Description

Time for a bit of randomness! Everyone has one week to make a short game using a randomly given theme from THIS POST!

SIGNUPS ARE CLOSED AS OF 7/13 3PM CST! Good luck with your themes!

HOW IT WORKS:
Sign up for the event. One person only!
You'll receive a randomly assigned theme from a list to build your game with.
Go nuts! There's no rules here, use rips, custom, whatever! Use whatever engine you're most comfortable with! (Creating custom assets before the event starts is perfectly fine, just don't start sticking things in your engine til go time.)
New games only! Event doesn't start for roughly a week, so take that time to sign up, get a theme, and gather your resources and ideas!
People who submit a finished game will receive a sweet makerscore award!
Submit your finished game to the event page before the cutoff date!

THEMES ROLLED THUS FAR:
Ocean - Armageddon
kentona - Cattle
Archeia_Nessiah - Ethereal
Liberty - Kitchen
Sam - Royal
Caz - Yak
Fomar0153 - Metamorphosis
bulmabriefs144 - Irritation
Dyluck - Elegy
Healy - Ninjutsu
LockeZ - Fire
Rhyme - Antipathy
Marrend - Equilibrium
anyon175 - Infected
Bart_Sol - Mastication
Rose_Guardian - Piano
Eurritimia - Soap
Seiromem - Rainbow
Aegix_Drakan - Reciprocation
Isrieri - Fart
Bobhostern - Instinct
Sgt M - Band
markofthewind28 - Excuses
mjshi - Beginner
Jalex - Lantern
coelocanth - Slime
KatanaHiroshi - Pilfer
Sidewinder - Intergalactic
CashmereCat - Entrepreneur
pianotm - Chainsaw
Lutra - Postbellum
Cap_H - Surfing
zDS - Winter
ESBY - Trousers
Dragnfly - Banana
GreisDomain - Romance
Frogge - Zombie
Zero3D - Crowbar
Mirak - Stone
Miremira - Inflate
ethanz - Pizza
NoBody13 - Believe
BerryRMN - Youths
Make_it_MagiK - Ambulatory
Gredge109 - Running
meteomage - Pestilence
Kloe - Diablo
Starmage - Passion
bicfarmer - Masquerade
OzzyTheOne - Worried
OldPat - Yourself
Soulrain - Transcendent
1550 - Flood
Delsin7 - Umbra
tale - Aurora Borealis
mirin - Mount
Deaflopist - Dimension
Xurzerth - Vandalism
MsterLouie - Utopia
Frosty-Games - Rage
StormCrow - Abomination
PikaKetchup - Linguistics
kefkafeine - Oblivious
rileyredstache - Frustration

Details

  • 07/06/2018 12:00 AM
  • 07/22/2018 11:59 PM

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Posts

author=mjshi
Amber Cocoon by Fomar0153, Theme: Metamorphosis

The game mechanic was really novel, and must've been hard to set up. I was never sure if I had enough fodder collected to save me from the dragon, though. Like an idiot the first couple times I played it I just rushed towards the dragon cause it was the only thing in the room but after dying 3 times I realized I was being stupid and needed to get more meat shields to protect myself with xD Enemy levels kept combat challenging, and while it would've been nice to have a couple more skills since I always had way too much mana and not enough health the whole metamorphosis theme thing was immediately apparent. Overall, a bit grindy but nevertheless really fun!


Glad you liked it, I simply ran out of time. The Metamorphosis system just took me far too long to get anything else finished. My idea for skills was that you would get access to any skill that was duplicated across the souls you gathered. Thanks for the feedback.
>Slime Quest needs a walkthrough at some point. I never figured out how to catch the octopus.

There is a walkthrough option in the end credits. For ending A, you just need to escape by moving to the edge of the overworld map.

Octopus:

There are two octopus swimming along the sea shore in the village.
Just use the action button to catch it when it's beside you.
It's intentionally hard to see, because I wanted people to go looking after finding the clue, rather than stumble on it. Perhaps I went overboard on this.
When it moves, it's a lot easier to see the shape passing through the water (and the eyes are non transparent)
author=coelocanth
>Slime Quest needs a walkthrough at some point. I never figured out how to catch the octopus.

There is a walkthrough option in the end credits. For ending A, you just need to escape by moving to the edge of the overworld map.

Octopus:

There are two octopus swimming along the sea shore in the village.
Just use the action button to catch it when it's beside you.
It's intentionally hard to see, because I wanted people to go looking after finding the clue, rather than stumble on it. Perhaps I went overboard on this.
When it moves, it's a lot easier to see the shape passing through the water (and the eyes are non transparent)

What you could do is make it switch-based, unlocking it after the Sheep-Shifter mentions it. That way it's hard to find, but not frustratingly so, because after you have a hint, you're looking for it. As it was, I was mashing buttons and wasn't sure if I was even in the right part of the stream.

