RMMV Magical Girl Z (No Travel Game Jam)

[TheLastYuriSamurai]

Magical Girl Z​

THE GAME'S STORY

Spoiler

In a world... with vaguely gritty graphics.... and anime obsessed scientists in need of a waifu. Zelle has the unfortunate coincidence of having a vaguely magical-girl like appearance, which was apparently enough for this... "magical talking dog scientist" to entrust her with the power to save their world.

Does that sound ridiculous? Well that's because it is!!

Join Zelle, the annoyed middle aged secretary as she's forced to fight the zombie apocalypse caused by fanboys trying to create "The waifu of their dreams". Convinced that someone from HR must have spiked her drink with something, she decides to play along and hope she can make it home to play her switch later.

SCREENSHOTS

Spoiler

LINK TO MY ITCH

Spoiler

PLEASE NOTE: The version of this game specifically made for this jam is a version with more toned down language. It is clearly labeled as a windows download "Magical Girl Z(No Travel Game Jam)

Magical Girl Z by TheLastYuriSamurai

Play as a magical girl and defeat the Zombie hoard made by a fanboy with too much time on his hands.

thelastyurisamurai.itch.io

GAME FEATURES

Spoiler

-Custom art

-A blend of genres so strange it was powerful enough to convince you to keep reading

-A side-view action rpg system

-The existential question of if this the zombie apocalypse, and this dog is a scientist, THEN WHO IS DRIVING THE CAR?!?

Note: I'm proud to say this short 10-15 minute game was made with my girlfriend, who always supports the things I do. I hope all of you can enjoy it.

 

[mlogan]

Join Zelle, the annoyed middle aged secretary as she's forced to fight the zombie apocalypse caused by fanboys trying to create "The waifu of their dreams".

Definitely going to try this one out.

 

[Chroma-Creative-Solutions]

Overall a very interesting experience and a great job at keeping consistency in the persistence of the characters personas. This style of genre could work great as a full game due to the back and forth available between the main character and the scientist, allowing for a continued push into the theme and motif of being anti-magical girl in how it mocks the genre. Not in the same way that Puella Magi Madoka Magica is an unexpected twist on the magical girl genre, but still a welcome addition none the less.

However there are some balancing issues that need to be addressed, and while latitudes are granted due to the nature of the entry, I was a bit confused at how the battle system was structured. For example, if you complete two battles, using only your magic and attack, you will likely die. Even when I completed one battle at a time, and went and bought stuff to restore my MP, I would still die trying to complete all the battles. However, if I skip everyone and go straight to the final boss, you can beat the final boss with your current skills. I did notice I leveled up and learned a seemingly powerful skill, but could never seem to level up to get the skill before the final boss. I am unsure if this is intentional or not to encourage the player to go straight to the final boss? Additionally just to let you know, you can still see TP in the character menu, though you have it disabled in the battle system.

I would strongly recommend that those reading here try this game out as the story and character development for such a short game are great. While the game does need further polish (if desired to be a longer game), it was an enjoyable experience.

 

[EuphemiaArtoria]

I was really interested in this one because I'm a huge fan of pink hair and Magical Girls! (Could you tell? ^^; ) I'm trying to make one too, but I don't know that I'll ever be able to match this cute pixel art!

I absolutely adored the visuals in this game. Zelle's portrait particularly, looks amazing, is really emotive, and is just in a beautiful style. 10/10. I also like the general aesthetic around the text boxes, the colour, border, font all come together well and give a good feel, more modern and less fantasy. The title screen music and the BGM in the initial scene and maps are also really good. The epic jams in the combat feel kind of ironic, remind me of the Blue Dragon theme used in Shut Up & Jam Gaiden, which is a good joke, but I think it might have been overkill using it in every fight.

I love every bit of the pixel aesthetic. I already talked about the portraits, but the sprites, tilesets, the attack animations all look good. Only one thing jarred- the little green bubble icons for poison are in a muuuuch higher definition than everything else, so they look out of place. I'm not sure which assets are premade and which are unique. Whether you made the tileset from scratch or just mapped the town out, it looks very good.

