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A fun premise that should be fleshed out.

  • Decky
  • 01/29/2014 03:36 PM
  • 1578 views
Not a Chance of a Ghost! was made on a tight timetable, and I believe it was actually made on a far tighter timetable than most of the others (we're talking days here). As such, it's understandable that the game would feel somewhat incomplete in its current incarnation. With that said, I really do like the premise and what's here somewhat entertaining! I really think Caz should flesh this out for this year's Halloween or something.


I have a bad feeling about this...

The premise is simple enough: a bunch of kids go out trick or treating and one of them (Ted) ends up making their way into some sort of glowing portal. When they emerge, they find that the monsters are trick or treating as humans! In this backwards world, Ted finds himself running from evil monsters on his quest to find his friends.

Simple and effective, right? Yeah, it works well enough and the dialogue is cute. The music is piano-driven and kind of spooky/goofy, so it fits the theme of the game quite well. Graphically, Caz makes excellent use of lighting effects and the tilesets: the game is well mapped without feeling overwhelming.


I wish I had figured out earlier that those ghost things were not enemies, but collectibles.

Gameplay is somewhat bare-bones and needed quite a bit of fleshing out. Still, the premise is cool enough. You wander through the city collecting ghost coins ("ghosties") while avoiding enemies. If you step into the light, you're more likely to be captured. Stay in the shadows? You can fool them quite easily! Along the way, you can collect items and other goodies over the course of the game's three stages. At the end of each stage, you'll be scored based on your completion time, number of ghosties obtained, and number of times you were caught. Getting an "A" isn't too hard, but if you screw up you'll get a "D" fairly easily.

The basic gameplay is alright, but it needs more. I can tell that there was a framework for a larger game here (there's even a shop at the end of the game, but I didn't really need to use the items). The other issue is that there aren't really enough enemies to worry about: most of the stages have 3-4, and most of them are easy to avoid.


I didn't have enough ghosties, but this shop would've been a neat idea for a longer game.

Overall, I really did like the premise and had a decent amount of fun. But I just felt that the game needed more. If this game was more developed and a little more challenging, then I could see this as a 4-star project easily. As it stands, though, it's probably around 2.75 stars. I'll go on the higher end of that and give it 3 stars, especially considering the extreme time crunch (and there was custom artwork, music, and tiles/sprites to boot, so that works heavily in its favor!).

I am in no means dissing this game: it just feels like a 15-minute tech demo of what could be a larger, hour-long concept. And I want to see it fleshed out! Please don't leave it by the wayside :)

Major kudos for ambition and for being able to salvage something for the contest!

Story: 3/5
Gameplay: 2.5/5
Presentation: 4.25/5
Fun Factor: 2.5/5
Overall: 3.06/5

Posts

Pages: 1
Caz
LET'SBIAN DO THIS.
6813
Awwh Decky you didn't~ <333

But wow that is a surprisingly kind review. Thank you Derkaderk, I appreciate your feedback! :D
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
You're welcome <:3c

Also, Derkaderk
Pages: 1