Rena's Revenge
A downloadable game
On a deserted island a young girl named Rena lives with her sick mother and a few other residents. Most of the population is made up of guards that roam the island. It's almost as if they are protecting something.
After failing to get the medicine to her mother in time due to interference from the residents, Rena seeks revenge on all of them.
*There are only 3 levels *
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Hi there! I've downloaded the game and tried playing it, however, I wasn't able to finish the game for some reason that I will mention below. Here is my feedback :
- I think you can improve the title screen. There are alot of ways you can do this, you can make an in game map as your title screen, or really enhance it using a plugin like Moghunter's plugins (I will give the link below, definitely check it out, it can really enhance the game.)
- I personally like the atmosphere you make, your music choice is very good, props for that. However I do think that the music should be more dynamic, it should change when the mood of the game changed, whether in gameplay or in cutscene.
- There are moments where everything goes too fast. For example, at the beginning of the game, the players are immediately surprised by the sound of thunder, rain, and a dialogue box, I think it's too much things shown at the same time. I suggest to gradually show things, first give some time to fade from the title screen, then the sound of the thunder and rain fades in, and after that the scene where Rena is standing in front of the house gets fade in. You can even put some Rena's monologue about her concern and her struggle first when the screen was still black and only the sound of thunder and rain are heard, I think it will hook the player into the story more.
- This is a personal preference but I think the maps are a little too bland, I actually had some free time today (-w-) and I was bored so I tried remaking the first 5 maps of the game. I'll give the link to the project file down below, if the maps that I remade peek your interest, feel free to use it. But if you are into the blank & empty map style then that's okay.
- The scene where Rena was bullied and her mother's medicine got thrown into the sea felt a little too fast. I was a little surprised when exiting the shop only to immediately greeted by those 3 kids. I personally think it would be better if the cutscene show things gradually. Like when Rena exited the shop the 3 kids are shown in the map, talking somewhere not far from Rena, then they see Rena that is walking home in hurry, seeing this they block her way and goes on with the bullying. You can also show in the cutscene how the guards actually see this happening but ignore it, to show more just how they really don't care about Rena.
- I found the same problem with the cutscene where Rena returned home and saw that her mother is dying on the floor, this scene also feels a little to fast. When people are shocked to see something, they usually freeze for a moment, I think you can do this too, during rena's run back to home the music is sad but intense, and when she entered the house and see her mother dying, he froze, the music stop and shift into a dramatic one, after realizing what happened she panicked and approached her mother.
- I think Rena's transformation is a pivotal moment in the story, so I hope you don't rush it. When her mother died, I personally would first add some Rena's monologue, where she questions fate, question what have they done wrong to be treated like this, to simply put, a buildup to a conclusion where she had enough of all this and want revenge. And when she finally made her mind for revenge, she lets the darkness out and transformed. To make the transformation more appealing visually I suggest also using screen effect plugin like Pixi Filter Controller by Tsukimi. Moghunter also has some plugins that helps you enhance visual in a cutscene.
- As for the battle, I think all works well, however I would suggest that you use the give rtp battleback as your battlebackgroun rather than using the blurred version of the map. Rpg maker gave a lot of good battlebacks, many are easily editable, and if you don't find the one you want on the default battlebacks, there are tons of battleback resources in Rpg maker forum.
- Turn based combat is indeed easier to make, but it can easily get boring too, this is just some advice, but if you want to level up your battle, you can use yanfly's battle plugins, these plugins will really enhance it. But Yanfly's plugins do take some time to learn, if you want to focus more on the story, but still have an appealing battle, Moghunter also has some good battle plugins that can definitely enhance your battle. There is also another kind of battle system in Rpg maker, it's called Action Battle System (ABS), but it's a really complex system.
