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Entry for the 2014 Indie Game Maker Contest!
If you enjoyed our game you can vote us for People's Choice from July 1 to July 30.

Art has blessed many people with freedom, expression, and innovation. When a world that cherishes art through the use of the magical art, Pictomancy, one could say the art where paints come to life is a unique cultural gift for all to enjoy. If only that apex of cultural renaissance could stay that way like a dream.

Near the village of Appleby, a young and aspiring painter, Corbin, is prodded into the cathedral’s painting to cleanse the vibrant world from cultural extinction by the Pestilence. To this day, nobody knows where the Pestilence had come from, and Corbin is even less sure how he can help restore the infected painting.

Painted Heart is an episodic tale of friendship, humor, and overcoming fears and trials.


Features

Painted Heart is an hour-long sidescrolling RPG which features beautiful painted graphics as well as original music to create a whimsical experience. Its battles use the Trinity Battle System, a never-before-seen system created specifically for this RPG.

Summary
  • Individually painted scenery

  • Animated Characters and Battlers

  • Never-before-seen Trinity Battle System

  • Original music with beautiful vocal tracks


What is the Trinity Battle System?

This system places a new twist on turn-based battles by emphasizing strategy and coordination. The player controls three characters-- two fighters and one supporter. In Attack Mode, the two fighters each have a set of skills they perform at the same time, and each set is assigned to the keys A, S, and D respectively. After performing their dual attack, the fighters switch to Defense Mode where the front line fighter can Defend or where the back line fighter can use a Guard Skill.

Strategy is vital in this battle system as each action has a number of consequences. Heavy skills use up AP (art points), and if too much AP is consumed the fighters will skip a turn. Attacks change the fighters' base elements, affecting their resistance to the enemy onslaught. Players and enemies can switch the front and back row fighters to gain the upper hand. In most cases only the front row fighter takes damage in battle, so placing the fighter with strong elemental resistance in the front can help you plow through the enemy.

Characters


Corbin, otherwise known as Cor, is the protagonist of the game. Slightly pessimistic and very wimpy, Cor manages to bumble through the painting and restore the land with the help of two summoned drawings.


Zophie is an angel dedicated to the Goddess. She takes pride in strength and loyalty, and tends to solve problems with violence.


Though he looks scary, the demon Agiel is a friendly and intelligent companion. He enjoys teasing Cor and Zophie and is the coolheaded counterpart to Zophie's rashness.

Download the full OST at Bandcamp!

Credits
Programming, Music, Trinity Battle System Eventing: Trass
Art, Dialogues: accha
Proofreading, Story Editing: Chaude
Song Vocals: Usachii

Latest Blog

Painted Heart now released!

We've tried our best to make a beautiful and light game for you to enjoy-- if you give it a try, I hope you have fun!

If you think our game is pretty cool, please consider supporting us in the contest ;D

Feel free to share this game with friends and family. This game is appropriate for all ages-- no trickery this time!

With any luck there won't be any major bugs, but to ensure that you have a smooth playthrough please don't button mash. The game is 99% evented with a lot of custom button actions, so who knows what madness will happen if you do? (Hint: nothing good).

Anyway, have fun!
  • Completed
  • accha
    Trass
  • Chaude
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • RPG
  • 06/23/2014 02:02 PM
  • 06/28/2022 03:05 PM
  • 06/30/2014
  • 312846
  • 126
  • 11678

Posts

author=nhubi
Ah yes, but Yuna whilst you know I like the pretty, and the music and the pretty music I'm mostly driven by narrative. If the story doesn't interest, intrigue, captivate, disturb or even revolt me then it's like a gaily wrapped birthday present with nothing inside.

Not that I think this game will fall prey to that, given Accha's portfolio, but judgement has to be reserved until I've actually played it :).

...and that will be when, accha?


Ah dang, good thing we're still in development >_o
The story is the weakest part of our game, I really need to work on it more now that you mention it D=
I'd like to get it out by the 29th at the latest, but we'll see. ;_;

author=Red_Nova
Good luck with this! I'll just... take my entry and leave.


Nah man, presentation is only 1/3 of the points-- if you make a great and fun game with no bugs then you're heading for the top!
This game makes me feel unworthy O_O. And I believe the art style would contribute to the presentation part of the game anyway, it's not just narrative it's how well your game is presented which includes plenty of aspects of design.
Looks great but I wonder how that battle system will actually play. It's new, but will it be fun?

