ESPER: Paranormal Adventure COMPACT VERSION

[esper]

Come one, come all, to Noman Island, also known as the Town on the Edge of Darkness...

In ESPER: The Town on the Edge of darkness, you play as Ian McDermott, head investigator of the ESPER society, a group dedicated to the exploration and revelation of paranormal and occult activity. You have been called to the prison cell of one Mr. Frederick Stiles, who has been imprisoned for murdering a young girl. Stiles is your CLIENT, however, and he claims that the girl was already dead at the time he killed her! Investigate Noman Island, where perpetual night overshadows some strange and dangerous events, and see if you can help bring peace to a man who has visited...
Ã,  Ã, THE TOWN ON THE EDGE OF DARKNESS

The new link is http://files.filefront.com/ESPER1zip/;4085708;;/fileinfo.html



The game features eight different endings, but only two of them are desirable. The game isn't that hard, though, and features only puzzles that make good logical sense. If the various endings elude you, just remember what your mission is and try to look and and interat with everything. Even if you don't always find something worth finding, sometimes Ian's sardonic answers can be worth the trouble!

The older, large version with animation but no bugfixes is here: http://files.filefront.com/ESPERzip/;4082693;;/fileinfo.html

[AlbinoPanther]

What 60+MB is this game realy that good?
Cause if we want to download it we want to know how good is it(dial up connection)?
How many rooms are in there is it a full lenght game?
Why in the name of GOD you have that large file?


