Released Pokémon Rock Hard

AenaonDogsky · Aug 24, 2022

Hello, here's a review of the game:

- I like that the different onixes you obtain have different movesets

- the level curve is well-designed, grinding was minimal for me, also the trainers gradually show you new sets

- The dialogue is well-written for the most part, some of the jokes might not be everyone's style though xD

- natures are set, right?

- brock has unique balls for onix lmao

- forgot to remove the "refer to wiki for documentation"

- brock floats a bit during the introduction scene, this can be fixed by either editing the base image or finding a taller image of brock I guess?

- similarily, onix is shown too low

- Nurse joy can heal your pokemon even if you dont have any

- Nurse joy's side-looking sprite has 2 bright pink pixels where the transparent pixels between her hair and her body should be (both directions)

- pokedex sprite should vanish after having been picked up (just set the A switch page to an empty graphic, and remove the text)

-onix acquisition cave's exit is walkable, making the player walk over it, before it transfers you outside. To solve this, make the tile impassable with an X in the tilesets tab, and then, put the "event touch" event right on top of the tile.

- old man warps to his new spot instead of walking towards it - careful, should stay on place

- old man wont stay in his new position after a map transfer

- "you scurry back to a pokemon center" is what shows after losing

- you can simply cheese the onix fight by pressing run- the game registers it as a win (you havent set the conditions)

- similarily, strenght boulder onix reappears after defeat if you go to a different map. Though its a good way to grind

- the Brazil sign is a bit weirdly tiled, it's supposed to be a tile that goes on top of a building, perhaps use a different tile?

- entrance of first black-roofed house spawns you 1 tile further north from exit

- same goes for all other houses

- all of the above houses' exit also use a warp event right on top of them. You should move it 1 tile down. The pokecenter is a good example.

- guards should return to their original facing positions after being talked to (use a move route command, and a wait for move completion command right after)

- trainers dont have encounter music

- steelbutt's overworld sprite is different to his trainer sprite. I'm sure you can find an OW of Bruno in ge3 style somewhere

- potion exists in player's pc

- secret technique guy says "metal claw" while his onix's move was actually "bullet punch".

- map edge bug here: (see attachment)

- coarse cliffside left side map edge is visible, right after you enter

- super-effective instead of supereffective

- "even with ground moves, you won?"

- "I've never even camped before!"

- player can get stuck here (see attachment)

- left side of the map before the desert leader also visible, and theres also a tile bug in the bottom corner

- "at least I tried" At is capitalized

- ice ice caverns should be capitalized (groundma defeat dialogue)

- the stairs work weird - you dont need to have the player go down them when they have rails on the sides - unless you are using another layer of rail-only tiles

- warping officer. I think the default Essentials project has an example of moving obstacle npcs, so give that a look.

- officer doesnt have dialogue upon warping next to the building

- tile checkpoint entrance from last area could also use the solid tile/warp method

- map edge visible when entering ice cave

- that guy's gf in the ice cave says "billy" instead of "Billy"

- small tile error here (see attachment)

- Brock basement guard also behaves like the other guards - warps and then has no dialogue

- stair bug again

- player's reflection is visible in brock's basement

- Onix master "master"'s M should be capitalized

- What happens if you get onix before getting the dex?

- Entrance direction of house, and exit direction inside aren't aligned

- It'd be much better if the player had the running shoes from the start. I know you expect people to enter their own house first, but you get the point.

- I'd love a speedup button for all those hard as rock battles

- a strength boulder in place of onixs overworld sprite is a bit misleading as the player might not interact with it

- I'd like to see some more life to the areas; onix moving on cliffs, onix hanging from the ceiling, onix statues, onix traces of ancient onix, elderly rounded onix etc.

- also, how about some unique onix sprites (eg onix with clothes, accessories, glasses etc) you can simply fill your PBS species with ONIX2, ONIX3 and copy their stats over, and just change their sprites

- the route and starting area map is fine, the city map could use some more compactness as it's very wide!

- To answer Erika's question: it's cause you used a default Essentials map xD

- Groundma... I was expecting a Grandma.

- the player isn't told they can get better tms as they progress. I've had excruciating luck in some fights and I didnt have enough money to buy dig until I had defeated trainers in the last area

- perhaps reduce the grass patches in the last area, getting back to heal gets annoying after a while

- the "cool" joke is repeated a lot! It might not be easy to come up with more varied ice puns, but give it a go!

- perhaps the gym statues should all have some text?

- the ending was kinda abrupt, a small cutscene would make it better!

- I know you might have run short on time, but those houses could use some interiors.

The game was generally a fun experience, the dialogue was for the most part funny, and the mapping (except for the main city) was also compact and not stretched out. With some more details and a more expanded presentation, as well as a way to make onix fighting a bit faster (e.g. fast forward button, better access to moves to make non-unique trainer battles less of a chore, etc), it would add some necessary flavor. You should introduce a couple of unique events and/or cutscenes which will definitely add more charm to the game.

I'm also glad to see a jam game that isn't 5 gazillion gigabytes in size, you've managed your audio folder well. That said, track choice is perfect and suited the various locations. I was expecting the crystal onix somewhere :( I was quite surprised that Brock had additional dialogue post-completion, too!

The level curve and onix moveset was finely-tuned, and gradually gave you more tactical choices. Grinding wasn't needed (except for the first wild onix battles) but backtracking to heal was necessary in some parts.

The implementation of the theme was more in-your-face but imo it works!

the1thorder · Aug 24, 2022

AenaonDogsky said:
Hello, here's a review of the game:

- I like that the different onixes you obtain have different movesets

- the level curve is well-designed, grinding was minimal for me, also the trainers gradually show you new sets

- The dialogue is well-written for the most part, some of the jokes might not be everyone's style though xD

- natures are set, right?

