Regeria Hope [Lawyer, Mystery] KICKSTARTER LIVE NOW!

[Gospel]

Alrighty!

It took quite some time, but I finally got around to checking out the full release of the first case (wanted to read this together with a friend and have been really busy with uni for the past two months <_> ).

In any case, I've read the demo in late November and you clearly changed quite a bit since then.
I love the new menu style and thought the zoom-ins on sprites and the camera movements across them, along with the witness statements faintly flashing in the background were pretty neat changes. Definitely makes the testimony sections look a lot cooler than before.

I've already answered the four questions for the demo, but I'll just answer them again, before going into a little more detail on some other things:

1. Were you you able to figure out the murderer early? How about why they did it? Any surprises along the way?
Unfortunately, for me personally, it wasn't too hard to figure out and there were no real surprises for me. That didn't make it boring, though. On the contrary, it was still a fun ride thanks to the characters and writing.
Also, I guess I should mention that I'm a huge Ace Attorney fan myself, and love detective games/murder mysteries in general. So I guess I'm a little harder to surprise by now than someone who's never played a game like this before XD"

2. Is the game easy enough to understand how to play? Were there parts of the GUI you tripped up on?
I think it's easy enough to understand how to play and the GUI is fine, however... a couple of times my friend and I missed the "Interrupt" button in the top left corner. Especially the one at the end, which, if you don't use it to stall for time, results in a "game over".
After reading everyone else's opinions and your replies, I guess you already tried to fix that, but... at least for me it could've been another tad more obvious to see ^^"

3. Did you like being able to skip the tutorial sections by saying you didn't need help?
Once again, yes. Being able to skip tutorials should always be an option, anyway.
I wish every game developer would finally get that.
That said, this time I did go through the tutorials and they were actually well done. So there really shouldn't be any problems in regards to question 2.

4. Were the testimony rebuttal sections too hard? Too easy? Just right?
I thought they were rather easy. At the very least, I didn't have any real problems with them or got stuck or anything.

Okay, some more impressions/opinions now:

- I absolutely love the characters. They're all a lot of fun (although the judge comes off as kind of a jerk XD") and I really enjoyed the conversations between them. They're quite memorable I have to say. Although, as it was mentioned before, it would've been great to get more backstory on them. The reporter's appearance also seemed almost kind of pointless. Since she got an extra sprite, I'm assuming she'll get relevant again in later cases, but at the very least, it would've been nice if she had made another appearance at the end. You know, have a second interview after the case, where Regeria could've gotten back at Justine for the stuff she said earlier.
- The art style and character designs are great.
- I really enjoyed the punny names. Seems like a lot of thought went into them.
- Dat fourth-wall thing was ingenious.
- I hate time limits of any kind in any kind of game, and I wasn't sure what to think of a time limit in this case, but... it's not really been much of a problem. You always had more than enough time. The 2 minutes during the final testimony had me panic a little, though. But in retrospect, that was actually kinda cool XD
- It seems you have a lot of reeeeeeaaaally neat ideas planned for the future. Especially the jury system sounds super interesting. Which brings me to what I actually loved the most:
- The testimony preparation system. Unfortunately, it wasn't utilized much here, but it's a pretty cool idea with a lot of potential, I think. Please make good use of that in future cases! This is the kind of stuff that really drifts you apart from Ace Attorney and makes this game more unique.

Last but not least, some negative aspects, even though I gotta admit there wasn't really much to criticize. Actually, I wanted to say the backgrounds need some improvement, but I just saw you've taken care of that, haha. So I guess that only really leaves one negative aspect:

It seems as though you already had it proof-read and fixed some spelling mistakes, etc. with the latest updates, but there were still some very obvious errors left. I'd have to go over the game again to let you know exactly, however one mistake was Changer's name written as "Charger" shortly after his name was stated for the very first time. That kinda left my friend and me a little confused as to what the actual name and what the spelling mistake was.

Anyway! All in all... I really loved it. Since this was the first case, it's fine that it wasn't too hard to figure out, because it can be seen as more of a tutorial case in general. Just like it's usually the case for the first... uh... 'case' in an Ace Attorney game. However, I'd definitely love future cases to get a lot harder and more confusing!

I'm wishing you the best of luck with this project and I'll be keeping a close eye on it!
And sorry for flooding you with this much text, but I really enjoyed it. Dunno if I missed of forgot anything, but I guess I could always post again later, haha.

[octacon100]

Thanks for your in depth reply Gospel! I'm really glad you liked the game! Didn't catch that "Charger" spelling mistake, I'll have to make sure that it's fixed in the next update, which will hopefully be out very soon, along with new voice work, new backgrounds, and widescreen. Really looking forward to having that out.

[Whistler]

I really liked this first chapter! I guessed the culprit as soon as

everyone was like "this person looks familiar."

Since Ch. 1 is kind of a tutorial, I understand that it's probably shorter than the other cases. One of the things I really like about AA games is talking to the various suspects, so I hope you include that! I liked that I had some dialogue options that seemed to matter.

UI-wise, I didn't like the inventory animation. I couldn't tell which way the inventory was scrolling, and I didn't have a mental image of what order the inventory was in, so I couldn't predict what would come where. My main worry with the timer was finding the right inventory object in time (though I had ample time).

