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Kickstarter: Citizens of Earth - A Modern RPG. Earthbound-ish RPG by Eden Industries

I don't trust any kickstarter/group/company that blatantly rips off a game ("homage") without having any real ties to the original. This isn't Inafune making Mighty No. 9... these are fairly random people who have a bit of experience in the industry trying to make a game in the design of another popular series in a genre they don't have any experience with.

Do you have any idea of what you just said or are you just upset that someone you never heard of said Earthbound?
 
I don't trust any kickstarter/group/company that blatantly rips off a game ("homage") without having any real ties to the original. This isn't Inafune making Mighty No. 9... these are fairly random people who have a bit of experience in the industry trying to make a game in the design of another popular series in a genre they don't have any experience with.

So you don't trust a majority of games out there? A lot of games ripoff each other, and most have NO ties to the originals. Games been ripping off each other for decades. It's really something you should learn to get over.
 
I don't trust any kickstarter/group/company that blatantly rips off a game ("homage") without having any real ties to the original. This isn't Inafune making Mighty No. 9... these are fairly random people who have a bit of experience in the industry trying to make a game in the design of another popular series in a genre they don't have any experience with.

If this was an attempt at a cash grab they wouldn't be picking earthbound to exploit. It's a group of fans making a labor of love.
 
So you don't trust a majority of games out there? A lot of games ripoff each other, and most have NO ties to the originals. Games been ripping off each other for decades. It's really something you should learn to get over.

Using the word "rip-off" is fallacious.

It's clearly not a rip-off, but as the user even implied, they think homages are rip-offs.
 
I like the look. The veep reminds me of Pip Boy.

Vault Boy. Pip Boy is just the name of the device. Vault Boy is the mascot that proliferates the Fallout universe. Common misconception.

Anyway, this game looks pretty cool, concept is badass. I love when RPG characters come from mundane backgrounds, if only as a palate cleanser from more "epic" RPG character tropes.
 

EdenIndustries

Neo Member
Vault Boy. Pip Boy is just the name of the device. Vault Boy is the mascot that proliferates the Fallout universe. Common misconception.

Anyway, this game looks pretty cool, concept is badass. I love when RPG characters come from mundane backgrounds, if only as a palate cleanser from more "epic" RPG character tropes.

Thanks! We were certainly going for that. Give the demo a shot and if you'd be so generous, consider pledging on the Kickstarter page :)
 
After playing the demo for awhile, I'd say the main issues I have with it are the sound effects in battle, they are very bland and don't fit well with the moves they correspond to. I think it would be better to have a wide variety of sounds and maybe even have the character say/yell/exclaim something using a voice clip during attacks. Also, I think it may be a good idea for the VP to have his lines dubbed so instead of just reading the battle banter you hear him really engage, the way it is now it seems like he isn't very important at all during battles. Same thing for death sounds, make them character specific, not just granny dying for everyone. Finally, while the music isn't terrible, it is extremely repetitive and needs to be about two to three times longer before it loops, it's not very enjoyable to hear the same few notes over and over. Overall I really like the concept, the character art is great, so is the writing, you just really need to work on the sound side of the game, because it is bringing the whole product down.
 
Using the word "rip-off" is fallacious.

It's clearly not a rip-off, but as the user even implied, they think homages are rip-offs.

True that. It was rather blunt of me. My point being, many games inspire other games. Just because there are obvious inspirations doesn't make it a bad thing, or mean the developers are lazy. It's obvious they find inspiration with certain games and want to make a product that carries that familiarity. Hell, as far as this project is concerned, they have my blessing. There's a shortage of modern-set, quirky RPGs. If anything, we could use more. Just because Earthbound did it first doesn't mean it's got the corner in the market. If anything, it paved the way so others can do similar things, just like every other groundbreaking game.

A great example would be Double Dragon, not the first beat 'em up, but inspired others to make similar games. That doesn't diminish the quality of those that came after it, like Final Fight, Streets of Rage, and a slew of other great BEUs. As I meant, to the original poster I replied to, to shake off all games that pay homage or are inspired by other games(even if they share no original staff members) is to disregard the majority of great games out there.
 

EdenIndustries

Neo Member
After playing the demo for awhile, I'd say the main issues I have with it are the sound effects in battle, they are very bland and don't fit well with the moves they correspond to. I think it would be better to have a wide variety of sounds and maybe even have the character say/yell/exclaim something using a voice clip during attacks. Also, I think it may be a good idea for the VP to have his lines dubbed so instead of just reading the battle banter you hear him really engage, the way it is now it seems like he isn't very important at all during battles. Same thing for death sounds, make them character specific, not just granny dying for everyone. Finally, while the music isn't terrible, it is extremely repetitive and needs to be about two to three times longer before it loops, it's not very enjoyable to hear the same few notes over and over. Overall I really like the concept, the character art is great, so is the writing, you just really need to work on the sound side of the game, because it is bringing the whole product down.

Thanks for the feedback, we actually feel very much the same way! As you might expect with indie teams, it's hard to tackle all things at once. So when we go to improve a certain area, it sometimes happens that the quality in other area lags behind a bit. But we hear you, we agree with you, and we're on it!

Thanks again for the feedback, and if you can support the Kickstarter (via pledge or sharing the link around), we'd be very grateful!
 
Don't take my opinion personal (unless I am mistaken and you are working on the game as well). It's just my opinion so there should be no need to make an effort to keep it civil.

I think a game that so directly mentions Earthbound multiple times on it's Kickstarter page should allow people to compare it to said game.

I think the art is very well done in most areas to be honest. There are just some moments where the color palette, shading and other small things start to remind me of RPG maker style backgrounds and town sprites.

Absolutely the game's characters animate more than Earthbound, but Earthbound, and other games from it's era get away with it due to being very simple pixel based sprites and having a much simpler art design. The characters in this game are well drawn, and in hi res. Because of this, the clunky, low frames when they walk is incredibly more apparent. I don't think the animation is fluid at all.

Rayman Legends is a pretty decent example of how many frames a 2d animated character should shoot for.

Don't get me wrong. The game looks very interesting. These were just some glaring issues that I noticed.

I have a short temper and get very irritated when things I like are dismissed for reasons I find silly. Your first post had that tone to it. This one, most certainly, did not.

Now that you've explained it out I can completely see where you're coming from with some of your comments. I do agree with you on that point that due to the very...drawn and cartoony nature of the sprites that more frames of animation would give it a more professional or smooth feel. I'm not too sure about using Rayman as a goal point though; that game is absolutely stunning and has a distinctly higher budget and number of people than this studio. If it looked like that I'd be thrilled, and as an aspiration it's a good one to aspire too, but it may be a tad out of reach for a game some people are getting for $15 or so.

I understand your comments now so I have no problem at all with your opinions or anything else. I'm just a passionate kinda guy and it gets loose sometimes.
 

zeopower6

Member
Wonder why this isn't getting as much attention as other RPG KSes... maybe it's the first impression via the art? D:
 
The art, tone and writing look dreadful. Sorry.

The art style just doesn't work out for me either.

What's up with this?

Citizens of Earth is all about bringing regular characters into the spotlight as heroes.

It’s an RPG that places you in the shoes of the Vice President of the World!
 
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