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Get it on Steam here!

Don't like Steam? Get it on itch.io here!

Purchase the soundtrack here!


Jimmy dreams of the most fantastic things. He dreams of big yellow fields of sunflowers. He dreams of living woodwinds and talking mice. He dreams of his mom. He dreams of his dad. He dreams of all the video games he's played with his uncle. He dreams of his brother standing beside him like a ten-foot giant.

Sometimes he has nightmares, too.

Jimmy's about to go on the adventure of his lifetime--and no one's going to know about it but him.


Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is a full-length jRPG with an emphasis on long-term stat progression and exploration. Since Jimmy is an empathetic boy, he gains strength by imagining what it's like to be different monsters he comes across. In practice, the monsters act as different classes that Jimmy can switch between both outside of battle to overcome environmental obstacles and inside of battle to change his stats and give him new abilities. The classes can also be leveled up, giving Jimmy additional stats and allowing him to equip class skills that he otherwise would only have while swapped to that class.

Battles are random, but there's an indicator that appears above the player's head when they're about to be attacked. If the indicator is green, the player is a high enough level to avoid enemy encounters in that area with a touch of a button. This allows high level players to avoid encounters that are beneath them.

While random encounters will be simple, bosses are going to stretch the engine in interesting ways. Items will also be limited, so critical thinking is going to be a big part of each victory. If you die, though, you'll just lose some money and get teleported to the nearest safe spot.

There are going to be a number of other small systems that don't warrant going into detail here, but just to get a few common annoyances out of the way: save anywhere and auto-dash will be enabled.


It's been over four years, and Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is officially out. It's been a long, long process, but I've grown a lot as a developer. I probably don't contribute enough to the community here, but RMN has been central to my growth, and I'm incredibly thankful for it. I hope this game shows, to a small degree, what the RPG Maker community is capable of producing.

While the graphics are inspired by Earthbound, the game is very different. There's still going to be humor in Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass, but that's more me than anything. It will also be charming, character-centric, heartfelt, thought-provoking, and, at times, horrifying. Since players will be exploring Jimmy's imagination, you can expect to run into the things he fears the most, so expect the tone to ratchet between cute and terrifying at the drop of a hat.



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Latest Blog

Kickstarter for New Game: Hymn to the Earless God

Hey, everyone! I've finally reached the point where I can share some details about my upcoming game. I don't know if I'm going to make a game page here since at this point I'm using Gamemaker, so it doesn't super feel in the spirit of RMN, but I definitely wanted to tell everyone about it, so here I am!



The game is called Hymn to the Earless God. It's about four different insectoid protagonists with four different stories who are all dealing with different struggles on a huge, unforgiving alien world.

It's basically got Chrono Trigger inspired enemy layouts/interactions, a Paladin's Quest/Lennus inspired world, and a bunch of other inspirations, like the Breath of Fire series, FFXish battles, SaGa Frontierish multiple main characters, etc, etc. You guys know I like to pull from that era, and I certainly did so here.

How about I just show you some stuff!

Here's the Kickstarter!

Here's the Steam Page if you want to wishlist this or try out the demo!

Here's the itch.io page!

Also, I just want to say that I got my start on rpgmaker.net, and I absolutely adore this place. Any success this game has is due in large part from the design lessons I learned here and the people who played and gave feedback on my early games. Keep making games, folks!
  • Completed
  • Commercial
  • Housekeeping
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • RPG
  • 03/13/2015 06:59 AM
  • 09/01/2023 02:34 PM
  • 08/07/2018
  • 582917
  • 142
  • 3073

Posts

Thanks for taking the time to play the demo! I'm sorry you didn't connect with it, but it's good to hear other viewpoints, even if they sting a bit.
Hey, I have to agree with @deadlittlebear for a couple concerns they have about the game.

However I can definitely find more charm in this game then they did.

I want this game to succeed and be treasured in people's hearts. So I'll tell you the biggest issues I found with it.

