I think this demo looks really promising. I really liked the intro, the maps look nice and our hero looks intriguing too. It seems like a good start. In terms of gameplay, I found a few bugs here and there (that I won't mention because Frogboy already listed them all in his comment haha) but I thought the gameplay was pretty solid for a demo. Good luck with the contest and keep it up! :)

I've been meaning to get around to playing this one since you played mine as part of the Secret Santa thing we have going on in the forums.  To start, you have a really great intro.  It's a little tropey but hey, most of the best stuff is tropes done well and it seems like you're on the right track here.  The mapping looks wonderful, very good use of lighting and fog effects, and it seem like you have a solid structure in place as far as mechanics are concerned.  The music has a nice retro feel to it and suits the setting well.

There's not a lot of actual game-play in this early version so I don't have a lot to work with as far as offering suggestions but here's a few.  Odds are, you've already tweaked some numbers and fixed some things so I don't know how helpful this will be but here it goes.

• Once I entered the swamp, I couldn't get back to town.  It just kept sending me back to the swamp when I transferred to the town map from that direction.
• There was a couple of tileset issues.  Nothing major.  For instance, if I am all the way at the bottom of the inside of one of the houses, I can walk in front of the shelf on the wall.  If I'm one square up, I'm behind it like I should be.
• The bees just seemed like they had way too many HPs.  Thankfully, they missed most of the time.
• I couldn't open one of the treasure chests.  It said I had to open it from the front but there didn't appear to be any way to get to the front of it.

Like I said, minor stuff.  Very easily fixed if not fixed already.  I like what you've got so far.  I think your game is off to a really good start.

Your mapping is gorgeous, I'm blown away. I love how much effort you put into small things like putting candles out, animated waterfalls,  and butterlies. Your shops and houses all have an amazing amount of detail. You have a very interesting story and characters so far and I am looking forward to seeing more.

A very short play, but I enjoyed it :) As others have said, your mapping is really solid. I love the xp rtp anyway, but it was really pleasant to wander around your world.

I liked the intro, you've got to set up story somehow, and the cinematic way you've achieved it meant I was happy to sit and watch it, so I don't agree with PVGames feeling that it was just an exposition. I suppose I do feel a bit ??? about the evil character, and why his motivation would be just to destroy the world (given that he has to live there too,) but hopefully more on that would be revealed in the story.

The only criticisms I have are kind of nit-picky. I find it a bit strange to still have saving in the menu and looking like it's enabled until you press it. I don't know if there's a better way to hide that command until you hit a save point.

The prices seem a little weird. Why is bottled milk so much more expensive when it heals less LE?

You can't talk to the farmer who is plowing the field.

It did look like some of your sprites didn't match up, particularly in the bar. I don't know the rtp character style, and I don't think it was glaringly obvious, I'm just a graphics based person.

Otherwise, seems like you're off to a really solid start here. Good luck with development! <3

SECRET SANTA REVIEW

Heya! I got your game as one of my Secret Santa reviews! What I do with those is I write down my reactions and thoughts as I play the game so you get something of a "real time" feedback. Here it gooooeeeessss:

Neat looking intro screen

Uh oh, exposition text talking about prophecies! And I can’t speed it up!

At least the people were skeptical of the prophecy. Sort of like how in the real world you get people now and then saying “well, the world will end on blah blah blah date because the ancient Mayans predicted it” and everyone else is like… Yeah, ok, you ain’t getting out of paying your taxes that easily.

Interesting tsunami effect!

Also liked the mountain crumbling.

The people running around in the town though sort of ruin it a little. Not quite sure what it is, but maybe it’s the randomness of their movement.

Ok now the text is going too fast and I don’t get a chance to read it lol

Uh oh, a dark and evil wizard that has monsters emerged!

Why does he want the prophecies from 100 years ago be completed? Wouldn’t that mean his own death? Is he that angsty?

Decent dialogue exchange between the three characters you first meet, though not sure why the guy is like “what has become of Astravia” since Oliver was mugged – I mean, didn’t these people just endure like 100 years of brutal war that divided the entire world? A mugging seems pretty tame and mild in comparison.

I am enjoying the mapping, definitely helps banish the horrible “everything is square” look one usually gets in these types of games.

Did the practice combat – it’s interesting, but not sure what is up with Fury, didn’t seem to get any at all so couldn’t unleash that!

Uh oh, the main character has amnesia!

I like Baldric. He’s a salty one!

He calls himself an old man, but the dude legit looks like he isn’t old enough to drink yet.

Oliver says he should go to Valica to get back to his duties, but he doesn’t remember anything? How does he remember what his duties are? Not to mention he has been MIA for three months, I am sure he has since been replaced.

Now I get to explore the town. I really like the mapping, but the impassable butterflies are a bit silly. Could just make them “above player”/"through".

Interesting – the mayor says he forgot all about the chest out back and that I should take the items inside before the chest rusts away, indicating it has been there for some time. Yet, the bread inside is warm and the apples fresh!

A monster snatched up Jennah and Baldric needs to get a drink at the inn first.

No clue what I just watched, some dialogue that was a little bit angsty and a semi green area that I didn’t recognize. I am assuming Baldric ran into some sort of trouble?

I had no clue the swamp was on the north end of the town (and that the town was RIGHT NEXT TO THE SWAMP, seems dangerous!) – interesting 4^th wall breaking memo though about the possible bugs.

The swamp is pretty laggy, lots of events moving around. Overall though I like the mapping, but the pathways could be a little bit bigger.

Fought a couple of bees – seems a bit buggy (lol pun) because sometimes when their little face thing gets to the point where they get a turn, it just skips them and goes back to the beginning.

Looking in my items, Baldric had given me 3 warm milks after the practice session, but they are not in my inventory. Who stole my damn milk?!

Wow, considering how difficult it is to kill 2 bees, I definitely want to avoid combat as much as possible. I mean, I have armor and a shield, but only like 200 health and bees hit for 30 damage each and they get to go two times per my one turn pretty much. Not cool!

Aaaand that’s it. I found the sign post where Baldric would otherwise be. This is a very short game!

Overall thoughts - game definitely needs more! But I assume you already knew that part. It took me maybe 15 minutes to get to where Baldric planted his sign. But what you have here a solid presentation of what the game could potentially become. The dialogue is decent, the mapping is solid, the combat, if balanced, could be pretty good. I hope you run with it and keep working on this! Good luck!

This was cool! Aesthetically, it was really pleasing - and I like that we're using the same battle system! I will say that I hated the music that was used as I've heard it 800 times - but I'm excited to see how your project progresses!