(http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/2987/onceuponacrime13promopilt1.png) (http://imageshack.us)
Ghost presents
Once Upon A CrimeA Fairytale WhodunnitParodise... a world where characters of fairytale lore live happily ever after. A strange world, for sure, but there is obviously no reason why it shouldn't exist.
Sometimes, though, tales run wild. Tired of constant delivery runs to remote forest cottages, Little Red Riding Hood goes for a change.
She wants a life. She wants a job. And thus, she becomes a private investigator. A world of fairytales has more than one black hat to pursue.
And Parodise really needs a skilled PI. Someone killed the Big Bad Wolf.
Someone...
But whodunnit? And howdunnit, and indeed whydunnit?
For Red, the chase is on.
Game Stats:
* medium length game
* 320x240 screen resolution, 16bit highcolour
* a total of 12 rooms in 5 unique realm locations
* completely custom-made shell interface
* 12 charismatic characters
* approximately 1.2232 tons of candy
* made with AGS v2.72
Download OUAC_v1_3B.ZIP (http://www.mediafire.com/?fuwam5yjmim) now and go all gumshoe!
The game is also present on my website (http://www.freewebs.com/daemons-in-the-attic/), where more info might accumulate.
========================================================
Note: This is my first game release
ever. It was a lot of fun to make it. It was also a great lesson in actual game design- you cannot hide forever behind a WiP, and I hope you'll like this one.
I had the pleasure to work with very good beta testers: bicilotti and Jon really did their job to the fullest, and any fun you get out of the game is to a good part their work.
========================================================
No go and grab a copy!
If you liked it, why not head over to the Games Page (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?category=6&action=detail&id=979&refresh1199236317) and rate it there?
===============
Update
===============Version 1.3B cleans some typos, missing face character commands and also
removes a situation in the endgame that could get you stuck in the game.
In detail:
Spoiler
* you can no longer use the jar on the molasses while on the oven door
* you cannot get an additional file from the pig's muck
* two missing sound files added
* typos and bug crash as reported by SimB cleaned up
:D Yay!
I've had the pleasure to beta test this cute little creature and I have nothing but words of praise for his creator!
Nice job Ghost!
Been looking forward to this since the (quite recent) WIP thread, playing now...
There is GOD!!!!!
;D
I'll edit this in a while... to tell you which God exists..
EDIT:
The game reminds me of Maniac Mansion..
All the stories I heard of when i was a little boy are here...
Maniac Mansion reminded me of all the horror b-movies...
I voted the game btw.
Quote from: Dualnames on Wed 02/01/2008 02:12:30
There is GOD!!!!!
Incidentally, putting the game announcement up gave me a post count of 666. Could be Pan.
Quote from: Ghost on Wed 02/01/2008 02:17:06
Quote from: Dualnames on Wed 02/01/2008 02:12:30
There is GOD!!!!!
Incidentally, putting this up gave me a post count of 666. Could be Pan.
Noticed that....
Since your posts were 666 that means there is ...
SATAN?
Playing great so far, thought I'd post my comments so far while I work out what to do next :)
A crashing bug:
Spoiler
In the nutshell game, if I have an inventory item cursor and press right mouse button the game crashes:
Error: run_text_script1: error -6 running function 'repeatedly_execute':
Error: Null pointer referenced in Global script (line 169) from Global script (line 242)
Other comments (some terrible nitpicking):
Spoiler
Extra "); after 'inches!' when talking to witch
King Neptune says "What king of crime?"
Tin Soldier says 'revieved'. Should probably be c instead of v AND swap i and e.
The owl noises at klutzencastle are a little too loud
Perhaps the inventory cursors should be all in the top-left, or somewhere nearby. It's odd sometimes having the icon move to the other side of the cursor (especially the comb)
Really good game so far, I like the references (including your other project :P) and the GUI has had particularly good attention, the system menu especially.
Quote from: SimB on Wed 02/01/2008 02:37:32
A crashing bug:
Spoiler
In the nutshell game, if I have an inventory item cursor and press right mouse button the game crashes:
Error: run_text_script1: error -6 running function 'repeatedly_execute':
Error: Null pointer referenced in Global script (line 169) from Global script (line 242)
Strange, that's the first time ever that this happens. I tried it and it worked fine. Can you reproduce that crash? It could be a quirk, but I will look into it.
