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judging more rpg maker game jam entries (extra) https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

judging more rpg maker game jam entries (extra) https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

Well? In this game it's done very well. This game is a banger. Absolute banger. Polished all-round, with great graphics, with awesome story, delivery mechanics, upgrade mechanics, harvesting of birds and mushrooms (lol) and getting the orders right in the right order.

Great music, great graphics... it's hard to have anything bad to say about this game except that when expanded, it could be more flexible about orders, e.g. doing different orders for different visitors, instead of having them all the same. But for a jam game, that's a great scope decision to make the dishes all one thing so that you can actually finish this thing.

Here the dynamism that's usually afforded when trying to cook different meals for different people, is in just judging how much of each ingredient you're making so you can balance work, per se.

Wonderful portraits, voice acting, and a good story hook of trying to "prove the person wrong about your small town business" by just making good food. It's a great story hook, a fun little story that's cutely done. I want to see more! I don't have much criticism about this game. It's just a wonder all-round! Great commercial potential. Lovely all-round. Not many notes other than that! Excellent.

Every game's a gift, and keep making these awesome games <3

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

Even short of the drop of the title of the jam "beyond expectations", I still felt it was obvious it was exceeding expectations by being one step ahead whatever the player expects. Sometimes visually, it can be a bit rough around the edges, e.g. the healthbars are a bit weird looking when behind the commands. Certain things here and there. But then there's nice polish of animations and other things. There's a lot of surprising things like expanding of timelines etc., even if one of the biggest drawbacks is just how it is somewhat unfinished, but what is there is already very very good and very funny and unique. Big ups from me.

The sokoban thing and the funny mechanics-based comedy is really hard to do and this game does it.

Keep making games. Every game is a gift. Love this game. Cheers <3

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

Wow, wow, wow. What a very important game, I'll say. There's very much topical about this, and as such, I have to give the preamble that any praise and/or criticism I may or may not have about this game is not necessarily a praise/criticism of the topics discussed. Suffice to say that message-wise, I believe this game is very potent and worthy of being seen.

The game seems to explore kids' perceptions of their dangerous environments through the usage of play and metaphor. Through the play, they discover each other's situations and feelings, because sometimes things are too hard to talk about plainly, or just the fact that we should let kids be kids. And yet, in the situation these kids find themselves in, sometimes they don't have the privilege.

But by depicting these kids in this scenario, we are allowed to see their humanity, their fun and their play while they just try to be kids. And then we as the audience get to see some of their inner lives being revealed through their storytelling mechanisms.

As a concept, it's rather brilliant. It's also very heartbreaking.

Now to get to the parts that I feel are the "storytelling things" that sometimes made me bounce off it a little - things like the structure and the pacing. I think that setting it largely in the field with most things being events that occur in heads, there was some level of engagement to be had but I feel after a while it was a little repetitive. The importance of what they were describing didn't immediately hit me and it's hard to judge on a contest games that could be important for relevant reasons, but I do feel the fact that it is all described with make believe dialogue on a single screen does make it sometimes more disengaging than it should be, but I do like the concept a lot.

The sketches and visuals are VERY cute and i liked the style a lot! :D The maps of the throne room etc could be a little more adorned.

There's dialogue on 1-3 maps and the sketches are quite cute and pleasant but there is just a lot of dialogue that reveals some of the understanding of the kids and how the tragedies are effecting these kids, but if I were to judge on a pure entertainment and game level (which oftentimes fails works of art with such import as this), it nevertheless lacked to me some attachments to some characters, even if the conflicts are hauntingly real in real life.

But it does feel like a complete thing in concept, and worthy of exploring. Thank you for making this game. Every game is a gift <3 Keep making awesome games.

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

Ah, Ozzy. OZZY OZZZY Ozzy. You already know what I've said about this game, and everyone else in this team... it's a shame that those encounters got replaced with bosses, but everything else was turning out so GOOD and I would have given you a great mark if it didn't have that part... and it continued to a nice conclusion. I was hooked! (No pun on the hookshot.)