BE VIGILANT
``````````

[esper]

Y'know what... DON'T download it. As a first game, it wouldn't be fair for me to ask you to risk taking up forever and a half of your dial-up time to get my game. Personally, I think it's a good game, a medium-lengther (it would take you about a half hour to an hour to beat if you didn't already know what you are doing)... But the main file size is due to AVI animations for four of the ending scenes and the intro. I will leave this bigger DELUXE file online for all those highspeed users, and I will work on transferring the finishing cutscenes to in-game ones instead of animated ones. That way, people who don't have a high speed connection will be able to play it and enjoy it. Without the AVI's, it should be less than 6 MB. And, for a special bonus since you have to wait a little longer, I will include the ESPER story (only 24k) along with the non-deluxe edition:) ...

[Gijs]

Hey fun game!

But I got an error when I left the prison.
Here it is:

An error has occured. Please contact the game author for support, as this is likely to be a scripting error and not a bug in AGS
(ACI version 2.70.864)

Error display speech: speech was already displayed (nested DisplaySpeech, perhaps room script and global script conflict?)

I hope it can be fixed.

Edit: I mean the prison the main character escaped from and not the one from the intro.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Medium-lengther? But in the AGS Games Database it's listed as a Short Game... what gives?

[SSH]

Atmospheric so far. A few comments:

Get rid of the green anti-aliasaing outlines of the characters!
You're apostrophes are sometimes a bit wrong: plurals dont get apostophes
You can bring up the GUI at the top even on the start screen
Just after the intro, on the boat, clicking on the bookcase says that its the stairs.
Draw your own cursors
Do an inventory screen that matches the style of the game
Ditto those save/load buttons

[esper]

@ Gijs: Glad you like it, but I'm not familiar with that error. What were the circumstances at the time? Try playing again and save right before then and go about things a bit differently in the prison, because I have playtested it through and been able to pass the prison, but since I know how to do it the right way I might have missed something.

@ Brisby: I know, I wasn't thinking... I can beat it in ten minutes, obviously. I'll wait till someone actually beats it and then I'll change it based on how long it took someone who wasn't "initiated."

@ SSH: I tried desperately to get rid of the green anti-aliasing, following the instructions in the manual and from the forums, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. I AM working on it though. I figured at first since it doesn't happen to the main character, people would just think I was trying to give the occupants of Noman Island a "paranormal" look. Curse you for seeing through my facade...
Ã,  Your apostraphes are also wrong Thanks I will go through and give it a look.
Ã,  It does? Looking at it or using it? I probably threw out the wrong message number...
Ã,  I tried using my own cursors, but for some reason they didn't work and you could only cycle through them as far as "TALK" and then you couldn't get another, so I scrapped that idea. As for the inventory screen: any suggestions? I thought just darkening it would be decent enough.
Ã,  ARRGGHH!!! I know, I know, about the save/load buttons, but how do you make a spooky-looking save button?
   And about the startup screen: I'm sorry, it was an easy way around being able to save or load from startup, so I didn't have to make a seperate GUI for it.

Ã,  Thanks for all the feedback. Tomorrow by 1 AM Mountain Standard Time I will have the fixed edition online, and a smaller version (minus all the nifty cutscenes!) so people on dialup can have access to the game, too. As for you high-speeders: I know my animation quality isn't the best (just look at the way the sherriff walks!!!) so, here's my question: In future games, do you think I should bother using flash animated cutscenes?

[Gijs]

Hmmm I now can now leave the prison but the bag with my stuff has to stay inside.

[calacver]

60 meg? dial up here, so no chance.  :'(

[Akumayo]

As for using your own cursers, it's easiest to do what I do, after you draw your own cursor, simply find the sprite being used for the default cursor (found in the default sprites folder) and import over the default cursor with your cursor.
This way the script for the cursors stays the same, but the image becomes your own.

[esper]

Thanks! I will be able to put the cursors in before the new game ships. It'll come out later tonight, complete with my own cursors, and will only be 10 Megs (before I zip it), so everyone can enjoy it! It will be minus the animated intro and cutscenes and the nice manual, but it will have the original "Town on the Edge of Darkness" story bundled with it...

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Ok, so let me just get it clear: you'll now get TWO versions out, both with better cursors and less bugs and whatnot, one with the animations and big things and the other one without. Yes?

[esper]

Rui: The original large file with the animations is staying just like it was. I have heard a bunch of people say they like the game, but no one has said anything about the animations and everyone wants a smaller file size. Thus, unless I get people saying they want otherwise, the animated version is on permanent hiatus. As a matter of fact, although it is still hosted and can be downloaded at the link given earlier, I will be REPLACING the one in the AGS games directory. This present version fixes all bugs spoken of earlier EXCEPT the antialiasing, which like I said wasn't working. I took advantage of it for the cursors though, because without the antialiasing the cursors would not have been very visible since it is a dark game and they are, likewise, dark cursors. The new download link is HERE: http://files.filefront.com/ESPER1zip/;4085708;;/fileinfo.html

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Ok... but I like all the nifty extras. Please correct the old version too, ok? Pretty please? Sugar on top?

[esper]

**sighs in exasperation** Sure. For you, and because you asked so nice, I'll do it. It shouldn't be too hard, since all I really need to do is delete the new cutscenes and put the PlayVideo script back in their place. Tomorrow night, same bat time, same bat channel. (I'm still only going to post the newest version of the game in the AGS games list, but the fixed game with animations should be available at the same link here in the forums. Oh, and BTW, I just got my graphics tablet in the mail today, so the next game should have MUCH improved graphics!!!

[Yvonne]

The new download link is HERE: http://files.filefront.com/ESPER1zip/;4085708;;/fileinfo.html /quote]

So many mirrors - but WHERE IS the file?
I keep getting the message - "There was an error processing your request. File not found on this server..."

[Yvonne]

And now I get "Access forbidden"?!!

[esper]

I'm not sure what the problem is! 40-something people from AGS have downloaded it already! Here's how fileFront works (BTW: I highly recommend FileFront! Free hosting on siles up to a gig with as many files as you care to add!) It's a long process, but I can store many large files on fileFront, so it's kinda worth it for everybody... Click on the link (http://files.filefront.com/ESPER1zip/;4085708;;/fileinfo.html) and then click the large DOWNLOAD NOW icon. The next screen gives you a list of mirrors. Try one, and if it doesn't work, try another... the game is hosted on all of them... by clicking the DOWNLOAD link on the far right of the listing. It will contact the server and prepare the file for you, and when it is ready it will tell you to "Please click this link to download...." Do so, and it will come up with the standard dialogs asking where you want to save it. I'm not sure why you can't do it, unless you have a REALLY good firewall turned on...

[Yvonne]

The conventional firewall settings for MicroSoft Win XP SP2.
Only 3 - THREE - of the mirrors have the file hosted.
A person should be really intrigued about the game to waste the dial-up connection time /huge sum of money/ as I did.
I had heard bad references about FileFront before, now they have all been confirmed.
You may choose, of course. But - moreover seeing that you are a fresh member of our community - please, refrain from recommendations.
FileFront is something that litters the web space. It has been known for ages in my circle of IT-specialists - that is my field of competence as well.

[Gijs]

I got the best ending.

I had fun playing it.
But it does belong in the short game section.