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
(http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6109/47if5kp.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
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
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
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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:) ...
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.
Medium-lengther? But in the AGS Games Database it's listed as a Short Game... what gives?
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
@ 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?
Hmmm I now can now leave the prison but the bag with my stuff has to stay inside. ???
60 meg? dial up here, so no chance. :'(
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.
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...
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?
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
Ok... but I like all the nifty extras. Please correct the old version too, ok? Pretty please? Sugar on top?
**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!!!
Quote from: esper on Thu 01/09/2005 08:58:18
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..."
And now I get "Access forbidden"?!!
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...
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.
I got the best ending. :D
I had fun playing it.
But it does belong in the short game section.
You're right, Yvonne. I sure hope it was worth the time you spent. It isn't the greatest game in the world, and I wonder exactly what it was that caught your attention so much that you decided to brave Hell and high water to get at it!
Gijs: I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the recommendation. It will stay in the short games section. I worked for a long time trying to make it take a while, but what takes so long to put together doesn't take very long to beat :(
Games under 25MB can be uploaded at http://www.americangirlscouts.org/agsuploads/index.php
Yeah, feel free to use the upload service, it needs testing. I mirrored the larger file if people want to get that somewhere easier, http://www.americangirlscouts.org/agsuploads/files/ESPER.zip
Thanks a bundle guys. You sure know how to treat a newbie well! I'm glad to see my game has had such a good response in the first day of it being available... I know it's not the best, but I worked on it seriously (maybe not quite so seriously with some of the animations) and tried to make a game that would be fun, enjoyable, not too hard to beat and maybe a little creepy! I hope my next ESPER game, and my MAGS entry for this month, will be just as well received, if not better...
And if anyone liked ESPER enough to work with me, especially in the graphics department, I would appreciate it!
Newbies who make their 5th post or so a completed game with great atmosphere and obviously a lot of work gone into it are MOST welcome here. It's the ones who just post a bunch of links to old stuff they found on the web and then get upset when moderators tell them off that we dont like.
Your graphics show that you don't have to be Leonardo da Vinci to have atmospheric graphics
As for the big movie files: have you tried compressing them with other CODECs that might give a better result?
I tried DivX (whatever the simpler one is... for some reason the more advanced DivX codec doesn't want to work) and Indeo 5.1... Can you suggest any others, or 3rd party video compression software that might be better? It's too bad ZIP is the standard file compression format, too, because I got it to 40-some MB archiving it as an ACE...
---And thanks for the complements...
Hi Esper,
check the gordianknot (http://gordianknot.sourceforge.net/)-project for a collection of codecs (all the ones you'll ever need). Xvid seems to have quite a good compression.
Martin
Esper, you may want to consider using RAR compression. In most instances it's better than ACE and there are free RAR extracters available for practically every OS.
Graargh! Sorry, folks, but ESPER is offline. For some reason, out of the three uploaders I used (including the AGS upload site) all of them had problems, and fileFront deleted the old ones instead of replacing them, so now I can't get them uploaded anywhere. The one that was already on the AGS site still exists (the link is somewhere in this thread) but other than that, the final version of both the deluxe and compact versions of ESPER: The Town on the Edge of Darkness, will be offline until I can get one of these bloody sites to work!
In the Meantime, here's what you're NOT getting:
---A full version, with animations, that is fully bugfixed
---The smaller version, which was bugfixed and had its own cursors, had a problem I'm surprised no one mentioned: the look and use icons in the inventory screen were all whacked out.... I fixed those
---Both versions now have a nice, rewritten PDF manual
---Both versions now come with The Town on the Edge of Darkness original short story.
Sorry guys. I'm working on it...
If you're looking for good compression, btw, 7zip seems to do the best job on AGS games in my experience, and can also be made with a self-extractor
Fixed! Here's the smaller file, and I'll be working on getting the bigger one online later tonight...
http://www.savefile.com/files/3263173
EDIT: The bigger file actually got the smallest as an ACE (I tried ZIP and RAR), so I hope everyone has an unzip frogram that will do ACE's. The smaller one is a ZIP: I saw no need to save 1MB or so of space using a non-standard file type that not everyone might have access to. On the bigger file, however, I saved about 8 MB, which is the entire size of the smaller game!
So, alas, it shall be available for download later tonight, and as soon as I get both finished uploading I will put the link in here and add both links to the AGS games archive.Ã, Thanks everyone for motivating me to make this project good and to set a deadline for myself. If you guys didn't show the response you did, I probably would have just posted the unfixed original and let it be!
And here's the big file! And that's that!!!
http://www.savefile.com/files/4718255
Graargh... It is a VERY slow connection. Took 3 hours to upload the bigger file with high speed, takes about 30 minutes to download the smaller file with high speed. I'm going to try to put the smaller one on the AGS uploader site again (if it works), and if so, I'll post the link here.