I'm not sure how I feel about the timer--it does increase the tension, but it was also visually a little distracting (maybe get rid of milliseconds?). I'm excited for the "morale" system and your other plans for the game. I wasn't sure if this game would work exactly like AA games, so I did all the tutorials with no regrets. The gameplay seemed pretty easy.

One thing I worry about is

how you basically out a trans man at the end. I think you might get some complaints about that from some vocal corners of the internet. It might be easier to say she was disguised as a man. If there's some compelling story reason that he transitioned (which I assume is the case given the testosterone pills), that would be interesting to explore. Are the testosterone pills prescribed to him? That would make more sense as a clue, although I'm not sure how the detective found them.

I'm excited to continue supporting this game!

[octacon100]

Hi Whistler,

Thanks for submitting your thoughts, great to get your feedback, I'm glad you had a good time. The timer is mostly there to make the feeling you get when you choose the right piece of evidence even better!

About your spoiler:

I'll say the same thing I said on the SilliconEra site: I'm intending to have people from all walks of life, Jordan was a sociopath that changed her name and took pills in order to hide who she really was from the police, in order to get away with her crime. She was so consumed by hatred, she saw such a meaningful change as a stepping stone to her revenge, which she planned for 4 years, just waiting for an opportunity.

In future episodes, there will be transgender characters, but it certainly won't be as blatantly obvious and evil as this case. They just have friends that knew them before their change of identity. Or they might be a Hijra.

[octacon100]

Just going to put this here as well, since I only really updated the 1st page.

Updates:

The HD version is out NOW! Download here!

Be one of the first 50 to back at $10 and get Regeria Hope for PC and Android! They are going fast!

[octacon100]

We're at 30% after a week! Thank you to everyone who donated, you are the best! It's all so exciting!

[octacon100]

The Kickstarter seems like it's still going well, and I'm about to put out a backer update. That said, I thought you might still like to see the art in the update. So here it is:





If you want to know more, I'll be writing about it. Thanks to everyone here for their generous support!

[octacon100]

Almost going to be hitting 60% this weekend I hope. Fingers crossed this makes it!

Here's some artwork from the updates and backer updates I've posted, I think you'll like them.









Info on the new jury member can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13 ... ts/1159902

[octacon100]

Down to under 7 days left, and at 73% Fingers crossed this makes it!

[octacon100]

Whoo hoo! It's been funded, thanks everyone!

[zfairborn]

Ok so my thoughts on this:

1. Were you you able to figure out the murderer early? How about why they did it? Any surprises along the way?
WAAAY too easy. Anyone looking at the intro video will quickly pick the smug smile on the waiter. This could just be from me who have played a lot of mystery games, but it was a dead give-away given that there were really only two people at that location. I chalked it off as just 'the intro game' but it was too obvious in my opinion.

It was a nice surprise to find out the trans element, but that said... why? It did come very left wing and felt it was added just for the sake of being added. I've no issues with a Trans character, though I do feel they are often persecuted as villians so I felt a little insulted by that element on its own. That being said, there didn't seem any major reason for this to occur. If you are going to drop something like that into a game, dig a little deeper and give a more justified reason to this. It felt it was thrown in simply to be a red-herring for the case alone and suggested nothing of the character's life or reason. That in turn makes it feel very cardboard-cutout.

More than anything you want the Villians to be interesting, in depth, believe their goal is right, and their methods intelligent. Anything less and players will notice.

2. Is the game easy enough to understand how to play? Were there parts of the GUI you tripped up on?
It was easy enough. I did find the 'evidence scrolling' odd though. Keep it simple here (make it pages of evidence over a scrolling list) and it would be appreciated.

3. Did you like being able to skip the tutorial sections by saying you didn't need help?
Absolutely. Choice in games are always appealing.

4. Were the testimony rebuttal sections too hard? Too easy? Just right?
The timer is nice, though I did think it may also have been unnessicary. It rewards players who can read fast and punishes those who need to take their time.

Final Notes.
It a nice game, and its even made me consider making my own - utilizing my skills as a writer/ artist to add to this market.

That said, there were a few things I did find meh. They are personal opinions, and I recognize the work you have put into this game, but if you want it to be all it can be, than this is what I feel needs to be addressed:
- Why the headband on Miss Hope? It sticks out like a sore-thumb and is given no explaination. Having someone ask her about it so she can explain its significant would stop it being soo darn distracting.
- The choice of two women fighting it out is ok... but if you are wanting to write strong female characters, don't make one a beauty queen. It screams sterotype.
- The corruption thing may be something you're bringing in later, but the quick allude in the court-break felt very one-choice. Regina comes across as a goody-goody so it felt impossible to choose the 'bribery' option. If you want morale choice and deliema, make your character flexable enough to seem believable that she could go in this direction
- Appologies to the voice actor, but the Judge's voice... ugh... he sounds like a snob with a blocked nose who doesn't care each time he says "Sus-taaaained". Was very annoying.
- Flight of the Valkyre's is a great piece of music.... but not if we get hit with the first 10-seconds of it multiple times in half an hour. At that point its as annoying as the Judge saying his catch-phrase. Again - less is more.
- Again on the Lawyer Battle screen. The transition from the three profiles to the witness is too harsh. Use some photoshop skills to fade the top edge so it fades into the image. Or make it a firm line. The half-way mark you have on that border looks sloppy.
- Get rid of the pixilated court-audience members. They are distracting from the very nicely drawn background.