Talk:Balan Wonderworld

Balan Company - what is it?

So, there’s seems to be some debate on what it is. Some say dev team/company. Some say it’s just a brand/franchise type name. Figured I’d start a discussion on what sources say. Sergecross73 msg me 03:12, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

• IGN called it a game studio, in an article title, no less.
• Naka seems to call it both a dev team and a brand on the PlayStation Blog. Sergecross73 msg me 03:09, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

Another thing: @PresN:, is this in Square Enix wiki projects scope? It’s developed by this group, do they count? Judgesurreal777 (talk) 04:47, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

You guys can handle it however you want, but I assumed it would apply to the Square Enix WikiProject. Whatever Balan Company is, it’s a fully Square owned thing. And Naka is an actual Square employee, not just a freelancer for them or something.] Sergecross73 msg me 11:12, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

Yeah, it's WPSE either way, whether Balan Company is a subsidiary studio or a brand name- time to push to C. And yeah, the Balan Wonderland/Company page (translation issues?) says it's "a new action game brand", which is why I reverted myself. Gematsu seems pretty clear that it's a brand- they say that the "Company" is in the sense of a performing troupe, not a business identifier. --PresN 13:46, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

At the PlayStation Blog source above, written by Naka, he says Balan Wonderworld is being made by a team of amazing and dedicated developers from our all-new action gaming brand within Square Enix, Balan Company. He mentions it as a “brand” yes, but I have a hard time distinguishing the difference between “development team” and “group of people developing a game referred to collectively by a brand name”. It really feels like he’s just trying to recreate the same relationship as there is between Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Team. Sergecross73 msg me 14:15, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

Yeah, "brand names" should count as studios even if they aren't a legal entity. ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 21:49, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

Arzest is credited by Yuji Naka on his twitter as the developer of the game. Seems that this is a collaboration between Square Enix and Arzest as far as development goes which they are calling it Balan Company as the brand around the project. The other co-creator of Sonic is literally part of Arzest as vice-president, so it makes sense, plus Visual Works is working on the project and a Square Enix employee is working on the music. ~ Boyohboy231 ^(talk) 22:33, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

I don’t doubt Arzest is helping. They should be listed as co-devs or contributor or something. But listing only Arzest clearly isn’t accurately labeling the development staff. Sergecross73 msg me 01:39, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

Should a section on the Tims be added?

As more and more information on the Tims are released, should they have their own section? Because they seem to play a relatively large role in the game. Just a thought; they are simply a gimmick, so this is probably unnecessary. BGT1923 (talk) 15:04, 20 October 2020 (UTC)

Probably not. Usually on Wikipedia, unless things are getting extremely long or something, we tend to stick things into more standardized, broad sections. (Gameplay, Reception, Development, etc) Some sourced info on them could be added to the gameplay or story section, depending on what you’re trying to say about them, though. Sergecross73 msg me 15:14, 20 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you, will keep that in mind (a gameplay section needs to be added first, though lol). BGT1923 (talk) 17:29, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

Given that the Tims seem to have some sort of decent gameplay purpose as per the demo, I added a bit of prose about them in the premise section (which essentially acts, and should be renamed as the gameplay section). Doomhiker (talk) 18:31, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

Gameplay Section

So, I've been wondering about when to make a gameplay section for Balan Wonderworld, but I've already been putting one together (sorta). This is just a draft; more things need to be added, and I know that at least two of these paragraphs need to be switched around, but what specific changes need to be made so far? Thankses <3

Balan Wonderworld is an action platformer that takes place in the Wonderworld, specifically, the 12 Worlds Inside Hearts. These worlds are created from the negative feelings of the inhabitants of Wonderworld, who are possessed by the Negati. It is up to the player to defeat the Negati controlling the inhabitants to free their souls and to help them find happiness again. Upon defeating the Negati, the player and the freed inhabitant celebrate in song-and-dance.

While venturing through the Wonderworld, the player can locate creatures called Tims. By feeding Tims Happiness Drops of a certain color, the player grants that Tim a certain ability; for example, red Tims find items for you. Tims are what keep the Happiness Level of Wonderworld balanced. When there are plenty of Tims around, there is Happiness Time. However, if too many Negati give the inhabitants of Wonderworld negative emotions, fewer Tims are born. When there are no Tims being born, Happiness Time stops completely, and the Happiness Level drops. Therefore, it is especially important that the player raises a lot of Tims.

After entering one of the twelve worlds, the player must find and defeat the Negati that are bringing negative emotions to the inhabitants in order to restore peace to that world. Along the way, Balan has hidden many Balan Statues that the player must find to progress to the next level. In addition, there are various costumes for the player to collect and use to accomplish certain tasks.

