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A jam submission

Harold: Show-Stopping HeroView game page

RPG Maker takes to the stage!
Submitted by callmeDJ (@callmeDJ169) — 8 hours, 18 minutes before the deadline
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Harold: Show-Stopping Hero's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Marsha Award for Music: Sound#14.8104.810
Oldhar Award for Literature: Story#43.8103.810
Hrld Award for Graphics: Visuals#63.8103.810
Lucius Award for Laughs: Comedy#73.4293.429
Harold Award for Excellence#83.6193.619
Therese Award for Strength: Combat#152.6672.667

Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

(1 edit) (+1)

This one scores highly, music is excellent, great SNES vibe.  The mode 7 style angle is really cool and works here imho.

Lining the cutscenes up to the music must have been painstaking, bonus points for that even though I read pretty fast and spent a lot of time waiting.

Developer(+1)

Thank you Oath, glad you loved it. Timing was an absolute nightmare and I'm never doing it again, at least not for an entire game. It made the flow of the game a lot more linear since I had to event a scene, time it, and then write the song for it before going to the next one. It was also just really really annoying. Definitely worked out though!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Wow DJ, this is quite the production!

The music is fantastic. I didn't realize it at first, but the italicized words are actually timed to the lead instrument to simulate singing (and to help the player understand that the lines are being sung, rather than spoken). It really adds to the idea that this is a musical, not just another bunch of text. I also caught whiffs of the Theme6 motif throughout the score - nicely done!

Having choices during the game was a good idea to keep the player engaged, but the grading felt a little out of place. I wanted to play Harold as dumb as possible!

I also have mixed feelings about the combat. On the one hand, the menus are trimmed down to *just* what you need, no excess (OK, having Defend is questionable since it's not really beneficial in any way). Battles are not long, and each character gets 2 skills so there's no information overload. It's also a way to keep the player engaged. On the other hand, I don't feel like they fit the overall design (or potential design) of the game. Since the story is more central to this experience than combat, it seemed a little odd that losing is a possibility at all. Having to take multiple turns in combat slows the pace of the experience down, and since there are only 2 skills per character, there's not much strategic depth.

The writing is good. It's written like a Broadway-styled musical, only one of the cast members is that lovable derp Harold and the rest of the cast has to scramble to work around him. I really felt like I was in the audience watching this play that the crew was doing their darndest to save from catastrophe. Having all of the auto-advancing text on the screen made it hard to keep up with sometimes (particularly the parts where the crew was talking while the announcer was addressing the audience - I wanted to read everything all at once), but I understand you had to do it in order for the music to match the text.

The graphics look great too. Excellent use of MV3D to make it look like we're sitting in the audience and watching a play. I don't know how you could possibly do it better in RPG Maker.

Here's what I think would make this game really cool - either as a post-jam update, a remake, or just if you use the concept again:

  • Instead of choices being pass/fail and having the player get a game over for making too many "wrong" choices, just have different endings based on the choices the player makes.
  • Instead of combat being a win/lose multi-turn fight for survival, make it a choice (or series of choices) that affect the outcome of the battle (bonus points if it also affects the ending, like the suggestion above).
  • This is entirely too much for a solo-made jam game (maybe even if you had a team), but voice acting. It would put this experience over the top! You wouldn't have to worry about players not being able to keep up with the text, and the songs could actually be sung instead of relying on the player to interpret things correctly.

In other words, I think if you approached this not as a turn-based JRPG with some musical elements, but rather an animated, interactive musical play that players can tell their own story with, this could be a legendary show-stopping experience.

Overall, great job, and I look forward to your next production!

Developer

Thanks dude, lots to reply to here! Music was a key point since not only is it obviously a stage play but I am just as obviously hungry for that Marsha's Melody award and those five Hamiltons. Happy the musical number in act 1 rubbed off on you; that was such a pain to compose and time!

Honestly yeah, the grading is a little counter-productive to Harold's character. He's the total dumbass we still love at the end of the day; why punish the player for making Harold act like how we all see him? You're absolutely right on the multiple endings thing; I really should have taken that approach instead of grading. I almost want to put that in the post-jam build, but between focusing on a prototype for my passion project and never wanting to touch Show-Stopping Hero again I'm not sure how I'd feel about such a radical overhaul. HawkZombie did mention he wants to see something like Show-Stopping Hero on a larger scale, so maybe in the future I could do a more fleshed out game like Show-Stopping Hero with those multiple endings.

Interesting approach on combat. I am going to have to defend myself here and say that since it is a RPG stage play, naturally the combat would be inspired by RPGs. Defeating your enemy is just as important of a choice as choosing the right line; no one wants to see the hero fall halfway through the play. I tried to keep the combat relatively simple while adding gimmicks here and there, such as the guards that alternate between attacking and defending and the stagehand which Defend is indeed the right choice for.

Surprising you actually get Broadway vibes from it! Early into development, I was asking around for a theater kid in the server to make sure my dialogue sounded enough like a stage show but eventually took it all on my own. I don't even think I was in a school play let alone any big Broadway production, and my theater knowledge is extremely limited. Glad you caught the feeling of everything falling apart and the supporting cast and stagehands having to improvise on the fly. I've organized events that went that way so it was something I personally associated with. As I said to everyone else who had this gripe, I definitely should've made the backstage dialogue last way longer. That might have to be done for the post-jam build.

