itch.io

Great job on the world design - gameplay needs some work, as I didn't notice anything to do besides go around picking up exp shards (or whatever you want to call them). Combat doesn't seem fully functional, as attacking the shadow enemies doesn't seem to do a whole lot and they will just sit there wailing on you until you die (and they move at the same speed as the player, so they will keep following you until you find a ledge or something else they can't bypass). It's a great start though, and gives you something to build on.

Where are the RPG elements with this one? This feels like more of a puzzle game, given the maze elements. There is no story to speak of, no character development, and no trace of RPG combat. Given this was submitted early in the jam, I'm hoping it's just a prototype and we might see more in the future.

I pretty much exclusively played it in Story Mode, which still felt like back-to-back battles, with very little in the way of plot. Totally understandable given the time limit, but I hope you'll continue with this one and flesh it out some more!

Solid entry! Made it all the way to the end (nearly got killed when I had the boss down to the last hit, but my risk paid off haha).

I like the visuals (aside from obviously the player character being a capsule lol), and I do think the world could use more Pokemon clones, if for no other reason than to give them some competition! However, I couldn't complete a battle sequence. I tried two separate times, and after three turns it kicked me out to the overworld but didn't reset the UI, which meant I had to quit out. I think with some work, however, you could do something really cool with this!

The loading screen takes far too long - I did, however, finally get it to run on my end, but this is a problem that definitely needs to be ironed out in future versions if you're intending to continue with this project (I tried lowering all the settings to their lowest setting during the loading screen, not sure if it actually made a difference or not). Now without further ado, some additional notes!

- The music and general aesthetic is great! As another comment mentioned, however, the characters could do with facial expressions to make them a little more animated.
- The characters could use animations that give them a lot more character. They're all rather stiff at this point even during walking animations.
- The player character continues to slide after you've stopped pressing the directional keys. Assuming you're using acceleration-based movement (building momentum the longer the direction is pressed), this just means you need to cut all momentum the moment the player is no longer pressing a movement key.
- Rotating the camera (I found this out completely by accident) does not center around the player character, meaning the player is offset from the camera's position. In general, the camera can be slightly obstructive, preventing the player from seeing enemies in the overworld among other things. This is partly tied to not having the camera able to follow the player and rotation not centering around the player. My recommendation would be to either have the camera follow the player entirely or allow a free cam where the player can control its rotation and position within reason.
- I did notice the game became choppy at certain points, which could be related to the extremely long load time for the game as a whole (general loading screen times were not unreasonable). Some general optimization might help mitigate this.

I think this is a great start! However, as someone commented on the game's page (not the jam rating page), the combat gets very repetitive very quickly.

I appreciate the visuals and the basic battle concept and think this could be greatly expanded upon, also incorporating the narrative into the game itself. There isn't really anything alluding to the story within the game (at least, in the three or four battles that I played, but I couldn't really bring myself to continue without something else to go on). I think you're limiting yourself too much if you keep it too basic, it could definitely use some nuance. This game needs some kind of tutorial section before you throw the player straight into combat, otherwise they're figuring out what to do on the fly which is good for exploration but not so good for any kind of action/combat.

I hope you all will keep working on this for future entries! I appreciated the voice narration at the start (you don't see people doing this a lot especially in a jam setting), and the movement mechanics felt pretty fluid in the overworld. All in all a great entry!

A few notes:
- For the narration, a pop filter and some post-processing would do wonders - there were a lot of plosives during the narration (from the p's and the b's) which can be mitigated during recording to make it sound a lot smoother. Some reverb and compression to make the vocals seem balanced throughout would do well to keep it consistent. Also, the pacing of the narration was rather slow at times (I apologize as I come from an audio background and have an easier time noticing these things).
- The combat could use a bit of a visual overhaul as the UI is very basic (completely understandable given the jam time limit)
- At one point when I was exploring the upper part of the map I entered combat and it didn't properly initialize, leaving the game hanging and forcing a restart - probably one of the most common things when having to constantly switch between an overworld and combat scene as it can break easily. Hopefully you can fix this in the long term.

Calling all devs!

RPG Mania starts up next week! The theme will be announced in the next few days (we could definitely use a few more votes). Hope to see you all there!

- CG

Hey everyone!

It's been a while, but RPG Mania XIV is officially on for next month, in case you've got that RPG itch(.io) that needs scratching!

This jam is structurally split up into two separate jams, the concept phase (April 1st - 15th) and the main jam (April 15th - May 15th, with a two week rating period afterward), but for the purposes of the community, they are the same jam. We still need some more votes on the theme, but come on over to our Discord server and say hi!

Concept jam page
Main jam page
Vote for the theme
Discord channel

Thank you for the feedback! I wanted to put a focus on the gameplay side of things, and that took the majority of the time that was spent on the game so far. For the next jam I intend to, at minimum, have integrated:

- 3D models for the summoned creatures and permanent effects, possibly as figurines or statuettes to minimize the need for extensive animations
- A different visual theme for each element, along with fully integrated UI
- Music and SFX to round out the experience
- A full set of cards for each element to allow the player some semblance of choice in their deck creation
- Fully realized computer AI to provide at least somewhat of a challenge
- The story is there, but it's pretty much just a blurb right now. If I have time for the next jam (or the one after that if needed) I'm going to try to integrate it into the gameplay as well, with small bits of dialogue and seeming interaction between the player and the computer, as you mentioned. Along with that, I would try to integrate more of a playable tutorial section in addition to the purely visual tutorial that's been provided.
- I had some difficulties getting Unity's UI to work for me the way I wanted it, so I'll need to take some time to tweak that as well.

