The Marionette (02 November 2009: Final round of refinement)

[thewalrus]

     I just played through the demo and I have to say I was extremely impressed! Although I do agree with some of the points brought up by Vince, I don't think any of them really hindered the gameplay. I thought the graphics were amazing, the music was lovely, the atmosphere was fantastic and the cutscenes really added a wonderful touch. One thing that I did not notice was that there was a place that was keeping points, where was that located? Congrats on an awesome demo and I am really looking forward to playing the finished product (btw, how is that coming???).

[auriond]

Thank you, gypsysnail and thewalrus.

thewalrus: You can find the points you've earned at the options screen (the rectangle with the list, in between the load and quit icons). Ignore the total points though, I completely forgot to change that on the version that you've downloaded. Total possible points are 25.

The finished product is slow in the making as we're still ironing out all the things that were brought up in this thread. We'll release a version 2 of the demo, then when people are sure the interface is okay, we'll continue to work on the rest of the game.

[TheCheese33]

This looks like an amazing game. I really loved your comic (readers, look it up on his website. It's worth it), and I can't wait to play an adventure game made by you.

[auriond]

Thanks very much for the rec, TheCheese. Glad you enjoyed it!

Anyway, I've just uploaded version 2 of the demo, as promised. Here's a list of the changes I've made:

- Changed iconbar - combined pickup and interact
- Changed total number of points
- Implemented wait icon for text
- Added red arrow for foot cursor icon
- Made sure cursors cycle in the same sequence as on the iconbar
- Made cursors bigger and added visible hotspots
- Made movies skippable only by pressing any key
- Fixed inventory cursor bug
- Made Giuseppe's responses random
- Make dialogue skip only after click or key press

Items that were on my to-do list but which I didn't implement:

- change close button on the inventory zoom window
Rui had suggested that I change it to an "OK" button like the main inventory window. However, the reason why I had made a different close button was that I wanted to differentiate the "zoom" view from the main inventory window.

- right-click to cycle through cursors in the inventory views
I tried to implement this one, I really did. However, I have two inventory windows, which both behave differently. The coding proved to be too difficult for me, and my lead programmer happened to be unavailable over the weekend. So I'm going to leave it as it is... anyone who's really bugged and who knows how to fix this is welcome to PM me with the solution.

Hope the new version is smoother and more enjoyable... I'll be continuing with this interface for the rest of the game.

[auriond]

Well, seeing as people have completed the demo before, I don't think I've left out anything (besides that room that the doorway in the living room is supposed to go to).

Look again at the mannequin... look really hard. Use the eye icon on it if you need a hint.

And if you really don't see it...

Spoiler

... the secret's in the pose of the mannequin. The upper body is in the shape of a 5, the lower in the shape of a 4.

[close]

edit: thanks Maverick - the games look really cool, I'm going to download the demo and check out Scratches. Pity adventure games were never really that available where I live even at the height of their popularity.

[splat44]

Well, seeing as people have completed the demo before, I don't think I've left out anything (besides that room that the doorway in the living room is supposed to go to).

Look again at the mannequin... look really hard. Use the eye icon on it if you need a hint.

And if you really don't see it...

Spoiler

... the secret's in the pose of the mannequin. The upper body is in the shape of a 5, the lower in the shape of a 4.

[close]

edit: thanks Maverick - the games look really cool, I'm going to download the demo and check out Scratches. Pity adventure games were never really that available where I live even at the height of their popularity.

Thank you auriond,

You've said in your original post demo will or may be finshed in February 2007?

At the end screen, I recommend removing "ALT+F4", by replacing with "F9" to finshed. It will easier for newbies.

[auriond]

You're welcome! The demo is finished for now, and I'm not working any more on it. I'm going on to finish the rest of the game, hopefully by the end of this year.

[Vince Twelve]

auriond, I think the game is much more playable now.  (Not that it was unplayable before, just that it flows much better now)  It's really looking great.  Nice work.  The one thing that I noticed this time that seems a little off is the number of inventory items showing at once.  After picking everything up, my inventory had gone onto a second row, but the second row doesn't show unless I scroll down.  But it looks like there's plenty of room to show a second and third row without scrolling.

Keep up the good work.  I'm looking forward to the finished product!

[auriond]

Thanks Vince! I've fixed the inventory problem (it was a problem with the size of the inventory items - for some reason I'd left the item heights too tall) but I'm not releasing another demo version. I don't want to be stuck on the demo, I want to move on in the game.

Speaking of which, one of the programmers has become too busy to help with the game, so if you're good at AGS and you're interested in helping out, drop me a PM.

