SCRIBBLE'S PROFILE

You know, I want to talk about a sentiment that I've been feeling for a while. For the past few years now, there's always been comments and whispers here and there about the negatives of the community; how shitty a lot of games are, games go unfinished, and how stupid newcomers to the RM scene can be (and yes, this topic is primarily about the RM community). Entire communities have fallen into a schizm (like GW, yeah, I said it) between one side, and the other who is seen as a 'joke'.



I think it's very hard not to look at RM games as mostly shit, if we're talking about the ENTIRE community that includes sites like RMXP. Really, I think that many amateur RPGs are uninspiring. You look at any indie gaming blog, and you're assaulted by beautiful screens and/or interesting concepts. This is hardly the case with RM games, where the majority seem to be striving to make the same RPG. Respect needs to be earned. If all these traditional-style amateur RPGs seemed as promising as say, Hero's Realm, then it would be fine. But they're NOT, and barely meet Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest as a benchmark.

But I like this place, and I don't think it's unrealistic to strive for an 'improved' community here, because it's already happening. Release Something and Play Something aren't just neat ideas, they've been successful. The podcast is actually respectable and informative, unlike inaudible efforts from other hobby sites. RMN3 will be an interesting experiment. RMN Chain Game. Even the 3-Hour Contests were successful to an extent. Other sites do a similar thing, but feel more tacky, impersonal, and unofficial. Maybe I'm praising this site too much =P (I wish the place was a bit more active, though)

author=Erave link=topic=2893.msg56162#msg56162 date=1231964343
I prefer sequential, but if people are really opposed we could do something similar to "Alex". I'd prefer not to though.

Ideally (Not trying to step on yours or GreatRedSpirit's toes) it would be neat if the project could be completed in a few months. Having five months development time for a fun project made up of small scenarios seems long. But hey, I'm in either way.

I'm in, most definitely.

Although aprilschild and Feldschlacht IV have a few good points, I like this idea mainly because I'm a bit, er, desensitised to amateur RPG release forums. All you tend to see are lists of meaningless titles (In the sense that when I see "Knight's Lance" next to "Shadow's Eye" next to "Galactic Chaos" next to "Sword to the Heart" next to "Phoenix Talon" next to "Vaex Aurternos Chapter Gamma" I don't want to click on anything apart from the ones with very high reply counts, and everything else is ignored)

When you do click on the thread, you can expect the same presentation template used for the previous game thread you clicked on (Not the poster's fault a lot of the time, which is why RMN3 will be interesting) And then a few posts going 'cool, will download when I get home!', and the occasional in-depth analysis (And that's if the game even warrants that and isn't some demo that contains a single battle or whatever). I don't think I'll miss that too much, and I hope that this means that the Game Design section gets more discussion =P

Basically, the game's release 'site' (thread) ends up being a dirty cluster of avatars, signatures and one-liners, and sometimes a wall-of-text essay of a first post that no-one cares about.

RMXP.org is essentially an extreme version of this that, while being a useful site, feels a bit, you know, trashy. Like some junkyard markets full of all kinds of riff-raff staggering around screaming their game titles (Which are, by the way, subject to change at any second because the creator's either A.Too eager for an audience for their games or B. Bored) Maybe this can bring a bit of much-needed polish to everything (Make sure the game itself is polished first, though), and encourage creators to make more of an effort. And it gives us more control.

I like this idea, a lot. And it's something new. If it doesn't work, it doesn't have to last forever, and at this point I think we should be thinking of ways in which RMN3 can successfully bulldoze the old model, and WIP can tweak as appropriate (If he wants =P).

Lunar Golem Battle:
Not much to really talk about here. This is the least cheap-looking out of all the games. Also, I liked the grandpa sequence, and how the cane-beating interrupts the storytelling.

Super Golem Quest Legacy:
I'm not a big fan of the parody-humour, but the battle music was unexpected and amusing. I think I could have enjoyed it if the dungeon was longer.

Space Bunnies:
I liked the prologue.It's probably the best 'game' out of the lot, because of its arcade gameplay. Bunnies were cute, even if the actual gameplay was flawes.

Trial and Error:
Extreme lag, but I played it anyway. What I like is that you took a very 'micro' approach with this (Even though the lag seems to suggest otherwise). Small houses
with one or two NPCs in them, no cutscenes. I imagine that you could create a lot of content in three hours if you used this approach efficiently.

CaptainV:
Though it contains more fourth wall breaking, self-awareness,etc. I think it worked the most in this RPG because
it has enough gameplay to excuse it. I enjoyed playing this the most (Which again, isn't saying much), because it had
a challenge in the village troll.


Ender Day:
The carcass of the dead colleague was amusing. There's no gameplay, so all we're left
with is an anime-esque cutscene that, apart from the carcass maybe, takes itself too seriously.

Tales of Steel:
There's not much to comment on, but the ending was so sudden it was hilarious!

Set in Stone:
Nice title. Best presentation out of all the games, and the game keeps a bit of dignity by ending in an incompletable dungeon-maze, instead of degenerating into 'humour.' The central idea of the game, to defeat a golem, would have been nice for a three-hour made game, but didn't work out. Did you spend a lot
of time mapping the castle, or something?

Golem Master:
I liked the quick summary/profiling of the characters and adventure-so-far. The battles were too slow, though.

I think it IS possible to make a decent game in three hours, and I think this challenge is also a decent experiment. It's also interesting because it's more or less impossible to copy Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, which means that
in the later challenges, we'll see some 'new' stories. Maybe.