Everlight Forest DEMO v1.1 Released!

[Rik_Vargard]

Aye! It's me who did this... Thanks to my drawing studies, PhotoImpact XL, a lot of textures and aftereffects...

[QUEVALORD]

The game looks great, really, it's has the best graphics I've ever seen in an amateur game. How do you do it? Have you study something to draw like that? It's really amazing. Good luck with your first game, if you need some help with the story, all I can say is this:
1) I can see the game is medieval. Don't go too Tolkien with the story, it has been made millions of times.
2) Don't do the classic "Good guy kills bad guy to save beatifull princess"
3) Put some magical elements on the story, but make it look like something normal
4) Make the player enter in the game in the middle of the plot, that way you can go straight to action.
5) To explain the story, don't put some old guy to tell it all at once, if you do it a bit at a time, you'll have a longer and funnier game
6) For puzzles, don't make the classic "find key and use it on door to pass to next episode", there are other ways to do that, even better ones
7) The main character must evolve through the game, it's way of thinking and seeing life must gradually change through the game

If you want to, I can add more tips. Just say it.

[Rik Vargard]

Hey, thanks for your kind words and the interesting points you put there!

Well... to be honest, the really very funny thing is that you can put "ok" for every point you submitted because that's kind of  the way I'm working on the game. Yup.
And if there are other points you consider like having a high importance for it, don't hesitate to drop them!
 

[Rik Vargard]

I'll Edit here(login problems):

Forgot one point, sorry. Well yeah, I did art school. And I have a really cool soft called PhotoImpact XL for finishing stuff (effects, lights, textures...). But the base thing is always drawed on paper then scanned, resized, reworked and so on...

Voilà !  

[Rik_Vargard]

Hi, I reached a point I think we already can test almost the whole first puzzle. Well, there's not much more than 5-15 minutes of playing. Untill now, I worked most of the time on the story, the intro and the music.

Ok, now I don't know if there's some kind of AGS-tradition/way to recruit testers other than asking, so I see it like this since It's my first nooby release experience
The 5 first to respond are in.... 8)
Well yeah

Of course, you'll have your place in the credits...

Before submitting, read this:

=The game is in 640 x 480 resolution at 16bits=
=!!The file is 18Mb big!!=
But if you want, I can compress and divide it in more little .rar files.

SCREENSHOTS


Other notes:

-The character animation isn't done (you'll notice it fast). He has to be remade from total scratch! I made just a quick thing to walk around and play.
-There is no FX sound yet.
-The whole intro-scene is finished( like 3 minutes long )
-Three songs finished (Two during the intro and one ambient song while playing ( need a 4th one, too ))
-You can play the puzzle from the beginning untill a certain point. (After you can't do much more than just stand & walk there)
-I'll make a "new room" for when you open chests and boxes and stuff to be opened, with contents so you can see all the stuff in the "chests" and choose them by a click.
-A little more practical details will be sent by mail to the testers with the link for the download.

who's in?  

[piraatlife4me]

I'm down to test your game.
Just pm me the link to download!

[AtakeeR]

Count me in - PM link to me and I'll test it

[Rik_Vargard]

Aye aye! Right now it's uploading....

I put an installer on it and as an .exe it's better compressed than .rar or .zip exe files... : Well just 2 Mb, but heh, that what it takes

[Jockstrap]

I'll do it.

[Rik_Vargard]

All right!   I send you a PM!  8)

[Sinister]

I'll take the deed of testing your game!!!...i promise i'll be gentle .
Just pm me the link to download.

[Rik_Vargard]

You mean you take the risk...?!  
It's a honor, sir! 8)

[Rik_Vargard]

Check out the first post of this topic for more info and the download link!

[Rik_Vargard]

Well, I just made the French translation, for those who... well... want to play in French... 8)

[deltamatrix]

I just tried out the demo. I didn't complete it but its lookin good.

I'd like to suggest something. Your GUI buttons weren't very clear to me.
It would help if you made them more obvious to their function by colour code or mousetext.

[piraatlife4me]

Alright Rik!
It's out now! Now I gotta download the new version  
Alright! Got it! Now waiting for the FULL game!
Good luck with the masterpiece.

[cittymom]

Should I have two hooks and the iron bar in inventory?  I have already used the iron bar.  This happened when I searched the cabinet for a second time after starting from a saved game.       I am stuck on this game.....  can't find what is needed to sharpen the axe.

[Migs]

Rik,

This is a very beautiful game.  I have a few comments:

The brevity of the descriptions is a rather undesirable feature.  For example, what's the point in reading "A door" when I click the Look command on a door?  I can see it's a door.  I know it's a door.  I'd like to hear something I don't necessarily know about the door, like it's made of hand-carved oak, or has some unusual scratches on it, or something.

More descriptive global messages and/or more global messages would be useful.  Just seeing "Nothing interesting here" is a real turn off, especially when it's on something typically interesting like a chest.  WHY isn't the chest interesting?  Is it just filled with old clothes?  If so, you should let the player know.  And I got rather tired clicking on everything that I thought would be interesting or further the game somehow but not getting a message for it.  In my opinion, adding better description to the messages would be useful, since the puzzles are slightly unintuitive.

When picking up an object, it would be fruitful to tell the player what is being picked up, so he doesn't have to check his inventory to see what was added.  This is especially important if the player has a large inventory, so he doesn't have to hunt through his inventory to notice what's different.

The art style is very interesting and refreshingly beautiful.  I kind of wish the main character had a small shadow underneath his body or something, since in all the scenes he looks somewhat out of place.  His walk animation is a little crude, too.

You should know that I'm intentionally being nit-picky, because I feel this game has enormous, enormous potential.  Overall, it's remarkably captivating, the music is excellent, and I think by fixing a few minor details, it could really become a resounding success.

[Rik_Vargard]

Aye aye!
I like to thank everyone who took his time to try out the demo. Im really honored and motivated by it.  
Well, like I like to say, it's my first game and everything can only become better with time.
But now, I know it will be even better thanks to all the very interesting feedback I'm getting from you people. I'm learning every day.
Here or by mail, short or more detailed, they all have a positive and constructive impact...  

Know that I copy/paste all critics, suggestions, whatever... in my "Critics&Suggestions&Whatever" file, and every little detail will be given a serious though for sure.

Thanks!

[Potch]

Hi.  I've been playing your demo, and I really like it.  I can't seem to get anywhere, but that's just because I'm retarded when it comes it adventure games, and I can never seem to figure out the obvious solutions! :-)  

Anyway, the only suggestion that I have for the game, is it seems that the background is a little too busy.  It's really difficult to see objects on the screen with all of the detail in the background.  Maybe make the objects that you need to use stand out a little more.  Or, have the cursor blink when there's something you can use.  Or, some games have words appear on the screen when you pass over something clickable.

Other than that, so far it's pretty cool.  I'm anxiously awaiting the full version!!