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Manes's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Horror | #3 | 3.240 | 3.500 |
| Gameplay | #5 | 2.932 | 3.167 |
| Theme | #5 | 3.549 | 3.833 |
| Creativity | #5 | 3.549 | 3.833 |
| Story | #5 | 3.395 | 3.667 |
| Presentation | #5 | 3.549 | 3.833 |
| Overall | #5 | 3.369 | 3.639 |
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: Remember the Dead in your game?
The player returns to her home island for a funeral of her now dead friends.
Did you implement any of the optional Bonus Challenges, and if so, which ones?
I did a small section involving gravestones and a puzzle.
Did you create your game in RPG Maker?
Yes
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Comments
The build-up for the story was really nice, but the ending... well, it feels like you just ran out of time, which from what you said seems to be the case.
For presentation, I really liked the cutscenes, except the one where Basil tells Manes what happened to their friends. It used a very different style for the characters and seemed really goofy for what was supposed to be a serious scene (other than the monster, which was fine). Everything else is a mismash of different asset styles that had some effort taken to mesh together better and it works decently well. I really like what seemed to be parallax backgrounds for the floor areas and such. The reception area in the port looks really goofy though, as you used wall tiles in place of ceiling tiles.
There were some map transitions that were confusing, such as the way to the church and back. The graveyard in particular could just have more than one transfer tile that would lead to the same place. The puzzles were ultimately fine, even the sliding tile one.
Anyway, I really wanted to see this story completed and the current ending has it end badly just when it gets really interesting. I don't know if you intend to continue this story or make a sequel, but I'd certainly play it if you would exist!
Thank you. I really appreciate the feedback I've gotten from you and everyone else. I know what I need to improve on now. And thanks' for hosting and being so involved in these jams. That's awesome. I'll probably finish this game with the ACTUAL ending one day, but for now I'm working on something for your next game jam. Thank you again!!
Looking forward to your next game! So you already know what kind of game you are gonna make for the next jam? :)
Also, great to hear that you are planning to finish this game someday!
I do. It's gonna be the Christmas miracle one, and I'm pretty excited to work on it lol. And thank you. :)
In the graveyard puzzle, the clues spell out the wrong word, VEANEANCE instead of VENGEANCE, which could give someone trouble to figure out.
Also, for some reason the downloadable version doesn't work, maybe try to deploy it again?
Alrighy, I fixed the puzzle letters for sure. Me and my game tester both missed that, so thanks for catching it! And I'm pretty sure I fixed the download problem, I was able to download it on a different laptop and play it, so it shooould be working now. Thank you for finding those.
I really liked the cutscenes and the artwork, they were really well done and gave the game a surreal horror vibe.
The sprites were okay, but I'd say the walking animations needed more work. Regarding the maps and tilesets, I'd say that they were okay but some rooms felt a bit empty (the graveyard and the church were pretty good though).
The story was quite interesting, as well as the characters, and I liked how the story unfolded. It had some horror clichés/tropes/stereotypes and I really like that (for example, the protagonist returning after a long time; the guy accused of killing his friends when in reality something paranormal took place that night, etc).
The music felt a bit too happy and kinda out of place. I personally think just environmental sounds would have worked better in the town section.
Overall, I think it was a fun game and I quite liked the story and the progression. It's a shame it ended so abruptly when things were getting really interesting, but nonetheless, great job!
Hi there! Thank you so much for the feedback. I really appreciate the compliments, and I appreciate the constructive criticism even more. :) I definitely have ideas on how to make the maps better and less empty in future games. I had the same thought about the sprites looking odd when they walk, so that's really good to know as well. And unfortunately I had to end it earlier than I planned because I ran out of time for the game jam lol. But yeah, thank you again very much for checking it out, and I hope you'll check out my future games as well. ^_^
Oh and by the way, your games are awesome as well!!! I saw some of them on Youtube before and when I looked at your page I was like "Heeeey, it's that game, that's awesome!!!" =D
I really love the story and the characters so far, but I feel so silly I can't figure out the missing word/tombstone puzzle! I've put just about every combo of those letters I can think of and can't seem to get it. I'll keep trying though, I feel like it's super obvious and I just need to stew on it. The characters and the art are super cool and I love the ambiance. Can't wait to see how it all goes.
EDIT
I got to the end and loved it! I really hope you keep going, I feel like I was just starting to get attached and sinking into the world.
SPOILERS:
The missing word in that puzzle is vengeance.
Thank you! Oh my gosh, I'm SO silly, that was the first word I thought of and I googled that word to check the spelling and misspelled it and didn't notice that google corrected me, assumed mine was the right spelling and therefore couldn't possibly be the answer because it was a full letter short. No joke I was sitting here like, okay must be a made up word I'll try different combos. Thank you. SO silly, I knew it must be a me problem.
Heyo! I'm glad you were able to figure it out! And I appreciate your feedback. I didn't want to make it too easy, but I didn't want to make it too hard either. I was gonna put some kind of "hint" section into it, but I ran out of time. I'm glad you were able to figure it out though! And thank you for playing it!
Alright, I've played some more. I do like the game, but unfortunately I just can't get past the tile puzzle where you are supposed to form that symbol :D
And to return the favor, SPOILER, the trick to that one is to remember the "blank" tile is the one you enter on, the center left row tile, whereas usually these types of puzzles the "blank" tile is bottom left. Threw me for a loop but it's doable!
That was my first time trying to do one of those puzzles, but I'm gonna defiantly keep that in mind for the next time. Stuff like that is good to know, and thank you!
Wow! It’s very clever, it never occurred to me to try and make that kind of puzzle in RPGM! Very satisfying.
Sorry about that! Like the other puzzles I'm trying not to make them too hard, or too easy. But I really appreciate ya'lls feedback. Thank you!
Still can't get through it, I'm hopeless with these puzzles :D Do you know some kind of sequence I could follow to get through it from the start?
Btw. I'd advise you to add a downloadable version to the game page as well, it would make it much easier for streamers/youtubers to make a video on your game. And I know atleast one streamer is interested in playing the games from this game jam :)
Sorry for the late reply on this one. I was able to get the downloadable version up, thanks again for the help with that! And for the tile puzzle, start by going up, then right, right, then down. From there the top 3 should be in place, then it's just the bottom ones to deal with. I hope that helps. Tanks again!!
I suggest you playtest the game some more and try to fix any bugs. I've played it up to the scene where you meet up with Basil outside the Church and at some point, a missing file error crashed the game:
Failed to load
audio/me/ME_suspenseful_05.ogg
Damn! I thought I got all the bugs last night before I uploaded it, but I guess I misses once Thanks for the feedback, I'm gonna go fix it right now!