Pepper Odyssey; a Shipwreck on an Unruly Island DEMO OUT!

[MIGGO]

Welcome to


An RPG about surviving a shipwreck on an unruly and outlandish island.

Plot:

A pepper merchant is shipwrecked in a remote island. Remote, but far from desert. In fact, the island is filled with various factions controlling their territories, some content in going about their business, others scheming great destinies for the island.

Survive the lawless island: fight, trade and explore. Gather scrap to trade, improve your shelter and build yourself the means to escape; or meddle in the affairs of the island and realize a vision for its future.

Features:

-Enter a Quirky and Unexpectable World. Encounter anything from a sad pile of leaves to a giant copy machine made of stone.
-Awesome Pixel Art; explore every nook and cranny of a colourful tropical island.
-Try Your Luck; each area of the island includes a set of randomized events and battles.
-Turn Based Battle.
-Peace or War; use physical force or influence the emotions of your enemies through literature to resolve matters peacefully.
-Multiple Endings
-An OST of Surreal Exotica

You may visit the ITCH.IO page if you like!
Or check the AGS Database







Progress (very roughly):

Graphics 100%
Writing 100%
Scripting 99%
Sound & Music 90%

Let's GO!

[CaptainD]

This looks amazing!!!!     

Those screenshots are a thing of beauty and the setting has so much potential! All the best with development.

[MIGGO]

@CaptainD Thank you!

[Rik_Vargard]

Wow this looks epic. Good luck on you journey, I'll be following this one 

[MIGGO]

Thanks! @Rik_Vargard

Here's a little gameplay clip of the first Boss Battle in the game. Copy Machine 5000; a giant stone copy machine that emerges from an ancient pyramid to protect the interests of a bureaucratic cabal.

You can see a little how the fighting works: you can scan the enemy and change its emotional status (ES) with literature. What literature to use can be deduced from the current ES and the goal ES where the Special Attack will become available. Both information will be displayed when scanning an enemy.

Currently there's an in-game document that instructs the player in the use of literature in combat, but I've got a hunch that I'll have to make some kind of a tutorial for anybody to get the hang of it. After all, there's the option of just using violence! I wouldn't want to encourage players to take that route because it's easier.

The two approaches can also be combined, of course.

[The Last To Know]

Looks great!

[heltenjon]

The fighting system looks like I will finally be able to put the old saying to the test: "Never send a metaphor to a symbol fight!" 

Love the wackyness of it all.

[MIGGO]

Arrows on the map scene!

Otherwise I've been testing the game and I think I'm closing in on having a playable demo ready. So one might be popping up real soon 

"Never send a metaphor to a symbol fight!"

Then this old saying may be put to the test 

[Jabbage]

This looks absolutely fascinating!

[MIGGO]

Thank you Jabbage!

Pepper Odyssey's demo is downloadable on ITCH

Pepper Odyssey's demo is out!

I really needed to publish this demo to get on with development on the full version. That said, I didn't hone everything to a state of perfection, I don't think a demo has to have that. This demo let's you explore the locations, enemies, characters and game mechanics that have been done as of February 2025.

Pepper Odyssey Demo contains some hours of fun depending on how much you want to explore and mess around. If you feel lost on what to do just check the read me in the .zip file. It's still on the table how much signposting there's gonna be in the game, so right now there's not a lot.

There's an in-game document in your inventory as you start the game, which explains how to use literature in combat. If you want to be merciful to your opponents and avoid violence it will help you figure out the system. Basically, enemies in the game have emotional states that can be manipulated through literature to uncover a special move which ends an encounter peacefully. Messing with the emotional states of an enemy may yield other tactical advantages as well, such as weakening attack power, changing their attack loop or lowering accuracy.

Bugs I have cleared out to the best of my abilities.

I hope you enjoy the demo and it inspires you to follow the project's development to the full version!

All the Best!

[MIGGO]

I haven't scheduled any release date yet, with my last game I projected it way too far so I'll refrain from doing that this time around. Locations are fully planned and I have some of the characters sketched down but there's room for more. I wouldn't be worried about planning though, I do a lot of stuff on the go, it's how I work, I value immediacy over deliberacy.

EDIT: I updated the progress bit on the main post it was lagging behind a bit.

