Cayanne Pepper

Montague · Sun 16/09/2007 11:51:13

CAYANNE PEPPER

Cayanne Pepper is my first game. The story I wrote was way too long, so if I had any sense of decency I'd name the game "Episode one" or "part one" or something. Feel free to add that before your inner eye, though. The game is mostly an attempt to establish a hero and a villain. It's a detective game, not cyberpunk/sci-fi.

THE BACKSTORY:

When the World Wide Web broke down the world erupted into full scale nuclear war.

What remains inhabitable has been divided into three zones: the Safe Zone, the Unsafe Zone and the Tarnished Zone.

In the Safe Zone life goes on pretty much as before, albeit with some restrictions on immigration, tourism and computer networks.

In the Unsafe Zone things are worse. Nuclear waste has lead to disfigurements, diceases and even mutations for a percentage of the population. The economy is struggling with a massive pressure on health care, environmental cleaning, natural recourses and law enforcement.

The Tarnished Zone is beyond repair. People there have a life expectancy of about 35 years due to massive pollution and nuclear waste. Anarchy and chaos is the norm, but there are always some who find ways to capitalize on such things...

In Flavendres Heights, the Safe Zone, Cayanne Pepper is trying to make it as a freelance writer, Detective Arden is struggling to inject a sense of integrity into the city's police force, and poor rich kid Leonard Perec is on the run, wanted for murder. The police department's efforts to keep Detective Arden off the case only serves to entice his interest in it further, and he asks his friend Cayanne for help.

Download is roughly 3.4 mb.

~~(cayanne_pepper01.zip has a bug-fix.)~~
(cayanne_pepper02.zip really fixed it. I hope.)

It refers to some adult themes and isn't intended for the youngest.

Download

Game page

Homepage

-Montague

Jon · Sun 16/09/2007 13:08:52

Glad to see you have realeased your game at last, a very good game; well worth a download!

Montague · Sun 16/09/2007 13:32:22

Quote from: Jon on Sun 16/09/2007 13:08:52
Are you going to put the game on the AGS games page?

Yeah, I'm doing it shortly.

Ghost · Sun 16/09/2007 14:14:36

By all means DO put this up! I don't usually go for crime adventures, but this is a little masterpiece. Where to start? Character design and animation: top-notch. Dialogue: Well written. Story: Seemingly clichee, but nicely done. Interface and graphics style, very good.
I'm really impressed; this might become something of a classic in its own right! Congrats!

Ghost out.

dunnoson · Sun 16/09/2007 19:30:52

I hope you all enjoy this game, because I thought it was cool.

olafmoriarty · Sun 16/09/2007 20:10:59

Just finished it. Brilliant plot, though I hope to see more games from the same universe soon (the backstory is too fantastic to spend it on ONE safe-zone game). Also, sweet GUI!

Some parts were difficult, some parts were oddly designed (figuring out things like "Oh, that's right, I have to finish this conversation before I can open the door" and "argh, where is that pixel I have to hunt to climb these stairs?"), and I never understood why Cayanne couldn't have a decent outfit and what was the point in the scenes where she wears nothing but her underwear (and neither did my girlfriend, who watched a few of those parts over my shoulder not understanding what the frak I was playing), but storywise I loved the game, and encourage everybody to play it.

And while I'm at it: GREAT graphics! All in all, a very impressive game. Glad I played it.

CosmoQueen · Sun 16/09/2007 23:50:22

I totally agree with you olafmoriarty. It was a brilliant game

sharksweetheart · Mon 17/09/2007 08:09:41

Nice game! Unfortunately my adventure has been cut short - don't know if I'd call it a "bug" as the game wasn't meant to be played this way but

Spoiler

if you leave the DL building before getting the receipt but after getting the tapes, you hit a dead end when you try to go back to get it, as there are no more tapes left, but you can't leave without taking them. I doubt many people will encounter this problem, but I managed to and due to saving at a bad time, I have to start the game over. It might be worth making it so surveillance tapes are always available for the taking, or have Cayanne say she thinks she's forgetting something when she doesn't have the receipt.

