• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS
The tides of time are rolling in, and the stars are all aligned...

Reame is a maid who’s spent her short life in service to a cold-hearted woman named Phesta, taking care of a small house by the sea while her mistress goes on trips to the outside world. One day, Reame musters up the courage to run away from home and see what that world is like.

Her journey will take her across realms and realities, continents and countrysides, as she becomes embroiled in a feud between warring nations, the schemes of inhuman entities, and the ambitions of her former mistress. But most of all, her first step outside will lead her to meet three people that will change the course of her life forever.

The first is a farmer’s daughter, whose caution and stubborn loyalty stem from a desperate need to connect. The second is a mysterious girl who’s not only obsessed with Reame, but claims to have known her when both of them were children. And the third is a young man who conceals his fear of fate behind a quick wit and a knowing smile.

Their story is yours to unfold, however you see fit.

FEATURES:

  • 30+ hours of content in the finished game

  • A challenging but fair turn-based battle system, in which each character has their own unique skills and abilities, taking inspiration from classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger and the Persona series

  • NO RANDOM BATTLES

  • Branching narrative paths based on your choices

  • Characters will treat you differently and dynamically based on how you interact with them over the course of the game

  • There are no “wrong” answers, the game is specifically designed so that the player is rewarded with new and interesting content no matter what

  • Multiple romance options, both male and female

  • A New Game Plus system that changes the nature of the game


CHARACTERS:


Reame is the game's main protagonist. She's spent her whole life as a maid, but one day she decides to run away and explore the world. She's very quirky, curious, a bit naive, loves animals, and doesn't have a clue about how to interact with people. Sometimes she comes across like an airhead, but she's strangely calm in the face of danger. As she ventures out further into the world, she begins to realize there's a lot she doesn't know about herself...and she'll do anything to find out the truth.



Dyana is a farm girl who bumps into Reame in the forest while chasing after her lost horse. She's a stubborn, cautious, hot-headed girl who believes it's better to assume the worst than to be nice and get hurt for it. At first she isn't sure what to think of Reame, but there's something that seems to draw them together. Maybe it's the fact that they're both lonely souls who never got the chance to make friends when they were little...maybe it's the fact that Reame reminds her of her dead mother...or maybe it's because Reame doesn't seem to judge her for being herself. Whatever it is, Dyana decides that it's her job to protect Reame and keep her out of trouble -- but can she really be as brave as she behaves? Or will she break beneath the fears that hold her down?



Amori is a witchling who's been locked in a tower for years by her mother. She claims to have known Reame when they were both children, but Reame can't remember her at all. Amori is shy, melancholy, artistically gifted, has a terrible temper at times, and seems to be unhealthily fixated on Reame, to the point of obsession. She becomes bubbly and animated when she gets to be alone with Reame, but she can't stand to see anyone else by her side. Years of being trapped in the tower, desperately waiting for a chance to see Reame again...Amori would let the whole world fall to dust if it meant she could keep Reame to herself and never let go again.



Luxsor is a wandering swordsman, in search of the seven Star Shards of legend. As folktales would have it, the shards can be pieced together to craft the Dreamstone, an artifact which can grant any wish, regardless of reality's rules. What Luxsor would wish for, however, is a mystery he keeps close to the vest...along with everything else about his past and his goals. Evasive as he is, the man is also very charming, well-traveled, and quick to find the humor in a situation. Once he joins up with Reame and the other girls, he acts like a big brother and defender for them -- if nothing else, he's quite the gentleman. But behind the glint in his eyes, there's the faintest hint of fear, as if he's running from something that he knows he can't escape.



Phesta is the woman who Reame used to serve. Strangely, she only visited the house once a month to check up on Reame, apparently caring very little whether Reame kept the place tidy or not. She's a woman of many secrets, and just as many ambitions; it's fair to assume that Reame figures into her plans. Cold, cynical, calculating...more than anything else, Phesta believes in the power of human will. She has nothing but contempt for those who depend on others for protection or fulfillment.



Wren is a bizarre girl who seems to show up at any time out of nowhere, making trouble for Reame and her friends. As much as she likes to play mind games, she doesn't seem to bear Reame any ill will...if anything, she might be more determined than anyone to keep Reame alive and well.



