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AGS Games => Completed Game Announcements => Topic started by: shaun9991 on Wed 26/11/2014 12:07:28

Title: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Wed 26/11/2014 12:07:28
A short and strange game from the makers of Mudlarks!

DOWNLOAD HERE (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1851/download/)

A Date in the Park is now on Steam Greenlight! Hoping to get some more exposure for it by getting it on Steam as a free download.

If you enjoyed the game please do consider giving us your vote :) You can vote here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=646036057


Story:
You are Lou. You've recently moved to Lisbon, in Portugal, to take up a new job and start a new life. Within days of arriving, you meet an enchanting woman, Catarina, at a bar on a night out. After a few hours of getting along swimmingly, you agree to meet her the next day in her favourite park.

You arrive at the stunning park on a beautiful sunny day, with high hopes. Lou soon realises the atmosphere is a little off... it's not going to be an average date.

Features:
- A cast of several characters
- Language confusion - Lou does not speak Portuguese.
- 20+ screens to explore
- A short, narrative experience, with a few puzzles as well. I think it will take between 30 minutes and an hour to complete. Maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less, depending on the player
- Twists and turns - shocking moments! (there's a horror element to the game)
- 90s style digitised graphics and animated sprites (sprites are animated much better than in Mudlarks)
- 640 x 400 resolution
- Real world location to explore- Tapada das Necessidades in Lisbon, Portugal
- 2 click interface, with inventory etc

(http://i59.tinypic.com/2it62xs.png)
(http://i57.tinypic.com/2zphxjr.png)
(http://i62.tinypic.com/24diqaf.png)
(http://i57.tinypic.com/30sc012.png)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: AnasAbdin on Wed 26/11/2014 12:55:57
Congrats!!! Finally it's here. I'll spend a wonderful evening for sure 8-)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Mandle on Wed 26/11/2014 13:07:38
I have been waiting for this since the amazing Mudlarks month or so I spent solving that damn thing (laugh)

Now you have released this just when I have to go to bed...

Ah, screw it, DOWNLOADING!!!

Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: CaptainD on Wed 26/11/2014 13:31:12
Congrats on the release Shaun!  Shout me on Twitter if I haven't done a post on this in the next couple of days. ;)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Mandle on Wed 26/11/2014 14:38:04
Just finished the game and I must say it was a very enjoyable and mysterious experience.

I have a question or two:

BIG SPOILERS(do NOT look if you haven't played):

Spoiler
I noticed there is no "alternative endings" feature listed so is the tragic end the only one? The game seemed to lead me towards that ending but maybe I missed something?
[close]

Second question:

Spoiler
Are you a big softy romantic and actually met an amazing girl in Portugual and had a date in this very park and made this game for her where she got to be the evil temptress? If not then sorry, but it was kind of the vibe I got, and something like I would do myself for a girl I was in love with...In that nerdy way that girls tend to find endearing...
[close]
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Cassiebsg on Wed 26/11/2014 16:20:32
Is there a mirror for this one? Game jolt doesn't work for me. :sad:
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Wed 26/11/2014 17:18:52
Thanks for the nice comments guys :D Have had some really positive feedback so far.

Anas: Once you've played it, let me know what you think :)

Mandle:
Spoiler
Glad you enjoyed it :) So far there is only the one ending... I've been in a bleak mood lately ;) Recently had a few ideas about alternate endings, when I get some time I might re-jig the game around a bit to give it more replay value and alternate endings. I did't meet a girl in Portugal lol, though I did go this park with my wife, and while we were walking around it seemed quite strange and abandoned, there was only a creepy gardener and we saw a duckling get randomly attacked... so in that sense its a true story :)
[close]

Cassiebg: Sorry about that. I've uploaded it to IndieDB too, which is generally very reliable. Just need to wait for the file to be verified there, I'll post a link on this page as soon as it does :)

Also, a big thanks to Problem and Hedgefield from this very forum for their help with playtesting and stuff, much appreciated!!!
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: AnasAbdin on Wed 26/11/2014 18:16:45
I was literally in a little park in Portugal 5 minutes ago 8-0 I wish the game never ended!

Really very well done Shaun. If everyone of us made a game based on locations around them we'd bankrupt Google Street View.