As for part 2, there's *always* a typo you miss... ::)
@Dualnames: Nope. Mephistophilis.
Spoiler
Crash happens every time I try, both before and after beating the pirate. Crashes instantly if you press the RMB somewhere on the scene (regardless of if the mouse is over a nutshell) and if you RMB on an inventory item you'll get the 'look' description, then the game crashes. Can RMB on the rest of the GUI without crashing.
Quote from: Dualnames on Wed 02/01/2008 02:17:52
Quote from: Ghost on Wed 02/01/2008 02:17:06
Quote from: Dualnames on Wed 02/01/2008 02:12:30
There is GOD!!!!!
Incidentally, putting this up gave me a post count of 666. Could be Pan.
Noticed that....
Since your posts were 666 that means there is ...
SATAN?
Of course there's a Satan, he re-arranges the letters in his name every year to break into people's houses via the chimney), dressed all in red, and put mind controlling toys under these decorated trees.
This game is finally done! I'm gonna download it soon!
SimB, that really was a bug. I was, however, able to correct it. There is a new file for download, named OUAC_v1_3.ZIP instead of OUAC.ZIP. The links here and in the Game Database have been replaced.
This only removes the crashing bug, not the typos.
Thanks for finding that!
Ok, I'm fairly stuck now :)
Spoiler
Probably fixed in this new version, but I noticed that in the nutshell puzzle if you select an inventory item, then click 'use' and select a nutshell, the cursor returns to the inventory item instead of a blank cursor. Also, if you then proceed to 'get' a nutshell the game will crash, same error except from 'on_event' from Global script line 211.
If you use the oven door while standing on it then the character walks down, then jumps up, which looks odd
You can refill your jar with molasses, is this intentional or can it lead to a walking dead?
If you're meant to fill the jar up again, you can stand on the oven door with an empty jar and when you try and fill it from the lake Red tries to take it from the oven door, which looks like she's pulling it out of the beehive.
You can talk to the ghost with your back to him, perhaps Red should be made to turn around.
Personally I found the cherry puzzle quite hard, and solved it by brute force. The fuse seems to stick to the surface, so perhaps a litte depression or hole (where the stalk was?) would help. Purely opinion.
Please don't take my comments too seriously, I'm being picky because the game is worth it. Still having a lot of fun, it's very immersive. By the way, is Flim a reference to Howl's Moving Castle? Nice one if so ;)
@SimB
Thanks for the honest feedback, I really appreciate that, and as far as CC is concerned, no ego is ever involved.
Spoiler
* Refilling the jar is possible intentionally, and will not lead to a dead end. I just thought that it would be pretty much a gamer's thought to allow filling once, and then not again. I mean, there is a whole LAKE of the stuff.
* The cherry puzzle is based on one simple pun, cherry bomb, which is so
frequently used in the works of Anthony Piers that I though most british or americans would instantly spot it. My bad ;)
* I bet there are more scenes where Red doesn't face the people she
talks to. Version 1.4 it will be, then :(
* All trouble in the Shell Game screen should be gone.
You *know* Moving Castle! And you spotted the reference! A virtual cookie for you!
Oh yes thank you, me love you long time. ;D
My pleasure. If I was to tell you how much fun last night (and early, early morning) has been, well, there's little to describe the sugar rush.
I see someone has already started a Help thread, and by reading it I feel that little pride of seeing the mechanics in the work. Feels good.
dang. It crashed.
run_text_script1: error -6 running function 'on_mouse_click':
Error: Null pointer referenced
in Global script (line357)
Spoiler
I was using the powder on the wolf
Awesome! Will totally check this out!
Quote from: Cinfa on Wed 02/01/2008 13:43:43
dang. It crashed.
run_text_script1: error -6 running function 'on_mouse_click':
Error: Null pointer referenced
in Global script (line357)
I was using the powder on the wolf
This has been reported via PM, too. It does *not* always happen though, so it seems to have something to do with a trigger event. I would say it's annoying to have it in the game, but so far there were only two reports of that...
I will see to it. For the time being, avoid throwing stuff at corpses ::)
I tried to repeat it too, but it didn't happen again. Whatever, maybe it's pidgin's fault (it tried to switch focus from the game to itself).
A nice game, excellent puzzles and beautiful graphics, congratulations.
