Heart of the OHR Contest 2016

[Spoonweaver]

Tl;dr technoship is still being blamed for things.... 😬

[Feenicks]

Eh, I guess that the new rule would allow for such a thing. Point conceded.

Still feel that if the contest is to go in that direction [that is, to games that emulate what was being made in 1999, whether or not they're RPGs], then maybe a renaming is in order. Spirit of the OHR? Soul of the OHR?

[guo]

OHRenaissance?

[RMZ]

Regardless of how the contest evolves, as it has since it's first one, the important part is that all games are made with heart. We're a small community, and it's important we make the best and most honest games we can. For a lot of us, games usually star people we know and are based around personal experiences. The first game we all fell in love with had James Paige as one of the main characters and his personality was definitely front and center there. We just need to make the best games we can and be true to ourselves and work on encouraging this instead of using our dying community to try to put other people down. We should be constantly encouraging creativity. We work too hard on these projects to just write them off and flat out say they suck.

[Gizmog]

We work too hard on these projects to just write them off and flat out say they suck.

Effort doesn't equal results. If something sucks, as friends, we owe it to each other to say so, so we can become better game designers from it. I haven't played the game yet, so I can't say whether or not Feenicks' review was polite or useful, but I do know that in the past you've always taken criticism really badly, and I hope that isn't still the case.

[Nathan Karr]

Pile of games I respect the effort in, wanted to enjoy, but overall didn't like:

Bale 5/10. The gloomy atmosphere and completely unfun one-note battles against the same two enemies wore thin after twenty minutes.

Fruity Quest 4/10. I was enjoying the bad graphics and crude jokes for what they were up until I fought against a ball on a white background. I spent what must have been ten minutes wailing on the thing before giving up and switching to the skip battle hotkey for the rest of the game, skimming over the text. I almost gave this game an 8, and would have if it'd known when to end/how to pace its joke battles in the second half of the game like it did in the first.

Grapnes 4/10. The intro is full of rectangles for characters, seems to serve no purpose in setting up the "blue rectangle goes around and does nothing of import" plot. Also I couldn't beat the fight against three bandits even with grinding and taking advantage of the color wheel. Why do blueberries come in colors other than purple, again?

Labyrinthillium 6/10. I wanted to like this game more, since it made me nostalgic for the first-person dungeon crawls I played in my rebellious teenage years (had a dad strongly opposed to D&D, wouldn't you know?). I really liked the spell shard mechanic, but some of the menus having the ability to ALT/ESC out of them actually broke the game for me. I also didn't have much empathy for the main character (but was drawn to her beleaguered assistant).

Surfasaurus 4/10. I probably sabotaged my enjoyment of this game somewhat by waiting until the last few days of judging and playing it late at night, but I really wasn't having fun walking around and talking to unfunny NPCs, not being able to follow the guy to his surf shop because the path wasn't clear, etc. 95% of my enjoyment was derived from naming the brown dinosaur DUUUUUUUDE.


Games I hated:

Dark Planet 2/10. It's not even really playable and the visuals are bland. The needlessly-customized menu tends to load up blank black about half of the time and there's so much effort put into the menu that all the "gamepaly" consists of walking around a building full of rude NPCs and a city full of empty buildings.

Dragon Chaser 1/10. I retract my one point reduction for being put in a .RAR instead of a .ZIP (protip: Windows PCs come with the ability to zip/unzip ZIP files now, but not RAR). This game doesn't need me to be petty to it in order to hate it - it crashes on me out of its own accord to keep me from being able to play and enjoy it.


When I wake up tomorrow, games I like~

[Bob the Hamster]

Constructive criticism is one of the best things about a game making community.

Being polite, even when you strongly dislike something is important, and enhances, rather than detracts from the constructiveness of the criticism.

[Nathan Karr]

Constructive criticism is one of the best things about a game making community.

Being polite, even when you strongly dislike something is important, and enhances, rather than detracts from the constructiveness of the criticism.

