RMMV Twilight City [No Travel Jam Submission] (Updated)

[Silverpence]

A short little game that I made over the course of 2 days (when I found out about the jam lol).

SYNOPSIS

Twilight City is a mystery/puzzle game based in feudal Japan. You take the shoes of a peniless ronin, recently freed, along with your sidekick to investigate a pair of paranormal murders in the Twilight City of Mifune (+10 if you know who that is).



GAMEPLAY

• Three areas of the city with three seperate short puzzles.
• Bunch of fun references I threw in.
• Use different items to advance.

I tried not to make a virus game lol, but the original scope of my project was actually much, much bigger.Sadly, I couldn't complete any of that due to severe time constraints, I'm writing this right now when it's 2 hours till April ends. If I had longer time, I probably could've gotten a lot more done. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the game and I'd like to hear thoughts on it.

DOWNLOAD LINK:
Itch.io | Windows

PS: Sorry for the large filesize, excluding unused assets didn't work so I had to use MVStripper.

 

[Zliryu]

I like the story and have the urge to punch Wada.

 

[Gokasy]

Hi @Silverpence ,

Hope you are doing well and keeping safe

I am new to the community, so I will try to keep it short, hope you don't mind

Art and character:

I don't like the start, as it seems that the main character (or one of the main characters) is a criminal, without any explanation (or I may have just hit space to fast to follow the intro, sorry xD), he could have been in one of the houses to start with.
But all in all, I like detective stories, so it seems really interesting, and kept me playing for a bit, good job.
Characters are ok, the side character is so talkative and keeps alerting the main player, and that seems interesting, and sometime a little agressive.

Battle:

I didn't get to experience the battle system, as I didn't run into a enemy, I presume that there are no enemies to fight with in the first part of the game, but if I run into some, I will edit this post with my experiences battling.

Overall:

I liked the game, and the graphics and character were interesting, loved that you can input your character name (you have to share with me how you did that, a plugin?) and also interacting with the environment.

I also managed to somehow brake a part of the game, in the samurai's house, so you might need to fix that part:



Also, I don't know why u used 2 enter points for one of the houses in the first part, as when I exit the house and just go left/right, depending where I entered, it just sends me back inside, even if I didn't go up:



And last, but not least, I would have liked if you used a chair instead of the table, so player could go both ways to this guy (I should have taken the pic before that part (spoiler alert):



All in all a really fun and interesting game,

Hope to see more of your games, so keep up the great work!

All the best and keep safe!

 

[Silverpence]

Hey @Gokasy! Apologies for the Bugs, I'll try to fix them as soon as I can.

I liked the game, and the graphics and character were interesting, loved that you can input your character name (you have to share with me how you did that, a plugin?) and also interacting with the environment.

RPG Maker MV just has a event called Input Name Processing that allows users to put their name.

Unfortuntately, there is no battling, but I hope you enjoy it just the same.

 

[Gokasy]

Hey @Silverpence ,

No worries, there are bugs everywhere xD Yeah I enjoyed it and I was sure that there were no battles, so thank you for confirming, just some small puzzles, right? or some larger ones as well, I hope

I just learned that today, on youtube, but thank you for sharing

Please share everything you can, so I can get better at making games, and maybe we can work on a project in the future.

All the best and keep safe!

 

[mlogan]

Here is my review so far, I will add to it once I get some help with a place I am stuck in.

Overall Impressions: I like the atmosphere a lot. The Asian setting is a nice change from many RPGs. The music is peaceful. I like the story so far.

Small note about general game improvement: My first inclination once I gain control is to start exploring. Coming out of the prison, there is a house immediately to the right, so I went into it. Trying to see how the mechanics of finding objects works, I found some blue paint. It wasn’t until later that I would realize what the blue paint is for. However, I find the blue person’s request for help odd, as he never tells you what he wants. I would not have known to go look for blue paint, I just had happened to already find it. It would make more sense if the information cutscene triggered when first coming out of the prison.

