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Gate at Sword's Point's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Visuals(Graphics) | #6 | 3.753 | 4.333 |
| User Interface (UI/UX) | #7 | 2.887 | 3.333 |
| Sound/Audio | #7 | 3.175 | 3.667 |
| Overall | #8 | 3.175 | 3.667 |
| Fun | #9 | 3.175 | 3.667 |
Ranked from 3 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
DevLog Link
https://feralunar.itch.io/gate-at-swords-point/devlog/540047/v02
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Comments
Well, apart for the fact I suck at this kind of games... dialogues do their jobs and sets a nice atmosphere. I've read the plot's already finalized so I'd really like to know where the heck are you leading me! Keep it up ;D! Not that I expect to make any progress in the foreseeable future: I got stuck at the combination lock, tried putting a random sequence of numbers on my first attempt and... well, perhaps I'm just dumb (which is not at all unlikey, duh) but I could not find a way to delete the characters I put on that first attempt so even if I were to find the right sequence (something which is HIGHLY unlikely... told ya, I'm dumb ahahah!) I could not input it at present =(.
I appreciate the attempt at taking a different approach to battling, that however is the sole negative remark I have to add. The time limit mixed with the need to make sort of a keys combo means near-certain death for someone like me ^_^;.... I need to take my time and think out things, explore the menus and get a hang of the system BEFORE I make a choice. Plus the explanation of the battle system occurred in-game, making me feel I had to quickly get out of it as one of those nasty critters (which turned out to be THREE nasty critters!) was getting ominously close O_O! I'd recommend you automatically put the game in pause when explaining things to the player.
On the graphics side, all I can say is that as one who can barely hold a pencil (or a mouse or whatever drawing tool you may think of) in my hand I can't but appreciate the effort you put in those portraits. It's more than I could ever make, honestly. And I personally like having that kind of touch in this kind of games.
And now for some rather personal (and likely insignificant) note: I personally don't like starting "in medias res" as my ancestors used to say. I'd love to see the game starting off as a single character and then building up my party - which of course can perfectly end up being made up of those three funny guys, still... yeah getting to know them BEFORE the real thing starts would be just lovely - again that's just my own take at this kind of stuff.
Agreeing with most of what Game_emaG said here. I really appreciate that you didn’t go for the standard turn-based RPG maker combat. I would add that the combat, even with the written tutorial before, was a little confusing in the beginning. An in-game tutorial might be nicer, or maybe it would be enough to make the arrows stand out a bit more.
I like both the pixely overworld style as well as the more traditional dialogue portraits, but I’m not sure how well they work together. I know other games manage to pull off this sort of mixed style, but for my personal taste, it just doesn’t quite work yet. Not sure what change would make it work though.
(also, are you drawing those portraits with a mouse? That’s pretty amazing! If that’s the case, I’d definitely suggest buying a digital drawing display, though. I know they’re not exactly cheap, but mine was one of the best purchases I’ve made yet)
I also got stuck on the combination lock and while I did find something a little suspiscious, it didn’t seem to be the correct solution. Getting stuck so early in a game is definitely a bit of a turn-off, so I would suggest giving more explicit hints here (Maybe I’m just blind, though). May come back and give it another shot once I know what the combination lock is.
Thank you for your comment! I’ll think about making the tutorial clearer to understand in future updates :D
I actually use a graphic tablet to draw - I try to make the art a little bit more pixelly by using a pixel brush for the in-game portraits/cutscenes.
Here's the combination lock just in case!
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It’s based on the rocks outside, and while there is a hint, by now I see that I should probably have made it clearer.
Oh, I figured the rocks would have something to do with it but I somehow thought it would be 1-2-0. Oopsie!
The dialogue is hillarious, good job. I like the graphics and music & am keen to play more :)
The combat system seems like an interesting idea, it seems a bit stressful if you aren't just spamming [enter] - [enter] - [key combo] to always hit the first enemy, but its definitely a nice change from the standard JRPG turn based thing.
I got stuck because I couldn't figure out the code for the door past the first enemy ngl.. could I have a hint? I had thought I had talked to everyone in the inn + town square prior and didn't pick a possible code. Also its a bit weird that delete on the password input box is Ins key rather than delete or backspace for me, possibly a bug?
Thank you for the comment!! Mjoll gives a hint about the code if you talk to him using the Q button while you’re outside the dungeon, although I should probably change it to make him say it inside… that’d make much more sense.
Here's the door code if you'd still like to see it!
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The Insert key is the default key RPG Maker offers in this situation, so it’s not a bug, although I agree that it’s kinda weird.
Polished RPG game. This game has potential and you should keep working on it.
Also, I know RPG MAKER is kinda limited but diagonal movement doesn't work for some reason. But I don't know RPG maker that much so don't judge me :[
Thank you!! RPG Maker doesn't natively support diagonal movement - it's possible to implement it with plugins but this is supposed to be a faux-retro game anyway so I didn't consider adding diagonal movement in the first place :>
Very cool RPG! and the dialog is really well written. The characters and character designs are super neat too!! I had to restart the game once because I went up to the inn's second floor and then couldn't figure out how to get out lol. (stairs didn't seem to work?) I saw the cool art book up there~
Keep it up! It's a really cool idea and interesting story. Please check out my metroidvania when you can :D
Thank you for your comment, it means a lot to me :> The stairs not working was definitely an error - it has been fixed now. I'm glad you enjoyed the art book though!