There are two areas that I feel the game lets itself down. The first is the combat, which just seems ridiculously difficult, to the point that I wasn't sure if it had been playtested. I died in my second fight thinking "is this a supposed to lose fight?" and then had to mash through the first cutscene again. Fighting 1 vs 3 in every fight feels lame. If you do a physical attack and miss, you wasted your entire turn. In the end almost every fight boiled down to just punching dudes and chugging medicine, hoping I could KO someone before I ran out. I barely bothered with magic since it took 3 uses of the damage spell to KO enemies, at which point I might as well punch each of them twice and take less damage. I'd highly recommend putting only 1 or 2 enemies in the first couple of fights, and maybe removing the player's ability to miss, or heck, add the dog to the party? Also, I cannot think of a time when it would ever be useful to Guard when you only control 1 character.

The other area that fell a little short for me was the writing. I am *incredibly* here for a game about a gay magical girl busting heads, but I felt this was kind of suffering from irony poisoning. There's just a ton of talking that has to happen before you even get to move around. Opening the menu is tutorialized, but then you won't have a chance to actually do so until after the cutscene ends. Even once you start the first fight there is a lot of self aware humour about the music or what the enemies drop. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of this kind of self aware humour, and I don't like a lot of text popping up when I'm trying to play the game.

I hope that didn't sound too harsh. There was a lot to love in this game and I'm very glad to have played it!

 

[daheji]

Just finished the game and it was a lot more fun that I expected.

Faceset for Zelle is really well done and expressive! Good job on that!

I really like the interaction between the dog scientist and Zelle. At the end where the Dog Scientist said "We can finally together" made me laugh out loud for real. Same for the reason why there's music in battle.

I didn't find the combat difficult. Actually, it was pretty easy. I just spammed the AOE attack and used potions after the battle.

Just need a bit of polishing, like removing the TP in the menu and the Guard option.

Your game reminded me a lot of the Manga Mistaken Child Attempts to Become a Magical Girl / Machigatta ko wo Mahō Shōjo ni ****e Shimatta / Magical Girl Holy **** ( yeah, there's a lot of different name for this manga, depending in which country you buy it ). If you don't know it, you should read it!

There is a lot of good ideas in your game and I believe it can be a full long game, full of fun and 4th wall breaking jokes.

Anyway, good job!

 

[Oliver]

I have to say that I have played some of the usual RPG Games but this one actually made me laugh quite some due to the stupid dog and Zelle's personality really went well with the story which was always a plus.

Not only that but the game didn't let down on the bad manners, like yeah it is a Magical Girl thing but you best not think Zelle will let you think she is cute and innocent when she definitely isn't xD

Also gotta comment on the music I don't know if it is taken from different places or whether it is composed or not but either way I gotta say you chose the right music for each scene in this RPG Game so props to you there ^w^

The way you have the sprites made is also amazing postly Zelle's profile picture sprite that is though the poison effect?? does look rather neat with how she reacts to it in the sprite itself~

 

[TheLastYuriSamurai]

I hope that didn't sound too harsh. There was a lot to love in this game and I'm very glad to have played it!

Spoiler: response to EuphemiaArtoria

I'm happy you overall had a great experience with the game! While I can't lay claim to the visuals (see Vexed Enigma's work) the magical girl portraits and sprite were edited from the default to be more magical girl for this jam. All of the battlers are also custom made, specifically for this jam, while let me tell you took awhile and is a big reason there's so few battles.

I will say I'm sorry you found the battles to be so difficult. I should have made it more obvious that using magic was actually highly encouraged, as you could defeat all 3 enemies in 3 attacks, as opposed to 2-ish per enemy not counting turns to heal. Later on a more powerful spell in unlocked that nerfs the battles down to 2-ish attacks to win. This making the skill of preserving MP more needed. I think perhaps making things a bit easier in the beginning would have been a good idea, with an emphasis on magic later.

I'm glad you took the time to review and I don't feel it was too harsh at all! I know many RPGMaker veterans who make these incredible fighting engines and knew I couldn't compete, so I tried something more my style with heavy emphasis on story and characters. It was an awesome experience trying something new, and I'm glad you could enjoy it!

Just finished the game and it was a lot more fun that I expected.

Spoiler: my response to daheji

I tried so hard to not make the scientist hate-able, but that level of sleaze and immaturity where your just like "ew no go away" so I'm happy that translated well to the joke at the end! I am happy you discovered the best method was just to spam "Here comes the boom" until you gain the lightning attack.

Also I haven't heard of that manga! I'll be sure to look it up! Thank you for the review!

