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Beloved Rapture is a narrative-driven indie game in the style of the “classic” role-playing games.
It combines the best elements of a SNES-era RPGs (an immersive game world, tough puzzles, dungeons), with a more "cinematic" focus - akin to an Adventure Game.
In its earliest form, the project originated all the way back in 2009 - but it was not until 2014/2015 that I pulled it out of hiatus, and truly redefined my overall vision for the game. I started recreating game from the ground-up.
In 2018, Beloved Rapture began the process of becoming "commercialized" - an ambitious undertaking to replace all of its graphical and audio assets - for an eventual release on Steam!
---
Rather than following a traditional narrative, BR moves through various "chapters" that explore every character's backstory--spanning across years, and even decades of time. Ultimately, the diverse cast is united in a single, tumultuous conclusion.
- Evocative storytelling that spans many hours and dynamic character scenarios.
- Retro-style, turn-based battle system - face off against many challenging enemies & bosses to gain new skills.
- Endless replay value: dozens of chests, items, and small secrets hidden on every map!
- Extensive soundtrack that boasts many beautifully composed, original tracks & sound effects.
- Simple and intuitive controls allowing high accessibility for players of all skill levels.
Follow Beloved Rapture's progress also on:
- GameJolt
- Facebook
- Twitter
"There truly is no denying that this is one of the most beautiful RM games that's ever been released."
- Neophyte
Latest Blog
Commercial Revamp
Blind
14 post(s) 
- 07/12/2018 01:44 AM
- 880 views
Hi everyone,
I had some downtime today, so I thought I'd make a (long-overdue) announcement here on RMN. I'm excited to announce this news, so this post is on the longer side.
I've told a few of my friends from the community about this transition already, but I hoped to keep it pretty discreet until progress was further along.
---
But yes, ye've decided to go the Ara Fell route, so to speak. BR will be reimagined into a full commercial project. In fact, I've been quietly working on the transition for about six months now. (And as you may have guessed, that is why there was never any public demo made available a few months back.)
This was something I had been considering since early 2016, shortly after the legalization of RM2k3. At first, I deeply resisted the idea, dreading how much work (and more importantly, $$$) it would require to "revamp" the game. Considering that BR was produced almost entirely with ripped graphics & audio, it seemed like an impossibly ambitious task to replace those high-quality resources. I also worried it might diminish my original vision.
But as I drew closer to finishing Act 1, I had second thoughts...
As some people know, BR is one of the oldest games on this website, with a tumultuous development history. I have worked on the game since high school, and I am now twenty-seven years old; so (for better or worse) it's a very personal and meaningful part of my life. It grew from a small, garbage REFMAP game I was making after school, to something I revised countless times over many years. I was heartbroken when I lost the files in a hard-drive failure in 2009, only to recover them again nearly 5-6 years later, when I restarted work on it. It has followed me from GW, to RMN, GameJolt, social media and beyond.
So it goes without saying that the project is very dear to me, in spite of its flaws. It was a labor of love - something I refused to give up on, no matter how unmotivated I might have been.
I was deeply inspired by the success of Ara Fell, To The Moon, and several other titles - some I had followed since the Gaming World days - which enjoyed newfound success in recent years. Many of them used the Steam platform, and the commercial viability of RPGMaker, to surpass the small audience of the normal RPGMaker websites.
It proved many things for me, but most of all that there was a still an enourmous hunger for retro-styled, high-quality JRPGs with a great story.
Many friends started to suggest I go down a similar route (especially LordBlueRouge, BadLuck, Little Wing Guy and Kaempfer, all of whom I can't ever thank enough for their support!) and expand Beloved Rapture beyond being merely a freeware project. After a lot of deliberating, and many mockups depicting what a commercial version might look like - I began to shift in my thinking. I realized that a "revamp" wouldn't diminish my vision, but maximize it.
I owed it to myself to make the most out of the game's potential, and I knew I had finally become competent enough to undertake that task. In 2016, I spent nearly nine months with LordBlueRouge and other writers, meticulously editing the old dialogue and cutscenes to be up to my adult standards. In 2017, I remade 60% of the game's maps, which was no small undertaking. And in January of this year, I made a financial commitment to beginning the process of commercialization, perhaps the most daunting task of all.