Nevertheless, for those not in the know - this is a decent start to a game with some actually very good writing and interesting flow that got sadly borked by the lead developer (a great friend of mine and a lovely person) accidentally replacing all encounters with the boss... which is SAD and a shame. But hey, it's not Ozzy's fault... he was in a rush because he had a lot of things going on at the time.

And the silver lining is... I like your storywriting, Ozzy! It's very realistic and great and this game is cute and I want more of it. Obviously OBVIOUSLY keep making games, because this was great, and not just because you're a good friend ;) Love ya lots bud. To Ozzy and the whole team - it's a shame that it turned out like this but the silver lining is there and I think you should continue just making awesome games because you're all fantastic <3

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

You already basically know what I feel about this game :P but basically I think it's a banger. Great attitude, action, momentum, and an interesting idea overall. Snappy, funny, great dialogue. Great action. You stretch the engine to do things that I wouldn't otherwise think you'd be able to do. Just truly impressive stuff.

I think if this were to be expanded into something wider-appealing, it would just be in polishing the small stuff. Making sure that all the little teensy bits are taken care of, e.g. putting a delay before confirming upgrades, because by spamming attack, we might accidentally choose an upgrade. Other things... the flaws aren't very frequent. Maybe some AI stuff so it doesn't go into a wall? You can be the judge, the VOD is above :)

But as for singing the praises, I truly think you have a great grasp of the player's mind as they go through the gameplay loop, and you keep well in mind how players get excited. It's like Vampire Survivors, which is just a great game, so it's building off a great base. But it's also refined to a sheen. The systems work really well for an action game.

This is in the final level, but it did start to get quite difficult with some bosses, but I feel like you know this - things you just figure out with more testing. Hopefully you can just see how these VODs went.

But yeah, a pretty conclusive banger, in my opinion. Simply fun. I don't even have to worry about it, really.

Actually, if there's any one design flaw I think it's just the idea that you are incentivized to wait for things to cooldown between levels, and that's just not very fun. So idk, maybe it's just an unavoidable flaw, or maybe you can reset cooldowns between levels :) and not make the dragon as OP hahahaha. Little tweaks like that could improve an already GOATed implementation and premise.

Keep making awesome games, Reim. Not much else I can comment on except to say the game is great all-round, and you've gained a lifelong fan :) <3

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

more rpg maker game jam judging! https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

judging more rpg maker games https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

they thought Benny the judge was gone! he's back (for bonus entries) | Judging RPG Maker Game Jam entries (extra) https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

going live again and judging rpg maker game jam 2025 entries https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

going live again playing and judging rpg maker game jam games https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

let's judge some more entries for this rpg maker game jam 2025 https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

more judging rpg maker games for the rpg maker game jam 2025 https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

streaming judging more rpg maker game jam 2025 entries https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

Those portraits looked so good! keep making awesome stuff <3

Glad the critique was helpful! Keep making awesome games. <3

Ah, I understand more about the different decisions now. Glad the feedback was helpful! Keep making games, and I wish you all the best in your game dev journey. <3

I’m glad it’s helpful! Anything to help you on your game development journey. Keep making awesome games! And looking forward to what you make in future.

Honestly, you have a new fan! Glad to follow any new things you will make. Cheers, Rubescen. All the best for this game and your game dev journey! ^_^

Your reply warms my heart! Wishing the very best for your game development journey <3

Ah yes, the busy nature of things can put a pinch on things. Either way, very thankful that you joined the jam and I hope the very best for your game and your game dev journey <3

Fair enough! Either way, thank you for joining the game jam. I wish you all the very best in your game dev journey! ^_^

judging rpg maker games for the rpg maker game jam 2025 https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

Ah, Bravo Assault Team! First, I want to say thank you for submitting a game to this jam. Every game is a gift, and I consider it a form of generosity for you to give your time and effort into creating something to share with us. So please interpret everything I say with the context that I am judging for a contest, and as such, I must be sort of brutal in some ways in order to make sure I'm communicating why I give the scores I do (the scores aren't going to be shown just yet, but in due time they will).

