Heart of the OHR Contest 2016

Okay, I've been playing some of these games. So far, so good. I wanted to give my early impressions while I'm thinking about them.

Surfasaurus:

Synopsis:
Dinosaur is banished to a small island where surfing and trivia are king, and he must somehow make a new life for himself as a surfing champion amidst a band of chatty citizens and a real time system.

General Opinion:
This is probably my favorite game of the contest so far. I think RedMaverickZero has made his definitive game with this one. It takes the best of his skills, the best of his characters, and melds them all into not just a game, but an experience. Reminds me a little of certain elements from Stardew Valley, including the chill tone. Even though it is not a traditional RPG, it still works as a social RPG, and does it well. Right up my alley.

Pros:
-The game is well-designed, well-thought out, and has an interesting range of diverse characters to keep you talking to them for a bit. Their comments change depending on the time and the day, which maintains the game's variety each time you play.
-The real time system, while controversial, keeps the player from having to invest too much time in the game at a single pop, but also rewards you for playing at different times of day by giving you a slightly different experience.
-There's generally a gimmick (trivia, puzzles) that keeps you checking back from time to time, and on specific days of the week. Gives the game a unique personality that "lives even when you're not playing."
-Stats are extensive and gives value to nearly everything you do.
-Graphics, sounds, and music are all pleasant and adhere to RMZ's trademark style.
-There's very little interaction with people or objects that's ultimately pointless. Even the act of breaking rocks has value.
-There are plenty of items to buy or discover.
-Little touches like the smart clock help add to the game's personality and gimmick.
-Learning surfing moves is part of the adventure.

Cons:
-Even though the real time system adds variety to the game, it's easy to see how a week's worth of playing will expose its repetitious nature for what it really is.
-The real time system also makes things difficult when real life schedules conflict with certain events like trivia night.
-Buildings are relatively empty most of the time.
-Characters have only one response per condition, which means they will inevitably run out of things to say before long.
-Island is small, so it doesn't leave much room for exploration. Seeing as how this game utilizes real time, a second or third island providing different experience, gimmicks, or adventures would be helpful to fill in "dead time."
-Not sure what the hotel is there for, other than for scenery.
-While the game is great, it isn't perfect. Some inconsistencies between dialogue and events remain. The first puzzle I played was broken when I played it on Wednesday (the numbers puzzle), but seemed fine when I played it tonight, so the bugs could potentially hurt the stat record. Shouldn't be hard to fix though.

Suggestions:
Keep adding to it. It's great so far, but also limited when you consider how certain times give you much more to do than other times do. Also, recognizing weeks might give you more variety to work with when all of the current week's systems and conversations have worn out. It's basically built for expansion.

Rating:
9 out of 10

You Need a Hero:

Synopsis:
A sex-starved wolf is tormented by a bald girl and decides to go out and fight her. His adventure takes him across towns to interact with a bunch of nuts. I think that's what this is about.

General Opinion:
Honestly, I got bored of this game very quickly. The villain makes no sense to me. Why is she tormenting Damien? What's at stake here? Not a clue. Just feels like a random jaunt through a circus of weirdos. Wasn't into it. I also don't get any of the "furry" jokes, so even the game's personality, while I recognize that it has personality, is lost on me. I'm just not the right audience for a game like this. I got as far as the spaceman at the college, and lost due to running out of restorative items, and decided I really didn't care enough about it to try again. Maybe I will, but the idea of going back doesn't excite me in the least.

Pros:
Note: These pros are actually mixed, as they have contrasting elements that are cons.
-Looks and sounds nice. The scenery isn't much to look at, but the characters are drawn well. The music is the best part about the game. It's definitely catchy.
-The dialogue is competent at times, though it really seems geared toward those who understand furry culture, which I do not. I appreciate the fact that each section seems to have a theme that's consistent in the writing. Even though I didn't like the map at all, I did like how the characters stuck to the crappy college theme at the end. So, the writing skill is there. I'll talk more about why it ultimately fails in the cons section.
-Even though I don't like the characters, I do like that they maintain their personalities throughout. As I said, the game has an unmistakable personality to it, and it's hard to find that in OHR games sometimes. If anything bugs me, it's that many of the characters share the same personality, so the diversity isn't as great as it could be.
-Searching trash is utilized well.

Cons:
-The story makes no sense. At all. Why does the villain hate Damien so much? What other goals does she have beyond simply being a jerk to Damien? I get her superpower, but it seems like it's used for petty reasons. It's just stupid. Both the protagonists and antagonists need clear reasons for doing what they do.
-If you don't like furry games, this does not help make them more attractive. Relies heavily on furry anatomy and sexual connotations to get its jokes, which is not at all funny. Matter of taste, but it won't appeal to most audiences. Maybe some. Just seems immature throughout the game.
-Resources seem overpriced given how much enemies can damage heroes in battle. Almost needs a grind to be adequately prepared for later battles.
-Enemies attack too often in towns, which again makes the game less fun. It would be better to designate specific areas for battles so that the player doesn't have to risk triggering a fight he's not ready for when he's just trying to walk from one shop to the next.
-Enemies attack way too quickly at the start of a fight. It's hard to run without taking a lot of damage first. Again, makes the game less fun. Wouldn't be as big of a deal if resources weren't so expensive to buy and so futile to use. If I wanted to get half my life taken at the start of a battle, I'd just fight the battle. I'd be okay with that if the story kept my interest.
-I was almost glad to see an element of exploration involved when I encountered the heart trail (I like variety in settings with places to explore), but it was quickly diminished when I realized the majority of areas in the game are simply travel shells to get between Points A and B, including the heart trail.
-There are empty rooms in the game where the party splits up temporarily to chat. Even though I like the gimmick, I think its use here is pointless. The characters should either provide something useful to talk about, or there should be something else in the room worthy of the player's attention. I don't mind the chit-chat, but I do mind it if there's no other reason to enter the room. A healing fountain, or a stash of food, or something helpful should be available in every room. Otherwise it's pointless.
-Map design is mostly uninteresting. Should have more scenery or more points of interest, or more flavor text. The personality exists in the characters, but not at all in the settings. Both should have something about them worth remembering.

