Rate Each Game out of 5!

[TheRangeStudios]

I just played The Farming One

I enjoyed a lot of harvest moon growing up, so I felt right at home with this one. Although not really geared to be a HM game, this game maintains some of the basic core of crops and helping the towns folk out. For me it was all about getting all the crops and the assistants first. After that, money just rolled in like charm. It was a bit monotonous, but so is actual farming.

The presentation of the game is solid. The cartoony portraits of the characters fit well with the overall writing and graphics. The Actor Sprites did feel a little bit out of place, but it is forgiving; it doesn't distract. The writing/dialogue of the game is fun, lively and witty, even filled with references that should appeal to gamers and internet surfers alike.

The gameplay is simple and balanced. Not once did I think that the game was being unfair about what I was doing, but it wasn't also too easy to move forward without me doing something to deserve it. A lot of the times however while visiting town, NPCs would get in the way and just seem to want to gang up on me. Personally I would avoid going into town if I didn't have to for other than crop upgrades. Festivals were a bit of a let down, being that they didn't feel like a festival, just a way for me to get free stuff. This again may be because of time constraints, but I would had love to have some kind of participation in festival other than me just acquiring free stuff. Other activities such as wood cutting, mining and fishing were fun to try a few times, but there were better ways to spend time.  I LOVED the fact that you could get animals in the game and profit from them, although I wished there would had been a little more variety, it was still a very welcomed addition. Marrying in the game involves simple tasks that requires some work and a lot of money (which you should be able to get quickly), but it does make the whole game feel more complete and concrete.

All in all the game is delightfully fun, despite some very minor and ignorable shortcomings. There was no bugs that distracted me, and the whole town was lively. A good testament that games that play within an hour can be very enjoyable and feel very much complete. A very strong contender for the overall winner.

4.5/5

 

 

[Venka]

to @TheRangeStudios you could marry in it (perhaps you had to buy more furniture first?) and you could buy animals in the north west corner of town if you unlocked the lady there (you had to tip the church enough money first).

 

[Clord]

I feel like our game is getting ignored.


http://contest.rpgmakerweb.com/game/view/id/77#.U7MiA7G2pC0

 

[pandulapeter]

Since most of the games I wanted to rate already have great quality reviews, I think I'll just recommend my own entry for you to play. It was entered in the last day together with so many other games that it disappeared quickly from the front pages. I would be very grateful for a few opinions about the difficulty curve and the overall gameplay experience. Since I was the only tester of the game, any feedback would be highly appreciated!

 

[Venka]

thank you.. that was on my list too and some how I had lost the link

 

[EternalShadow]

I feel like our game is getting ignored.

http://contest.rpgmakerweb.com/game/view/id/77#.U7MiA7G2pC0

Same with mine... in my sig XD

Also happy to play other games and give feedback, played 3 so far. Just pm me.

 

[Cinnamon]

Unraveled (4/5): This game looks, sounds, and plays great.  The story is told really well, but it treads into melodrama territory when more specifics about the main character's past are revealed.  I also found the gameplay to slow down a lot after I got lost in the jungle area for a while; that made the game's magic sort of fade for me.  The battles are generally too difficult, but the developer allows the player to continue after a loss and the ranking system encourages playing the battles repeatedly until you master them rather than just beating them, which were smart decisions, though this aspect of the game seemed to conflict with the game's narrative for me.  I think if this game stuck the ending, it could have been a 4.5, but the events leading up to the ending were so melodramatic that the player might come away feeling cheated after the very absorbing first half of the game.

Just wanted to say: thank you for reviewing Unraveled! ^_^ Due to the 1 hour "time limit" we had to cut a bit of content from the latter half of the game, which is why the dramatic scenes seem to suddenly appear in such rapid succession. I can see how that's a bit of a change from the game's first half hour. In the "final version" (i.e. 2-3 hours long) there'll be a level between the graveyard and flashback, as well as an extension of the engine/fire room.

We also would've loved to add more little interactions between Cinnamon and Marbles, but because the ending is such an important aspect of the story told, we wanted to make sure the judges could finish (and would want) to finish the game on time.

~

Will update this post with a couple of reviews of other games in a bit. I want to play Leviathan but they didn't include the RTP so I'm installing that first, ha.

 

[TerminusEst13]

One thing I will say, if people want their game played/recommended, I would definitely either make a thread (like many people have), or even do a shout-out in this thread.

