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[iMaple]

Hello tigsourcers!

I'm Kai, and to be frank, I'm new here. But I did just write my mandatory introduction in the megathread, so I'm one of you now... right?

Anyways, I did make a few games during my time at the Games Academy Berlin, and I've met a lot of people there, especially smart people who said I should post my games on tigsource to get slapped feedback. (Some of you may know the game Ruah, I attended the same class with the devs, or Curious Expedition, I had the one of the devs as lecturer)

So here I am. I present:

Dude vs. JRPG Beta



Yep, that's an RPG Maker game. Stock graphics at that. But I trust you are not Greenlight people to pitchfork me just yet.

This is a short RPG with light hearted dialogue I made in about 7 days with the subject of satire in mind.

Playtime is around 40 minutes.

Story:

It is the year... something in the future. As a consequence for making the same game for decades, the japanese games industry is nearing a total collapse. As a last ditch effort, major development companies merge to form Kawai Dotcom, in order to create the ultimate JRPG, the savior, the game, the solution that will carry them out of this mess.

Kawai Dotcom promised that "The JRPG" will go back to the roots of JRPGs, but still innovate to go with the times, while allowing a cutting edge artificial reality experience through the "Dotcom Diver". (Sold seperately)

One day, our hero heard about this endeavour, and applied for a closed beta key as he had too much time on his hands. Dumb luck or destiny led him to receive such a key along with a prototype of the "Dotcom Diver"; He did not waste much time and dove right into the game. But what he found exceeded all expectations: It was an utter mess, a horrible excuse for a video game. Instead of recycling the ultimate JRPG classic, the game recycled every JRPG classic expecting something good to come out of it. Not able to take it any longer, he quit. He tried, that is. Long story short: He got stuck. In "The JRPG" Beta.

Gameplay:

But the story IS gameplay

Incredibly generic world to explore

Who needs gameplay when you have story?

Generic combat

Offering my services as a writer


USP:

Control a self aware protagonist in a cliche world

Download:

itch.io 192MB

Turn. Down. The. Volume.

Feedback:

As you can see, the game mocks JRPGs, their makers, their players, the RPG Maker community and even myself.

I'd love to hear some opinions from you outside of the RM community which calls every game that features <5 typos per sentence with maps that barely surpass the stock maps "great". So go ahead, slap me, I can take it.

While I'd appreciate any kind of feedback, I'd love to get a breakdown on the following things:

BUGS BUGS TYPOS REPORT THEM BURN THEM BE HAPPY

Writing: Good? Bad? Funny? Dreadful? Which lines felt forced, which ones worked well? Do you have a favorite? (I'm not a native english speaker, every bit helps)

Dungeon: I have never played/used a "real" maze as a dungeon, is it fun to get through or more of a nuisance? Is the concept the problem or the execution?

Keep in mind that I did not bother modifying the default combat system apart from skill names and stats as I wanted to have something quick and dirty, but feel free to comment on it anyways.

And here I need really honest opinions: If I could scramble together a budget in order to create a "real" JRPG with an actual combat mechanic and more appealing art with the humor as USP... Would you think it's worth a shot to pour time & money into it?

[agersant]

I played until I got into the lost woods and was one shot by a group of slimes (not sure why I only had 1HP the whole time). I was having a good time until then, your game made me laugh a few times!

Typos and small mistakes:
- Kawai Dotcom splash screens are not centered
- "You obatined a map!" typo
- "Why sould I run this marathon" typo

What I found the most fun was the abuse of JRPG tropes. Most of the time, the comments of the hero were not adding a lot of fun to the situations - they were actually detracting from the parody. I don't think players need all the tropes and inconsistencies spelled out for them.

What made me laugh the most:
- Stealing map layouts from Pokemon
- Hat choice and hat battle scene
- Inconsistent tilesets (ice cavern between town and castle)
- "way to shrug off responsibility dude"

Cheers!

[iMaple]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely take out some of the "cpt. obvious". I was afraid people might not catch on but then again, explaining it would detract from the original purpose. plus, this is tigsource, you guys sure know games!

You were at 1 hp because of the demon that killed you at the start - killing gary should've given you a potion to heal up again, but I'll definitely look at the numbers agains to see if slimes are indeed the hidden gods.

Must fix typos now.

[debugchicken]

Kawaii is with 2 "ii". The second "i" denotates that the adjective is affirmative. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but I thought you should know. Also, if you change the second "i" for kunai, you get, kawaikunai, not cute, for katta, kawaikatta, was cute, for kunakatta, and kawaikunakatta, was not cute.

I used RPG maker to make funny parodies when I was younger too: http://gamejolt.com/games/action/semi-metal-gear-solid-3-snake-iter/27906/

I felt weird at the professor's aide's students, because there were two, and the hero didn't bother to have the same conversation with both. Since the hero is more self-counscious, this kinda broke the immersion.

Most of stuff I didn't found out to be funny at all at the beginning, but then you seem to be funnier as the game goes, here are the stuff I laughed at:

- Mom Chat
- Save Point is random stuff
- Citie Names (Althought zelda is not 100%RPG and pokemon can be considered apart from the general JRPG too)
- The Remember/Never Knew/Together chat
- The shield part

It would be funny if, when he gets the "hi-potion" he answered "oh, hi, potion."

[iMaple]

Thanks for the feedback!

Kawai Dotcom is intended to only have one 'i', following the story of JRPG companies merging. It's the result of throwing names like Namco Bandai, Koei, Capcom and Square into a mixer. Definitely up for change if I find something more memorable and iconic.

Glad you liked the city names. I'm planning to add some meaning to those names later.

True, having the protag speak to 2 identical npcs and not noticing it is kind of defeating the premise. Will add extra pun.

I should definitely add that line. Social interaction with potions. Glorious.

Updated version now up!

[dimoniy]

Got this in Chrome:



Any idea what might be causing it?

[Whiteclaws]

SwagSoldier123

...

downloading
Idk you should send your CV to EA
high chances you might get hired as writer

[iMaple]

Got this in Chrome:



Any idea what might be causing it?

That's strange, I can download it just fine with chrome. Does it work with other browsers?

SwagSoldier123

...

downloading
Idk you should send your CV to EA
high chances you might get hired as writer

I'm too good for EA. EA is for plebs, my stories are grand fantasy extreme.

Edit: Messed up big time, event at the beginning is not working as intended (You don't get a weapon). Uploading fixed build.

[dimoniy]

Got this in Chrome:



Any idea what might be causing it?

That's strange, I can download it just fine with chrome. Does it work with other browsers?

Now, the https://www.dropbox.com/s/d8vmf8ebzazqjwb/Stuck%20in%20the%20JRPG%20Beta.exe?dl=0 link does not work at all, gives me 404

[iMaple]

Apologies, I just noticed an issue with the current build (described above) so I'm uploading the fixed version. Should've playtested it first, didn't expect I'd miss a checkbox. Dumb me. Should be up in around 10-20 mins.

Edit: Is up. Hunt the typos!