Nice start on a game, congratulations on getting it submitted!
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The Covering Wrist of the Angreik 's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall Bad | #46 | 2.772 | 3.250 |
| Overall Good | #48 | 1.919 | 2.250 |
| Sound | #48 | 1.706 | 2.000 |
| Overall | #49 | 2.004 | 2.350 |
| Gameplay | #51 | 1.706 | 2.000 |
| Graphics | #54 | 1.919 | 2.250 |
Ranked from 8 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Any additional information for voters?
I just hope you enjoy playing the game ive made!
Comments
Not a bad effort for a first published game, I admit I'm not a huge fan of RPG maker games, that might just be me being worn out from them over the past 6 years in jams lol.
But this was kinda interesting with the randomized rooms, though frankly I think the rooms themselves are too big and sparse. There are items to find, I found I think 3 drops, but that's across over a dozen rooms, several of which are pretty large.
And while this is more of an aspect of RPG Maker itself, the combat isn't that entertaining. It's not awful, it's rare I encounter an RPGMaker game with truly bad combat, but I've never been wowed by it.
Just overall generally I think this is a case where you should've thought smaller. By my count I saw the map names go up to "map 19", and I think that should've been the level count of the entire game, and even then you could've done with maybe half that and just focus more on the progression and having a defined ending. Maybe it's really easy to make lots of levels in RPGMaker, I'm not sure, but I know I've always found level design to be the most difficult part of game dev.
And frankly I don't know that I found this to be a "so bad its good" experience. It was tedious more than "bad," but the tediousness also held it back from being entertaining.
But back to the positives, I think there is more you could explore with randomized rooms, but I agree with the other comment it may be better for more of a roguelike experience. Or perhaps just have fewer, smaller rooms per layer.
I also liked talking to the various characters in town, with the buildup to the dungeon. Again I think the town level and buildings should be more compact, but it's more content dense than the dungeon which is good.
I think this is a decent start, and I like that you went a bit experimental with it instead of just a totally straightforward RPGMaker game. Good work!
Submitted
out of orderThank you for your feedback and comments about things!
"though frankly I think the rooms themselves are too big and sparse." That I fully agree. A problem I ran into was that I didn't have as much time as I realistically wanted, mainly because of poor time management. So a lot of the rooms weren't filled with items and stuff as I wanted. Especially since the combat system was basically not developed. And for that reason, I didn't want to force the player into using that system, since it would just make more players dislike the game.
"It's not awful, it's rare I encounter an RPGMaker game with truly bad combat" To give you an idea, in this version like 95% of anything you do combat-wise is like default RPG Maker stuff. Default as in if you make a project, that's the data that's loaded in. I can't remember how much I modified since I suffered a loss of data when it crashed. (Sometimes when you think you are safe and stop panic saving is when it crashes.)
About the levels. Originally I was going to have around 5 to 10 rooms per layer. However, when I tested it I got room 2 about 6 times in a row. With how the random generator works, with rooms 1-5, you would have a 33% chance to get that room. (3 exits / 9 exits total) I figured at that point there's no way to have that little room without it getting boring, since for me, if you got multiple rooms back to back it could easily get boring. And if you're wondering, even now I'm still struggling with how to implement or even have a system to prevent the player from going immediately back. For me, I adore making levels. I find it fun and entertaining to just put on a video in the background and work on them.
"Or perhaps just have fewer, smaller rooms per layer." From my personal experience, you either have a few big maps or many small maps. Trying to get a few small maps to work in my strong opinion doesn't work without a lot of effort. I was actively avoiding a few big maps because that's what basically everyone does, so I went towards the many small maps. And you would be correct; when I posted the game, I put the tag rougelike on it, specifically for that reason.
"I like that you went a bit experimental with it" Thank you for that comment! Another huge reason why my time management was bad was simply because I had no idea what the "core" idea of my game would be until like the 28th. I would rather not make anything basic or that has already been done, because for me that doesn't fit the theme of the jam. I've had the mindset for a while that the reason something doesn't exist could be simply because it's difficult to do it right. And this was definitely one of them, lol.
"And frankly I don't know that I found this to be a "so bad its good" experience." Being brutally honest, I'm not surprised. I didn't have a good concept of those types of games. I do have a concept, yes, but not anywhere near enough to try to make a game based on that idea. So, why did I join this jam? One main reason why was simply because I put a lot into others opinions about things, especially when it is something I've never done before. My self-worth is basically near 0 most of the time, so part of the reason I haven't finished and published a game before is simply because I grow to genuinely hate it. I felt like I could post to this jam not worrying if people saw the game as "bad" because that's kind of what it's going for.
