Ethereal Dreams

Dragonfly Studios presents

Download Demo 2.0 [Here] (53 MB)
This is a stand alone demo. No other installs are required.


April 2nd, 2008
Hello Everyone! We hope you enjoyed our, rather elaborate, April Fools foke. We know we did. XD We'll be keeping Drunk Attorney in our thread at the bottom, for anyone who wants to access that 'demo' in the future.
A lot of people have been asking if we plan to finish that little mini project, I'd hate to break your hearts, but no. It took a month to get that 20 minute demo out. Balancing that and the real Ethereal Dreams (along with you know, life and work and stuff) just wouldn't work out to well. There's also the fact that some the 'future cases' were influenced by true future events in the game, with some deaths thrown in to murder cases. But hey, if you enjoyed this, you'd get a major kick from the real Phoenix Wright games.
And so it's official, Ethereal Dreams WILL NOT be switching to VX and Darin WILL NOT be taking up law.
In other news, since this little joke put Racheal in a scripting mood, there might be an interesting new system implemented in the future. I won't give anything away until it's further along.
I hope you all had a great Groovy Potato Day!
~Makio-Kuta



40 years ago, a war raged across the island continent, Silvania. The war pitted the magical kin of the land against the Dwarves, outsiders from Enoshia who had no magical power at all. Dragon Riders, from an unknown land, came to assist the magical creatures in the war against the Dwarves.
Overpowered and defeated, the Dwarves were banished from Silvania's mountain ranges and forests, back to the land of their ancestors, the Orcs.
Now a Dwarf, who grew up in those troubled times, seeks revenge against the magical creatures of Silvania. With a large army, he comes to the shores of Silvania, hoping to spill the blood of those who wronged his people in the past.

Darin, Ryaena, and Phylip live on the Northern part of Silvania, still untouched by the Dwarven army. As events unfold, the trio find themselves in the midst of this struggle and another battle far bigger than the Forests of Silvania.

Spoiler for Characters:

When Darin was in his late teens, he and his Dragon, Kane, left their home following a tragedy. Not long after leaving he befriends a misfit centaur, Phylip, and a lost Meenian, Ryaena. The three now reside on Silvania and travel together. Darin is a heavy drinker and a constant flirt. But his best friend and 'daughter' both know that deep down inside he's an honourable man.


Ryaena was found by Darin when she was very small. She's since become like his daughter and travels with he and Phylip. For the most part, Ryaena keeps to herself, but she can be known to be a bit stubborn. She trusts no one more than she trusts Darin.


Phylip travels with Darin and Ryaena acting as a no nonsense older brother at times. He always lectures Darin about his drinking, but means well.


A Dark Elf Darin helps break out of prison. She claims to be of Noble blood and that her imprisonment was because of a betrayal. She manages to convince Darin and the others to take her homeland, Nilis.

Morgan - A woman who seems to not like talking about her past. She says working at the weapon shop is a way to turn her life around. Enjoys a good drink and good company.
Celine - Resident dancer for Geja's bar. A nice girl, who has the bad habit of flirting with customers.
Horis - The bartender at Geja's bar. Although a bit grouchy, he's a tolerant man.
Erick - An armor dealer who's not quite all there.
Jade - A fairy that seems out of place in a dark dank prison. Perhaps there is more to him then his cute exterior.
Duke A'Rein - A snot nosed Light Elf who thinks he is better then everyone.  What he's doing so far from home is anyone's guess.
Hok - A cruel and chiseled looking man.  His sinister grin and harsh mocking words suggest this man has a dark profession.
Kane - Darin's life long pal and companion. It's hard to say why he's tolerated Darin for as long as he has.
Ethan - Erick's younger brother who works in the transport business. Clumsy and a little eccentric, but he's just wants to help out his older bro.
Marilyn - An elderly Light Elf who lives alone in the woods.  She knows a great deal about plants and their uses.
Alena - Visiting from the continent of Enoshia, Alena tries to rally the civilians of Nova to fight against the invading force to the south. She appears to be highly religious and noble.
Damien - Damien is a Dragon Rider who was born in Nova.  Although he has no Dragon or proper training, he likes to pretend he does.
Riche - A man who's Caravan doubles as an item store and a home.  He lives alone with his son.
Melena - A human who's recently moved to Nova from Enoshia to get away from certain religious groups.
Ti'el - A close friend of Darin's who lives in Nova.  She loves the farm life more than anything else the world has to offer.
Gramps - A grouchy old man who criticizes Darin for everything he can think of.  He makes the best Pumpkin Seed Beer.
Firo - Travels with his father, Riche, in their Caravan.  Due to his father's drinking, he's usually the one in charge of inventory and book keeping.
Clyde - A fisherman from Geja who left his home town to find new species of fish.