Spoiler
Naming the duckling was an amazing touch!
What did you guys name your duckling?
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/V8Wr6vS.png)
[close]
[close]

As Mandle said the game seemed to lead us towards the end. You know the whole game can be an intro to another game where (your brother maybe?) investigates 8-)

The backgrounds are awesome. At some point I'd love to see one of the backgrounds before editing too. I paid so much attention to the details on the buildings tops, they reminded me of some old places I used to hang out when I was a kid. Even for a short game, I got immersed quickly! For some reason the pigeons scared the hell out of me  8-0

I'd definitely play it again even if you didn't add alternative endings  ;)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Problem on Wed 26/11/2014 18:50:28
I had the pleasure to test this one. It's an excellent short game! My only criticism is that puzzles are a little sparse for all those backgrounds, but the atmosphere is fantastic, so I didn't mind walking around to find the next clue. The game starts very relaxing and it does indeed feel like being on holiday, but the story turns out rather creepy in the end. Very effective use of photographs, and the animations are a lot better than in "Mudlarks". Well done!
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: AprilSkies on Wed 26/11/2014 23:42:27
Congratz for the release Shaun!
I'm traveling for work so I can't play it till friday, and this is causing me anxiety. LOL!
For now, I can say that the screenies are very nice!
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Vincent on Wed 26/11/2014 23:49:50
FMV GAME ! Finally ! :-D


I Love this game, and very well done !
Congratulation Shaun for the release!
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Shadow1000 on Thu 27/11/2014 04:35:32
I just finished this game. The scenery is gorgeous and once it starts, the story is engaging. I happen to read Portuguese so I'm not sure if the dialogue is a bit confusing to English-only people or is intended to add to the mystery of the environment.

Spoiler
I will agree that there is a lot of walking and exploring for very few puzzles. I do have to admit that I did not see the ending coming. I don't want to give away too much but ... wow...
[close]

Thanks for a really well-made short game.

SHADOW
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Stupot on Thu 27/11/2014 06:55:41
Congrats in release Shaun. Can't wait to check it out :-)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Cassiebsg on Thu 27/11/2014 19:36:30
Finished! :-D

Besides the Google translation and Brazilian Portuguese in the mix, was a nice little game. And yup, lot of walking... (laugh) .
Also noticed a few mistakes in English (like a word missing here and there).

Spoiler

@AnasAbdin, I named mine Donald... sounded right for a duck for some odd reason... (roll)(laugh)
[close]

Spoiler alert!
Spoiler

Do you really want to read a spolier? Move along if you don't! :p
Spoiler

Funny, that I had already suspected the Gardner was dead, but I thought his head was in the bag. But maybe that was because I understood what the guy said? (nod)
Love the plane fly by... you got lucky or was on purpose? :)
Odd enough, once the cop showed up I knew what was going to happen... (not to the cop though). (roll)
[close]
[close]

Thanks for a little bit of nostalgia. :D
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Vincent on Thu 27/11/2014 22:42:05
Creepy Happy Ending ^^
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Stupot on Fri 28/11/2014 15:57:18
Just played it. Nice game, well pulled off. I wish it was a tad longer, or at least included a couple more puzzles, but overall very fun. And had me almost genuinely crap my pants at one point. :shocked:
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: sergiocornaga on Sat 29/11/2014 08:22:26
That was fun. I'm glad I only glanced over your description, as I was fairly surprised by some of the game's events! Personally I'd advise against adding more endings, the one that you've got already suits the game very well.

Quote from: shaun9991 on Wed 26/11/2014 12:07:28- Maybe with full speech voice acting
You should probably remove this 'feature'.  (laugh)

Quote from: AnasAbdin on Wed 26/11/2014 18:16:45
Spoiler
Naming the duckling was an amazing touch!
What did you guys name your duckling?
[close]
Louie.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: AprilSkies on Sat 29/11/2014 22:03:55
Shaun! I finally played it!
I was busy doing a lot of stuff with the projects I'm workin on... but today i found the time.
It's around midnite here.
It's like 1990, when i used to go on all nite playin Adventure games!

And this is so damn good. And so damn 1990 too, LOL!

I must say that this one is technically even better than Mudlarks. Well Mudlarks has a story soo good that it's hard t do better... But with tis one I can understand the path you're going to draw!

Ok going to finish it. Cause ... I fear i'm going to finish it :P
A way too short uh?
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Cassiebsg on Sat 29/11/2014 23:02:33
Quote from: sergiocornaga on Sat 29/11/2014 08:22:26
Personally I'd advise against adding more endings, the one that you've got already suits the game very well.

Actually, I totally agree with this.
More endings would mean "there's a right and a wrong way", and I think the story leads to this end.