I hate to be so blatant and go "plz play mah gaem", but would it be all right if I asked for someone to give my own entry a run, please?

It's my first RPG Maker game, so I'm kind of that thick mixture of nervous and very eager. I'd love to hear what people think I did right or wrong, so I know what to fix up or polish for next time.

Only one way to get better, aye?

 

[TheRangeStudios]

to @TheRangeStudios you could marry in it (perhaps you had to buy more furniture first?) and you could buy animals in the north west corner of town if you unlocked the lady there (you had to tip the church enough money first).

Oh my! Yes I missed one last piece of furniture. I cleared the game before purchasing it, and didn't think any more of it. same goes for the church, I donated very early in the game, and didn't think any of it afterwards. I revised my review!

On a different matter and subject, I could not play Leviathan, it gives me the RGSS202E.dll error.

 

[xeroborn]

I'll throw my game out there too. Its called 'Unknown Designation'

I can kind of understand why its not the top pick to play at the start. I use unmodified rtp and there are no custom assets of any kind. The truth is im a terrible artist, and know literally nothing about coding.

But, you also don't need those things to make a good game (at least with rpgmaker). DLC art and music, and online scripts allowed me to make pretty much what I set out to make.  I spent 90% of my time and effort working on the story, pacing, and gameplay balance. I don't know if its good or not, probably somewhere in the middle.

Check it out if you have time.

 

[Jesse - PVGames]

The next entry I tried: Aesperia Fallen, because other people said it was really great.

I felt for what it was it was solid and I would give it a 3/5 - which is to say I enjoyed it roughly as much as The Farming One, only for a lot less time. There are a few things keeping me from giving this a 4/5, though. Let me start off with what I liked though. I thought the combat system itself was very well thought-out and executed, and since combat makes up pretty much 3/4 of the game-play for this entry, this is very important (the rest of the game-play is literally just walking around, not even interacting with anything, just walking around and getting into fights). Combat felt balanced, strategic, and consistent. I think at one point or another I had utilized every skill available to me to defeat the various enemies, and the boss fights were well-done, each with their own little mechanic or another (I especially enjoyed the fight with the dude that calls in troops and then promotes one). Art-wise, I did enjoy the faces for the characters, and I thought the mapping was well-done. As strange as it might sound, I particularly liked the transitions between rooms inside the castle itself. 

Now for the things that kept this from being a mighty 4/5. At first, I felt like I was thrown directly into the middle of an RPG already in progress. There was no story context, no background, no character development. You learn a little about a couple of the characters as you go, but really not much at all. And then on top of this, I am immediately overwhelmed with a TON of different pieces of equipment, items, tutorials for crafting which I never utilized once since it seemed unnecessary, and since there were no shops, money seemed pointless, and leveling up seemed to not matter because all of my characters seemed to have the exact same amount of power as before. This made combat feel pointless, which is a terrible shame because the combat system itself is quite nice. And damn, is there a lot of battles in a very short period of time... I found myself disliking exploring any further because I simply did not want to get slogged down in another battle. And then there is the game length - I think I completed the game in roughly 25 minutes total. I feel like this game is not really a complete game, but a random chapter in the middle of a larger RPG.

Conclusion: This game has a lot of potential if the developer wants to flesh it out into a larger RPG. But as a stand-alone game, it leaves a fair bit to be desired in both the story and game-play departments. A lot of thought and effort went into the combat system and it certainly shows, but that alone is not enough I think for an RPG to be great. But overall I did enjoy it for the 25 minutes or so it took me to beat it. I also applaud the fact that the game is unencrypted which lets less experienced folk take a gander at how it was all set up.

Scores - [0 = Worst game ever, 1 = Terribly disappointing, 2 = Not terrible, but far from being good or something I want to play for 1 hour+, 3 = Solid game, entertaining, has some shortcomings,4 = I would consider paying money for this game, 5 = Among the greatest games I have experienced.]

 

[B.Ultimus]

The next entry I tried: Aesperia Fallen, because other people said it was really great.

