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Metroidvania Contest (Entries)


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Poll: Metroidvania Categories

Best Overall

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Best Interconnectivity

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Best Upgrades

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Most Ambitious

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#1 Architect Abdiel

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Posted 07 August 2017 - 10:46 AM

So, it is about time to get this started. I am giving an extension to one person who asked for it, and that quest will be added to this post later. But I am ready to get these posted.

The poll will be added in a few days. For now, play and enjoy these submissions.

TheRock
Rainbow Land

http://www.mediafire...ainbow Land.qst
f8k4cczauor02r9zg.jpg3bv8o5x55o3jhwizg.jpge5sdcmbpbetyrarzg.jpg


HeroOfFire
NEW!

Introducing: NEW!

Zelda gameplay, but with Metroidvania flow. Explore a new world that is NOT Hyrule, deal with problems besides a Princess and a Demonic Boar, and slay monsters with a variety of weapons. Like any other Metroidvania, some items will give you access to more areas. Like a good number of those, you are also apparently alone...

What? There already is a quest with that name? Don't be silly, that is just the acronym. What does it stand for? Play this quest and find out.

- Notes/Hints -

This is a demo, and stops after a boss. For those curious, the next progress item is the Power Bracelet. That should give you an idea where this quest can go next.

There might be multiple routes to take. Which one will you choose?


There is a sequence break. Can you find it?

https://www.mediafir...5/NEWmvDemo.qst

ibcuvlh.pnge0XDeAp.pngL6ymt8W.png



TheBlueTophat
Mage Quest


https://www.dropbox.... Quest.zip?dl=0

3uyIhchJS1iUgKAEaHJzvg.pngYKkitQfATaK2-tzcFPtskw.png?width=382&heiW_0TKDcqQRKxmh5zNhK04Q.png?width=382&hei


Lejes
Vaporvania

Travel through eye-destroying lands, collecting items to help you progress toward an unknown goal.

https://www.dropbox....rvania.zip?dl=0

zaDBUZN.pngczQ7DeZ.pngvRcOxUP.pngM

Edited by Shoshon the Elegant, 12 August 2017 - 11:07 AM.

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#2 MischeviousMalfais

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Posted 07 August 2017 - 01:49 PM

Hi! I just played all of these quests, so now I'm going to submit a mini review.

 

1. Rainbow Land:

This game is tons of fun! Great open world with lots of original twists.

 

2. NEW!:

Has some bad palette choices, a decent little story that quickly deteriorates into a sloppy, not-so-fun gameplay style as the game goes on. Could use some improvement—like having less enemies. (And less empty areas.)

Also, the music in the first desert area is awesome. It adds to the atmosphere of the game—making you feel like a failure hero in the wrong place to save the day. Every other music choice in the game, however, seems to be trying to make this game some kind of 'fun' item quest with happy music . . . which it isn't. The music should attribute to that first atmosphere I mentioned and everything else in the game should, too. Making this a more compressed, story-based quest I think would make it much more enjoyable. 

 

3. Mage Quest:

This thing was so much fun to play! Some of the scripts and bosses are a bit messed up, but I can't complain because it was just so fun. (and the top hat was awesome.)


Edited by CMC2000, 07 August 2017 - 02:13 PM.

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#3 Shane

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 01:21 AM

So I've already played Mage Quest as a tester, and I must say I really like the direction the quest took. It's not without its problems (generally being a lack of polish but hey, a unpolished complete quest is more playable than a polished incomplete one, right?) but what I took away from it is a solid experience with a ton of creativity. I will be playing the other two eventually, can't wait to try them out. :)

 

bosses are a bit messed up

Just curious, which were? I don't believe I encountered any issues with the bosses apart from one simple exploit for all the main bosses but I wouldn't call it messed up.


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#4 Moosh

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 02:24 AM

Oh man, thoughts on quests and stuff:

 

Rainbow Land:

This is probably the weakest of the bunch for me. Has some cool ideas, but a couple bad decisions spoiled things. Having to slash at random tiles in the white and red areas to get the tablets felt pretty obtuse. The white area especially I didn't see any indication where I was supposed to do it. The quest is also not the prettiest on the eyes. A lot of Classic's sprite csets being used for entire overworld areas, something I see in a lot of quests but am personally not a fan of. Classic's sprite color ramps all end with a white as their lightest shade and this makes them not well suited for overworlds IMO. Too much contrast. The final confrontation was a pretty cool idea, having to chase the boss down and all, but lacked a sense of urgency.

 

NEW!:

This is a pretty fun quest, looking forward to the full release. I like that you're adding a bit more story elements to this one compared to your previous randomizers. The main downside of the quest I think is that a lot of content seems to be recycled from LotPW, like level palettes and items. Hopefully without contest restrictions the full version will have more...NEW! :P

 

...Also fast travel item pls? As more areas get added, I can see the backtracking becoming tedious.

