EDCHUY'S RELEASE SOMETHING! X MARKS THE SPOT! WRAP-UP

edchuy's Feedbackmania

  • edchuy
  • 04/12/2010 01:50 AM
  • 9988 views
edchuy’s Release Something! X marks the spot! Feedback Wrap-up

On March 16th was announced and it got 29 entries total (3 developers submitted two entries each), with 2 unofficial ones (not in kentona’s official list) I added to my feedback queue. Of those, 2 were complete games, 14 demos, 1 mini-game compilation, 1 music file, 1 map, 6 videos (all of games with no playable downloads), 2 set of screenshots, 1 release announcement and 1 wiki.

I decided on the last official day of RS! X March 19th to announce my intention of providing feedback to all releases that came out for the event. I started the process going first through the releases that required gameplay, in an order dictated by my interest, followed by everything else. Except for the wiki, which had been taken offline by the time I wanted to give it a look due to a host change, and, thus, will not be included here, I was able to go through all the other entries and provide my feedback, which I either posted either in the Discussion or corresponding Blog in the gamepage related to the release. In case there was no related gamepage in RMN, I PMed my feedback directly to the developer. For 3 of the entries that required gameplay, I decided to provide that feedback in form of a rated review that I posted in the gamepage.

Before I continue onwards, I am disclosing that I finally had a chance listen to kentona’s SRadio #1 podcast (http://rpgmaker.net/podcasts/sradio/release_something_x_and_rants/ ) which may have influenced somewhat what I am writing in this article. So here’s my listing of the releases, starting with the ones not requiring gameplay followed by the ones that did, by category, ordered in the same way I gave feedback to them, with highlights of the release. The 3 entries I have given reviews for, I have left to mention last. This is followed by a Final Thoughts grand finale to this article.

DISCLAIMER: I apologize if some entries for the releases are too extensive, but my idea is, to hopefully attract some attention from some of you to these releases, by pointing out worthwhile details and perhaps get some feedback regarding what I wrote here. To the developers of these releases, especially those that I PMed their feedback, I also apologize in advance if I mention that was intended to be kept in the utmost (remember this one, PepsiOtaku?) secrecy (you know who you are!). Finally, sorry I couldn't make this article more user friendly: unfortunately, I don't know the coding used here.


NON-GAMEPLAY ENTRIES

Music File

1. AABattery's Change music (http://rpgmaker.net/users/AABattery/locker/Change.mp3 )

A roughly 1 minute long original song, that AABattery composed for piano class and enhanced with a drum bass beat and strings as background to the main melody that I thought has a little melancholic feeling to it, perhaps even sadness or calm, and, could serve as nice background music to set the mood for a certain situation.


Map

2. VideoWizard's huge map (http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/49/locker/DKBoaL_South_Lakel_Island_map3.png )

An interesting map featuring a variety of environments, elevated pieces of land, and, variable lake and sea depths, that suffers, in my opinion, from some inconsistency. As a result of my feedback, VW has made some changes that I have yet to see.


Videos

3. Ephiam's video of Eternal Paradise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7OENi0PR30&feature=player_embedded )

A roughly 6 minute long video of a battle versus the third of four guardians in the game. In it, you’ll see some interesting magic and skills, some which cause multiple status ailments, and, listen to nerve-wracking background battle music. Expect the actual battle to be much harder and take longer, since Ephiam took his party from further into the game for this video, so that it was possible to beat this boss without using any items.

4. Lance VII's Chrono Echoes video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqlBFV3rA_A&feature=player_embedded )

A roughly 4 minute long video of a CT inspired game that shows some scenes from early in the game. It features a caterpillar system (not in the world map, though), some ATB battles in a forest and a quick glance at the world map.

5. PepsiOtaku's Everlasting Journey: Firam Palace Intro video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4nI8PwzTpo&feature=player_embedded )

A roughly 10 minute long video that shows the party members entering Firam Palace to ask for some help, only to end up in the dungeon, to hear a fellow inmate’s suffering, in my opinion, from a mild case of Stockholm syndrome, an interesting (or not) story set to nice background music. It features an introduction to the concept of flobophobia (I guess I just coined a new term!) and some expressive facesets that are vaguely, but not quite familiar.

6. Deacon Batista's Antiartica trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXd5abzRfso&feature=player_embedded )

A 3 and a half minute long video that unlike other releases shows snippets of gameplay rather a continuous sequence and is nicely set to a certain well-known Bobby Darin standby whose title happens to be the subtitle of this game without a RMN gamepage. It shows that it’ll feature various genres of gameplay (RPG, shooter, adventure, duel, and puzzle) and some eye-popping finds in chests that can be used in battle.