Being rude, especially when you're critical, is more fun you slime ;3

[kylekrack]

I wanted to ask, are there plans for another contest in the near future? Halloweeeen is just around the corner.

I like contests and I love seeing all the games everybody made. I just wanted to say I was amazed to see just how many entries there were, and ones that were finished, at least up to a decent length. I even got some enjoyment out of Dragon Chaser (mostly from reading Feenicks' review of it).

[Fenrir-Lunaris]

I wanted to ask, are there plans for another contest in the near future? Halloweeeen is just around the corner.

Traditionally there's a Halloween Contest starting up about now. Not sure if there'll ACTUALLY be one this year, but a few of us do have some short-term projects that might come out soon that are somewhat.. seasonal?

[Nathan Karr]

I forgot one more game in the "I didn't like it" pile:

Quodia 2/10. First thing that annoys me about this game is that the heroes are renamable - with the type of battle display you're going for, it'd work out better to just stick the player characters with their default names and no changes so you can just insert those default names into the battle captions.

Next issue is that while the graphics are colorful and there are a lot of transition pieces from one piece of terrain to another, the way the edges are drawn makes it extremely unclear what I can or can't walk on - that and some of the wallmap is blatantly unfinished.

The biggest problem this game has, however, is a lack of healing - the food store doesn't open up until I've gone through an entire dungeon and when it does, none of the food it sells is healing! There's also no inn I could find, so the axolotl boss is an unwinnable fight for me (and several other monsters seem to lack attacks entirely).

And now for the games I liked:

Successor's Legacy 8/10. This is the game where the act of playing it was the most fun of this contest, and it's also the most traditional OHR game in its design sensibilities. There are some minor disappointments though; first is being given a completely blind choice in terms of my starting weapon, the second is the main character's walkabout being severely underwhelming (stick pixel legs and arms? Really?), and the third is that the raccoons' walkabouts don't really animate - which becomes more obvious if you're like me and prefer having the mayor in the lead due to his sprite looking nicer. I played this game for about two hours in my first sitting and hope to go back and figure out the puzzle that has me stumped (Phoenix apparently got through it).

You Need A Hero 7/10. The writing is what sells this game for me, really. Since I knew ahead of time that my rival was female, I named her as a vague reference to Team Rocket. Hipsters throwing burning coffee at me...why does that sound so familiar? Foxt Fluff is such a cute little random enemy! This game seems to be what I'd consider a perfectly average OHR game, if you discounted the completely unfinished garbage ones first. Since most OHR games are just garbage that you cannot wear, eat, or sell this game is well above the mean, due to its functional battle balance, serviceable graphics, and humorous writing.

[Bob the Hamster]

I was hoping to play everything before voting, but some games I still haven't played at all, and most I have played too little to give any kind of rating (less than 3 minutes of play)

I have been reading everyone's reviews with interest, and enjoying screenshots, and feeling bad about not participating more.

There are a lot of nice looking entries, and I offer my congratulations to everybody who participated.

I should mention that I thought Labyrinthillium looked super cool, and I am excited to know that it will be moving to some other engine/language that will be better suited than the ohrrpgce for the kind of 3D stuff that would do it justice)

As the deadline is right around the corner, I'm going to go ahead and cast my vote for the one game that I actually did play more than 3 minutes, Surfasaurus.

The reason that I was able to play this one more is very much the mobile format. Like almost all the games I play these days, I was able to play it in tiny bites wherever I happened to have a few spare minutes-- waiting for a long download, using the bathroom, in bed before turning out the light. Most of my play sessions have only been 2-3 minutes.

