RMXP IGMC Short Reviews (for everyone to participate)

@motta Thanks for the review of Spooked. It's the first game I ever made and I only had two weeks since I started the contest, so I didn't get enough time to beta-test it for bugs. It definitely has a few problems that I didn't intend, as well as leaving out a final puzzle I wanted to add. Thanks again!

 

You are most welcome, i know how supportive can a review be for your first project, since is the first time i made a game, too. I'm sure we will be able to upgrade a lot our games.

 

@Joy Diamond
Naaw, thanks. :3 That's not really a lot of effort. Just some random points that stick mostly in my mind after playing the games. xD
And I sometimes think I'm a bit too honest. >.>I hope no one cries because of me

You should definitely do all three points.

 

Dungeon Down [Mixed]

Spoiler

[Pro]
- Neat concept (yay, a dungeon crawler for RPG Maker!)
- Fun battle system
- I liked how a certain orbs keep certain items after you die/ascend
- Progress through dungeons quickly

[Con]
- The top "town" is bare bones with only 2 merchants
- Dungeons were TOO SMALL! I like that they're small, but not THAT small
- Has bad interaction errors if you do not run as Adminstrator when executing .exe
- I've experienced above error at least once even when I did

Score: 3/5
I'd gotten about to floor 22 of 60 so far, I dunno if I'll continue

Every Quest [Recommended]

Spoiler

[Pro]
- Fun story and characters parodying RPG cliches
- It actually made me laugh out loud in a few places
- I like how encounters are not random
- Battles can actually be challenging
- Lovely use of the Time Fantasy tilesets to give that retro-feel
- Cute, custom facesets that give a nice charm

[Con]
- Petunia's HP was RIDICULOUSLY low and didn't improve much when leveled so she dies a lot (our healer)
- Enemies seemed to get TOO HARD near the end and best avoided entirely

Score: 4/5
I loved it, might play it again it was that fun!

 

Hey @Kokoro Hane, thank you for your honest review of Dungeon Down. Yeah, I really don't understand why the game still crashing in some computers,I'm still trying to fix it. Thank you for trying the game.

 

I do look forward when things get fixed! It is an interesting and fun concept. N am ely one thing keeping me from wanting to finish is it runs rather slow on the laptop I was playing it on, then again the specs on that isn't really gaming friendly. I'd need to see how it works on my main laptop sometime. But yeah, I do feel it is a solid entry overall--I mean it when I say that battle system <3

 

Between the secret santa thread and random choices, I've played a handful of games. Figured I'd post some quick reviews here.

Dungeon Down recommended

Spoiler

Pros:
Really cathartic, fast-paced battle
Good progression/leveling

Cons:
Lack of basically any story

I had a lot of fun with this game. There is really not much here, but it was addicting for me with its roguelike elements and well-crafted battle system. Reviewed for the secret santa thread.

Score: 4/5

Last Train to Nowhere recommended

Spoiler

Pros:
Intriguing story;
Great art/style;

Cons:
Lack of gameplay
Too short

It's more interactive (short) story than game, but for the 15 or so minutes it took to finish, I was hooked. Despite its shortness, the story cliches hit well (I may have just been in a sentimental mood). And then there are the lovely graphics.

Score: 4/5

Once upon a Spirit recommended

Spoiler

Pros:
Intriguing story
Great art/style

Cons:
Tedious gameplay puzzles
Abrupt ending

I'm on the fence on this one. The game is beautiful and haunting largely because of its art. The story is promising, but ends very abruptly. I found the puzzles rather boring. Mostly just running around interacting with objects in order to find the right combinations -- but I understand some people like this kind of of game style. Ultimately, I enjoyed it enough to hope the developer continues it, so I that seems like a recommendation.

Score: 4/5

Quidget the Wonderweiner mixed

Spoiler

Pros:
Great art
Great menus
Polished

Cons:
Tedious gameplay puzzles
Short

I've tried to be 'objective' about reviewing this, but I can't muster more than mixed. I don't like the game. It's wonderfully made, well polished, and has a clear aesthetic. I just don't enjoy its aesthetic and as with the above, I'm not a huge fan of search for assorted objects and use them puzzle mechanics, so I was actually glad it was short. My critique aside, this game is really well-made.

Score: 3/5

Starchild mixed

Spoiler

Pros:
Nostalgia graphics
Decent story

Cons:
Battles grew a bit tiresome
Weird inclusion of just a couple different weapon upgrades (I missed?/ unfinished?)