Suggestions:
If you're making the game strictly for those who get furry culture, then keep the jokes, as I'm sure they're funny to the people who get them. But if you want a general RPG audience, offer a more diverse range of characters and talking points, like you did with the college kids (which I did find both humorous and interesting). But even if you don't address any of that, please at least address the main story. A good story has a purpose, a goal, and a series of escalating conflicts that make the player want to keep moving forward. You can get away with lackluster writing if the gameplay is fun or the maps interesting, but there isn't enough here to ignore the glaring problems with the story. Your characters (except for your antagonist) have potential as they are, but their goals make no sense. Needs a rewrite.

Note: You'll want to pay attention to my comments about Sour City's story to see better what I'm talking about. I'll be writing about that shortly.

Rating:
4 out of 10

I'll write more shortly.

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Place Obligatory Signature Here

Thanks for taking a good critical look at my game. I wrote it a while ago and I'm honestly considering rewriting those awkward early parts. Baldy was just a poorly implemented plot device to get Damien to leave the house and eventually meet the real antagonists, but I think I could replace them with someone/thing more interesting. At one point I considered have the mall not be abandoned and have Freya bring Damien on a shopping trip where all hell breaks loose. And have the goofballs that try to stop the party just be straight up agents of a greater enemy.

In terms of setting, my irl friend who tested the game agreed that the college was his favorite part too. I also will plan on adding more flavor stuff to the mall, especially now that I've actually gone back to working at a mall and have some decent material to go off of. Thanks for the feedback!

Here are my initial thoughts, I should have my scores ready soon.

Grapnes II
Music is a collection of some funky fresh jams. The color matching mechanic is simple but a unique thing that helps the game stand a bit out from the crowd. One big thing that detracted from the game for me was the random encounters "run out" and as a result of this the player easily becomes underleveled and has no money to buy things. This is possibly the only time in my entire life that I've felt frustrated by a LACK of random encounters

Bale
The atmosphere in this game was awesome! Very well done. Unfortunately, battles were boring ctrl holding exercises and the snake was kinda useless for the most part. Also I really don't like infodump in games, so having a wizard guy tell me to go read a textbook of infodump at the beginning was kinda offputting. I'm just a big show don't tell guy.

Sour City
I had fun with the minigames. The whole "adult cartoon" sort of theme is interesting. However, the battles are very slow and the dungeon shown in the demo was basically a collection of long empty corridors. I think this game has potential in the future once it's flaws are addressed.

Surfasaurus
It feels like Surfs Up Yuk stretched out and with a daily life simulator sorta game laid over it (ie Animal Crossing). Playing it in mobile format greatly increases enjoyment of the game because you can play it on the go and do your dailies. The town is full of colorful and unique characters! This game doesn't seem it is everybody's cup of tea but it's pretty cool.

Dark Planet
I don't think this is even 30 minutes long but the graphics look pretty good at least. This game could have a bright future ahead of it if development is continued.

Labyrinthilium
Undoubtably my favorite game of the bunch. Pheonix ultilized not just his OHR skills but his art and 3d modeling skills in this game to a very good effect. The magic system was unique and provided a good element of risk/reward. I'd love to sit down and play a full game of this.

Successor's Legacy
The weapon select in the beggining should have been less cryptic, it was annoying having to walk back after walking to the lady first, and the three weapons not being distinguished in the treasure chest. I kind of wished the cat-man protagonist started out with some spells too. He's a cute cat wearing a scarf though, who doesn't like that?

Dragon Chaser
The graphics aren't bad. Battles are extremely slow, sometimes I'd have the slimes attack me twice before I could even make my move. Also, it copies off Dragon Quest too much for my tastes. If I wanted to play Dragon Quest and smack around some Slimes/Healers I'd play a Dragon Quest game. Overall, needs work.

Fruity Quest
Flip phones? George W Bush? I'm probably not going to give this game a score, not just because it makes me say "wut" but because I'm pretty sure it was developed about a decade before the contest. Tastes oaky, with notes of middle school and overused final fantasy content.

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the quirky recurring villian of the ohr community

Dragon Chaser
Been trying for about 20 minutes to get the file open without having to install new software. Not having fun doing this and it will count against your score when I eventually play it.

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Remeber: God made you special and he loves you very much. Bye!

Sure thing. I've never been much of a pre-planner when it comes to story, either, but I've reached a point in my life when I realize I need to be, as not knowing what your main goal is or how to effectively implement your story twists can be detrimental to the development of your story. Pretty much every story related thing I've told you about your game applies to my earliest game, so I know something about why it doesn't work. Personally, I don't have a problem with Baldy being used for your inciting event, but I do have a problem with her motivation being so underwhelming. I think if you want to use a side story as your opening act to great effect, you should study how The Simpsons does it. Every episode moves the opening act to the main story flawlessly, and they all do it the same way. If you want a bigger example, watch a season of 24, preferably one of the earlier ones, and notice how the main villain doesn't usually show up until about the eighth hour. The point is, the story should keep moving forward, always, and it should have a point to it, always. We don't need to see the main villain right away, but we should still have a hint that the opening act is merely that: the beginning of a troubled time for our heroes.

This is my advice to everyone, but You Need a Hero, so far, is the best example from this year's games of why learning how to move a story forward (or putting it into practice if you already know how--I don't want to assume anything false about your knowledge of story) is so important, something that one of the games I'm reviewing here, Sour City, does quite well.

Anyway, I'll talk more about that soon. For now, let's get back to the games.

Quodia:

Synopsis:
A boy and his dog are washed up on the shores of an unusual island full of mystery and whimsy. They need to figure out how to get home, but not before having the adventure of their lives.

