Hello everyone!
My name is Sawyer Friend, I'm the lead developer of this game!
The game has been officially announced, and you can wishlist it here!
Alternatively, here's an Itch link!
Thank you!
AnonymousSilverDazeDev
12
Posts
2
Followers
A member registered Mar 02, 2024 · View creator page →
Recent community posts
Thanks a ton for playing!
Fortunately, many of these issues are already planned on being addressed, especially the audio issues! I agree that a lot of elements in this build were poorly communicated, such as the double Motivate and debuff thing, so we've actually made some big overhauls to the feedback on those elements! I appreciate it!
I'd also like to thank you specifically for playing the game for so long despite not being a fan of this type of game! I can understand how thankless a role testing these sorts of things can be, and wanted to make sure you know it helps us a lot!
Finally, good work on figuring out who I am, nyeh heh heh! I know I didn't do a great job keeping my identity a secret, but hey, just like you said, I'm not exactly super famous anyway. My main concern is that my small little audience of fans doesn't find out about this until it's time to let them know, so I appreciate you not broadcasting that information!
This was very good feedback! Thanks a bunch!
So, of course my first instinct was to interact with the large crystal in the room, to which I got a message that I was forgetting something. Then when I try to leave the room, I got the same message. Grabbed the sword, got the same message. At this point I started looking for anything sparkling, so I went and interacted with a couple objects, and couldn't get the money on the counter because I was a little unclear that you need to interact with the paper tile in front of the desk (I'm not entirely sure why that's even there) before getting the money, and after this I tried interacting with the crystal again figuring it was probably where I'm supposed to go, and still got the same message. At this point I interacted with basically every tile in the bedroom before finally leaving down the stairs instead.
Hello! I just got done testing this out, I played for only about an hour but may continue later on! I've also prepared a Google Doc for you to see the live playtest notes!
So, all in all, this is really cool! I think the opening is very effective at drawing you in, and writing is quite good, the art and voice acting add a lot of personality, and the RPG gimmick is pretty enjoyable. My biggest complaint is that combat feels very luck dependent, but it is possible I don’t fully understand how to organize my party to make the most out of defeating enemies yet. I also found the “random encounters” did get a bit tiring at points. Nevertheless, it was a pretty interesting and engaging mix of visual novel and turn based RPG presentation, and definitely a quality title overall.
Overall Fun: 4 / 5 - I liked it a lot! It’s not “fun” in the strict gameplay sense, the battles themselves aren’t extremely compelling, but it’s generally a victory in the enjoyability department. I like the story, I think fighting enemies is fun enough, and it’s a pretty interesting presentation using an engine that I wouldn’t expect a game like this to be possible in!
Art/Graphics: 5 / 5 - I can’t really complain at all in this department. The Warden’s fire wall animation was a bit choppy but still a pleasant surprise to see, and the faces and background CGs are all very well made.
Controls/UI: 3 / 5 - It’s functional enough! The Visual Novel approach does grind up against the gameplay at times, it’s clear that functions like a main party menu aren’t exactly what Renpy is designed to do, but it’s functional enough that it didn’t hurt the experience substantially for me.
Sound/Music: 4 / 5 - It’s pretty good! I think the battle theme is pretty good, and the voice clips are all well done. Nothing stands out as especially bad here, but it’s a bit shy of exceptional in the sound department. Great work overall, I really liked this! (P.S. We once again wanted to thank you for your feedback from before, and your cooperation with us!)
Heyo! I just got done testing this, and here are my overall thoughts! I've also prepared a Google Doc for you to read my live playtesting notes!
Overall, I think this game needs to figure out what its priorities are. Is this supposed to be a character driven adventure? A political drama? Or is the story just set dressing for an interesting combat system? Currently it doesn’t do anything especially well, and I’m not sure what the game’s big push is, either for players or for the devs. For players, what reason do we have to play a game like this? And for a dev, what aspect of this game makes you dedicated to keep making it? If you can answer those questions, let them guide your decisions to make a more interesting product.
Overall Fun: 1 / 5 - Enormous maps with on-map encounters, a huge tedious maze dungeon, tank but unchallenging enemies, very basic combat, and a lack of intriguing story or characters prevents me from really finding anything fun here. It wasn’t the most painful to get further in, but it was entirely lacking in flavour.
Art/Graphics: 2 / 5 - Mostly inoffensive RTP assets which would get a 3 from me, but the poor mapping and perceived lack of effort in most areas docks a point for me.
UI/Controls: 2 / 5 - Very little effort went into the UI, with default RPG Maker window layouts and text, as well as having to scroll through many menu options as the windows aren’t optimized to accommodate how many options there are. The UI is very sloppy, and the default layouts make it come off as lazy and uninspired.
Sound/Music: 2 / 5 - Mostly, it’s just generic and boring, but a few RTP songs are especially loud and grating. The choice to pitch shift a couple default RPG Maker tracks on its own doesn’t do much to make the game’s auditory identity feel deliberate or meaningful.
