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Reflex Challenge: Press Z to read review!
- emmych
- 12/24/2011 07:53 AM
- 16722 views
I don’t have much of an intro blurb here: I wanted to do a review for the December Review challenge and I’d noticed Journeyman buzzing on the front page, so it was chosen to be my unfortunate victim.
I’ll freely admit that this isn’t my usual type of game (what with the collecting and the crafting and the recipes and the OY VEY~), but from what I have played that’s similar (Minecraft, Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing come to mind), I figured I’d enjoy it! Unfortunately, I didn’t really like it that much. I do think, however, that’s there’s enough raw potential in here to craft into a solid game.
Well then, let’s dig in!
Gameplay:
I’m gonna tackle this in pieces, because I have a lot of material to cover here, and I don’t want to leave anything out!
Harvesting:
Harvesting in Journeyman is pretty simple: you interact with an event, and a little timing minigame pops up. You press Z when the cursor lines up with a target in the centre of the screen, and BOOM, you’re in business, item harvested. Some harvesting events require you to have an axe, a fishing pole, or a pickaxe before you can attempt them.
Sounds cute and fun, right? Well, it is...the first time.
Unfortunately, this is the only minigame used when harvesting, and it gets very old, very fast. Not only that, but it’s unnecessarily frustrating for the player when they’re, say, trying to pick something up off the ground, miss the target, and lose their chance at nabbing the item. Oh yeah, also, if you're swapping between fishing and woodcutting, you need to change your equipment around. Every single time.
Get used to this.
I think these issues are easily fixable, though! For one, remove the need to change equipment whenever you need a tool to harvest something like fish, firewood, ore, etc. There’s really no need for this, and it only serves to frustrate the player and add in an extra step to what should otherwise be a quick and painless experience, especially since it uses the weapon slot.
As far as the minigame goes, I recall reading that the game dev found this type of minigame fun and addicting. Now, this can be true, but when it’s used for every single event ever, it gets to be a little too much! Aspects of a game are fun in moderation, but when you have too much of a good thing, it becomes monotonous and decidedly not fun. I’d recommend removing the minigame from most events, and only keeping it for a few, such as fishing. I could see the timing mini game working for that! Flower picking...? Not so much.
Crafting:
I don’t really have much to say about this, so I’ll just leave it as yup, crafting. It’s a thing, you do a lot of it, it functions correctly and isn’t broken. The interfaces are pretty easy to read and navigate, so that’s a plus!
Oh, right – it was a little annoying how, when I was trying to mix me some potions, I had to mix them all individually. Really, I just wanted to make a buttload of potions so I wouldn’t die the second I stepped outside, and having to plug the same ingredients in 10+ times got really irritating. If there is a way to, say, automatically mix the max amount of THINGS~ and I missed it, you should probably leave a little note or something in the Alchemy menu (or any other systems that use the same menu).
Combat/Exploration:
This was frustrating for a few reasons.
First of all, battles ripped me into tiny pieces. I’m mentioning this first as it was what eventually made me give up playing.
Fuck these wolves, oh GOD
The combat in this game is keyboard-smashingly difficult and in no way optional, even though the game dev advertised that it would be. This sucked a lot of my potential enjoyment out of the game! For starters, Gordon was so slow and fragile in battle, it took the weakest enemies literally 1-2 turns to smush him into ground beef. Now, I’m all for punishingly hard battles, but I do think every game needs to give the player the opportunity to get used to combat before shit gets real! I think the best thing to do here is to make the battles on the world map easy as pie, so the player can punch monsters in the face, get some starter items and easily travel between locations. This also has to potential to lull the player into a false sense of security, so when they finally DO enter a more difficult location...well. Shit gets real.
My other issue with combat was... well, lemme just quote Max McGee for a sec:
At first glance, this seems like pretty good game flow, right?
Nope.
See, to get to the supplies to make better weapons, healing potions, spells and what not, you need to fight monsters or go places where there are monsters that will eat your face. I had what I’m fairly certain is the best equipment I could get before I headed out of town for the first time, and I STILL got my ass handed to me. It made for a pretty frustrating experience!
I think changing how monsters are handled would improve this game immensely. This includes altering combat (I really don’t think field map monsters should be sticking you full of harmful status effects before you have access to effective healing items and skills, but that’s just me), and also changing how encounters are approached! If I remember right, someone suggested coming up with a way to trick and trap monsters. I think this is a fabulous idea, and I know sneaking around and luring monsters into traps and picking through their corpses for loose change would be fabulously fun to me.
Finally, there were some issues with lag that hampered my ability to navigate the second town. This would be easily fixed by chopping said town up into pieces or making it a lot smaller. I don’t really see why it needs to be so big, given that there are only a few buildings you can go into. The lag also affected the timing minigame, which got to be super frustrating – having the timing off because of the game randomly speeding up or slowing down was a major turn off.
(And because it’ll probably come up – my computer isn’t especially new, but it’s not freakishly old, either, and can run all but the most event heavy VX games without that much lag.)
Writing:
There’s not really much to say here, as this isn’t a plot heavy game. However, there are quite a few writing related things, so let me quickly address those.
First off, the humor was okay, but it didn’t really hold my interest. I feel like it fell into the trap that a lot of humorous RPG maker games fall into, and that’s resorting to curse words, breaking the fourth wall, Casanova wannabe heroes... you get the idea. I’m not saying these things can’t be done well, but I do feel like they’re overused, and Journeyman didn’t really put a fresh or interesting spin on any of them. This was especially grating in item descriptions – while a couple of them were cute (the rope, in particular, stands out in my mind), I feel like actually describing what the items do or what they can be used for in crafting would be a better use of the space.
