Swarm Development: Postmortem

[Ghost]

b) Someone undertakes more work and draws something resembling a control room background.  Remember for design purposes that the Mad Scientist will block up to half the background.  If someone produces such a background we'll go with this option

I'll do that, got a lazy sunday comin' up anyways.

[Baron]

BETA 4

Known issues:
-missing or holder graphic backgrounds in Mad Scientist cutscene and vampire twin cutscene
-no animation for mad scientist's arm for phone and microphone
-no animation for Merrick's hand at the end (holder message)
-still old title screen, since the new one still has a spelling error
-untested credits system (from menu and end of game)
-a few missing sounds

Otherwise..... I'm drawing a blank.  But then it's late and I have already assembled another game today....  Major updates since the last beta are new GUI, full music implementation, credits, full voice acting, spell checking, additional debugging, additional animations.....

Let me know if you notice something out of place or missing and I'll get on it.

[Armageddon]

/facepalm



EDIT: Playing the beta now, it's much more hilarious with these voice actors! A few things I noticed, there is no alarm sound, I think only playing it during the short cut scene would make sense or it would get annoying. In the second mad scientist cut scene when he says 'I'm not going to worry.' the voice actor said 'I'm not going to worry too much.' The Merrick Carrot line is missing, after he eats the carrot. The probe still doesn't stand out very much, maybe give it an outline or move it? Weren't we going to use that old floating robot Merrick design inside the tube in the lab? The inventory looks great, but could it disappear when the mouse cursor goes outside of the screen when you have an item selected? Like Sam and Max. Grabbing the banana was kind of a pixel hunt, in fact, most of the doors are hard to step through. Also in the credits it said, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER by BARON. Sound kinda strange, maybe Executive Produced? The umbrella was hard to find, but I got it soon enough. And those are my nit-picks! I expect none of them to be done.

BUG: Okay so I used the Cheetah blood on Merrick then it gave me this error.

[Hudders]

That was excellent.
The inventory & options screen is awesome.

Some things I noticed that weren't already mentioned by Armageddon:

You can stand just east of the UV light and still fail to use the switch.
There's a rogue tooltip that says "Vampire" if you mouseover the hole in the wall after the robot monster comes in.
There is the word "Impereble" or something in Merrick's talk when he eats the cockroach. I'm pretty sure this should be "Impermeable".

I think you should get rid of all the "by"s in the credits. It would look neater.

[Tabata]

You did an awesome job again!
It is double the fun with the excellent voice-acting and the inventory-screen is top notch

The only thing I am a bit sad about is, that you still can get out without biting the scientist (so you
/he doesn't even know about the pine, but he is suddenly able to explain everything, when eating it).

This aside I didn't find anything, that's not mentioned already (but I didn't get the error when drinking the blood).

The Gag about me in the credits made me jump up from my seat - always good for a joke you guys
and a very nice gesture I am proud to get from „my daddy“       
(I'll save that version to brag with it )

[DoorKnobHandle]

Dunno if it's a known issue but you can still hit TAB and get the old inventory. I personally also would hide the cursor during cinematics - in the intro with the talking mad scientist for example it's annoying because you can hover over the character and a distracting label pops up.

[Sinitrena]

I love the cheerleading credit for Tabata 

My name is spelled wrong in the credits. It should be Sinitrena not Sinetrena.

Other than that I noticed no bugs other than the ones already mentioned by Armageddon.

[Knoodn]

This game is more and more fun to play.

The extra cutscene with the professor gives a better drive to the game. Well done!

Beside the missing voice when biting the carrot, there is also the last line missing when biting the cockroach ("Just a second.").

[Snarky]

The only thing I am a bit sad about is, that you still can get out without biting the scientist (so you
/he doesn't even know about the pine, but he is suddenly able to explain everything, when eating it).

One possible way to solve this would be to make it necessary to bite the scientist before you can drink the cheetah blood (and therefore before you can reach the end scene). If the bag only had the Latin name (Acinonyx jubatus), Merrick could refuse to drink it without knowing what it was. Drinking from the scientist would allow him to translate the Latin.

Would require some lines to be rewritten and rerecorded, though...

And yes, I still owe you a hand, Baron. I'll try to have it finished tomorrow.

[Baron]

Hey all,
       Thanks for the feedback.  I should be able to fix most of these things without too much issue.  I'm a little reluctant to change lines at this point, however, due to the strong probability of the rerecording of lines pushing back the release date.  When it comes to not biting the scientists, you'll just have to believe that Merrick already knew a thing or two about nature (it was just put in as a hint anyway).  And besides, who plays a vampire game without biting people?!?  I refuse to do extra work to cater to that market!