General Opinion:
I like this game so far. Has many of the stylish elements that Froginator's last big demo, The Pumpkin Warriors, has, but also changes up the battle system enough to be different while still familiar. It's way too empty for my liking, but I think it should be pretty easy to fill it in with more characters. It has the earmarks of a game released before it's ready, but its potential is strong enough that it can stand out from a crowd of generic titles. With the exception of the battle mechanics, it definitely reminds me of the type of game (or demo, to be more specific) we used to consider quality back in the day. I don't know if I've finished it, though. I got as far as the frog bosses past the lily pads, but the area seemed unfinished, so I don't imagine there's much else, if anything, past them.

Pros:
-By far, the standout quality of Quodia is the art. Cartoony for sure, but well-drawn cartoony. Very high quality work. The map animations are good, as well, and moving from land to water has a nice transition. Presentation seems to be the prime focus in this game. Even the textboxes look nice.
-Battle system is pretty much the same thing we know, but it's changed to a behind-the-hero perspective, which isn't often done in the OHR, and it works fine. The standout quality in the battle system, however, is the Agree/Disagree system, which allows you to carry a conversation with your enemies and potentially get out of fighting them. This is a convention I pretty much never see in an OHR game, and I like how it's used here. I don't know if the story changes if you decide to physically dominate an enemy rather than talk him down (of the ones you have the option to talk to, which as far as I know is just the big cave bat), but it adds to the game's quality if you can.
-Slight puzzle element to the game. It's nothing major, but I like that you have to explore a bit and pick up specific items to advance the story.
-You can swim. Usually, games prevent you from going into the water. In this game, you sort of have to if you want to progress.
-Battles are pretty easy (except for the last one), making it accessible to younger players, who I suspect is the main audience for this game.
-Creative environments. The town is made of fruit. Need I say more?
-The writing, while nothing special as of yet, is competent with fun characters and clear dialogue. I suspect this game will be full of personality by the time it's finished.
-You can see the enemies coming, so you can avoid them if you don't want to fight.

Cons:
-Maps, especially the cave, can feel pretty empty. Too many dead ends and pointless path loops and not enough items to find or characters to interact with.
-The majority of the cave map is spent slogging through mud, which reduces movement to 2. Makes going through it rather dull.
-Even though the areas look nice, there isn't enough to see. A game with this kind of aesthetic needs as much detail in it as the author can fit.
-There isn't a clear "end of demo" message that I could find. The game continues on into unfinished areas. You have to pass through an unfinished area to get to the frog bosses (one of which is Froginator's current avatar). I didn't defeat them, so maybe there's more, but it sure doesn't look like it.
-If you go into the waterfall cave with the limited vision (a dark area with a small circle of visibility around your hero), you can get stuck between two jump pads that just lead back to each other, essentially trapping you. The waterfall they connect to is broken.
-Battles can take longer than necessary due to how long it takes for the player to make a move and the engine to register the result of that move. (This is due to how the game is designed, not how the engine is designed.)
-The lack of detail and characters translates into a lack of story drive. So far, there's just one side story that I could find.

Suggestions:
It's a good game so far. Not at all perfect, but I think it has the potential to be great. Keep working on it, and keep filling in the details. Speeding up the battles a little will help. Don't quit on this one. Finish it.

Rating:
6 out of 10

Sour City:

Disclaimer:
I think most of us on this site are adults. However, please be careful when playing this game. Make sure you're mature first. If you're a parent, don't play this around your kids. If you're at work, don't play this right now. It's very M-rated. It pushes the envelope on what I'm cool with accepting into the Heart of the OHR.

Synopsis:
Johnny got himself into some serious trouble recently, and now the cops are looking for him. They come to George's house and ask if he's seen him. He tells them a story (one that the player chooses), and then deals with the results. What follows is a madcap journey into the depraved downward spiral of two delinquents trying to stay ahead of gangsters and the law as they figure out what to do with the briefcase Johnny has stolen and the contents they find inside.

General Opinion:
A part of me doesn't want to like this game. The characters are obnoxious, and the humor is more adult than I care for. And the whole thing is rooted in seediness. But, I gotta say, in spite of how thematically awful it can get, it still manages to be fun. The story in particular never lets up. It hits all the beats that a good movie or great book might offer. Just when we think the antiheroes have caught a break, something they do gets them into even greater trouble than before, and here we go again, delving even deeper into a world of madness. And the art style fits the theme perfectly. And the mini-games, while I'm not as big of a fan of them as other players seem to be, does well to move our characters around the town quickly and purposefully. It's nowhere near polished (more on that in the Cons section), but what it offers so far is pretty solid. Jokes are clever. Searching the cars in particular gave me a good laugh, as did the homeless man's "wares" he was selling. As I said in the disclaimer, I don't think this game should be played around children, or anyone sensitive to mature themes or language or images. But for those who can handle mature themes, there's a lot to mine from this grimy little gem of a game.

Pros:
-The story is one of the better executed stories I've seen in an OHR game in a long time. The plot points turn in the right places, and the conflict gets worse and worse with every enemy defeated. The dialogue is written well, and it fits our characters well, but more than that, it's believable. It's sarcastic, sardonic, mean at times, and very R-rated (don't let anyone under 18 play this), but somehow it all works. I think it has to be this way to match the theme, of course, but the author certainly doesn't shy away from the world these people are a part of. I'm glad I don't live there.
-The art style is very distinct. What's more is that, like the dialogue, it fits the theme, which is, for lack of a better term, scuzzy. The theme will probably turn certain players off (and I hope it does--it'll have done its job), but it's hard to deny that Phil (the author) figured out how to present his game to maximum effect through art and story.
-The city itself is a sprawl that opens up sectors as the story progresses, and has its own personality to add to the already "ugly" feel the game presents. Even though there is very little to do here, it still feels as though it has plenty to see.
-Has interactive cut scenes (even though some of them I wish I could unsee).
-Uses mini-games to transition from one area to another (skateboarding, biking, etc.).
-Can be dirty at times, but certain moments are still worth a good laugh. For example, walking up to the ATM when there's a shady dude standing next to it is just funny even without the dialogue, maybe especially without the dialogue. Clever.
-Items don't cost much.
-Walking on sidewalks bypasses battles.
-Story is told in chapters, making each segment stand out better, and giving the player a clear place to mark his progression.