Firstly, I want to start with the positives, in acknowledging that the idea of a "Bravo Assault Team" infiltrating a casino is a pretty awesome idea. I like stuff like Ocean's Eleven and its consequent sequels, and I really do enjoy heist films. This "heist shell" for the story, provides an interesting concept and structure to explore in the game. I really like that idea.

That said, pulling something off like that is quite difficult, particularly sometimes when combatting with the fantasy setting that you have set your game in. So, oftentimes, the game can feel like it's fighting between aesthetics, and here, I do feel like sometimes the story takes its time to find its bearings as a result.

I admire the ambition to set the game in a massive city, and for the most part, the feeling of exploring the city is quite cool.

I must start mentioning my criticisms here, and there are a few things that I consider game design decisions that brutally transformed my experience. The first, and perhaps most obvious, is that the battles were long and punishing for me. In a game like this, particularly with a city that is so massive, and with battles that are largely optional, each battle took me initially around 15 minutes to complete. Until I enabled "autobattle", disabled animations, and just let everyone fight. Most attacks missed, but it was much more enjoyable when I didn't have to slog through extremely long battles that stopped the flow of the game.

There were a lot of skills and a plethora of systems in the battle, but it truly felt like an overlong slog with few strategic decisions that mattered, because most moves missed the target, from both sides. Usually you start small with the mechanics, and introduce moves one by one so that the person playing can learn them one at a time. But such a big roster of moves was difficult to even keep track of, and by the end, I was overwhelmed, and battles were way too long for me to care. The enemies were HP sponges, and it was difficult to care about any of the battle's gameplay by the end, I'm sorry to say.

Additionally, I didn't really even get to get inside the casino because this initial portion was so big. I got quite lost in the city, and I was really looking forward to doing the actual "assault on the casino" part, where you do the heist stuff, and the exciting subterfuge and trickery inside the place... but a lot of it was just exploring the big city and talking to people in a quite low-stakes way, and then I got to the casino door and... there was an invisible event in front of it that stopped me from entering, even when I had defeated the guard! So that's a gamebreaking bug, I believe? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I do think that if we had cut to the chase a little bit, and if we had sped things up, and got to the real conflicts that I think are important (because when judging, the main page did say each judge can only play the first hour of your game), then it would have been a lot more exciting. Granted, your city map is quite cool! But... there is such a thing as story momentum, and I feel like it's the thing that this game lacked. In my opinion, get your protagonists right into the thick of the conflict, have all the battles and the map exploration centre around that conflict, and keep things tight and moving. I know that an open world game can seem tempting, but it actually takes a lot of very, very cunning design to make it work. And oftentimes, it can end up instead feeling quite aimless and lacking momentum. Especially in games that are designed to be short.

So that's a summary of things that I would keep in mind in future. In particular, just keeping those battles short, refining around the edges, making sure you get right to the action, and maybe tightening the dialogue to reflect the actual cruelty that criminals would have. Also, agents would perhaps overexplain their motivations, when in reality, agents don't explain to each other what they do, and they just *expect* each other to be competent, instead of constantly complimenting each other on how good they are.

But yes, with these in mind, if you were to continue to refine the idea, then it could turn out to be a great game, a banger of a game.

That said, every game is a gift, and I am thankful that you made this one. I hope you continue to make games, because you deserve to have the artistic expression, and even if this is a contest, always remain sure that you are doing this for your own artistic fulfilment. Keep that in mind. Thanks for sharing. Cheers!

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

I can say that I was very engaged by the story in this, always trying to find answers about what happened, what the nature of this person's relationship was to the person who had moved out recently, and trying to follow the events that occurred. Whether it was due to my lack of media literacy or ADHD wanderings (I apologise where and if I misinterpret events in the VOD above), I didn't always fully grasp all the plot points that were occurring, but I did get a general gist of the mood of what was happening. The remembering, the surreal events, and the slow unraveling of the protagonist to reveal layers of doubt and what I believe were self-hatred (or at least self-doubt) lying underneath. To me, it painted a very relatable portrait of a person doubting themselves for the things they have done.