The only drawback is that it crashes every 5 minutes or so with this mouse pointer exception that has been reported before. It crashed in several rooms and on actions that on other occasions work fine. It seems that the problem became much worse since
Spoiler
I worked on the horse shoe magnet and met the boogey man
I enjoy the game despite this nasty bug
Good game. I would have liked it better if you wouldn't have gotten the music from legend of kyrandia though. Maybe someone could help you out with music.
An update has been made, removing the last known bug from the game. As for the crashes due to cursor modes, I am a bit puzzled that some report them, some seem to be fine.
@joel
I usually do not like ripping at all, but the two Kyrandia tunes were so much spot on that I couldn't resist. The credits tune, however, was especially made by Corinna, who seems to have a thing about KISS and just told me to hug you all and tell you to buy some tribute album of the band.
I have a wheel mouse with third button emulation on the wheel. And run this game on W2k. Anyway, I will try the update and report...
Quote from: sthomannch on Wed 02/01/2008 16:59:19
I have a wheel mouse with third button emulation on the wheel. And run this game on W2k. Anyway, I will try the update and report...
OUAC doesn't support mouse wheels... maybe the emulation's the problem then?
Nice game. Good graphics and puzzles. The problem I had was not seeing something or that somethings became available only later on--which maybe was my eyes or lack of attentiveness. One criticism would be that after using an item, and it not working, that item disappeared from my cursor which made things laborious when I was trying to resolve puzzles.
Thanks for creating it and look forward to your next.
Got a good laugh out of the name Granny Smith.
@Guest:
Thank you! Glad you liked the game!
The decision to make each click reset the cursor was bound to be a hate it/live with it one. But I got the impression that keeping the inv on the cursor would encourage random clicks, never a good thing in any adventure game. That's why I also made the action verbs reset, and why I threw out a lot of code for "auto-actions" (pre-selected actions, DOTT style). I just wanted to encourage players to think before they click.
Because, you know, each time you randomly click in an adventure game, a kitten dies.
I had no problems with the update and could play through the game from the beginning to the end.
Again: Excellent game, you get my vote...
Thanks a lot, then I really think all quirks are adressed. *Now* I can get out the champaigne... :=
Indeed. For the most part it's seamless and smooth.
Quote from: Ghost on Wed 02/01/2008 17:24:05
That's why I also made the action verbs reset, and why I threw out a lot of code for "auto-actions" (pre-selected actions, DOTT style). I just wanted to encourage players to think before they click.
You're a zealot!
I did the same.. except it was really more just to avoid a Walk To button.
An interesting, nay, enlightening and very well written, not to say enjoyable :D article about the fun you can have with GUI design is to be found right here... (http://www.freewebs.com/daemons-in-the-attic/codefront.htm). Code Front 4.
Honestly, designing GUIs is a time-consuming and by no means trivial bit of work, but in my eyes, it is the first thing that sets your game apart from those that just use the AGS Default Template- which is well-made, but used too often.
Walk buttons are not necessary when you add a way to return to walk mode easily, and I myself would be rather puzzled to find one on a SCUMM-type these days.
That was a nice read, thanks.
Just downloaded, played and finished the game. Great stuff. Very funny. Wrote a walkthrough: see gamesolutions (http://gamesolutions.efzeven.nl/once-upon-a-crime-walkthrough-bjorn-ghost-ludwig2008/) for details.
Just a few notes:
There are some typo's in the dialogs.
There's also a continuity error being able to say things you're not supposed to know.
If you want them pointed out, send me an email.
Keep up the great work and promotion of the adventure genre. If this was your first, I can't wait to see what's next!
The walkthrough is a well written one, thanks for sharing, and for the professional presentation as well (especially for the link to my site ;D)!
just finished the game. A great atmospheric tale with great characters (loved the sword idea) and well-crafted colourful backgrounds. I love the pig sprites.
super thanks for making the game! i had great fun. ;D
@Mordalles: Thank you very much, I am happy you liked the game!
Finally enough votes to be "rated". And it's good rates! So it's really true, it was all worth it!
After all those years! I can now post in GENERAL DISCUSSION!
Ah. I already did that. Ah well.
But now it's official.
I'm gathering protesters for that game of yours...Daemons..
We want DITA. You've even updated the avatar..
Quote from: Dualnames on Sat 05/01/2008 19:49:39
I'm gathering protesters for that game of yours...Daemons..