Cons:
-The area by the ATM--the ATM itself, the alley, and the lawyer--can all trigger the Chapter 2 opening or some event for a second time. Major design flaw.
-As large and interesting as the map can be, there isn't enough to do from Point A to Point B. The game is largely linear, though the map design suggests it should have plenty of side quests.
-It isn't clear where to go once the guys find the briefcase. The game becomes a trial and error system of knocking on doors until you find what you're looking for.
-Battles, as everyone else can attest, are slow. Enemies take too many hits to defeat. The detectives in the shed are particularly boring to fight.
-Battles are too frequent. You can avoid them when walking on the sidewalks, but the sidewalks are limited, and you'll eventually have to cross a street or venture into a field. You can also get attacked on the shoulders of sidewalks. The safe zone should really be wider by at least a tile on either side of the sidewalk.
-Sections of the city map are broken. Doors can be walked on. A few buildings can be knocked on, but nothing happens.
-Wallmaps missing in certain areas, including along the entirety of Dewey's second floor hallway.
-Overhead tiles are just screwed up in general. Would be useful to designate zones where tiles should be written over or under the heroes.
-Mini-games are cool, but show off the OHR's lousy hit detection quite well. Maybe use pixel movement here. Doesn't seem to be any consequence for doing badly, other than being awarded a bronze medal from perpetually hitting things with your skateboard.
-Getting the shovel out of the shed seems to be the last thing you can do, as the buried man issues the same request when you come back to him and the two people beside him don't say anything. That's where I quit the game. There should've been a message at some point letting the player know that the rest of the game is unfinished.

Suggestions:
Fix up the glaring bugs in the system so far. Fill in the city with side quests to keep the player interested in exploring the town. Maybe provide some hint where people live so that it doesn't have to result in knocking on every random door until we find the right one. Also, I didn't mark this as a con, but I find certain enemy combinations weird. Would an owl and a millipede really be fighting together? Wouldn't the owl more likely try to eat the millipede? Most everything about the game world seemed to work, as disturbing as it is, but that's the one place where I shook my head in disbelief. I did find it kind of funny that wolves and bears live in the park, though. In spite of the major flaws and nit-picky ones, good job overall. It's kept up my attention and curiosity throughout the game, and I want to know what's on that map. I'm hooked.

Rating:
7 out of 10

That's all for now. I'll come back after I've played a few more games.

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Place Obligatory Signature Here

Thanks for the feedback Pheonix & IDK.

Much of the text and reading/books is entirely optional, most of it is backstory and lore for the world. I will certainly be paring some of it down, and it has already gone through several revisions and rewrites.

The dungeon is intentionally big - put it down to my bread & butter being old school pc and pen & paper rpgs. I have other reasons for that particular area being the size it is, as the player will be returning there several times throughout the game. As with the lore text, you can easily ignore more than half of the dungeon and just progress to the end if you wish. I still need to add secret areas and some NPC encounters aswell.

As for combat being simplistic - I hear you, and am open to suggestions. I have far more variety of enemies ready to plug into the game, just not for that particular section. Perhaps some variety in enemy attacks? I would love to hear any other ideas or constructive criticism regarding the battles, enemies etc.

Again, thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate the feedback and welcome suggestions and ideas for improvement.

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vvight.wordpress.com

guo: The issue is that I'm not sure if I've even reached the end or not. I got to the outside bit, beat a stronger enemy, and pulled a chain, but I'm not sure what that accomplished, seeing as I wandered around the rest of the dungeon after that looking for something that changed and didn't see anything.

The pen-and-paper rpg comment does make a bit more sense: there's a few bits of narration before some of the set encounters that seem to follow the sort of descriptions you'd see from those. I guess my main concern is that they're not that suitable for the engine's default battles.
Plus, even if you have a large dungeon in a pen-and-paper rpg, you'll have the dungeon more-or-less in front of you, plus the DM will probably just prod you in the right direction if you spend too long wandering around aimlessly, neither of which comes as naturally in a video game one. Wandering around it a bit more, it's more the fact that everything seems a bit too big and your character seems a bit too slow for what's actually there that bothers me the most: again, neither of which are issues in a context where your battles play out in the same area as your general wandering around and where the act of walking about can be glossed over outside of the field of battle in most cases. Gotta change stuff around when doing that.

****
In any case, I've had a chance to play bits of the other games, so I might start writing actual reviews this weekend.

Thanks, plenty to be taken into consideration.

Ah, after you "pull the chain" the portcullis in the courtyard opens and you can leave the dungeon. I guess it wasn't made clear enough IG.

Perhaps I can increase the movement speed or add a run button as well. As for the combat, flavour text &c. , I think I could spice up the combats in a few ways, eg pseudo-scripted random encounters/events, captions & animations adding a bit more life to the encounters, and most obviously more variety in enemies & skills. I have many interesting enemies already made up but narratively they just didn't fit into this section.

Anyways, food for thought and again thankyou.

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vvight.wordpress.com

...and, of course, I gave up right at the end of the demo. Figures.
Anyway:

Bale by guo

0:
Resurrected after countless years, you [and your sword, since it turns out you only came along for the ride] find yourself in some dark dungeon. You find your saviors are at their wits' end, driven underground by the foul monsters outside and slowly being drained of magic by a giant monster who has burrowed itself into one of the adjacent chambers - and even if these threats weren't there, all the rest of civilization [and humanity as a whole, perhaps] has fallen. You are tasked with finding your way around to the back of this monster, as it is far too powerful to attack head-on. You pass through the seal protecting the sanctum from the monsters that lie in wait outside, head into the long-neglected tunnels surrounding the sanctum, find one of these foul beasts waiting to take you on...

