RMMV Dying World (Episodic Series) CANCELLED FOR NOW

[Alastor01]

Here is a review of the Second Episode:


Definitely a good improvement overall!


What I liked:


- The story is getting more entertaining, with nice twists and the main character looking at past events


- Maps have better feel to them


- Missions are interesting


- NPCs that give more atmosphere to the game


Some improvements you might consider


- Again, place a little bit less objects inside the houses and have the rooms a bit smaller


- More NPCs responses would be a bonus


- Make some battles start with a delay - like once or twice, I am transfered to a map after text entry and suddenly get attacked by the greenies, so the poor guy gets slaughtered...


- Have a name of the city / town being displayed together with a date when you are going from present to past events (kinda makes the transitions less confusing for some people)


- There is an incorrect pass-ability on the first village house on the left - character can walk on the "wall"

 

[Punamaagi]

I played through the first two episodes and the beginning of episode three, if I understood correctly (that's where the current version ends, right?). Quite a few things have already been noted in this thread, so I'll focus on a few main points.

• The post-apocalyptic setting and the basic idea of the game seemed quite interesting and gave me a sort of Mad Max vibe. Hopefully the game will show more of the failed experiments and Harold's past.
  
• Dialogue could use a bit of refining, perhaps. There were some typos and clunky-sounding sentences (e.g. "there are only two choices; I choose number one" sounds a bit odd; I would personally change the latter part into "I choose the first one"), and I felt that the tone of the dialogue didn't always fit the scene perfectly (for instance, when you find the dying man, Harold eventually says "Uhh... he died", which kind of makes it sound like an embarrassing mistake).
  
• I found it interesting that the game prompted me to save quite often. At first, it felt a bit confusing, but it also helped to build anticipation for the upcoming events.
  
• Battles tended to be quite intense, and I admittedly died once during the flashback because I thought I had to be standing next to the enemies and facing them, heh. It could be nice to explain the combat system a bit thoroughly, though I'm not sure what would be the best way to do it.
  

I also spotted some bugs, some of which impacted my gameplay experience:

• Although the first quest asks you to check all three houses, the scene continues even if you haven't checked all of them. I accidentally skipped House 1 and only checked Houses 2 and House 3, which made the quest log get stuck and show the objectives of the first quest even in episode two.
  
• In the flashback which takes place in the city, one of the enemies could hit me through a box (not a bandage box but a regular one blocking the way).
  
• When you are asking the villagers to hide in episode two, the old man gave me the Gift to Petra even if Petra had already gone hiding.
  
• I managed to get stuck in the second town on my first try. I talked to all the villagers (and asked them to hide) before I noticed the sheriff, and when he asked if everyone was ready, I accidentally chose 'no'. When I tried to talk to him again and chose 'yes', nothing happened. I had to reload and do the quest again in order to proceed.
  
• Bandage boxes respawned after the fight in the second town, though I'm not sure if that was intentional.
  
• Enemies could hit me while I was reading the diary found in the desert map.
  
• After the credits have rolled, the game restarts instead of taking me to the title screen.
  

All in all, I think that Dying World has potential, but it could use a bit more refining to make it look more like a finished product. I know from personal experience that dialogue can be tricky as a non-native speaker of the English, though, so don't worry about it too much and just practice until you feel it's perfect.

 

[leenat40]

@Punamaagi 


Yes, only 2 episodes are currently out. 


Also I really want to thank you for the detailed feedback.  


I will look into these problems as soon as I can.  

 

[leenat40]

Episode 3 Titled "Shadows Part 2" releases on 2-10-2017 Stay Tuned.
(No screenshots because spoilers)​

 

[leenat40]

@Punamaagi @Adventurer_inc.​

@Maarv @Alastor01

Episode 3 Out Now!​

 

[shayoko]

suggestions not to use all caps for the game folder name
and make sure to delete/remove game saves before uploading.

 

[leenat40]

suggestions not to use all caps for the game folder name
and make sure to delete/remove game saves before uploading.

Oh jeez! I probably missed it while extracting the game.
I will try to fix it as soon as possible.

 

[shayoko]

Thoughts (only ch3 is out at the time of this post)
I did not enjoy this.while it was nice to not have turn based battles. we did have a battle system which wasn't fun or well developed.
i assume you are punching but the attack hits in a full circle even from a extra block away from you.
it seems it also applies to the enemies.i don't think it possible to dodge their attacks just hope they die before they attack.
the story is okay but the dialog needs improvement and so do the cut scenes.
the best part of this to me was the mapping being made for this and not using pre loaded maps was a +

it could be a okay experience but as of now it needs some polish.

