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Shadow's Gamble's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay | #155 | 1.857 | 1.857 |
| Theme | #161 | 2.143 | 2.143 |
| Overall | #174 | 1.857 | 1.857 |
| Engagement | #176 | 1.714 | 1.714 |
| Presentation | #191 | 1.714 | 1.714 |
Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Hello! I streamed the game, and I have to unfortunately say that the experience is... disappointing.
I can commend the intentions in trying to make something more than a simple RPG, but there's a lot of things that I think are not done well.
First of all, the entire context in breaking inside someone's home doesn't feel appropriate for the actual gameplay: feels more a trial to complete than a intrusion - I don't see why they would keep a door with logic quizzes or having a timed chest instead of a... locked one.
The logic puzzles were interesting (I enjoyed them), but felt very out of place - like they were randomly put in just to have any semblance of gameplay.
Also the lost wood section was just confusing to play: there were no clear indication of what the area was supposed to mean, and even if I knew that was a "lost wood" section, going at random without hints is definitely not fun.
Also you mention that most of the problems are Unite's fault, but that doesn't mean it's ok to keep those parts unpolished. The game starts in the corner of a map with 2/3 of the screen being black - that's not a good way to introduce the player, there should've been more map to decorate the black part. Also, the dialogues go on a new line at the wrong moments, definitely a doublecheck would've help recognize this problem and try to go on a new line manually instead of relaying on the default function.
This unfortunately can give the impression of lack of polish and low care on some parts of the development process.
At the end, I don't know what this game was supposed to be, since there's a mix of action and logic parts that don't really seem to define a core concept for the game and a story that takes random turns out of nowere, which doesn't seem to go beyond expectations.
Here's the VOD of the stream, but be wary that we made some fun of the Unite engine, but I still tried to give some constructive criticism on the game itself:
Thanks from your stream!
Time out lock actually makes more sense when you think about the security that was in place for it, the time out locks were invented as a means to combat real life pickpockets who can pick most locks. With enough skill even the most difficult lock can be broken but with a time out lock, you literally have to wait certain period which increases risk of getting caught like here.
Sorry about Lost Woods segment being confusing, it's more actually akin to the original Super Mario brothers castles, there's also just the trial and error there.
The map having black edges is RPG Maker Unite engine issue, there's no way to fix it aside putting paralax like clouds or some other map like that but it looks really awful even with that.
The dialogue worked fine in editor, in RPG Maker Unite the exported project runs different resolution than editor... sometimes, which means the dialogue lines do jump like that in exported project. Again, this is RPG Maker Unite bug.
The reason I list them as feature is there's no way to polish these issues, the only thing that I can do is wait for an update to Unite.
Sorry that you didn't like my game, I was going for Action-Adventure, with a mixture of logic puzzles and some light action.
Okay, finally got it downloaded and extracted.
-The SE volume is super high. I had to lower it to 20% for it to be bearable.
-The writing was a bit flat. Like everything I needed to know was just kinda told to me. Not bad, just meh.
-I know you've said a lot of bugs/issues are unite problems, but the font was really weird, and the text boxes are super hard to read. In general, my impressions of unite are not great.
-The bust art was nice, but the 3dish models and MZ style rtp did not go well together. I would have honestly just used the MZ rtp for this one, or at least changed the tileset.
-Title screen music was good. The other music....not so much. In addition to being really loud, it got annoying really fast.
-The bartender changes appearance after you talk to the queen lady. He also starts his walking animation, like he has the "stepping" box checked.
-I played up until the barrel puzzle. The torch memory puzzle was okay. It felt kind of like filler, IMO, but maybe it's because I don't like puzzles like that in general.
-As for the barrel puzzle, I have no words. I'm guessing it's some sort of lost woods (from zelda) type thing? I don't know. Wandered around for quite a while trying to figure it out, and than I got frozen in place for some reason.
Getting frozen sometimes happens due to RPG Maker Unite bug. It's strange because just fidgetting around makes you able to move again and sometimes not. (You can see this actually in a let's play of the game, fidgetting especially with mouse solves the issue) Again, RPG Maker Unite bug and sadly not something I can fix. Fortunately it only occurs if you take the wrong route and not always, but it's a very weird bug.
The font and volume being too loud are a Unite bug. (I've already lowered the volume how high the sounds play!) The bartender changing apperance is oversight on my part, but I can't fix it right now.
Yes, it's like Lost Woods in that you have to go in certain order to pass. If you want, I can tell you the spoiler for the correct route. Only the final branch near where you heart the chime or buzzer is the one that matters.
Well... After playing it, I'm really not sure what to make of the game. After the somewhat interesting premise and twist, the game just falls apart as soon as I enter the mansion.
Nearly 99% of the bugs are all caused by RPG Maker Unite. Heck, it's listed as a feature on the game's page.
Being immortal is weird, because in many tries I've tried I have died. (Heck, I literally can game over when reducing hp) There's pretty much no reason for the game to have 0 hearts and not game overing, since that's checked from the player's current health... really, really weird.
Sorry that you didn't like the game.
NOTE: There's a smaller version for Windows that I can't upload right now but if you want to get the same game for windows for less space, here's a Google link.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X1x3y9ajccaFW56EqpkXSYweAjk51k8z/view?usp=shari...
I wanted to try your game, but it's been taking forever to extract. It's been stuck at 47%, and the estimated time is 2 hours 30 minutes.
I'm not familiar with the game or how unite functions, but I might look at cutting down on the file size or something.
That's strange, what program are you using to extract?
Just windows' extraction system
That's strange. I cut the size smaller but I can't upload it at the moment, but here's a Google drive link. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X1x3y9ajccaFW56EqpkXSYweAjk51k8z/view?usp=shari...
You have a game breaking glitch. When you go upstairs in the mansion, the transfer to go back downstairs is broken or not present. So, you're simply stuck in that spot and have to go back to your last save. Unfortunately, autosave sticks you there.
Where upstairs? You don't technically need to go down after entering the mansion , but where does this occur?
You go in the mansion, you go up the stairs, and it's there. You can't advance because every time you try to move, the screen wiggles, and you're stuck on that square in front of the stairs. Then you can't go back down the stairs.
That's a puzzle, you need to go in certain order like in Super Mario. But you should be able to leave that corridor if you want to get some of the previous loots, I'll fix it in a patch.