...and go into a battle against an incredibly dull enemy where you're better off holding down the space bar than using the one spell you've got.

1:
I wanted to like this game. Out of all the games this time around, it has by far the most atmosphere. The sounds of a crackling fire light up the sanctum, the tiles give off a great sense of dilapidation, and the player/friendly NPC graphics really help give a sense of grittiness to the whole thing. The copious text on display here, at least in the beginning, helps flesh out the setting, and that's most definitely a good thing.

The issue I had, though, is that by the time I figured out how to get out of the relatively small area you're sectioned off into before finding your second party member I didn't really want to read huge amounts of text. There's a certain mood I need to be in before being able to enjoy that sort of stuff, and the dungeon I was going through wasn't really enabling that. Compounding the issue was the fact that while all the information I was getting in the sanctum was directly related to the current state of the main character, everything in the dungeon was related to a whole that I didn't really care much for. You mentioned that the first area would be one where you'd come back multiple times throughout the game: maybe keeping the info dumps sectioned off until you've experienced the world firsthand [and, by extension, had some sort of reason to care about it] would work better?

2:
The game's battles start out simple, to say nothing else. You have your basic attack, which targets the first available enemy, and a spell, which does the same amount of damage as your generic attack but can target any enemy and stops them attacking if they haven't attacked already. As should be obvious, this isn't very useful when you start out slower than your foes. Later on you can find an oddly-named healing spell and a barrier spell, both of which are a good bit more useful if only because they help stave off your death.

Also helping you to stave off your death are various pickups strewn about the dungeon: green circles heal a bit of health, purple circles restore magic, and green spheres let you upgrade a single stat. Obviously, the first two respawn when you leave and reenter a map, while the latter one doesn't.

Battles get slightly more interesting when you pick up your second party member [a dragon/snakelike familiar], but they feel fairly useless. They need to gather !MP up before being able to do anything, including attack. They have a revival spell, which you'll rarely use for its reviving properties because once the protagonist dies the snake is likely to follow, and a magic attack that uses all your stored !MP and never seemed to connect. They open up the various seals in the dungeon's second floor, but as the monsters already got there I don't see what the point of those really was.
ASIDE both their attacks were bubble-related, which did nothing to disconnect the feeling that [whatever you called magic in your setting] was vaguely mucus-related ENDASIDE

I'm a big fan of the monsters, seeing as they were the naked ravenous goblinesque humanoid that so many fantasy settings seem compelled to include, but whatever. In contrast to the heavy text descriptions elsewhere, most of their attacks felt fairly under-described. Does +hits mean they're boosting their attack or giving themselves another attack [I'm really not sure, as I was given inconclusive evidence for both]? What's the deal with the haired enemy given themselves 5 of... something? Gotta use those attack captions well, dude.

3:

The first bit of the dungeon was actually fine: the set encounters made all the other walking about trouble-fee, and the maths of the battles meant that unless you were an idiot and didn't grab the healing stuff you were bound to get through alright.

The second area, though, was way too big for its own good. It was fairly unclear on where to go, even with most of the place locked off at first; compounding matters was the fact that I completely missed getting the second party member and with that the way out, in spite of said party member being pointed out to me in the game [in my defense, everything else in the dungeon was a battle in waiting and I was already getting annoyed with those]. Compounding the issue was the fact that many of the corridors were overly long, and beyond a single enemy strutting around didn't have anything to offer. The dungeon could have been cut into pieces, with the corridors needed to make things all fit shortened drastically in the process, and it would have been a lot less annoying to navigate.

The direct path to the exit was fairly short once you knew where to go, but with 1) so much extra dungeon 2) fairly unclear instructions about what I was really supposed to be doing - I was lost. The fact that the intended path led outside was strange, but honestly, after being underground for nearly an hour ingame it was nice to have a change of scenery.

Maybe there should be some sort of path to the gate? Completely missed it while going through the area multiple times, but that was largely due to discounting any of the exterior stuff as a proper way forward. Maybe there could be a message saying that was the case? Maybe there was? I can't remember.
4:
What was with that book I was told to look for? Looked all over the place and never found it. Honestly, that was part of the reason I stuck around the library bits for so long.

F:
This game has a lot of stuff going for it and I want to like it, but right now I'd like to see it fleshed out a lot. Ain't much to see when there's all of three enemy types - one of which is a boss - and most of what's there right now could have been cut off for the better.

Rating:
5/10, mostly on atmosphere

Great write up, this will be helpful going forward. Thanks.

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Why? If it's because the file is a .rar, just download 7zip. If not, i don't see the point. I opened it easily with game.exe in my OHRRPGCE folder, just extracted the .rpg file inside that folder, executed game.exe and BAM!

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"I can't buy food with glory"

Agreed. Besides, being able to open a RAR file is pretty much a given, it's something just about all users should be able to do. Penalizing his score for a failing on your part hardly seems fair (in fact, it seems downright petty). RARs, ZIPs, and 7zs are pretty ubiquitous these days, and just about everyone should have a means to open them up.

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Being from the third world, I reserve the right to speak in the third person.

Using Editor version wip 20170527 gfx_sdl+fb music_sdl

Dark Planet

It's too short, but I liked what was there. It has potential and I want to see it fleshed out. Having said that, the severe lack of content means I can't score it high.

Score : 3/10

+Nice tile graphics
+Writing is decent, setting pushes my buttons
+Great menus
+Music & sound well done

-----Super short
-Portrait graphics need some work

Keep at it, Ichiro. You have the foundation for a decent game here.

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How's everyone doing on their first impressions? How much of each game are you playing? Are we going to be able to play them all before the end of the month?

While you're thinking about that, I've got a couple more quick reviews.

