Thank you to everyone who sent previews in. If you want a preview of your game, email me the game and some info (special features it will have, who the authors are, what is the game's history, anything about how the game is expected to be when it is finished). Make sure the game is done enough for at least three good screenshots.

IMPORTANT: If you sent me a preview, and it is not here, that is because of a mix up on my hard drive and so forth. I apologize for everything. The best thing you could do would be to re-send me your game to be previewed, and re-send any information about the game that you want me to include here.

Endless Saga
 

Formerly known as Slayers, this game's name is Endless Saga. I know nothing of the game, having only been sent screenshots in an email. The email mentioned that the previous version had all-ripped graphics, but this one has original graphics, and it also mentioned  that the game would be released in February.

Endless Evil
 

Although these pictures are rather dated, they are from the game Endless Evil, the successor to such games as Peasant's Revolt and Ends of the Earth 1 and 2. The graphics look like they exceed even those of Ends of the Earth 2. Let's see if the gameplay and story can do likewise.

Legacy of Time
 

Legacy of Time is a game by Legacy within Time. Here are the author's words on the subject: "People have been believed to be, deep down, basically evil. And as a result, trageties occor between oursleves and others. And in some extreme cases, people get killed." "Why has society some to this? The answer is still a mystery. But some people may think that this has happened because some sort of force has caused it even before time came into being. Some may say that some thing has caused this evil, not them. Or, perhaps they just trying to blame their doings on something else so that they can get away with the evil they have caused." "Is this true? Despite all the debate on this subject, we know that we can never find the answer. It is a secret locked away in the legacy of time." "Or...is it?" "So goes on the story of Legacy of Time. The Main Character, Michael Fabrique was an perfectly ordernary person leading a perfectly normal life until the plane he got on was hijacked. Eventually, he gets caught up in a massive struggle through various time periods against an unknown force,  which is the root of all evil." "Now for the special features for Legacy of Time: "In this game, you obtain magic a litte different than the other games. In most of the other games, you simply learn magic by level or by an item. Mine's a bit more compliecated." "Each magic has a specific "Guardian" which is the gatekeeper to access and learn the magic that the "Guardian" is protecting. In order to learn the magic, you must successfuly summon them and if, by chance, you defeat them, you obtain a sacred book which will teach you that magic. Of course, different characters learn different magics. For example, people who only use White magic can't learn Black magic. (duh) " "The next feature for this game is that you get to choose your own adventure. In my game, there is a point in which you can choose to go to three different worlds, and you can only go to one of them. And depending on which option you choose, the game will be compleatly different altogheter. In other words, you can play this over and over again and experience a different adventure each time! In the upcoming demo of Legacy of Time, you can only play it over three times, but once I get to finish the full version  of it, I'll make sure you can experience at least ten different adventures." "You can probably except a demo to be fishished by April next year, at least, that's what I am trying to do, but the release date is still unclear. Depends on how much time I get to go on the computer."

Babel
 

According to the author of Bable, the story will change depending on which four characters you select to start off the game with. Similar to Monterey Penguin, the random battles of most rpgs have been replaced with seeing (and hopefully avoiding) the enemies in walkabout mode.

Bandit Revolver
 

I don't know much about what this game is about (probably because I lost the original email), but the name is Bandit Revolver, and it is being made by Gilbert/Chronitech. I really have no idea what to expect from this game, except that it appears to be set in a modern-dat setting. The game also reminds me of River City Ransom (nes) for some reason.

Astroboy In.... Armaggeddon!...or something like that
 

According to the email I received (from Psyco Comics Productions), this game's expected release date is february 4th. Oh, wait, by the time you read this it will already be past that date, won't it? Oh well... anyway, it might be availabel at the website provided to me in that email (www.furnation.com/psycocomics/lobby.html).  Okay, about the game itself. It is about a robotic type main character who is named Astroboy, a... um, Happyman, and someone by the name of The Hippie. Okay, so the game doesn't have a complex plot. And it uses music that came with the editor. But! It's actually pretty fun, despite its shortfalls, because it has some well-done dialog. No characterization, but good dialog. All those Ohrrpgce games with thousands of grammatical errors and writing that looks to be at 3rd grade level should learn from games like this.

 
Gevaldian Stakes
 

I didn't actually play this game yet. But here are the write-up preview and screenshots provided, to me, by Ralfo, for this preview of Gevaldian Stakes: Gevaldian Stakes has a story that revolves around a young constable's apprentice named Taeron that owns something he shouldn't, and meets up with a strange becloaked and beragged character, known only as Hayman, who helps him on his journey, of which the goal is clouded in mystery to hmself and everyone else in his party. This game features a fairly simple magic system designed to allow the players to cast powerful spells but only rarely, as they come at a high cost. The battle strategy is made up for by the necesarry usage of Effigies, items used on enemies that summon support NPCs. Enemies result different effigies, so in combination battles with many different types of monsters, the proper use of effigies can lead to your victory. Pay close attention to what certain people will tell you, which may be clues to which monsters call which effigy.  The system of magic is rather limited, with each character starting the game with only a single magic point. This can be added to by collecting Slot items, which add slightly to your total mp. To make up for this, each magic spell delivers a devistating attack or life-saving bonus. Each character will also have a minor ability that allows them to round out their battle strategy. The story will be revealed as you play in the game, and much is a mmystery until the very end. Taking courses at local town academies can help fill in the world history, cultures of people, and will end in a bonus for the players in the form of Diplomas with interesting stat modifiers.  Weapons for most characters can only improved by seeking out rare Hyberium Deposits littered throughout the landscape. Sometimes you may need to backtrack in order to find a hyberium deposit of the correct power level you need. All of this, topped off by great music and cutscenes, should prove to be a fun and indepth game. (captions for the pictures): Haymanscene: A cutscene closeup of the grim visage of the mysterious man known only as Hayman. Bluewing4: A battle scene with Taeron and Hayman versus some vile Fire slugs. The good guys are aided by a friendly Elf. Bluewing6: Taeron preparing to cross a stream in the wilderness. Bluewing5: Taeron in his front yard, near the barns