Spoiler for Features:

Original Artwork
The custom artwork of Ethereal Dreams is one of its biggest pulls. Using the half kaizer sprite template by showkaizer and tana, every sprite is custom made. And with that every tileset. There is also a heavy amount of original artwork interfaced into the game's systems.


Talents
Each character is assigned a set of six talents. These talents level up with the character based on the weapon they are holding. As talents raise in level, the characters learn more skills.


Campfires
As you progress throughout the game, you have a chance to unlock hidden conversations between characters. These conversations can be viewed on the world map whenever the campfire icon is displayed in the bottom right corner. Although they aren't important to the story line itself, they reveal more about the characters and are sometimes worth a good laugh.


Encounter Orb
A colourful orb displayed in the bottom left corner is used to judged how close you are to a battle. The colour ranges from green to red and a battle occurs when it reaches red. Different terrains affect how quickly you find yourself in battle. A noisier terrain like spalshing through water, increases the chance of the enemies finding you. Be careful where you walk!


Tactics
Customize up to four different attack patterns to help make battles quicker. From your menu, pick and choose what action you want all four members to take and then in battle select that tactic and simply use auto and unleash your strategy! All four tactics can be named for quick recognition.


Memo
From your menu, you can access a memo that's filled with useful and useless information. A bestiary of the monsters you've fought so far, a journal keeping record of your story progress and a section dedicated to tutorials about game play. Journals and the bestiary are written by the characters themselves, adding a touch of humour to what's typically a dull collection of information.


Maps
Throughout the game you can collect maps that can be viewed from your key items. These maps not only reveal your surroundings and key locations, but also display your location and goal with easy to understand icons.

 

Spoiler for Team & Credits:

Team Leader/Main Artist/Main Writer/Co-Scripter - Makio-Kuta
2nd in Command/Main Scripter/Colourist/Editor - RachealMoon
Co-Writer/Co-Artist/Battle Backdrop Artist - DarkAngel6
Summons Artist/Location Namer/Tester - CharChar05

The Beta Crew
Reives
J.D. Slasha
Arcanum
sixtyandaquarter
BusterSword777

Misc Credits
ShowKaizer and Tana's Half Kaizer Templates
AMS by Dubealex
ViewRange and PathFinding by Near Fantastica
Logos by havana24
Numerous Songs by Fallofthetyrant

Spoiler for Fan Stuff:

Darin sprite by JD Slasha
Darin sprite by sixtyandaquarter
Hayato and Darin by JD Slasha
Merry Christmas by JD Slasha
Sexy Magni by Lunarea

Spoiler for User Bars:

Spoiler for Darin Ardgall: Drunk Attorney:

This was Ethereal Dream's April Fools joke in 2008.  We've left it here for you all to enjoy!

Download Demo [Here] (11.8 MB)
VX nor the RTP is required, but I recommend reading the Controls image included.

Court Record
By pressing the ‘D button’ you can access your Court Record.  Here you will find a list of all the evidence you’ve collected during investigation.  By pressing the ‘D button‘ again, you‘ll change the view from evidence to profiles.  Here all the people you have met during the case are displayed.  (Please note that this demo does not yet have investigation implemented.  You do however, have items and people in your Court Record.)  Knowing your Court Record is key to playing this game.  Check it often whenever you need to stop and think.

Press
In the Courtroom, during a witness’s testimony, you have the option of pressing them for more information with the ‘A button.’  By doing this you can reveal information about what the witness saw in greater detail and perhaps find yourself new hints to help you progress.  When you aren’t  sure what to do, try pressing the witness and see what happens.