We want DITA. You've even updated the avatar..
:D Everyone wants more! Let the guy relax and lay back for a while! :D However, I'll quote this from the AGS IRC:
Quote
<Dualnames> Awesome isn't the word.
<Dualnames> Ghostsome is.
[Removed post because it came off extremely bad]
Can somebody explain where the sudden DITA hype comes from? It's nice to see interest, but I am a bit worried here.
I explained that the DITA project really got on my nerves, and that I needed a break. I was able to make this "break" a different game, which is OUAC, which is what this thread should be about.
I'm happy you seem to like the Fairytale Whodunnit, really: the feedback makes me a much happier man and gives me some resolve, but to be, for a last time, a bit more serious and picky than I usually am: I am part of this forum, I have more than one interest, and I would like it very much if we could keep threads I open on matters other than DITA free of this subject.
When people post in C&C I do not ask them when they will be done with their announced game. I give them C&C.
When they release a game out of the blue, I am happy to have a game, and if it is interesting I will play it, and if I like it I will say so. I don't post in the same thread that I expect their other project to be finished yesteryear.
If I spent all my days here just asking where Legend Of The Lost Lagoon, Forgotten Element and MI Lost Years are, I would have a much higher post count and much less friends.
Yeah, I updated my avatar and link banner. So what? Everybody likes a change of clothes now and then, and the progress bars were all wrong. Good?
Sorry, this may all sound rude, and in truth we all know I should just feel flattered at all the interest, but if this continues, I don't think I'll ever get in the mood again.
Long production times do tend to breed hype. As does leaving references about the release of DITA in the game and rechanging your sig and avatar.
Sorry I and any other offenders (who are to blame for everything *points finger*) annoyed you.
I was trying to tease you. Not make you mad. I just enjoyed your game and I know that whatever you're about to release is gonna reach top quality and even if it doesn;t i ''ll know you try. When I saw the sprite I thought it was about DITA since it was very close to that art style.. Even if you plan not to release DITA , I still gonna check out your games.
Even if you end hating me, I'll still be posting in your threads. I'm no immature guy that doesn't know how difficult is to make a good game.
I hope you'll still talk to me. I'm planning to take a burden of you. I'll talk about DITA at the Completed Games thread.
Ah, so this game has been released.
OMG it's done and I've only just noticed!! :o
Very well made game, I enjoyed it.
It's not everyday that a game character looks at me and goes :o
I was tempted to edit my last post and leave things be, but that would've been no solution. So I'll let it stand, and try to clean up things here.
Crazy, Dualnames, no personal offence was taken. I was just a bit scared, and I think this can be understood, to be put down as "the DITA guy". In a perfectly normal C&C thread I get asked about DITA, then here too. This is stuff that could well have been done in PMs.
On the other hand, I now understand I was a bit too touchy, and you were not nagging but, to use my words, using "friendly force" to encourage. I apologise for reacting too strong.
Two things about DITA.
Yes, it will always be my little brain child, and I am working on it.
But there have been drawbacks. Production at OUAC revealed a serious misadjustment of my monitor, which basically means that many graphics will need to be readjusted. And there is very little time. I'm in school and internship, I have little time on my hands. The last two hours of holiday were almost completely spent on OUAC because, frankly, it has been the longest bit of free time I'll have in the next six month. But it will be done.
I also misread a few comments that were just saying, if I had been not so rash, that you took OUAC as a reason to believe in the quality the next game will have. In truth, no nicer thing could have been said.
If you accept my apology, I'd very gladly leave things rest.
@Vlad
Thank you, and I am glad you liked the game!
Quote from: Ghost on Wed 02/01/2008 16:53:27
An update has been made, removing the last known bug from the game. As for the crashes due to cursor modes, I am a bit puzzled that some report them, some seem to be fine.
@joel
I usually do not like ripping at all, but the two Kyrandia tunes were so much spot on that I couldn't resist. The credits tune, however, was especially made by Corinna, who seems to have a thing about KISS and just told me to hug you all and tell you to buy some tribute album of the band.
WOW... I so wanna finish the game... Corinha if you're a woman merry me.
EDIT: Can you upload the song somewhere and i'll host it or send me the song and i'll host it?
Corinna is an old friend from Aachen. Chinese. These days, blue hair due to an extremely childish bet. Obsessive KISS fan. Trained in Monkey Kung Fu, Lost Monkey. Extremely bad scooter driver. Broke my shin once because she thought I was a traffic light.