SCRIPTS USED IN THE GAME:

TheoAllen - Insane Anti Lag: Will hopefully prevent any major lag issues with the game (I haven't seen any so far, but since this game is going to end up being very long with lots of maps and events, this should help a lot as time goes on).

Zalerinian - Object Reinitializer: A really neat script that, for the most part, makes old test save files compatible with new ones that have extra scripts inserted into the game, which would usually make it impossible to load the old files. This might also make it easier for people to transfer their save data from one demo to the next as I release them!

theLEECH - Global Save System: This is an awesome script that creates "Global" save data that will exist even if you start a totally new game. So, certain things you did in previous playthroughs will be remembered, like in Undertale and other games like that! Unfortunately despite my best efforts, I haven't found a way to carry over weapons and items with this script, it's only designed to work with switches and variables. But that still has a wide range of uses for me to play around with~

Meow Face - Chapter Selection: Makes it so when you start up the game, you get a prompt to pick which "chapter" of the game you want to play. It's a really great script that picks up where "Global Save" left off, by making it so you can carry over weapons/items/levels between chapters. I'm thinking of using this script in some unusual ways to simulate tiers of "New Game Plus" content that also works sort of like visual novels that have separate routes. I'm being intentionally vague here, but you'll see what I mean if I end up using this script in the final game...

Yanfly - Ace Core Engine: You can't go wrong with Yanfly scripts! This one is needed to set the basis for a lot of the sub-scripts Yanfly has made for VX Ace, and fixes a ton of bugs with the default engine while also adding some very cool new features~

Yanfly - Ace Battle Engine: This one's needed if you want to use any of Yanfly's modifications to the default battle system, which I do! And it makes it possible to use informative pop-ups to indicate damage, buffs and debuffs, that kinda stuff...my favorite pop-ups are the ones that tell you whether an attack has hit an elemental weakness or resistance, because my battles really revolve around that!

Yanfly - Battle Engine Add-On: Elemental Pop-ups: Makes it so that different elements have different colored pop-ups, which helps to visually communicate what's going on in battle to the player.

Fomar0153 - Customisable ATB/Stamina Based Battle System (Yanfly Compatible Version): One of the most important scripts for Starlight Shoals. This changes the default battle system to be more like a classic ATB system where agility determines how fast and how often characters get turns. I've had to make a few changes to the script for it to work the way I want it to and fix some bugs/issues, but I haven't found any other script that provides a better ATB system for VX Ace.

Yanfly - Party System: Makes it possible to manage certain aspects of how party members are handled in the game. In the case of Starlight Shoals, I've set it up so that the party leader is locked in the first spot and you can only have three members in the active party at a time, which I did mostly because it looks kinda silly to me having four people all running in a caterpillar row.

Yanfly - Battle Engine Add-On: Enemy HP Bars: Makes it so that enemies have HP bars! At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to reveal enemies' HP right off the bat when you first fight them, but I realized a lot of my favorite JRPGs aren't afraid to do that and there's really no reason not to. It's way more user-friendly!

Yanfly - Ace Shop Options: Changes the shop interface to be more interesting and show more info.

Yanfly - Element Absorb: Makes it possible to have enemies/items that absorb damage of a certain element, which is great for a battle system like mine where elements play such a big role.

Yanfly - Element Reflect: Same as Element Absorb, 'cept it reflects the element instead of absorbing it.

Yanfly - Victory Aftermath: A really awesome script that makes it so you can give each party member fun little lines to say after a battle and makes it way more interesting than just being told how much EXP you got and stuff. It adds so much personality, I love it!!

Yanfly - System Options: Adds an option in the menu where you can change stuff like the audio level and toggle the ability to auto-dash everywhere. I'm doing my best to equalize the audio across the whole game, but hopefully this will be useful for people if I screw up! Not to mention most people will probably prefer dashing to walking...

Yanfly - Anti-Fail: I don't really know how to explain this one, so I'll quote the script itself to do it for me: "For eventers or custom effect makers out there, when using a skill or item on an enemy without any damage or status effect changes, a fail message will occur even if there are common events or other effects happening. With this script, you can insert a notetag into the skill or item noteboxes to prevent that fail message from appearing."

