Mechanically it's solid and the work is evident; presentationally, however, it's very bare-bones, in ways that hurt not just its aesthetics but also its playability.
I recommend looking at The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy for an idea what a really solid turn-based strategy game looks and feels like - or, alternatively, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles once it comes out at the end of September.
I ran out of time and scoped stuff down near the end to make a game-like experience, otherwise I would have added much more polish for the environment, UI, gameplay, etc.
At the start of the Jam, I had considered modeling the gameplay to either FFT or Wakfu/Dofus, and ultimately chose Wakfu/Dofus due to the lack of height complexity since I knew that would be a major issue.
The biggest hangup for me was Heuristics. It took longer than I would like to admit to figure out a decent way to do it. 1/3 of the Jam was spent on that alone.
I've played FFT in the past extensively, so I have a lot of experience with the game. So I do understand how certain facets of depth in Stats, Abilities and Roles can make for a better experience. I likely won't get the remaster of the FFT since, aside from the difficulty improvement, I don't think I'd get much else out of it.
Near the end of the Jam, I was so mentally exhausted that I struggled to add Abilities in for each Character. Not because it was difficult, but because each Rig was different and one of them were not Humanoid, I couldn't Retarget properly and had to improvise and spend some time making rough custom Animations. Each Ability would need its own Animation, VFX and SFX. I ran out of time before I could add proper SFX and VFX for most, minus the obvious damage number popups.
If I can get it on sale, I'll get 'The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy'. I like the Danganronpa series and I can enjoy SRPGs, so I'll probably check it out at some point.
I can tell that you like SRPGs, so your feedback is much appreciated! I would recommend that you try out Wakfu and/or Dofus so you can get a better idea of what this project was going for.
Thank you for the feedback :3