Dragon Chaser:

Synopsis:
A young woman, whom we are given a name, Kaliope, wakes up in the middle of the village road with no memories, including her own name...and, you know, RPG stuff. On this road, she learns about an evil king who threatens the land with a dragon, and learns that each lesser kingdom wants to come together to overthrow the opposing force before it lays ruin upon them. The young woman, who doesn't know who she is, embarks on a journey of discovery, not only to learn of her identity, but to resist the force that is threatening the land.

General Opinion:
I wasn't sure what to expect from this game initially. The packaging is very old school--just an RPG file, no readme, no licenses, no dll support files (the stuff that all OHRRPGs should have these days). So, I had to copy it to my main OHRRPGCE folder where I keep my own games and other "loose" RPGs that came without default packaging. Minor quibble, but definitely classic OHR style.

What I actually got when I played the game was a classic adventure full of intricate world building, open-ended exploration, and old school RPG elements reminiscent of Dragon Warrior, which I never played but know enough about to spot the similarities. It has a slow beginning, which many people seem to complain about--I don't have a problem with it, though--and a very loose direction on where to go. But the intricate lore behind each town, the war, the kingdom, and the world in general keeps exploration and adventure fresh and enjoyable. I also appreciate how the game eases beginners into the fray with guarded roads (that enemies can't attack), cheap weapons, armor, and items, and a free bed in the starting town. I also appreciate the fact that the game doesn't block me from exploring dangerous areas early--it's my own fault if I go anywhere unprepared. The only lacking thing so far, in my opinion, is that in spite of there being so many nooks and crannies of the world to explore, there often isn't anything to be found at the end of the line. Not sure if this is a design choice or a ran-out-of-time choice, but it does lessen the appeal of exploration somewhat. However, the game is still fun, so there's plenty of forgiveness to go around for the small missteps. I played about two hours so far, and I intend to play more soon enough. I have a feeling I'll need a lot of time with this one.

Pros:
-Massive world to explore (or, it seems massive, which is good enough). The world map is large, but the access points (towns, caves, etc.) open the player up to expansive new maps that take a little time to fully travel. Locked doors and keys also make returning to old towns worth checking out. There is much to see here.
-Even though the story is hardly personal (of what I've played), the lore behind the events of the game is rich and well explained. The writing is top-notch. The NPCs never tell our hero to do this or that. They simply provide information as needed, and the hero can decide what to do with that info. The story is completely non-linear (again, based on what I've played). This style of writing transports the player into this world as both a stranger and a student. Really well done.
-The graphics style is classic 8-bit in nature. Works well for this type of game.
-Not terribly difficult. Stats are low by default, but no enemy is so punishing that having low stats is unfair.
-Even though the game is non-linear, there is still a "preferred" progression through the lands based on what the towns sell. Some sell better weapons and equipment than others, though this is well disguised through an economy established in the world-building. At any rate, it gives the player a sense of preferred direction without outright telling him or her where to go next.
-Towns are busy, and feel lived in. It's easy to get lost in them.

Cons:
-As vast as the world is, and as much as there is to see, there doesn't seem to be much to do. I'm okay with the occasional dead end, but there are lots of them. Fortunately, these areas aren't laced with random battles, so the time lost isn't as extreme as it could've been. But still, it's nice to have something to interact with at the end of the road. Indoor areas have the same problem. So many of them are empty that it makes me wonder why I went through the trouble of accessing them (especially if I had to use a key to get there).
-Hardly any treasure. Out of the two hours I've played, I think I've found maybe four things, including a treasure chest (most of what I've found, I found in jars or barrels), that I could add to my inventory. This game, so far, is more about the people you talk to and the stories you learn and the places you see.
-Consistency is a problem here. In some areas you can check just about every jar, bookshelf, water basin, etc. (about 98% of the time, they yield the message "there's nothing important here" or some variant), but there are other areas where you can't click on them. Same issue with wall maps. They're generally fine, but there are a few places where they are missing.
-Interiors are often off-center, clearly drawn in the corners of the "indoor void map," and can sometimes fall in view of other interior rooms that may or may not be proportionally positioned based on the buildings they belong to. I don't know if this is a convention from Dragon Warrior or a design flaw, but it can be off-putting at first. I eventually got used to it, so it's not a major con.
-As some people have pointed out, the battles are slow at first. I don't see this as a con, as it sets the pace for character progression, but I can see how some people won't like it. More like a "mixed" opinion for me.
-Game crashes every so often. Probably not the author's fault, but Callipygous has about four lines of auto-update information prior to the game's start, so it doesn't appear to be made from a recent version of Custom. Anyway, James or TMC may want to investigate. For reference, the crash will happen after enough time has passed. Has nothing to do with action or location. The first crash happened while I was away from keyboard.

Suggestions:
Not sure what to suggest here. I've been reading the author's comments about the game earlier in this thread, and it seems that he has taken the game as far as he can on his own and needs help with the rest. I'm not sure what this means, as it seems to me like there is plenty he can still do on his own, like fix bugs, make things consistent with other things he's already done, add more "discoverable" things, etc. I also know he was trying to make this into an NES port. Perhaps he's hit memory limitations? I don't know. I'm curious. This game has a lot going for it already, and I hope he makes an appearance and explains some of the things he's not sure he can do that he wants to do. If the limitations are based on export, then I can see how this might be challenging to update. But based on the OHR's capabilities, I know there is more the author can do to fully flesh this game out (and maybe do so quickly).

Rating:
8 out of 10

The Successor's Legacy:

Synopsis:
A spirit at the top of a tower gives our hero, Successor, a mission to become a hero and vanquish evil. In his acceptance, he descends onto the world below to learn more of the Dark King and his tyranny over the land, and experience firsthand how it's afflicting the people. It's Successor's job now to stop it, no matter how quirky or sarcastic his mission may get.