Reedo's Simple Side Battle System: One of the best scripts to ever exist ever. This one makes it so that character sprites of your party members will actually appear on the battle screen like in a classic JRPG, instead of the boring just-enemies-in-front-of-you-like-it's-first-person-or-something that the default version of VX Ace has. It also has a bunch of cute touches that you won't see in other sideview scripts, like characters swinging their weapons (well, weapon icons) at enemies or them doing a little victory dance when the battle's over. This is hands-down one of my favorite scripts and I can't thank Reedo enough for creating it!!

Yanfly - Debug Extension: Adds a lot of additional features to the debug menu for when the game developer (in this case, me) is editing the game. I sorta go back and forth on using this one, but there are a lot of useful aspects to the script, like being able to instantly teleport to any point on any map in the game, or being able to change your inventory on the fly.

pencilcase27 - Get Username: Makes it so that if I type "pcname" in a textbox, the player's computer username will be displayed. Could be useful somewhere, hehe~

Heirukichi - Load Option: Adds the option to "Load" a save file at any time in the game.

Neon Black - Smart(er) Followers: Makes it so that party members give each other a little space when they're walking around the maps, which looks way more realistic than them all clumping together in a straight line.

Black Mage - Extra Settings for Choices: Adds a lot of new things you can do with the choice menu, but I'm using it mainly for the fact that it allows you to always put the choice menu in the center of the screen instead of off to the sides, which is a godsend for a game like this where choices play such a major role. It's so much easier on the eyes!

Tsukihime - Gameover Events: Makes it so the game developer has more control over what happens when the player gets a game over. I haven't implemented this script yet, but I'm thinking of using it to add a help/hint option if you lose to a tough boss battle.

Galv - Double Message: Makes it possible to have two characters talk at the same time on screen! I haven't used this one yet but I can picture instances where I might.

Latest Blog

The Venom Marsh & The Vacant Keep

Hiya guys!! I'm closing in on the point where I can finally put out a goshdarn new demo, which is a little sad for me to say 'cause I dumbly expected to be done with the game by now...but life in 2020 was more twisty and turny than I expected :<

But!! The game is still a work in progress, and there's been progress! The new demo will feature a buncha stuffs, such as:

-A new dungeon called the Venom Marsh where combat will start to get more complex than before, jumping in select spots is introduced (it's cute!!), and a lot of weird lore and new wrinkles in the narrative arrive

-Oh yeah and you get a new party member!! It's Luxsor, he's neat, you should use him

-The Vacant Keep is the next new area after the Marsh, it's not a dungeon but it's a creepy mansion with a puzzle or two where a ton of story stuff will unfold with three possible paths to pick from, and based on your past choices it can go pretty differently!! In fact, you might be surprised at how much the outcome at the Keep will affect the rest of the game...

-Due to popular demand, I figured out a way to make escaping ALWAYS work in battles (except bosses), and enemies will pause for a second on the map after escaping so you can move away from them (so you won't have to deal with the frustration of repeatedly trying to get the random chance of escape to work and then immediately get sucked into a battle right after)

-Guarding now restores 3 SP every time you do it, which is very useful in the early game when you've only got like 10 SP and enemies hit like a truck

-Tutorials are more fun now!!

-Some maps, some scenes, and a good amount of dialogue have been edited to flow better, also added new dialogue in some places, like a whole new set of things Dyana can say to you after exiting the Tower if you talk to her (only happens if you agree to the Ritual and she has a negative view of you)

-Most bosses and enemies have been refined and refigured to be more fair and/or challenging than before, as well as tweaking skills, items, drops, and a bunch of other things

-You can now see the ages and heights of party members in the status menu!!

