Al Emmo: Official Demo released

[Radiant]

Al Emmo is a commercial release, and well done! I've not played the demo, and I hate westerns (second one after Radiant...), and sorry for that.

That's a pity. It's not a western in the traditional sense of the word.

Well, it's a matter of taste... I play games (and read books) out of a sense of escapism. That means that the more things are like the Real Earth (tm), the less I'm interested. That doesn't mean I hate westerns though


Anyway in response to the posts above... the one to point out that Al Emmo looks like Larry might be interested to hear that the entire Larry game was copied from a game called Soft Porn Adventure. The balding middle-aged lamer that both Al and Larry have things in common with is what I'd call a genre staple. There's nothing wrong with those, however.

Every story uses some genre staples; that doesn't make it any less original. A story must incorporate some familiar elements because it'd be incomprehensible otherwise (e.g. Space Quest is influenced by Star Wars, which is influenced by Flash Gordon, which is turn based upon Buck Rogers, et cetera; that doesn't mean SQ is not original, simply that it uses the same staples). Originality is not whether you have such staples, but on what story you write around them.

About the price argument, I'd wager that most people here are high schoolers or students with somewhat less money than they'd want to . But if you compare Al Emmo's $30 to the price you'd normally pay for a cinema ticket (up to $15 around here), I'd say that Al obviously gives more hours of entertainment per dollar spent. YMMV.

[Iv4n]

I dl the demo, played a bit and I like it overall. It became addictive as you play.

What I dislike was the voice of Al Elmo. I was expecting some silly voice, but this is hilarious! I've never heard even closer to such a silly voice.

The other strange idea was with the voice of his head. Maybe you should make an option to turn it off when you look or interact with objects. It's not that I dislike this idea, it's that you hear it all the time non-stop! And this becomes annoying at some point.

Commenting on to the price, I'll point only that Bone and Half-Life 2: Episode 1 costs $20.

Well I've pointed the things I dislike but all the other things are pretty good! Well done! Puzzles seems to be interesting, the story is promising, gameplay is intuitive, etc.

[SSH]

What I dislike was the voice of Al Elmo.

Al Elmo in Grouchland!  A freudian slip, if I ever saw one...

[i k a r i]

Al Emmo voice is VERY similar to larry's, and the narrator thing is from larry 7 Love for Sail, I liked both things, I see them more as a tribute than a copy, I just don't know if it's right to go commercial with so many things taken from other games, well, maybe not so many.

In the other hand I don't see why the narrator is annoying, i thinks he says original and fun stuff, I must also say that I'm not someone who laughs easily, specially with games, but this game made it in a couple of times, like in the part he

Spoiler

sings back to that lady

[close]

, what I didn't like much is the presentation (graphically), and some of the other videos.

I've just finished the demo, and overall I think this game is very very good, and much more fun than many commercial games, and I think it deserves some money without a doubt.
(as many other free games made with AGS)

[Disco]

I must also say that I'm not someone who laughs easily, specially with games, but this game made it in a couple of times, like in the part he

Spoiler

sings back to that lady

[close]

Hehe, I had that part stuck in my head for an entire shift at work ikari, I played the demo for maybe 20 minutes up until now, and have laughed out loud maybe twelve times, which is more frequent than usual .

Commenting on to the price, I'll point only that Bone and Half-Life 2: Episode 1 costs $20.

I cannot speak on Half Life, but Bone (I assume Out From Boneville, as newer episodes are priced lower) is not the best example to give here, as Telltale stated it would be about 4 hours (maybe 2 1/2 in reality) and Himalaya estimate Al Emmo to be in area of 15-20 hours of gameplay- surely worth $10 extra, not to mention  that Al Emmo wasn't rushed out in just under a year, comes standard on a disc, and (for the version I bought) bundled with a soundtrack CD and a few posters.

[Afflict]

Your points are based on speculation and assumptions.

AH ok so, that means that there is really no 3d sprite on a 2d bg? thanks for clearing that up... man that had me confused.

Altough I played the demo wasted 200+ meg of my bandwitdh on what I hoped to be something good.
So if I played the demo how are these assumptions? again?

Again no assumption on the Larry man checked it out again to see and yip... I still believe there is alot of influence.

... and fire of a string of personal attacks. In fact, it seems suspiciously like some kind of personal grudge rather than anything to do with the game.

Ok well if your taking it personal... Deal with it.

There is nothing that I HATE more than someone that thinks they know everything... I am sure you guys think you know how to make games in fact you claim to have single handedly brought back adventure games.. Wait there is one thing I HATE MORE ... ARROGANT GAME DESIGNERS!