Even by the end of the game, I was left with questions that I still wanted answers to, and they were sticking with me in a good way. Because the answers that I got while playing the game were satisfying indeed.

The atmosphere of the game was very well-drawn - I felt genuinely unnerved by most of the twists that occurred. The surreal events that were happening sometimes surprised me in very interesting ways. There was indeed a fakeout where I, along with the main character, came across a plot point that they thought was "final", and had wrapped everything up, only to learn that there was actually more to explore that still felt necessary.

Suffice to say, presentationally, it is very well polished. Tasteful usage of the same map but changing it up in interesting ways. In retrospect, it's funny that I don't really notice too much intense events happening, but that the story was conveyed in all the small details and changes. So I thought that it was a very interesting experiment in subtle storytelling through the looping mechanism - which satisfied my idea of what the "Beyond Expectations" theme represented.

Sometimes I got lost about whether there was a third person they were referring to that used to share a bed with the roommate, and whether there was jealousy, or whether that was us? (I apologise if that should have been clear. Sometimes I misinterpret story beats. Lol.)

I also very much liked the continued symbolic thread of "dirtiness" becoming more and more apparent with each loop. I assume that represented some form of guilt. Asking the question of what could wash the dirtiness off, when looking at things like the bath and sink. The climbing into the "mirror world" and the representation of possibilities of what could have been? (Again, I might be misreading this, lol)

Suffice to say that the storytelling was on point with this one. This type of storytelling I see in the best of stories I see in games. I think that the writing in particular was super strong, keeping dialogue minimal and allowing you to read between the lines and detecting what was between the lines.

Anyway, that's my general impressions of this game. I liked it quite a bit, and it was definitely one of the standouts I saw in this game jam. Every game's a gift, and I appreciate what you've made. Keep making games!

rpg maker? yes. game jam 2025? yes. judging? yes. round 1? yes. me? gongaga. hotel? rpg maker unite. https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

I mean, what a banger. Banger, banger, banger, banger, banger.

I suppose it's unfair - this is exactly down my route and reasoning of enjoyment in games - I'm a sucker for Disco Elysium, monochromatic palettes, mature storytelling done right, and dice and randomness and themes of accepting change but also... maybe not accepting change? Maybe sometimes we accept too much from the bureaucrats who seek to steal our jobs and replace us with computers and don't really care for the bright and burgeoning greenery that is growing in the hallowed corners of our concrete jungles?

Yeah, this game really gets going. I don't know what to say without being overly praising about it, but pretty much every story beat I connected with on a deep level. I've already read Berry B's comment, and I know that it can be frustrating to rely on RNG for some things, but I do think that you said at the beginning of the game that this was a story about accepting consequences, and I even see how the rolling of the dice gives a nuanced view of how uncomfortable outcomes may rise from situations - whether beyond expectations, meeting expectations or even falling far short of them, and how some of it is within your influence (what you choose to wear for the day, how you choose to train yourself socially, and what decisions you make, and what routes you choose in life) but also how much of it is just not within your influence. And this might not seem "gamey" in every sense of the word, simply because not every eventuation is within your control. But of course Benny (me) likes that, and anyone who knows me knows that's my jam (a chatter in chat who I know quite well simply said "this is one of the most Benny games I've ever seen").

All in all, being as objective as I can about the process, I think it's a maturely told story featuring characters grappling with bureaucratic doom and trying to carve their own niche of joy within the arm's reach of the dreary corporate machine, being oftentimes victim to its doomful grasp. I think it's visually polished to a T, I think its gameplay mechanics are interesting, I think the dialogue and natural and feels "right", and explores conflicts through drama between characters to a believable yet high-reaching catharsis, and perhaps a low-feeling sense of dread that doesn't really agree with everyone's sense of what escapist fiction should be. I mean, there's my bias again - always wanting to confront reality with art, instead of purely about escaping it.

