Full Games List
Featured Games
New Games
Reviews
Images
Blogs
Game Updates
Images Feedback Summary
Game Design Highlights
Tutorials
Articles
Scripts
Utilities / Plugins
Resources
Engines
Engine Bulletins
What is Makerscore?
Past Events
Achievements
Forums
Post History
Chat
New to RMN?
Full Store List
RMN Music Pack (free)
Add Review
Subscribe
Nominate
Submit Media
RSS
The tragic end to a tragic figure.
Decky- 01/27/2014 12:10 PM
- 1945 views
The end of the Witch of Lorven is one of those "cutscene games" - in other words, it's a brief little story told in RPG Maker. This isn't a bad thing; these projects can be enjoyable codas or side stories to a larger entry, especially if their inclusion would bog down the pacing of a game.
In this case, however, this project was made for a "Let's Make a Scene" contest. This sort of contest should be done more often, because cutscenes are generally the Achilles' heel of a lot of RPGs when it comes to storytelling. Myself included. Cutscenes are not my strength, so kudos to Indra for attempting this.
All games should probably have a credits screen like this - one that's available from the get-go. I don't really like the idea of having to play a whole game to get the credits, unless said game is really short.
With all that said, let's move on to the actual cutscene(s):
The atmosphere is good. The dark maps and lighting effects really help to bring out the somber mood of this story. Unfortunately, two things deflate the overall feel: some of the guard banter at the beginning feels out of place (too silly), and there's a slight overuse of ellipses. These tend to have the opposite effect of what the writer wants them to have. The music also helps to suit the rather dark and tragic story; the tempo is slowed to amplify this effect.
Solid atmosphere as per above, but perhaps a few too many ellipses.
The story itself is well articulated. This is a witch who is slated for execution. If she were to disappear, would a scapegoat be possible? The somewhat open ending leaves things dangling for a possible inclusion in another Indra game, but it also feels fairly conclusive (if not a little confusing). I didn't notice any major spelling/grammatical errors - the scenes were likely well polished before completion.
Overall, it's not a bad cutscene by any stretch of the imagination. The maps, music, sprite animations, and solid dialogue all contribute to an engaging 5-10 minutes. It could indeed be better with some refinement, and I also would've liked to have seen a flashback or two to help us grow attached to the witch character.
Nevertheless, a solid effort. I won't give it a star rating since it's just a short cutscene.
I'll leave you all with one question: what do you think of these types of "cutscene games"? Are they a good thing or not? Should people do them more often? Let's hear some opinions!
In this case, however, this project was made for a "Let's Make a Scene" contest. This sort of contest should be done more often, because cutscenes are generally the Achilles' heel of a lot of RPGs when it comes to storytelling. Myself included. Cutscenes are not my strength, so kudos to Indra for attempting this.
All games should probably have a credits screen like this - one that's available from the get-go. I don't really like the idea of having to play a whole game to get the credits, unless said game is really short.
The atmosphere is good. The dark maps and lighting effects really help to bring out the somber mood of this story. Unfortunately, two things deflate the overall feel: some of the guard banter at the beginning feels out of place (too silly), and there's a slight overuse of ellipses. These tend to have the opposite effect of what the writer wants them to have. The music also helps to suit the rather dark and tragic story; the tempo is slowed to amplify this effect.
Solid atmosphere as per above, but perhaps a few too many ellipses.
Overall, it's not a bad cutscene by any stretch of the imagination. The maps, music, sprite animations, and solid dialogue all contribute to an engaging 5-10 minutes. It could indeed be better with some refinement, and I also would've liked to have seen a flashback or two to help us grow attached to the witch character.
Nevertheless, a solid effort. I won't give it a star rating since it's just a short cutscene.
I'll leave you all with one question: what do you think of these types of "cutscene games"? Are they a good thing or not? Should people do them more often? Let's hear some opinions!
Posts 
Pages:
1
View playlists
CloseI've been tossing up in my mind whether to do a cut scene game just to improve my skills at doing cut scenes. I also imagine it'd be fun to have a feature length film made in RPG maker (about 90mins).
Uh, I wouldn't really recommend 90 minutes of cutscene in game format :I
If you're going that far, comic or written style, or even simply a visual novel, would probably be better. There comes a point where sprites simply don't do the job at emoting and so on.
If you're going that far, comic or written style, or even simply a visual novel, would probably be better. There comes a point where sprites simply don't do the job at emoting and so on.
Pages:
1
