http://www.turmoilgames.com/
Check the link for a new horror/adventure game, that was just released. It's a finnish-made point'n'click game that seems to take some ques from Lovecraftian horror as well as the Thing.
Haven't tried it yet, but bought it myself. The trailer looks pretty darn cool!
I've been keeping my eye on this one, will be buying it next month :).
I played the demo. Very impressive for such a small team.
Not a big fan of the odd cartoon overlay vs 3d character thing though. Strange design choice. They're gorgeous illustrations though :) I also found the fake Norwegian highly disruptive to immersion, but being Scandinavian I'm clearly biased. Will consider purchasing the game once the price tag has relaxed a bit.
Hm. I tried installing the demo and running it. I got the game settings window and that's all. Selecting "OK" just closes the settings window. There doesn't seem to be a way to run the game itself.
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Sun 26/06/2011 13:37:20
Hm. I tried installing the demo and running it. I got the game settings window and that's all. Selecting "OK" just closes the settings window. There doesn't seem to be a way to run the game itself.
Run AlphaPolaris.exe, tick "Don't show this window again" & press OK. You now MUST go to the main screen and choose Exit Game.
Otherwise the "Don't show this window again" option will not be 'saved'.
Now the next time you run AlphaPolaris.exe the settings screen will not be shown anymore.
Hm. I did that. I selected "Don't show this window" and clicked OK. Then the window closed and nothing happened. Running the .exe again just brought up the settings window again, and the "don't show this window" checkbox was already checked.
Mmhh, odd.
Running the .exe again without having been at the main menu and choosing Exit Game doesn't save the "don't show..." setting.
I don't get it why the window closes after clicking OK....
It probably doesn't help much but here's my used configuration:
Display device: NVIDIA GeForge GT 430
Colors: 32 bit
Run in window: no
Antialiasing: no
Use desktop resolution: yes (using no give same result)
Don't show this window again: yes
Sound device: Primary Sound Driver
My desktop resolution: 1920x1080
Ah, apparently my monitor's resolution is not compatible with Wintermute's, so I have to run it in a window. Hm.
Quote from: theo on Sun 26/06/2011 08:52:09
Not a big fan of the odd cartoon overlay vs 3d character thing though. Strange design choice. They're gorgeous illustrations though :) I also found the fake Norwegian highly disruptive to immersion, but being Scandinavian I'm clearly biased. Will consider purchasing the game once the price tag has relaxed a bit.
I thought of these thing too, but then I sort of realized that there is a good reason for these:
the cartoon overlay is easier and cheaper to give emotions to, when compared to the 3D models. Thus they can show character emotion better without expensive and time consuming 3D animation for all characters.
The fake norwegian is an even easier thing: how ear-shatteringly horrible would the main character have sounded if it was an actual norwegian person speaking english instead of vice-versa? Since most of his lines are in english, I think this is a pretty good solution. =)
Quote from: WHAM on Mon 27/06/2011 09:05:24
how ear-shatteringly horrible would the main character have sounded if it was an actual norwegian person speaking english instead of vice-versa? Since most of his lines are in english, I think this is a pretty good solution. =)
Now that is a VERY good point. ;D
As for portraits, yes, I can see why they did what they did seeing 3d facial expression is such a difficult thing to pull off, but that doesn't mean I think their solution works. Having 2d closeups could perhaps have made some sense if they actually used them for animation or whatever. But now all we get is two different static representations of the character you're listening to at the same time. One in in 3d and one in 2d. It's just weird. (Though admittedly the 2d characters look real good!)
Then again, I never liked character portraits in adventure games. The closest that has ever come to work according to me is the in-dialog portraits in GK1, and even those, I have my doubts about.
Well the potraits actually bug me cause some are badly drawn (proportions/art wise), it's weird because most are very good. But all in all the games looks good.
I can't wait to get to play this! Argh!
But I've decided to finish the Lost Crown first, since i started it already (if you've never heard of it, stay away from it! It's bad!)
Am I the only one who gets offended by not being able to run a adventure game due to the system requirements?
Well the requirements are pretty clearly stated on the website... Can't really complain when they flat out tell you what you need.
@WHAM & Theo: Are you two dissing my people and our english accent? >:( :P
Quote from: PE3dE3r JohnsE3n on Wed 29/06/2011 18:19:45
@WHAM & Theo: Are you two dissing my people and our english accent? >:( :P
Not just your people, but all skandinavians in equal measure. I myself am Finnish and the accent generated whenever we Finns speak english is horrid. This applies to sweder, norwegians and, well, most countries that don't speak english natively.
PLAY THE DARN GAME AND TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT! ;D
The website listed seems to be broken.
Works fine for me. Maybe a momentary issue...
Finished it yesterday and really liked it.
I think the 2D overlays work really well, btw.
It seems weird that they would invest so much time in drawing all those 2D characters with all the different outfits and faces while they could have stuck it into animating the 3D characters. But I do agree that it's easier to convey emotion with 2D art (unless you work at Team Bondi).
But overall I really enjoyed the game. Especially the slow simmering build the story has without going for flatout scare tactics. And I'm a sucker for being able to roam around any sort of base or headquarters, so the limited locations didn't bother me. Very well done.
If anyone's interested, I recorded my own playthrough with comments: http://www.youtube.com/user/whamtheman#grid/user/70A712E49BEBB0FA
I still recommend you buy the game rather than watch this, though, its pretty cool!