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Psychemis: The Forbidden Archipelago's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay | #3 | 2.600 | 2.600 |
| Presentation | #3 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Creativity | #4 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall | #5 | 3.033 | 3.033 |
| Story | #6 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Theme | #6 | 2.800 | 2.800 |
| Horror | #9 | 1.800 | 1.800 |
Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How did you choose to implement the Theme: Cursed Jewel in your game?
I initially came into this game wanting to have the rival of our party, Gustav take a ring bearing Midas' touch into the game. The ring has a dark green jewel inside, though the Cursed Ring itself is but one of the horrors in this game.
Did you implement any of the optional Bonus Challenges, and if so, which ones?
I focused on the Bonus Challenges admittedly more than the theme itself. One ending has a character turn to Gold. Gustav AND Oswald both learn a lesson about greed depending on the playthrough as well. Sadly the last challenge, having something seem useful only to prove useless wasn't in any of the scenarios.
Did you create your game in RPG Maker?
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Comments
Gameplay - Very standard visual novel with a few quick and simple RPG maker sections. I do like that all of the choices felt meaningful though even if the correct choice for the good ending is always extremely obvious. 4
Story - I think it's a bit cliche, and the characters are a bit trope-heavy, but it works overall. 4
Presentation - I'm not a huge fan of the character designs (except Hades and Psychemis) but that's more of a personal taste thing. The overall presentation is great though and shows a lot of effort. 5
Creativity - It is self-admittedly just a retelling of a bunch of greek myths, but the execution is interesting enough. I also appreciate that each "trial" was unique and stood out from the others even if they were pretty simple. 4
Horror - It's not particularly horrifying though, although I'll give points for the surprisingly gruesome disarming. 2
Theme - The theme was present via the midas ring but it wasn't at all a central focus of the narrative, it was just kind of there. 2
It's a fun little game with a simple but heartwarming story. I haven't gotten every ending yet but it's definitely something I might play again sometime.
Thanks for the feedback! Glad you seemed to enjoy it overall in spite of the shortcomings.
Okay, I finally managed to finish this game and here are my thoughts.
I heard bad things about the story, but honestly, I don't think it was a bad story. It definitely isn't my cup of tea and it didn't feel like a horror story/game, but some character were fun and mythology was incorporated pretty well into the game. The story felt quite compressed, though, but considering this is a game jam, I think you did a good job (I guess you probably had a more complex history in mind, with a lot of character development)
Mixing visual novel elements with uhhh...mini games I guess? was quite nice and gave the game more personality.
Gustav was quite cliché but he ended up being one of the best things about the game hahhahaa, I really liked that. Sometimes, these type of characters are really fun and enjoyable, despite how cliché/stereotypical they might be
Now, what I think was the best thing about the game is no doubt the visuals. Specifically, the character art. I really liked it, the character artist did an amazing job and I love their art style.
The theme implementation was good, not a lot to say about that.
My main complaint is obviously the lack of horror. At times I felt like this was submitted to the wrong jam, although it can also be argued that horror is subjective, so this might indeed contain many horror elements that didn't feel like horror elements to me because I'm used to more stereotypical/classic horror tropes.
Anyway. This game definitely isn't for me... but it was by no means a bad experience, and I'm impressed by the character art style. Congratulate the character artist on my behalf
Thank you! I was the character/bust artist for this game and I agree, this game was NOT horror enough. I tried to add more horror elements from black & white films [The Invisible Man movies for example]. I did want a more conventional RPGMaker horror game but during development in this Game Jam, the sprite artist had a lot of IRL issues showing up. This definitely explained why we went a visual novel route instead. I DO hope to remake this game to make it more like a horror game like Mermaid Swamp.
I love that you appreciate Gustav as a cartoon villain. He was my perfect victim for using the Cursed Ring because of it. Making him the monster using that ring was fun for me and he was why I wanted to use this idea for this Game Jam.
Wow really? Your artwork is amazing! : D I would love to see it in a game with more horror!
Thank you! I am also participating in HawkTober this year which also REALLY requires you to flex your horror bones.
Confession Time: I was hoping to probably remake Psychemis with the help of actual horror devs. In HawkZombie's stream of the game, someone figured out I was trying for a Fantasy Final Destination sort of situation where the characters try to avoid their deaths. [So we can save people of the Golden Cheeks.]
Ohhh that's awesome! I'll be participating in HawkTober too
I'm afraid I wasn't able to connect it to FD. I thought it was more of a parody of certain films made by a certain company associated to a certain mouse. But I understand your frustration. Sometimes I include references in my games and they go unnoticed
If you ever need help or advise with horror, I'd be glad to help!
Ohhhh. Yeah, I do genuinely want to make a Dingo Pictures Parody. [People only observed this when Hawk played the game though. I only realized I was just writing a fantasy Final Destination through that stream which you can watch and laugh with Hawk.]
And thanks! Will do when I get the chance. There's a new game idea I had in mind inspired by Pinnochiogoria but I still need to streamline my ideas in a new outline. If you are curious on it, know I'm hoping to twist ideas based on the Disney princesses I grew up with.
I'm intrigued! That sounds really interesting
Like I said it needs streamlining, but once I have a GDD, I can share it on a later date.
I, too, am glad the game made such a positive impression on you, despite it not generally being your thing! I helped craft the mini games, so I’m happy those helped keep things interesting.
No way! I don't believe this!
its...a hamster! A hamster made the mini games. And the minigames was one of the best aspects of the game! You did really well!
😁 Guinea pig, actually, and thanks! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have veggies to munch…
My apologies! Have a nice veggies feast! Watch out for broccoli though. Never trust broccoli
I loved the combined genre of visual novel and mini game elements! it's a fun and creative use of the engine. The art and character designs are fun and colorful! Very fun short game, took me about 20-30 minutes for one run through, but I had fun going back and explore all the other endings and it took longer :,3!
SPOILERS...
In terms of horror, I think it's safe to say I'm quite haunted by someone's Golden Cheeks XD
I think there might be a bug in the diagnosis scene? I tried to see what would happen if I intentionally messed up, and I believe I trapped myself in an eternal loop of failing to diagnose poor Heather of her illness :,)
Love the ending! I quite enjoyed Psychemis as a character, really hoped she'd play a bigger part in the story, but I'm glad she got a nice ending regardless! Good work everyone!
Thank you so much for your feedback! I love that you gave my game a chance in spite of the story and the seemingly non-horror presence! We do hope to revamp this game for a non-Game Jam story with a less rushed story in the near future.