{Review} Soil and Rubble

"Soil and Rubble" by Daniel Mullins

Test season has started at my school, covering the surfaces of my apartment in paper like an academic winter. Also, due to not keeping up with the reviews, I have lost any overview I once had as to who requested their review when. So I thought I might try a game that I thought looked interesting and like it would appeal to the brain-activity-challenged me currently inhabiting my body.
That game is "Soil and Rubble".

Story
You start with a small garden where the plums are ripe. My first reaction to the game was: "That plum looks like a bottom." My second reaction was: "What is that thing dropping in the backgrou... Oh."
The game wastes no time in setting up its scenario. The world as you know it has ended and all that stands between you and starvation are your plums. So you better keep them growing. Other than that, you get a few insights into your nightly thoughts that go ever crazier...
I won't spoil the ending but it seemed to come rather quickly in my opinion, leaving me wondering if it was something I said or did that caused it to say: "That's enough, run along now."
Was it because of my stats? Was it random? Was it supposed to end exactly there? If the latter is true, an option for long play might help. I don't think I would start it again to get more, but I definitely would have kept playing to enhance my Frankenstein pantry. What do I mean by that? Well...

Mechanics
You put down soil, put in a seed and water it. Then, sooner or later, the plant produces one or slightly more fruits. Repeat or die.
The game is nice enough to let you use every part of your butt-plum. You eat it to fight your ever growing hunger and you use the seed to grow a new one. The interesting moment came when the Geiger counter in the corner came to life and told me that radiation had changed my crops. Now my plum would fill me up even more but also increase the radiation I had in my body. That is where you decide.
Do you keep eating boring plums a bit at a time, keeping just ahead of starvation, like some kind of post-apocalyptic uber-fruitarian with "Death to Monsanto" embroidered on your poncho?
Or do you embrace the brave new world of skull-faced plums and accept that radiation may melt your brain but feels so good in your belly?
I went down the latter path, though I couldn't bring myself to actually eat the fruit that looked like the actual symbol of death. But I felt like I had some pretty neat varieties in my arsenal, which is what made the aforementioned ending a bit more frustrating.
Speaking of frustrating, I would have showered anyone with plums of their choice and covered them in seeds (that came out wrong...), if they had brought me a single flyswatter. Your plums taste good to you but also to mutated dragonflies. Or maybe it was always the same one that came and ate my crops. I don't know for sure. But the smug look on its face suggested it. If you're fast enough, you can eat the plums before it does, but nevertheless this creature became something like my character's white whale.

Presentation
More or less the only thing you see is your garden. It and the plants you grow look handdrawn and fittingly drab. Apocalypse just ain't pretty... Sound and music seemed unremarkable to me, with the exception of the intro, which used them very effectively.
One thing that I'm not sure about is the writing. Its prose seemed a little purple for my taste, with "the fingers of radiation carressing your plums". Oh my...

On the whole...
Is it a big game? No. Would it benefit from being a bigger game? Probably. Is it an interesting game? Yes. Do I overuse this rhetorical question gimmick? Absolutely. Was it the nice little gaming snack I hoped for when I fired it up? Pretty much.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/312#.Vfw_z9_tlBc

Dev: Daniel Mullins

Time Played: 10 minutes

Got My Vote? Yes, because it has an interesting concept at its core and because the skull-shaped plum told me so in my dreams.

{Review} Battlerocktopia

"Battlerocktopia" by Troy Sanders


Story
You are, I assume, familiar with the legend of Sisyphus? Yeah, the guy who has to roll the boulder up the mountain for all eternity, only for it to roll down again just before the summit, good on you for knowing that.
Now imagine the boulder is a killer robot with flame throwers and rocket launchers and instead of rolling it up the mountain, you have to punch it in the face with a fiery fist.
That's basically all the story I get from "Battlerocktopia", other than what is on the contest page. And even there it only says that the hero "finds himself battling against a nega-bot", as heroes are wont to do. Turn the wrong corner one afternoon and you stumble into a fight with a dastardly contraption made of circuits and hatred, we've all been there.

Mechanics
You move around and have three options aside from that: jump, hit the robot or dash a short distance and hit the robot, should it be in your way.
Your own skillset does not change during the game, but that may be due to the fact that you may be the hero of the game, but you are not the star. That is definitely the robot.
Looking like a tuner's dream of the companion cube at first, you are bound to take it seriously when out of nowhere it flies in a laser cannon and tries to cook itself a nice player flambé for lunch.
You start jumping around, running and hitting it, but if you are not quick, the bot gets bored with only killing you one way and grows a flame thrower. Or a rocket launcher. Or.. Well, you get the picture.
Your hits hurt the weapons and then the cube, so it is important that you find the right balance between righteously hitting it and bravely running away. If you are feeling cheeky, you can even lure it onto the points where its shots are going to land and have it friendly fire itself.
My attempts to kill it were - of course - unsuccessful and by now that thing has probably sprouted a death star laser. But the growth mechanic is something I really enjoyed, because...

Presentation
That thing looks badass. Intimidating as hell. The artstyle on the robot is crisp and you can easily identify the components but they still form a visually coherent whole. You can still see the almost cuddly unarmed cube underneath all the shiny implements of death trained on you and you long to strip it of its armaments to give it a sound beating.
I am less fond of the hero graphics, the background and the font, but as I said, they are not the stars here.

On the whole...
Want to punch a robot in the face? Play this. Want to dodge rockets? Play this. It probably won't keep you up at night, but it's a nice diversion with a memorable enemy.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/622#.VeRr-PntlBd

Dev: Troy Sanders

Time Played: 10 minutes

Got My Vote? Yes, because of its star - the cool enemy. All hail nega-bot.

{Review} Escalia

"Escalia" by BCj

I believe that excellence has a way to shine through. Someone who is utterly bored by a certain sport may still appreciate a spectacular feat of athleticism. A person who loathes musicals can still find a certain singer's voice charming. Any detractor of chocolate ice cream might be able to recognise a superbly made chocolatey exemplar of it.
In case it's unclear, "Escalia" is my chocolate ice cream in this long-winded introduction.
Full disclosure: I am just coming of the final hours of "The Witcher 3" so I may be simultaneously harder to impress and a bit more generous.

Story
The old king is dead, long live the advisor. Until he dies as well. And that's the longish prologue, with which the game starts you off.
The story proper begins when a young woman named Fayeh is awoken by her friend Lumia so they can see a recently returned friend.
On a side note: Is it somehow mandatory for games like this to start of in someone's bedroom? Do you get bonus points on your JRPG-card for including mom standing around between your bed and the door to adventure?
Anyway, after picking up a few sidequests along the way, you reach the friend, just in time for him to join your party and return to the village. Please stop reading now if you have not seen a movie or read a book in the last fifty years and wish to remain spoiler-free.
To all others: You know how this goes. When all you have is a torch, any village looks like kindling or however the saying goes. And actually, that's where my playthrough ended so far, so I can't spoil any more, even if I wanted to.

