Slenderman's Army, Slenderman's back...and this time he has friends! Options

[Jonnie19]

So the deadline closed a few days ago now for the RMN competition XD It's just the long....long...long wait! It's down to the votes now.
We'd love it if you'd vote for Slenderman's Army over on RMN.
Thanks for your support

[Jonnie19]

So Slenderman's Army has JUST been updated again Thanks to a number of YouTubers who decided to play the game, I noticed a few other errors so I fixed them so look to the first post for the Latest D/L

[Redd]

(Please excuse the flashing, I had a video card problem)

Slenderman's Army... or as the rest of the game calls it, Slanciata Manor... has a few problems that need to be fixed. Along with the problems are a few good things though, which I'm going to go over in this review.

Pros:
- Pretty good atmosphere. The darkness and the use of the flashlight are enough to make anyone a bit paranoid. Add the random placement of notes and not quite exactly knowing when a monster is going to pop up, and it sets a good mood.
- Movement. It is fairly easy to move around the game world, without many glitches happening.
- Story. Albeit short, this Slender game actually has a story, unlike most that just throw you into the game world.
- Graphics. The graphics are very good for VX. The only thing I would consider changing is making the monsters face in all four directions, not just down.
- It's different from any Slender game out there. Which I say is a good thing. 2D, more monsters, and a bit of a story.

Cons:
- Grammar. There are a few grammar issues. I describe them in the video. Not too much though, and it doesn't take away from the game all that much.
- Monster movement. I can tell that the simple "chase player" technique was used. I'm not sure if there's a better way of doing it, but it generally doesn't work that well. The suspense of being caught by a monster is taken away when you can hide behind a wall and they can't find you.
- Monster placement. Sometimes they appear right on top of you. I would suggest using variables to set where the player is, and set the monster 2 or 3 squares away from them, at least. This provides no hope for the player. This is how I've died every single time except for once.
- Story/intro is a bit bad. I know you only had a few days to work on this so I won't rate it that heavily. I talked about this in the video as well.
- Room layout. Sometimes, you will be trapped somewhere with absolutely no hope of getting out, due to the random spawning of the monsters. I died once from this. I would suggest making the hallways a bit more wide, so it is possible to escape in case this does happen. Or use the variable placement system that I mentioned before.
- Atmosphere. This is a con as well because it is very cliche. While effective, it is pretty cliche. I don't know what you would change up... but it is getting quite old.
- The game is advertised as Slenderman's Army, but has absolutely no trace of that in the game. Instead, it is called Slanciata Manor. This is a bit weird, and I have actually seen it quite frequently in the RPG Maker world. I would consider changing this, if I were you.

The Final Say:
Slenderman's Army, while being quite a bit different from the original game (being a good thing), has more flaws than it does perfections. The point of the game is exactly the same. Find 8 (even that's the same) notes before the monster gets you. The game is also a bit unfair, with the enemies spawning on top of you/very close as to corner you, whereas most other Slender games are completely "beatable," and give you more of a fighting chance. The bad reasons outweigh the good, giving this game the score of 2.5/5

Personal Note:
While I have given the game a pretty low score, I would still suggest trying it out. It's fun for a little while! I had a good time with it the first few tries. Then it got annoying.

This post has been edited by Redd: Feb 26 2013, 06:20 PM

[Jonnie19]

You've actually downloaded the wrong version the version you played is ancient. I swear I updated the links on RRR -_-
almost all of the problems and cons have been updated

- Monster placement. Sometimes they appear right on top of you. I would suggest using variables to set where the player is, and set the monster 2 or 3 squares away from them, at least. This provides no hope for the player. This is how I've died every single time except for once.

That has now been fixed in the latest update.

- Story/intro is a bit bad. I know you only had a few days to work on this so I won't rate it that heavily. I talked about this in the video as well.

Yep...it's is. I will openly admit that the storyline was the weakest part of the game. We've improved it slightly, but we've still got alot of work to do

- Room layout. Sometimes, you will be trapped somewhere with absolutely no hope of getting out, due to the random spawning of the monsters. I died once from this. I would suggest making the hallways a bit more wide, so it is possible to escape in case this does happen. Or use the variable placement system that I mentioned before.

We do use the variable placement system, and this has also been improved in 3.0.

- Atmosphere. This is a con as well because it is very cliche. While effective, it is pretty cliche. I don't know what you would change up... but it is getting quite old.

Agreed, Slender is getting rather overused. It was a very easy story. We are actually in the process of extending and improving the gameplay, which I do repeat again is updated in the new version

- The game is advertised as Slenderman's Army, but has absolutely no trace of that in the game. Instead, it is called Slanciata Manor. This is a bit weird, and I have actually seen it quite frequently in the RPG Maker world. I would consider changing this, if I were you.

That was a small error that was fixed in the new updated version
Thanks for the review Redd, it sucks that you got the outdated version. It's been updated about 3 times since that version

Updates:

We've released another update. Slenderman's Army 3.0:

This is a vast improvement on the version played above. It is as bug free as I can physically make it
It's includes improved mapping, improved enemy placement and movement, and also a new map

[roxanne410]

The game was pretty good I didn't get very far into it until I realized I had a data management test tomorrow... So this is just from the first couple minutes I've played it.