I also interpret the idea of "so bad its good" as a diamond in the rough. Where the game is bad in numerous areas, but you can see that its "soul" shines brightly. That you can see the creator genuinely cared about the game and was trying their best, but they just didn't have the skills. Some of those lean into that quality and make their "badness" part of the charm. But yeah, I do agree with you that it probably doesn't give a "so bad its good" experience, or at least not strong enough to say with certainty it does.
If it isn't obvious by how long these responses can get, I can and will type a lot of stuff, lol. So I'm hoping when I update the game after the voting period of the jam ends I should have a lot more dialogue and story in basically every area.
Thank you for the feedback again, both negative and positive! It was wonderful reading them, and hopefully you'll have a good day/night!
Thank you for your feedback, and a massive thank you for hosting the jam!
Yeh, I had some fun writing the more non-story characters and definitely will add some more in the next update.
I also liked the idea of a randomized dungeon that not only had premade maps but also had the connections of the rooms based on the randomness. I don't think I've really seen an RPG Maker game that does that. It still has major problems, like the fact you can go backwards basically immediately and invalidate actually going through the map. That's definitely a core "issue" I'm trying to figure out.
And once again, thank you for hosting the jam! It's been fun and interesting to see what others have created. I hope you have a wonderful day or night.
It was an alright prelude (especially for a first game!), but I did start to get a bit bored after I had already explored all of the random rooms, quickly devolving into ‘running back to the nearest exit to re-roll for a potential exit room’. I guess some background music might have helped to keep players engaged a bit longer, but yeah it looks like everyone else has already said the things which I was going to say.
Still, I think that the ‘random dungeon’ idea could work in more of a roguelike structure, but pulling that off in RPG Maker could be a pain in the backside.
Submitted
BOSSThank you for the feedback and the kind comments! Honestly, the best thing I can hear from this version of the game is "I had already explored all of the random rooms". But yeh, the huge bulk of this game currently is just those rooms. And like you said, background music would have helped a lot! I can say that because I've been focusing on adding music and sound effects to the game for an update hopefully after the jam rating period ends.
"but pulling that off in RPG Maker could be a pain in the backside." Looks over to the 2 hours I spent trying to prevent the player from going backwards and once finished, hated it and scrapped it...... Yeh, you couldn't be more right lol. But for me, I've always believed in a saying, "Limitations breed creativity." So as long as it feels possible for something to be done, I'll try to do it.
Also, a reason why I actually "liked" the player to immediately go through the exit they just came out of is exactly what you did. Explore the room, and if you've seen that room enough, you can sometimes quickly skip it for another room. Thank you for proving to be those people exist lol.
Here's a fun fact for you: Yesterday I did testing to see if going through the exits quickly would affect the RNG of the rooms. I had experience from coding before that if you sometimes call an RNG function quickly enough, it won't update the random number, especially if it is based on time. Going through quickly or slowly did not influence the RNG, from what it looks like; however, in my quick test I went through 110 rooms, and not once did I see room 13. So sometimes you do get unlucky lol.
But yeah, thank you for the feedback, and I'm happy you enjoyed the game!
Congrats on your first published game!
Really interesting concept. I liked the idea of exploring the dungeon and finding new items in the rooms. That added a nice sense of discovery. I didn't find the combat very fun, though, so I ended up avoiding it after the first room. Maybe adding some variety or more satisfying feedback could help make battles more engaging.
I really enjoyed walking around the town and talking to the NPCs. The worldbuilding stood out to me, especially the parts about the guild and the NPC who seemed interested in studying the dungeon. Adding more story elements or character moments as you go through the dungeon could make it feel more rewarding and help with the sense of progression.
Submitted
About a duckThank you for your congratulations and your feedback! Yeh, the monsters were a last-minute add because I didn't manage my time well. I kind of made them in this version skippable simply because they are not really developed.
I'm happy you liked the world-building! I'm currently working on an update and hopefully going to add more story, dialogue, and other things like that. As well as fixing things here and there.
Because of my bad time management, I wasn't able to implement as much story, gameplay, and other things like you suggested. And I fully agree with basically everything you recommended! This is basically a very rough version of the game I want to make, and hopefully once the voting period is done, I'll have done enough to actually have this game feel more "presentable".
Thank you for playing and your feedback! I hope you have a wonderful day or night.
The central mechanic of the dungeon being randomly connected frankly isn't fun. It could be made interesting, but I ended up just wandering aimlessly trying to find something that would advance the story before re-reading the description and realizing it might not actually have an ending at all. I'm not willing to keep poking at it to find out- there really needs to be something to give a sense of progress and keep you pushing forward.
