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Thanks for the critique

Edit: Just so nobody thinks I'm being snarky here
That might sound like an odd thing to say, but every issue that's brought up is something that I know needs a fix. For example, I've had half a dozen people tell me to fix my mapping. So the mapping will get fixed. You obviously aren't a fan of the dialogue, and considering how old the dialogue is at that portion of the game, I agree, it needs to be rewritten. The cuss words might be too much, so I can either tone Vice down, or introduce Eva earlier and characterize her a lot more since the game is lacking in the storytelling department. When you say combat sucks, that means I need more enemies and more introductory skills to start it off with depth, etc.,

So throw your worst at me. This is still the skeleton, I need all the criticism I can before I start adding muscle, tissue, and skin.

Edit 2: Phillip, I just tested both of the downloads and they're working fine for me. When it says "click to download" just click on that and see if it doesn't fix your issue.

I want EVERYTHING criticized I'd rather the focus not necessarily be on mapping, but as I said, it's one of those things I want improved, and the more little things people point out, the more I can do. I'm not going to reject any kind of criticism, save for a repeat of the same criticism.

Some better screens, new download links because I left a couple debug NPC's in there. Still nothing impressive but it's an improvement.

I worry about using the map as a background in some rooms where the mapping might be more destructive than battle background, like you said, if they're at the edge, behind a tree, or even if it's just a boss room or something of the sort. Using another map as the background is a nice idea, and it's definitely doable. I'll look into that Map A using Map B script, because that could give some really nice control, and would allow me to use specialized backgrounds for boss battles with a panorama if I wanted something a bit higher quality.

Abs appear when you're at about 10% and below, although this'll obviously vary slightly depending on whether or not you're a bodybuilder (bodybuilders have a more efficient method of building ab size which is not actually the approach most core programs use, and why a lot of "core programs" typically don't work.) At this level you're going to find men are actually x-shaped.

http://askthetrainer.com/exercise-information.html

Ignore the whole "click to see exercises" garbage, as this website may or may not be valid in that department, but look at the anatomy. Now, because you're drawing a character with low body fat, certain characteristics are going to start to stand out, although not all will.

The first is that at that body fat, your traps are definitely going to be visible, they're only really going to be gone for fat people. The traps are those triangular looking "neck muscles" (they're actually bigger than your abs, they extend into your back, but that's not relevant here.) Your character is missing his traps. This actually cuts down on his shoulder size and shortens the neck, which will shorten everything else accordingly and make him look slightly off.

The second, look at the abs on the image. Those ones aren't entirely accurate, there are actually 8, but the inaccuracy is excusable because abs vary from person to person. you'll find several images of bodybuilders with extremely thin abs that end well above their bellybutton. I have much taller abs, that extend well below the bellybutton. So with this, you have a lot of leeway. But look to the sides of the abs. You're going to find a lot of horizontal bands of muscle. You don't need to know anything about these, but look at their shape. You'll find they actually come inwards, almost like a girl's hourglass, and then jut back out. How exaggerated this is will depend on how big your character is, but this isn't the hulk and he doesn't have monster lats, so you'll be fine if it's just a subtle change.

This can be more easily done with that sketch by broadening the pecs, he's really rectangular, but he's thin so you can't afford to do this subtractively. Broadening the chest, even if just a little, will help bring out the X shape while making him look more toned, but not necessarily big.

He doesn't seem like a bodybuilder, and the picture isn't shaded, so your arms are generally fine as is, but if you're going with something more athletic you'll have to make sure the deltoids (shoulders) have some more definition. You can do this by making them larger and extending them further down, or by slimming down his biceps and triceps if you prefer.

http://fireemblemblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/volug.jpg

Take a look at Volug, for example. His arms mostly, although you can still find he has a good x-shape and nice traps. The top shoulder muscles are the deltoids, they're bigger and stronger than the rest of the arm, and they're going to show up if you're at a low bodyfat. You'll also find the arm curves around the biceps and triceps. This is what gives him that athletic, toned look. It's common for people to have deltoids kind of merge with their biceps and triceps, but that's because they're out of shape. Someone who's in shape is going to have a visible difference.

