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Whoa, that's awesome to hear. Glad you played it to the end

Thanks for the kind words!

There's actually 2 last bosses. If you sacrifice most you become rather broken. The sparing path is harder. If you do 3/3 you can choose the path and kind of mix benefits from both.

I ordered a cute game about revival, no tomatoes, and I got a walking (admittedly very attractive) tomato as a main character. (i wonder how many people will see this without context and think im insane haha)

Very cute and funny game. It feels like a love letter to Harvest Moon, maybe a little Animal Crossing as well. Finding joy in doing, well, not much but menial tasks. Fear not, for I am a fan of this style myself.

The art is very good. The character design is top notch. The tiles were lovely. The only issue I saw was the trees were a bit small in comparison to everything else (they still looked wonderful, especially the different colors)

The story is a very brief thing that does not particularly mean much, but it's cozy.  The ending I got was very silly. At first I was like "whaaaaat" then I laughed. It honestly fits the light nature of the game. 

The polishing mini game likely could have used about half the amount of times you need to press the arrows to complete it, but it didn't remotely bother me personally. I kind of wish the antique mechanic was for a larger game that's more simulation and less time limit-y. It was still cute. 

The music was, I said this word before already and I'll say it again, cozy. The town theme could have fit for a Harvest Moon autumn theme, which is usually the best Harvest Moon season. o:

This is one of those games that reminds me, whoa, RPG Maker CAN do simulation games, likely VERY WELL.

I just finished VX Ace and moved on to the ones that came out after this year, so I am whole heartedly fascinated how well this game played in the browser. What a great option. 

I had a good time playing this. Best of luck. :tomato emote:

A tourney in the afterlife where the prize is your life? This reminded me of another entry in IGMC called Rivals Beyond made by my brother. o:

This game was a very charming battle arena thingie, where characters have tons of personality.

The art was rough and made for the game, but I will always prefer that over using pretty tiles made for general use. Rough with personal touches always appeals to me. The character face art was extremely well done and the most impressive assets made for this.

The gameplay was not ever too challenging and just let you play with the mechanics. I enjoyed this aspect. I was really amused by characters having difficult personalities determining how they fought at first. And the character's movesets were all inspired off their personalities. It really showed.

I found it funny how each character was a trope, very aware that they were a trope, and kind of bitter about it. It almost delves into a territory where I find it makes too much of a science out of writing, but I still thought it was all funny and clever.

I kind of wish the game had a little more complete ending. It was too cliffhanger-y for my taste. The actual story behind it was good, but it makes the game feel more of a demo than a complete thing, which the game DID feel complete to me before that. It's a minor gripe.

The UI was pretty rough and sometimes off centered... but I have suffered from this in previous IGMCs and feel your pain. A month to make a game is very little haha.

I would also advise against using mouse for exclusive stuff (it was just flavor text in this case) unless there is good reason. I played on my TV with controller haha.

Overall, it was a well done battle arena full of whacky tropes who are aware that they are tropes. It does the afterlife story in a way you are amused, not depressed. I had a good time. I wish you all the best of luck!

Okay, this game was good. Very good. I will say right off the bat, if it was a full game and not a demo, it would have likely been my favorite to win this whole thing. 

This is a game I would love to make. The feel of it, the look of it, the style of puzzles. I absolutely LOVED every second.

Every puzzle was very clever. It never felt like a chore. Fun, creative, smooth, The music change per form was so well done. Seriously. Fantastic job on the music in this whole game. I love the skeleton versions.

A quirky ghost like fellow who befriends the main who is morally ambiguous... Reminds me of my own characters in a certain Ghostly game I made. o:

My gripes with the game come at the end. There is a certain point where you get a weapon. Look, RPG Maker is a very powerful and amazing tool, but it's almost never wise to attempt action elements. I did it all just fine, but the smoothness of the rest of the game was sacrificed when you had to time the scythe attacks. I would have just had the enemies auto die from them. I don't think we can make a game fight as smoothly as Zelda on this engine, but everything else was so well done and hid the limitations of the engine perfectly.

I would have loved for this to have been about 20 minutes longer and just finish the game, instead of it being a demo. A lot of the charm of IGMC games is the feeling of completion in a short time, And if the game did well, then you remake it or make a sequel that's longer.

