MAGS December "Forbidden" (VOTING)

[Kitty Trouble]

Hues of the Haunt
A visual novel (demo)
Download v.0.5 here



Following a car accident, a young woman wakes up in a small town, picturesque but strangely silent and still. It turns out that leaving the place may not be so easy...

A game made in the style of the Japanese visual novels, a genre that became popular in the late 90s. I had a lot of fun coding the layout!
I think I have squished most bugs, but had no testers so do save often.

Music on/off and sound on/off buttons don't do anything as there's no music or sound. Single slot save/restore. You can switch between slow and fast skipping style by clicking the bottom left button in the settings GUI (top left corner). Slow skipping is recommended if you have tendency to accidentally double click. Fast skipping is ideal when replaying the game.

Download v.0.5 here

Spoiler

"To the outskirts" is freezing my game.

[close]

Also, just curious, are you planning to make a full version of the game?

[Kastchey]

Spoiler

"To the outskirts" is freezing my game.

[close]

Ahh, thank you for this! I bet this is what crashed jwalt's game, too. It was this specific location having an invalid parameter.
Thanks to you both for reporting, I've updated the original post with a fixed version.

Also, just curious, are you planning to make a full version of the game?

Yes. This isn't the first project on my 'to be finished' list, but this one probably won't require as much effort, so I may bump it up the queue. Not having to animate things is a huge time saver, and the tiny rooms are a lot faster to make, too.

this looks super impressive. i'll need a few days without any ags related things and will play all other contestant's games next weekend. good luck everyone

Thanks! Hope you will enjoy it

[jwalt]

Spoiler

"To the outskirts" is freezing my game.

[close]

Also, just curious, are you planning to make a full version of the game?
[/quote]

I can verify that that also freezes my game, but in a controlled fashion. Something about walktobtn4. If you need it, I can capture the error message. My initial crash occurred in full screen mode. This time I was playing in windowed.

[Kastchey]

I can verify that that also freezes my game, but in a controlled fashion. Something about walktobtn4. If you need it, I can capture the error message. My initial crash occurred in full screen mode. This time I was playing in windowed.

Thank you, I've managed to pin it down thanks to you and Kitty. I had mistakenly set the last destination description in that particular location to non-blank, which would produce a navigation button that had no destination specified. That location should only have 3 places to move to. The download link is already updated.

[Stupot]

Thanks for the entries, everyone.
Time to vote.

Please vote using the poll above.

	Not My Ron by jwalt
	Dead Phones by noblonski
	Hues of the Haunt by Kastchey

Please let me know if I've missed anything.

[jwalt]

Thanks for the entries, everyone.
Time to vote.

Please vote using the poll above.

Voted.

Spoiler

Hard to compare a full game with a demo. In the end, I went with Noblonski. Nothing wrong with Katschey's game, and the graphics were... WOW. Would look forward to Katschey's complete game.

In fact, even my entry might qualify as a demo, since I left the two characters still stranded in that alternate reality. Right now, I doubt I'll ever find a way to get them out.

[close]

[Kastchey]

Stu, I think Dead Phones links to the screenshot instead of the game in your post.

Voted.

Spoiler

Hard to compare a full game with a demo. In the end, I went with Noblonski. Nothing wrong with Katschey's game, and the graphics were... WOW. Would look forward to Katschey's complete game.

[close]

Spoiler

Thanks, that's totally fine! People tend to prefer games that give them a sense of completion. I was fully aware of that when submitting my entry

[close]

[Ponch]

Playing now... voting soon... 

Update: Voted! 

Good games this month. Very hard to choose.

[Stupot]

Stu, I think Dead Phones links to the screenshot instead of the game in your post.

Thanks, Kastchey, you were right.
Sorry about that, noblonski. It should be fixed now.

[noblonski]

Stu, I think Dead Phones links to the screenshot instead of the game in your post.

Thanks, Kastchey, you were right.
Sorry about that, noblonski. It should be fixed now.

no problem. it's all good.    now the screenshot is missing, though

[Shadow1000]

I voted for

Spoiler

Dead Phones. To me, this game is top-notch in every aspect. Great story, graphics, music, I loved the overall atmosphere and great puzzles.

[close]

[noblonski]

I voted for

Spoiler

Dead Phones. To me, this game is top-notch in every aspect. Great story, graphics, music, I loved the overall atmosphere and great puzzles.

[close]

wow, thanks a lot, much appreciated!

[heltenjon]

My thoughts this month:

Not My RON by Jwalt:

Spoiler

I like the story, though I'd liked our heroes to put an end to the Dayists. The beach part was very funny. More story than game, though.

