• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS
Dreaming Mary is an original adventure game in a sidescrolling format, made using the free RPG Maker VX Ace Lite. It is inspired by the Japanese horror game Ib and the abstract game Yume Nikki, and is influenced by the indie platformer Eversion as well as the TV show Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Despite these influences, Dreaming Mary is not exactly a horror game. It does contain horror elements, though they might never be encountered by a player who chooses to indulge in the dreams instead of investigating.

The game's average playtime ranges from fifteen to twenty-five minutes to reach one ending, and there are four endings. In the game you are able to interact with items and NPCs. It is important to pay attention to dialogue and to your surroundings in order to proceed. Sound is vital in this game and can help the player move forward as well as provide hints to the situation Mary has found herself in.

This game is not intended for children or those of a nervous disposition and may contain triggering content. Please play with headphones or high audio in a quiet room. There are four endings and bonus content is available after all four have been achieved in one game file. For hints and information, please see the game's homepage at the bottom of the description.

STORY

Mary is a girl who loves to dream. In fact, she loves to dream so much she can spend an entire day dreaming. One day, when she falls asleep, she finds herself in a nostalgic place very different from her other dreams. Everyone there knows her and treats her like an old friend, and they invite her to play with them or help them. When she finishes all of their tasks, she is invited deeper into the dream.

Will you lead her to fall into her dreams? Or will you bring her back to the waking world?

As the player, you have the choice in the final decision of Mary's final dream.

FEATURES
*Custom graphics
*Custom music
*Vocal songs
*Voices
*Movie
*Bonus content (available after achieving all 4 endings in 1 game file)

ACE LITE CHALLENGE
Dreaming Mary was originally created and completed in RMVX Ace Lite. It was ported to the full version of Ace afterwards, but still conforms to many of the original restrictions of the Lite software, such as:
*No more than 20 maps
*Only 10 events per map
*No more than 10 common events
*Limit of 100 switches and variables
*No call common event option

The full Ace software was needed for file encryption and font change. Mithran's Text Cache script is used as well as a single line of call script in the game's eventing.

4/19: Updated download link added!
Fixed bugs:
-Premature notification of the 4 endings
-Removal of script which caused ‘sound file not found’

Still active bug(s):
-Bonus mode freeze from painting (please only activate bonus mode before the 'turning point' of the game)

Produced by Accha (story, art, programming, voice)
With support from Trass (music, advice on how to use RMVX)

Game homepage (tumblr)
12-track OST on Bandcamp (200 free downloads per month)

Latest Blog

No blog entries have been posted yet.

  • Completed
  • accha
  • Trass
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • Adventure
  • 04/16/2014 04:29 PM
  • 06/30/2022 03:02 PM
  • 04/17/2014
  • 1445323
  • 244
  • 111993

Posts

I downloaded this game just now and I must say that I loved it, it's so beautiful!... But--- I am stuck! I can't find the magic word in the beginning of the game at all. Can you tell me what is it?
@Huyosumi, thank you so much, it's an honor! ヽ(;▽;)ノ

@Chivi-chivik, hehehehe >:)

@Reskiy, Glad you liked it! XD Feel free to make a Let's Play; I'll gladly check it out later too!

@ahmed, thanks for playing! The magic word is actually for activating a bonus feature, so just ignore it for now :)
@accha - Yay! :D I just uploaded it. It's still set to unlisted right now though. Will set it to public very soon. :)


Thank you again for such a great game! :D
LOL I laughed a lot while watching xD
Your talking/reading voice is great to listen to!

I hope you enjoy the rest of the game ;)
@accha - I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I've already gotten most of the endings, I believe. Excited to see more games from you! :D
Yes, yes your playthrough is perfect Jayo. It was everything I hoped for when making this game :'')

Haha but in seriousness I really enjoyed watching you get the good end (also, nice that you didn't forget the key!) and so did some friends who also watched your video XD

Thanks for playing~
im so glad u liked it. xD it was a great game & i was glad that i got the good end.
I hope u make more of these games. They're just really great. =D
I entered the magic word and entered the other painting. When I faced the beast for the second time (walked to the left of it) it asked me for a combo move (?). I pressed the keys with the order shown, but nothing happens. Was it supposed to do something?

~UPDATE~
Actually I think it is a bug. You are supposed to enter the code BEFORE you encounter the monster for the first time. I entered it when I entered the second painting.

Also, I emailed you to ask you for permission to make a voiceless walkthrough. Can I :D?
You caught my attention right in the beginning where you stated your influences - Ib and Yume Nikki are one of my favourite games ever and I've seen the entire Madoka series and you certainly didn't disappoint me.

After playing so much games like this one I have to say that Dreaming Mary is particularly well made in the genre, It teaches its lesson clearly and is very well presented.