[lorenzo]

I've yet to play the demo, but I love how unique the game looks!

[MIGGO]

@lorenzo Thanks a lot! You may play the demo at your leisure!

[MIGGO]

Good News! The Pepper Odyssey Demo is now available on MacOS by courtesy of @Nahuel!

Cheers

[MIGGO]

Here are some screens from the inside of a pyramid; a dungeon to be explored:






Last week I was doing one of three dungeon locations planned for Pepper Odyssey; the interior of the Pyramid. The other two locations are Observatory Forest, a dark forest that has to be traversed in order to get to the Star Dome, and The Forgotten Emperor's Tomb which I've yet to begun any work on. The Observatory Forest is already WIP!

The idea of these dungeon segments is that there are two variables you have to keep an eye on. One is your light source: candles. The other is your progress. Candles may be bought or maybe somebody will give them to you if you're going down on their behalf... Each time you descend further or backtrack, you lose candles, unless you're lucky to find some lying around. You might be unlucky though and get lost, losing candles and not gaining progress. So these segments add a bit of resource management into the game which should yield some close calls and sticky situations. Ought to be fun! Also these closed and dark places add variety to the otherwise sunny and lush milieu of the tropical island.

Some storylines will require the player to enter one or two of these dungeons, but they might be worthwhile to dip into just for some sweet loot!

[Gary Gallo]

It looks impressive, it's really a very high-quality work. I wish you every success with this pairing.   

[MIGGO]

Thanks Gary!

Here's a little development update:

I think I'm entering a second phase in development of Pepper Odyssey.

Twelve out of thirteen explorable locations are now in the game with backgrounds drawn and a bunch of enemies and events in each! So that leaves only one more to go and I'd say I'm approaching a pretty significant milestone.

I've already began making two of four questlines to the game, with one completed and another closing in on completion. Completing a questline will lead the player to one of the endings of the game. The exciting thing here, development-wise, is that once the last location is done it's going to be all about the questlines from there on! Which in practise is scripting events and bossfights, roughly speaking. There's a lot in place already in way of characters and event cards that I may appropriate in the game's quests, so I think the questlines will be ready before long.

After that there are going to be some big backgrounds for the intro and endings that have to drawn. I think that's going to be a phase of it's own since drawing takes its time. It'll be a good idea to also polish the game soundwise, maybe revise some of the battle effects, and fix the balance of grinding vs. rewards in the gameplay, in between the drawing.

Yeah, that's a little update about development. I think it's going pretty dandy, let's hope it stays that way!

Screens:

[MIGGO]

The graphics for the intro and endings are in place!

I'm now testing Pepper Odyssey, seeing that everything works and adjusting the gameplay. Testing requires patience as it can be done only so much at a time. I had an accident where I adjusted how the world levels up as you interact with it, turned out I broke the system and messed up my save file and had to begin testing of that story branch anew! But, oh well, that stuff just comes with the territory, and it's good to go through it now and not after release, right? On a brighter note, the game is lots of fun to play!

In between testing I'm making notes on the sound and began making another battle tune, though I'm unsure if the game needs it.

Also I'll be preparing for release, this time I would like to do it better than with Melon Head because, with it, I just dropped it when it was ready and only after checked out marketing tips and such. I'll try to get some pre-release reviews for example, and I need to set up the Steam page. The marketing side of gamedev sucks so much ass, including the pressure of ensuring that nobody feels ripped off, that I'm planning to focus on some shorter non-commercial projects after this.

That said, I'm very grateful that I've had the energy to make Menial, Melon Head and Pepper Odyssey, three long term projects that have required lots of perspiration and resilience. However, my next project will be to try and find a more relaxed creative practice, one that doesn't require some Calvinist Corporate-Executive-Spirit to haunt my body, psyche and experience.

P.S. Oops! This almost sounded like a postmortem. It's nearly complete, but I still need a few month until Pepper Odyssey is fully available!

[brushfe]

Congratulations! This is going to be such an incredible game! The last 10% is the hardest, but you've clearly got the endurance for the long haul 

I've spent half my life in marketing, and I know what you mean... it's like a whole other project just getting your game into the world. But with something as imaginative and unique as this, I'm sure it'll be worth it!