Things I like about this game:

* The town feels alive. NPCs seem like they have things to do
* It feels like there is a lot to do-- even though I don't have any idea how much of the available stuff I have already done
* it has a lot of nice little touches that make it feel more polished than what I am used to, like the workout animations and the ID photo that appears in the main menu.
* The real-time system is a unique twist, and makes me feel better about exploring little bit at a time, and makes me not worry about trying to complete every little thing-- I can just be surprised but what I do find.
* I know I will keep coming back to this game, bit at a time for a good long while, and I have no idea how long I will keep finding new stuff

Things I dislike about this game:

* The real-time system was listed as a like, but it is a dislike too. There are just simply certain times of the day/week that I am never going to have a free chance to play, so I know I'll miss stuff. Yes, I am aware that my feelings about the real-time system are self-contradictory, but that is how I feel about it-- both good and bad at the same time (mostly good, I guess?)
* I wish I didn't have to pick "Save and Quit" from the menu to save my progress. When playing in tiny bits on my phone, sometimes I am interrupted, and don't have time to go to the menu. If I come back later, maybe I will still be where I left off, or maybe my phone will have reset the game, freeing memory for some other app that I was using in the mean-time. (RMZ, if you (or anyone else) is interested in how I did auto-save for some of my games, let me know and I will make a thread for it.)

Surfasaurus score: 8/10

[RMZ]

The way Surfasaurus is set up to save is likely not the best, but it works. I'd love to hear about how to do auto-save and see if I can work it in somehow. Thanks for the review and the feedback. The game was meant to be enjoyed on mobile. I have no idea how people played Animal Crossing on a console, it was so boring to me even though it was unique.

[TMC]

I also feel bad for not having played and voted on the games. I've been really busy lately, but now I've gained a little more free time.

If I come back later, maybe I will still be where I left off, or maybe my phone will have reset the game, freeing memory for some other app that I was using in the mean-time.

That is an engine bug though. It's also the first time I've heard anyone actually complain about this bug. I tried installing and playing Void Pyramid on my sister's phone recently (my own phone doesn't have enough internal storage space to install anything; I think I need a new one), and it reminded me what a lot of improvements could still be made to the Android port. I finally saw your custom keyboard; looks good! Would be pretty nice if one could customise the box style for the rect slice buttons.

[Soda_piggy]

Ok, here we go. Played quite a few of these, but only voting on the ones I played extensively.

Quodia

Pros -
Sense of Humor - Love it! I will punch a literal rock in the face!

Graphics/Character Design - Perfect. Very cartoony, but good. Super inspired by Earthbound in many ways.

Battle - This was my favorite part! It was fun and silly. I like how battles worked. And I enjoy how you worked in some Undertale/Glitched style “you don’t have to kill everyone” ideas here. Clever, and hard to do with the OHR, so well done. That being said, I feel like the placement of heroes should have been above the text box, as to not cause overlap, which didn’t look so good.

Music - Quirky and in fitting with the style and sense of humour of the game. Well done.

Cons -
Healing Items - Where they at?! This was frustrating, not having any to really speak of?

Empty boxes - In the first real dungeon, there are empty boxes? I was hoping to fine some healing items in there, but to no avail! Why are they empty?

Weird walls - Others have said this, and I agree. There are some weird issues with walls and spacing. In the first dungeon, I actually walked right through one wall and was walking outside the walkable area. Just gotta double check spacing and fix little things like this.

Overall Score - 7/10
Overall I like what you have so far. I want to see more, so keep at it. Just need to refine what’s there.



Labyrinthilium

Pros-
Concept - Ok right off the bat, I have to say your concept is strong. I like it a lot. I enjoy a good dungeon crawl and, this game is a good start.

Coding - This is good. I can tell you put a great deal of work into designing how this engine would work, and it paid off. It’s solid and not glitchy.

Music - I love this. It sets the tone perfectly. Very retro! Famitracker? Love the sound LOVE LOVE LOVE. I have nothing but respect for what you’ve done with this.

Cons-
Graphics - Right now this looks like a very early alpha build. Not a lot of detail on the walls, and sprites look like they could be a bit more refined based on the style. I LOVED the sliding in with talking thing, but the characters themselves looked like they were drawn in paint and imported with reduced palettes, and it just looked messy.

