Unique mechanics like random blindness triggered by the dragon roars and using light crystals to reveal the enemies.
In-battle dialog makes for some lively banter that you don't see too often in RPG Maker games.
Expressive portraits to emphasize the characters' emotions.
There's a story with a bit of mystery.
Only one major bug (mentioned in the criticisms); it's otherwise smooth sailing
No crazy skill spikes or impossible challenges.
Battles don't last too long.
The objective is always stated near the beginning of each section and is clearly defined.
Good BGM choices.
But of course, there are negative points too:
LOTS of typos (you even call yourself out for it in the end, so at least you know).
Text overflow in a few places too.
Harold's room is bugged (I think someone pointed that out earlier).
No weapon upgrade for Marsha?
No place to fully heal.
Battles are a bit too easy with not enough skill variety; I just set the "Command Remember" option to "On," set my attacks, then spammed the OK button.
Items don't clearly indicate what they do or how much of an effect they will have (like, I know that it will restore HP, but how much?)
Potion lacks a description.
Why so many pickaxes? Only 1 character can use them and they are all the same.
It would be nice to know how close to reaching the objective we are; something like a HUD or a counter in the item descriptions.
It's not always clear why we are doing certain things. Like, I know that I need to mine the rocks, but why? And how many hits does it take to collect the gold? (Side note: I did eventually figure it out)
Some tiles are set up incorrectly so I can walk on things I'm not supposed to.
Transitioning to other maps is inconsistent; sometimes I need to press the action button, other times I need to just touch the right area. It's generally preferable to make transitions happen on "player touch" unless you need to use an item or want the player to search for the transition point.
Looks like you used minimal plugins, which is often a good idea for a first game. I hope this experience has allowed you to explore the engine's capabilities and give you an idea of what plugins you will need for future projects. I think what you have here is a solid first game and hope that you will continue to grow and make even better stuff in the future!
I'm so glad you liked the mechanics and the interactions of the characters. I was worried about the character's interactions being to heavy or in the way. I'm also happy that you felt like things were smooth in fights and skills. I was going for easy, fun play and it seems like I managed that.
I will address most of the cons like this: Play test. I need to play test. I MUST PLAY TEST! I think 50% to 75% of all my problems would have been solved with more play testing. <- My biggest lesson from this jam! That said Ill address the unique things you brought up.
Marsha's weapon was around the camp near the top if the mountain. She got a magic upgrade as well. Crunched for time I did not implement it properly after setting a president for the first 3 upgrades because they all got told, while Marsha's was bassed on pure discovery. Thank you for pointing it out, I hadn't thought critically about it before.
The pick axes were one part a copy paste "I need to make this cave more interesting" and partly because I had a bunch of miners that were going to be part of the story, but after I lost my most resent back up - two days before the Jams deadline - I just didn't have time to finish that part of the project. ^_^'
And then my brain melted.
Again, thank you so much for this review! I will come back to this, and the others, while I make my next game so I can avoid all of these mistakes (and make all new ones)!
Not bad for a first game! I thought the light shard and blindness mechanic were pretty clever. To me, the highlight was the story, including the little snippets of dialog and character development every round. There were some funny parts, and seeing the story surrounding "Reid" was enjoyable to uncover. There were definitely some typos, misspellings, grammar problems, but nothing so bad it made it unplayable.
Biggest thing to be improved is gameplay. Despite the blindness aspect being clever, in game all it means is using an eye drop every few minutes. That doesn't make for fun gaming. Light shards were fine too, but why not just have the inhabitants be demons to start? Having to use an item runs the risk of running out, and I really don't know what one would do. I didn't see any way to farm lightshards.
Combat was a bit one dimensional. I typically just attacked until enemies died and didn't use spells until the final boss. Harold's spark was weaker than his attack, and so was Therese's Ice attack. Skills without a use aren't exciting to have.
Having to equip a pickaxe or fishing pole to fish or mine is a bit cumbersome too. It added a bit too much menu exploring in order to do things. I think it would be totally fine to just check for the party possessing these items to allow you to use them, because no one wants to accidentally bring a fishing pole into battle.
On top of that, fishing as spamming confirm button is not super fun either. Definitely needs some mini-game, some skill, or even to not exist (I'd be okay with that).
One of the biggest problems for me was the total lack of poison antidotes (as far as I could tell). Because it took me a little realize I had to equip a fishing pole, I accidentally used bait on Harold. He was poisoned for the entire run. No shop on the way sold antidotes, no enemy dropped them, so I was just making sure I healed before battles.
Anyways, I wrote all the above to try to help, and I really appreciate your entry to Harold Jam. Hope to see you make more stuff and keep improving!
'...the light shard and blindness mechanic were pretty clever... ...Despite the blindness aspect being clever, in game all it means is using an eye drop every few minutes...'
