Franken is a great RPG. I beat it in under two hours.
Love is a very important aspect of the game making process. It's not something you can or should give a numbered score, but you know when it's there and you especially know when it isn't. You don't need to take your game seriously to love it, but you do need to respect it.
Franken, in more ways than one, is a game about love. It's a game that loves the fact that it exists. With simple and entertaining combat, vibrant and beautiful artwork, equally hilarious and engaging writing, it loves that it is an RPG. It has its fair share of satire on the genre yet it never feels like an admonishment of these aspects, but rather quirks that it wears proudly on its sleeve. It takes everything you love about RPGs and compresses them down into their most concentrated forms. Love is in its themes as well, from wanting love and wanting to be loved, grief, and pirated anime music during the big climactic boss fight. Okay maybe that last part doesn't fit, but *I* loved it. It brought back feelings of a bygone era of fangames and early game dev in general. I only wish that it didn't cost the developer the ability to make any money off of the game directly. (btw you should definitely give her money for it indirectly https://twitter.com/splendidland)
Is this a lot to say about a game that's only a couple hours long? Maybe! It truly did touch me in a way that I was not prepared for, though. Once I started I didn't want to put it down, and once it ended I was truly a different person for having played it. It was much-needed reminder, as silly as it sounds, that games are as much or as little as what you make them. If the game in your head is only and hour or two long, or even 30 minutes, make it. As long as you're loving making it, because that love and excitement will shine brightest above all else. Thank you, Splendidland. Thank you, Franken.
Love is a very important aspect of the game making process. It's not something you can or should give a numbered score, but you know when it's there and you especially know when it isn't. You don't need to take your game seriously to love it, but you do need to respect it.
Franken, in more ways than one, is a game about love. It's a game that loves the fact that it exists. With simple and entertaining combat, vibrant and beautiful artwork, equally hilarious and engaging writing, it loves that it is an RPG. It has its fair share of satire on the genre yet it never feels like an admonishment of these aspects, but rather quirks that it wears proudly on its sleeve. It takes everything you love about RPGs and compresses them down into their most concentrated forms. Love is in its themes as well, from wanting love and wanting to be loved, grief, and pirated anime music during the big climactic boss fight. Okay maybe that last part doesn't fit, but *I* loved it. It brought back feelings of a bygone era of fangames and early game dev in general. I only wish that it didn't cost the developer the ability to make any money off of the game directly. (btw you should definitely give her money for it indirectly https://twitter.com/splendidland)
Is this a lot to say about a game that's only a couple hours long? Maybe! It truly did touch me in a way that I was not prepared for, though. Once I started I didn't want to put it down, and once it ended I was truly a different person for having played it. It was much-needed reminder, as silly as it sounds, that games are as much or as little as what you make them. If the game in your head is only and hour or two long, or even 30 minutes, make it. As long as you're loving making it, because that love and excitement will shine brightest above all else. Thank you, Splendidland. Thank you, Franken.