And yeah, I got to the walkthrough at the credits. It helped for everything but the octopus, which I didn't seem to see. I'll test it again, maybe.

Yay, I got the princess ending!
I'll make an update to make that less frustrating, thanks for the feedback.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Thanks for the bit of feedback, mjshi! Taunt had, at one point, the normal attack accuracy rating. So, it would ultimately have no effect about 10% of the time. Maybe I should have kept it that way, but, I literally had no idea how counter-attacking in VX Ace actually worked until this game. Though, I kinda figured magic reflection would do what it says on the tin.

Funny thing about Abe, though. Whenever I fought the end-boss, he always took less damage than Zoe. Maybe I'm thinking of the earlier play-tests, though? I don't recall anymore. ;_;
Okay, so for those who didn't finish their projects, there's still some small hope for a game to get played on a stream. Some time in the next two weeks I'll be putting together any games that weren't completed in time and playing them on stream as well. To qualify for that stream, just PM me your completed game in the next week and I'll add it to my mystery folder.

As for the actual event stream, the first will start in about, oh...7-8 hours from now, on the RMN Youtube channel. I'll be going through the list of games alphabetically (as per usual - one day we'll get an event with every game called AAAA or something, I bet). I will post the videos of the streams up here after they've finished being loaded to the site as a normal vid, so if you can't make the livestream itself, you won't miss out on seeing me play your game.

author=coelocanth
I'll make an update to make that less frustrating, thanks for the feedback.

It should still be difficult, but less so. If anything, I'd make it only slightly more visible (when I knew what to look for it was fine), because once I knew exactly what I needed to look for, it was easy.

Also, there ought to be something with the water in the cave (maybe the slime can swim), or possibly the rowboat is usable.
author=Liberty
Okay, so for those who didn't finish their projects, there's still some small hope for a game to get played on a stream. Some time in the next two weeks I'll be putting together any games that weren't completed in time and playing them on stream as well. To qualify for that stream, just PM me your completed game in the next week and I'll add it to my mystery folder.

As for the actual event stream, the first will start in about, oh...7-8 hours from now, on the RMN Youtube channel. I'll be going through the list of games alphabetically (as per usual - one day we'll get an event with every game called AAAA or something, I bet). I will post the videos of the streams up here after they've finished being loaded to the site as a normal vid, so if you can't make the livestream itself, you won't miss out on seeing me play your game.



Wow! I'm so excited to see 'em!! ^_^ :) Wish I could join the stream, too!! :D xD
Kloe
I lost my arms in a tragic chibi accident
2236
So far Lib has streamed:
  • Lib raging at Bulma's installation thingy for like 5 mins...
  • 3F by Tale
  • A Maidens Ballad by Starmage (partial)
  • Amber Cocoon by Fomar0153
  • Beginner by Mjshi
  • Bounty Angel by Sidewinder
  • Chapelwaite by Stormcrow (partial)

The stream is here by the way, if anyone is missing it right now.

Edit: The stream is now over for today, Lib says it'll be on again tommorow, it was great, see everyone then! :D
Thanks for taking the time to play my game Liberty.

It's a shame that the movie files didn't get streamed properly, but, honestly, they weren't very good in the first place, so it was way more fun to see you reacting to them, while it was just a blank screen.

I actually did set the Nemesis's HP properly. You were playing on Story Mode, which lets you kill everything in the game in a single hit (maybe I should have explained what it did, better?).

I have no idea why your railgun was missing, though. Using the Scanner is supposed to prevent that happening for the rest of the fight, and Sasha is supposed to be do the exact same thing, making that redundant.

I'll have to take another look at the code.
Does the stream get recorded? (Secretly terrified that "partial" means Liberty lost patience with my game really fast.)

Anyway I'm looking to Rumview some games today. I'll take ... Metamorphosis, Equilibrium, Ninjutsu, Chainsaw, Utopia, Dimension, and ... Umbra's been one of my favorite words since I was an angsty goth teenager, so let's go with that.

Do me a favor, anyone who made one of those entries and gave it a gamepage, let me know, yeah?
Kloe
I lost my arms in a tragic chibi accident
2236
By partial, basically Lib is doing < 1 hour of each game as there just isn't enough time, tho she said she might do more on another stream.
I put (partial) to show that the game was played but not to the end (though 40mins-1hour for them still!)
Thanks for taking the time to play my game too Liberty.
author=StormCrow
Does the stream get recorded?

