Presskit

Windows
Available for Windows (DRM Free!)

"...The essence of a great game. It's fun, it's deep and it's a game that anyone would do well to try, even those who aren't necessarily RPG fans."

- JayIsGames

Phantasmaburbia is an indie RPG Adventure game. It has a focus on fun, playability, puzzles and atmosphere.

The year is 201X (twenty-X-teen) and Owl Creek, a small modern neighborhood, has suddenly been overrun with ghosts. Four local kids, wielding weapons found in their homes and assisted by spirits of their ancestors, go on a suburban adventure to fight them.

"...it's a game about a place. It's a game about a time; it's the video game equivalent of those classic childhood movies. It's packaged nostalgia, supplemented by a clever game that takes and modernizes the tropes we've come to expect from the humble RPG."

- Pixels or Death

Screenshots

Experience creepy bumps in the night...
Fast-paced battles (no grinding required)
Wait, there's ghosts in this game???? (Spoilers: yes)

"Eight impressively distinct main characters (four human, four ex-human) and a smattering of good gags and an economy of chatter despite a generally sombre tone... solid combat system with imaginative abilities."

- RockPaperShotgun
Bend the minds of small animals to your will! Muahahahaha!
Shake your sword to build power. Great at parties!
Explore an eerie midnight suburbia

"Phantasmaburbia is a highly streamlined experience with a lot of tricks up its sleeve to keep gameplay varied and interesting."

- IndieRPGs
Solve interesting, smartly designed puzzles
Tons of ghosts to fight (includng lots of SECRET ones)
Sprawling dungeons full of puzzles and hidden stuff

"...laughs in the face of billion-dollar games that don't show even half the heart and inventiveness that it does."

- Mash Those Buttons
(Spoilers: things inevitably start to get kind of crazy)
Choose your path through the game and what dungeons to play (*high replayability*)
Unique and challenging boss fights

"It's delightfully absurd, and it hits all the right notes: it's absurd, it's atmospheric, and it's funny."

- Nightmare Mode
Traverse varied ghostly dimensions
Uncover the mysteries of Owl Creek
Simple, deliberate design--more play, less talk!

How do you play?

This game is designed to be totally playable with just a mouse. The game was developed and playtested using a touchpad, so that's a fine substitute. You can also choose to substitute keyboard control for the usual walking, if you wish.



What's special about this game?

The general approach I've observed in role-playing game design is to use the classic RPG structure as a starting point; a framework that's tried and true, for the designer to wrap a story around. And that's a perfectly valid approach! But I think it also makes for a spread of RPGs today that are all just a bit too similiar. I wanted to make an RPG that was a game designer's game first. That's why this is a game that has a lot more gameplay than fluff.

For fans of RPGs, many elements might individually come as a shock--there's no NPCs, no shops, and just one town in the whole game. You gain levels in a way such that you're never forced to grind, and the battles themselves are made to go quickly and succinctly (this game doesn't waste your time). The decisions you make over the course of the game have little effect on the story, but have ramifications for your characters' abilities and what dungeons you play. The puzzles are based on spatial manipulation, and require logical thinking beyond memorization or basic lock-and-key archetypes. While I still clung onto some of the superficial bits of old RPGs that I loved like combat menus and inventories, I also worked at every turn to personalize those things or optimize them to make something that's both classic and new. In playing, all of these "weird" pieces fit together very well.

But morseo, this is a game for those who "aren't really into RPGS (anymore)." This is a pervasive sentiment, and one which I share (!!!) My goal at the outset was to make an adventure that I'd want to play--one that was fast and fun, with a good story but also good gameplay. Try it out.



How Big Is It?

The average player gets from beginning to end in about 8 hours, usually missing some of the side stuff. To see everything, you'll want to play through a couple times.



Tell me about the development!

Phantasmaburbia was started around March of 2011 and released on October 31, 2012. I made it in GameMaker 8.1. For the Mac release, I'm porting it to GameMaker: Studio. Using GameMaker gave me total freedom to make the game exactly as I'd wanted it, and let me focus on design rather than a ton of technical detail.



System requirements

  • Windows XP, Vista or 7
  • 1GB RAM
  • DirectX 8-compatible graphics card with at least 32MB of video memory
  • Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz or equivalent Processor
  • DirectX 8-compatible sound card
  • 150MB Space on your hard drive
This game is not particularly heavy in processing or anything. It should run just fine on any modern computer.

Help! Something is wrong

Lost your purchase? Looking for something that isn't here? Unfriendly ghost in your house? You can reach out to me via email: banov AT dumbandfat DOT com!


Big Thanks to Calvin French @ Kitty Lambda for giving me his site template