2019 Top OHRRPGCE Games List

Make games! Discuss those games here.

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Fenrir-Lunaris
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Post by Fenrir-Lunaris »

I hate ranking games from best to less best, so I'm just going to end up listing the games I consider "essential" OHR games to play. Don't consider this an endorsement of the "best games" but more like a list of games you should consider playing if you want to see what the OHR's engine can pull off, and a look into the community itself.

1 - Hati's Bizarre Adventure - The power of Charbile's [STAND] is powerful indeed.
2 - Vikings of Midgard - It's a game bundled with the engine whose graphics are free to use. References loads of other OHR games well worth checking out. This if one of two games that isn't "complete" but that might soon change...
3 - Sword of Jade - Full length RPG, Very strongly woven story/gameplay integration.
4 - Wandering Hamster - It's aged a bit, but I still consider this the "Prerequisite OHR Game"
5 - OHR House Heroes - A community Collaboration "Movie" game. Combines all the best aspects of many other OHR House games, and serves as a jumping off point to play other games - if only to find out where the heck all these other wacky characters come from.
6 - Spellshard - A full RPG with an NES aesthetic. It won't hold your hand, and if you make a suboptimal choice, you WILL pay for it.
7 - Slimes - I could've listed any number of OHR Puzzle Games, but this is my go-to for showing people who don't play OHR games what an OHR puzzle-game is like. Also I'm a sucker for Lemmings.
8 - Boundless Ocean - Still probably the "prettiest" game on the OHR but that might be beaten out by...
9 - Kaiju Big Battel - ...this one. A licensed game on the Steam Platform, which if anything shows the community is in the big-leagues now.
10 - Witch2 - When I think of an RPG it usually consists of battles, a story, and exploration elements. This game shows you can strip out the battles altogether and STILL make a functional RPG.
11 - Spooks and Summons - Likewise you can strip out the exploration element altogether and still count as an RPG as well. This one's also on the list because the future of videogames is apparently lootboxes, gatcha mechanics, and pay to win microtransactions, and not scantily clad wolf-girls.
12 - Megaman Sprite Game - When I think of a "joke game" this is what I think of now. It's also somewhat famous around the internet.
13 - Arfenhouse 3 - This used to be the "example" joke game, and we're STILL referencing it to this day. I wouldn't list this otherwise.
14 - No More Villains - If we wanted to explain what the Terrible Games Contest was about, this might be it. RPG, Movie, Weird characters, Puzzle-based battles, Community In-jokes, Tie-ins to other games, and also the never ending story that is BILLY ADVENTURE.
15 - Festivus - A dungeon-crawler with a first person perspective. If only to show that OHR games can pull of that perspective, even if they take a LOT of effort to pull off.
Last edited by Fenrir-Lunaris on Fri Sep 13, 2019 2:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

let me get back to you on the numbering, pulling them up randomly. blame TMC, who said i can list games without ranking them and it counts... sips a can of pepsi, let's do this

Catman
- fun characters make the experience. captured raw, unfiltered game making of one's youth. really spoke to me

Wandering Hamster
- the game the ohr was made for, played it a lot when deciding which rpg engine was right for me

Boundless Ocean
- played through it when finishing up sword of jade, fond memories

Spellshard
- pretended it was a nes game i was emulating, played it on big tv with a controller. of note is that exploiting an initial release bug in one of the skills made it playable and not frustrating for me

Ends of the Earth
- penultimate complete original-flavored ohr experience

Origin
- are you still around, Vidual? What are you up to? You wanted to show us how it's done, and you did. Would read all your articles.

Memoria
- fake plot scripting was amazing and really inspired what one could do in the ohrrpgce

No More Villains
- engaging experience from start to end, really like the characters

Sleepover
- rekindled my interest in the new and improved ohr

OHR House
- synonymous with 'the ohr community', marks a magical time in the forums

Transylvania Girls
- real gentlemen, the mad lads really did it

Lustyrinth
- also wow, mad lad really did it

Hati's Bizarre Adventure
- again, wow. really did it

and Sword of Jade
- hey mom, look at me. i helped make an actual ohr rpg. didn't even end on a demo cliffhanger, you hear that, Vidual?

Out of these games, could only recommend the newer ones. Catman's the only one I have a current urge to play again, just because I've played most of the rest again more recently.