Mechanics
You walk around, you encounter enemies to be subdued in turn-based combat. You level up.
So far, so well-known. But there are a few wrinkles. If you want to, you can evade the enemies that visibly roam the map with a combination of good navigation and the sprint button. Guarding is present, but each character does so in a different way. Some regenerate MP, others are more likely to be attacked by enemies afterwards. Add to that normal, special and magic attacks and your toolbox of pain is well-stocked.
"Escalia" also manages to make the characters' gameplay feel fitting towards their personality. The lumbering hunk in his shiny new armor feels like he is begging to tank. Lumia, she of the little patience for sleeping friends, feels like the more pragmatic and robust of the two women, while the magic user Fayeh feels frailer, but capable when her niche of magical expertise is needed.

Presentation
The game feels polished. There is simply no other word for it. And in this day and age, that is an achievement. Insert your own EA/Ubisoft/WB Games-rant here. This is a positive space, people, don't make me ruin the vibe.
Well, okay, I do have some complaints about the abrupt nature of the music loops and the jarring change that occured once. So... okay, one point from Gryffindor.
The menus still feel like they are designed for a controller, but the hexagonal shapes somehow give a much slicker appearance than the drab lists you get in most other genre examples.
And now for the art... oh, the art. This game is gorgeous. Even the overworld map, that at first glance looks like run-of-the-mill JRPG fare, is beautiful and detailed. I still feel the aesthetic of smiling bobbleheads clashes with a cruel and sadistic court advisor murdering everyone in cold blood, but that is just a JRPG ignoramus talking.
But even I can see that the big character portraits are top notch quality. And not only that, but each character has different portraits, a standard face, one for being selected in the menus, one for being selected in battle... The characters' standard expression seems to say: "Oh, hey, haven't seen you in a few weeks, I've really missed you, how are you?" When you select them in the menus, it looks more like: "Oooh, a present, for me? And it's carried by a puppy? Awwww..."
It's such a little touch, but it shows the extra effort that went into this game.

On the whole...
Like our chocolate-ice-cream-despising friend from the introduction, I appreciate the high quality and craftsmanship of the game, but it is what it is and its aftertaste is just not to my liking.
But if you're not like me, you'll like this game. If you want a good, polished RPG maker game that looks like it's setting up for a grand quest and does things just so different that everything feels fresh and familiar, go for this one.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/126#.VeDJ2PntlBc

Dev: BCj

Time Played: 30 minutes

Got My Vote? Yes, because it just feels so polished. I know, this is the third time I used that term, but I had to in order to get the bonus points on my game reviewer card.

{Not A Proper Review} Galactic Star Tournament

"Galactic Star Tournament" by CountBleck

Another review that is not quite up to snuff. I felt like I had given the game enough time before a bug killed it for me and the fact that I did not really want to go back told me that I had formed my opinion. So what you get is my impression of the time I did spend with "Galactic Star Tournament". It may be that some of the confusion would have cleared itself up later. Also, some spoilers  may be present.

Story
So you are... a warrior? At least you are deemed important enough to be brought to the Galactic Star Tournament by Magic John Hammond and his minotaur bodyguard. In the course of the tournament, he switches between villain and not villain. He has powerful enemies and... that's as far as I got.
I was taken aback by some strange logic, but since the actual content of the conversation turned out to be a bunch of lies later on, I can't fault the game for that.
There are some strange things though. In a team-up fight I was expecting some help from another character, but they just stood around twiddling their thumbs and consuming the good magic-deep-space-air.
The writing on the whole was not my cup of tea, since I felt that it leaned heavily on the exposition and there is something about the tone I can't quite put my finger on.

Mechanics
The approach to combat is interesting. The tournament is divided into three rounds, one for training and one for fighting your opponents. In the training round, you fight two enemies that are randomly picked from three different types with different strengths and immunities.
An interesting mechanic is that the stronger melee attack leaves you more vulnerable to attacks. So you start weighing the benefits of more damage dealt against the drawbacks of the enemies hitting your harder.
After each fight, you choose to either fight another round with your current HP or go on to meet your actual opponent.
The tutorial told me that there was a dodge button for those with good timing. This is a category of people I definitely don't belong to, so my brain deleted that information quickly.
Other commenters said they liked the magic system, but I didn't manage to find it. I bought an ice rune and a health upgrade from the points earned in my first training fight. My HP stayed the same and I probably had to combine the ice rune with something.
So, taking into consideration my ineptitude with the upgrade system, my dodging-amnesia and a possible health-eating bug, can you guess what happened in my first fight? The one against the opponent the game portrayed as an amoral, incompetent idiot? He wiped the floor with me, right, get yourself a cookie.
That's when I realised that "Galactic Star Tournament" takes the roguelike approach to death. You die, you start over. So I sped through the exposition once more, hitting my space bar like it owed me money. It took me a while that I was still hitting it on the naming screen. And so began the adventures of "AAAA", a name that promises more excellence than would actually be delivered.
Since the upgrade system and me were not destined to be frienst, I just stocked up on carrots and waltzed through the tournament like Baby Hermann at the beginning of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" - blissfully ignorant of all danger and, against all odds, still alive at the end.
I kind-of-defeated two bosses, before I was told to enter a portal and found myself in exposition country again, back before the first level. For a moment, I was considering a time-loop, a narrative device. But when characters started addressing the empty air where my character had been when the scene had played out the first time around, the dial in my head turned to "bug".

Presentation
One thing I noticed is that the characters walk around an awful lot to deliver their lines. Sometimes this happens in quite heated conversations too. It looks odd when someone angrily addresses somebody else from across the room, then takes three seconds to walk up to them, only to yell in their face on arrival.
The Game Maker aesthetic is certainly present, but there is original art here, an effort I appreciate. And while the minotaur looked a bit muddy to me, it served its purpose and looked at home in the setting. Also, I should not be throwing stones as far as art is concerned. Lob pebbles maybe. Small ones. Very carefully.

On the whole...
Am I missing something? Possibly. Probably. Is it the game's fault? Not entirely. Chances are that, not being a player of RPGM games, I am probably oblivious to some kind of mechanic any one RPGM-afficionado could pull off in their sleep.
The writing? No accounting for taste. The battle system? That's part preference, part incompetence on my part.
As I said, this is not fair, professional or in-depth enough to be called a review, it's just my impressions. But summing up, I have to say "Galactic Star Tournament", just did nothing for me.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/572#.Vdi8DvntlBc

Dev: CountBleck

Time Played: 20 minutes

Got My Vote? No. I didn't understand the game, the game didn't understand me, and I suspect it threw me the possible time-travel-bug as an excuse for us to politely go our separate ways.

{Review} Super Flora Fighter

"Super Flora Fighter" by Corey

"Super Flora Fighter" reminds me of "Call of Duty" in some ways. If that statement is not getting me any clicks, I don't know what will.

Story
Two clans of trees, the McBlues and the O'Purples fell afoul of each other, locked in a struggle of arboreal dominance for all eternity. Posterity does not know who first used defoliation bombs, but now the land is barren. Look what your wrath hath wrought.
But... can it be? Is it possible?
Two acorns, miniscule but full of potential have survived in the ground, ready to burst forth and establish their clan's dominance once and for all. They are the last tree gladiators, the Super Flora Fighters!
Aaand I just made up that entire story, because there is no backstory I found. You are an acorn, now do what acorns do and grow!