 

Mage Quest:

I think this is my favorite of the bunch. It's missing some polish here and there and it's pretty short, but I had the most fun playing it. I love how the whole quest is done without a single word of text being spoken. The effect in the starting town when you enter the houses is so cool. The item that makes you jump towards stuff doesn't work all that great, but I can handwave that as quest contest rush. Also I love the character sprite. Best character, 10/10, would tophat again.

 

Just curious, which were? I don't believe I encountered any issues with the bosses apart from one simple exploit for all the main bosses but I wouldn't call it messed up.

The first boss had some weird animations with the dash attack IIRC. It'd face the wrong way while dashing at me. That's the only real issue I encountered with bosses.

 

I did manage to skip the entire fortress with the fire boss, though. Didn't even get its item before beating the game. Was that intended to be optional?


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#5 coolgamer012345

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 02:40 AM

I did manage to skip the entire fortress with the fire boss, though. Didn't even get its item before beating the game. Was that intended to be optional?

Spoiler



#6 Jamian

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 06:12 AM

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

That being said, good job with the quest! As others have mentioned, it's lacking polish in places, but it was fun.


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#7 MischeviousMalfais

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 10:22 AM

So I've already played Mage Quest as a tester, and I must say I really like the direction the quest took. It's not without its problems (generally being a lack of polish but hey, a unpolished complete quest is more playable than a polished incomplete one, right?) but what I took away from it is a solid experience with a ton of creativity. I will be playing the other two eventually, can't wait to try them out. :)

 

Just curious, which were? I don't believe I encountered any issues with the bosses apart from one simple exploit for all the main bosses but I wouldn't call it messed up.

Well, the fact that you could stand on the bottom tiles of the screen and shoot them made me call them messed up. I wouldn't call this a negative though since this made them very easy. The most noticeable thing that DID look messed up, though, was the fact that using the shooting-jumping-magic item makes enemies on that screen move in unnatural ways and even walk through walls.

Also, the ghost boss that gives you the OP fire item doesn't do any damage when it hits you. I'm not entirely sure if this was intentional or not.


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#8 coolgamer012345

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 10:46 AM

Well, the fact that you could stand on the bottom tiles of the screen and shoot them made me call them messed up. I wouldn't call this a negative though since this made them very easy. The most noticeable thing that DID look messed up, though, was the fact that using the shooting-jumping-magic item makes enemies on that screen move in unnatural ways and even walk through walls.

Also, the ghost boss that gives you the OP fire item doesn't do any damage when it hits you. I'm not entirely sure if this was intentional or not.

Spoiler



#9 Orithan

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Posted 10 August 2017 - 07:02 AM

Haven't played Rainbow Road, but I am not sure if I will enjoy it after seeing the screenshots and other peoples reviews on the quest. Link having his awful palette (way too many colours, some of which break up his outline if that makes any sense) really does not sit well with me.

 

New!, as a demo, is quite well polished and is very freeform; giving you many options on what you can use throughout the demo. The quest takes a more narrative-oriented approach to the world and a central hub where you go and develop as you progress. It had surprisingly few issues relating to polish for a demo, which is quite impressive. I also really like how interconnected each of the various areas feel, which makes it feel like an expansive world.

On the downside however; this feels like what would be standard fare for a Hero of Fire Randomizer, being very similar to Legend of Pokemon Warrior right down to the general style of the overworld, and it was obvious what you needed to overcome every obstacle presented. Some of the midis used don't quite fit the areas they are used in (namely the midi used in Stalfos Yard - feels a bit too light and playful for being a skeleton-infested place). Another small complaint I have with the demo is how all the alternative weapons are sold in shops rather than one or two of each being hidden in the overworld, but that could be related to there not being enough space in the demo.

This has a lot of potential and I can easily see myself hopping aboard and playing the quest once it is completed. Good luck on that!

 

Mage Quest is really good. It is easily the most fresh of the bunch, has a great atmosphere to it, is very open-ended and put out no shortage of cool ideas that do a good job at giving the player one thing ZC sorely lacks; abilities that grant you different ways of moving. There also was always some sense of mystery about every new obstacle you come across and the tools you get to overcome them do it in an intuitive manner, which is essential for a Metroidvania game.

That said, it is evident that the quest was rushed to completion in time. There are quite a few bugs with the scripted items (namely the teleporting one, which can result in some really frustrating scenarios when you have to use it when pits are around), but it is clear that the scripted items lack fine-tuning and are therefore useless in combat scenarios.

Still an impressive effort for a one-month quest. I'm probably going to vote this as the best overall.



