Heart of the OHR Contest 2014

Make games! Discuss those games here.

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Pepsi Ranger
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Post by Pepsi Ranger »

Hey guys, just want to remind you that we've got about two weeks left to get the votes in. So far it's looking kinda poor, so voting heroes are welcome to come dashing out of the woodwork whenever you're ready (I know, I have to vote, too, so I've got three fingers pointing back at me).

Don't forget that you can post your scores with your reviews if you're participating in the Review Contest. Kill two birds with one stone.

Most of the games on the list take about an hour or less to finish, but there are a couple that can take upwards of five hours to get through and a couple more than can take as much as 25 hours to get through, so if you want to give these a fair shake, you really should get started on them if you haven't already.

So, good luck. Keep those votes coming in!
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RMZ
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Post by RMZ »

Alright, here are my votes.

Troll Over - 4/10
The entire game felt like what happens in an RPG when you forget where you're going and you're wandering aimlessly trying to figure out what to do next. Combat was very unforgiving. Characters were very forgetable and seemed disposable. For a finished game, it felt like the game lacked balance or any solid direction. Whether this be the point of the game or not, it was a difficult game to get into.

Zero: Secret Pasts Collide - 2/10
I can't confirm this, but maptiles and other non-walkabout artwork appear to be ripped and a story was made around this. The character portraits looking very much like crude doodles in contrast to the high detail of the maptiles lead me to this conclusion. Story was very forgetable and characters felt a bit too afterschool special for me. I didn't feel very engaged.

Winged Realm - 4/10
Commitment to the 8bit style was well done. The walkabouts and battle graphics were great, but the maptiles felt very lacking. Gameplay felt very unbalanced. I was thrown into the game with no idea of how use my characters, what they could do or anything. The story started out very interesting and then kind of started to drift into a very dull territory. If the gameplay could be brought up to the quality of the art, along with the presentation of the story, this could be a great game.

Okédoké! La Leyenda Mexicana - 8/10
Game feels like an old western. while enemies at the beginning of the game could probably benefit from some healing item drops, the game is relatively balanced. Characters are interesting. I would have liked more direction at the beginning of the game instead of me deciding which way in the dessert to go and hoping I was right since there were two paths and one was much tougher than the other. The game pokes a little bit of fun at the Mexican stereotype but is meshed with the old western type feel. I'd have prefered to see strictly original content versus seeing some corporate characters and concepts, but the whole game is sort of poking fun at something constantly, so they fit within the style. Great execution after the beginning.
Last edited by RMZ on Sun Jan 04, 2015 8:42 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Feenicks
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Post by Feenicks »

Okedoke: la leyanda mexicana

Time/amount played: ~1 hour, and finished chapter 1 (stopped when I got into the first fight in chapter 2)

___

I feel a bit conflicted about this one. I can tell that a lot of work went into this game, as evidenced by all the stuff FGS's shown off in the past [and through the variety of stuff that was in the small part I got through]. But it feels like a lot of this work's just gone to waste, seeing as the game is excessively crude, and is let down in a variety of other areas as well.

Let's do the positive stuff first, though. I liked most of the map design I saw; there's plenty of the "hey, what's in that chest over there and how do I get to it" going on, which is something I always like seeing. The graphics are nice and cartoony, which works really well for the goofy tone the game's trying to go for.

The thing, though, is that in trying to be goofy and non-serious, the game just ends up being vulgar (and a bit racist, seeing as the main character is a thief whose gains the ability to fall asleep in the middle of battle). Do you really need to resort to toilet humor so early in the game, or have the first boss be composed of a bunch of one-note stereotypes (several of which were probably dated when the game first came out)? I might have even been able to deal with it, were it not for the fact that you feel it's necessary to drag things on for longer than is really needed.

The chapter cards? Check. The donkey scenes (which you have to sit through twice if you go once without senor death)? Check. The fact that you have to go back through the desert if you go to the border and miss a character, or just want to try and stock up on stuff? Check. The battles? Check, and a character with 9 speed is just painfully slow. Even if this is meant to be a serious game, the dead time in a lot of stuff is just grating - doubly so when the music abruptly loops or is cut off in the middle.