7. SGCN's video CBS test (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBn6rmMEIFE&feature=player_embedded )

An over 6 minute long video that shows a high speed, turn-based battle system. It features some unique battle animations, borrowed characters (apologies to those offended were offered) and blind battle stances all set to a high-energy background music.

8. Skie Fortress' SEM - Boss 1: Great Frost Harpy video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iq6CY3xNUs )

An over 6 minute long video that shows new features Sacred Earth: Memories (for those who hadn’t noticed, the gamepage no longer on RMN) battles will have. For those who recall or have played Sacred Earth: Bonds, the party members’ sprites have been revamped, the melee attacks have some additional effects and items are gone (although I am hoping our favorite itinerant salesman isn’t)! For better or worse, voice-overs will continue to exist, and as far as I can tell the battle system seems to work more smoothly than in SEB.


Screenshots

9. AznChipmunk's Chromatose screenshots (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1712/blog/2268/ )

A series of 8 screenshots, featuring a controversial blurry, hazy or faded title screen, and, a unique messy old school, personal organizer with tabs, flags, fabric bookmarks and even some Post-Its, for item and gear management. Other eye-catching details I found were funky squarish trees, sheep that have the same shape as bushes, hat powers and the best looking room full of P.O. Boxes I have ever seen, in real life or otherwise.

10. Feldschlacht IV's Skill Tree screenshot (http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/1428/locker/screenbacktry1.png )

A single screenshot showing a skill tree reminiscent of the one seen in Wilfred the Hero, part 1, it can potentially have the same duality as the latter or be one in which you can access any skill shown as long as you have the prerequisite skills. Shown within each skill box is an icon which presumably will tell you something about the skill involved.

Release Announcement:

11. Craze's Diablocide X (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1955/blog/2277/ )

In honor of RS! X, Craze announced the rebirth of his Diablocide as Diablocide X. While I never got to play his demo for his old project, I did play the one for its previous incarnation, Demon Tower. The screenshots for X show that it has retained its best features: RM2k floor view and battle background graphics, combined with the RMVX main menu and battle-related items; party switching in battle; and interesting character interactions. Hopefully, third time’s a charm and X will mark the spot for complete!


GAMEPLAY ENTRIES

12. Max McGee's Starseed: Eschatology (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1945/ )

Part of Starseed Starpack, it is a short intro or prologue with no actual gameplay but lots of interesting background information to a future “episodic post-apocalyptic space mystery”. It introduces us to the concept of eschatology.

13. Max McGee's Starseed: Blood Machine (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1946/ )

Part of Starseed Starpack, it is roughly an hour long demo that features a highly customizable mech, with the most slots for gear I have seen in a RPG game. Additionally, it offers a choice of 7 optional enhancements, each providing some passive effects and a unique skill, giving the demo lots of replay value. I have actually tried all of them, and made a comparison with pros and cons of each, and, a list of preferred choices.

14. Coy13's Xelos: Sinner's Circle demo (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1364/ )

A roughly hour and a half demo featuring a turn-based system, regenerating combat points that determine which skills the characters can use during their turns, a threat level system that determines who is most likely to be targeted by the enemies’ attack based on the choices selected during party members’ turns, and, battle cards that can be used by any character.

15. and 16. Dudesoft's Take Down and Pig of Benevolence demos (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1950/ )

Two short demos with a bonus game that are part of a long-running Take Down series of Kingdom Hearts parody games. Both feature a lot of recognizable songs and characters, both as party members and non-players. I found the funniest cameo was of a recently deceased celebrity (can the dead not RIP?).

17. SorceressKyrsty's Cosplay Crisis Demo 2.2 (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1741/ )

A roughly half hour demo, it is a “Final Fantasy/Resident Evil crossover parody” that features, as can be expected, equippable materia that grants magic skills, and, nice, multiple shadows that change as you are moving with relation to light sources. The demo itself is highly reminiscent of early FF VII.

18. Ratty524's Slimy the Sahagin alpha demo of remake (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1947/ )

A testbed for some features to be included in the remake, it has 3 modules:
field, where you are introduced to party leader switching and particular character actions; special stage, a mode 7 (whether you believe it or not) mini-game, which I suspect could be used for bonus stages; and, battle, where you can fight some sample groups of enemies repeatedly. It’s probably the first time I’ve played a game with DSAR (think that little FFA blue square icon in the Window’s notification area) where the music doesn’t get cut off intermittently or sound scratchy.

