Castle Paradox

[Moogle1]

[msw188]

Sorry for returning late to the party. I don't have too much to add, except that one thing in particular kind of bugged me about your judgement, Rya:

[Iblis]

[Newbie_Power]

I think msw hits the nail on the head. Everything needs to be at least passable, not AAA-quality like Rya is wanting. I simply think that superb gameplay can live with passable graphics and story and make something a true classic.

(See games like Nethack, which proves msw's point about graphics being more useful for symbolic reasons than purely for eye candy).

I also don't limit gameplay to just action sequences. It can also encompass exploration. Silent Hill 2 is a great example where exploration is the beef of the gameplay, as the player is actually exploring the creepy atmosphere and being affected by it, as well as solving puzzles. Exploration is the part of gameplay that helped make Silent Hill 2 enjoyable when you're not viewing a cut scene, because the combat wasn't that difficult save for one boss (though beating down stuff can be pretty fun).

With that said, Vikings of Midgard meets all of the requirements to be an enjoyable game, and it is looking to be improved even more. Rya just has far too high of standards.

Going back to msw's point though, graphics, sound, and music do need to at least be acceptable, because anything less would likely just annoy the player.
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TheGiz> Am I the only one who likes to imagine that Elijah Wood's character in Back to the Future 2, the kid at the Wild Gunman machine in the Cafe 80's, is some future descendant of the AVGN?

[Uncommon]

[Calehay]

[Moogle1]

[Fenrir-Lunaris]

I'm finding it really amusing I keep getting brought up in the context of graphic arts and sprite work. I'd like to thank those who did, but frankly I've still got room for improvement. After all, I'm only an amateur graphics artist.

Before this goes even further off track, I'd like to point out that amateur games should be compared with other games in their field, rather than some game with an actual budget and comparatively high production costs. You don't compare something a high school student does with the work of a group of talented professional artists, they're in totally different tiers of skill. If we should be comparing OHRRPGCE games to anything, then let them be OHRRPGCE games. The moment you compare one of our amateur developed games to a budgeted game such as Final Fantasy, or Dragon Warrior, you're automatically assuming a level of competence and dedication that far exceeds that of most OHR developers, let alone a beginning game designer.

As far as my opinion on art goes, and whether 2D is better than 3D, or whether one is superior to the other - I view both forms of media as equally valid means to express an artist's intentions. I lean more towards 2D art, being similar to what I was trained to use in School and College, but that's only habit speaking. A person who makes a living in illustration studies BOTH, not out of preference, but to improve one's skill in their chosen media.

Finally, I can't say I ever remember playing any of Rya's games. I will go on the record and say I don't much care for games that end up being grindfests, or those that involve lengthy fetch-quests for the sake of just adding more time to the game clock. And games that literally scream "DESU DESU DESU" or have an unnatural and unneeded emphasis on Japanese culture just for the sake of having an anime aesthetic don't hold my interest for long at all. I'm hoping Rya's games weren't saturated with content like these, otherwise I may play them.

Actually, I have no idea who Rya is. Apologies.

[Onlyoneinall]

I was surprised to find that I was mentioned here. Just so you guys know, the next release of Bloodlust will probably be out tomorrow (Sunday). I couldn't get myself to find a workable portrait style, so the one I decided to do is displayed on my avatar. It's still animeish, but feels less cartoony and more serious than what I had before.

I too, have no idea who Rya is. I've been around since the 4 map Custom days, but I don't recall ever seeing you around, dude. If you're going to play my game, I suggest you wait until the new release, because the old one is very outdated.

Oh, I have a question for you, Rya. You basically said a game has to be good in all aspects or you won't want to play it. SOO what if you start playing a game and then find out its music is atrocious? Do you panic? Your argument, while you are entitled to your own opinion, is very contradictory and puzzling. OHR House for example, doesn't have great graphics at all, but it has a really interesting and funny story. You even said yourself that you find amateur games have better storyline and gameplay in terms of originality.

...So, if you automatically won't give a game a chance because maybe the GRAPHICS are lacking, then like... how will you ever find a game that has what you want?

