Ray Bexter Updated to 1.3a

[deltamatrix]

Yes I have released a new version of Ray Bexter with the following changes:

-- Support for outlined fonts added.
-- Another bug fix.
-- Rewrote some of the dialogs attempting to make the situations clearer and the puzzles more obvious.
-- Made the file a little more compact.
-- Modified the 4th room with the 2 elevators so you can return to the bottom floor if you need to.
-- Modified 2 backgrounds making the exits more visible.
-- Nu sound effect of closing door


Download it here



Movie files here


URL fixed for anyone who is interested. Although it is posted on a crap geocities server so you'll need to use 'save target as...' or something.

I may need feedback in case I accidently created new bugs.

[After]

I dl'd it, but haven't finished the game yet. Seeing as no-one else has responded, I thought something would be better than nothing.

I haven't found any bugs, as such, however it's still very difficult in places. I'm not convinced that it can be won on a first attempt without inside knowledge.

The first pair of bots seem to have a different idea about the room's perspective than what I perceive it to be. This coupled with the fact that the player character is difficult to control precisely (especially near walk area edges) makes this room a pest no matter how often I've been through it.

The "You Failed" messages ... hmmm.
Well, I wasn't playing that game, so maybe I did fail to identify the game's intended function.
...Which is to say, they are annoying. At least speed them up so that I don't have to terminate them manually via the most convenient means.

I am not sure that the 'puzzles' needed to be more obvious from what I've seen. It's always a question of getting to the 'pieces' on time, without any critical mis-mousing. It's the clicking, not the thinking that's tricky.

[deltamatrix]

The only thing I can really do to this game now to improve now I think would be to add more flash and style to it and I don't want to do that until I do the director's cut or the extension of it and the new chapter.

There are LOTS of games outthere that require you to die a few times to get used to it. This is just one of them. In SIMON THE SORCEROR 3D, there was a situation where you had to die to SOLVE a puzzle.

The new chapter will be different because Ray will have a tracking device to watch the robots and a hazard suit so it'll take a few shots to kill him.

I can't really change the game based on your suggestions because the game would lose its dark and scary atmosphere unless other people back you or you can specifically suggest an improvement.

[After]

[...]
There are LOTS of games outthere that require you to die a few times to get used to it. This is just one of them. In SIMON THE SORCEROR 3D, there was a situation where you had to die to SOLVE a puzzle.
[...]
I can't really change the game based on your suggestions because the game would lose its dark and scary atmosphere unless other people back you or you can specifically suggest an improvement.

I understand that, and I'm not suggesting that you change the character of the game (even if there is a popular movement to do so).

The frustration comes from the impression that no efforts of mine are going to reduce the effects of chance. So the announcement that you have defeated me doesn't have the intended effect.
The player will feel it more if they are immersed in the game and more strongly identified with Ray than by having the idea foisted upon them in words (which only leads them to question whether they accept the statement).

And speaking of atmosphere, I think it really needs more ambient sound.
If Ray made a walking sound and the bots could be heard just before they fired from off-screen, the player would be a little more nervous, and have a moment of panic before dying.

I think this game has great potential, but it's difficult to 'tune', so all I can add is, good luck.

[edit]
Oh yes, I forgot ...
Still has "Video playing error: File not found or format not supported: .\3.dat" on game over. I don't know whether this relates to the MPEG-4 disclaimer in the readme, but it should really fail silently if it doesn't work.

Any bots visible on game over remain visible during end messages.

The hand icon should show where the hotspot is as there's no distinction between a miss and nothing.

Whether Ray will walk to position for a given interaction should be consistent. On the bridge, he walks, elsewhere its click-"I need to get closer."-walk to target-click-"I need to get closer."-walk to another part of target .... Closer to what?

Tactical gives a false impression of continuous fire if button held. It actually hits nothing in this state (or doesn't display hits correctly).

[deltamatrix]

I see I see. Interesting suggestions. I wonder why no-one mentioned this before.

What you're asking WILL BE HARD but I could get it a go I guess. Ambient sounds that are generated by characters! Interesting.

On the PlayVideo issue, it doesn't silently fail in AGS. It has to tell the user something is wrong. You should download the divx codec.

www.divx.com

I wanna extend Ray Bexter! I wanna it bring forward to the full length game category rather than a pathetic medium length. Trouble is, work at uni!
But when I do, I'll also work on these problems!
I guess I'll get rid of that You Failed message too and replace it with a Press Any Key to Continue screen complete with hints if you die several times on the same spot.
I wanna make it a little more like ANOTHER WORLD. (Any one played that game? I LOVE that game! CLASSIC!) Dunno why.

[After]

Feel free to insert "Similarly," between "ambient sound." and "if Ray made".

I'm not short of codecs, but I'll have to see whether there's some issue with my configuration.

[Inkoddi]

Another World... ...I played it yesterday and it's awesome  
Have you played Flashback? It owns too. Wish I could animate like that...

...well well, Downloading RB right away...

