Just me rambling

Grandtrain · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 85

This game didnâ€™t win the contest. Uncommonâ€™s highly polished entry rightfully won. Magnus: Golem didnâ€™t get the great reception Babel did as well. However, itâ€™s my only completed game, and the only one of mine that I felt had a persistent game design model. I considered it to be the highlight of my time with OHR.

The plot wasnâ€™t exactly great, but it was fun to stitch the story of Magnus 1, Pepsi Rangerâ€™s excellent locations and characters, the dialogue bonus points, and the concept of dolls together. I guess itâ€™s a fault of the game that the list by PR is pretty much required reading to fully enjoy the game. (Wish I knew where it was) At least 4 characters, possibly all of them, came from that list. Honestly, I donâ€™t think any of my characterization lived up to PRâ€™s short description.

As for the battles, the rules to the contest gave birth to the battle system. Simply, bonus points were given for the inclusion of certain characters. Dolls were an easy way to rack up bonus points and still be part of the story. With so many characters, I needed a reason for players to use them. Thus, I decided on the heavy reliance on rock-paper-scissor gameplay.

Honestly, in the rush to the finish line, battle balance consisted of just one playthrough. If I can beat it, itâ€™s good enough. In fact, a lot of it is theoretical. SUPPOSEDLY, by placing dolls and abilities in certain places, the player SHOULD have the tools to complete the dungeon. Found out near the deadline that it do not work that way. It was much too tedious. Spamming items was a requirement. All I did were quick fixes.
- players could run away from battles
- placed items that lists the weakness and strength of the enemies.
- added two secret shops in and around the empty houses that makes you godlike and avoid battle altogether.

If I was to go back to the game right now, Iâ€™ll probably get rid of the accumulation of abilities. Having to collect dolls and acquire abilities was redundant. In fact, it hurts the basic idea for the battles. Few people probably spend the time to improve all the characters. Thus, most of the dolls were probably useless because of a lack of abilities. A better approach would be to give each doll preset ability set. The party would then be like a deck of Pokemon/Magic cards tailored to the situation.

Battles werenâ€™t the only thing to suffer due to time. Did the dev team of KOTOR2 feel the same way I did as the deadline approaches? Weeks from the deadline, I knew there was no way my full vision was possible. Cuts were needed.

The biggest was that the time-traveling shard was supposed to be used more extensively. That was the â€œMetroidâ€ moment. With the new ability, players would have gone back to old places to open up new dungeons. Honestly, though, there was no real story planned for the portion. Most likely, it would have just ended up as fillers.

More painful was the jester. I find out early on that I absolutely enjoy writing him. He was supposed to be the lively one, the cool and mysterious one, and, dare I say it, the Sephiroth of the game. Because of the length of the game, my hatred for cutscene plotscripting, and lack of time to do the walkabout, he came off a lot more vanilla than I imagined him to be.

Itâ€™s possible that, without a deadline, this game could have been a lot better. However, more likely, Iâ€™ll probably never have gotten past the first map without that deadline. Besides, the deadline was part of the game. The contest was the most fun I had with the OHR. Working within the bounds of the PRâ€™s universe was motivating. Afterward, to find that I could reasonably tie my game plot with PRâ€™s entry was awesome. Shame that his Volcanite King contest came when I did my great Internet culling because college was kicking my ass.

J.A.R.S. · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:22 pm Post subject:

If you read my review, chaces are you know this is my favorite OHR game ever, and I dare you I DARE YOU to open that file again, and fix it in a more narrow and less naive game. If you do that, according to me, you'll have the greatest ohr game ever (personal opinion). If you've read about me around here, I'm critic, insanely stupidly flaming for nothing on details. Your game had flaws, but it was awesome. I think it deserves a 2.00 release if you're up for that task Wink

*pats shoulder*

Guest · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:56 pm Post subject:

Hmm, I haven't been on the journals page in more than a year, and when I take a peek (well, when I post something), I see this...

Anyway, in case you're curious, I still have every document relating to all three Epic Marathon contests.

If you want the lists again (or if you still want to make your Volcanic Kings game, which would be awesome to finally see), I can email you the documents.

PM me with your email address in case I don't check this forum for awhile.

Pepsi Ranger · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:59 pm Post subject:

Okay, that was supposed to be me before the system logged me out mid-post. I'm sure that's implied, but now you have an easy reference.
_________________
Progress Report:

The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition

Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.

Tightfloss Maiden

Currently Updating: Chapter 2

Grandtrain · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 85

Haha. Just read your reviews and...wow...I'm blushing. Oookay...

I wish I can say that a revamp of the game is coming. However, life is still kicking my ass. Might be something I'll think more on when everything settle down a bit.

J.A.R.S. · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:52 pm Post subject:

Honestly, this may be slightly subjective, but I really liked the game.
More than Purgatory or, well, any other ohr game I've played.
And I think the main reason is: balance.
It is true, the story wasn't all that far-fetched and epic (but hey, it was a contest with guidelines and a model that didn't give much ground for EPIC stories

) but the battle system was grand. The way a few modifications takes a very old default battle system and make it shine anew, that's really the spirit. No levelup? WTF? That one was a risky shot, but the idea of focusing on skills and allies was also unique, not that it should revolutionise the world of RPGs so that all RPGs play out like it, but it most certainly had enough potential to fill one full game. I even forgot there was anything such as leveling up

The main drawback is that, once abilities were acquired, every fight could be escaped :S Of course, the early ones, in the forest, gave you enough money to buy potions, but then, the attrition caused by the levels was nearly void when escaping.

so in case you consider remaking it, here's a short list of thoughts:
- give more reasons not to escape battles
- make encounters non-random (shhhhhh..)
- more skills Wink

- a revamp on the former community-related character list (of course

)
- extended story (you've said yourself you wanted to emphasize more on the jester dude I think)
etc...