[EGD] Travelers Keep Going (Originally Written By Dcxd)

Travelers Keep Going is a game created by bestatgames9

*NOTE:* this review was written by the user dcxd

What�s good B�s? I�m Dcxd, and today I�m going to be reviewing Travelers Keep Going, a EGD entry by Bestatgames9, Sploder�s resident meme lord. I�ve been hearing a lot about this game over the past few weeks, and I�ve seen mixed opinions from everyone. One thing everyone seems to agree on, though, is that the game�s visuals were expertly crafted. So I decided to take a look for myself, and while the scenery was indeed beautiful, what I was presented with upon clicking the �play� button disturbed me.

Initial Expectations

While this game was in development, Best let me test his EGD entry, which he had been hyping up for a while. I was really excited to try it out, because every screenshot that had been released featured incredible graphics: beautiful lighting effects, floating islands made entirely with the drawing tool, scenery rendered in exquisite detail, and a beautiful female dressed in black, armed only with a parasol and courage. And the protagonist could fly! If a game has great graphics and a flying character, it�s got to have good gameplay, right?

Gameplay

I couldn�t have possibly been more wrong.

I�m really sorry to be so harsh Best, but you really kinda goofed on this one.

When I played the game for the first time after its release, I noticed that the method of moving the character had been changed dramatically. I remember having the character move upwards if you left the keyboard alone, but this was substituted for a generic Arcade Mover in the official release.

Additionally, Best relied on bullet-hell scenarios way too much in this game, and while this does make games challenging, it can seriously ruin a game if that�s literally all there is to it.

Best probably realized this at some point and tried to add more to the game than just bullethell, but to do such things, clear and helpful instruction needs to be given to the player, which was not present anywhere in this game. Take level 5 for example. �She saw something fly out of the skull thing... follow it... even if you have to fight the guard�� In no way does that provide information on how to play.

Also, Best, I don�t want to be nitpicky, but you really screwed some of your hazards over by placing land in front of it. Like reviews, games need to be refined. If you ever want to get a game featured, let alone suggested for the EGL, you need to test each level multiple times and scan for errors. It�s very clear that you didn�t do that enough, judging by some of the egregious mistakes in placement and explanation, among other things. Believe it or not, that can mortally wound the quality of a game. I can safely say on behalf of everyone that�s played TKG that this entry�s gameplay is repetitive, confusing, and ultimately boring, because you spent too much time on visual details.

Story

I want to start this section off on a more positive note after ranting about gameplay, but I really honestly can�t. The storyline looks like it�s supposed to be deep and moving with a moral, but despite the gameplay being about as bad as anything can get, the story is somehow worse. There were so many story elements being thrown where gameplay elements should be, and gameplay elements being tossed where story elements should be, seemingly at random. Best, I don�t understand why you would want to take up a quarter of the space on the playfield to make a 4 panel comic that nobody is going to understand. And as I mentioned before, the story was put where the gameplay instructions were supposed to be. It�s hard to give opinions on gameplay and story separately when you�re mixing them together into a spaghetti mess that�s impossible to understand. And even if the story was placed where it belongs (which is in the description of the game, NOT the how to play section) it would still be, well, awful. �You were right,now beat him.� �You heard something outside,sounded like an explosion...well you were going to go outside anyway�� Grammar mistakes aside, that�s simply not a story. It looks like Best completely forgot about continuity and explanation, because the story is incredibly difficult to decipher. I don�t mean that there�s some hidden metaphor that nobody can get at. I mean exactly the opposite. Making bad puns and using words and phrases like �skull thing� and then trying to be dramatic about it makes the story suffer. The storyline is incredibly shallow for a game with a name like �Travelers Keep Going.� From what I can tell, it�s just Mary Poppins going to hell and back. I know that the deadline for EGD came up pretty quick, but I think Best definitely could have put more time and effort into the storyline.

Music

I�m going to make this one quick because I�m tired of ranting. From what I can tell, Best only used music from the featured music tab instead of devoting time to selecting fitting music for his levels. Using music like Mia�s Song in an EGD entry only makes the game seem worse, and even though I see that kind of thing all over Sploder, it�s usually characteristic to simple prefab PPGs that literally anyone can make no matter what their level of skill is.

Scenery

I feel like this was the only EGD-worthy part of this game. The scenery is a perfect blend of drawn objects and both user-made and preset graphics. It looks like some of the graphics were made by other users, but honestly, I don�t care because Best placed these graphics in such an exquisite manner that the player would feel like they�re actually experiencing the game if it weren�t for the defective storyline completely ruining the vibe. Just looking at the intro screen gives you a good idea of what everything else in the game looks like. The silver linings on the clouds are an amazing touch, and the lens flare coming off of the moon is no worse. I particularly liked how the stars seemed to be reflected in the water; I couldn�t help but notice how pretty that looked. The ripples in front of the house need work, though. It would look better if they varied more in length but still remained somewhat centered in front of the house.

And that�s just one level. For the rest of the game, a variety of amazing effects are used, from shadows to lava and the glowing aura around it, to amazing pinwheel effects, to lens flares and beautiful waves, to fences, trails, lightning, clouds, tendrils, and even light pollution, making this game seem more like a beautiful painting than a game, which it essentially is. I feel like some of these effects were overdone and Best could have cut himself a little slack and worked on other things than just visual details, but looking at it, I personally don�t want any of that detail to go away.

Pros

- Captivating scenery

- Interesting boss fights

- Incredible attention to detail

Cons

- Bad storyline

- Too much bullethell, making the game less fun to play

- Generic music

- Poor hazard placement

Scores

Gameplay: 4/10

Storyline: 2/10

Scenery: 10/10

Music: 5.5/10

Overall: 5.3/10

Conclusion

Travelers Keep Going is a work of art and I can definitely tell that Best spent a lot of time on it. Would I suggest it for the EGL? No. Would I feature it? No. Would I review it? I feel bad for even trying. I personally liked the game better when I was testing it, when there were timing-based puzzles, better hazards, and a more fun method of movement. Just making a game look perfect and then relying on one gameplay concept and overusing it doesn�t make it EGL worthy. However, every level is truly amazing to look at, and in my opinion, that�s enough motivation to get players to complete the game.

~(Sidenote: The actual story cannot be found in the game, but was posted on the forums and I seemed to have overlooked that. So here it is:

A little girl feels her life is becoming meaningless ever since her parents died and having to move to grandma's home,so she sneaks off and is ready for the adventure of her lifetime,armed with only her mothers umbrella and her father's courage,she will travel everywhere,from the glorious heavens,to the deepest depths of hell,she will realize her life is important after all,all of this in one night.)~