itch.io

I figured it would be a good idea to let folk know what my plans for this game jam are, just in case they'd like to avoid doing something too similar or something. Yet-to-be-announced secret requirement permitting, I'm thinking I'll see how far I can go making a Mega Man fan-game, plain and simple. No new mechanics or enemies or anything, just straight-up ripping the assets and basic design from the original games and implementing them. I'm using this as an opportunity to learn GameMaker Studio -- yes, I know I'm way behind the times, but I bought it years ago when it was on sale and I've never really used it. I suspect I'll only make a single stage and probably not even implement a boss fight, but we'll see.

If anybody else would like to team up on this, I'm open to collaboration. The things that spring to mind as potentially useful to me are gathering the assets (sprites, sounds, music, etc.) and doing stage design. I'll be starting out with the programming side of things, implementing player controls and interactions with the environment and enemies.

I'd give you some hints, but I don't see any way to hide them behind spoilers tags or the like so that other folks who want to figure it out for themselves don't accidentally see it. Actually, there's supposed to be a hint cutscene for every stage which triggers if you fail it three times in a row (and you can get to it quickly by using the stage menu's Reset Stage command a few times). Does that not show up for you? If you really want I'll send you a private message with some advice. To encourage you, you only need to complete five stages from the second and third portal rooms to proceed, although you won't be able to see the golden ending unless you complete all the stages in the game.

Does the game seem laggy or stuttering to you? I tried showing it to my relatives during a Christmas visit recently, and despite the fact that the laptop we used can handle games like Undertale with no problem, it had jitters when playing Final Fancy. Seriously, RPG Maker MV games are performance hogs? c.ca Who'da thunk. Anyway, it made it much more difficult to deal with the time-sensitive puzzles like stages 7 and 12. If that's happening for you, I'm sorry, but I don't think there's much I can do to fix it. :/

Thanks for reporting the fireball bug. That's one I might be able to fix. Don't think I can do anything about save files from previous versions not working, though. Thanks anyway.

Review for RPG Maker Web's IGMC 2017 Secret Santa!  ...Sort of, I'm just reciprocating because readydotexe reviewed my game. ;)

Event Horizon Murder Case is a highly story-driven game.  The player does not move around at their own will at all; the only interaction is multiple-choice decisions, although some of those involve a loop of choices until the player figures out the correct answer (and enough blunders will cause a game-over).  As has been noted in comments on the main game page, the play style is highly reminiscent of the Ace Attorney series.

In terms of production values, Event Horizon Murder Case features original graphics and music.  I found the art style a little off-putting, especially the map tiles and sprites, but that's a subjective matter.  I liked the character illustrations a little better, and that's what you'll spend most of your time looking at, as the game is primarily a series of conversations.

The story is intriguing and well thought-out.  It not only keeps you guessing as to the murder mystery, it brings up questions about artificial intelligence and how it should be handled.  The grammar has some obvious problems, but for the most part it's readily intelligible to a native English speaker, and I'd guess it's better than most English-speakers would do in trying to write a game in some other language.

For improvements in a future version, I would recommend some way of reviewing notes about important information that has been given, as details like when certain things occurred are crucial and not easy to remember from previous conversation.  I also think some less intense music would be good for most of the interrogation sequences.  Despite issues, Event Horizon Murder Case is good enough to get my up-vote.

Thanks for a glowing review. :)

Review for RPG Maker Web's IGMC 2017 Secret Santa!  ...Sort of, I'm just reciprocating because Hiddenone reviewed my game. ;)

This is clearly one of the more serious entries in the contest.  It has original artwork, music, and even sound effects.  Even the message window graphics and fonts were custom.  I didn't recognize a single thing from the RPG Maker RTP.  In terms of production values, Dear Edwin is a heavy contender.

What it does not have much of is gameplay.  The bulk of the experience is walking through the slums in which the game is set, finding the next plot-advancing event and watching the cutscenes which play out.  There are a couple of occasions where the player is challenged to input a button sequence, but they don't seem to have much effect on the outcome.  Even at the end, when the mystery is confronted, the player is not asked to choose the correct answers; they merely watch as the main character exposits everything.  As the main page for Dear Edwin says, "A story focused game, that feels like an interactive novel."  Personally I'd question whether it should be called a game at all, but I understand the practicality of not quibbling the details in the summary.

So, since story is the most central aspect of this work, how is the story?  Pretty good, I'd say.  The setting is immersion-capable, the characters have personality, the dialogue is well-written, and there's a decent bit of backstory that isn't critical to the main plot.  I didn't find it exactly gripping, and I saw the crux of the mystery from a mile away, but it was enjoyable reading.

Bottom line?  Just be aware that this is an interactive novel that's on the light end of interaction.  If you enjoy that sort of thing, you'll probably enjoy Dear Edwin.  This is the first IGMC 2017 entry that gets my up-vote.

Review for RPG Maker Web's IGMC 2017 Secret Santa!

I'm afraid I wasn't able to get very far into this game.  After the introductory plot arc, the player is turned loose to wander the world, but the reachable parts of the world turn out to be a fairly small continent, and it's unclear how to progress the plot from there.  My save file for the game says a little over an hour has been spent playing, and an hour is how much time the IGMC judges are supposed to spend on each game, so I suppose I'll use that as my own cutoff point too.

It's clear that a lot of enthusiasm went into creating this game.  The towns and other explorable areas I could find were sprawling and lavishly decorated.  Nearly everything that looked like an interactable object did indeed have an event when the player interacts with it, although most of them simply gave a short description.

Unfortunately, the gameplay is rather lackluster.  Right after the introductory arc, half of the enemies the player can run into in the wild are completely incapable of inflicting damage on the hero.  For the fights that actually do have enemies that are a potential threat, the best strategy seems to be to use the Concentrate technique, which shoots the hero's available TP to maximum, then use the powerful, all-hitting Beta Strike until all enemies are dead.  Perhaps it would have grown more intricate and fun had I found my way into later areas of the game, but what I saw was very simple and unbalanced.

For a very first attempt at making a game, and doing so in a month, this is a good effort.  It needs a great deal of improvement to stand on its own, though.  I recommend reading Yanfly's comics about basic RPG making (http://yanfly.moe/comics/) and considering carefully the numbers that are involved in the combats.

Review for RPG Maker Web's IGMC 2017 Secret Santa!

The basic essence of this game is that of a graphic adventure: explore the world, find items, apply those items to unlock new areas to explore. The world in question is a sprawling mansion where you and a number of other guests are trapped for the amusement of your host, the mysterious "game master".

This game feels like it wanted to be something much more, which isn't a surprising result for a month-long game jam product. There are twenty playable characters, and the ones you didn't choose for your avatar can be found meandering within the various rooms of the mansion. Most of them don't have anything particularly important to say, just bits of flavor text. A few actually give practical hints, such as the suggestion to examine things several times (the necessity of which is a questionable game mechanic, but more forgivable since the game informs you it's needed). The items and puzzles are few and far between, spread out across the mansion. There are also a few cases of non-obvious progression requirements, such as speaking with a character again after doing something else.

Considering there is a message as the game opens saying "This version of the game is for the Indie Game Maker Contest 2017", perhaps we can expect it will be expanded and improved. Some things I would hope to see in a newer version are a larger and more intricate web of items and puzzles, better indication that an NPC may need to be revisited, and a conclusion to the story beyond "you escape the mansion" -- a confrontation with the game master, for example.

Thanks for the bug report. I've made a working version of the game available from my personal webspace, and I'll replace the version here as soon as the IGMC rules allow me to.