dudes who lift weights.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/F1.png[/img]
There will be driftwood.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/F2.png[/img]
There will be war chiefs.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/F3.png[/img]
There will be animated pirate ship panoramas!

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/F4.png[/img]
There will be trees with eyes!

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/F5.png[/img]
There will be a Loch Ness monster during twilight.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/F6.png[/img]
There will be fishing!

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/F7.png[/img]
There will be drunk people!

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/F8.png[/img]
There will be swimming... and eight-directional movement.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/F9.png[/img]
There will be spooooooky forests.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/ ... fe/F10.png[/img]
There will be birds and balloons!

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/ ... fe/F11.png[/img]
There will be chicken-hunting!

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/ ... fe/F12.png[/img]
There will be pirates!

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/B1.png[/img]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/B2.png[/img]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/B3.png[/img]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/vanwoolfe/B4.png[/img]





Acknowledgements

My precious beta-testers: Neophyte, Arias, AznChipmunk.

Some original songs: Guinness (a.k.a. C.S. Vallero)

Title screen: Arulon

Minor graphical help: Christophomicus, twinfoxtails, K0LE

and last but not least...

...you... (the code is gay)

...because you're just a swell guy. You're all swell guys...



Download Links

Trailer 1

Trailer 2

Full Game Download (26MB) (includes a walkthrough/hint guide!)

Don't have RPG Maker 2003 installed on your computer? No sweat!

1. Open the file RPG_RT.ini in Notepad.

2. Type in the following under the 'MapEditZoom' line - FullPackageFlag=1

3. Run the game now!

or uh... just download from:

Download Link 2 (No RTP needed) (thanks to Psyburn for hosting)



P.S. Hey, it's come to my attention that some people think the BIRDIE BALLOON POP mini-game is too hard for them. I admit it is hard and I regret making it that way, so if you're getting problems getting past that part. Download this:

http://www.zshare.net/download/13086013ecb6ab07/

And just paste both those files into your AHFA folder. The mini-game will be a lot easier then.

 

[moog]

This looks awesome. I love the use of IoG chips. Downloading now.

 

[Strangeluv]

Thanks a bunch! Hopefully, people will enjoy. And remember, you don't need the RTP to play. Just follow the instructions in the topic post.

 

[ellenor]

This looks really fun :D
*download*

 

[Strangeluv]

Okay I got better hosting than Zshare:

http://redculture.com/hosted/homesaregay.rar

No RTP needed.

 

[Nachos]

I think it looks pretty good.
I once used RM3K, didn't like it.

 

[Despain]

I don't mean to spoil the fun but, RM2K-3k aren't allowed..

I don't mean to spoil your fun, but you're wrong when it comes to completed games.

And there's no such thing as RM3K.

 

[Strangeluv]

Sorry..Sorry buddy...

 

[mawk]

This looks excellent. I've been loving RM2k/3 for a while now -- I think it's a phase. I've been filling that void with A Blurred Line and Kindred Saga, but I think a lighthearted completed game is in order. I'll do something more useful than gush once I've played it, but for the time being just know that your topic's got me expecting great things.

 

[Strangeluv]

Ah well, people who get themselves hyped up for the game are usually disappointed because the beginning is pretty slow, when you have to do the jobs around town to buy the birthday present.

I even admit the beginning is a bit dull but you'll probably enjoy it a lot more like 10 or 15 minutes into it when the story picks up a lot of pace.

I have a sort of walkthrough/hint guide in the RAR file too, by the way.

 

[Kishi3133]

Nice Strangeluv, I also had this idea, like a farming game... But that's just gotta 1 year to make ><

 

[Calibre]

Hey man, I'm playing through this at the moment, and like reported the beginning was pretty tedious, especially because I kept missing a stupid chicken but then it does get much better and I wanted to keep on playing after that.

I'm a bit screwed at the part where you fight the boss on the boat (Junior) but I'll hopefully get through it.  I died 5 times and called it a day at the moment.  I should have bought more items and rings etc I think.

 

[Strangeluv]

Hmm, well, here are my suggestions if you're having trouble beating Junior:

1. Anytime you are petrified, use the Hermit's Eye. It dispels the Petrify AND heals you.

2. Don't bother charging weapons. Just keep using Fira Mini on him with both Danais and Farrah, unless someone needs healing. But use Danais to heal and use items.

3. Keep using Bumblebee Puddings on Farrah when her MP runs out. Just keep letting her use Fira Mini.

4. Use your Pumpkin Bombs if you have any.

You never have to level-grind in my game but if you really need to gain a level or two, there's always the baddies in the "escape route". You can heal using the crystal in the route and the one in your cabin.

Just keep using fire spells and heal and he should be dead. Use your Pumpkin Bombs up too.

 

[Reives]

Certainly seems interesting and fun from what I see; will give this a try sometimes! c:

 

[bradleydfc]

Shame I'm not on my own computer else I would be downloading this right now. It seems like a pretty paced game, and I love the mini game screenies.

 

[Sukaibara]

The battle system is sexy.

Way sexier than anything I've seen on RMXP. Kudos.

 

[Gray]

I don't care if it's the best game in the world, I'm not downloading RM2k3's RTP just to play it.

 

[moog]

I don't care if it's the best game in the world, I'm not downloading RM2k3's RTP just to play it.

Im pretty sure no one cares

 

[Strangeluv]

I am pretty sure I uploaded a NO RTP VERSION and an RTP VERSION with instructions about how to run it without RTP, if you had read where I posted the links =(

 

[seven]

How can you use items during battle?
Also, I'm not sure what to do in the part of the caves that has the chuckling ghost in it. Whenever I try to go somewhere, I get zapped into a battle and appear at the entrance of the room. Help?