The Dollhouse - Chapter 1

Started by Durinde, Mon 19/02/2018 04:35:35

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Durinde

Hey Folks,

After months of procrastination, I've finally finished my first 5-room game.

Synopsis: Some crazy kook has locked you up and is forcing you to do adventure game puzzles for his entertainment! Can you navigate his dungeon and escape?

The Game:

The Dollhouse is my first ever game project with AGS. In many ways it's "Baby's first game" and was used mainly as a jumping board to teach myself about the engine.

I'm adding the subtitle - Chapter 1, since I may return to the Dungeon in the future with a new set of puzzles.

Features:
Point-and-click interface just like Ron used to make it.
Several minutes of gameplay!
Programmer art and questionable use of colour!
3 Frames of exciting background animation!
BEES!

Music By:
Eric Matyas
www.soundimage.org





Link to download

Mandle

Looks fun. A little creeped out by the premise, but still... looks fun...

Kini

Hey Durinde,

First off, congrats on completing your first game!

I had fun with it. There were some funny one-liners in there and the puzzles were good (although...

Spoiler
...the drawer one did seem a bit arbitrary!)
[close]

The main problem I encountered was that many of the possible actions didn't have responses. Even if it's something stupid, like 'talk to blanket', I like to get a response. Otherwise, it feels like maybe I just haven't clicked on the right pixel. When the action I'm trying is something logical, like 'pull light chain' (I believe I had to use 'pick up'), I'd say it's crucial.

Other than that, there were also quite a lot of typos, and for some reason I didn't get any music.

But all in all, it was a fun little game, and I look forward to seeing what you'll do next. Keep at it! ;)


Durinde

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm looking at this game as a learning experience, so it's helpful.

Seriously, how did I not figure "Pull Light Chain"?

Typos are the bane of my existence. No matter how much I comb through text, I always seem to miss them. Might have to pull in an editor for my next project.

I think I will be moving away from the 9-Verb style interface in the future. There's a ton of possible combinations and I just didn't have time to implement them all.

Also, you can talk to the blanket, but only the blanket that's in your inventory. Can't say why I made it that way :confused:

I'll have to look into the music issue as well.

Again, thanks for trying it out!

Shadow1000

I enjoyed the game. The puzzles were fun and well-designed for a first game. Really good graphics!

I don't feel that the looping soundtrack really fits the game. I would recommend that you sooner use some good sound effects rather than the looking track.

As far as the verb interface, I'm just not a fan. As you said, there are just so many combinations. In a simple game like this it was ok but in complex games you can sometimes figure out the right solution but get stuck for 45 minutes just because you overlooked the exact combination the game author had in mind.

Looking forward to more releases!


Durinde

I did a "Developer Commentary" play-through/post-mortem  for anyone interested in the design.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/xikW1vts2Go

BadLuckBurt

Fun so far but it crashed on me when I tried to PUSH the Water Tank. I haven't finished yet but I'll try again tomorrow and avoid pushing it and save my game :)

This is the error I got:

---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An internal error has occurred. Please note down the following information.
If the problem persists, post the details on the AGS Technical Forum.
(ACI version 3.4.0.15)

Error: prepare_script: error -18 (no such function in script) trying to run 'hTank_Mode8'   (Room 1)

---------------------------
OK   
---------------------------

Durinde

Thanks for letting me know about that bug, I've patched it and have re-uploaded it to Itch.io


SarahLiz

#8
Thank you for the developer's video you posted!  I was stuck about halfway through the game but was too embarrassed to ask for help.  :P  I was able to watch just enough to see what my next step was, and so I'll be playing again to hopefully finish!

I like the game, btw!  My only complaint is that it's too short, which really isn't a complaint at all, but a testament to how much I've enjoyed playing it so far.  ;)

BadLuckBurt

Quote from: Durinde on Wed 21/02/2018 20:11:41
Thanks for letting me know about that bug, I've patched it and have re-uploaded it to Itch.io

You're welcome and that's fast, awesome :) I'll make sure to grab the updated version tomorrow.

Creamy

#10
Finished.
I comment here since there's no game page on AGS.
Logical puzzles, good mood despite the premise. It's a nice soft version of Saw :)

Spoiler
I can't wait to see what's behind the blue door.
[close]
 

Durinde

Quote from: Creamy on Tue 11/09/2018 09:41:11
Finished.
I comment here since there's no game page on AGS.
Logical puzzles, good mood despite the premise. It's a nice PG version of Saw :)

Spoiler
I can't wait to see what's behind the blue door.
[close]


Glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully I will be able to start working on a part 2 in the next few months.

Cogliostro


A few years back I put together a method of using MS Word to do a spell check in AGS.  Not the most streamlined process in the world, but it might help. = Spell Checker

This was a fun game.  Looking forward to Chapter 2

- Cogliostro
"First things first, but not necessarily in that order." - Dr. Who

KyriakosCH

#13
Nice game :)
And I actually like the music.

Indeed, you should not use 9 verb, due to the complications.
Eg i got stuck in room2, cause I kept clicking on the green door (also using 'push'), which wouldn't open. Cause i had to use "open" :/ (laugh)
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Jojo_the_monkey

Hi there!! I have played your mini game and I had a fun time. I liked your story, because the puzzles was fitting to the concept and there were not arbitrary, just like the common problem of the adventures. As the other have said, the 9 verb interface was not well chosen or not well implemented. The overall flow was almost a linear experience. I have made a quick puzzle dependency chart to make this visible. See here: https://arcweave.com/app#/project/9WNlKy6z15
I am looking forward for your chapter 2!
I should have listened to my mother---I should have practised.

Durinde

Quote from: Jojo_the_monkey on Tue 30/10/2018 01:10:35
Hi there!! I have played your mini game and I had a fun time. I liked your story, because the puzzles was fitting to the concept and there were not arbitrary, just like the common problem of the adventures. As the other have said, the 9 verb interface was not well chosen or not well implemented. The overall flow was almost a linear experience. I have made a quick puzzle dependency chart to make this visible. See here: https://arcweave.com/app#/project/9WNlKy6z15
I am looking forward for your chapter 2!

Neat! Looks a lot more professional than the scraps of paper I doodled out the puzzles on during some downtime at work!

As a general design aside, because I mention it in the design video but never get back to talking about it... the reason why the furnace was an interactable object, was because the blue door was just going to require a standard key.... a key that was somehow INSIDE Fred the lobster. In that version of the game, the bucket from the first room would remain in your inventory. You would place Fred the Lobster into the bucket, fill it with water, and place it on the furnace to boil poor Fred to his death so you could remove the key.

I felt this was a little too cruel and a little too "Saw"ish… so I just made Fred himself into the Key and stuffed him into the player's pants.

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