Lemma Soft Forums

Group Play is a weekly event in which one game is selected to be promoted within the forums to be played by us as a group. It provides an opportunity to promote some smaller games that would otherwise get lost, promote discussion and promote creativity. This isn't just about the creators of the games, but also us as a community. It acts as a way for us to analyse work as creative people and for us to develop the necessary critical language to develop and pursue our work.



This week's game is "Mail Order Bride" by IonicMomo!

You can find links to the game here: Mail Order Bride



There are some rules to follow in the following discussion about the game.

- In your primary comment on the game, please try to mention one thing you liked and one thing you think could be improved. This is in the spirit of giving both encouraging and helpful comments to the creators. You may of course go beyond this with praise or critique. I can't enforce this rule, I'll just silently judge you.

- Please try to do one play-through or enough of the game to develop a solid opinion. Some things can be commented on early on, but things like plot might be best left until you finish the game.

- There is no rule as to whether you post here only or in the completed game topic. Feel free to do as you like. This is just a space to discuss this game while playing it at the same time as others.

- Please try to think about the game play as a whole, as well as the different parts that make up the game.

- Please be respectful to the game and creator. You don't have to like a game, but you should be respectful to the effort.

- Please follow the forum rules.



If you would like to make your own suggestions and haven't already, please feel free to PM them to me.

These are the current guidelines for suggestions:

- Anyone can send me 3 games (VN, KN Sim, whatever, just from these forums or related to) that they think are worth playing by PM.
- There can only be three suggestions per person and if a game gets suggested multiple times, they still only get one draw.
- You may suggest your own games.
- For now they must not be 18+, just because we want to encourage everyone to join first up. If it goes well, maybe something can be arranged for the big kids.
- Please try to make sure the game is short (around a max of 30,000 words). It isn't a hard and fast rule, but it's easier to make time for smaller games and it will give this a greater chance of success.
- They must be free and preferably available on all 3 platforms, again for easy access.

And with that, let the games begin!

For something made in two days, it's kind of good. Short and sweet, but nothing really special.

A few more tracks couldn't have hurt. Using one piece for the whole game isn't advisable (mood changes).
Tempe's sprite shading would be better if it was more accentuated. It was hard to see on my monitor.
Nathaniel's sprite expressions seem sometimes weird to me. Like he has this shy look on his face while if I read his dialogue I can't imagine him looking like that while saying it. He also seems to be almost permanently blushing.

That was one big mouse pointer btw. Arrow for Indians?

I liked the story and how most of the dialogue from choices transitioned smoothly into the "unchanging" story. I didn't think the beginning was much of an info-dump and was appropriate to establish the setting and Tempe. I only saw a few typos and most of them weren't too distracting or detracting from the story, so that was also good.

I managed to get all 3 endings in 3 runs (in the order 3, 1, 2). When I began playing through the story a second time, it became more obvious to me what should be done to get the other endings. Although, I was a bit surprised when I still got ending 1 after purposely choosing what I thought was a "bad" choice: The music issue has been brought up before, but

Arelune wrote:Nathaniel's sprite expressions seem sometimes weird to me. Like he has this shy look on his face while if I read his dialogue I can't imagine him looking like that while saying it. He also seems to be almost permanently blushing.

I somewhat agree with this statement. I read this comment before I played the game, which might be a reason why I noticed it so much. However, I think Nathaniel might've been this way since But then again, I didn't try the game for the art. I tried it for the learning ; )

For a quick work, I had fun. And I learned something.

Here is my Let's Play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-G_L4ey9eA

This is a good Visual Novel if you are interested in the era just after the American Civil War. If you aren't, it comes across as more of a history lesson.

The side sprites are cute and have many expressions. The writing of the characters bounce between realistic and stereotypic. The backgrounds have been chosen well.

I would have liked to see more dialogue and less screen full of text.

Susan

I agree with Susan.