The choices matter structure is probably among the best I've seen in an RPG Maker game. There's very many endings, and even though I didn't get to them all, it's clear that it depends on choices that are well-thought-out and structured in a clear and concise way so that the player knows exactly why they got the ending they did - which I know, from experience, is really hard. It was a mature story told with nuance that gave you choices that reflect your personal bias, or not - depending on if you want to roleplay as someone else. Which is the core soul of games with choices that claim to matter.

So yeah, it's clear that I like this game, and maybe a bit more. Maybe a lot more.

The way it tackled the theme, though, is undeniably central to the game's design. It's clear that the game was designed around the theme, and it couldn't have been designed for another game jam and just submitted here as an afterthought. As such, I have no doubt in saying that is one of my favourite games submitted to the jam so far, and I wish you all the best, and I've followed you on itch so I can see what else you've made.

In short, simply peak. I can't say much else. Keep making games. You're awesome.

Edit: Oh yeah! And I forgot how gorgeous the game looks. I don't know whether you pixelled all those tiles and art within the jam itself, or modified existing tiles, but either way, it fits together all so well and feels polished as anything. Super fantastic.

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

I'll be honest, I didn't quite get to the stage where Anxiety truly hindered me, because I kept Anxiety out of the red for the majority of the playthrough.

What I did like, first of all, was the concept in general. The idea that anxiety would be a thing that you have to go outside, and deal with people, and try to "fight your way through life", so to speak. It is a metaphor that has been explored in games before, but it's the type of ludonarratively resonant idea that I still think is one of the best advantages of gaming in particular as a medium. There simply is no replacement for representing emotions, or unseen values of life, as gameplay mechanics in games. It's an unparalleled metaphorical tool of the gaming medium.

The free-roam nature of the city was interesting. I do think that after a short time, the dodging of people began to feel a little more "gamey" and I was able to easily dodge people, and I don't know if it posed a significant threat, other than the occasional message, followed by using a skill to heal my anxiety. However, at least it wasn't extremely difficult to the point of frustrating.

There were several passability issues in the game, that you can see if you watch the VOD. Mapping bugs, passability issues - nothing that stops you from finishing the game entirely, but it does make it feels somewhat unpolished around the edges.

All in all, I liked the idea and the concept of the game, but I do feel as if I was missing some dramatic central thrust. Say, for example, getting to know the character better, or progressing some kind of central plot in a meaningful way. Not all games have to have plot, but I do think that there was a feeling of missing a central "hook" of the game that would hook me in and keep me engaged throughout the process. Whether it be fun battles that need strategy, or a more compelling central narrative exploring specific details about the protagonist's life and goals... something to really *hook* me in as a player.

Because much of what I saw was of a fine quality, it just might need that extra "oomph" to impress me as a player and a judge of a contest.

But all in all, I do like the central theme and messaging of the game, and I appreciate the awareness of people with social anxiety, especially as someone who has suffered with social anxiety and panic attacks in the past. Having to learn coping mechanisms to better my life, and to help me to face my fears, is one of the biggest lessons I've had to learn. It would be awesome to have a game to explore this. Thank you for your attempt, and I'm sure people will be emotionally moved by this, and you can only improve and get better and learn from here. Every game is a gift, including this one. Thank you very much.

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

However... let's start with the good things! Delightful in theme. An interesting exploration of "delivering beyond expectations" that I thought was pretty well implemented with great finesse. Of course, I'm just sad that the core loop just plain didn't work, but that was due to simple deployment of the project in a way that broke it, as discussed earlier. But I get a sense of what you were trying to implement. It will be interesting to see how the game plays once that is fixed.

The portraits are delightful, the sprite work is delightful - this game is generally pleasing to look at. I love the "character" of the game, as in the unique qualities and voice it has. There are some minor graphical polish things that could be improved - I do think it is weird that you see the harsh bottom edge of the portraits being cut-off. Sometimes people make the windowskin completely solid, so that you can't see it, but it does make it look slightly unprofessional if you can see the bottom of a portrait like that. The windowskin could also be edited to fit with everything else as well, especially since everything else looks so well-drawn and in-theme. So a bit of presentational polish could elevate this already great-looking game into a magnificent-looking one.