The books were... well, I wanted to read them, because I’m sure they were filled with great info, but after button mashing my way through the weapons one, I didn’t want to risk being there for hours! I think an image based and/or easily escapable way of handling the books would improve this a great deal.
The plot was simple, cute, and made sense. It tied into the gameplay, which was great! I didn’t really care so much for the main character, but he doesn’t talk enough for this to be a big deal.
Finally, I guess this fits in here – the pacing of the intro is bad. You have difficulty settings, then the fake loading screen, then the opening credits, then the opening cutscene... it takes entirely too long, and ended up irritating me more than engaging me. I say cut the loading screen and opening credits, and let the player jump right into the thick of it instead of forcing them to sit through a bunch of stuff they don’t need to see to understand what’s going on.
Aesthetics:
The first thing that really comes to mind here is audio. I’m not a fan of the RTP music, but if you’re gonna use them, I say keep it consistent. Either use only RTP tracks, or none at all. Journeyman has an awkward blend of RTP music and songs from elsewhere, and it was very noticeable. As far as sound effects go, the text blipping noise got ridiculously grating after the first five seconds of hearing it. Either change it or get rid of it, because it’s not doing the game any favours. Other than that, there were a lot of RTP sound effects that, again, clashed with the non-RTP sound effects.
For visuals, I was a little disappointed that the original art work wasn’t being used in game at all. I say, if you have original art, use the heck out of it! There weren’t really enough sprites to judge, but they seemed pretty standard RTP fare, and the animations were clean, so no complaints here. I liked the battler graphics, though – they were very cute! (Although, the wolves didn’t really match the rest of the monsters…? That may be the blood dripping in my eyes and paranoia playing tricks on me, though.)
The mapping was okay – it was easily navigable, but there were minor errors here and there, and the second town (as I already mentioned) was too big.
Conclusion:
Overall, I didn’t have fun, and this didn’t end up being my kind of game! Like I said, though, there’s a bundle of potential here and a bunch of great ideas waiting to explode all over the place.
I'm going to leave this unrated for now, because there's so little to go on, but if this was the quality of the finished product, I'd give it 1/5 stars.
I hope this wasn't too discouraging! Keep at it, and I look forward to seeing how this develops, and if I end up liking it next time. :3
I’ll freely admit that this isn’t my usual type of game (what with the collecting and the crafting and the recipes and the OY VEY~), but from what I have played that’s similar (Minecraft, Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing come to mind), I figured I’d enjoy it! Unfortunately, I didn’t really like it that much. I do think, however, that’s there’s enough raw potential in here to craft into a solid game.
Well then, let’s dig in!
Gameplay:
I’m gonna tackle this in pieces, because I have a lot of material to cover here, and I don’t want to leave anything out!
Harvesting:
Harvesting in Journeyman is pretty simple: you interact with an event, and a little timing minigame pops up. You press Z when the cursor lines up with a target in the centre of the screen, and BOOM, you’re in business, item harvested. Some harvesting events require you to have an axe, a fishing pole, or a pickaxe before you can attempt them.
Sounds cute and fun, right? Well, it is...the first time.
Unfortunately, this is the only minigame used when harvesting, and it gets very old, very fast. Not only that, but it’s unnecessarily frustrating for the player when they’re, say, trying to pick something up off the ground, miss the target, and lose their chance at nabbing the item. Oh yeah, also, if you're swapping between fishing and woodcutting, you need to change your equipment around. Every single time.
Get used to this.
I think these issues are easily fixable, though! For one, remove the need to change equipment whenever you need a tool to harvest something like fish, firewood, ore, etc. There’s really no need for this, and it only serves to frustrate the player and add in an extra step to what should otherwise be a quick and painless experience, especially since it uses the weapon slot.
As far as the minigame goes, I recall reading that the game dev found this type of minigame fun and addicting. Now, this can be true, but when it’s used for every single event ever, it gets to be a little too much! Aspects of a game are fun in moderation, but when you have too much of a good thing, it becomes monotonous and decidedly not fun. I’d recommend removing the minigame from most events, and only keeping it for a few, such as fishing. I could see the timing mini game working for that! Flower picking...? Not so much.
Crafting:
I don’t really have much to say about this, so I’ll just leave it as yup, crafting. It’s a thing, you do a lot of it, it functions correctly and isn’t broken. The interfaces are pretty easy to read and navigate, so that’s a plus!
Oh, right – it was a little annoying how, when I was trying to mix me some potions, I had to mix them all individually. Really, I just wanted to make a buttload of potions so I wouldn’t die the second I stepped outside, and having to plug the same ingredients in 10+ times got really irritating. If there is a way to, say, automatically mix the max amount of THINGS~ and I missed it, you should probably leave a little note or something in the Alchemy menu (or any other systems that use the same menu).
Combat/Exploration:
This was frustrating for a few reasons.
First of all, battles ripped me into tiny pieces. I’m mentioning this first as it was what eventually made me give up playing.
Fuck these wolves, oh GOD
The combat in this game is keyboard-smashingly difficult and in no way optional, even though the game dev advertised that it would be. This sucked a lot of my potential enjoyment out of the game! For starters, Gordon was so slow and fragile in battle, it took the weakest enemies literally 1-2 turns to smush him into ground beef. Now, I’m all for punishingly hard battles, but I do think every game needs to give the player the opportunity to get used to combat before shit gets real! I think the best thing to do here is to make the battles on the world map easy as pie, so the player can punch monsters in the face, get some starter items and easily travel between locations. This also has to potential to lull the player into a false sense of security, so when they finally DO enter a more difficult location...well. Shit gets real.
