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BladeThePieEater

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A member registered Sep 04, 2022 · View creator page →

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Ah. Yeah, that stinks. GL with your next project, then.

Thanks for the interest! I plan to keep working on it someday, but I don't have a release date planned right now.

Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it.

Oh, cripes. Thanks for letting me know, and thanks for the kind words! I'll try to fix it soon.

I'm gonna quit posting here every time I make an episode of this bc I think that'd get annoying after a while. Instead, I'm just gonna post the playlist here. Maybe I'll delete my old comments to avoid clutter. 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3YfbDSthkzbnxC64XLsvMfvmS4UurukS

I'll give it a shot when I have time

Cool, I'll try and check it out when it's out

(2 edits)

I saw D7 play your game and decided to give this a fair shot. Here are some of my thoughts. I've never really reviewed anything in-depth before, but I hope this is helpful.

Oh, and uh, spoiler alert for anybody looking to play this game.

Some general stuff:

  • I've never touched Phantasy Star, so there are probably some things I'm missing out on. Take what I say with a grain of salt.
  • The first dungeon took me about 15 minutes.
  • I got to the end (sort of) at the 1 hour mark.
  • I didn't get any game overs and didn't have to grind at all.
  • I fought maybe 60-75%? of the enemies I encountered.
  • I beat the first boss at Lv4 and was Lv9/8 when I reached the end (sort of) of the game.
  • I like hard games and I technically didn't go in blind, so other players may have more trouble than me. Some might have less trouble, really. Point is, I'm just one guy. This is just based on my experience with the game.

Things I liked:

  • I quite like the music. I don't recognize it, but it's good.
  • I also quite like the windowskin and the character designs.
  • I sort of liked Rhys' and Hira's sibling dynamic and seeing Rhys protective of his sister.
  • The enemy battlers look good.
  • I appreciate the healing statues in the second dungeon.
  • I kind of like Res restoring a flat 50 HP.

Things I'd most likely change:

  • You begin the game with very few resources, which can make things rough for first-timers. I'd add a few items at the start of the game. There could be some chests in the main characters' house.
  • In the first map of the first dungeon, it's possible to run into a three-enemy troop. Since enemies do a lot of damage at the start, this can be a pretty tough first fight. I'd remove troop from that particular map.
  • I'd add a healing statue to the first dungeon, probably before the boss.
  • The Magic Water doesn't say exactly how much MP it restores. If it's a flat 30 MP restored, I'd add that to it's description.
  • Since Res heals a flat 50 HP, I'd add that to its description. 
  • In the cutscene at the end of the first dungeon, it's not really clear to me what was going on until after we go back to Dr. Higins. Maybe battle animations could play over the spirits to suggest they're transforming. Perhaps, at the start of the fight, one of the characters could say the spirits transformed. Perhaps, after the bossfight, one of the characters could point out the weird language, too. Just some ideas.
  • The last(?) map of the second dungeon has a really high encounter rate. I was getting into a battle every 5 steps! This should probably be changed, unless it's just really bad luck on my part.
  • D7 already talked about the maps. I'm not really good at mapmaking or giving mapmaking advice, but uh, you probably got an idea of what to change from him. The only advice I think I can give is that if you want to make big maps, make sure you can fill 'em with stuff so they don't look empty. (I have a hard time with this...)

Things I'd consider changing:

  • I'm not too clear on what Crangs are. Are they some kind of monster? Are all the monsters in the cave Crangs? I don't know. This might be something a Phantasy Star phan-er, fan--knows, though. But, if you want this to be clear to everyone, I'd consider adding an explanation somewhere.
  • Aiden introduces himself as a Knight of the Blue Star, but I don't really know what that means. This might be a Phantasy Star thing, though. But, if you want an in-game explanation, perhaps someone could ask Aiden what a Knight of the Blue Star is?
  • Maybe the first boss could do just a little less damage?
  • Aiden's character description says he's training to protect the world. In the cutscene where the ice magic-using woman is fighting a spirit, he's indecisive about whether he wants to help her. This is a little weird to me since it isn't really "chivalrous", but you know your characters better than I do. If you want him to look knightly, though, he should be portrayed as willing to help someone in need.
  • I'd consider giving Rhys and Aiden another skill earlier. It took a long time for Rhys to get Double Attack, and Aiden didn't get any skills in my playthrough.
  • A shop somewhere at the start could be nice. It'd also mean we don't have to backtrack to the statue for heals.
  • Maybe add a couple of revival items at the start? I know it can feel weird to give players revival items at the start, but it does make the start a little less stressful.

Bugs(?) that should probably be fixed:

  • You can punch open the entrance to the secret passage before Dr. Higins tells you about it. I'd recommend having the secret passage event require a condition switch to be on. Higins telling you about the secret passage could turn this switch on.
  • Every time I've mentioned the end, I've said "sort of", and here's why. The cutscene at the end of the second dungeon gets stuck when the ice magic-using woman climbs up the ladder. It's impossible to progress at that point. I think the woman's move route is being blocked by another event. If this is the case, checking the "Through" box on her event sheet should fix it. (If this is intended to be the end of the demo, though, there should be a dialogue box saying so.)

Miscellaneous stuff:

  • I'm perfectly okay with you using the sprites I made in the character generator, but you don't have to credit me in the dialogue box. You don't have to credit me at all, really, but if you want to, you can just do it on the game page.
  • uh
  • Right, the grammar is a little rough, but it's not stopping me from understanding the dialogue. Not a huge deal.
  • Playtest the heck out of your game before releasing it! Walk into walls, see if you can do things in an unintended order, and etc.. This can really help with ironing out bugs and figuring out balancing. If you can get a friend or someone to blind playtest it too, that can be helpful.

Final thoughts:

I know I gave a lot of criticisms, but I don't hate the game or anything. I didn't have a bad time playing. I just thought some of this advice could be helpful while you're working on the demo.

Keep in mind, though, I'm just one guy. I might have made mistakes. I might have missed something. You don't need to take any of my suggestions if you don't want to. If something I say conflicts with what you want your game to be, you don't need to listen to me.

Also, I don't know if you saw the whole stream D7 did, but I think I was a bit mean in the chat, so I'd like to apologize for that.

Anyway, I hope my scattered list of thoughts helps you out. Good luck with the project.