Rivals Beyond
by PsiSteve
Hey there PsiSteve, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.
Since you're using MV you might want to consider using a monitor sync plugin for people with higher Hz monitor refresh rate. The engine has some issue with running at the correct framerate under some circumstances. You could possible add a few more various options.
I really like the big bubbly font, it's very easy to read.
The writing is pretty decent with a few minor grammar issues.
I think that you've done a great job in simplifying the main menu down to just what needs to be there. I do believe that you should've added the 'Items' scene to the 'Bag menu' instead of 'Skills' scene though.
The tileset is very unique and has it's own style. The sprites looked very basic but they work just fine for a tech demo or game jam version.
The battle system is very basic. A 'hit them with their weakness' system is employed here which most RPG fans will very quickly understand. Although it felt like I was spamming basic attack and healing mint through-out most of the fights.
It can be confusing when you take an enemies HP down just to see it fill all the way back up though. Maybe explain that system. (In as few words as possible)
Good idea on sequencing new enemies joining the fight in some battles to spice it up. I liked the in-combat banter. As long as it stays to a minimum it's a nice touch.
However, the battle with the flying bird is not balanced because you have a pair of lemon drops join the fight and it becomes too hard. Might I suggest making it so that only a single lemon drops joins in that particular fight. I get that you're supposed to lightning hit the lemon heads immediately, but if you do anything else besides that, well you're gunna die.
If you would have put in some time to make or find custom animations you could've improved the feel of your combat scene ten-fold. The default sounds and animations are very boring and I've seen them a million times. Too many skills and attacks simply have no animation and/or SFX. I suggest adding custom animation/SFX for each skill and ability that's used in the game.
I don't understand the reasoning in making it so you can't use your restoration items outside of combat. Why add this unnecessary restriction on the player? You're inflating the difficulty at the cost of adding frustration and you're not getting any benefit out of this.
I feel like the player is 'missing' too much personally. A higher accuracy would feel more satisfying.
When an enemy has 1 HP it seems to round the HP bar to look like it has 0% HP remaining. I would try my best attempt at making that HP bar show a sliver of HP until the enemy actually has zero HP.
The healing moves and items don't restore enough HP once you get passed round 1 and the game becomes a grindy slog. Without touching on the previous points that I've already made, I'd like to emphasize that it's probably better to make a game that falls on the easier or less grindy side for a game jam or tech demo. Save that difficulty for the end game of the final release.
Good victory music is hard to find especially when you need it to fit a niche, but you could have made another small improvement if you'd found the right BGM for that instead of leaving it silent.
While I think that you have the makings of a really decent title here, I also think it's missing quite a few things and needs some redesign in certain areas. Congratulations on making it to round three of the IGMC 2022 and I look forward to your next project.
-Drifty