Hi there, everyone
Two months ago, after years of deliberations I finally started making my first adventure game - Frantic Franko: A Bergzwerg Gone Berserk.
The game tells of a hero's long journey, but it doesn't make an epic story out of it, focusing rather on the personages and puzzle solving. I'd compare the structure to the adventures of Leisure Suit Larry who would always jump around all females he accidentally meets on his way and solve their problems for them, but I should make it clear that Frantic Franko's interactions with other characters will not be about sex (sorry, folks), as a matter of fact they will be primarily about revenge...
The puzzles on the other hand may be a bit in the vein of the Gobliiins series, yet with lots of dialogue puzzles among them. And for the game interface I used the verbcoin, but there won't be any eyes, magnifying glasses or hands to choose from... So anyway, everything in the game should seem reasonably familiar and a demo should be out pretty soon.
(http://hardydev.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0.png)
(http://hardydev.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/1.png)
1. The Story
The game is set in a fantasy world. The main hero of the story is a ferocious dwarven warrior called Frantic Franko. As the game begins he goes on a long journey to a far away land just to get to the guy from a rival clan who unforgivably insulted his own. And the challenge is considerable as the offender is none other than the notorious Kinky Koval. Yet it won't be easy for Franko to reach Koval in one piece. In fact it's during the journey that his real problems and the true story start while revenge becomes an even more important issue...
(http://hardydev.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/3.png)
(http://hardydev.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/2.png)
2. The Main Hero
...really isn't a nice person. Actually he is something of an egoistic, sadistic psycho. He has a mother complex, problems with verbal communication, a tendency to attack anything that moves with his axe, and other appropriate quirks.
Also, Franko is nearly blind (blinder even than most other dwarfs as he lost one of his eyes) so he catches the scents of things instead of looking at them. And what of an accute sense of smell he has indeed - ideal for examining hotspots in the game. Most importantly though, Franko is also equipped with a highly destructive nature in consequence of which he chooses swing his axe at things as the primary action when interacting with game objects.
(http://hardydev.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/frankon.jpg?w=495&h=489)
High Res version of the concept art here (http://"http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/2/14/2321609/FrankoN.jpg")
3. Game Features
- a short-sighted, foul-mouthed anti-hero with a strong revenge motif and who constantly smells his way either into or out of trouble
- hand-drawn third person adventure presented in stunning 16 bit SVGA graphix
- includes music composed by Łukasz Pawlik and performed by the jazz band Kattorna (http://www.kattorna.com/index.php?j=en")
- wacky puzzle solving focused gameplay
- Full Throttle/Curse of Monkey Island style "verbcoin" interface with some little, neat twists
- three completely different environments (the screennies despite contrasts are from the same one) - each with its own style, mood, pacing and ways of dealing with problems
- the innovative "a persuasive dwarf's bag of junk" conversation system - Franko's special equipment that helps him to manipulate conversations in exactly the way he desires, or at least makes him to appear as a complete fool, but allows to get the job done nevertheless
(http://hardydev.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/franko-title.png)
4. Progress
Download the DEMO here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=1173) or here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=1173&mirror=1).
Here is the official game demo page (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1173).
The game should be ready before the end of the year 2011.
In the meantime you can follow entries in my development diary here (http://hardydev.com/tag/frantic-franko/).
some gameplay footage on YouTube (Beware as it contains solutions for solving the first few puzzles): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XuB0RPN_eQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XuB0RPN_eQ)
(http://hardydev.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mothester.png)
Haha this smells pretty interesting so far 8)
You spoke about GUI (CMI/FT-style), plotline (Larry), puzzles (Gobliins) - but what will the general atmosphere of the game be like?
Haha, sounds like fun. And the style definitely fits the weird story..
Quote from: Cyrus on Sun 26/04/2009 17:38:07
You spoke about GUI (CMI/FT-style), plotline (Larry), puzzles (Gobliins) - but what will the general atmosphere of the game be like?
I was going to say "like Black Adder (especially the first series with the naive rendition of Edmund)", but to be honest I'm not basing the game's style on anything specific. I want the game to be quite unusual.
Storywise it will be first of all a character-driven comedy and the main character's obsessions and quirks will be setting up the tone. The locations and music will be one of the main sources of atmosphere and they will be very different for each of the game's three segments.
Will the demo be released in the first or the second half of May?
I'd like it to be the first, but looking realistically probably the second.
This sounds nice, especially the sadist psycho the hero is..