Battles were... fine, I guess. I didn't bother using much in the way of abilities, seeing as they seemed a bit pointless (el garbanzo's ones felt like they'd be a waste of a turn, and I'd rather avoid the fact one character's skillset is an extended fart joke). The random battles felt a bit miserly, though.

I stopped after walking a bit around the chapter 2 area. I know that it just means I've left a ton of stuff unlooked at... but given the stuff fym's shown off of the game, I can't really say that I'd be looking forward to what I'd have to go through.


5/10
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Also I got stuck after a donkey ride one time.
Also I got stuck after a donkey ride one time.
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Spoonweaver
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Post by Spoonweaver »

Winged Realm by Pheonix
7/10
Purple but good graphics, solid design, characters seem good, purple graphics really hurt it

The Pumpkin Warriors by Froginator
6/10
good graphics, good design, real life characters?, better than I expected

T4R4D1DDL3 by superawesomeric
6/10
crazy graphics, crazy design, characters?, I love games like this

Okédoké! La Leyenda Mexicana by FnrrfYgmSchnish
6/10
great graphics, slow design, hate filled characters, it's hard to like

Zero: Secret Pasts Collide by Buni M
5/10
ripped graphics, heavy narrative, lots of character, I'd rather just play Final Fantasy

Batman & Robin by RedMaverickZero
5/10
decent graphics, almost good design, batman characters, battles weren't fun

Stand by kylekrack
4/10
ok graphics, interesting design, mute hero, not a lot of game yet

James Doppler's Epic Sci-Fi Fantasy Quest of Space Time Adventure for the Mind by JimLuc T. Kirkard
4/10
basic graphics, basic design, real life characters, expected a crazier game

Invasion of the Mantle Dwellers by RabMoghal
4/10
decent graphics, decent design,

Dragons! by Guroo
3/10
simple graphics, ok design, character classes instead of characters, too bland

Mr. Triangle's Adventure by RedMaverickZero
3/10
some good graphics, empty map design, ok characters, I expected more
Last edited by Spoonweaver on Fri Jan 09, 2015 2:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Pepsi Ranger
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Post by Pepsi Ranger »

Hey everyone,

Just a quick update on a couple of things:

1. Froginator, who made The Pumpkin Warriors, was able to get back to me this week, and he gives his blessings on the game being part of the Heart of the OHR, so I'm effectively moving it to the official entry column.

What does that mean? It means you should prioritize it for your votes now. It also means we now have nine official entries.

2. Because January 15th falls on a Thursday (I'd actually thought it fell on a Friday when I'd set it), and because we're heading into a three-day weekend afterward, I'm gonna extend voting to Monday, January 19th. I figured I would, but I was waiting to see what the voting conditions look like prior to the deadline before making that decision. Because we're a week away from the ending and because so few have voted, I think this extension is now necessary.

EDIT: Oops, I forgot to mention the third thing that was on my mind:

3. For the games that are rereleased, remember that the goal is to play what's new to 2014. It's fine that you start Okedoke from the beginning and rate it based on your opinions. But remember that Chapter 1 has been around since 2009 and isn't really what's important to this contest. If you want to rate it fairly for 2014, play Chapter 6 and then vote. I know that means spending a long time with it, but that's what's new. If you can't bother to play the whole thing getting there, maybe consider trying out someone's saved game who has gotten to Chapter 6. Thanks.
Last edited by Pepsi Ranger on Fri Jan 09, 2015 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bob the Hamster
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Pepsi Ranger wrote: 3. For the games that are rereleased, remember that the goal is to play what's new to 2014. It's fine that you start Okedoke from the beginning and rate it based on your opinions. But remember that Chapter 1 has been around since 2009 and isn't really what's important to this contest. If you want to rate it fairly for 2014, play Chapter 6 and then vote. I know that means spending a long time with it, but that's what's new. If you can't bother to play the whole thing getting there, maybe consider trying out someone's saved game who has gotten to Chapter 6. Thanks.
It would be a *very* good idea for authors of re-released games to post a .rsav file near the beginning of the new stuff (or even several .rsav files starting at different places)

Sadly I am waaay behind on playing the entries. I played Troll Over and Batman & Robin a few months ago, but the others I haven't had time to start on. Being a Daddy sure does cut down on my free game-playing time :)
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Post by Willy Elektrix »

Mr. Triangle's Adventure: 9/10

It's full of good ideas that actually work. The graphics look great and the pacing perfect. For what this game aims to be, I have very few complaints.

