Mysteries of Peak Valley: Case 1 The Lost Sonata

Started by kaput, Sat 02/02/2013 08:52:04

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kaput

Sunny Penguin games proudly presents:

Mysteries of Peak Valley:

Case 1: The Lost Sonata




The Story

After  receiving a mysterious phone call, psychic medium Zack Gellar travels to a large estate house in northern Peak Valley, where he is greeted by a desperate woman's pleas for help. Seeing that the woman is on the brink, he agrees to help her, vowing to communicate with the spirit that haunts her, and in turn help it to find eternal peace.

Originally written in the form of short stories, Mysteries of Peak Valley: Case 1: The Lost Sonata is the first in a series of 'interactive ghost story' adventure games.


The Screenshots







Features:
* Original gripping storyline
* Logical puzzles
* Animated character portraits
* Fully interactive
* Lots of reading!
* Full soundtrack
* First in the series
* Free

Recommended System Requirements
* Direct3D 9
* 960x720
* Download ~26.4 MB


Download here


Comments, ratings and critique would be highly appreciated.

sthomannch

Very well done! You succeeded in creating a captivating atmosphere. The storyline is well developed. Hope to see more like this (even thoug the end was sad)

kaput

Thank you so much for the feedback sthomannch. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

an Urpney

Some minor critique:
Spoiler

- I totally don't feel like an investigator. Zack refuses do do any investigating - like questioning the mother about everything (dirt on the floor, teddy bear, painting in the bedroom - all of those seem relevant to the case), searching the house, looking for clues.
- The games gives very little direction: at first I know my basic obiective (enter the child's room) but after that - all Zack tells me is that I need to gain ghost's trust. How to gain ghost's trust? How does ghosts operate in this universe? What's Zack's special talent? He seems to be as lost as I am. Or even more lost: I would play the piano because I know that the kid liked it while Zack says there's no point.
[close]
More comments when I move on : )
Born to the sound of marching feet,
Trained as a military elite.
Each of us drilled and singled out to be,
An Urpney.

kaput

@ an Urpney - Thanks for the critique. I totally understand. As it was written, Zack is overly protective and respective at this point and doesn't want to stress Miss Boulyn out. He doesn't want to lose his job, as it were, by being too intrusive. I will take it on board.

I think you might be stuck on the most complained about puzzle...
Spoiler
Maybe a keen eye will help you?
Spoiler
Look around carefully.
Spoiler
It's a token pixel hunt.
Spoiler
There is more than meets the eye in Chloe's bedroom!
[close]
[close]
[close]
[close]

an Urpney

#5
Quote from: Sunny Penguin on Sat 02/02/2013 22:02:28
@ an Urpney - Thanks for the critique. I totally understand. As it was written, Zack is overly protective and respective at this point and doesn't want to stress Miss Boulyn out. He doesn't want to lose his job, as it were, by being too intrusive. I will take it on board.

Always glad to comment : ) It would make much more sense if Zack mentioned that he needs the job and doesn't want to do anything that would upset his employer.

Quote from: Sunny Penguin on Sat 02/02/2013 22:02:28
I think you might be stuck on the most complained about puzzle...
Spoiler
Maybe a keen eye will help you?
Spoiler
Look around carefully.
Spoiler
It's a token pixel hunt.
Spoiler
There is more than meets the eye in Chloe's bedroom!
[close]
[close]
[close]
[close]

Spoiler

Got it, thanks! And now - when I understand Zack's take on the investigation - I can't understand Miss Boulyn's. First she hires an investigator and then she doesn't allow him to investigate. [Another point: I'm not sure if Zack and Boulyn are aware that it's Cloe's ghost that haunts the place - they certainly should suspect that but Boulyn seems to believe that Chloe is still alive and Zack doesn't share his thoughts on the investigation neither with Boulyn nor with me]. I know that playing piano is unusual part of an investigation but Miss Boulyn knows Zack is a paranormal investigator.
Technical note: there's no action assigned to "use lightswitch in Cloe's room" - Zack doesn't do nor say anything when I try execute it.
[close]
Born to the sound of marching feet,
Trained as a military elite.
Each of us drilled and singled out to be,
An Urpney.

kaput

Quote from: an Urpney on Sat 02/02/2013 22:24:20
Spoiler

Technical note: there's no action assigned to "use lightswitch in Cloe's room" - Zack doesn't do nor say anything when I try execute it.
[close]

Fixed

an Urpney

All right, thanks to your help I've just beaten the game. Here's what I think:

Spoiler

+ Story. There's never enough ghost \ mystery \ horror games!
+ Music. A little too loud at times, but good.
+ Dialogs and writting.