Mechanics
Your acorn can basically extend branches and roots of a certain length. Using WASD or the arrow keys, you choose the angle and the length, then press space or LMB and watch the growth. At the end, a node will form, from which you can extend new branches and roots etc.
Growing into one of the reservoirs in the ground will grant you a higher rate of water collection. Water is the currency for your plant. Each branch and root will cost you. Branches on the other hand give you solar energy to... I think that's just for stockpiling. The game says that growth is helped by resource reserves so that is probably it.
My "Call of Duty" comparison is due to the fact that single-player has less meat on its bones than a "The Afterlife's Next Topmodel" competition, held by bored skeletons at an unfashionable graveyard after two in the morning. The game says that it's training for the multiplayer, which is played in a splitscreen. Not having a lot of people around me right now I could call to come over and play an indie game with me, I can't speak to the joys of the multiplayer. It may dispense the most enjoyable experience since man first picked up a controller to humiliate his fellow man with digital punishment and clever insults. It could maybe work in a "Mount Your Friends" kind of way, but I don't know how much long-term appeal I would find in it or when a round would end. The single-player seemed happy enough to let me grow my plant into geometrical shapes above ground and an unstructured mess below the grass, and not give me an ending before I decided on my own that I had seen enough.
Neither can I say whether the two perks you pick at the beginning (e. g. faster root growth, faster sun collection...) are well-balanced or not.

Presentation
My first impression came in the form of a very chippy tune blaring from my speakers, but I got used to it quickly. Same goes for the graphics - they do their job and you can identify all the party of your tree at a glance.
I may be critical of some mechanics and the replay value, but the game embraces the theme of the contest. I think gaming's greatest strength is to put you in the shoes of another person, creature or concept and to let you make the decisions from there (see "Crusader Kings II" for medieval rulers, "This War Of Mine" for war survivors, "Democracy 3" for politicians and "Monster Loves You" for... well, monsters). In this case, you make decisions the same way a tree would. Where do I have to go to find water? Do I have enough to expand?
Sadly, this is a rather thin layer of decision making. Expand now or expand later seems to be the most important decision and the game does not tell you how much your plan is going to cost you. All you get is a voice saying "Insufficient water" should your tree be malnourished.

On the whole...
I would have liked to see the game make more of its promising concepts. The feeling of growth and creating a root network tickled my fancy, but the expansion above ground and the seemingly aimless gameplay left me disappointed. "Super Flora Fighter" could be fun if it embraces its theme a bit more, maybe adds some additional upgrades to be bought with sun points and brushes up on its presentation.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/403#.VdiOmvntlBc

Dev: Corey

Time Played: 15 minutes

Got My Vote? No, but I hope it gets a bit more development in the future. There is the seed of an interesting game there. Come on, did you really think I would let that pun get away?

{Review} Orthodox Seed

"Orthodox Seed" by Etaercion

The title of this game confused me a bit. It sounded a bit like a secret operation concocted by the CIA, FSB or BND. "We have a green light, Orthodox Seed is growing." But while the orthodox part still baffles me, I kind of get the seed part and the game's connection to growth.
The game's site tells me to go to Wikipedia to find out about the concept, but biology and me have a truce. I don't bother it, it doesn't bother me. I intend to keep my side of the bargain...

Story
You are a cactus.
You like flowers.

Mechanics
Maybe I am doing the game a disservice and there is much more story than what I experienced. But to my mind, the fact that I could sum up my story experience in seven words does not matter too much. This is a puzzle game, and it knows where its focus is, in the puzzling. If the developer decided not to include a thirty minute cutscene where the cactus explains his infatuation with flowers, that is fine by me.
Movement feels instantly familiar. A and D make you move, W makes you jump, and the yawning abyss makes you die. You walk to the flower and presto, next level.
The real twist comes when you find a watering can. These handy things allow you to copy paste a small grid of the level. Red is for copying, purple is for pasting. While I wish there was an easier way to cancel a misclick in the copying phase and I thought that the can would remember my selection, you get used to the system very quickly. You feel moderately smart when placing new platforms.
When you realise you can just copy an empty area and paste it on walls to make them shrink away, you may even go up to "rather smart".
I found the "Orthodox Seed"'s terminology a bit confusing, when one level prompted me in no uncertain terms with subtle huge black letters to undo my changes. I couldn't see a better solution with the resources I (thought I) had. But being stuck anyway, I tried it and in a eureka-moment saw my copying rectangle reappear. A grin spread over my face. So the level changes are not permanent... My, my, isn't that interesting.
Another grinworthy moment is when you realise that you can change the level while jumping, disappearing the ceiling above your head, jumping and making the floor-formerly-known-as-ceiling reappear beneath your feet.
After that is when the game hits its stride. You feel a bit like Poison Ivy, bending the chlorophyll-filled levels to your will, making them shrink before you and regrow after you have majestically cactussed past.
There are also critters, probably cactuphagi, and blocks with big skull on them that are unaffected by your magical powers. Encounters with them yield... expected results.
One thing you should know is that "Orthodox Seed" doesn't seem to save your progress. When I came back into my game, it presented me with the first levels which my genius cactus (cactenius?) now felt far too smart for.
Cacti can be a bit arrogant. True story.
So keep that caveat in mind if a particular level makes you want to ragequit.

Presentation
If you look at the first picture on the game's site, the writing is probably the first thing that catches your eye. And while it does explain the mechanics rather succinctly, you might want to scroll a bit farther so there are no letters distracting you from the pleasant green dream that is the game's aesthetic.
It is instantly recognisable what is platform and what is background, no small matter in a platformer. One look at the screen give you all the information, thanks to excellent, simple design.
The soft music adds to the almost trance like feeling.

On the whole...
"Orthodox Seed" is a great example of design. It takes its central mechanic of copy pasting the level and sees how much juice it can get from it. Let me tell you, it's a lot. Your powers of level manipulation challenge you in two ways, since it is equally important to know which part to copy and where to put it. If I were better at puzzle games and platformers, I might love "Orthodox Seed". The way it is, I just really like this little game.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/632#.VdS7Z_ntlBc

Dev: Etaercion

Time Played: 25 minutes

Got My Vote? Yes, since it implements its central idea so very well and variedly.

{Review} Zombie Ablockalypse

"Zombie Ablockalypse" by Gazzapper

Either my work day wreaked more havoc on my brain than I thought, or I am a more entitled gamer than I thought. Because I didn't actually read the instructions and relied on the game to tell me what I needed to know, I almost dismissed "Zombie Ablockalypse" too soon.

Story
Story presentation in the actual game is certainly a bit lacking. Which is to say, it tells you to shoot the zombies. Okay, fair enough. I don't need to know that the hero's name is Private Joe Blockhead (which is not me being sarcastic, by the way, that's his name, according to the contest site). And that your gun is a "cure gun"... It's a game about shooting block zombies, so nobody is going to ask to see your work on that invention. Moving on.