Either way, I will absolutely play the finished version of this. Happily. It was a total delight. Very very professional quality. It's the type of game that makes me want to make games. Great job and good luck!

Let me start this off with, I love how the game was SHORT.  It still felt complete. 

There's not a whole lot to say of this. It was a pleasant short adventure game. It had a touching story to tell. The character portraits were nothing short of spectacular. The dialogue was well written.

The mapping was very well done. There were some personal quirks I have with it. I think there's a little too much clutter, stuff that stops you from moving. And I wish the flavor text objects were a little more obvious. Very very minor quirks.

I also think there's a little too much flavor text. Plenty of it added to the story quite well, still.

Walking around and examining objects isn't my cup of tea, but that's personal preference and I know a lot of people enjoy games like this. The story it did tell was meaningful and I believe had plenty of personal stuff etched here and there. 

Good job all around! I wish you the best of luck.

I've seen you guys around often in the RM community, but this is surprisingly the first time I played one of your games. (you guys even beat me for the timtams, if I remember correctly) And to start this little feedback review off with, wow, this is clearly my favorite IGMC entry I played yet.

This game is an ode to classic Final Fantasy games, which I love. It somehow packs in an RPG journey within an hour and a half. The mapping is fantastic, the battles are well designed, and the story is flat out fun.

The game starts you off with letting you choose the gender of yourself and your lover, which I found to be a great touch. It is the game starts with wedding trope and villain steals bride, which simply works. It was done in a unique way I quite enjoyed. Classic RPG fun.

The first segment of the game lets you explore a town in unlinear fashion and more or less learn the mechanics of combat in a leisure way. I put animation speed on max and went at it rapidly. (I love it when games let me choose battle speed, I will try my best to incorporate this in my future games.)

The battles are fast paced and you feel powerful, even if the enemies pack a bite sometimes. You feel good fighting. It's not always a math quiz trying to proceed through a battle. You are three badasses who plow through the game.

Music in RPGs is a very important part. The music choice for this game was fantastic. The battle music felt like love letters to classic Romancing Saga games and there were several Castlevania inspired songs as well. It was such a good combination for me.

I played the game on max speed, but I still had about 1:30 hours before beating. Personally, I did not care. It was all so fun. But for an hour limit of contest (which I know doesn't remotely doom a game if it exceeds) I think some parts of it could have been cut or optimized better.

I personally think equipment should have been scrapped and just have the characters get their bonuses through the shrines you encounter exclusively. I also think that for a contest game like this, just having the player heal after each battle would have cut down quite a bit of time.

I am not someone who says all games should be that way. But if you stay damaged after a battle, usually it's for a sense of danger in a dungeon. This game, it was rather easy to walk back and there was never any danger walking back. So it was just added time and nothing else. Nothing beneficial to the gameplay. 

I think some of the flavor text/tutorials were a little too wordy.  I know why it was explained, but at the same time you don't need that much description telling you that "Girl badass, uses magic in battle."

I love skill trees and I did enjoy how it was done, but I think it would have fit better for a longer game in this case. They are also a little hidden in the menu, I don't think most players who aren't well versed into RPG Maker games would have a hard time finding it, even after the tutorial description.

The only actual problem I ran into was that last boss fight. I had defenses up for certain ailments, but the last boss bypassed them with one attack (and it was done a little too often) The fight itself I really enjoyed, but it was a bit trial and error-y. For non hardcore rpg fans, the difficulty spike might have thrown them off.  And it made all the equipment managing for me obsolete (as I did stuff to prevent ailments mostly)

And even though it warns you to save in extra slot, I think just adding a shop option anyway would have been fine there.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game. A lot. I'd love to see a game like this but MUCH longer. The mapping and level design just pleased my soul. The dialogue was all well written. The music choices were perfect. The combat understood exactly what made old Final Fantasys so fun to me. Fantastic entry. I should definitely play more games from you guys.

Disclaimer: I helped playtest this game. And it is developed by my brother.

There is nothing out there that is like Rival's Beyond. Much like all of PSISteve's work, it is an ode to the magic of his childhood. The game is like one of those classic cartoons from the 90s, but it also has this sadness behind it all.  But it is done in a way where the player is meant to simply have fun, not get depressed from it all.