Thank you, this is a mechanic I have been toying with in every RPG maker version and I'm modifying for my next RPG maker game. I think I'll be removing, or vastly reducing the blindness. I had a narrativee for the roars being very poisonous and Lucius would have also started to get sick the closer to the cave they got as well. But the whole thing was becoming a huge mess and I had to rip chunks out for time. Too big of a game in too small of a package.
And the economy of this whole mechanic is definitely trash. I am not instinctive with math so I botched that pretty good. -_-'
'...the highlight was the story, including the little snippets of dialog and character development every round...'
I was afraid that was going to be the worst part of the game, but everyone who has given me a review seems to like it! I'll keep doing that in my games! And I will DEFINITELY have more play testing for spelling and grammar. I'm glad it wasn't game breaking.
'...Combat was a bit one dimensional...'
Yep. This is probably my biggest weakness. I can't do math too well, so a mechanic biassed entirely on math is really confusing! That said I knew there were problems and I ought to have focused more on the fights. I had no idea the magic attacks were so weak! Thank you for pointing that out. I know what I must study in the future. And Play Test.
'...Having to equip...'
Ahhhhh yes, you are right! *Takes a note for future games* That does break the flow, doesn't it? I will also try to add some kind of mini game for fishing. Do you have any games with good examples you can point me towards? I'm mot sure how I could improve this.
'...the total lack of poison antidotes...'
I LEFT THAT AS POISONOUS!!?!?!? *From a distance you hear a string of angry, loud non-swearing* >_<' ..... Okay; I need more Play Testing! Sorry about that.
Again, thank you so much for this review! It was super helpful and I will be referencing this as I make my next game. I'm glad the game was fun, even if it was deeply flawed. I admit that with all the good feedback I have gotten, some of it in privet, I am sorely tempted to remake this game from scratch as a VERY LATE, non jam entry. I could possibly get it done by the day after the last day of March.
Overall, this was pretty good. I liked the story and the idea behind the gameplay and light shards, and loved the the constant chatter during the battles.
The blindness mechanic did get a little tedious after a while though since battles did not drop gold to buy more eyedrops, and the healing/mp items did so little that I felt like I had to hold on to them and not sell them for more eyedrops.
Mapping was pretty good in general, though I did come across a few places where I could walk onto walls or through objects, so that is something to watch out for. Also, walking up to a door from outside went inside, but it required pushing the action button to leave a room, that should be activated by just walking to the door / edge as well.
Also watch your message boxes, there were places where the text went beyond the box so got cut off. Liked the changing expressions in them though.
But still, overall quite enjoyable for a first game.
Thank you so much for this review! In brief I know now that I need to have more play testing before I let my games go into the wild! I was worried about the blindness becoming an issue. My half baked idea was that people could grind worms to fish with, and the fish could help pay. Also the orange shrooms were priced very high. You are right, the financial system was badly unbalanced. I love mapping. I think I spent more time agonizing over floral arraignments than testing to see how it all worked together. I will definitely need more play testers to see where my feng shui turns into finding the Upside Down. I hadn't even realized I was doing that with doors! I'll definitely be keeping that in mind for next time! I knew my message boxes were in trouble. Terribly sorry about that. I knew and I ought to have fixed it.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I will take what you have said and keep it in mind for my next game for sure.
Thank you so much for the feedback! It will definitely help me or the next game.
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
That was quite an adventure. Positive points:
But of course, there are negative points too:
Looks like you used minimal plugins, which is often a good idea for a first game. I hope this experience has allowed you to explore the engine's capabilities and give you an idea of what plugins you will need for future projects. I think what you have here is a solid first game and hope that you will continue to grow and make even better stuff in the future!
Hi! Thank you for the wonderful review!
I'm so glad you liked the mechanics and the interactions of the characters. I was worried about the character's interactions being to heavy or in the way. I'm also happy that you felt like things were smooth in fights and skills. I was going for easy, fun play and it seems like I managed that.
I will address most of the cons like this: Play test. I need to play test. I MUST PLAY TEST! I think 50% to 75% of all my problems would have been solved with more play testing. <- My biggest lesson from this jam!
That said Ill address the unique things you brought up.
Marsha's weapon was around the camp near the top if the mountain. She got a magic upgrade as well. Crunched for time I did not implement it properly after setting a president for the first 3 upgrades because they all got told, while Marsha's was bassed on pure discovery.
Thank you for pointing it out, I hadn't thought critically about it before.
The pick axes were one part a copy paste "I need to make this cave more interesting" and partly because I had a bunch of miners that were going to be part of the story, but after I lost my most resent back up - two days before the Jams deadline - I just didn't have time to finish that part of the project. ^_^
'And then my brain melted.
Again, thank you so much for this review! I will come back to this, and the others, while I make my next game so I can avoid all of these mistakes (and make all new ones)!
Not bad for a first game! I thought the light shard and blindness mechanic were pretty clever. To me, the highlight was the story, including the little snippets of dialog and character development every round. There were some funny parts, and seeing the story surrounding "Reid" was enjoyable to uncover. There were definitely some typos, misspellings, grammar problems, but nothing so bad it made it unplayable.