There's a lot of typical "first RPG Maker game" issues- huge maps with little interactivity, a lack of music. It does at least avoid padding the game out with random encounters, and some of the dialogue is pretty funny. I can't say whether "overreliance on battles that aren't that fun" is an issue or not because I avoided combat entirely.
I do feel like the wrong parts were finished- it would have been far better to have a smaller dungeon with fewer maps and no overworld, but more stuff in each section of the dungeon and an ending. Alas, hindsight is 20/20.
Submitted
Boulder's Gate 4Thank you for your feedback! It is genuinely appreciated.
Your 100% right about the whole "needs to be something to give a sense of progress and keep you pushing forward". That is honestly why this version has monsters and some equipment in the dungeon. So that there's at least some type of progression before you get to layer 1. And yes, layer 1 would technically be the "ending" (Big quotes there) at this point in time.
Also, with the point above and what you said, that's exactly why I didn't put some monsters to chase the player. It would have just made the experience even worse than it already was.
"smaller dungeon with fewer maps" God, I wish that was the case with the main mechanic. Originally I was going to have about 5-10 rooms per layer, and that was it. However, when I tested it, some rooms would come up like 8 times in a row. And that was really, really boring and annoying, even if I was just testing the randomness at the time. Currently you should have, at most, a 9% chance of getting the same room (so long as there are 3 exits).
You also pointed out both a benefit and an issue this game had, the fact that the "wrong parts were finished". If it wasnt suprizing at all, I first worked on the dungeon part first, since I tend to prioritize the more compicated parts, espicily since I didnt know if that could be fesably done with my understanding of RPG Maker. Furthermore, I just genuinely blanked on the music part since I had it turned off since I listened to YT when I was making it.
"Alas, hindsight is 20/20" Thank you for summing up my expeience making this LOL. Furthermore, thank you for the compliment about some of the dialogue. I wanted there to be some breaths of fresh air that aren't all about the dungeon or the Guild. Sorry if this reply is long; I tend to write a lot, and I wanted to not only give info about what you've said (even if you probably don't really care that much), but also let you see how much I am thankful for your feedback!
I think there's an implicit assumption here that the combat and progression is inherently compelling, but I usually find it to be the worst part of the experience when it comes to RPG Maker jam games, and this one seems to be as barebones and stock-standard as it gets. That I ran through this one avoiding combat is no accident. That's why I'm saying you focused on the wrong thing here- sure, we have some monsters that we can kill and level up, but I can get the exact same thing from a ton of similar games, and it's only tolerable at best. Focus on what makes this one unique!
I do get what you mean by a smaller dungeon feeling overly repetitive. This is probably one of those places where you want to rig the dice, so to speak, to avoid excessive repetition at the expense of true randomness.
Also, yep, sometimes a project just doesn't go as planned, and you realize after the fact that you swung and missed. I realized today there was a very obvious joke with the title of my game that I should have put in, but had never occurred to me.
I get what you're saying, and I do agree! I just now figured out how to get it so that both monsters and items can show up randomly in predetermined spots. That was one of the huge ideas I wanted to get into this version but couldn't because of how bad my time management was.
And yes, I fully agree on the whole combat thing being an assumed idea to drive a player to play. The main reason why I put the monsters in there with how half-baked they are was simply to have SOMETHING that isn't just "walk through a room, look at it, then leave" over and over. The monsters just existing gives the player a sense of something rather than nothing. Remember I'm saying this with the understanding that they are really, really underdeveloped. I could have put some NPCs down there, and that might have been a better choice. But to me it would have still been the same issue as above, in my opinion.
Another thing you might find surprising. I actually spent a small amount of time on the monsters and the items. Most of my time was spent creating the dungeon maps, the randomness of it, and making the town. So its not like I didnt specificly focus on them, it was more of like "padding" in a story.
One thing I actually actively avoided was rigging the dice. I don't really have any good reason as to why I didn't; I just didn't want to. I felt like it wouldn't be fun, nor unique if I just rigged the dice, like what basically every game would probably do. That and I like the idea that the more exits a room has, the more often it would show up. Maybe I might rig the dice on a specific layer or something, but for the whole dungeon, that would defeat the whole "uniqueness" I'm aiming for.
And yeah, I did the same thing with my title. Though I would be both very surprised and very concerned if someone found out what it referenced (other than me, only one person knows and that's because I told them). Simply because it takes numerous leaps of logic to get to the end of it. Though I only did this because I'm genuinely shit at naming things and this was the only way I could name something. (A hint is that the name eventually leads to the idea of randomness.)
Again, thank you for your response and the time it took to craft it! I do genuinely appreciate it :3
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