Eternally Us

[Grim]

Let it flow, you have talent, and the last guy I said that to, has been dead since 2001.

Lets hope there isn't a pattern emerging there...... : :o

Ben, check if you turned that iron off before you go to bed, all right?

[abstauber]

...so... beautiful...

It's hard to believe that you've done that in only one month. I even don't care that the puzzles are easy (or not existant), it's just a wonderful little story.


Oh, just one thing: I forgot to count, but how many times did the credits say "Steven Poulton"? 100 times or 10000000000 times? But that's actually my only grievance. Technically spoken this is the best and most beautiful low-res stuff I've seen in ages.

Terrific job, guys and voice actors! 

[Anian]

Finally tried it. Some audio/animation hiccups are really probably due to short time, but all in all it was nice. Art, voices and music were great. And I get the dialogs being a bit over romantic perhaps but it's within the overall style (I don't prefer it that much myself but I knew what style this game was in since it's Ben's game as well).

Possible spoilers ahead, but if you haven't played the game, you won't get what I'm refering to anyway so...   :
I didn't actually get what was going on till the end (yeah, the backgrounds may give hints), still don't know who Tick-tock guy is (well I saw in the credits but still) and frankly he starts of sounding like he's evil (almost actually saying it and not as in he seemed evil which would have been the point) but in the end it turns out it was only a duty.
And why put glow thingies in lamps, just wondering if I'm missing some allegory (similar puzzle examples are very much present in this game, seem a bit glued on afterwards just to make it more interactive and not a cartoon).  

I really like Ben's style, but always kind of regret it doesn't go to darker places. Don't know if it's valid crticism, cause there is nothing actually wrong with it and just shows how shallow I am, but it seems all your games are "artsy". The mentioned Winter shadow project, might be a change of pace so I'm looking forward to that.

[EdLoen]

I have to say, congrats on building a game that can receive such polar differences off opinion. It's when you know you have something special on your hands =D.

now going on the bandwagon of expression views (lol), I actually didn't mind the pigeon puzzle. It fit the scene nicely, and set a mood, but it did slow pace some.

I guess the only real crit. I have is the fact that I didn't even realize the game had an inventory until the snowy scene when by happenstance I moved the mouse to the top of the screen.

I guess this was mainly due to the second scene,

Spoiler

when you grab the pipe it was automatically in your hands to use on the crate. When I grabbed the glowworms I was wondering why they weren't in hand to use on the lanterns.  (Only after I played did I look at the read me file--sad i know lol). The game could actually  probably work without an inventory stock, except for the final scene I guess.

[close]

.

Overall it was a pleasant way to spend 45 minutes, and the final line made me crack a smile, if only cause it reminded me of those family feel-good films that leave you with a warm and fuzzy line at the end =).

[tzachs]

Wow, it is unbelievable you made this in just a month! Bravo!

The positives:
- The production values for this game was possibly the best I've seen in an AGS game ever! The artwork was excellent, very very beatiful.
- The rain/snow/leaves were top notch, I'd love to know how to do that (tutorial hint hint  ).
- The music was really beautiful also, really fitting to the atmosphere.
- I found the dramatic writing to be fitting as well, and I also liked the Kevin Spacey revealing thing you did at the end.

The negatives:
-The puzzles. First, they were dead-easy to me. With the exception of the acorn puzzle, I was pretty much on auto pilot the whole game. But that I can still understand and forgive, this game was probably more intended at the casual gamers. What is totally unforgivable to me, was the repeatibility factor in the puzzles. It's ok to do it in one puzzle, but I counted four times(!!!):

Spoiler

-Having to put three stones in the bucket
-Having to collect three light worms and put in the lamps
-Having to break the box three times
-And the worst of all, was the puzzle with holding the hand of the tree again and again, which was really irritating!

[close]

I didn't find it to have any added value, besides artificially lengthening the game, and frustrating the player, making him feel like doing work instead of being entertained or challenged.

-The story. First, it's a depressing story, which I don't like, but I can appreciate it's a matter of taste (oh, and ben, I'm not talking serious vs light hearted since I can enjoy serious, I'm talking sad). Besides that, the story and the characters were pretty flat. I agree with that respect to pretty much everything AC said on that subject.
There's some story writing method (I don't remember it's name), where you first write your story idea in one sentence, then you develop it into a paragraph, then you develop each line in the paragraph to its own paragraph, etc etc, until you have a story in your hand. It seems that you started with a sentench

Spoiler

girl coping with her friend's death

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, then developed it into a paragraph

Spoiler

girl is having a hard time coping with her friend's death. She goes into a metaphoric journey which symbolizes the five steps of denial, anger ... acceptance. The reader will go the journey along with the girl, but will reveal the meaning of the journey only in the end.

[close]

So far so good, only it seems that you stopped there, which is really a shame. I can understand that it's probably related to writing the whole thing in only a month, and most of your efforts were dedicated to the production values.

