Once Upon A Crime II: Gumshoe Odd Ventures

[Ghost]

Ghost presents:

Once Upon A Crime 2: Gumshoe Odd Ventures
a(nother) Fairytale Whodunnit

Red is back!

Parodise's most famous junior PI returns to solve another crime, and after the now
legendary events of her first case, she's working for the King himself!

Well, one king at least. Parodise has such an abundance of them. The Chess King's
daughter has been kidnapped. It happens a lot.

It might've been the dwarves, who're rumoured to have dug up something strange
close to the Spring Woods. It might've been Granny Smith, the old Gingerbread Witch,
who recently opened a Day Care. It might've even been the Jabberwocky, who's been
rather ill-tempered lately.

Red does what she does best- sniffing around, following trails and abusing unlikely
objects whenever possible. But this time she's up against the clock, and against a
tale even stronger than her own.

Date of release: 01.09.2008
As ever, take this date as a rough guideline, but things are working nice and smooth
here. As the inofficial Gabe of doodling, I even managed to make this shiny little wallpaper thingie.

The Ineffable Tech Sheet

everyone's favourite 320x240 screen resolution, 16bit colour
written in AGS 3.0.2 SP1
tried-and-tested SCUMM interface- with style
8 "realm locations", with a total of 18 rooms
a colourful cast of characters that actually have a tale to tell
short to medium length game

The Nefarious Progress Bar

Story : 70%
Scripting : 50%
Graphics : 50%
Sound : 60%


Parodise- the realm of fairy tales, all mixed-up like good old Mother Goose used to do. With a cherry on top.


Troubled White King faces serious problems.


Enter Red: PI extraordinaire, rooftop chaser, chandelier-swinger. She also does crotchet.


By popular demand- oversized explosives that have written "bomb" all over it!

Features:
* more CRIME! Yes, something's fishy in Parodise. Tales tend to end with their
  "happily-ever-after" routine... but what if a villain claims a happy ending?
* more GUMSHOE! Rely on traditional detective work or abuse the magic
  of Parodise- it's up to you since many puzzles now allow you to do either.
* more VILLAINS! You think Spiderman 3 had many villains? Hah! This is
  the League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen... but evil.
* more COMFORT! A completely rewritten, carefully tested GUI empowers
  you to navigate the game with ease! When I visited Vince Twelve to
  speak about it, the man at the door said in genuine astonishment: "I'm not
  Vince Twelve! He lives in that flat over THERE!"
* more CANDY! Butterfingers, candy canes, hard candy, marshmallows,
  gummy worms, M&M and Jell-o: You name it, it's all in there! Also, cake.
* more MIDI. That's the stuff that fondles your eardrums. The game's got it.
* more PARODISE. Visit new realms and see what the old ones have become:
  I actually had to draw a new world map.

[olafmoriarty]

Awesome. I liked the first, I look forward to this one.

Story : 70%
Scripting : 50%
Graphics : 50%
Sound : 60%

Huh ... so many parts of the game are just half-done, and still you dare put the release date only four weeks away? You are a brave person.

* more GUMSHOE! Rely on traditional detective work or abuse the magic
  of Parodise- it's up to you since many puzzles now allow you to do either.

Brilliant. Multiple-choice makes everything more realistic, and way too few games take advantage of it.

[bicilotti]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! This announcment caught me totally unprepared and makes me totally smile!!!!
I knew there was some more for our little (not so little) red riding hood! Horray!

Story : 70%
Scripting : 50%
Graphics : 50%
Sound : 60%

Huh ... so many parts of the game are just half-done, and still you dare put the release date only four weeks away? You are a brave person.

He is Ghost. He can.

edit: "replacing your palace guard with egg wasn not a wise move, was it?" hihihihi

[Dualnames]

I might be able to make the music if Ghost wants me to. Either way cool game ..

[Alarconte]

I din't have knowledge about your first game, I'm gonna to check it... And this game seems crazy ^_^

[Nikolas]

COOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

[Ultra Magnus]

Woo, and may I say, hoo!

Looking forward to this one, especially the multiple choice solutions.
Should be good for replay value.

By the way, Jabberwocky was the name of the poem.
The titular creature was called the Jabberwock.

[ThreeOhFour]

The return to Parodise looks set to be just as colourful and funny as the first one.

I really look forward to this game!

[Cyrus]

Wonderful! What is the game's length?

[IndieBoy]

As I said on Stickam, I cannot wait!!! I loved the first and I am sure I will love the second. 

[Jon]

This looks great Ghost! Good luck in completing it.

[Buckethead]

So nice and unexpected!  Although it probably means more delay on DITA

[Ghost]

Ah, nice to see so many positive responses!

olaf- You do well to mistrust my release date, but the original game was on a similar tight shedule and turned out okay. I am quit positive I can make it because the most time-consuming tasks (walkcycles and similar) are mostly done.

bicilotti- "He is Ghost. He can." You make me a proud man!

Cyrus- the game will be either short or medium length, but as it seems now, medium length. A bit longer than the first one.

UltraMagnus- I know about the title/name difference, but isn't the "wock" just a shortened version of "wocky"? I couldn't say. Anyway, to play it save, Jabberwock is is  

As for the "multiple solutions", that is a feature, yes, but don't expect to get great replay value. One issue with the original OUAC was that, basically, you didn't do much typical PI work. In OUAC2 the puzzles stay the same, but there are two ways to solve them. It's not that the story will change, though.

Bucket- Nah, no way to delay that one any more!

[olafmoriarty]

olaf- You do well to mistrust my release date

Oh, please don't get me wrong. I'm not mistrusting your release date. I'm admiring your release date. I know that if it was me, I would probably set the release date sometime in 2011. I don't doubt that you are able to finish half of this game's graphics in four weeks, I find it awesome. Sorry I wasn't clear on that.

[Cyrus]

more CANDY! Butterfingers, candy canes, hard candy, marshmallows,
  gummy worms, M&M and Jell-o: You name it, it's all in there! Also, cake.

Skittles?
What new locations will be in the game?

[dirk delshire]

I've never even played the first game but this series looks very fun.

[Ultra Magnus]

I know about the title/name difference, but isn't the "wock" just a shortened version of "wocky"?

Errrmmm... pass.
All I know is that the reverend Dodgson wrote "beware the Jabberwock", and so be it.

In OUAC2 the puzzles stay the same, but there are two ways to solve them. It's not that the story will change, though.

Yeah, I didn't expect the story to change, otherwise you'd probably have mentioned it as a feature.
However, different solutions = altered gameplay = more replay value than just playing the exact same game again.
That's a good thing.

I've never even played the first game but this series looks very fun.

Then go play it, and report back.

[Ghost]

Skittles?

Skittles are not sweets. They are hardly even candy. They are what you  get after chewing bamboo an then drinking fuit juice. So no skittles.

What new locations will be in the game?

I don't want to spoil too much about the new locations but I can assure you that even those locations you already saw in Part1 have either new rooms or new art. Obviously there is the Chess Realm- this was planned to be in Part1 but didn't make it, and is now in, all fresh and monochrome.

[SuperDre]

Oh thanx for making another one.. the first one was absolutely great...

[Fujiko]

This looks very nice and promising. I wish you best of luck with this game!