Mechanics
I played "Zombie Ablockalypse" with my keyboard, since my controller always requires some amount of dark voodoo magic and a sacrifice to actually work. But that was not a problem. Moving with WASD and shooting with the arrow keys went pretty smoothly.
Good thing too, because that is the games core mechanic. Or lat's rather say core and mantle, with a crust made out of item stashes and growing opponents which you... have to shoot.
You are put in a room with several other blocks. Healthy ones are green, infected ones are purple and tend to bite green ones. On the minimap you can see the spread of the infection. This system may seem simple, but I enjoyed the feeling of battling the tide.
But when I cure a zombie, his pals tend to run to the newly healed block to see if he is alright and, if possible, turn him back into one of them. This often results in the zombies moving around in pairs. One of them is being used as a human (zombie? blocky?) shield, absorbing all my bullets that do a body good, while the zombie is grinning at the back.
Staying ahead of the zombies is relatively simple, the block version of "Zombieland"'s Columbus would only have one rule in his notebook: "Don't get bitten". Simple does not mean easy, especially if you let the infestation fester too much and are facing overwhelming odds.
You can recruit reinforcements that you find in static blocks to grow your own army. So the game nails the growth theme of the competition.
Only when I read the instructions did I manage to find them though, because the walls looked like they were just shrugging off my bullets, so I left them alone. As I said, entitled.
And now I am wondering if there is any relation between the blocks moving around and the blocks making up the walls. Are they maybe... dead blocks? Am I fighting of the living dead by robbing the dead dead?
Anyway, higher difficulties fill the room up with more blocks to block your shots (see what I did there?) and to serve as zombie chow, giving the infection more room to spread.

Presentation
The best word I can think of to describe the game's look is "homegrown". It's colourful blocks shooting colorful bullets. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing to write home about either. The popping sound your weapons make underlines this inoffensive tone.

On the whole...
I feel like there is little in the Ablockalypse I can sink my teeth into. I'm not someone to go score-hunting, and while the mechanics are competently implemented, there is little variation to keep me coming back.
If you just want to evade and shoot something and are not in the mood for actual weapons, blood and gruesomeness, "Zombie Ablockalypse" scratches that itch.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/213#.VdIXBPntlBc

Dev: Gazzapper

Time Played: 20 minutes

Got My Vote? No, since I feel the same about it as about "Far Cry 3". I don't regret my time with it, but there is little calling me back to it.

{Not A Proper Review} Half-Off Hero

"Half-Off Hero: The World Needs Savings" by The Dink

It was bound to happen. A game, where several things come together and shut me out. First of all, I am so the wrong audience for this game. As detailed elsewhere, excessive reading and JRPG are my kryptonite... Well, part of my kryptonite, and you will never guess the other secret ingredients...
Back on topic, "Half-Off Hero" and me are probably never going to be best friends, and, as I will explain later, that bugs me for a few reasons. "Bugs" being an important word...

Story
You are a shopkeeper. Well, for the first part of the game. In a bit that reminded me more than a little of Kafka's "The Trial", some guards barge in, take you to see the queen who now tells you that you are the chosen hero, so go kill the powerful bad guy.
But... I have a family. Granted, I didn't expect them to last as long as they did, so I didn't name them... But a family nonetheless. And every monster I met has kicked my butt...

Mechanics
There are four parts I played in "Half-Off Hero".
1.) The shopkeeping game, where you choose a few items from your stock to offer that day. Adventurers will come in and want to be offered the right item. Don't worry, there is a cheat sheet for who wants what. You have to offer the items fast, because apparently these adventurers are late for a good looting already and they will leave your shop very quickly.
There is also the option at the beginning of the game to always enable dash, or rather, to overshoot by three spaces and backtrack back with the right item in tow, only to see the customer leave in a huff. I might have gotten the hang of the frantic life of a merchant, if I had played it more often.
2.) Combat is your typical JRPG "Choose Category - Choose Exact Variety Of Pain Administration" affair. My fights boasted no backgrounds and no health bars on the enemies so I have no idea if I posed a serious threat to any one of them. All I know is that they put me in the hospital without fail. More on that later.
3.) Dungeons and travelling, where you walk around until something nasty finds you. (see 2.). See also: "bad ideas", "picking a fight" and "oh, please, no").
4.) Hitting the space bar like I got paid for it. I'm sorry, I don't deal well with frontloaded games. And "Half-Off Hero" is so eager to explain everything about its world, while I am still hesitant if I want to enter that world. On the one hand this overenthusiasm is charming, but it also makes me more than a little impatient. Hence the space bar pecking.

Presentation
The larger top down views look pretty standard, but that is not something you can say about the dialogue screens and locations. Clearly a lot of effort, creativity and love went into the characters and their design. Again, unique, enthusiastic style.
But I hit the brick wall of one nasty bug that constantly made my screen flicker with black bars. My aforementioned impatience only grew from that and it did not help my enjoyment. Also when I tried to pay off the tab I had unwillingly accrued with the nurse who looks like Harley Quinn's more evil twin, she thanked me and my tab stayed exactly the same.

On the whole...
Let me repeat emphatically: I am not qualified to judge Half-Off Hero. I did not actually play enough of it, since I feel like I spent ten solid minutes getting the exposition out of the way. The parts I did play I was bad at. And bugs delivered the final knockout punch for me.
So why would I still recommend you have a look at it?
Because I read the document the dev put up on the contest page. And the ideas used to incorporate the theme of growth in the game sound amazing. Seriously, if your cursor is hovering over the download button, unsure if you should, have a look at the document. There are great ideas in there and I hope the game finds an audience that appreciates it.
But that is a clubhouse I'll probably never see the inside of.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/449#.VdDJx_ntlBc

Dev: The Dink

Time Played: 25 minutes

Got My Vote? No. We're not meant for each other, "Half-Off Hero". Find someone who deserves you more than me.

{Review} Ridiculous History

"Ridiculous History" by Daniel Trevin

Slightly ridiculous, slightly impractical, slightly... interesting.

Story
It is the great story of mankind, a civilization, led by you. From simple tools to spacefaring...
Keep that grand sweep in mind, because this will tax your imagination. Most of "Ridiculous History" plays out with text and icons. You play until the year 2015, then you are presented with a score and get the choice to do it all again.

Mechanics
From the screenshots, I expected something like a cookie clicker, and while there is some idle gaming in this game's DNA, it respects your time much more than others do. You get the chance to speed up time by factors four and eight. This is an option you want to use, as the interaction is rather limited.
In the research window, you choose between 5 random technologies to discover. They may give you military power, gold, science, points, population or cities.
Except for population, none of these things grow by themselves, so you are dependent on the rewards of research and events.
You have cities with population and population caps, also food supply, represented by a positive or a negative number. You can build buildings in your city for a one-off bonus, provided you have unlocked the technology and own enough gold.
Sometimes the game throws a choice at you, for example pirates are raiding your shores. You can either take a hit in the resource department or, if you have unlocked sailing, spend some military power to chase them off.
These events are rather interesting, but their balance seems a bit off. If you have researched archery, a village competition awards you 300 gold in prize money. For researching industrialization and taking your civilization into a new era... you get 200 gold.
Be aware that these events might screw you over. My first playthrough started with me taking some time to research masonry. Within a few seconds, a banking crisis wiped out all my gold and left me with crippling debt and terrorists killed the population of my two starting town. Before I knew what had happened, the game was over in the year 313 and my score was... 2.
As for the "Ridiculous" of the title... It certainly has that. "Illogical" might also be a way to put it. That I researched chain restaurants before gunpowder... Yeah, okay. But banks before currency and computers before electricity is stretching things. As I said, if your imagination is up to the task, there is enjoyment here, painting mental pictures of water-powered computers and bank safes full of lifestock, because your civilization is still on the barter system and the chicken standard.

