Full Games List
Featured Games
New Games
Reviews
Media
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
Misaos
Forums
Chat
New to RMN?
Full Store List
RMN Music Pack (free)
Profile
Locker
Play ListsTRAVIO'S PROFILE
Travio
149
Close
I make and play games - playing games I use as a reward for reaching specific milestones within my various development projects. I've played a wide variety of games, having started at the tender age of three and worked my way up over the years so that, at one point, I was actually going out of my way to find the original games (cartridges, CDs, whatever) to play.
All games I elect to review must be 'Complete' status (though games still in the process of clearing out bugs are fine and will be noted in the review itself). These games must have a download on RMN (as I pass them to my Dropbox queue) and need to be self contained - everything I need to play should be in the download, without needing to install anything (including RTPs; we aren't living in the days of slow connections anymore, people). You should also have any fixes in the download, not something I have to look through the comments for - I'm going to be avoiding them like the plague until I've finished the review.
When I review a game, I try to play as much of it as I can possibly stand before posting the review - I make notes/write part of the review as I'm playing, so a lot of what goes into the review is first impressions of sections. I'm also not a stickler - things don't have to be perfect - but I've seen many examples of things not done perfectly but, at the same time, not done horribly. I rate five categories on a scale from 1 to 10: Story, Graphics, Sound, Gameplay & Pacing, and Mapping & Design. 5 is average to me, so it's not necessarily saying that category is bad - it's saying it's middle of the road. Games within the same editor are compared to one another, not games across editors (I'm not going to hold an RM2k game to the same standards as a VX Ace game due to system limitations, but I won't let it hold back the RM2k game's rating) - unless the game is part of a series across multiple editors.
All games I elect to review must be 'Complete' status (though games still in the process of clearing out bugs are fine and will be noted in the review itself). These games must have a download on RMN (as I pass them to my Dropbox queue) and need to be self contained - everything I need to play should be in the download, without needing to install anything (including RTPs; we aren't living in the days of slow connections anymore, people). You should also have any fixes in the download, not something I have to look through the comments for - I'm going to be avoiding them like the plague until I've finished the review.
When I review a game, I try to play as much of it as I can possibly stand before posting the review - I make notes/write part of the review as I'm playing, so a lot of what goes into the review is first impressions of sections. I'm also not a stickler - things don't have to be perfect - but I've seen many examples of things not done perfectly but, at the same time, not done horribly. I rate five categories on a scale from 1 to 10: Story, Graphics, Sound, Gameplay & Pacing, and Mapping & Design. 5 is average to me, so it's not necessarily saying that category is bad - it's saying it's middle of the road. Games within the same editor are compared to one another, not games across editors (I'm not going to hold an RM2k game to the same standards as a VX Ace game due to system limitations, but I won't let it hold back the RM2k game's rating) - unless the game is part of a series across multiple editors.
Search
Filter
All
Game Pages
User Statuses
The Sausage King of Chicago
I'm pretty sure most of us around here just procrastinate by surfing and responding on the site anyways. ;)
Welcome!
Welcome!
Which to use?
Well, again, that's a response I really personally couldn't give without more details and some idea of your direction. Again, I'm of the thought your theme and mood should be reflected, even in your graphics choices. Either could fit into a number of game types, but both could be a total flop if chosen solely on the premise of which players would prefer without seeing anything.
The only comment I can give, as is, is that with the second one, seeing it just as I am now, I would expect a more detailed chipset with a more 'grim' pallette choice (more washed out, less bright colours).
The only comment I can give, as is, is that with the second one, seeing it just as I am now, I would expect a more detailed chipset with a more 'grim' pallette choice (more washed out, less bright colours).
Which to use?
I don't personally subscribe to the 'cutesy' being bad for mature games. You can pull off some serious, dark games using what people might call cutesy - and it's all the more potentially disturbing (or what the fuck inducing) with the graphics style. A lot of the choices should be a) to create a solid art direction between your sprites and backdrop and b) to emphasize the theme and mood of the story. In the end, which template style you choose is going to be somewhere in those two. It's hard to say which is better without seeing the overall art direction.
