Re: Mitsuko X Space Escape (original canceled)
Actually...the horse has been there since the last release in August. But that's beside the point. If there are 16 enemies...then 4 is a descent sample..especially when unlike MOST RoR games, all enemies have mutliple positions and even better...there are 3 stages. So many RoR games have 1 position, and 2 stages.
So really, this updated demo added nothing new since the last update. I honestly forgot that the horse was in the last one, although it was rather glitchy if i remember correctly, i could be wrong. Probably why I dont really remember it being in there.
It will get done when it gets done. Do you have any idea how much time goes into something like this? So many solo developers never finish games..its a common tale. At least he works on it - and if he gets burned out, or life happens, then it is what it is. People do their best work when they are engaged and inspired and I've seen and played hundreds of video games that were clearly un-inspired. Patience is a virtue. Try it on.
But it is a good demo size. Sooo many games are demo'd much shorter than this - that your demand for more simply doesn't hold water. It beats status quo.
The reason most demos are so small are because the game is already practically done. They're released with the intent of releasing the full game within a month or so, making that hype relevant to their game, where as this has been drawn out for like, what, years now?
I mean, yeah, i agree with you, its honestly a good demo size, but thats under the concept of it was almost done, but really it's been the same stuff since pretty much the beginning, its nowhere near done, and this is pretty much the demo for the entire game, where almost nothing else has been set in stone, meaning just about anything could be subject to change. Usually a demo is made to showcase a game, not a game made because of how the demo showcased it was supposed to be.
Controls are clunky? While it does have keyboard controls... there's a reason there's a page to help people set up a controller. I play on a controller and love it. Also you can rebind the keys. Take a minute and customize it if its a problem for you.
Plenty of RoR games that are fan favorites have less than 16. Average is 12 it seems. So you are getting 25% more if that number 16 is real.
Keybinding and controller use doesn't affect anything if the gameplay itself is the thing thats clunky. If theres a delay with turning around, ducking down, firing your gun, which takes long enough for a slime to catch up to you in a small area, giving them a chance to hit you, rebinding your keys to anything else isn't going to make it faster and more responsive.
Hell, even the ledge grab is a bit finicky. Sometimes it takes you like 3 or 4 times to just grab onto an edge. Not to mention the double jump really isn't that responsive, which is kind of a problem when its required to get certain things.
There really is no grind fest, you can get 99 as it is in less than 2 hours considering several enemies give 40+ chips in a single drop (I got 200 chips from a horse twice)
"Considering several enemies give 40+ chips in a single drop"
Yeah, im pretty sure that's supposed to be a glitch, especially if you're getting 200, meaning if it's fixed and they drop 5, like they're supposed to, then yes, it will turn into a grind fest. The only enemy that is actually SUPPOSED to drop 40, from what I've seen, was the golem, aka the boss. Natural enemies shouldn't be dropping over 4 times the amount of a boss kill.
I too wouldn't mind seeing 1 more enemy. But 4, with 2 positions each, and 3 stages is more than any other demo I can think of. The quality is there...these animations are better than most so I'd buy it just on that alone...16 enemies...2 postions, 3 stages...that's pretty hawt.
The real problem, is the alpha set a high bar and the updates haven't added as much to it. But it is what it is. When he's inspired, I'm sure it will move forward, and when not...oh well. I'm in the process of starting a new side business myself, complete with a website I'm coding myself. I go weeks/months getting a ton done - then burn out and take some time off to refuel my creativity by doing other things inspiring me at the time.
It's not like this is his job, or he's asking for money to "crowd fund" it like so many do. Then I think larger steps forward could be expect.
16 enemies with 2 positions each is rather alright, but really, its about the productivity. Having a demo featuring 4 enemies with 2 positions each, giving you 16 scenes with 3 variables (normal, turned, and horny), is great for a RoR game. But the fact that this demo is going to pretty much be the only thing you're going to see about this game for the next like, few years at the rate this production is going, the hype is going to die down quite a bit.
Even worse is that once production speeds up and people are seeing it coming close to finishing, its gonna grow into a disappointment, because it took how many years to make it, to get where it was at, where those years in other developer's hands would have made something absolutely amazing.
Although the concept of this RoR is much higher in quality than most bland ones you find on DLsite, the ones on DLsite are kind of better in my opinion simply because they dont build up so much hype for such a long wait, and they dont take nearly as long to make.
I mean, look at how Eroico turned out, not even a full year I believe. From start to finish, and that's sprite work, rather than flash animation, not to mention cg of each enemy as well.
I totally get that this stuff takes effort, and I know that Uriel started this from absolute scrach, no actual knowledge of flash animation and what not, but releasing a demo years and years before the game is even close to finishing isn't something you do. At this point, this game might as well be ran on donations and made as an experiment for the next game. Give him more knowledge on flash to have a better production time for the next game, and then sell that one.
The first "demo" for this game came out on like, what, june 10th of 2010. Its been over 3 years and the content of the game has barely changed at all, and still show cases the same enemies it originally started with, with the exception of the floating eye thing. I just don't see this game being really well sold based on the fact that it was releasing demos 3 years ago and is still nowhere near finished, and is prepared to "finish" the demo, rather than finish the actual game.
Like I said, most demo's are made to show case the game to give people a taste of what they're buying. In this case, the game is being made to back up the demo that was made, it really doesn't work like that, because based off of the current algorithm, the game is gonna take another 9 years to come up with the next 12 enemies, the 3 or 4 areas they'll be in, and thats not even including the polishing.
Obviously that time is nowhere near exact to how actual production goes, but based off of patterns, you can easily tell that this stuff is going to take many years to come unless it gets kicked into gear. Last I checked, no games decided to release playable demos years before it was even closed to done. The games that do that like to call them "open betas" and they actively update their players to maintain satisfaction.
If this game was almost done, then this demo would honestly be acceptable. But as it stands now, I wouldn't ever pay money for this project knowing that the demo showcasing it came out years and years before it was even speculated to being close to finished. Its too much of a casual project than a money making game.