How to describe it? It's like a turn-based RPG version of Punchout, but based off this weird limbo after life where you fight these charming cartoon critters.

The art is all hand-drawn and it is all so well done. I don't think anything else looks like this. PSISteve is really talented at making his own style and having it catch the eye. Every single enemy/character have so much personality oozing from them.

The goal of the game is to explore and find your opponents. Then you fight them. Each fight is refereed and you must pay attention to what your opponent does. If your opponent becomes too fast on their feet, you can devastate this with an attack of your own. They can also make YOU too fast on your feet and they can devastate you. It's very satisfying punishing your opponent when they think they have the advantage. There are a handful of other states like this, such as when they fly/grow defensive/think too hard.

PSISteve also composes his own music. Every song is moody and quirky and adds to the atmosphere quite a bit. As usual, one of my favorite aspects of his games.

The world is very creative. Each area feels like a different alien planet. 

The story is purposely vague. It starts you off with a heavy mood but then instantly lets you just enjoy the fun/cartoony world of it all. So even though it's fun, there is something sad lurking behind it all.

The ending was particularly good in my opinion. Without spoiling, it was very simple and effective.

The game felt complete. Which is hard to do in the limits IGMC sets.

This game is very good, but I am also biased alas. I still would bet on this game being a treat for most who play.

This game is really bizarre. In a way I liked.

Hand of the Goddess is like a fever dream. A very unique fever dream, one where it is easy to keep playing to see where it goes.

The pacing is off, on purpose. It's like suddenly you keep being thrust forward far into the story, in a way that is off putting. It's an emotional journey where the character must tackle their inner demons, which formed from a traumatic upbringing.

The battles were few, but each meant something. They might be too challenging for some, but I thought they were well crafted. I particularly really enjoyed how the main character used 'self harm' to attack the foes, and his crush would need to heal him. It is explained later on in the game, but long before that I got it and thought it was very very clever.

The game is so raw that it's almost uncomfortable. Which is EXACTLY my thing and style. I don't know if this will piss off the dev or not, but it's something I personally got from Earthbound/Mother 3. No, it's not quirky or modern. No, it does not have the Earthbound sprite style. But it has this weird raw cutting honesty that shows the developer is not afraid to hold back in the slightest.

The game plays well and even though the battles are hard, it's very well constructed. That said, I don't think it's for everyone. It's a very unique experience, one where you always feel uneasy and semi on the edge.

The message of it all seems very personal. It all meant something. Not one ounce of filler or wasted space in this experience. It captured the essence of IGMC better than most I've seen so far. A complete RPG journey within an hour time limit, using clever pacing choices.

Very good job with this one. Keep up the great work.

The production of Ouroboros is nothing short of fantastic. Heavily inspired by DND, and I'm fairly sure I see a lot of Etrian Odyssey in this (one of my favorite game series ever).

The game is mostly pleasant to play. I absolutely love love loved the Battle Speed options and I got to turbo the animations as much as I wanted.

The grid map as the actual in game map was a very fun touch. I liked how the enemies were done, either moving when you move or automatically moving whether you move or not. It reminded me fondly of dodging FOEs in Etrian Odyssey.

The game, however, is way too wordy in my opinion. I do not remotely mind dialogue heavy games. I got the point of it. I think it could have been paced a bit better. I would have just been let to explore and learn the mechanics at first, but felt I kept being stopped for a lot of description paragraphs.

For an hour time limit, I think this game may have pushed far too many mechanics into it. It feels like a jammed suitcase. It has a very deep set of mechanics that would be great for a 50 hour RPG, but for a short one I felt overwhelmed and like I was playing wrong. In the end, I didn't even need the majority of the stuff it built, such as crafting weapons and returning to get all treasures I was not able to get.

The game ends, very abruptly. It feels more like a demo of a proof of concept rather than a complete game. Which I totally get. A deep RPG in an hour is almost impossible. And IGMC forces very strict time limits in developing/and playtime.

Story wise, it also had way too many concepts in too small a space. I felt like developments were thrown at me, but didn't have weight because none were particularly built on. I did not have an emotional connection to any character, but I did enjoy how they looked/and the aging mechanic. I just felt it didn't mean that much in the end and would have done much better in a slower paced, much longer game.