Ok, that's all, I know it looks I have more to say on the negatives, but it's because the good things are really obvious and the bad things require more explaining, in my view...

[Calin Leafshade]

The story is essentially taken straight out of the cliche box I suppose.

I guess the point of making this was to experiment with different techniques in terms of narrative and see if we could use a variety of techniques to tug at the heartstrings even if the story wasnt as deep as it could have been.. Time restraints didnt help either.

Even if the story is weaker than the other MAGS entries (where applicable) I still think It's a beautiful game.

[SarahLiz]

Yes, it is a VERY beautiful game.  Maybe I am dense, but I didn't catch the "stages of grief" reference till the very end.  Even if I had, who cares?  It was a great game to play and I enjoyed it too much to be critical--there's nothing in my mind to criticize anyhow.  (And maybe it's because I'm a girl but it made me cry a little.  Not many games can do that...!)

[Darius Poyer]

I found a glitch. I'm guessing its just something you forgot to take out, but something strange happens when you press '1' '2' or '3'.  It doesn't work during the credits though.

Yes i know that there is no rational reason as to why i would press those keys in any ags game but it happened.

still, i really enjoyed playing the game, its one of the good ones for sure.

[Calin Leafshade]

Ha ha, Damnit they were there for testing purposes very early on in the development.

Did you just sit pressing buttons to find that?

[Darius Poyer]

I made the mistake on the 'Anger' level. i tried to select the pipe again using the number keys instead of actually going to the menu.

I have been playing a bit of oblivion lately and i use the quick-keys quite a bit. Still, its very strange that anyone would ever come across that.

[Vince Twelve]

Calin and Ben,

I finally had the chance to play this game today and wanted to say congratulations to both of you.  This is a gorgeous piece of artistry.  Ben, you really outdid yourself with the flowing-into-eachother scenes.  I loved the twist at the end into the desert and then panning over further to see the wood holding it up.  Really nice touches.  Calin, the writing and concept were perfect.  Very touching stuff.  And I loved the pre-rendered (I believe) particle effects on top of the scenes.  I'm surprised they didn't lead to any slow down.  Oh, and the voice acting was very well recorded and acted.  Good sound quality.  Great music.  Well executed all around, gentlemen!  Fine work!  Already my game of the year!

[Calin Leafshade]

Well I'm glad you liked it Vince. That's certainly my first game of the year nomination. 

I'll fix the stupid debugging leavey inny thingy tomorrow.

[xenogia]

Well I'm glad you liked it Vince. That's certainly my first game of the year nomination. 

I'll fix the stupid debugging leavey inny thingy tomorrow.

Such a common mistake people make.  It's so easy to totally forget about the debug command though

[qptain Nemo]

Everybody is probably just craving to know my opinion with me being Snakes of Avalon tester and all. So here you go, sweetpies
The idea and presentation were sweet. The gameplay, however was lacking. Why such beauty must have so little interactivity?
But the rain was awesome. Every game should have such rain. Do you hear me? Every gaymeh!

[SuperDre]

You guys make a great team.. Loved Ben's graphix as always, and also loved the voice acting, very well done.. Some lines weren't voiced BTW..
Looking forward to your next games..

[Calin Leafshade]

All the lines are voiced but I missed some out like the numpty that I am.

Will fix all the bugs today.

[Captain Ricco]

Beautiful game!

There should be an option to turn off the reflection/rain, it lags my poor poor computer... Im guessing thats what lagged it, cause it happened in Mcarthy Chronicles as well, and as it was all in one room i had to play the whole game lagged 

But it was worth it. I love amber's voice

[Calin Leafshade]

the effects shouldnt be anywhere near as intensive as mccarthy.. if DD5 lags try DX9 and vice versa.

[paolo]

OK, I'm just going to throw my comments into the mix...

Steven and Ben, excellent job! I love the graphics, I love the weather overlays and I love the lyrical nature of the game. My only criticism is that the puzzles were a little bit easy, but that doesn't bother me because to my mind it's more like an interactive story than a game.

I played this at work where I don't have any speakers, so now I've downloaded it at home so I can hear the music and the voice acting (I hope Ben won't mind me paraphrasing what he said to me when I told him this: "You've only had half the experience".)

Regarding other people's criticisms, there have been some fair points made but I think we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that this game was made in under a month (and it's freeware too).

Anyway, that's enough from me. It's a beautiful game, guys, and congratulations on your well-deserved win.

[DrewCCU]

ok ... i can't for the life of me figure this puzzle out

Spoiler

in the swamp ... the tree branch that pops out of the ... swamp stuff. i grab it ... i let it go ... i grab it ... i let it go ... ive pixel hunted the shiznit out of this room and i find nothing but a tree branch i can grab ... and let go .... ... guess i didn't grab and let go enough times. figured it out. lol

[close]

edit: figured it out