Thanks for the 3D love! I wanted to practice MV3D for Harold Jam to see if my passion project would be feasible in it. Even though I'm set on switching engines regardless, it was a great experience nonetheless and my prototype will indeed use MV3D so I can practice 3D mapping. It's not hard to make MV3D look awkward, but thankfully the room/stage setting was in theory blocky enough so I could get away with MV3D. MV3D was also a godsend since it let me model the curtains as single events spanning multiple tiles, control ambient lighting and spotlights, and create an audience-level perspective which would have looked absolutely horrible in 2D. I think the extra time spent learning MV3D was worth it, and the MV3D community deserves all my love and praise for helping me along.

I need to take good note of those last suggestions. While I'm hesitant about incorporating them into Show-Stopping Hero since I frankly don't even want to open the file again, I think they're fantastic and I would absolutely put those in a similar game should I make it. Thanks again for the insightful critique!

Submitted(+1)

Very interesting concept.

The antics are quite Harold, and the use of MV3D to really bring that stage-play thing to life is impressive.

I'm not super sold on the gameplay. There's a lot of waiting for the dialog (I know it's synced with the music, and that's amazing don't get me wrong), and there's a lot of individual moments where you have choices, but too many I think fall into illusion of choice from a functional perspective.

For example when fighting a certain slime, you can Slash for 0 damage or Spark for some damage. Playing without foreknowledge, the enemy just gets a free hit on you for using Slash and wasting that turn, and it feels kinda cheap. At the same time, you're instructed to preserve PP, but for that particular battle, you can't avoid using PP. I didn't try Defend strats as that fight is before the one where it makes it pretty obvious that you're not supposed to attack the opponent.

It also felt weird that I couldn't avoid that battle (or at least the dialog tree to do so was unintuitive).

I think the presentation, music, and technical wizardry behind this are all spectacular. And, it's entertaining in the sense that watching a short musical or something might be. My problem is - and this is something that cutscene heavy games have always run afoul of IMO - that I don't want to be entertained passively, I want to have fun actively by doing. This is what separates gaming from other types of media and by no means is this game worse in that respect than a visual novel, just to be clear.

That all said, and knowing I am not the target audience for this type of experience, it's a very high quality game that I think everyone should try.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the feedback, glad you liked the presentation. Gameplay was definitely a bit of a risk and I do think there were some holes and conundrums in the way I presented it. Of course everyone is gonna have a different opinion on gameplay; that's why I used this jam to take the risk. Now I know what works and what doesn't.

Submitted(+1)

Exactly, jams are the best opportunity for that and it's great you were able to come in with that perspective.

I'd still call the project a success even if it ain't my thing. I'd also add that my opinions generally run alongside a pretty small subset of potential players, so there's that.

Developer

And since I felt I was most likely to win best sound over any other award, the game's shortcomings may not matter as much when the final ratings drop. Pretty much the jam to submit this game to.

Submitted (3 edits) (+1)

The whole stage concept was very unique. The timing of the music and sound effects was extremely well-done. My only criticisms are minor, but I figured I’d share them anyway:

  • The intro part could use a skip after the first time through. On my first playthrough, I went for true Harold behavior to see what happens when he gets boo’d off the stage. On my second, I wanted to try to do well, but I had to sit through that LOOOONG, unskippable intro. Thankfully MV is merciful and doesn’t stop itself when running in the background–unlike MZ.
  • Sometimes text disappeared too quickly, and other times I was screaming internally for a fastforward option, but I get why it was done in this case–presentation timing.

Great overall though. I got a perfect score in the end, too! :D

Developer

Thanks for all that! Honestly it would be really funny if there were a way to completely skip the musical number, although I do feel that would pose a new set of problems I'd have to solve if I were to implement it. Funny you mention how you like that MV runs in the background considering the last commenter wasn't fond of that.

Submitted(+1)

Absolutely LOVE the stageplay RPG concept and presentation. Especially the clever use of music, player choice and 2.5D camera angles.  

Overall, Harold: Show Stopping Hero was a joy to play and to watch the hilarious, epic saga of Harold unfold from start to finish. A truly 'show-stopping' entry! :)

Developer

Thank you so much, glad you loved the concept.

Submitted(+1)

Okay, so this was a real fun game with a terrific presentation especially in the sound department. 

My one issue with this game is the autotext. I often finished reading before the text would update, but at the same time I also felt I couldn't look away for one second as there was no option to pause the game. In fact while playing, my cat accidentally minimized the game and the game just continued running letting me lose some dialogue. I would suggest either scrapping the autotext or at the very least have a plugin that pauses the game if it's not active.

Developer (1 edit)

Thanks for the feedback! The auto-scrolling text is the gripe everyone has with this game, which is understandable. You, however, are the first person to say it's too slow instead of too fast so I guess I hit the right balance? The auto text is a core part of the presentation, however, so in the post-jam release I'll see if I can find a way for it to pause the game when minimized. Would've missed that otherwise so thanks for letting me know!