[close]

CosmoQueen · Mon 17/09/2007 08:40:25

Wow I totally missed that bug! Sorry Montague

Montague · Mon 17/09/2007 09:12:15

"Nice game! Unfortunately my adventure has been cut short - don't know if I'd call it a "bug" as the game wasn't meant to be played this way but"

Oh crap! Uploading a fixed version now.

Thanks guys, I'm very glad and relieved to hear that somebody liked it!

olafmoriarty, there is a really simple reason why she had to wear underwear that also explains why she couldn't have a decent outfit -- but I've forgotten it.

-Montague

olafmoriarty · Mon 17/09/2007 09:24:52

Oh, no problem.

A small bug I discovered was that in the inventory window, object names on mouse-over appeared BEHIND the inventory window. So when hovering your cursor over the items on top of the window you see part of the item's name hidden behind the window, and on the lower items you can't see the name at all.

Also, the security tapes didn't have an "investigate" description, if you weren't aware of that.

And very, very early in the game, I *think* I spotted the typo "Amrstrong".

By the way, what I completely forgot in my last post, was to complement you for the extremely well-written dialogue! Everybody's personality seem so deep and thought through, and the dialogue is also *funnier* than in any AGS game I can remember playing lately. Excellent game, if I haven't said so enough times already.

Montague · Mon 17/09/2007 09:36:34

Yeah, I was aware of the inventory window thing, but I didn't (don't) know how to fix it. I'll probably do a proper 1.1-update shortly, thanks for letting me know about the typo and the missing description.

And thanks again for your kind words, I really appreciate it!

-Montague

ThreeOhFour · Mon 17/09/2007 11:43:28

Excellent game. The setting and characters are marvellous, and Cayanne Pepper's sprites are wonderful.

Thankyou.

Nlogax · Mon 17/09/2007 20:44:33

I'm part way through playing and just wanted to congratulate you so far. It's nice to see a bit of originality in the interface and story design, and I'm liking the game very much so far.

Shame there's not been much in the way of music so far though.

LimpingFish · Mon 17/09/2007 23:26:23

Nice, solid game so far. Good work all round.

radiowaves · Tue 18/09/2007 18:54:28

Oo, looks nice. I am happy to see more quality games are seeing daylight. Downloaded it, I'll play it soon when I have more time in my hands..

Doctor Oakroot · Wed 19/09/2007 02:28:28

I like the style and what I've seen of the story - just a few rooms into it so far.

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Wed 19/09/2007 19:47:40

Spoiler

I've got the recepit, and I've got the tapes. I can't leave because "she's forgetting something".

[close]

I'm sure you know what part I mean. I just need to know whether this is a bug or whether I really am missing something - fixing a bug sometimes spawns other bugs...

Which is a shame, because I was absolutely *loving* the game.

Montague · Wed 19/09/2007 20:46:50

Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Wed 19/09/2007 19:47:40
I'm sure you know what part I mean. I just need to know whether this is a bug or whether I really am missing something - fixing a bug sometimes spawns other bugs...

Rui,

Spoiler

Do you have the cayanne_pepper01.zip file? And did you try going back to the tape-room and retrieve the tape again after getting the receipt? If you did both these things and still can't leave then it's a new bug. Sorry.

[close]

:'(

-Montague

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Wed 19/09/2007 20:54:20

I got the fix, yes. Sorry, then, new bug. I got the tapes before the receipt. Will have to load back to eariler savegame...

Montague · Wed 19/09/2007 22:13:12

Again, awfully sorry. I made some changes to the script and it should be tight now. Should. (if someone gets the bug in this one too I'll cut the entire room out of the game).

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Wed 19/09/2007 22:58:13

Hey, no need to cut it out.

Just take your time to throughly test after you bug-fix. If you hasten it, it'll surely go wrong.

EDIT - Hey, your latest fix not only solved it, I even managed to load my savegame and keep going from there!

Radiant · Fri 21/09/2007 18:34:41

Good work!

Minor bug: the GUI that displays the name of items goes underneath (instead of on top of) the inventory GUI.
Minor issue: it looks slightly weird if, in a conversation, one side has a portrait and the other (for instance, the hotel owner) doesn't.

seaduck · Sat 22/09/2007 14:24:14

My foremost complaint would be that you advertise this as some sci-fi or cyberpunk game, when it's actually a detective game.

