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Hi, I tested your game "Supernatural Rescue: The Skinwalker Lord."

Honestly, your AI intro is killer, it immediately made me think of Diablo 4, it's really clean. However, once the game starts, it's a cold shower. There's a huge consistency problem and quite a few things that ruin the experience. Here are the hot points to fix:

  • The "Care Bear" syndrome: You're selling Dark Fantasy, but the game is ultra-saturated and the music is super cheerful. That doesn't fit at all. Advice: Change the color tint of your maps to darken the atmosphere, add weather effects (rain, fog), and find darker music.
  • Mapping that's too square: Your maps feel too much like basic "RPG Maker grid." Life isn't symmetrical. Advice: Place your trees, buildings, and decorations in a more random and organic way so it looks natural. Don't hesitate to download free assets and terrain plugins to break that cubic feel.
  • Totally broken collisions: In many places, you can go out of bounds and walk on walls. Check your passability tiles (the circles and crosses) in your database, because it feels unfinished.
  • XP freezes: Every time I kill a monster and gain XP, the screen has major lag and freezes. You absolutely need to optimize that script/plugin.
  • Invisible battles: Getting attacked by empty space without seeing monsters on the map is ultra-frustrating nowadays.
  • Narration and open world: It's cool that you want to make an open world, but the beginning is so basic and vague that we don't understand the story and don't know where to go at all. You need at least some minimal hints or quests to guide the player, otherwise, we're just lost.

Also, since you're working solo, I totally understand that it's complicated and not everyone knows how to draw (I don't know how to draw either). Using AI lets you move faster, and the fact that you can tell it's AI from a mile away isn't a problem in itself. The real issue is the lack of consistency: seeing an ultra-realistic image next to a blocky RPG Maker game doesn't mesh well, and the human eye feels bothered because it's not natural. Humans look for the natural.

So, I advise you to try using AI less and instead grab royalty-free images from Google. You can use free software like GIMP to make your own assemblages and compositions. Visually, it will result in something much better and more authentic, because you won't have that robotic artistic touch unique to AI that's immediately recognizable. Plus, if you learn how to use it well, you can easily apply effects in GIMP to give a pixelated look to your composites so they integrate perfectly with the retro style. It's a free tool and all of this can be learned.

You have the vision for the universe (thanks to the intro), but now the gameplay and the atmosphere need to follow. Good luck with the fixes.

(2 edits)

Thank you so much for giving my game a try, I appreciate your help with my learning and development. This game did start as my first experience in using the MV engine so I was learning as I went. I absolutely agree with your points, as I have had the same thoughts about this game. I actually had many issues with the way I built this game, lighting and random plugins breaking all the way but now this game is behind me I am taking all I have learned and all the criticism from people like you to mind so I don't repeat those mistakes in the future. I have now moved onto using MZ and purchased resources that give me consistent visuals, purchased a great plug-in bundle from Sang Hendrix that allows me to build a much more detailed and "living" world  that doesn't conflict with itself and have completely moved away from AI. Now I know I still have a very long road ahead of me before I can create games worth selling but I am taking it slowly and ensuring I cover all the pitfalls and discrepancies that this game contains so as to not repeat them. I agree that the "random combat" type world is frustrating and out of date, that is why I have been learning the action engine from Sang Hendrix and am working towards building a more Diablo type ARPG  instead of the JRPG style. Once again I really do appreciate your input and time you took to play my game. Because I'm solo and don't have the kind of time I want to develop my new title yet, it will be some time before I can get a demo ready but if you keep an eye out I hope to impress you and others are n the future.