A bit inspired by Grundislav, I decided to do my own "play my game and talk about it" series. I chose Emerald City Confidential as the game to do, since I probably have the most to say about it. I'm not able to do it live, but I've posted the first episode to YouTube.
Link Here! (http://bit.ly/pMrbnM)
In this episode, I talk about how hard it was for players to pick up a crowbar, why dialog windows are terrifying (to some), and the genesis of those quest gems.
Anyway, lemme know if you enjoy it. I'll probably do more.
Super interesting stuff! Especially the stuff about 'giving Petra the crowbar', up until now I always thought the tutorialness of the first bit was a little too much... I guess not for most people.
(http://www.smilie-harvester.de/smilies/Schilder/89.gif)
I like this kind of let's play - very interesting to hear your thoughts about the game. Also about some of those sidestories of the characters and about the creating process, so hopefully you will decide to do more! :D
I'm really liking this trend of AGSers Lets Playing their own stuff. It gives you the inside rationale on why a project evolved the way it did. Keep it up!
I'm glad you all enjoyed it! I'll probably be uploading them daily. Here's part two:
CLICKY (http://youtu.be/6cLmW4oL2Vg)
Some really great stuff, can't wait for the next episode. Your voice is nice too. :)
I really don't think I would have the patience to adapt a game to "casual" gamers, so hats off to you. Plus nice design process.
Like I already said on Youtube, really great stuff. It's fascinating to get some insights into the minds of casual adventure gamers. And it's funny how much thought processes I recognize from the time I was involved in making a casual adventure game for a museum.
It started out more on the hardcore side of the spectrum, but after testing we went more and more in your direction, adding a notebook with hints and very BIG and CLEAR goal popups. One thing we avoided entirely from the start was dialogues of any sort. There were cutscenes, but nothing interactive in the talking department, and by the looks of it that saved us a lot of headaches :)
Please continue!
Part three is up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3UM3UZA1hk
Love the idea! It's great to get to hear what the developer of the game had in mind when creating the game.
Would you mind if I stole your idea? I might want to do a similiar video of my first game at some point. ;)
Quote from: WHAM on Tue 23/08/2011 09:47:15
Would you mind if I stole your idea? I might want to do a similiar video of my first game at some point. ;)
It's hardly an original idea, so go right ahead. :)
@ WHAM
YES PLEASE ;D These kinds of videos are awesome. I think any AGSer that has some work to show and would like to talk about it should put one of these together. :=
Part 4:
http://youtu.be/4pqVXAnBw_Y
There's a moment in the game that all the critics hated. Here, I apologize for it and make an attempt to defend it.
Dammit Dave! I can't get any work done on my game with you publishing these things every day! Off to watch episode 4.....
Happy to help, Baron! Here's part five: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq3iBb9lhk0
I have to say, those are great, I'd like one point if of course you could ever, get the time to do a live commentary, and answer questions live, but those are definitely great so far. Very interesting.
Keep them going!
It must've been something like decades ago when I played the hour-long demo. Back then I don't think I had even seen the film Wizard of Oz, probably most Finns haven't since it's not really that big a deal over here. However, I knew the gist of it and found the game very interesting. But I didn't buy it. Can't remember why. It wasn't because of the constant popups, that much I know, I got quite used to them during the hour. Maybe it was because you had to buy it through Playfirst. Anyway...
These commentary videos reminded me how enjoyable the style and atmosphere of the game had been when I played the demo, so I decided to buy the full game, finally. I finished it just a couple of minutes ago and loved it all the way through! We definitely need more noirish adventure games.
Thanks, Dave, for the great game and these wonderful commentary videos! I'm gonna go back to lurking now and wait for your next game. ;)
Where'd you buy it from this time, AJA? Steam or somewhere else?
Anyway, episode six is up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKvHhACL2VI
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Fri 26/08/2011 22:25:26
Anyway, episode six is up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKvHhACL2VI
I was supposed to sleep! :P
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Fri 26/08/2011 22:25:26
Where'd you buy it from this time, AJA? Steam or somewhere else?
Playfirst.
I know, I suck. :P
I must know why Toto walked off the screen! :'(
Also you should really get a timer, you still had about 8 minutes you could have played. :P
They're still selling it? I thought they moved all their products over to Big Fish awhile ago.
Two things:
- so was all the compromise worth it, did the game sell well?
- it's not that strange to forget how to play your own game, but to not know what to do in a "casual" game which has each task clearly spelled out for a player at the bottom of the screen...that's kind of funny ;D
Still, interesting episodes.
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Fri 26/08/2011 23:16:24
They're still selling it? I thought they moved all their products over to Big Fish awhile ago.
Oh yeah, you're right. I just found it on the Playfirst website and didn't notice that buying took me to Big Fish. :P
Great work, Dave! Love listening to developer commentaries like these - your in-game commentaries as well as Grundislav's recent BJ playthroughs too. Man, those quest gems are fucking annoying, glad it didn't bleed over into the Blackwell games ;)
And another great one :D
Part 7 is up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xdu4VTRaVM
This one is probably the most philosophical of the bunch. Hopefully I don't get too rambly. :)
My day was sucking before you posted that, now it's awesome. ;D
Starting this LP right before I started crunching on my next project was probably a bad idea. I'll get to the rest soonish!