Sorry if my posts might focus too much on anatomy or seem a bit nitpicky, if you haven't noticed I'm huge into the gym scene so I try to be really aware of muscles and body shape so I can find out what I should look like and where I need to get better, so I tend to notice those normally little things.

As for some general advice, experiment with shading. If you're not comfortable with it yet, it's more than fine to wait, but you'll find they help you add a lot of dimension you can't otherwise get.

Another general tip is to experiment with is to draw your characters naked first and then clothe them (my girlfriend likes to do this. She leaves out the privates, sorry guys) or, what I prefer, is to block in your clothing and then draw their body underneath to see if it's still proportional. The problem with clothes is that since they conceal so much and since they're so simple, they can sometimes warp your characters body.

I suggest you don't use the default battle backgrounds. You might wanna try a script that allows current maps as backgrounds or use a screenshot of a map as background.

For this kind of system, would using the map as a background be preferred to new battle background altogether? This is definitely a good quick fix to the battlegrounds issue, but I'm hesitant as to whether or not to use it in later builds.

Are you going for the more ripped look? You've given him what appears to be a six pack, but the rest of the body doesn't match, so I'm not sure how I should give input on it. (Abs are an indicator of low body fat, so his muscle tone and body shape will vary from that of a regular man. I'm not talking about turning him into Superman or Hulk, there are just numerous differences. Which is where the confusion comes for me.)

Rebumping to say yes.

Also, you'll know this if you read the emails Nano sends...

https://www.createspace.com/nanowrimo?ref=621064&utm_id=5658

Beautiful.

Oh.

No, most of them are less repetitive. I hadn't noticed that. Probably shouldn't have picked those two. xD

I'll try to get a new batch of screenshots up this weekend, hopefully I can show something a bit more worthwhile off. I wont be updating it for a month or so, that way I can get a lot of feedback so the new screenshots may have some of the same problems as this set, but I'm going to see if I can reduce those in the next few versions.

Good advice, I hadn't thought of that.

This is practical because I could draw the battle backs myself, but it'll probably be a while because that would take a long time to do. I could probably make it faster by using Photoshop or Illustrator, but I'm slowly gearing this towards a more hand drawn style so I'll see if I can fully color them with pencils or use paint.

Lol, from your screenshots, I'd say that there's a lot of repetition.  A LOT of repetition.

Since you've only seen one map I'm guessing this is in reference to skills. Depends on the class generally. Summoner tends to be repetitive (levels alternate between healing and summoning) but each summon has their own skillset so it works out. Paladin is similarly limited to support skills (a lot of healing based abilities as well) and so on, because each character is geared towards a specific purpose.

It is important to note that not all attack skills are similar. Double Attack and Triple Attack vary in both range and power per hit which will matter against defensive opponents and based on your equipment choice, which will affect your attack power, so although they both do similar things their use is going to vary. There are a lot of these multiple attack skills, Vice is the prime offender here, roughly about 4-5 total (a couple characters share from this pool) but Attack A and Attack B are going to be a bit more diversified than Fire 1 and Fire 2 (Fire 1 stops being useful altogether, for example.)

The problem is that because equipment selection is limited near the start of the game, and a low level causing a small skill selection, it's going to be a bit slow going at first. Hopefully I can resolve this with beta although any suggestions would be great. It's got a long way to go. I plan on introducing more skills, but I'm not sure how to diversify them. Healing has the issue of all their skills being tiered and the usage of those spells are, unfortunately, going to be restricted to nothing but your EP levels (not necessarily bad- I use small numbers to try to force this) but it's obviously not very strategic, so I'm most likely going to revamp that system altogether when I figure out how to do it.

Mapping matters in making your game look prettier and well constructed. Really pretty maps pop out and get a lot of attention. I do find though that the kinds of especially flashy and poppy maps that do get my attention might not necessarily play the best, because there's a lot of visual information for the player to take in, and they may look cluttered or have too many effects going on. This isn't always true, and I'm not claiming it is, but I'm a firm believer in general mapping simplicity. Games like Pokemon, for example, have extremely simple, boring maps but they serve their purpose and play very well.

