Dubloon

"The golden chest is the legendary, ultimate treasure said to exist since the birth of the world. They say all of piracy began when, centuries ago, explorers sailed out in search of it. The truth is, nobody really knows what's inside, but whatever it is, it's got to hold unfathomable wealth and power! ...If we can get our hands on the key and chest, we'll be the greatest pirates of all time!"

Dubloon is a freeware RPG developed by Greg Lobanov, the creator of Assassin Blue, Escape From the Underworld, and co-creator of Cowboy Killa, over the course of about a year. The game is set in an Ocean Punk world where the Navy has almost complete control of the seas, leaving pirates scattered and vulnerable. The story follows a crew of four pirates who seek out the world's ultimate treasure - a golden treasure chest - taking on the Navy in the process.

The game uses a unique mouse-based interface and incorporates elements of many different games, such as combat based on Action Commands and field moves.

The game can be downloaded here or here.

Tropes used in Dubloon include:

• A Boy And His Monkey
• Action Commands: The battle items and some of the bosses' attacks require use of the mouse.
• Action Girl: Anne.
• Actually Four Mooks
• After Combat Recovery: Any character who died during the battle is restored to 1 HP once the battle is over.
• All in a Row
• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The Final Boss.
• Ambiguously Gay: Sparkles. Especially considering that one treasure.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: After leaving the first island the story switches focus to the next two party members until the four meet up on the island.
• Another Side, Another Story: Beating a certain boss battle unlocks the ability to play through the game as the Quartet.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Domin is the leader of Navy, and he is the toughest.
• Bag of Sharing: Handwaved; Riley and Ricky are sent a package containing the first two crew members' entire inventory. How they can fit all of that junk into a small package, however, is left to imagination.
• Barrier Change Boss: The Mermaid in Treasure Tower.
• Behind the Black: The shiny earring of the woman in Outcast Island is located behind one of the houses. Since the game is in Three Quarters View, you can't see it even though your crew could.
• Big Boo's Haunt: The Pirates' Graveyard.
• Black Mage: Ricky
• Bonus Boss: The Quartet of the Seas.
• Booze-Based Buff: Pirates' magic is powered by alcohol. The more drunk one is, the more powerful they become.
• But Thou Must!: When Anne offers to help you escape prison and when Riley and Ricky are offered to join the crew.
  • Also, You can deny Anne's offer to join her crew, but she's your only ticket off of the island.
    • Likewise, when Kaz's crew asks for assistance, you can say no and leave them standing there, but you can't progress with the plot until you say yes.
• Chain of Deals: On Stern Island. It's mandatory to the plot, but thankfully short.
• Combat Exclusive Healing: Once you end the battle, you need to resort to items for healing.
• Cool Versus Awesome: Over the course of your journey, you'll fight the following: pirates with hooks for heads, pirates with peglegs for heads, pirate zombies, vikings, ghosts, skeletons, sentient severed hands, multi-colored knights (including a golden one), sea serpents, mermaids, mutant fishes THAT SHOOT LASERS, a giant mole, flying hippos, walking trees and bushes... and more!
• The Dragon: Bradley.
• Enter Solution Here: Several puzzles revolve around finding a correct answer.
• Everything's Better with Monkeys
• Failed a Spot Check: One Navy NPC on Bowish Island remarks on "[your] pirate ship sailing by the island". Of course, he hadn't noticed any boat coming from this ship (or for that matter, any boat at all).
• Fan Nickname: In his Let's Play, Rockythechao calls the hookheads "hook zombies".
• Fetch Quest: The gems you collect for Davey Jones in the graveyard.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning
• "Friend or Idol?" Decision
• Funny Money: One NPC on Pyrite Island demands you to buy his treasure chest's content for 10000 Farquads. Later it turns out that 10000 Farquads is worth 1 Dubloon.
• Global Currency: Except for one NPC, everyone in the world uses eponymous Dubloons as a currency.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: One NPC on Bowish Island gives Ricky a hint about the key to the house, just because he wouldn't expect the monkey to do this.
• Healing Checkpoint: Most save logs are located close to either trauma inns or red chests that replenish your crew's health and alcohol points. Ones that aren't are usually located somewhere within a dungeon.
• Heel Face Turn: Kaz and crew.
• Hello, Insert Name Here: All four members of your crew. They have official names too.
• Hero Antagonist: They ARE pirates, after all!
• Heroic Mime: Russel, the protagonist.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The first Bradley battle.
  • The Battle Didn't Count: It's actually possible to beat that first battle with a LOT of grinding, as shown in this video. If you win, however, Bradley just calls you a cheater and carries on as if he'd won anyway.
• 100% Completion: Collect all buried loot and open all the chests to unlock an Alternate Ending.
• An Ice Person: Russel and Captain FC.
• Informed Equipment: Even with weapons equipped, the characters will still punch their foes.
• Jack of All Trades: Russel, especially when you allocate his stats equally.
• Knight Templar: The Navy.
• Let's Play: One by Rockythechao and one by Overboyagain.
• The Lost Woods: Jolly Roger Island and Bowish Island.
• Load-Bearing Boss: The final one.
• Luck Stat: The "SWAG" stat. It's actually visible.
• MacGuffin: The Golden Chest.
• Making a Splash: Ricky is the only character with water-based attacks.
• The Medic: Riley.
• Mighty Glacier: Anne.
• Money Spider: Winning battles earns you Dubloons.
• Musical Assassin: The Quartet of the Seas.
• One World Order: The Navy effectively functions as the world government.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse/Magikarp Power: Ricky becomes the most powerful character at the later levels.
• Pirate Booty
• Pirate Girl: Anne.
• Playing with Fire: Anne and Standish.
• Plot Coupon: The serpent fangs and the Golden Key.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Kaz and his crew, who are also Evil Counterparts.
• Rainbow Speak: All mentions of the Chest and the Key to it are in yellow.
• Reality Warper: Domin's powers seem to work like this.
• Recurring Boss: Bradley.
• Redshirt Army: For most of the game, all you'll see of the Navy are the pathetic Navy Jr's, Navy ships in the Unexpected Shmup Level, and Bradley.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Greed.
• Shock and Awe: Riley and Vypa.
• Shout-Out: On Bowish Island you can find a hat, a sword, and a cape that belong to Blue (shown equipped in the screenshot above). Also, on the name-entry screen, there is a "don't care" button which gives a character one of several pre-defined names. These include shout-outs to Monkey Island, One Piece and EarthBound alongside mundane ones.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Captain FC's Frozen Ship. Ice is not slippy however.
• Squishy Wizard: Ricky.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Pirates are too afraid of the Navy to actually go out pirating.
• Take a Third Option: Your reward for collecting 100% of all buried treasure and chests.
• Team Pet: Ricky, who's also a Squishy Wizard.
• Timed Mission
• Trauma Inn: Restores your Hit Points and Alcohol Points.
• Treasure Map: A map serves as the area select screen, and you can add new areas to travel to by finding maps scattered throughout the world.
• Unexpected Shmup Level: When you travel between islands you get to play a short shooting minigame with your ship, giving you a chance to rack up some extra dubloons.
• Wolfpack Boss: The fight against Kaz's crew.
• You All Meet in a Cell: Technically, you don't begin the game there, but it's right after the first area, and it's how you meet your second party member.
• You Rebel Scum: Bradley and Domin.

"All pirates are scum, and it's the Navy's job to eliminate them!"