Haven: Secret of Caledria
A downloadable game for Windows
** DEMO AVAILABLE! **
Developer's Note
When I play classic JRPGs from the 90's, the overwhelming nostalgia I get makes me wish that I could erase my memory of those games just so I could get that fresh experience . That nostalgia is an endless source of motivation for Haven: Secret of Caledria.
My goal is to create a classic JRPG experience that's palatable to a modern audience. The game draws inspiration from several classics such as Lufia 2, Chrono Trigger, FFVI, and Suikoden. As someone with a full-time job and a family, I realize that some fans of the genre may not have a lot of time to sink into a 20+ hour game. Haven will be for those who can appreciate games that are simple in design, but have just enough depth to keep players engaged.
Synopsis
A raid on the region of Olund comes to a halt when Ziedrick, Captain of the Caledrian army, finds out that he was manipulated by Emperor Rofel to lead the attack. His decision to spare the lives of the Olund rebels sets a plan in motion that ushers in an age of peace. Years later, Ziedrick would pass away, leaving his son Oswyn to carry on his legacy.
In an attempt to live up to his father's image, Oswyn quickly rose among the ranks of the Caledrian Army. But with the war coming to a close, he begins to feel a lack of purpose and questions whether or not he should carve his own path to find himself.
After a royal treasure is stolen, Oswyn seizes an opportunity to honor his father, and begins a pursuit of the thieves . Unbeknownst to him, Oswyn would stumble on a secret that goes on to change his life forever.
Features
On-Map Encounters
- Encounter enemies through direct contact while moving in hostile areas. Specific effects will be triggered based on the direction the enemy is facing when approached.
Target Enemies based on Area of Effect
- Use your Arts to strategically target enemies in various positions.
Unleash Special Attacks
- Build your Morale and defeat your enemies using attacks that are unique to each party member.
Capture and use Monster abilities in battle!
- Assign specific monster abilities to your party members and use them in battle.
Build up a Village to Unlock Secrets (Not in Demo)
- Gain new abilities and hidden items as you grow your base of operations.
Embark on various Sidequests
- Explore the world of Caledria to unlock hidden locations, characters, items, and more.
Collect cards and battle with them against various NPCs
- Take a break by playing a fun card based mini-game!
Latest Changes
Demo Version 5.1.3
- Battle Backgrounds updated
- Credits updates
- Code Optimization and Bugfixes
- Bugfix for Nova Shot Mini-game
Demo Version 5.1.2
- Removed custom icon from executable file to avoid false positives with anti-virus software
- Changed Save Statue to offer healing before the save menu
- Changed Line Height to avoid text cut-off in some menus
- Changed Timer Display to show a UI window behind the timer, along with a mini-game tally
- Added details to Novagon's card confirmation after a match
- Fixed missing restoration item sound effect in battle
Demo Version 5.1.1
- Elemental Mechanics changed slightly. Elemental weaknesses are now determined by opposing elements instead of an elemental wheel.
- Battles now have less delay between actions, making pacing a bit faster.
- Jewelry now has two enhancements as opposed to one.
- Changed Down/Up status effects to modify damage/healing values instead of base stats. This helps with balancing battles and stacking bonuses from states and equipment.
- Windowskin has been slightly modified for better contrast with text, and more visual depth.
- More troop variety in Trista Pass.
Demo Version 5.1.0
- Changed "Fir" abbreviation to "Fire" in config menus and tutorials
- Changed "Sm." and "Lg." abbrevations for item names.
- Changed "Morale Brew" to "Elixir"
- Changed "Holy Balm" to remove all "Down" status effects
- Changed Traveling Merchant Items in their respective Shops
- Changed Several Status Effect names to show "Down" and "Up", instead of "-" and "+", respectively.
- Fixed bug for Nova Crystal puzzle in Thrall Woods
- Fixed bug where not all actors would turn and run when escaping from battle
- Fixed Item and Skill List spacing in Menus
- Added damage to Angus' Sludge Bomb skill
- Added small impact explosion for Fireball spell
- Removed End-of-Demo Survey
- Removed optional demo extension
- Hotfix added June 25th, 2022
Demo Version 5.0.9
- Fixed lag issue with Nova Shot Mini-Game.
Demo Version 5.0.8
- Rebalanced and arranged various skills so that they are more useful than they were previously.
- Fixed issue with specific State Icons/Counts not appearing on the Battle Status
- Fixed mouse issue with selecting Novagon Cards post-match.
