Looking For Games to Review!

[marauderspirit]

Hello folks,

I've recently started a blog to document progress of my design projects. http://zirconaworks.tumblr.com/ That's all well and good, but the best way to learn, in my opinion, is by examining the work of others and writing up a fair and detailed analysis of their art or product. So:

If you have a game, and you'd like me to give it an in-depth review on my blog (with screenshots and possibly a Let's Play, if length and time constraints allow), then please either PM me or leave your details here. All I ask in return is that you do the same for me by checking out some of my projects on my website and/or blog and giving me some feedback, too. It's hard in the world for creative people, we all need to stick together and give each other some back-slaps from time to time. If you are on tumblr yourself, why not give me a follow and keep up to date, since it is my sincere intention to make this blog a useful and active place where I can discuss the interesting VN's being produced here.

I can promise that my review will be honest, thoughtful and helpful to you. If you are simply an asset creator, making illustrations, music or the like, I'm also happy to review your work.

Cheers!

[marauderspirit]

Hello folks!

My first review, for Dreamgazer's 'War: 13th Day', has been posted and is available to read on my blog at this address:

http://zirconaworks.tumblr.com/post/144 ... r-13th-day

I had a good time playing and reading this one, and hopefully my review is helpful to the developer as they continue to take their series into the future, as I understand this is an ongoing storyline.

Thank you, Dreamgazer, for creating this VN and for sharing it with the wider creative community!

To the rest of you viewers, don't be shy, if you have a game that you want some honest feedback on, send me a message!

-Zircona

[Quelcezot]

I just finished reading your first review, it was actually more in depth than I anticipated.

To me as a reader, the most informative part was about your take on the writing. It seems like you had a lot to comment on and I feel like it must have been very helpful to the actual writer of the visual novel. You talked about the themes that were most apparent to you and how the overall structure pieced together.

One small thing that I was left uncertain about is how the visual novel was paced. Since you go into detail about how the plot seemed a little too full of different ideas, I was left with the assumption that the pacing must have been rather haphazard and would feel rushed. But this might not be doing justice to the visual novel if in fact there is a well paced narrative, just with confusing things happening in the background. Having a little more clarity on pacing would have given me a firmer impression of how the writing felt to you.

That aside, your analysis of art and music was satisfying.

In terms of artwork, while not as informative as your segment on storytelling, you were very clear and you communicated this kind of dissonance you experienced very well. The background and character art are of very different styles, and which characters receive artwork and which don't is inconsistent. You point out that the anatomy looks off sometimes.

You comment on the anime inspired art style, but don't really state whether this is good or bad or whether it fits or not.

Your exposition of technical details such as animation are interesting. You explained how these aspects enhanced your experience and that they were unusual and deserved appreciation.

Music wise, I get the impression that you care about music. But that you didn't have a lot to go on. I didn't really understand a lot of this part of the review, since I don't know what would fit better in a comedy or why Indian-like musical pieces feel particularly out of place. But I imagine this would be very helpful for the visual novel creators.

You explicitly mention that no credits were given for the music, and there seems to be a variety of styles in play. After reading this, I thought the music would probably be some handpicked collection of public domain music. You say the music does do its job though, and to many that's all they ask for.

Your verdict is interesting, although it very much centers on the storytelling aspect. You don't really reflect on how the art, writing and music all come together. I also didn't really understand from what you'd written how it could have worked better as a black comedy. It something has jokes, and serious bit in other places - that doesn't necessarily make me immediately think of black comedies. Since black comedies are generally quite cynical in tone, which isn't the impression I received from the rest of the review?

Overall though, I really enjoyed the review and I found it informative. You have a writing style that's pleasant to read on its own. Your comments on the storytelling and writing especially were really insightful and more than I was expecting.

I am sorry for this ridiculously long response. Anything I haven't mentioned, I just liked. Thank you for writing this review, and I'll be looking forward to any others you plan on writing in the future.

I'll also take a look at your own projects, but that'll have to wait for tomorrow now... since it's late. Sleep is good and all.


I do have a project of my own to offer you. I'm mainly a writer and currently very busy with a large project where I'm working with a wonderful composer and wonderful artists, but before I was neck deep in this project I had been experimenting with visual novels for a while and had created this smaller project:

viewtopic.php?f=70&t=33022

More or less as an experiment. It's a strange romance story. I tried to focus on creating a pretentious but self aware narrative, while creating all the other assets myself. Making a strange little self contained story in a strange world.