My other issue with combat was... well, lemme just quote Max McGee for a sec:
author=Max McGee
* Monsters outside will fucking eat you.
+Craft some armor and weapons.
+Craft some other stuff and sell it to get some armor and weapons.
* Even with armor and weapons they fucked you up.
+Craft better armor and weapons.
+Craft some healing potions or food to fix yourself.
+Craft some spells to toast monsters or heal yourself.
+Craft some other stuff to buy one of the above.
At first glance, this seems like pretty good game flow, right?
Nope.
See, to get to the supplies to make better weapons, healing potions, spells and what not, you need to fight monsters or go places where there are monsters that will eat your face. I had what I’m fairly certain is the best equipment I could get before I headed out of town for the first time, and I STILL got my ass handed to me. It made for a pretty frustrating experience!
I think changing how monsters are handled would improve this game immensely. This includes altering combat (I really don’t think field map monsters should be sticking you full of harmful status effects before you have access to effective healing items and skills, but that’s just me), and also changing how encounters are approached! If I remember right, someone suggested coming up with a way to trick and trap monsters. I think this is a fabulous idea, and I know sneaking around and luring monsters into traps and picking through their corpses for loose change would be fabulously fun to me.
Finally, there were some issues with lag that hampered my ability to navigate the second town. This would be easily fixed by chopping said town up into pieces or making it a lot smaller. I don’t really see why it needs to be so big, given that there are only a few buildings you can go into. The lag also affected the timing minigame, which got to be super frustrating – having the timing off because of the game randomly speeding up or slowing down was a major turn off.
(And because it’ll probably come up – my computer isn’t especially new, but it’s not freakishly old, either, and can run all but the most event heavy VX games without that much lag.)
Writing:
There’s not really much to say here, as this isn’t a plot heavy game. However, there are quite a few writing related things, so let me quickly address those.
First off, the humor was okay, but it didn’t really hold my interest. I feel like it fell into the trap that a lot of humorous RPG maker games fall into, and that’s resorting to curse words, breaking the fourth wall, Casanova wannabe heroes... you get the idea. I’m not saying these things can’t be done well, but I do feel like they’re overused, and Journeyman didn’t really put a fresh or interesting spin on any of them. This was especially grating in item descriptions – while a couple of them were cute (the rope, in particular, stands out in my mind), I feel like actually describing what the items do or what they can be used for in crafting would be a better use of the space.
The books were... well, I wanted to read them, because I’m sure they were filled with great info, but after button mashing my way through the weapons one, I didn’t want to risk being there for hours! I think an image based and/or easily escapable way of handling the books would improve this a great deal.
The plot was simple, cute, and made sense. It tied into the gameplay, which was great! I didn’t really care so much for the main character, but he doesn’t talk enough for this to be a big deal.
Finally, I guess this fits in here – the pacing of the intro is bad. You have difficulty settings, then the fake loading screen, then the opening credits, then the opening cutscene... it takes entirely too long, and ended up irritating me more than engaging me. I say cut the loading screen and opening credits, and let the player jump right into the thick of it instead of forcing them to sit through a bunch of stuff they don’t need to see to understand what’s going on.
Aesthetics:
The first thing that really comes to mind here is audio. I’m not a fan of the RTP music, but if you’re gonna use them, I say keep it consistent. Either use only RTP tracks, or none at all. Journeyman has an awkward blend of RTP music and songs from elsewhere, and it was very noticeable. As far as sound effects go, the text blipping noise got ridiculously grating after the first five seconds of hearing it. Either change it or get rid of it, because it’s not doing the game any favours. Other than that, there were a lot of RTP sound effects that, again, clashed with the non-RTP sound effects.
For visuals, I was a little disappointed that the original art work wasn’t being used in game at all. I say, if you have original art, use the heck out of it! There weren’t really enough sprites to judge, but they seemed pretty standard RTP fare, and the animations were clean, so no complaints here. I liked the battler graphics, though – they were very cute! (Although, the wolves didn’t really match the rest of the monsters…? That may be the blood dripping in my eyes and paranoia playing tricks on me, though.)
The mapping was okay – it was easily navigable, but there were minor errors here and there, and the second town (as I already mentioned) was too big.
Conclusion:
Overall, I didn’t have fun, and this didn’t end up being my kind of game! Like I said, though, there’s a bundle of potential here and a bunch of great ideas waiting to explode all over the place.
I'm going to leave this unrated for now, because there's so little to go on, but if this was the quality of the finished product, I'd give it 1/5 stars.
I hope this wasn't too discouraging! Keep at it, and I look forward to seeing how this develops, and if I end up liking it next time. :3
Posts
Ugh, that QTE reminds me of those godawful "job" minigames in Fable where you just repeat the same nauseatingly boring action over and over and over again to make money. Who's idea was it to make money in a game actually be more boring than it is in real life? It's not even effective as social commentary, it's just mind-blowingly poor game design. It drives me insane when a developer can't be bothered to actually come up with something fun or interesting so they implement something boring instead just for the sake of having a puzzle.
(This is not a jab at you specifically, Max, it is a jab at game designers in general.)
Great review.
(This is not a jab at you specifically, Max, it is a jab at game designers in general.)
Great review.
How can you not succeed at picking a flower? I could understand failing to chop a log into usable pieces, but picking flowers? They aren't mushrooms or bat guano!