#10 Eddy

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Posted 10 August 2017 - 11:02 AM

Finally got around to playing these, here are my thoughts of each:
 

Rainbow Land - Ok so starting off, the general idea is interesting. You're going around the world collecting different colours in each area, seems simple enough. The areas themselves have their own themes and mechanics which is neat, but sadly I guess that's all the positives there are. As far as a metroidvania goes, I feel like this isn't too great. Each area feels quite isolated from each other and nothing really connects up like a metroidvania should. Some of the ways to get the colour pieces are quite odd, like in the snowy area, how were you supposed to know you had to slash a random staircase? The general screen design is interesting I guess, but nothing looks too good IMO. I found countless tile errors with mountains and most tiles were used weirdly. I also really dislike the grey area, where you have to tank damage by running yourself into stairs to get through. That's honestly bad design IMO and things like that should be avoided as much as possible. Finally, I found the instakills early on to be quite cheap (dungeon entrances, cave entrances etc). At least reduce the damage they deal or something, but I dunno, I didn't like it. Overall, I didn't like this quest too much. It has a neat idea I guess, but the execution sadly wasn't good IMO.

 

NEW! - Gotta say, this was very fun to play, I enjoyed the demo very much! I can see you used the same tileset as the one from that Legend of Pokemon Warrior quest you made a while back. Really love that tileset and each area looks quite cool and unique in their own way. The way each area is all connected up was very nice and definitely felt very maze like at times. I do agree with Moosh though, maybe having some kind of fast travel item would be nice to avoid too much backtracking, but I generally didn't find it to be that much of an issue. One of the things I like about this quest is how you have a choice of items which completely change the direction of the quest. I went for the Sword first but I imagine if I went for the Hammer or Wand, I would have a very different experience and order. I definitely love the polish this quest has so far, and I'm definitely looking forward to this being finished!

 

Mage Quest - This was a really nice and short quest to play. It definitely has got some very interesting ideas and some really creative items. The quest itself was pretty nice and the tileset was well used. I can definitely tell this was quite rushed, but there was quite a bit of polish in some parts. I think the only one major problem I had was with that one teleporting item. I found myself getting teleported into pits at times, and the randomness of it is a bit weird. But generally that's all I really found. It would be cool to have more stuff in the overworld (like caves or secrets or something), but what there is already is neat. Definitely a nice quest, I would love to see this idea get expanded further if possible.

 

Vaporvania - Well this was definitely an interesting quest to play. First off, the screen design reminds me of a very simplified Yuurei/Hitodama, with the blocks and stuff like that. Each area kinda had their own "theme" I guess, which was pretty neat. I really like the progression of the quest, it nailed the Metroidvania feel quite a lot and I definitely love how collecting items in a different order affects how you travel through the quest (much like NEW!). Besides that, it was quite nice and fun to play through. As for the issues with the quest, I feel like the difficulty balance is a bit all over the place with my run. The quickman section to get the teleporter item is probably the worst part of the quest, not because of the quick lasers, but because of the obstacles that block your way which make it so difficult to travel through. I assume if I had that one item that blocks the constant moving traps, it would be a bit more bearable, but still I found that area to be quite bad IMO. The final boss was neat, and I definitely like how it makes use of some items you find throughout the quest, however I would highly suggest not to make the boss just teleport onto you with no warning. It honestly became so frustrating trying to avoid its attacks when it randomly decides to appear on top of you. Overall though, this was quite good and I enjoyed it a lot.


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#11 Architect Abdiel

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Posted 10 August 2017 - 04:25 PM

The topic has been updated with both the poll and the fourth entry.

The poll will be up for two weeks.

#12 TheRock

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Posted 10 August 2017 - 05:08 PM

After having played all four, here're my thoughts on them:

 

Rainbow Land:

It's nice, but kind of short.

 

NEW!: 

I feel like that the items are there just for the shake of having them there.

 

Mage Quest:

Love the new items! Although, they where used rather poorly. 

 

Vaporvania:

I like the first item you get, but I feel like it was used only one way.



#13 MischeviousMalfais

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Posted 10 August 2017 - 05:59 PM

Now that the last quest has come out, it's time to give it a mini-review, too!

 

4. Vaporvania 

This game is cool. It has lots of awesome music, a weird atmosphere, and cool new ideas for items!

It however, has a serious flaw.

The traps are overused near the beginning of the game, which is a quick and easy way to repel new players. If there were only a few, then this would be acceptable. But after a few fun screens all of the sudden TWENTY of these things show up, and the game is then no longer fun.

Fix this problem, and the game would be awesome and I would finish playing it.



#14 Eddy

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Posted 11 August 2017 - 01:53 PM

Seems like Vaporvania came a little late, so I went and played that and edited the original post I made with thoughts of that lol.

 

As for my poll votes, here's my picks:

Best Overall - NEW!

Best Interconnectivity - Vaporvania

Best Upgrades - Mage Quest

Most Ambitious - Vaporvania



#15 Architect Abdiel

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Posted 12 August 2017 - 02:41 AM

I shall be streaming myself playing these quests shortly. and probably dying countless times Anyone interested, my Twitch name is MaikeruShinigami.


Edited by Shoshon the Elegant, 12 August 2017 - 02:42 AM.



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