At the time I posted this, I thought I may have more work to do on it. But I've been since swept up and unable to. It is a complete narrative, albeit slightly experimental. And there are no placeholders or really any crucial aspects I'm not happy with.

It's essentially complete, and ready to be mercilessly judged. It is by no means a perfect visual novel, which I hope could make it interesting to evaluate.

Anyway, I wish you all the best. Good night, or morning - whatever it is on Neptune.

[marauderspirit]

Hi Quelcezot,

Thanks for your review...of my review!

You mention that I don't discuss pacing very much in my analysis, which is a fair point. Rest assured that my position that there is too much within the plot is also based upon the fact that the plot is not long enough to introduce all of these elements organically.

As for not discussing how the many elements come together, that is also valid. I personally examine different aspects of games to try and identify positive aspects, that would not have been taken as such when viewed holistically, however, in future, I'll be sure to talk more in-depth about the big picture, so to speak.

Finally, in regards to my suggestion that the story would have worked as a black comedy - I appreciate that this suggestion may be left-field for someone who may not have played the game. In the interest of keeping Dreamgazer's narrative (with its many twists) intact, I can't quite justify the suggestion without exposing plot details. However, I think that if you play the game, as I encourage you to do, you may also perceive the cynical tone that you quite rightly attribute to dark humour.

Thanks for your reply! I will check out your game sometime this week and post a review. I will PM you when I do so, and also put a response here. Have a great day everyone!

[Quelcezot]

Hi Quelcezot,

Thanks for your review...of my review!

You mention that I don't discuss pacing very much in my analysis, which is a fair point. Rest assured that my position that there is too much within the plot is also based upon the fact that the plot is not long enough to introduce all of these elements organically.

As for not discussing how the many elements come together, that is also valid. I personally examine different aspects of games to try and identify positive aspects, that would not have been taken as such when viewed holistically, however, in future, I'll be sure to talk more in-depth about the big picture, so to speak.

Finally, in regards to my suggestion that the story would have worked as a black comedy - I appreciate that this suggestion may be left-field for someone who may not have played the game. In the interest of keeping Dreamgazer's narrative (with its many twists) intact, I can't quite justify the suggestion without exposing plot details. However, I think that if you play the game, as I encourage you to do, you may also perceive the cynical tone that you quite rightly attribute to dark humour.

Thanks for your reply! I will check out your game sometime this week and post a review. I will PM you when I do so, and also put a response here. Have a great day everyone!

I'd already downloaded the game right after reading your review, and I'm going to start playing it later today! You've responded fairly to all my feedback, but ultimately my most important point is that your review was well written and made me want to try out the visual novel. I'm not too accustomed to seeing visual novels in this broad genre with a more cynical tone, so that makes me even more interested.

Also one thing I forgot to note earlier about my game, is that it's very short. I think there's definitely enough in there for an interesting review, but I am the creator so that's obviously what I would think. If you find yourself bemused at the end of it, feeling nothing but apathy. Please, don't feel obliged to pick your brain for things to comment on, if I've managed to project the atmosphere and ideas I wanted to - those should all come quite naturally.

[Dreamgazer]

Hello, marauderspirit! I already told you this over PM, but I just wanted to pop in and confirm that your review was indeed helpful on many points. I also appreciate how considerate you've been in preserving my stories' plot twists. Thank you again for taking the time to write it all out.

You explicitly mention that no credits were given for the music, and there seems to be a variety of styles in play. After reading this, I thought the music would probably be some handpicked collection of public domain music.

Just to clarify, the music is a mix of public domain music and creative commons. I did include the composers' names in the credits, but I'm come to notice they're very easy to skip - deliberately or not. This tells me I should probably include it in a text file or a separate section in-game next time.

If you have the time, please feel free to let me know what you think of War: 13th Day after playing. It's actually meant to be a little abstract (in which things like the missing character sprites are on purpose, but if no one's coming to that conclusion, that tells me I need to fix things up!), so I'm quite curious to know what your interpretation is of it. As marauderspirit had keenly pointed out, I do expect players to come out of it bewildered.

Oh, and if you decide to check out marauderspirit's projects, I would personally recommend the e-book.

[marauderspirit]

Hey guys!

I have a new review up.

http://zirconaworks.tumblr.com/post/145 ... new-planet

I have another review due, but as this game is of a shorter length, I thought now was as good a time as any to give it a fair shake. Have a good night people, and thank you!