General Opinion:
I had a lot of fun with this game. At first, I was skeptical. The art style is very simplistic, and it initially reminded me of the games of old that were often rushed into production and quickly abandoned. This set my opinion back a step. The writing got my hopes up a little, but even that doesn't kick in until a few frames into the adventure. My first action, before talking to anyone, was to pick one of three unmarked chests, and hope the weapon I drew was good enough for the adventure ahead. I picked the dagger, which is a beast, so I did okay after one unexpected defeat at the hands of this poisonous enemy. I got to the first town, traded some berries, learned about the mayor, and then something happened. I can't remember if it happened while I was talking to the townies, or after I had rescued the mayor, but I discovered the true jewel behind this game. It has wit! Like, really well-written wit. Basically, it's one of those self-deprecating, self-referential pieces that knows what it is and makes fun of itself, but does so with a brush of the hand rather than a full-on pity-fest. It knows it's generic, so it has fun with the convention. And it works. Yet, it doesn't stop there. It also knows it's supposed to throw dungeons and things at the player, so it makes up for the grind by giving us puzzles to solve along the way. It knows our brains will go numb during the random battles, so it gives us a thoughtful balance in trying to figure out how to access the next room. It gives hints pretty blatantly, but not always. Some hints you have to spot through some visual clue. At any rate, it doesn't bring much new to the RPG convention, but it does handle what's there fairly well. It also does a nice job keeping the maps small and interconnected. Orbs that Mayor, the secondary character, learns how to break along the way keeps the player out of advanced areas. This creates a sense of anticipation to find out what might be hiding down the next path.

Pros:
-I didn't like the art style initially, but it eventually grew on me, and now I find it endearing.
-Music is catchy, especially in the Swamp Village.
-Map design is simple, yet well-developed (except for the very first area where a berry bush appears to block the entrance--it doesn't; it can be walked around, but it's not obvious at first). The orbs serve as clear markers on where to go next.
-Puzzles are creative.
-Writing is strong. Characters are well-developed and interesting.
-Each area has a defining personality that isn't shared with other towns and locales, so the world feels diverse with every new place you travel to.
-There's between two and three hours of gameplay available in the current build (depending on how long it takes you to figure out puzzles).

Cons:
-The writing is good, but the story still feels more mission to mission oriented than globally oriented. I think this has to do with the second con, which is--
-Not enough villagers in each town to balance the local issues with the global issues. With the exception of the town that faces the Dark King's tower (the hub town), it seems most of the other villages don't have much to say about the Dark King, unless they're working for him. Leaders have information about him, and that's fine because that information is what drives our heroes from town to town, but it seems odd that most people don't have much to say about the situation. It's a minor con, though. It's really only noticeable after you sit back and think about the story from a bird's eye view.
-Battle balance is weird. Daggers and cutlasses can steal energy from the enemy and give it to the hero, so resource management is hardly necessary. Likewise, equipping a poison pack will stack poison damage on the enemy with every hit, so an enemy can feasibly die from a 60-70-point poison gasp, even though the heroes may hit for about 15 points. I don't dislike this convention--it makes battles easy to win. But it will probably turn off more serious RPG players, so I count it as a con (it's a pro for me, though--I just want to get to the end of the game; I don't care about challenges in random battles).
-Random battles in a walking puzzle suck, especially when memory is key to solving it. They break my concentration, and then I forget the puzzle's solution, and then I make a mistake and have to start over. It's frustrating. This prolonged my stay at the desert temple way longer than I should've been there. Even when I knew how to reach the end, those stupid battles made me lose count of the tiles I've traveled, and then, well, back to square one. I like the puzzles, but I like them better when I can solve them and move through them without distraction.
-Buggy. In the quicksand area (not the indoor maze, but the outdoor map leading to the swampland), there's a path to the west that leads nowhere, and the northern path to the swamp will eventually delete the monster that transports our heroes across. It doesn't matter now, since there's only one place we can go, but it will matter whenever that other path is opened. Also, the swamp village has two game-breaking bugs: 1. The hut furthest to the east drops the player off into a void to the left of the hut's indoor map, and an invisible door between the spawn point and the wall (that I had to F11 through) takes the player back to the start of the game. 2. After the victory in the arena, returning to the swamp progresses the story, but the indoor natives all have a victory textbox set to an infinite loop.
-In typical RPG fashion, the game offers no sense of progression through time. Villagers will always say the same thing, no matter how long ago you visited them. Also, in victory conditions, it seems they all share the same dialogue box. The writing is good, but this is lazy.

Note: The end of the demo seems to happen at the shrine in the misty forest, when you go downstairs and gradually uncover an explorer's journal. I reached a door that had no link, so I assume that's the end of the line for this current build.

Suggestions:
Definitely fix up the swamp village to be less buggy, and maybe fill towns in with a few more NPCs to talk to (to give it more personality or more info on the Dark King in reference to how he affects their villages). Make sure each NPC has its own victory text, rather than sharing the same one like some hive mind. Provide better stat-altering items throughout the game (at reasonable prices) so that the dagger's give/take mechanism doesn't have to be so necessary for success. Have more berry bushes give off redberries. Also, I didn't list this in the pros or cons, but I'll mention it here: Don't make every puzzle's solution quite so obvious. The first one or two should be obvious to get the player in the puzzle mindset, but gradually start pushing the player to figure things out by the visual clues. The haiku, for example, shouldn't have the disclaimer attached. The player should understand by that point. Likewise, the misty forest doesn't need the second sign. The one by each entrance is plenty. If you want to prove that each segment is different, make one graphic change, or implement a lost NPC or something, to show that the player is making progress (assuming he doesn't think to read the sign by the entrance each time, which is a fair assumption because most people won't read it a second time). And keep going with it. It's a cool game.

Rating:
7 out of 10

I'll have more later in the week. I'll most likely be tackling Dark Planet and Bale next.

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Place Obligatory Signature Here

Here are a couple more:

Dark Planet:

Synopsis:
A cadet attacks his supervisor for "training" and is given a mission to deal with a beetle infestation after passing the test. That's about all that's established so far. I'm sure the finished game will be about more than this.