He kind of looks like a leprechaun with the orange hair and green coat! Bet he finds it annoying when people ask him for his pot of gold!
Now that I think about it the coat may have originated from an image of a leprechaun imposing on my poor subconscious mind while I tried really hard to be creative and achieve a striking look for the hero. Hopefully, I won't be sued because of this resemblance.
Graphics look really cool!
I think I'll like this.
I love these groovy graphics. Good luck with this!
If anyone is interested, you can follow entries in my development diary for the game here (http://hardydev.com/tag/frantic-franko/). I keep them rather vague for now, since I don't won't to reveal too much before the release of the demo.
Once there, don't be afraid to leave comments about how exciting and informative the diary is. Even nasty ones.
A small update
I added a new screenshot showcasing the game's "verbcoin" and the hero's front pose (see first post in the thread).
Also, I wanted to say that I was recently allowed to put in a superb composition from a jazz band called Kattorna (http://www.kattorna.com/index.php?j=en") which I had the great pleasure of hearing live. I hope this music piece will add to the experience. It certainly surpasses the quality of everything else in the game. :)
I'm a little bit behind the schedule with the demo. I should finish a fully playable version this week (unless I encounter some unexpected problems), but I wish to do some more testing before I release it for everyone. If anyone is interested in taking a part in this, please PM me - I'll be glad to have more testers.
Currently, the demo release is planned for early June, so keep an eye out.
Quote from: Ascovel on Sun 24/05/2009 21:41:44
Also, I wanted to say that I was recently allowed to put in a superb composition from a jazz band called Kattorna (http://www.kattorna.com/index.php?j=en") which I had the great pleasure of hearing live. I hope this music piece will add to the experience. It certainly surpasses the quality of everything else in the game. :)
I would be interested to see how you combine jazz with the fantasy-world setting.
Quote from: Cyrus on Mon 25/05/2009 16:13:37
Quote from: Ascovel on Sun 24/05/2009 21:41:44
Also, I wanted to say that I was recently allowed to put in a superb composition from a jazz band called Kattorna (http://www.kattorna.com/index.php?j=en") which I had the great pleasure of hearing live. I hope this music piece will add to the experience. It certainly surpasses the quality of everything else in the game. :)
I would be interested to see how you combine jazz with the fantasy-world setting.
It's not such a terribly traditional fantasy-world setting. Still, there will be those players who will find that the music creates an interesting atmosphere for the place, and there will be those that would rather... run away ;D.
Smashing stuff!:) I see you've used somewhat similiar style as mine for backgrounds, but with a nice touch of watercolour. So far the best thing about this game is the main character- I can't explain why, but he really appeals to me:) Maybe it's the half-blind thing that makes him so different from ussual perfect game heroes?:) Keep up the good work!
Thanks, Grim.
Franko is the key to the whole game. Basically it all revolves around the main hero's personality, quirks and personal problems rather than some great Quest. Even if in the end it is a comedy and not a psychological drama.
Does this sound like fun? :D
Finally, I reached the testing stage. Not of the whole game though, but of the segment used for the demo (approximately 33% of the entire game). I hope to release it some time before everyone goes crazy over Tales of Monkey Island and won't remember my game.
Make copies of the current screenshots, everyone, because they are about to change a bit upon the release. Changes will include: Franko's palette getting darker, fire getting animated (I mean, sprite'ay looking). and there will appear a mysterious spot on the ground. But you'll have to just take my word for it... or... Become a tester for the game and see it live right now!
New development diary entry: http://hardydev.com/2009/06/18/frantic-franko-a-bergzwerg-gone-berserk-crazy/
I write these things quickly to not waste time I could use on perfecting the game, but I hope they're still interesting.
There's also a new screenshot in there - same location, new verbcoin (the old one wasn't popular).
The new verbcoin looks much cleaner and clearer. A big improvement over the old one in my opinion.
Finally I've finished the demo. It seems to me I've put in plenty of content, even though there are 3 locations in it. Hope you find it interesting and will have fun with the bag of junk.
All puzzles have proper hints and there are also alternative solutions to some. It's all quite non-linear, but don't be overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that one can try and enjoy the freedom to do some really crazy things (some cool ones are completely optional).
Download it here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=1173) or here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=1173&mirror=1).
And here is the official game demo page (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1173).
Nice demo but a "warnings.log" file was created while playing the demo.
It contains the following 2 lines:
(in room 1): Character.RemoveTint called but character was not tinted
(in room 1): Warning: FollowCharacter called but the sheep is currently animating looped. It may never start to follow.
