itch.io

No problem, here is the short chunk of VOD if you want to check it out :) 

No problem, here is the short chunk of VOD if you want to check it out :) 

Here's the VOD from when I streamed it if you wanna check it out -- it happened a little farther in, cause the first time I went outside I couldn't figure out how the harvest thing worked lol

Ah bummer. I just added those extra sprites before the deadline but it looks a handful are missing from the deployed package :( 

Unfortunately that means the game is completely unplayable, RIP

I beat it :) This was fun. Interesting take on the theme and elements - very creative. Music was chill vibes. Actually kept me stuck for more time than I expected. Awesome job.

Neat concept! the UI and stuff are very clean, I didn't manage to find broken bezel tech. I did manage to get the gathering "sack" icon to appear outside of the gathering phase - so I was able to harvest herbs a couple times while in the inn :D I also got robbed blind twice on the first day, I am not a discreet potion dealer XD nice job man

Hey! I tried the game. Like the style and creepy music. Didn't get too far, couldnt figure out combat, and seemed to freeze the game when you die. Tried a few times but couldn't get past the first room :) so i threw in the towel there. 

Hey! I checked out your game. I ended up finding the bottom with the red floor, and then moving around a small gap between it and the wall to fall forever. I found the depths of alchemy :D

Nice job

Hey I tested it out, Controls were ok, was able to slay some monster and explore. Wasn't super sure what to do or where to go, Tried to check out the full map before I left. Nice job.

Hybrid genre idea was neat! Haven't seen a "breakfast survivors-like" before kudos for that idea, Cooking is definitely alchemy. the name of the book made me laugh :)

The game worked pretty well, I played a couple levels in and upgraded my breakfast people to see the different levels. Awesome Job

Interesting game! Gave me Frostpunk-but-alchemy vibes. Unfortunately it did seem like the buildings werent quite working/resources werent quite counting. I gave it a couple in game days to check everything out- Hope you can continue updating after the jam

Hi friend, Thanks for the report, this is now fixed in 0.2.6 which is uploading now. Curiously, the file was included in the package, it had just become corrupted/unreadable somehow - Tricky one.

Hi friend, Thanks for the report, this is now fixed in 0.2.6 which is uploading now. Curiously, the file was included in the package, it had just become corrupted/unreadable somehow - Tricky one.

TLDR changes since last Feedback Quest:

• Starting area revamp, starting party adjusted
• Additional POIs added with low level encounters to better prepare for the big dungeons
• Audio & Visual upgrades as placeholders are replaced- Many town NPCs are now custom sprites
• Playtest Camp/Guide NPC upgraded to better guide players
• Story/dialogue polish

Testing Paths: 

1. Story/Main Gameplay in the Chilled Cordillera
2. Exploration of future areas Stonefang Sierra, & The Shadewode
3. Test characters and fight "combat dummy" at any level, at the Asqueria Playtester's Camp

Version history:

• Patch 0.2.0 - Full notes linked in doc attachment.
• Patches 0.2.1, 0.2.2- Hotfixes for stuff the patch broke
• Patch 0.2.5 - Full notes linked in doc attachment.

Thanks for stopping by! Appreciate the followup review, friend.

And don't worry, The Tarot reader never learned how to take your gold, you actually ripped her off XD

Maybe we'll make it right for you next patch <3

Hey! Finally popping by. I feel the same as other comments, looks and sounds nice, But I got confused and checked videos haha. My game had similar issues, I've heard!

The NPCs might make good ways for the player to ask for hints etc.  For spells I think I agree with the nijelous playthru, Limited use feels rough. Could be cool with a cooldown or mana somethin.

Definitely got a vibe going here, keep it up!

Posted! <3

Aw, watchin you and the boys mess around was fun to watch! Sorry I couldn't be there live, shout out to ChXris for randomly popping into chat haha

I dropped a comment and like in the video too! Hope you'll check out future updates, Thanks for visiting Asqueria <3

From what I could tell, my game just wasn't going to do browser only, even though the engine supported web builds I was using some plugins/functions that just didn't jive with it. So if it were browser only I wouldn't be here, or would have needed to make a different game.  Luckily, I got my submission up early, got some eyes and plays on stream, got some comments etc so I felt "vetted". I think because I linked to my existing Youtube/social media/etc that helped show I wasn't a bad actor.. but still you can never be too careful, I totally understand why people pass on download games.  

If it continues being on itch.io, a happy medium could be that first time jammers have to do a web build, but previous "clean" participants could do download, or something like that. I dunno,  it's a tricky problem.