You want to place me in the same box... as a prffesional game designer LOL I never claimed to be that you did however and now you cant handle the criticism... then your in the wrong game. People tell you this looks nice and that looks nice.. guys NICE doesnt cut it in the PROFFESIONAL world.

I dont mind you hating me, infact I welcome it. One day when you dont cut it you would wish you would have listened to me...

Enough of this,

Cheers.

Afflict.

[Erpy]

I am sure you guys think you know how to make games

Hmmm, now that sounds suspiciously like an assumption to me.Ã, 

in fact you claim to have single handedly brought back adventure games.. Wait there is one thing I HATE MORE ... ARROGANT GAME DESIGNERS!

I already adressed that one in my previous post. Please re-read it.

You want to place me in the same box... as a prffesional game designer LOL I never claimed to be that you did however and now you cant handle the criticism... then your in the wrong game. People tell you this looks nice and that looks nice.. guys NICE doesnt cut it in the PROFFESIONAL world.

I dont mind you hating me, infact I welcome it. One day when you dont cut it you would wish you would have listened to me...

The question remains, why SHOULD we listen to you if you can't even claim any experience that would lend any credibility to your statements? (and you admit you can't claim it) For all we know, you might just be some random person who likes to spout even more random stuff at people based on (disclaimer: this is an assumption) equally random justifications.

We can generally handle criticism just fine.

[Darth Mandarb]

** Darth ignites his light sabre **

[Kweepa]

I played the demo and was pleasantly surprised - it kept my attention for an hour or so. I don't think I'll be buying it any time soon though.

PROS:
music, particularly during the cutscenes, was excellent
narrator is actually quite funny and has some original things to say
good script and some good voice acting
some nice detailed backgrounds with plenty of descriptions
can run or skip directly to exits!

CONS:
no concrete plot direction - I can't believe I'm really supposed to be chasing after some woman, or mixing a drink to get my room key, or wandering randomly until I get some better idea what to do
the modelling and animation in the cutscenes is terrible
some bad voice acting (and why does the Irish guy sound like a Geordie?)
ugly character portraits with no emotion (see, for example, The Shiv'ah for some great portraits)

I haven't worked out whether it's supposed to be 19th century with a lot of anachronisms, or an old-timey oasis in the 21st century. That may be intentional, I don't know. Perhaps it's like The Village.

[Erpy]

It's true Al walks around fairly slowly. But is that really a disadvantage worth mentioning when you can instantly skip to your destination by pressing Escape while walking?

[i k a r i]

And you can also run by double clicking in a location x)

I can't believe I'm really supposed to be chasing after some woman, or mixing a drink to get my room key, or wandering randomly until I get some better idea what to do

So you don't like adventure games, there are hundreds of adventure games with crazy puzzles, like hmm monkey island, or grim fandango, or larry..
And "wandering randomly until I get some better idea what to do" is something that happens often in adventure games..Is part of the fun for me.

I agree with everythig else you said.

[AGD2]

SSH:Ã,  We are actually using the services of such a CD duplication company, but we can't actually start using their system till we have the product ready to ship. So in the meantime, we have to take the pre-orders via a different shopping cart.

no concrete plot direction - I can't believe I'm really supposed to be chasing after some woman, or mixing a drink to get my room key, or wandering randomly until I get some better idea what to do

It's somewhat inferred from the title what the ultimate goal of the game is. As for the beginning stages, think of it somewhat like QFG4's premise. A stranger in a foreign land has to find their bearings in a hostile environment with hostile locals.

why does the Irish guy sound like a Geordie?

He's based on a real-life person that one of the developers knew (a guy who owned a coffee shop). This guy was Irish, but spoke with an English accent.

I haven't worked out whether it's supposed to be 19th century with a lot of anachronisms, or an old-timey oasis in the 21st century. That may be intentional, I don't know. Perhaps it's like The Village.

Yeah, it's intentional. There are a lot of modern pop culture references scattered throughout the game, so the exact time period is kind of left up to the player's own imagination. We didn't want to state "this is set in the 1880's" since then we'd have non-sequitar items and references all over the place. For all intents and purposes, it could even be set in a modern gold rush town.

[EvilTypeGuy]

Argh, compiled with AGS v2.72 Beta! Seems I'll have to wait for the final v2.72 Linux engine before I can check out the demo.

I'm in Australia for a while, so I don't have access to my build system. Until I return to the states, or I get access to my build machine again, the AGS Linux runtime won't be updated.