Memoria and Ends of the Earth were monoliths and marked peaks of early ohr development but mean nothing now. Origin was surprising in how it perfected the basic ohr game format, characters and story, into something that was engaging but suffers in obscurity along with many other games from that era.

Most ohr games are very difficult to get into, and it's something I've been trying to work on in my own ohr work. No More Villains is a great example of a game that has 'playability', in the sense that certain drinks can have 'drinkability'. Each character has distinct rpg roles and story arcs and the pacing is quite speedy for a rpg, lots of 'content' in the sense of things actually happening. Although, like OHR House and Sleepover, there is a certain amount of appeal that only exists to someone already familiar with their context.

Context in the sense of the timing of a game's release and the specific circumstances around it are somewhat required to appreciate a lot of ohr games, especially the contest ones, which it's often forgotten about afterward. Contest games are looked at as if they were made outside of one, as regular independent releases. This hinders me from listing many more games as I remember there being many intriguing ones released in contests, but it's very fleeting and hard to recapture the tone when playing or thinking of them. There's many, many games here that I think were fun and worthwhile playing, and is where the real community and friend time has been found. For whatever reason, specifically thinking of a couple of RMSephy games here.

And then there's work like the Lovely Home, Megaman Sprite RPG, Arfenhouse, etc, which I'm not sure where I'd put them. Lovely Home types of games are always playable, and I eat them up. But so far as something that sticks with me, not much. Love finding and playing them, but they're such a hard fit in things like this. The more 'joke' games, like Thanksgiving Quest, are great and I enjoyed the experience, but I have the same issue. Then there's games like Megaman Sprite RPG, probably add games from the only handful of current ohr devs I never really talk to here too, that I think are well put together and hit on what I imagine they want them too, but it just falls flat for me. Am still glad they exist, and is cool to see people getting into them.

If I had to say which game to show someone interested in using the ohr, it would be whatever's close enough to their specific interest which from experience can vary wildly. In terms of my personal interest, it's all games that present characters I want to see what happens to them. In terms of practical personal interest, it would be a list of all the games I've made or helped with.

There's a lot of nostalgia picks for me, could say Catman is chief among them, but I didn't want to include as it's all too personal and disconnected from the games themselves. Even then, I included Boundless Ocean and it fits into that category. Chatted with Orchard Lafeyette all the time in irc while he was making this. Now, no idea what he's up to. The random battles and map design really sour my interest in an otherwise enjoyable game. Can say this for many ohr plays. Final Fantasy H comes to mind, as I remember it was around the time I first discovered video game remix websites and songs, and it made the game quite engaging. And that game, like many others, capture probably the default interest I have with most every ohr game I get into, which is curiosity: what are they trying to do? Where are they going with this? They seem really set on something but why does it feel so wandering? Why does it feel so creative but by the numbers at the same time?

The only game I can recall that I'm looking forward to giving a full play through is the finished Vikings, pretty sure it would make my list. I see a lot of you in discord, and especially with the more prolific authors (ie have put out some games), I think you're great but haven't made 'the one' that really taps into your full potential that I could cherish like I do with my discovery of Catman. I really think it's a 'back to basics' here. The standard ohr format in terms of 'playability' is not a winning move. But to go into wacky other 'hyper game designer' territory isn't either.

Is why I think it all boils down to setting expectations and making good on them. Realize what you want your game to be to a player, and focus in on hitting all the little details that realize it. And to realize this is almost always entirely the character.
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Bird
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Post by Bird »

Listen to this fox, he knows what he is doing. And the wolf, too!
charbile wrote:Catman
- fun characters make the experience. captured raw, unfiltered game making of one's youth. really spoke to me
Ahhaa!!! Someone else got it too! This game is filled with the purest soul of a kid. Combining the children's lightness with the analytic mind of an adult could make a pretty sharp game. Some adults should stay kids for that purpouse.

The unclassified votes are fine and will get a fair recognition in the overall results. But maybe you want some specific game to be pushed a bit higher, then we need your personal Top 10 plus all games that deserve a mention. If your lists somewhat change, please tell us all!
TMC
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Post by TMC »

Bird wrote:But maybe you want some specific game to be pushed a bit higher, then we need your personal Top 10 plus all games that deserve a mention. If your lists somewhat change, please tell us all!
Isn't ranking X<10 games, plus some unranked, possible?