Presentation
Icons and text and electronic music. Not much else to report here, except that the tutorial is a wall of text.

On the whole...

A bit like an idle game without clicking, "Ridiculous History" nails the "oh, yeah, I'll just research this one additional tech..." feeling. At the end of the day, it's a piece of popcorn. It won't nourish you, but you don't expect it to.
Just be prepared for its strange logic and rather static resources.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/578#.VdBiNvntlBc

Dev: Daniel Trewin

Time Played: 20 minutes

Got My Vote? Yes, because it succeeds at what it sets out to do: Keep you clicking one more upgrade.

{Review} Subvertigo

"Subvertigo" by xVirtu
Another Game Maker game, and once more I see my own unused opportunities mirrored here. Even though I did not spend a huge amount of time with "Subvertigo", that time was enough for it to present its particular brand of charm.

Story
You are a pod with amnesia. I think. Well, you are something technological and there is a big heart on you. Your surroundings look slightly biological, but if they are, then the colour of some levels makes me worried for the organism's health. Also there are cups of coffee, basketballs and ladders strewn about the levels...
I definitely get a "The Fantastic Voyage" vibe from the game. So I move around a bit, until a small green spider-being appears, minding its own business. My pod muses "I'm not sure, what to do with it..." Well, since you showed me how to fire and this is a video game... EAT STARRY DEATH, SPIDER-SOMETHING!
Interestingly, the number of enemies is represented by a biohazard symbol. I'm not sure, I feel more like the villain in this particular tale. Everything else is just minding its own business, while I zip around and spray bullets/stars/energy pulses everywhere. And really, when has anyone who ominously talked about "Father's plans" turned out to be the good guy?
That is mainly it, you traverse the labyrinthine levels and shoot everything that moves with your growing collection of weapons. Growing in this case is absolutely the right term.

Mechanics
When you kill something, it may drop another weapon. Move close enough and hardpoints light up on your present weapons and your ship. Then you carefully maneuver around to get the newcomer where you want it to go, and presto. You have cannibalised another being, made its strength your own and decorated yourself with its remains. That sounds more gruesome than it actually looks...

Behold, I am become Death. Cluttered, very unorganised Death.

I would have liked a way to reorganise my configuration, though I have to admit that the "no-backsies" system of permanent weapon assimilation makes for an interesting aesthetic.
One reason I didn't spend more time on it is that the strafing system drives me insane. The A and D keys make you strafe to your pod's left and right. So more than once I forgot my pod was looking down, pressed A, only to strafe right into  hail of angry bullets. Strafing is also incremental, which feels slightly off to me. So that kills a lot of the flow and enjoyment for me.

Presentation
If the Super Mario Block on meth in the upper right corner of the screenshot didn't tip you off, "Subvertigo" is confident in its own presentation. The levels may look a bit flat sometimes, but your eye is mostly on the enemies anyway.
What I really like are the music and the voice of the pod. Even though I suspect it will murder us all once it has strapped enough bits to itself, its voice reminds me of a cybernetic puppy that just wants to please (think Doctor Who's K-9, but with big googly eyes).
For completeness' sake, I have to mention that I experienced some weird tearing.

On the whole...
An interesting take on the top-down-shooter. Not something I see myself spending hours on, but it embraced the growth theme well. In that and its enemy design, it is very creative.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/615#.VdBUMvntlBc

Dev: xVirtu

Time Played: 20 minutes

Got My Vote? Close call, but yes. Its creativity, voice and interesting weapons mechanic outweigh my resentment of the movement system.

Should any copyright holder feel the use of their material is unwarranted, please contact me for its removal.

{Review} The Notebook - To The Underworld And Back Again

"The Notebook - To The Underworld And Back Again" by Thomas Lee

When I wrote my hangups down, it was in the interest of fairness, not to exclude certain games. They are more guidlines than rules. Rules like... oh, I don't know... the dead should stay dead. And it is this rule that "The Notebook - TTUABA" takes and happily snaps into so much kindling in a story that is part Dante's "Divine Comedy", part "The A-Team" and part "Phoenix Wright". Strange combination? You have no idea.

Story
The goddesses son is dead because he picked a fight with a bear who was too high-level for him. As gamers, we've all been there. But things are slightly different if your mom has the power to summon what basically amounts to "Oprheus for hire". The player's party, consisting of the named hero and two supporting characters is summoned to get Allard back from the underworld. But even if you succeed, problems won't end there.

Mechanics
Let me start this part by saying what "The Notebook" is not. A typical JRPG. You can safely ignore most trappings of the genre. Yeah, you have levels and gold and items and item shops, but they are basically vestigial tails, appendices transplanted into the game, I assume, by the engine.
There were two (winnable) fights in my whole playthrough. Most of your progress is made through dialogue.
As I said, I hate reading too much on screen, but you know what makes that better? Plopping down a sign that tells me how many clues I still have to gather. That's the kind of concise feedback that will have me hunt down every last soul on the map and take their... information.
The unique twist is that the game sooner or later transports you a special realm where you have to review and combine your clues.
You know how on "Sherlock" we see what Sherlock sees, get clues as to the connections and feel oh so smart when he walks us through them? That's in the game. You activate two notes, in a clever twist symbolised by the person you got them from, and combine them.
This becomes even more important as you are later asked to put them together in a big picture or use them to refute and confirm assertions. That's where the "Phoenix Wright" part comes in. And though I feel after my playthrough that I may have made the wrong decision and was a bit peeved that the game would not accept my completely logical answers... *ahem* on the whole the system is rock solid.
Another nice mechanic is that if you really screw up, the two other members of your party show up to chew you out for your stupid, boneheaded, idiotic death. The fact that they do it using Monty Python references and lampshade their apparent blandness in the actual game took some of the sting from their remarks and actually had me clap my hands in delight. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good meta-joke.
But please, implement some "Are you sure?" windows, if your key to speed up dialogue is the same as the one for making choices...

Presentation
There is not much to say in this department, it's an RPG Maker game, you know what they look like. It's not from graphics or even music that "The Notebook" gets its unique character, but from its writing and unique mechanics.
One minor hiccup was when I travelled to the underworld in a magic tower and went outside. The cheery music was not fazed by the huge lake of molten lava in the slightest but kept playing along merrily. Other than that, everything else that was done to create atmosphere was spot on.

On the whole...
Give this one a try. Yes, even if you don't like reading a lot, yes, even if you don't like JRPGs. Give it a few minutes, remember to save (!) and you will have a rather unique experience, an RPG that takes the old adventure approach to combinig items and applies it to crucial information. Make a decision that will change the way the (under-)world works... and live with it.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/258#.Vc9ie_ntlBc

Dev: Thomas Lee

Time Played: 90 minutes

Got My Vote? Yes. If a game can make me replay 10 minutes of progress I lost to bad saving habits and a stupid decision, it has certainly earned it.