At least as far as I got the game was not influenced at all by the setting (I don't remember if there was actually any hint as to where/when the game is set).

Perhaps the setting will become more important later in the game (I don't know, I quit because this type of games is not my cup of tea) but still it seems to be a detective game in the first place, and should be advertised as such.

Apart from that from what I've seen I think you've done a nice job, the graphics and sounds seem to be more than adequate.

Montague · Sat 22/09/2007 16:03:40

Rui,

That's good to know.

Radiant,

You mean behind instead of in front, right? In the newest version the description is displayed directly underneath the inventory window so at least you can see what it is.

Yeah, I didn't bother to make portraits for characters who didn't have conversation options.

Seaduck,

That's certainly a legitimate complaint. I should probably have put some more thought into the description. Sorry.

-Montague

stacygibbs · Sun 23/09/2007 00:31:35

Beautifully done, Montague! The artwork is top notch, the story interesting and the dialogue clever. My only issue is that the game is absolutely crying out for background music.

Thank you for sharing this with us!

FrancoFranchi · Sun 23/09/2007 14:59:57

Wow - just finished playing this and had to write my words of praise.

Looooved the art-style and ambience of the world. I hope there'll be a sequel (or especially a prequel) on the horizon.

The only thing I could recommend would be something smoother for the "present" option on the inventory - I didn't think it was very intuitive to have to select the inventory item, then click "present". That and a kickass soundtrack - if I had my recording equipment with me I'd volunteer myself but someone more talented can surely step in to help.

pixelblink · Sun 23/09/2007 20:54:39

great game! just finished it and I gotta say it's one of the better story-driven games I've played here. Looking forward to the sequel

Peter Bear · Tue 25/09/2007 07:57:57

Hey

Nice game, It reminds me vaguely of the "Carmen Sandiago" by the graphics, this is a compliment.
The story seems good and I liked the first dialogs, I havent finished it yet.

Two things : stop saying "sorry" to anyone, you dont have to be !! You rock

, even there are some bugs ! lol

2/ Do you hire a english to french translator ? I could do it for you, fast ( and furious ), I am french, and many many players are too ... That would promote you game from the other side of the channel ( or atlantic )

Well, It's up to you, but the site really miss bilingual games ... and yours deserves to be more known.

You can pm me.

Hails go to anyone over there

I dont post often

Montague · Tue 25/09/2007 14:32:19

Thanks for the compliments, guys! I'll be on the lookout for someone to do music for the sequel. I haven't really considered a translation, but it sounds like a lot of work. I'll have to think about it. Thanks a lot for the offer, though.

-Montague

Guest · Fri 28/09/2007 08:03:44

Great art. For some reason wasn't crazy about the game play and story, but I think that's only cause I'm gamed out these days. Good humor too. Appreciated the Dylan reference.

Nostradamus · Sun 30/09/2007 09:00:24

This game has a an interesting unfolding story, interesting dynamics and good written dialogues. Kudos for the innovative dialogue GUI. Not totally new, as it's similiar to Sam & Max, The Dig or Broken Sword dialgoue system but it is different in its design.
However there isn't enough interaction with items. There almost isn't any. And for me picking up and using items is as important as dialogue. So after a period of running around between people talking and talking, it gets trying. You don't go through the profcess of how would I use items to solve problems or just try items on things, you just run around between people talking. As long as each discussion gives you a new location and a new name it keeps you interested. But then it becomes trying and even boring to just run around between the same people trying to find the next clue. To me when I talked to everyone about everything not having a clue what do next it became unmotivating to run around between the people talking. If you have put item interaction between the excellent dialogues it would put more diversity and put more interest in the game.

ThreeOhFour · Sun 07/10/2007 13:22:45

Not to counter Nostradamus' comment about the lack of item interaction being a negative thing, but I must say that I personally found it very refreshing to see an adventure game that did not rely so heavily on item based puzzles to progress the game. My personal opinion is that item collection makes adventure games drudgery, and while it can be good when done well, it is often not done well.

My thanks to you for not relying so heavily on item based puzzles.

Cayanne Pepper

Ghost

Guest