I really enjoyed playing this game. I see it’s still a demo and you’re still working on this, so rather than give praise and leave, I thought I’d include some feedback (just in case it would help). These are just my thoughts I wrote while playing through the game, and only my own opinion :)
(This turned into practically an essay and I don’t have nearly the same level of game dev skills. So take it with a grain of salt lol)
First off: I really like the start. Being sorted into Vissage house was fun. Walking around, I kinda wish more normal items in the background had some flavour text. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy. But it means I didn’t really explore as much as I could have. I like how I got the Vissage Pin next to the statue, nice little bonus for exploring. But yeah, considering it’s a magic school, I think more animated elements in the background would make the world feel more ‘alive’ and ‘magical’. Like maybe animated bubbles in potions, fire on the candles, the flowers moving, letters fluttering etc… if not, things already look way nicer at night. Having overlays or something, that would add a lot.
Vissage Garden: The music is beautiful, just repetitive for the amount of area it covers, and the pause before it loops is kinda >_< I think that’s an easy fix though, just cutting the pause out? In general, maps are lovely, just wish it was kinda zoomed in more. I think having it zoomed out makes it kinda hard to properly look at what’s in front of me. Sorry if I’m sounding too harsh here haha, I am really enjoying it! Has very nice vibes~
I got oakwood at Drakewood :3 but yeah animated little sparkles and stuff? Like for “item here” or “alert here”, those speech bubbles? If its at all possible for them to be animated a little that would be sick. I love how each house has different values and general look about it. Nitpicking again, the way a lot of students introduce themselves like “Hello, I’m ____” while probably realistic as an introduction, I personally think it can be skipped. If their name tag pops up anyway, it kind of implies they already introduced themselves, at least to me. Makes the dialogue cut to the chase. Eh, it’s not a big deal.
Oh my god that voice segment was sick, loved that.
I like the homeroom haha. Lowkey this reminds me of Pokemon Ranger Shadows of Almia, the school segments lol. I’m back in my room, I had money and a robe his whole time?! Lmaoo Ok my bad for not looking around more before, lol bro no wonder the guy was like “you have no potions”
Wait can I defeat that guy? Hmmm. I’m gonna try…
Bro I went back, spent all my money on crystals, 0 effect, and voice is still giving me attitude?? This guy… What am I meant to do, spend money on potions?
Ok I spent money on potions and his dialogue did not change… I am continuing on with the game XD must be a pretty decent potion if I go back to full health, no? Oh sweet I can take the spear off of Ein lmao, free stuff. I can sell his equipment.. I’m sure this will have no consequences
I love how this school has a magical book give you curriculum guidance psychically ^^ Every area has an item associated except Foxhelm, makes me wonder if I’m missing something?
Yep, after this point, I’ve gotten a lot more enraptured into the game. There’s really good balance between the classes (which are creative), how you spend time in the day, and exploring around. I also went back and did the basic combat class with crystals, and I like how the story didn’t change even though I put out the fire. Adds to the feeling of despair :D It’s great. I like how the whole experience basically teaches “crystals in the field are really important”. The fact that there are characters that don’t follow the rules of the school, like the guy selling books, or the trio, it adds some depth to the world ^^
I’ve continued playing the game. Yeah, you’ve definitely hit a sweet spot when it comes to gameplay balance. There’s learning books, doing jobs, taking classes, spending time with friends, the typical rpg stuff like sidequests- all which take up time. It’s not too little, not too much. I think some things could naturally be improved, like I’m spending a lot of time just walking to the different common areas. From day-to-day, they don’t seem to change too much (the npc dialogue doesn’t seem to change over time, new side characters aren’t too common, the map looks the same), which kinda just means I’m travelling around to interact with one or two things in a whole map. Right now I’m still interested in the game so its whatever, but yeah, anything that helps the world feel more “alive” for sure.
Ah yeah. The friendship interactions ^^;… the way that they all ask the exact same questions takes me out of it a little bit. Even though answering those three questions correctly enough to learn an aura skill is how the friendship function works… Changing up how the questions are actually said and changing those three replies so they’re different for each character would help make it more immersive imho. Something a step further would be resulting story events/cutscenes that create depth in their character, answer questions about them, show their backstory or include funny scenes etc. I know there are already scenes for them learning an aura skill, but I mean extending that and adding more plot and character interactions to it. Like how persona or danganronpa have their friendship mechanics. Considering friendships take up a day, why not include a little worldbuilding, allow the player to emotionally connect with them, or add more stakes to the story? If aura is part of them, I want to spend time with that character, so there’s payoff when they learn a skill that doesn’t only exist in battle. It seems like a useful mechanic that could help develop the writing. But I know this might be a big ask haha, just my opinion.
Continued playing~ I like how Sylvia & co. are actually stronger, and seem to have their own motives for doing things. It’s good that the main chara isn’t the strongest student in a thousand miles haha. Also grade 25 mage??? Very nice twist. The music is awesome. I’m enjoying this a lot :)
In the fairy forest rn ^^ Yeah once again, I think more flavour text would really elevate this. You don’t need to add new sprites that way, descriptions of how the trees seem to shimmer with an odd glint, or how the bushes hide faint whispers of giggles… I’m just making up random stuff, but text descriptions could add a ton to the atmosphere. You’ve already got great music, play it up more, let people use their imagination to fill in the gaps (if you want!).
Yeah even fairy town, like even some words in that journal in one of the houses, you know?
I’ve reached the crystal, originally didn’t set free Fejora, but that seemed kinda boring. So I went back and did it. Thesis on Organs sounds horrifying, love it.
Bruhhh I don’t have the flowers to make the blood cloak and can’t go to the forest to get more T__T noooooo Oh my god thank god I picked up Fejora otherwise idk how I would defeat that freaking wolf
A few hours later… wow. I’m done. Very good game. I realise after doing more friendship things, what I mentioned earlier, you’ve already implemented it on a base level. I want more of it haha. But yeah. My brain is fried since it’s a little late. This game has honestly really captured me. The ongoing plot about experiments is interesting. The classes are good, since you can actually apply what you’ve learnt. The battles are nice as well. I liked that segment where you use your teammates abilities in order to find items, I pretty much blasted across a whole map like that, which was a lot of fun. I also like how when you go to the last town, you get a different point of view about Lawmages, and how they’re seen in the public eye. Harold being there was great. The trial sequence was also hilarious.
Yeah, really well done. I’m looking forward to the next instalment, whether it’s another demo, a beta version or the full thing. I think I pointed out a lot of things at the start (which takes up the majority of the text here lol), but as time went on, I just got more absorbed into the game and focusing on the story. I really enjoyed it. Well done, seriously. Especially since this is literally hours long.
Last random thoughts (you don’t have to do these or anything, I just had some random “ooh this would be cool” ideas)
Pets or familiars, animals in general honestly. I think we see the cats that’s it?
I low-key wanna customise my room lol
We see some mages that have profile pictures, but then we can’t interact with them in the overworld. What if on some days, or some weeks, those side-characters popped up in particular locations?
They don’t have to be full on side-characters with a plot and everything, but having a few recognisable background classmates could add to the immersion
Yeah in general, solid game, imho if you flesh out the world, story and characters a bit more it would go from great to insane
But yeah those are my thoughts ^^ Thanks for reading if you read this far lol