I was one of the official judges this year, and now that the results have been made public, and I'm free to do so, here is my score and thoughts on this title:

Overall score: 7

The side view was a refreshing change to the normal RPG Maker types of games, however it really wasn't implemented very well. The platforming was a bit clunky, and I felt it really needed to be cleaned up. It was very 'anime' in designs and story, and I wasn't a huge fan of the whole 'I'd explain it but I don't wanna' cop out as far as the Doc and why people could be saved in the Ark. The final sequence was really spotty as well, and needs a lot of work to be cleaned up., Still, I see a lot of potential with this one, and feel the dev can really make something awesome given more time.

Cool concept of exploring a post-apocalyptic world with a bit of mystery of what happened to all the humans. Great work on all the amazing custom art! Loved the scene where the bird gets snatched! I think the other comments have covered well the issues with the controls.

Nice work!

Wow -- the amount of work that must've gone into creating all of this custom art for your entry! It's stunning and is definitely the bragging point of the game. 

I also loved that you attempted a side-scroller in RM, even if it did make the jump controls a bit funky. 

Very cool concept -- your effort with this is clear. Thanks for sharing your work with us!

I briefly tried this out but it really was not for me. Obviously the effort seems to have gone to the art and that part is nice, but I feel that it shows there was not much energy in the rest of the game.

The story was delivered in a very mild, inoffensive way that failed to grab me early. There was no tension (at least the part I played) and I just wandered around.

The worst by far and what made me give up and stop playing was the controls. They really have a very clunky and bad detection, especially the environment big jumps via context arrow, don't work well most of the time. 

Obviously this is just my take. I really need a much stronger characterization for a story that is basically all "walk and talk" to work, and this just didn't grab me enough to continue. I will praise the art tho, that's a lot of work to complete within a deadline.

Key:

+ = I liked it
- = I didn't like it

--

+ Beautiful art & animations

+ I enjoyed the story

- Awkward movement mechanics

Solid presentation. I bet the movement would feel better in an engine better suited to this style of gameplay. Nice job!

I really liked the premise of this game and the overall atmosphere of the game. I also liked the backgrounds and the sprites. The jumping isn't precise enough and having the high jump as "Enter" makes it feel awkward. Maybe, set it on the "S" key since it is on the same side of the keyboard. Also, I would make a square around the arrow so it's easier to telegraph the jumps. Natalya development was excellent but the rest of the characters felt a little flat in comparison. I think with some polish and fleshing out some more character details you could easily make this into a full game.

I really liked the character sprite animations and the background drawings - it had a clean look to it that I really enjoyed and I can see where the effort is. 

I found the jumping to be a little tough, and I wasn't sure I was really getting it spot on. I think it needed a degree of accuracy that I wasn't quite able to nail. The dialogue could use some work, but I do like the general premise of 'souls' being uploaded into some giant dystopian database - I can vibe with that. 

The side-scrolling/jumping stuff is a strong effort for RPG Maker I think, as it's obviously those mechanics are not really made for such an engine. I think with some tweaking to the jump mechanics and editing with the dialogue, you'll have a more polished experience. 

Hi! I played this game because I was intrigued by the "side-scroller + hand-drawn style" part. I liked the character designs and the idea, but the gameplay is very clunky at the moment. The jump hitboxes are sketchy: I had to smash the jump button and do some heavy pixel hunting to get the right positions for the jump. The dialogues are a bit bland. I overall enjoyed this, but right now, it needs a lot of work and polish!

Great sprite animation! The miasma was a cool antagonist. Haven't gotten to see Ellie yet, but I'm excited to learn more.

So I got this one for judging, here are my thoughts:

Interesting idea for the game world and story. 

Controls are a little clunky. I hit enter sometimes and it would fail to jump. Once I hit enter to apply the water and then died. 

Not sure why A and Enter are the keys for small jump and bug jump, they are opposite sides of the keyboard for me.

Overall though controls aside I had fun with this one. I think an adjustment to the controls is probably the biggest thing to change, though that may be more an limitation of the version of RPGMaker you used than anything.