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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperPlaytestingNew 8bit JRPG Comedy
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joshmarinacci
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« on: February 05, 2015, 10:13:31 AM »

I'm working on an 8bit JRPG comedy tribute to old skool Final Fantasy games called "Christmas Adventure IV: The Eternal Fruitcake of Light."

The game will be episodic with one chapter released each month. The first two chapters are ready to play now in the browser.  The commercial release with the first four chapters will be ready at the end of March as a downloadable game.

I would *love* your feedback on the game in progress and I also have a question. What platform would they want me to release the game for first? PC? Steam? Mobile? Tablet? Direct PC download?

You can play the first two chapters here (the final game with be downloaded. only the beta is web based):
     http://joshondesign.com/p/apps/xmasbuild1/game.html

The trailer is here:
     



You can see screenshots and my devblog here: 
    http://9bit.us/

I've also put up a quick survey to see which platform and format is the most popular.

http://goo.gl/forms/QbJR3oC9N9





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Raicuparta
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« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2015, 12:19:52 AM »

Suggestion for other people testing: if the page scrolls when you're playing, try in full screen (F11).

I'm sorry for not being able to give you the feedback you want, but I feel this isn't completely playable yet. For some reason the player seems to start walking faster some times, and I was able to go through the bottom wall, next to a door, and walked out of the map. Also, the dialogue was confusing, you can't tell that you're supposed to press a key to continue. Usually games will have an arrow pointing either downwards or to the right to show that there is more dialogue.

Some of the technical issues may have risen from having the game in a web page and may not be in the executable version, though.

EDIT: Forgot, I'm on Chrome, Windows.
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Quicksand-S
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« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2015, 03:01:24 AM »

Firefox Developer Edition, Windows 7 64-bit. No apparent technical issues, although loading the North Pole took a second.

Raicuparta makes some good points. About the sudden speed increases, it seems like you just wanted the player to accelerate after a while. On paper, that might seem like a good idea but I personally found it frustrating to have to wait to reach full speed all the time.

The train scene was really strange. You're told to take a seat, but you're not supposed to and you're just magically at the North Pole. Then you get out of the train and appear beside a door. I tried going in it and the game told me I couldn't go "back"...but it didn't look like I'd come from there.

The train is really wide for a train, but I guess it felt kinda train-like otherwise. The North Pole itself looked all right too, but very lifeless. Maybe you should add some NPCs wandering around town, and possibly some clusters of trees or something. One thing I liked in old FF games was searching areas for hidden chests, or things like pots with items in them.

Misc recommendations that I think could increase the appeal of the game: music, sound, battle-scene backgrounds (or at the very least a different color than what's used now) and battle animations.

I won't comment on which platform I'd want it on, because I'm probably not your target audience. As much as I enjoyed the old Final Fantasy games, I don't see myself playing this much. In FF VI, for example, I loved the likable and varied characters, and the interesting locations. This game has a main character I didn't like much from the start, and the North Pole doesn't appeal to me as much as a more creative setting. Maybe it gets more interesting later, but a game generally has to get my attention from the start or I have no reason to stick with it. That said, I'm sure there are people who like old-school RPGs for the gameplay, so hopefully some of them will give it a try and enjoy it.
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joshmarinacci
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« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2015, 11:09:26 AM »

Thank you both for the feedback.

Would it be useful to have the game snap to a smaller size if you are on a smaller screen? I want to always keep it an integer multiple of the game's internal screen size so the pixels always look crisp.

The moving faster part is sprinting. So if you are walking long distances it won't take so long. Perhaps he should speed up over time instead of just doubling speed magically. Smiley  Could you tell me exactly where you were able to get outside of the walls? That shouldn't be possible. The debug panel in the lower left will tell you which area you are in and the x/y location.

Good point about adding an indicator. I'll add that.

About the train seat.  Holy Carp! You are totally right. I guess I've played the game so much I didn't notice it. I'll fix that. 

Hmm. Now that I look at the north pole with fresh eyes, you are right about it feeling lifeless. I'll add some more people and things.  There are spaces at the edges where I'm planning to put some items for you to find. I just haven't built that part yet.

