I got this game to judge as a finalist, here are my thoughts.

Overall I felt you had a solid story and idea here. I was interested in seeing how it went and playing it to the end. I do feel you need a little battle polish though. The first boss suddenly got many many turns in a row with no warning and I got wiped out due to that. If you are going to do a system with that many turns for a boss I'd invest in a true CTB turn order gauge like how FFX does it. That one shows you things like if you are about to go 2x or even 3x, and same with the enemy. That would really add to player experience too instead of what you got for the gauge, which with a party of 1 didn't feel too useful to me.

Also I do feel the ending was a little abrupt as it just...ended. I'd add a little more to that so the player feels like it is properly wrapped up. 

Other than that I do feel  you have a really solid entry here. A little polish on battles and a tune up on the ending and you'd have a really solid short game. Congrats on making it to the finals, and good luck with game making!

I was one of the official judges this year, and now that the results have been made public, and I'm free to do so, here is my score and thoughts on this title:

Overall score: 9.5

I felt this game was really well put together and a good mix of visual novel and RPG. However, I feel it fell short on a few aspects. First of all, it's easy to put skill points into the wrong skills and leave yourself with a build that might no be viable. I'm unsure if I managed to get enough AP from all the fights to learn everything, but by the time I fought Kell it was a difficult fight that I died to once. Also, her being able to drop my nearly full health bar to zero in a single turn of hers was a bit cheap. I also would have liked a little variety on the paths. I loved the travel system with risks and rewards, but it felt a little flat since I HAD to travel to every point on the map to progress. Or, at least it felt like I had to. Still, it was a very nice game that I enjoyed and wish I hadn't run out of time on, as I wanted to find out what happened.

Hey there MirageV, I got your game for judging so here are some of my thoughts. Using visual novel style cutscenes was a great idea since you have gorgeous art, though the story itself felt long compared to the time spent exploring the node maps. Speaking of maps, using nodes instead of full maps was a brilliant move! I wish there were more places to explore, but I'm sure you limited it because of the contest deadline.

Battles showed the time and effort you put into them, even when I was getting thrashed by a boss it didn't feel unfair. I just wanted to reload my save and jump right back into the fight to try out a different idea. Great job making combat fun and engaging.

Overall, this is a well done demo that leaves the player wanting more. It does need some more time and polish to truly shine, but it sounds like you're planning on that already so good luck!

The art in this game is absolutely it's strongest asset -- the game is beautiful! I loved all the small expression changes and details that went into all of the character profiles and backgrounds.  

I liked that this wasn't straight VN, but had gameplay elements woven within the story, since that makes it much more engaging, rather than just being a lot of text on the screen. 

This definitely gives me FF tactics vibes (minus the difference in battle system, of course), and I like the choice element that you've given the player with the skills / AP. 

Overall, very nice game and I think with the changes you already plan to make, based on your comments below, it will only improve from here!

Sacred Earth - Alternative

by MirageV

Hey there MirageV, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The title screen has nice music and art which makes for a good first impression.

While I'm not a big fan of visual novels I do like the font, text layout and presentation.

The writing is a bit lengthy, but worded very well. At times I feel like showing a picture or creating a scene in-game would have been better than just typing a paragraph.

The busts are animated with alternating expressions to go along with the writing which I appreciate.

I recognize Caz's Icons. They look good while matching the rest of the artwork that you've picked.

Simple menu layout and while it does scream RPG Maker, it's not bad. Everything you need is there in a clean window.

Customizing the menu sound effects could be a nice improvement. Confirm and cancel sound effect choice is an important one.

Node based travel works well here. Not every game needs maps that you walk around on. Bad maps will even take away from otherwise good gameplay. I think you made the right choice here.

I like the battle backgrounds, and actually all of the backgrounds that you've picked for that matter.

When starting an encounter, we're given the option to enrage them for +10 TP, or add player stats for -10. What about an option to change nothing for 0 TP change?

Making your tutorials skip-able is a good idea. Everyone learns differently and some people learn by playing not reading more text.

The combat system was a breath of fresh air. I didn't expect much in the form of gameplay when I go into a game that has the signs of a visual novel so when I saw the slick animations that you picked for the skills and the interesting customizations that were made I was pleasantly surprised.

The node system needs some kind of legend on the side that shows what each icon represents. It's impossible at first to know what each of these nodes will do, and thus a legend would help influence the player's first experience with it in a positive way.

Remove the 'properties' section of the status window by deleting that entry in the plugin parameters of the VS plugin. It's unused so it shouldn't even be there.

The description of the Ether items should also tell the player that they are getting elemental resistances and how much in the descriptions.

The menus and sound effect selection could use some work but overall I think that you've put together a really impressive project that feels different from most of the other projects in this competition.(That I've played so far anyway.) The writing is great, the story is interesting enough, the battle system is customized and the node system is a good substitute for using traditional maps. The game is presented well and I found it to be enjoyable.

Great job with this project, keep up the good work and I hope to see what you work on next. 

-Drifty

Since the entries were announced Sacred Earth had caught my attention. I preferred to play it calmly after trying other works because I imagined it would be a really good game. In fact it was a pleasant experience: I really liked how it's not just a simple visual novel but it also has gameplay elements like the node-based exploration. In terms of balance it seems on spot, I enjoyed a lot the battles. An honourable mention also goes to the graphics and the UI that are well done. The only advice I can give is to add a few minor adjustments here and there (like sound effects), just to increase the quality which is already high. Excellent job!

I really liked the graphics and main characters, and the exploration system is cool too!
It's an interesting mix, with nice one-character battle system!

Still, after the first part I found the story a little repetitive, introducing new characters that lasts not enough time. The're different from each others and the protagonist regains slowly memories, but after the first zone you can easily guess what happens in the next two.
Other than that, I had fun with the battles and exploration, even if I didn't understood how multiple turns work: sometimes I get four in a row, other times the enemy does.
Also, if I save in a scene before a boss unprepared, that save file is gone :/

The game is quite charming and the concept really interesting: I'll happily wait for new updates and improvements! ^_^

Excellent artstyle and the story seems interesting.

Had a great time playing through this, highly recommended. Very good for semi visual novels games. I like so much with the original character design for this games.

I really enjoyed the combat. Setting and managing all your buffs was fun, if at the end the easiest way to go was saving for your big hits, but it was a good addition to the story itself.

The story which was really easy to get into, curious to see more. That’s all you really need!

Map design is a nice change, and the gameplay is solid. Battles are tense, but not annoyingly so like other games that try to take the difficult route. The story is great and is a good jumping on point to the next installment. The storytelling does a good job at making each character distinct and relatable, and the stakes are laid out so well that you just want to keep playing to learn more about the world and these characters and how far everything will go.

Rock solid game! Can't wait for more!

Pretty good map and battle mechanics with a pretty good gameplay rhythm. As a story hook for the next installment, does a good job leaving you wondering what happened. Hope we get some answers in the future!

Sacred Earth: Alternative 10-min playthrough

- Incredible visuals from the get go. Professionally done

- The heroine is adorable :3

- Map exploration reminds me of Arcanum in Granblue Fantasy

- Dig the battle music

- Combat is definitely deep and engaging, a huge plus