Yup. It's right here.

https://youtu.be/4BSswh00QY0
I have come to drink this and review games. (The Captain is my distant third favorite rum, after Sailor Jerry and The Kraken .)



Forewarning: I swear like a sailor once I have a drop of alcomohol in me. And I have more than a drop.

Forewarning 2: This post will (hopefully?) get edited a lot. Um, by me, I mean.

Equilibrium: By Marrend

Very first thought: Jesus H. Christ I hate random encounters, especially with a rate this high. Zoe's healing does not seem worth using for its output. Weird that taunt only lasts one turn but I see how it's balanced. I've never had this thought before while playing any RPG, but I wish I had the option of a guard command.

Got my ass murdered by carnivorous plants the first go-round. Gonna take another shot ... and another try, too. : P

It's weird how the chest doesn't make a chest noise and also disappears. Took a look at my status screen. Holy small numbers Batman! Nice music.

Four game-overs in: having Zoe do anything but Taunt is a fucking death sentence, even once I had her hit level 4 and learn Haste and Fireball. I've been dragging Abe's corpse around since my first hellhound fight, where he got one-shotted, due to a lack of phoenix downs/phoenix down analogues. I would suggest that if there are no phoenix down analogues, that you just get game over if either party member dies. Because you're basically doomed.

This is #$%^&*@ hard but fuck it, I almost beat a Dark Souls once, I'll give it a few more tries.

...okay, a few more game overs in. Getting Abe into the cave alive is tricky. Chests reappear along with their contents a short while after they get opened, I presume this is a bug. But I totally took advantage of it to win the game.

Overall, Zoe is a megabeast (you all attack me and I reflect EVERYTHING is one hell of a one-move combo) and Abe is...kind of useless.

Interesting to climb up the level ladder in such a short time (was level 10 when I reached the dragon; those numbers didn't stay small too long). Finally found the Phoenix Down analogues, in the chest past the dragon. Doy. Pretty good use of warmups and cooldowns in combat, particularly warmups.

Okay, slew the Demon Dragon, beat the game. I feel like only during the final battle with the Demon Dragon (of course it's a Demon Dragon, of course it is) did I really feel like my party members feel like they were balanced (or, to be even more on the nose, in equilibrium), i.e. that Abe had something worthwhile to do with his turns and that Zoe could do something with some of her turns other than taunt. I assume the exploration of the theme of Equilibrium here is tied to the game's mechanics as there is not much of a story.


*Vaguely listening to Liberty's Stream: I thought Craze was like, dead or something.*

Amber Cocoon By Fomar0153

My initial approach was to run straight at the dragon three times, die three times, and declare the game impossible. The game really needs to communicate somehow that there are other things in the room to fight. Of course, Fomar did say it was in a terribly broken state. Thank goodness for mjshi's notes.

Where did these awesome animated battlers come from? They're grrrrreat!

I got done in by slimes a good half dozen times. Very frustrating.

Then I slew the dragon.

This soul-stealing metamorphosis meat shield thing is an AWESOME game mechanic. Someone should totally make a game using it. Obviously it could be expanded by giving the monsters you can harvest actual traits and skills (i.e. I expected maybe the Burny would go undamaged by the fire breath because it's made of fire, etc.). Other than that, it's not hard to beat at all, I love the look of the battle system and the monster collection aspect. Someone should make a story and maps to go along with it and you'd have one A+ game.

BTW, what engine was this even made in? Is this what RMMV games look like?


*Liberty continues to rage at bulmabriefs' installer.*

Danmension By Deaflopist


Godslayers: Kentrou to Skia By Delsin7
Oh man, I haven't played a 2k(3) game in a hundred forevers. Dat nostalgia, especially with some of the default musics. I'm expecting Don Miguel to jump out from behind a bush.

It's nice to see somebody bothered to put a real story in one of these motherfuckers, and the writing ain't bad. Gonna state the obvious complaint that the world seems to conceptually BE modern (machine gun fire, scientists) but looks like RTP medieval fantasy land. If there had been time to make this world look like how it's written, I would be all over this game like white on rice.

Alright, I'm ready, let's do this, let's KILL SOME FUCKING GODS.

Ugh, I had forgotten my primordial disgust at the look of 2k3 battlers.


Well uh...fuck you too!

Seriously, I am really digging how this game portrays a militantly atheistic regime with its writing.

No characters having ANY skills is making all these repeated combats really frickin' boring. It's a classic 2k3 era space-bar-mash-a-thon. (And as soon as I typed that I leveled up and learned my first skills. D'oh!)

I am pretty far up this mountain and I wish I had any practical way to spend the huge pile of um...T....I've accumulated without going all the way back to the worldmap (I appreciate the teleport Braziers but it's still a hike; also nice to see a game other than mine feature lighting things).

