Grist of Flies

Grist of Flies was one of the games created for the IGMC (Indie Game Making Competition) of 2015. I will be reviewing the competition version, using the notes I took during judging.


Graphics
Graphics are great and really fresh. They gel together very well and look quite good. The game is, graphically, a treat.

While maps are quite simple in structure and design, the overall look of them is good quality and they work well to create the setting, with bloodstains and refuse littered all about.

The music is also really well done, custom from what I can tell, though I might be wrong. It's catchy and edgy and really sets the scene despite having lyrics in them. It's one of the few games with lyrical music that really works to an advantage for both the setting and atmosphere.

Sound effects are, for the most part, non-existent as far as I was able to tell, but what was there in battles and out were well used and helped enhance the setting.

Writing has one or two spelling errors but is overall of a very good quality. The characters are all quite different from each other and each has their own reasons for joining up with the group. The byplay between them is also interesting and while I never actually cared for the characters on a deep emotional level, there was enough characterisation there to want them to succeed and to try to get them to survive.

Huds are simple and easy to read, which is great since the systems themselves can take a bit of getting used to and are a bit more complicated.


Gameplay
The gameplay was one of the high notes of Grist of Flies, as it is very fresh and very interesting - in battle and menus. As far as I could tell, there were no bugs in this version, which is always a nice thing for a competition game.

The game sets you up with a small cast of characters. You must find more to add to your party in order to escape the Apocalypse. This is quite a simple task, meaning you run into any doors or ladders on the maps that don't lead to the next area. Simple but functional.

Each character you collect has a particular slot in your battles that they excel at and two minor slots that they can do well in. You add them to your party by 'equipping' them as you would armour and weapons. Each character gives a series of skills for you to use, as well as a passive boost of some kind, dependant on the slot you place them in. Since you lose a skill if you put them in anything but the optimal position, I find using them in their best spots to be the most useful, though experimenting is encouraged.

In battle you have three teams made up of five characters each. Each team has two turns, allowing a total of six attacks per turn. Of course, you only open access to the second and third teams (which you get to name) after you have enough people to open up new teams (six and eleven, respectively) but it is a fun system to mess around with.

Each person has a list of three or four skills based on their position - either a Leader, Officer, Trooper, Scientist or Doctor. Each position has a set skill type that they adhere to, Doctors are healers, for example, while Scientists are mage-types and Troopers and heavy attackers. Making groups that work well together is the name of the game, and swapping them back and forth is necessary in order to find a good balance against some of the rougher enemies.

Battles do tend to take a while to complete, depending on your team set-up, but they're pretty well-balanced, though a bit on the harder side of the scale, especially if you haven't figured out a good team dynamic.

You have four objectives during the game that will open up different ending events when completed. Two are character based quests, one is the typical 'find all people' quest and the last is escaping the tunnels. They're not hard to complete if you just go from room to room and don't skip any doors. Thankfully you are given maps that show all exits/rooms in every area, so it's not hard to find your way around.

Indeed, that's one of the lacking parts of the game - the on-map interaction is basically a case of 'run to room, get survivor, back to main room, run into enemy, run to next room, get survivor, back to main room, fight enemy', which got a bit bland after a while.


Summary
An enjoyable game with a fresh take on RPG battles. The ability to create and edit 'teams' of people, each with different skills and abilities, really helps make the game feel new and interesting. The graphical quality was also very high standard, as was the writing. Really well done!


At this moment in time I cannot divulge the score I gave it, though I will edit that back in after the full results of the IGMC are announced. On RMN I am giving it a solid 4.5, though with a little tweaking it could very easily reach a solid 5 stars.

You guys done great~