A Long Road Home - AVAILABLE ON STEAM NOW!

[+ J_C 6]

It has been more than a year since I've started to work on A Long Road Home. Which started as a basic project to get to know the engine, turned out to be a full game, with a decent ammount of gameplay. Now, the game is finished, and it is available for purchase on itch.io and Steam. Check the game out on these links:

Itch.io store page

Steam store page

 

 

"A Long Road Home puts players in the role of a young man (with any name of your choice) who becomes wounded and separated from his family when they are attacked along the way to their new home. Behind this plot is a secret cult "led by an alien being called Amuna, who is able to travel between the infinite numbers of planes (dimensions)." Having conquered numerous worlds already, she now has her sights set on this one, and aims to use our hero for her own devious ends. If the protagonist is to reunite with his mother and sister, he must venture through "catacombs, secret temples and frozen mountains" while escaping the clutches of the evil invaders." - AdventureGamers.com

 

 

The gameplay of A Long Road Home harkens back to the adventure games of old, thus featuring a mouse driven interface, item management and clever, interesting puzzles which the player has to overcome in the game. The game offers 5-6 hours of gameplay, an interesting story, and a captivating soundtrack which creates a fantastic atmosphere in A Long Road Home.

 

The game has been greenlit on Steam, so you can see it on the store after a few weeks, after everything is sorted out.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=802297803

 

If you are unsure about the game, you can already check out the demo, downloadable from either of these links:

 

Demo download (itch.io)
Demo download (IndieDB)

 

I would also like to give credit to the following people, who provided resources to my game either through DLCs, Restaff or otherwise:

 

RPG Maker VX Ace RTP by Enterbrain/Degica (rpgmakerweb.com)

 

Graphics:

• Windowskins by Maker Systems - RPG Maker Source
• Windowskins by MonDez
• Lightning Effect by BustedEd
• Night Sky parallax by Luchino
• Transition Vortex by Matthew Ashworth
• Windowskins by Matthew Ashworth
• Iconset-small by Adventure Tile Starter Pack - [Copyright]© Celianna
• Windowskin by RURAL FARM TILES - [Copyright]© Celianna
• WWSwitches by - WILD WEST TILES PACK - [Copyright]© Sherman3D
• High Fantasy I Resource Pack - [Copyright]© PVGames
• PocketKnife by Andinator
• Tilesets by Candacis
• Tilesets by Liberty
• Windowskin from Luna Engine

 

Additional Artwork:

• Rubén Carral

 

Music:

• Fireside Tales by Darren Curtis
• Labyrinth Of Lost Dreams by Darren Curtis
• The Mystic Le Fay by Darren Curtis
• Illusory Realm by Darren Curtis
• Hollow's Eve Ritual by Darren Curtis
• Drifting Through Space by Darren Curtis
• The Witch's Lair  by Darren Curtis
• My Dark Passenger by Darren Curtis
• Unmatched Treachery by Darren Curtis
• Into Oblivion by Darren Curtis
• The House in the Middle of Nowhere by Darren Curtis
• The Horror Returns by JStewartMusic
• Whispering Angels by JStewarMusic
• The Magician's Sorrow by JStewarMusic
• Fantasy - Sad by Joel Steudler FANTASY STARTER MUSIC PACK - [Copyright]© Joel Steudler
• Hatching Grounds by Joel Steudler FUTURISTIC ATMOSPHERES - [Copyright]© Joel Steudler
• Either Side of Eternity (Instrumental)  - REBEL RAPTURE MUSIC PACK - [Copyright]© Murray Atkinson
• Deserted Streets by Eric Matyas - www.soundimage.org
• Horror Game Menu by Eric Matyas - www.soundimage.org
• Too Quiet by Eric Matyas - www.soundimage.org
• The Darkness Below by Eric Matyas - www.soundimage.org
• Drinking Alone by Eric Matyas - www.soundimage.org
• RPG Theme v001 by Eric Matyas - www.soundimage.org
• The Cursed Rose by Allusion

 

Sound Effects:
Pablo Zumarraga, aesqe, dheming, Richard Frohlich, zandernoriega, Dreadshadow, Alastair Cameron, acekasbo, RICHERlandTV, Audionautics, qubodup, cameronmusic, thebigdawg22, newagesoup, LittleRobotSoundFactory, y89312

 

Scripts:

• Yanfly Engine Ace - Ace Core Engine by Yanfly
• Yanfly Engine Ace - Ace Message System by Yanfly
• Yanfly Engine Ace - Parallax Lock by Yanfly
• Yanfly Engine Ace - System Options by Yanfly
• Victor Engine - Basic Module by Victor Sant
• Victor Engine - Fog and Overlay by Victor Sant
• Victor Engine - Light Effects by Victor Sant
• Audio Fade In by Maker Systems – RPG Maker Source
• Super Simple Mouse Script by Shaz
• Mouse HUD by Evgenij
• Remember Event Position by Shaz
• Galv's Use Item on Event by Galv
• Non-combat Menu by mjshi
• External Text by Enelvon
• Word Wrapping by KilloZapit
• Simple Text Input by Tsukihime
• Graphical Object Global Reference by Mithran
• V's Custom Animated Title Scene by Vindaca
• D13x Core Module by Dekita
• D13x Keyboard Name Input by Dekita
• Text Sound Effect by Zerbu
• Autosave by DoctorTodd
• Crystal Engine - Variable Windowskin by CrystalNoel
• Full Screen Prompt by Bigace360

Edited January 31, 2017 by J_C

[Tsarmina 2,612]

I really love the point and click system~ You don't see that often around here! The little image you used for the recipe is really neat too. I love touches like that!

[+ J_C 6]

I really love the point and click system~ You don't see that often around here! The little image you used for the recipe is really neat too. I love touches like that!

Thanks. The point and click interface was very important to me, although it provided a fair ammount of challenges.

[+ J_C 6]

- Started actually adding the first piece of music tracks to the game which immediately gave a nice atmosphere to the game in my opinion. (There are some really talented guys and gals in the community). I'm also thinking about how much background sound effect should I add to the game. Since the game is not voiced, I think it needs to have lot of ambient sounds, to keep up the atmosphere. (doors opening and shutting, steps on the floor and the ground, animals in the background etc)

 

- Also worked on a nice transition effect, so travelling from one map to another looks better, and not just a boring fade in-fade out.

[ECG Wolf 36]

The idea of a point-and-click adventure game sounds pretty awesome, I'm curious to see what kind of game mechanics you can come up with utilizing a mouse.  It'll certainly be a different kind of game than the regular things you see here.  I also like the idea of a non-linear storyline.  Cool stuff!

[+ J_C 6]

Figured out the inventory system and started to rework the Item combination mechanics. The new one will have more of an oldschool adventure feel which I'm going for, instead of looking like an RPG maker game. This also means that I have to throw out a script which I payed 10 dollar for to use. Note to myself: only pay for resources if you are 100% sure you will use them.

 

Edit:

So, I think the inventory will look something like this. The background texture, and some graphical elements will probably change, but the basic structure is more or less finalized. I also got some nice new icons for the HUD:

 

Edited March 20, 2016 by J_C

[+ J_C 6]

Hi, there, it's update time. First, the bad news. As I wrote in my opening post, I aimed to make a non-linear adventure game with A Long Road Home, where you can reach new maps and meet characters based on how you solve some puzzles.

 

Unfortunately it seems I would bite more than I could chew with that design. This feature would basicly double the workload, and since I'm working alone, would make progress more difficult than I thought. So, I decided to make in a more traditional adventure game, which is more linear.

 

The good news is that I can use the available time to make the game better. I've been working quite a lot in the last few days. I expanded the game with two new maps, from which I can show you one. This is part of a ruined temple/monestary:

[+ J_C 6]

Prepairing the switch from chibi characters to mack sprites, I redid all my maps and added higher elevations and walls to each of them, to make them fit better to a higher characters. Finished creating the pictures of every item which will be available in the demo, plus did the item combinations. 

 

Next stop, creating and adding the mack sprites.

[+ J_C 6]

Big day today everybody. I finished the first trailer for the game, updated the opening post according to it.

 

 

Also, more or less finalized the first chapter of the game, so I can start developing the second one. Lot's of writing, mapping, sound design in the upcoming weeks. Sighs...

Edited May 16, 2016 by J_C

[Shi-an 39]

When I read point and click I thought Myst, so I was surprised to see the standard rpg maker format. Will be interesting to see how it pans out!

[+ J_C 6]

When I read point and click I thought Myst, so I was surprised to see the standard rpg maker format. Will be interesting to see how it pans out!

Well, yeah, I was going for a traditional top down view on this. 

[+ J_C 6]

Hello Everyone!

 

The first demo for A Long Road Home is ready, and available for download. The demo contains around 2 hours of gameplay, and features the first act of the game. If you would like to check it out, please follow the link below:

 

http://www.indiedb.com/games/a-long-road-home/downloads/a-long-road-home-demo

 

If you encounter any bugs, or just would like to offer some feedback, please don't hold yourself back. I appreciate any feedback and criticism.