General Opinion:
I thought the game has a nice stylized atmosphere and clearly knows what it wants to do. But it seems that so much time was spent designing menus and interface that the actual gameplay hasn't really been developed yet. Even the "mission" that I'm supposed to go on in my first outing doesn't have an accessible location yet. Just very incomplete. It definitely misses one of the key expectations for the Heart of the OHR: Needs to be at least 30 minutes long. This game might take ten minutes to see everything. Definitely not ready for the world just yet. But, it does offer enough to suggest that it might be fun someday.

Pros:
-Looks and sounds nice.
-Interface has potential (PDA in particular is a nice touch).
-Story has potential. Hopefully. Too early to tell.

Cons:
-Doesn't really go anywhere yet.
-Outdoor maps are unfinished; they contain inaccessible locations.
-The few NPCs that are there do not give me enough of an indication that the story is good. Maybe it will be? I don't know.

Suggestions:
It's too early to even make fair suggestions. I don't have a problem with anything that's been implemented. I like what's there, and I think this could be a great game if given enough time to develop it. Just too early to say for sure. I don't think this is quite ready for release.

Rating:
3 out of 10

Bale:

Synopsis:
A group of scholars holed up in an underground lair revive a man who's been dead for generations, in the hope that he and his sword will be able to protect what remains of humanity in a post-collapse world. The man, Helot, decides to heed their request by cleaning up the great library of a roaming creature race called Ghuls and destroy a monster called the Jaducora that threatens to destroy their protective magic barriers and ultimately their existence.

General Opinion:
There's no denying that the game's atmosphere is stellar. I've spoken a lot about world building in a couple of these game reviews so far, but I think Bale takes the cake on developing its world. Not only does it provide an extensive library of moments in the world's history, but it also provides images of some of its more interesting lore. It's just vast. It even has an interesting way of explaining the game's magic system. I could see it being rewritten as a brick of a book. So much information to soak in. Add to that well-designed graphics and giant maps, and it's easy to get lost in the world of Bale. Makes me shudder to think just how big this game could be one day. (I explored what exists of the outdoor area, and felt dwarfed by that, too.) But I definitely want to see where it's going, and I want to find out more about the world that our hero awakes in. Seems like a strange, exciting, scary place to explore. I'm in.

Pros:
-The game makes sure you have plenty of opportunities to get to know the world you awake in. The world building is top-notch. I can't imagine how many notes the author has scattered around his desk or his computer files. Just so much to take in.
-Graphics, sound, and general atmosphere pull the reader in right away. Quite professional. Well done.
-The writing is strong, and the story has a lot of potential.
-Various systems provide a fair challenge to the player, even though they aren't the most exciting in nature.
-Flavor text galore. Equipment can be picked up from the ground instead of bought at a shop.
-Game has post-demo content. If you travel through the empty outdoor map, you can find your way to the back side of the Jaducora creature and narrowly defeat it, prompting the respect of the scholars who brought the hero back to life.

Cons:
-The opening area is a slog. It starts off really awesome, but it becomes clear all too quickly how much mental energy it's going to take to get to the end.
-Battles are easy enough, but the Ghuls maybe hit a little too hard at first. Having the swirling magic pools helps, but the threat of losing often feels a little too close, even with the restoration pool close by. This normally wouldn't be an issue, but--
-The ability to save can only take place at the restoration pools, and these pools are available in two locations around a very large play area, and restoration pools reset all enemies and magic swirls, so the threat of loss never really goes away. Basically slogging through a vast, confusing map where enemies hit hard and HP restoration is difficult makes for an unnerving experience. It doesn't help that the player feels locked into the game for an extensive length of time, making short play a challenge.
-The lore is great, but using Latin and science-y terms ensures that the player won't remember any of it. The best he'll walk away with is understanding the ideas. Will make for terrible Surfasaurus trivia nights.
-The library, while awesome for what it is, will inevitably overwhelm the player this early in the game.

Suggestions:
It's been suggested that the library receives a hefty trim. I completely disagree. I have no problem with the library, or the map in general. I think it's the right size and design. The problem I have with it is that the game starts here. It's too much information for the player to take in at the start of the game. This is the kind of map that the player should arrive to after experiencing the world for himself in other, smaller, more hostile locations. The player should feel like he's earned this depth of information. That way he'll appreciate the opportunity to catch up. This is a location that should've been introduced at least two hours into the game, if not four, six, or eight hours in. I realize it would mess with the story a little, but it doesn't have to. Information is a good thing when the player has had a chance to get soaked in the context. Doing so at the very beginning is essentially like pulling Neo out of the Matrix before he's even learned how to tie his simulated shoes.

I definitely think this game is going places, but right now it's a slog. Orient the player through smaller maps, bite-sized lore, and on-the-job training before throwing tons of Latin and large, confusing maps at him. Oh, and make saving a little more common. The last thing you want is for the player to give up because his power went out after he spent the last forty-five minutes trying to read all the books and get to the next pool.

Rating:
6 out of 10

So, that leaves me with two more. I should get through those sometime this weekend.

Hope you all are still playing. We need scores soon.

And please vote and review, even if you didn't upload a game this year. It'll give you something to bank when the next Review Contest kicks in.

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Thanks PR. I have actually retooled the starting area so that it flows better and is less confusing, as well as sealing off certain portions for later in the game. This is precisely so that players don't get overwhelmed as you and others have mentioned. However, you mentioned you like the design of the larger map - I will have to weigh it up and decide which version to use. I agree that it will be better to start the player off with bite sized chunks.

I am also paring down some of the text and will change a few terms so they are more "familiar"

Combat itself will be overhauled and instead of drip feeding abilities I will offer an assortment from the beginning. That, coupled with more variety in enemies at the start should make it a more interesting experience.

Your feedback is invaluable, thankyou again.

Edit: Oh, and the reason I have save points is because of how NPCs are handled - they will always respawn upon reloading a save game. I don't want the player to be able to save where they please for that reason - you could invariably screw up your save game. I will however add more save points, or perhaps an alternate system. Always open to suggestions.

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