[Uhura]

I'm glad to hear that a lot of you are enjoying the demo!  We've put a lot of work into this game, and are excited to release it.  Additionally, I thought you'd like to know, that we want to support AGS and Chris Jones in every way that we can for all the help he's offered to us and the entire AGS community over the years.  Without him, none of us would be able to create the kinds of games that we would like to play.  For this reason, we're donating a percentage of profits from each game sold to Chris Jones.   If you do end up playing Al Emmo, just know that it is your vote of support for AGS and Chris Jones!

Happy gaming,

Britney

[pamplemousse]

I didn't like the demo. I thought the story was pretty derivative of other things and the cliches made it too dull to enjoy. Guess I expected something more creative and less same same. This might thrill brand new never seen this stuff ever before gamers possibly but if you have higher standards, this game probably won't appeal to you.

[deadsuperhero]

To be honest, I didn't like it. Sure, the quality is great artwise, actingwise, etc, but it feels like some Family Guy episode. Come on, you guys are professionals, you don't have to be perverted and stuff (shudders from the crossdresser scene).
You guys are better than this. You've basically made a Royal Quest. All you did was take Lesiure Suit Larry, stick him in the wild west, change his name, and do your own graphics. Personally, I think that's very sad. You guys could have made an incredible game, but you basically made garbage. Then again, I played the game assuming it was a kids game like your other stuff.

[Erpy]

You've basically made a Royal Quest.

Heh, trust me. Royal Quest was MUCH more in-your-face than this.

All you did was take Lesiure Suit Larry, stick him in the wild west, change his name, and do your own graphics.

Ironically, Britney never played Leisure Suit Larry before coming up with the game design. The one thing both have in common is a protagonist who is particularly dweeby. Al Emmo does contain some mature humor (not R-rated like Larry though, it doesn't go as far as the LSL-series), but the game isn't centered around it...most of the humor in the game is of the non-naughty type variety, nor is the objective to get laid. (again, unlike Larry) Such a reasoning would make nearly all fantasy adventures King's Quest games with different graphics.

Personally, I think that's very sad. You guys could have made an incredible game, but you basically made garbage. Then again, I played the game assuming it was a kids game like your other stuff.

If you played the game assuming it was a kids game, I can understand the shock. Al Emmo was never meant to be a kids game like King's Quest, so it isn't really fair to judge it by that particular standard. It's a bit like comparing Quake to the Sims and concluding Quake is too violent.

[Afflict]

Its unbelievable how you guys just dont listen. You hear or read only what you want to.

You cannot see past what your fan boys have told you and now that you get some constructive criticism you keep on defending on everyboard you have. Adv Dev too, you should have done some research and noticed that your character is way too similiar to that of Larry and already should of had some doubts there.

We dont care that Britney never played Larry prior to the idea/ concept however have not one of you played it prior to the developement?

The facts remain the facts and we merely point them out, no amount of excuses or any avoidance of the topic will change that.

[Erpy]

Its unbelievable how you guys just dont listen. You hear or read only what you want to.

You cannot see past what your fan boys have told you and now that you get some constructive criticism you keep on defending on everyboard you have.

I'm not sure what you're referring to but not every person saying he doesn't like the game is giving constructive criticism. Of course, everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion, but that doesn't make his/her posts automatically contain constructive criticism. And er...where did the obsession with fanboys come from anyway? There's a sense of irony in the fact that despite your affinity with the word, you seem, to me, to be the poster in this thread displaying the most fanboy-like attitude. (turned around 180 degrees, anti-fanboyism if you like, but still sharing the same core attributes)

Adv Dev too, you should have done some research and noticed that your character is way too similiar to that of Larry and already should of had some doubts there.

We dont care that Britney never played Larry prior to the idea/ concept however have not one of you played it prior to the developement?

I played it before, but Larry and Al Emmo aren't the only "40 year old virgin"-types ever created. (ask Ben Affleck) Al was based on an existing person. What's your definition of "way too similar" anyhow?

The facts remain the facts and we merely point them out, no amount of excuses or any avoidance of the topic will change that.

How can it be a fact that something is derivative if the person who came up with the idea isn't familiar with the principle from which it is supposedly derived?

I think there's been thousands of games made in this particular community and if you start comparing all of them, I'm sure we can label at least 50% of them as "factually and blatantly derivative" and therefore label the creators as not having come up with any ideas of their own. But reality might be somewhat more nuanced.

[MrColossal]

Afflict,

As a moderator I'm going to ask you to stop and take your problems to PM.

This is not censorship, this is trying to keep this thread on track.

Thank you.

Eric