I played for about 1.5 hours and just got Marvin. I'll definitely play more after I've reviewed the other contest games. Great work!

Notes:

*Is ESC supposed to let you run from battles? It does, but it is not a documented featured.

*Peel Exchanger should display how many peels you have when you are in the menu. I know there isn't an shop scripting. However, the Peel Exchanger could be done with a custom menu.

*Pausing on all battle menus might be nice. It gets hectic.

*Both of the Fungi Town tiles on the world map should act as a door to Fungi Town. Only one of them does.

*In Fungi Town, Sven references the hero giving him a hand with killing a monster. I have no idea what he is talking about since he has never appeared before.

*In the farm, some NPCs are hiding under little round things. What are those supposed to be? It is totally not clear.

*In the farm, you can spot the corn monster hiding under one of those round things. If you interact with him, he should grunt or something. Otherwise it seems like a bug.

*One of Jojo's gloves increases her accuracy? Why? She can' t even make an attack. It seems pointless.
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Post by Feenicks »

Mr. Triangle's Adventure

Time/amount played: about an hour, up to the pirate ship
____

Okay, I really didn't like this thing.

The plot is servicable, if dumb; some dude named Mastermind wants to conquer the world, and decides that 1) using vegetables to do so is a good idea, and 2) that directly informing the greatest hero that he's doing so is also a good idea. I almost want to say it's self-aware, but it doesn't really do anything special with said self-awareness (at least in the early part of the game I played). It's the sort of game that has characters join you for... I can't remember why the alligator joined you, honestly.
The characters are... I don't want to say boring, because the protagonist is a triangle and the fourth party member is a manatee with a jetpack, but I'd honestly rather have the kaepora-esque duck as a party member than any of the other three party members you get.

The issue with the maps has been stated before, and needs to be stated again; they are far, far too big. When you're putting in warps to make trudging through areas less tedious - and in one of the first areas, at that - maybe you should step back and compress things down a little. Or a lot, in the case of this game.

I can't say I'm a fan of the battles. Each character has a specific role in battle - triangle man can attack and steal, the ape can heal and buff, the alligator uses elemental spells, and the manatee has a pathetic hit-all attack. I get why you chose the route of not having any costs to the skills - so you could have them all be in one menu, and so that the player didn't have to really deal with any stat other than MP - but that's not to say I liked that decision.

MP - or cooldowns, or items being needed for skill usage - exist for a reason; they give a way to deal with skills of varying strengths, and allow for something beyond HP to be an issue between battles. Of course, in this game you get items simply by using the ape's skills, so HP is hardly an issue in between battles, either.

The battles themselves are slow, and by the time I called it quits the enemies were beginning to be obnoxious to defeat, with more HP than was really necessary. I should have expected this, seeing as the first boss decided it had to stay around for a while after the gimmick of the fight had concluded, but that still doesn't stop it from being a design decision I really find annoying.

It isn't helped that there isn't really much of a reason to use the one bit of variety in the characters' skill list (the alligator's elemental spells); they all seem to do roughly the same amount of damage to enemies as one another, with the only exception (using fire on the corn enemies) outright punishing for you doing so. Even Golden Sun had some variation in damage with respect to what element you were using, and that's a game that barely cared about elemental weaknesses.

I expected a lot more from this, given the fancy things you've been showing off from it. All the side stuff I'm assuming is much later on into the game doesn't excuse the fact that the beginning is just boring and stretched out. And if the beginning - the part of the game that should be the most enticing to players - involves traipsing around empty maps because an all-too-meta villain is doing generic evil things, why should I bother playing this thing? Will I be proved wrong if I went through more of this game? Will enemies actually start to require some sort of strategy to deal with beyond just plain damage? Will maps stop being annoying wide open? I don't know, and honestly I don't care.