[Tsarmina 2,612]

I watched the trailer, some of your systems look REALLY NEAT (Is that a item combo system? And the planetary movement thing is wicked cool, too!)

 

Good luck c: Nice job with getting a demo out! Would you like me to move this to the Gaming Lounge?

[+ J_C 6]

I watched the trailer, some of your systems look REALLY NEAT (Is that a item combo system? And the planetary movement thing is wicked cool, too!)

 

Good luck c: Nice job with getting a demo out! Would you like me to move this to the Gaming Lounge?

Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, you can use items together to create new items, which can be used to solve puzzles.

 

I would thank you if you move it to the Gaming Lounge. I wanted to ask it anyway, but it's getting late here.

[Tarq 746]

Moved as requested - Tarq.

 

Keep up the good work. The combination puzzles will be cool, very authentic for the genre.

[+ J_C 6]

Just a small update that version 3 of the demo has been released. You can download it from these places:

https://01bitstudio.itch.io/a-long-road-home

http://www.indiedb.com/games/a-long-road-home/downloads/a-long-road-home-demo

[Whiona 310]

That trailer is looking very nice! I'll add this to my list of demos to check out.

[+ J_C 6]

Just a little heads up about the project being still alive. 

 

I had to take a small break from development, because after the rush for finishing the demo, I was a little burnt out. But in August I made a lot of progress, finished the 2nd act of the game. I'm doing the sound design for this part right now, which will be finished in a few weeks. 

[+ J_C 6]

Big milestone reached today. Just finished the last map, which means there are a total of 76 of them in the game. The last act of the game turned out bigger than expected, but it is all the better. I will probably fix and tweak the maps as I'm wrapping up production, but that won't be a major change, just some minor alterations.

 

So, all that is remains is to finalize the gameplay of the last act, add sound/music and I can launch the beta version, which will be all about bug fixing and polishing.

 

 

[+ J_C 6]

Hello everyone!

 

The game is finally finished. Did two full walkthroughs on the weekend, tried to weed out the most glaring bugs, typos and inconsistencies. The length of the game is around 6-7 hours ( completed in 5:20 but I knew where to go and look).

 

I will start a closed beta test, and I welcome any participants who are willing to give the game a go. If you are willing to play the game through at least once, giving some feedback, send me a PM and I provide you a download link.

 

Keep in mind that:

 

• the game might be bad by your standards, but hey, it is my very first game
• the most important feedback I need is about the writing. Since I'm not perfectly fluent in english, there might be stylistic and grammatic errors (although I hope not many serious issues). I also look for feedback about crashes, bugs or just very bad design decisions, which I might or might not fix
• if I give you a copy, please don't share it with others in its beta state. If the game will be release ready, I will give you a copy for free, and you can do whatever you want with it
• also, please don't share footage or screenshots from your beta version
• please only apply if you are really willing to play the game and give feedback in a few weeks.

Edited November 14, 2016 by J_C

[+ J_C 6]

We have launched our Greenlight campaign today. If you would like to see the details, please visit our site:

 

STEAM GREENLIGHT

 

Greenlight trailer:

Edited January 31, 2017 by J_C

[+ J_C 6]

Little update on the Greenlight Campaign. 

 

Received 324 yes votes so far, which I'm fairly satisfied with. Doing some graphical update at the moment, making some of the maps a little prettier with Candacis' tilesets. I hope I can finish it by the first half of the next week. Then I make a few test runs, and the game will be basically ready for release. I doubt the Greenlight campaign will be successfull in such a short notice, so first the game will be available on itch.io, gamejolt and indiegamestand. 

 

I apprreciate all your support. Thank you everybody.

 

And if you haven't checked it out yet, please take a look at the project:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=802297803

[Zen Blood 70]

Good luck with your Greenlight campaign

[+ J_C 6]

I have great news everybody. A Long Road Home is finally finished, and it is available on itch.io right now. It was a long and difficult journey, especially that this is my very first game. A Long Road Home is not a perfect game, but I hope it is an enjoyable adventure game. You can find it here:

 

https://onebitstudio.itch.io/a-long-road-home

 

As I've said, the game is available on itch.io, but I'm working on getting it on Game Jolt, Indie Gamestand, Humble Store, and of course there is the greenlight campaign for a Steam release. If you haven't voted for the game on greenlight, you can do it right here:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=802297803

 

There is a demo available for those, who want to check out the game.

 

I would like to thank the RPG Maker community all the help they gave me, I'm serious when I say that this game wouldn't exist without you. You helped me with the resources, with the scripts, with your comments. THANK YOU!

 

I updated the opening post with the latest information.

[Tsarmina 2,612]

Congratulations on your finished game! Moving this to Completed Games