Also the most crafty midi burglar I ever saw.
I'll tell her you liked the music. She'll let you live ;)
BTW: Where are you stuck? There's a walkthrough available now.
I know I don't want to finish the game by walkthrough just to hear the song. Pretty pretty please can you send me the song.. if you don;t want it hosted and want people to hear it when they finish the game..
EDIT: Thanks a lot.
Woop, that was fun!
Lovely graphics, amusing dialogue, and some puzzles leading me to using the walkthrough!
Spoiler
Like the cherry bomb puzzle.
And being stuck because I didn't know I should go to the pigs den to have a cup turn into a bucket. :P
When I use the cake on the tin-man-come-robocop-guy near the end, he says what he'd say at the start of the game!
Oh dear, my girlfriend is wondering why I havent sent her a text message tonight, I can't realy say I was immersed in an adventure game hey...
EDIT: To what you ask below, I'll PM you about rather than fill this thread up about it.
Quote from: ManicMatt on Sat 05/01/2008 22:56:20
Woop, that was fun!
Matt, geez, you're a quick one. But well, a quick little fun is better than none... Walktroughs are *evil* ::)
Edit: Right, thanks.
Quote from: ManicMatt on Sat 05/01/2008 22:56:20
Spoiler
When I use the cake on the tin-man-come-robocop-guy near the end, he says what he'd say at the start of the game!
Bummer. That's intentional. Limited vocal circuits and so on. Hardware upgrades too expensive.
A suggestion for next version:
Set the default left click for menu items as use and the right click as look. As of v1.3B, the default is walk to, which doesn't make sense for items in the inventory.
Duly noted, though I think I'll wait for some more feedback before I tackle a new version.
Oh, also, an option to load from the title screen rather than having to skip through the intro would be nice as well.
Awfully demanding there aren't you, Anonymous? :)
Cute game. It has a style going for it that should make it one of the better remembered AGS games and it is also lengthy enough to satisfy most tastes.
A few things I noticed:
Spoiler
There are ALOT of red herrings in this game that distract you from what you need to do. The egg, Neptune offering his crown for a pie with jellyfish on it and Captain Hook's suggestion that you talk to Peter, even the candy making machine in Red's room. These all strike me as ideas you had intended to follow through with initially but then decided not to, and having these options thrown at me confused me enough that I had to check the hints at one point to figure out what to do next. I also found Red's use of 'bugger' to be extremely out of character and yeah, it seemed a bit out of place in the setting.
Also, I kept thinking of logical ways to use her new PI set (like dusting the walnuts for the most recent fingerprints) and coming up empty, which is a shame since more detective work would have sold the whole detective thing more for me.
Aside from that and some pixel-huntery I found it to be quite an enchanting game! Nice work!
Regarding Anonymous' suggestions, I would have not too many problems with putting up a new version sometime, but, as a one-game-releaser, I have no idea how common that is. There have been two bug fixes, and that was important, but one new version for the sake of some added features, I wouldn't know. It seems hardly worth it; so far the "new versions" I found worthwile were "deluxe" versions of older games (Apprentice, BenJordan) They should offer more than a skip key I feel. Maybe someone with a bit more experience has a suggestion.
ProZ: Thanks, and you are right, there were (of course) some things I wanted to put into the game and then left out. One of them has been spotted by you.
Spoiler
I really wanted to have Red dusting the walnuts for prints, but then thought that it would be even more illogical to have common dust reveal a "recent" fingerprint.
Also, please make sure to
rate the game because I am a feedback addict!
The KISS Song on the credits for those wondering is:
Spoiler
Christine Sixteen
Damn you Ghost I was about to use a KISS song for the credits of LC3 ::)
Was the blue cup reappearing after it converted into a bucket intentional? After I use the bucket. I can get the blue cup again convert into a bucket again along with the used bucket in inventory then pick up the blue cup a third time and so on.
@Blair:
Yes, that is intentional. The big blue cup is such often used as an in-game joke that I wanted to extend the metaphor: You always, always again, return to the big blue cup ;)
It's almost quantum.
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An internal error has occured. Please note down the following information.
If the problem persists, contact Chris Jones.
