Yternis Magissa Novella is a short but pretty complete game made using the MegaZeux game creation system that showcased the early part of the story about Novella who is tasked to save her village from a group of invading monsters and in the process obtains the power to transform into a magical girl. The game may look like it was made using a really old version of RPGMaker but I was fooled after doing a little reading about the MegaZeux and to my surprise found out that its a game engine from the 90ies that has been updated till this day.
Magical Girl Concept:
Novella at first is just your typical village protector who wields a bow and arrow and is sent through the village to clear out the invading monsters. At one point, she bumps in to a magical talking dog and is given a magical pocket watch that enables Novella to transform into a magical girl equipped with a full suit of armor and fires a powerful magical ball that damages enemies in its path. The transformation can be performed anytime as long as the soul bar is full. Also, she gains a magical companions named Lucy who comes along with on her adventure. In essence, the game is about a magical girl and the concept is pretty much utilized with her being able to wield destructive magical powers and is able to transform whenever possible.
Visual:
The visuals feel very relevant with the retro stylized look of the game and the decorated window edge gives it a classic western RPG sort of look which I'm quite familliar for the era. I like how the sprites have animation for both characters and enemies making the game visually appealing. The effect is simple but effective when keeping the art style relevant for a retro feel.
UI:
As for the UI, the game screen, inventory, player status, and key items are laid out in a single screen and are placed in a clear and organized manner. Its quite rare to see this sort of layout nowadays since a lot of modern RPG game focus on maximizing the game screen area and having minimal overlays that goes over the game screen. The layout really does feel nostalgic especially in the late 80ies or 90ies since I recall a lot of them tend to have highly decorated static overlay that fills about 1/3 of the screen while the remainder area is reserved for the graphical window.
Audio:
Although the game uses the default sound from the MegaZeux PC speaker, it is used in a relevant fashion where it matches the art style the developer intended for. The high tempo chiptune tracks used in the game gives it a very wonderful and adventurous feel when Novella progresses through the game. I recall that each area of the game and during boss fights has its own track.
Theme:
The Conservation of Energy was picked as the theme for this game and I find that it is spot on with how soul energy is treated as a limited resource where using it would require the player to reclaim it back from either drinking soul potions or by killing monsters.
Challenge / Engagement:
The game doesn't have a steep learning curve when it comes to using the controls since the layout is pretty familiar with modern RPGmaker games. In terms of gameplay challenge, I find it challenging when it comes to different enemy types especially in the later half of the game where the enemies can fire projectiles, which adds the need to dodge and utilize the hold direction button. The story is somewhat engaging as it begins with the village being attacked by monsters and not knowing what it is happening. However, the ending is an open ended book as for now since it will be difficult to evaluate without knowing whats further down the road.
Overall:
In terms of gameplay mechanics, the game has a really solid setup with the MegaZeux as the game engine and though I'm not familiar with it but I will definitely check out more about it since I'm am developing toolkits aimed at game creation. I think the story could use a lot of development, since right now, it is bare bones at best but sufficient enough to know the bearings on where the developer could take the story progression towards. I hope to see more development of this type of games especially with a classic game engine that seem to be pretty up to date among the main stream engines.
Note to author: IINM are you one of the admins for the MegaZeux forum?