19. outlander145's Sweet Home: The Second Coming (Secondary Early Techstration) demo (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1589/blog/2262/ )

Inspired by the Capcom Suito Homu Survival Horror classic that preceded and heavily influenced the Resident Evil series, this short demo showcases the battle system, which uses skills that lead to Mortal Kombat-esque moves from live action characters. If I had to give a release here a technical achievement award this would be it.

20. EnderX's Pizza Panic (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1930/ )

A 2001 short, straight-forward complete game that must have the smallest RM2k file size since Don's Adventures. It involves fetching some pizza rolls (ever heard of delivery?) and seems to be intended as a showcase for side view battle, probably unique for its time, tech skills and their animations, including a jump skill.

21. catmitts' Frog World RPG demo(http://rpgmaker.net/games/1940/ )

A short, 5 screen demo that is one of two entries not to use a RPG maker engine. It features colorful, hand drawn animations and interesting, witty dialogue, all set in a world where characters are different animals. Sadly, the protagonist seems to be trapped in a world similar to our own.

22. narcodis' The Looming Spire Tech Demo (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1939/ )

A short demo that demonstrates a system using runes, imbued with elemental attributes that can be used in and out of battle. Outside of battle, you need to use the correct rune to overcome obstacles that block your path or to produce certain effects on visible enemies. In addition to planned encounters, you get surprise ambushes, keeping you on your toes, always ready for battle.

23. GameOverGamesProductions' The Muddy Sand Game version 1.4 (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1792/ )

The smallest download of the releases, this complete game uses the Java engine for a standalone Falling Sand Game simulation. It features a mouse interaction interface, the choice between fullscreen or windowed play, the ability to save games in progress and modify the speed of simulation, liquid, solid and fire particles, interesting particle interaction effects, the ability to spawn either a fixed amount or a stream with a fixed flowrate of a given particle, and, virtually infinite replay value. My favorite thing to do in this one is to cause particles to either burn or explode spontaneously. You also can get interesting looking formations.

24. Liberty's Even Day Demo (3rd version) (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1786/ )

A short demo that has gone through several game engines, a long development time and revamping, it features a very well designed but somewhat confusing forest, interesting characters, dialogue and inner thoughts (how often what’s said is not necessarily what’s being thought?), NPCs that give additional information, optional sidequests and nice background music. I needed to contact Liberty twice to get her to kill a couple of game-breaking bugs, but third time was the charm.

25. calunio's Alvorada do Mal - Minigame Compilation (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1802/blog/2250/ )

A four mini-game compilation in English, taken from a game originally in Portuguese. The first one is a well-designed knife dogging game, actually present in the game’s current demo, where your task is to dodge the knives thrown by a psycho clown or die if hit often enough. The second one is a card game, where you have 3 cards and have to draw a new one until your hand adds to 21. Cheating, when no one is no one is looking, is allowed, although if caught, you lose that game. Even harder than cheating is trying to catch someone else cheating, which I haven’t been successfully done yet. The third one is a somewhat flawed karaoke game, where basically you choose a song and have to hit the right note before the next one appears. If you hit the wrong one or the next one appears before hitting the right one, the music meter drops and if it reaches 0, the game ends. For this one, I have been able to sing a certain well-known birthday song successfully. The last one is a very flawed volleyball game played in pairs, in which your team have to hit the ball back across the net using 1 hit and your hitting power be can adjusted. I have been only been able to win it twice in at least 50 tries. While I am not great at this type of games, I don’t believe I should be this bad.


REVIEWED GAMEPLAY ENTRIES

26. Ratty524's Slimy the Sahagin original complete game (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1947/ )

This is entry that took me the longest to play (over 3 hours), it provides some additional features, such as an optional mini-game, some traps you can avoid if you are able to see them and couple of simple puzzles required to move forward in the game, beyond what’s expected a basic RPG. It also potentially has some replay value since you have several choices for the party’s last member. It has a unique opportunity (see 18. earlier) to set some issues right through its remake. I rated it 3.0/5.

27. sbester's Mobile Suit Gundam RPG demo (http://rpgmaker.net/games/1864/ )

I found this under 3 hour long demo to unpolished due to some non-game breaking bugs that affect playability somewhat. It can be enjoyed especially by fans of the anime series and mechs due to its interesting mix of shooting and traditional first-person RPG battles. The use of a simulator to fight old enemies again to gain experience and money to buy upgrades for the combat units is a compelling and necessary feature. Just don't expect too much character development nor insightful dialogue. I rated it 3.1/5.