4/10
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Couldn't you at least hide this away in a menu?
Couldn't you at least hide this away in a menu?
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Most of the other equipment didn't seem worth getting.
Most of the other equipment didn't seem worth getting.
triangleadventure0004.png (9.04 KiB) Viewed 5017 times
Is the whole cornfield bit really necessary?
Is the whole cornfield bit really necessary?
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Post by FnrrfYgmSchnish »

For those who might want to see Okédoké's "new to 2014" content rather than just playing through the old chapters again, I've just uploaded a couple of save files that will start you out near the end of the game.

One starts you out in a semi-completed Chapter 5, at the start of the new sidequest. The other starts you out at the beginning of Chapter 6, and from there you'll be able to reach the revamped version of the Mayor of Beaverfoot's quiz game, another new sidequest, and (of course) the final "dungeon" area of the game.

You can download the ZIP containing these two save files here. I'll probably take the file down after Heart of the OHR voting has ended, as that's the whole point of having them up here in the first place. XD

EDIT: I'd also highly suggest redownloading the game itself. In order to fix a bug which prevented all tileset changes from working and spit out script error messages where there was no actual problem, I needed to update the game to use the most recent nightly. I went ahead and changed the link above so it goes to the game's page rather than directly to the save files, to encourage people to download both.
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Post by RMZ »

I've done the same thing for Batman since it appears the average voter isn't going to actually get to the 2014 content and instead review the stuff from 2010. I realize I should have done this all along, but here it is now for anyone who hasn't voted. You can play as Joker and Harley Quinn if you select "Joker's Breakout" from my save data.

http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewtop ... 8157#68157
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Post by Gizmog »

I've got I think... one more game to go before I can make my votes. I don't understand though, when we're judging like... Chapter 6 of Oke Doke and Joker mode in Batman... what're we comparing that to? Is that vote going to be compared to full new games?

I'm getting myself all confused, but what I mean to say is, am I treating the new content of games as if they were a brand new game unto themselves? Am I saying that the last half hour of Updated Game X is the Heart of the OHR and better than the entirety of New Game Y? Even if the first part of Game X was terrible?

If I missed the part of the thread where we went over this, I'm sorry. I'm probably going to end up skipping the "New Content, Old Games" entries anyway just because I'm not comfortable with how to score them. I did play a little bit of Oke Doke Chapter 6, and vote or no vote, I want to say the Jeopardy minigame was pretty cool. Was kind of bummed to see that the police enemies up there are just palette swaps of the cops from that very first town though.

Gettin' ready to play/review Batman later today. To confirm, when I vote on Batman I am ONLY to vote on the content added in 2014, the "Joker Mode" additions?
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Post by RMZ »

Well, I understand it the same way. I made Batman1 in like 2 weeks in 2010. So I'd hate for that content to be analyzed, honestly. But Joker mode was only done in 2014. I would say just play Joker mode like it was the only content of the game.
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Post by Froginator »

Can I still enter a prize that I would give to the winner?
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Post by Pepsi Ranger »

FnrrfYgmSchnish wrote:For those who might want to see Okedoke's "new to 2014" content rather than just playing through the old chapters again, I've just uploaded a couple of save files that will start you out near the end of the game.
RedMaverickZero wrote:I've done the same thing for Batman since it appears the average voter isn't going to actually get to the 2014 content and instead review the stuff from 2010. I realize I should have done this all along, but here it is now for anyone who hasn't voted. You can play as Joker and Harley Quinn if you select "Joker's Breakout" from my save data.
First off, I want to say that votes aren't in stone until I close voting Tuesday morning, so even if you've already voted, you have time to change your scores to better represent how you feel about the game in its entirety (if you choose to play the whole thing instead of just the required 30 minutes). This is especially true if you go back and play the New to 2014 content now that the saves are available.

I do kinda wish these saves were available earlier because the trend I've been noticing in all three Heart of the OHR's, and in a few cases with the Review Contest, is exactly what you suggest: people playing and voting on (and reviewing) old content because they won't stick around long enough to check out the new. And that defeats the purpose of highlighting the new, which is one of the minor goals of this contest.

Honestly, I don't think it's symptomatic of either contest as much as it is symptomatic of our gameplay habits as a whole. We stop playing after a short time, whether we get to the updated stuff or not, and then give the same feedback to the same content the author's already received some time ago without even touching the new stuff. Which means maybe we need to start revising the old stuff so they'll want to get to the new stuff. :p But I'm not gonna dwell on that here.