Is that vocal tracks in the songs or voice acting for the game?
Not sure if it counts coming from me, but the battles are pretty fun and fairly fast-paced. You'll have to change strategies a lot because of the way the enemies use different elements and switch out, so the attacks can hit pretty hard if you're not careful. Trass did a great job creating it, I think!

You can actually watch a video of it from earlier in development here. The interface and monsters have changed but otherwise it works just like in there.

The vocal tracks are for the songs, featuring Usachii (our same vocalist from Dreaming Mary) =D
Your game is beautiful, best of luck on the contest :)
Thanks for the support! We'll be beta testing tomorrow now that mostly everything is done, and with any luck we'll have it up on the 29th! =D
THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL! IM CRYING FROM MY... Umm... I don't think I can say it here..
Wow. Just wow.

I think we have a contest winner right here!

Looks phenomenal! I'm playing it right now. Love the artistic shift when you get sucked into the painting.
This looks so beautiful and creative!
I really like it. (>w<)
My little noob game looks like nothing in comparison.
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
Ok something odd when I first started up the 'continue' option was available, even though it was my first game, and if I chose it the load screen comes up, with no saves.

I'm liking the dialogue in the first section, I already have a soft spot for Cor. Though that robotic/synth music does feel a little out of place for what looks like a Gothic cathedral.

But oh that beautiful, beautiful transition into the painted world. Wow.
Yellow Magic
Could I BE any more Chandler Bing from Friends (TM)?
3154
^I think it's supposed to resemble a bland 8-bit world, in severe contrast to the detailed, colourful world of the painting, hence the minimalist music/surroundings...

Got to play about half an hour of this last night! I don't think I need to point out how artistically brilliant this game is, so I'll just leave out the superlatives because I might come across as insincere. :< Battle system is definitely unique and works well - although a part of me wishes there was a bit more variation in terms of attacks, such as the ability to inflict status effects or buffs (although maybe they appear later?). The dialogue is really good for the most part and I feel I have a decent grasp of everyone's personalities - Zophie is a bit iffy to me, though - for someone who's 'no-nonsense' she's cracked quite a few jokes so far.

Keep in mind this is all early days yet and I'll have a clearer picture once I'm a bit further in. Great job, so far - there are a ridiculous amount of entries this time round, but I'm pretty confident Painted Heart will be one of the standouts of the contest.
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
Perhaps, if so then I'm happy with it, as it does juxtapose so blatantly with the painted world. Seriously if I was Cor I wouldn't want to go back to the real world...well minus the monsters that is.

I'm only about 15 minutes in, today turned out to a no-play day for RL reasons. But I am noticing a few little things I would probably change (and I'm playing it on casual mode, due to the new battle system). Like that first little fetch quest, for the seed/light you need to have both before you can interact even though the statue has two niches which means you could just leave the seed or light and then go and get the other one. In regard to the battles, I printed out the elements guide because the symbols used aren't intuitive to me so in order to use the elemental aspect properly I need a visual reminder. Still those are small and hardly an issue when I can work around.

Right back to the game...and yes even with the plethora of games on offer I think PH will give them a run for their money.
dinkledaberry, AsagiUsagi, YM and nhubi-- thanks for taking the time to play! ;w;

@nhubi, ahh the 8bit music is actually my fault, I insisted that Trass make it for that area. YM got my intentions for this area spot-on lol.

@YM The battles stay in that format throughout the game XD Trass wants to expand the battle system to include customizable combos and different move varieties, but he needs a scripter for that... I'll ask him about making some buffs and debuffs for Trinity too =D

Well, gotta keep my fingers crossed. Again, thanks so much for trying it out!
Yup, though the game do have buffs. There are 6 painting skills (in-battle passive skills) cor can learn in total, and they all have different uses. Including Atk/def boost, gradual damage to the enemy, or invincibility for cor. See if you can find them all~

(There are 6 guard skills in total too, 3 for Agiel and 3 for Zophie)
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
Yes the tried and true RPG method of 'talk to everything, walk into everything' does pay off in skills in this one.

nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
Well, damn



I really couldn't have said it better myself.

That was a lot of fun, thanks to all your hard work guys. I enjoyed that.
ahh thank you nhubi ;__;

And really, thanks again for what you said earlier when I first posted the game page. Without your push, the story would've just fallen to the wayside and this wouldn't have turned out half as good as it ended up.

Finally, glad you had fun!