Good art, to me, can take the place of good mapping for the "pop-out" factor that they cause, and serve equally well for their "advertising" ability. This doesn't make mapping obsolete, I can't remember which Castlevania game it was (it was on the XBox), but I remember playing a game only to feel like movement was a chore due to it's level design, and to find that it was reviewed similarly. It CAN break a game, but as long as the fundamentals are down it's not going to be as large a risk as horrible graphics, a convoluted story, bad gameplay, etc.,

Her elbow should be where the inner curve of the "hourglass" shape occurs. The best thing my girlfriend ever taught me about drawing girls, aside from helping me get the boobs right, were that "girls have ribs." It doesn't seem to be a problem in what you've got so far though, but it's something to remember.

I think your quads  might be a bit long. The arms, fully extended, should get about halfway down the quads. This is making your calves look a bit short, whether or not they're actually short or if they're just relatively short to the calves is something I can't really tell.

Keep the neck thinner with a soft slope downwards, this'll indicate smaller trapezoidals, larger ones being a feature of men (especially larger men). Larger traps will give your shoulders a broader look than they might have. Don't be afraid to start unnaturally thin and start fleshing them out later. avoid drawing the lines in the neck for now and focus more on the collar bones, then add in the neck lines when you're a bit more comfortable.

She's a bit tall, which isn't bad but most women should be a bit shorter. Head size is typically the "marker" for size, although I've never really bought that. Sizing up the head a little or shrinking the body might make the size a bit more appropriate. There are girls with these proportions though, so don't necessarily worry about getting them "the right size" all the time.

Her deltoids (shoulder) are actually a bit shorter than they should be, while her biceps and triceps are a tad too long, which is shrinking her forearms slightly. Her shoulders wont be big- keep them soft- but the curve into the biceps/triceps is going to start a little lower. Most girls aren't defined enough for this to really stand out, so you could eliminate the shoudlers->arms curve altogether, as long as the arm starts larger up top and thins down to the forearms it'll still look natural (think a kind of v-shape.)

Her boobs don't quite line up- one is bigger than the other, but otherwise your shape is fine. They'll start like triangles, but turn into soft, ovular curves near the bottom.

Practice a lot and you should get it. I still have some problems drawing girls too, but it always helps to know girls who can draw. I can draw men because I can use my own body as an example, and girls typically draw women because they can do the same, or have a lot of female friends and can use them, so they'll really have them down. I like to ask my girlfriend or her friends when I'm stuck, they have an eye for these things.

Sherp derp derp

The screenshots were done more last minute at two in the morning so I could get them under the HBGames screenshot requirements, so I understand they're lacking. This weekend or so I'll try to get some better screenshots in. Thanks for the advice. I've had a busy month- tripled my gym hours, was sick, spent a few weeks with the girlfriend, spent two weeks cubbed up in my room working on this (testing alone took five days) so it might not be as polished as it should be. I'm hoping to improve upon the mapping for beta, because it's one of those things I could do with my skillset, given some more practice.

Thanks for looking at the thread, I wasn't really expecting any responses until I got my activity up (when I get busy, forum activity is the first to die.) Any response is a good one.

Currently it's a bit bare bones, like the rough draft of a novel. It's going to to go through two "editing" stages (Beta, and Final versions" where it'll be improved and polished. However everyone who takes a look at it can tell me what they did or did not like, so I know what areas need to be targeted moreso than others.

[Table of Contents]

Necrofear: Alpha Edition

There is an extreme amount of cursing in this game. If the ESRB were to see this, this would, as a result, get an M rating and therefore I feel obligated to warn those that are easily offended to stay away from the download link. The rest of the content is appropriate for a younger audience, the language is not.

No, really, I mean it. I tried censoring the system and the first three dungeons once at school. IT TOOK OVER THREE HOURS.

Table of Contents
[1F]: Introduction
[2F]: Screenshots
[3F]: Download Link
[4F]: Features
[5F]: Storyline Information
[6F]: Characters
[7F]: Coming Soon
[8F]: Credits
[9F]: Known glitches, untested equipment
[10F]: Criticism/Praise

(1F) Introduction

I can't exactly say I'm a newbie. I've been making games in Game Maker since I was in sixth grade, so I've had a lot of experience with games. I CAN say I'm a newbie in that this is my first finished game. Well, the alpha version.