I loved so many of the concepts of this and would absolutely love to see this fleshed out.

The biggest flaw to me was the Golem boss fight. It was a good idea, but it needed a lot more flexibility to fail. It turned into a vague trial and error thing for me. I even left and tried to find solutions. I would suggest if doing something this easy to fail based off timing/movement, to not give a game over.

I would have personally cut much of the mechanics and dialogue, and just let the player explore/battle. The game itself could have used a couple more boss fights/maps and less dialogue/mechanics so there is more room in the time limit to allow this. When I reached the last boss I was rather surprised, even though I was already past the hour mark (on fastest battle option)

The ending being a promise for more adventure also makes it feel more like a tech demo than a full experience.

I may seem like I'm complaining a lot, but I really enjoyed this. The flaws didn't remotely actually bother me, I've tolerated much worse in other games. I feel the need to point them out as this could be such an instant killer of a game and I think WILL be when you continue this concept. Your art is mind-blowingly good and everything ran so well. I hardly even recognized it was RPG Maker anymore and likely only did because I have so much experience with it.

Keep up the fantastic work. Absolutely great job. 

A Reaper's Mercy had a lot of good ideas. I like how we both had similar ways to go about the enemies. Semi copying SMT but adding our own touches to it.

The time limit of IGMC is a very brutal thing. I would have loved to see the map art drawn in same style as the enemies and character. I know why it wasn't, but the art that was made for this had a lot of charm to it, even if rough.

A lot of people said this already, but a good tutorial would have helped a lot. I understood a lot right off the bat because I too played old school games this was inspired off of my whole life. The only thing I didn't get for a bit was you get more levels from devouring than one and the karma system.

The battles themselves had a lot of meaning and depth, but I think would have vastly improved if you severely cut down enemy HP. A lot of devs worry too much about things being too easy, but I assure you even hard ass games like SMT have very fast battles.

And I think just having player be instantly healed after battles would help. I always was able to walk back to healing but most of my playtime was doing that.

I would also love to see a battle speed option/plug-in. The battles felt a bit slow and this is an RPG Maker thing. Mine was crazy slow until I found a good plug in. Really made the difference. This is just my opinion. Preferably an option for speed preference. But again I understand we only have so much time to work on these before deadline.

The allies disappearing after dying is a cool mechanic, but for our hour limit it might have been better to just have them forever after you recruit. I also think one devour per enemy would have been enough and have it improve main slightly more.

The game has some passability issues and some of the sound effects could have been turned way down.  I also would have a 'Are you sure you want to Devour' dialogue as I accidently pressed it when I didn't want to. Choosing which enemy you want to do what with instead of randomly having one selected would make things smoother as well. Some of the state icons were a little too vague. Others fine.

It's a good attempt overall. All changes I suggested (it's all my opinion,  feel free to ignore all) would be very fast fixes for the most part. Good work! Hope you had a good time in this brutal contest. It's a great learning experience each time I do it.

sunglasses off.gif

Glad you enjoyed it! I find that a lot of people expect a plotless roguelike. I definitely should have found a better way to convey that it does have a story haha.

Also, I didnt literally mean slaving away haha. My dev style is rather relaxed. I try to dev only in a good mood. The project itself is going very well, hoping to properly reveal it semi soon. 

Thank you for playing and for the kind words. 👍

Oh my I did NOT realize it was directing to demo by default. This issue should be fixed. I am sorry for any inconvenience.

If anyone got this in the  Racial Justice Bundle and only got the demo, that was not my intention haha. I did NOT see that little windows icon. If this caused you an issue, please feel free to let me know.

I would love for my game to be added to this. https://zds.itch.io/cope-island-adrift

Hope I'm not too late. This is a great cause.

Thank you for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed it!

I'm glad you enjoyed the game! I was planning on adding to the description but I've been mega busy with life and honestly a bit afraid to make a mistake and get in trouble while editing the page haha.

About running away, I'm sorry the Party Member screen shows at all! We didn't have time to figure out how to fully disable it. The option to Run is called Avoid and can be accessed on the normal command section. You have to scroll down past the ones that are shown (again sorry, we didn't have time to fix the UI to how we wanted to.)

I will definitely update it to where the ailments are better described in the future, may have helped you in the Clinger fights haha.