Again, it's nothing against the quality of the game, but it just didn't work for me. Thus a mixed. The battle mechanics started interesting, but I quickly grew bored. The story was compelling for a short game, if a bit abrupt. It felt in many ways like the start to something longer, but it never gets there, both in terms of mechanics and story.

Score: 3/5

Azure Island mixed (didn't complete)

Spoiler

Pros:
Looks good
Nice character interaction

Cons:
Tedious/Frustrating Battle
Tedious/Frustrating Maze Forest
(Screen fade out/in (ahhh, every screen the mage appears)!)

This game has a lot of nostalgia going for it. It feels like an classic 90s rpg, and looks good (in a nostalgic way) while doing it. I just found the combat to be a mix of boring/difficult. Maybe I just didn't get it, but unless I used provoke/guardian stance, the mage/cleric almost always died immediately. So I used those, and found it to be a grind-fest. This combined with the maze-forest caused me to quit playing. I had found two forest interactions (mimic and ring statue), but was unclear what I was even looking for, and really didn't feel like trying to figure out more carefully what the mage's position corresponded to in map transfers. The end.

Score: 3/5

Starfall recommended (updated; still didn't complete)

Spoiler

Pros:
Platformer in RPGmaker == really cool
Text font

Cons:
Key assignment is terrible for a platformer.
Much better play on controller, but buggy.

I didn't get that far into this. This was promising as I love platformers (Hollowknight is my game of the year). I found the keyboard layout so frustrating that I stopped playing not long after getting the dash move. I didn't test to see if it had controller support. To the dev: I don't know if Yanfly's keyboard config plugin is compatible with whatever else you have going on, but some way to change the keys would be nice at the very least.

Update: Decided to give this a second go with my controller. It plays WAY better. However, for some reason my attack button didn't work. I could still progress through a lot of the game avoiding enemies, but there was no way to beat bosses. The jump seems to stick sometimes when using a controller as well. In anycase, with the controller I was having a lot of fun, and I hope the kinks get worked out. Its a very impressive game, so I've bumped my rating to recommended for the sheer novelty.

Score 3.5/5

Juho's Firefighting Adventures not recommended

Spoiler

Pros:
Made for someone's godchild, which is a nice gesture.

Cons:
Boring/frustrating battles
Glitches
Unclear puzzles/aims

I reviewed this for the secret santa as well. It feels like a first/early project. There are a lot of errors/weird behaviors seemingly caused by misuse of switches and the like. And the story is abrupt at best, absent at worst. It's not without promise, but it's got a long way to go.

Score: 1/5

K2 not recommended (didn't complete)

Spoiler

Pros:
The battles aren't fun, but at least they have flavor of the setting
Neat map system/cool compass.

Cons:
Oh god, it's the default title music...
Plagiarism

So I was intrigued that this game had urdu script (i.e. arabic script) in it, but it was mangled in the screen shots. It's also mangled in the game, and that's because the creator doesn't know urdu (seemingly), but simply copy/pasted (along with the English) from the wikipedia article on K2... I'm trying to set aside the academic in me, but frankly plagiarism even from wikipedia is offensive/seemingly against the rules of this competition.

Score 0/5.

Project Fireball not playable

Spoiler

Pros:
Multiplayer Functionality

Cons:
No (multi)Players

I attempted this for a secret santa review. Looks like a well made game with multiplayer functionality, but I couldn't find anyone online to play it with, and don't have any friends . Possibly fantastic, possibly mediocre. Judging from the limited menu/lobby area I saw, I'm guessing its not terrible.

Score: -/5

 

@Rubescen Hello! o/ Star Child was my entry, I've been looking a bit of feedback so I was wondering if you'd like to expand more on why you didn't enjoy the combat!

(I would've liked more weapon upgrades but I didn't really have the time to fit in more e_e)

 

@AtlasAtrium I think it more has to do with the style of combat in general. I'm not a huge fan of ctb/atb systems lately. I think this was heightened for me in by the repetition of stance choice/skill selection in your system. On the one hand, it's nice to have a range of skills (and the battler animations are great), but I found it kinda tedious, trying to figure out which stance to use, and then which of the skills was ideal. This bogged down the combat, making it seem slow, especially in the tougher/longer fights.

Maybe, starting out with a few fewer skills, so the player could familiarize themselves with what skills do more slowly, rather than being given a lot of info at once (8 skills per character is not that many, but it was a lot of reading/trying to figure out best options right off the bat). I also found Nyx single target skills very underwhelming, but maybe I was using them wrong. By the end I mostly just selected skills randomly and I suppose that worked too.

All that said, the battle system is nicely polished and I think my critique is more about the type in general, than anything specific to your game.