I do have plans for more animations and colors. There is sound and music already, though. Were you not able to hear it? Could be a bug on my side.

Regarding interest of the first chapter. Hmm. You aren't the first person to mention it. Sounds like i've got some retooling to do.  Can you try playing chapter 2 instead? It takes place elsewhere and has a lot more action.

Thank you for the feedback. It's the only way games get better.
- Josh




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Quicksand-S
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« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2015, 12:32:28 PM »

I can get through the bottom wall in the very first room, and the very similar one that's right after the train.

Also, if I leave that first room and return, I appear at the bottom door instead of the door I came in through.

There are some spots in the North Pole where snow is black (ex. the corner near 86,21 in North Pole Village).

I did try Chapter 2 briefly yesterday, but I really hate turn-based RPG battles these days (Can't even replay old FFs because of it). In this case, since the only options are essentially to fight or run, an auto-battle option seems like it might be a good idea. Character-specific abilities would be nice, though. Just hitting a button over and over for most battles isn't very fun. Being able to choose a weapon for each person, even if the choice is fairly limited, would improve things a bit too, but maybe that doesn't fit your vision for the game.

If I take a monster into negative health, shouldn't it die right away (and have my character auto-target another) rather than the rest of my turns playing out against it? It's so easy to waste turns on things that are already dead.

Chapter 2 has some of the same weirdness as Chapter 1. I exit the train and appear in the station. That's fine. Then I leave the station through the same door I came in through, and it takes me to a new spot? Very weird. Also, I was confused about the kid asking for two tickets when he has three party members, but maybe that's just something in the story I missed by skipping a chapter. My favorite location visually so far is that Chapter 2 train station, though. Nice place.

The level-up screen should probably feel like an accomplishment with celebratory sound/music and graphics that don't look like a "blue screen of death" on an old computer. It also showed up twice in a row, and showed all characters both times. I imagine it should only show the characters that actually leveled up.

As for sound and music, it seems to come and go. In Chapter 1, it started out fine and then disappeared around Santa's Office, I think. In Chapter 2, during a battle, the music played once but didn't loop, and the sounds were annoying enough that I wanted to turn the volume down. The music in Chapter 2 repeats so often that, again, I wanted to turn the volume down. I don't mind the idea of using Christmas music, but these sound a bit off to me, and having longer tracks would be nice. Having different music for battles would probably be a good idea too.

This time, I ended up quitting because I was getting random battles every two to four steps on the world-map. Not fun at all.

I do find the island a little more appealing than the North Pole, though, in terms of its design. I had no idea where to find the dock that was mentioned, but I didn't mind exploring until the battles got so frequent.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2015, 12:41:06 PM by Quicksand-S » Logged

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Frastrud
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« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2019, 08:42:06 PM »

I think what you have here is kinda interesting, but the game design is really bad (the characters look as if they don't have feet and it looks like you resized the sprites and accidentally forgot to turn switch bilinear to nearest neighbor in paint.net or photoshop) and from my end of the screen theres alot of black lines between the npcs and walls.

if its your first game it's understandable you're making these mistakes. I'd suggest working on making the game look clean game design wise, maybe change up the characters and try to make it look presentable. You don't have to go overboard on it and recreate everything but maybe adding some feet to the sprites making sure everything doesn't look blurry and getting rid of the weird black and white lines in the tiles I randomly get on the map? (I don't know if this is because of my computer.)

I find some of the NPCs dialogue a bit funny sometimes. But on the other hand some of them just come off as very generic and felt really unfunny. But honestly I think it could work in your favor even if you don't change the dialogue.


EDIT: I also got to a part in your game where you fight enemies, the battling is okay for a first RPG game but I think you should rework the look of the options you select, it looks more primitive then something from a early final fantasy NES game.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2019, 08:47:38 PM by Frastrud » Logged
jbarrios
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« Reply #6 on: September 04, 2019, 12:02:46 PM »

Nigan,

I played your game.  I recorded it and my thoughts:


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