{Review} Blacksword Chronicles

"Blacksword Chronicles - Chapter I" by Watermark

The Force is strong with me... Sorry, the Aura. But since it is an all-encompassing force that is explained to the protagonist by a Zen-like master who puts him through his paces in order to become proficient with his extra-special sword, I don't think the Star Wars comparisons are that unreasonable. But all snarking aside, "Blacksword Chronicles" has a lot to recommend.

Story
Okay, maybe one more snarky bit. The prologue where two characters yell at each other about betrayal conjured up images of Episode III's lava planet.
After that, your protagonist awakes without a name, but with a sword. And that proves to be the more useful combination, since after tumbling out the door, he promptly needs to rescue a damsel in distress from ruffians. This serves as the tutorial for the (spoilers) excellent combat system.
Since having no name is often associated with having no cash, our hero signs up to be a bodyguard for a historian and a thief in search of ancient ruins. The three develop a comfortable dynamic with each other that had me smiling. I have played to the end of the first quest and can say that it is enjoyable and atmospheric. Maybe I will return later and see if the sword-lord has forgiven me for treating his henchmen a bit roughly...

Mechanics
So, combat. You have three different attacks and one block move, same as your opponents, and the attacks work on a rock-paper-scissors basis. Choose the one that beats your enemy's and he can kiss some of his HP goodbye. The block cancels everything but costs resources.
You see what your opponent is going to do, because of the Fo... because you're that awesome. So you can just pick what your opponent is weak to.
 After your first combat, you may think "I got this". After your second, where you take down a big brute with an axe you may even become a little smug. And then the game goes and takes your cheatsheet away.
My thoughts: "Well, come on then, if you think you're... Oh, crap, where's the explanation graphic? Okay... What cancelled blue again... What? Why is there a timer? Why is the timer almost empty?! Better press something quick... Oh please, I don't want to diiiiiee..." *ahem* More or less.
Seriously though, the combat system flows beautifully and puts up a good challenge. But I won't touch the difficulties above easy with a ten foot pole.
Two more things are remarkable. The game gives you combos that get triggered by specific attack combinations, but if you try to spam the combos, you will have a bad time in combat. Not that I tried that...
Plus, the enemies wise up and get friends. Your tactics change a lot when you need to take two attacks into consideration. Suddenly it's not about what your enemy is weak to, but what he is weak to and won't allow his buddy to carve his name and address on your chest.
I should also mention one minigame, where you need to hold a certain position against rather unwelcome visitors. This is done by getting into the right stance to counter each of the three types. The problem here is that your opponents seem to be awfully polite. They pause in front of the actual entrance, as if saying "No, please, after you, I insist." As a consequence, you are suddenly faced with a totally different type of enemy than the one you were prepared for and thus your whole rhythm is shot. I would recommend placing the character more towards the end of the narrow passage you are defending to allow for a bit of reaction time.
Character levels and gold are there but didn't feature heavily into my playthrough. At one point I would have been grateful for a quest journal, because my caterpillar  of adventurers was led by someone who had momentarily dozed off in conversation and had not quite caught the way to the ruins.

Presentation
RPG Maker aesthetics, but it looks like original artwork. Sometimes the backgrounds are a bit busy and I was trying to pick up several axes that were just painted on. Some passages are quite tight and tricky to navigate.
And as I said, combat is a joy to see. Not only is it juicy and flows like a dream, combos actually feel powerful.
I have no complaints about the music and the atmospheric sound, especially when you are exploring the dungeon/ruin. That was a gloomy area in the very best way.
I found no bugs. Except for the ones trying to eat me.

On the whole...
You know why I brought up Star Wars so often? Other than to be snarky, that goes without saying. It's because Jedi are such a good power fantasy. A mystical warrior his foes can barely touch who inspires awe in his fellow adventurers and handles his weapon like an extension of his own self. That is the fantasy Blacksword Chronicles is selling you, and it certainly delivers.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/258#.Vc9ie_ntlBc

Dev: Watermark

Time Played: 50 minutes

Got My Vote? Gotten my vote it has. Okay, I'll stop now. But really, good game.

{Review} Transcendence

"Transcendence" by Jtrev23

So this is the first Game Maker game I review. Whatever the developer of this game had to go through, I can emphasize, since I made my games in that engine too. I am aware of its limitations and of the problems you have when developing a game on your own. Also, in my downloading frenzy, I overlooked that there is a bugfixed version on the page. So anything in this review is only true for the official contest version and if I should mention a bug, it may be fixed in version 1.2.

Story
You play as Zyion Drix, a half dragon, half witch hybrid and you trudge through the mountains on a mystical quest. As you may see, it's more in the details where you can find originality in "Transcendence". Why not make the plot a variation on the standard hero's journey, I get to play a character that is half dragon and pals around with a fairy that shoots poison dust.

Mechanics
The first levels are about getting from the left side of the screen to the right side. No jumping is required (and if you do it anyway, you may get to see another level's ground textures). The game puts fruit trees and two kinds of trees that want to kill you in your way.
You have several keys to press, Z,X,C. By the way, and I should probably add that to my hangups, I don't see the point in mapping actions to keys that change on international keyboards, especially if the more trustworthy A, S and D could have done the job just as well.
Anyway, on your first levels, Z lets you should purple magic death and X... makes you turn around? I was wondering why my character looked so nervously over his shoulder until I realised that was a tail whip attack. I may come back to that in the presentation part, but this attack just doesn't feel powerful, more a tail tap than a tail whip.
Your powers increase when you use them and you get to feel more successful very fast.
An interesting twist is that your first boss fight pits you against a flying enemy that joins your party later. Now "Transcendence" shows its hand after four rather samey levels. Now you get to switch between the groundling half-dragon and the flying fairy. And while his feeling is pretty standard "run-jump-shoot" stuff, she can move much more freely and control areas with her dust. Instantly switching between party members with truly different playstyles is a fantastic idea.
Unfortunately, the version I played was unreliable. Saving did not work, and some of the menus were wonky, showing me the attack keys instead of the option I wanted to choose.

Presentation
It is here that my biggest issues with the game lie. As I said, I am a fan of switching team members on the fly. There is also a lot of originality here. Combine that with the fact that there is additional information on the strange hybrid enemies in the menu and you can see that this is a passion project.
But there is no way past it, Game Makers sprite editor is not destined for glory, and as a consequence, the sprites in "Transcendence" have a definite MS Paint feel to them. They look very rough around the edges and these are some big edges. Animation is janky and sometimes gets caught in loops.
I feel like the game lacks feedback in general.
This tree is flashing. Is it supposed to do that? Why?
I just hit an angry were-wolf-lion-whatever thingy with my tail, a gratifyingly powerful sound effect or hit animation would not be out of place.
Likewise losing health does not feel threatening.
There is also some problem with the graphics' reliability. Sometimes the forest floor goes all the way to the bottom of the screen, and sometimes there is a chunk of background shining through. Sometimes the fairy flaps its wings, and then you just navigate her unmoving sprite around.
A positive about the presentation is that the magic projectile you fire not only has a very clearly defined range, its appearance also changes depending on your level. A moment ago you shot a purple wolf-panther creature at your opponents, and then you devastate them with a tornado.
The music got on my nerves initially but I grew accustomed to it later on. Since I am pretty much an ignoramus in matters of game music, make of that what you will.