 

https://itch.io/jam/igmc2017/rate/191249
I was wondering if you could play my game. It's really short, like 10 mins, and its my first attempt at a game. I wouldn't mind some feedback. It's very heavy text.

 

@Rubescen Ah that makes sense :V Good to know, all those issues are pretty easily fixable! (well, except for the fact that it's turn-based battle but that's not exactly possible to get around at this stage) Might patch it up after the contest with that in mind. Thanks for your feedback!

 

@Rubescen Thank you for playing starfall! I apologize for the keyboard layout, I wanted to make keys changable, but it wasn't going to happen within the time limit, and I wasn't aware that anyone had already made one. ^^; We will be adding the ability to customize keys in the future, for both keyboard as well as controller. Also the game does have controller support as well! Thanks for the feedback and taking time to play our game. ^_^

 

Joining up for this thread. If I give your game a negative review, please don't take it too personally. Some games are just not for my tastes.

1 Hour Less Than by Xenoneo
Not Recommended

Spoiler

Pros:
- A different take to RPGs (the author said this was a silent RPG), all interactions were done by speech bubbles

Cons:
- The game is unoptimized and made with an older version of RMMV (I think so because the Made with MV plugin lags like it did a few versions ago)
- Unnecessarily large maps, without any distinct landmarks. I was feeling lost most of the time
- The ending I reached was supposed to be a bad one? I was like WTH during it, and closed the game and decided to let it go.

Score: 1 (The game was playable from beginning to end, but it wasn't fun in the slightest)

10000 ways to destroy a city(IGMC2017) by Genpaku Chino
Didn't complete

Spoiler

Pros:
- Hard to say. Due to lack of instructions in the beginning, I kinda missed the point of the game. I tried interacting with various things in the first village, but couldn't find out what to do. I tried playing this for a good fifteen minutes before closing and deleting it.

Cons:
- The game might have been fun if I had had a clue on what to do. I did not leave a review on the submission page as I could not think of anything to say, which was a first.

Score: 1 (I didn't find the game fun at all, but I'm not giving it zero because it ran and didn't crash or anything)

A Conga's Tale by Nicola
Highly recommended

Spoiler

Pros:
- A heartwarming story, solid gameplay and beautiful custom assets all mix in a great game. I wouldn't be surprised if this game won a prize, really.

Cons:
- Several passability problems, but they didn't deter much to the enjoyment of the game.
- The last boss fight took a tad too long, and that was my only real nitpick.

Score: 4 (I found the game really enjoyable. The gameplay took around, what, 30 to 40 minutes, but I can imagine the judges are pleased with their time, too.)

A Corrupted World by EnJolu Inc.
Didn't complete

Spoiler

Pros:
- The game started out pretty good, with decent sized maps and all...

Cons:
- ...however the difficulty spike from the normal monsters to the first boss was a dealbreaker. After taking several tries against that guy, I decided to drop the game.

Score: 2 (A decent start, however fell flat quite quickly)

A Fool's Choice by Forthright Entertainment
Mixed

Spoiler

Pros:
- Witty humor (the game is about jesters, after all)
- Solid gameplay, for all it's worth
- Multiple endings
- Some well-made custom art

Cons:
- Some passability problems deterring gameplay
- I'm not a fan of PVGames' characters or tilesets. Also, the faces don't resemble the characters at all (which is somewhat understandable, given the time limit of the competition)

Score: 2 (I played this through, but it was not necessarily a funny experience all the time)

A Girl Who Wore Moon by MilkBarProphet
Didn't complete

Spoiler

Pros:
- The mapping, as far as I played, was pretty neat.

Cons:
- The game crashes the instant you enter the menu. I was aware of this (as the author mentioned this on the game submission page) so it didn't deter much
- I did not care for some of the puzzles
- I got a sudden Game Over when I talked to a big creature, without any warning. I did not bother trying again afterwards.

Score: 1 (Once the menu is fixed so I can save, I might revisit the game. Until then, I'm going to say I didn't enjoy it that much)

Abyssal Shine: Nevermelt by Indrah LadyPotato
Recommended

Spoiler

Pros:
- You can choose the difficulty at the beginning of the game, and you can change it midgame if you wish
- Absolutely wonderful mapping at some areas.
- The puzzles were good, although there was one which involved some travelling around.
- Pretty custom art, combined with Aekashics (spelling?) monsters, made this contender stand out pretty much

Cons:
- I wasn't that fond of the helper arrows on interactables, as I like exploration myself.
- The font used had minor issues at a few points
- The combat was pretty balanced, but some fights basically required spamming certain skills

Score: 4 / 5 (The game was even better than I originally thought it would be)

Dear Edwin by LazyBumStudio
Mixed

Spoiler

Pros:
- Custom assets are always a big plus
- I liked the button-pressing minigame

Cons:
- The setting wasn't much for my tastes. I prefer normal RPGs after all.
- Something about Edwin's character sprite irks me, it's hard to say what it is.