Beyond that, I can't really comment on the game too much, since I didn't get to see what happens after you successfully or unsuccessfully convince people. I wonder what that would have resulted in. Oh well! I am appreciative of the promise of what is there, while acknowledging that this lack of ability to experience much of the core content forces me to have to grade low on several categories, simply for reasons like "I didn't get to experience much of the game because of a game breaking bug".

However! This game has a lot of promise. And I like the concept a lot! All in all, thank you for making the game - it is a gift. I recommend you keep making games, and I thank you for making this one. Cheers!

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

My experience with 2everleast:ZN had some ups and downs! The title screen and beginning animation set a very high bar for the game, in terms of quality. The portraits seemed very well drawn, at least before they perhaps were imported. They seemed to have a jagged-edged quality to the sprites that I noticed, that I think maybe hurt my impression of the game's portraits overall. But in the base version of the game, I think that the sprites were well-drawn and had a lot of character and emotion.

The initial animation was very high quality, and it set the stakes quite high, including an apocalyptic scenario (I believe? I may be mistaken - many of the aspect of the game's plot eventually got a bit confusing to me), that set the stakes to something like "we need to save the future" or something like that? Maybe there was an enemy after this agent that had travelled to the past or another dimension... either way, it was a good setup.

 There were aspects of the story that began innocent enough, but then their inclusion began to disturb me a little. I wasn't sure how to feel about the possession of the young-looking child by the person from the future. I think it would have been okay if it had some kind of cathartic point to make, but the ending didn't seem to tie a good bow on things. I left rather thinking, "Hmm... so why did that need to happen?" I wasn't too sure how that all was sort of going down. I think maybe the intention was to have him be disguised as a person, but because of this sort of cruel act, I wasn't really feeling the main agent character. I generally don't like anyone who will force the possession of someone else. So I didn't really like that character. And that was supposed to be someone we're following.

I do understand that it could be posed as an antihero of sorts? But the plot didn't progress far enough for me to understand why this mattered. I think maybe if there was a full plotline where this all came to a head and they got found out and got their just desserts or something... but even still, the entire prospect was alarming to me, and made me feel uneasy.

Even despite that, there were a lot of fourth wall breaks that I didn't feel served the story. It's possible that the developer ran out of time to develop the game, which is fair enough if that's the case! I'm just a judge, so I have to judge these things from as objective a lens as I can possibly muster, assuming that the audience is not too niche. Aside from this, I found the Quick Time events in the chase sequence to be difficult to navigate, not explained, and a bit unintuitive. If they were implemented or explained better, I felt this would get a higher score.

There were several bugs. One when I was being chased by the possessive man from the future. I clipped into the trees and could only barely get back down. This was unintentional. Also, when replaying the endings, the events didn't reset, so I ended up talking to an invisible sprite.

But all in all, I think maybe if the drama was explored a little more in a nuanced way, and it was taken seriously instead of being filled with fourth wall breaking things, I'd be more impressed. However, it's clear that there is talent here, so I wish you the very best in your developer journey. This is a clear indicator that there is potential in the developer to make games that will blow people's minds. But there needs to be some refinement in order for that to happen, at least in my humble opinion.

Yet again, thank you for making the game, and for spending the time and effort. I appreciate it very much.

Hi there!

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

All in all, I liked the idea of this game. The idea of having customers come in and order games, and then for you to use several techniques to handle the ups and the downs of the process, and to have some sort of bargaining occur - that was really cool to me. This whole setting is something I'm quite familiar with, having experience with board games and such (I maybe have several thousand dollars worth of board games collected over the past 10 years or so, lol). So this kind of hobby store atmosphere is familiar to me. Particularly the portion with the D&D game was very engrossing - I almost wanted that to be the main part of the game! Because that dynamic was very relatable to me.

