Truth be Trolled - a fantasy detective story in glorious 1080p!

[Honza]

TRUTH BE TROLLED

The Story:

When an attempt on her life is made, princess Mirabelle realizes there is no one she can trust. Except, perhaps, a troll. Widely regarded as the missing link between a human and a broom, trolls are the latest fad in the kingdom of Glenmore. Buy a troll egg, boil it, and you get the perfect servant.  With their sturdy constitution, efficient brains and none of that “free will” nonsense, trolls make ideal cleaners, cooks and clerks - and, as Mirabelle is out to prove, investigators.
And thus Mirabelle’s troll enters the messy world of humans. He has to search for clues and ask uncomfortable questions, all while being treated as a glorified home appliance. He has no power here, but he has a sturdy constitution, an efficient brain, and maybe even a tad more of that "free will" nonsense than anyone suspected. Feathers will be ruffled, secrets uncovered. Truth will be trolled.

Mirabelle's cat is acting suspicious.	Behold the kingdom of Glenmore!
A bit of world-building.	As medieval toilets go, this is a fancy one.
Deep in the forest, in a secluded hut, a man knows what others don't want to know.	The local journalist is all about the naked truth. Expect some cheeky parallaxing.

Features:

• A fantasy detective story revolving around white lies, sinister truths and the sneaky ways in which we try to control each other. The tone is somewhat comedic, but overall the game takes its plot and characters seriously.
• Princesses, journalists, voodoo priests, mad scientists and demonic cats! (alright, just one of each of those)
• 1920x1080 hand-drawn graphics
• Lots of traditional pointing and clicking â€" inventory puzzles, branching dialogue, you know the drill

Also:
a 16-direction walkcycle with stopping frames:



Detailed hand-drawn animations + jumping mechanics:

Development Status

Um... let's say "early stages". After working on this on and off for two years and more or less full-time during COVID, it's clear that I've bitten off more than I can chew by myself in terms of intended production values. So currently the plan is to release a short demo and then start spamming the recruitment section . Stay tuned!

[dactylopus]

The art and animation look fantastic!

The story sounds interesting, too.  Kudos on using your quarantine time for something useful!

[CaptainD]

Plot sounds fascinating and the visuals are out of this world!! REALLY looking forward to this one.

[sthomannch]

Agree, looks absolutely fantastic and sounds interesting!
Wish you success and lot of energy

[Ilyich]

Looking excellent! Loving the tons of flavour in the decidedly hand-drawn artwork and animations, really impressive stuff! Looking forward to seeing more, best of luck!

[rongel]

Wow! The graphical style and the animations look just amazing. Really like the detective stuff too. You must have put a lot of work into it... I mean 16 direction walk cycle! Good luck with the demo, and hopefully you get more people working on it!

[Pogwizd]

I am just going to say what others already have - these graphics look absolutely stunning! Really looking forward to playing the demo when it's out

[Crimson Wizard]

I'm frankly afraid, wondering how this game will run in AGS...

[Honza]

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback and encouragement! Feels good to finally have something to show - people were starting to give me weird looks when I claimed I was spending weekends "making a game" for two years .

I'm frankly afraid, wondering how this game will run in AGS...

I was worried too and it does seem to be on the edge of AGS capabilities, but so far it runs okay (only lags a bit here and there) as long as I close other applications and preload bigger animations. I tried Visionaire for a bit but couldn't get used to it, so I decided to go with AGS and hope for the best. We'll see what happens once the game gets bigger - worst-case scenario I release a downgraded low-res version and make a "remastered" one in another engine. Hope it doesn't come to that though, AGS has served me well so far .

[Cassiebsg]

Looking absolutely lovely. Very unique style indeed.   

[Durq]

I like the premise, and the art is breathtaking! I'll definitely be looking forward to the demo.

[Ali]

You had me at 16-direction walkcycle. Looks great!

[CrashPL]

Absolutely adore these animations and the general art style and setting - best of luck with the production!

[Grundislav]

This looks amazing! Always nice to see more high resolution AGS projects.