Score: 2 / 5 (Sadly, the game wasn't that much fun for me. Still I wouldn't be surprised if it won, especially the people's choice)

Dungeon Down by luizcubas
Highly recommended (especially if you like dungeon crawls)

Spoiler

Pros:
- Fast paced action
- Moody dungeon crawler, reminded my of Ancient Ys games
- Pretty balanced skill upgrade system

Cons:
- Managed to crash the game during my second playthrough
- Managed to bug a certain boss (possibly due to save scumming )

Score: 4 / 5 (I thoroughly enjoyed playing this and wouldn't wonder if it ended up being a winner)

Lucie by vcmotta
Mixed

Spoiler

Pros:
- Decently written short horror game
- Most of the puzzles are well made
- Captures the feeling well

Cons:
- I had to resort to using the supplied walkthrough on one occasion, it seemed like I had overlooked a certain thing
- I had a few abrupt game overs, but nothing a load could not fix
- I almost rage quitted near the ending when you are chased by an angel statue

Score: 3 / 5 (I might have given it a 4 but I'm not that fond of horror games)

Monstruct! by hadecynn
Mixed

Spoiler

Pros:
- Interesting concept and gameplay
- The pacing felt natural, you obtained new skills and features at a good pace
- The awedropping that I felt when hadecynn teased the UI was there even during gameplay
- The polish of the game could be felt, but as any other contender, this one was not without flaws.

Cons:
- The transfers between maps felt like the game was railroading
- I did not care for the silence in the beginning.
- Personally I did not feel the characters that much.
- Eventually, the monstructing started to feel like a chore.

Score: 2 / 5 (Some people will love it, some people won't. I enjoyed it for a while, but right now, I'd give it a careful recommendation at most)

MOOP by Geoff Moore
Not recommended

Spoiler

Pros:
- Very interesting visuals reminiscent of Game Boy era. The audio supports this, as well
- A solid adventure...

Cons:
- ...with a clunky UI. I did not care, in the slightest, for the command window that appears everytime you try to interact with something. You want to speak? Choose talk from the command window. Oh, you wanted to pick up this stone instead? You should have chosen take instead.
- I felt lost at several points and had to actually consult Discord to complete the game (I only read what others wrote, I was kinda just lurking there)
- Some of the maps felt a tad large for my taste, I think they could be condensed somewhat. Just a gut feeling.

Score: 1 / 5 (Don't hate me for this, I get that this game might be a winner but it just wasn't for me)

The Dungeon of Darkwood by Llareian
Mixed

Spoiler

Pros:
- Yet another solid dungeon crawler
- Pretty balanced gameplay, you could probably beat this with only one trip to the town

Cons:
- The sepia tint of the game wasn't really necessary.
- The story was pretty standard, nothing to write home about. It had its' moments though.

Score: 3 / 5 (Notice: I helped Llareian by beta testing this and reporting some bugs, but that did not affect my review in any way. It was a solid, albeit short, experience)

The What-Iffers in: Final Fancy by AubreyTheBard
Didn't complete

Spoiler

Pros:
- A puzzle platformer, that was a first for me in this competition
- Four distinct characters with distinct abilities that actually played a real role in the game
- Some witty humor, but not the best writing I've seen around
- Some of the puzzles were genuinely interesting

Cons:
- I had to stop at puzzle 12 due to keyboard mapping issue in the game. Pressing SHIFT multiple times in quick succession just doesn't work in Windows games.
- I am not keen on puzzles that implement a time limit of any sort, as was the case on puzzles 10 and 12 (if I remember correctly)
- There are already too many Final Fantasy parodies out there, so I cringed a bit at this.

Score: 3 / 5 (I enjoyed most of the game until I hit that one puzzle where I had to quit. A shame, really, as the game had some real promise. I hope you'll update and perhaps remove the FF parodies as much as you can)

I'll probably end up reviewing a lot more while the competition lasts. I'll update this page accordingly then.

 

If anyone wants to review mine here it is, https://onslaughtsupply.itch.io/cumulus-igmc-2017, always looking for real feedback so either the next version or my next game gets better!

 

@chaucer I gave Starfall another go with the controller. Way more fun, even though I encountered some weird bugs making it unbeatable for me (I have an offbrand controller and the attack key didn't work). But any case, great work on the game (I updated the review above).