I have done a playthrough of the game and fixed all the glitches I found (and damn did I look hard) but the truth is I may have screwed something up while fixing everything, or just not caught everything. So the first reason that this is the alpha version is that this has not been properly tested. The second reason that is the alpha version, rather than the beta, is that It's going to receive a content update (and a lot of polish). More on that in 7F, but this is far and away from being a truly complete game. Sure, it's finished storyline wise and will pass as is, but I don't see it as complete.

This game was originally started almost two years ago (so yes, some of the writing is that old) until it was shelved for almost a year. I then picked it back up for a bit for school and completed a couple more dungeons, but it wasn't until these last few months that I updated the system and just went "let's do this."

So I did. And it has taken so much of my free time it's insane, but I did it. I. Did. It. For now anyway.

I feel that it's only fair to say, that the game is sarcastic. A lot of it is just pure sarcasm. I even tried to make fun of some WRPG and JRPG stereotypes WITHIN THE MAIN CAST. I designed some of their appearances around this. I designed one of the main towns around a similar notion. The fact is that the game is meant to be fun. I've tried to keep it strategically deep and exciting, but at the same time, it's a game. I know it's a game. And so I have some fun with it, and I hope you do too.

I can't promise you a stunning, gorgeous game. I did this by myself on my own free time. Only two characters have custom spritesets and one is a carry over from an older game. The sprites in this game are 95% RTP.

I can't promise you a complex, in-depth storyline. The storyline is okay, passable maybe, but the truth is if I wanted to really write a story, I would've written a novel (I did actually, but that's another topic entirely.) The game is currently a bit weak here, but I hope to fix that a bit more later on.

I can't promise you some new battle system, as I'm not a great scripter- I edit, that's it. I can promise you only what I have, and that's a game that I finished because I wanted to, and that I hope is at least an interesting and unique experience, if nothing special. With that said, let's move on

And no, neither of the two guys in the first screenshot are the main characters. Only one is even playable.

(2F) Screenshots

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(3F) Download Link

I have the RMXP RTP, download.
That guy might but I sure as hell don't. Download.

(4F) Features

Battles are done in a side-view, ATB battle system.

Every character has only 10 levels in this game, and a level up is achieved not by getting kills, but by beating dungeons so it's a measure of progress, not farming. This means that yes, every boss is as hard for you as it was for me when I played through it.

50 weapons, all unique. Yes, ALL UNIQUE. I don't mean "iron is stronger than bronze, bam, unique." Every single piece of equipment has some kind of tactical advantage or disadvantage. ALL of it is useful, even your starting equipment. ESPECIALLY your starting equipment!

Speaking of equipment, every character can equip a weapon, shield, armor, accessory, and bonus ability that give great bonuses, but are hard to find.

More skills than I'd like to think about, all different with their own trade offs, like weapons (all equipment really) I strove to make everything useful. You might think "oh Triple Attack is better than Double Attack" but there are many scenarios where that simply wont be true.

About a dozen optional bosses, seperate from a dozen sidequests, all with their own unique rewards.

129 different maps means that you have a lot to get through. The game time will vary, but doing the sidequests, reading all the dialogue, and experimenting with characters and equipment will net you at least 4-5 hours, if not more. At least, that's what it took me, but then again I can walk through walls, teleport anywhere, and win any battle I want to instantly so I guess it might differ for you.

Pretty weather system

6 different, playable characters with their own skillsets and their own Overdrive abilities. More on them later.

Stats do not change by level up, but can be radically altered via equipment choices. This is a game built on using what you have and what you gained to face new challenges, not to hit level 99 and one-shot everything. Low numbers and a low damage cap means that even with optimal damage settings some strategy is going to be required.

9 different endings, gained through conscious player decision-making and an unconscious record of the methods you use to play the game. You could go "all good" or "all evil" with your decision making all you want, if you don't change your playstyle you wont get them all.

You can escape from 99% of all encounters, even boss fights. You also get a full heal after every enemy encounter. You're still going to need items. Every group of enemies is different and some will require different tactics than others, and while you could ignore them all, and hey, if you don't want to fight you don't have to, you might not get the money you'll need to buy the items you'll need for the big boss battles when they come around. (Okay, I'll be fair, all the big boss battles are entirely optional but I mean, come on. )

The ability to play as your final boss rather than the party. (As a result, there are more endings that involve the world ending than not.)