The game did give me the chills with the dark at first. I've played most slender games, and the suspense was what usually kills everyone.

I agree the beginning could be a little stronger, but really... It's not that big of a problem. I think it was effective, though some things could be improved. Perhaps the opening about their name not being important could be written through the black. The dialogue wasn't bad, but having it against a background with sprites in the back didn't make it useful to it's full potential.

In general it was pretty intense game play. There was one point that slender man was trapped in another room basically running against the wall. Pretty funny. XD

In general, I did get the creeps at points, and it was a very well designed game! The darkness was effective. There are SOME simple fixes that can be done to, in my opinion, make the game scarier but I did enjoy the few minutes I did play!

Thanks for making this~ It was very entertaining!

[Jonnie19]

The game was pretty good I didn't get very far into it until I realized I had a data management test tomorrow... So this is just from the first couple minutes I've played it.

The game did give me the chills with the dark at first. I've played most slender games, and the suspense was what usually kills everyone.

I agree the beginning could be a little stronger, but really... It's not that big of a problem. I think it was effective, though some things could be improved. Perhaps the opening about their name not being important could be written through the black. The dialogue wasn't bad, but having it against a background with sprites in the back didn't make it useful to it's full potential.

In general it was pretty intense game play. There was one point that slender man was trapped in another room basically running against the wall. Pretty funny. XD

This is actually due to something I've added into the game. In one of the rooms it is possible to trap slenderman. This is linking to something we are using in MOS the extension for Slenderman's Army.

In general, I did get the creeps at points, and it was a very well designed game! The darkness was effective. There are SOME simple fixes that can be done to, in my opinion, make the game scarier but I did enjoy the few minutes I did play!

Thanks for making this~ It was very entertaining!

Thanks for playing Roxie

[roxanne410]

The game was pretty good I didn't get very far into it until I realized I had a data management test tomorrow... So this is just from the first couple minutes I've played it.

The game did give me the chills with the dark at first. I've played most slender games, and the suspense was what usually kills everyone.

I agree the beginning could be a little stronger, but really... It's not that big of a problem. I think it was effective, though some things could be improved. Perhaps the opening about their name not being important could be written through the black. The dialogue wasn't bad, but having it against a background with sprites in the back didn't make it useful to it's full potential.

In general it was pretty intense game play. There was one point that slender man was trapped in another room basically running against the wall. Pretty funny. XD

This is actually due to something I've added into the game. In one of the rooms it is possible to trap slenderman. This is linking to something we are using in MOS the extension for Slenderman's Army.

In general, I did get the creeps at points, and it was a very well designed game! The darkness was effective. There are SOME simple fixes that can be done to, in my opinion, make the game scarier but I did enjoy the few minutes I did play!

Thanks for making this~ It was very entertaining!

Thanks for playing Roxie

It was a fantastic game, Jonnie I look forward to seeing more from all of you.

[Philip]

Abstract: No more hiding in Forests, No more skulking in abandoned warehouses. He back and this time...He's got friends!
Genre: Horror
Engine:

The very first part of this has an English error. "He back..." just thought I'd give ya a heads up.

Ok, so I've never heard of Slenderman. Did you make another Slenderman game? This looks pretty good Jonnie I think I'll try it out.

[Jonnie19]

I can't believe I missed that Cheers for that
I'd love to see you play it Phillip, as you're one of the people who improved my eventing TENFOLD XD I'd be really interested to see what you thought

[Redd]

Oh seriously?! It linked to your indiedb page and i just clicked the button that said "download now" so you might want to update that xD

[Jonnie19]

Done. It turns out it doesn't direct link you to downloads anymore So i nicked the link from the download button Cheers for letting me know Redd!

[Redd]

You're very welcome xD I guess this means I'll have to do another review!
soooon.......

[Jonnie19]

*nods* you know you want to

[Philip]

Wow! You die soooo quickly LOL!! I'm running for my life through most of the game.

[Jonnie19]

Yeah..It IS VERY tough. But it is beatable only 3 people have done it, and I am one of them two others are from youtube

[Redd]

Well Slender games tend to be incredibly tough.
Just wondering, does this game get harder as you play? Like the monsters appear more or something? I didn't notice that when I played... probably because it was a different version

[Jonnie19]

There is more monsters, they don't get harder per-se but they increase in number. The "Ghosts" are introduced. These ghosts if they touch you, you cannot move for a couple of seconds. This combined with Slender and JuOn means, your pretty much fucked

Also, when we release the new storyline, which you unlock after completing the game. You will get to meet a new enemy. I don't want to reveal too much before the release.

We're also adding more things to make the game harder/easier dependent on how clever you are and the position of Slenderman. Things like collapsing floors, which can either kill you, or trap your enemies, Falling ceilings. We're going to try and impliment these things so that they can damage some of the enemies. All depends on user feedback.