On the whole...
I am torn. On the one hand I don't like badmouthing someone's passion project. And some of the ideas in here are excellent. The weird world, the switching mechanic, the changing appearance of your spells, the different playstyles... Those are diamonds in the rough.
And like diamonds, they are buried, in this case in a rather unattractive GUI and a lack of feedback.
I would recommend you to give it a try and see if you can forgive the flaws I mentioned to catch a glimpse of the great ideas.
It is my hope that the dev makes another game and really refines and polishes them. I am looking forward to that game.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/88#.Vc8VaPntlBc
Link to version 1.2:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8_zAt54zK0AU2F2OWFiTHlyTE0/view?usp=sharing 
Dev: Jtrev23

Time Played: 20 minutes

Got My Vote? Sadly no, because the lack of feedback killed the joy in the great ideas for me.

{Review} ikenie

"ikenie" by Nicolas Daniel Azzali

"ikenie" has me stumped in more ways than one. Should I start by saying how much I like it or how bad I am at it? Both are relevant...

Story
See, I would like to tell you about the story, but I am too bad at the game to have earned knowing it yet. The cold facts: You start in a creepy crypt with white glowing people, presumably ghosts. There is a bone next to you. You move to pick it up, a prompt tells you "Hit, Left Mouse Button" and a voice that has "omnipotent master of ceremonies" written all over it says: "You'll figure it out." Being the good Pavlovian gamer that I am, I obediently follow my instincts and hit one of my fellow crypt dwellers. It evaporates and leaves me with a small flame next to me. So... I am some kind of ghost vampire?
After my numerous deaths, the voice drops a hint that I should try again, since I don't want to end up like "them"... So, these ghosts are my former selves? Sounds legit, I definitely see my boneheaded tactics in their mindless charge towards me.
After you have done whatever you needed to do, a portal opens that gets you into another room and into another problem. What has the Voice in store for you now?

Mechanics
You have four buttons for movement, one for hitting people and one for casting spells. Simple. And you need things to be that simple, because in combat you want things to flow without too much thought.
Fighting is not everything, you also need to solve puzzles, which is one big reason why I only managed embarassingly few levels. Still, solving them was satisfying and me failing was just that - me failing, not the game cheating or hindering me.
I appreciate the game telling me just enough to figure things out. Few things beat this kind of Eureka-moment, even if it is only that you figure out that the cannibalised ghost souls pull double duty for two important functions.
When you die, you go back to the crypt, bash a few ghosts to get all your weapons and spells back and the portal will take you to the room you died in. As much as I resented to be back there again, the former mes and the other ghosts looking at me with smug "Oh, look who's back again"-expressions, I see the value of this system and am grateful that it only slightly sets me back.

Presentation
Another one of "ikenie"'s strong suits. The background music is atmospheric and unobtrusive. And though whenever my player character was hit, he made a sound like someone stepped on a hamster, sound effects are good.
The window is relatively tiny and so are the characters. It sets the atmosphere down right between creepy and cute.
Where I think "ikenie" excels is in the little things that make the atmosphere. When I returned to it after taking notes, I noticed subtle moans and screams in the background while the souls of the damned shuffled across the screen. You won't hear them if you are running about whooshing your sword all over the place, you have to listen for them.
And speaking of listen: The Voice reminds me of Handsome Jack from "Borderlands 2" in that its smug superiority was irritating enough that you want to beat the level, just to spite him. That's some powerful motivation.
Another nice touch is the words that pop up when you kill a ghost. They seem innocent like "My head hurts." or "Look at that. Pathetic." But then you come to realise that they are probably last words. My brain immediately started making up stories for these poor souls.
So it's the light touches that elevate "ikenie" above just okay.
No bugs to report, the game ran solidly for me.

On the whole...
I will probably return to "ikenie" at some point when I am more inclined to challenge myself and have some time to kill. For now I hope that you spend some time with it. It's a nice little thing that is well worth your time.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/21#.Vc5RxPntlBc

Dev: Nicolas Daniel Azzali

Time Played: 30 minutes

Got My Vote? Most definitely.

My Hangups

In my profession, I try to give students accurate and reasonable feedback. I like to work with "horizons of expectation", as the half a page to three page long documents are called. They detail the things we expect and assign points for each.
My first reviews have made it clear to me that this is not as easy as grading with these things. Because while I tried to be fair to the reviewed games, I noticed how my personal hang-ups and preferences influenced my judgment.
So, in the interest of fairness, here are the things that drive me up the wall or make me lose interest, no matter how irrational they might be.

Reading
I love reading. Books, comic books, magazines, I devour written words. One of the best purchases I ever made was a tablet, which has two main functions: ebook reader and Netflix.
And I loathe reading on the computer screen.
I have no idea why, something about it just feels off and makes me skim far earlier than if I had read whatever text it is in another form.
Furthermore, if your game has a key that allows me to skip things... Yeah, do not expect me to actually have read a high percentage of your text, most likely I was pecking the key like a hyperactive woodpecker.
I know it is unfair to you and the work you put into the text, but I can't help it.

JRPG look á la RPG-Maker
I don't know what it is about characters with heads that make up 60% of their body volume and eyes the size of wheelcaps, I just have a really hard time coming to term with that aesthetic. On a related note, while I adore the artistic level of things like "Attack on Titan" and other animes, once again, the aesthetic just isn't for me.

Longwinded tutorials
Okay, can I start n... Oh, you want to explain another mechanic, okay then feel free. Now then? Oh, okay. No, no, take your time...
A huge infodump at the beginning of the game tends to make me impatient, especially if I can't do anything to pass the time.

Time
Maybe this is the wrong post, but it will suffice until I have a better one. My subjects are German and English, which means I have to grade a lot of essays, tests etc. That is time consuming and our school days tend to run long. So gaming and especially gaming time is a luxury.
I apologize if you created a stunning ten hour epic, but unless it relentlessly grips me, I probably won't spend more than half an hour on it, an hour tops.
That is not indicative of quality, your game shares this fate with several AA or AAA titles in my Steam library (and if I admitted to a few of them, I might have my gamer card revoked...)

So, there you have it, my hangups as clearly as I could put them.
Self-reflection may yield more, so... to be continued.

{Review} Nanobots - Experiment 2902

"Nanobots - Experiment 2902" by Tim Spence


Story
Finally someone recognises they need you and should follow your orders. You are the hive mind and there are nanobots who are really craving your leadership. And what do nanobots do? Replicate. Expand. Grow. So the angle of the contest is most definitely covered and I feel like nanobots as a "species" are kind of a perfect fit.

