The Great 2011 Review Contest [Reviews: 200]

Make games! Discuss those games here.

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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Habla no Ingles: The Movie
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God damn!!! This is racist!!!

That's what the title screen says, complete with a pink background and the only good song from Jet Force Gemini. At this point, it only enhances the work for me thinking about other people seeing this and having no idea. This one's definitely for the hardcore Giz fan. All dozen or so of us.

That said, there might be stuff here for the non fans. What exactly? I'm not sure. How about the amazing 2D jiggle physics? Outstanding.

This thing still makes me laugh. It has a Punch Out bike scene. I get my first Hablo no Ingles cameo. Another reference to some of JSH's older work. And it has an amazing flying fridge scene. The ending only makes sense if you recall it was entering into a contest that did not allow ripped graphics. This one will be hard to top in the series.

Judgment: Is TheGiz really semi-retired?
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Harbinger 6EQUJ5
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Andi Hagen was the most prolific author of last year. The other contenders seem to be: Master K, TheGiz, and JSH.

This looks to be another abstract one color on a black background game. This time the color is purple. I doubt "6EQUJ5" could mean anything interesting, and is likely there for texture.

Thankfully the player is colored yellow. When you touch certain objects, it plays a sound fx. It's interesting.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I suppose the point is to figure it out. It seems broken. The readme says to use the spacebar, (I always use Ctrl.) I can activate something that opens a menu with "O, X, [double square], and Z", but I can't select any of them. Let me check the other reviews... JSH couldn't figure it out either.

Judgment: Hopefully the author will explain what's up.
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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Finally made it to the Potters. Yup.

I found the joke pretty funny, but it doesn't know when to stop. It gets old so fast, and whatever amusement I had gets shot by the end. It doesn't help that I'm not a huge Potter fan. I liked the movies, haven't seen the last two or three, and I haven't read the books. So maybe it's going over my head.

Judgment: The ohr scene is one wild and crazy place.
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
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I like to picture the author making this with a huge grin on his face. The voice drags on and on, slower and slower. It's a test of endurance.

Judgment: This is for JSH fanclub members only, (maybe just JSH.)
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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There's a different voice over this time. It's computer generated, like the rest. I have no idea what's going on, or would have none if I didn't read the author's review of it.

Judgment: If you enjoyed all three, I will vote you president of the club.
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Heart of the OHR Tribute
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This one seems to be for everyone who took part in the Heart of the OHR contest. Wish I won a shirt...

It's a mouse game, and there's a pattern I've noticed: if you use the mouse, let the player advance text with it too.

Do you want to be a hero? plays like a warioware title. It's charming. When you select 'yes' to the question, it says 'miss'. Is this some kind of commentary from the author? The game was kind of a miss.

When you complete each mini-game, you receive an icon of the game at the bottom. Does something happen if you find them all? Let's find out...

My theory on who the author is: probably a group of you guys. There's no way someone outside the ohr public would make something like this. There are stylistic hints that narrow that field, but I suppose the magic requires the mystery, so I won't press.

For Eternity Fragment, I keep getting a script error: "placesprite: slice handle 1 has already been deleted". I'll try this thing one more time. Thankfully it saves your progress.

Some of these drag. Some are amusing. I don't know how to activate Chronoboy Adventures. Does anyone else know?

Judgment: Worth a look if you enjoyed any of the contest's games.
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Kim und Jose
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Comes in a folder called "Neuer Ordner". The new world order!!

Full discloser: the author is my partner for the collab contest. Mari's native tongue is German. And this game's in German. So...

It begins with the error "Oh noes! getbinsize(0) = 546, but new value 162 is less than that!" and says I'm probably opening a new rpg file with an old version of the ohrrpgce. Many red screens of warning ensue. It's charming.

The title screen says "Bitte Taste drucken!" in rainbow text. So this is about bitter tasting ducks? There is a collage of sprites: it's a stand-off between a butterfly, lion, robot, God knows what and our heroes: a seal, girl and boy, a robot, and two beings that look like random static pixels.

Even though it's in German, there are some words that are the same in English. Here, we have a "tutorial". And the game stalled.

