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Round and Round's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #1 | 4.800 | 4.800 |
| Theme | #2 | 4.800 | 4.800 |
| Presentation | #2 | 4.700 | 4.700 |
| Gameplay | #2 | 3.900 | 3.900 |
| Horror | #3 | 4.100 | 4.100 |
| Overall | #3 | 4.400 | 4.400 |
| Story | #5 | 4.100 | 4.100 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How did you choose to implement the Theme: Macabre Carnival in your game?
You're at a carnival and don't remember how or why you're there. Things start... unraveling.
Did you implement any of the optional Bonus Challenges, and if so, which ones?
I utilized the different masks and some fun mini games.
I feel SO genuinely sad I didn't manage to get any dancing skeletons in.
Did you create your game in RPG Maker?
Yes
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Comments
This game was weird, bizarre, strange, cute and insane, all at the same time, and I absolutely loved that.
I'm not sure I fully understood the story, but I definitely enjoyed the experience. I really liked the setting and the visuals, specially the artwork of the characters and the parallaxes. The minigames were surprisingly fun, and I can tell you put a lot of though onto them. Some of the choices were really interesting and I like how it seemed like everything had consequences and how interactions changed depending on the mask worn.
Since I couldn't find credits, I don't know who composed the music, but I really liked it and it was totally fitting. It gave the game some kind of sad and nostalgic but kinda hopeful tone. I'm not sure how to explain it...Listening to the music and watching the parallax felt like watching the sunset, thinking about happy days from the past that will never come back, while being surrounded by freaky carnival creatures.
The loop gameplay was interesting, and if you make a larger non jam game, a similar loop gameplay could have lots of potential.
My main complaints about the game would be 1) the lack of credits (at least I couldn't find them, so if there are, indeed, credits, then ignore point 1) and 2) the fact that Clemencia had to die! She was awesome and too pure for this world!
Overall, I really enjoyed the game, it definitely has your distinct style and I look forward to your next project!
Hey thanks for playing!! I had a lot of fun with this one and I agree the story feels more than a little too vague. That's alright, I have plans to fix it in the future haha. There's things that were cut simply because of time, as it often goes in jams.
I feel a bit silly about the credits. I do everything, haha. And what little I don't do I really go out of my way to acquire them from sources that are creative commons use / no accreditation required. And then even then, I edit them to make them my own truly. I did the main title credits song and one of the mini game songs entirely on my own and then everything else is multiple pieces of music I downloaded from freesound dot org and then layered and edited and made loopable, etc. Some I changed a lot, some I only changed a little. But all were edited for the game and acquired correctly. I have a lot of weird anxiety about doing credits but I worry about exactly this - that people might think I'm stealing others music without giving credit. I'm figuring out a new music editing software so I'm hoping for most of my future projects I should be able to do almost all of it entirely on my own! But I suppose ME knowing it's all done by me doesn't actually help anything if I'm not making that clear on the game page.
Thanks again for giving it a go! I wanted to make something that wasn't really deep or tragic this time, just something spooky and a little ephemeral. I really like choice based games so I'm sure when I'm out of jam mode I'll come back to this style of story telling, I had LOADS of fun with it, haha.
(slight spoilers warning)
--
AAH WHAT A COOL GAME my jaw was open on a few occassions like seeing the carnival map initially and also the pile of corpses near the end Your style of making maps tilesets and all that is VERY interesting i really like it. Such a strange visual style but it definitely works for this kind of surreal game :3
The mask mechanic was very interesting i really liked how you implemented that bonus challenge :D And even thouhg i knew it was an option, ive never seen anyone utilize the text box color change thing so i thought that was pretty clever i liked it! Characters had fun distinct personalities and designs which is ofc cool. I really like that it left me with the feeling that the story itself has gone on for quite a while and will go on way beyond me playing it - its very cool to me
im such a big fan of repetition in contexts like this too, everytime i saw the desk again and the boss man said his dialogue i was smiling very hard i just love it. Changing the questions each round was a good call though, nice way to not make it seem boring
overall cool game, thanks for making it :D
Thank you!! I really like the idea of time loops and choice based games so this was a really fun challenge to tackle. And the feeling of being kind of dropped into the middle of it all with no memory is 100% what I was going for, so that feedback is really nice to read. I had a lot of fun making this and every jam I'm honing in my style and story flow ~~. Helpful feedback like this is just that - really helpful haha.