 

Runes of the Magi
 

This is Runes of the Magi, by Aethereal... I played the .rpg file, and... it was very surreal experience. That was probably because the graphics were obviously... inspired... by Wingedmene (note the mountains, the ocean style, the walkabout style, etc.). Even the music in one of the caves was the music from an earlier edition of wingedmene's red tower. This was verifed when I went into the .rpg file, and saw that the game seems to be a modification of a wingedmene .rpg file. Anyway, that's not exactly a bad thing, in fact both Wingedmene and my game First Fifth were originally modified Wandering Hamster .rpg files. Going into another game is often a good way to learn how Ohrrpgce games are made. Anyway, I digress. The game itself is only a preview version, meaning the enemies were unbalanced and there were rough edges aplenty. The story itself, from what I gathered so far, is similar to Final Fantasy 4's beginning, in that there are two compatriot warriors serving a king who are de-ranked, and one of them vanaishes. From there, the hero has several adventures, and new members join one at a time. The battles in this game are (once in awhile) actually pretty well planned out, using some new ideas such as enemy-stunning. I feel this game would benefit a lot if the author developed his own art style, used less recognizable music, and added more detail to the story, such as character histories. The best games just give a feeling of integration and clarity that this game (along with a lot of other ohrrpgce games, admittantly) does not. In fact, this game is what inspired me to write the article about game design in the design section.

First Fifth (of NHNT)
 

Here are some more work-in-progress screenshots for my game, First Fifth. The game is progressing slower than I had expected (although that's not really that bad of a thing, I think), and I had to delay the planned demo for nearly a year. But be assured that it will be finished eventually. I had not previously previwed this game in Ohrrpgce Monthly, so I thought to do so now. If you don't already know, the only real ohrrpgce games I have previously worked on are And (for the 48 hour contest) and Wingedmene (I consider myself the MeAjur Komera Waddi's game design apprentice). From those experiences, and from my previous efforts in story writing, I have tried to learn what makes a good game. I have delayed working on this game so that I could better question what gameplay actually is, what stories actually are, and just what is the point. This game is my attempt to see if I can answer these questions. The game is sort of a cross between a final fantasy rpg and a zelda adventure game. For example, the battles are set up like the final fantasy games, but enemies do not give you experience points, only bosses (I call them 'critical battles') do. These critical battles are sometimes very difficult, usually there is only one or two ways to win them. For example, victory against a certain enemy (an animated statue and a mage protected by a magic barrier) might require you to first lower the mage's  magic points to 0 so that it can't use its powerful attacks, then destroy the barrier protecting them with a nullify spell or two, and then hit the statue with a special explosively charged arrow in the eye. The mage would then flee. The gameplay is not nearly as forward as you might expect. In Final Fantasy games, often a dungeon takes no more than an hour to rush through, with few or no puzzles, one boss, and no real difficulties or secrets. In First Fifth, the dungeons will be more like the dungeons in the Zelda games... sometimes you can get stuck on one for days or weeks, finally realizing you didn't check a certain wall or push a certain block or try a certain item. There might be blocks that you can only push in a certain direction, and if you rotate them they then become pushable from a different direction. Each dungeon is a challenge, and I hope the player will get a good feeling from finally finishing one. Also, another main point about the gameplay is that it is largely non-linear, similar to the first zelda game. You can take the dungeons in any order you want, although you may need items from some dungeons to complete others. It's not as if you can just go to every dungeon in order, there is a lot of backtracking and exploration. As for game specifics, there are eleven playable characters, although one is only avialable in the 2nd quest (advanced mode which opens up after the game is finished). The game itself should be at least 30 hours long, maybe as long as 60, depending on how much I have time to put in. The game will also have totally original music (examples: Boss Theme, Danger Theme, Tan Tagast's Theme) As for the story, First Fifth is the first fifth of a larger story, each focusing on a different main character, but with one main event flow. The story is based on certain psychological, religious, and philosophical themes, which can be seen as the game progresses. I can't tell much about it now, as that's the point of the game itself, but I can say a few things about the setting of the game. The people who live on Tha Yarea (the name of the world), unlike people here, are always (well, 99% of the time) born as fraternal twins. So virtually every character in the game has or had a twin. This effects the culture, so instead of one god they favor the diea of two twin gods which created the world. Also, the planet is lacking in certain natural resources, in particular metals such as copper, iron, and aluminum, and fossil fuels. Therefore certain technologies, in particular those allowing the industrial revolution, have had a hard time forming. Weapons and armor are made mostly of quartz crystal, glass, or wood, all of which are abundant. I now plan to get a demo ready by September (with the full game one year later or so)... although possibly earlier or later, depending on how well (bug-free) my plotscripting systems go, and on how much time I am able to put into the graphics between now and then. I have virtually no enemy graphics, battle backgrounds, or maptile sets complete, although I do have most of the attack graphics, mindset graphics (like that fractal image to the right) and walkabout graphics finished. At any rate, the full game should be completed about one year after the demo is released.