After about 10 minutes of playing a 3,000 kb log file was created containing 40652 lines of text as mentioned above.
The only location I visited in the game was where the game starts, being in the wood with the camp fire and the floating balloon guy (aka room1)
Hmm...
I forgot to disable debug mode for the public version. I will upload a new version shortly.
thanks for the info, Arj0n
EDIT: OK. Fixed and exchanged the old link with one to a new version. So no huge warning files are created anymore while you play. Not even small ones.
Spoiler
"We'll make a Psychonaut out of you" - is it a reference to Tim Schafer's game?
By the way, the saving-loading option doesn't work.
Quote from: Cyrus on Mon 29/06/2009 11:49:35
By the way, the saving-loading option doesn't work.
It works on my system. Anyone else is having this problem? And what happens exactly when you try using it?
Quote
Spoiler
"We'll make a Psychonaut out of you" - is it a reference to Tim Schafer's game?
Doesn't have to be (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychonaut), but I have played Psychonauts so in a way it must be.
Quote from: Cyrus on Mon 29/06/2009 11:49:35
By the way, the saving-loading option doesn't work.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that, I do have the same problem.
Quote from: Ascovel on Mon 29/06/2009 12:42:42
It works on my system. Anyone else is having this problem? And what happens exactly when you try using it?
Exactly
nothing happens when I click on Save. I doesn't matter if I type something in the savegame listbox, nothing happens when I press save.
So what happens when you hit the restore button in the restore saved game window (F7)?
This looks like a fun game. I'm adding it to my list of games to play. :)
Quote from: MoodyBlues on Mon 29/06/2009 15:53:00
This looks like a fun game. I'm adding it to my list of games to play. :)
Thanks. How high up on your list is it? ;)
I can tell you Atapi is already being played here. With no other games standing in its way.
Quote from: Ascovel on Mon 29/06/2009 13:48:01
So what happens when you hit the restore button in the restore saved game window (F7)?
The slot is empty, and there's no saved game.
This worries me a lot as I didn't modify the save feature in any way from its default state. Also, it works perfectly on my system and none of the beta-testers complained either.
I've uploaded a new build where I changed some basic saved games options. It would be great if someone who has this kind of problems tried it and told me if saving/loading started working. You can find it here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=1173&mirror=1).
Again, the same problem :'(
Quote from: Cyrus on Mon 29/06/2009 17:46:09
Again, the same problem :'(
Could you tell me how does the path to the saved games folder look like? AGS has problems with reading letters that are not found in English.
EDIT: Nah. That can't be it or no other AGS game would have their save feature working as well.
If anyone has any suggestions what could be causing this problem on some systems I would be grateful.
What are you people's operating systems? Running Vista with UAC turned on might prevent AGS from creating the save files under the game's directory if that's where AGS tries to put it.
Not sure if it will be worth anything to anyone, but I've put some gameplay footage on YouTube. It's the very beginning of the demo after the introduction. Beware as it contains solutions for solving the first few puzzles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XuB0RPN_eQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XuB0RPN_eQ)
I've fixed some issues people told me about and updated the demo.
changes:
- fixed the very first puzzle. It got some people frustrated. The original version requiered the player wanting to explore a bit how the game works and paying attention to a seemingly not important response of the main hero. But now
Spoiler
I have included pointers to the fact that you have to somehow force Franko reveal how to open the bag. Of course it's not exactly what happens, but the player receives a much better direction to the solution
- fixed the problems with Bloons not flying around when he ought to in the first location. Now Bloons keeps moving if The Head is not there and keeps in place if The Head is present - just like I originally intended.
- added additional comments from the main hero as some actions triggered only silence (there still may be a couple of those)
You can download the new version from the game's page (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1173). This will be the only update for a long time, but keep the suggestions coming.
Ascovel, I just gave you feedback on the demo in the other threat! But I see you already resolved some of the issues I noticed; the first puzzle was the most frustrating one for me too.
Status update and question.
I'm removing the current demo files. The reason is that pretty soon I'll replace them with much improved versions.
The additions and changes will include: all text proof-read by Snarky, a start menu, modified interface (no more "keep mouse button pressed" acrobatics), a RPG-like journal with "to-do" and "not-to-do" lists, finally the biggest addition... character voiceovers.
I'm still thinking if I should change the contents of the demo to include the beginning of the game instead of the woods section which is quite complex right from the start. However, maybe it's better to not show any more of the game before the full version release. Any advice which is the better choice?