Both a weapon range system and a magic affinity system for different strategy making and character picking.

(5F) Storyline Information

The game centers around a mercenary (wannabe mercenary at first) named Vice, who finds himself hired to collect pieces of the Diamond Shard by Julia, an emissary of the Silver Knights, and reassemble them so that they may be destroyed. The Diamond Shards are part of the Diamond Rope the Silver Knights had once shattered, a rope that although serve no useful physical purpose can connect different worlds together. The connection is still there, although weakened, and a new threat is surfacing to use that very connection and break into the human world, where it doesn't belong.

(6F) Characters

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Vice
The game's "hero", he's kind of a dick really. A lot of a dick. He's a wannabe mercenary who only really cares about himself, and although he's not a complete asshole deep down, he tends to be very profane and generally abusive. After the first dungeon he gains the ability to swap between his normal form, and an alternate form altogether.

Vice's Weaponry is limited by the weapon range system, but he has the most unique arsenal by far.

Normal Form: Mercenary
Structured around physical damage, this form has several options for dealing with all kinds of opponents, but specializes in a one-on-one setting.

Alternate Form: Shadowblader
Structured around mixing both physical, venom, and magical damage in order to bypass defenses, this form has a wide variety of moves but the wide array of moves keeps his options per encounter limited.

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Eva
You get her early on, thank god, because she's actually a legitimately nice person. Picked on because of her "emo" wardrobe, and considered a freak because she can, you know, shoot lasers out of her fists, she's used to dealing with abuse which, although tragic, lets her deal with Vice a bit better. She is a lovely person with a great personality, but a part of me wants Vice to stab her.

Eva's weaponry do INT-based damage, and are not limited to the weapon range system. They also tend to give really nice stat boosts.

Class: Magician
We're not doing this stupid white/magic black/magic garbage. No offense/defense forced specialization in mages. Do I give you a fighter who only has the defend option in battle? No? Because that'd be stupid. She gets two skills per level up- one offensive and one defense. She doesn't know fireball, because fireball sucks. She knows laserbeams.

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Dreth
He looks like a creep, but it's okay, because he is ridiculously powerful. A bit sadistic and with a dark sense of humor, he really likes to stab things. Normally though, he's silent, which is good because I think he brings a knife to school.

Dreth uses "snakes", swords that extend (think Ivy's weaponry) into whips, so he is not bound by the weapon range system. He also has the most powerful weapons in the game by far.

Class: Serpentstriker
Not only are all of his skills powerful, he gains many options for dealing with multiple enemies at the same time, but never loses in a one-on-one contest either. His speed is sorely lacking however, and he has no options (read: I can't remember any options) for hurting ghost enemies, which are immune to all predominantly physical moves.

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Julia
Working for the Silver Knights to collect the Diamond Shards, she's a bit distanced from the others, but absolutely terrified of being completely alone. Luckily she doesn't have to be.

Julia shares Eva's equipment.

Class: Summoner
With 6 unique summons and healing powers of her own, she is incredibly versatile. All summons, save her overdrive summon, are only level 5, but her sheer versatility and use as a back up healer (in case, you know, your glass mage happens to get hit, which may or may not happen ALL THE TIME) as well as her durability makes her a great, balanced fighter. More than that, even though her summons are low levels- they're never obsolete.

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Damien
One of the silver knights. I gave him anime hair because I thought it'd be hilarious. I was right.

Damien's weapons are unique in that while they bypass the weapon range system, they are bound by the magical affinity system. He does physical damage with the weapons, but magical resistance comes into play. His selection is much less varied, however his defensive options are absolutely extraordinary. He can become an almost invincible support tank.

Class: Paladin
He's unique in that he doesn't really have all that many attack skills, but he has a wide array of healing and support skills and the durability of a brick wall making him a very reliable healer and buffer, but is versatile enough to become a practical fighter as well.

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Tarisa
She duel wields, and likes to fight about as much as Dreth. That's all I have to say.

Tarisa can use all of Vice's equipment, as well as her own set of daggers and guns that inflict status effect damage.