  • Using the slime aggro ability didn't do anything on any NPCs that I could find. This is fine if the ability just isn't programmed yet.

  • Jimmy doesn't have much of a character, and probably won't unless we see some horror elements. We need to be able to empathize and care for Jimmy if he's going to be the central character. He's a silent protagonist but still feels too empty.


  • The world feels bland despite being as colorful as a rainbow. Until you get to the rat inn and the thugs the world doesn't really grab you. I wish you could explain a little bit of the lore of why the world is so rainbowy and zany.


  • The combat is an example of the enviroment shining, it feels fun, colorful, cartoony, but also very impactful. But the mechanics need some tweaks, startled is a weird mechanic on a slow character like Jimmy. Also maybe make the font size for damage taken larger for a little more oomph.


  • The humor really varied. I loved stuff like everyone giving their own answers to what it means to be a grunt thug, that felt fun and reminded me of space funeral. But then my friends found stuff like the 'adult fun time' to be obnoxious, I definitely found the set up for that to be uncomfortable at the least.


  • The grunts felt like an amazing experience. I think you shined while creating them. They also open up a fantastic mechanic that allows you to interact with the world.


  • More horror please, the trailer to Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass showed quite a bit of spooky things that were supposed to happen. These things have to be scattered throughout the game via some sort of things related happening. Keep a pace of interesting things to catch the attention of the players, in the start there is nothing to really hook the player until they get about half an hour in. MOST PLAYERS WOULD HAVE GOTTEN BORED BEFORE GIVING THIS AN HONEST TRY.


  • The mechanics of set bonuses was kinda neat. I feel like these need to be more obtainable whether by shop, drops, etc. And maybe buffed a little bit, there's nothing wrong with making the main character slightly stronger as a reward for grinding on the enemy spawns.This rewards the grindy players.


These are all the concerns I can speak of right now. I really like this game and I want it to be succeed, I want the best for it and clearly you do too. I don't want you to be discouraged. I want you to make this game what it can be, a true gem that could feel nostalgic to people if it can keep its charm.

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is a great concept for a game, and you're working hard on it, please keep doing what you're doing and take our advice. I'll be following the development of this game very closely and will support it on the side, I look forward to the next update.
author=kaigura
  • More horror please, the trailer to Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass showed quite a bit of spooky things that were supposed to happen. These things have to be scattered throughout the game via some sort of things related happening. Keep a pace of interesting things to catch the attention of the players, in the start there is nothing to really hook the player until they get about half an hour in. MOST PLAYERS WOULD HAVE GOTTEN BORED BEFORE GIVING THIS AN HONEST TRY.

Not trying to speak on HK's behalf here, but keep in mind that Jimmy is being billed as a reasonably-sized RPG and not strictly a horror game. Many RM games that fall into the horror category tend to have a runtime of no more than an hour or two, so you can't really put the pacing on the same level.

I personally found the pacing to be perfectly fine in regards to the genre and expected length of the game.
author=SgtMettool
author=kaigura
  • More horror please, the trailer to Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass showed quite a bit of spooky things that were supposed to happen. These things have to be scattered throughout the game via some sort of things related happening. Keep a pace of interesting things to catch the attention of the players, in the start there is nothing to really hook the player until they get about half an hour in. MOST PLAYERS WOULD HAVE GOTTEN BORED BEFORE GIVING THIS AN HONEST TRY.

Not trying to speak on HK's behalf here, but keep in mind that Jimmy is being billed as a reasonably-sized RPG and not strictly a horror game. Many RM games that fall into the horror category tend to have a runtime of no more than an hour or two, so you can't really put the pacing on the same level.

I personally found the pacing to be perfectly fine in regards to the genre and expected length of the game.


A point taken, but it would be a lie to say that jimmy and the pulsating mass wasn't a horror game at the very least. Even if it is not a horror game in the same sense other games like IB or Yume Nikki are, it is still horror as the pulsating mass seems to be that.