Biggest thing to be improved is gameplay. Despite the blindness aspect being clever, in game all it means is using an eye drop every few minutes. That doesn't make for fun gaming. Light shards were fine too, but why not just have the inhabitants be demons to start? Having to use an item runs the risk of running out, and I really don't know what one would do. I didn't see any way to farm lightshards.
Combat was a bit one dimensional. I typically just attacked until enemies died and didn't use spells until the final boss. Harold's spark was weaker than his attack, and so was Therese's Ice attack. Skills without a use aren't exciting to have.
Having to equip a pickaxe or fishing pole to fish or mine is a bit cumbersome too. It added a bit too much menu exploring in order to do things. I think it would be totally fine to just check for the party possessing these items to allow you to use them, because no one wants to accidentally bring a fishing pole into battle.
On top of that, fishing as spamming confirm button is not super fun either. Definitely needs some mini-game, some skill, or even to not exist (I'd be okay with that).
One of the biggest problems for me was the total lack of poison antidotes (as far as I could tell). Because it took me a little realize I had to equip a fishing pole, I accidentally used bait on Harold. He was poisoned for the entire run. No shop on the way sold antidotes, no enemy dropped them, so I was just making sure I healed before battles.
Anyways, I wrote all the above to try to help, and I really appreciate your entry to Harold Jam. Hope to see you make more stuff and keep improving!
Thank you for this wonderful review! ^_^
'...the light shard and blindness mechanic were pretty clever... ...Despite the blindness aspect being clever, in game all it means is using an eye drop every few minutes...'
Thank you, this is a mechanic I have been toying with in every RPG maker version and I'm modifying for my next RPG maker game. I think I'll be removing, or vastly reducing the blindness. I had a narrativee for the roars being very poisonous and Lucius would have also started to get sick the closer to the cave they got as well. But the whole thing was becoming a huge mess and I had to rip chunks out for time. Too big of a game in too small of a package.
And the economy of this whole mechanic is definitely trash. I am not instinctive with math so I botched that pretty good. -_-'
'...the highlight was the story, including the little snippets of dialog and character development every round...'
I was afraid that was going to be the worst part of the game, but everyone who has given me a review seems to like it! I'll keep doing that in my games! And I will DEFINITELY have more play testing for spelling and grammar. I'm glad it wasn't game breaking.
'...Combat was a bit one dimensional...'
Yep. This is probably my biggest weakness. I can't do math too well, so a mechanic biassed entirely on math is really confusing! That said I knew there were problems and I ought to have focused more on the fights. I had no idea the magic attacks were so weak! Thank you for pointing that out. I know what I must study in the future. And Play Test.
'...Having to equip...'
Ahhhhh yes, you are right! *Takes a note for future games* That does break the flow, doesn't it? I will also try to add some kind of mini game for fishing. Do you have any games with good examples you can point me towards? I'm mot sure how I could improve this.
'...the total lack of poison antidotes...'
I LEFT THAT AS POISONOUS!!?!?!? *From a distance you hear a string of angry, loud non-swearing* >_<' ..... Okay; I need more Play Testing! Sorry about that.
Again, thank you so much for this review! It was super helpful and I will be referencing this as I make my next game.
I'm glad the game was fun, even if it was deeply flawed. I admit that with all the good feedback I have gotten, some of it in privet, I am sorely tempted to remake this game from scratch as a VERY LATE, non jam entry.
I could possibly get it done by the day after the last day of March.PLAY TESTING!!!
Overall, this was pretty good. I liked the story and the idea behind the gameplay and light shards, and loved the the constant chatter during the battles.
The blindness mechanic did get a little tedious after a while though since battles did not drop gold to buy more eyedrops, and the healing/mp items did so little that I felt like I had to hold on to them and not sell them for more eyedrops.
Mapping was pretty good in general, though I did come across a few places where I could walk onto walls or through objects, so that is something to watch out for. Also, walking up to a door from outside went inside, but it required pushing the action button to leave a room, that should be activated by just walking to the door / edge as well.
Also watch your message boxes, there were places where the text went beyond the box so got cut off. Liked the changing expressions in them though.
But still, overall quite enjoyable for a first game.
Thank you so much for this review!
In brief I know now that I need to have more play testing before I let my games go into the wild!
I was worried about the blindness becoming an issue. My half baked idea was that people could grind worms to fish with, and the fish could help pay. Also the orange shrooms were priced very high. You are right, the financial system was badly unbalanced.
I love mapping. I think I spent more time agonizing over floral arraignments than testing to see how it all worked together. I will definitely need more play testers to see where my feng shui turns into finding the Upside Down.
I hadn't even realized I was doing that with doors! I'll definitely be keeping that in mind for next time!
I knew my message boxes were in trouble. Terribly sorry about that. I knew and I ought to have fixed it.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I will take what you have said and keep it in mind for my next game for sure.
Thank you so much for the feedback! It will definitely help me or the next game.