The game suffers from what most Legion's games suffer - over the top difficulty. You see, I have that theory that Max creates his games so that he himself is in for a challenge when he tests them and so has fun beating them. Do you see what I'm getting at? If the game's creator has a hard time beating his own game, for the rest of humankind it's a fucking mission impossible. Has anyone beat Max's battle system contest entry (apart from him, of course)? I know I only conquered Mage Duel with the Enchanter because it lasts 15 minutes. You really need someone, a hardcore tester perhaps, to reign you in on this, Max. As of now, you seem like George Lucas who always has to get his way even to the detriment of his creation and any and all cries for mercy fall on deaf ears.
The moment I realized this game was not good and it will not be good anytime soon was when one of the menu options made... a show choice menu appear. A show choice menu. In 2011. In VX... Max, you're not ready for a game of this magnitude and complexity until you learn RGSS, really.
The game suffers from what most Legion's games suffer - over the top difficulty. You see, I have that theory that Max creates his games so that he himself is in for a challenge when he tests them and so has fun beating them. Do you see what I'm getting at? If the game's creator has a hard time beating his own game, for the rest of humankind it's a fucking mission impossible. Has anyone beat Max's battle system contest entry (apart from him, of course)? I know I only conquered Mage Duel with the Enchanter because it lasts 15 minutes. You really need someone, a hardcore tester perhaps, to reign you in on this, Max. As of now, you seem like George Lucas who always has to get his way even to the detriment of his creation and any and all cries for mercy fall on deaf ears.
The moment I realized this game was not good and it will not be good anytime soon was when one of the menu options made... a show choice menu appear. A show choice menu. In 2011. In VX... Max, you're not ready for a game of this magnitude and complexity until you learn RGSS, really.
There's nothing wrong with show choice menus (although if you're making a CMS and use show choice then you're probably not ready for a CMS, just saying), but when you've set out to make a game with a crafting system to rival DF's or Skyrim's or whatever, it's kind of pathetic. It's like making a CBS without using show picture. You're using VX with inbuilt scripting language and you don't use it to make your menus? Why? You don't know even the basics of RGSS?
BTW, why do you need to equip your axe to cut logs or fishing rod to fish? Why isn't it enough to just have them in your backpack? Furthermore, those quick button icons don't help much when you've remapped your keys like I did.
The loading screen at the start is also bullshit and a time waster, don't do it again, please.
Also, this isn't a good reaction to valid criticism, man. Just saying.
BTW, why do you need to equip your axe to cut logs or fishing rod to fish? Why isn't it enough to just have them in your backpack? Furthermore, those quick button icons don't help much when you've remapped your keys like I did.
The loading screen at the start is also bullshit and a time waster, don't do it again, please.
Did you have a particular reason for not using the monster repellent, or pretty much just spite?
Also, this isn't a good reaction to valid criticism, man. Just saying.
author=Max McGeeFinally, I guess this fits in here – the pacing of the intro is bad. You have difficulty settings, then the fake loading screen, then the opening credits, then the opening cutscene... it takes entirely too long, and ended up irritating me more than engaging me. I say cut the loading screen and opening credits, and let the player jump right into the thick of it instead of forcing them to sit through a bunch of stuff they don’t need to see to understand what’s going on.
Just goes to show you can't please everyone. The hintscreen is there specifically because a few players mentioned being confused and not knowing what to do right out of the starting gate. It is also all of 30 seconds (literally just 1800 frames, total, 360 frames per message) so...yeah.
I made the exact same complaint. 30 seconds is actually a huge chunk of time when you're trying to start playing a game that you may have never played before - it just becomes a totally unnecessary delay. There are better ways of conveying the information contained in your hints through the gameplay itself than smashing them into a bunch of "hint screens" that all flip by a little bit too quickly and ultimately just delay you from getting to play.
I also have to point out that the "crafting" section of this review, the whole focus of your game, pretty much says "yeah it happens." That's kind of how I felt about the gameplay. I was just going through a typical vanilla RPG with the added tedium of success-bar over and over to grab stuff to go pick items out of lists, instead of buying it from a shop. I'm sure there's PLENTY of things you can do to improve the game, but you really should focus on the fact that your game is about crafting and your crafting system drew little to no notice.
BTW, why do you need to equip your axe to cut logs or fishing rod to fish? Why isn't it enough to just have them in your backpack? Furthermore, those quick button icons don't help much when you've remapped your keys like I did.
I said this too
Hmm…
That’s disappointing, doesn’t sound like you. I hope you’ll reconsider because I never really pictured you like a weak defeatist who gives up when under too much heat, quite the opposite actually.
This game is getting *loads* of attention which is much more than can be said about 90% of games made by other people. The more attention your game gets, the more likely it is to get criticism but I’m sure you know this already. Besides, the concept for this game is different as far as rpg maker game go, surely some heat was expected especially at RMN, no?
Your reaction to criticism entices other members to press your buttons. They’ve probably noticed you reply to every single comment and that you takes things very personally which makes you an ideal target. Just letting you know from an external point of view.
Anyways, I haven’t played the game but I’ve read some pretty interesting and valid points being made although the form is certainly questionable at times… Please don’t take the following as personal attacks or anything, this is 100% about the game, 0% about you as a person.
Honestly, coming from someone who hasn’t played the game, that seems like a very valid observation. It certainly would make it more practical.
I personally wouldn’t say 30 seconds of waiting is a long time but that’s a matter of personal preference. I do agree that there are very intuitive and enjoyable ways to integrate tutorials in games than reading text. I always thought that was a shortcoming no matter the game. I think progressive integration of information is the best bet. Again, I haven’t played the game but I’m just saying.
