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COATS
A multi-path game of research and management

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COATS Review

There's actually a lot of thought behind the Skins. I looked up all kinds of conditions that can cause a person to lose their skin and, surprisingly, such things exist. They may not turn people into cannibals, but yes, there are diseases and conditions that make people lose their skin. Creepy.

Karen is one of my favorites as well. I didn't intend for her to be an option at first, but after making her dialogue, I realized she was the kind of person Randal would go for. She is, in a way, his opposite. She got her head in the clouds, while he's constantly "all business". Kinda fun dynamic.

Crackerjack is gonna be great. Or at least I hope so. It feels like it should be.

COATS Review

This is an amazing and thorough review, and I felt like I had to comment on it. First off, thank you so much for investing your time and effort into this; I really appreciate it. It shows that you haven't hand-waved it off to try and get some cheap points, you've considered the source material and given an honest opinion. I appreciate it.

For starters, here's a little something about the Skins: I've made TONS of notes about them. I wanted to make a game inspired by classic Romero zombie movies, but I wanted it to have an aura of mystery. Everyone knows how zombies work, and there are similarities with Skins, but I wanted something more. The Skins are the result, having some slight variations for the player and the characters to discover.

I'm so glad you enjoyed the writing. There is an enormous amount of possible dialogue, so to see it go appreciated is very validating. I didn't want to make all my characters into cardboard cut-outs, so even those who are somewhat stereotypical (at first glance) is usually something more than meets the eye; or so I intended, at least. I blame the occasional missing letter and typo on my crappy keyboard and RPG Maker's inability to tell me when I've written too much (so that it goes outside the dialogue window and disappears).

The difficulty factor was my biggest balance issues. Some people never grasped the concept of the different phases, so I wanted to give them a bigger chance to understand. The game gets consecutively harder, in all phases, and someone lagging behind early could mean a slow, frustrating death. The compromise was to make things easier in the beginning, at the cost of having skilled players get a big head start that could last them through the phase. It was a tough decision, but I felt like I made the right one. The shooting minigame in phase two wasn't a very long addition, since there is a technique to it that can auto-win pretty much anything. I didn't want people to discover it and grind their way through something boring.

Glad you liked the artwork, my illustrator worked very hard. We wanted to add more, but she just didn't have the time. Instead, I made the call to make as many scenes as possible into in-game animations rather than CG images, but yes, it'd be awesome to see more of her work. And in regards to custom facesets: yes, it'd been awesome, but with over 140-ish faces, it would have taken us at least another year to finish the artwork. I made the call to have my illustrator focus on CG instead.

The audio is from several different packs, but also from a composer who contributed with the main theme! Also, the end credits theme is made by me, playing the piano. I can't play the piano though. But still, I did it.

I'm a bit sad you didn't like the gameplay, but I'm hoping to make up for it in future projects. But a 4 / 5 isn't bad. Just imagine what I could do with an actual budget!

So thank you for the feedback, it's been a pleasure reading and reflecting on. I might link to it in future blog posts.
Oh, but before I go, I gotta ask; Who's the superior waifu? :D (For science)

COATS Review

Thank you for the review! I'm happy with a 4-star rating, but I figured I'd still point out a thing or two, just to explain my reasoning.

First off, I'd enjoy if the review brought up all parts of the game, and not just the first third. The three phases of the game are what makes what it is, not mentioning the second or third part is just missing out on the vast majority of the content.

What else... the facesets. There are over 140 different faces, and having them all custom drawn would require a bigger team than me and one illustrator. It's just not a time-worthy investment.

That the characters are too similar is a first, I've never heard that mentioned before. I didn't want to make all characters too different, seeing as it'd make them look more like charicatures. There are several characters that are different, but the matter of the fact is that most people who live within one single area share the same dialect and language. There are those who stick out, but a majority have a similar vocabulary. That was my reasoning, at least.

Overall, thanks for the critique, I've taken it into account for future projects. Hope to see you give the second and third part a shot for future reviews ;)
Peace out!
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