It’s not bad, but mostly notably, it lacks any sourcing, so it would be removed if added its current state. Everything needs a reliable source to verify the content. See WP:REFB to read up on how, and WP:VG/S for examples of useable and unusable sources. Sergecross73 msg me 23:51, 4 December 2020 (UTC)

Evidence of weirdness in the structure of this article

I'm not a wikipedia editor, but i do want to point in the direction for anyone who cares about aspects of this article that clearly seem written from someone who made this game internally. The game's almost completely negative reception is glossed over, but we have in depth explanations about how "bug fixing was important, and if there was a bug, that is a problem!"

This on top of the fact that the article points to how Metacritic scores were being botted to be positive means that you guys should probably be on the lookout for the same paid interns who are trying to shift the public perception of this game via botting and wikipedia articles. Just saying 2600:1700:68D0:7A50:18E3:50EC:9F8C:113B (talk) 08:33, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

I mean, the reception section should be expanded, but otherwise, I'm not sure I see the issue. It's not like it's negative commentary should be prevalent throughout the entire article or something. It should be in the reception and the WP:LEAD, and virtually all the commentary there is negative. Noting the dev team said they took debugging seriously isn't particularly overtly positive. Sergecross73 msg me 12:24, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

Not trying to say the entire article should be negative, but it doesnt read like an encyclopedic entry, it reads like a dev blog in some areas. 2600:1700:68D0:7A50:18E3:50EC:9F8C:113B (talk) 16:58, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

GA Nomination?

It looks great! Does anyone want to nominate this article for Good Article status? Judgesurreal777 (talk) 20:24, 25 April 2021 (UTC)

Agreed that it's close. I will note that, one of the newbie editors that wrote some of it, was using primary and social media sources that may need replacing. That said, it was the type of stuff that could probably be sourced to other sources too. Sergecross73 msg me 23:11, 25 April 2021 (UTC)

@Judgesurreal777: and @Sergecross73:: the article is now a GA nominee. Roberth Martinez (talk) 14:09, 11 January 2022 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Balan Wonderworld/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: David Fuchs (talk · contribs) 20:37, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

{{in progress}} Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs ^talk 20:37, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

Overall, the article is in solid shape. Some thoughts:

• Balan Wonderworld was produced for Microsoft Windows via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. based on the commas here if you didn't know better you'd think it was produced for Microsoft Windows via (all the following platforms), rather than just by Steam and was also released on these other platforms. (Also applies to the mention in the "Design" subsection.
  • I dropped the Steam mention in the platform list, and specified in the Release section its digital release being through Steam.
• Japanese magazine Famitsu praised the aesthetics and music, but several critics found the gameplay mechanics tedious. If you aren't aware Famitsu's scores are generated from the opinions of multiple critics, this reads like Famitsu said one thing but these unrelated critics said something else, rather than talking about the same review.
  • I cut the "several critics" bit.
• I think the ending of the reception section could probably use slightly more fleshing out, rather than just piling some very generic statements on with a bunch of refs tacked on after them—while they obviously don't outweigh the problems with the game, for instance, it seems weird something as big as the game's graphics are mostly consigned to a single final line.
  • Did a bit of fleshing out for the graphics. As to the rest...it really was that generic.
• Images look appropriately licensed and sourced, non-free images generally seem fine with respect to WP:NFCC; the one I think could use a little beefing up rationale-wise is File:Balan Wonderworld gameplay.jpg, since "To identify and illustrate the game or program in its own article or a closely related article." is pretty generic and doesn't really explain what about this image justifies its inclusion for commentary. (Also given the size of elements, I think a slightly larger screenshot would be acceptable, you'd just need to tag it so the dumb bot doesn't come along and resize it.)
  • I've expanded the rationale a little. And I don't know how to tag so the bot doesn't do an automatic shrinking.
    • For future edification, you just slap at {{Non-free no reduce}} tag on it.
• References:
  • It'd be nice if there was a better source than the Tweet (Ref 40), but I understand if there's not. Otherwise don't have issues with the sourcing used—generally reliable, good variety.
    • Sadly, there isn't. I looked.
  • Did a spot-check to current refs 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 19, 20, 27, 33, 36, 49, 51, 56, and 60.
    • Unless there's a translation that didn't come through in the Japanese ref (2), doesn't look like Leo's surname Craig actually is mentioned in refs 1–3?
      • I just dropped the surnames.
    • I feel like enough time has passed that this clause needs to be revisited/updated: The demo costume will be made available through another means for all players.
      • I just cut this bit.

--Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs ^talk 15:03, 24 January 2022 (UTC)

@David Fuchs: I think I've addressed everything. --ProtoDrake (talk) 15:26, 24 January 2022 (UTC)

Thanks. I will take another look through/editing pass tonight or tomorrow and see if anything else sticks out. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs ^talk 19:14, 24 January 2022 (UTC)