WAXIUS'S PROFILE

I wouldn't think so, and in most cases, you'd probably be applauded for using a mechanic from someone's favorite games.

I'd love to play a RPG MAKER game that used Final Fantasy 7's materia system to equip on weapons and armor for example, or even the Esper System for learning spells like in Final Fantasy 6.

Two things to consider. If you borrow a solution from another game, make sure it works the same or better than the original, and as long as the game is FUN, you'll do fine. I realize that FUN is relative though.

author=Gretgor
I may be Dunning-Krugering as heck right here, since my understanding of all things related to design is very shallow, but I've been thinking about this for a while now.

Game design may very well be one of the hardest disciplines of design, due to the absolutely unique challenges it poses.

Design (according to my layman understanding) usually focuses on making things that are functional, useful, safe, appealing, easy to use, reliable, comfortable, and, in some cases, interesting and enjoyable. Games must not only check every item on that list, as they must also punish the player with an undesirable outcome in case the skill they applied to a certain task is insufficient to reach their goal.

That is something unprecedented, really. You don't see a flashlight, a TV, a car, a toy, a watch, a laptop, a soda bottle, a remote controller, or a phone wilfully punish their user for lack of skill. However, this is something that games not only can do, but must do. They must do so in a way that the user is aware of what they are being punished for, and in a way that doesn't make the user lose interest after failure. With that in mind, the fact that game design is even possible is already a marvel.

Therefore, I don't think I should feel bad for "aping" design ideas from successful games, since I'm neither a game designer (nor a designer of any sort) nor the leader of a large team... right? I don't intend to outright copy anything from other games, just adapt some of their solutions to certain design problems to my own game. Does that make me lazy, or even dishonest?

I didn't mention that the flower puzzle was my favorite one. The difficulty is reasonable in my opinion. The ending scene was perfect for this story and packs a huge emotional wallop. It can really have an effect on someone who might feel about themselves the way the protagonist does.

but... but... I was so close! It's all good, it'll give others a chance to get the Fess badge if they're going for it.

Hi Dyluck,

Thank you very much for the review! I appreciate the comments and the feedback and 100% agree with the gameplay issues for today's audience.

I will be updating the game very soon. Rations will work differently, it won't use up turns and you'll have the option to "consume rations until fully healed" if you have enough in stock. I can also do a better job of explaining how turns work in general. If you run out of the turns when you find the king, he'll die shortly after you find him, and you get a bad ending. Otherwise, the king will stand outside the battle zone and actually help you in battle if you also found his orb of power.

Having more party members DOES affect the amount of monsters you fight! A party of four can expect to fight 5-10 monsters in a room, and up to 6 if they jump you in the hallways. But a good party mix would be to have TWO Fighters, ONE Wizard, and ONE Rogue.

The loading screen with the clown is there because it actually does take time to generate a new random dungeon. While the clown is walking to the right, the hallways are being connected together in random branches, and while the clown is juggling, the rooms are being placed. Generally it takes 20-40 seconds to generate the dungeon. (I was also trying to do something that Final Fantasy does with moogles.)

I am curious about story mode though, was it the intro that turned you off? I can hopefully explain that part of it. The introduction is 7 minutes long, but you can skip if you want to. I wanted to time the dialogue, actions, and events to coincide with the music being played. There's a point in which the music suddenly turns ominous, and I didn't want players to skip dialogue and reach that point while the music didn't get there yet. The only way I knew how to do that was to auto-control the dialogue pacing. Otherwise, the rest of story mode shouldn't have that very often.

Again, I appreciate the review! Thank you so much!

author=kory_toombs
Fast on you way to 25.
The quickest demo / the easiest review you have ever written :)

It was very hard to do! Took me over an hour to come up with that. But no worries... I have two more or your games to review and I know I'll have more to say about those!