The only thing I didn't get at all were the petals. I understand they have a symbolic meaning but they don't make the slightest difference in the end. (is that correct?)


@Serenity, Yep, entering from the second painting causes that bug! I thought I fixed it in the second version though it seems I slipped up again @_@ I'll add that as a warning in the main post-- thanks for letting me know!

And of course, you're free to make a walkthrough! =D

@Lokarunith, Thank you very much for playing and enjoying the game! Definitely glad that you caught the lesson of the game since it's great to know that it wasn't too obscure. XD

You're right; the petals have basically no impact on gameplay and are there for symbolic and visual meaning. I've seen players refer to it as a health meter, which is a pretty fun, Ib-influenced take on it.

The petals only make a difference between the 'normal' and 'true' ends, where having over 2 petals remaining (meaning 3 petals when you talk to Boaris) lets you see a very small cutscene before going to the credits. For the other endings the petals don't matter at all, really XD
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
I've only been playing for about twenty minutes, but I have to say, this game is wonderful, and an absolute visual treat! You've done amazing work here! :D
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
*waves hand*

This is not the post you're looking for.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I get the feeling that I'm missing something stupidly obvious. I dunno. I know I can get into the room with the maid, but she doesn't talk to me. Also...


...I found the Fourth Door, and broke the fishbowl. I have no clue what the password for that button is, but I'm figuring it's elsewhere in the game. Also, found the "darkside", but it doesn't appear that I can do anything there either. At least, not at this juncture.



As a total aside, "nightmareishmix" seems a little choppy at it's end. Which is pretty sad, as that's among my favorite tracks in this game.
author=Marrend
I get the feeling that I'm missing something stupidly obvious. I dunno. I know I can get into the room with the maid, but she doesn't talk to me.


You have to stay next to her in order to talk to her. I was confused at the beginning too xD
@Unity, thanks! =D

@Marrend, As serenity says, you need to stand beside her to talk to her xD Sorry that the interaction is clunky like that- it's one of the restraints of using RPGMaker.

Also, the full version of nightmareish is actually available in the OST on bandcamp! The free downloads have run out for this month, but you can listen to it on the site anyhow. http://harmonicblend.bandcamp.com/track/nightmareish
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Huh. I'm going to have to test "Action button" interaction with an event when you're on top of it. Since I'm, like, 90% sure that's what's being done with these events.

But first, let's enjoy this game, and these dreamscapes while they last.
I like the visual look of this game~ I played it when it first came out. I think aside from control issues like spending an hour to talk to MS. Bunny (>_<), my main issue about this game is that the endings are barely different from each other or how to get there. It feels like a stage one scenario and onto a new chapter sort of thing. But I read that was intentional since the idea is that only one ending per person was the goal or something?

Other than that, the OST is great and I got the Good then True Ending. I also saw the video in the page and the..."Marydoken"

Also I love your voice for the radio. (IIRC that was your voice right?)

author=accha
@Marrend, As serenity says, you need to stand beside her to talk to her xD Sorry that the interaction is clunky like that- it's one of the restraints of using RPGMaker.
I believe the problem is mostly that the graphic was not centered so she's displayed somewhere else in the main game. (The hitbox is 32x32)

There are many ways to do this though, either center the graphic, set regions and have them call Ms. Bunny's dialogue through a script call event, or have them all open a switch when you're near her when the key input is pressed. Many possibilities.
author=Archeia_Nessiah
There are many ways to do this though, either center the graphic, set regions and have them call Ms. Bunny's dialogue through a script call event, or have them all open a switch when you're near her when the key input is pressed. Many possibilities.


The thing is, like it has been stated on the description, this is an RPGMaker Ace Lite challenge, and that means it allows no script/common event call, limited switches for the whole game, 10 events limit for one map, and so on.

But we will definitely fix things up for the next game because we will be working on a full RPG Maker Ace this time!
Thanks for playing, Archeia~!

Yeah, I agree with the thing about the endings being very similar XD I actually haven't made a game before so I thought people would just play it once and leave it with whatever end they got, but I underestimated the players and that's my fault @_@

I'll definitely improve on this along with the clunky interaction, which, thanks for the tips on how to improve that! I'll try out some different things and also include instructions on how to interact with things in my garbled sidescrollers, since someone also mentioned that it was strange to have to look up and down for some things instead of standing on top XD

As an aside, the npcs and doors had to be talked to from the side because they were set as 'same as character'+through instead of as below character, since otherwise they would be blocked from view by the background (which is placed as an event graphic at the bottom-most row). Since they're animated, I couldn't cut their shapes out of the bg like with the big doors, either. Fun things with Lite, yeah :'')

Once again, thanks for playing, giving feedback, and pointing out the issues you had with the game! I'll shape up the controls and make some more interesting endings/paths to the endings along with other improvements that come with experience. =w=)b