The pacing doesn't feel right at all to me and you are more welcome to disagree. It needs to hook you and it doesn't do that until much later in the game. I'll be replaying the demo shortly, I'll let you know if after replaying it my opinion changes.
Thanks for your thoughts, kaigura. I'm trying not to justify everything to people who disagree with me since, you know, if someone didn't like an aspect of the game, then rhetoric doesn't really change that feeling, so it's kind of a pointless exercise. But, I'm in a mood for pointless exercises, I guess.

Like SgtMettool said, Jimmy isn't strictly a horror game, so I wouldn't expect to be inundated with horror; in fact, the horror levels are generally optional. Those levels are still fairly abundant, though; in the demo, for instance, you can do the top part of the mine in Giant Garden, there's a full horror level underneath the motorcycle pile in the Wilted Lands (which is easy to miss, so you may not have seen it), and you get a glimpse of a horror level at the end of the demo.

I can understand the Adult Fun Time part being a bit jarring; I was trying to convey that Jimmy exists in an adult world that he doesn't fully understand more than I was trying to make a joke for the sake of it. If it didn't land, it didn't land, though.

I can understand the issues ya'll had with the pacing as well. It's a bit floaty at first--intentionally since I wanted to establish a more stable state of Jimmy's imagination before things escalate, but I get how lack of tension could be a problem. I was hoping that some of the weirdness, humor, and subcutaneous tension would pull players through until the major antagonist is introduced in the level that was hinted at towards the end of the demo.

The Revolting Blob's power doesn't work on every npc like shaking does. It can be used to trigger a random encounter in a hostile area, though.

You'll get more options to increase your speed as the game progresses to make the startled effect more useful; all of the bosses in the demo (other than DeeDee, who is designed to startle you) are designed to be slower than you.

There's a lot of furniture in this game--a LOT. The only set you can complete in the demo is the worst one, so you can expect more from that mechanic in the future.
Thanks for the quick reply, I look forward to seeing this game released.

Overall I had a good time trying out the demo, hope any of my advice is of use to you.
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
THREE DAYS UNTIL RELEASE HYPE

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa
AAAAAAAAAAAA indeed, Frogge. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA indeed.
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
Yo I finally managed to buy this today and I'm LOVING IT. Got up until the end of the second island and so far this is pretty much shaping up to be my game of the year.

Just a heads up that you might want to change the download, like reupload the demo or something so people can nominate this for misaos. Seems well deserved to me.

Edit: Oh, and out of curiosity, is it intended that the water in the musical island has lines it? I figured those might be intended to look like strings but I'm not sure.
Sweet, Frogge--glad you're loving it! I don't mind missing out on Misaos, though; the only thing that matters to me is that people play and enjoy it. It's commercial, anyway, so I don't think it's eligible.

And, yeah, the lines are intentional; they're supposed to be like staff paper. That's why if you jump on the little stepping stones, they have different tones based on their position on the "staff."
I'm nearing the end of first island and this game is freaking awesome. At times it's a bit too close to EB for my comfort but to be honest it really is its own thing and it's super well written, especially when Jimmy gets a new imagination. Having a blast so far!
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
Okay, I'm at the end of island 3 now and I had another question I wanted to ask. I think I might be suffering from a bug of sorts because every time I level one of Jimmy's forms up and it says I get a new skill, I actually don't get any. Near the end of island 3 and the only skills I have are still the default ones and the ones I got from buying spell tomes. I feel like this isn't intended, though I guess it could also be that my current skills just get a slight power up? Just wanted to let you know ^^

Edit: Oh, and I can't figure out how the bear's ability works at all. He just seems to ground pound and display a question mark for a few seconds. Am I supposed to listen to how many click sounds he makes or something? Though, I didn't test it out like right next to a chest or anyhing so I'm assuming maybe it's ranged but I still can't really figure out how to use it.

