I have to agree with @KV_Kingdom with a lot of the points. I think the music and sound effects were really effective and added to the overall gameplay experience. As far as the game is concerned, it did feel like I was "learning" about the digestive system sort of, but for what reason...? I can't figure out. Also, I'm still struggling to find where the theme of the jam (Mood) comes in. Anyway, I think for 2 days this is still a good showing. It's fully realized with a start -> finish, and has potential to be much more with this as a foundation.
Glad you enjoyed the audio. The BGM was all made by "Sleffy”; he did a very good job. As for the SFX, they were all default RPG Maker SFX, but I used them in unorthodox ways. I’m most proud of the room-transition sound; since it’s actually the “poison” SFX instead of the usual “steps” SFX. I considered adding an SFX after every interaction with an environmental item, but I wasn’t satisfied by any sound I found (and I didn’t have time to prototype SFX assignment).
The “educational” bits are more background detail than foreground detail. The “digestive system as the setting” was more of an atmospheric choice (and i wanted to try using that particular tileset). I should pay more attention to separating “foreground” writing vs “background” writing and making sure the correct text-lines are emphasized. In the case of this game, the environmental details (24 in total) serve as a “trigger” for the cutscenes (4 in total). Every sixth item you look at triggers a cutscene which moves the story forward. So I guess the environmental details in this game serve as an abstraction of time.
As for how this game fits with the theme of “mood”? The brainstorming went something like this: Mood > Emotions > Energy > Atmosphere > Energy Levels > Food > Digestive System This influenced the choice of setting, and what VFX I would use. The screen tint and the shaking intervals are a manifestation of this; the mood of the beast affects the atmosphere and feel of its insides.
This is more of a story than a game, but it's a neat concept.
What I liked:
Custom character art that fits the default style
Custom soundtrack
Not too long
The game's core mechanic is presented right away and is easy to figure out
Has educational potential. Imagine building this out into a full release in which you explore an actual digestive system! You would have to include quizzes periodically to ensure players remember what they learned.
What I didn't like:
No full screen option
Music does not work on macOS
No download option
Only "game" element is the maze race at the end of the experience
My biggest problem: You go through the beast learning about all these details...for what? It doesn't add up to anything!
This is a fair start. Given more development time and dialing in the game's vision (story/educational game/escape room/etc.), this could be an interesting piece of work!
Yes, this is definitely more of a story than a game. I agree with all your points relating to the technical faults. The BGM couldn’t play on Mac since RPG Maker needs an M4A file to play on HTML. Because the music was custom made, the author of the music had trouble exporting to M4A since it was his first time trying to export into that format.
Concerning the “educational bits”, that was all very quick research and not thorough research, so I can’t guarantee complete factual accuracy. The choice of setting the game/story in the digestive system was made pretty much at the start; I also wanted to try making use of that tileset (04 Dungeon ; “Bio” set).
Concerning your “build-up vs payoff” comment, I was wondering, what payoff were you expecting?
Regarding the payoff: Why is the player collecting the various facts about the monster? This game ends with a mad dash for the exit in a maze, which doesn't have much connection to the factoids seen earlier in the game.
Game mechanics usually build on each other, culminating in an ultimate point. It's a bit like school, where you have homework and quizzes throughout the term, and a final exam at the end. In some games, this is a boss fight; in others, it's a massive puzzle.
One way to build toward a payoff would be to make the maze relate to the facts the player finds, so when the player has to run for the exit, the player can use knowledge from the clues to identify key landmarks that designate the correct path. Another way would be to scrap the factoids altogether and make the game a series of mazes to complete, starting with mazes that are smaller and not timed and gradually advancing to larger ones with time limits. Bear in mind those are just two ways to do it; look to other games and experiment and you may discover other ideas!
As for the music, I have been making custom audio for my projects and have set up Audacity to export .ogg and .m4a versions of my audio files. Click one of the links for the operating system you are using to see how you (or your composer) can do it too:
Comments
I have to agree with @KV_Kingdom with a lot of the points. I think the music and sound effects were really effective and added to the overall gameplay experience. As far as the game is concerned, it did feel like I was "learning" about the digestive system sort of, but for what reason...? I can't figure out. Also, I'm still struggling to find where the theme of the jam (Mood) comes in.
Anyway, I think for 2 days this is still a good showing. It's fully realized with a start -> finish, and has potential to be much more with this as a foundation.
Hey Jonathan, thanks for playing my game!
Glad you enjoyed the audio. The BGM was all made by "Sleffy”; he did a very good job. As for the SFX, they were all default RPG Maker SFX, but I used them in unorthodox ways. I’m most proud of the room-transition sound; since it’s actually the “poison” SFX instead of the usual “steps” SFX. I considered adding an SFX after every interaction with an environmental item, but I wasn’t satisfied by any sound I found (and I didn’t have time to prototype SFX assignment).
The “educational” bits are more background detail than foreground detail. The “digestive system as the setting” was more of an atmospheric choice (and i wanted to try using that particular tileset). I should pay more attention to separating “foreground” writing vs “background” writing and making sure the correct text-lines are emphasized. In the case of this game, the environmental details (24 in total) serve as a “trigger” for the cutscenes (4 in total). Every sixth item you look at triggers a cutscene which moves the story forward. So I guess the environmental details in this game serve as an abstraction of time.
As for how this game fits with the theme of “mood”? The brainstorming went something like this:
Mood > Emotions > Energy > Atmosphere > Energy Levels > Food > Digestive System
This influenced the choice of setting, and what VFX I would use. The screen tint and the shaking intervals are a manifestation of this; the mood of the beast affects the atmosphere and feel of its insides.
This is more of a story than a game, but it's a neat concept.
What I liked:
What I didn't like:
This is a fair start. Given more development time and dialing in the game's vision (story/educational game/escape room/etc.), this could be an interesting piece of work!
Thanks KV, for playing my game!
Yes, this is definitely more of a story than a game. I agree with all your points relating to the technical faults. The BGM couldn’t play on Mac since RPG Maker needs an M4A file to play on HTML. Because the music was custom made, the author of the music had trouble exporting to M4A since it was his first time trying to export into that format.
Concerning the “educational bits”, that was all very quick research and not thorough research, so I can’t guarantee complete factual accuracy. The choice of setting the game/story in the digestive system was made pretty much at the start; I also wanted to try making use of that tileset (04 Dungeon ; “Bio” set).
Concerning your “build-up vs payoff” comment, I was wondering, what payoff were you expecting?
Regarding the payoff: Why is the player collecting the various facts about the monster? This game ends with a mad dash for the exit in a maze, which doesn't have much connection to the factoids seen earlier in the game.
Game mechanics usually build on each other, culminating in an ultimate point. It's a bit like school, where you have homework and quizzes throughout the term, and a final exam at the end. In some games, this is a boss fight; in others, it's a massive puzzle.
One way to build toward a payoff would be to make the maze relate to the facts the player finds, so when the player has to run for the exit, the player can use knowledge from the clues to identify key landmarks that designate the correct path. Another way would be to scrap the factoids altogether and make the game a series of mazes to complete, starting with mazes that are smaller and not timed and gradually advancing to larger ones with time limits. Bear in mind those are just two ways to do it; look to other games and experiment and you may discover other ideas!
As for the music, I have been making custom audio for my projects and have set up Audacity to export .ogg and .m4a versions of my audio files. Click one of the links for the operating system you are using to see how you (or your composer) can do it too:
Once you have it set up, it's just a matter of opening the audio files in Audacity, going to File > Export > Audio, and choosing .m4a.
I hope that helps you with any future work you plan on putting into this project and future projects!