RMN SNEWS - ISSUE #15

A newsletter - Reviews in Review, Obama Hate Trends, Action 52, Night of Marian, The Staff of Cyrenia, PS: Pirates!, Ephiam

  • kentona
  • 02/22/2010 10:31 PM
  • 13487 views

..:: Issue #15 ::..






RMN seems aquibble with contentious reviews of late.

This May Be The Shortest Review I Will Ever Write by Max McGee was perceived to be spiteful and petty, seen to be nothing more than a reaction to a review written by Silviera for one of Max's prominent games. Prior to these reviews, both games had a 5-star rating on RMN. Heated arguments arose from these reviews and eventually discussion turned to reviews themselves, and what constitutes a good review.

Further examples of contentious reviews include Fundamentals, in which the format and content of the review came under fire, Disappointing and lacking substance which is accused of being unnecessarily hostile, and Masterpiece in a bottle - a joke review for a joke game.

Now, the issue of the lack of standards for reviews has been raised many times in the past, but nothing concrete has been done about it. In an attempt to get the discussion going, I have written an article on the subject of reviews, How To Be A Reviewer. In that article I am proposing the following metric for our current 5-star system:

5.0: "Outstanding"
A game that finds itself with a full score is truly remarkable. It is well presented, has enjoyable gameplay, has very few flaws or drawbacks and in general is just a great gaming experience.

Five stars out of five doesn't mean that's the greatest game and no game could be better. It does mean that it's one of the very best you can download in the opinion of the writer of the review.

4.0 to 4.5: "Exceptional"
This score identifies a game that did most everything right and was a lot of fun to play. There may be one or two annoying traits that kept it from a full score but that doesn't take anything critical away from the game. Games with a 4 or 4.5 would come across as highly recommended to play.

2.5 to 3.5: "Average"
These games are good and can provide a good playing experience. However, faults in this range are more noticeable and do detract from the experience. Games that fall into this range are typically worth checking out, especially if the game style or content suits your RPG preferences.

1.0 to 2.0: "Poor"
The general experience from a game in this category is generally a poor one, but with a few redeeming qualities. The problems in this range tend to mount faster and more repeatedly and detract heavily from the game. While a select few may enjoy the game, most wouldn't.

0.5: "Terrible"
The "Don't Play This Game" score. Games in this range have more negatives than positives and just don't provide a good enough playing experience to justify the time spent downloading it.

But this is just one man's opinion on the subject. Something needs to happen, so here is as good a place as any to start.




Obama Hate Trends

CURSE OF OBAM-RA


The current American president is the subject of one of RMN's most intense threads. Terrorism, free speech, idiocy, democracy, space travel, reality TV, mummies...this thread has it all.

(Mostly I wanted to post about this thread here to highlight that awesome picture uh made. Oh, and I think it's Black History Month, too, so this kind of fits that theme.)




Action 52 VX - 24 Hour RPG Maker Throwdown

I'd post the logo, but it doesn't have one yet. RMN Charter Code item #41.2 c) states: "All RMN events are required to have a corresponding banner and/or logo."

GreatRedSpirit has challenged the community to make a game in 24 hours (or less), and the community responded. The event started wayyy back on the 10th of February and the deadline is today. Starting tomorrow, GreatRedSpirit will begin compiling the various entries in to one mega-game compilation, one that RMN eagerly awaits.

Stay tuned!




Storytelling

Today class we will be reading about writing stories. I will be assigning the following four articles for you to read, and expect a summary and critique on them by the end of class Friday.

On Story Structure
On the Arrogance of Storytellers
On Video Games and Narrative
FUNdamentals of RPGs Part III - Story

Remember, this counts for 25% of your final marks.





Night of Marian

DRILL HAIR


Who made it?
Archeia_Nessiah and NEO Prime

What is it?
Night of Marian is a steampunk fantasy dystopia.

Why should you care?
Drill Hair, TO PIERCE THE HEAVENS!!! (In other words, the artistic style for this game is brilliant! You really ought to check it out.)




The Staff of Cyrenia

This game is pretty fun - Kedanna


Who made it?
Goldenguy

What is it?
The Staff of Cyrenia is a straightforward dungeon-crawler RPG made in RMVX.

Why should you care?
Given the interest here for other generic dungeon-crawler romps, why has this game completely floated under the radar? Granted, I never play games but I am shocked that no one has yet written a review on this game.



THEME: It's Great To Be A Pirate!
"Pirates are cool." - every 10 year old boy ever

Pirates: The Legend of the Silver Crescent by Carius
It's good to be a pirate by Rebezion
Rob the sea dog by Ascare
In the Steps of the Blackfoot by SDHawk
Pirates of the Internet by blih

images coming tomorrow!

Pirates! This has been a theme I have been sitting on for some time. The time has now come to unleash the pirate hordes.

1. You don't have to actually finish the game/demo, but of course you should get far enough as to where you can say you've actually played it.
2. You don't have to like the game/demo. You're completely entitled to think that the games you picked suck ass. And that brings me to my next point, and perhaps most important...
3. After you've played the games/demos you picked, give something back! This is the most important part of the whole thing! Not just a "Looks good", or "That was fun", give something more. Write a review (and submit it to the site even), post your opinions on the gamepages, list bugs you encountered, hell, maybe we'll even get something that I couldn't even have imagined. Surprise me.