Submitted(+1)

Excellent use of music! I'm impressed on how well it syncs with the actions as well as variations which I think is based on the choices you make. Loved all the theme6 remixes in there. Interesting take of an RPG as a stage play (loved the thematic used of PP for magic as pyrotechnics) .  Loved it!

Developer

Thanks a lot! I'm glad you vibed with the stage play feel. My core philosophy for this game was making as much of a stage play as a RPG, so obviously you wouldn't have dudes on stage just casting magic and stuff.

HostSubmitted(+1)

Wow, the presentation on this was spectacular! Please, let me audition for the real world version of this. Also release that initial song with full vocals! The timing on the music, pacing of the story, and overall execution were absolutely amazing.  If you had made some minor improvements or added to the combat system, I think you could have gotten perfect scores across the board. 

Haven't played all the entries yet, but this is really the one to beat so far! Thanks for submitting such a great entry!

Developer (1 edit)

Wow, thank you so much! Trust me, if I knew the right guy I'd love to do a fully orchestrated version of that song with vocals. I like to imagine Harold's dad sounding like J.K. Simmons or Christopher Lee. I really wish I gave the combat some more love, but unfortunately I A) couldn't think of much that would work in a stage setting, B) had no time to really think of much, and C) didn't have Violet in the background coming up with some insane battle system. I had the idea of doing battles on map using player choices but that kinda went to the wayside after I remembered I was on a deadline. Thanks again for hosting this jam, I'm really looking forward to the next one!

Submitted(+1)

I got a C. 11 of 20. I definitely need to play this again!

The game play was very good! And it has replay value! I do not see that in a lot of these jam games. 

Combat was good. Simple and clean. It made sense in the context of the game as well!

I was smiling a lot and while I had few laughs It had a light hearted feeling that I really liked.

MUSIC! I want the sound files just to listen too! (On par with my friend ViRiX's music... maybe, maybe so. MAYBE!) I was doing something else when the game loaded and I froze when I heard the menu screen music. Literally froze.

The issue with all the GFX for me was how all the backdrops in the sage looked like they were about to fall on the actors. I know it's from the messy meshing of the 2D and 3D but it was a bit distracting. And disconcerting! Forget the lights, perspective was warping! AHHHHH

Because this was essentially a chose your own story it was what I could make of it. I liked it a lot and I will play it again for more story!


Overall very good game!

Developer(+1)

Really appreciate the feedback! Happy you enjoyed the soundtrack; after the voting is over I'll definitely compile and upload the original soundtrack for you and everyone else to enjoy.

Submitted(+1)

YAY!!!!!!

Submitted(+1)

Haven't even played the game yet, I just be vibeing to the intro!

Developer

You're in for a show.

(+1)

This was very well done! Some of the responses to me picking dumb choices had me laughing. Nice job!

Developer

Thanks! I wanted incorrect answers to hold as much of their own weight as the right choices.

Submitted(+1)

Right from the get go this entry is very well presented and very well sounding. Everything is well timed and appropriate for the context and setting of a screen play. Everything is deliberately well timed and executed to feel like a real performance such as sound ques, musical stings and the lighting of a spot light. This is probably one use of 3D in rpg maker that I can get behind and say works effectively.

The writing is well written for the theming of a screen play with the player able to make multiple choices to effect the outcome of scenarios. Music is very good, quite possibly the best sounding entry I’ve played so far. The style of music and comedic timing reminds me of Banjo kazooie.

One of the best examples of musical timing is when Harold finds Marsha singing in the forest with each timed ‘la’ a musical note. It’s very well done.

The only criticism I would have is that choices don’t affect the outcome all too much and things mostly go the same way however it offers some slight replay ability. Another is that all of the text is auto timed and understandably this is because of deliberate musical use and would be impossible otherwise if text was proceeded at the players leisure. I feel that starting section drags on a little for a tutorial but other than that its fantastic.

Overall incredibly good entry, one of my favorite so far, it had me smiling from its charm and well executed music.

Developer(+1)

Thank you so so much, this really does mean a lot. Happy I was able to give you and everyone else the chance to play this labor of love. I'm happy the 3D risk worked out; I genuinely think this game would have looked so much worse in the usual 2D even if it meant I spent less time figuring out MV3D. I am a composer first and a game dev second and was gunning hard for that Marsha's Melody award so I'm happy the music stood out to you too. That normal battle theme is the most anime song I've ever written and it got me through long hours working on this game.

I would have absolutely loved to have multiple endings based on choices you make and how much CP you have left by the end. The opportunity was there but not the time, as is typical of jam games. It would be fun to add that after the jam ends, but frankly I don't know if I even want to look at this game again. As you mentioned, the auto-scrolling text was a neccessity so the music could line up. I opted for a downloadable build instead of having it be in-browser so the audio and dialogue would stay synced up.

Submitted

Unfortunately upon download the game does not appear to run.

Developer

Seeing if I can upload a hotfix now. Just rolled out a duplicate deploy and it opens fine on my computer. The one I uploaded didn't seem to open easy so it may be a universal thing.