Adventure Game Studio

STRANGER AT MIDNIGHT

Story
This is the sequel to "Stranger By Night". Two years have passed since Katrina's encounter with The Stranger; an encounter which almost left her dead. Having quit her job at the New York Times, Katrina finds herself working for a small, local travel magazine. When her editor asks her to review a quiet, isolated island resort, Katrina is more than happy to oblige.

However, things take a turn for the worse when Katrina finds out that her ordeal with the Stranger is far from over. Now trapped on an island with no way out, Katrina must once again do battle with the deranged serial killer who's trying to finish the job he started two years ago.

Features

• An adrenaline-pumping storyline to keep you on the edge of your seat
• Solidly developed characters with a wide and deep backgrounds
• Multiple endings for replayability
• How you treat characters will change the outcome of the game
• Cut-scenes done in horror comic book/graphic novel style
• New Lucas-Arts based GUI to remove the pixel hunting problem in the first game

Screenshots

Updates

29 July 2005: Short update. I just finished coding some really cool dialogue. I'm excited about the amount of dialogue in the game. So far it's just the first two conversations in Act One, and I've already reached 400 lines of conversation so that's exciting. (by comparison, in Stranger 1, the total amount of conversation [ie, Katrina actually speaking to another character] was about 20 lines .... shocking I know) I'm discovering that dialogue is an excellent tool for fleshing out characters, and hopefully I will be successful in giving each NPC their own personality. I've also implemented a little 'Nice/Rude' system, wherein being nice or rude to characters reveal different consequences - sometimes minor, sometimes major. It's tedious to code but it's also kinda fun.

09 July 2005: I've just finished a second set of sprites for Katrina. It was something that wasn't really necessary but I thought it would be cool for her to have a costume change in the game so she wasn't wearing the same thing the whole time. Now that that's done I can continue working on the core elements of the game again. Woo!

25 Apr 2005: Added a new screenshot of the (revamped) introduction cutscene. I didn't like the how the first one looked so I changed the style a little.

21 Apr 2005: Prologue now 100% complete. Had a crap ass time trying to code a textbox GUI, am glad I finally figured out how it works.

20 Apr 2005: Back!! Sorry for the disappearance. The game is far from dead. The Prologue is now 95% done, which leaves me with Act I and Act II to finish. AdventureDevelopers.com has been kind enough to provide hosting, so you can find the official FiveTrickPony website at http://fivetrickpony.adventuredevelopers.com

17 Nov. 2004: Added two screenshots. I'm developing the game one part at a time. The opening cutscene/introduction is finally completely done, graphics, scripting and sound. The game will be divided into three distinct parts (Prologue, Act I and Act II) and right now the prologue part of the game is about 35% done, so long more way to go towards a finished product. I've finally managed to make my own Save/Restore GUI, it was a lot harder than it looked (I'm kinda dumb that way) but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

14 Nov. 2004 : The game is still pretty far from done, but I feel that I have done enough to comfortably post a thread here, and I hope to get it done soon, but there's no estimated release date since I have lots to do.  There are lots of changes from the first game - as you can see, Katrina has a new sporty look, and also, there's a new interface that will hopefully remove some of the problems and complaints people had in the first game about how they had to do pixel hunting. I have most of the story mapped out with some minor kinks to work out and puzzles to put in. I'm really excited about this sequel and I hope that you guys are as well. Peace! :D

Neat-o!

I look forward to playing the sequel. If you need beta testers at some point, I'd be up for that.

Thanks, Snarky, I'll definately let you know once it gets to that point.

:)

Oh, I liked your Stranger by Night game! So I'm looking forward to play your game too! And if you wish I also can beta-test it.
Good luck. I recomend you to make more interesting characters in game. Keep working.

:) Thanks, Nemo, I'm definately going to add deeper characters and develop them more.

More screenshots:

The cutscenes look good.  Is it just me or has her breast size improved significantly from the original :D

LOL :)  Lots of things can happen in two years :)

Well, that's really good emprovement. ;)
Make it interesting, interactive (by the way, it was good that in SbN she was patiently examining and commenting house things while escaping from Stranger :) ).

Yeah, and not to mention she takes a leisurely stroll all over the house instead of running.

That was one thing that bugged me but making a run animation would have looked weird in an adventure game like that, since she would be running, stopping to look at something, running again...

There is going to be more interactions this time around, I'm going to try to make all objects and rooms as detailed as possible.

Yes that stranger  game looks very good... By the way I played stranger 1 and it is very good and ""thril"" I hope to those serial killers dosent come from here to my house!! ... And stranger 2
looks very promising...  Good work I  say

Did you make soundtrack by yourself? Anyway it was very good. I wonder why death music is from Bestowers of Eternity? But the best of all I liked music when talking with dying girl. Make music in sequel as good as in SbN!