- Updated World Map Tileset.
- Added traveling merchant to Trista Pass.
- Updated various plugins to fix various small bugs.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- New Year, New Goals, New DemoJan 03, 2022
- Demo Version 4.1.0 is Live!Feb 03, 2021
- On Second Thought...Jan 24, 2021
- Am I Porting to RMMZ?Nov 22, 2020
- Demo Updated to 4.0.3Sep 25, 2020
- Major Announcement - Name ChangeSep 15, 2020
- Game Mechanics: Knowing When to Let GoFeb 19, 2020
- I've been slacking... But!Jan 06, 2020
Comments
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I'm playing through this demo again after my first playthrough back in 2022.
I am really looking forward to this game :) How's the progress coming along?
Thank you so much for asking! As far as progress goes, it's a tough question to answer because I've decided to make some significant changes to the project for reasons I won't get into now. I'll post that on the devlog in the future. But the TL:DR version is:
After I had to step away from my project for a very long time due to other commitments, jumping back into it was an absolute nightmare. This was mainly because of the lack of organization and convoluted methods I used to develop the game in the first place. Since the changes, I'm working with a much cleaner database, much cleaner code, and much cleaner eventing. All with detailed notes that makes for a much more streamlined development process. So when it comes to the process "since" the changes, it's going great! Haha.
this was such a cool experience, i feel like it would benefit from more polishing in collisions but overall it's REALLY good. really curious about the path the history will go after the demo
I loved playing this! It reminds me a lot to some of the games I used to play back in the day! I was wondering if you'd like to have the game translated into Spanish? I'd love to help you with that (for free)! I'm a professional translator, hit me up if you'd be interested :D
So where does the demo go up to in this game? Or how far in the game would you say the demo goes up to?
awesome demo. Would love to see the complete version some day soon.
Thanks! I'm back to a semi-regular development schedule so progress has been decent. I'll be making some updates to the demo to polish up the graphics and features.
Hi, Just wanted to say that I really like this game and the animations so far and am eager to see where you end up going with game!
Thank you so much! These comments always help keep the motivation high.
Please add 32-bit and Windows XP support to the game. The game has a retro theme and Windows XP is the ideal platform for it. Since the game has a retro theme, Windows XP would be the ideal platform for it.
dude wanted to play this on windows xp so bad he said it twice
Liked it enough I gave you small money. Plz finish.
Hey Neo!
Wanted to check in and see how progress is going!
Hey Indie! Words can't explain how much I appreciate you checking in.
I'm actually going to write a blog post in the coming days to talk about development and progress. I hate to say it, but there's been basically no progress for quite a while. I'd like to say that "Life" has gotten in the way, which would only be partially true. The truth of the matter is I was simply not prioritizing Haven, and had no motivation to work on it. But this wasn't a conscious decision. It just sorta happened that way. When I realized that, I had to look into my project through a different lens to figure out why I couldn't be bothered to work on it. Now that I have that figured out, I'm motivated to work on it again. Haha. Side note, Haven might look a bit different in the next update. I won't be moving away from the core design and mechanics though, so no worries there.
Thanks again for checking in!
I can't wait to see what direction you take it all! Sometimes we all need a step away and reevaluate!
Hi, I'm a novice RPG Maker MZ author and I have the same resources as you do. I was amazed when I saw your work because it's really beautiful. I took a little inspiration from some of your map designs, although the game I'm currently working on has a completely different style from yours. I hope you don't mind! (Your junior)
Thank you so much! I certainly don't mind inspiring other fellow developers. If you have any questions, feel free to ask here. :)
Força, ainda estou esperando o game.
Явно что игра сделана на RPG Maker mv
Игра сделана с помощью RPG Maker MZ.
Спасибо я просто ни пользуюсь ими (всеми частями), но по личному опыту считаю что mv лутше:)
Muito bom o game, Quando sera lançado ?
Minha intenção era lançar o jogo este ano, mas há muitos assuntos pessoais que estão causando atrasos. Não posso dizer com certeza quando o jogo será lançado.
Que de tudo certo, vou ficar esperando pelo game.
Muito obrigado. Eu prometo que não vou desistir.
hey there nice game! Don't give up if it's what you want to do! By the way, do you have an email or another way I can DM? I'd like to ask you something regarding the game!
Nice game so far. Best of luck if you keep going. I sent you a half a coffee. Happy Holidays
The best kind of gesture in my eyes! Thank you, and happy holidays!
rpg maker game?