Thanks for providing save files for those who don't have the time to get to the end themselves.
Gizmog wrote:I've got I think... one more game to go before I can make my votes. I don't understand though, when we're judging like... Chapter 6 of Oke Doke and Joker mode in Batman... what're we comparing that to? Is that vote going to be compared to full new games?
I know this is a difficult gauge since we instinctively want to judge the game as a whole, from the beginning. I've already played through Okedoke in its entirety, so I can make that whole game judgment and score accordingly, but not so for Batman and Robin, which I haven't really played until this contest, and am still lagging behind on, and have yet to get close to Joker Mode, and here we are just a few days away from closing the votes. It's a difficult question to answer.

My advice is this: Just play the new stuff based on the save file they give you and form an honest opinion about it. Do you think it's fun? Do you think it's made of quality?

To answer the question, the rules have always favored voting on what's new since the last public posting, and I've always cringed at the idea that people will continue to play the old content and vote because they can't be bothered to play enough to see the new content. I'd rather they give up early and not vote at all than play 30 minutes of content from 2009 (Okedoke) or 2010 (Batman and Robin) and vote entirely on something the creator made outside of the contest. I actually thought that would be implied, but then we're dealing with natural impulses to reconcile everything as new and vote accordingly, so I get the trouble with separating the past and present for the sake of voting. But what I'm asking for is for you to vote according to your opinion about what's new. Whether you do that in context to the whole game or in context to your personal tastes is up to you.

The short answer is vote however you think is fair.
RedMaverickZero wrote:Well, I understand it the same way. I made Batman1 in like 2 weeks in 2010. So I'd hate for that content to be analyzed, honestly. But Joker mode was only done in 2014. I would say just play Joker mode like it was the only content of the game.
Just quoting this to echo the sentiment that I feel. This was how it was supposed to be, but people are going to play and vote however they want, and that often means starting from the beginning and going only as far as they can stand. I'd asked people to try to play to the end, but I know that's never gonna happen. Best thing I can say is, unless you're releasing a complete overhaul to an old game, or this is the first update you're posting in more than ten years and players have obviously forgotten the old stuff, just include a save file and hope they at least check out the new stuff before voting.

I also highly recommend revising earlier areas based on old feedback so that, if they do start over, players can a.) comment on new stuff and b.) have a higher likelihood of making it to the end before quitting.
Froginator wrote:Can I still enter a prize that I would give to the winner?
Of course.

Okay, so I just want to remind everyone that I'd like all votes in by Tuesday morning EST. You can either post it here, in the 2014 in Review thread, in the reviews section for that game, through PM, through the Heart of the OHR 2014 contest thread on Castle Paradox, through e-mail (if you happen to have my e-mail address), or through IRC if I happen to be on and you let me know these are your votes. You can make changes to your votes up to the deadline.

I hope to compile all the scores together and build the fancy display sheet of the rankings sometime next weekend. Then I'll need someone to host the results page. I'll see if Meatballsub can do it, but his presence here is sporadic, so if anyone else would like to host the results (make sure you can support tables and screenshots), then let me know.
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Post by Willy Elektrix »

Pepsi: I'm going to need more time if I'm going to play all the entries. Is there any chance to get a deadline extension? How about until the end of the month?

Pumpkin Warriors 6/10

This game is currently pretty rough around the edges, but it's not bad. However it needs a lot of balancing and polishing. I love the graphics.

Notes:

*Upon leaving my house I was immediately attacked by a group of 3 frogs and nearly killed. These can prevented from rushing up to the door of the house using zones, or even just invisible NPCs (which prevent other NPCs from moving through them.

*Is there any way to recover health without using items? It doesn't seem like it. This is a common and important feature in RPGs for a reason.

*After using the pumpkin stone to save your game, the text box does not close automatically when the menu closes. This can be scripted quite easily.

*None of the villagers in any of the villages have anything to say. This could give the world a lot of character that it desperately needs.

*The robots shockwave attack has a really long animation, especially when it sometimes triggers 4 times.

*There is a script error bug. See the attached image. This happens every other step while you are on the east side of the Pumpkin Village.
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pumpkinbug.gif
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Last edited by Willy Elektrix on Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:12 am, edited 2 times in total.
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