Thanks much, friend! I'm glad you enjoyed it. You'll be happy to know I've got a big patch to drop when the submission unlocks :)

Fair feedbacks! I'm not sure how much I can do about the pathfinding (assuming you are click/touching screen to move) -- those methods do just feel a bit more janky than traditional keyboard movement.  On menu speed (and animation speed) you are probably right -- I've cranked the FPS up to 60 on this game (from 15 fps),  which means any default animation is effectively 4x faster unless I've fixed it to have a longer playtime. Still trying to smooth that all over :)

But good news, in the upcoming patch, some new targeting tech comes online (spells which can do single target or all targets, old school FF style) -- so some existing spells will be combined since they no longer need 2 versions for different kinds targeting. That should help!

Thanks for visiting Asqueria <3

edit: OH you made that hectic reactor meltdown game, awesome one yourself! 

Interesting perspetives, thanks for sharing!  Funny you mention Silicon Knights, when they were still around at one point I lived pretty close to their HQ. Rare to see someone reference them!

TBH, in game jams I was up against a lot of web based games, So it's not a performance issue as much as literally a filesize and format issue. Folks much prefer browser based, I guess.  

Next patch (v0.0.2) will keep the standard battle system but I'm strongly leaning towards trying something more real-time like ATB/CTB - add some depth to different things like summon spells taking longer etc.

+1 for spell scribbles, of all the mechanics that snuck into the game jam, its my favorite

yeah, take a couple bonus levels before starting the adventure for best experience

theme was "its spreading"- opposite magics are spreading where they should not be (demon with light, angel with shadow, fire in the icelands, etc)

Thanks for the playthough, hope we'll see you next version!

These are reported, and will be fixed (Pending submissions being unlocked to upload v0.0.2)

• Fixed some decorative vines that clever players noticed were left climbable, leading them out of bounds. Not every vine is a secret passage. But some are.
• Fixed some teleporter events with inaccurate endpoints (while playable, the placement was sometimes odd)
• Assorted Etcetras and Assorted Supplies are no longer erroneously flagged as usable consumables.
• Certain Umbra/Blood magic buffs such as Pride and Gluttony no longer have a chance to miss allies.
• Fixed and condensed readout for Confession and similar scan spells. Now fits on one text page.
• Fixed lore books texts that had incorrect colour codes, causing the “important keyword” colour to bleed over to the rest of the texts.
• Master audio volume now defaults to 50% on first time installs, rather than 70%. Still adjustable in the options menu.
• Removed some unused asset files, saving a few MBs. May re-add later if needed.

Anything else weird happens, please let me know here, or somewhere :)  

stream/vod links very appreciated <3

That makes sense - thanks for clarifying! 

And don't worry, My poor submission is locked from updates for a whole month on this double game jam tour (well, only 8 more locked days now), So I know it's gonna take a beating while it's out here and I can't change anything, that's what it's for XD  Behind the scenes I've got a bunch of little things fixed up already.

Looking forward to posting a nice little v0.0.2 update/patch notes when it unlocks and then digesting some official judgements.

Thanks for spending the time with me!

Hi again! Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, I am new after all. I see you are listed as the host for this event. I assume that means you know all the rules that are written there (https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-rpg). Can you tell me the which one of the judging criteria that covers story? 

🔥RATING

Your game will be rated on the following criteria by your peers and the public.  The judges will also pick their own favorite games

• Overall Fun
• Controls/UI
• Art
• Sound / Music

So, Which one of those 4 relates to story and writing?  Is it "Fun", or "Art"? If that's the case, shouldn't that be described somewhere?

BTW, I also searched that page for the words, "Story", "Lore", "Writing", "Script", "Plot", "Dialogue", "Conversation".... not one of these concepts was mentioned anywhere in the rules or the judging criteria. I assumed the judging criteria was in fact the criteria we were being judged by. Is that not how this works?  Because you wrote so much about story, which isn't even part of the criteria, and you've flatly refused to give feedback about anything else even when specifically directed(per rule #7), I'm quite confused as to what we're doing here.  

Could you clarify - What are the official judging criteria? Is there another page where you are using a different set of rules?

Thanks again.

Hi, thanks for the feedback! Really good stuff here!