Hi, no the soundtrack in the first game was not made by me, I downloaded various MIDI files from the web. For the sequel, Scorposer was kind enough to offer to compose some music, so that's gonna be really good. I also composed a short track I planned to use in the sequel but I'm not sure if it's gonna be in it yet.

Thanks for the interest and I hope the second game does not disappoint!

Quote from: fivetrickpony on Sat 20/11/2004 14:08:57
Hi, no the soundtrack in the first game was not made by me, I downloaded various MIDI files from the web. For the sequel, Scorposer was kind enough to offer to compose some music, so that's gonna be really good. I also composed a short track I planned to use in the sequel but I'm not sure if it's gonna be in it yet.
Thanks for the interest and I hope the second game does not disappoint!

I figured that. ;) Well, I hope music'll be as good as in first part or better.
May I have some demo-tracks? :)

The music tracks aren't done yet, though :) Maybe when Scorposer is done he'll let you have a sneak peek...

:)

Gaaaaame. Ommmm.
( I can't wait to play it! woohoo! ...ack I still haven't finished the first one.... but it looks like it will kick butt! )

The game sounds cool, but I need to say that the way the char fits with the background is HOOORRRRIBLE!

I suggest you to blur it a bit, at least. (but the problem is also her graphic style).

looks sweet. wish i cud do graphics like that:P

the character does look a little too bright for the background however

Finally updated! I moved recently and lost internet connection, but thankfully I'm back now. The Prologue of the game is 95% done, so that means I'm roughly about 1/3 through with the game, still a long way to go. AdventureDevelopers provided nice hosting facilities for me (Thank YOU) so the official website is at http://fivetrickpony.adventuredevelopers.com
Some of the site is not complete yet, excuse the broken links that you may come across .

Thanks to all those who have been interested in the game. I know the graphic style has turned off a few people but I kind of like the graphics this way. I don't know why :)

I've uploaded a new screenshot of Katrina in the office with a Tech Guy :) It's in the first post of this thread.

Thanks again!

I think the graphics look great they way they are.  They're detailed, yet somewhat comic-book-ish, and simple.

BTW, very nice work, this sounds like an interesting game. I know I'll be waiting for it. :)

Keep up the good work.

~Hyde

Thank you, Mr. Hyde! :)

I've finally finished the prologue. It took a little longer than usual because I ran into some scripting problems. Life sucks when you're not a talented scripter and have to work everything from scratch. Sometimes AGS scares me.

Heh.Ã,  I know exactly what you mean. :)Ã,  Sometime AGS intimidates me a little too much as well.

A little off-topic:  I looked at your site.  The game "Stranger By Night", did you make that one as well?

Hi! Yes, I made "Stranger by Night" as well.  'Stranger At Midnight' is the sequel to that game.

:)

Update
I've just finished a second set of sprites for Katrina. It was something that wasn't really necessary but I thought it would be cool for her to have a costume change in the game so she wasn't wearing the same thing the whole time. Now that that's done I can continue working on the core elements of the game again. I've edited the first post to include a screenshot of Katrina's second outfit. Yay!

As usual, for more info+screenshots of the game you can visit the official website (http://fivetrickpony.adventuredevelopers.com). Peace!

Ni-ice.

29 July 2005: Short update. I just finished coding some really cool dialogue. I'm excited about the amount of dialogue in the game. So far it's just the first two conversations in Act One, and I've already reached 400 lines of conversation so that's exciting. (by comparison, in Stranger 1, the total amount of conversation [ie, Katrina actually speaking to another character] was about 20 lines .... shocking I know) I'm discovering that dialogue is an excellent tool for fleshing out characters, and hopefully I will be successful in giving each NPC their own personality. I've also implemented a little 'Nice/Rude' system, wherein being nice or rude to characters reveal different consequences - sometimes minor, sometimes major.

New screenshot below. That's Katrina and an NPC, Megan, by the pool side. Megan is spoilt, rich and demanding wife, who's really only interested in the sound of her own voice.
(http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9670/screenshot120zf.jpg)

PS: This game is close to being 9 months in the making. That's way too long. I need to speed things up.

Marvellous! More dialogue would definitely be appreciated, though be careful you don't overdo it. Too much of a good thing...

I like the new character sprites. Katrina is looking better for every update! What is that yellow line between her face and her hair? Is she wearing a golden eye patch?

If you can speed it up without compromising the quality, that would be cool. It's definitely on my "eagerly anticipated" list.

Haha, no it's not a golden eye patch :) It's a strand of hair dyed blonde.

Most of the dialogue is optional. I know some people don't like dialogue, so you'll only unlock the 400+ (so far!) lines if you're really, really interested.  It's not necessary to listen to all the dialogue to finish the game. It's just there to flesh out the characters.