[close]

Hues of the Haunt by Kastchey:

Spoiler

Very impressive. The layout and graphics are professional and set the mood. I like how the windows all seem to immediately tell their purpose, and the game design truly sells this instantly. The intro is cool and unexpected, and the story is well written, setting the spooky mood. I have all sorts of theories about this small town now. The only real downside (apart from no sound yet) would be those inherent in the VN genre. I'm looking for triggers to the next part of the story, not really puzzles to solve.

[close]

Dead Phones by Noblonski:

Spoiler

Also very impressive. When looking at the credits, it looks like it's the work of a whole team, but really, it's the work of one guy putting all the others' assets into his own creation. And makes it look like this is what it all was created for.    Cool story, satisfying puzzles, great use of modules that push AGS somewhat, and a mighty fine soundtrack to boot. I could wish for a bit better signposting of exits - i found the bathroom by sheer coincidence.

[close]

I voted for:

Spoiler

Dead Phones. Even though the writing in Hues of the Haunt is spectacular, I like my puzzles.

[close]

[Kastchey]

I have played both co-entries. My thoughts:

Not My RON by jwalt:

Spoiler

Wow, that was deeper than I expected! I don't know if that was fully intentional, but the clash between Josh's blissful ignorance and Davy's depressing revelation produced a really interesting (and gloomy) narrative twist.

[close]

Dead Phones by noblonski:

Spoiler

Really impressive, especially if that was your first AGS game ever. The puzzles were clever and enjoyable, and you managed to squeeze in multiple endings on top of that, nice! Good job blending the visuals into a consistent whole, too. I would have liked if there was a bit more to the story, it seemed somewhat random. The jump scare with the lights going off compensated for that fully, though!

[close]

It was a tough call, but in the end I voted for:

Spoiler

Not My RON. I'm a sucker for a good story and post-apocalyptic worlds.

[close]

[jwalt]

I have played both co-entries. My thoughts:

Not My RON by jwalt:

Spoiler

Wow, that was deeper than I expected! I don't know if that was fully intentional, but the clash between Josh's blissful ignorance and Davy's depressing revelation produced a really interesting (and gloomy) narrative twist.

[close]

Thanks for the kind words. HeltonJon also said some nice things.

Spoiler

I intended to have the two aspects of the game, as mentioned, between Josh and Davy's parts. I also gave serious thought to trying to "do away with the Dayists," similar to HeltonJon's comment. However, decided to keep the story about trying to find a way to get Josh and Davy back to their Reality.

I confess to knowing next to nothing about RON's Dayists. My game probably isn't canon, but since they operate in an alternate Reality, I think I can get away with it.

[close]

[heltenjon]

Upon reading Jwalt's answer and doing a quick check about the Dayist Church in earlier RON games, I retract my notion that they should be fought in this game. I had forgotten all about them, to be honest. (Played the RON games 10+ years ago.) I actually thought they were something Jwalt had made up for this entry, but now I see they are a part of a what if-scenario that plays heavily on alternate realities where things played out a bit differently. And I think the story is all the better for it.

[noblonski]

thanks for the nice and kind words!!

i agree with the things y'all mention: the bad signposting (and about 100 other little things) is fixed in the polished version which i'll drop  after voting has concluded.
the story was originally a little more on the horror side of things but my graphic skills are pretty much non-existent. i used lots of heavily and not so heavily edited free assets and a couple of paid ones but my resources were still limited, that's why certain parts are a little weird. for the next one i'm definitely gonna have more story. thanks for the feedback! this is very exciting! 

[Kastchey]

Spoiler

Very impressive. The layout and graphics are professional and set the mood. I like how the windows all seem to immediately tell their purpose, and the game design truly sells this instantly. The intro is cool and unexpected, and the story is well written, setting the spooky mood. I have all sorts of theories about this small town now. The only real downside (apart from no sound yet) would be those inherent in the VN genre. I'm looking for triggers to the next part of the story, not really puzzles to solve.

[close]

I voted for:

Spoiler

Dead Phones. Even though the writing in Hues of the Haunt is spectacular, I like my puzzles.

[close]

Thanks for the feedback! I generally lean towards classic adventures games too, but I've been wanting to try making a VN layout for a while now, and the idea I got for this theme fit fairly well. Glad you liked the UI design and the writing. I perceived neither as my forte, so I did focus on those two aspects quite a lot to make them right. If this gets its full version one day, I hope I'll be able to make tad more to the gameplay than just coursing around the locations looking for the next part of the content.
And if the story sparked some early theories in your head, awesome! This is exactly the effect I was hoping for

[Kastchey]

Congratulations, noblonski! A well deserved win

[noblonski]

Congratulations, noblonski! A well deserved win

oh, i didn't even see that yet. 
wow, thanks so much everyone!!
it means a lot and surely is a big motivation.