I have to say that I have played some of the usual RPG Games but this one actually made me laugh quite some due to the stupid dog and Zelle's personality really went well with the story which was always a plus.

Spoiler: my response to Oliver

Hahaha if you want links to the music used check the credits, I believe it ended up all being from YouFulca. I'm happy to see such a positive response to Zelle because that level of tiredness and vague frustration is so easy to write about while unemployed in quarantine!

I'm happy the hours I spend on those battle sprites worked out! I wanted the effort to show, and I'm happy my edits matched VexedEnigma's work well enough to sync well!

 

[KV_Kingdom]

Review

Issues
Only 1 minor spelling error, found in Medicine's description: "It's like putting a bandaid on a crack int he wall...."

My playthrough was otherwise free of bugs and grammar issues. Well done!

Music
The overworld music is my jam. The other themes were appropriate, including some that featured Japanese lyrics.

Visuals
The art is fully custom and lovely...except for the main character? I felt like Magical Girl Z's design was the only thing lacking in this otherwise consistent low-rez retro design. She's so low-rez that she's limited to basic motions that look awkward, and the lack of detail makes her costume look like a blob of pixels. The other characters, including the zombies and NPCs, are clear and well-designed. The face graphics are detailed, clear, and even have emotions! The environments are detailed and provide clear pathing, despite being low-rez blocks. The presentation reminded me of 90s arcade games and the intro stage from Mega Man X, with the crashed cars and general urban disarray.

Story
It's pretty basic, and got a few chuckles out of me. The intro is a bit long, but it does it's job of introducing the premise. The rest of the text is humorous and adds flavor without overstaying its welcome.

Battle System
It's quick, basic, and straightforward. No action sequences, but the standard animations have been modified to fit the low-rez style, and the game is so short that it doesn't matter too much. You do learn a third spell after a couple of fights, but it doesn't seem to be any different from your starting AOE spell. Also, why no battle backgrounds?

Conclusion
This game is a quick burst of fun. While there's nothing particularly flashy or outstanding about it, it isn't frustrating or broken, either. I could see this being turned into a larger game, but I'd want to bump up the quality of a few visual aspects, too, such as improving the main character sprite. A good effort!

 

[RCXDan]

@TheLastYuriSamurai Did a review for your game:

Spoiler

Pros:

+ Dig the artstyle. Zelle is in fact cute, and her "I'm done with all of this" personality makes her at least fun to watch
+ This is the first one I played that had a battle system and it was pretty decent. I like how the zombies stay on screen when you kill them.
+ Good music
+ I like how the city looks
+ You always have just enough cash to get what you need, and the stuff you can get is pretty useful
+ Short and sweet, doesn't over-extend its welcome at any point
+ No bugs to speak of
+ Oooh, voice acting

Cons:

- I am... very mixed on the dialogue, especially since it drops all this stuff on you immediately. On one hand it's so outrageous it warrants at least a few laughs. On the other, it comes across as extremely awkward, especially the dog scientist and his anime speak. It kinda drags. I get that it's poking at magical girl tropes, but it's doing it in a way that feels... obnoxious? It really does not work for me.
- Speaking of the plot, it's... just kinda a flat parody and not much else.
- The characters are pretty unlikable aside from Zelle
- The zombie noises got a bit annoying
- Typo: "Crack int he wall"

Observations:

= Links to a ******* through the game itself. Neat.
= References Madoka Magica at one point
= Game takes place in the real world, I think.

Analysis:

I enjoyed this quite a bit! You kept it short and precise, which I appreciate regarding these game jam projects. The combat was decent, resources were always plentiful and the game looked & sounded nice from start to finish. I know other people are saying it's difficult, but you have a pretty cheap AOE spell and your regular attack isn't useless. It's perfectly fine.

My biggest caveat would have to be the writing though, since the "making an ultimate waifu and failed, thus zombies attack" thing is just kinda... silly? I mean, it's funny enough as far as why there's a zombie apocalypse happening. That said, the banter got grating after a while. I get the anti-magical girl jokes are the point, but it feels like a pretty flat parody.

It had too much irony but not enough charm, if that makes sense? (This is coming from a Sailor Moon and Madoka superfan - I'm saying this because you can do way better regarding twisting magical girl tropes)

I'm interested to see what else you make, since despite my gripes this was pretty solid.