-Even the very first scene has been changed!! Longtime players will notice, I'm sure :p

...annnd that's the main stuff to expect from the December 2020 demo. I'm hoping to get another one up in January that features the Riverway and Anchor City, especially since this latest one will kiiinda end on a cliffhanger. You could almost call this game episodic!! Speaking of which:

If you have saves from previous demos of the game (0.03 and up), they should be compatible with this new one. Just make sure to copy-paste your save files and DO NOT forget the "Global" save file or Wren will not remember your name between playthroughs. On the other hand, if you want to change the name she calls you by, just delete the Global save and start up a New Cycle from the main menu so she can meet you again!
  • Production
  • StarlightShoals
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • RPG
  • 11/12/2017 05:51 AM
  • 11/16/2022 02:40 AM
  • 12/17/2021
  • 46323
  • 15
  • 372

Tags

Posts

Pages: first 123 next last
Nice demo. 3 dungeons and 1 town. Emphasis on dialogue choices which affect your relationship with other party members. On my run I went with the summoning and afterwards one party member had to leave the party. No idea if different thing can happen with other choices. Bosses are very tough, died to the first boss 3 times. Game really requires you to know the elemental weaknesses of enemies. Used the megaelixir during the final demo boss and managed to beat him. However, if your strats depend on healing spells (like I usually do), you won't be getting far here. The heal spell is weaksauce. The demo ends on a massive plot cliffhanger.
Eeee thank you so much for the comment!! ^o^

Oh neat, you went with the ritual! Events play out pretty differently if you refuse it, but the closing scenes of the demo are more or less the same, just some altered dialogue based on what Amori and Dyana think of you at that point. Also, several scenes in the first half of the demo play out very differently depending on how well you get along with Dyana...

Yeah, healing and SP management is meant to be a bit more tight than a lot of games...Dyana starts with First Aid which only heals 20% HP, then if you get Reame to Level 8 she learns Pure Glow which heals for 33%, and Amori learns Unholy Ghost at Level 6 which heals everyone for 20%. So the idea is that as the game goes on, players have to use each character's turns wisely to heal early and often, otherwise you can get overwhelmed by enemies really fast.

Thank you for playing, I'm glad you liked it!!
Dyluck
For thousands of years, I laid dormant. Who has disturbed my slumber?
5184
Just finished playing the demo. I liked the main characters, and the flavor text of most items and the conversations, and the talking monsters were pretty amusing. The starting house had some fun things to do, but the bookshelf thing was a little overboard. I literally went for a washroom break and it was still going. The battles are bit too hard though. Enemies do tons of damage and don't give much money. I had to backtrack to heal at save points a lot. Also, healing only 20% at boss fights was too harsh. I liked the lighthearted feel at the start with some undertones of deeper things to come, especially reading the novels about the sisters. Right at the end of the demo, you start of feel for the characters and the story starts to get more interesting. Overall it's a good effort, and although mapping and visuals could use some work too, the characters and story does seem pretty charming.

Also, just wondering, I didn't see the locations of your 2 newest screenshots. Are they just not part of the demo or did I miss something?
Thank you for playing, Dyluck!! I've already started tweaking the battle difficulty a bit based on other feedback I've gotten, and I also plan to rework a lot of the early maps at some point since I made them a long time ago, when I had no idea what I was doing >w>

As far as money's concerned, the idea is that you can sell the items you get from beating enemies (slime residue, hornet venom, etc.) as well as getting lots of gold from chests and sidequests. Since the game's still in such an early state, I'm not sure how to balance the amount of money you obtain yet, but in future updates that should change. :3

The mountain-ish screenshot is the first area of the next dungeon, which I'm currently working on, and the screenshot labeled "Can you see the stars?" is just a test map I made for later parts of the game. Every other screenshot at the time of this writing is a place you can visit in the demo~

Thank you again for playing and commenting!! I'm really glad you liked the story and characters so much! n//n
Dyluck
For thousands of years, I laid dormant. Who has disturbed my slumber?
5184
Oh and I found a secret mysterious gravestone, but there was pretty much no interaction. Was that normal?
author=Dyluck
Oh and I found a secret mysterious gravestone, but there was pretty much no interaction. Was that normal?


Shhhh we're not supposed to talk about that :3
Dyluck
For thousands of years, I laid dormant. Who has disturbed my slumber?
5184
Oh umm I meant I found a definitely not secret non-descript very normal regular stone.
author=EgyLynx
What i not should do in begin`?

