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papillon
Fluffy Bunny of Doom


Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 16

PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:02 pm    Post subject: Cute Knight Halloween Special! [quote]

So, some of you may have noticed that I've recently released Cute Knight (Kishi Kawaii), an anime-themed Sim/RPG in the style of Princess Maker.

The world of Cute Knight is full of secrets and surprises. Characters who can only be met at certain times and places, skill bonuses that only occur at certain times of year, special gifts given to you if you attend class on a holiday...

And so I'm letting out my own little Holiday Secret.

Anyone purchasing a copy of Cute Knight on Halloween (October 31) can get $5 off! Just use the discount code QCY000F6 on your *Halloween* order to receive this special offer.

As for what happens in the GAME world on October 31, well, you'll have to download the game and find out for yourself!

http://rpgdx.net/showgame.php?project_id=305
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janus
Mage


Joined: 29 Jun 2002
Posts: 464
Location: Issaquah, WA

PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:06 am    Post subject: [quote]

This game is pretty well done, but I'm not sure it's worth $20. The demo feels kind of monotonous, the gameplay is pretty simplistic, and the music is barely tolerable (Though I guess that could be because I don't have hardware MIDI support.) However, the art is very nice, and it's easy to play.

In practice, it pretty much feels like a Princess Maker clone. This wouldn't be a bad thing if it had much variety, but the gameplay feels even less varied than Princess Maker. (Are there more towns or locations than the obvious ones in the demo? I only see eight.) Additionally, the game doesn't really feel balanced. 49G just to rent a room to restore HP is quite a bit considering that you lose HP by doing *anything* in the game and can usually only earn around 10-20G in one 'week' as the game starts. Is this intentional?

Edit: Just ran into the time limit in the demo. If the full game is only 6 times longer than that, I can't see it having very much replay value.

The game's concept is sound, but it's just not very fun. :(
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papillon
Fluffy Bunny of Doom


Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 16

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 3:06 pm    Post subject: [quote]

You're welcome to your opinion; luckily for me lots of other people don't agree with you. :)

As for the individual points you mention:

There are no other towns, but new activities can be unlocked in the available locations as you spend more time in them. Only the 'newbie' jobs are available at each location when you start. Also, certain options like the Doctor and the Thieves Guild don't appear right away, you have to find them.

It's also much more of an RPG than Princess Maker is, with FAR more magical items and things to do in the dungeon-delving side of things, plus the crafting and magical charms system to figure out. (Obviously, only the very easiest dungeon levels appear in the demo.)

Also unlike Princess Maker, there is something of a plot. PM2 has no "true ending" to find. In this game, you do HAVE a lost identity and you can find out who you are and where you came from.

The room rental cost IS intentional, yes. That's far from the only place you can sleep, and taking advantage of the free inn room from working is almost always the best way to start the game, since it's an easy job and will help boost your stamina. There's also the church or the square, both of which are also free.

"Easy to play" was another thing I was working towards. I love a good complex RPG as much as most people on this board probably do, but there are lots of people who can be intimidated by Too Much Information. Things like saying 'Outfit' instead of 'Equipment' or 'Skills' instead of 'Statistics' were all chosen on purpose to make RPG newbies feel more comfortable.

As for lack of replay value... I *really* don't see how you can say that. There's over fifty endings, and it takes dedicated testers weeks to months to even try to find them all. A *single* playthrough is not overly long, no. That's also intended. This game is meant for a more casual audience that doesn't have the time to sink into a huge 50+ hour RPG. But it's very much designed to be played over and over again, trying out new things and exploring storylines that were hinted at in your last game.

As for not being worth $20 - Well, use the $5 off coupon then! :) It's selling pretty well already, actually, but I promised some people when I launched that I would have a halloween sale. I want people to play my games and have fun, so I always try to make the occasional cheapskate option - I've also done art contests with free games as prizes, but people tend to chicken out and not enter....

Anyway, if it's not your thing, that's fine. I don't want to come across all pushy like I'm demanding you buy my game or anything. Not every game is the right match for every player! :)
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DrunkenCoder
Demon Hunter


Joined: 29 May 2002
Posts: 559

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 3:17 pm    Post subject: [quote]

Just posting to say that I really liked the demo :D I'll have to see if I can find some spare change to the 31:st wich is coincently my birthday.
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If there's life after death there is no death, if there's no death we never live. | ENTP
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janus
Mage


Joined: 29 Jun 2002
Posts: 464
Location: Issaquah, WA

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:45 pm    Post subject: [quote]

papillon wrote:
You're welcome to your opinion; luckily for me lots of other people don't agree with you. :)

As for the individual points you mention:

There are no other towns, but new activities can be unlocked in the available locations as you spend more time in them. Only the 'newbie' jobs are available at each location when you start. Also, certain options like the Doctor and the Thieves Guild don't appear right away, you have to find them.

It's also much more of an RPG than Princess Maker is, with FAR more magical items and things to do in the dungeon-delving side of things, plus the crafting and magical charms system to figure out. (Obviously, only the very easiest dungeon levels appear in the demo.)
You may want to consider tweaking the demo, then, since I found myself barely having enough gold to purchase the necessary equipment for entering the dungeons, let alone attending any of the necessary classes at the school. By the time I was even ready to go buy the stuff, the trial was over. If the dungeon portions are really good and provide significant replay value (I'm sure they can, but I have no idea how they work), I'd encourage you to make that more obvious to the player.

Same thing with the unlocking of new activities and locations - I didn't really realize that things like that were in the game, and the game itself (along with the documentation I saw on the site) doesn't really make that clear either. That seems like it should be a significant selling point.

As for the plot, that's good to hear, but again I saw little to no mention of any real plot elements in the demo. In particular, I saw absolutely no indication of why the title refers to the player character as a knight, or why she looks like she's wearing armor in the equipment menu. I assumed there was some sort of reason for this, but you might want to provide more of a taste of the plot in the demo so that people realize that you have some good stuff going on in the full version.

It sounds to me like maybe this game needs a better demo! :) Try to show off more of the cool parts of the game so that people like me are interested in it, instead of just giving us a taste of the boring initial segments. The beginning of most games like PM is pretty boring, so I think in this case it might be worthwhile to start the player with a somewhat-developed character so they can try out some of the cooler stuff.
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bay
Wandering Minstrel


Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 138
Location: new jersey, usa

PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 4:15 pm    Post subject: [quote]

glad to see a completed project! keep up the good work and i hope that your payment structure works out.

.02$
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