Edit 2: I kinda keep getting absolutely wrecked by every single boss. Is level 16 by the end of the third island good or should I grind a little bit? I've been running from a bunch of battles so I wouldn't be surprised if I was underleveled.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=Frogge
Okay, I'm at the end of island 3 now and I had another question I wanted to ask. I think I might be suffering from a bug of sorts because every time I level one of Jimmy's forms up and it says I get a new skill, I actually don't get any. Near the end of island 3 and the only skills I have are still the default ones and the ones I got from buying spell tomes. I feel like this isn't intended, though I guess it could also be that my current skills just get a slight power up? Just wanted to let you know ^^


You unlock skills that you can use in different forms. Yes, they are skills you already have in one form, but you can assign them. Use the menu and select the Imagination option. You'll be able to assign unlocked skills. Any you assign to Star spaces will be usable in any form you choose! Any other skills you assign will only appear when you're in your base Jimmy form.

The passive skills are actually new, but take longer to unlock. Like the normal skills, there are star slots and base slots.

author=Frogge
Edit: Oh, and I can't figure out how the bear's ability works at all. He just seems to ground pound and display a question mark for a few seconds. Am I supposed to listen to how many click sounds he makes or something? Though, I didn't test it out like right next to a chest or anyhing so I'm assuming maybe it's ranged but I still can't really figure out how to use it.


It seems to be "every toybox in the current level." And it can be misleading in that an optional area could be hidden under the level and need to be unlocked, but you'll still hear sounds for those toyboxes too. Housekeeping can confirm but that's what it seems like to me ^_^

The ability I want to know about is the Vampire. I know he can examine mirrors to go into alternate areas, but his base power seems to be separate from that? He turns into darkness and shrieks but I'm not sure what it does aside from looking awesome XD
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
Oh yeah, the vampire too. Good question, I also haven't been able to figure that out.

And dude. I've not though of going into the imagination menu even once. Man, I'm dumb. Thanks a lot uni!
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=Frogge
Oh yeah, the vampire too. Good question, I also haven't been able to figure that out.

And dude. I've not though of going into the imagination menu even once. Man, I'm dumb. Thanks a lot uni!


You're welcome ^_^ I put High Five on one of those star slots and its come in handy for like just about the whole game
Yeah, that's how the bear ability works, unity. I made it to where it also includes hidden levels so that it would be an indicator for the player that there was SOMETHING they were missing so they would explore more.

The vampire ability is a bit underused, but it basically "scares" some things. You use it in just a few different places.

Your avatars are beautiful.

Edit: Now I have joined you.
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
author=Housekeeping
Your avatars are beautiful.

I mean, yeah, Lars is beautiful. He husbando. I mean what? Who said that?

And I think I'm finally getting the hang of how the bear ability works. Man, I can't believe I've missed so much stuff.

Edit: Everchip down! Time to backtrack to every I've been so far and look for what I missed.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=Housekeeping
Yeah, that's how the bear ability works, unity. I made it to where it also includes hidden levels so that it would be an indicator for the player that there was SOMETHING they were missing so they would explore more.


That's pretty cool, given that there is so much hidden content. Not kidding everyone, there are a ton of hidden areas in levels that you'll find when revisiting. I keep stumbling into them and being pleasantly surprised.

author=Housekeeping
The vampire ability is a bit underused, but it basically "scares" some things. You use it in just a few different places.


I'll have to go back and try it out on lots more things.

author=Housekeeping
Your avatars are beautiful.

Edit: Now I have joined you.


:DDDDDDDDDDDDD
Lars is the most relatable character in JRPG history.
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
author=unity
author=Housekeeping
Yeah, that's how the bear ability works, unity. I made it to where it also includes hidden levels so that it would be an indicator for the player that there was SOMETHING they were missing so they would explore more.
That's pretty cool, given that there is so much hidden content. Not kidding everyone, there are a ton of hidden areas in levels that you'll find when revisiting. I keep stumbling into them and being pleasantly surprised.

Second that. I think at least 6 hours of my current 12 hour playtime is going through the secret areas.