Hi matey,
I must admit I played through Franko demo twice or even three times, each time I get gripped and pulled in by fascinating characters and wicked world... and each time I get stuck on a ridiculously complicated interface! But let me explain what I mean exactly.
Let's start with Franko. Cheeky, rude, funny and straight to the point, he instantly comes across as an original and very different than your usual "let's save the world and marry the princess" kind of hero. It's a lot of fun playing a character who actually doesn't give a damn about anyone and anything and yet does it in such an adorable fashion. Franko himself is spot on. You're on to something here, definetely. I can see him becoming another icon of adventure gaming.
The floating guy gave me some laughs as well. The contrast between them two creates some interesting interaction possibilities and the dialogue is hilarious.
What I don't understand, though, is the interface. So you've got a verbcoin, fine, great. Some interesting options there add to the flavour and encourage out-of-the-box thinking. But what on earth happens with all those other options you get after untying the bag? I could not understand what I was supposed to do. I was too much too soon! Sure, there is an instruction manual franko's mother wrote for him, but learning controls in a game like this is no fun! It would be just so much better if you could introduce all those things gradually, as you go along. Start with something simple, and then add to it, one by one, and it'll be a great great game.
But even with the walkthough, I struggled to get things done. I felt I was close.... but always missed what I was meant to do. That, my friend, is something I will continue to nag you about, not because I'm mean, but because I believe Frantic Franko has some great potential and I feel this needs to be addressed in order to make the game better. My suggestion is- simplify, and let Franko himself carry this game forward. He's a kind of guy I'd be, if I was a dwarf barbarian, and I'll bloody enjoy every single minute of playing as him, when the game is out. SIMPLIFY.
Thanks, Grim. Actually this is the kind of feedback I'm looking for. I've received a lot of helpful comments concerning technical aspects of the demo, about how it looks and sounds, but very little propositions about what could be improved in the gameplay itself.
I treat Frantic Franko as sort of a sand box for experimenting with both game design and development which hopefully results in many ideas that are different and interesting to the players. However, naturally not everything is as accessible and immediately fun as I would like it to be.
I will keep improving the currently a bit overwhelming dialog system the best I can, but in the end I don't want to compromise the most important gameplay ideas just to tell the story. I don't want to work on them endlessly either. If this was a commercial game I'd approach things a bit differently, but this is an experimental game to the core, and I hope some people will appreciate also that aspect of it. Especially in the game's final shape.
EDIT: It's really cool that you found it worthwhile to to replay the demo. Not only once, but even twice.
A much updated version of the demo should appear in the middle of the night (GMT+01:00).
And one crazy dwarf shall speak with a voice for the first time...
I'm posting the new demo in the middle of the night just like I said, although 2 days later. :) Here's the download link (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=1173)
The amount of work required to just finish this update was quite unexpected I must say. In the end I had to remove the tutorial section with the special appearance by Franko's mother. It is yet too unfinished to show. But this absence might be beneficial to see if people will figure things out without the tutorial.
Nevertheless, this version introduces a lot more animations, voice-overs for a couple of conversations, gameplay improvements based on previous comments etc.
The interface has been reinvented and as the game is still very much a WIP , I'd really like to hear opinions and suggestions about it. They're vital to make these unorthodox controls fully intuitive, as well as keep tweaking the gameplay.
I see you've reduced the number of items in "Bag of Junk". Why so?
Hi Cyrus,
Your question demands a longer answer as there were several very good reasons behind this change. I should write a bit more on this tomorrow.
In the meantime, would you tell me what do you think of the updated demo - the modified interface, new animations, the voices etc.?
Hey hey,
First of all, it's pretty clear that you went into this project with a ton of interesting ideas you wanted to try. I was genuinely impressed by the creativity of the puzzles - very rarely are they standard fare.
Your decisions regarding the dialogue system are very interesting. I like the X stamp, and it's uses, I like the fact that we can get rid of dialogue pieces/items by using them in puzzles, and I think it's a really unique approach to the genre. I do not ever recall a game with multiple verbcoins. What concerns me is that we can become overwhelmed by having so many possibilities. Usually in an adventure game, there is only a single way to talk to a character. Here not only do we have multiple dialogs due to the nature of the junk dialog system, but each dialog item has three 'uses' as a dialog item, and possibly more as an actual item. If we have 10 dialog items, for example, this means that with a single character we have 30 possible actions with a single character, as well as the standard combinations with other items and hotspots. You've really managed to fill up the game, but as a player I'm sitting here looking at countless combinations and I can't help but feeling a bit lost.