To give everyone an idea of what this process involves:
- Hiring pixel artists to remake every single tile-set, of which there are over 25.
- Licensing replacement music for every scene.
- Commissioning brand-new battle animations and sound effects.
- Downgrading from DynRPG to the "official" RPGMaker 2003.
- Hiring new character/illustration artists.
Additionally, the battle system was lingering from 2008 (a fact that EVERY tester happily pointed out) and needed a complete overhaul.
(..I'm sure a few people might roll their eyes at this news, and that's totally understandable! I have long-promised a public demo for RMN, and whoever might still be waiting for for it (all three of you lol), I do apologize. I will happily send over the freeware version for anyone who wants it, although I have long-since moved on from that build of the game.)
---
But with that being said, we're very excited about this news. I say *we* because I have hired a pretty competent team to assist me with development - primarily, a few great pixel artists.
Now that I've rambled a bit, I wanted to share a few of the progress shots below!
Endymion Games was the first to come on board, back in February. He helped out with some pretty neat temple-themed tiles, which we'll be using for one of the game's early dungeons. (All screenshots a WIP). He will also be designing battle animations later this year.
Our lead pixel artist is Fabian, who has done an excellent job reimagining the overall "aesthetic" of Beloved Rapture. His pixel art captures that SNES-era vibe that I was hoping for, without too much noise or excessive detail. People who complained about BR's older cluttered maps will be happy to see that I've taken a more modest approach to the mapping.
(There's quite a bit more content he's completed, but because the tiles are a work-in-progress, we'll probably show them off at a later time).
Our new illustrator is Yioshka - replacing Lily Kat. She has been hard at work creating some pretty breathtaking promo art.
Another commission of hers below. John and Zach share a contemplative moment during the game's first dungeon.
As some people have already seen, we've also updated the title screen, with a new logo from Tardis:
Pixel art by Zedotagger and Caladium.
---
Even though I've used RMN less and less recently, it still has a special place in my heart as this game's original home. I hope the site will stay active for many years to come - because, in my opinion, it's still the best corner of the RPGMaker community.
When I'm ready to do so, all of the old screenshots here will be deleted, and the game-page will switch to "commercial."
Progress on this remaster started out pretty slowly, even at a snail's pace. But now that the project has found the right lead pixel-artist for the job, the speed has picked up dramatically. I'm able to revamp about 1-3 maps per day, if not more. Most of the cutscenes are already finalized from the freeware version, too.
Because of the way RPGMaker 2003 uses resources, we're also able to easily "swap in" new assets without having to remake the maps themselves. Of course, some areas are outdated and need updating - and that will certainly be done. But overall, this method will save us a mountain of work, and help provide a realistic release date.
If all goes according to schedule, we'll also be launching a Kickstarter campaign in August. I will be sure to update RMN when that time comes. Any help spreading the word will earn you my eternal gratitude. ❤
Lastly, if any pixel artists are looking for new commission jobs, shoot me a comment or a PM. I'm always in need of more help, as JRPGs require a mammoth-size level of assets.
---
It was a huge gamble to walk in this direction with the game. I could have released it this past April, and called it a day. But now I've invested several thousand dollars of my personal savings into the remaster.
But I'm quite optimistic. I truly believe in the game - perhaps more now than ever before. I believe in it not because of my own arrogance as designer, but because of the wonderful (and talented) friends I've made in the community, who have helped and supported me over the years. Without them, I would have probably given up many years ago. Without their harsh feedback, I would have never improved and refined my development style.
Whether or not the game succeeds financially is secondary - but I will be proud to finish this game as something visually and musically unique, something entirely my own.
I had some downtime today, so I thought I'd make a (long-overdue) announcement here on RMN. I'm excited to announce this news, so this post is on the longer side.
I've told a few of my friends from the community about this transition already, but I hoped to keep it pretty discreet until progress was further along.
