Hehehe now that Turan bumped the thread I can post the rest.
Mystery Job
Definitely one of the more unique entries! I was not expecting a 3D game.
I will be honest and say that I am horrible when it comes to actually scary things. This game was probably the most nerve wracking of them all.
The graphics and audio design was great! It definitely had an eerie feel to it. I did think that the enemies didn't exactly fit the rest of the vibe, but otherwise the game looked good.
My main issue is the gameplay. When I died, it didn't feel like it was a skill issue, it was just random, unfair chance. Both times I nearly had a heart attack, because jump scares always get me.
Adding some sort of way to tell an enemy was close, or a save system or something....IDK. I know some of the older FNAF games didn't have proper saves during the night, and I get that, but in its
current state, I did not want to start a new run after I died. There was no "aha!" or "If only I had remembered to do that!" moment.
Also, as a side note, the main menu font was unreadable to me. I do need new glasses, but I had to kinda guess what to press.
Nectareal
I really liked this one!
The art was super cute, and the music was funky as well. It could've used some more sound effects, but other than that, it definitely evoked that "spooky" feeling.
The writing was solid for the most part (aside from a few odd lines), and I really liked the characters. The ending was a bit random, but it wasn't horrible or anything.
The gameplay was fine for the most part. The spider king did take me a few tries.
I was a bit confused by the random choice I had to kill or spare the cat. It didn't appear to affect anything, including the dialogue.
Nelly, Come Home
This one was interesting!
The gameplay was simple but fun. I really liked the 8 bit graphics, and I appreciate the fact that everything was 8bit, not just some random sprites.
The lack of sound for a lot of things was a bit jarring. Even just a little tick for the menu selections would have helped. The music that was there was good though.
I will say, the ending was supppppppper spooky. I don't know why, but it made me pretty sad in a very specific way. I mean that as a compliment!
Psyche
I'll be honest, I think this has one of my favorite main menus of all time. The sound effects and the paralaxish effect was frickin' awesome.
The idea of the game is good, although I feel that the presentation falls a bit short.
First of all, the font is really hard to read. It doesn't help that the poems themselves are a bit heavier (or it's just because generally I hate poetry), so it took me a while to understand what was
being said.
Additionally, I'm not sure if I would understand the game as well if I didn't know the dev and his background. It's kind of hard to be objective, I guess.
I also felt the progression to be a bit weird. I understood the diagram it shows at the end of each run, but your choices are bit obtuse. I had to randomly guess to get to the ending.
National Anthem is 10/10 though.
Pumpkin Decorating
I thought this was a really fun idea!
The bright colors immediately grabbed me. The text boxes were a bit hard to read, but otherwise, I loved the coloring.
Playing as a pumpkin was fun. It was a little random that you could just become a doll? I would have preferred different pumpkin outfits or something.
Decorating was nice as well. I do wish the paint maybe changed the color of the wall rather than just kinda splorting it on there.
I do wish there was a little more to the ending, maybe some sort of appraisal scene?
Slice of the Dead
I know that your first language is not English, however, the were a lot of errors in the dialogue and menu that didn't feel like translation issues.
Little things like "skills" not being capitalized hurt my brain a little.
The concept is nice. I actually had a similar idea for a game or manga where ghosts would haunt a house for some currency (I had the idea of screams or fear, but same difference).
However, I didn't get attached to the characters. It didn't help that a lot of the game was just sprites standing in a circle with text boxes. I will play VN's, but art or better writing is kind of a
requirement for that sort of thing.
Since you did mention it was a demo, I would cut out the combat or simplify it. If you are adding a social aspect to it, maybe focus in on the "haunting" feature. Maybe you could have
people show up with different personalities and whatnot, and you would have to choose the correct "scares" to get them to drop money or items. Just throwing stuff out there.
There was also a general lack of sound, which was a bit odd.
Symetry of something something
This had a very star trek-y feel to it. I'm not a huge fan of that type of Sci-fi, but I will admit, it was pretty cool.
The game's story felt very well thought out, aside from a few confusing things. I did like that the art and areas for the game matched up properly with the world and tone you were going for.
Too many times have I played a game where it's supposed to be sci-fi, and it just looks like some old ghetto.
THe combat was okay. It felt like there were a lot of skills that were super situational, so I only used them once or twice. That screensaver puzzle did kind of hurt my eyes. It was fairly intuitive though.
It was a bit disappointing that you get all these new skills in an unwinnable fight. I would generally avoid doing that.
The Dentist
Dentists and clowns definitely fit the bill for a spooky game.
Trying to avoid candy and getting assaulted by clowns was pretty fun. I do think that making it clear that the smaller clowns can't hurt you would be nice. Also, maybe cut down on the number
of toothbrushes and punks. I had no trouble getting through with no dirty teeth, but I was missing quite a few.
The RTP sound effects were a bit jarring. Specifically for the laughs and screams.
Tuckamore Eve
I am personally a big fan of the artstyle, but even beyond that, the environments looked amazing. Everything was consistant, and it didn't feel like I was playing an RPG maker game.
Character designs were great, and they were super expressive in both their looks and dialogue. The story was great, and I was fully invested and interested to see what would happen next.
The humor is definitely the kind of thing I like, with a few exceptions. There were a few meta jokes (boo hiss!) and book titles that I felt didn't quite hit the mark.
But man, the writing was so good. People talked like real people!
As far as gameplay and sound goes, it was fine. Progression was fine, and it didn't have an combat or anything shoehorned in, which I apreciate.
I was a bit dissapointed that the endings boiled down to a single choice at the end. It did make checking them easier, I suppose.
I am a bit confused as to why ending 2 is considered the worst. Like sure, she got wounded, but the alternative is just like...death, lol? I don't know, maybe I missed something.
Also this is the first time someone has used the word "pointdexter" and that makes me very happy.
Whispers in the Bitter Frost
I'll be honest: I guessed the twist pretty much at the getgo.
The story was pretty interesting, I just felt that the dialgoue could have used some work. For example, I noticed that Avelina said "screw you!" a lot. That's normal for a teen or young adult,
but it's a bit weird for a victorian/medieval lady to speak that way.
Also, I think this was mentioned, but there are a lot of connections to Christianity (and Satanism, although I'm not as sure about that) which you might want to look into, because at times it didn't feel intentional.
If I were you, I would remove or refine the combat. It felt a bit shoehorned in.
The character sprites and maps were nice! The lighting and shadows helped add to the spooky atmosphere.
However, two things stuck out to me: The UI and the art for Avelina weren't great.
The UI had a *ton* of empty space, considering all it had to show was the character, name, and HP. I believe there's a simple menu plugin for MZ that gets rid of a lot of stuff like that for VN like games.
I know it's a bit weird to say, but Avelina's bust proportions were way off to an uncomfortable degree.
I did appreciate the footstep sound effects though, and the music was good.
That should be everyone. If your game isn't there, just let me know!