America's War on Terry (v1.5)

[Kefka Jr.]

When one's identity is on the line, a tenacious ninja bounty hunter and a dumbstruck dreamer
must elude arrest while they scramble over and under the city of Boston for the truth.





FEATURES
-Two heroes with distinct skillsets!
-Events with multiple outcomes!
-Dazzling special effects!
-Other features that might seem like bugs!

PLAYTIME: 1 hour (give or take)

Direct Download (55.9MB)

Also feel free to enjoy Battle for Christmas Future, the 20-minute sort-of prequel.

NOTE: This is a newer version than the one submitted for the Anything Goes Contest, and playing it will not give you any indication as to the game's success or failure in the context of the contest.

[Duel]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

This looks awesome. Can't wait to play it when I get home.

[Wavelength]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

The description has me excited about your game, and the environments look very well done. Can't wait to play!

[TheHonorableRyu]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

Can't wait to try, Kefka, but it looks like the direct download link and terry-torres.com is down at the moment? The Mediafire link to the prequel is working just fine.


EDIT: Working now, downloading now!

[Wavelength]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

Just played through your game. I really loved it, and I felt like it ended too soon!

I wrote down some of the thoughts I had while playing. Would this be a good place to put them, or would a different thread/email be a better way?

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

Please share here! It means a lot that you have notes.

Yeah, it's amazing how so much work can result in such a short game. I'm happy to say my process and efficiency improved as time went on. This is probably as a good a game as I can make while learning simultaneously how to make a game. I wish I had done more hanging out here before I started, I woulda learned so much.

[Wavelength]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

Yeah, it's amazing how so much work can result in such a short game. I'm happy to say my process and efficiency improved as time went on.

I don't find it all that surprising. You clearly had a lot of different paths that you had to create for each scenario, and each one was richly detailed. I think even pro games often make this tradeoff of depth vs. length, and your game was way better for having chosen depth.

Okay, as for my thoughts, I'm happy to spill 'em. Beware, some gameplay spoilers are ahead!

Structure

The way that you structured you game into little vignettes allowed for a great diversity in gameplay and feel, and I think that entirely worked. As I said above, I also really liked the non-linearity of some of the scenes. Just watching Terry and Conor do their thing on the train, for example, would have been alright. But choosing how they make a distraction, and how they try to escape, that really makes the game exciting.

I was even under the illusion that the entire next dungeon (the underground) was based on the choice that I made there, but after replaying the train scene, I think it was just that: a well-crafted illusion.

Writing

Your writing was also a success. All of the little checkable objects in the world, and all of the little comments your characters made, it added a lot of flavor to both the world and the characters, and implied a lot of feel for such a short narrative. The item descriptions were fantastic. The entire world felt modern, despite your very limited use of custom sprites, which I credit to your dialogue and descriptions.

What I liked best was how, from the first moment, the plot felt very immediate. It was exciting from moment to moment. Literally from the first minute of the game, you were wondering what would happen to a character, and you were making choices for them. I look to my own game and I think I failed on this dimension, because I'm trying to explain so much in the first fifteen minutes. So I'm now trying to figure out a way to do it better; to kind of get that same feel of immediacy that you pulled off.

The entire game felt intense, but also lighthearted - a fantastic combination for playability, like a well-written page-turner of a pulp novel.

Choices

Like I said, their very existence adds a lot to your game. Some of them were very funny and I never felt like I was at a loss for a good option. I loved how some of the choices you made immediately affected an ensuing battle; it gave a very Pen-and-Paper RPG feel to your game that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Mission Design

This was probably your biggest area for improvement, though certain elements were brilliant.

The intro to the game was solid. An intriguing narrative, a few battles, a few choices... not much "design" here but that's fine. It was a good start.

Pillaging your own house for supplies - that mission was, in a word, stellar. It had everything a gamer could possibly want - intensity, humor, action, speed, and choice. Best of all, while your performance has a significant impact on the next few arcs, there is no "fail" scenario, which is great design.

The underground area wasn't well designed in my opinion; it was aesthetically pleasing, but confusingly laid out (and this was compounded by your reduced visibility). I came upon the key and the minecart by complete mistake as I wandered around wondering what to do. In times like this you want to lead your player to their objective.

