Demo Recurring Dreams - An action RPG all about the dreamworld for PC, Mac, Android, and iOS!

Sinryuko

Member
You can download the demo at my website: https://www.dreamportalgames.com/downloads
as well as download/wishlist it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1431930/Recurring_Dreams/

About the Game:

Recurring Dreams tells the tale of a lucid dreamer named Rath, who's trapped in the dreamworld unable to wake up. There he finds a strange power that lets him connect with other dreamers, and he ventures forth to help them with their innermost anxieties while searching for his own path to awakening. Wielding the powers of lucidity, Rath faces off with their recurring nightmares to inspire courage and hope within them. Will he find his way back to reality? Find out by playing!​
Experience fast-paced high-flying side-scrolling action while exploring the dreamworld! Try the demo to experience the smooth physics and controls for yourself. The game features customizable keyboard, gamepad, and touchscreen controls (touchscreen is only recommended for multitouch devices).​

Demo Features:

1 Tutorial Stage​
1 Level Selection Hub (only one choice for the demo though, I'll be expanding/decorating this area a bit more in the final version)​
1 Primary Stage: Cloud Towers Carnival (I may rework this a bit in the final version to make it fresh and give it better exploration/secrets)​
4 Attack Powers to use/learn called Concepts, each with 5 tiers of growth​
2 Spell Powers to use/learn called Thoughts​
1 Leveling System with difficulty/reward adjustment​
3 Attribute System for character customization called Awareness, Intelligence, and Mastery​
2 Mini-Games to discover​
1 Item Upgrade to find​
7 Interactable NPCs​
3 Customizable Control Systems: Keyboard, Gamepad, and Touchscreen​

I hope you enjoy it! Any feedback is welcome.
 
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Yrbiax

Member
Hey, i tried PC version of your demo.

I liked platforming. It was quite challenging right from the start, but having enemies appear out of thin air while you are focusing on platforming didnt feel fair.
Also these pillars in front where bit distracting, few times i thought that they where real platforms and fell down.

recurringBoss.png
I couldnt quite finish but i made it to boss. Died after that and didnt feel like starting from beginning again.
Almost gave up earlier, but since i could keep upgrades i kept trying for bit longer.

Having attack/jump buttons "B,N,M" so close to "WASD" was bit akward when your hands are so close together.
I think you could move them to bit more right or change movement from "WASD" to arrow keys.
Also i dont think that space is good for pausing. I instinctively thought it would be for jumping and sometimes i accidentally clicked on it.
 

Sinryuko

Member
Thanks for playing and for the feedback Yrbiax! I did the attack jump and dash as B,N,M as the default because it avoids key ghosting which is common with cheap keyboards. There are options to change them in the game menus if you prefer other setups. My favorite setup is actually using the numpad keys for those three, but I didn't set those as default because some keyboards don't have those. It's tricky finding a best default for all players I feel like.

I have had a lot of people say that about the pillars, so I'll put that on my to-do as to thinking how to differentiate them more. The foreground ones don't have outlines and are slightly duller looking, but I think it's not enough that it happens to a lot of players. Not sure how I can make the enemies feel fairer. They have set spawn locations for the most part. I do think my game is very fast paced, so people tend to jump into the unknown sometimes which is risky in any game. I will agree that the first room is a little hard, maybe I'll change the enemies there just to ease people into things.

Some other changes that I hope to make soon from other feedback.
- More noticeable button tooltips
- Improving the tutorial a little more to make some things clearer

Another idea I had recently that I'm still thinking on:
- Adding a star shop to the hub area where you can spend stars to earn extra attributes or passive abilities. As you get further in the game, you start getting a ton of stars. You can use them on spells, but there are often leftovers because many spells are timed buffs. I think that could add more replayability and make the collection aspect more fun.

I'll post an update when I've finished the changes.
 

Sinryuko

Member
I uploaded the newest update to every version on my website, Steam, and Itch.io. The biggest change is a new easy mode selectable from the file creation screen and adjustable later too, better higher difficulties, and a Exchange machine where you can trade stars for attribute points. Also tweaked a few enemy placements in the level, added more stone towers including some floating ones for better platforming, more decorations, removed foreground towers totally, improved the tutorial slightly, and fixed any bugs I encountered along the way. I found one typo after I uploaded, but it's pretty minor (wrote attributes points on some text instead of attribute points). Exporting it takes a few hours thanks to Apple. My Kickstarter is launching Wednesday, so my focus will be on advertising for a little while.

Edit: Got up early enough that I felt like fixing the typo. Also fixed some misaligned text for the website version that I missed. Updated everything. Google Play and TestFlight gotta go through review though before it's up, which usually takes a day or two.
 
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Sinryuko

Member
The Kickstarter didn't quite take off as I'd hoped, but I did get a good bit of feedback, and I've since made a lot of improvements to the game demo.

Most notably, I've rebalanced it quite a bit to make it easier initially. You can play the latest version through any of the links at the top. There's still plenty of ways to make it more challenging as you get stronger, but I felt like I was at a point where I've tested my game so much that I know it's tricks a bit too well to judge the difficulty. I've reduced monster damage/HP scaling to 20%/level from 30%/level. I've also buffed all the player's melee attacks a good bit. I've reworked the Thought spells a good bit. Now they each scale noticeably with Mastery stat, and can be transformed into passives, or Unconscious Thoughts as I like to call them, after casting them 20 times. This makes collecting the stars feel even more rewarding, and I think the spells are better balanced than before. Only 2 are in the demo, but there will be 11 total in the final release. I've also reworked the Dream Portal in the hub area so you can now preview music for the upcoming stages as well as select endless versions of the mini-games from there. The mini-games offer alternative ways to gather stars/experience instead of playing the cloud stage over and over. A new mini-game's been added called the Colosseum of Nightmares, which offers both a Monster Rush and Boss Rush mode. Currently I only have the cloud level monsters and boss there, but I'll be expanding it as I get more completed.

This will likely be my final updates to the demo, unless I find/hear about any bugs to fix. Now I'll be working on a stage that takes place inside of a cat's mind. It should be quite wacky and fun. Here's Catastrophe the cat, he believes he's the king of cats. I hope to make the stage like a massive cat tower with all sorts of cat toys. You can read his backstory as well as others here: https://www.dreamportalgames.com/recurringdreams#catastrophe
Portrait_Catastrophe.png
 

Sinryuko

Member
Screenshot.png

I hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays! I recently added a new Widescreen mode to the game and updated it into the demo as I think it makes the game a bit nicer, especially on mobile. I've also added a bunch of other minor improvements, and added the new monsters I've been working on for the majority of the past month into the Colosseum of Nightmares. I'll be adding these to the next stage once I finish creating it. The new Widescreen mode can also be toggled back to the old style through the options menu as I imagine some people may prefer it differently depending on their resolution. I've improved the default touchscreen sizing so it should maximize without overlapping height-wise (I don't think width-wise should be a problem unless someone has a square screen as the game is set to always be landscape style). I also worked on improving some of the code to perform better, as I sometimes see lag on my test device for android. Lastly, I've added a leveling up system to the attack powers, which lets you slightly strengthen the one you prefer to use by defeating enemies with it.

I hope you all enjoy the changes, and feel free to give me any feedback on the game.
 
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