Yes.
Very nice JRPG, so polished. Combat is fun.
Thank you so much!
Great game so far, but I'm still having framerate issues even after turning on the lite mode.
Thanks! Frame Rate issues are annoying, so I'd love to troubleshoot this more if you're willing help a little bit. If not, it's totally fine. I'm working on some refactoring that "might" solve those issues.
Did you find that your frame rate issues were constant through your entire playthrough? Or was it only an issue at certain parts of the game? Also, would you happen to know what your FPS was? Sorry to ask so many questions.
the framerate issues were random. sometimes it would just dip and then go back to normal and then dip again. unfortunately i do not know what the fps was.
No problem! I appreciate the quick response! Hopefully it didn't ruin your experience too much. Sorry about that.
Ahhhh! wowowowowowow I loved the demo! The battle system is so refreshing! Big fan of the art style and animations. I'm craving more hahaha!
Thank you so much! I was strongly considering releasing an extended demo for players who specifically request it. You just gave me another reason to get it done sooner rather than later. :)
Hi Neo,
Excellent demo. Love your mapping and the art style. I know the base tilesets is probably Time Fantasy but there's lots of other custom art. Are those created by yourself?
Thank you so much! The custom art you're seeing generally comes from other artists. I do make some custom art and modifications, but I certainly can't take credit for the majority of it.
👍Paid artist? Any recommendations?
The paid artist that I go to for commissions is the TF asset creator.
oh nice. I did not realise he is available for commission. Thanks for the info.
He's not always available. I just got very lucky, very early. He has such a large following now that I wouldn't even feel comfortable asking him for comissions at this point. If I do, I make sure that it's something that he can share with his patrons.
hk;
Hi Neo,
The demo is fantastic! Just curious, what resolution did you end up setting your game to? I can't seem to find a happy place that doesn't distort the pixel art in some way from full screen mode, but your sizing or "zoom level" seemed good.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. :)
The resolution 1280x720. Technically, the pixel art is distorted at 1920x1080, it just might be a little hard to detect since the assets at scaled at 3x
Gotcha - Interesting that on maps I create I felt too "zoomed in" at that resolution but playing your game I did not feel that way. Do you bother with using any of the codes to keep the canvas pixelated or do you let mz blur it. It's hard for me to tell sometimes without a direct comparison.
i've finished the demo, is there a full game somewhere or just a demo? I also applaud you because i'm a bug magnet but except for one texture bug and the lag in the adventurer mini game that was it. Continue the good work
Just a demo for now. I'm glad you enjoyed the game! I also appreciate the feedback. I'm wondering if I can get some details on that, if you don't mind.
How bad was the lag in the mini-game? Did you experience a huge FPS drop? Also, do you recall where you saw the texture bug?
Thanks for your time!
The lag wasn't that huge but i couldn't reach the 14 score because each time i shot the fps drop also the timer is blocking the view of the 2 top crystal so i never know if they were lit or not. The bug texture was in the forest i don't recall where exactly but i was walking out of bound so i quickly walk back
This definitely helps. Thanks for the response! I'll look into these issues soon.
plase
Hope all is going well man! Still one of my games to watch! Hoping it is progressing well!
I appreciate the follow up! Things are going fantastic and I've made a lot of progress over the last couple weeks. Still going strong!
I am new at itch.io . I discovered website two days ago and it blowed my mind. There are lots of amazing games in here . Your game is one of the great games. Drawings of your game looks great and I like those type of games. I will download soon.
It run smooth. And look really good. Is there some Difficult Settings planed? I stuck in one fight
Sorry to hear that. I don't have any difficulty settings planned, but maybe I can help you with a strategy to win the fight? Which fight did you get stuck on?
I stuck on the Fight right after find Angus the Enemy is really hard and i only have the Main Charakter and her sister +Angus but... he is not that strong ^^ 7 or 8 Trys i have allready
Thanks for giving it so many tries!
There are many ways to win this battle, but here are a few things should give you a significant advantage.
1. Be sure to extract the Snake Stone, which gives you the "Bind" skill. Use this on the Cerberus to inflict the ATK Down status effect.
2. Keep some "Small Holy Balms" in your inventory to remove negative status effects
3. Be sure to use Angus' "Sludge Bomb" skill when needed. This can delay the Cerberus' next turn so that you have a chance to heal party members with low HP before it attacks.