What problem are you having, Egy? Let me know the details and I'll help~

If you're trying to figure out what to do at the very start of the game, I've got an unfinished walkthrough that you can check out here: https://rpgmaker.net/games/10173/walkthrough/
author=StarlightShoals
author=EgyLynx
What i not should do in begin`?
What problem are you having, Egy? Let me know the details and I'll help~

If you're trying to figure out what to do at the very start of the game, I've got an unfinished walkthrough that you can check out here: https://rpgmaker.net/games/10173/walkthrough/

Just, i was thinked then right with that booksthink...
Nothing else was right. Well... good bond with that RAT? Hymmm... Lucky it wasn´t so acresevily than Rats are... usually rpg´s what i played...
I have to say, i had a lot of fun in the old demo. It was short, but long enough for a good taste of the game. Combat is fairly simple but tough. I found myself loosing to just simple group of enemies. On the bright side, I only found myself having to grind for like the first two levels, it was smooth sailing after that with the battles I had to face anyway to collect some of the items.
I'm currently downloading the new demo and can't wait to see what it holds.

But.. is there a way to transfer my save data so i dont have to start over? Like by moving the save files?
Thank you so much for playing, Zip!! <3

Combat should be a little more balanced in the new demo, but getting the difficulty right is super tricky so please let me know if there's anything that seems like it could be better ^o^

And I'm really sorry but no, old demo data isn't compatible with the new one ;A; Future demos should be, though...I don't think there's going to be any more major coding changes that would make it impossible like this time >.>

If you do replay it, maybe you could try out some of the different choices? Almost every scene can turn out differently depending on your actions, so hopefully it could be a totally different experiemce!
author=StarlightShoals
Thank you so much for playing, Zip!! <3

Combat should be a little more balanced in the new demo, but getting the difficulty right is super tricky so please let me know if there's anything that seems like it could be better ^o^

And I'm really sorry but no, old demo data isn't compatible with the new one ;A; Future demos should be, though...I don't think there's going to be any more major coding changes that would make it impossible like this time >.>

If you do replay it, maybe you could try out some of the different choices? Almost every scene can turn out differently depending on your actions, so hopefully it could be a totally different experiemce!


Well if healing is going to be such a major battle mechanic, maybe add just a few more healing items in the beginning, so the player doesn't run dry needing them for a boss, or have to constantly run back to full heal points just to survive through a map.
All right! Maybe I'll make it so Reame picks up several loaves of Bread in her kitchen if the player goes there instead of just one, maybe some more Water too. Thanks!!

I do want the player to be mindful of save points to some extent -- budgeting the amount of fights they know they can handle between save points and stuff. But again, it's tricky to balance, and I don't want it to be overwhelming, especially early on~

One thing I did for the new demo after what people said last time is increase the First Aid skill to heal for 25% HP, same with Unholy Ghost now healing 25% for each party member. From what I could tell just testing it on my own, it definitely helped a lot.
Well, I've never played a JRPG made by a nice girl named Julia, so it's high time that I subscribe. :)

If on-map monster encounters regenerate upon leaving the map/area and save points heal the party, I don't see any problem with the difficulty. The player is provided with the means to grind, and a little bit of grinding should be fun as long as the game itself is fun.

Will there be an option to romance the developer instead? Maybe that's what the secret other playthrough is about. ;)
The developer's taken, but I appreciate the thought, Mister Lascar~ :p
Okay, quick note everybody, I'm about to upload a slightly tweaked version of the demo! It'll make the first "boss" less obtusely frustrating (thanks 19-year-old me for not knowing how to game design), make it so you can grab three loaves of bread instead of just one from Reame's pantry, and fix a pretty embarrassing bug I found while testing <.< If you're already midway through the demo, feel free to transfer save data over! All you gotta do is copy-paste the save files, but please make sure to include the "Global" save file as well or weird bad stuff will happen!!
Okay, let's reevaluate the situation in mid-2021. Of course, I only mean your game's situation. I'm looking forward to playing with you, i.e. playing your game. :)
OK so i noticed one small thing. When you flee an enemy encounter there should be a couple brief seconds where you can't re encounter enemies, i tried to run from a bat because i had low health, but when i escaped, i ended up right back into the fight multiple times till they killed me.

I'm not trying to sound to critical, i just really wanna see this game shine.

Also when i went with amori and entered the room with the enchanted water, it wont let me move after she tells me to pull the switch.
Yeah I've noticed that issue with escaping too, now that you mention it...I'll figure out a way to fix it!

And umm, let me see if I can duplicate the bug, that's weird ._.
Pages: first 123 next last