I have to agree with Grim Reaper that this would really benefit from a bit of simplification. My concern is that we have a whole slew of non standard ideas thrown at us, one after the other. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it certainly shows your ability to come up with clever ideas for your game. But I was struck by the notion that Frantic Franko operates strictly on his own logic, and the entire game reflects this. The fourth wall is broken on the very first puzzle (Which I thought was quite good, except for the fact that one really has to guess what to do), we have a rule such as "Franko only speaks with his junk" established, and then broken later on (although this wasn't too bad, due to the way you limited the interactivity in this bit).
You've approached the genre with a very unique and interesting perspective. I want Frantic Franko to succeed because it showcases the often overlooked flexibility of the adventure game genre beautifully. I'm just a bit worried that it might not get the attention that such creativity warrants because it presents us with so much at once. Perhaps the tutorial you mentioned will make things easier - I certainly hope that it does.
In a sense, then, I basically agree with Grim Reaper - it'd be great to have all these elements introduced slowly. Sadly, this would probably mean sacrificing your vision to some extent, and also reworking. Ultimately the choice is yours - and if you want clarification on anything I've mentioned I'll be glad to try and elaborate! You've really done some things that show great promise - I'd love to see people discussing the ideas you have here in depth, because I think you're definitely onto something.
As an author of a complicated interface (though not as so), I say stick with it. What adventure games need is interactivity! If you hint the players properly, they'll know what to do, and will not fill overwhelmed by the interface. At least that's what I'm doing. I try to sort of state the obvious (ON normal mode only), though not too much. That way, people can try and get cool reactions from the game.
All I'm saying is that complexity on interface+hints properly done=perfect interactivity level.
Thanks for the comments, both of you.
The interface will be very simple at the beginning of the game and it will be growing more complex gradually. The point in the game where the WIP starts is like the second act and the place where the conversation interface is used for the first time.
One of the main points of the conversation interface is to end up with the traditional adventure game notion that conversations are a list of topics, where you have to try out all of them and in a pretty much linear fashion. In Franko you're supposed to experiment how to approach the characters you meet. That's the theory, but the conversations require a bit more tweaking to get closer to realizing it.
What do you think of the Inventory two-way access dependent on how you move the cursor? I thought this will be also a controversial aspect of the interface. I'm not fully happy with it yet - takes too much time to get used to.
Quote from: Ascovel on Sun 10/01/2010 14:19:50
What do you think of the Inventory two-way access dependent on how you move the cursor? I thought this will be also a controversial aspect of the interface. I'm not fully happy with it yet - takes too much time to get used to.
Indeed. That was the most complex part of the interface.
Ben, I'm curious - did you manage to finish the demo without looking in the walkthrough?
Sadly I did not - I usually try to avoid hints, but became stuck at the following spot:
Spoiler
When Franko becomes infected with some green horror, and runs around exasperated. Combining the flag and polish wasn't something I picked up on, sadly. I also accidentally peeked at the solution for the darts challenge/getting the balloons (as this is where I was stuck, I thought it'd be the right spot to find the hint in the walkthrough), but feel I would have solved this without the walkthrough anyway.
The puzzle with the moon took me quite a while to solve, but seemed fair enough to me upon completing it.
Ok. Here are the reasons for reducing the bag of junk, which I promised to write about (Are you reading this, Cyrus?):
When first designing the game I thought it would be fun if the player discovered a whole plethora of different items hidden in his inventory, instead of the cliched walking around and picking it all up one by one. However, the feedback I got from players was more like that the sudden large amount and strangeness of the items in the inventory was confusing.
Upon opening the bag you originally did receive: a white flag, a rubber chicken, a fake mustache, an X-shaped stamp, a Smell-Me-First Manual, a pig toy, and a jar of wooden maggots (now, a mug of wooden nickels). Each of the items had a special function described in the in-game manual (e.g. white flag = surrender, rubber chicken = making gags).
Now, the roles of the mustache and the pig toy were assigned in a way too arbitrary manner and really needed reading that in-game manual to understand how to make use of (which was not good for the gameplay, though I still think the manual was funny). I got rid of these 2 items altogether in the end and modified their respective puzzles so that they wouldn't be needed. Also, the jar of wooden maggots might have been an overly crazy item as its role was to simply symbolize begging, so I've redrawn it and renamed it into something more plain instead.
