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[espectra]

This is you



You're searching for your kidnapped sister. But to find her, you'll have to fight mask-wearing severed heads, ill-tempered ladybugs that spin and toss you (AKA “Viper Beetles”) catapult-riding felines that lob items at you, plus more crazy monsters with crazier powers in this hardcore, permadeath adventure.

Voyage to Farland is a cute but hardcore graphical roguelike inspired by the Japanese Mystery Dungeon games. Cute like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, hardcore like Shiren the Wanderer.

Here's what's in store for you so far:
  • 5 unlockable themed dungeons
  • 4 NPCs you can recruit to help you fight
  • rescue codes to save and be saved by other players



Video:




Check out the website for the demo version, hints, an intro guide and more:
http://www.peculiar-games.com/

The game's had a long development cycle, starting out as Nintendo DS homebrew, moving to Android and landing on desktops this past summer. I personally feel that the harder Mystery Dungeon games deserve a wider audience in the west even though few of them have been localized and sold here with the exception of the Pokemon MD games. Hopefully Voyage to Farland will get western gamers interested in this "console roguelike" sub-genre.

[espectra]

Hi everybody,

I made a Dev Let's Play list showing a rescue run in the game. It's sort of social networking for roguelike players - when you die in the game, you can generate a rescue request code, send it to another player in email or on a forum, and they can fight their way down into the dungeon to rescue you.

Check it out: Voyage to Farland rescue mission run

[laughing Frogs]

i really liked it and i'm actually thinking of bying it(for android).
But just so we're clear, it's pretty ugly. What does it do different than shiren?

[espectra]

i really liked it and i'm actually thinking of bying it(for android).
But just so we're clear, it's pretty ugly. What does it do different than shiren?

I agree, the programmer graphics could use improvement, I just haven't been able to afford a real artist yet. Content-wise it's maybe a $10 game, but I've kept the price low partly due to the graphics. Some are nice, though, e.g. the bits I've borrowed from Dan Cook's free graphics sets.

About how it's different from Shiren, to be honest it borrows a lot from Shiren. However, there are a few key differences (Vials, Catapult monsters, etc.) I wrote a couple of blog posts about this you could check out. One player emailed me & wrote that Voyage struck him as a mashup of Shiren and Earthbound.

If Voyage is well-received, I'd like to make a sequel and branch off from the Mystery Dungeon format a bit more. We'll see.

[espectra]

YouTuber iJimTM has been making some nice Let's Play videos of Voyage to Farland. Here's his playlist in case you'd like to check it out:







I also made an attempt at a "speedrun" video recently. Speedrun only in the sense that I take the exit to the next floor as soon as I find it instead of scouring every floor for loot. Note that I screwed up & only got the commentary, so I set the video to some of YouTube's classical music offerings - and of course YouTube then inserts ads...

[espectra]

Quick update - there's now a Mac version of the game and a Mac Demo.

I also wrote up an official "Guide to Not Dying" players might want to check out.

[espectra]

Here are a couple of gifs!


The Toy Robot getting tossed by a "ViperBeetle" (ahem)


Escaping by using a WarpPouch

[espectra]

Here's a quick Voyage update - I've been hard at work trying to improve some of the graphics in the game. Here are a couple of examples.

Tinbot monster


EvilOba(tarian)

Here's the full imgur album where I'm putting examples of the graphical work. It has a couple of animated GIFs showing a particle effect I've added to show a monster's soul evaporating upon defeat.

Also, another bit of news - I started a Greenlight campaign for the game. Your (Yes!) vote would be most appreciated. So if you're a fan of graphical roguelike or Mystery Dungeon games, check it out!

Finally, if you like Let's Plays, check out

to get a feel for the game.

[Whiteclaws]

Wooh, pokemystery, my fav game, followin'!!!

[espectra]

Wooh, pokemystery, my fav game, followin'!!!

Hey Whiteclaws, thanks for following!

Since Voyage has a rescue system sort of like Shiren the Wanderer's (DS), I have big plans for when the game gets Greenlit. If we can get a good sized community going with players rescuing each other, it should be a blast!

[espectra]

Quick update that I threw together a Greenlight Demo build (limits your character to 5 levelups). It has the nice advantage of packaging in the new sprite work I've done in the past few weeks. Currently Windows only (although you could grab the v2.2.5 Mac/Linux demos & download the new sprites here).

[espectra]

OK, couldn't resist this. A roguelike "Moment of Mayhem" - wait for it...

The action part is using an experimental "overclocking" option (sending double the VBL ticks). I'll probably add it to the game for more twitchiness. 

[espectra]

I released version 2.2.7 this past week.

It includes the monster graphics overhaul and a new game speed setting. Here's an imgur album with the new screenshots.

I also added the free demos to the Itch.io page and here's the Greenlight campaign for good measure.

[espectra]

I added Japanese localization to the PC/Mac/Linux versions of the game in the latest update (v 2.2.9)

だから、日本語で「Voyage to Farland」をプレーしてみてください！

Demo versions here.

Imgur album with a few Japanese screenshots.