Adventure Game Studio

AGS Games => Completed Game Announcements => Topic started by: mode7 on Sat 04/12/2010 02:00:49

Title: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: mode7 on Sat 04/12/2010 02:00:49
Jeez it's late - well finally I'm finished:
This is a MAGS game I made for the November competition.

Dacey in the Dark - Prelude

It's a game about fate. This chapter deals with the melancholy we cherish towards times long gone. I'm planing to release more chapters.

(http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/5530/screensmw.png)

Download

http://www.mediafire.com/file/vqbb8cjb5drqbji/DaceyintheDarkMAGS.rar
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: ddq on Sat 04/12/2010 02:15:26
Very nice! Visuals and gameplay reminded me a lot of Limbo and your menu screen of Bioshock. Short, and could use some polish here and there, but otherwise excellent!
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: theo on Sat 04/12/2010 10:32:11
yep, looked and felt great. I liked how many actions triggered small sounds/music, sort of broken swordish in this sense. It's a good trick for setting ambiance, it should be used more often.

I found some interactions to feel a bit awkward and I had to re-do many interactions because I thought I had tried them but I actually hadn't, the game's feedback not always being crystal clear. Polish those things and you've got a real tight little game!

The ending felt oddly abrupt but seeing this is a MAGS game I can see why. I hope to see more of this! Great mood!
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: Igor Hardy on Sat 04/12/2010 10:59:23
MediaFire doesn't work for me. Could you create a mirror?
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: Tabata on Sat 04/12/2010 11:58:26
That is a nice one â€" loved the clouds and their animation â€" also the feeling came across well â€" the interactions were a bit strange for me, but I could handle by trying - so it's a good entry and worth playing.

Just one "question" is left:
Spoiler
How can you know the theme from next years MAGS? - Shouldn't it be for Novemer 2010?  ;)
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Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: Dualnames on Sat 04/12/2010 12:20:19
Quote from: Ascovel on Sat 04/12/2010 10:59:23
MediaFire doesn't work for me. Could you create a mirror?

Here Mr.Igor (http://www.xenogiagames.com/dngames/DaceyintheDarkMAGS.rar)
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: Igor Hardy on Sat 04/12/2010 13:06:13
Thank you, Mr James.

The game is really good - very atmospheric and technically impressive. Really nice interface too.

Oh, and I forgot this is meant to be only a demo which made the ending all the more unexpected and cool. ;)

Spoiler
I wouldn't mind seeing the pointer-moth developed as the main villain of the story in future episodes. :)
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Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: OneDollar on Sun 05/12/2010 16:17:51
Really nice game, looks like a lot of work went into it. Love the atmosphere and you've made great use of sound to enhance it, which gets overlooked too often. Good animation too. A few areas that would benefit from some polish, but others showing a lot of effort. I'm looking forward to seeing how the story plays out in the following chapters.
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: mode7 on Sun 05/12/2010 21:37:55
Thanks guys, I really appreciate all this feedback. I also was amazed how many people liked the sound system - as it was implented approx. 30min before release. I think the main credits go to the guys at futurewaveshaper.com who did the samples.
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: xelanoimis on Mon 06/12/2010 18:29:38
I played this. Very atmospheric indeed. I like the animations and the art style.
There was a small problem with the current focused object - sometimes the name was wrong, like saying "henge" on the swing.
Please continue it. It looks very interesting.
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: nihilyst on Mon 06/12/2010 20:12:20
I, too, found it to be pretty atmospheric. The backlit scenery is an interesting choice, and the animation on the clouds was superb. I thought it was a good idea to combine sounds with certain actions.

I'd certainly play a next chapter :D
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: Cogliostro on Sun 12/12/2010 23:17:17

The backlit scenery/characters REALLY made the story work.  I'f I had to explain why... er...  I'd have to suggest that using the shadow-puppet-style / Backlit-style gives the player the impression that everything that is *now* is all dark and despair.  The colorful sunset is off in the horizon (the distant past) and the single point of light is a butterfly, leading Dacey into a better future (hopefully).

Of course, I might be grossly over analyzing.  ::)

The only problem I ran into was if I got into the options menu without meaning to, I couldn't get out without starting over.   :P

- Cogliostro
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: Matt Frith on Sun 12/12/2010 23:29:59
I played this game today and ran into the same problem with the sticking menu.  Luckily I had a save not long before it happened.

All in all it was a really nice little game with a very unique style.  The clouds were especially nice to look at and the backlit style created a perfect atmosphere for the story.  I found using the keyboard commands a little annoying at first but got a little more used to it towards the end. Looking forward to the next part!
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: Joe on Mon 13/12/2010 19:49:34
CooooooooOOOL downloading!!

EDIT: I found a bug when I pressed right arrow key in main menu

EDIT2: When the main character talks it's moved some pixels to the left
Title: Re: MAGS: Dacey in the Dark - Prelude
Post by: Mati256 on Mon 13/12/2010 20:18:12
I liked it, the controls where a little strange but got used to them.
The combine action took me a little while, I thought it was up with one item and down with another, but it up both times.