I felt for what it was it was solid and I would give it a 3/5 - which is to say I enjoyed it roughly as much as The Farming One, only for a lot less time. There are a few things keeping me from giving this a 4/5, though. Let me start off with what I liked though. I thought the combat system itself was very well thought-out and executed, and since combat makes up pretty much 3/4 of the game-play for this entry, this is very important (the rest of the game-play is literally just walking around, not even interacting with anything, just walking around and getting into fights). Combat felt balanced, strategic, and consistent. I think at one point or another I had utilized every skill available to me to defeat the various enemies, and the boss fights were well-done, each with their own little mechanic or another (I especially enjoyed the fight with the dude that calls in troops and then promotes one). Art-wise, I did enjoy the faces for the characters, and I thought the mapping was well-done. As strange as it might sound, I particularly liked the transitions between rooms inside the castle itself. 

Now for the things that kept this from being a mighty 4/5. At first, I felt like I was thrown directly into the middle of an RPG already in progress. There was no story context, no background, no character development. You learn a little about a couple of the characters as you go, but really not much at all. And then on top of this, I am immediately overwhelmed with a TON of different pieces of equipment, items, tutorials for crafting which I never utilized once since it seemed unnecessary, and since there were no shops, money seemed pointless, and leveling up seemed to not matter because all of my characters seemed to have the exact same amount of power as before. This made combat feel pointless, which is a terrible shame because the combat system itself is quite nice. And damn, is there a lot of battles in a very short period of time... I found myself disliking exploring any further because I simply did not want to get slogged down in another battle. And then there is the game length - I think I completed the game in roughly 25 minutes total. I feel like this game is not really a complete game, but a random chapter in the middle of a larger RPG.

Conclusion: This game has a lot of potential if the developer wants to flesh it out into a larger RPG. But as a stand-alone game, it leaves a fair bit to be desired in both the story and game-play departments. A lot of thought and effort went into the combat system and it certainly shows, but that alone is not enough I think for an RPG to be great. But overall I did enjoy it for the 25 minutes or so it took me to beat it. I also applaud the fact that the game is unencrypted which lets less experienced folk take a gander at how it was all set up.

Scores - [0 = Worst game ever, 1 = Terribly disappointing, 2 = Not terrible, but far from being good or something I want to play for 1 hour+, 3 = Solid game, entertaining, has some shortcomings,4 = I would consider paying money for this game, 5 = Among the greatest games I have experienced.]

Thanks for your honest review!  I also like the fact you got past it in such a short amount of time (shortest to date... it took anywhere from 40 minutes to an 1hr 30).  The game was engineered so that you could still get through the game with as little combat as possible if you didn't want to.  I would of LOVED to give more back story, but was fearful that may have bogged down players.  I will take your advice in later chapters of Aesparia.  Again, thank you so much for your review.

 

[PheonixDeath1]

I will be going through the posts on this page and playing the games here before i play random games that just look good.

I will also be leaving a comment on your page once i am done playing it and if i completed it and liked it i will vote it +1 ....

If anyone could play my game and do the same that'd be cool here is my page link.

http://contest.rpgmakerweb.com/game/view/id/416#.U7MwOJRdUfU

Also if i rate your game based off of what i found on this page i will be sure to mention that i am from the page and politely ask u to the same in return.

I am currently getting screenshots for my own game to advertise on my social media so inbox me if u want me to play ur game first.

 

[Housekeeping]

Everyone wants their games played more.  I mean, there are great games like The Heart Pumps Clay that are just begging to be played.

I am shameless.  I do not regret this.

 

[Cinnamon]

Everyone wants their games played more.  I mean, there are great games like The Heart Pumps Clay that are just begging to be played.

I am shameless.  I do not regret this.

Did you upload a gif as your title screen? That's pretty genius. Wish I had thought of that.

 

[Arkecia]

So since everyone else is shamelessly posting their game links on here...

I think you guys should play these beauties!

 

[Housekeeping]

Did you upload a gif as your title screen? That's pretty genius. Wish I had thought of that.

The sad thing is, I was just so happy about my title screen that I wanted to show it off.  I didn't even think about it making the thumbnail stand out, but I gladly accept this outcome. 

Luckily, your game's graphics are so breathtaking that you don't need a gimmick like me, haha.

 

[TheRangeStudios]

Just finished Unraveled.

What a wonderful game. I felt I was playing something I bought off steam. The presentation of the game is nostalgic, I was thrown back to the SNES era to play something I enjoyed on a saturday morning. From the animated (and emotional) sprites, to the well placed and spirited music; the effort put into these aspects were marvelous and creative. The storyline at first felt a little out of place, but it soon fixed itself into Cinnamon's wonderful imagination which had the most impact for me personally. The quiet narritive can be a little hard to figure out, but it adds so much charm that if done otherwise it would probably hurt the game. The story did feel lacking somewhat at the end, despite it's emotional outpouring. It felt a little rushed, but the way that it lends itself at the end to start a new game, that was absolutely priceless. Whosever idea was that, deserves a pat on the back.

