Couldn't finish it in an hour, so my feedback is based only on what I saw.
Things I liked about the game:
- Compelling story & interesting characters
- Good mystery game mechanics
- Good use of the VX Ace BGM
Things I didn't like:
- There appear to be skills that you can level up, but it's not clear whether I should be trying to grind a certain skill up somehow or become a generalist
- I see I can buy items and I can sell items, but I'm not sure if I might be selling something that will be useful later
- Stray pixels in the birds' map sprites are annoying
I may be rating at the hour mark, but I want to come back and see the game through to the end some day. It's quite good, especially considering it was made in a month. Were it not for the story being so HawkZombie-centric I would advocate this project be polished and made into a commercial release. Good job, Sith (Dora)!
Thank you. The only things you should be selling are the rings, earrings, necklaces, and bangles you can find. Those are just to make money. As for the skills, I simply ran out of space in their descriptions to tell which stat affects them. The best ones by far are Intelligence and Personality, with Strength being the third most-used. And yeah, I get the pixels being an annoyance. I stopped trying to edit the sprites after four hours with no success (the version of sprites I ended up with was the best one, too). I have no idea why they do that, they look fine in the character preview screens and I even read guides on resizing XP sprites. I had to move on in order to have enough time for making the rest of the game, and I just didn't have time to keep fixing it when everything was finished. Not an excuse, but I had to start prioritizing and I decided the sprites were... mildly passable. Thank you for the feedback, though. Part of me wants to lengthen it so it includes everything I cut out, but it really is a jam-specific game.
This was so fun! The pacing was good, I always love feeling rewarded for going and clicking on all the things, lol. The dialogue was funny and the characters all felt unique and distinct. LOVE all the bird puns, haha. Writing a solid mystery is SO hard and I think you really found a great balance of the conclusion feeling very satisfying.
Thank you for playing it. Like I told Phoenix, my favorite thing in older rpgs was to find all the flavor texts for examining everything (especially if it gave me the all-powerful Elixir), so I wanted to have that for other players. Give them little bits that aren't always story-dependent but are fun to read. I've watched/read a lot of murder mysteries (like Law and Order and Murdoch Mysteries) and wanted to keep a pace that was easy but still felt like it was moving toward something definitive. I'm glad you enjoyed the conclusion; it was probably the hardest part to write.
Amazing crime drama! Honestly was immersed into the mystery 100%! It was good how eventually we found out who the suspect is and it wasn't a weird wacky twist; You actually had clues who it was and it fit so well! Also, Darkson McEdgelord will forever be a favorite of mine. May he continue to do his thing.
Honestly, Darkson WAS my wacky twist! He was a last-minute addition to the cast. I thought about how many different ways I wanted this to go, but in the end, the story felt like it needed to stay on an even route. I wondered what would be the funniest thing to do without disrupting the tone of the game, and the last scene was what I felt it needed. Enough humor to give a laugh, but not so much that it ruins the theme in any way. The clues were difficult at first, because I wanted there to be enough that there might be a red herring. But I made the list and went 'Oh, god, can I fit this together cohesively?' I'm glad you liked it, and thank you for playing.
I loved your game dora! It was so much fun. I loved mention of drury lane, and seeing Tymvaul,(spelled wrong prob sorry xD) and other characters and mentions from raffelsia! The shop district is also so cute, I love your style of mapping. This was seriously so charming, I love the artwork and edits I see you did was very cool. It was a very unique take and I think your game styles are also fun and interesting! Thank you for joining the jam!!
Thank you so much, Phoenix. :) I honestly loved the concept I came up with, and I really enjoyed trying to write a murder mystery. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. I was really nervous about how it would come across, because I condensed the story as much as possible while still giving enough that it didn't seem unfinished. I'm glad you loved it.
BTW I took my time and clicked on literally EVERYTHING and it was so worth it. You're an incredible writer and I can't wait to see what games you make next, your games are always so much fun and I always love the characters and writing. Your pacing is literally perfect and your games also don't stress me out((which is a good thing)) xD the statue made me lol bc it felt so nostalgic
Oh, I had to add that statue if Tymvaul's going to be there. And thank you! Unfortunately, being a writer is a double-edged sword. I look at game-devving as though I'm writing a story, and that means I want the world as fleshed as I can make it. That's GREAT for a long project, but it also means it's easy for me to go over the hour mark in a short game jam without realizing it. I never regret it, though. One of my favorite things in older RPGs was to find flavor text or secret items in bookshelves and cabinets, so that's why my games tend to have so much flavor text themselves. Show parts of the world that aren't mandatory, but allow the player to be rewarded with something for their curiosity.
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