Eternal Eden, by Blossomsoft

[Elder]

http://www.blossomsoft.com//uploads/EEboxart.png

Given that I’ve been a long time user on Indie Gamer, I thought it would be wonderful to share my recent release with you :)

So far I’m quite happy and excited as the release of Eternal Eden is very successful. It sells like hot cakes :D Reviews are very positive for my targeted audience, I can feel the magic feelings from buyers as when I played my games long ago on SNES. I’ve been developing this game for 7 months non-stop, a total of 3500 hours on the trot. No vacation, no social life: only development and passion! Hopefully now I’m hoping to get a well-deserved rest :D


“Brand new video game developer, Blossomsoft, announced today that Eternal Eden is officially released and available to the public via Internet download. Eternal Eden is a high quality old-school JRPG, featuring a strong cast of characters, an original storyline, puzzles, and intuitive game play, which appeals to new players of the genre while fans will instantly recognize the mainstays of this old style. Eternal Eden follows the journey of three children as they try to save their world from original sin.

Set out on a journey through two parallel worlds, Light and Dark worlds of Eden, it is possible for players to acquire skills, new weapons and legendary items. Events in one dimension sometimes have an impact on another.

The various threads of this world of enchantment are weaved together with rich atmosphere and an unforgettable music score.

• Completely packed with a large assortment of puzzles, complex riddles.
• Strategic battles against mythical enemies!
• Gorgeous old-fashioned graphics.
• A deep, yet easy to understand storyline that will enthrall gamers for countless hours.
• Over 20 areas: massive dungeons, incredible palaces, ancient forests, and more!

Eternal Eden is unquestionably set to please old-school enthusiasts that worshiped top-seller series such as Zelda and Final Fantasy!"

Eternal Eden isn’t ready for portals yet, because I’m using this current release as an opportunity to correct minor bugs and add more features such mouse support.

If you are an affiliate and you're interested to distribute the game, it's already automatically available for this system.

You can learn more about Eternal Eden on: www.blossomsoft.com/

[DayDream]

Congratulations on the release, Elder... I downloaded it and will give it a spin after christmas...
Good luck and all the best for 2009...

[Elder]

Congratulations on the release, Elder... I downloaded it and will give it a spin after christmas...
Good luck and all the best for 2009...

Thank you Chris! It's great to see you're still around :D

It's a RPG, I'm unsure you liked these type of games though.

*NOTE*
I forget to specify that a 'crashing' problem is occuring under Vista, even if the game run perfectly under XP.
An alternate version has to be temporarly downloaded via our forum.

It will be certainly resolved shortly for the launch on game portals.

[cliffski]

Good to see a game like this. Are you planning on selling this through the plimus or BMT affiliate program? It's the sort of game that can sell ok on my site...
Good luck with it all!

[Elder]

Good to see a game like this. Are you planning on selling this through the plimus or BMT affiliate program? It's the sort of game that can sell ok on my site...
Good luck with it all!

I'm already on affiliate program via Plimus, you can try to find the game with the catalog option.

[JGOware]

wow...this looks really nice. :)

"Eternal Eden isn’t ready for portals yet"

Do portals carry this type of game?

[papillon]

They've certainly carried Aveyond and Cute Knight. BFG even sort-of has Laxius Force, although for some reason they apparently never gave it a 'game of the day' release.

Portals do prefer mouse controls though!

[whisperstorm]

Any chance you could join BMT as well? I'd love to affiliate this..

Portals carry what folks want. You have to sort of cut your own path sometimes.

[cliffski]

Any chance you could join BMT as well? I'd love to affiliate this..


agreed. I prefer BMT too

[amaranth]

I've been selling Elder's game through Plimus and I've been making a killing. Amazing job, Elder!!!

[electronicStar]

JRPGs are really not my cup of tea, but I must compliment you on releasing a good quality game in a niche genre. These are really nice graphics, great use of colors.
Good luck.:cool:

[Elder]

Thank you everyone! And let's not forget that Amanda helped me to put me on my feet. She deserves the 'miss personality' award in the indie gaming industry.

