TROICA [Now abandoned]

Dualnames · Sat 07/08/2010 23:44:26

DN Games presents

Troika (Cyrillic Alphabet: тройка) [ˈtrɔɪkə]
noun
1. a Russian vehicle drawn by three horses abreast
2. (Individual Sports & Recreations / Horse Training, Riding & ManÃ¨ge) three horses harnessed abreast
3. a triumvirate
4. Three of a kind, a collection of three.

Plot:
The game will consist of sequences that will form a different way to tell the same story, that why I'm not telling anything more apart from the above sentence. Those sequences will randomize every time you start the game. Any sequence is built to work in any way (END, START, MIDDLE). Due to the unclarification of when any part of the game happens chronologically (but still making sure that it's not absurd or creating an oxymoron) we attempt to drive you nuts while playing, but still making sure you "get it". It's hard to explain, but hopefully it will amaze you in-game.

Imagine a number of scenes played in any order, but no matter the combination, a coherent whole would be created.

Team:
-Dualnames: Story/Background Art/Coding
-ptp88: Sound Design and Music
-Mode7: Character Art and Animation
-JimReed: Assistance

Want to receive updates and additional goodies about the game that you can't find here?
Email us at: troica_fanclub@yahoo.com, with the subject line SIGN ME UP!

Epilogue:

This took a lot of thinking, and it's not neither for attention, nor for self-pity. I've started production on Troica on August of 2010, It's been 2 years, and the ambition has grown, the project though has not matured/aged as good as it should/could have.

Despite the amazing work of mode7 on the character art and animation, of which I'm extremely thankful for, the guy spent lots of time on it, and the assistance of the AGS irc channel and forums here and there, I find myself in a position, I've never been.

Abandoning this game. This is for whoever is interested. I have absolutely no intention of working on this game.

Reasons:

The game has ended up more of a pastiche of my emotions and thoughts, rather than being emotionally and thought provoking for the player. Cheap and cheesy sequences and uninteresting dialogs seems to be all over this game.

It has ended up more of a personal thing now, and I know (there's no doubt about it), that no one will get it.

The puzzle design is somewhat either too hard, or too random or too easy, showing my main inability to fix the main issue troubling most of my games.

But mostly I've been thinking on troica for months now, the game would have been so much more had it been out 1 year and 2 months ago, had i worked on it more and better. I regret no time spent on this game, but I'm not going to work on it more.

Whoever feels like taking the game now at a 95% complete stage and turning it into something else, let me know. This goes mostly to mode7 who put a lot of heart and passion into this game.

On a last note, I realize and understand everything I need to avoid in game design, thanks to all this time I've spent on TROICA. Mistakes I did not repeat over my bake sale game. Mistakes I've repeated in Disquiet as well, regardless of how highly i thought of myself.

arj0n · Sat 07/08/2010 23:49:27

Very interesting stuff DN

Crimson Wizard · Sat 07/08/2010 23:55:33

Interesting...
Why Troica? Is it only because it has 3 parts, or there's some ties with the plot?

Dualnames · Sun 08/08/2010 02:22:35

Quote from: Arj0n on Sat 07/08/2010 23:49:27
Very interesting stuff DN

Thanks Arjon

Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Sat 07/08/2010 23:55:33
Interesting...
Why Troica? Is it only because it has 3 parts, or there's some ties with the plot?

It's rather irrelevant to the 3 parts. It's more relevant to the 3 parties fighting over a common goal. The retrieval of an object.

Chicky · Sun 08/08/2010 03:15:47

Lovely! Great job on the backgrounds Dual, are the created in 3D first? Your story has style

GreenBoy · Sun 08/08/2010 05:08:16

Interesting looking backgrounds, and the story/design looks extremely promising.

Dualnames · Sun 08/08/2010 13:45:01

Quote from: GreenBoy on Sun 08/08/2010 05:08:16
Interesting looking backgrounds, and the story/design looks extremely promising.

Glad you like the story plot, initially it was very stupid but nemo pointed and laughed like your avatar does, and we fixed it.

Quote from: Chicky on Sun 08/08/2010 03:15:47
Lovely! Great job on the backgrounds Dual, are the created in 3D first? Your story has style

Those are not 3D, they are totally 2D made in MsPaint initially by JimReed. (except for the logo and hangar.) Lots of people get that feeling though, so don't feel bad about it.

Igor Hardy · Sun 08/08/2010 14:07:27

Looks definitely atmospheric and I really like that you keep experimenting with your graphic style, Dual - some unique results already apparent.

Dualnames · Mon 09/08/2010 00:41:21

Quote from: Ascovel on Sun 08/08/2010 14:07:27
Looks definitely atmospheric and I really like that you keep experimenting with your graphic style, Dual - some unique results already apparent.

Thanks for the comment Igor!

Gravity · Tue 10/08/2010 20:35:00

Awesomely neat! A few cool AGS games in the works and are being added to my must play list. I'll add this one as well.

Matti · Wed 11/08/2010 11:53:29

This sounds interesting, looking forward to it.

Lad · Thu 12/08/2010 10:50:46

Seems cool, but one thing that bothers me with the last background is the weird doorway (if it is that), The shape is not understandable for me. It looks like someone has tried to make human-tetris in spaceship.

Though the room is very well textured and atmospheric. Keep up the good work!

Hope you find a good musician for this project, who can create the mood it needs!

denimtrousers · Fri 13/08/2010 02:54:33

Glad to see where this thing is going! Definitely looking forward to playing it.

Dualnames · Sun 15/08/2010 16:22:53

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

Quote from: Lad on Thu 12/08/2010 10:50:46
Seems cool, but one thing that bothers me with the last background is the weird doorway (if it is that), The shape is not understandable for me. It looks like someone has tried to make human-tetris in spaceship. Though the room is very well textured and atmospheric. Keep up the good work!

The doorway shape is actually based on an image of an actual door that's shaped that way. Some people just go for cheesy.

I'd like to fully introduce JimReed as part of the team. He is helping me with the puzzles and background art, and story, and morale boost.

Dualnames · Mon 23/08/2010 02:23:27

We're working our arses off with this game, there are some options on the music side, and I'll have to decide in the following days, in the meantime, a good animator would save us lots of trouble, as JimReed is very busy working his ass on this.