I'm planning on doing most if not all the rpg maker horror jams this year, I hope to see you in more down the road! <3
Such a wonderful experience. The art style really brought home this kind of surreal atmosphere the game had. Loved the characters, and that little detail of the text box changing to the color you chose was really neat. At the end when I saw the title screen again, I was like
Yup, I see now.
Thank you! I had a lot of fun. The text box thing was a kind of late addition that once I noticed i COULD do it my whole brain was like "well now you HAVE to" haha. Really glad it hit home for you!
This was a ride for sure!
There is a HUGE amount of choices you can make and I'm definitely gonna play it again to see the other dialogues!
I loved everything from the art to the minigames - the ducky one was my favorite -, the little cutscenes like the one where Raffle rams against the mirror were damn climatic.
Also, I didn't expect the twist until the very last moments, where I noticed their jackets were pretty similar.
Bravo!
Thanks for playing!! I'm so glad you liked it. This is by far the most convoluted one I've made, haha. I Love choice based games so I had a lot of fun piecing this together. (Raffles death scenes were my favorite haha, which is mean to say but, horror games gonna horror). Thanks so much again for giving it a go and your kind feedback!
This was quite an interesting take on the entire theme! I never expected such a type of loop/repeating scenario! It really adds to the stress and anxiety inducing fear of which choices will result in which actions and vice versa.
Maybe I'm dumb, but some of the nuance of the story went over my head a bit;; I do really like more abstract horror tales much like this one, but for me personally, I had trouble really understanding some of the exchanges in dialogue and some of the overall "plot" I suppose? But that's probably me overthinking it all!
The games were a really cool addition, and I ended up getting caught a lot in the bunny one ðŸ˜but it was really cool to see many different games implemented in such a way! I also absolutely love your artwork and design throughout- it's all so original and unique- definitely makes me feel like im immersed in the characters' world! (I really liked the animations of the sprites, too- during the ending segment and prior. The balloon was a funny touch!)
It feels nostalgic, almost- it's like you knew just how to capture what it felt like to go through someone's mind or memories...like everything has a type of haze to it, and yet it feels like everything has a texture you can feel and maybe even smell. I really enjoyed the visuals!
If I had to say anything, I'd say the long pauses between words/sentences seemed a bit drawn out, but I'm guilty of that myself so;; Either way! Very original, and I loved your take! Thank you for this experience!!
Thank you so much for this supremely helpful feedback!! You're not dumb, it Doesn't make much sense (cut to me a week ago on discord w my friend being like "it doesn't make sense wtffff"). There was a whole deeper twist / b plot that probably would make it a more tight story, but I just plain didn't have time to implement it the way I wanted it so I leaned into the weird, haha. Definitely as i was submitting it though I was thinking loudly "I dunno I think it just doesn't make sense", so you're not alone in thinking that. There's a terrifying point in writing where you just gotta lean into the curve or crash haha.
I love what you said about the texture of the art, that's so perfect. You're very kind. I really tried to go for a more traditional rpg look with the smaller sprites and I had a lot of fun leaning into the goofy color palettes haha.
*Spoilers to anyone who cares *
I wanted the twist to be clearer that you the MC were the fortune teller who ran the booth on the end and you had unlocked this ability in the mirror and got caught in a loop, thereby breaking reality and erasing yourself on accident with no way to stop it. I got some of that in? But I fully agree that it's not super clear. There's barely any mention of the fortune teller and the ending already felt like just a lot of text so I cut it down. But I really wanted to tackle this kind of choice based narrative and I'm SO glad I tried. Each of these jams I'm trying to take big risks and learn. Feedback like yours means the world <3
to be honest, I think that fits well, especially in a type of game or narrative where the player is meant to infer things through subtext or a general implication, based off what is presented visually. I really like media where specifics are definitely intended, but aren't written outright in black and white- giving more of a deeper dive into the exploration of the themes and nuance. I might just be reading too into things, but that's just my opinion on it!
What I mean is; i think it's perfectly fine that you didn't have to spell it out for the players to come to that specific conclusion! I think knowing that you intended things to be or mean a certain thing, really resonates in the fact that all that happens or plays out in the story/game isn't just "there to be quirky/random", and that it makes sense or fits together when you rly think abt it or analyze it!
Again, I look forward to more of your works- I really love your way of storytelling! :>