Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

Even short of the drop of the title of the jam "beyond expectations", I still felt it was obvious it was exceeding expectations by being one step ahead whatever the player expects. Sometimes visually, it can be a bit rough around the edges, e.g. the healthbars are a bit weird looking when behind the commands. Certain things here and there. But then there's nice polish of animations and other things. There's a lot of surprising things like expanding of timelines etc., even if one of the biggest drawbacks is just how it is somewhat unfinished, but what is there is already very very good and very funny and unique. Big ups from me.

The sokoban thing and the funny mechanics-based comedy is really hard to do and this game does it.

Keep making games. Every game is a gift. Love this game. Cheers <3

I streamed this and you were there, but a quick rundown:

• Resources and maps are fine, only aspect I'd fix is giving the protagonist a walking animation and maybe touch up his idle animation.
• Get rid of the sprites resizes enormous for portraits, they look very off. If you want that effect, go for using them as "face size" instead.
• Cute windowskin, but I'm not very sold on the font (minor nitpick).
• The concept is nice and original, but I'm mixed on execution. My biggest gripe by far is not being able to cancel out of attacks and repositioning movement.
• A lot of stuff isn't explained, a simple statement during the first encounter with mechanics would suffice "you can't correct movement, so be careful", and similar things when new gimmicks are introduced.
• The gimmicks are introduced at a good pace, but I'd say there's too many minigames per turn. Less enemies (or decreasing their effective range/giving them milder skills as a cooldown) would help so it doesn't feel as annoying to deal with.
• Fuck the snack snake minigame.
• Reloading is horribly slow. Speed up the entire game over scene and let me save anywhere.
• Some minigames feel like they don't give you enough time, though it could have been bad luck.
• A menu to check my base stats an the effects of the skills I get would be nice.
• I'm not sold into the story and dialog, mainly because I don't like kiddy protagonists and partly because the humor just doesn't work for me. 

Overall a solid effort that could do with some polish, and take my feedback with a grain of salt: I'm not particularly good or into minigame based games like this. Still, definitely a good effort and I can see how programming it could have been challenging! Good job.

This was really cool! I like the idea of adding QTE's to a tactics like, it definitely made the game more engaging. The story is also good, I found the jokes pretty funny. I especially like the 2.5 D art style! You went about it perfectly!   

This was great! The main character and the silliness of it all was very endearing and fun. It took me a hot minute to get the hang of but once the more complicated dodge patterns came into effect it became pretty fun! Only two things I rubbed up against; quite a few times I skipped my movement accidentally, or mis moved, and wasted a turn on account of not being able to undo that. The second is that the first non tutorial fight against the two goblins was maybe a little too difficult, mainly on account of still getting the hang of the mechanics. the slimes afterwards felt considerably easier. The visuals and soundtrack for this were wonderful - great job!

Cool, fun and impressive entry! Great job on all the different mechanics in such a short time. I too liked the variety of the dodges, but I think the 'dodge X' text appeared/moved too slowly, it took some fluidity out of the game. The 'sokoban' thing puzzle also felt too easy almost all the time and then almost impossible at times. The dialogue could also use some edits in some places. And don't know if it's just me being dumb, but I also couldn't figure out what the 'dodge at the end of the line' in death meant. Anyway, great job!

Oh! I really liked the humor in this game—truly delightful. Technically speaking, the game is very impressive: the dodge mechanic, the meta aspects, how to avoid the "end of the line," etc... You really did a godlike job. GG! ❤

Extremely funny, extremely FUN, and oozing charm. The gameplay is great and the dialogue is hilarious. I love the dodging even after you die, and I love the little mini-game dodges. 

Wow, I'm really impressed you got so much done in a month! The game looks great and is a lot of fun to play. I like how even when you die it still lets you dodge lol. I feel like this game matches the theme better than most games I've played from the jam, so great job!

This is a fantastic game for a month dude.

Plays super well, the mechanics are fun, story is good, presentation gorgeous. 10/10.

Really fun game. The 2.5D tactics gameplay witha didging mechanic is such a great idea! and you managed to implement responsively. Well done! The zoomed in sprites for the busts are compensating for the enlarged pixel art by texturing the edges and that s making even more fuzzy and hard to read. I would suggest finding a different solution for those. Otherwise the graphics look great. Well don!

This was a very fun entry and really perfected the beyond expectations theme with the dodging gameplay with a ton of cool twists! Also lots of very random scenes that I find very funny and charming lmao, I guess they do indeed go beyond expectations with that! xD <3 The pixel arts used are really adorable and I love how they blend well together with the battle UIs and stuff.

Some feedback, I do think the pixelated "busts" stand out weirdly on the scenes xD I would rather have the busts be an actual custom portrait art, or if you cant have that, then just use the pixel sprites as facesets on the dialogue boxes. 

But overall, a really cute and fun entry that definitely holds the beyond expectations title very dearly without trying too hard! xD <3 Great job Waldorf!

i played this game on stream earlier and i have to say this has been one of my favorite games in the jam so far, i think you have one of the best interpretation of the theme "beyond expectations" cause i was definitely not expecting all that depth given to a mechanic that is often overlooked by people! some of the plot twists are a bit random but very fun and novel that it was an enjoyable play to the end!

Waldorf for president!