To Sail Upon a Sea of Stars 2: On a Shore, in a Storm
A downloadable game for Windows and macOS
After an intense life-or-death conversation, Farida and Jimushi have deserted on the eve of battle, and sailed off together in search of a place to build a future they can believe in. What can possibly go wrong...
This is a direct sequel to my game from the last Brackeys Game Jam 2024.2. You can check it out here. A special thank you to Ghenwa for suggesting I continue the story over multiple jams <3
This game was solo-developed by me, omar khouri, for the Brackeys Game Jam 2025.2. The theme was "Nothing Can Go Wrong...". It was made using RPG Maker MZ, with the generous help of the RPG Maker online Community. Plugins used in-game by the amazing:
- Galv
- Caethyril
- Team VisuStella: Yanfly, Arisu, Olivia, Irina
- David M Casas
- ZainWD
- CT Bolt (Rest in Peace)
A heartfelt thanks to you all <3
(The map puzzle seems to be impossible to figure out the way I programmed and explained it in the game, so if you want get past it for the story's sake, the last screen shot on this page is the solution. I will also be uploading a version with a solvable map after the game jam rating is over. Thanks for your patience.)
Download
Install instructions
To run the Windows version, after unzipping the initial zipped folder, double click the "Game.exe" file and choose "extract all" when it asks you. Then click the "Game" file within the new folder to run.
To run the Mac version, after unzipping the initial zipped folder, take the file called "To Sail Upon a Sea of Stars" out of the folder and place it on your desk top or in the applications folder. When you first double click it, it will tell you that you "can't open because developer is unverified". After that, right click it, and you should be able to open it just fine.
Comments
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I finally had a chance to play this!!! Your art and animations are absolutely gorgeous and the intro literally gave me goosebumps it was so perfect. I had a bit of trouble trying to understand the puzzle but I got through it with trial and error. Really cool concept though I'd love to see it used again or expanded on in future parts of this project. I'm super excited to play episode 3, I want them to find a new home!!!! <33
Also it's criminal this wasn't rated higher in the jam idk wtf people want if this doesn't get top 10 AT LEAST on visuals. I'm sure the other entries were awesome too but like come on
Thanks for playing! and for your kind words <3
I was trying new things with the programming and puzzle design that I hadn't done before and I failed tremendously in the latter :D
I totally get why i didn't rank higher tho, since the only playable part of it is incomprehensible; it is a "game" jam after all. But most importantly, I learned so much and that's what matters the most to me. (Although, honestly, getting a special mention in Brackeys' video on his favorite games of the jam for episode 1 of this was a pretty frickin cool surprise :_) anyway, I would like to do episode 3 for the next Brackeys jam if i have time this year, but i would have to find a way to fix this one first. I'm starting to get attached to these characters and their dynamic. We'll see...
I played your game Bloodsong a while back when you released it and enjoyed it tremendously; it was very powerful and unsettling. I am really looking forward to playing your latest one too!
The rules of the puzzle could obviously do with a clearer explanation but you didn't fail at all and like I said it's a really cute idea for a mini-game that's casually engaging and fits perfectly in the story/world. I totally think it's worth tweaking for future iterations of this series. I'm a little bit biased of course but to me video games are way more than traditional notions of gameplay. You clearly have a talent for storytelling in this medium and if people are missing that because of a confusing but totally workable puzzle then that's their loss :P And yes I remember seeing episode 1 in that video I was really happy when it came up!! Very well deserved.
I missed out on Brackey's 25.1 being busy with uni but I'm gonna do everything in my power to set aside time for 25.2 :} Whatever project you end up doing for it I'm really excited to see!!
And thank you so much!! I was really happy with how BLOODSONG turned out, super eerie and bleak. My next big goal with my projects is to create something larger and more comprehensive that I can release to Steam but it's a lot of work and I seem to have less and less time for these things. Also I'm useless with marketing myself and my art so I'll have to work that out too. I love working on shorter contained stories and fleshing out their weird, fucked up worlds but I definitely feel like it's time for me to step up my game... no pun intended :9
Oh I definitely agree that games don't have to follow traditional gameplay structures. I much prefer things that are less rigid and more experimental in that respect; that's where my own working is leading me, and one reason why I enjoy your games so much. I never feel your pieces are too short though, and they definitely don't have the standard "game jam" (un)finish. They are very contained and resolve themselves in quite fulfilling ways, with unique aesthetics that round out the experience perfectly.
But i do also understand the urge to publish something in a more "professional" format. With my latest game, I'm attempting that too. It started during a month-long game jam, where I spent most of the time working on the branching narrative and programming structure; I only spent the last 3 days working on graphics (and ended up supplementing with pre-made dlc stuff), and the last 3 hours on composing and implementing all the music and sound :3 It's a bit messy right now, more like a beta version, but I am very happy with what I was able to achieve. I am spending the next couple of months on graphics, music, balancing and of course bug fixes, spelling mistakes and text editing. I'm aiming to release it on steam by the end of the summer. It's called Thistopia (working title) and you can check it out here if you're interested. I would love to get any comments or insights you might have about it while I am still refining. A play through takes about 15-20 minutes but it has some replay value ( i hope) since choices affect the story and gameplay quite heavily. Take a look; would love to hear your thoughts :)
As for lack of marketing skills, I am so terrible at that myself (and mainly uninterested if I'm being honest). I erased all my social media accounts last year, just before I stared releasing games :D and life has been so much better since! I know it means it is virtually impossible to make a decent living from my games, but I prefer to make money with my other work (painting, comics, music...), and just do small experiments with games; maybe even "fine art" games that are unique pieces experienced on location, like in a gallery or something, idk, we'll see. I'm heading off to grad school this fall to figure all that out and just trying to release at least one "steam game" before I get lost in my MFA. Which actually, I just realized, will get in the way of my participating in Brackey's 2025.2 cause that's happening last week of August, and I have to move to Oregon during the first week of September for Uni : |