You are right that it's harder than intended - unfortunately the submission is locked from updates atm, so the workaround is level-up at the cheat crystal before you start your adventure.  This is noted at the top of the game's description page, but sadly it seems like most folks miss that note and just play on hard mode. For context, The party feels balanced around level 6+ entering the tower, but you start at level 3. My bad XD

It's worth observing that nearly every stat/formula in the combat system was tweaked a bit, almost nothing runs on the "default RPG maker" formulas. Details are in the game design document if curious - part of why that document is so dang long! This includes the default hit/evasion calculation you refer to, Which is not in use in this game. Cause yep, it sucked, so I changed it to be a single combined dice roll rather than 2 separate rolls the default uses. However, both %'s scale a little bit with primary stats - So if under levelled facing a strong enemy, you will miss more and dodge less. I believe that's what you experienced.

To answer the question; This is demo v0.0.1! The very first iteration. The "level 1-3 Story so far" is just a raw copy paste from my rough draft notes at the last minute. So, I wouldn't focus too much feedback on the story at this time - This is very much a mechanical and systems test. Think more "PTR for MMORPG balance testing", and less "Demo on steam trying to hook you into buying". Luckily, you gave some great mechanical feedback too :)

As for an actual tutorial/opening cutscene, that is one of the very last things added to a game of this scale. The reason is that it needs to be informed by everything that comes after -- To design it now would mean redesigning it a hundred times before the project is complete. Doing it later means it will benefit from all the lessons I learn making the rest of the game, and the first level will be the BEST level. This is advice from other published game makers, so I'll be sticking to it. 

But that leaves us a problem... I totally agree with your feedback about getting lost (I watched another streamer in the other game jam do the same thing!) So.. The Playtest NPC will learn some new tricks for next time to be a better guide for playtesters, rather than being a wall of text machine as he is now :)  It was his job to make sure players knew where to go and what to do, and it seems like he sucked at it.

Thanks much for the detailed feedback and for spending time in Asqueria. Hope we'll see you again in the next version!

I thought I wouldn't have much before the official judge feedback, but commenters/playtesters have been awesome and gave me lots to work on! Not focused on making more content quite yet, want to hear feedback on some of the more structural ideas for the game first (camp scene, save points, combat systems etc) and tweak those before committing to more maps/levels.  I couldn't get the browser version working for the deadline, but maybe I can take another crack at that once things unlock.

Asqueria v0.0.2 - Jan-Feb (During GameJam testing, submission locked, notes WIP)

Content:

• Added additional spell icons and animations. These include from pack and some customized. Notable customs- Blood, Poison, Gold and Umbra-themed spell effects. 
• Continued work on WIP characters and skillsets for Chronomancy, Primordials, Dreamsketch, Nightweave.
• Updated advanced class models for Ogune, Cielle, as well for certain summoned helpers.
• Adjusted gold costs for inns - Replaced static costs with scaling system based on party level and gold. 
• Refreshed vendor/treasure lists and tweaked gold rewards from enemies in Chilled Cordillera zones. 
• Added additional effects to status effect dispel items - eg Bandages clear bleeds, but now also restore a bit of health, giving them a 2ndary use in a pinch.
• Added some weapon skills that are agnostic to weapon type.
• Spell/Class Balance tweaks.

Bugsfixin':

• Boat was bugged to lock the game. Disabled the boat, it was not needed yet.
• Fixed and condensed readout for Confession and similar "scan" spells. Now fits on one text page.
• Assorted Etcetras and Assorted Supplies are no longer erroneously flagged as usable consumables.
• Removed some unnecessary asset files.

Hmm.  I have been thinking about what the game would look like if not working solo. I wasn't really connected to the community and not certain of my skill levels so I didn't want to get involved with anybody, overcommit or drag them down somehow. Plus, I had a vision for what I wanted to do, and wasn't sure if others would align with that idea. It's my first time, so by the end I feel like I learned a lot and found my footing, but there are a million things I still could work on. Still, I can't help but wonder what the project would like like with the support of a team - How much more GAME would there be? So I guess that's my take away, is network more and be open to the possibility of a group project next time.

There's a few bugs that got through too but that's always gonna happen, I don't sweat that stuff.

YOU DID IT WOO

GAME BEATER ALERT

Hmm, It sounds like I just needed to get a bit farther in, I'll have to come back to it if I can. The curse of RPGs, they take time :) 

One quick thing could be to put a message up after the "epic" part of the intro, explaining "And so 18 years peacefully passed.." or something, before opening at the "am I late for school" part. It took a minute to realize what sort of jump in time/setting had happened. 

Oh, I didn't get too far! I mostly spend time doing mindless rotations around the first level farming to see how the mechanics worked, since the combat was fun. Control-wise sometimes I felt like I was getting hit in the gap of time between my swing and dodge, but that might have been me just playing it too risky. 