[Armageddon]

Hey all,
       Thanks for the feedback.  I should be able to fix most of these things without too much issue.  I'm a little reluctant to change lines at this point, however, due to the strong probability of the rerecording of lines pushing back the release date.  When it comes to not biting the scientists, you'll just have to believe that Merrick already knew a thing or two about nature (it was just put in as a hint anyway).  And besides, who plays a vampire game without biting people?!?  I refuse to do extra work to cater to that market!

Maybe add a door on the hallway that only opens after you bite the scientists? Also I couldn't seem to go back to the brightly lit room after going into the room with the guards.

[Baron]

Maybe add a door on the hallway that only opens after you bite the scientists? Also I couldn't seem to go back to the brightly lit room after going into the room with the guards.

Redrawing rooms isn't really feasible at this point with release just a week away.  I'm very comfortable with someone already knowing that pine cones survive forest fires without biting the scientists.  And if you think about it, all the other powers seem to fade within a few moments, so wouldn't the "knowledge" power fade too (i.e. he forgets?).  The primary function of the scientists was always to provide information and comic relief to the player.  If neither of these two are necessary for the player, I really don't see why he/she should be compelled to bite the scientists.  At any rate, we are beyond the pale here for making this kind of plot alteration -you guys should have spoken up sooner!

As for going back from the guardroom, you should be able to while the guards are still alive.  After the robot fight sequence begins this is no longer possible (due to the debris from crashing through the wall obstructing the exit...) since this would rationally result in the robot destroying you.  As it is not necessary to leave to be able to finish the game, this works.  However, if you are having problems leaving before you kill the guards, I'd like to know about the circumstances surrounding that.

[Hudders]

The simplest solution, (if we need one), is to stop Merrick picking up the pine-cone if he hasn't bit the scientist. You can still complete the game by biting a cockroach instead.

[Tabata]

And besides, who plays a vampire game without biting people?!?  I refuse to do extra work to cater to that market!

If „Daddy“ decides something about this game - who am I to say, it is wrong. 
No, no, please don't expect such a disrespect from this little (still very happy) player-girl!

But please don't be unfair to the others, who only try to offer a solution:

-you guys should have spoken up sooner!

You may allow me to answer your question from the earlier quote and direct your attention to the first time, it came up here in reply#530 which was the reason for to be mentioned again there in reply#541, so it's not that new, isn't it?

                                         

[cat]

Just played the game for the first time and I have to say - wow! Looks great and real fun to play. Some issues I noticed (not sure if someone mentioned them already):

- TAB should open the menu screen with inventory and save/load, not the standard inventory window.
- There definitely has to be some hint about clicking self bringing up the menu. Just knew because I read something about it in this thread. Also, you first click him to solve a puzzle and then it is the inventory - quite confusing!
- Two minor walkable area issues: When the blond is lying on the floor you can walk on his head; when the fridge door is open, you kinda walk through it.
- In the vampire twin room, when they are waiting for your last words: wrong hotspot "Vampire" somewhere on the left side.

[Ghost]

Re Beta:
* I noticed that the magnets' background no longer matches the fridge door- no big offense, and can be easily fixed.
* I find the credits fond a bit hard to read- often characters appear very jagged.



Background done! I assumed the scientist stands to the right, correct?




__________
* This looks totally like a Doom screenshot, and I just realised that NOW!**

__________
** I think it's the cheap-o shading on the wall.

[edit]
This was made, at great expense and with a lot of forethought and hindsight, to look EXACTLY like a Doom screenshot.

I hope you like it.

[Snarky]

I'm still working on the final hand animation, but in case you're getting worried about the looming deadline, I thought I'd post the first half of it:



The idea is that it emerges from a heap of rubble and claws at the sky. REVENGE!

The rest of the animation is sketched out, and I finally gave up on the idea of animating the fingers individually, so finishing the rest should go much faster.

[Jackpumpkinhead]

this is so amazing. i cant believe that just a few months ago this got started and now it has almost come to an end.
the only thing i would change, and no disrespect to "Pinback", but i still think the robomonster character doesnt fit with the rest of the art.

[cat]

- There definitely has to be some hint about clicking self bringing up the menu. Just knew because I read something about it in this thread. Also, you first click him to solve a puzzle and then it is the inventory - quite confusing!

Quoting myself is weird, but I have an idea: How about showing a messagebox (display, like the inventory descriptions) after picking up the first inventory item like "You pick up the <itemnamehere>. Click on Merrick to access your inventory."

[Ghost]

How about showing a messagebox (display, like the inventory descriptions) after picking up the first inventory item like "You pick up the <itemnamehere>. Click on Merrick to access your inventory."

Sounds like the best way to make things clear to the user. Could also be useful after getting the drone, as long as figuring out what to do with it isn't itself considered a "puzzle".