Battle - I just could not get into this. It’s definitely a personal preference, but I hate the “This game has more control over the controls than I do” stuff. I can tell it was all intentional, and it wasn’t an accident, but it feels like sloppy design to a first time player and takes some of the fun out of it for me. I need to strategically target who I want to based on my own criteria, not some criteria that was decided by the game.

Story - I feel like the spoken exposition is a bit wordy. When I play a game, for the first 30 minutes at least, I don’t want to be told what is happening or happened to these characters, I just want to get swept away in the moment and find my footing on my own. A little talking is ok, but I got this huge spiel right from the beginning, and I just want a little time to enjoy not knowing first.

Overall Score - 6/10
Overall I found it frustrating to play and just didn’t like or relate to the characters enough. Even though I loved the music and coding, it just didn’t do it overall for me as a game experience. Like I said though, it’s well built as an engine. Keep fiddling with it. And maybe don’t hand-tie me with he awkward targeting system. Players hate being hand-tied.



Successor’s Legacy

Pros-
Music - This is great and keeps me listening for more. My one comment is that it sounds a little too midi-ish for my taste. But I still really like it.

Character design - While the graphics overall aren’t my cup of tea, I like the intended look for characters. I get that they are supposed to be cute cartoony representations, and that’s cool. I like that.

Story - Traditional RPG. Save the world. Can’t really complain cause this is exactly what’s advertised! Once I got past the intro, and started exploring the first two towns, I was having fun. My only one comment is that for saving the world, I don’t feel like there is a sense of urgency. Like… I could do this and take my time. And it’ll eventually get saved.

Cons-
Graphics- These feel very flat and lacking. If that’s the intent, I totally get it, but it just doesn’t work for me as it is right now. I’ll say if they were simply refined a bit, but kept the same character, it would make a huge difference.

Sound design was a little finicky. Sometimes text boxes had the text box sound, other times they didn’t. So it surprised me when suddenly I’d hear a loud bloop!

Combat is relatively simple. I just spammed the enter key unless I was low on HP. Got better when the Mayor joined my party. I love being able to use magic.

Overall Score 6/10
Overall, I’m not feeling it… yet. There is a good chance you could take this game and turn it around. Clean up the rough edges, make the tiles feel a little less tile-ish, and the story a little more urgent. Don’t give up on this project. Just keep refining it.



Surfasaurus

First off, this is CLEARLY intended for a mobile platform, so I’m gonna grade it as such.

Pros -
Music - 10/10! This is masterful work. Did someone in the community write all this? It’s genius. Hahaha! Seriously though, I’m not going to include this in my overall score cause it’s biased af.

That thriving town - I love the town, it has a very Animal Crossing-esque vibe. And I love the wacky characters with super dumb jokes, annoying puns and lack of a sense of humor. They’re all funny because they’re not funny. This is very on base for your style.

Mini-games - Them mini-games. There are so many mini-games. I need more of these. The puzzle was a nice touch, as well as the digital world stuff, trivia night, etc. MORE!!!!

Day/Night/Week Mechanic- Given that you are approaching this largely for the mobile platform purpose, this was a good call. It worked, and I could check in ever so often to talk to specific NPCs and do specific activities that I otherwise couldn’t. It was just a neat feature that keeps you checking in for more content.

Cons -

The actual surfing - I want to do the surfing myself. Or have some other input other than just picking a few tricks which are then graded. For the large number of fun mini-games, I want more out of surfing too. Let me input SOMETHING manually! And play with it.

Art - First off, I love how consistent your style is with this game. It worked for this game… -ish… That being said, now that you’ve got consistency down… stop outlining everyone and everything in black. There are better ways to make more dynamic looking art.

Overall Score - 8/10
Overall, this game is fun and I enjoy collecting, selling and upgrading, and learning new tricks. It’s good. It’s good, but not great yet. If you can revisit the actual surfing game (which was the main draw of the game) and refine your style a bit, I think it will reach more people. You have a GREAT start, mechanically and game-wise. Now make it great.[/b]