[Inkoddi]

After several attempts of downloading Ray Bexter, I suceeded and i am now playing it. One thing keeps bugging me:
When you use gun with robot the game crashes!!!!!11!!!1!

[deltamatrix]

SHIT! You didn't start the game with the gun already in your inventory did you!
DAMN. Thats a silly mistake I've made. Better fix it.

Your not supposed to find a gun till you reach the core room.

I'll upload the fix this weekend. While I'm at it. I'll add the walking sound effect and speed up the You Failed bit as requested.
The rest of your suggestions will take a while so I'll do that when I extend this game and make it into
RAY BEXTER: The Assassins Encounter (maybe not that title. Sounds weird)

[After]

Oh, sorry. I didn't realise having the gun was a mistake or I would've mentioned it.
I didn't really use it, so I didn't experience that bug. I only got killed for trying   :

[Inkoddi]

Did you even include that video file in the zip? I have the DivX codec and everything but it doesn't work. I couldn't see a file named 3.dat in the folder!                       ...I shouldn't complain...     ..I'm on a 28.8k connection...

[After]

Did you even include that video file in the zip? I have the DivX codec and everything but it doesn't work. I couldn't see a file named 3.dat in the folder!

Heh. Nor me, but I figured maybe the dat file is supposed to be generated by the exe?

[Inkoddi]

OK! I completed the game and I even did some research!! Here's the link to the movie files: http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://uk.geocities.com/deltaball_z/dat.zip (2.03 Mb)

[deltamatrix]

Ok fixed version on-line. Plz test it anyway if you'd be so kind.

I didn't add a walking sound coz I couldn't get decent FX and frankly I think that feature would just get annoying.

Also I did speed up the You Failed bit.

[Inkoddi]

YAY!! Much better!!!

[After]

Suggestion.

Code: ags

int useVideo;

function game_start(){
//...
useVideo = FileOpen("1.dat", FILE_READ);
if(useVideo){FileClose(useVideo);useVideo=1;}
//...
}

useVideo is then available for choosing between code branches when the need arises.
The last statement isn't necessary, just more conventional. You may even wish to set a bit for each video, but I assume that all or none is the usual case.

Or, you could include the videos in the zip if you don't want them to be optional.

You may be right about the walking sound, but the hard drive/neighbourhood 'ambience' isn't very conducive to gameplay either. The should be near constant sound from the game if only as a distraction from real world noise.

[deltamatrix]

Interesting. I'll do that next time. The next step is the extension. The ship will be longer.
I'll abolish the You Failed Message and replace it with a Press Any Key to Continue screen.
A new chapter after destroying the Purple Canary will be added when you discover that the robots are from a parallel universe where an experiment with AI has gone wrong and that there are still more of them.

I might also make it possible from RaY to look ahead into another room by clicking the eye icon of the edge of the screen so you can find out if a robot is in the room and about to get you. I need your opinion on this.

[After]

I don't know how you intend to test adjacent rooms, but I don't enjoy switching cursor modes just to travel around. Doing this at room boundaries also draws attention to the division of what we pretend is continuous.

I have two ideas. When there's a bot in the next room, either
a) Display a (simple, symbolic) graphic overlay at the appropriate edge or door, indicating that Ray has seen or heard something.
or b) Change the cursor graphic (not mode) when over the appropriate position. The graphic reverts automatically to it's default otherwise.

I prefer (a), but (b) would force the player to continually scan the area, even behind them, if you wanted to keep the pressure on.

Ideally, this would work for scrolling rooms too, but that would require more complicated coding to get relative positions in the same room.

[delta]

I don't understand what you mean in b)

I think its probably best to just do the ambient sound of nearby robots thing.

I don't think I agree with your suggestions in a) because it would clash with what i plan for chapter 2 where Ray will get a tracking device to trace each robot making avoidable easy.

I prefer the sound idea or possibly Ray speaking out saying that a robot is coming. Then you can either quickly run or hide.

[Barbarian]

Browing through some of the game reviews, I seen a positive review for "Ray Bexter".

It looks like an interesting game and I wanted to check it out.. however, all of the download links appear outdated, leading to "Website Unreachable" and "404" errors.

Does anyone know where I can get a full download of the game's files?

Thanx.

[deltamatrix]

OMG. University work distracts you BIG TIME. Sorry to bump this thread but I only just discovered my rudeness in not fixing the URLs on request.

Looks like I abandoned all this crap and left all these promises unfulfilled. Tragic.

I started writing for a possible Ray Bexter II but that still gotta get some more inspiration.

Barbarian: OK I just updated the links and removed that anomymizer stuff. It was used to get around that direct-linking issue wit geocities. You'll probably have to go to my website first before and download it there.
If anyone can offer best host space if this game is worthwhile, I'm listening.

[MillsJROSS]

Just wanted to say that I played this game when it came out, and enjoyed it. It was something new with AGS and one of the best programmed games I had seen back then. Two thumbs up!

-MillsJROSS

[deltamatrix]

Hehe thanx MillsJross

I know you said in that review that you hope to see more by moi but it seems I'll have to disappoint you as my student life has invaded.