 

[Corlagon]

Review


This mostly plays like a default RPG. Except that it’s very short, although that might be a good thing if you want to review games but lack time. And it uses retro pixel visuals, and a modern setting with up-tempo music. And it’s funny.

The generic enemies can be avoided, but defeating them will earn you items and an additional attack, so it’s probably worth it. Unfortunately, the enemies do a lot of damage. Therefore, you need to carefully decide when to heal and when to attack and how, lest you get a sudden Game Over, and figuring out how useful the special attacks are in the first place felt like trial and error to me. At least we can save anytime between battles.

Well, that’s pretty much it already, aside from a bit of minor stuff. The interactable things and doors should perhaps stand out more. The cutscene ratio also feels a bit clumsy, the opening being relatively long, whereas the boss completely lacks a climactic pre-battle scene.

But again, the cutscenes are funny, so I can definitely recommend Magical Girl Z if you want some quick entertainment, and don’t mind having to reload a few times.

 

[hiddenone]

I gave this a go, and had some fun with it. The battles were a bit lacking but the use of POP! tiles and the silly story drew me in.

Spoiler: Feedback

⦁ Playing first available version, so sorry if there have been updates

⦁ Good that you're showing control info right away, instead of expecting the player to know it already

⦁ Odd but funny story, though I kinda wish the game had started 'mid-fight', with Zelle running into one of the zombies and the scientist giving her the magical girl powers then (because let's be honest, that's how most of these stories go )

⦁ The layout of battles seems a bit off, there's a ton of empty space on the left side of the screen

⦁ Poison's effect is too strong, losing 70-ish HP each turn means the player has to heal... and if you get poisoned right away again, it feels cheap. If would be nice if healing poison gave the player a state that protected them from poisoning, at least for a few turns

⦁ Minor thing, but it's a shame the zombie attack names are so basic, it'd be nice if they were sillier

⦁ 'Wrath of the Goddess' is legitimately better than 'Here Comes the Boom!', but the cost is the same? Why would I ever choose Boom again then???

⦁ No reward for saving Tuck?

⦁ The Zombie Boss didn't seem any different than the normal enemies

⦁ Good use of POP! tiles and sprites, though I wish you'd edited Zelle's faceset more so that we'd get to see the heart hairpin in it as well

Overall, the story is what drives this game, and it's just the right mix of short and silly. Hopefully if you come back to this game you can spend some more time polishing the battles so that they live up to the rest of the game. Good luck with your projects!

 

[webgamesetc]

I played Magical Girl Z more than just a few times and had a lot of fun. I chose it for a video playthrough and review.

Spoiler: The Video Playthrough

Spoiler: The Wordsy Part of the Review

Your story and character dialog is a lot of fun and the showcase of the game. There's some punctuation work and sentence structure that need help, especially in the first sequence. The game is heavily story and dialog dependent - the first 5 minutes is dialog! So you're gonna want that in the best shape and in top quality. I would recommend grammar checkers and punctuation checkers that are available online in things like WordCounter(net) Google Docs or if you have MS Word. Also, doing an out-loud read-through and acting out the dialog with co-creators will reveal sentences that are written correctly but don't flow well as spoken conversation. There were a lot of laugh out loud moments and the story made the game so you're gonna want that perfect!

The combat for game pace was quick and convenient enough. You had a cool battle background for the Boss fight! A cool battle background for the arcade fight would be less disorienting than jumping back outside. I got used to it, but the extra effort would be worth it for continuity feeling.

The pixel art world was a lot of fun and the custom faces were great with the story. The overall world and art design fit together well. One thing that really broke the feel for me was the default icons for the items like the spells and the medicines. Creating new pixel art icons could be fun! There's a lot of great pixel art tutorials out there and you're already customizing graphics, so you're already halfway there. And there's premade stuff too; I've seen some pixel art icons that would work well with the overall look and feel you've got going created out in the resources community. Either way, that's an easy thing to swap out that would continue your cool pixel art feel. If you want to go that extra mile, you could update the colors in the window image and replace the HP and MP bar colors with colors that match your pixel art palette.

The spell effects fit well for the art style, there's a little errant line of pixels on the left side of the sprite during the Medicine effect.

Your game is a lot of fun and I enjoyed playing it. With some polish and some more adventures for Z it could be a fun series to keep going! I would follow it and come back and play more.