NTC3'S PROFILE

The first time I tried playing original Spelunky was in 2013-2014. I even tried modding it a bit back then, but lost interest, and probably no longer have the files. I briefly tried again a couple of times, but there was still no luck. I re-downloaded it two weeks ago, and finally got to see this yesterday.





I actually first reached the Olmec boss on my second run, but then hovered a bit too high with the jetpack, dropped down, lost the pistol, and then lost the remaining heart to a summoned spider. It took the remaining 194 runs before I managed to set it right.

Earlier on, I also started playing iNetHack2 (the mobile port of NetHack) again, which is what motivated me to try Spelunky again with my new experience. When I first played that last year, I was first going for Archeologists, then Healers, with a brief interlude of Tourists in between, and had the kind of experience you might expect. Now, after 10 or so Healer attempts were met with demise around Mine Town, I tried a Valkyrie, and their power is insane by comparison.

As in, my characters literally went from getting offed by ravens to slicing through ogres and giants with hardly any health lost in the process. It still feels surreal to easily cut down rothes (wombat's big brother that attacks 3 times a turn) when every earlier encounter with them mandated tapping out "Elbereth" indefinitely and throwing whatever is lying around at them until they hopefully expire. For the first time since I started playing this, ascension appears legitimately possible.

True, my first dwarven Woman-at-Arms still left for Valhalla last Monday after she was caught overloaded by Yendorian Captain, the first attempt at pacifism through bribery failed, and I was too tired to think of deploying all the various wands and potions stashed in the bag. Now, I like to think that her sister went down there avenge her, and butchers all the Yendor troops without hesitation. She's recently surpassed her sibling, having reached level 16, and happens to be invisible as well. There's still the ever-present possibility of a loose wand of death in enemies' hands, though, (no magic reflection yet), so best not to get too comfortable.

Lastly, I went back to rmk games with an XP work called Mothlight after seeing it praised on YouTube by LISA fans. It's on itch.io, but not on RMN, and I was wondering if that could be remedied. However, with things like a basic all-enemy spell animation showing nude femme angels oriented towards the player, and the "Gospel" spell being even more suggestive with its "white pillar of light", there's no chance of it getting through our content policy.

Good thing too, because in spite of what I just said, it somehow manages to be the most boring OFFclone I've played yet. It's actually kind of amazing how the dev clearly spent so much time on all the truly unique attack animations, and yet all the enemies behave basically the same (either regular attack or no-damage poison one), your abilities are equally uncomplicated (damage spell that one-shots all the early enemies, weaker group attack spell (Angel one), stronger group attack, stronger one-person "Gospel" and some heals/status spells that are basically useless) and that's on top of balancing so broken said poison attack becomes the only way anyone can harm you once you buy good armor. That this happens in a game where grinding is impossible (all the encounters are hand-placed, do not regenerate, and usually require you to walk up to them and initiate the fight) and you do not level up, instead getting exactly 5 more health every time you beat a boss, is equally incredible. Meanwhile, the story has been incredibly predictable and unambiguous so far. The only reason I am finishing this is to see if it'll manage a twist of any kind, or actually stay as flat as it is now.

author=tawman
Hey guys! I just recently finished with my game A Berserkers Story. Now what i need is some honest criticism and how it is, in order to learn from how my game is and make sure to not abide to my flaws in the mean future. So you'd do me an honour by reviewing my game! Heres the link :) https://rpgmaker.net/games/8429/

How long is it?

Well, I don't really know much about Patreon, but I'm guessing it's unlikely to backfire (Unlike Kickstarter, where failures do generate stigma.), but won't be a game-changer either. I just checked out JoSe's Patreon again and it's at 46$/month, while unity's is at 28$/month so something within that range after a few months' time is realistic. Whether or not that's worth the effort is entirely up to you.

The Kickstarter route, however, is something I believe you are right to have reservations about. As far as games in our engine go, I think the only successful Kickstarter was for OMORI, and while it was a pretty great success as far as fundraising goes, it could hardly be any more different to your game stylistically. Under its trailers, people already wage fandom wars between it and Undertale, which, let's be honest, is never going to happen here. Other, more applicable examples are OMNIS: The Erias Line (game's demo was showered with praise here, and for good reason, yet the Kickstarter for the full, Unity-made game was disastrous, both due to failure to build up connections with media outside of RMN, and the nihilistic tone of the pitch - probably the surest poison to one's prospects there, given the fate of this other, once enormously promising project.) and Shadows of Adam (technically custom engine, though no-one could tell the difference), which succeeded after a tense campaign that gave its creators a lot of grey hair, built enough connections with game media to ensure it had Youtube playthroughs + Metacritic score right out of the gate...all for a launch that, I think it's fair to say, we all wished would be better..

Point is, the entire kind of 90's style JRPG is niche. The most high-profile effort to fill it, by Squenix-published I Am Setsuna, hasn't gone over that well and was considered a failure by them. This is actually good news for you, because that unfortunate game at least made mainstream reviewers pay attention to this style of game for the first time in years. Like it or not, Chrono Trigger is old and far from most people's reference frames, while most people are happy enough with the current real-time Tales of.. and Final Fantasies. Game journalists are no different to their colleagues in other fields, in that they do not deal in completed, concrete products (that's our job) but in growing, self-perpetuating meta-narratives. Simply showing your game as is at whatever stage of development you consider presentable and/or invoking 20+ y.o games entire generation has not played is unfortunately liable to get you filed into "another quirky game from a no-name dev on that outdated engine that weirdly refuses to die" meta-narrative in the minds of most journos, and consequently in the "not worth writing about, won't make waves anyway" category.

To be fair, most indie games fall into that category by now, and statistically, we are not really doing worse then, say, Visual Novels or Adventure Game Studio point-n-clicks. In both cases, breaking out of that requires a clear hook that'll allow for creation of a new meta-narrative. Playing on contrast with Setsuna, targeting those 26% of its Steam owners who were sufficiently disappointed by it to leave a negative review, to position yourself as the Astroneer to its No Man's Sky without ever saying that out loud - I believe this is ultimately the best pathway to success, and which will enable both a successful fundraising campaign (whether Indiegogo, Kickstarter or even Fig) , and above all, good sales at the end of the line. Of course, that also requires playing it (assuming you haven't already) and knowing where it went wrong, both in your own opinion and according to those dissatisfied by it, so that you can signal strength in those same areas from the start.

In all, this is my take on the matter. You may disagree, but I hope it was at least worth reading.

P.S. And I agree with others, stay away from Early Access. I don't think I can recall a single linear, plot-driven game that entered it and lived to tell a happy tale. (I think Yesterday Origins fared decently, but it was 80%+ finished since it only spent there 2-3 months, and thus neither here nor there.)

author=zDS
My third review is pending. It took me 6 hours to beat. I'm worn out and exhausted from this event, so I may not make it to the Crown of Plastic. Who knows though? Plenty of time for a 4th short one but I am finding nothing I particularly feel like yet.

Super great event though, I approve.

Ruphand has a pretty neat demo. Not perfect, but it deserves attention more then nearly any other recent demo I saw on here so far. Only reason I held back on finishing it is because MV games don't work too well for me unless they are really simple.

OK, after first reading piano's review, then seeing this screenshot, I'm now 95% sure this is an