Adventure Game Studio

James' second vision

HOME: Intro is a NICE setup, however, the wow, I'm 20 years old and my dad got me a present so let me drive across town and break into the office just so I can get a surprise.... is way off.   Especially when he's got a cold and is feeling morose already.  Yeah, I know he's pumped up on cold meds, but that's hardly a great time to be driving in the rain.  Since the present isn't important to the rest of the story, so I'd ditch the present. 

First alternative idea that comes to mind.... He's closer to the office than his dad, and maybe the server went down.  Go into the office and reboot it.  After all he's an intern. 

OFFICE: The puzzles  are logical AND appropriate to the storyline, getting into the building and getting past the guard.  All realistic.  I always hate it when everyone in the game knows you're on a question to save civilization from ultimate evil, but the guy in the bar won't tell you how to stop the zombie horde unless you make him a hat from squirrel pelts or something equally stupid. 

You use the lightning and rain to BEAUTIFUL effect.  Really, just amazing.

Getting thrown out of the office building... you don't want the effect to be too obvious, sublty plays well here, but give a one or two more flashes of darkness so the player can get an extra chance to  see what's wrong might work nicely... but then again it might not.  Just something to consider.

The transition to the car and the next morning was harsh.  A single screen talking about trouble sleeping would have avoided that.  Given how tight everything else is, I'd recommend it.

SHRINK: Staring at the bookshelf this works well, a great way to show how ancious the character is.  Especially when you don't have face shots or voiceovers.  The switch to black/white/red eyes is good, but the music makes this scene amazing!  It all came together perfectly.

LIBRARY: The music on leaving the library is again, excellent.  Puzzles again, they work in the story line.  Perhaps a little too easy.  At this stage it might have been possible to crank up the puzzles to add some challenge, but it certainly wasn't required.

GRANDPA'S HOUSE: Was there a car wreck in the storyline that I forgot about?  Or was the sound effects just a way to unsettle the players?  The music downstairs when you're talking to yourself is top notch.

GRAVEYARD: You're in full swing here, the story is playing itself out with excellent music and creepiness until the ending which leaves the audience begging for the third installment.

As for the car crash, perhaps it will come up in the future?  ;)

The music blares over the top of little James' first few lines, which is a shame as waiting for that voice actor really pays off (that whole section is awesome imo), it seems like AGS didn't lower the music volume as it had done at every other point. Oh, I also noticed one of little James' last lines is twice as long in text as it is in the speech file, but that was the only error I spotted anywhere. But give that VA a cookie, and yourself sir for casting.