Review of Chaos

Previously known simply as "Undead Lily" or "Undead Lily and The Elemental Avengers"
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kadakithis
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Review of Chaos

Post by kadakithis »

The Fantastic: (Things I think are truly great and make this game stand out)
1) I love the art, it looks good and fresh and all the characters had a distinct feel to them. I love even characters of the same element had very different themes and none of them had the exact same body or same face, they oozed personality.

2) The card game rocks. I love the different cards and strategies. I made sure to switch who I played with each time to get a feel for their cards. It was fun, exciting, and balanced, really well done Jack!

3) The idea was really unique and fun. I loved the premise and using the elements was really cool. Having teammates against the other character was neat and makes me really want to play again with Ace.

What I liked personally: ( things I think made it better)
1) I really like the diversity of the group. More black characters and the backstories were a neat touch to show all the characters came from different walks of life.

2) I really enjoyed Lily’s backstory, she was cool and fun and I enjoyed seeing her win and discover herself.

3) I am a lesbian, but Order Ace looks so cool and neat and it was nice to see a more traditional male character in the game

4) I really liked all the characters were bi and romanceable by both Lily and Ace.

Quibbles: (very minor criticism that briefly took me out of the game)
1) the card game was truly fantastic but certain cards wouldn’t function as described or I was able to do things I shouldn’t (mantas had his taunt walls and when I ended my turn I did damage to him directly for instance) it didn’t happen very often.

2) A few more read through a, grammar and spelling mistakes, or confusion like when Alpha said he was order. Truly minor but worth mentioning.

3) I really liked more diverse characters, but there’s a long history of black people being portrayed as animals/tribal and I didn’t mind, but thought I would say something as it’s become a negative stereotype.

Things I didn’t like personally: (Things that personally impacted my enjoyment)

1) There was no romance at all. Most of the characters seem in a rush to get rid of you once you help them, Aquaria was the only character who showed any interest in spending time with you. Cyberia outright shuts you down. At the end we get a sex scene that feels almost random due to the lack of any flirting or romantic moments. It also seemed you just got 4 friends with benefits than any romantic sort of experience, it was a bit jarring to go from not even friendly to bed partners with say Cyberia.

2) The story did not make sense to me. Why was chaos and order at war? Mantas said it was necessary, but never really covered why. Mantas wanted them to get their memories but then somehow getting them overthrew him? What happened to the previous avatars? Why fight Mantas? All he wanted was the fights… and that’s all that happened. How do the pillars actually work?
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jack1974
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Re: Review of Chaos

Post by jack1974 »

Thanks for the feedback. Regarding the lack of romance, when I did the game I thought about that too. But sadly, this was one of the games started many years ago before the "great sales collapse" (tm) :D
It means that because I also had a big gameplay part and a lot of characters, to have a "proper" romance like I did for example in Planet Stronghold 2, I'd have need another 6 months of development, and I'd have never made a profit from this. Just the KS money barely covered half the costs of art and writing and music and everything else. This is a game that should have a budget of 50k minimum, I got 1/5 of that and luckily managed to finish it. To me that was already an achievement lol I wish I could have done more, but this will probably be the last game I'll ever make with such a big cast.

Regarding the last question, I don't really give clear answers in the game since I wanted to let people interpret things, however I would answer myself as this:
chaos and order fight to preserve the balance (it's a bit in the natural order of things). Mantras wanted them to remember, but remember the BAD endings (indeed if you get the bad endings, Mantras wins). The previous avatars didn't had the device to remember who they truly were, and so Mantras defeated them, in an eternal cycle, to keep everyone under their control.

The pillars are more like a gameplay thing (they're those numbered bubbles that unlock new cards).
kadakithis
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Re: Review of Chaos

Post by kadakithis »

Wow! I had no idea you were so short with budgeting, I am even more impressed you made such a great game with so few resources. I loved the game, truly.

Is there anything we can do to help in the future? I love your games but it seems harder and harder for you to make the games you like to make.
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jack1974
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Re: Review of Chaos

Post by jack1974 »

To be honest I liked doing the smaller recent games, especially after being burned out with Planet Stronghold 2 for almost a full year :)
I realized that it's better to have 2-3 romances only (4 at maximum) in a game but do them properly (also due to the reduced budgets). The next KS I'll do will have 4 love interests again indeed.
So in summary I don't think even if I had bigger budget I would be happier doing the bigger games - I might be getting old haha but I prefer to work with a smaller cast/love interests amount :oops:
kadakithis
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Re: Review of Chaos

Post by kadakithis »

That’s excellent, seasons of the wolf is one of my favorite games by you and that had 4 love interests. I think turning Loren 2 into multiple games is a great idea.
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jack1974
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Re: Review of Chaos

Post by jack1974 »

Yes I think so, also while the first game has only 1 gay romance, all the others will have 2 each :)
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