I've just tried the link from both the concept jam and main jam pages and it seems to be working just fine. As well, new jammers have joined the Discord in the past couple of days so I think it's safe to assume it's working for others as well. https://discord.gg/uX85cFvY2G

Hi there,

You can think of the concept jam and the actual jam as ... all just one big jam. Essentially the concept period is meant as a construct to allow jammers to dedicate that time for planning things out over the course of the jam, and then take flight during RPGM5. But by all means there is no hard rule as to when you want to start actually fleshing out your game. I hope you have fun!

- CG

Hey there,

NSFW content is allowed, as long as you provide the proper warnings (the same thing goes for sensitive content that might be triggering to players).

Hi there!

This jam is just for fun, but can be a great way to hone your techniques and build up your portfolio, as well as learn how to function in a team setting when it comes to game dev.

Hi,

Do you mean an actual Pokemon game or a game inspired by Pokemon involving similar mechanics? As long as you're aware of copyrights/trademarks you can do what you want, but I would recommend using existing games as inspiration rather than fully deriving from them or making a fangame. It shows creativity and will be easier for you to expand on later, should you choose to do so.

- CG

Hey everyone!

RPG Mania is now heading toward its fourth rendition! If you're interested in jamming with other like-minded developers and creating something cool then come join us on our Discord! This jam begins March 15th and will run for two months before jam games are opened up for a two week voting period. We have a great community of game devs and this time around we are collaborating with CliCli, which is a newer editing tool for game dev (much like Unity, Godot, Unreal). Jammers are highly encouraged to team up and have fun during the jam, and hopefully learn a new thing or two! You can visit the main jam page here.

Happy jamming!
- CG

Hi there,

Not sure how I missed this one! I was admittedly busy over the holidays. In regards to the jam not being visible in the jam calendar, the same thing happened with RPGM II - it was listed initially and taken down for some unknown reason, presumably because it's deemed a "long" jam by Itch.

Hi there,

I've fixed the Discord link and it should be working now. Not sure what happened there as it has been working the past couple of jams without issue.

You can join the Discord here.

Hi!

In response to your first question, a team isn't necessary but is highly recommended, given the heavier nature of RPGs. By all means you can do a project on your own, but forming a team also gets you comfortable working in a team setting and if your end goal is to work in the industry, that will be more or less essential.

As for the second question, it's pretty much just saying you don't need a full game for a submission - as long as players can tell what direction the game is headed in and you've introduced the characters, it can be considered a game demo. With that said, this jam is very low stakes and you can submit whatever you believe is worthy of submission as long as it follows the posted rules.

- CG

Especially due to RPGM being on a longer hiatus than normal after this one ends (returning mid-December), I've extended it. Hope you come up with something cool :)

Hey all,

We are halfway through RPG Mania and are looking for another artist to model some cool equipment designs for multiple player characters. The jam goes until October 15th. You can reach me on Discord for more info: skywraith83#6785

- CG

Hey! We're seeking another team member for RPG Mania II (currently ongoing, submission deadline is October 15th) and could use a generalist like yourself to help on the coding side and potentially work in tandem with the environment artist to model props etc. Do you think that would interest you at all?

My Discord is skywraith83#6785 if you want to reach me there.

- CG

Hi,

I emailed about this issue over two weeks ago and have so far gotten no response, so I figured I would leave a post here in the hopes of bringing it to a mod's attention. My jam (RPG Mania II - https://itch.io/jam/rpg-mania-ii) was originally posted up on the jam calendar but disappeared not too long after. It still shows up in jams in progress but is not visible on the calendar. I realize sometimes longer jams aren't displayed but I wouldn't say two months is particularly long (and I've definitely seen longer ones than that on the calendar). If someone could advise me on this that would be much appreciated.

Thank you,
CG

Hi,

This is mostly to prevent spam entries and ensure that games made for this jam were actually created for this jam. You're free to participate in both jams but you must have a separate game entry for RPG Mania. RPG Mania also now runs twice as long as MVM so if you manage your time properly you should be able to do both, depending on the scope of your project. I apologize if this rule rubs you the wrong way but it was prompted by numerous spam entry submissions in the first RPGM. This is why we can't have nice things.

- CG

Hi there! You might have more luck if you join the community on Discord, as that's where most of the devs go to find a team.

Hey everyone!

Just thought I'd post here to see if there's anyone interested in joining this jam (it actually started yesterday, but it's going for two months this time!)

This jam accepts RPGs of all types (strategy, turn-based, action, adventure, you name it) so if you're an RPG fan, this jam is for you. All games must be made specifically for this jam - full rules are listed on the jam page.

You can find our jam page here, or connect directly to our community on Discord.

Happy jamming everyone!

- CG

Hi there! You might have more luck if you join the community on Discord, as that's where most of the devs go to find a team.

Happy jamming!

Hi there! You might have more luck if you join the community on Discord, as that's where most of the devs go to find a team.

Happy jamming!