Avast ye!





Ephiam

I have trademarked the words "Dragon" and "Fantasy"
..:: Games ::..


The other guy who uses Dragon Quest NES chipsets extensively is interviewed by the guy who uses Dragon Quest NES chipsets.

In his own words...

RMN HISTORY:
Eh...? Well... Hrm. Now, how should this go?

...

You know, I can't recall much about why I decided to come here or when I did so.. but I am pretty sure it was because of its small, friendly community and the fact that you got a decent amount of comments from people who actually said some meaningful stuff.

However, back in those days ( I make it sound like I'm so old...) you could post a page about your game on the forum and it would often stay floating near the top for quite a while before finally sinking in to the pit of abandonment and deletion. It just took a very long time, and that was mainly because the community had only begun to grow, and there weren't that many people at all wandering around.

I really only got interested in all of this RPG Maker community stuff because of my Dragon Fantasy series, which I really wanted to get out there, and thus spread it to the far reaches of the internet. Out there, though, you barely got any replies at all, and so I decided to stick to the more well-known RPG Maker communities.

Now RMN is the site I come to most often for all of my RPG Maker needs. They are not resource-centred needs, mind you, but rather technical things that I some times can not wrap my mind around. It is a great place to get help with problems in those areas. The community is great, too! It has some of the better forum-goers that I have come across, and more often than not they are a great and friendly bunch.

And... that pretty much sums up what I have to say about all of this.

Yeah, it may not have been an interesting read... but deal with it! Life's tough. =B

PERSONAL BLURB:
A "personal blurb," eh? There is not much to say, really!

I graduated from High School in June~ of this year (I hope I'm right) and am now attending College and doing the Visual Arts program there. I am living in the College Residence, and while it is definitely not the best and most sanitary of places... I guess its better than what some other people have to deal with!

That's it. Move on~

SPARE TIME:
This is what I do on my spare time. I answer questionnaires such as this because I am one of the most popular people in the world! I'm right up there next to The Burger King and Jesus.

Didn't know it? Well NOW you know. I just thought that this would be a good time to inform you all.

*Sigh* Well, actually I just browse a variety of forums, read Manga, draw, write, go on random adventures with friends, and play around with RPG Maker. Other than that? Ha ha ha. There is nothing else.

FAVORITE FOOD:
PIZZA. PIZZA AND BROWNIES.

FAVORITE SAYING:
"I agree. Almost."

PET PEEVE:
I have a lot. However, one of the more well-known ones is the one that I usually preach about in life: Judging someone before you actually know them. I have had to deal with far too many cases wherein an individual came to some odd conclusion about another person based on what one of their friends had told them (who, surprisingly, hate the person they're talking about) without as much as even talking to the guy/girl.

Sometimes I really have to wonder.

LITTLE KNOWN FACT:
I draw. A lot.

Oh, and when you get me angry enough and I say that I am going to do something to either something you own or you, I am probably going to do it. This applies even when I am not angry most of the time. This can range from kicking you to throwing your beer out the window. And no, I'm not paying for any of it if you were an ass beforehand.

=)




uh for all his clever and funny observations.

Posts

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I see the SNEWs editors have made some revisions to the format. Good job Citizen Ken!
Ephiam's Boss Project V was a great game, and I'm not usually a fan of straight-up dungeon crawlers.
Nice bit about review method, very timely. Fair rubric, too.
Be sure to post your thoughts in the How To Be A Reviewer article!

Timely...in one sense. More like long overdue.
Posted because SNESNews owns
Another great article from Citizen Kentona!
Is this seriously issue #15? Maaan how the time flies by.
I can already see what one of the headlines for issue #30 will be. "Ascendence and Why it Will Fucking Blow Your Mind!"

head explodes*

Good article by the way.
I will have run out of ideas LOOONG before #30! Hell, I might run out of ideas before #16.

I watched Citizen Kane - it was an alright movie but after that first scene with him as a kid and then saying "Rosebud" I was like
it's the fucking sled
and the rest of the movie was a little bit of a drag because of it.
Well, just because of that kentona, I will play The Staff of Cyrenia and review it.
tardis
is it too late for ironhide facepalm
308
geodude said i should post about butts.
i don't words
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
Oh man I didn't know we had that many pirate games. *checks out a few*
It makes me glad to know that people read this!
Hmmm I thought Night of Marian was only being made by Nessiah:
Considering that I'm the only person working on this game and don't have a team of elite spriters and programmer or a writer, words of encouragement is one of my fuels to work on this.
Chances are, NEO_Prime is just a tester...
IF ONLY GAMEPROFILES WOULD REVEAL THE ROLES OF THE PEOPLE LISTED!

Oh woe...
Whoa I just saw this, I'm late @_@
Neo is my partner yeah, but technically I'm the only one working on it right now ahaha D=
Oh hay. I'm in there. I was wondering if that interview would ever be used. Huzzah!

Good job on the write-up, Kentona.
Oh hay. I'm in there. I was wondering if that interview would ever be used. Huzzah!

Good job on the write-up, Kentona.
Thanks Ephiam. Yours was the last one on my queue to put up, and I finally got around to doing it. Back around SNEWS #11 I spammed a bunch of people with interview request. A lot of people responded.

I have no one lined up for SNEWS #16...if I make a SNEWS #16
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