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 "Cheerful Polymorph" by Mink!

You can find links to the game here: Cheerful Polymorph



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!

Loved this. There's something magical about the way the creator combined facial expressions / eye movement and the text.
Loved all the characters also! Especially the blue cat ear bloke (name dropped out of memory since playing). edit Derek!!
Clever, funny writing, very immediate. I didn't struggle with acerbic, seemed to fit.
Really enjoyed the music choices as well.

Went round and around trying to get auto to work, wound up having to click throughout, maybe a bit of a sag in pace in the park scene, but otherwise really put a smile on my face.

I would love to play another game with these characters, especially Derek, and the hints about the setting were interesting too. The most bothersome thing was the strange way the narration-thoughts-speaking was set-up, but this has already been discussed in the main thread.
I found that when you put all the assets together -bg, sprites and textbox- they don't really mesh well, especially the textbox. I am not a fan of the used filters of the bgs either. :/
I thought the font used for the title was nice and fun.

-Is happy there's going to be a remake, and possible sequel-

kkffoo wrote:Loved this. There's something magical about the way the creator combined facial expressions / eye movement and the text.
Loved all the characters also! Especially the blue cat ear bloke (name dropped out of memory since playing). edit Derek!!
Clever, funny writing, very immediate. I didn't struggle with acerbic, seemed to fit.
Really enjoyed the music choices as well.

Went round and around trying to get auto to work, wound up having to click throughout, maybe a bit of a sag in pace in the park scene, but otherwise really put a smile on my face.

Thanks~ Also, there was a problem with auto? Weird; considering I was trying to do everything myself for NaNoReNo, I didn't mess with that. :/

Arelune wrote:I would love to play another game with these characters, especially Derek, and the hints about the setting were interesting too. The most bothersome thing was the strange way the narration-thoughts-speaking was set-up, but this has already been discussed in the main thread.
I found that when you put all the assets together -bg, sprites and textbox- they don't really mesh well, especially the textbox. I am not a fan of the used filters of the bgs either. :/
I thought the font used for the title was nice and fun.

-Is happy there's going to be a remake, and possible sequel-

Thanks!

And yeah, the meshing thing kind of bothers me, too. That should be fixed for the remake, since I'm not in any sort of rush or on a deadline this time. <_<;

Man, people, play this thing. It's awesome.

Or... should they wait for the remake? Is there any kind of ETA on that?

I'll just jump in a say I loved this game and I'm really happy that it was suggested. The ability to write convincing and interesting dialogue is one of the most important skills for a writer in VNs (along with spelling/grammar and the ability to string together a coherent plot) and because Mink does such a good job at it in this game she is one of the writers I regard most highly in the EVN community.

There were a couple minuses for the game that I mentioned in the original thread (backgrounds, confusing text box, unfamilar terminology) but overall I found it really interesting to read and the characters really won me over with their banter. I'm very much looking forward to a remake or other games by Mink *stares at her*.

*I also said I would give some suggestions for the art style. I SWEAR I'll get on that soon ;_;*

You know my thoughts on this already, I think, since I commented on its original thread after I played it the first time.

Recently I played it again, because why not.
I still enjoyed it. The fun and quirky character interactions are the charm of it and it's short enough that they don't wear out their welcome. In general I think you are a good student of social awkwardness and know how to play it up to achieve comedy. I did get just the teensiest bit of bad taste in some places, both times... it seems there is a difficult line between "freshly quirky" and "TV quirky". I think for the most part it fell into the first camp, but keep it in mind for the rewrite. If the dialogue becomes too snappy in too predictable a way, it loses its charm. Again, it was a very teensy amount... but just keep it in mind.

One thing I noticed the second time around that did bother me was that Becky didn't swear offensively enough when Derek was prank-calling her. From his description of her it sounded like I was going to be in for a real treat, but it was somewhat lacking to me. (ITT: Someone who almost never swears complains that people aren't swearing properly... )

This was a really fun KN~ Made me cheerful, that's for sure. I liked the characters' dialogue and expressions, and the story was crazy but wonderful : ) The KN also had some nice music choices.

The only thing that bothered me were some typos and the way Susan's name would remain in the text box when she's describing actions or things around her. If only those issues were fixed in a remake, I would not care if the art were the same. Usually the 'visual' takes a backseat to the 'novel' for me when playing VNs or KNs. But remakes are great as long as the original charm of the VN/KN is preserved.

I better get this off my to-do list, here we go.

As to be expected of a lot of NaNo games, the story felt like it was cut too short; what was there though was really great. The dialogue was witty, the characters deep, and overall flow was nice. One of my peeves was the fact that Susan's name was stuck to the textbox during narration, and it took me a while to realize that she was only speaking when a side portrait was showing. That minor coding quirk is easily fixed though.

The sprites admittedly look like they were made in MSPaint, with minimal shading and un-tapering thick lines. Despite this they do have a certain charm to them; is it the simplicity of them? I have no idea >_> Becky's sprites towered over Derek, which might be intentional but it felt like they could have been sized better. They also contrasted a bit too much with the backgrounds for my own tastes... but that could be me.

And oh music, I felt that some of the songs were perfect while others were too... distracting? Some of them didn't feel like they fit the exact mood of the scene sometimes. Kevin MacLeod's a fine composer, but with so many of his songs already being used around here it wasn't anything special. There's so many other websites with music for free use (and I'm not talking just the TAM Music Factory, that place gets used to hell and back) that no one should limit themselves to Incompetech and the same old tunes.

