46 MEMORY LANE (mature content)

Started by shamz, Sat 03/06/2017 16:42:09

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shamz

Hi,

This is my first complete game with AGS that I made for my graduation project for university. I would like to present...



Tony comes back home after three years abroad to find that in his absence, things have changed. For one, his wife Angela is nowhere to be found. And what is this he keeps hearing about a new owner of the apartment building? Thus begins his descent into a creepy little dream narrative...

Screenshots:




Download:
AGS Games Database

I hope you'll enjoy it! If you find a bug or want to contact me, my email is: shamang37@gmail.com

Cassiebsg

Hi, congrats on finishing your first game, and what a game it is! :-D

Is there major changes or serious bugs between this version and the demo?
I'm playing the demo and would like to know how whether I should start over with this version or continue with the demo?
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Bishy

Quick question; how do you save the game? The only button I can see appears to be a quit button.

shamz

@Cassie
Thanks! There isn't too big a difference, but some bugs are ironed out, and some dramatic moments are... enhanced :P If you're not too far, I would start over with this version, of course.

@Bishy
That's a good question; saving the game is a bit of a puzzle. If you really wanna know, it has to do with
Spoiler
your (or rather Tony's) memories.
[close]

Bishy

#4
I'm sorry, but I don't understand.

EDIT: Well, I finally managed to happen upon the solution.

Spoiler
When you randomly encounter the room with an Angel, use one of the memories on her.
[close]

To be perfectly honest though, I don't think making the act of saving the game a puzzle was a good idea, especially when the game itself doesn't make it clear that this is the only way to save the game. I was honestly this close to just quitting the game without saving, almost ruining what was otherwise a great experience so far.

But yeah, aside from that, this is a really good game so far. Nice graphics, atmospheric audio, and a really interesting story. Now that I know how to save, I look forward to seeing what else the game has to offer.

shamz

I totally understand. I wanted to call attention to the game itself, as a system, but it's one of these ideas works better in theory than in practice. I'm glad you got it in the end though, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the game!

Tycho Magnetic Anomaly

So many projects to get around to trying on this forum, next I am going to give your game a try  , downloading now and plan on playing later or tomorrow. love the urban theme,

very well done on getting your project to completion too.

shamz

Thanks Tycho, I'd love to hear your thoughts when you've played it :)

Cassiebsg

Still playing. :-D

But got a question for you: Where are the savegame files stored? I can't find the folder in the usual place (where all my other AGS games are), nor is it on the game's folder... :-\ Guess I could do a search for it, but since you're the one that set it, I would like to know. Also, why aren't you using the default or usual/logical place to save it?
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

shamz

Hmm, it should be in your Saved Games folder in your Documents. I just saw the option in the General Settings and I wanted to be a little creative, but I guess it actually changes the directory if I set this option.

Cassiebsg

Okay found them now... for some reason the folder is called "false memories" instead of "46memorylane".
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Mandle

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Mon 05/06/2017 13:28:50
Okay found them now... for some reason the folder is called "false memories" instead of "46memorylane".

I'm guessing because they are supposed to be your character's "false" memories of their experience as opposed to the "real" memories of their one-time experience in the game?

On a side, but similar, note: SPC Containment Breach has a really interesting easter egg where you can find a file on yourself and discover that you are actually an SPC that was contained because of your ability to precog actions that you might take that would be fatal to you and avoid them in the future. A nice touch to "explain" the save/load option in the game without getting too on-the-nose and pointing directly at it... I thought so anyways...

shamz

Mandle, if I could write a bigger emoticon I would :wink:

But that is pretty interesting about SPC, I think I'll have to check it out. I really love when people use lampshading creatively.

Tycho Magnetic Anomaly

Hey dude... I have not forgotten about your game, a whole bunch of things came up for me the last week or more and I have been pretty much snowed under the whole time. Promise will get to give this a try in the next few days. Looks great.

Cassiebsg

Oh, yeah, I've finished it btw!  (nod)

Loved it! Great game you guys managed to do here, you got me on my toes wanting to solved the "mystery" and the puzzles are nice and enjoyable, not too hard, not too easy to figure out.

Like others, I don't think the save function should be a puzzle, and on occasions the fact that I couldn't just save when I needed too was annoying. Plus, the randomness of the room added to the feeling. Is there a reason you removed the angel from the street? That would have been okay if it was there all the time, since at least one knew where it was.

Spoiler

Must admit the end disappointed me a bit, did he run away and got away with it?
Was in a sort of personal hell, faced to re-live and re-enact his crime?
Or did I completely misunderstood the story?
[close]
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

shamz

Hey Cassie, thanks for playing! I'm glad you liked the puzzles and the mystery, I really enjoyed working on them. That is, until...

Spoiler

I ran out of time and had to finish the narrative as fast as possible, which is why the ending is unsatisfying. You're pretty spot on with the both interpretations: Although he "got away" from the law, Tony has to face his conscience. 46 Memory is Tony's Silent Hill, which is why the .exe is called "diyu", the Chinese word for hell (which was the working title of the game before I thought about the memory mechanic).
As for the angel, it's sort of a mash-up of ideas. I mean there's the obvious connection between ANGEL and ANGELA, and the point in the story where the angel disappears and shows up randomly is when Tony's world is destabilized. When Tony "descends", the guardian is no longer there to save him from his guilt (his memories).

I don't want to say too much, but I was trying to put layers in the narrative with the mechanics (laugh) Hopefully some of it is conveyed!
[close]

Cassiebsg

Thanks for the extra info about the ending. (nod)

Here's a quick solution you could have used...
Spoiler

After he run away, you could have just run the start cut scene again, showing him arriving to his own private hell again. ;)
I know it's not that original, but would probably be enough for the player to get that extra satisfaction of having understood and decode the story right. ;) just a thought, as it would probably only take you 5-10 minutes to add the scene in.
[close]
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Creamy

#17
Quotesaving the game is a bit of a puzzle
I've played Memory Lane several days ago. About a quarter of an hour into the game, I started worrying about saving. Not finding the save button, I tried every key of the keyboard and pushed F9, which resets the game.
Despite the interesting premise, I haven't found the courage to replay it since then because I didn't know if I would finish it in one sitting. The lack of ambient music in the building was a little off-putting too.
 

shamz

Nice guys, loving the feedback :)

I actually did think of
Spoiler
dropping the player off at the very start of the game again after the credits, but I thought it would be pushing the boundaries of abusiveness after confusing save function. Although now that I think about it, it's the whole point of the game!
[close]

I think I'll revisit Memory Lane at the end of the summer and see what kind of improvements I could make to make it less confusing. Would having a readme/manual file in the game's .zip with a hint to the save function (or outright just telling you) spoil the whole thing? It's not a game that's intended to be a comfortable experience, but it's sounding like I'm pushing the usability of it too far away.

Cassiebsg

I don't think it should be a puzzle, so I'm all forward to just tell the player how to save the game from the start. Nothing worse than to want to save and not find the save game function.
I'm pretty sure I would have given up on the game if I hadn't read about how to save the game, prior to starting it.
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

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