Maybe the hintscreen wasn’t the best solution? I think “you can’t please everyone” is a bit of a copout at times (not saying it’s the case here though). If someone complains about “x” and you try “y” and they still complain, why not try “z”? You’re exploring ways to make your game better aren’t you? Well, keep exploring then.
About the minigame, I kind of agree with DE to some extent. Investing time in learning RGSS or finding someone to help you out might certainly be worth it to have some variety depending on the resource you’re trying to harvest unless you think you can manage by using another method. You mentioned that you weren’t sure that it could be done but I’m pretty sure someone could help you tweaking scripts so that you can make those games more interesting.
Anyways, I hope you won’t quit considering how much time you’ve invested into this. I think it’s great you’re getting so much feedback which point out pretty clearly where you could tremendously improve this project.
Fine I will cancel the game and take a hiatus from RM for a while. Like the
year 2012, say. At a minimum.
That’s disappointing, doesn’t sound like you. I hope you’ll reconsider because I never really pictured you like a weak defeatist who gives up when under too much heat, quite the opposite actually.
This game is getting *loads* of attention which is much more than can be said about 90% of games made by other people. The more attention your game gets, the more likely it is to get criticism but I’m sure you know this already. Besides, the concept for this game is different as far as rpg maker game go, surely some heat was expected especially at RMN, no?
Your reaction to criticism entices other members to press your buttons. They’ve probably noticed you reply to every single comment and that you takes things very personally which makes you an ideal target. Just letting you know from an external point of view.
Anyways, I haven’t played the game but I’ve read some pretty interesting and valid points being made although the form is certainly questionable at times… Please don’t take the following as personal attacks or anything, this is 100% about the game, 0% about you as a person.
BTW, why do you need to equip your axe to cut logs or fishing rod to fish? Why isn't it enough to just have them in your backpack? Furthermore, those quick button icons don't help much when you've remapped your keys like I did.
Honestly, coming from someone who hasn’t played the game, that seems like a very valid observation. It certainly would make it more practical.
I made the exact same complaint. 30 seconds is actually a huge chunk of time when you're trying to start playing a game that you may have never played before - it just becomes a totally unnecessary delay. There are better ways of conveying the information contained in your hints through the gameplay itself than smashing them into a bunch of "hint screens" that all flip by a little bit too quickly and ultimately just delay you from getting to play.
I personally wouldn’t say 30 seconds of waiting is a long time but that’s a matter of personal preference. I do agree that there are very intuitive and enjoyable ways to integrate tutorials in games than reading text. I always thought that was a shortcoming no matter the game. I think progressive integration of information is the best bet. Again, I haven’t played the game but I’m just saying.
Just goes to show you can't please everyone. The hintscreen is there specifically because a few players mentioned being confused and not knowing what to do right out of the starting gate. It is also all of 30 seconds (literally just 1800 frames, total, 360 frames per message) so...yeah.
Maybe the hintscreen wasn’t the best solution? I think “you can’t please everyone” is a bit of a copout at times (not saying it’s the case here though). If someone complains about “x” and you try “y” and they still complain, why not try “z”? You’re exploring ways to make your game better aren’t you? Well, keep exploring then.
About the minigame, I kind of agree with DE to some extent. Investing time in learning RGSS or finding someone to help you out might certainly be worth it to have some variety depending on the resource you’re trying to harvest unless you think you can manage by using another method. You mentioned that you weren’t sure that it could be done but I’m pretty sure someone could help you tweaking scripts so that you can make those games more interesting.
Anyways, I hope you won’t quit considering how much time you’ve invested into this. I think it’s great you’re getting so much feedback which point out pretty clearly where you could tremendously improve this project.
If you would like to read a torrent of defensiveness, bitterness, and broad-spectrum vitriol in five acts, read on below but I honestly can't recommend it. (I tried to hide it behind spoiler tags for your further discretion, but they don't seem to be working.) This was therapeutic to me to write, but I'm not sure if reading it will do you any good....I guess miracles do happen, though. The important thing to stress is that responding to any part of this is a waste of breath...this is very comprehensive and as much as is humanly possible within the confines of my nature, I have no further comment.
I don't believe that this review was written from a place of complete malice, or that it is totally without merit. However, besides the fact that I was frustrated that this review covered a newly obsolete version of the game I found this review disingenuous and disrespectful. The former because it gives a rating in spite of claiming not to (merry Christmas to me, lol, 1/5 stars). The latter because the reviewer named the character DickBro and screenshotted it. That's borderline trolling, to me. It is obvious that the reviewer was obscenely prejudiced against the game before they even gained control of the character, because they gave the character a grotesque non-name. If your first act in playing a game is naming the main character "DickBro" or "Fuck" or "Stumpy" or "Smega" or "Sir Choad" whatever, maybe you should reconsider reviewing that game.
I'm going to make some broad sweeping statements now without bothering myself with supporting everything I'm saying. If you don't understand where I'm coming from, then you probably never will.
This community and its attitude and culture is honestly a joke. It's obviously easy to question and criticize my motivations and behavior--nearly all of you have done it so much so that I constantly question my own actions and behavior. It must be much more difficult for those of you who are part of the problem--and you know who you are--to look inward at your own actions and at the attitude in this community as a whole.
The treatment that (certain?) people are expected to endure while still being expected to continue producing art, creativity, and fun games is a bad joke. This is not a place where either games or developers that exist even a millimeter outside of a certain well-worn mold of both game design and behavior are encouraged to thrive or flourish.
