Unawakening | Free web browser game | Made by OrangeRKN

Skarjo wrote:That was super fun.

But you made me sad so go to hell.

I know you're a big Link's Awakening fan so this makes me happy :wub:

I think the plan is for aayl1 to stream this tonight on his twitch channel while I talk to him via discord. I think he'll probably post with the exact details but I'm looking forward to that, I've only actually watched two other people play the game (my girlfriend and samus_killer/Dan) so it will be really interesting for me!

OrangeRKN wrote:...I think the plan is for aayl1 to stream this tonight on his twitch channel while I talk to him via discord. I think he'll probably post with the exact details but I'm looking forward to that...

I love this idea and would definitely be up for listening in and asking questions in the chat! (If it doesn't clash with Pedz's Retro Hour stream at 20:00!)

Yeah I'd be really interested to watch/participate in that, it's a great way of learning more about the game!

jawa2 wrote:I love this idea and would definitely be up for listening in and asking questions in the chat! (If it doesn't clash with Pedz's Retro Hour stream at 20:00!)

Thanks for the heads up Jawa!

So as OrangeRKN stated above he has extremely kindly agreed to chat to me on Discord while I play this through on my twitch channel at 7PM tonight.

OR informs me that with my Pro Gamer Skillz we'll have this done within an hour and then we can all go and raid the Retro Hour stream.

Thanks so much for agreeing to this OR! Very very appreciated - will be an extremely interesting experience for me too!

...this is great, aayl1 and Orange! I'll be watching/listening to this incredible GR collaboration :toot:

.

If you want the full experience you may need a bit more time - there's lots of unique dialog for every "stage" of the experience, it's fun chatting to all the characters and seeing how they respond at each point!

Jenuall wrote:If you want the full experience you may need a bit more time - there's lots of unique dialog for every "stage" of the experience, it's fun chatting to all the characters and seeing how they respond at each point!

I'll likely go back and experience it "properly" by myself as well! I'm definitely a stickler for seeing 100% of everything but don't want to take up too much of OR's time or clash with previously scheduled streams etc!

Can't wait to get stuck in!

Holpil wrote:Great work Orange! Just played through it. Very authentic and had a lot of charm, particularly the sprites and dialogue!

Deffo this! It's like a Majora's Mask for Link's Awakening (remixing the world and the peeps). Ending was nicely enigmatic and mysterious too.

Also the crispness of the black and white art-style on a monitor (compared to whatever old Gameboy I originally played LA on) really holds up!

Thanks OR! (And Jawa for highlighting!)

Played the whole thing yesterday and thought it was really impressive that one person made it in their spare time. Also I thought the total lack of combat made a nice change, it also made playing via onscreen keyboard relatively stress free (aside from the times I accidentally hit capslock and the game stopped responding until I clicked it again).

As a side note, I really like the b&w pixel art, must have taken ages making the tilesets.

Ironhide wrote:Played the whole thing yesterday and thought it was really impressive that one person made it in their spare time. Also I thought the total lack of combat made a nice change, it also made playing via onscreen keyboard relatively stress free (aside from the times I accidentally hit capslock and the game stopped responding until I clicked it again).

As a side note, I really like the b&w pixel art, must have taken ages making the tilesets.

I hadn't considered capslock! It was a really easy fix so I just updated the live version - input is now case insensitive so it doesn't matter if capslock is toggled or not. Thanks for mentioning it!

deathofcows wrote:It's like a Majora's Mask for Link's Awakening (remixing the world and the peeps). Ending was nicely enigmatic and mysterious too.

Also the crispness of the black and white art-style on a monitor (compared to whatever old Gameboy I originally played LA on) really holds up!

I'm glad you liked it! Regarding the ending here is a quick explanation of the story (at least as I intended it):

Link's Awakening was set within the dream of the Wind Fish, with Koholint Island and all its inhabitants existing only within that dream. If you perfect clear Link's Awakening DX (by completing it without dying) Marin is implied to have been reincarnated in the "real" world as a seagull. Unawakening is the dream of Marin-as-a-seagull, trying to recreate her memory of her home*. On the player's arrival Marin foresees how they will help the people of the island and end her dream, just as (as Link) they originally awoke the Wind Fish, so she attempts to prevent completion of the trading quest by tearing the recipe page from the library book and throwing it in the bottle into the sea. Of course this washes back up on the beach and the player is able to complete the trading quest regardless. Accepting the inevitability of waking and the impossibility of reliving the past, Marin decides to wake up and the game ends (possibly fun detail - if you have the console open in your web browser for the ending you will see the game code ends by throwing the error "Error: The dream has ended").

