SO WHAT DESCRIBES A QUALITY GAME TO YOU?

same, I'm fine with RTP tilesets as long as you map them well

sound I really don't care that much about either

story, gameplay, and charecters are what's most important

lol I'm also from Texas

howdy

author=Jakester link=topic=3737.msg74783#msg74783 date=1242169000
One thing that bugs me in these games, mostly 2k and 2k3, is the inconsistent tilesets. It annoys me when playing game that goes from RTP to FSM tilesets. But whatev. Unless you're looking to make a commercial, just focus more on story and characters.

So it annoys you, but you don't care if people don't bother to do anything about it? :o

Personally, I just look to see if it looks like someone put effort into their work. Even though it might not be "quality," they took time that otherwise could've been spent doing something else other than making a game. But, I do appreciate it when people do try to make everything consistent. I think that's one of the things that really draws me into a game -- when it's consistent in all facets: graphics, music, story. Then again, sometimes even commercial games fail in having consistent story or characters.

author=trance2 link=topic=3737.msg74786#msg74786 date=1242169226
So it annoys you, but you don't care if people don't bother to do anything about it? :o

Yeah, pretty much. If they were going to make another game after the one they made that was inconsistent, it would be nice that they changed to be consistent, but if they don't then that is fine, I guess. It's not like I can tell them to make it all consistent just for "my sake." Plus playing these games are mostly free (referring that Whisper Rose is not free and I died a little when it went commercial :-[).

@Murmillo: You don't happen to be one of the Bentley Brothers are you? The guy in your avatar(which I assume is you) looks like one of them. My apologizes if not. XD

While I agree with some people here that story, characters, and gameplay are far more important to the game, I'll still address what you're asking about.

In graphics, all I look for is semi-consistent style. Be they rips, RTP, or custom, as long as the game doesn't look like it was mashed together with a pile of SNES cartridges and a sledge hammer, it should be fine.

Graphics don't have to be hand-drawn or anything, but maknig them yourself is always encourageable. This is another area where consistency comes into play, because if you make everything yourself, it will all be about the same level of quality and in the same style. Also, depending on how artistic you are, you can add your own creative flare to the graphics and really make the game stand out from everything else.

For music, it all depends on the kind of setting your creating. I prefer midis, but the only reason for that is to keep the file size down. Still, midis have some variety to them, and you could go super old-skool with NES boops and beeps up to some crummy renditions of more modern tracks. Again, it depends on the setting you're going for. Mixing midis and mp3s could work if it suits your project, but differences in music quality can be easily noticed.

Hope that helps.

Yeah. It's quite hard to give a set definition of 'quality'. Everyone has their own tastes, and so on. Do what you like, just make sure to do it well. ;)

It's been said before, but something that might be particularly shunned is inconsistency in resources. I personally don't mind (and heck, maybe even... like) graphical and musical inconsitency, but the community as a whole doesn't seem to feel as warmly towards it. But if you make up for it in other ways, I'm sure you can be forgiven!

author=WIP link=topic=3737.msg74811#msg74811 date=1242176907
Interface speed. I am shocked I am the first to bring this up!

The game has to be controlled quickly and easily. Take less time for transitions, make text quicker. Everything like that.

Now that you mention it, this is huge. A fast, sleek, seamless interface is totally vital.

When a drinking game isn't
Take a shot when you lose control and die
Take a shot when CAMERA CONTROL happens and you die
Take a shot when you get physics'd to death
Take a shot when you spontaneously die for no apparant reason

I hope assume pretend this won't be a problem for anybody here so I'll say
What WIP said plus being intuitive and easy to learn. SO2 is an intuitive disaster for a what-not-to-do example
Music that I don't want to turn off. The source doesn't matter as much as the music being interseting and not stuff I've heard in my favorite games
]*] Remappable keys + gamepad support. Keyboards are for suckers
Minimal/No grinding and stupid fetch quests that take too long ( > any time)
Cool lines (good story and characters would be great but I'm being realistic)
Playable without spontaneous game crashes or missing resources or other shit like that. aka test your game

You can't remap keys in RM, but what you can do is make sure your interface is gamepad friendly. The engine is automatically gamepad-aware.