Tower of Dream
A Single Player, Arcade-Puzzle Adventure RPG
Download links
Korean, Last edited in 2013-02-15
English, Last edited in 2013-02-15
(Both are the newest versions. Azrael helped me update this map.)
I also posted it on SEN DLDB. Link to DLDB
All previous versions had some serious problems.
Playing this version of the map is heavily recommended. And even this version has a lot of bugs
Also note that playing this map in B.Net is not recommended. Many solutions to puzzles require a fast reaction speed, and some of them might be impossible to perform in a reduced reaction speed.
Storyline
Gna is a great kingdom which lasted for more than 2000 years. Throughout this long time, its great fame gradually faded, and everything that once made Gna a mighty kingdom - such as culture, millitary system, sociey - got too old. Not it's undergoing a war that can possibly end its long history. During the war, Nefed, a soldier, got captured by the enemy and was sent to a mysterious place.
Be him and reveal the secrets of this place - and what happened to Nefed before his capture.
(Part of this storyline is included in the intro.)
Introductions, How to Play
Tower of Dream is a single-player RPG map that has a very unique style. In fact, it's closer to an arcade game rather than an RPG.
This is Nefed, the protagonist. You will be playing as him, and the game involves destroying enemy units and solving puzzles as the screenshots show.
There is no complicated interface. You just have to move nefed and order him to attack enemy units. As you play this game, you will encounter some special objects, but they are mainly simple and will have explanations if necessary.
Useful Info & Characteristics of The Map
Despite (or maybe due to?) the simplicity of the gameplay, this map has many differences and unique characteristics, compared to ordinary RPGs.
Hallucinations
The biggest feature of this map's gameplay is that most enemy units are hallucinations, which will be shown blue as if they were your units. This emphasizes the fact that this whole place is like a dream. However, obviously they aren't yours, and Nefed will take damage from these hallucinations. Also, in most cases it is required to destroy all enemy units if you attempt to go through a door. The fact that these are hallucinations will help you later.
Stages, Save&Load
The map is divided into stages. You'll start in stage 1 (or intro, if you choose to), and if you reach the end of the stage, you will be sent to the next stage.
Most stages are composed of puzzles and battles, but occasionally there will be bosses. There are 4 bosses in total, but the last one is incomplete at this moment and will be automatically skipped if you reach there.
Whenever you die during a stage, you get back to the latest checkpoint and get a chance to retry. There are infinite chances, so don't be afraid of dying.
You'll frequently meet checkpoints. You won't need SC's own save/load system in many cases.
The map has its own save/load system. It's simple - if you have a code, just put it into the starport, and the game will be automatically loaded.
This will be very convenient when there is a patch.
When you clear a stage, you'll get a code. Each code has its own stage and gem numbers, and the starport loads that.
This is what you'll see when you press ` key.
Modified RPG-ish Elements
In ordinary RPGs, elements such as level-up, skills, items, NPCs and quests are a crucial factor. Tower of Dream, however, features a very different style. There is no level-up, item, or even a skill. There are only two actions Nefed can perform without any assistance: walking and attacking. There will be some other objects that will allow Nefed to perform something other than those (such as 'Bringer Totem's), but the majority of the game really relies on those two. Also, there is no level-up, so Nefed's HP as well as his attack is always fixed. Nevertheless, and perhaps surprisingly, you will have enough fun with just those elements.
There are a limited amount of NPCs, but they don't have much importance throughout the game. Likewise, there are some quests but they can't really be called quests since doing them is mostly mandatory to go on to remaining stages.
Likewise, terrains are done in a whole different manner. Almost everywhere is covered with rectangular tiles, which makes the place a lot artificial. This makes the overall gameplay space much narrower, heavily implying you that there is only one way to move on.
Difficulty
Although the map has simple interface, its difficulty is totally nightmarish. Even stage 1 can feel difficult for some players, and the sad news is that other stages are much more difficult compared to stage 1. Almost everything in this map is either a puzzle or something that requires good agility, and even battles are partially puzzles. Stage 5 will make you feel what this means.
Most puzzles are difficult. After stage 8, things will be ridiculously difficult. Later stages(15+) are totally nightmares. Stage 15 is the most difficult stage of the map, so congratulate yourself if you reached stage 16.
*VERY IMPORTANT: Many of the puzzles require very fast response speed. Playing in B.Net can be a serious penalty. DON'T play this in B.Net.
Gems
You will find some 'hidden' gems while playing. This doesn't affect the gameplay much. Having many gems doesn't grant you something like a hidden skill or an HP potion. Storylines or endings might change.
These gems are usually hidden. It's usually
1. hidden in places where you're not going to look carefully at
2. given when you solve some specific puzzles with extra conditions met.
The number of gems you got can be used as a record or an achievement. There are 13, and there will be 2 more in later versions.
*Note: This version doesn't tell you how many gems you got as you finish the game. Use the code from stage 19.
As I wrote above, this map is QUITE difficult. Having good skills really help. (Or, not having good enough skills can cause you frustration or ragequit. I will be really sorry if this really happens . If you're playing this for the first time, it will take at least 8 hours. (I think it'll be 10~14 hrs in average, if you are an ordinary person with enough tenacity.)
If you're stuck at somewhere, contact me via [email=jhwon_00@naver.com]this[/email]. I'll check if that's a bug or part of a puzzle, and give you a solution or a patch if necessary. (I don't check PMs or replies frequently, so an e-mail would be faster.)
Thanks to...
Heartbrea.kr, Portal 2 and Silent Hill, for music.
AR, for sword sound.
All testers, helpers and advisors. Especailly AceRPG, A-Bound, R.N_53, Elemental, Fare and Jack.
And you. Especially if you finish the map. Or if you give some practical advices/reviews about this map, or report a bug.
Update Log
v1:
Fixed a bug that made stage 18 impossible.
Transferred to Mediafire. Thank you so much FBI.
v2:
Fixed a bug that made stage 20 impossible.
v3:
Fixed some serious bugs in stage 9. But I'm afraid there are some more undetected. Sorry
v4:
Fixed so many bugs and translation errors.
v5:
Fixed so many bugs, mostly in stage 4 and 9. I'm pretty sure that the bug Leeroy saw won't happen again.
v6:
Removed some unintended solutions in stages 17 and 18. In other words, they got even more difficult
Fixed a bug that can happen while playing in single player mode.
v7:
Fixed stage 15 cutscene Dide part. Now it'll make more sense in most cases.
Fixed a stage 4 glitch.
Fixed a stage 9 glitch.
Changed the condition of 'hidden action' to 19+ HP. Now it'll be impossible to get this unless you use the hidden solution.
Changed the terrain of stage 14 so that it'll be impossible to meet the hidden condition in any unintended ways.
Some other unintended solutions were just left, as I didn't find big problems with those.
Made some changes in Korean version.
C key no longer works if the player is typing something in textbox.
Stage 7 became a little more difficult.
v8(Current Version):
Fixed some errors in the Korean version of the map.
Fixed some minor errors in stage 9.
The post itself was edited so that it could look a little better
Known Bugs
- The game often fails to create some hallucinations. I know why it happens, but I really don't have any solution to this and gave up fixing it. Well, sorry
- During dialogues, you'll see some minor awkward things. I did some efforts to save strings (65535 is too small ), and that caused such strange things. It's not a big matter, so I'm sure you won't have much problem with it.
Walkthrough
Look at the posts below.
Good luck!
Post has been edited 26 time(s), last time on Feb 15 2013, 1:06 pm by zzt.
None.