Present
Presenting evidence to the court is a vital part of this game.  At any time during a witness’s testimony, you can present evidence.  Listen carefully to what the witness is saying, when they say something that seems off, open your Court Record.  Look for any evidence or profile that might contradict what the witness has just told you.  When you find something contradicting, present the evidence needed to prove it with the ‘S button.’  Finding contradictions can help open the case to new possibilities and find you your Not Guilty verdict.

Credits
Scripts and System - Racheal
Story and Rip Edits - Makio-Kuta
Beta Testers - Sixtyandaquarter and Reives
**Please note that all the graphics from this joke game are rips or heavily edited rips of actual PW material. This includes the header image to this spoiler.

For more information, please visit our Website and Forums.

wow, that's impressive 
I love the layout of the project thread, and great look at the game so far!

The artwork looks really good. The features also look great. I will d/l the demo and deliver my comments after I have played through that. For now, the project meets requirements so I will move it.


P.S. The link to this thread in your signature does not work.

oops, that's what I get for copy pasting and not looking. Thanks for the tip.

I would say thanks for the move, but I appear to still be in New Projects?

That's because I am incompetent and have a poor memory.

Now it's moved.

I've seen this before, i think i'll download it.
Nice artwork by the way, and everything else is pretty much gold 

HAY I know you! About time ya posted it here. :p

This is worth checking out even if just for the hard-earned 100% original graphics. Not often do you find a HK  game with something to actually show for! D:

I played a demo of the game, this is one of the best games I've ever played, I loved the opening scene at the bar

@Reives: I know you too I've been wanting to post this here for a while, but I was just waiting until we got the new demo out. Since the old one has made me laugh since sometime late July.

@Falcon: I'm glad you enjoyed it

Amazing demo. Nice work!

Congratulations on winning Project of the Month! You definitely deserve it.

Congratz on Project of the month.

The game is fun and full of laughs espically the camp fire scenes.

Thanks ^^

Yeah, we've had a lot of fun making the campfires, it really gives us a chance to have fun with the characters.

To celebrate the PotM, here's a quick random map I made with the newest tileset that is being worked on:

It's supposed to be an abandoned Crystal Mine. Still need to make some spider webs, among a few other things.

Nice, looks much better than that test map I saw on .org screenshot thread.

The Map's Purple & Crystal Blue had me hipnotized for a while. <3

Thanks Falcon. While Maks is an incredible tileset maker, she admits herself she's not very good at making maps. (She made the original test map on org, I made this one here)

I originally thought this mine was going to be your typical browns and grays, but when Maks proposed a purple and blue color scheme, I was quite excited. All the credit for this awesome tileset goes completely to her.

Yeah, it looks great. I love the colours in that tileset!

wow, thats seriously very unique. I love this game, I've played it before and I can really say this could make it to the top hundred charts world wide for RMXP games.

Only top hundreds? More like top ten. There are very few games in RMXP that even compare to this one, and they are all so good that it would be near impossible to rank them in any definitive way.

hmm, well the world wide RMXP community has some serious games.

"Pledge to the criss Cross", "Savior Cat", "One Winged Angel", that all to famous H-RPG made with RMXP "Succubus Qiest", "Nocturne", "?(I think it's a romance of the three kingdom fan game", etc etc

my point is, theres serious competition out there, but this one is awesome just for the plain fact it's made in america! XD But yeah, top 25? I'm willing to bet it's pretty dam close.

Made in Canada actually ^^ *is a proud Canuck*

To make this post less pointless, random update of the week

Obviously still WIP, but some NPCs that will appear in the near future.

XD As long as it's in english I'm fine with it :3

And nice job on the sprites, the cloths need more shading for thesecond and last one, but I'm sure you knew that I like the second one's hair, looks like Eureka's

The sprites look good Racheal. And I am also Canadian 

Hoorah fellow Canuck! 

and yeah, like I said, the Sprites were still WIP. The last one had no shading on the clothes in that post.
Here's some mostly complete versions:

Looks nice as always. The only thing that slightly bothers me is the front part of the 3rd girl (pink-ish hair) - seems a bit too "densely uniform", if you know what I'mean. No biggie though.