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Okay, now these are the reason I wasn't able to finish the game. I personally think you have to look up for this again :
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1. The random encounter, I'm sorry, but it really kills the mood sometimes :(. I really don't recommend using random encounter, but if you do think that it's suitable for your game and doesn't want to change it then please decrease the chance. I wasn't able to focus on finding the switch on the orphanage because I fear that the next step I take will be another random encounter :(, I personally think it kills the mood. And when I got into the Orphanage's Dungeon it was really frustating because in just a couple steps I will get into a random encounter, I wasn't able to focus on the exploration at all. Not only that, the poison effect that one of the enemy gives (I think it's the green slime one) stays with you even after you finished the battle. This made the game really hard for me, as I haven't found an antidote and when I want to search for it, I got killed by the random encounters, I think it really kills the mood. The reason I wasn't able to finish the game is because I have tried to play it twice, and I died twice (---___---). The thought of having to fight many random encounters just to get back to my last point really kills the mood for replayability.
2. What I do suggest you do is to make the enemies the way your made the fights with the guards, so the enemy sprites are there, and when your character and the enemy touch, you got into battle. If you want the enemy to patrol around and then start chasing you when you get into a certain distance with it and stop chasing when you've ran far enough, you can use Moghunter's event sensor plugin. This will give the player the option to fight or leave the enemies. Not only that, this will also make the gameplay more interesting, as when you play in the dungeon, you can see what kind of enemies that lies ahead, this will make exploration more fun as the players will always looking for what kind of enemy they will be fighting next. You can also implement it on the mechanic, make it so that treasure chest are guarded by more powerful enemies, or faster routes in a dungeon are guarded by more powerful enemies while the slower routes are guarded by weaker enemies. This will make the player actively making decision, and this kind of active decision making is what makes a game interesting (For me personally)
3. I think you should give notification when the player leveled up or gained new skill. I was surprised when I suddenly got a skill called "shadow bind" wwwwww. I personally think it would be better to let the player know that they've gotten something new or leveled up, so they can look forward for the next battle because they want to try out the new thing. You can do this by showing animation or image, anything that notify the players that they have gotten stronger.
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Gameplay-wise those are all the feedbacks I can give, now I would like to give some suggestions on how you might get more people to play your game :
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- I think your Itch.io page doesn't describe the game very well. It's totally okay if you give only a short synopsis of the game on the Itch.io page, that's good, but you also have to explain to people more about your game (not the story, but the "game"). Explain what kind of game it is, the features that it has, etc. Essentially the things that make your game different from the other games.
Examples : https://apish-box-games.itch.io/perfect-spot https://maatingamedev.itch.io/ekithestation
They don't tell much about the game's story, but they tell about the game, the features, the things that make the game different from others.
- Looks matter. I personally think you should invest some time on the game's itch.io page or on any site you promote your game to. Make the game's icon, the banner, etc. I know you put a lot of effort on the game but you should show to people that you are putting those effort, but they won't be able to see those effort until they download and play the game. When people come to the game's page and see that it has it's own color theme, it's icon, it's banner, maybe even trailer, they "see" the effort and know that you are serious about it. They won't doubt that you will just abandon the game someday.
- Have you tried promoting your game to the rpg maker forum? As far as I know that's the best place to promote your rpg maker game and got feedback. Since this is a demo of your game I think you can post it on "Games In Develompment" thread. https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?forums/games-in-development.20/ Please follow the rules and guidelines upon making thread.
- This is just an advice, but customize as many things as possible. It's okay if you want to use the default RTP tileset that rpg maker give, but there are many free tileset resources on the forum that you can use to enhance your game. Not only tileset, there are many free music, plugins, sound effects, animation, etc. That you can use, so take your time to find resources (be a resource hunter :V). This will help your game stand out from other rpg maker games that use only default assets.