I'm really glad you're taking the time to do a remake of this game, the story definitely deserves it with all its potential. I'll keep an eye out for it!

saguaro wrote:Man, people, play this thing. It's awesome.

Or... should they wait for the remake? Is there any kind of ETA on that?

EVENTUALLY. Especially since I need a new tablet.

And...I dunno. It's a NaNoRenO game I did by myself, so if you/whoever go into it knowing that, I say they go for it.

Auro-Cyanide wrote:I'll just jump in a say I loved this game and I'm really happy that it was suggested. The ability to write convincing and interesting dialogue is one of the most important skills for a writer in VNs (along with spelling/grammar and the ability to string together a coherent plot) and because Mink does such a good job at it in this game she is one of the writers I regard most highly in the EVN community.

Stop, you're making me blush. >///<

There were a couple minuses for the game that I mentioned in the original thread (backgrounds, confusing text box, unfamilar terminology) but overall I found it really interesting to read and the characters really won me over with their banter. I'm very much looking forward to a remake or other games by Mink *stares at her*.

>////////< No, but really, I appreciate that. I'll try not to let you down. 8D

*I also said I would give some suggestions for the art style. I SWEAR I'll get on that soon ;_;*

Ha ha, take your time~ I know you're busy working on your own game stuff.

Sapphi wrote:You know my thoughts on this already, I think, since I commented on its original thread after I played it the first time.

Recently I played it again, because why not.
I still enjoyed it. The fun and quirky character interactions are the charm of it and it's short enough that they don't wear out their welcome. In general I think you are a good student of social awkwardness and know how to play it up to achieve comedy. I did get just the teensiest bit of bad taste in some places, both times... it seems there is a difficult line between "freshly quirky" and "TV quirky". I think for the most part it fell into the first camp, but keep it in mind for the rewrite. If the dialogue becomes too snappy in too predictable a way, it loses its charm. Again, it was a very teensy amount... but just keep it in mind.

Yeah, I think the story would benefit from being longer, with that in mind. Better characterization and all that; you know, so it's like, "This is legitimately this person's personality." and not, "SEE HOW WACKY THIS PERSON IS?!"

One thing I noticed the second time around that did bother me was that Becky didn't swear offensively enough when Derek was prank-calling her. From his description of her it sounded like I was going to be in for a real treat, but it was somewhat lacking to me. (ITT: Someone who almost never swears complains that people aren't swearing properly... )

See, I didn't want to end up overdoing it, because while I have no problem with cursing, I hate it when it's overdone (you know, when it just starts feeling immature), so I wanted to tone it down. I think it turned out as more of crack in her facade than anything else, with the way I did it. >_>;

cuttlefish wrote:This was a really fun KN~ Made me cheerful, that's for sure. I liked the characters' dialogue and expressions, and the story was crazy but wonderful : ) The KN also had some nice music choices.

The only thing that bothered me were some typos and the way Susan's name would remain in the text box when she's describing actions or things around her. If only those issues were fixed in a remake, I would not care if the art were the same. Usually the 'visual' takes a backseat to the 'novel' for me when playing VNs or KNs. But remakes are great as long as the original charm of the VN/KN is preserved.

Those issues should be totally fixed. Though since looking at old art is causes me near physical pain, there's no way it's going to be the same sprites. <_<

CheeryMoya wrote:I better get this off my to-do list, here we go.

As to be expected of a lot of NaNo games, the story felt like it was cut too short; what was there though was really great. The dialogue was witty, the characters deep, and overall flow was nice. One of my peeves was the fact that Susan's name was stuck to the textbox during narration, and it took me a while to realize that she was only speaking when a side portrait was showing. That minor coding quirk is easily fixed though.

Yeaaah. I know there's a way to fix it so the side sprite always shows up, but I don't didn't know how to do it, and doing everything alone, I didn't want to get bogged down with coding or whatever. So yep, that's on a list of things to fix!

The sprites admittedly look like they were made in MSPaint, with minimal shading and un-tapering thick lines. Despite this they do have a certain charm to them; is it the simplicity of them? I have no idea >_> Becky's sprites towered over Derek, which might be intentional but it felt like they could have been sized better. They also contrasted a bit too much with the backgrounds for my own tastes... but that could be me.

One issue with the art is probably that I'd just gotten a tablet, and was trying to get used to using it in a short time frame. I'm willing to admit I mostly failed. :V

And agreed about the sprite sizes and backgrounds. They stick out sooo badly to me now. O_< (Becky actually is meant to be relatively tall, though)

And oh music, I felt that some of the songs were perfect while others were too... distracting? Some of them didn't feel like they fit the exact mood of the scene sometimes. Kevin MacLeod's a fine composer, but with so many of his songs already being used around here it wasn't anything special. There's so many other websites with music for free use (and I'm not talking just the TAM Music Factory, that place gets used to hell and back) that no one should limit themselves to Incompetech and the same old tunes.

I'm willing to admit I forgot about music until the end and kind of rushed finding it. :X Though now I cruise Jamendo and various other sites that are Not Kevin MacLeod.

I'm really glad you're taking the time to do a remake of this game, the story definitely deserves it with all its potential. I'll keep an eye out for it!

Yeah, I felt like it could've been a lot better, which is why I want to remake it. Like, I reread it and the pacing bugs me, and I feel like there should be more (gradual) character development, etc.

And I really appreciate the feedback from everyone~