The gameplay of the game carries absolutely well with the presentation of the game. A few of the games I've seen and some that I've played, the gameplay mechanics don't seem to match the game they're projecting. This however isn't the case with Unraveled. The gameplay gave a sense of exploration and adventure inside the mind of Cinnamon. And it absolutely felt like a throwback to Tomb Raider and even Prince of Persia, with a twist of, dare I say, Dora the Explorer. Despite it's great mechanics, some of this awesome adventure bits was easily slowed down by some areas which jumping areas were hard to figure out, despite the indications that were shown. Some areas also seemed to rush the exploration in order to continue the story, in which in return seem to rush the game.

Another aspect of the gameplay was the battles. The State Balance System is unique and very well made. However, despite it's unique and well-contructed system, it felt out of place with the game, in terms of terminology used. "Focus" and "Rage" weren't words I was thinking about when playing the game, little less a few names used in the attacks. Cinnamon's imagination felt it was that of an exploring and adventuring child, not one that would think of attacks like "fireball". Despite that design choise however, the battles served as well-placed breaks from exploring that could other wise be a little tedious (jungle section I am looking at you), and also managed to prove to be challenging and very strategic, so they weren't a total pushover.

But all in all, the game is extremely fun. Jumping, climbing and hanging felt exciting and refreshing through the eyes of a young girl looking for her parent. There was a point in the game where I encountered a bug that allowed to skip the jungle area entirely. But didn't seem to hinder the story and my experience of the game, since I was starting to feel the Jungle area of the game seem to be confusing a little bit, but it's worth noting.

Unraveled is definitely a game to remember for this contest. A thorough and beautiful presentation with a quiet but imaginative narrative despite some minor setbacks, makes it a game that many other games will have problems overcoming for the prizes.

4/5

 

[Ralpf]

Hello everyone, I think that's a great idea!

Would you guys take requests? I would love to get feedback on my game, I know it's not perfect, but I tried really hard and it's this was the first time I've ever made a game / used the RPG Maker, so please be gentle!!! 

Here is the link, the game is called Oubliette. http://bit.ly/rpgoubliette

Oubliette: I liked the way the story was told, the writing was a bit off with some characters (<>) being where they didn't belong, along with some grammar issues and inconsistancy with the spelling of Samuel's name. But it got job done and I thought it was a good story with some flaws. Also a fairly successful attempt at voice acting, some more sound editing to keep volume levels consistance is needed, but I have played big budget games with worse voice acting then that, so I have to give you a plus there.

On the negative side, the combat was a bit bland and easy, I like that it was a side view rather then front view, but I never felt much of a reason to use most of the skills, the strongest tech skill the character had was what I used, except for the fourth character who I used his target one magic attack...speaking of which, he had a target all magic attack and I don't think there was any fights with more then one enemy after I got him. I never felt threatened by any of the enemies. And the items command was left on the menu, in and out of combat, but there were no items in the game. And there was inconsistancy between the name of the skills in the menu and at the top of the screen in battles. All-in-all, needed more battle testing.

So, good story, not good combat, but fun for the 45-60 minutes it lasts.

I give it 3/5, very good for your first attempt and with a 1 month deadline, in my opinion. (I feel that second paragraph may come off as harsh, I don't mean it that way. I have a blunt way of speaking and I'm not one to pull my punches. Ultimately, you make another game and I would give it a shot, that's really all that matters after making your first game)

 

[Rhaeami]

So, since I'm not the first to do so... perhaps I could request some feedback on my own game, Pale Echoes?  After seeing some of the amazing entries that people have put together, I've pretty much lost all confidence that a humble little solo RTP game like mine could stand a chance, but it's still a great opportunity to see what talents I may (or may not) have!  Lounging at entry number 492, though, surrounded by other forgotten games with nary a comment to our names, can be a somewhat depressing climax to a month's work.

Here's the Link

Either way, I'll try to give some of the other entries a little attention, myself, once I find some time between long work hours.  I've been curious about some of the more adorable-looking ones.  So many games about cats!