The supervillain's mansion had some good and bad points to it. The "schmoozing" segment was very fun, but it wasn't clear who I was supposed to talk to or in what order. The "stealth" segment was really well concepted, with a better take on the "sneak past the guards while they're not looking" dynamic than most, but there were parts of it that felt very unintuitive, where I felt like I was spotted for no reason, and the walk toward the supervillain afterwards was too drawn out. It went past suspenseful into "when will something finally happen?". One touch I really liked in this segment, on the other hand, was how you get a glimpse of the other half of the mission as you sneak past it. A brilliant and nearly effortless way to add intrigue to the scenario.

Battle System

Quick, strategic, and fun. I'm not sure whether a long game could float on this battle system, and especially on Conor's "skills use items" mechanics, but for this one-hour game it worked beautifully. The use of "Guts" and the way it emptied and refilled throughout the battle gave each fight a very nice ebb and flow, which I believe is the single most important factor in a good battle system.

The skills were very interesting, and the "Fear" element (which I only saw in action during fights with Snakes) was a great wrinkle because of the way it distorts your team's priorities in battle. Group Huge and Bottled Rage felt overpowered.

That final battle is impossible to win, right?

Overall Impressions

I felt cheated at how abruptly the end came, but I think this is because I desperately wanted to play some more. AWoT was a fantastic experience, and it was able to draw me in, grip me, and make me feel like a part of the plot in a way that most RPG Maker games fail to. I loved its dual vibes of "intense" and "cool", I loved its creativity, and I loved my hour with the game.

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

Wave, this is so nice. Getting this kind of analysis is worth all the effort.

Anything good I may have done comes directly from my inspirations. A lot of that was stuff that was still in my memory when I started having the idea for this game - Mass Effect 3, Walking Dead. That's where a lot of the choice-making comes from. The intro basically comes from all those sweet Square games that start in media res like Mario RPG and Vagrant Story.

Wild Arms was the big inspiration for the battle system, initially - Guts was supposed to work like the Force gauge. Aside from that, several games in that series are all about managing resources and turn order across your whole party, which is something I sorta wanted to emulate. Ninja tools in particular were modeled after the idea of ARMs ammo.

Most balancing in the battle system came down to how lucky I got fudging with the numbers. I erred on making Terry's skills a little on the strong side to make sure he could defend himself alone at the end of the game, but even then I think I went overboard.

I wanted to keep changing up the scenario, which I think did provide variety at the cost of consistency. I was initially pretty proud of that underground dungeon, since I had never made a sequence of a events that works like a puzzle (Last of Us was an inspiration there), but I see now that it's so drastically different from anything up till that point that it's kind of a jarring in a pretty unhelpful way. It might have fit better into a different game. And some of my environments on the whole are much bigger than they need to be.

The last chunk of the game, I'll be honest, were probably the most rushed. I could blame it on deadlines, but the planning process was pretty condensed, and that was all my fault. I knew what I WANTED to happen, but I was never entirely sure how to implement it. The sneaking section in particular was funny - in truth, I didn't want one of those Ocarina of Time Sneak Into Hyrule Castle things, but something (pride?? laziness) kept me from looking up any stealth scripts that could have vastly improved its accuracy.

The reason the lead-up to the end was so prolonged is that I wanted to make the point that it WAS in fact the end without spelling it out. I wanted the end to be somewhat surprising, but it seems like it was more of a disappointment for some. I should have made a greater effort to build up to that final encounter. For me, that's where the current story made sense to end.

OH!!! And I'm super embarrassed to say that, although that fight is currently unwinnable... it totally is winnable in the version I submitted for the contest, which basically ruins the ending. That's how down to the wire I was on the contest deadline - I barely had time to properly test it. This version has win and fail states for the last two fights, but good luck winning both.

It's funny finding, in the criticism I received for both, how similar RPG Making and playwrighting are. Both my last game and my last play have a light touch when it comes to leading the audience to conclusions, very little explanation of anyone's motives, and end abruptly. I like to keep things brief, fast, and semi-realistic to a fault (i.e. Terry and Conor may not go into detail talking about something that they both already understand), but that usually means all the good stuff is easy to miss for the audience, and why should anyone go back and think about it?

