Another Star announced

An intrepid IndieRPGs.com reader writes in to tell me about Another Star, an 8-bit jRPG in development by one-man army Dale Johnson (a.k.a. Vision Riders Entertainment).

The premise:

Our story begins with Tachi, the prince of Clan Minas. Sent by his father to retrieve a falling star that promises to upset the balance of the clans, the young warrior gets caught up in a sudden chain of events that will affect the entire planet. The fledgling warrior will journey across entire continents, slowly unraveling the mysteries of the world around him and encountering countless new people and places.

Another Star is deliberately minimalistic: “Inspired by the 26th Ludum Dare competition theme of Minimalism, Another Star uses but a single 128×128 tile sheet to bring you a vast world to explore. Secrets are hidden everywhere, and you never know what you might find on the next screen.”

Combat is minimalist as well, with the whole notion of targeting removed from abilities entirely. Attacks damage all enemies simultaneously, and likewise, all enemy attacks damage the entire party.  Finally, there’s an interesting mechanic that allows you to opt out of most random combats:

Random encounters are only initiated by accepting them when the yellow “!” icon appears over your head. Just watch out for sneak attacks. If you see the red “!!” icon appear, you better press the button quickly to accept or else you’ll be taken by surprise.

Another Star is planned for release quite soon on Windows, Mac and Linux.