Too late now, but DoubleCakes and Foxley had a good suggestion, which is that tiered ranking: I think it's easier, people should hate doing it less, and also gives less precise but more accurate information. For example you might list some games in 3 or 4 tiers, a variable number per tier. It's equivalent to scoring them equally on a scale, eg. 5/5, 4.5/5, 4/5.
Last edited by TMC on Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

Some adults should stay kids for that purpouse.
haha XD

Adding Vault to my list. Will number them later, maybe. So far as complete games that show off some polish and that new-ohr feel, think Vault should be on that list. Feel like there's a lot of games I'm forgetting. Need to look over the game list. Also looking forward to Brotoad's next game. Probably forgetting others. Is Puff-kun actually going to be a thing?

Will Journey Sword consume all of slime salad discord?
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Bird
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Post by Bird »

TMC wrote:Isn't ranking X<10 games, plus some unranked, possible?
Well, if someone wants to honor less than 10 games with big scores, we have to deal with these scores and accept that. There will be a way of handling different ways of voting as fair as possible.
TMC wrote:Too late now, but DoubleCakes and Foxley had a good suggestion, which is that tiered ranking: I think it's easier, people should hate doing it less, and also gives less precise but more accurate information. For example you might list some games in 3 or 4 tiers, a variable number per tier. It's equivalent to scoring them equally on a scale, eg. 5/5, 4.5/5, 4/5.
I think, that can be also achieved through making the score difference betwen 1st and 10th place quite low.

Voting is open until the end of September. Going through the game list helped me remembering certain games, too. By the way, what is Journey Sword and Puff-Kun?
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charbile
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Post by charbile »

The answers to those questions and more can be found in your local discord.

I'm afraid if I tell you what Journey Sword is... there's no going back. There's some things in this world that once known, it changes you.

Bird.

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Post by kylekrack »

I've had very little motivation to work on personal projects lately. My job is kicking my slime, and I'm trying to dedicate as much effort as I can muster to Hidden Harmony, a game I'm working on with a team.

Puff-Kun will exist. I've got the core aesthetics locked down. I need to program in the systems that allow for narrative and progression before I can post any official release info. Puff-Kun will fly high as any bird in the sky... just not today.
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Nathan Karr
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Post by Nathan Karr »

Best game the first, Spellshard - I made a fangame of it based on the early demo back in 2004 and more recently did a remake of said fangame, as the original was sadly lost to time. This game was at the time considered strange for going with an intentionally limited NES aesthetic instead of taking advantage of maximum colors, as most OHR games did at the time, and is really fun.

I won't be giving as in-depth reasons for most of my other choices. The order I post them is mostly arbitrary.

2. Vikings of Midgard. An excellent resource pack that happens to have a good example game bundled with it; without the hilarious antics of the likes of Olaf and Frumpy (or just the generic but workmanlike original story mode) I would personally find it less useful than Fnrrf's sprite pack but still a very good thing to have around.

3. Wandering Hamster. Every party needs a wiener dog in trousers.

4. Megaman Sprite Game. you're good at many things, but go away is not one of them. come on and slam, welcome to the jam.

5. Hati's Bizarre Adventure. You'd probably expect me to place the game that gave me my perfect waifu higher, wouldn't you?

6. Spooks and Summons. Best OHR game to have summons and not summon Natalie.

7. Puckamon. Like a lot of OHR greats, this is full of pop culture references and OHR community in-jokes. I guess I'm just a bit of a sucker for seeing a given consistent artist do renditions of a bunch of other peoples' stuff.

8. NO EAT. This game had to be ate on my personal list for obvious reasons; far from my best looking game, only maybe in the top five for my best balanced or most fun. However, this game was a big turning point in many aspects of my life; last major project I undertook before moving out of my parents' house, last major project I had while still in a will-she-or-won't-she with my first crush, me starting to really test the waters for the weird monster I've become in recent years. Game might not be well crafted by my own standards, but it is a complete game experience and is thus far my most well-received piece of art in any medium across my entire portfolio.