The game is called "Unawakening" as an obvious reference to Link's Awakening and this being a tribute that recreates much from the original game without fully replicating it, but it is also a reference to the ending. The final owl dialogue says "The morning draws near... The seagull unawakens." The seagull is, of course, Marin, although the exact identity of the dreamer has been an unfolding mystery throughout the game (much as the island being a dream is unveiled throughout Link's Awakening). While one usually just awakens from a dream, the fact that Marin originally existed only in a dream means that for her, her form within the dream is her real one as opposed to her existence as a seagull in the "real" world. Hence she does not awaken, but "unawakens".

*Another of the owl's dialogues references this when he says "The dream is nought but a reflection... The dreamer but a shadow of a dream." and this is meant to be evidenced by the reduced screen size, sprites and palette. The dream of a seagull should naturally be less well realised than the dream of the deity-like Wind Fish. Marin is also something of an analogue to myself as the developer and gives me the perfect narrative excuse for why my game is worse than the original it is based on - I can claim it to be intentional! (While of course we all know it was inevitable :lol:

)

Did Aaron see me posting on twitch about getting OR on the twitchcast to talk about this and cock block me by getting in first? strawberry floater :lol:

Pedz wrote:Did Aaron see me posting on twitch about getting OR on the twitchcast to talk about this and cock block me by getting in first? strawberry floater

No I didn't see that! I'm sorry! I mentioned doing this on Sat if that proves my innocence?

No problems, I was joking anyway. It's something I was talking about in a few people's streams to try and get more GRcade stuff into the Twitchcast as as it stands there nothing GRcade about it other than the odd meme, so this was a great thing to have there and with Taf working on a game it was another person to talk to if he wanted to obviously. I decided to make a document on the PC with topics to chat about and add things as they came out. I think the stuff in the document I PMd you and other for the Twitchcast today as I was hoping we could get it going. Everyone is busy though bar OR :lol:

Yeah, Saturday is when I made the document. I guess we both had similar ideas at the time.

Going live now!

https://www.twitch.tv/aayl1

aayl1 is now streaming live; showcasing OrangeRKN's terrifc Unawakening game and chatting to the author as he plays! Come and join in - click here!

I can't figure out how to embed the twitch video but here is the link to the recording of me playing through Unawakening - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/887771734

I have thanked OrangeRKN on about 3 other mediums already but just wanted to do it again here - I am so so appreciative of you joining me for that, OR! I mentioned on the stream and it sounds hyperbolic but that will genuinely go down as one of my most cherished gaming experiences - I really doubt I'll get to experience plaything through a game with live developer commentary again! Was so much fun learning about the secrets and seeing an insight into the development process - It was interesting hearing about things I'd never have thought of e.g. having to rewrite dialogue so it looked better.

I hope everyone watching enjoyed that too and found it informative!

As for the game itself I thought it was incredibly charming and already want to re-play it without the (fun!) "pressure" of hosting/interviewing taking up some brain space. You've achieved a lot with a little and it's obvious a lot of love and thought has gone into this - from humourus easter eggs to decisions about dialogue boxes closing early to make more of an emotional impact.

Thanks for making it and thanks Jawa for making this thread as I would totally have missed it otherwise!

I actually just rewatched the stream myself to see what it was like - I'm glad the delay I had on what I was seeing vs the audio wasn't too bad! It was really great to watch you play through it and to talk through the design as well as answering chat questions so thanks to both you and everyone who was watching, it was fun!

If you scroll up a little I posted in a spoiler a brief explanation of the story as I intended it, in case that is of interest. If you do replay the game here is one other tip - you can use screen warping to get past the owl and off the beach at the very start before taking the torn page from the bottle, and there are some fun extra dialogues from a few characters if you do that. The rabbit is my favourite - he isn't in the location you expect him to be!

Oh and I was an idiot at one point - I think I said that using the digits 0-9 meant the tileset could be at maximum a 9x9 grid. It's a 10x10 grid because it starts at zero! I'm sure no one else noticed...

Ah, shame I missed this live! I will def watch later.

It really was a smashing stream; I felt that aayl1 employed a lot of enthusiasm and had a good handle on when to speak and when to let Orange explain stuff. The stream chat was engaging, too.

I thoroughly enjoyed it! Well played, aayl1 and Orange!

jawa2 wrote:It really was a smashing stream; I felt that aayl1 employed a lot of enthusiasm and had a good handle on when to speak and when to let Orange explain stuff. The stream chat was engaging, too.

I thoroughly enjoyed it! Well played, aayl1 and Orange!

Thanks for the hosting compliments Jawa! I've done a little bit of hobby radio-presenting in the past (and mega veterans of GR might remember "Radio Radar", a podcast me, Cora SchminkyPinky, Crimson Clown and CitzenErased did waaaay back in 2007) and presenting/hosting is something I really enjoy so that means a lot!

Eventual youtube link here (when it's done processing):

Edit: will need to sort out my YouTube account so I can upload longer vids apparently.

Unawakening | Free web browser game | Made by OrangeRKN

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