New OpenBOR Mod: Skull Kingz Remake

[Kawaki]

The sooner the better, but I'll be patient. I just love these OpenBOR games, I can't get enough of them!

[Kawaki]

A little choppy but I like the extra characters!

[sixthcircle]

idk how kawaki found it but i can't seem to locate the dl link >.<

[Boondock Saint]

Seriously guys, someone should upload this like....... anywhere, I played the first one and I thought it was awesome but where can I get this one? Maybe someone who has it could upload it or smth.

[becker]

I uploaded the Skull Kingz Remake mod to lavalit. It might take a few days to get approved and show up. I can't remember where I got it but I've had it for quite a while.

[Boondock Saint]

Thanks for the effort man,..... we'll see how it plays out. I really want to try this game.

[zamuel]

Is Remake the most current version of this?  I ask because I was playing Skull Kingz Remake and I can tell a lot of work went into it but the strobe lights inside the club in the first level were giving me a headache and I was unable to continue.

[zamuel]

I really dislike the club level but I managed to get past it.  Overall it's an enjoyable game with decent mechanics and it's good to have more original works in OpenBOR even though I know some sprite editing was involved. I do have a few key comments. I was going to try to beat Impossible Mode first but got busy and never came back to it.

The protagonists aren't very likable. It sorta seems like they start trouble for the heck of it.  While they are rebelling against some rules decreed from others, it seems like a bit more collateral damage done needlessly as opposed to just going after that guy.

Lack of invincibility on wakeup is frustrating. Doesn't need to be a huge amount and perhaps there could be other options instead like riseattacks or rolling on wakeup.  Just comes down to being knocked down and not being able to get up.

Blocking seems to be of limited use since there's not much you can do after. Seems surprisingly easy to get locked down by blocking instead of evading.  Would be nice to have some sort of Alpha Counter/Guard Cancel CD type move.

Plus, I suggest making small tweaks to characters to add more variance but it's not that big of a deal.

[Skull Kingz]

Thanks for the detailed feedback Zamuel. Me personally I didn't really like the club scene that much either. I was 50/50 about it, it's good but it gets old fast.

as for the characters and story, I couldn't elaborate as much as I wanted to. The Skull King is suppose to be taking over the city and pretty much trying to control what everybody do... I never really got into detail exactly what he was doing lol, but yeah the crew just get together and go against his rules. They were helping the world by taking down the skull king who only wanted power.

Overall, could you rate it out of 10. This was my 2nd mod, and my largest mod too. Thanks for playing it, I'm really stoked.
 

[zamuel]

Story: 7 - While I already stated that I disliked the protagonists, I think some of the biggest problems were with progression.  It just sort of felt like there was little rhyme or reason to they're going from place to place.  The main strength was in the interactions of some characters.  Meeting old rivals, one of the female team members having an obnoxious yet chivalrous suitor, one of the team mate's secrets.  While this is already considered a remake, I'd argue that it could stand to get another 0.1 addition to clear things up and adjust the gameplay.  Making the Skull King to be a bigger bad guy while slightly redirecting the protagonists' hate would go a long way.  They can still be snarky tough guys but it needs to be in a way that you'd sorta agree with the end result even if you question the method.
Controls: 9 - I remember something bugging me but being sorta minor.  There's a fair bit of mobility overall but there were a few attacks that seemed to hit really late.
Gameplay: 8.5 - This is a weird situation where it's a high score despite concerns.  Greater enemy variance is needed overall.  I tried to avoid half decimals but while I feel this is better than Overload, there's still annoyances with getting knocked down without the ability to  get up.  The other concern is overlap.  There's five average all around characters so there's not a lot of play styles.  Some adjustments would help things out.
Sound: 9 - While not blown away, all the sound is appropriate and works well.
Visuals: 8 - A tough call.  I think you over shaded/smoothed the sprites which doesn't look as good as it could.  However, this sort of gets weighted up by being massively sprite edited and the whole presentation feels like its own original world which also extends to the UI.  Despite being a longer game and thus having more variety, I had to lower the score here compared to Overload due to the club.  Yes, that one level hurts the score since it literally hurt to play it.  It took pausing and resting my eyes in 10 second intervals to get through that area.  The idea of designing a club with the type of lights that would be there is that there are probably better ways to handle that.
Overall: 8.5 - Not an average.  Feels like it needs to be higher but an eye burning level, problems with the narrative, and character sameness hold it back.

[Skull Kingz]

Overall 8.5, I'm cool with that. I kinda thought you were gonna give this and Overload somewhere around a 6 or 7. I believe if I were to update it and work on some of the flaws like the story, some of the levels (club), & add scripting, I could aim for a 9 or 9.5, or maybe a 10.

But thanks for the review Z. It helps me as a modder, and as a modder, there are still many things for me to learn and work on. Practice makes perfection! Maybe I'll reach it someday.
 

[zamuel]

I'll comment that the Overall score is weighted due to my own tastes.  Even if flawed, I like seeing mods that come off as "original" even if they have sprites edited from elsewhere.  I think reviewer bias is one of my concerns with actual reviews.

As far as updates, I'd argue the main thing is to look at what needs changing carefully and just make sure you put heart into it.  Scripting can be a great tool but it's less of the act of using script and more of the final design choices themselves.

With critique, well...do unto others.  Feedback has helped me so why not help others.  Plus, different people have different opinions so something I think is good may be disliked by others and vice versa.  Filter out what you need.

[zamuel]

Replaying it a bit and seeing various concerns but not gonna adjust the review scores.  So, I decided to poke around the code a little bit.  I suggest replacing the current strobe lights with this:

Code: [Select]

name 10light
health  1
type    none
shadow 0
ALPHA 6
setlayer 300



anim idle
loop 1
delay 75
offset    0 -1
frame data/chars/misc/empty.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/1.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/2.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/3.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/4.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/5.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/6.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/7.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/8.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/9.gif
frame data/BGS/Chapter1/10.gif


The main things it does is slow the pulse down and change the type of transparency.  I also saw the level had three spawns of it so near the end they start to overlap.  I suggest removing the second spawn.  Feels much more bearable yet keeps the theme.

[zamuel]

I have to wonder if I picked the "wrong" character.  I initially played through as Ariel but messing around with Legacy and he seems kinda broken.  Still poking around at things.

[zamuel]

Blocking seems to be of limited use since there's not much you can do after.

Somewhat retracted. Discovered some interesting system quirks involving blocking.  You can still get locked down in groups but that may be more due to enemy design.