I do not even have words to express how angry I am at the way that the vast majority of this site's users have behaved toward me for the vast majority of the last two and a half years, or how angry I am at myself for allowing this site to seriously upset me to the point of giving up on hundreds of hours of hard work, time and time again.
1) Suggesting that I do things I do not have the expertise to do is worse than unhelpful, and unless you personally are offering immediately available help with scripting or spriting or music or what-have-you, please refrain from making these kinds of suggestions. If you want the Trade Skills submenu to be scripted, then script it in a way that is currently better than it's evented.
2) The credits are faster and both they and the hintscreen are skippable in the current release. I have nothing further to say about this, except to say that I don't think I should have had to reiterate this quite so many times. It is extremely irritating when I do make a requested change and it goes totally ignored as though it had never happened. Everyone always has complaints, no one EVER takes even a second to post any kind of positive acknowledgement or encouragement when one of their complaints has been corrected or addressed.
3) This is something else that I have reiterated more times than I'd care to, but I prefer that the way harvesting tools are required remain as it is. Thank you all for your suggestions, but this is not something that will ever change as a result of external pressure. This particular aspect of the game has reached the point where further discussion is no longer productive at this time.
4) This is yet another thing that I have reiterated more times than I'd care to, but I prefer that the harvesting minigame remain as it currently is. Thank you all for your suggestions, but this is not something that will ever change as a result of external pressure. This particular aspect of the game has reached the point where further discussion is no longer productive at this time.
If you think that any of this or anything else I've said or any other design choices I've made make this a 1/5 Star game, or that they even keep this from being a 5 Star game, you are certainly and comprehensively welcome to go fuck yourself. Your opinion is your opinion and absolutely nothing more.
It is excruciatingly obvious the degree to which the success or failure or popularity or lack thereof of any game on a site like this is fully unrelated to its actual quality or merits. I am a community pariah, this is a community pogrom, and gradually that is ceasing even to be a surprise anymore.
Then perhaps they should stop being such vile, filthy, wretched little bullies and grow the fuck up. This is not the first time that an artist has been defensive of their work. It is not the last.
No one fails to notice this trend you've mentioned, Creation. Where people fail, however, is to do anything but further persecute the victim.
In spite of all of the above or maybe because of it, and regardless of a momentary urge to go straight...
This game is not going anywhere and neither am I.
~1~
I don't believe that this review was written from a place of complete malice, or that it is totally without merit. However, besides the fact that I was frustrated that this review covered a newly obsolete version of the game I found this review disingenuous and disrespectful. The former because it gives a rating in spite of claiming not to (merry Christmas to me, lol, 1/5 stars). The latter because the reviewer named the character DickBro and screenshotted it. That's borderline trolling, to me. It is obvious that the reviewer was obscenely prejudiced against the game before they even gained control of the character, because they gave the character a grotesque non-name. If your first act in playing a game is naming the main character "DickBro" or "Fuck" or "Stumpy" or "Smega" or "Sir Choad" whatever, maybe you should reconsider reviewing that game.
~2~
I'm going to make some broad sweeping statements now without bothering myself with supporting everything I'm saying. If you don't understand where I'm coming from, then you probably never will.
This community and its attitude and culture is honestly a joke. It's obviously easy to question and criticize my motivations and behavior--nearly all of you have done it so much so that I constantly question my own actions and behavior. It must be much more difficult for those of you who are part of the problem--and you know who you are--to look inward at your own actions and at the attitude in this community as a whole.
The treatment that (certain?) people are expected to endure while still being expected to continue producing art, creativity, and fun games is a bad joke. This is not a place where either games or developers that exist even a millimeter outside of a certain well-worn mold of both game design and behavior are encouraged to thrive or flourish.
I do not even have words to express how angry I am at the way that the vast majority of this site's users have behaved toward me for the vast majority of the last two and a half years, or how angry I am at myself for allowing this site to seriously upset me to the point of giving up on hundreds of hours of hard work, time and time again.
~3~
1) Suggesting that I do things I do not have the expertise to do is worse than unhelpful, and unless you personally are offering immediately available help with scripting or spriting or music or what-have-you, please refrain from making these kinds of suggestions. If you want the Trade Skills submenu to be scripted, then script it in a way that is currently better than it's evented.
2) The credits are faster and both they and the hintscreen are skippable in the current release. I have nothing further to say about this, except to say that I don't think I should have had to reiterate this quite so many times. It is extremely irritating when I do make a requested change and it goes totally ignored as though it had never happened. Everyone always has complaints, no one EVER takes even a second to post any kind of positive acknowledgement or encouragement when one of their complaints has been corrected or addressed.
3) This is something else that I have reiterated more times than I'd care to, but I prefer that the way harvesting tools are required remain as it is. Thank you all for your suggestions, but this is not something that will ever change as a result of external pressure. This particular aspect of the game has reached the point where further discussion is no longer productive at this time.
4) This is yet another thing that I have reiterated more times than I'd care to, but I prefer that the harvesting minigame remain as it currently is. Thank you all for your suggestions, but this is not something that will ever change as a result of external pressure. This particular aspect of the game has reached the point where further discussion is no longer productive at this time.
If you think that any of this or anything else I've said or any other design choices I've made make this a 1/5 Star game, or that they even keep this from being a 5 Star game, you are certainly and comprehensively welcome to go fuck yourself. Your opinion is your opinion and absolutely nothing more.
~4~
It is excruciatingly obvious the degree to which the success or failure or popularity or lack thereof of any game on a site like this is fully unrelated to its actual quality or merits. I am a community pariah, this is a community pogrom, and gradually that is ceasing even to be a surprise anymore.
