A downloadable game for Windows

An RPG Maker 2003 game by KIKI (Kedragy)

Penelope wakes up in a dark cave with no memories.  While on a journey to discover who she is, she finds a strange world filled with even stranger people, and makes some friends along the way! 

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The first update to PENELOPE! 12/04/23

ADDED:

The Healspire, Interact with it in various towns to fully heal your party.

CHANGED:

A brand new coat of paint to the forest and basic interior tilesets.

Also made the bushes easier to see compared to the ground.

Made the code puzzle in the Tanhrra Isles easier to complete.

Lowered the HP of the final boss.

FIXED:

Various typos. (Looking at you, "pf".)

The poster in the eastern-most section of the city not displaying correctly after replacing it in the quest.

Am opening allowing Penelope to straight up skip the boss battle in the Tanhrra Isles. (Also added some dialogue to that area instead)

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This game has been a passion project for me over the last six months, so I'm happy to finally be able to release it! If you find any bugs or other issues, post them in the comments and I'll try and fix them!

Most of the music and graphics in the game are made by me, with the exception of the credits theme, as well as the RTP sound effects and some RTP doors and buttons. The game is roughly two hours long, so have fun! 

StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows
Rating
Rated 4.0 out of 5 stars
(1 total ratings)
AuthorKedragy
GenreRole Playing
Made withFL Studio, RPG Maker, Aseprite
TagsFurry, rm2k3, RPG Maker, Short
Average sessionAbout an hour
LanguagesEnglish
InputsKeyboard

Download

Download
PENELOPE v2.0.0.zip 96 MB
Download
PENELOPE v1.0.0.zip 96 MB

Install instructions

You should just be fine extracting the zip and running the executable, but if you have any issues running it feel free to tell me in the comments.

Development log

Comments

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(+1)

Howdy. Can't seem to move when I start the game :u When I boot up the game I can only select things on menus. Thanks :)

Weird! Booting it up, I see no issues with moving. RPG Maker 2003 games can be janky like that, I've had issues with my controls being jumbled in the past, and it just fixed itself after around a day. I have no idea what causes it or how to fix it, but I assume it happens because RM2k3 is over 20 years old now. Try booting it up again and mess with some settings in the F5 menu? That's all I can think of. 

Also, thanks for showing interest in my game! I'm working on a sequel to it right now which I think will be much better :D 

Thanks for making this game! Looking forward to what else you make. :)

Thank you again for playing! I actually watched some of your videos before creating my game, so it was a delight to see you play it! 

Appreciate you greatly :)

One thing I forgot to mention... the music! Love it! Good audio can add a whole another dimension to a game, and it sure does here. Plenty of fun tunes!

(1 edit)

Dang, it's already better than mine by virtue of existing and being published. I'm jealous.

Also, the art style is good looking and the dialogue is looking pretty decent too! I'm sold, gotta download it and find out if it has gameplay.

Edit: sure does! More detailed feedback will follow.

(+1)

Here are some detailed thoughts, with the observations I had while playing and some advice! (spoiler warning)

 * you can remove all those default resources if you're not using them! (except for system2, for some reason. I usually set a blank graphic there in my games). If you're not using any "vehicles" you can also set their graphics to whatever in the System tab, so that they no longer require their own graphic. Other than the vehicles and system2, I don't think RPG Maker checks for the existence of any resources until your game actively tries to use them.

 * Lovely start, with the bridge you can walk over and under right at the beginning! And it makes a sound, too. Now that's an underused mechanic... for good reason, but it makes for a nice touch in moderation. I also like the box being visible but unreachable until you walk a bit more. It's the little things!

 * You could probably set the cliff edge tile to only be blocking on the upper side, so you can walk right up to it.

 * math puzzles! I like it. Surprisingly, I don't think I've ever seen a puzzle like this one in rpg maker.

 * not sure how I feel about the totally nonexistent storyline so far... but maybe I'll soon find out why Penelope never speaks. If that's even the main character's name.

 * the battle first is not much to speak of... but to be honest, I've been working with RM 2k3 for over a decade and I was never able to make good battles in the default battle system, so it's fine. The good thing is that it didn't drag on.

 * So now Mead is not only letting us stay for the night, but embarking with us on a potentially deadly journey. What a guy! Nice to see we're unraveling the mystery of Penelope, but Mead and his little town could use some background too. Maybe I'll find it up ahead!

 * Mead is invisible in battle? That's kinda weird. And why do the dogbeasts drop hot dogs upon defeat? Are the hot dogs in fact made from dog parts in this world? Dubious indeed.

 * The graphics are pretty good despite their simplitity, and only a few things about them bugged me. The water could use a different texture for sure - maybe some lines instead of the dots like the grass has? Also, the bushes have been blending in with the ground and I mistook them for holes. Maybe add a bit of an outline, or make the outer bit brighter.

 * Well, now I can see one reasons for other party members to remain invisible. Would be hard to fit Nessie into the regular-sized battle hero graphics! That was a nice surprise. Speaking of the battle itself, it was difficult but fair - a tricky combination to achieve in default RM2k3 battles!

 * Here's a fun tileset trick - when using auto-tiles (the ones with borders and stuff, like water), hold shift to prevent them from changing! You could use that with the lighthouse, for example, to make it look like it's truly above the water, without water borders surrounding it. In addition, you can also hold shift with right click to copy a specific type of auto-tile! So if you wanted three thin water streams right next to each other instead of one big pond, for example, you can do that too.

 * Defeating the Daytona fish didn't seem to reward me with anything, and I couldn't figure out the significance of 2 and 8 on the wall either. But once I got the other two numbers, I could bruteforce it easy!

 * Oh. It meant that the 2nd one was 8. Okay.

 * I'm kinda doing things backwards, taking on the cityworld after the islandworld. Seems like a good choice though.

 * Yay, exposition! Not sure why it's a random guy on the street delivering it. Could've been a road sign or something. But that works too!

 * An empty, gray room with signs that say PARTY! That sure is promising.

 * The poster closest to the partyhouse didn't change its appearance when I replaced it. Overall, a fun little quest though! 

 * Well, here we go! The explanation, with no stones! But of course, there's more to be understood...

 * Oh, nice. There's RPG Maker on the screen behind, even! As far as simple plots go, this one's real nice.

 * The final battle was a bit of a letdown - the big boss has too much health, too few offensive capabilities! Maybe give them some sort of status effect spell to incapacitate the heroes with? That would make the boss stand out nicely against the other enemies!

 * Also, the ending could be longer too. If just to let the ending song play properly! Maybe just a few scenes of our heroes hanging out together.

Overall, a lovely little game! Simplistic in places, but with plenty of love and originality for sure. Well worth checking out. I'd be glad to see more of the sort!
(+1)

Thank you for playing!! I'll keep your advice in mind. I only figured out the shift trick after I finished the game so I will remember to use that in future projects! Regarding the code thing, I also could've made it clearer. The reason why I made the boss fight drag on was the play the whole boss song, though in hindsight I see that it is a little too long. Thank you again for your input!