Yes, I can register to BMT as well if it can enlarge my affiliate network. I'll probably check it tomorrow :D

[Pyabo]

Looks awesome! :) Old school goodness. Can't wait to try it!

Did you use RPG Maker?

[hippocoder]

Really, really enjoyed it. I had to stop playing because I didn't want to waste all day :(

Suggestions:

1. Add click to move. You can do the entire game on the mouse just fine. Just make a friendly hand pointer.

2. Save anywhere in a friendly town. I wanted to save my game but save was greyed out. A demo limitation?

[Elder]

2. Save anywhere in a friendly town. I wanted to save my game but save was greyed out. A demo limitation?

You can save at every blue crystal you meet.

Thank you for the feedbacks!


Looks awesome! :) Old school goodness. Can't wait to try it!

Did you use RPG Maker?

Yes, and it's thanks to it I could fulfill my ambition within the year.

In the past I worked on two devs on Nintendo consoles, both failed because of my thin budget and greedy publishers. I was tired to see my talent reduced to zero because of money factors, so I finally jumped on RPGmaker and aimed the casual audience. It's a wonderful tool, and a wonderful audience.

[GolfHacker]

I downloaded it and tried it out. I did miss the mouse control, especially on the main menu. The tutorial was pretty good, though I don't think you need quite so many enemies in the hall toward the end. It became a bit tedious and repetitive dispatching all the slimes in order to unlock the treasure and complete the tutorial. I would recommend reducing the number so the player can get right into the game. The story and writing seemed top-notch, and the graphics were nice.

I would love to carry more adventure games like this on our web site. It looked pretty good until we got to the princess's house and Noah's friend said "Damn". We only carry games that are appropriate for both children and adults, so I can't use this one. Shame too, because it looked like it would be a good one if it didn't have the language in it. :(

Good luck with it.

[Elder]

I downloaded it and tried it out. I did miss the mouse control, especially on the main menu. The tutorial was pretty good, though I don't think you need quite so many enemies in the hall toward the end. It became a bit tedious and repetitive dispatching all the slimes in order to unlock the treasure and complete the tutorial. I would recommend reducing the number so the player can get right into the game. The story and writing seemed top-notch, and the graphics were nice.

I would love to carry more adventure games like this on our web site. It looked pretty good until we got to the princess's house and Noah's friend said "Damn". We only carry games that are appropriate for both children and adults, so I can't use this one. Shame too, because it looked like it would be a good one if it didn't have the language in it. :(

Good luck with it.

Hello!

We're aiming 2 different types of market with this game.

You're currently playing the 'hardcore' version.

As I said, the 'casual' version isn't ready yet, which will include:
-mouse support.
-easier challenges.
-revised scenario. 'damn' with be removed for example.
-and some other changes.

So don't worry, you'll be able to distribute Eternal Eden to your audience if you wish :)

[hippocoder]

I would love to carry more adventure games like this on our web site. It looked pretty good until we got to the princess's house and Noah's friend said "Damn". We only carry games that are appropriate for both children and adults

Is drat and dang also banned?

[GolfHacker]

Is drat and dang also banned?

I think drat is ok. I personally would avoid dang, as it is too close to the other.

Most of our customers (probably 80% or so) are parents looking for games for their kids. That is our target market (parents with kids ages 6-14), and there are a lot of folks in that market. My goal is to develop a site filled with kid-friendly games that caters to that market, so we try to be very careful in screening the games we feature on our site. That means we don't carry any games with blood or gore, inappropriate sexual content, questionable language, dark or satanic themes, or objectives that requires the player to steal, kill, or do anything socially or morally unacceptable.