For an example of some more serious and potentially mature games with cutesy graphics, look at almost any serious effort on the SNES and early PlayStation era (but not just on those systems). Lunar is a good example (oh god, I will forever be haunted by those words, "No, not Ghaleon, dear Quark. Magic Emperor Ghaleon!" - ok, the voice acting sucked but I was like 12), as is Lufia (and don't just rely on the English translations of the game for the seriousness of the story; the English versions suffered from a lot of technical limitations in translations at the time). Breath of Fire II is also a good example (I can't recall BoF's story, but I've recently replayed BoF2 with a proper translation and it's a hell of a dark game).
Basically, don't just pick a sprite style by itself; think of your entire art direction and the type of pallet you're going to use.
For an example of some more serious and potentially mature games with cutesy graphics, look at almost any serious effort on the SNES and early PlayStation era (but not just on those systems). Lunar is a good example (oh god, I will forever be haunted by those words, "No, not Ghaleon, dear Quark. Magic Emperor Ghaleon!" - ok, the voice acting sucked but I was like 12), as is Lufia (and don't just rely on the English translations of the game for the seriousness of the story; the English versions suffered from a lot of technical limitations in translations at the time). Breath of Fire II is also a good example (I can't recall BoF's story, but I've recently replayed BoF2 with a proper translation and it's a hell of a dark game).
Basically, don't just pick a sprite style by itself; think of your entire art direction and the type of pallet you're going to use.
Free Amazon Developer Account 1-Year Subscription
author=edchuyauthor=TravioTough luck. So if I may ask, do you have something already in their App store?
Also, curses on this - I have a paid dev account for them right now; doubt I could snag a free year to add on to it. ... and the links in the DealNews website itself aren't working for me anyways, qq.
Not personally, no. The company I was working for was working on an app at the time; I did a bit of work on it, and paid for an account with the intention of developing something in my own time. However, other work caught up with me and I never got a chance (though I still have like... eight months left on it, so I might push out something yet).
Free Amazon Developer Account 1-Year Subscription
author=bulmabriefs144
Isn't this advertising? And against the ToS?
Also, Kindle sucks. The bulk of it is harlequin/fetish stories. And get this, many titles particularly subject matter too kinky to do on mass press, are Kindle-only.
http://www.amazon.com/The-House-Sitter-ebook/dp/B00E99L9I0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376765215&sr=1-2&keywords=the+house+sitter
http://www.amazon.com/Always-Wanted-Xander-Barns-ebook/dp/B00D7H38ZM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376765423&sr=1-1&keywords=Always+Wanted
Yes, seriously. You won't find a hardcover or even a mass-market paperback of these. And I could find more in about a minute. People are not buying Kindle because they want to expand their mind, they get it because they want to read stuff privately.
...I'm getting a Kindle.
App development doesn't equal the reading material available on the Kindle. Anyone can freely publish anything they want (ok, there's some limits there) on the Kindle store, it's not hard - that's why a lot of that type of material gets there (and why the quality of it is generally shite - as it'd never make it through an actual editor).
Also, curses on this - I have a paid dev account for them right now; doubt I could snag a free year to add on to it. ... and the links in the DealNews website itself aren't working for me anyways, qq.
