Hey LOS,
I thought as though I would just put a few words of advice forwards.
With regards to your grammar, although I understand you struggle with it, which is fine, people will be less prepared to play through a game with poor grammar and spelling. Particularly with people who's grammatical ability is very good, it becomes even more noticeable. Of course, it is hard to gauge how affected the grammar in your game is, because noone has played it yet, but from what you've shown, your beta-tester is either trying to be kind or is not the best beta-tester around by a long shot.
Try not to be too discouraged by peoples comments, TCOFA isn't the sort of member to say things are really good unless TCOFA really thinks they are that good. This is a good thing thoug, it's always supportive to have members say "yeah, it's great!", but it's also constructive to have members like TCOFA towards making the game the BEST it can be, by "nitpicking". TCOFA said my mapping was little more than mediocre too, but many other people say it is very good, it's just varying opinions/high expectations.
In truth, your mapping isn't too good. Your maps all feel very empty and lack atmosphere. Here's a few observations
In the first town image, all the houses use the default layout, try extending and reshaping houses to give a more interesting look. The houses are far too evenly spaced out, a village in a forest is unlikely to be so symmetrical. I'm also unsure that a wooden house would have a chimney of that sort either.
The sewer is VERY empty. I know it can be hard to map a sewer, but it is too bland. Look in the download manager, there is a specific sewer tileset in the interior tilesets folder tnat may help you to make it better.
Once agin, the port town looks deserted. there are no inanimate items anywhere. No real suggestion that anyone actually lives there.
The next three aren't too bad. They are just once again a little plain. Not to badly mapped though.
The desrt map is totally empty. I know a desrt generally is, but at least add the odd patch of grass, stones, a little bit of vegetation. And just to confirm, the grammar in this screenshot is incorrect. It should read...
"Tam Yam, even though you had a stupid name, you were still my friend."
As for the topic on gothism, there is nothing wrong with basing your characters on the current perception of what a "goth" is, but try not to reiterate it, or even state it at all. It's fine to draw inspiration in your charcater from the modern day social movement of goths, but someone was going to eventually pull you up on the true meaning of "gothic", trust me. A real gothic game, would be a dark and morbid tale of the medieval times, though I do understand your interptretation of the term too. Yeah, so design your characters around the idea, but I siggest not keep reiterating they are "gothic", it makes it rather tiresome.
I was wondering, if you drew one character battler, why not draw the other five? This way you can have it both consistent and original. I mean another five isn't that much work.
My final mention is the title screen... It's bad. It doesn't reflect any connotations of the gothic feel (either perception of the word). It is more reminiscent of some sort of superhero game. Just putting the battlers over a backdrop is a very uninspiring thing too do. For me, this needs to be completely redone. If you struggle with titlescreens, it's usually the most common resource request to be taken up. Just so you know.
All in all, I hope you understand the time I have taken to write this is fir you to improve upon your game, to encourage you to persevere with it and certainly not to flame or put your game down. I wish you best of luck with the advancement of your project.
I thought as though I would just put a few words of advice forwards.
With regards to your grammar, although I understand you struggle with it, which is fine, people will be less prepared to play through a game with poor grammar and spelling. Particularly with people who's grammatical ability is very good, it becomes even more noticeable. Of course, it is hard to gauge how affected the grammar in your game is, because noone has played it yet, but from what you've shown, your beta-tester is either trying to be kind or is not the best beta-tester around by a long shot.
Try not to be too discouraged by peoples comments, TCOFA isn't the sort of member to say things are really good unless TCOFA really thinks they are that good. This is a good thing thoug, it's always supportive to have members say "yeah, it's great!", but it's also constructive to have members like TCOFA towards making the game the BEST it can be, by "nitpicking". TCOFA said my mapping was little more than mediocre too, but many other people say it is very good, it's just varying opinions/high expectations.
In truth, your mapping isn't too good. Your maps all feel very empty and lack atmosphere. Here's a few observations
In the first town image, all the houses use the default layout, try extending and reshaping houses to give a more interesting look. The houses are far too evenly spaced out, a village in a forest is unlikely to be so symmetrical. I'm also unsure that a wooden house would have a chimney of that sort either.
The sewer is VERY empty. I know it can be hard to map a sewer, but it is too bland. Look in the download manager, there is a specific sewer tileset in the interior tilesets folder tnat may help you to make it better.
Once agin, the port town looks deserted. there are no inanimate items anywhere. No real suggestion that anyone actually lives there.
The next three aren't too bad. They are just once again a little plain. Not to badly mapped though.
The desrt map is totally empty. I know a desrt generally is, but at least add the odd patch of grass, stones, a little bit of vegetation. And just to confirm, the grammar in this screenshot is incorrect. It should read...
"Tam Yam, even though you had a stupid name, you were still my friend."
As for the topic on gothism, there is nothing wrong with basing your characters on the current perception of what a "goth" is, but try not to reiterate it, or even state it at all. It's fine to draw inspiration in your charcater from the modern day social movement of goths, but someone was going to eventually pull you up on the true meaning of "gothic", trust me. A real gothic game, would be a dark and morbid tale of the medieval times, though I do understand your interptretation of the term too. Yeah, so design your characters around the idea, but I siggest not keep reiterating they are "gothic", it makes it rather tiresome.
I was wondering, if you drew one character battler, why not draw the other five? This way you can have it both consistent and original. I mean another five isn't that much work.
My final mention is the title screen... It's bad. It doesn't reflect any connotations of the gothic feel (either perception of the word). It is more reminiscent of some sort of superhero game. Just putting the battlers over a backdrop is a very uninspiring thing too do. For me, this needs to be completely redone. If you struggle with titlescreens, it's usually the most common resource request to be taken up. Just so you know.
All in all, I hope you understand the time I have taken to write this is fir you to improve upon your game, to encourage you to persevere with it and certainly not to flame or put your game down. I wish you best of luck with the advancement of your project.