28. SquishyWizard's Tears of the Sword demo (http://rpgmaker.net/games/593/ )

I found this under 2 hours long demo to be quite polished. It features non-default learnable skills and a class system (single and dual) for characters as well as other interesting elements of gameplay, including an expressed awkwardness in a relation between two characters, rewarding exploration, traveling salesmen and hidden sidequests. Also, it seems to have custom facesets and sprites for the party members and some of the sprites of the enemies and is set sometimes to familiar pop music. I rated it 3.7/5.


FINAL THOUGHTS

As I wrote in my FAQ in my forum topic, which virtually has become my progress blog, I know how to play the games but don’t know how to make them. Thus, embarking in this little project I hoped, to a small extent, to address one of the ongoing problems in the RMN community, which is the lack of feedback to improve games and projects, especially those in the early stages of development. Hopefully, I do get to see some of these entries to completion and not remaining stuck without even a demo, on demo, indefinitely hiatus, or worse yet, canceled altogether.

Doing all this work has required of me to be able to provide the feedback to all entries as well as trying to keep my forum topic updated, which required some serious commitment and effort of my part (somebody even mentioned “You're rather driven, you know that?”). Too bad I’m not a game developer …

I was rewarded by the comments I received in return from some of the developers I gave feedback to, as well as other RMN members who have supported my effort. I got a surprise PM with a request from kentona for an interview for SNEWS, probably due to some curiosity in finding out who the guy who has undertaken this project and appears to be posting these reviews, out of the blue, is. Somebody then even called me a “legend” and even asked if I would consider being one of their beta testers in the future.

Along the process, I learned a thing or two about some new things in great part thanks to Wikipedia, which helped me a lot in being able to provide more thoughtful feedback. Also, I was forced to leave my comfort zone, which is usually playing complete RPGs and adventure games, to try games of other genres and demos.

A couple of things I want to share with you developers coming out of this experience, this coming from a game player’s perspective:

1. Please make sure to include all the files that are necessary for you game to run correctly and to look, sound and play the way you intend it to, especially those of you using RM2k3, since there is no standard RTP for it (believe me, I had a few releases I needed to fill the gaps for game-breaking, missing files and guess what? the games didn’t resemble the screenshots posted in their gamepage). Game players would rather not become beta testers.
2. You can never assume that because your game is geared towards the fans of X game, a player who downloads it will necessarily have played that game and know how to use the non-default systems you might have implemented. At least give them the option or not to have a tutorial to learn about the systems. Otherwise, face the possibility that the player might get discouraged and abandon playing your game altogether.
3. The most insightful reply from a developer was the following: “I enjoy making and playing … games, that's why I make 'em. :D”

Finally, now that my project is basically over, you might wonder, what comes next for me? I am going back to choosing games to play especially those that are complete, although I won’t overlook playing some demos of some projects that catch my eye. I hope to be able to write some reviews and continue provide feedback for them. Also, I’ll keep an eye for the projects related to these releases to find out whether my intent panned out or not. Perhaps, I’ll even do a follow-up after a certain amount of time.

Whoever cared enough to read this, I would appreciate some feedback on what I wrote. Thanks in advance.

Posts

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You deserve an Achievement.

It's really amazing that you actually did all this, and from what I read, you actually got involved with every single entry you commented on.

The only thing I missed on your feedbacks is some comment on the fun factor of stuff. I didn't read you saying "I liked it", "it was fun", "it was boring", or anything of that sort. Maybe you didn't want to be partial and tried making objective comments, but sometimes "I enjoyed it" is worth much more for the developer than a detailed description of features.

And I don't believe that, knowing you have all this knowledge and critical view over games, you are unable to make one. You should give it a shot.
Yeah 28 crits is insane dude. It is really cool that you did this. This is a good overview on the entries too!

Incidentally if you're interested in trying to make games then I think RMN has another short contest coming up this month, which is a really good way to make something short and toss ideas around or just get to grips with an engine.
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
comment=26545
You deserve an Achievement.

It's really amazing that you actually did all this, and from what I read, you actually got involved with every single entry you commented on.

The only thing I missed on your feedbacks is some comment on the fun factor of stuff. I didn't read you saying "I liked it", "it was fun", "it was boring", or anything of that sort. Maybe you didn't want to be partial and tried making objective comments, but sometimes "I enjoyed it" is worth much more for the developer than a detailed description of features.

And I don't believe that, knowing you have all this knowledge and critical view over games, you are unable to make one. You should give it a shot.

