How to be Funny

Game Title: How to be Funny
Engine: RPG Maker VX Ace Lite
Status at review: Complete

Background:
A couple of months ago, there was an event on RMN never seen before unless you count this: the RPG Maker VX Ace lite Cook-off. The purpose behind this event was to have the RPG Maker.net community make true, original creations using the RPG Maker VX Ace Lite engine.
If memory serves me right, the result was a 19-game event with The Grumpy Knight winning the voter's choice award. However, there are still two awards from that event that have not been delineated yet.

Now that the Iron Chef reference is out of my system, let's get down to business. In case it wasn't obvious, How to be Funny is a game made during the VX Lite Cook-off. The premise of the game interested me the most, and the game seemed to have it's own sense of humor to it. I'm not exactly sure why I let this game get off my radar until now, but I figured this was a good an opportunity as any.
I did not see all this game had to offer. I got as far as the third "hub" area before I decided that I was done with this game.


Graphics:
Most of what you'll be seeing is RTP, but there are some rather notable exceptions. First and foremost is the alien face-on-the-wall (you'll be seeing a lot of it in the course of the game). Second is some of the enemies. One needs not look far, for an example.
I really like the lighting effects, and the creepy atmosphere they bring to the game. There was this one dungeon, an ice cave, that was all dark and dreary at first, then becomes bright and cheerful after You's captor makes an appearance. In my opinion, this actually made the area ten times creepier. It probably doesn't hurt the "creepy" factor that the game has the appearance of starting over in that sequence.
As for the maps, the areas look, and feel, natural. Doodad placement didn't feel off, and the area's connectivity to each other is plausible.


Audio:
As is my usual, I listed to the music before plying the game. The game doesn't use anything I recognize, nor did anything really "jump out" at me. Saying that, most of the pieces I heard were decent.
When in context of the game, the music adds to the atmosphere. Though, there was one boss battle in a forest where the music was really off-putting.
Another thing to note is the use of sounds effects. Being the game that it is, it includes "canned laughter". I can't really say that they were effective, as I had trouble recognizing jokes to begin with, but that's not necessarily a problem for this section.


Story:
The name gives the player character the name "You". Considering the nature of the game, I can't help but to think that this is supposed to be literal rather than a "fill this with your own name" situation. Anyway, You's alien captor have constructed a dungeon using it's exceptional knowledge, and it's exhaustive study of human comedy. You has the honor (if you can call it that) of running through the experience, acquiring any and all means of relaying humor that his feeble mind can retain. The warning that comes later on (after being chased by a huge monster) is that some people (seeming hint at the aforementioned monster) don't like to laugh.
Now, maybe it's just me, but whenever a hyper-intelligent alien attempts to relay human humor, the attempt always falls flat. With this game, I was hoping the attempt at humor by this alien would be humorous onto itself. How well does it do this? One would have to play the game to find out!


Playing the game:
Within the hide-tag is something akin to a gaming journal. If ever there was a place to warn for spoilers, it's here.



General Observations:
I didn't expect this game to give me a desire for a quick way to return to a recovery point. But it did. Each time it gave me a gate that required me to collect abilities, there were battles to be fought, and a corresponding recovery point. This is an RPG, after all, so perhaps I should have seen this coming. However, the battles themselves became a chore. Which is an odd point to bring up, as I usually don't mind grinding in RPGs. So, what made the battles a chore? I'd have to say that it was a combination of difficulty, and this sensation that I shouldn't need to grind in this game.
Okay, so the over-my-head vocabulary that was on display was hard for me to understand, and gave me headaches. I shouldn't dismiss the consistency of the personality of the speaker. Nor should I ignore the dedication involved in writing such a character. So, I'll forget the headaches for a moment, and give a hearty congratulations on a job well done on characterization!


Summary:
This game had a little over two weeks of development time with extra limits set forth by the nature of the engine and the event. I've seen a fair share of projects with a similar time frame to develop (though with fewer restrictions), but still turn out to be great games. This game looked like it would be such a game. To the game's credit, the only real fault it has is it's battles, though it is a rather large one, in my humble opinion. If they were fixed up, I don't doubt this game will be great.


BOTTOM LINE: 3/5


Side note on ratings (since there is/was/will be somewhat of a spate on what rating means what between each user):