Class: Dragoon
You know how there's always that "weird character" with all the status effects and such you never used? That's her. She's weak and only decently fast, but she has access to just about any status effect in the game, and is capable of simply immobilizing your target for everyone else to handle. An amazing support character.

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Armag
He's a dragon. That is all.

(7F) Coming Soon

+More Equipment
+More sidequests
+More long dungeons (no level ups at the end but who cares)
+Storyline improvements
+Backstory fleshing
+Custom spritesets for the entire main cast
+Illustrated Cutscenes
+More polish, the entire game should effectively "level up" in tone and texture, better mapping
+Unlockable Characters, if demand is high enough
+ARMAG EDITION, if demand is high enough

(8F) Credits

Music:
Maestro rage

Scripting:
Zeriab
Atoa
Blizzard
Sandgolem
Ccoa
MOG
ForeverZer0
game_guy
Uncle Lanzer
ShadwLink1993
Me (but only for edits, I kind of suck.)

Art:
Me
Enterbrain
Whoever did the Pirate Map Tilesets (I'm sorry I don't know who you are ;_;)

Did I forget someone? Sorry.

(9F) Known Glitches and Untested Equipment

Dreth walks downwards until taking an action in battle

I have not tested most of Eva's/Julia's equipment which is regrettable because I totally forgot about the God Gem. So uh, try not to abuse it if it's horribly broken.

The fancy collapse animations isn't set up for all the bosses

(10F) Criticism/Praise

"So...am I actually going to want to play this, or is it just an orgy of swearing and blood?" -My girlfriend.
"Your projects have always been entertaining, even if they didn't work." -My Comp Sci teacher.

If martial arts was composed of nothing but reactions I wouldn't consider it a skill, but it's not. A martial artist who builds himself entirely out of reactions becomes predictable at any competitive level (if we're not talking about the competitive level at all but just typical street use then it doesn't matter how skilled you are as long as you know the basic forms and techniques, unless you're up against other martial artists but then we're back to the competitive mindset anyway), and is probably going to accidentally break his friend's hand when they try to psych him out with a play punch.

[reaction]

I actually did understand everything you said up to this point. ._.

I fail to see why training does not develop a skill. Training is the very definition of improving a skill. Training oneself to respond to certain situations in certain ways IS developing a skill. A skill is an automated set of responses that have a meaning in a certain context. Whatever you do in your life for the first time, it will not be done well. Through repetition you will learn to do it better and better each time, developing a skill in that area. Of course, different skills aren't mutually exclusive. If you are a good chess player, chances are high that you will be good at anything that requires memory, reading tactics and foreseeing possible outcomes. That's why they say that strategy games help build organizational skills and FPS-es help improve eye reflexes and increase eye-hand coordination.

To me it seemed that Rey was saying that my above statement is not true.

@Branden: Are you saying that you actually LIKE casual games? I'm breaking up with you.

Let me clarify because I was unclear and this is all really  my fault.

A reaction is not a skill. You can train yourself in the same way you can train your muscles to be better, but training yourself to blink whenever you see green is not a skill, it's a programmed response.

We can also break this down and say certain types of reactions are skills, and yes, we can go over technicalities forever, in the same way I could argue with you, with 100% accuracy, the blue and green are almost exactly identical.

That statement was made in reference to older games with brutal difficulty, that required you to pretrain yourself to hit A before you consciously knew there was a danger at a precise time in order to avoid it. Then you'd run into the next, identical A button trap but since you weren't trained to jump under the orange cloud instead of the blue cloud, you would never jump over the trap.

If you could jump over both traps with equal accuracy without having to retrain yourself, you've developed quicker reflexes, which is a skill.

If you couldn't jump over the traps because your brain didn't have that preprorgrammed response, you've developed an unconscious reaction. You've been trained, like salivating dogs to a pavlovian bell.

The only reason I feel the need to address this is because it was common in older games which were "more skillful" than common games thanks to a brutal sense of difficulty. When I say train, I mean it in the pavlovian sense.

Button tapping I don't see as a skill, even though it technically is, simply for simiplicity's sake when talking about skill in videogame. A game can be skilled requiring faster reflexes, this is true, but being a primarily mental media the more significant tests of skills will come from mental qualities- thought time rather than button tapping time- and so I value reflexes as almost insignificant in comparison.