 

I collected some games here, that got a 4 or 5 rating from more than one person. °v°
They are also in the start post. (just to encourage you to write more reviews ;P )

• Abyssal Shine: Nevermelt (3)
• Azure Isle (2)
• A Conga's Tale (2)
• Journey to the East (2)
• Moop (2)
• Once Upon A Spirit (2)
  
• Once Upon a Child (2)
• The Midnight Train to Nowhere (2)

 

@Rubescen Thanks for taking the time to replay Starfall with a controller and we're glad you found it a much better experience. The jump sticking is something we're aware of, but we just didn't have time to fix it T_T

It's weird that the attack key didn't work for you as Chaucer actually uses an off brand controller also and that worked okay, I use an xbox 360/one controller and that worked okay. I'll add it to our list of things to check and bug fix, if you don't mind could you let us know what controller it is you have, that might help us identify the issue more easily.

Again, thanks for replaying and giving it another shot, there are lots of games to play so we really do appreciate you taking the time to give it a second chance and adjust your review

 

Ah, thank you for playing my game @AtlasAtrium ! Can I ask what you didn't like about the writing and the story?

 

A few more reviews to add to the ones I posted above, may get to a few more yet.

N.B.: I feel like I'm a little critical in all my reviews, but considering these games were all made in under a month -- great work all around. So take critique with a grain of salt.

Abyssal Shine: Nevermelt Recommended

Spoiler

Pros:

• Entertaining story/characters
• Interesting Puzzles

Cons:

• Boring Combat
• Too many random encounters even when set to lowest

This game doesn't really do anything new -- it plays like a classic jrpg, but it does that well. I had fun with its puzzles and its story, despite somewhat tedious combat, enough to want to finish its lengthy playtime (for this contest) -- so I'll call that a recommend.

Score: 4/5

Recondite: Phantasmal Emporium Mixed (Didn't finish)

Spoiler

Pros:

• Great/punny dialogue and story
• Character sprites/faces are solid
• Complex systems (see cons)

Cons:

• Complex Systems -- there is a lot going on here from combat to alchemy to orders, and the implementation is a bit clunky.

If punny dialogue is your thing this game wins. Other than that it's got an interesting combat system, though a bit unintutive, and a somewhat tedious alchemy system. But the puns -- I really enjoyed this, and may finish it for the story, but burnt out on the gameplay itself.

Score: 3.5/5

Moop Mixed (Didn't Finish)

Spoiler

Pros:

• Unique, consistent aesthetic.

Cons

• Point and click puzzles aren't that fun (for me)
• Interaction UI needs some work.

Retro(seeming) fun. Good in theory, but the gameplay was too tedious for me to finish (especially those interaction menus). It's got a great aesthetic though (if you like yellow-green tints).

Score: 3/5

Grimoire - Not Recommended (Didn't finish)

Spoiler

Pros:

• Cool concept/setting

Cons:

• The black/white contrast gets old
• Using the name-input interface without keyboard support for a key (ha!) gameplay mechanic is a bad idea.

Score: 2/5

Stolen Light Unplayable

Spoiler

Pros:

• Beautiful art

Cons:

• Bug Fest
• Incoherent story - needs an english-copy editor

Wow. If this game wasn't so broken I think I'd love it. Unfortunately the artist doesn't seem to have playtested their game, and basically everything is messed up (interact at the cliffs, get stuck; rescue in the meadow, get stuck; random sprites running all over the screen; graphics fading in and out). All of this seems fixable with time/editing, and that's promising at least.

Score: -/5

 

Got to play a few more games!

Once Upon a Spirit
Recommended
Pros
- Cute art style
- Good story
Cons
- Some puzzle solutions are not that intuitive.
Score 4/5

heathen
Mixed
Pros
- Interesting story
- Unique way of setting atmosphere (Monochrome tileset, no BGM, minimal SFX, etc.)
Cons
- Maps need downsizing
- Lack of BGM feels bland after a while (I can attribute this to the large map sizes. The larger the map, the more walking there is without anything going on. Without something like BGM to keep the player engaged, the player might get bored with the game early on.)
- Tileset could have more contrast in its color palette. It was hard to notice that some of the windows in the Suburb were cracked, for example. Making the cracks darker would improve this.
Score 3/5

Recondite: The Phantasm Emporium
Recommended
Pros
- Lovely artstyle
- Good use of the RTP
- Unique battle system
- Well-written characters
Cons
- It's a bit awkward to use the C key as the confirm key rather than the default Z key but hey you do you I'm blaming my muscle memory on this one.
Score 5/5