Your reaction to criticism entices other members to press your buttons. They’ve probably noticed you reply to every single comment and that you takes things very personally which makes you an ideal target. Just letting you know from an external point of view.
Then perhaps they should stop being such vile, filthy, wretched little bullies and grow the fuck up. This is not the first time that an artist has been defensive of their work. It is not the last.
No one fails to notice this trend you've mentioned, Creation. Where people fail, however, is to do anything but further persecute the victim.
~5~
In spite of all of the above or maybe because of it, and regardless of a momentary urge to go straight...
This game is not going anywhere and neither am I.
User was warned for this post
author=Max McGeeSo, it's back to the "if you can't do better, don't criticize?" Cool.
1) Suggesting that I do things I do not have the expertise to do is worse than unhelpful, and unless you personally are offering immediately available help with scripting or spriting or music or what-have-you, please refrain from making these kinds of suggestions. If you want the Trade Skills submenu to be scripted, then script it in a way that is currently better than it's evented.
3) This is something else that I have reiterated more times than I'd care to, but I prefer that the way harvesting tools are required remain as it is. Thank you all for your suggestions, but this is not something that will ever change as a result of external pressure. This particular aspect of the game has reached the point where further discussion is no longer productive at this time.So, it's back to "I do it my way even if it sucks and everyone says a simple alternative would be better, just because?" Cool.
4) This is yet another thing that I have reiterated more times than I'd care to, but I prefer that the harvesting minigame remain as it currently is. Thank you all for your suggestions, but this is not something that will ever change as a result of external pressure. This particular aspect of the game has reached the point where further discussion is no longer productive at this time.So, it's back to "I do it my way even if it sucks and everyone says a simple alternative would be better, just because?" Cool.
I'll be sure to remember this and point out whenever you make a review of someone's game or partake in a discussion on game design.
If you think that any of this or anything else I've said or any other design choices I've made make this a 1/5 Star game, or that they even keep this from being a 5 Star game, you are certainly and comprehensively welcome to go fuck yourself. Your opinion is your opinion and absolutely nothing more.Says the person who himself has offered criticism on many occasions in the past. Aaand - if you think this game deserves 5 stars you're delusional.
It is excruciatingly obvious the degree to which the success or failure or popularity or lack thereof of any game on a site like this is fully unrelated to its actual quality or merits. I am a community pariah, this is a community pogrom, and gradually that is ceasing even to be a surprise anymore.Which translates into "people don't dislike my games because they're not good, they dislike them because there's a conspiracy and circle jerking." Which is evidenced by the popularity of such weak titles as Wither or Necropolis thanks to their creators' names only. Right.
Then perhaps they should stop being such vile, filthy, wretched little bullies and grow the fuck up. This is not the first time that an artist has been defensive of their work. It is not the last.You're not an artist, you're a craftsman. A game developer.
This game is not going anywhereIf only you were to realize this...
All I can say you're a goddamn hypocrite, you know that? And your attitude is starting to grate on my nerves.
Your games aren't manna from heaven and you aren't the next Leonardo da Vinci of game design. Yet you continue to act like a prima donna, seizing every opportunity to complain how your games don't have the download count of Hero's Realm, that RMN hates you (are you a masochist?), how your games aren't popular, how people don't give your games a chance, and so on, and so on, boohoo, incessant whining. And then you release another flawed game and wonder why people say it's flawed and don't want to play it. A vicious circle.
User was warned for this post
I just want to add that I don't think it's at all fair to imply this review was written with any ill intent.
Okeedoke, so I'm gonna go through and actually read what you've written, Max, but before I do, I feel the need to address this:
This has absolutely nothing to do with your game, and has nothing to do with me being for or against it! I just like naming my characters silly names, this one having come up when I was playing a silly dating sim and had to name a character. I suggested Dick, my friend suggested Bro, so DickBro was born, and it has since become my default stupid name to use for characters. I, uhhh... actually forgot that I'd named him that when I took the screenshot. OTL
So I'm sorry if I offended you accidentally because of that - I meant no harm! Really, it should speak more to my juvenile sense of humour and love of torturing my ickle RPG characters by giving them terrible names. (I do it when playing old SNES games, too - that's just the kind of crass gal I am.)
EDIT;
Okay, so just finished reading your post. I don't think me arguing with you about your game is going to do either of us any good, so...yeah. I guess if you're that set on doing things things your way, that's fine! Just don't expect everyone to love and enjoy it as much as you do. There'll be some out there that love it, some out there that hate it - it's up to you do decide how much of your original vision you're willing to compromise in order to attract the audience you want (whether that be a large, diverse audience, a small group of hardcore fans, etc.). Sometimes it is better to cut or rethink something you thought was the BEST IDEA EVER~ (you're a writer, right...? Then you've probably heard the phrase "murder your darlings" before - this is the same thing); I mean, you may find that adjusting stuff makes for a tighter game! I guess I'm saying, don't be afraid to be flexible and try new things, you know?
It's my observation (and I apologize if this offends you in any way; that is honestly not my intent) that you need to get yourself a bit of a thicker skin when it comes to criticism. It's really, REALLY hard to sit by and say "yup thank your for your critique" when people tell you "I don't like what you've done here and this is boring and blah blah blah blah"; trust me, I get that! I've been on your side, too. xD However, you don't have to take it personally, because most people (including myself, when I was writing this review) are just trying to help out. Remember, though: that's just, like, their opinion, man. You don't HAVE to change anything just because people say they don't like it, but you should be thinking about it. Also, reacting with "GO FUCK YOURSELF~" is not the best way to invite constructive criticism.