9. Don't Eat Soap. A very fun platformer made in the OHR; I find this to still be a rarity, and the specific classic platformer it homages fills me with a feeling of great nostalgia.

10. OHRodents. Taking some things I said about Vikings and Puckamon, as well as a few favorites that don't make my top 10, a game this small scale was somehow too ambitious for me and you can see the cut corners everywhere but I got what I wanted...a game where you're a mouse and everything else feels properly big in comparison, even if the basement is a bit bleak. It pays service to many OHR games with prominent rodents, both the all-time classics like Walthros, Wandering Hamster, and Arfenhouse and the obscure trash like Star Cops, Heavenly Dreamers, and Radar Rat-Race.
Last edited by Nathan Karr on Sun Sep 15, 2019 6:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by SwordPlay »

these games really do it for me
1 - Kaiju Big Battel
2 - Hatis Bizarre Adventure
3 - Void Pyramid
4 - Crypt of Baconthulhu
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Post by Bird »

Well, well, dear creepy fox. Can it be you then who tells the party at the Discord channel, that they have a chance to vote for their favourite OHR games? There is no junkyard in my area nearby to get a capable computer at the moment.

We want to end the voting in circa two weeks. Thank you for your contributions to the giant results table so far! 51 games are listed already from 5 voters.
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Post by Nathan Karr »

SwordPlay wrote:1 - Kaiju Big Battel
The "Why haven't I booted up this game yet? I loved the demo and am one of the three people familiar with the source material around here" game.
SwordPlay wrote:2 - Hatis Bizarre Adventure
The "Why haven't I finished playing this yet?" game.
SwordPlay wrote:3 - Void Pyramid
The "Why don't I play this more often?" game.
SwordPlay wrote:4 - Crypt of Baconthulhu
The "Why do I always die on the second floor?" game.
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Bird
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Post by Bird »

The month of voting is nearly over. Give it a try and tell us, which were your favourite games, if you haven't already.
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kylekrack
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Post by kylekrack »

In no particular order:

Ramble Planet https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewga ... ble+planet
The Noodle Within https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?p=113852
T4R4D1DDL3 https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?p=108850
Bale (Chapter 1) https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?p=134240
Bumpland by TheMan https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?p=130647
Labyrinthilium https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?p=124084
Entrepreneur: The Beginning https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?p=47318
Void Pyramid https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/rating.php?p=121130
Hati's Bizarre Adventure https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?p=135120

If there's anything obviously classic and amazing that I haven't listed, it's likely I haven't actually gotten around to playing it :(

EDIT: Made some BIG oversights. Sorry, it's hard to rake through my memory for the entire history of OHR games I've played!

Need to add:
• Paladin Traducer
• Motrya
• You Need a Hero

If I think of more I might edit later, or just make a new reply. Hope that's ok.
Last edited by kylekrack on Sun Sep 29, 2019 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Feenicks »

In the interest of getting some actual votes in:

10. Dragon Bustier. I liked it, it has harpies as enemies, and that's good enough to get on this list.
9. Paladin Traducer. A very playable [and unique as far as I can tell] puzzle game on the OHR is worth mentioning. Also the first OHR game I drew fanart for, so that's something.
8. You Need a Hero. Buggy and simple-looking as it is, it's the most OHR-ish of all the games here (by which I mean it has furries, risque humor, and a bunch of battle stuff that need to be abused to win, in addition to that overall OHR feel, if that makes sense), and I'd feel bad not putting it on.
7. Wandering Hamster. It's the original OHR game. Leaving it off seems wrong?
6. Ramble Planet. It's the most Willy Electrix game of the bunch
5. Festivus. Feel kinda iffy putting one of my own things here, but I think it's worth including purely on being a longform dungeon crawler [and in 1st person, too!] made in the engine, which is definitely worth a place here.
4. Motrya. Triple Triad and a overall feeling of polish brings this up. ...Still need to play the second chapter.
3. Vikings. It's way too good-looking not to get a spot here, plus being a completable lonform game is always a plus.
2. Hati's Bizarre Adventure. Probably the most impressive thing done on the engine mechanically. The walkup to the final boss, as well as the music choices in general, are stellar.
1. [s]Airship 2600[/s] Spellshard. I... haven't actually got past the third area, but it's a full NES-styled RPG in the engine, and that's worth applauding.
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