And Canuck here also. :> Well, sort of. Banana one at least.

Let the Canucks take over the world!

And I'm not quite sure I actually know what you mean. Are you talking the hair or the shirt? Oh, and btw, Teuvo is a guy Elfs tend to be excessively feminine.

for reference, here's his concept chibi:

>_< He's too cute @_@

And AZN PRIDE -.-!!!

<3 Femenine, Cute <3 Like it <3

Though I'm sure if he got called cute, he'd eat joo = D

Anyways, update of the week: Finished the normal enemies for Tujesti, however, we don't have a backdrop yet, so enjoy the mocked-up goodness

Hey! I downloaded this game a couple days ago off of RMN. Its so sweet. good job. not finished it but yeah.

MAJOR UPDATE
With the recent release of RPGMaker VX, Maks and I talked a lot about the future of Ethereal Dreams.  After weighing the pros and cons, we've officially decided to switch development to VX!

Since this meant redoing a lot of resources, we’ve come to the conclusion to take Ethereal Dreams to a new direction.

To showcase this new development, we’ve prepared a short [20mins] demo for everyone to play.  We hope you enjoy this exciting new turn!

For more information, see the updated first post.
But, for quick access: Download Demo [Here] (11.8 MB)
I recommend checking out the Controls image included before you begin.

LMAO!

april fools? *seriously hops you guys arn't serious*

haha, it still looks great, funny as hell though "horse butt" XD

hahahaha

Very nice! The new direction this game is taking is quite inspiring really

But actually wow, if this were for real It would still make an awesome game

Oh ho god.  XD

At first I wasn't going to download this 'cause I thought the screens were just mockups, but this is just lovely.  Congrats on the job well done.

PS: I want these scripts, dammit.  You better release them when this is done.  XD

This was awesome!! I like it very much! 

@monkeydlu: Congrats on being the first person to figure it out (or at least voice it.) Horse Butts actually a nickname used in the actual game. We took a fair bit from the real game, even inspiration for the "future case summarys"

@modern algebra: lol, yeah. We got carried away discussing future cases, and it really would be fun. But, overall, while this was fun, I'd rather see the actual game complete

@Atemu: You know, mock ups would have been so much easier and less time consuming, but this was probably more fun
I wasn't actually planning on releasing the scripts since they're not very user friendly or versatile, but it might be possible to convince me to send an unencrypted version of the game to some people

(PS. I didn't know you were on this board )

@AlienSoldier: glad you enjoyed it Hope you give the actual game a shot too.

I'll modify the first post later.

*gets on hands and knees, bats eyes cutely, and offers much luvvins~* <3

(PS. I just joined a couple days ago. XD)

It might take me a few days, particularly if I'm going to write up some meaning to the madness that is my method, but I'll pm you eventually

Yay! 

*laughs evilly and comes up with dastardly ideas...*

Just downloaded the last demo and I have to say...

This was great!! I like it very much! 

I really like the look of this, downloading the demo as soon as I clear up my desktop (too many resources not in my resources file>_<)
I love the artwork, wish I could draw that good. Well, I can DRAW around that good but when it comes to colours, my scanner and programs suck >_<. I've only got the GIMP.
I'm luvin' it! (though I hate McDonald's)

Brings tears to me eyes. :'>

So I've finally managed to flick the artistic switch back on and finish a few pictures that have been sitting around for a while, as well as complete a couple quick new ones. So, while not much of an update (since game wise we'd rather not share what we're working on quite yet), here's a sizable art dump. Generally speaking, the usual art set-up: Line art and background by Makio, Character color by me. (with the exception of the Rowena and Casimire picture, which Maks colored)

Spoiler for Ethereal High:

Makio: When I get bored, I get bored.  And it's particularly worse when I'm too hyper to make anything of much worth.  The most recent time this happened, I wanted to write, but didn't want to write anything serious because I knew it was going to evolve into a pile of crack by the end.  As such, I told Racheal I wanted to write purposefully bad fanfiction about our characters.  So we started picking out the fanfic cliches, one of which is of course taking all the characters from whatever walk of life and jamming them together in a High School.
Thus Ethereal High was born!
Anyway, the story itself is riddled with plot devices that happen to be spoilers to the REAL plot of our game (how could we resist playing with some of the later elements of the game that we don't get to currently), but here's a picture I drew just because I could.