---
But yes, ye've decided to go the Ara Fell route, so to speak. BR will be reimagined into a full commercial project. In fact, I've been quietly working on the transition for about six months now. (And as you may have guessed, that is why there was never any public demo made available a few months back.)
This was something I had been considering since early 2016, shortly after the legalization of RM2k3. At first, I deeply resisted the idea, dreading how much work (and more importantly, $$$) it would require to "revamp" the game. Considering that BR was produced almost entirely with ripped graphics & audio, it seemed like an impossibly ambitious task to replace those high-quality resources. I also worried it might diminish my original vision.
But as I drew closer to finishing Act 1, I had second thoughts...
As some people know, BR is one of the oldest games on this website, with a tumultuous development history. I have worked on the game since high school, and I am now twenty-seven years old; so (for better or worse) it's a very personal and meaningful part of my life. It grew from a small, garbage REFMAP game I was making after school, to something I revised countless times over many years. I was heartbroken when I lost the files in a hard-drive failure in 2009, only to recover them again nearly 5-6 years later, when I restarted work on it. It has followed me from GW, to RMN, GameJolt, social media and beyond.
So it goes without saying that the project is very dear to me, in spite of its flaws. It was a labor of love - something I refused to give up on, no matter how unmotivated I might have been.
I was deeply inspired by the success of Ara Fell, To The Moon, and several other titles - some I had followed since the Gaming World days - which enjoyed newfound success in recent years. Many of them used the Steam platform, and the commercial viability of RPGMaker, to surpass the small audience of the normal RPGMaker websites.
It proved many things for me, but most of all that there was a still an enourmous hunger for retro-styled, high-quality JRPGs with a great story.
Many friends started to suggest I go down a similar route (especially LordBlueRouge, BadLuck, Little Wing Guy and Kaempfer, all of whom I can't ever thank enough for their support!) and expand Beloved Rapture beyond being merely a freeware project. After a lot of deliberating, and many mockups depicting what a commercial version might look like - I began to shift in my thinking. I realized that a "revamp" wouldn't diminish my vision, but maximize it.
I owed it to myself to make the most out of the game's potential, and I knew I had finally become competent enough to undertake that task. In 2016, I spent nearly nine months with LordBlueRouge and other writers, meticulously editing the old dialogue and cutscenes to be up to my adult standards. In 2017, I remade 60% of the game's maps, which was no small undertaking. And in January of this year, I made a financial commitment to beginning the process of commercialization, perhaps the most daunting task of all.
To give everyone an idea of what this process involves:
- Hiring pixel artists to remake every single tile-set, of which there are over 25.
- Licensing replacement music for every scene.
- Commissioning brand-new battle animations and sound effects.
- Downgrading from DynRPG to the "official" RPGMaker 2003.
- Hiring new character/illustration artists.
Additionally, the battle system was lingering from 2008 (a fact that EVERY tester happily pointed out) and needed a complete overhaul.
(..I'm sure a few people might roll their eyes at this news, and that's totally understandable! I have long-promised a public demo for RMN, and whoever might still be waiting for for it (all three of you lol), I do apologize. I will happily send over the freeware version for anyone who wants it, although I have long-since moved on from that build of the game.)
---
But with that being said, we're very excited about this news. I say *we* because I have hired a pretty competent team to assist me with development - primarily, a few great pixel artists.
Now that I've rambled a bit, I wanted to share a few of the progress shots below!
Endymion Games was the first to come on board, back in February. He helped out with some pretty neat temple-themed tiles, which we'll be using for one of the game's early dungeons. (All screenshots a WIP). He will also be designing battle animations later this year.
Our lead pixel artist is Fabian, who has done an excellent job reimagining the overall "aesthetic" of Beloved Rapture. His pixel art captures that SNES-era vibe that I was hoping for, without too much noise or excessive detail. People who complained about BR's older cluttered maps will be happy to see that I've taken a more modest approach to the mapping.
(There's quite a bit more content he's completed, but because the tiles are a work-in-progress, we'll probably show them off at a later time).