[selmiak]

absolutely awesome! Please keep posting more productions screenshots

[Blondbraid]

This looks great, the graphics are a real work of art and reminds me a lot of Macinarium in the colors and level of detail, and the plot sounds interesting too!

[Olleh19]

Keep it up! Looks fantastic buddy! 

[Yanek_Crispbread]

This is a work of genius. Beautiful art.

[Monsieur OUXX]

OK but we will finally discover exactly what is the Schnibble of Azimuth?

More seriously : Now that's what I call a true high-resolution game. Gorgeous in every way.

[Honza]

Happy people like the graphics, thanks everyone! I was taking snapshots while drawing one of those backgrounds to see how much time it actually takes me, so here's a bit of making-of:

[Blondbraid]

Happy people like the graphics, thanks everyone! I was taking snapshots while drawing one of those backgrounds to see how much time it actually takes me, so here's a bit of making-of:

This is so beautiful, you can really see the effort that went into it!

[Cassiebsg]

Quite agree!  Lovely. I always love to see these "making of"...

Just one remark... you forgot to post the time...  So... how much elapsed time does that gif cover? 

[Honza]

Quite agree!  Lovely. I always love to see these "making of"...

Just one remark... you forgot to post the time...  So... how much elapsed time does that gif cover? 

27 hours since I started counting, so about 30 total I'm guessing, + smoking breaks and pointless wall-gazing... yep, I'm slow .

[dactylopus]

Thanks for posting that gif.  It's very insightful to see the process and the time estimate.

With all of the details in the image, I'm not surprised it took that long.  It looks fantastic.  I'm guessing it will be quite a while before this game is released, but it seems like it will be worth the wait.

[Racoon]

This looks awesome Honza. The backgounds really remind me of "A whispered world", wich is my favorite adventure but the troll is really one of a kind, love him.

[ToeKnee]

The graphics and animations are wonderful. I can't WAIT for this one to come out. The story will be fascinating.

[javixblack]

Duuuude, you're very talented! that graphics are lovely, and the plot looks pretty interesting so far!
As a infrequent animator (just for hobby), I really like those animations, they are very careful. Can wait to see more!

[Honza]

I just realized I haven't made any updates in almost a year, so just to bump this a little bit and show that this project is still alive (and to celebrate finally breaking a long procrastination period), here's Mirabelle walking:



Some bigger news and updates hopefully coming soon-ish (but no deadlines or promises, apparently I'm not good with those ).

[rongel]

Looks great, just like all of your animations and graphics! I'm glad the game is back on track.

[FlyingMandarine]

Looking good, Honza! Love the attention to detail - every art piece you post looks so polished!

Also, is it just me or do you really like drawing naked people partially hidden behind objects? 🤔

[Honza]

Looking good, Honza! Love the attention to detail - every art piece you post looks so polished!

Also, is it just me or do you really like drawing naked people partially hidden behind objects? 🤔

Hey Patrice, thanks! And yeah, I kinda recycled that gag in Off The Clock. But twice is enough, promise to not use it again any time soon .

[ThreeOhFour]

This looks so good, even though I fear for any artist who puts this much time into a project! Superb detail in everything, love it.

[Matti]

I just realized that I haven't posted in this thread yet! This looks really nice. Your art skills are superb and the animations look fantastic. The premise sounds fun too 

Good luck with the development! I'll try out Off the Clock soon(ish).

[Honza]

This looks so good, even though I fear for any artist who puts this much time into a project!

That's a well founded fear :/. Some time ago I was catching up on your and Grundislav's podcast, and the part about people who get too ambitious with their first project, quickly burn out and never finish was scary. Well, at least I've got the jam games now, we'll see what happens with this one. Not giving up on it just yet, but might take a detour to something much smaller first.

Good luck with the development! I'll try out Off the Clock soon(ish).

Thanks, let me know what you think when you've had the chance to check out OTC!

[ThreeOhFour]

That's a well founded fear :/. Some time ago I was catching up on your and Grundislav's podcast, and the part about people who get too ambitious with their first project, quickly burn out and never finish was scary. Well, at least I've got the jam games now, we'll see what happens with this one. Not giving up on it just yet, but might take a detour to something much smaller first.