If you do get hit its pretty punishing, I found myself spending $ to full heal a lot and not buying upgrades, or farming grass /jars to stock up.  I wasn't trying to progress though, as much as just poking around to see what happens :) 

Friend, can you do me a favor? Load up the game, and interact with the NPC you start next to, the guy with the silver hair and glasses. And read what he says.

After doing so, are you still confused about the story so far or which direction to go?

If you did not read these instructions previously - Can I ask why? It's a crappy tutorial, but I want to see how crappy XD

Played this one for a bit, Pretty fun! Very retro Zelda.  Love the art and vibes, the little pixel blood splatter effects are a nice touch! Game feels hard sometimes, but that's OK. I like tough games.

Controls were my only issue, eventually hit a bug where my character got stuck in the sword swinging pose XD   I was just spamming spacebar a lot to see what the refresh/backswing was like, an enemy hit me, and the character just froze on the sprite with the "air woosh" behind the weapon- even staying stuck after respawning next to the shop. Refreshing page fixed it, but wanted to report the bug just in case.

Overall tho it was pretty fun! awesome job!

I put a bit more than an hour into this game. Art and sound design on point, nice animations setup, I'm jealous for my own game! The combat system seems interesting, Haven't seen a lot of CTB battle systems so no strong opinion either way. Was curious to experiment with it more, but there wasn't enough combat early on to really judge..

I agree with the other comment about the opening cutscene tho. I liked the story it presented. But even though it's action packed and flashy, it still just FEELS long, since It's not very interactive and doesn't try to teach you any gameplay. By the time the player can press buttons, It's with a different cast of characters, in a different setting, in a different time period. 

The cutscene sold me on "Wizard Mom fights Big Castle Government". You got me, I'm interested in that story now! I connected to THOSE characters, Wizard Mom, her snarky pursuers and the world you displayed there...  

But the transition to the intended setting (the wizard school) totally lost me and according to the description on the page, that's what the game is actually about. With a bit more than an hour, I care way more about the story in the cutscene than I do anybody/thing I met in the school area. Slice of life school anime are not really my cup of tea. But Wizard battles certainly are. A dilemma of personal taste, perhaps.

Hopefully the story threads together later on, but that's all the time/energy I had for now!

Ah, I see what you mean! Thanks for clarifying. Yes, in this demo you are not starting at level 1 with a nice intro cutscene, You are starting a bit further into the story for testing purposes.  

The testing NPC can explain the "story leading up to now" for those interested, but as for a fancy opening scene, that will not be in testing for a while :) 

Hi, thanks for the feedback! 

Since the demo opens with an NPC who tells you specifically where to go for playtesting, and the path forward is blocked unless you comply - can I ask what part you felt was too open?  

Yup! Take that energy and go work on it more - That doesn't just mean the game either. Tune up that itch page, make more screenshots, do a dev log.. tweet about it! 

First game jam. Went to school for video game design, never did anything with it, a decade went by, don't remember it. At least I played a lot of D&D, Got into a lot of alpha/beta/pilot type stuff to do feedback, and of course had normal office job work skills I guess. Wasn't gonna jam, but a steam gift card for christmas and a holiday sale got me into RPGMaker, I think some time around the 10th I went "oh why don't I just try it, i'll use my homebrew TTRPG stuff as inspiration". And downloaded the example GDD to take a look and think about it a bit.

And man, I went way deeper than I would have thought. like 100 hours. Haven't thought about javascript since high school. Learned about and touched all the stat formulas and all sorts of things. Was very fun. And I think it turned out great! The only thing is the theme is a bit weak, for "Spreading" it's like "the bad/opposite magic is spreading" but it's more of a story thing than a heavy game mechanic. Still, would love to hear some feedback!

Asqueria: Origins of the Dream- An hour worth of jrpg with a touch of ttrpg flavour, plus some playtesting npc so you can mess around.

https://darkscream.itch.io/asqueria-demo

I've been poking around for RPGMaker games in the jam - Not as many of us, and there's so many other awesome games! 

But if you like these types of games here is the list, and feel free to reply to this subthread if yours fit the "collection"! Here's the ones I found so far:

PirateJam RPGMaker Games:

• Misery Hotel (Anzyll+team) - RPGMaker VX Ace - Dark comedy/story adventure - https://anzyll.itch.io/misery-hotel
• ARES (ChXris) - RPGMaker MV - Dark Scifi Story/Puzzle - https://formal-chxris.itch.io/ares 
• Asqueria (me) - RPGMaker MV - Dark Fantasy Trad JRPG w/ CRPG elements - https://darkscream.itch.io/asqueria-demo