[Das Plans]

Hi there!

I'm just playing your demo - absolutely great. I always thought that I didn't care for a first person view in an adventure game. Playing "The Marionette" I don't know where I got that idea from.  The looks, the music ... everything just sucked me into the story. What else is there to say?

Godd luck with this one!

[auriond]

Thanks very much, Das Plans! It's nice to hear that The Marionette has brought a good perspective (no pun intended) to first-person adventure games I personally prefer third-person games myself too, but my animation skills are too bad!

Anyway, here's a little concept drawing for a scene later in the game. It's Martin and Eshana:


And I've also put up a mini soundtrack for sale - details in the first post.

edit: Still looking for programmers, too.

[MYKAYEL]

This game is gonna be freeware right? :-S because I don't have a credit card, and in Romania we can't even make such credit cards as PAY PAL unless we pay about 40$ for the transport alone So there is no way I can buy this. Alto I would LOVE to play the game since it is a little Silent Hill-ish and I am a big SH fan. I also dig the graphics and all the work you put into it, so normally I would pay to buy your game, but it is impossible to do that no matter how low the prince is

[auriond]

It will definitely be freeware. I've been long enough without a credit card to know the frustration of not being able to buy online. Only the soundtrack is for sale.

Anyway, new screenshot. This is what's behind the hangman door from the demo:


The foot is to let you know that you can move forwards to explore another area further in front of you.

The "monstrosity" in the middle is deliberate I hope it looks suitably monstrous.

[gypsysnail]

Hey Auriond, it looks beautiful!!! The sculpture looks huge and really formed well love how u ve placed everything in the gallery. Well done! Cant wait to see it in the game.

[Nikolas]

Please...

No more teasers...

I want to see the rest in the game, not here. Please... Please...

(Personal opinion of course)

Looks lovely though!

[auriond]

Gypsysnail: thank you! ^^

I forgot to mention that the paintings on the wall of the gallery in this latest screenshot are courtesy of the very talented Gypsy. They are her paintings which she very kindly allowed me to use in the game.

Nikolas: I'm sorry! I thought I'd just post a screen to show that I'm still working on the game... but no more screenies here till the game's complete, I promise! Anyway, I don't want to give too much away either, or no one will want to play the game

[gypsysnail]

I do feel proud to be part of this beautiful game.

[Nightfable]

I think this game is just brilliant - I've just completed the demo and I want more!

It reminds me a lot of Silent Hill, especially the living room with the TV; it gave me that creepy chill, I love it! Have you ever played Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly? Some places inside of the house remind me of that game as well, maybe it's the dark color scheme? I don't know, but you sure have a fan over here!

I can't wait to play your awesome game, Wenhui! Keep up the excellent work!! 

[auriond]

Thanks Audrey! Your encouragement is greatly appreciated

Since I had so little to offer in the Release Something activity, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to offer a little background information about one of the more unknown characters in this game.

Many of you who've played the demo have asked me who Giuseppe is. Some of you even picked up on the fact that Giuseppe isn't his real name. You're right, it's not. In fact Giuseppe has no name. He's one of the faery folk, and his real shape is a dog.  His human form is an European man who is a photographer. The other faery folk - Eshana, the sad clown I posted in Release Something, is one of them - are hunting him down to kill him.

How all this ties in with Martin and the little girl whose house you visit in the demo, I don't want to say yet. But at least you have some background about Giuseppe now. Here's one of the earliest pics I drew of him, with his dog form, back before I named him Giuseppe:



Another thing is that people keep classifying this game as "horror" or "thriller" or "mystery". I personally wouldn't call it that, because I'm a big wuss and I can't stand horror games too well. I'd call it "fantasy", and Giuseppe's background explains this. So, sorry to disappoint any horror fans out there, but it's really not horror (seriously, was the demo scary at all?)

And lastly - someone suggested making this game donateware. As I understand it, this means having the player donate something before being able to download the game. It's not really going commercial, is it? I was faced with a whopping 5GB of transfer on my website when I released the demo, and the demo was only 13MB - about 1/10th of the final game size. I shudder to think of the resources needed to support the finished game's release. So the way I see it, donateware really isn't a bad idea.

What do you think? I have to admit I'm tempted. I've got the whole game planned out in my mind even though the actual progress is slow, and where the game goes from here really depends on what I'm planning to do when it's released.

[Fleshstalker]

So a clown is after this human/dog

This is still sounds like a horror game to me. Anything involving a clown is true horror!

As for charging to play, I agree, you should be rewarded for all your troubles. How about $15? Sounds very reasonable. I'm all for it, how about you all folks?