Thanks for your comment! You guessed right that I didn't mention the fun factor on purpose (at least not directly), not because I'm not capable. Why? Because it is something personal, kind of like beauty is in the eye of the beholde (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Beauty+is+in+the+eye+of+the+beholder ). Basically, I know what I like, but it might not be necessarily what others like.

My idea was to provide those highlights and if those sound interesting enough to the reader, perhaps tthey will check a release themselves and then be able make their own judgment! If I actually said something terribly negative about a game, then that would probably bias the reader and they would say, "skip that!", unless they are a crazy contrarian. That would defeat the purpose of trying to bringing positive attention to these titles.

Also, if somebody checked a release and determined what they found good about, I was hoping they would say yes, "I agree with what you said", or no, "you don't have a clue!" I wouldn't have problem with the latter, as long as they provided concrete evidence. That way, at least I can reply back and say whether I agree with them or not.

I hope you can see my point here and at least respect my choice, if not agree with it. Although, the developers of each release are free to ask me about this anytime!
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
comment=26553
Yeah 28 crits is insane dude. It is really cool that you did this. This is a good overview on the entries too!

Incidentally if you're interested in trying to make games then I think RMN has another short contest coming up this month, which is a really good way to make something short and toss ideas around or just get to grips with an engine.


Thanks a lot! I was hoping to be a little more descriptive, rather than giving a quick gloss over of the entries. Regarding making a game ... I appreciate you letting me know about the event, but I don't think I'm up to it yet. Perhaps, once I have gotten frustrated of playing games made by others and want to make my own I'll consider it.
Awesome wrap up!
You'll be staff in no time ; )
Cheers
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
comment=26558
Awesome wrap up!
You'll be staff in no time ; )
Cheers


Thanks for your comments. That was not my goal in doing this ...
This is quite a comprehensive review wrapup. I've already mentioned this but I think it is super cool you took this on.
comment=26560
comment=26558
Awesome wrap up!
You'll be staff in no time ; )
Cheers
Thanks for your comments. That was not my goal in doing this ...


Haha don't worry I'm just joking. It's awesome you did this though!
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
comment=26582
Haha don't worry I'm just joking. It's awesome you did this though!


Yeah, I know ...
6. Deacon Batista's Antiartica trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXd5abzRfso&feature=player_embedded )

A 3 and a half minute long video that unlike other releases shows snippets of gameplay rather a continuous sequence and is nicely set to a certain well-known Frank Sinatra standby whose title happens to be the subtitle of this game...

Bobby Darin! Not Sinatra! D-X
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
comment=26609
6. Deacon Batista's Antiartica trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXd5abzRfso&feature=player_embedded )

A 3 and a half minute long video that unlike other releases shows snippets of gameplay rather a continuous sequence and is nicely set to a certain well-known Frank Sinatra standby whose title happens to be the subtitle of this game...
Bobby Darin! Not Sinatra! D-X

Oops, sorry! Got the crooners confused. I was just so sure. I just found out it was released in 1959, right around the era of the pop music which I know least about. Normally, I would check the song title in Wikipedia, which would have pointed me to the right answer! Another day, another lesson learned, I guess. Major apologies! I'll go ahead and fix that ... Thanks for pointing that out!
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
Good work on this, man. That's a solid effort right there.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
The only thing I missed on your feedbacks is some comment on the fun factor of stuff. I didn't read you saying "I liked it", "it was fun", "it was boring", or anything of that sort. Maybe you didn't want to be partial and tried making objective comments, but sometimes "I enjoyed it" is worth much more for the developer than a detailed description of features.


I kind of agree with this.

Nonetheless:

*standing ovation*

Puddor
if squallbutts was a misao category i'd win every damn year
5702
2. You can never assume that because your game is geared towards the fans of X game, a player who downloads it will necessarily have played that game and know how to use the non-default systems you might have implemented. At least give them the option or not to have a tutorial to learn about the systems. Otherwise, face the possibility that the player might get discouraged and abandon playing your game altogether.


Is it just me or is this final thought directed at just me :P. (I am keeping it in mind, however, and implementing tutorials.)

Great work, edchuy!
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
Is it just me or is this final thought directed at just me :P. (I am keeping it in mind, however, and implementing tutorials.)

Great work, edchuy!


No, it wasn't directed particularly at you, since yours was not the only release using non-default systems. In playing games not just as part of this project, I have found that fangames are the ones that most tend to gloss over this or avoid it altogether, so it was just a general comment. However, it is true that I mentioned the issue as part of my feedback. I am aware that you agreed it was a good idea of implementing the tutorials discussed.

Thanks for really taking the time to read my article!
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