Anyway, I figured out you've got to be very careful when you mix symbols and surreal ideas or it quickly gets too complex. The meaning of the items was possible to get the hang of, but for some of them it could only be derived from the in-game text, while it could have been made more apparent and left for the player to figure.
Hey, just played. So far it's pretty amusing. Good job on the animations, simple, yet they fit perfectly. The voice acting is good too ;)
After a bit, I got used to the inventory, but was quite confusing for me in the beginning. I like the idea of being able to cycle through the items within your inventory without actually opening it, great idea.
I haven't completed the demo yet since I am stuck. I must admit I don't know what I am supposed to be doing. I guess I'm supposed to open his talking bag, but I don't know how...
I haven't tried shining the axe up yet, but will do later. Good demo so far!
This bit at the beginning needs updating to make the important hint get noticed by more people (my fault I haven't done it yet, I know).
Just imagine there's some flashy, eye-catching animation when you click on Franko for the first time, which would make you pay close attention to what he is saying at that moment.
It may seem strange, but some of the music tunes actually remind me of Larry 7 ;D
There's some jazz in Larry 7, so that's probably why. Although I mostly remember it going into the lounge music direction.
Hey guys! Small status update time (courtesy of Ben saying a lot of nice things about the demo in another thread (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=42115.msg562570#msg562570))!
I haven't really worked too much on Franko since the time me and Baron started working on Snakes of Avalon in April, but I have done quite a bit of unpublished work prior to that - at that time I was greatly motivated by a desperate plan to quickly release a Frantic Franko Part 1 of 2 as my first completed game title. Now I'm back to wanting to release the entire Franko adventure all at once, but I'm giving priority to another short-length game project of mine. I expect to fully focus on Franko again well into 2011 and deliver the full game for Christmas 2011.
Anyway, for now here's a new screenie showing "a location" from Franko's eyes (unusual for the game). It shows a character that is already fully animated and interactive and will provide a tense conversation (or two). I'll probably add some better (any) shading to that yellowy hand in the future and ease up on the "total darkness", but I'm fairly pleased with what I have here.
(http://hardydev.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mothester.png)
Also, huge thanks for giving the demo the Best Demo of 2009 Award! How come I never mentioned that here. :-[
Oh, and, Ben, the entire game will be full of crazy, unusual (and maybe a bit hardcore) puzzles - I want Franko to become my "designer's playground" (but with some passing thought given to the expectations of that playground's other visitors of course). ;)
Glad to hear you're making some progress with this one, Igor. I was a little worried it would get left behind after all the fame and success Snakes brought you!
:)
Quote from: markbilly on Thu 16/12/2010 23:28:07
Glad to hear you're making some progress with this one, Igor. I was a little worried it would get left behind after all the fame and success Snakes brought you!
:)
Fortunately, I believe Franko can bring me only even more fame and success, so I'm not planning to give up on him. :=
I think it is admirable in the fact that you're treating it as a "designer's playground". What this does for player accessibility is another story, but as an exercise in creative, out of the box puzzle design it certainly serves as an inspiration.
With "art games" and the like all over the place, though, I don't see why this couldn't be considered an "art of puzzles" game rather than an "focus on a philosophical concept" game.
Will be watching this.
Quote from: Ben304 on Tue 21/12/2010 08:32:57
I think it is admirable in the fact that you're treating it as a "designer's playground". What this does for player accessibility is another story, but as an exercise in creative, out of the box puzzle design it certainly serves as an inspiration.
Thanks. Glad you feel that way, and hopefully more players will. To clarify, I never really ignore player accessibility for any puzzle I'm creating (which I feel happened quite often in those epic classic adventures of the past) but for Franko I'll demand some more attention from the players and consequently I'll be able to have much more unique puzzles.
Recently I was told by a Snakes of Avalon reviewer that she solved the entire game by clicking around the location while concurrently watching TV - this time I want to make sure she won't have it that easy. ;)
Quote from: Ben304 on Tue 21/12/2010 08:32:57
With "art games" and the like all over the place, though, I don't see why this couldn't be considered an "art of puzzles" game rather than an "focus on a philosophical concept" game.
Sure, and I think that there actually is a considerable fanbase for "puzzles as art" games in the realm of browser games. Though these are mostly puzzle puzzle games and their narratives and dialogs are usually minimal. Stuff not unlike Braid or Riven.
Franko, on the other hand, will be dominated by puzzles connected directly to influencing the narrative and characters - just like traditional inventory-based adventures.