Creaptive Heart

From RPG Game Maker Reviews:

Score: 91/100

Concept

You are Elisa, looking through your dead friend’s drawings to understand what he was thinking.

The Score

Story: 10/10

Creaptive Heart shines in a couple of areas, and this is the first. The story is very engaging. Though a bit confusing and “artsy,” it does make you want to figure out what’s going on. By the end of the second drawing you explore, you start to get a very good picture of your friend’s state of mind.

Characters: 8/10

Ciclope has done a fine job of helping us get to know her characters from their conversations, thoughts, and attitudes. The only aspects that are missing are personality quirks and distinct patterns of speech to make them more memorable.

Writing: 8/10

Overall, the writing tells the story very well. There are a few instances, however, where I noticed some typos or awkward phrasing. I also wish there was more writing in some places to give the player more explanation about what to do (but more about that in the Gameplay section).

Mapping: 9/10

Most of the mapping is great. The areas are well-laid out, look nice, and, when it comes to the drawing maps, very creative. The only detractor was the similarity of the drawing maps. You’ll see many of the same elements even though they’re supposed to be different drawings.

Art: 10/10

The original art that went into Creaptive Heart is fantastic. Everything is custom, from the character sprites to the character busts to the map elements, and all of it looks very professional and is well-suited to the mood of the game.

Creative Game Design: 10/10

The concept of Creaptive Heart is very creative. You enter and explore the drawings of your friend. Ciclope also sets the game apart with on-map combat and moving obstacles.

Gameplay: 6/10

Most of the game is exploring and asking yourself what is going on. Then, once per area, you have to defeat an enemy or a group of enemies. All of the combat is on the map screen, but it’s also challenging. Maybe a little too challenging.

There’s also a lot of guessing about what you’re supposed to do to these enemies. For instance, in the first area, you have to shoot fire from your lantern at them, but the game doesn’t tell you to shoot them with your lantern or even how to do it. You have to avoid the second enemy while collecting an item, but again, the game doesn’t tell you what you’re supposed to be doing, so you end up dying at least once before you figure it out.

On some screens, it was a little confusing to determine who was talking, so different colors of windows or names would have been helpful.

Technical: 10/10

Creaptive Heart runs well and makes great use of lighting effects. Not only do you have your lantern but when you lose health, the screen flashes black, making it even more difficult to see the enemies and where you need to go.

If you’re familiar with RPG Maker games, you’ll also notice evidence of other plugins that help the game stand out as unique.

Music: 10/10

The music that’s in the game sets the mood very well, but most of the game doesn’t have music. Normally, I would say that the lack of music makes a game seem empty, but not in this case. The story is so engaging that I hardly noticed the absence of music. In fact, the silence created the mood just as much as the music did.

Sound: 10/10

The sound effects are well-placed and plentiful enough to help immerse you in the story.

Recommendation

If you like mystery games and don’t mind the “artsy” style, you’ll probably find Creaptive Heart to be quite engaging.

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such..a...great..game:)

Parabéns pelo primeiro lugar Ciclope! Bom trabalho :)

Oh man, this hit home in so many ways. Thanks for sending me a note online to check your project...! It was an interesting journey. Brace yourself for the text wall! Let's see...

1. On the method chosen to transmit your message: I believe that the decision to use metaphorical language to deal with the themes of the game was wise. This way, the situation adapts to the player's perception, instead of forcing an extremely descriptive reality which they (possibly) have not previously experienced, and therefore reducing the impact generated through empathy with the situation. The language was, one would argue, perhaps a little too simple, but I see the merit in making things less prone to misunderstandings .
2. On visuals: I applaud the use of custom art for the scenarios depicting the art pieces themselves. I believe a little more variety on the tileset would have been nice though, and it's a little too bad the house doesn't have similar art as well. I also must add, the character portraits' colors looks too bright when over the scenario (and mood overall, to be honest)  You may want to consider having someone focusing on making sure art style is consistent for a larger project... Unless you want it to look like a patchwork (sometimes that's the point, or it just isn't as important as other things, which is understandable).
3. On audio: I'll say... Neither music nor the sound effects appealed to me very much. But again, that wasn't the focus here. A wider variety of SEs and ambient sounds would have been nice. When placed correctly withing a scene, sound can have an appeal as high as visuals to increase tension and expectative (which can then be broken the same way as any other, cue laughter or shock afterwards, etc). Maybe try and challenge yourself to do something audio focused next, as an experiment?
4. On game design: I like that the game was very straightforward with the story. The maps, while not exactly confusing, didn't make me feel very challenged, though the plot was nice and interacting with the beings within the artworks was interesting. Maybe if there was a little more puzzling out how to work through them (and not necessarily more maps) it would feel more rewarding for the player to complete each "art world". I like that the red signals an exit/passage for example, and the golden pigs... Maybe amidst all the gray, the colors could have been used as some sort of clue. The main character was making interesting references to common meanings of certain imagery, after all.  Also, the candles. Please give some sort of inner monologue as to where they are when the lights go out, such as the character trying to remember where they saw them last. 
5. The main characters: I'll try to not spoil things here, so no names and bigger details. The MC and her friend sound a lot like some people I know... Actually, her friend reminds me a lot of things to an uncomfortable point (brrr) so kudos to you. You hit the nail on the head. As for her mother... She sounds believeable, but not *quite* yet. You see, the thing about most people I know that fit her role is that they are sometimes really good people, but they just *don't understand* even if you explain it to them. Maybe if she were just a teensy bit  kinder, but oblivious to how the MC perceives things, you will make the conflict within the story even bigger.  It's difficult to disappoint someone who goes out of their way to be kind (even, sometimes, when their view of kindness is warped). Finally, I believe the lady at the end was perhaps too harsh (speaking as someone who talks frequently to a very close person that studies psychology and can't shut up about it *laughter*), but it depends on what exactly they focus on as a psychologist that made it seem the correct way to do things? You may want to check on the Major schools of thought and think thoroughly how this individual approaches her patients (and perhaps why she choose so). There are a bunch of books and videos recording how certain people were approached and treated, and why, and some stories and downright bizarre. Could be entertaining? 

Personal notes: I'm slightly disappointed the "tie man" scenes were so short, and that the "water art" felt so empty after the two first ones. I was expecting seeing at least one misterious NPC. *chuckle* Truth be told, the umbrella challenge, while made just so for the difficulty, felt a little more frustrating than anything. While I didn't die, there wasn't nothing to "solve" or "understand", no patterns or anything, just a lot of reflex and turning your umbrella around. It was somewhat hard to be sure that the water was coming on the same line/column I was at. That made me a bit sad. It's important to reward the player for understanding your game, not only story-wise, but also your challenges. If it's just chaotic, it feels like blind luck. ^_^' Finally, I'm not 100% sure about what to think on the door bell thing yet. I may have missed something,  or maybe my guess that the main character is going a bit crazy even if she doesn't want to admit is right. I just want to point it out it isn't very clear, I'll go through it again and see if I missed anything, but neverthless I believe the ending needs a little polishing.

And at the end... Anyway, let's see... I say 4/5, extra star for effort. I know there was a lot of criticism above, but that's how one develops yeah? We can't grow on praise and sun alone. *chuckle* I'll admit, there is always more to point out and more score to take away if we're being picky, but you are beginning to spread your winds out there and the work looks... Soulful.  Which is somewhat rare to find and counts as a giant bolds extra points from me. Whatever your guts is telling you, it's poiting you the right way. Follow it, polish things, and have no fear of scrapping parts of your work to keep inconsistencies and bugs from happening. Best of luck!