- Lastly, these are the links of the plugins I mention above that you can use to really level up your game. 1. https://mogplugins.wordpress.com/rpg-maker-mv/ (Moghunter's MV plugin. I highly recommend you download it and run the Master MV projects. It will show you how the plugin works)
2. http://www.yanfly.moe/wiki/Battle_Engine_Core_(YEP) (Yanfly's plugins. Paid and takes some time to learn, but once you get the hang of it you'll be able to create crazy good games)
3. https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/pixi-filter-controller-fancy-screen-effects-by-pixi-mz-version-released.90368/ (Plugins to give pixi filter/effect in rpg maker. You can make effects like sunrays, blur, shockwave, etc.)
4. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u2y13irFppUHwngo4cmr01ZUcjZ3F6zo/view?usp=sharing (This is the maps I remake (-W-), feel free to use it if you like it)
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Those are all the help and feedbacks I could give, I really hope this could help you, I think your game has potential so don't give up on it. At the end of the day, it's your game, you know about it the best, so take my advice with a grain of salt and choose what's best for your game. I wish you all the best, good luck and God bless!
Hi there. First off I'd like to say thanks for taking the time to play and being a nice person with the critique. Some I've talked to would just say insults only in a very rude way.
I'll address each comment in order.
1. I’d prefer to avoid using plugins/things from others in order to avoid any copyright or legal issues. I plan to sell the complete game and I’d rather not have any problems like that to worry about.
2. The mood at the start of the game is supposed to have a sort of heaviness to it. It’s supposed to be a sad environment where the main character struggles to get by. Kind of like walking through a struggling neighborhood, there is a certain vibe to it, but in this case it’s only Rena struggle with her mother, so it’s like from her perspective.
3. Kind of was going for a sudden shock to immediately draw attention, but I’ll go the slow fade in route instead. Also the monologue is an interesting idea.
4. The maps you sent seem pretty detailed and colorful. Kind of gives a more upbeat feeling which is the opposite of what I’m going for in the beginning. It’s supposed to be small and depressing. For later areas though, sure I could use them, but not the beginning.
5. The guard dialogue changes depending on when you talk to them. I thought them literally doing nothing was enough. Also the kids appearing is meant to take you by surprise to grab the player’s attention. Unexpected surprises can have that affect on people instead of showing a build up to a scene which most people can make assumptions from.
6. No you’re right. I should have put a more emotional impact here. I’ll make the changes.
7. I want to avoid plugins for already mentioned reasons.
8. I thought using the dungeon backgrounds made it feel like you were fighting in the dungeons, but ok I’ll switch them.
Also as for your issue with the slimes, I thought that I gave them antidotes as a drop item. Also fighting the knights in the building shouldn't be too much problem since they drop potions to heal. Or you could run from them.
Important Notes
1 & 2. Random encounters give me a sense of nostalgia, plus not every enemy has a model that can move around the map if I remember correctly. It reminds me of playing the old school RPGs on DS or Gameboy, things like going through a cave in pokemon. I can lower encounter rates if it’s too annoying. Running away is also an option, but I can understand being annoyed about too many consistent encounters. Had that problem in mt moon in pokemon fire red.
3. Still figuring this one out. The game does tell you when you level up and get a new skill after you finish a fight. Still figuring out how to add another form of notification at the moment.
Lastly, I will say, yes I am trying to do what I can to bring out the potential of the game. Doing things like changing the download page here sounds like a good idea. Thank you for all you've done so far. I'd be glad to hear your thoughts again on the next update.
I'm pleasantly surprised when returning to this itch page and saw that a lot improvements has been done already, good job!
I'm happy that you've read my feedback and aligned it with your vision of the game, as I said, take my feedbacks with a grain of salt, it's your game so you know about it the best.
I also respect you opinion on not wanting to use resource from others, but I just want to let you know that many of the resources (including the one I mention above) that are free to use in commercial games too, some of them only ask to be given the credit on the credit scene. But again, if you have decided to not use any outside materials then go for it.
I'll be waiting for the next update, I have some friends too who likes to play small rpg games on their free time, so maybe I can also give them to try your game next time and get their feedback too.
Good luck with your game and God bless!