Spoiler for Kix:

Racheal: What can I say, Drunk Attorney created the urge to dress Kix in furs and bling. (Blame the sprite she was traced off.) A slightly different style for myself and Maks, but it was fun to experiment with.

Spoiler for Rowena and Casimire:

Makio: This picture was entirely inspired by my past love for looking at cute couple pictures on Japanese Fanart sites.  It was late at night and I wasn't sleepy, so I decided to finally give drawing something of that ilk a whirl.  I rather like the result, things like Rowena's legs make me really happy.
The background didn't quite hit the vibes I wanted, but it works.
Yay for characters that have not been introduced yet!

Spoiler for Alicia:

Racheal: For quite some time, I've been bugging Maks about wanting to a dynamically lit piece. This isn't quite what I had in mind, but it satisfied a fews artistic urges at least XD Maks got to draw someone in weird clothes, I got to color Alicia AND do a slightly more dynamically shaded piece.
Fun tidbit: Maks says she looks like a grungy Rock Star

Spoiler for Gods of Teirra:

A WIP piece of the four prominent Gods in Teirra
We've had the religion in our game plotted out for quite some time now, but since it's tied to the plot in places, I can't touch on it too much here. But here's some brief bios on the gods themselves:

Starting from left to Right:
Demtir - A dark God of Power. His followers tend to keep to the southern end of Enoshia, but sometimes travel to Silvania to escape Seilehm's worshipers. The two fractions have had a ongoing hatred for several years.
Proud followers of Demtir flaunt their religion by wearing 3 sharp, gold necklaces. Their numbers are in decline.

Seilehm - Goddess of Bravery and Honour, those that worship her occupy the northern tip of Enoshia. The most predominant player in her religion is the House of Sighelm in Aravinda. Many brave and powerful female leaders have been born from this fraction. It is their belief that Seilehm's the mother of all humans, thus they want to bring misguided members of Demtir's religion back to her guiding light. The House of Sighelm is said to be the purist form of her lineage.

Quatzeltal - The elves worship Quatzeltal as the God of Knowledge. He was said to be a great speaker, who spent most of his life in study. Because of this god's vast knowledge, the elves hold the words of his church well above their own law. Countless number of ceremonies are held in this god's name each year in the city of Lazi.

Isara - The fairy god of Magic. What small texts were actually formed in this God's name, always depict him as a lighthearted God who guided the fairies through life. No festivals are held in his name, instead large festivals for each season are celebrated yearly, which was said to be his idea. Because of this, Isra's name is slowly fading into history as time goes by.

Ok, I lied, I have a tiny game update to share. We've recently fancied up the message window a bit, so here's an image (with random text)

Still need to edit the pause graphic and maybe play with the font a bit, but otherwise it's more or less done.

The art looks awesome, and the message window is really neat. Anyway, looks great.

Second'd.
Really like the windowskin! <3

omg Lyner avatar! yay Ar Tonelico!! yay Gust! </random fangirlism>

Thanks guys ^^ I always thought the old message window was dull, so I'm glad we were finally able to come up with something interesting.

Got a favorite image of the ones we posted?

The first one I like.

I think Alicia looks really good.

I for one loved Rowena & Casimira One <3

Awesome job, Racheal! Ethereal Dreams has my full support, I'll be sure to snag one of those sig bars before I go!

All of your artowrk is pleasing to the eye, and your story is very well-explained and creative. I downloaded this game from RMN, and I saw this game clearly was unique from the rest of the RMXP games. At the time, however, the game didn't appeal to me as much. Now, seeing the things I've been missing and the forshadowing of what is to come, I might download again.

Oh yes, and good call on not switching to RMVX. Graphics on that program tend to be a bit blocky and small, although their battle stuff and icons are nice. Your better off staying with RMXP.