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Sunshine on a cloudy day

  • nhubi
  • 06/19/2014 09:56 AM
  • 311 views
Sunshine is a demo game, but given the fact the last update was over 2 years ago I feel pretty safe in saying it will probably never be anything more than that, which is a shame.

There is a freshness to this game, a light-hearted feel that is a pleasant and refreshing surprise, though given the fact the main protagonist is a high school girl I suppose that shouldn’t be too much of a shock. Stories told from the innocent perspective of a person on the cusp of adulthood should have an open and fresh feel to them, and really our eponymous heroine is called Sunny after all.

Still even with the light feeling the game does have some basic flaws. You begin with no intro, you simply wake up in your dorm room with no idea that there is something untoward going on. Talking to your fellow students and the staff you quickly surmise that the school has been closed up and everyone is being kept indoors, but you have no idea why other than some ominous statements from the staff about noises from the basement. With nothing more than that your only option it appears is to head to the basement yourself to investigate. Though basement it seems is too small a word in this context, think more a series of interconnecting subterranean grottos that also double as semi-hidden passageways between different sections of the school.


Like that’s going to stop an enterprising young heroine in training.

What follows in a pretty standard fare adventure; recruit a companion, called Mint (for the colour of his hair one supposes) and seek to find the source of the unease and lock down of your school. As this is only a demo version you don’t get to progress too far into the story line, for example Mint has come to the school to search for his missing sister, an event that Sunny has no idea occurred. Whether it was hushed up or happened before her time is not discovered, neither is the eventual fate of Mint’s missing sister. Stories told from a personal perspective always have more appeal to me, so it is a disappointment that we never discover why his sister Eva appears to be in league with a shadowy commanding figure, (and obligatory villainous character sprite) called Lord Chronos.

There are a few custom scripts employed in the game, skill growth is supposed to be via job point application, but it hasn’t been implemented in the demo so skill learning is still via the level up process; however the maximum slot system for available skills has been implemented and is used to increase customisation and encourage strategic thinking.


Well students are supposed to spout useful information, though she should know how to spell equipped.

There is an 8-way movement script incorporated as well, and the walking speed is a reasonable pace so movement is free and easy. Monsters are random and invisible and feel a bit too frequent but as the demo lasts about 30 minutes if you explore everywhere the frequency isn’t a hindrance.

Battles are side-view with a PTB system which I’ve always found a little clunky if not implemented well and unfortunately for Sunshine that is indeed the case. It may also be due to its incomplete status but the beauty of a press-turn is in the exploitation of enemy weak-points to increase player’s turns and that dynamic isn’t in play well here, because as yet there are very few weakness targeting spells or moves to employ. Though there is also the memory dynamic in play for the battles so if you’ve found a sequence that works with a particular monster set implementing it in following battles is done in a speedy manner.

The music is all the default, used well and a little bit of thought has gone into placement, with little tweaks like each monster having their own battle music, which is a nice touch. An interesting choice is the dungeon itself as it is music free, relying solely on BGS for atmosphere.

The graphics are used well and consistently, rooms are neither too sparse nor cluttered and are practically laid out, there are no pass-ability or missing tile issues, overall a solid if somewhat prosaic effort

Sunshine was a very short journey but I could see that the developer had given some thought to the world they have created and the characters within it. It’s a shame I couldn’t stay longer.