Also has far as my list of games are concerned, I wouldn't recommend any of them, they're all more like landmarks. Duke's Quest was my first first game, Xerian was my first turning point, Kitty's Story came after, the Eight Granasties was my first completed game with a weak story and gameplay. Bloodlust is my current work which I hope will surpass (most) my shortcomings. The others are quick play games that are really more about certain ideas than anything.

Perhaps you just have a more narrow and specific taste Rya, but judging from all the previous posts, you're not making that clear very well.
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http://www.castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=750 Bloodlust Demo 1.00

[TMC]

Wow, Rya, Hi! How's it been? As you can see, I'm still here, and you didn't seem like the sort of person that's likely to just disappear permanently either.

Hmm, I totally forgot that I offered to work on Endless Evil Zero, but I do remember you discussing details of the game extensively, I just forgot why, hahah. Suddenly I remember we had really ambitious plans for things that probably still haven't been done on the OHR. Sorry if my lack of time had anything to do with killing it back then. Looks like you won't be needing a plotscripter any more though.

I've just realised that someone to discuss/work on the gameplay is just what I need - when I eventually resume that game. (BTW, do you still have the t-online.de email address?) Not that I'm recruiting you, just discussing ideas would be a massive help, and I don't plan to start on it for many months anyway.

These forums seem to be slow largely because people don't have anything to post about. Most users have turned into lurkers. As you can see from this thread, there's a lot of people around who only occasionally bother to post. JSH's right about site downtime having seriously dented activity.

I'm on IRC nearly all the time, though lately I've been turning my computer off at night to save electricity. IRC activity, for years, is always reaching new lows, and now nearly nobody chats in #castleparadox. There are a couple more active channels with mostly OHR users in them, but not much OHR discussed.
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"It is so great it is insanely great."

[TMC]

[Rinku]

Nice to see you again Rya. Hope you stick around.

As for not liking you so much, I was mainly disturbed that, back then, you were 18 and had a 13 year old girlfriend, which might be common in Germany but it raises eyebrows a bit in the US.

I doubt I'm that famous on gamer circles. I'm only barely in the 'my reputation precedes me for 1 person out of a million' stage. I'd prefer not to be, but it's probably unavoidable as my games become more well-known.

I don't have much to say about the main content of this thread, but a few points:

- The retro aesthetic is indeed very big, Cave Story gave it a big boost and now more than half of all indie games tend to be retro in style. I agree that it's not dominant over most mainstream gamers, but there's now a very sizable portion of people who like retro games who didn't exist a few years ago.

- I actually agree with Rya about the good games on that Top 30 list, but I've always had a bias for games that take themselves seriously.

- Rya, I suggest you play Sword of Jade if you haven't, as an example of what the Ohrrpgce can do. And don't just play the intro, get a few hours into it (it's 23 hours long or so).

- I kind of think gameplay, story, and graphics and that type of categorization isn't really too useful. I think it's far better to take games on a case by case basis, judge them each as their own game, instead of comparing abstract qualities like those. The most important thing to me about a game is how many things it has that I find interesting. I don't care if those interesting things are part of the game's rules, part of the visuals, or part of the dialogue, or part of anything else, just as long as they're there. And the more there are of them, the more I like a game.
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Tower Defense Game

[Joe Man]

I've been having a mental struggle with ambiguous terms like those for a while. To be fair, those aspects can certainly be judged individually, as they are more or less developed independently from each other.

Rinku's idea works but It's a tad unorthodox for mass implementation. Let's see how the idea catches on. Personally, I never do reviews. I promise to do one eventually. But going back to my point If you read this article from The Escapist, you'd get an idea of what really grinds my gears. I wish I had a checklist of relevant materials to consider, but I don't. What a shame.
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"Everyone has 200,000 bad drawings in them, the sooner you get them out the better."
~Charles Martin Jones

Last edited by Joe Man on Fri Dec 13, 1957 1:21 am; edited 2,892 time in total

[The Wobbler]

[Newbie_Power]