4. Lastly, the Cerberus is weak to Fire elemental damage, so use Ysabel's "Fireball" spell as often as you can.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
Thx for your Strategy! :) i give it a try. I have used 2 Stones... but not sure which but yeah snake Stone i allready had. I use it now
Hey uhh... idk why but i downloaded and unzip the game just fine but when i tried double clicking the "Haven" file its not launching the game. Can someone help me?
Hey there! I'm sorry to hear that you're having this issue. I've just tried downloading the file myself, and it runs with no issues. I've also received some recent feedback from other players who managed to run the file. Out of curiosity, can you explain what's specifically happening when you click the file? Is there an error? Does your OS lock up? Is there any response at all?
The game file just simply wont run. Downloaded the game, unziped it, Opened the game folder, I double clicked the Haven file, my mouse cursor got the blue circling thingy that always means the file is being processed, then nothing. I waited for at least 5 minutes but nothing comes up. No error message, No file missing error, just nothing.
That's really odd. I'm going to look into this today. It'll be a little tough since I can't reproduce the error. But I'm sure someone else has run into this issue at some point. Let me do some digging and I'll get back to you! Thanks for your time!
I should ask first, do you use the RPG Maker Software at all on your PC?
I don't quite understand what you mean by that, do you mean the software that many game maker use to make game? if it is then nope, I don't think I have it. I never make any kind of game. But if you mean like a software that makes my pc run an rpg game i think i do have it but I'm not sure too, because I've played rpg game with pixelated texture like this although not the same and I can play it. It would be weird if I only can't play this game. Try checking a game creator called "VasantJ" , that's the kind of rpg game that I usually play. (Btw english is not my first language so I hope you can still understand what I'm trying to say, the game looks pretty cool so I'm hoping that whatever the problem is will be solved)
No problem! I understood perfectly! I've asked around about this problem, and it's possible that the issue could be linked to anti-virus software not liking the .exe file. So I'm going to reupload this. I'm quite busy with work/life so I don't think I'll get to it today. Hopefully tomorrow. I'll be sure to let you know once that is done! Thanks again for your time!
Can we take a moment to appreciate this underrated masterpiece?there's no way this guy spended all his free time to create an rpg all by himself for years on itch? °•°
This truly shows how this work is truly loved by the creator!
I generally try to reply to everyone, but for whatever reason, I totally missed this comment. And it's one of the best ones! So sorry about that. I know it's late, but I just wanted to show you my appreciation for this. Thank you!
Looks so cool!
Thank you so much!
I just downloaded the demo and haven't even played it yet but, I will say that I am grateful that even after 5 years you have not given up on this project and are still pushing through. As so many great games never get made because their developers give up on them. So truly thank you for putting all that you have into this. You are an amazing human being.
Thank you so much for this message! It's so refreshing to hear. The passion is definitely still there for this project. I don't see myself ever dropping this project, no matter how long it takes me to finish it. I "try" to work on it at least a few days a week. It's just that after having a son, and switching careers, my life has been pretty busy. I do hope that you enjoy the demo though! If you have the time, please let me know how it goes! Thanks again!
Nearly 5 years, still a demo?
Yup! Might be another five years before a release. Maybe even ten! Who knows. :)
Arguably one of the best RM games, and I don't say that lightly.
Looks great very 90s
That's exactly what I'm going for, so when I hear someone say it looks and & feels like a game from the 90s, it's a huge win for me. Thank you so much!
Is this 64 bit
Is it not, unfortunately.
This game is just beautiful and very relaxing.
Enjoyed every minute of it.
Thank you so much!
heya! which scripts didja use? i´m making an similar game and wanted to know.
It'd be too much to give you an entire list of scripts. I used a lot of them. But I also used quite a bit of my own code.
You did an outstanding job on your demo! Nice mapping, interesting yet simple storyline, enjoyable play.
Thank you so much! Simplicity is definitely what I'm going for. Glad you enjoyed it! Still working hard on it too.
Firstly I must say this game has bopping music. For the length I have played, the story was quite engaging. The gameplay follows the same style as a turn based rpg but still adds some new mechanics like the EP instead of MP which can be recovered by guarding. I think the difficulty of the game is quite manageable although I died almost not close to the end of the demo :| I enjoy for how long I've played and can't wait to see more :D!
Thanks for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it. Let me also say that I appreciate your dedication to playing RM games. Every little bit helps.
This game was super fun. I strongly recommend it to everyone looking at this game!