• A new engine update has arrived! OHRRPGCE version Xocolatl (Download here) includes a lot of great new features, such as improved text box management, graphics that can be attached to text boxes, a much higher NPC per map count, and more!

Every month, we'll spotlight some comments from the readers regarding the previous month's issues. Here's what our readers have to say about Volume 19.

"The artwork for the Monsterology feature was a joy to behold :)" -James Paige

Good news! We are now offering specific questions for readers to respond to. That's right, you don't need to come up with your own ideas at all! Answers will be posted in next month's issue.

This month's responses:

"The cover art is also fantastic and Ask Fortis was good and basically this is one of our best issues." -Moogle

"I thought it was a great issue. It is so packed with content that I actually haven't read it all yet. I think I said this before, but mass kudos on the Wandering Hamster Monsterology feature."  -James Paige

"The Gerania review caught me off guard. I always knew it was a well built game, but the lack of anything unique was something that I didn't think of. As for elements I'm sick of... I'm mostly sick of retina burning graphics that usually come from misuse of the oversaturated OHR palette. I guess this may be because I play in windowed mode, and the effect isn't as apparent in full screen, which everyone was designing games in at the time. Gameplay wise, I'm pretty accepting of a lot of things, though I feel expected to give criticism to newbie games.

Ask Fortis provided some good feedback on the whole Ends of the Earth debacle.

Hamsterspeak Printing Offices was an interesting read, but it didn't seem like it actually had to do with Hamsterspeak.

Covered with Dust was the definitive article for me though. To be able to look at newbie games and look at what people tried to do right is not only open minded, but can also give advice to people useful information on what can contribute positively to a game. I really, really want to see more Covered with Dust articles." -Kitten Master

"I think I'd like to see the next chapter in the platformer tutorials." -The 257th Dude (Surlaw and Uncommon agree)

• Gilbert's review of Gerania brings up the issue that even if a game is well made, it can be boring if it doesn't try to do anything new. Which elements common in OHR games are you most sick of, and inversely, which uncommon elements would you like to see more often?

"I am sick of the medieval fantasy setting. Sure, if the game play is innovative, or if the world is presented in some kind of off-kilter way, the game could be fresh. But let's face it, your average OHR games are neither innovative nor witty. Why go through all the time and effort of making a game if it is just going to be another run-of-the-mill kill-some-slimes-buy-some-swords game? (That's another thing. Why does every game have to have slimes in it? WHY?!) At least make the setting something different. Like a far-away planet. Or a desert island. Or the wild west. ANYTHING!" -Mr. 8-Bit

"As you can probably guess, I disagree with both Gilbert and 8Bit. I really don't think that having a 'different' setting gives any meaningful advantage to a game. What is important to me is the presentation of the setting. If the world is presented as consistent and interesting (not necessarily off-kilter; I just want to feel a bit of culture), I don't care if it is the 5 millionth medieval fantasy world. I would still like it better than the cosmic bird-people kingom presented in a disjointed, haphazard way." -MSW

"I am tired of games trying to be so big and epic that they don't get finished (My own game is guilty of this too) I would really enjoy seeing more short games-- but not just short for the sake of being short, short because thay can bring a story to completion concisely. Think short story writing instead of novel writing (I think this is why our time-limited contests tend to produce good results)" -James Paige

"I'm actually tired of the reality show format showing up for all our episodic OHR movies. I love the idea of episodic gaming (hence this year's Epic Marathon--which monthly voting for will begin this weekend), but I want to see more variety, like cop dramas, office parodies, and pretty much anything that hasn't already been done to death. Not to say I don't like the ones already started, I'd just like to see future OHR shows go in new directions.

Other elements I'm sick of: young boys joining armies and saving nations from empires when empires show no threat to the nations other than invading the ONE TOWN in the whole freakin' game; generic straightforward world-tramping (or total linearity); a thousand heroes for a few types of enemies; craploads of spells that don't really add to the gameplay; anime-style characters (please make it stop); generic music (this is more subjective, but anything that sounds like it was ripped from Final Fantasy would cover this category), and pretty much anything that falls out of an RPG cookie cutter.

Elements I'd like to see more of: Interactive scenery (or flavor text as it's called in Surlaw Armageddon); surprises off the beaten path; catchier music; fewer heroes to juggle; tricks that make sense (technological feats invented for the sake of being unique are pointless if they don't make the game any fun); more action sequences (speed, animation, and sound effects are available in plotscripting--use it!); and better hype." -Pepsi Ranger

"Random battles. I do not like them whatsoever.
It doesn't help that I don't like RPGs much either, so really, battles in general. I've had enough of them, I want to play something different now. I have always wanted to see more games that play around with the engine and find news ways of presenting gameplay outside of the default battle engine. The 8-bit Contest entries had a lot of variety to them that way, and I appreciated it. I wish Fenrir's game had played out the way he'd originally planned it." -Uncommon

• Pepsi Ranger's Covered With Dust series discusses OHR games that never got much attention. Which OHR titles do you wish had received more time in the spotlight? These games may be featured in a future issue!

"Covered With Dust was a great feature too. Good job Pepsi! I would like to see someone dig up this "Atomic Knights: Shadow of Riva" game that has been talked about recently in other threads." -James Paige

"Oh man, I was really happy to see Cowboy Hank Goes Home on there last month. I'd stumbled upon that one a while back and it just kinda came out of left field. What I'd like to see in later features? How about Blob vs. Abstinence, The True Meaning Of Christmas, Wally The Wallaby: Lord Impostor, and some of SDHawk's old underappreciated games, like Run Run Zombie Revolution." -Uncommon

• We had some pretty unconventional articles this month (Pepsi's dream, the videos). What did you think of them?

"Haha, I love it! The Timpoline music video was completely unexpected and totally hilarious. I accidentally deleted my save file while working on the game today, but this totally makes up for it. " -Moogle

"Very cool. Something about the Let's Play stuck with me, of an author going through his more difficult game when he'd rather be doing something else. I think I should make a Let's Play of Mazes Of Persistence now.

And man, Pepsi, I know the whole '80s vibe is Powerstick Man's thing, but the Scorpions? I am otherwise looking forward to the new release." -Uncommon

And now, questions! As usual, respond by e-mail or by posting on the forums for a chance to see your response in next month's issue.

• What feature of the new engine update are you most excited about?

• From Covered With Dust Vol. 3: "If you disagree with the list, or if you think your game should've been considered, feel free to shake things up a bit in the Issue 20 discussion thread by casting your own list of favorites by order and voicing your opinion on which games you'd like to see go up against BlackJack OHR in future competitions."

• This issue saw a fond reminiscense of the Epic Marathon Contest. What OHR contest do you have the fondest memories of, and, to connect this with Covered With Dust, which contest games do you think deserve more attention than they got?