Our new illustrator is Yioshka - replacing Lily Kat. She has been hard at work creating some pretty breathtaking promo art.
Another commission of hers below. John and Zach share a contemplative moment during the game's first dungeon.
As some people have already seen, we've also updated the title screen, with a new logo from Tardis:
Pixel art by Zedotagger and Caladium.
---
Even though I've used RMN less and less recently, it still has a special place in my heart as this game's original home. I hope the site will stay active for many years to come - because, in my opinion, it's still the best corner of the RPGMaker community.
When I'm ready to do so, all of the old screenshots here will be deleted, and the game-page will switch to "commercial."
Progress on this remaster started out pretty slowly, even at a snail's pace. But now that the project has found the right lead pixel-artist for the job, the speed has picked up dramatically. I'm able to revamp about 1-3 maps per day, if not more. Most of the cutscenes are already finalized from the freeware version, too.
Because of the way RPGMaker 2003 uses resources, we're also able to easily "swap in" new assets without having to remake the maps themselves. Of course, some areas are outdated and need updating - and that will certainly be done. But overall, this method will save us a mountain of work, and help provide a realistic release date.
If all goes according to schedule, we'll also be launching a Kickstarter campaign in August. I will be sure to update RMN when that time comes. Any help spreading the word will earn you my eternal gratitude. ❤
Lastly, if any pixel artists are looking for new commission jobs, shoot me a comment or a PM. I'm always in need of more help, as JRPGs require a mammoth-size level of assets.
---
It was a huge gamble to walk in this direction with the game. I could have released it this past April, and called it a day. But now I've invested several thousand dollars of my personal savings into the remaster.
But I'm quite optimistic. I truly believe in the game - perhaps more now than ever before. I believe in it not because of my own arrogance as designer, but because of the wonderful (and talented) friends I've made in the community, who have helped and supported me over the years. Without them, I would have probably given up many years ago. Without their harsh feedback, I would have never improved and refined my development style.
Whether or not the game succeeds financially is secondary - but I will be proud to finish this game as something visually and musically unique, something entirely my own.
- Production
- 0 of 2 episodes complete
Commercial- Blind
- BadLuck
Ciel
dragonheartman
Neophyte
LordBlueRouge
CashmereCat
KoopaKush
Giznads
DragoonHP
Kaempfer 
RPG Maker 2003- Adventure RPG
- 06/02/2007 12:00 AM
- 10/03/2018 10:20 PM
- N/A
- 219318
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kcdog76
146
not found!! What happened? I guess the link broke.
Can't wait to play it but I can't! Waiting patiently for a good link download.
Can't wait to play it but I can't! Waiting patiently for a good link download.
ImmortalDreamer
112
Your mapping is awesome, but to be honest, this game bores me. You need more interaction with the player.
Dragol
983
I love Beloved Rapture's maps and grass/falls locations. Screw the plot, check out that awesome maps.
jcavonpark
54
Wow, this is certainly a larger download than most of the games on here. I hope it's good!
secretseeker
50
I loved the maps too! it can still improve though! maybe you should throw in some plot-changin decision or something. Also, change the highlight pattern of choices in the menus, i once chose " quit" instead of "save " and i had to go over a big chunk of the game =_=. i long for the final realease!
obsorber
50
This game is fantastic. Who cares what you all think, this guy is a genius. A lot of people may not like this game because they do not understand it from beginning. Well that exactly why it's a super game. I mean wouldn't you wanna know what happens next after being puzzled from start towards near the end. The action and drama is brilliant. So is the dialogue and the music can be boring at times but is also very exciting most of the game as it mainly focuses on the plot. I only wish the game was longer.
Relyt
1242
Hey Blindmind. You may've sent me a PM, but I didn't get it. Email me at tylertothemiles@Gmail.com
Blind
2065
Sorry about that, Relyt. I'm updating with a new version this summer that I promise will be smaller. =[
Stroyer
0
This is a nice game! Good job :D only thing is, I wouldn't really say that it's an original soundtrack considering that there are other artists in this game that are not listed in the above credits. :/