I was gonna say, Wave, what's great about your game is the sense of clarity amongst your cast. You start with archetypes (Nytes is the headstrong dope, Rhyss is the mellow brainiac, Pyretti is the hyper weirdo), and you kinda let them play with each other in reaction to each event. The player can quickly get an idea of what they're like, so they're ready for whatever you throw at them.

In contrast, I think I let the player do too much work in figuring out who these guys are. That's probably in large part due to the fact that they're based on real people and I assumed their real traits would transfer. ALTHOUGH! Another change in this version from my contest submissions is the script is punched up to make things, hopefully, make more sense.

I would like to come back to this world and finish the story, thought we'll have to see how soon that will be. Maybe sometime I'll talk about the ideas that I cut from this game...

[Wavelength]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

It's my pleasure! I can see how much effort you poured into your game, so, anything I can do to make it a little more worthwhile!

Don't be so humble about the things you did well! Inspiration or no, you executed a lot of them beautifully.

I understand the qualms about using prefab scripts - both pride, and fear of having it break my contest submission, stopped me from using any for my entry. I plan to use a few visual scripts in future versions of How Badly - and a few other good ones that Ryu recommended. Hopefully they won't clash with my custom code. I saw a couple of good ones that you added. Not sure whether a "stealth script" would have made that section better or worse.

I think where you feel like your characters know something that the audience doesn't, that's a good place to clue the audience in using context. You actually did this very well in a few places, like all the items in Terry's home. There were other places you probably missed an opportunity to do so. But I still felt like I knew your two main characters fairly well by the end of it, so that's good.

Thanks for the compliments about my characters. I definitely want to give them more "situations" to interact in as I keep working on the game. I wish I were a stronger creative writer and I feel like my plot doesn't hold up to my gameplay, but at least this is good experience for me.

So, take a month or two off from work on RPG Maker - you've certainly earned it - and see how you feel when you come back to it. If you do want to expand on the series, I'll definitely be waiting with baited breath for more.

[TheHonorableRyu]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

I finished America's War on Terry on Sunday evening, and just now having the chance to talk about it.

The writing and scenarios are very clever and funny, and sometimes even a bit poignant. Like you said during the podcast, Kefka, it's really interesting to see how differently you and Wavelength approached the contest, Wavelength focusing on game systems/mechanics and you on writing and scenarios. I suppose it's the acting and playwrighting showing, but the narrative's easily the best of the contest entries.

But the gameplay wasn't a slouch, either. Terry and Conor have interesting-enough movesets for battles, and the player choices work with the variety and immediacy of the plot to keep things exciting.

I didn't feel confused during the dungeon under the T. I intuitively walked towards the lantern, then found the big rock, then the railway switch, then started looking for a mine cart (and a new handle), and one thing led to another.

I think the biggest drawback of the game is that it ends too soon! When I saw the playthrough stats during the unexpected credit roll, my first reaction was, Hey, did I get the bad ending?

I didn't encounter any game-breaking bugs, but I did find a few minor things:

• Enemies don't die immediately when their HP are reduced to (what looks like) 0 by damage from Caltrops. They'll have to be hit with something else before they die, and it's hard to tell whether it's that they actually have 0 HP and aren't dying, or if Caltroops won't reduce their HP any lower than 1 but it looks like 0 HP on the HP bar.
  
  
• When an enemy attack deals 0 damage there aren't any messages or popups. It's somewhat offputting, and it took me some time to verify that this is in fact what was happening and that it wasn't that the attacks weren't doing anything at all due to a glitch of some kind.
  
  
• In the dungeon beneath the T, after opening the door with the key, you can still activate the locked door event.
  
  
• At the closet in Adam's house where Conor can get a Sneaking Suit and Gungrip Dagger, the player can trigger the event indefinitely.
  
  
• While doing the infiltration route with Terry I successfully snuck up behind a guard to knock him out from behind, but when I pressed the enter button the "sighted" event took place instead. I had completed the infiltration route with Conor previously, and for awhile I was confused as to whether you're supposed to be forcibly spotted when doing it with Terry.

