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Ready to kick back, explore and soak up the sweet, retro-futuristic vibes while immersing yourself in a PS1-inspired world of chunky pixels and minimal polygon counts?

Welcome to The Alley, a crunchy but cozy retro-futuristic city filled with vibrant neon lights, smooth lofi tunes, and rat soup.

Meet Zak, a pink-haired youth who loves joyriding in his parent's car, wearing sunglasses at night, and occasionally getting into mischief. Tonight, an unexpected adventure unfolds.

Hope you brought your hoverboard.



Features:

  • A compact JRPG adventure game that delivers strong feels while respecting your time
  • Immersive 3D backgrounds reminiscent of the PS1 era.
  • An atmospheric soundtrack of catchy and chill retro-futuristic tunes that'll get your nostalgia-senses tingling.
  • Charming, lovable characters backed by a lighthearted story of adventure, friendship, and mischief.
  • Narrative-driven, classic turn-based combat. No random battles!
    All lost battles can immediately be restarted - no need to waste any time.
    One teenage hoverboarding girl - batteries not included.

Playtime: 30-45 minutes

Download for Windows or play in the browser on ITCH.IO!

Latest Blog

Slightly beefy update

The Alley has received a slightly beefy update! This will be the last update to the game jam version, as an official version will be coming to Steam in the near future!

Changes:

  • Moved to 16:9 resolution
  • Fixed awkward diagonal walk paths
  • Maps improved and re-rendered with better textures and colors
  • Battle system improvements
  • Removed some tedious battles (VR Arena)
  • UI improvements

  • Completed
  • tonymichaelhead
  • RPG Maker 2003
  • Adventure RPG
  • 02/16/2022 04:50 PM
  • 03/11/2023 04:38 PM
  • 02/15/2022
  • 20722
  • 12
  • 166

Tags

Posts

Pages: 1
TheRpgmakerAddict
52227
02/16/2022 10:33 PM
Looks pretty cool. That's right up my alley!
Download where?
tonymichaelhead
1438
02/16/2022 10:59 PM
Thanks!!

author=TheRpgmakerAddict
That's right up my alley!
I love it ¬‿¬

Ohh, page just went live. Download's up now!
TheRpgmakerAddict
52227
02/17/2022 09:49 PM
author=tonymichaelhead
Thanks!!

author=TheRpgmakerAddict
That's right up my alley!

I love it ¬‿¬

Ohh, page just went live. Download's up now!


Very cool little game, only one problem: if you re-enter the Virtual Reality room after beating the final boss the previous scene replays with copies of the npcs.
tonymichaelhead
1438
02/17/2022 10:09 PM
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
Very cool little game, only one problem: if you re-enter the Virtual Reality room after beating the final boss the previous scene replays with copies of the npcs.


Thanks for the feedback!
Yikes, will get a bug fix up for that asap.
tonymichaelhead
1438
02/18/2022 02:12 AM
Issue with npcs reappearing after cutscene have been fixed.
gorha
100
02/27/2022 12:10 AM
I checked this out because of the SaGa Frontier-ish backgrounds, and ended up really liking the setting. My favorite part was
Show
the VR opium den


There was one line of dialogue that looked weird:
Show
When Zak is about to hack the VR terminal, he says, "If we enter VR through here finish the program, I think I can find a backdoor..." The "finish the program" part looks like it might be a remnant of an unused line or something.
It's clear enough what's going on, though.

Cool game!
tonymichaelhead
1438
02/28/2022 02:06 AM
author=gorha
I checked this out because of the SaGa Frontier-ish backgrounds, and ended up really liking the setting. My favorite part was
Show
the VR opium den


There was one line of dialogue that looked weird:
Show
When Zak is about to hack the VR terminal, he says, "If we enter VR through here finish the program, I think I can find a backdoor..." The "finish the program" part looks like it might be a remnant of an unused line or something.
It's clear enough what's going on, though.

Cool game!


Hey really appreciate the playthrough and the feedback. Glad you enjoyed it! Funny you mention Saga Frontier - The Alley came about as an attempt to make some thing in the vein of Koorong City (visually speaking).

And you are right, "finish the program" is definitely a typo. Thanks for catching! Gonna update that asap.
Eggbertx
259
03/28/2022 12:41 AM
I just finished the game. This is pretty impressive, and a very unique art style for a RPG Maker game.

The game engine's orthogonal movement does make some areas a little awkward to get around in, but it doesn't detract too much from the gameplay, the general isometric mapping is pretty impressive and makes the game really stand out from the crowd.
Soeufans
1153
03/30/2022 10:32 PM
hey!

Wich program you used to do the prerender maps?

Thanks and good job!! :)
tonymichaelhead
1438
04/01/2022 03:05 PM
author=Eggbertx
I just finished the game. This is pretty impressive, and a very unique art style for a RPG Maker game.

The game engine's orthogonal movement does make some areas a little awkward to get around in, but it doesn't detract too much from the gameplay, the general isometric mapping is pretty impressive and makes the game really stand out from the crowd.


Thanks for the feedback! I definitely agree about the movement - it was tough, as there weren't many viable options in to address that in 2k3. Currently working on a new game in MV, and excited to take advantage of pixel movement + collision map plugins which really complement the experience!
tonymichaelhead
1438
04/01/2022 03:09 PM
author=Soeufans
hey!

Wich program you used to do the prerender maps?

Thanks and good job!! :)


Hey thanks a lot! I used blender for the backgrounds:)
Actually, I think you may have unknowingly contributed to the game. I was stuck on getting the parallax overlays centered over one of the larger maps, and I believe it was one of your videos on youtube that showed me the method of placing an event in the middle of the map that dynamically grabs screenX/screenY.

So thanks for that! lol
daiconv
129
04/02/2022 12:58 AM
I love the prerendered graphics, I'll definitely check this out!
Eggbertx
259
04/04/2022 05:35 AM
author=tonymichaelhead
Currently working on a new game in MV, and excited to take advantage of pixel movement + collision map plugins which really complement the experience!

I've been kinda out of the loop with RPG Maker stuff (and always used other game engines anyway) so I didn't know there's a RPG Maker version that allows you to do pixel movement. I'll definitely have to keep on the lookout for it.
tonymichaelhead
1438
04/12/2022 06:10 PM
author=daiconv
I love the prerendered graphics, I'll definitely check this out!

I really love the prerendered graphics from the PS1 era - definitely my biggest inspiration with art direction and game development in general :)
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