Family Reunion [Game Submission]

[GameDeveloper]

Hello,

   I have another game I'd like to submit.  This time, however, I'll submit it maybe next week(when Ben gets more time; mainly away from all the GuilHall projects).  Unless, you will be away all next week due to Christmas, then that's understandable.

   This game is about the series Pokemon.  However, this game has a dark and more serious tone to it.  It's not like Gale of Darkness, another 'professional' Pokemon game that tries to be mature, but ultimately fails.  This game has you playing as an old veteran Pokemon Assassin, Arsee.  His clan assassinates only those Pokemon who threaten the human race.  His clan is not allowed to use Pokemon, but instead thier own abilities.

The main Pokemon they are after is the Serptent.  This creature must feed off of a human in order to mature into a larger Serptent.  For this reason, the assassin clan must put it to rest.  Long ago, Arsee was part of the team who supposedly killed the last remaining one.  Afterward, Arsee left the clan to be a trainer and get his mind off of killing the creatures he adores.  However, one day he gets called back...  He doesn't know what it's for, but he knows it can't be good.  The only information they gave is that it isn't good, and it's about the Serptent...  Arsee hates the clan because of all of those memories he has when he was a member.  Arsee must go back and find out what is going on, and that's where it begins.

  The style of this game is that of The Legend of Zelda.  Throughout the game, you will earn new weapons and items that will help you through puzzles.  You can slash with each sword/hammer/other item you obtain throughout by pressing space in a compass direction.  You can equip an item through a menu system I created with out scripting.
The game has full voice over, has 4 hidden mini games, 6 different locations to explore and a dark gripping storyline.

Well, that's my next game, and probably my last.  I have no other tricks up my sleeve  .  It's all good and ready, but I'll wait to submit it, I don't want to overwhelm Benjamin Marty.  I thought I would just tell everyone about it.   I've uploaded a Screenshot pack incase you want to get a taste of whats to come!

[Zorb Burger]

WHOA!!! finly; somone mature nogh to talk bout pokemon!!  but i dlike zelda style gams.. day be repetitiv!!!

so i no i wont be downladin dis.

[GameDeveloper]

I don't know what you mean by 'mature enough', but I wouldn't say you need any courage to talk about it [this is what I'm getting from you].  As far Zelda games go, I love those games!  The story is repetitive, and some of the gameplay, but it always finds a way to feel fresh and new.  I have to say, Shigeru Miyamoto is a genius when it comes to design.

[GameDeveloper]

I see that the review was posted while I was away.  I'm really happy that this game got a 4 star, I would have loved for it to get a 5 star, but I don't think I'll be achieving that anytime soon.  It looks like this was my best game.  I suppose the only lows were the (lack of) instructions and the bad voice overs.  Over all, I'm happy for it, since this was my greatest ambition, but then agian, I just feel like it could have been so much better.

  If Bluemonkmn is to read this, I want to correct one thing you stated in the review.  This game is not an RPG.  It's basicly like the Legend of Zelda, which is placed under the genre Action/Adventure.  This is why it's lacking the regular length of an RPG(and status screens, full equipment, etc.).  I do have another game that is an RPG and is actually 8 hours long, compared to this which is 2 hours, but between the two, you can clearly see the difference.  I just wanted to tell you that.

And, I suppose I'm done with the rant about Family Reunion's score.

EDIT: On a side note, I see that the download is just 'Family Reunion.zip'.  Did you not get the V2 I sent you about 4 weeks ago(I believe)?  Or did you just create a new zip file?  I'm really confused about this.

[bluemonkmn]

OK, so I categorize games with buckets instead of thimbles.  Yes, I knew it was very much like Zelda, but some people call Zelda "Action-RPG" and I guess I just dropped the admittedly significant "Action" piece.  (And some people do go as far as just simply call Zelda an RPG, but I can see where the distinction makes a difference.)  Categorization sometimes is just hard, and there are fuzzy areas .  I guess my opinion, regardless of the specific terminilogy, is that some games appear to be out to tell a story, and one can desire of such games that they be epic and last long enough that you can't finish them in one day (like a book -- unless you're crazy like my brother durnurd who can ... well I'll leave that up to him to explain ), which is why they are usually identified by having a save feature.  Actually I want all my games to be epic, but I guess I especially want my RPG games and other games with stories to be epic because that is what they are founded on, and that's what gives them such great potential.

Also, yes, I created or renamed (don't remember which) the ZIP file because I figured we might as well call the first public release version 1.

One final note: I tried to send you an email when I finished the review, but it bounced.

