AF+ER
Epilepsy warning: Game contains some flashing lights in scenes.
AF+ER was a project, two years in the making, that was long lost as a corrupted file.
It all started in 2020.
The game was almost finished when the file crashed. Everything is there, from the large scope to the seven endings. but a few of the secret areas lack dialogue, and music didn't make it in. But after this over a year of the ROM sitting on my desktop, I figured it should have some sort of life outside of my head and laptop. So here it is.
A large amount of what is in my later games was actually born in this game, so it's a neat opportunity to look back at menus, battle scenes, and learning how to create some more cinematic scenes.
The download contains the .ROM file, .pocket file, game manual, and a few extra pieces like the cover art. Don't want to charge anything for it, but any donations help the future development of games and are eternally appreciated.
AF+ER is the story of a child finding himself in a dreamworld, on that is a perfect reflection of the real one, but with a grim secret. And somehow these two worlds become almost seamlessly intertwined.
AF+ER is really about taking your time, exploring, and realizing choices you make may have rippling effects. In the dreamworld, you can search every nook of every house, and learn every NPCs darkest secrets, or merely get a voyeuristic insight into their life and motivation.
Also keep in mind that sometimes the best decision is not choosing violence, but hey, sometimes violence makes for less resistance on your way.
A Button / X Key - Interact
Start / Return Key - Menu
Select / Shift Key - Map
Books are used as save points, so save often!
If you'd like some nice background music, an Ambient Mix would be a great option!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- AF+ER finally sees the light of dayFeb 12, 2023
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Maybe i already killed him before i explored the graves, but i cant remember
he should be on the entry level of the creeps house with the bloody basement
Nope
i fear i broke the game
I am stuck, I found the graves and the basement in the grumpy mans house but the monolith still says, i need to find the murderer
tryin to kill all of them with prayers now
nothing happened
he should be in his house in the living room is he not?
nope, he's not
I don’t really remember, it’s been a min since playing through it. Did you go in the backyard beer area?
yeah.. and ive restarted about 20 times now...
Id really love to play this game but sadly theres so many glitches... Im stuck in a loop and cant continue.. been everywhere multiple times and sadly the controls are also not the ones they're supposed to be. I love this style and the story but it looses its charm when parts that are supposed to get you further, dont work.
Could you let me know where exactly you are stuck? And the controls should be fine so would def want to look into that as well. Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy the experience :(
I really love the story and style. Ive been playing the other games of yours. So, I got all the clues and now want to get the rope to go into the well. From the comments here I saw that I need to go to the monolith to change worlds to get it. but the monolith keeps saying i need more clues. Ive been everywhere but cant find anything else... I will try again today because I really would love to continue playing.
and the controls.. none of the buttons declared in the description are actually the ones that work here... idk what the issue is tbh.
Ok, so Ive reloaded the game and now it seems to work. I went to the places in a different order. I believe that is the issue.. you have to get the clues in a specific order for the monolith to work. I think someone else said that in one of the comments too.
I hate that I have to bug you so much :( really sorry but now im stuck in this house from another game and cant geht out....
I've managed to come to the town with the lighthouse and explored every house and place I was able to access but now I'm stuck. I can't find the woman who brought me to this place.
The guard at the pathway to the lighthouse still says, only hunters allowed.
The old guy still wants to shoot me.
I saved at the Inn.
And at the backyard of the old guys house is a place in the fence I am able to walk on (behind the absolutely disgusting couch).
and I'm not able to go to sleep anywhere
going back to the hotel you didn’t get a room? Upstairs?
I was in both rooms but nothing happened
Try going to sleep. The solution may be in the dark world.
the game seems to have a glitch
at the point, i need to go to the station, after the cut scene, my character disappears and the game crashes
sorry to hear that! Def should not be happening, will look into it, thank you for the heads up!
error appeared today again but randomly pressing enter (accessing the stats screen) fixed it somehow
so weird. If possible please take a screenshot of it happens again
managed to record it. I'll send you a link to the video tomorrow
awesome thank you 🙏
The game is great so far. Unfortunately, I seem to be stuck at getting access to the well. I've located the rope but am unable to find anything I can use to retrieve it.
you’re going to have to wake up from the dream to pick it up when it’s not too high. I can say you should go look at the monolith to the north of your home
I checked out the monolith and it states that I still have some clues to find. I have visited the church, the barn, the police station, and the upstairs room in my house.
The part of the game I was able to play was really fun and intriguing! I, uh. Could not figure out how to do anything other than wander the dream(?) version of the town though, and eventually completely ran out of things to interact with. I took several loops around every part of the map just to make sure, interacted with everything again. Tried to peek at the manual but it doesn't actually say how to do things like go between the worlds. I feel kind of embarrassed that I've gotten stumped by what's probably a basic mechanic, but I did till like the game even after a few hours playing it. I'm gonna look forward to trying again if I can think of anything else to try and investigate after sleeping on it.
(Also, I can really see how a lot of elements in this went on into other games you made! Every time I went in a house and recognized the layout I got a smile.)
Hey! Thank you so much for playing! Sorry you got stuck! Try checking the well, the downstairs of the farmer and the barn, the church, then return to the monolith north of your house. Hope that helps! Let me know if you’re having issues. The first little bit is supposed to be a bit harder to simulate not understanding what you’re waking up to but the rest of the game should be easier to progress through
Thank you so much for replying with help! Where I'm at now, You notes that there's something in the well they can't just jump in to find, the rope in the farmer's house is out of reach, there's nothing else in the barn, re-reads the church sermon, and says that they need more clues for the monolith. I've been thinking that there must be a way to find something to climb on or cut the rope down to use it and get into the well, or that there might be a way to reach the upper level by the waterfall to find something not yet interacted with, but in those five areas I can't seem to find any more interactions. Or I might have done the order wrong at some point during my exploration. (I did also find the book about lucid dreaming, if that's one of the sequence triggers.) Thank you so much for sharing tips/advice on how to progress, I really appreciate it. :)
so after all that the monolith still says you need more clues? Check the police station upstairs (it’s at the bottom Main Street all the way to the right) and you’re gonna find some clues upstairs. After that try the monolith 😉
Thanks for replying again! Yeah, it's so strange. I've looked through the desks and files in the station's top floor, along with the upstairs locked room in You's own house, but something still seems to be missing somewhere. (Lots of really fun and interesting inspection dialogue too! I'm excited to learn more about the things in those rooms, but I don't wanna spoil it for anyone else reading) I've also looked at the neighbor kid's house and the secret hideout, though I'm not sure how much they helped for solving the first dream.
that’s very strange. Maybe revisit the well and see if that does it? Sounds like you checked the right things. Well, barn locker, downstairs farmer room, police station upstairs rooms.
I am having the exact same issue. I'm starting to wonder if doing things in a certain order causes a glitch in the game.
UPDATE: I restarted and I was able to trigger the correct response on the Monolith. I somehow got stuck in the same loop as kidotix.
Made a video
Hell yeah! Can’t wait to check it out! Super appreciate you guys always giving my games a play 🤘🤘
Hope you enjoyed it and looking forward to playing your next game
Thanks for sharing this project !!
Thanks for playing :)
Wow! That's amazing! Will try to play through and give feedback.
Thank you, hope you enjoy!
thank you! You should be proud pls keep up
The hard work!!!
Thank you for the kind words!
That game is a really nice little pearl. Really sad that its not possible to add some nice ambient mix directly to it anymore :(.
If I ever can salvage it would love to add in the music, there is actual tunes I commissioned for this
uuh..i would love to hear them ingame ^_-
me too :(