Astral Trip Simulator

There is a lack of astral projection games. There is not a AAA or AA video game, nor one made by an independent studio, on the subject of astral projection.

Some feature the topic. Games that feature astral projection always touch the subject superficially.

That fact most surely disappoints the players. Those who expect the astral projection part of the games to have any kind of depth.

And this is only when you take into account astral projection. Dreams and (especially) lucid dreams are even more underrepresented in video games.

You may be a new or advanced astral projector and lucid dreamer and have wanted for a long time already. To play a game that involves your practices, visions, experiences, and adventures.

Or you may want to play a game that allows you to access the astral plane. To witness its wonderful, breathtaking, scary, or otherwise atypical vistas and denizens.

Maybe you are a seasoned player of roguelike games.

Or perhaps you are an avid CRPG gamer? Hooked on any of the most salient aspects of CRPGs, like the story, character progression, or loot?

Whatever the case be, Astral Trip Sim has you covered.

In the game, you live a normal life daily. But you become a disruptive dream adventurer and astral traveler at night.

Seen from a dungeon adventurer's point of view? It’s a proposition with very exotic destinations, creatures, and treasures to resist.

Add to that the simulation part. It has actual real-life techniques and lifestyles one has to follow to be able to astral project. The cool factor of the sum of ATS’ parts goes through the roof!

RPG Maker MZ, the video game development toolkit by Kadokawa.

I’m strongly convinced that RMMZ is a complete tool. It is very capable of creating a great small or medium-sized CRPG-like video game by itself.

The issue with RM is that the temptation to be carried away by its asset packs is great. If you let that happen you end up with a cookie-cutter type of game. A type of game that gets canceled by those who have previous RM playing experience.

I didn’t have a lot of exposure to the RM scene or the market for RM games. Just a bit over two years, but I’m tired of RM’s vanilla assets already.

I couldn’t possibly play a game made with RM’s base assets. Even the royalty-free improvements on the base assets made by the community did tire me.

The RM visual assets improvements by the community are valuable, granted. But I think they aren’t for the game that Astral Trip Sim is going to be.

The visual aspect of RM is geared towards JRPGs in general. To JRPGs featuring chibi characters particularly.

That style is way over the top for a game as extremely dissimilar to a JRPG as ATS will be.

Vertical Slice Crowdfunding Campaign

ATS is in a state of vertical slice / closed alpha. It needs original aural assets, story, quest content, and original cell-shaded art visuals.

The proof of concept is there, and already waiting for the community at large to test it.

Most of the game’s proprietary systems are in place and functional. The first dungeon of the game is also playable.

The bottom line: the alpha is in a debugged state which makes it a sort of playable experience (not yet a game, though).

The game is not known yet (January 2024). To pretend that a regular crowdfunding campaign would work is just not realistic.

That is why the first crowdfunding campaign for the game will use PayPal as the game’s funding tool.

The benefit of carrying the campaign on PayPal is that even donors without a credit card will be able to pitch in.

Also, it’s not time-locked as a campaign on a crowdfunding portal would be.

These are some of the general benefits (not the actual rewards) supporters will get:

No-Haste Funding Phases

Astral Trip Simulator is going to have two crowdfunding phases.

Crowdfunding Phase One

Phase one of ATS’ crowdfunding will be for $6000. This figure is 5% of the total required amount to develop the game to the gold version.

Backers can submit funds through PayPal.

Pledge money in phase one, and get lifetime Jimminy Studios community seeder status. on top of the rewards for the supporter tier of the donation.

Crowdfunding Phase Two

Phase two of ATS’ crowdfunding will be for the 95% remainder or $114000.

It will probably run on Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

Support Compromise

Jimminy is going to have a service model integrated into the studio’s business model.

This means that from ATS onwards all our games will have indefinite ongoing support.

Likewise, ATS will be unrolling versions for different platforms beyond the Windows master.

One-on-One Social Network

There aren’t or will be rock stars working for Jimminy. We aim to become a long-lasting cottage-grade independent video games studio.

We would abhor to become either sellouts or an industrial op with hundreds of employees.

We plan to be always ready to hear what the community has to say and to act accordingly. On a one-on-one basis.

You can see by the looks and minimal functionality of this website that it has a lot of room for improvement.

But this is a non-issue. Once the first phase of funding starts to get funds, we will unleash a community website. It will integrate with the crowdfunding platform, forums, and it will (possibly) have social network features.

Meetings with The Dev Team

All backers get access to ATS’s Discord server, and they will be able to meet with the team every week.

One day each week, for 45 minutes, we’ll have one-on-one chats about the game.

Early Access

All backers will get access to the three newest weekly releases of the pre-release game.

Reference Materials

Supporters from tier 3 (Astral Religionist) and up will be able to access all the long-form dev blog entries. All the articles I wrote from January 2022 up to now and beyond, are in a backers-only blog.

Since the game’s dev blog at Dreamwidth closed, those entries aren’t available anywhere else.

The articles in the exclusive dev log will not be simply news about the game. It will also have content purposely written to show the inner workings of the studio. At both the business and development levels.

This is a great value if you are just starting as a solo or indie game developer. You can see the whole development cycle of a game as it happens and continues up to release day.