Obviously, there are some gray areas, and when something in a game falls into that range, then I have to decide whether or not to include that game in our catalog. Depending on what it is, I may play it safe and avoid the game altogether, or if I personally think it is ok, then I might feature the game but will write a short review that brings the issue to the parents' attention, and at that point the parents can decide for themselves. Drat and dang would fall into the gray range. So I would have to look at the game and see how and why those words are being used.

[hippocoder]

Interestingly, the beno comic used the word "crap" when I was younger. We're talking almost 30 years ago. Games like WoW have filters, which filter out bad words. Among these bad words are KKK and tampon, of all things. It filters all religious references and medical references also.

Basically, if you watch a film like "narnia" you can see its a textbook example on subjects to touch. It does include violence, but the final act is never shown (ie the actual taking of a life).

[Elder]

Don’t worry GolfHacker, as far as I’m concerned I respect the ideology of every distributor interested in Eternal Eden. I was conscious of this issue, and words like ‘damn’ will be censored in the ‘casual’ version.

I allowed myself some liberty with the ‘hardcore’ version (distributed via Blossomsoft). Noah’s friend (Downey) is a kid with a mischievous attitude, thus these words simply add a layer of credibility in the dialogues.

I was raised in the 1980s with movies such The Goonies, Explorers, Stand by Me, etcetera, and these movies weren’t particularly censored. 'damn' was recurent, but these movies weren’t morally wrong too. They taught me a lot.

What else can I say? I’m a very honest person and I aspire to inspire people to know the difference between good and evil with my stuff.

[cliffski]

Wow.

People really don;'t consider a game to be suitable for kids if it has the word 'damn' in it?
That's just freaky to me.
These days every piece of music, TV, and Movie aimed at the teenage or younger market seems to be centred around selling sex appeal, and every magazine for teens seems to be based around their sex life, but if you say the word 'damn', that's crossing the line?

The world is screwed up :(

I don't care if the game lets you burn down churches, I'll happily sell it once you are on the BMT affiliate list :D.

[Jack Norton]

These days every piece of music, TV, and Movie aimed at the teenage or younger market seems to be centred around selling sex appeal, and every magazine for teens seems to be based around their sex life, but if you say the word 'damn', that's crossing the line?

The world is screwed up :(
That's because you're in UK, and him in USA. Here in Italy for example, such "usage restrictions" would make all kids laugh :D
(not saying that it's good, just saying what would happen here)

[Elder]

I'm currently looking for BMT Micro, 20% royalties seems a bit high.

[ChrisP]

People really don;'t consider a game to be suitable for kids if it has the word 'damn' in it?
That's just freaky to me.
Remember that "where the bloody hell are you?" Australian tourism ad that was briefly shown in the UK? And you guys (well, some of you I guess) got all up in arms about the swearing?

It was hard for us to take those objections seriously. :rolleyes:

[GolfHacker]

The world is screwed up :(

No argument there.

I personally don't believe a game needs any of that stuff (language, sex appeal, violence, etc etc etc) to be fun. And the way my sales are growing year after year, I don't believe I need to sell any such games in order to be successful. I know my target audience, I know what they want, and I'll gladly limit my catalog (especially if it boosts their trust in my business). I'm not going to get rich, but I'm confident I can eventually earn enough to make a living doing what I love - making games. I will be content with that.

Sorry, Elder - I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I'll be watching for your casual version, and I will definitely take a second look when it is available.

[Karja]

Back on topic, I just have to mention that you've created a great game, Elder. The theme is interesting, the graphics are great, the puzzles are really neat... It's not all the way up there with Final Fantasy V (which I've wasted way too much time on), but I still had to buy the game almost immediately.

Damn you for stealing too many precious hours of my time! If my own game gets delayed it's all your fault. :D

[Elder]

Haha thank you very much Karja!

[luc]

very nice rpg! :D

[whisperstorm]

I find myself wishing I could play this on my Mac as well. Any thoughts on porting this to mac?

[mpdeveloper_A]

Nice work. It really does look good.