PS.
Spoiler

Shouldn't there be a warning for gore and mature audience only?
If there is, I totally missed it. (laugh)
[close]
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Mandle on Sat 29/11/2014 23:20:50
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Sat 29/11/2014 23:02:33
PS.
Spoiler

Shouldn't there be a warning for gore and mature audience only?
If there is, I totally missed it. (laugh)
[close]

Spoiler
Meh...kids these days would be all like:

"Pfft...you call that gore?! I've seen all the Saw movies and The Human Centipede..."
[close]
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Cogliostro on Sun 30/11/2014 02:19:05
This calls for an immediate download!

- Cogliostro
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Mon 08/12/2014 15:15:44
Thanks for all the comments everyone! Glad you've all had a play around with it, I've been very happy with the feedback :) Will be working on a few tweaks here and there at some point over the next few weeks, taking on board everyones suggestions etc. I'll try to respond to you all individually soon :)

Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Tue 16/12/2014 15:12:14
Hey guys,

I've just uploaded a new version of the game to GameJolt, fixed a couple of bugs and changed the font. The game now has wwwwwwwwwaaaay better Portuguese, thanks to Cassiebsg for the translation! :)

Download here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1851/)

Shaun

Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Cassiebsg on Tue 16/12/2014 15:42:22
No problem, glad I could help. :D
there's still a few lines I'm not sure about, maybe miguel will have a suggestion or two? (nod)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: I<3Pindorama! on Tue 16/12/2014 15:48:32
Congratulations!
I am very curious to know this work.
Downloading immediately!
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: I<3Pindorama! on Tue 16/12/2014 17:06:35
I will avoid comment further to avoid compromising the
surprise that the game hides. But would be a good short
movie or perhaps a tale.

And that the beautiful location!
The park is really lovely.The girl too! ;)
The game's sound is really engaging...

Cassiebsg really did a good job with the translation.
Only a few minor adjustments are needed.
I will pass the details by PM.

Congratulations again!
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Cassiebsg on Tue 16/12/2014 17:09:37
Keep in mind that Portuguese from Portugal is different from Portuguese from Brasil, before you suggest changes. ;)
Not that I'm a master in Portuguese mind you, never had more than the needed "C"...
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: I<3Pindorama! on Tue 16/12/2014 18:35:36
Hi,  Cassiebsg.

QuoteKeep in mind that Portuguese from Portugal is different from Portuguese from Brasil, before you suggest changes.
Yes, but there are more similarities than differences, believe me.
Indeed not larger and not less than those which exist between the english spoken in England and the english spoken in the USA or also exist between the French and Canadian French (i think).

I am familiar with the Portuguese of Portugal. Obviously not as much as Miguel or Aikex. :P
But there grammar rules, words and phrases which context applies for both. I would not dare to go beyond what I'm sure. I just love this language. Love in the same way that one can love the sound that surrounds the nature in all its  peculiarities: birds, leaves, rivers, seas, wind ... cultures... "Entende ao que me refiro?".
I love the Portuguese, mainly because is a part of me ... my origin and my essence.

And if not rude on my part, i wonder what motivated you to study our language. I'm sure that was also out of love, or something very close to it ... cause I must congratulate you... particularly If it were up to me you win a B + with praise! ;)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Cassiebsg on Tue 16/12/2014 19:31:18
Well... I had to study it... since I was born, raised and lived in Lisbon for 30 years... :P
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: I<3Pindorama! on Tue 16/12/2014 19:53:29
Wow ... this explains the "B+". ;)
So... "você realmente sabe ao que estou me referindo!" - :P
If you allow me... First i would to send the suggestions for you.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Cassiebsg on Tue 16/12/2014 19:57:42
Sure, send away, we can chat a bit via PM, so not to clutter here. ;)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Ibispi on Thu 18/12/2014 17:09:46
Hi Shaun,
I've finished the game, and I have questions about one puzzle.
Spoiler
how does the device that pumps the water into pools under the statues work? I managed to activate it by randomly clicking the buttons, since I found no clues or manual on how it works. Was that intentional or did I miss the clues/manual? I'm curious! :confused:
[close]
Otherwise the story and everything else in the game was excellent, I think. The graphics being the best part of it, for me.
I especially liked the plot twist when...
Spoiler
the duck kills Lou. :-D
[close]
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Tue 30/12/2014 21:13:57
thanks for the nice comments guys! i've been happy with the feedback with this game considering it was a small experimental side project thingy :)

BSP:

Spoiler
The pump: The buttons are pushed until the black indicators line up on the right side - meaning the pump is aligned with the right hand statue. Then you press the green button to release the water. If you line them up on the left side, the statue on the left hand side gets water pumped out of it. Hope that explains it? Glad you liked the game :)

[close]
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Tue 15/03/2016 21:02:12
Please forgive me for dredging up this old post - A Date in the Park is now on Steam Greenlight! Hoping to get some more exposure for it by getting it on Steam as a free download.

