I Vanquished the Empire as a Kid and Now the Economy is Crap

So it's been a bit over a month since I uploaded the first chapter of this game. The initial reception is positive, and I think that's great.

However, between three sites (Here, RPG Maker Web and rpgmakermv.co) there has been no feedback regarding the game itself. While I'm currently working on Chapter 2, I don't want to spend several months expanding on certain mechanics that players might believe harm the experience. I want to stay grounded understanding what players currently like and dislike about the game before it's too difficult to change anything.

I'm not looking for full essays or reviews. I'll be grateful with just a couple of statements about specific elements that may have stuck out on your playthrough.

To make things simple, and for the sake of transparency, I made a list of elements and mechanics that I thought players could have issues with, why I added them, and possible alternatives.

Weapon Durability -
This is normally a mechanic with a mixed reception in any game. The reason I added them here is because of the game's sidequest driven nature. Having linear upgrades for weapons could break the difficulty of quests if they are accepted later in the game then when they are introduced. At the same time, having a wide range of weapons that only need to be bought once will have the players save up a stockpile of gold they will never use.

The modifications of the system were to address criticisms in other games with weapon durability. Weapons dull instead of break, decreasing their attack power. And the player is provided with stock weapons with no special abilities, but never break.

I currently have no clear alternative if players want this mechanic removed from the game, but it will have to still be something to encourage a gameplay loop of buying weapons to earn gold to buy more weapons.

That Bridge Shamba Rainforest-
In my attempt to provide variety will exploring dungeons, I might have overstepped the boundaries here. This segment of the game requires percision. Knowing the possibilities it could frustrate players I offered an alternative route involving paying a turtle gold to take you across the river, but I'm aware that's the only sidestepping the issue.

A replacement for this would either to have a more maze-like location in place of the river or implement some kind of puzzle in its place. Most dungeons in the future will have logic-based puzzles as their gimmick.

The Writing-
So I'm aware that my unpolished style of writing can cause inconsistent tone. I personally believe the style of humor is more focused than Flip Dimensions, but some attempts of creating darker scenarios might have missed the mark or might not fit the expectations of the what the game's description advertises.

I don't have plans to change the story, but any pointers to execute any scenes better would be appreciated.



These are just things that have been on my mind as of late, and there could also be things that went under my nose altogether. If so, I would like to be aware of them.

Thanks for playing IVEKNEC!