The skills...didn't turn out mattering all that much. I'm using autobattle on some of these fights. Less fights would be nice. This encounter rate is definitely verging on annoying.

The use of solid black AND a panorama backdrop in the gorge looks awkward and weird. One or the other I think.

I quit in frustration when two pieces of wood--one of them extracted from a very tough mother of an ent--was apparently not enough to build a bridge two tiles wide. I wanted to see how the story ended and how the God-slaying played out but the battles were just too frequent and too tedious for me to keep on keeping on.

I didn't really see any reflection of the assigned theme, Umbra, in my time with the game.


PROGRESS (Four Roulette Games In):


TO BE CONTINUED
Here's the first stream vid all!
Ninja Waitress By Healy

Oh man, RM2k!! What a fucking full-on nostalgia trip, mate!

As regards the OBVIOUS LIES with which the game opens, the proper term for a ninja waitress would be kunoichi, not shinobi /weaboooooooooo.

And after making a point of being a pedantic Japanophile, I see the word I was looking for, kunoichi, in the game's opening dialogues. Nice.

EDUCATIONAL ADVISEMENT: Everyone should play this game if they don't know why people are sometimes two snakes!!

Seriously, I found this pretty funny. Not like ROFLMAO, but I'm definitely sympatico with Healy's sense of humor. This was short, abundantly silly and fun. I got more lulz from my short time with Ninja Waitress than most full length comedy games I've tried, for what it's worth. This was a quick breath of fresh air after trying to force myself to finish Godslayers.


The Unkind Dead By pianotm

First thought: Piano, if you want to make an Evil Dead fangame, then just commit to it!

Marilyn's chainsaw should certainly not be unequippable ('Fix Equip' in VX Ace parlance).

Are those zombies all schoolchildren? That's a bit ... dark, all other things considered. Y'know, the nod nod wink wink Evil Dead references, the ridiculous dialect in the ranch house, and then... (un)dead children? There's a bit of tonal whiplash there.

The execution on the graphics for Marilyn's battler is nothing to write home about, but the effort is appreciated, as is the concept! Wouldn't mind seeing the credits for this one, as there are some resources I don't immediately recognize the source of.

The mapping is really pretty good!

After I disposed of all of the zombies I was heading back to 'report' when a zombie ran into me, battle animation #1 played, and the game froze. : (


Utopia By MsterLouie

This is not a game, not even a tiny one, nor a demo, but a series of interconnected maps which range from satisfactory to attractive. There is no gameplay, no story, and no real NPCs. If I owned MV, I'd try to buy this pack of nice maps from MsterLouie and make a game around them, because proper mapping's such a chore, isn't it? But alas, I don't.

Anyway, a huge empty world devoid of anything to interact with certainly isn't my idea of Utopia. It's just kind of eerie. This might be among the submitted entries to fall shortest of its theme.

Edit: After wrapping with the Theme Roulette games, here's where I'm at:



Time to review something that'll actually get me some Makerscore (it's still 7/24 here damn it).
author=StormCrow
DanmensionBy Deaflopist

Feels terrible to see my worst fear happen! It does confuse me though, since I can install it just fine from this page and I called up one of my friends to install it in an attempt to recreate that, but they didn't have any trouble running it either.

Whitelisting the file (Which can be done in McAfee within the properties of the on-access scanner, by selecting processes>Detection>Exclusions, according to a quick search) is the solution I can think of for you, if you're still interested. If McAfee deleted some files like some antivirus do, you'd have to reinstall it, but i'm fairly sure that won't be an issue. Sorry to see this happen, but I hope this resolves this!
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32367
author=StormCrow
After I disposed of all of the zombies I was heading back to 'report' when a zombie ran into me, battle animation #1 played, and the game froze. : (




I can't find the problem. Battle animation #1 has everything it should. But if you didn't get the ending, then the game is 100 percent pointless.
@Deaflopist: sorry to make you feel terrible! FWIW it did the same thing with Utopia (but not with Amber Cocoon, which is also MV, unsure why!!) but I was able to whitelist it. I'll give Danmension a try a little later on, once I've got it beaten into McAffee's head that it's not a fucking virus. It would make more sense if it were doing it to all MV games but for whatever reason Amber Cocoon got spared the quarantine.

@pianotm: I wish I'd had the wherewithal to save my game, but the battles weren't particularly challenging and I guess I forgot that people ground out these games in about a week and bugs were likely. I'll try it again some time and see if I can reproduce the error/avoid reproducing the error. I'll let you know. (I hope the ending is Marilyn murdering her owners, but don't tell me.)