If you enjoyed the game please do consider giving us your vote :)

You can vote here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=646036057
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: AprilSkies on Thu 17/03/2016 17:35:20
Sure!
8-)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Sat 26/03/2016 18:04:58
Thanks AprilSkies :)

It's currently 57% of the way to the top 100 on Greenlight, I'm not entirely sure what that means exactly, but it seems pretty good!! :)

Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Problem on Sat 26/03/2016 20:45:56
From my own experience the Greenlight rank is not important. We made it through Greenlight way before we even came close to the top 100. A good yes/no ratio seems to be important, and I guess it also helps if you have a lot of traffic in general, so keep telling everybody about your campaign. But the greenlight ranking doesn't say much by itself. And the game being free might also influence Steam's decision (not really sure if positive or negative...)

Anyway, good luck with your campaign(s). I hope you'll make it, you guys deserve it!
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Tue 29/03/2016 10:10:14
Thanks Problem, interesting insight!

Both games suffered from an early deluge of no votes (and in the case of Legend of Hand, suffered a flood of other games put on Greenlight, it had disappeared from 'Recent submissions' in less than a day!) but are clawing their way back up slowly, currently at around 40/60. Happy to be in it for the long haul... it's an interesting experiment! I've learned some good things for the future, I think our next game is going to have to up its game graphically by quite a long way, and we need to make a waaaay better trailer :)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Fitz on Tue 29/03/2016 18:50:57
Maybe it's the other greenlighters furiously downvoting everything other than their own games, hoping to get a higher rank themselves. That'd be a mean thing to do, but I don't have much faith in humanity ;) And I hear they indeed do that on Kongregate all the time.

I also have a question: if your submission is supposed to be free once greenlit, is the fee still 100 bucks/euros (or whatever it was for commercial games)? I've been considering submitting something of mine, and I think I'd be willing to shell out the hundred for Gray.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Tue 29/03/2016 19:00:41
Hey Fitz!

Yeah downvoting seems pretty rife on most websites these days, humanity is doomed lol.

You still need to pay the one off fee even if you want to post a free game up there. In our case we paid it to put Legend of Hand and future games up there, so thought I might as well try out one of the games we'd already made!
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Thu 21/07/2016 18:03:30
Hi guys!

Apologies again for dredging up this old post, but I'd just like to say the A Date in the Park is now available free on Steam!

It's now got such fancy additions as Achievements! If you would like to check it out here is the link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/468530/ (http://store.steampowered.com/app/468530/)

I've been pleasantly surprised by the feedback and the reviews, it's all nice and positive so far! Was very apprehensive about releasing it into the big bad world of Steam! :)

Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Fitz on Thu 21/07/2016 19:45:29
Congrats! Glad to hear there are some people out there, outside our cosy AGS forums, still enjoying something classic retro. I'm trying to muster up the courage to maybe try greenlighting one of my games, but yeah, I'm still scared, my artistic choices are just borderline weird :)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: CaptainD on Thu 21/07/2016 20:58:38
Nice!  More AGs should have achievements :-D
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: AnasAbdin on Fri 22/07/2016 12:36:19
Congrats shaun 8-) great to hear that.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Cassiebsg on Fri 22/07/2016 13:47:20
Congrats, it's well deserved and I enjoyed reading the reviews on steam. (nod)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Two Tales on Mon 25/07/2016 07:24:03
Congratulations for releasing the game on Steam. I too would be a bit apprehensive about it knowing how ruthless such a large community of diverse gamers can be.
I don't use Steam myself but it's great to see A date in the park on it.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Mandle on Sun 07/08/2016 17:34:36
I've seen comments on YouTube on Markiplier's channel and Jacksepticeye's channel asking for them to play A Date In The Park...

These are guys with both over 10 million subscribers, and who get over a million views on every video within 24 hours...

I hope one of them plays the game...they have done AGS games in the past...
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Wed 17/08/2016 21:54:41
Thanks for the nice comments guys! :)

I must say I've been pleasantly surprised that the game has been doing really well on Steam - 29000 downloads and 86% positive reviews so far! It's been a great way to open the game up to way more people and get our name out there a bit more. We were lucky that the game was featured on the front page of Steam for a while which definitely resulted in a massive amount of hits on the game page.