[GameDeveloper]

I see what you mean.  I just thought that it was strange that you called it an RPG in the review but didn't mention the story at all!  It's fine with me though.  I'm just happy that I finally got a four star game up there.  I just noticed two things, however.  In every review my games have gotten, the lows out weigh the pros (at least, they appear to) and in the review, it sounds like your just kind of giving those scores to them.  It just seems odd to me that there are so many cons, yet so little pros and they still continue to score like they do.  Another thing is, did you notice the dramatic change with each games score?  It's really strange:

Samantha's game - 2 Star
Turok World        - 3 Star
Family Reunion     - 4 Star

  What's next, is my next game(if any) going to score a 5 star?  Well, that was actually a joke, but hey, it's still a strange pattern (I'm just glad it didn't start with a 1 Star, or a Veto'd star ).  I suppose it just shows that I keep inproving(?).  Oh, on a small side note, did you finally figure out what the name Family Reunion meant?  I just wanted to know if it was ambiguous.

EDIT: Did the E-mail bounce because my internet was cut off in the past week, maybe?  I'm not sure...

[cbass]

I haven't got a chance to finish it yet.  I quit because I think I encountered a bug where I couldn't attack or equip the sword or hammer.  I'll see if I can finish it tomorrow.  From what I saw so far, the game is very good.  Great job on finishing this one!

My biggest criticism has to be the controls and sound/voice.  First, having to use arrow keys + Button to attack makes the attack controlling awkward and difficult.  I got used to it after a while, but it would still be nice to attack while standing still.  (I realize why you didn't add this feature/; difficulty in implementation and to possibly add some difficulty to the game by not having it, but it would still be nice to have:))  I also don't like how you have to perfectly center yourself to go through vertical passages.  This is a very difficult problem to get around without script, but I have solved it in the top down games I am working one if you care to know how.  Don't have time to explain right now, sleepy:) )

I really like the menu as well, although a bit awkward, very good for a non-scripted.  One improvement for it would be the fast map switching method described by bluemonkk in this forum.  I think your game could benefit greatly from this.  I hate having to wait 3-4 seconds while music fades out to get to a menu.

The voice overs were a nice touch, but it would be nice to have the option to not have them.  At least you can hit a key to skip them.


It seemed like my criticisms outweighted my positives, but don't get me wrong.  I really like this style of game, and it pains me to see a good game riddled with bugs/annoyances. Fromm the little I saw, I would definitely give it 4 stars and an easy 5 it was polished a bit more.

[Guilect]

You guys are lucky to get to play this version of the game.  When GameDeveloper first made the game, I played it barebones.  It had no secrets and it had MUCH less healing items. In fact, it only had one chicken leg in the entire game!  It was tough, but it was so advanced compared to the games I was making.  The voice over was really good I thought, but the quality of the sound isn't the best.  Wait until you get to the end cbass, it's awesome and difficult.

Also, cbass have you found any of the mini-games yet?  If you have, then tell me what you think about them !  I made them over the weekend before the game(FamilyReunion) was submitted for the listing... it took very little time to create the games and even less time to conceive a plotfor them.  Well anyway, I truely enjoy this game and the newer version seems a bit too easy with all of the chicken legs... .  And the menu seemed impossible to do, but once again I was wrong(thankfully).

[GameDeveloper]

I was really sure I got that equipment problem fixed!  hmm...  I'm sorry about that, i could have sworn it stopped.  I'm glad you enjoy the game so far, and it's ok if your criticisims outwieght your pros, I accept all opinions/comments/feedback.

The menu was something I wanted to improve on over the original, and I did, I believe.  I'm sorry, i haven't shown the original, but it was pretty decent.  Well, it was advanced for its time, but now it's obsolete.

I'm terribly sorry about my horrible voice acting!  I tried pretty hard with this game.  I suppose I just think its good because of my other tries.  they were AWFUL.  I'm getting better though.

And, on a final note, here's a comparison of Arsee's original game, compared to his sequel.  these screens tell it all.

[bluemonkmn]

One reason the cons might seem to outweigh the pros in my review might have something to do with the fact that there's not a lot I can think of to say about something done right, but I can go into a lot of detail about how to improve something that has room for improvement.  I mean how much can I say about that great improvement in graphics you showed in your post above.  That's why the rating is so important.  It shows that even though I found a lot of room for improvement, I still think the game has some significant merit... for some reasons I just can't describe in detail.

I noticed that you *did* fix the problem with equiping weapons when I played.  I hope I posted the right version.  Can you think of anything else in the new version that cbass could easily identify as the new version versus the old version?  I know if you play the third mini-game you should see some slopes rather than seeing that all the columns are square.  Anything else?

BTW, The email that got returned to me said "Invalid recipient".

And yes, I did figure out why it was called Family Reunion closer to the end.

I'd say more but I've got other things going on tonight.  Gotta run.