Mechanics
I don't know if the strategy subgenre "Send your minions to a node, conquer it, use resources to conquer new nodes" already has a name ("Oh, theres a new SYMTAN-CI-URTCNN-SG."), but "Nanobots" owes a lot to it.
From your central node, you send your bots to a new node that belongs to one of three resources, crystals, DNA and... more on that later.
There, you harvest resources and choose which one of four structures you want to construct there. A control station that lets you create paths for you bots, so you can send them to other nodes? A defense station? A research station? Or a power station to gather the fourth resource, energy?
The order in which you expand also creates the paths your building and fighting bots take.
There is a lot of consideration to be done, since expansion slows down your colony and your building spots are limited. Also, some of the map is covered by the fog of war. So, do you construct a power plant on your newest node because you really need the power? Or do you play it safe and choose a defense platform?
The bad news is, you have plenty of time to consider, since your builders move like they have a severe hangover and are three days from retirement anyway. So the game is in desperate need of a time acceleration function.
There are some additional wrinkles, like round and square spots in your way that hinder your bots unless blasted by a fighter drone.
Your menu options are the main menu, skipping the tutorial, restarting the level and muting the music, and the music alone. You should better know what you want to do, because nanobots wait for no one and the game continues while you are in the menu,

Presentation
My first thought was: "Wow, this is a busy screen." Not in the sense that there is movement everywhere like in "The Settlers", but designwise. Your structures have several nooks and crannies, and they are built on resource points with their own detailed icons. On top of that, there is the colourful and detailed background. A little less saturation on those might have helped to make things look more comprehensive. The resource symbols are enormous and fill up what seems like a fifth of your screen. Add to that bots and pathways and your screen looks pretty cluttered.
The whole game has a handdrawn look to it, or to be more precise: hand drawn on cardboard. I don't mean to say the art is bad. It's not and I really like the design of the different bots and buildings. It's just that it reminds me of stuff you doodle on the back of your college block when the lecture bores you. In my opinion. something about this aesthetic just doesn't gel with the high tech theme.
Now, about the third resource that I mentioned earlier... I admit, I didn't pay attention when the game explained it to me and after that, it was gone. There are no tooltips and hardly any explanations for upgrades or building icons. If you did not memorise what the top left icon of the defense platform does, it's time for trial and error.
After you finish a level, there is a nice zoom-out transition and the view of the last level shrinks to become the core of the next level's base. Nice touch.
There is one minor thing I loved: the tutorial arrow. When you are supposed to click on something, an arrow appears next to your cursor that changes colour the farther you are from where you are supposed to be. No idea why but I really liked that gentle way to tell the player: "Eh, you might wanna look left a bit."
There are no bugs to report from my playing.

On the whole...
I would have liked to play more of nanobots if its gameplay had been a bit faster and its screen slightly more organised. The way it is, I would recommend it to fans of the SYMTAN-CI-URTCNN-SG genre (you better believe I'm trademarking that expression...) who are looking for some fresh idea and can deal with a more leisurely pace.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/609#.Vc3-KPntlBd

Dev: Tim Spence


Time Played: 35 minutes

Got My Vote? Toss-up, but yes, mainly on strength of personality and the effort that went into it clearly shows.

{Review} Stock Trader Hiyo

"Stock Trader Hiyo" by Sapiboong

My first look at the competition and my first review. Every little thing that looks polished makes me wince, because I remember what is missing from my game. Will it make me too hard or too lenient on "Stock Trader Hiyo"? Am I overthinking it? And how do I come back from this introduction? Maybe with...

Story
Hiyo is a stock trader and a monster, but not metaphorically. He is a talking chicken, so you may need to loosen your definition of monster a little.
He informs us at the beginning that "heroes" keep stealing items, so there is a monster economy crisis. After being rejected by the subtly named "I Love Money Corp" Hiyo calls his old teacher who tells him to become a stock broker. Once there he gets his introduction into supply and demand by a ghost and a goblin. Further on you meet other talking animals and monsters who offer their services in
Hiyo seems to have the attention span of a hummingbird on speed and the social graces of someone who tells you you're going to be best friends after their second drink.

Mechanics
Offering to skip the introduction and tutorials is a quick and easy way to make me like a game, so point for you, Hiyo. But you want to do it, since Hiyo has a special inventory system. You open your inventory with Escape, select an item and then interact with something in the world.
The game is pretty front loaded, lots of explanations about macroeconomics, casinos etc. before you get into shouting distance of buying something. On the plus side, every person has something to say and while I am not keen on reading it all, I certainly appreciate the effort.
Gathering information is done at the companies' hubs with multiple buildings and trips there take some of your starting capital. There you talk to people and relevant information will yield clues that show up in your inventory.
Sometimes your actions are not rewarded or not immediately. I had an angel picked up from a traffic jam (and this combination might also tell you, whether you enjoy the game's sensibilities), but neither the questgiver nor anyone with him was willing to talk to me afterwards.
After my fact finding mission I went back to buy stocks. There is a dialogue menu, you can buy, sell, and ask for the price of a company's stocks. After that... Well, am I suppose to wait in real time? Travel to make things change? Had I made a good purchase? A bad one? Should I have used my clue in some way?
Then I figured out to go to the talking cat that offered to spread rumours for me and told her one of the things I had learned. That changed the stock prices and I made a nice profit.

Presentation
I didn't recognise Hiyo as a monster at first glance, he is a fluffy little chick. In fact most characters are overqualified in the cuteness department for the monster job. But the colourful aesthetic works in combination with the cheery music.
The slightly isometric top-down view looks like typical RPG-maker fare, as do the text boxes who give you the information with lots of little chirps.
I appreciate the attempts to keep the messages and dialogues short, since I don't like reading on the screen a lot. Still, some of the jokes had me impatiently abusing the space bar to get to the next relevant bit of information.
The rumourmongering is nice, just a black screen with unseen people whispering the dirty secrets I had told them to each other.

There is no way to adjust sound or window size that was readily apparent to me. 

The game itself runs solidly and I encountered no bugs.

On the whole...
If you want an economy introduction by a fluffy pink rabbit... you have weird preferences, but you will also find what you need here.
But "Stock Trader Hiyo" is just not my cup of tea. Maybe I had the wrong expectation, but it plays more like a cross between adventure and RPG. Walk around, talk to people, use item on people.
I really like the concept, use rumours and information to manipulate prices and cash in. But there is so much idle walking between the juicy bits and so much emphasis on dialogue that I think it is just not the right engine for the game.
But the thing is pretty and colourful and very robust. Maybe you are the kind of person who likes to walk around several distinct areas and talk to lots of characters. Maybe what rubbed me the wrong way is something you will readily forgive. If so, give it a try, you could certainly do worse.
___

Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/130#.Vc3dEPntlBc

Dev: Sapiboong

Time Played: 30 minutes

Got My Vote? No, partly because of patience-testing frontloading, partly because of my biases about the walking-talking-RPG-genre.

Hello, World!

It was a dark and stormy night...
Nah, too dramatic.
It was the best of times...
Nope, straight plagiarism.
Four score and seven years ago...
Much too serious.

So, starting a blog is harder than it looks, especially if there is no real purpose behind the thing. It may wither and die before long, since I am a teacher. Despite what you (think you) know, there are things we have to do even when not at school.

But I want to have an outlet for my thoughts on all things nerd (that interest me). Also, this is a half-hearted attempt to review as many of the GameDevFort-Indie-Game-Contest 2015 as I can manage or feel like. To people who think it may have something to do with the fact that I submitted two of those myself, I have two things to say.
1.) Oh my god, a reader! Hello, welcome, here, have a seat, would you like a coffee? Biscuit?
2.) It may be a part of my reasons, but... oh, what's that over there? *vanishes with a lot of noise like a very clumsy Batman*

My final mission statement: I make no promises but that I will try to amuse myself.