Minor complains:
- Zack's shadow acts strange (especially on the staircase),
- To my untrained eye perspective seems a little weird at times (staircase again),
- Two pixelhunts \ invisible obiects (music sheet and doll) - frustrating and unnecessary,
- For someone who's overprotective, Zack does plenty of damage in the house. Especially distracting the mother seemd out of character - this situation can be handled in so many ways...
a. Lawful good: explain her that you need to play the piano to communicate with ghost.
b. Chaotic good: buy her sedatives to calm her down and send her to bed.
c. Chaotic neutral: pretend you can't hear what she's saying and play with her in the room.
d. Chaotic evil: fake a malicious ghost manifestation so she has a breakdown, locks herself in her bedrom and cries.
And what does Zack do? Breakdown scenario!
- How does Zack (paranormal investigator) couldn't deduce it's Cloe when I (middle level office worker) deduced it without much trouble? How could miss Boulyn not know about big secret room in her house?
- The text about Boulyn's fate at the end is a little too blurry.
[close]

Overall - nice little game. Certainly will play Episode 2 when it comes out.
Born to the sound of marching feet,
Trained as a military elite.
Each of us drilled and singled out to be,
An Urpney.

kaput

Re-uploaded with a few minor bugs fixed  8-)

If you find any bugs feel free to pm me. Have fun!

kaput

I again uploaded a new version. There should now be no reason to pixel hunt. I realise how frustrating it can be. If it did put you off before I hope you'll give it another try.

Stupot


Shadow1000

#11
I played the game and enjoyed it. Essentially my comments are the same as Urpney.

I think that for a first game this is a great achievement. My only additional point to make is that some of the puzzles were simply "let's slow down the player" rather than a real puzzle. It's hard to express that differently so you have to know what I mean by that :)

2 more fast points:

- Clean up "hotspot 5" which is the window over Chloe's door
- I liked the music; it really fit the atmosphere. You might want to consider adding more sound effects, though.

SHADOW

kaput

@Stupot+ Thanks, let me know what you think :=

@Shadow1000 Glad you enjoyed it :) and thanks for the approval it really means a lot. I'll definitely take what you guys have said and learn from it, so hopefully things will improve as the series develops.

Quote- Clean up "hotspot 5" which is the window over Chloe's door

Fixed. I totally missed that one. Thanks again.

Stupot

Nice little game Sunny.  Good graphics and some nice writing.  Well done sir.
To be honest, I didn't really sympathise with the woman as all... But I was touched by Zack's sympathy for her.

kaput

#14
I'd just like to say a big thank you to all of you who have played and commented on the game so far, it really helps to keep the motivation going  :smiley:.

The minor issue with the cursor on the title screen has now been fixed.

-SP

KiraHaraReturns

well done, but I can switch between the rooms by ctrl-x

kaput

Thanks for that, I indeed forgot to disable it. Fixed now, feel free to pm me if you find any other bugs etc.

-SP

bluber2009

Very nice game, but I think I am stuck on the first real puzzle.
Spoiler
I found the scissors. Thats it.
[close]

kaput

@ bluber2009 I don't want to give too much away but I'll try to give you some hints:

Spoiler
There's something new in front of Chloe's door. Where did it come from? What significance does it have?
Spoiler
Remember to look at things in order for the character to know what to interact with.
[close]
[close]

If you are still stuck let me know and I'll be happy to help.

LimpingFish

As an adventure fan, I'm going to play this!

As a moderator, I'm going to ask that hint requests be kept in the appropriate thread. Thanks. :)
Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

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