But choosing how they make a distraction, and how they try to escape, that really makes the game exciting.

I was even under the illusion that the entire next dungeon (the underground) was based on the choice that I made there, but after replaying the train scene, I think it was just that: a well-crafted illusion.

Recently watched Extra Credit's presentation "The Illusion of Choice"? In any event, I think you're right, this aspect is well-designed.

That final battle is impossible to win, right?

OH!!! And I'm super embarrassed to say that, although that fight is currently unwinnable... it totally is winnable in the version I submitted for the contest, which basically ruins the ending.

I won the fight with Conor, quite easily actually. I had a nice stash of Numbing Kunai from using Ninja Loot and just alternated between Numbing Kunai and normal attacks. Won in about 16 rounds and the boss never touched me.

I haven't come up with a way to win that fight with Terry though, apart from a lot of luck (the boss' attacks missing and status effects not working).

[Wavelength]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

Wait a sec... you can knock the guards out by "talking" to them from behind?? Okay, never mind what I said about the stealth element, then! I had been attempting to simply walk through the whole area without being spotted, and actually managed it in most segments, but this explains why the combined "lines of sight" in the two-guard segments seemed so wide.

That's a funny way to win that last fight. I guess the "high chance to stun" has gotta be close to 100%, then.

[TheHonorableRyu]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

Wait a sec... you can knock the guards out by "talking" to them from behind?? Okay, never mind what I said about the stealth element, then! I had been attempting to simply walk through the whole area without being spotted, and actually managed it in most segments, but this explains why the combined "lines of sight" in the two-guard segments seemed so wide.

Yeah, I think I knocked out all the guards with Conor. With Terry I'm pretty sure I knocked out a guard or two before talking to a guard from behind resulted in the "sighted" event instead. After that, I wasn't sure what was supposed to be going on, if knocking out a guard is supposed to make noise and alert the next guard or something, or it was a glitch, or what. Then I tried sneaking through without knocking out the guards and was able to do it, but it was pretty tricky. The guards have a pretty large cone for their line-of-sight and some of them turn fairly quickly for the amount of distance you have to cover to not be sighted.

Also, if I remember correctly, I think there's also an occasion in a horizontal corridor where a guard can sight you before you can see him and what direction he's facing. For this to happen I think you have to be walking down the middle of the corridor instead of hugging the walls, so it is like the game is punishing non-stealthy behavior. But at the same time it can feel like a forced event. This happened to me with the guard after the guard I tried to knock out and instead got the sighted event (I had reloaded my save so that I could sneak past the first of the two guards instead of talking to him from behind). So when this second thing happened I was trying to figure out if you're supposed to get sighted when using Terry.

That's a funny way to win that last fight. I guess the "high chance to stun" has gotta be close to 100%, then.

I've seen the stun not work before, but overall it's pretty reliable, and it worked every time (8 times in a row) in the last fight. It's got to be around a 85-95% success rate. But I actually had enough Numbing Kunai to use one every turn, and thus have two chances to get a stun that will last until after the next turn before the boss has a chance to move again.

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

Daaaamn, you guys are amazing! Man, bugs are wild. That's that the first time that getting spotted as Terry made something think, "something's gone wrong".

All the sight lines are based on player-touch pressure switches, so... I guess I wouldn't be surprised to hear that I'd missed one that let the game know that you were "invisible".

Thanks a lot, guys. I'll fix the things for which I know there are solutions, but for the most part, I'm gonna call this turkey finished and get ready for the next big thing~~ I'm glad you were a part of it.

[DK]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

Hey Kefka! Playing now...

I think bottled rage doesn't cost any guts when you use it... D:

[TheHonorableRyu]

Re: America's War on Terry (v1.5)

I thought the same thing for a bit when I first started, but when I tried to replicate it I found that Terry automatically recovers 20 Guts at the end of every turn. So what was happening was that I was using Bottled Rage when I had 20 Guts and then Terry immediately recovered the same amount of Guts so that it looked like there had been no change. When I used Bottled Rage when Terry had more than 20 Guts, it appeared to work properly. Is something different happening for you?