Spoiler: Random thoughts

Dialog needs improvement

i do not like the music. not only is it distracting. but if someone wanted to make a video about this they would have to disable it or risk copyright.

No one can tell that blood belongs specifically to a human just by looking at it.

the scenes need work. for example you find a dead body in one of the buildings.
and if you interact with it from the wrong side the scene doesn't look right.
or
the raiders appear in the village from the north then immediately they are on the south side instead.
or your daughter getting killed by a zombie that isn't near her.
and even being able to be killed while in a cut scene...(scene after the park)
so a good amount of polish is still needed.

how old is your "daughter"?

the writing is pretty bad. not just grammar. but not even understanding what people are saying at times.
like how the conversation with the guy who wanted you to give a gift to his daughter who was a short distance away...
his first sentence made no sense. why would the randomly say that to a stranger?
and what is tha?

and when you talk to the sheriff and you tell him you don't care if everyone is killed and immediately after he repeats himself like that never happened...
or a lady that is supposedly 79 in this world (wouldn't happen) and she even had black hair(even less likely without hair die which does not exist)
or how she has bad health. but she wanders all around town just fine...

i don't see the purpose of having a party. they don't attack,they don't seprate from you and they take damage when not in front.

 

[leenat40]

I appreciate the helpful feedback for the future of "Dying World"

The daughter was 15 when she...

At the same time,I would personally disagree with thing like 79 year old women is not possible, and hair dye does not exist. Yes, while it is post apocalyptic, the apocalypse happened in the 1980s. Hair dye existed then.

While about the combat system... I know it's pretty bad, but if I wanted to change it, everything in the game would have to be redone. While even creating new problems.
For Episode 4 and 5, I am indeed thinking to not use combat at all, and only focus on the story. (As it would be the climax of everything.)

While about the music...
I tried to give an authentic feel, seeing as it's the 70/80s , so Lore wise it would be stupid to include some modern Remix.

P.S I am not defending myself here, just casually talking.

 

[leenat40]

Hello, sorry for not being very active, but I am having a lot of problems.
But do not worry, Episode 4 is comming out, and I'll give you some information as soon as possible.

 

[leenat40]

Why's no one giving more feedback on Episode 3? :/
Is no one playing "Dying World"?

 

[Arithmetician]

@leenat40 Perhaps you could interest more people in playing the game if you showed screenshots of the battle system or story segments. As it is, your screenshots seem to be a bunch of desert maps taken while in editor mode. Just from skimming things over, it seems that the large desert plays into your post-apocalyptic wasteland plot, but maps by themselves probably aren't going to interest many players. Seeing the things I mentioned earlier would give me a much better idea of if the game would be of interest to me. Likewise, you mention a custom HUD as a feature of your game, but you don't show us any of that in the screenshots.

 

[Angiel]

Hi
congratulations for the game. I started playing today and I'm liking, even the real-time combat is interesting.
What plugin have you used for real-time combat? Thanks.

 

[leenat40]

Hi
congratulations for the game. I started playing today and I'm liking, even the real-time combat is interesting.
What plugin have you used for real-time combat? Thanks.

Hello!
Thanks for trying the game out. I did not use any plugin for the combat system. (Just the Custom button inputs plugin)
Please give a review, then you finish the available episodes.

 

[leenat40]

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE!
As you can see, for the last few months the whole thread of "Dying World" was unactive. It was inevitable really. I tried as hard as I could, I searched and thought of various solutions... But I have come to the realization, that "Dying World" needs to be cancelled.
Here are a few reasons why, I came to this decision.

1. Lack of feedback
2. Lack of players
3. Lack on general interest
4. Poor/Very mediocre reception
5. I wasn't having fun making a game, that no one would play
6. I am working on a new project, which in turn has received better feedback and more players

So yeah. That's basically all. Tho, I am not completely abandoning the idea, that one day in the future I'll come back to it.
If not, I'll atleast share the whole story-line with those, who want to know it.

In the mean time, my new project is called: "Ulfar: Dreams" and you can find it here: https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/ulfar-dreams-chronicles-of-zemak.77084/ Or at "Early project feedback".

Sorry, and good day! ​

 

[leenat40]

˙ƃuᴉsᴉɹ ǝɹɐ ʎǝɥ┴

 

[Kyuukon]

˙ʞO

 

[leenat40]

.yks eht ni sthgil ehT

 

[leenat40]

qᴉƃ uǝʍs ou ʇɥǝ ʍɐʎ˙

 

[Dalph]

I guess you can call it "Dead World" now?
Sorry, couldn't resist.

Good luck with your new project.