Sorry, I know this was a little harsh! I think if you can figure out a more clear direction for the game, you’ll have much more success! Good luck to you, and feel free to ask if you have any questions!
Hey there! I just got done testing this title!
My feedback is somewhat negative, but I do really like the presentation and vibes of the game, and I find the combat promising. If you'd like to see my full playthrough notes,I've made a Google Doc for you!
Overall, my biggest recommendation would be to trim the fat. This game has a very nice presentation, and generally the vibes are great. I get what it’s going for, but this intro is going to lose players extremely quickly if it doesn’t introduce a good reason to keep their engagement. It already opens with a deluge of settings for the player, most of which should just be put in an options menu for the player to use on their own time. The prologue chapter had a lot of downtime in Lady Helen outwitting the guards and doing a bunch of attacks on them, guards walking around looking for her, and generally none of it was really necessary to the actual important parts of the game (the gameplay and story). After the prologue, the game starts with you needing to roam around your house picking up various items, and after that you have to explore an enormous school and do another lengthy tutorial fight, all without really being given a reason to care about the plot, characters, or gameplay. Even for a slower burn game, players should be given a reason to care so they can get through the slower parts with anticipation for bigger moments, rather than just waiting for the game to start.
Overall Fun: 2 / 5 - I think it’s likely got potential in the mechanics department. The ability to switch weapons and interrupt enemies sounds extremely engaging. Unfortunately, the extremely slow intro whittled away at my patience, and after a half hour without any interesting gameplay I finally decided to call it quits.
Art/Graphics: 4 / 5 - Outside the custom artwork which is pretty appealing but so far used very sparingly, the graphics are just ordinary RTP. This is above average presentation for this engine however, with custom backgrounds on the menus, and special tiles created for certain locations. It’s clear a lot of work went into the presentation here, so while I would normally give an RTP heavy game a 3 for being “good enough”, the clear effort that went into how the game looks despite the prefab assets deserves an extra point.
Controls/UI: 3 / 5 - It functions just fine. I don’t really see any particular areas where it’s especially bad, but overall the presentation is very cluttered and could use some cleaning up (e.g. all the settings at the start of the game, or the menus inside menus inside menus all over the pause screen). It’s good enough but could definitely be cleaned up.
Music/Sound: 3 / 5 - It’s mostly ordinary and generic sound. Nothing stuck out to me as especially bad nor good, other than the school theme having a very pleasant atmosphere and getting stuck in my head. It’s perfectly functional but nothing special.
Hello, testers! We greatly appreciate your interest in testing our game!
Just a quick reminder, because this game is currently unannounced, we request that video feedback is uploaded as a restricted link. (We also request that you refrain from live streaming the game)
Thank you very much for understanding!
Heyo! I know the rating period hasn't begun yet, but I've reviewed your game early! I'll come back and rate it proper when the rating period begins!
This... was... WOW! You really outdid yourself! This is so much fun. The fights demand learning, but every attack feels fair. Not once did I get hit and think "that wasn't my fault!" The attacks were unique, and I really loved the "counter" attacks enemies used that forced you to use specific moves to avoid damage.
The story is not amazing right now, but it's getting better at least. Characters like Naga and Imp were a treat to see new dialogue for, and I can see where you're going with the shadow guy but I'm a lot less invested in him at the moment just because I don't really care that much about the church.
The upgrade system was really enjoyable, and it probably helped me a lot to get through the game. With that said, it's so much fun I honestly don't even think this needs to be a roguelike, it could easily be a super tough boss rush. I think the roguelike approach does make it easier for players to get through, which will get players through your game faster, but it'll make it more forgiving and help players see it to the end.
Still, I'm tempted to try out a no-upgrade run.
Some of the animations and UI are very jank, I strongly recommend making changes to pretty much anything that uses a pure colour. This includes a few attacks too, most notably the Ancestral Ally attack or whatever it's called that uses those 3D models.
Overall though, this was super fun! I'm not kidding when I say these fights reminded me a lot of the Mario and Luigi games. If you were to make more fights, this would easily be a great title to scratch that itch.
Overall Fun: 5/5 - I had such a good time playing this, I genuinely can't wait for more!
Controls/UI: 3/5 - Controls feel good enough, they're a little jank but acceptable. The UI could use a lot of work, mainly with the aforementioned windows and text that isn't using your normal font and windowskin.
Art: 4/5 - I know this isn't custom made art, but the visual direction looks fantastic, and the use of animations to convey incoming attacks easily bumps this to a 4 for me.
Sound/Music: 3/5 - Just RTP music. You could benefit from better music, but it's not essential. What you have here is at least good enough!
Heya! I know the rating period hasn't started yet, but I just hit a good stopping point and figured I'd give my thoughts! I'll return to properly rate it when the submission phase ends!
Overall I'm pleasantly surprised with this title! The sloppy graphics and presentation had me under the impression it would be a poorly made game, but its gameplay loop is challenging and enjoyable enough that I continued playing just because I wanted to!