[Elder]

Sadly due to the nature of the game engine it won't be possible to get Eternal Eden on Mac. This is really sad indeed...

[hippocoder]

Try making your next title in flash :D




*ducks*

[tolik]

I've finished dozens of jRPG games from FF, Chrono Trigger, Tales of * to Star Ocean and others... Each time I play another rendition on the PC, I'm so missing mouse controls. Why should I hold SHIFT all the time?

[Pyabo]

Try making your next title in flash :D


HMMmmmmm... that gives me an idea. ;)

[jeb_]

I really like this game. I bought it and spent 8 hours on it already. The hidden items everywhere is a great idea, and the RPG system works really well (not automatically giving back health at save points makes it much more interesting to spend your health potions etc).

So far the only annoyance has been the puzzle with the moving rocks that chase you around. Those was really frustrating and not fun at all. You could've made it a little easier by marking the moving rocks in a different color, so you don't have to guess where to go next (since one mistake forces you to redo the whole puzzle).

[Elder]

I really like this game. I bought it and spent 8 hours on it already. The hidden items everywhere is a great idea, and the RPG system works really well (not automatically giving back health at save points makes it much more interesting to spend your health potions etc).

So far the only annoyance has been the puzzle with the moving rocks that chase you around. Those was really frustrating and not fun at all. You could've made it a little easier by marking the moving rocks in a different color, so you don't have to guess where to go next (since one mistake forces you to redo the whole puzzle).

Hello Jeb!
Thank you very much for the nice words! I agree, I will make the coin puzzle easier by decreasing the number of moving rocks.

I'm glad you liked the game overall! :)

Besides, Eternal Eden is currently under translation process: French, German and possibly Spanish.

[whisperstorm]

You should really look at Haxe as a development platform. It's everything you ever wanted with Flash w/o ties to Adobe.

Also, I pulled some strings inside my company and got a BlossomSoft game page up at Raptr.com:

http://raptr.com/game/PC/Eternal_Eden

However we dont have good screenshots or art, can you post some artwork we could use for the image?

[Leon]

Interview with Elder here: http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?t=15668

[luc]

When will Eternal Eden be released on Big Fish Games? I would like to use my points and purchase Eternal Eden there.

[Elder]

When will Eternal Eden be released on Big Fish Games? I would like to use my points and purchase Eternal Eden there.

sorry for the late reply. I am currently dealing with big portals. Eternal Eden will first be sold via ArcadeTown and Big Fish Games.

In addition I am currently working on Eternal Eden 2. The release date is intended for December 11th 2009.

[whisperstorm]

You should take pre-orders :)

[Jack Norton]

In addition I am currently working on Eternal Eden 2. The release date is intended for December 11th 2009.
lol I'm amazed how you (and also Amanda if I remember correctly) can set such a accurate deadline :D was my game I would just say "december".

[Uhfgood]

I probably missed this when it was released because I wasn't doing a review blog back then, but I could possibly review it in a few weeks. (My queue is full for the rest of this week and at least two weeks more)

[Andrej Vojtas]

Just some feedback from my comment in a different thread on this forum:

I just want to share a design decision that made me quit Eternal Eden instantly after really enjoying it for 2-3 hours. After the initial story twists and quest, the game comes to a point where you have only a general quest: find an NPC and you have absolutely NO clue where to start, and you are given the freedom to explore the whole big world. I quit without looking back. And just minutes before I was enjoying the game. The reason I quit was, I felt a real possibility I could waste my precious time playing this game, exploring the "wrong" part of the game. Maybe I wouldn't, maybe all parts were just as entertaining then the first 2-3 hours, but that's not what I have learned by playing countless other games.

I really liked my couple of hours with Eternal Eden, you do a lot of things right. Hope this helps.

[Elder]

Uhfgood, it's never too late to make a review :)

Andrej Vojtas, it's too bad, you gave up too much too quickly :) At least it's a pleasure to hear you liked the first hours.