Halloween Town [Comedy/Horror/Slice of Insanity]

[JosephMcKeeDESIGN]

Hi everyone,

A long time ago I wrote a game for Ren'PY but was unable to finish it. This year I decided to finish what I had and put it out there for anybody that might be able to enjoy it.

The game revolves around a mercenary, Rapimano, who get's lured into taking a job in 'Halloween Town' where things are predictably bizarre. At first the work seems easy enough, but before he knows it he's caught up in a scheme to lift a curse and win enough gold to be set for life! Or at least a couple of months…

You can read all about it at my website: http://josephmckee.com/projects-halloween_town.htm

Or just go to JosephMcKee.com and click on the giant pumpkin. If you're in the mood for a Halloween themed comedy just in time for All Hallows Eve, then drop on by.

Thanks

Joseph McKee

[Taleweaver]

Incomplete games go into our Work in Progress forum.

[JosephMcKeeDESIGN]

This game is as complete as it's going to get.

Consider it an 'Act 1', though the story is broken into chapters not acts.


(If it still goes in the Work in Progress forum then have a mod move it, or post their instructions for me to move it.)

Edit: Oh, you were referring to the 'choices that affect the outcome are planned for future revisions' note. I've removed that phrase, and for clarification I meant to say I intended to make choices that affect the outcome, and if ever I was able to resume work I'd like to incorporate such choices. But I can see how reading that would make it look like I haven't concluded production of the game.

[AntiquedFae]

I'm always up for something Halloween themed, regardless of the time of year! Needless to say I am ecstatic to play this; did you want feedback on it or would you prefer to not have any?

-goes off to play-

[JosephMcKeeDESIGN]

I would be much obliged to hear any notes.

And just so you know, I put about sixty hours into it before this release, trying to get it up to par, but I know it needs more.

[AntiquedFae]

Okay, I didn't play all of the way through it because the style of narrative just wasn't really my cup of tea, per say. To me it seemed like it was very heavily targeted to an adult male audience, and being a teenaged female I felt...rather out of place reading it. Especially when the...Ticklehouse...came in. O_o Though there wasn't anything explicit, I still felt a wee bit alienated. You may want to put a content warning up about that to avoid high levels of reader awkwardness. ^.^;

Now, doing my best to put all of this aside, as for the plot: It seemed kind of like you were stuck between trying to decide on going all-out lawless, self-mocking parody or epic fantasy quest. To me, it didn't seem like these two meshed terribly well. Usually though, I really don't go for parody-style humor so I would be one of the worst people to judge this fairly. From the premise and title I was expecting something along the lines of Halloween-y Addams Family style humor, so it just wasn't really what I was anticipating. This said, I think I am definitely not the sort of person this game is targeted towards, so I really don't think I can judge it fairly. Hopefully someone who fits the demographic better will let you know what they think, and can give you a better idea of what is good and what to improve on!
Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance. :/ Good luck with your game!

[JosephMcKeeDESIGN]

Ah, thank you for your frank review.

I'm surprised, you saw both of the directions the game was going (or torn) in. I originally wanted to make it an RPG where you wandered around Halloween Town, beating monsters, collecting gold (from the monsters and from jobs), and buying things, but my skills at Python were insufficient, so I just made it a VN instead. Sort of a beginner's mistake, I realize now.

For the record, and I know don't make this clear at that point in the game, but when they say Ticklehouse they 'imply' bordello, but in Halloween Town it actually is a 'tickle'-house, to the few non-idiot npc's lament. At the point in the game where the player learns this it's supposed to be another 'oh no I'm surrounded by idiot's' moment. Those come faster as the game moves along.

Duly sorry if I offended you, and thanks again for the review. If you think of anything else or if anyone else has anything to share I'm eager to hear.