Spoiler: Problem

I have gotten to the point where I need to find a way past the guys after us, by the bridge. I got the fish and I bought sake, but I cannot for the life of figure out what to do next. To my knowledge, I’ve checked every location and talked to every NPC twice. I actually started the game over to see if I missed something, and I am still not finding the solution. I’m pretty tired, so it may just be me missing something obvious.

 

[Silverpence]

Hi @mlogan

Thanks for your input, I'll see how I can improve that section of the puzzle.

As for the part where you're stuck - since you already have the sake and the fish, there's only 1 NPC you need to talk to to progress into the next part.

 

[hiddenone]

I gave this a go, but ended up stuck trying to find enough gold to give Wada. A detective story is a nice change of pace for me, though I wish there was more detective-ing instead of just locating items... The two-day development time really hurt the story.

Spoiler: Feedback

⦁ These notes are taken as I play
⦁ Playing the first version, because it's what I downloaded

⦁ Well, at least the constable is right about 'AAAAAAAAAA' being a stupid name. But you may want to keep in mind that not all players care about what they name the main character so having an option for a default name is a good idea

⦁ Can walk on the jail walls

​

⦁ Hey, why does Naoji blame the ronin for the gangster dying? He was the one who poisoned the guy!

⦁ The puzzles are simple so far, to the point that I almost wish I had to select the item to use it... It would also be amusing to try to use a fugu fish to solve all the problems

⦁ It would be nice if there was a notebook or something to help the player keep track of the clues and what they need to do next. Naoji keeps talking about being a great detective, shouldn't he have his own detective notebook?

⦁ I think I have to stop. I got into the samurai's basement, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the other 50 gold (I got some from the mother and lost boy) to give the money to Wada. I'm pretty sure I talked to everyone, so I must be missing something...

Overall, I do like the idea behind this game but just wish some parts were a bit more clear. I had thought I talked to everyone, but since I was missing gold I clearly was wrong. With more time and polish this could turn into a really cool little game, so I hope you plan on continuing with it a bit longer. Even if you don't, good luck with your projects!

 

[Silverpence]

@hiddenone Thanks for trying out the game, also if you're willing to give it another go:

Spoiler: Solution

You have to take Tea from Wada's table and give it to a seller

 

[hiddenone]

Okay, see the problem with that is that as a player I had no idea I could do that. There weren't any clues I noticed that led me to think I should interact with that, so without you sharing the solution I would've never been able to continue. Of course, some players will be able to figure it out (or will just try interacting with everything to try to proceed) but it may be nice to add in some way for the player to get hints if they get stuck.

 

[slimmmeiske2]

So I got stuck at the exact same point hiddenone did, so I followed so your solution, but when I try and go to the seller, Naoji keeps saying 'we don't have anything to sell'. Which is weird, because besides the item you mentioned to get, I also still have some fugu left over. (I found two in the ground level).

Spoiler: Thoughts so far

* Mapping could be better, especially the indoor ones. They're very big and bare. There's also some mapping errors in the farmhouse and teahouse regarding the walls.
* Naoji has some serious crazy eyes from time to time.
* I second the idea of having a default name protagonist. I had no idea what to name him. xD
* Music's really nice.

 

[Silverpence]

@slimmmeiske2

Thank you for trying out the game, I might've not clearly mentioned what was supposed to be done:

Spoiler: Solution

You are not supposed to give Tea to 'the' seller, but there is a seller near the top right of the marketplace, in front of a tent, and when you talk to him he says he is very drowsy and has a hard time staying awake. If you give the Tea to him you'll get a pendant, which then you can sell for money. As for the Fugu, I wasn't aware that there were 2 in the first area, sorry about that.

Also, Naoji's was actually made in the female character creator, because all the male chins were far too pronounced for a guy like him. That's why I could use only 1-2 eyes which worked the best.