Man you can get too ambitious with your 40th project, believe me. Caution is always the key.

[isatche]

I absolutely adore this art style to say the least. Illustrations are beautiful!

[Nowhere Girl]

I decided to give some feedback too. I really loved "Long in the Tooth", I'm waiting for a full version, and since I learned that you made more games... I liked "Off the Clock", it was really funny, but particularly since I discovered that you're also making this game... Are you still working on it? Anyway, I think that "Long in the Tooth" should have priority, but if "Truth Be Trolled" sees the light of day, it would be great too.

[javixblack]

Hi dude, any new about the project?

[Darth Mandarb]

DO NOT dig up old threads!!
If you're interested in an old thread* about a project don't post asking about the progress.  Send a PM to the game's author.  If the project has been cancelled and/or abandoned there's no point in bumping the thread!

* Old Threads are threads that have been inactive for near to over 90 days (3 months).

Honza - if/when you want to post an update let me know and I will unlock the thread!

[Honza]

The game is currently in stasis and will probably remain there for at least a year. I've decided to release a smaller commercial game first, hopefully by the end of 2022 - it will be a collection of loosely tied short stories, including (but not limited to) enhanced versions of my jam games. This time I'll make sure to make an "in production" post only once the game is well on its way to completion to avoid unrealistic promises.

As for Truth be Trolled, I really, really hope I eventually figure out a way to finish it without it taking 10 years. From the start, the idea was to make an adventure game I would really like to play, so nobody wants to see it come to life more than me. But it was an insane overreach for somebody who has never published anything else before, and seeing how fast I can make progress with smaller games, the temptation to work on those instead and possibly have a game published by this time next year is too strong. Sorry if this is disappointing, but hey - "in stasis" isn't the same as "dead"! I've sunk more than two years and hundreds of hours into this game, and I still love the story, the characters and the setting, so it has to happen sooner or later! Meanwhile, here's a Christmas elf troll .

[Rik_Vargard]

This looks fantastic !

[Mouth for war]

This looks amazing

[Nowhere Girl]

By the way, how is "Long in the Tooth" going? I have seen that you posted a small update recently, but before there were no updates for a long time...

[Honza]

By the way, how is "Long in the Tooth" going? I have seen that you posted a small update recently, but before there were no updates for a long time...

Well, there's good news and... ambivalent news? The good news is, I'm hard at work at it! I even made a bet with a friend to meet certain benchmarks at certain times, and I don't intend to lose it . So it looks like that game is well on its way to being finished.

The ambivalent news - I'm not yet sure I will be releasing it for free. As I wrote above, I would like to publish a short game anthology commercially, and LitT will be part of that package. So we'll see once it's done - chances are I'll only publish an updated version of the demo and leave the rest for the commercial release. Then again, I'm excited to see people play it, so who knows, maybe I'll cave .

[Nowhere Girl]

The ambivalent news - I'm not yet sure I will be releasing it for free. As I wrote above, I would like to publish a short game anthology commercially, and LitT will be part of that package. So we'll see once it's done - chances are I'll only publish an updated version of the demo and leave the rest for the commercial release. Then again, I'm excited to see people play it, so who knows, maybe I'll cave .

I'm perpetually short on money. I mean really.
But maybe I could be a beta tester in exchange?

[Honza]

The ambivalent news - I'm not yet sure I will be releasing it for free. As I wrote above, I would like to publish a short game anthology commercially, and LitT will be part of that package. So we'll see once it's done - chances are I'll only publish an updated version of the demo and leave the rest for the commercial release. Then again, I'm excited to see people play it, so who knows, maybe I'll cave .

I'm perpetually short on money. I mean really.
But maybe I could be a beta tester in exchange?

I'll definitely be looking for testers eventually, so I'll try to keep the offer in mind. Good luck with your game, sounds like it could be interesting! Anyway, I've already been reminded that we are getting a bit off topic here, so let's keep this thread focused on Truth be Trolled (which means inactive for now I'm afraid). Feel free to DM me though!

Just to clarify for others, we were talking about this game: Long in the Tooth on GameJolt. Offtopic over!

[lapsking]

I hope this masterpiece on hold, will unfold.