Previous Sweet Middleground releases:
Sweet Middleground
Sweet Middleground 2 ~the birthday cake~
Sweet Middleground 3 ~the lost keys~
Sweet Middleground 4 ~the sand castle~
(note: these previous releases aren't action games)
Sweet Middleground 5 ~the cave~ is a mix between
a slice of life visual novel, and an action/puzzle game.
(posterization results from .gif export, no posterization in-game I hope)
Two versions are available:
one including the full story, and best played after the first 4 games in the series;
and one containing the action game only, and playable by anyone regardless of previous releases.
If you're already up to date with the Sweet Middleground series,
please start reading from "PLOT" onward.
If you simply envision trying the action game,
please start reading from "GAMEPLAY" onward.
____________________________________________________________________
PLOT
Antigone is back home during summer vacation, and her demeanor has changed, her flusters come easily.
Pressured by her parents, she invites Vincent for a few days. Rapidly, anecdotes from the past emerge...
As well as astonishing lucid dreams, in which the two youths venture through a dungeon-like cave, and that Antigone perfectly remembers while awake.
The story relies on Antigone's memories, and thus is more fun if read after the previous Sweet Middleground games. It's otherwise simple enough, and made to fit the gameplay and color the exploration, rather than the other way around.
For those who just want to go through the story, or have trouble with real-time gameplay, an Easy difficulty mode making it possible to blitz through most danger is included.
True to the series, the game frequently features hand-animated portraits. In fact, my attempt at optimizing them failed, and with all the hair movement and blushing variations... They constitute half of the project's data size. Sorry for that.
The standard version of the game alternates between (unskippable) story and gameplay, connecting them together, and is the only version with portraits.
Here it is: https://rpgmaker.net/games/12704/downloads/12968/
Estimated playtime for this version: 2 to 10 hours
(blur is due to recording, actual game looks normal)
(also SPOILERS of the previous games)
____________________________________________________________________
GAMEPLAY
The game plays as a top-down action game, married to the usual tile-based puzzle gameplay of the series.
You control Antigone and Vincent in alternance.
Antigone can wield a flashlight, move blocks, enter/leave maps, or heal; while
Vincent can wield weapons to defeat foes, and tank hits.
The puzzle aspect of the game is kept to its fundamentals: move blocks to make your way through, or to keep danger away.
The complexity resides instead in fighting monsters that are mixed with, and fit, the puzzles to solve. In Normal difficulty, this can be challenging.
The game has limited ARPG elements, but there is EXP gain and stats purchase, which means that solving a problem by grinding is always an option.
Additionally, the Easy difficult mode can be activated at any time to make positioning much more forgiving.
The ~action only~ version of the game gets rid of the story and portraits, and directly brings you to uninterrupted gameplay with only straightforward instructions.
Here it is: https://rpgmaker.net/games/12704/downloads/12980/
Estimated playtime for this version: 1 to 8 hours
(blur is due to recording, actual game looks normal)
____________________________________________________________________
CONTENT WARNING:
- blood, although only on the map
- wide variations in overall luminosity
Sweet Middleground
Sweet Middleground 2 ~the birthday cake~
Sweet Middleground 3 ~the lost keys~
Sweet Middleground 4 ~the sand castle~
(note: these previous releases aren't action games)
Sweet Middleground 5 ~the cave~ is a mix between
a slice of life visual novel, and an action/puzzle game.
(posterization results from .gif export, no posterization in-game I hope)
Two versions are available:
one including the full story, and best played after the first 4 games in the series;
and one containing the action game only, and playable by anyone regardless of previous releases.
If you're already up to date with the Sweet Middleground series,
please start reading from "PLOT" onward.
If you simply envision trying the action game,
please start reading from "GAMEPLAY" onward.
____________________________________________________________________
PLOT
Antigone is back home during summer vacation, and her demeanor has changed, her flusters come easily.
Pressured by her parents, she invites Vincent for a few days. Rapidly, anecdotes from the past emerge...
As well as astonishing lucid dreams, in which the two youths venture through a dungeon-like cave, and that Antigone perfectly remembers while awake.
The story relies on Antigone's memories, and thus is more fun if read after the previous Sweet Middleground games. It's otherwise simple enough, and made to fit the gameplay and color the exploration, rather than the other way around.
For those who just want to go through the story, or have trouble with real-time gameplay, an Easy difficulty mode making it possible to blitz through most danger is included.
True to the series, the game frequently features hand-animated portraits. In fact, my attempt at optimizing them failed, and with all the hair movement and blushing variations... They constitute half of the project's data size. Sorry for that.
The standard version of the game alternates between (unskippable) story and gameplay, connecting them together, and is the only version with portraits.
Here it is: https://rpgmaker.net/games/12704/downloads/12968/
Estimated playtime for this version: 2 to 10 hours
(blur is due to recording, actual game looks normal)
(also SPOILERS of the previous games)
____________________________________________________________________
GAMEPLAY
The game plays as a top-down action game, married to the usual tile-based puzzle gameplay of the series.
You control Antigone and Vincent in alternance.
Antigone can wield a flashlight, move blocks, enter/leave maps, or heal; while
Vincent can wield weapons to defeat foes, and tank hits.
The puzzle aspect of the game is kept to its fundamentals: move blocks to make your way through, or to keep danger away.
The complexity resides instead in fighting monsters that are mixed with, and fit, the puzzles to solve. In Normal difficulty, this can be challenging.
The game has limited ARPG elements, but there is EXP gain and stats purchase, which means that solving a problem by grinding is always an option.
Additionally, the Easy difficult mode can be activated at any time to make positioning much more forgiving.
The ~action only~ version of the game gets rid of the story and portraits, and directly brings you to uninterrupted gameplay with only straightforward instructions.
Here it is: https://rpgmaker.net/games/12704/downloads/12980/
Estimated playtime for this version: 1 to 8 hours
(blur is due to recording, actual game looks normal)
____________________________________________________________________
CONTENT WARNING:
- blood, although only on the map
- wide variations in overall luminosity
Latest Blog
- Completed
- Zorga
- RPG Maker VX Ace
- Action Puzzle Visual Novel
- 11/12/2022 01:34 PM
- 11/09/2023 11:25 AM
- 11/26/2022
- 7521
- 3
- 104
Pages:
1