I am not very familiar with the DnD experience, so this addition to the normal adventure RPG was very nice. After reading some other comments I can agree that something was missing to take this playing experience from average to exciting but you have already won me. I would love though if the save option was working in Newgrounds too, because now I lagged in one battle and, after refreshing, all my progress was gone. I am waiting for the stream releaze!
Reviews for "Minions, Monsters, and Madness"
Thefriend responds:
The auto-save occurs after each battle. I'll take a look and see what's going on there.
Nothing too new or too interesting. Not a bad concept by any means, but the game could have had faster gameplay, the characters could have been more interesting and/or had more backstory. Perhaps, like mainstream games, allow customization of the main character(s), or at least give more freedom to the player. I get that it's DnD inspired, but the lack of control over character movement and/or actual gameplay environment is not very refreshing.
Also, the game should involve more dice rolls -- that is hands down my favorite mechanic from DnD. I couldn't get enough of rolling for shit. Even when I rolled 1's and failed, it was still enjoyable. Rolls in this game don't seem to appear often and even if you were to roll a 20 it's still very possible to lose something. There should always be exceptions to every rule. Perfect example: if you need to jump across a small ravine to reach safety and require a 10 or higher, 1 is instant fail, and 20 is a complete safe win. Even if you make it with a 10 - 19, you still take small damage for landing in vines. The rub is this: what if you have stats that add to your roll like a +9? In the DnD I played, Even with a +9 to make your 1 roll a 10, it's still a failure, and you wouldn't make it across the ravine. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have a 20, in which you take NO damage at all, and make it across the ravine.
This is just a suggestion, this isn't required but it would be an interesting mechanic to have in a game of chance, right?
Overall, the gameplay is not bad, but it is stale and slow. When your gameplay lacks, you typically try to make up for it with a strong and involving storyline. Mass Effect 1 has some strange gameplay mechanics but it didn't matter because of the deep storyline and freedom to go where you pleased were the winning factors. Not to mention that each character wasn't just a meat shield, they were people you connected with, which is why when characters kayfabe died you as the player felt like you lost something. Maybe something small, considering video game characters don't actually exist, but the feeling is there. That's why Bioware includes all these relationship options (which im not saying you should involve in your game, but it's an interesting thing to note), to involve the player and make it feel more personal, and make the game more fun.
Your game is very linear, which most people would appreciate because of the strong conveyance it provides; going with Egoraptor's definition of Video Game Conveyance, in which you may or may not know what the hell to do next in the game. Meaning, it's impossible not to know what to do next in your game since it's all laid out for the player. In my case, that makes it a trip to Disneyland instead of an epic adventure. An RPG with DnD elements sounds fantastic but making the game linear means boring, stale, and overall feels like completing tasks instead of discovering the game world.
To top it all off, your game was not hard in the slightest.
Again, it wasn't bad. But not good either. Try again!
I like it! It would be nice if I could speed up the battle, but over-all a nicely put together game.
Not bad...
but not good.
I like the concept, but the gameplay felt slow and the animations were lacking. (Like how all the characters have similar faces). But had a nice concept and was better once you understood all the tutorials and rules.