So, the overall decipher system is very cryptic, but that could just be due to the nature of learning an alien language. I went into this fully expecting a puzzle game though, so I was completely thrown off when I was met with a very challenging bullet hell game!
A major critique of mine is that sometimes the coins will spawn in the upper corner of the screen and will be overlapped with the jam submissions links on the game page. That's more an Itch issue than an issue with the game but it made a few levels nearly impossible due to the location of the coins. The controls were also a little sluggish, since the player moved slower than my mouse, which made it a little uncomfortable to control.
The Hard and Very Hard segments were definitely veering on frustrating, and I definitely didn't finish most of them even with all the upgrades I could get.
And of course, the elephant in the room is that the graphics, even for a 3-day project, are pretty bad. After playing for a couple minutes they completely faded out of sight and mind though, and ultimately I wouldn't call that a huge point of contention for me!
Overall Fun: 4/5 - I had a great time! Frustrating harder difficulties prevent this from being a 5!
Controls/UI: 2/5 - The aforementioned sluggish movement definitely docks some points, and the menus are pretty basic. They're functional enough that it isn't a 1, though.
Art: 2/5 - The art here is straight up bad, but I'm giving it a 2 because it didn't harm my play experience too much. The art wasn't distracting and it didn't make the game more difficult to play, so it could be far worse.
Sound/Music: 3/5 - It's serviceable. A 3 might be a little generous of me but I didn't dislike the midi piano track, and the beeps of the doors opening and collecting coins was genuinely helpful information. I think some additional audio feedback for staying in the circle and hitting the dummy would be greatly appreciated though, so I don't have to constantly glance up at the UI while dodging bullets.
Overall, I had more fun than I expected! The game needs a lot of polish work, but it was an enjoyable experience!
Heyo! I know the rating period hasn't begun yet, but I'll come back around to rate this then! I just got to a good stopping point, so I'll go ahead and start with my overall thoughts!
I'll have to be a bit blunt for a moment and admit that I find this game a bit pretentious. It's got a lot of random dark imagery thrown about, but so far it's not promising any especially compelling narrative to me. The characters speak in a bit of an awkward manner, and while I am somewhat curious about James and the girl he's looking for, I haven't been given much reason to care about James as a character. The dying wife plot with Sarah and Billy is pretty tragic from a straightforward perspective, but the way the characters are presented doesn't give me much reason to actually care about them; Billy is just a consistently rude old man who only seems to care about gun violence, and Sarah seems to be intentionally dull as a character, but as a result it's really hard for me to get invested in their personal struggle at all. James doesn't fill that void much better as a protagonist. The presentation is intentionally vague, but it ends up becoming confusing to me, rather than intriguing.
The visual presentation is pretty great for the most part. It's not exactly my style, but everything looks really good. The MP4s displaying seemingly random iconography at random times are both a bit jarring and noticeably blurrier than the base game itself, and I find most of the battle animations to be way too long, but otherwise the graphics are very well executed and appealing.
As for the combat, currently it's not introducing any interesting hook, and while I understand I'm relatively early in, only having access to brute force attacks and a self heal makes me not very eager to fight enemies. As I leveled up I eventually got a neat Reflect skill which seems pretty interesting, but that alone isn't enough to get me engaged in combat. With the party members for the two fights I had them the game was quite a bit more fun, although it remained pretty brutal in difficulty and really felt like I had to get lucky with enemies not targeting the same guy three times in a row with the same attack.
Overall Fun: 2/5 - The combat was a little below average for an RPG and exploration and story weren't huge highlights, but outside the game's general vague vibes, it was mostly poor encounter design that bogged down my experience; with so few options in combat and only one party member, enemies like Euthanasia and the fish dudes would completely stun lock me for several turns at a time, with my only hope for victory being luck. With so few options in combat, I'm not compelled to fight enemies either, so I was probably underleveled.
Controls/UI: 2/5 - While the controls themselves are just normal RPG Maker controls, the use of vague terminology like "PH" and "Swagger" adds unnecessary friction to understanding the effects of items and abilities, leading to me docking points. Gauges in battle are cramped and overlap each other, and the pictures when obtaining a new card also overlap with text boxes and just generally need a bit of restructuring.
Art: 4/5 - Very good art! Subjectively it's not to my specific sensibilities, but it all looks very well made and it's clear this is where most of the work went.
Sound/Music: 2/5 - The music was pretty good, but I have to dock huge points for that random Nirvana remix in chapter 2. Unless you actually got the rights to Smells Like Teen Spirit, I would say that's downright unacceptable. Otherwise, my main critiques are that the loop points aren't set for the tracks so they'll fade out and then start playing again a few seconds later rather than properly looping. There were also a couple stock RPG Maker sounds that could stand to be replaced.
I also did write live playthrough notes as I went which I couldn't really find a decent way to include here, but I'd be happy to come up with a way to get them to you if you'd like. Thank you for reading!