If Final Fantasy 7 had Final Fantasy 14's user interface
author=mawkauthor=LockeZthose are placed automatically on every screenshot taken within ff14
(note the copyright stamp at the bottom).
this is not a promotional shot: http://webgel.net/bf/ffxiv_08172013_215700.png
Clarifying: it automatically places it in the lower left hand corner on screenshots. Thus far, all the official promotional shots have the exact same text in the bottom right corner (or they don't have it at all, strangely).
mawk
also there are hella ui scaling and movement options for this exact reason! I know that your monitor is smaller than the default they designed the ui around but they literally included a variety of options players can use to address size discrepancies so I dunno what the deal is
like, they knew they couldn't make it unobtrusive at all possible resolutions so they made it editable instead
that's proper design
I'm sorry they didn't make it scale automatically but seriously now
Autoscaling layouts generally are shit anyways. I've got a massive monitor, and they're too obtrusive even as they scale to my resolution. That said, this layout does have way too much stuff on it, and even scaled down a lot, I'd still consider it too cluttered. I don't want two hot bars (hell, I often don't even want one visible), and the menu icons in the bottom right hand corner could probably use a 'fade away' option (where they're only visible when you hover over them, if at all). Could also use some other changes, but I'd actually have to play around with it a little bit to see what I'd want to change.
Gameplay Dialogue
A really good example of these in battle are the ones in the Star Ocean games - not just the calling out of attacks, but the characters actually have conversations and remark about what's occurring during the battle.
If you've never played them before, here's an example of a boss fight in Star Ocean 3. You'll hear a lot of attacks being called out, but there's also a bunch of lines - the boss even has some mid-battle chatter leading up to her specials. This might be a little spoilery for those who still want to play the game... <_< You also have to listen fairly closely, as a lot of the battle effects cover some of the speech (especially the boss').
If you've never played them before, here's an example of a boss fight in Star Ocean 3. You'll hear a lot of attacks being called out, but there's also a bunch of lines - the boss even has some mid-battle chatter leading up to her specials. This might be a little spoilery for those who still want to play the game... <_< You also have to listen fairly closely, as a lot of the battle effects cover some of the speech (especially the boss').
Legion Saga X - Episode One: The Children of Prophecy
author=amerkevicius
One thing I never understood, if the hero (Ridman/Durane) was being brainwashed by the king, why was the hero suddenly arrested for being a rebel against the king. Did the king no longer have use for him, was this a mistake on the part of the captain, or did the primary villain (Xer something or other) fear Ridman/Durane and was hoping to get rid of him.
This was never explained in any of the games, so perhaps that's something to be explored as you continue to develop this game.
This is actually something I've been weaving in throughout the early stages of the game - an explanation as to why, suddenly, Ridman was disposed of. I tie it more strongly into Ridman's place as a Legion Master. It's also tied in with another mystery from the first game (to me, anyways) - why is everyone suddenly all right with the presence of a prince who never existed before? I won't go into detail of the explanations, as it's part of the expanded plot, but I hope it goes over well.
Also, LSX is my slated entry for RSW - I'm going to get as much of a demo done as I can, with the demo itself starting from Irassia Prison and moving forward as much as I can complete. I feel starting a demo there throws you into the story better than sitting through all the build up to the 'reveal' after recruiting Shotan.
Release Something Weekend
... I'm going to do everything in my power to try to get a demo for LSX out for this. The only thing that's going to stand in my way might be work suddenly deciding we need to do another iteration of a project. <_<
Legion Saga X - Episode One: The Children of Prophecy
author=Archael
A download for this would be nice.
That would require a lot more of the game to be finished. I'm not one to just throw up a download when I've got like fifteen to twenty minutes of gameplay done - especially when the section of the game has a number of cutscenes. I'm considering doing a demo of a later part of the game, where I've actually expanded the story beyond what's seen in the original game and LSR, but there's a system or two I need to finish before I can do that - and the one system is still in alpha, as it's not the easiest thing to write up from scratch.
The story expansion is based on Legion Saga R's expansion, plus more. The idea is to tie in the villains of the first game more in with the series' metaplot as opposed to just being randomly there and seeming to have nothing to do with the overall story (which I understand, given that Kamau didn't start to establish a wider story to the series until LS2). Thanks for the input, amerkevicius, and I'll keep it in mind while doing the remakes.
Games - Tester
Games - Other
