Happy Trash Season (RPG) (UPDATE: New TRAILER)

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3 comments, last by Retroopla 7 years, 4 months ago

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UPDATE #1 TRAILER

Hey there!

We are Retroopla, a developer team from Austria. We are courrently working on Happy Trash Season for a while now and want to share some information about it. If there is anything you especially like or dislike about our game, please let us know. We’re looking forward to any kind of feedback!

THE GAME

The game revolves around the adventures of a scarecrow named August and a cloud named Pualani. The two of them take a trip through 4 gigantic levels full of secrets, opponents, riddles, collectable items and unique characters. You can choose which challenges you want to take up and which not. Of course there is a crazy story waiting to be experienced!

We would label the game as a mix of RPG and Jump and Run.

We drew our main inspiration from classics such as:

Banjo Kazooie / The Legend of Zelda – The Minish Cap / Mother 3

PROTAGONISTS


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The former raven-womanizer, whose affection for his raven dream girl was prevented by her parents in an unkindly way, heads off one day to free his beloved one from her grounding. But no matter how much trouble he may be in, fashion is always his priority, therefore he will often change his clothes. The new powers he gets with them are surely a nice little gimmick for him, but in the end all that matters are his looks…

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A sweet, albeit bold, young cloud lady with a preference for ambiguous allusions, sun flowers and - last but not least - bean flavored cotton candy. Ever since it has become the only food she consumes, she is, oddly enough, suffering from stomach problems, which she rather views as a “gift”: Even though she’s a cloud she is afraid of heights…But her gift allows her to find her way back to the cloud empire on every occasion. There she’ll have to master many different tasks in the course of the adventure.

GAMEPLAYFEATURES

LEVEL DESIGN

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We’re targeting level design at a very high standard. Each passage is planned very carefully and reminds of a giant, often freely accessible dungeon! The levels won’t just represent different themes, they will also be filled with special main and side quests, riddles, mini games, opponents, characters and collectable items. Each level reminds of a very own big world, where there’s something to explore and discover at every turn. But be careful…There are also dangers lurking around every corner!

CLOUD LEVELS

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Here Pualani takes over! Everything you need to do is uncover a toilet as well as its door with the cotton candy you’ve collected. In each regular world there will be an entrance to various small cloud levels, all of which have a special theme, different kinds of challenges and atmospheres. If you manage to pass a cloud level successfully, this will have an immediate effect on the regular world. (e.g.: There's one segment where spring is over and autumn returns)

COLLECTIBLE ITEMS

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You heard it correctly! In Happy Trash Season you will be able to collect several items, which can be used in different ways in each level! The most important items may be the so-called “cloud leaves”, of which you can find 20 per level! They’re the only items enabling the progress of the story and the access to other levels and events!

AUGUST'S ABILITIES

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As already mentioned, August has a little fashion fad. His trendy clothes are giving him new abilities! That way he can not only get to places which have been inaccessible before, but also have advantages against some opponents and be able to solve multiple tasks! So feel free to visit the tailor Fashcamill in every level…

CHARACTERS

One thing we dislike are appearances of characters who have little to nothing significant to say, even appealing rather static without having any influence on the story or the world. What we DO like are characters with a unique appeal, having their own background story and sticking in the player’s mind forever– hopefully in a positive way. So one of our main goals was to create characters as special and interesting as our very unique level design we’ve already mentioned earlier. That’s why each world, no matter how crazy it seems, should appear very vivid and be filled with charm all around.

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COMBAT

In some areas you have to avoid the opponents. But there will be situations where you have to fight them!

August isn’t just your regular type of warrior bashing the opponent, he’s rather a smart cookie! Each opponent in the game has to be beaten in a completely different manner. Some fights resemble a mini game, others a riddle and some, on the other hand, are a true carnage!

As soon as a fight starts, you find yourself in an individual/a peculiar battle area. Examine anything you find, but be careful! Your decisions can have varying consequences! The danger is always present! You don’t immediately use weapons, but rather try to strategically use the area, found items and sometimes even the opponent's own attacks against him.

If you’re at a loss, there’s the possibility of finding “recipes” in the game and using them in fights. They will give you hints for a successful fight! Just use the “Time OUT” for that! But experienced strategists probably won’t need (any) recipes anyway.

Sometimes August will be in need of Pualani’s help to force extra strong opponents to their knees! You will meet many different opponents! Every fight and enemy will be unique! Here is just a little glimpse of what is coming...

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OUR DREAM

Our dream is to be able to work as an independent company and create types of video games that aren’t made anymore or are very rare. It’s the retro style, above all, that appeals to us and we sincerely hope to fulfill this dream of ours with your help and support!

SUPPORT US

Your support and your feedback is what matters to us the most. If there is anything you especially like or dislike about our game, please let us know. We're looking forward to any kind of feedback and criticism!

http://www.instagram.com/retroopla/

http://twitter.com/retroopla

http://www.facebook.com/Retroopla/

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Hello !

There's a specific bit of (hopefully constructive) criticism I'd like to send your way but, before that, let me compliment you on your game looking really interesting and flavorful.

I really like the first in-game picture, it sends that rich, organic vibe you get from games like Minnish Cap or Stardew Valley : the scenery and main characters are lovely and intriguing with fun, creative twists ! In addition to that, it also looks like you've put a lot of thought into ways to make the gameplay and world-building deep and original, which never hurts.

However, there -is- something that bugs me about the art : it's very present in the cloud level picture and a little bit in the following pictures, as well as the (otherwise gorgeous) promotional art, the one where August sits on the sunflower. To put it frankly, it feels as though as on one side, you have this very neat and beautifully crafted pixel-art environment, that has life, cohesion, and vivid details to it, and on the other end, there's some approximate doodles slapped on the top of it.

To me, the giant, crying cloud character on the top left of the cloud level picture, and the thwomp-like, blocky clouds with angry faces, feel -completely- out of tune with the rest of the landscape : while the pixel-art has layers and depth, they feel flat and lacking perspective. Their colors and lines don't feel right, and they just...don't seem to blend in at all with the rest of the picture.

In a vacuum, I don't have a problem with a punk-ish, adult cartoon-like style. Games like Sally Face or OFF have shown you can have a really distinct and personal art style and still make an amazing experience out of it !

As far as I'm concerned, though (and maybe that's just me !), there's a very sub-par feel to these elements, because they lack qualities found in the rest of the game's art, such as liveliness, depth and warmth, and also because they're so different that it actually breaks the scenery's cohesion.

Now, I really hope I didn't come across as harsh or rude ! As I stated, I think the game has an enormous potential. I think it looks wonderful, and in addition to that, it shows a lot of creativity visually. I really dig how the background becomes pastel-ish in the menu inventory picture !

The way I'd like to put it is that you set a very high bar with the first in-game picture, in my opinion : when I saw the vibrant colors and the big, weird house and all the life going through the small details in the picture, I told myself : "That's a game I wanna play !". So I wanted everything else to be on the same, high standard, haha.

I'd be really curious to see what kind of music you folks will put on that, on a side note !

Best regards.

Wow! :)

Thanks for your constructive criticism and your extensive comment, that's a great help! We've already considered the things you've mentioned.

The game is still work in progress. We will present the changes in an update in the following weeks! :)

We are already working on a trailer - so music is in the making! ^_^

That's great ! I'll be looking for it, I'm really glad I could provide some assistance :)

BIG UPDATE! Our first official trailer for Happy Trash Season! How do you like it?? Have fun :)

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