Fitz: I would absolutely encourage you to try out Steam Greenlight! I could see Gray doing really well :) The same goes for a lot of AGS freeware developers - there's so many great games out there that would get a whole heap of exposure on Steam - and the Steam community seems less scary than I thought it would be. I think the one off fee is worth it if you can afford it :) Games like Camp 1 for example, people would go nuts for that!!!

Mandle: A couple of semi-big Youtubers played it, which was cool! I noticed one thing when Markiplier played our game The Terrible Old Man... it didn't seem to give us much more downloads. Though in terms of seeing how many people could now see our work... that was amazing!!! Would be interesting to see how much the effect would be on a commercial/longer game.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: arj0n on Thu 18/08/2016 15:23:26
Quote from: shaun9991 on Wed 17/08/2016 21:54:41
Fitz: I would absolutely encourage you to try out Steam Greenlight! I could see Gray doing really well :)

Absolutely! (nod)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: kurt_indovina on Fri 02/09/2016 15:59:51
To begin: this is my first post on the AGS forums, and much of the reason why I finally decided to join the community was because of this game. That isn't to say that other AGS games haven't inspired me to join in the past, but for whatever reason, this game made me officially want to get involved.

So with that said -- thank you Shaun for making this.

The games pacing and constant to build up to what I felt was an inevitably dark ending, still left the circumstances genuinely shocking and unpredictable. Also, the role of the duckling in the end was brilliant and comically perfect.

I hope to be more involved an vocal on here about other games. 
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: KyriakosCH on Mon 19/09/2016 00:15:29
Nice game! :D

The duckling was evil :sealed:
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Wed 28/09/2016 19:14:46
@kurt_indovina Thanks for your kind words! I'm delighted to hear the game helped inspired you to get involved with AGS, this is what it's all about :) Do keep us informed of whatever you are working on!

@KyriakosCH Thanks! :D
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Ali on Thu 11/04/2019 01:03:25
A friend just tipped me off (based on me being in the credits for the Scrolling Module) that comedian Limmy has just streamed a playthrough. (Lots of NSFW language)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06EZRwUSVtE

For people who don't know Limmy, he's a cult comedy hero. But he's known for extremely taking the piss, which from what I've seen he doesn't seem to be doing too much here. It's 12 minutes before he actually starts playing.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Durq on Thu 11/04/2019 04:17:03
Quote from: Ali on Thu 11/04/2019 01:03:25
A friend just tipped me off (based on me being in the credits for the Scrolling Module) that comedian Limmy has just streamed a playthrough. (Lots of NSFW language)

For people who don't know Limmy, he's a cult comedy hero. But he's known for extremely taking the piss, which from what I've seen he doesn't seem to be doing too much here. It's 12 minutes before he actually starts playing.

LOL at the "if only I could pull finger and get learning" part.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: shaun9991 on Thu 11/04/2019 09:30:33
I saw this come up on Twitter a couple of days ago - oh my god it's absolutely hilarious. The last few minutes had me in tears of laughter!!!

The game is admittedly absolutely ripe for piss-taking but it does seem like he enjoyed it, and he left a lovely review on Steam - so that's nice!

I love how this game was made 5 years ago but still pops up now and then in stuff like this :)
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Ali on Thu 11/04/2019 12:37:39
I haven't seen the whole stream yet, but my favourite bits were the comparison to Mortal Combat, and him calling the protagonist a c**t because he let the balloon get away.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: lorenzo on Thu 11/04/2019 20:16:35
Haha, that was great, thank you for the link, Ali!
I knew Limmy from Limmy's Show, I didn't know he was making videos about games.
Title: Re: A Date in the Park
Post by: Durq on Thu 11/04/2019 20:38:02
Quote from: shaun9991 on Thu 11/04/2019 09:30:33
I saw this come up on Twitter a couple of days ago - oh my god it's absolutely hilarious. The last few minutes had me in tears of laughter!!!

The game is admittedly absolutely ripe for piss-taking but it does seem like he enjoyed it, and he left a lovely review on Steam - so that's nice!

I love how this game was made 5 years ago but still pops up now and then in stuff like this :)

shaun9991, what is going on with the "if only I could pull finger and get learning" line? I'm really curious now.

After enjoying watching A Date in the Park, I immediately purchased Football Game.