I use a lot of exaggeration when I type and extremify things to make a point, because it forces you to inspect things and pick apart my statements on a more technical level and take things that are true and false from what I say, but I was tired when I typed my post and it was poorly written so it came out a lot more off than I intended and a bit more confusing than it should've been.

I wasn't sure if this should go in the creativity section or not, because it's a discussion about a big writing event, but I put it here since it's not really about any creative works on my part.

National Novel Writing Month started today. Has anyone else entered? I find it's a fun way to force yourself to write. I got my first 5K done today, so I've cranked out about a tenth of the thing.

For those who don't know what NaNoWriMo is, it's an event, found at: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ where authors attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in a solid month. Depending on your formatting and amount of dialogue, this'll be around 70 pages, assuming you're on single spacing and write longer paragraphs, and upwards of a hundred if you use larger spacing.

The idea is to force yourself to write a lot, even though most of it will be absolute shit since you haven't had time to edit or plan it. It's to give you the satisfaction of finishing a project and working towards a deadline. It equates to a bit under 2K words per day, to finish on the last day, which means it's actually a fairly doable goal for almost anyone. It's just a cool little thing you can do to help you learn to write on the spot and learn how to force your way through writer's block.

Any writers out there, or anyone making a plot heavy game, should definitely consider being a part of this, as it'll definitely help with your writing overall, and it's fun to see what you poop out when given so much over so little time. And hey, if you like the story enough, you can always edit it later and make it really good.

[There are exceptions. There are games when your precision with timing is integrated in a way that is not a taught muscle memory response.]

I agree that the muscle memory required to play a rhythm game is a skill, or an instrument, or even pressing buttons in some circumstances (I'd have to to admit video games have any skill whatsoever.)

I do not view jumping over enemy A as skilled if you can't consistently jump over enemy B without having to retrain yourself. A skill is something that stays with you, you don't have to train yourself to play the piano at your house and then reteach yourself to play an identical piano at a friends house. That is nothing but a trained response to "OH LOOK I'M RIGHT HERE". This is in reference to OLDER GAMES or games that claim they're "brutally hard". You know the ones. You play them a hundred times to get past this one part, and then die at an almost identical obstacle afterwards because you haven't trained your brain to send the "PRESS A" signal after you see the cloud or whatever. This is not in reference to games where the difficulty is not "PRESS A OR DIE". This was aimed at all "older classic games took more skill to play" which generally isn't true, they had more brutal levels of difficulty because they couldn't add as much depth into their gameplay, or in the case of arcade games to keep you playing, but they didn't necessarily take more skill to play because a lot of them were based on you self-training yourself to respond dto something.

Let me clarify a bit, yes it will take some skill to double jump. It will take some skill to triple jump in Mario 64. However it takes little skill that is easy to master, and is a skill that's prevalent in almost all video games. When I say "this video game is skilled and this isn't" I'm talking about games that take a significant amount of skill to play with a measurable ability that isn't just a series of trained responses. In a game where button timing and rapidity fall under the prime skill, they're either "unskilled" (Mario, Zelda, etc.,) where the game is not built around measuring skill at all, and where not much if any skill is required to beat it, or a rhythm game which aims to measure, well, rhythm. The skill to press the A button where pure timing is a matter is a basic skill in the same way that yes, dressing yourself is a basic skill, but it's so basic and ingrained into the entire process that calling it a skill means you have to call everything else you do a skill, but it's easier for purposes of classification to go "the level of skill is so small and unimportant that we can classify it as primarily unskilled, you do not need to be some significant beast to go to school, only able to dress yourself." And that's absolutely fine.

There are exceptions. There are games when your precision with timing is integrated in a way that is not a taught muscle memory response. It is not a reaction, but an action on the part of the player. This is a skill. There may be some game that manages to expand on this skill enough to be called a "skilled" game, where it's an aspect the player needs to grow and evolve in in order to do well. Starcraft turns this into a skill.

I'd also not worry about a flamewar. We may talk a bit aggressive and pricky, but I hightly doubt anyone's going to let this devolve into "NO YOU'RE STUPID." Well, not in those words anyway, and with actual discussion in the middle.