Second game in the jam i played which was made with RPG maker. I am really happy to see more games made with RPG maker in Game Jams. JRPGs are mostly narrative driven games and this game is no exception. In that regard i like your narration style in the game. You give a lot of backstory and in the beginning of the game with the support of AI generated images. I think i you used Stable Diffusion to generate them. Also threre was the voice narration. Intro was pretty cool but a little bit long for a jam game i think. The battles felt a little monotonous for me to honest but i might be wrong. One thing that bothered me was there was no fullscreen option if i didn't miss it. The other thing is i didn't see a saving option and this feels like a long game.
Overall i think it is a different experience and genre than most of the games in this jam and i really appreciate it. Good job and keep up the good work!
Play game
Yasuke {The African Samurai}'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #38 | 2.923 | 2.923 |
| Audio | #38 | 2.769 | 2.769 |
| Overall | #40 | 2.846 | 2.846 |
| Fun Factor | #52 | 2.154 | 2.154 |
| Visuals | #53 | 2.692 | 2.692 |
Ranked from 13 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Is your game a video game or a physical game?
Video Game
Was your game made solo or in a team?
JBO SOLO DEV
Did you use any third party assets, if yes what assets did you use?
Yanfly, Aekashics, 8D Character Creator, NightcafeLounge, RPGMaker assets
Did you choose from one (or more) of the optional secondary themes?
Historical Events, Celestial, Cinema
Does your game contain 18+ content (Nudity, Gore, Language)?
Alcohol Consumption -Sake to gain mana, Seppuku but not graphic
Comments
A very interesting idea, and a lot of progress within the small timeframe we were allowed. You have a good voice for narration, and I think you would do well with a YouTube channel dedicated to similar themes. The editing and layout of the map was pretty good. In the next competition I bet you could produce a very polished game if you focused on one section of this story. There is a lot of ambition behind this, but 2 weeks is such a short time for anyone to work. I think there were some spots it would have been nice to fit in a fight scene, even if everyone lives and the story doesn't really change, a little action can shake up the pace. Bringing an educational aspect to the game was very creative and something I really enjoyed. Keep up the awesome work!
The overall idea of a rpg being an informative lesson is something I can get behind, sadly I feel this as of now only servers as “walk from exposition dump to exposition dump”. Maybe cut back conversations or more spread out talks would break up the long conversation. That said, I’m 100% not a JRPG player, so this could be just the limit of the medium.
I really dislike the use of AI, and the background music being waaaay to loud is something that should have been caught in the development process.
Haven’t got into actual combat tbh, so I cannot provide feedback on that part.
I'm still developing and honing my style of making documentary video games. It could have been more spread out, I acknowledge that. I just had the information I wanted to impart and a limited time to do the eventing and such. I think JRPG's usually are heavy on lore and such. In this case it's cultural history and topics like these are by most people found to be polemic and unsavoury. Religion and philosophy are often divisive and distasteful topics to bring up. So having them the feature instead of lore and universe building is a bit of a push.
I apologize about the background music. I thought I'd set it up right setting the volume at 60percent then I added a plugin to let the player choose the sound and it reverted the sound to 100percent. I'm sorry for that it is uncomfortable and has impact on the ambience I was trying to create for this documentary video game.
I'm sorry you dislike my choice to use AI. I am on a very tight budget and cannot afford the commission's I require to make the cutscenes I envision. I think again AI is a divisive topic. I understand your feelings to an extent. I was once a Neo-Luddite adverse to AI.
Overall, there is a lot of polish to be done. I only developed this game for a few hours a day over a period of ten days. I have commitments to work and family. So, I take that into consideration when I reflect on this project.
Thank you for taking the time to play some of the game and being kind enough to offer feedback.
This game is kinda an experimental documentary video game. It has got some way to go before it is polished. Nevertheless, I don't wanna get too distressed about it. I worked hard, learned new things, made new friends, and made a half decent game in under two weeks.
It's been a good do, I hope so also for you.
Have a great day!
Very cool aspect of story to trait an historical character a bit unfamous like Yasuke (less nowadays, but not enough famous as other samurais stories, Tom cruise all that stuff you know..) and i like it ! At least i really like Rpgs and it seem like you really investigate on the story :)
Thank you so much for your feedback. Thank you for taking the time to comment and play. I spent possibly too much time studying and writing the content. I am pleased you acknowledge the effort I put into the research and historical content put forward in the game.
Yeah, I love the Last Samurai Movie! But you are right Hollywood still needs to do more work on Samurai history etc and be more reflective on things.
I made the game to primary assis people in study or with an interest in learning Japanese history. Documentary video games are a style I've only been working on for a short time during my amateur experience with game design. A comment like this inspires me to keep pushing myself to hone my craft. Thank you for your time and kindness. Let's lift one another up, ey.
I appreciate another fellow RM Maker entry in this jam.
One thing to note, the intro is a long movie. The narration is nice but its a wee bit long for my liking. By the time I got to the gameplay side, its just mostly introductions and traversal. Which is an interesting way. But as someone who has played plenty of RM games of roughly the same quality. This feels a wee bit half baked for me.
Overall, I wanna say I liked it but its mostly just an experience that's pretty basic. I have played many RM games with some RTP of this nature. And Low's sprite assets, as unique as it is, isn't a complete saving grace for this entry to excel. And the story is fine regarding Yasuke, the African Japanese Samurai. It goes the more historical route, which is a plus I guess.
Thanks for your critique. I'm glad you appreciated the historical information and story.
I'm sorry you don't like the style I take the story and presenting the information.
I see this series of games as historical-documentary games. I'm sorry you felt it was half baked I put a lot of effort into it in a short amount of time. I only developed for ten days during the jam and intend to polish it later.
I have a busy life and as much as I wanted to pour more time into it... Family and work life come first. I think you understand that.
I'm glad you have experience in playing RM games, it will help you to create even greater games than the great games I'm sure you've made.
As for the comment on Low's amazing tool. I think it's a great software and had fun using it. Although I didn't have the time to make as many sprites as I would have liked. Thanks for playing. I will take on board your critique.
I hope you had a great time during the jam. I hope you enjoy your journey with RPGMaker.
It was a good jam it was nice to see people supporting one another and working to make games.
I look forward to playing your game. Have a good one.
That's quite alright. If you made this in 10 days without proper asset assistance and having a secondary life outside of it, this is definitely a noteworthy entry. I was just being honest about my assessment.
I don't hate it. It did went a bit long, I will confess. But for its presentation, it is unique and different. So there's that.
Thank you for your reply. Its much appreciated.
Thanks for saying as such. I appreciate your time and it's food for thought as I continue my journey of artistic expression. I've never been gifted at drawing or music due to some personal reasons. So this avenue is big for me. I appreciate your reply and comments. Also acknowledging that I did this in a very small amount of time and it's alright n unique is reassuring. Thank you, fellow rpgmaker. Let's keep developing and lifting one another up, ey.
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