- brock has unique balls for onix lmao

- forgot to remove the "refer to wiki for documentation"

- brock floats a bit during the introduction scene, this can be fixed by either editing the base image or finding a taller image of brock I guess?

- similarily, onix is shown too low

- Nurse joy can heal your pokemon even if you dont have any

- Nurse joy's side-looking sprite has 2 bright pink pixels where the transparent pixels between her hair and her body should be (both directions)

- pokedex sprite should vanish after having been picked up (just set the A switch page to an empty graphic, and remove the text)

-onix acquisition cave's exit is walkable, making the player walk over it, before it transfers you outside. To solve this, make the tile impassable with an X in the tilesets tab, and then, put the "event touch" event right on top of the tile.

- old man warps to his new spot instead of walking towards it - careful, should stay on place

- old man wont stay in his new position after a map transfer

- "you scurry back to a pokemon center" is what shows after losing

- you can simply cheese the onix fight by pressing run- the game registers it as a win (you havent set the conditions)

- similarily, strenght boulder onix reappears after defeat if you go to a different map. Though its a good way to grind

- the Brazil sign is a bit weirdly tiled, it's supposed to be a tile that goes on top of a building, perhaps use a different tile?

- entrance of first black-roofed house spawns you 1 tile further north from exit

- same goes for all other houses

- all of the above houses' exit also use a warp event right on top of them. You should move it 1 tile down. The pokecenter is a good example.

- guards should return to their original facing positions after being talked to (use a move route command, and a wait for move completion command right after)

- trainers dont have encounter music

- steelbutt's overworld sprite is different to his trainer sprite. I'm sure you can find an OW of Bruno in ge3 style somewhere

- potion exists in player's pc

- secret technique guy says "metal claw" while his onix's move was actually "bullet punch".

- map edge bug here: (see attachment)

- coarse cliffside left side map edge is visible, right after you enter

- super-effective instead of supereffective

- "even with ground moves, you won?"

- "I've never even camped before!"

- player can get stuck here (see attachment)

- left side of the map before the desert leader also visible, and theres also a tile bug in the bottom corner

- "at least I tried" At is capitalized

- ice ice caverns should be capitalized (groundma defeat dialogue)

- the stairs work weird - you dont need to have the player go down them when they have rails on the sides - unless you are using another layer of rail-only tiles

- warping officer. I think the default Essentials project has an example of moving obstacle npcs, so give that a look.

- officer doesnt have dialogue upon warping next to the building

- tile checkpoint entrance from last area could also use the solid tile/warp method

- map edge visible when entering ice cave

- that guy's gf in the ice cave says "billy" instead of "Billy"

- small tile error here (see attachment)

- Brock basement guard also behaves like the other guards - warps and then has no dialogue

- stair bug again

- player's reflection is visible in brock's basement

- Onix master "master"'s M should be capitalized

- What happens if you get onix before getting the dex?

- Entrance direction of house, and exit direction inside aren't aligned

- It'd be much better if the player had the running shoes from the start. I know you expect people to enter their own house first, but you get the point.

- I'd love a speedup button for all those hard as rock battles

- a strength boulder in place of onixs overworld sprite is a bit misleading as the player might not interact with it

- I'd like to see some more life to the areas; onix moving on cliffs, onix hanging from the ceiling, onix statues, onix traces of ancient onix, elderly rounded onix etc.

- also, how about some unique onix sprites (eg onix with clothes, accessories, glasses etc) you can simply fill your PBS species with ONIX2, ONIX3 and copy their stats over, and just change their sprites

- the route and starting area map is fine, the city map could use some more compactness as it's very wide!

- To answer Erika's question: it's cause you used a default Essentials map xD

- Groundma... I was expecting a Grandma.

- the player isn't told they can get better tms as they progress. I've had excruciating luck in some fights and I didnt have enough money to buy dig until I had defeated trainers in the last area

- perhaps reduce the grass patches in the last area, getting back to heal gets annoying after a while

- the "cool" joke is repeated a lot! It might not be easy to come up with more varied ice puns, but give it a go!

- perhaps the gym statues should all have some text?

- the ending was kinda abrupt, a small cutscene would make it better!

- I know you might have run short on time, but those houses could use some interiors.

The game was generally a fun experience, the dialogue was for the most part funny, and the mapping (except for the main city) was also compact and not stretched out. With some more details and a more expanded presentation, as well as a way to make onix fighting a bit faster (e.g. fast forward button, better access to moves to make non-unique trainer battles less of a chore, etc), it would add some necessary flavor. You should introduce a couple of unique events and/or cutscenes which will definitely add more charm to the game.

I'm also glad to see a jam game that isn't 5 gazillion gigabytes in size, you've managed your audio folder well. That said, track choice is perfect and suited the various locations. I was expecting the crystal onix somewhere :( I was quite surprised that Brock had additional dialogue post-completion, too!

The level curve and onix moveset was finely-tuned, and gradually gave you more tactical choices. Grinding wasn't needed (except for the first wild onix battles) but backtracking to heal was necessary in some parts.

The implementation of the theme was more in-your-face but imo it works!

Thank you so much for the in-depth review, I really appreciate it. This was my first real project when It comes to creating games, and seeing feedback this complex is awesome. If I ever update the game, make a follow up, or simply make any other game, your feedback is the first thing I'll go to.

Released Pokémon Rock Hard

AenaonDogsky

Arbiter of Doggos

Attachments

the1thorder

Rookie