Judgment: Es ist ein Spiel, das macht nur Sinn, wenn sie Deutsch sprechen kann.
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Mogri
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Post by Mogri »

charbile wrote:Do you want to be a hero? plays like a warioware title. It's charming. When you select 'yes' to the question, it says 'miss'. Is this some kind of commentary from the author? The game was kind of a miss.
No. I don't know why you'd think that. You're about the only person who doesn't enjoy the game. It's actually a commentary on the hit rate in the game, particularly versus the speedier enemies.

Many of these are "you had to be there"-type jokes. If you can't figure out how to play CBA, that's probably part of the joke.

The script errors are probably a version problem, since it played well at one point.
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mjohnson092088
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Post by mjohnson092088 »

charbile wrote: @mjohnson: You made Final Dragon Legacy, right? There were two games on this list I was really looking forward to playing. This was one, the other is Star Quest. I felt let down. Is there any way you could give some kind of commentary / review of your game?
well, one thing i'd like to say is the game isn't for everybody. as gizmog said in his review, it's brutal. this makes it a bit difficult for casual rpgers/gamers to get into it (or anywhere in it, occasionally). this is one issue i've been trying to address since the last time it was updated... back in february, i think. i've been working on the difficulty curve a bit, so the beginning prologue doesn't feel so exasperating. not only that, but throughout the game, there will be some significant changes, and will hopefully make the game more accessible to newer players.

oh, and one other thing i wanted to say: there is an option to pause battles while selecting spells and items. look under the options menu. this may help a little bit, even though the speed is still a problem. there will be a speed nerf for all characters and enemies in newer versions, as a lot of people had trouble keeping up with the speed that i'm comfortable playing at.
Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy... So here's some lunchmeat... Sandwich, maybe?
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RMSephy
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Post by RMSephy »

Charbile:
You are an awesome playtester. I didn't know about the bug that makes Rock attack himself, but I found it after you pointed it out.

Your comments about the mouse are right on the mark. If it's possible to do one thing with the mouse, it should be possible to do everything with the mouse. The reason I added mouse movement was that the custom battle system used the mouse, and I didn't want the player to be constantly switching between mouse controls and keyboard controls. It's still pretty awkward, as you've noticed. (This is also why I'm moving the game to another engine, because mouse control is terrible with OHR framerates).

By the way, ctb stands for custom text box.
Last edited by RMSephy on Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by The Wobbler »

Mogri wrote:No. I don't know why you'd think that. You're about the only person who doesn't enjoy the game. It's actually a commentary on the hit rate in the game, particularly versus the speedier enemies.
He forgot to write "rhetorical" after that one :kamina:
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Post by JSH357 »

One of the Heart of the OHR games doesn't start unless you play it at 3 AM machine time, I think.
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Why are certain game makers so insecure about their work while others take it so well?

I know why. Tee hee.
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Labyrinth (Master K)
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This is a 48 hour contest game, will put on the gloves real quick. OK

No exe file. But! We get the script file. Be thankful for what you get, I say.

If I haven't made it clear before: white text on a black background is the way to go if you're going to essentially rush the title screen. The reason why this works better than a white background should be obvious: your game likely uses black as a map backing already.

I see a ghost. And it killed me, but in a fancy way. Given the music is the same as Castle of the Night Land, and the game greeted me the same way, I'd wager a bushel of apples that this here game was inspired.

The hero's head, I don't know what's going on with it, visually. It looks like he's bald in the back, but that can't be the case. It's interesting. It doesn't walk so much as... shuffles. It shuffles and after saving, I see the name is Master K. Who is shuffling. hmm.

The riddle is actually kinda fun. It's a trick question and pretty clever because it uses the sphinx's riddle, but asks who tells it, not what the answer is.

If the maps weren't so huge, it would probably be a lot more fun and I could recommend it.

Judgment: Can't recommend it.
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Labyrinth (RM Sephy)
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This looks like a roguelike. Doesn't play like one. I walk onto the question mark, expecting some kind of tutorial message, and instead it's a slow battle. Afterward, I get the expected message. The doors with the black marks will not lead me to the women's bathroom. Somehow I don't think that's plot relevant, or that there will be much plot.

I'm holding esc to run, but it isn't letting me and it isn't telling me I can't. Guess I best grind some. With one level up, I can make it to the paladin, but I can't make it to the healer. I suppose I could try again and backtrack to the save point and free inn, but at this point I feel I've played enough.

Graphics are neat. Music is lively. I just need some kind of incentive to go any further.

Judgment: Play when the mood strikes for an ohrrpgce dungeon crawler.
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