Dirty Split released

[Schnuffel]

Hey guys,

I've just released the English version of Dirty Split, a detective-themed adventure game that takes place in the 1960ies. You can download it for free at http://www.dreamagination.org/ .

The graphical style is inspired by Josh ("SHAG") Agle's paintings - I just love his simplistic and yet stylish work. The game has English voiceovers all throughout, as well as a number of original jazz/cocktail lounge tunes perfect for the era. The entire soundtrack to the game is also available for download.

Since this is not an AGS game I'm posting it here instead of the "Completed Games" thread. But I'm fairly sure you'll enjoy it anyway

Screenshots:








Have fun

[Snarky]

Oh, I've been looking forward to this one! The graphic style is awesome, but what really had me sold is the title credits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAhGIC55Vuc

Downloading...

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Looks quite excellent.  Thanks for letting us know it was finished!

[MashPotato]

Ah, I love that style of art too   Downloading!

[Disco]

Wow, I was unaware of a Shag-styled adventure game in development. You can tell from some of the screenshots which of Shags paintings inspired it The video sold me as well.

Thanks for the link

[miguel]

Played the game for half an hour,
so far it's very professional made,
good graphics, music and sounds,
I had a dialog with the LadyVunderbilt and voices and script are good as well.
Very, very nice.
Great work Schnuffel!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I played through it, enjoyed it a lot for the most part (which is rare for a traditional adventure game these days)!

A couple of things I thought were weird:

Spoiler

The voices overall were pretty fitting.  Usually in an adventure game, the main character's voice sounds weak compared to the supporting cast, but in this case I think the opposite is true.  Baxter's voice is very strong while some of the supporting cast were weak.  The only  really nagging performance was Walter's sister.  Her voice made her sound like she was 12 years old!  I can only vouch for the English version, though.

You really didn't put much into inventory item usage.  There were several times in the game where I should have been able to use an item I found on someone to get a response but was instead told it was 'hokum'.  A perfect example was the scrap of paper initially found at the crime scene; I couldn't even show it to my ex-partner to get his thoughts on it, and it was certainly important later when you connect it to the Rainbow Motel.  There are several cases like this in the game, and it would have been nice to get some kind of response other than I'm being an idiot (particularly when it was logical).

The other thing was the ending.  It was extremely abrupt and left me unsatisfied as a player.  I wanted to see some kind of resolution, either with Brian being exonerated and getting married or at least some kind of scene with Baxter in a bar with his ex-partner going over the events of the game.  This would have at least brought some closure.

[close]

Aside from that, I think you did a great job and I really enjoyed the style and presentation of the game.  It's definitely of a quality beyond some commercial adventure game efforts I won't mention!

[Schnuffel]

Thank you

Spoiler

The voices overall were pretty fitting.  Usually in an adventure game, the main character's voice sounds weak compared to the supporting cast, but in this case I think the opposite is true.  Baxter's voice is very strong while some of the supporting cast were weak.  The only  really nagging performance was Walter's sister.  Her voice made her sound like she was 12 years old!  I can only vouch for the English version, though.

[close]

I'll hide my answer just to keep it consistent

Spoiler

You're right about some of the voices sounding too young, but it's hard to find good voice actors with mature voices. Especially female ones, especially if it's a no-budget independent production, and especially if it's your first game ever, to top it off. All of the voice actors did a great job, though... most of them are semi-professionals or ambitioned amateurs, I think. And it's hardly Denise's fault that her voice sounds so young. In her case I didn't think of it as much of a problem, though... Denise's age is about 23, and many girls still have extremely high voices at that age. In the end it was her believable acting that convinced me to give her the role.

The thing is that you'll very easily find amateur voice actors doing squeaky anime voices, but it's hard to find actors for more serious productions and characters like the ones in Dirty Split. I hope that finding the right voices will be easier the next time around, now that I can show Dirty Split as a reference work and convince people that I'm serious about what I do

The German version on the other hand has a voice cast composed entirely of professional actors, since I was lucky to find a few guys with the necessary connections. The age problem is practically nonexistent this way.

[close]

[Grundislav]

I downloaded and finished this last night.  I was very impressed with the fact that it was voiced, and that the voices were actually really good!

The game itself was a lot of fun.  I have to admit that when I first started playing the story felt kind of slow, and I wasn't sure I'd stick with it, but the more I played the more involved I got with the plot.  It really picked up after leaving L.A.

The gameplay was really nice, not too difficult, and the notes were always there to provide a hint.  I didn't really get stuck, but I also didn't think the game was too easy.  You got a great balance of difficulty.

Also the art style was really nice.  The animations were smooth and very well done, and the cutscenes were great too.  It was really cool to see a moving Shag painting.  Also, I laughed at the blue cup in the police station, especially since the game is made with Wintermute!

There was only one thing that struck me as a bit odd:

Spoiler

The fact that Baxter flew from LA to Vegas rather than drove.  I guess the airport was necessary for the puzzles, but it seems more practical to drive between the two cities.  But maybe that's just me!

[close]

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Yeah, I completely forgot the blue cup mention.  That was awesome!  And please, don't take my comments as being negative.  When I say I enjoyed your game you should take that as a great compliment because there are so few adventure games I've found to be fun or interesting in the last 10 years (many commercial games included).  I understand the voice acting issue as well, I was just giving you my thoughts on it.

This game has established you as having some real talent, so great work!

[Schnuffel]

And please, don't take my comments as being negative.

Don't worry, I don't. I'm happy about constructive criticism, and you're actually right about everything you mentioned. There are many things I'll do differently in future projects, and Dirty Split was kind of a test balloon for me.
However, I'm glad that the game works out so well and that so many people seem to love it. I hope I'll be able to improve the experience for players next time with a more ambitious project, mostly avoiding the (totally justified) criticism about the game's length and difficulty

[Ultra Magnus]

I'd never heard of "SHAG" before looking him up just now, but you got my attention for reminding me of the opening credits of various 60s movies, such as The Pink Panther.

Downloading.