This campaign has only seven tiers since it is only for the 5% of the game the vertical slice requires.

$5 — Physical Dreamer

A thank you message with your name on the game's website
Set of Astral Trip Simulator wallpapers
Access to the game's Discord server
Access to the pre-release version of the game
Lifetime access to Jimminy’ community channel on Discord

$10 — Buffer Zone Dreamer

Previous rewards
Game Soundtrack

$20 — Astral Religionist

Previous rewards
Additional game keys: 1
Access to the paywalled Astral Trip Sim long-form articles dev blog

$50 — Astral Lucid Dreamer

Previous rewards
Special in-game item implemented as per your specifications

$100 — Summerland Dweller

Previous rewards
Additional game keys: 1 (total 2)
Special edition art ebook
Lifetime early access to all Jimminy Studios games

$150 — Spiritual Guide

Previous rewards
Additional game keys: 1 (total 3)
Your name in the in-game credits

$300 — Self-Luminous Angel

Previous rewards
Additional game keys: 1 (total 4)
An in-game character based on your likeness

1st Milestone, $400: All the RPG Maker Versions

Astral Trip Sim’s case is atypical. I developed the vertical slice using placeholder graphics.

The persons who created those graphics gave them away for free. However, the graphics on which many of those graphics are based are not royalty-free. Some are based on sprite assets that come with the toolkit. They are free to distribute only if the game that uses them is itself free. Otherwise, you have a legal copy of the toolkit from which the assets originate.

Only backers who donate will be able to download the pre-release game. I think it’s only fair to make the very first funding milestone be the money it takes to buy all the toolkit versions.

Owning all the RPG Maker versions the game will exit a dangerous gray area. Of being already distributed in exchange for money. And doing it without having the licenses for many of its assets (not just the graphics).

That is Kadokawa’s policy on licensing assets from the RM saga. If you use assets from them, you need a registered copy of each RM from which you used assets. And the same goes for derivative works made using those assets as a template.

2nd Milestone ($2200 funded): 3% of the Game’s Cell-Shaded Art Graphics

Astral Trip Sim will have very frantic dungeon combat. At the same time a very, very laid-back awake life sim mode.

The story’s genre is going to be psychological horror, and the visual style has to match that.

Additionally, the game is set in a vaporwave version of the year 1987. That's the reason why its visual style has to be something else entirely.

A mixture of retro-horror Americana with vaporwave, in a Pacific Northwest backdrop.

It will be cartoons informed by 1980s cartoons, that don't venture too much into the realistic.

3rd Milestone ($4000 funded): 3% Story and Quests

Astral Trip Sim has to have a quest aspect. Otherwise, the time the player spends awake would become too monotonous.

Dungeons (dreams, APs, LDs) will keep the roguelike aspect, which is going to be the main selling point of the game.

Due to that, the awake quests aren’t going to be essential to finish the game. They will help each play-through to be different. That will be due to different NPC interactions and quest choices the players make.

The story, which will entail both the awake and asleep aspects of the game, needs to be written by up to two writers.

Ideally one will have experience writing for story-heavy video games, like RPGs. The story is not going to be heavy, though.

The story is going to be scary, meaningful, deep, entertaining, moving, and faith-inspiring. Yes, but it’s not going to be the focus, as the story is the focus of any RPG game.

4th Milestone ($6000 funded): 3% Music and Sound

I’m going to let you on a personal secret: I’m an avid fan of David Lynch media, particularly of Twin Peaks. Astral Trip Sim is going to be set in a town that’s suspiciously reminiscent of Twin Peaks.

It’s a given to consider Angelo as the third most influential creator of the series after Lynch and Frost.

I plan the game to give some intertextuality. I plan to do it without trespassing the IP rights of others, of course. Due to that, the music aspect will be taken care of greatly.

Ideally, a virtuoso composer who can capture the spirit of TP’s soundtrack. And can do it without blatantly stealing from it.

The music has to be the game, like Angelo’s music is the Twin Peaks series.

A dominant sound engineer and/or designer has to join the team too.

I have played hundreds if not thousands of video games. I did it by paying attention to them from the perspective of a game designer.

I’m convinced that good sound design, from SFX to interface sound effects, adds a lot to a game’s feel.

Participate on ATS' Development Today!

Astral Trip Sim is going to be a heavily community-influenced game.

Through crowdfunding the game we’ll incorporate supporter-related things (like characters).

Donors will get some game keys depending on their support level.

Whatever your level of support, you’ll get lifetime access to the game’s Discord server chat channel.

This is a direct line to the dev team. It is a tool that comes in very handy for students. Also for those who want to invest in the independent video game studio market on an ongoing basis.

Donate any amount during Astral Trip Sim’s first phase of crowdfunding. That gets you recorded as a Jimminy Studios Community Seeder on the studio’s website forever.

Becoming a community seeder will grant you lifetime access to the chat of any future game by Jimminy. You’ll be able to know the inner workings of any new game project from day one.

You can participate in Astral Trip Sim’s phase one of crowdfunding. At this moment you can do it by donating through PayPal.

Please click here to join Astral Trip Simulator's Mailing List