I'm getting the bug when leaving the prison too..............the only way round it that I can get out of this is to leave my bag of stuff in the prison................but surely you're not supposed to do that - are you? Brilliant game up till then though.
Sorry 'bout that, jane... You must have the old version. the newer one has alot of bugfixes, and that's one. I only uploaded it about two hours ago. Like I just said in my last post, it's a REALLY slow server, and I'm working on ways around that. If you have the smaller version, I'm going to try to upload it onto the AGS upload server (@SSH: I'm doing it and it says it's done, but it isn't giving me a link to it... I left it on for three hours and nothing ever happened :( ), but the bigger version is staying where it is. Unfortunately, the webmaster at www.theespers.org says to put it on the server (and I own the damn website!!!) would take up too much of our "bandwich," as he calls it... Grrr... But I hope you can get the newest, bugfixed version and enjoy it!!!
Mirrors:
BIG and BUGGY: http://aafiles.bicycle-for-slugs.org/full/ESPER:%20Paranormal%20Adventure/ESPER.rar
SMALL and FIXED: http://aafiles.bicycle-for-slugs.org/full/ESPER:%20Paranormal%20Adventure/ESPER%20Compact.rar
Still waiting for the BIG and FIXED. ;D
Thx, Brisby! The big and non-buggy is up, it's just on a really slow server. The little one has the additional fix now of the cursors in the inventory screen fixed (how come no one noticed that?). You might not be able to get it... It took me three hours to upload it on highspeed! Grrr again...
I did notice the buttons but I didn't use them, I just did right and left clicking.
Sorry that I didn't told you. I didn't think about it. :-[
Downloaded compact version but can't get the end to run right.Ã, If I shoot her she refuses to fall down and I get I made wrong decision, if I don't shoot the same thing happens.Ã, If I shoot her but go back towards church and then back to square then Lucy has disappeared but then emerges again and I have to shoot her again - I take it thats a bug.Ã, Is there a right ending?
Only other thing I found was that if you go back in bar then it says about guy at pool table - but he isn't there anymore.
I would have liked the option of a load button too at the beginning to save going through all intro when I lost a life.
Jane: you can use the GUI from the main screen to access save/load
About leaving and coming back... sorry, I didn't plan for that one... But there are eight different endings you can get. Are you getting the EXACT same thing happening? If so, that is a bug. However, there is only ONE very good ending, and you might have missed it.
Where can i download the big and debugged version??
The old big version has been replaced by the bugfixed one... Go to the games page (click my name and then click the name of the game in my profile for a shortcut) and then download the mirror instead of the first download option.
EDIT: Although, I'm noticing, the file server is down for the moment. GRRAAWLLRGG! I can't remember ever GROWLING so many times in forum posts. This has been a most aggravating venture. Can anyone suggest GOOD, SOLID hosting that wont be crappy every eight and a half seconds?
Thanks esper will try that.............hope you get the file server thing sorted, must be real frustrating for you after producing a great game.
jane
I use geocities, but you have to make the download to your index page instead of the file itself, or geocities $#!^$ the bed and tells you off for using if solely for filesharing.
However, by using the index (geocities.com/yourname) instead of (geocities.com/yourname/homepage/file.zip) you can make a loophole and still get your file out there.
Great game but I noticed some bugs. Besides the jail and guy at pool table one, after you leave the underground cavern you can't go back in, also after that scene at the docks, won't say what happens as not to spoiler, if you go back to the docks it happen over and over again.
Thanks. I noticed those and was going to fix them, but I'm notorious for not backing my stuff up and in a little mixup I trashed the entire program... So, unless there's a way to break down AGS files into their constituent parts, ESPER will have to stay the way it is. I know, I know... I suck... However, to make up for the never-again-to-be-bugfixed first ESPER game, I'm developing a sequel.
I'm confused... when the game starts, what town are you in? The ghost town?
I like the game so far, but I'm stuck:
Spoiler
what do you do with Lucy? (on the dock) do you shoot her or let her follow you? Where do you go after? Not the ship since the monster is in there... Help!
Hmm...
have you tried using rapidshare at rapidshare.de? That's a good file hosting place.
i still cant dowload the game. :'(
i would really like to play it, esper! ;D
Um, inside the church with Jimmy (wheelchair kid) is almost impossible. Nothing works.
I just wanted to say what a fantastic game! The atmosphere you created was really good and i did something i never normally bother doing with AGS games, and went back to try the different endings (so it must be good!)
Maybe a longer sequel ?!
Thanks, itch! I'm working on a different game right now, but there are plans for a better, longer sequel. I'm sorry about some of the lousy character art :( But hopefully the next game will be much, much better, and I hope to hear from you when it comes out!
@owlstretcher: Just Shoot It....