That's all I really have to say in response, I suppose. And I do mean this: I honestly wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours, both on site and off. Also, have yourself a Merry Christmas as well! :3
EDIT DOS: Also, because this survived:
I'm a thrifty gamer and I never use items unless I have to. There are a lot of players like me out there, and you should be keeping in mind that people will play your games in ways you didn't intend. Whether you choose to accommodate them or not is your choice.
author=Max McGee
The latter because the reviewer named the character DickBro and screenshotted it. That's borderline trolling, to me. It is obvious that the reviewer was obscenely prejudiced against the game before they even gained control of the character, because they gave the character a grotesque non-name. If your first act in playing a game is naming the main character "DickBro" or "Fuck" or "Stumpy" or "Smega" or "Sir Choad" whatever, maybe you should reconsider reviewing that game.
This has absolutely nothing to do with your game, and has nothing to do with me being for or against it! I just like naming my characters silly names, this one having come up when I was playing a silly dating sim and had to name a character. I suggested Dick, my friend suggested Bro, so DickBro was born, and it has since become my default stupid name to use for characters. I, uhhh... actually forgot that I'd named him that when I took the screenshot. OTL
So I'm sorry if I offended you accidentally because of that - I meant no harm! Really, it should speak more to my juvenile sense of humour and love of torturing my ickle RPG characters by giving them terrible names. (I do it when playing old SNES games, too - that's just the kind of crass gal I am.)
EDIT;
Okay, so just finished reading your post. I don't think me arguing with you about your game is going to do either of us any good, so...yeah. I guess if you're that set on doing things things your way, that's fine! Just don't expect everyone to love and enjoy it as much as you do. There'll be some out there that love it, some out there that hate it - it's up to you do decide how much of your original vision you're willing to compromise in order to attract the audience you want (whether that be a large, diverse audience, a small group of hardcore fans, etc.). Sometimes it is better to cut or rethink something you thought was the BEST IDEA EVER~ (you're a writer, right...? Then you've probably heard the phrase "murder your darlings" before - this is the same thing); I mean, you may find that adjusting stuff makes for a tighter game! I guess I'm saying, don't be afraid to be flexible and try new things, you know?
It's my observation (and I apologize if this offends you in any way; that is honestly not my intent) that you need to get yourself a bit of a thicker skin when it comes to criticism. It's really, REALLY hard to sit by and say "yup thank your for your critique" when people tell you "I don't like what you've done here and this is boring and blah blah blah blah"; trust me, I get that! I've been on your side, too. xD However, you don't have to take it personally, because most people (including myself, when I was writing this review) are just trying to help out. Remember, though: that's just, like, their opinion, man. You don't HAVE to change anything just because people say they don't like it, but you should be thinking about it. Also, reacting with "GO FUCK YOURSELF~" is not the best way to invite constructive criticism.
That's all I really have to say in response, I suppose. And I do mean this: I honestly wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours, both on site and off. Also, have yourself a Merry Christmas as well! :3
EDIT DOS: Also, because this survived:
Did you have a particular reason for not using the monster repellent, or pretty much just spite?
I'm a thrifty gamer and I never use items unless I have to. There are a lot of players like me out there, and you should be keeping in mind that people will play your games in ways you didn't intend. Whether you choose to accommodate them or not is your choice.
If you think that any of this or anything else I've said or any other design choices I've made make this a 1/5 Star game, or that they even keep this from being a 5 Star game, you are certainly and comprehensively welcome to go fuck yourself. Your opinion is your opinion and absolutely nothing more.
Hum... I'm not sure if you were talking to me, but I don't think this game sucks or anything. The only reason why I bothered to post is to encourage you not to cancel the game because you're getting some negative feedback. I've played some of your other games and I thought they were great which is why I hope you won't give up on this one.
All the best to you, Max.
Holy meltdown :O Typically if you want a 5 star game it has to be fun. If you choose to ignore what people say on how to make your games fun, then I feel sorry for you. Sometimes each person's opinion will vary on what fun is, but, has anyone else said your current system is fun? It doesn't seem like it is.
Your reviews spark some crazy shit, Emmy xD
Your reviews spark some crazy shit, Emmy xD
I'd like to say first off that I've only had a couple hours of sleep, and so perhaps I'm reading it wrong... but I really didn't find anything spiteful about this review. In fact, I read the whole thing, which is unusual for me to do lately. Aside from the whole Dickbro thing, there is some real constructive criticism to be extracted from it, and I'm dumbfounded as to why anyone would choose to ignore it.
@Max- It's a real shame that you would let this kind of criticism halt yet another project of yours, if that's really what you intend to do. I was excited as fuck to play the finished Starseed games, despite my general lack of interest in most VX games. But then a similar situation to this happened, and now one is cancelled and the other has been on hiatus ever since. Weren't there plans for another couple To Arms games as well?
@Max- It's a real shame that you would let this kind of criticism halt yet another project of yours, if that's really what you intend to do. I was excited as fuck to play the finished Starseed games, despite my general lack of interest in most VX games. But then a similar situation to this happened, and now one is cancelled and the other has been on hiatus ever since. Weren't there plans for another couple To Arms games as well?
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
author=Ghost
you steal art, you steal plots, and you can't even make decent gameplay if your life depended on it.
P.S:
"This is not the first time that an artist has been defensive of their work. It is not the last"
You're not an artist.
A con-artist, perhaps? :D
All merriment aside, there was nothing wrong with this review and yet you, Max McGee, still responded as though it were overly and needlessly venomous. Way to go.