I liked the ambition to use a lot of these custom graphics with portraits that had a lot of heart and soul. Even if the floor tile grated on me to no end (gah - why is it so garishly green and black! T_T), I understood the aims for the central appeal of the game. It's a very cool concept. I do feel like some of the execution of the game left me a little wanting - which I explain in the categories below, to the best of the detail I can muster for each category. I admire the game for trying to do something unconventional.

So yeah! Given my overall thoughts on the game, I think I'll go into my praises as well as my criticisms for each category of judging, without spoiling scores for each (those will come later).

Theme
It was a little unexpected to have the battles occur as sales. I think that's enough to warrant that it was beyond expectations. There were twists and turns. I wouldn't say I was blown away by the usage of the theme, but I think it's an average amount of relevant. Maybe a little bit of a stretch, but nothing massive. Points awarded for surprising events in the game itself.

Gameplay
It was cool to have sales occur as battles, but I'll be honest in saying the battles started to stretch my interest fairly quickly. There was an attempt to have a "analyse enemy" function, but it doesn't really matter if most of the options end up working via trial and error anyway, so that frustrated me. The battles just weren't refined to my liking. At least it was easy to win, so it wasn't overly frustrating, and the battles were easy enough to breeze through, but I would have preferred if they required a bit more strategy overall.

Engagement
The concept was cool, but the story could have gripped me more. I didn't end up caring for the shop as much as I'd hoped, because I didn't identify with or care for the characters enough to care for the fate of the shop itself, sadly. They talked about stuff and things breezed by, but I felt I didn't really have a hook to identify with or care about a character too much. The only time that the story excited me was when a bunch of side characters played D&D, and that wasn't quite so necessary to the bottom line. At the end, the boss provided a small amount of conflict to make me care about the nature of the company, but because of my lack of investment in the characters that I mentioned earlier, it was only to limited effect. But the portraits looked good! So that elevated it a bit.

Presentation
The portraits looked lovely and cute. I liked the general vibe of the store. The mapping was quite ordinary, with the biggest offender being the green and black floor that quickly became a sore sight to the eyes. But the portraits and enemies looked really lovely. The music and sound effects were fair. Overall, decently presented, with room for improvement.

Polish
A minor bug where a character talks but is not in the room, in the break room. Details in VOD.

Conclusion
All in all, I'm thankful that you have created this game - every game is a gift! - and I hope that the feedback is useful. I appreciate the time and effort you have put into this game... art like this worth pursuing, and I thank you for doing so. I wish the very best for your developer journey. Cheers!

Hi there!

I'm sure you've heard the news by now that your entry has sadly been DQ'd, but as a judge, I thought I'd post my video of me playing the game and comments about it as a courtesy, so that you get feedback on how it was played, etc. anyways. Either way, thank you very much for giving the gift of this game to the world - because every game is a gift. Every piece of artwork is worthy of existing, and I thank you for creating it.

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who then appropriate what happens with that.

As stated earlier, rule #4 on the main page states to "Aim for a playable experience with a minimum playtime of 15 minutes", and since this was finishable in 2-5 minutes, it was sadly disqualified. But I would nevertheless like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which has my thoughts at the end too.

Here's the VOD:

There clearly is some thematic importance attached to this game, even if sometimes its maps seem somewhat haphazard and a little all over the place, and the length is very short. However, I think that if you clean up maps, tighten the thematic focus, and try to get a longer, perhaps more relayed narrative going so that *I* as a player can also feel those emotions, then I believe that you can continue to grow as an artist to be all that you can be. Keep making games, because every game is a gift. I am thankful that you chose to use your time and effort to make this.

Much love!

more judging rpg maker games round 1 for RPG Maker game jam 2025 https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames

I agree! It was clear that there was talent behind this, and that this was a great joke that landed well with me. :D <3 i've added the game you linked (Automatic Messiah) to my (admittedly too massive) list of games to play in future. :)

wake up - another day judging games for rpg maker game jam 2025 https://twitch.tv/bennymakesgames