(ACI version 2.72.920)
Error: run_text_script1: error -6 running function 'on_mouse_click':
Error: Null pointer referenced
in Global script (line 357)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
It would appear that not all the bugs have been weeded out, sorry to say, which is a pity, because I'm having a lot of fun with this game!
I've often seen this error in games that use a LEC-style inventory, even Prosksito's MI2 template suffers from it occasionaly, and always happens upon clicking on an inventory item coupled with some other strange condition which probably depends on whether the player's clicked the inventory sprite, or the inventory window, or some other silly small little thing like that which screws up the values. I've had this error happen 5 times in about 3 minutes, which is detrimental for the overall enjoyment of the game, to say the least.
In this situation, my advice is to make some sort of check at line 357 or before - even if it needs to be redundant, just to make sure that if the pointer is null then it won't be referenced.
BTW, I'm not sure if my version is 1.3 or 1.3B - I think it's 1.3B, and I downloaded it quite late, but the readme only lists version history up to 1.3.
EDIT - BTW, using the spatula on the regular candy canes causes Red to say "Might as well take a sample", although nothing appears in the inventory and a quick glance at the walkthrough told me it's not necessary. Bit misleading, isn't it?
EDIT - Also, give the cherry pie to Smee while Hook is away and Hook's line will still display.
Earlier on I tried to download this, but it wasn't working.
It would say 'download starting' or whatever, then the page would go to the 'connection has timed out' page....
Anyway, I don't know if this is related, but then the next time I came on my computer a few hours later, my AVG had picked up a trojan horse...
I'm not saying this downlaod was anything to do with it, but it was pretty much the only thing I've done since my computer has been turned on today. apart from checking facebook, myspace and homestarrunner.com.
@Rui: Thank you for reporting that. I am currently up to *here* with my intership documentation, but will definitely put up a last version- one that will, I might add, contain some goodies. Not exactly Deluxe material, but some little extras.
If your version displays 1.3, that *is* indeed 1.3B. As far as I followed the counter only about 12, 14 people d'loaded the original 1.3. The zip archive is names OUAC_v1_3b.zip, and that is what counts.
Glad you still get some fun despite the odd kinks.
@Stupot: So far the MediaFire link has worked fine, though a friend with a very strict firewall had to lower her security level a little. I did a scan on my PC with the latest version of Avira AntiVir to make extra sure, and I can assure you the version I uploaded is clean and virus free.
I also tried a download right now, and recieved a clean file. The download was quite fast, too.
Quote from: SimB on Wed 02/01/2008 02:37:32
Playing great so far, thought I'd post my comments so far while I work out what to do next :)
A crashing bug:
Spoiler
In the nutshell game, if I have an inventory item cursor and press right mouse button the game crashes:
Error: run_text_script1: error -6 running function 'repeatedly_execute':
Error: Null pointer referenced in Global script (line 169) from Global script (line 242)
I got that same crashing bug at several places in the game at any given moment, save the game alot is what i have to do now.
The error message this time was:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An internal error has occured. Please note down the following information.
If the problem persists, contact Chris Jones.
(ACI version 2.72.920)
Error: run_text_script1: error -6 running function 'on_mouse_click':
ErrorL Null pointer referenced
in Global script (line 357)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great game btw, thumbs up!
regards, Arj0n.
Rui, ArjOn, can you please specify one, or better a few situations where this happens- what you tried to do, and in which location?
Quote from: Ghost on Sat 12/01/2008 10:48:26
Rui, ArjOn, can you please specify one, or better a few situations where this happens- what you tried to do, and in which location?
Well,
Spoiler
Last time it happend was when i was walking towards the horseshoe, after being bounced back i walked again towards it and was bounced back again, after that it happend.
(I can also tell you that where- end whenever it happens, it's always exactly the same error msg.)
Okay, thank you. That should help me to narrow it down a bit. I'll try to fix it and put up a new version.
Stay tuned ;)
Really liked it, especially the surprising ending. Are you thinking of a sequel?
To quote a famous man with great style: Never say never ;)
I can't narrow it down because I could never reproduce it, which is why I mentioned it also happened in Proskrito's template and why I gave thoughts as to working around it - it's a bug I've seen often in games with LEC inventories that can't be willingly replicted but can occur many times and always when clicking on inventory items, probably while the cursor mode is USE.
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Sat 12/01/2008 13:16:35
I can't narrow it down because I could never reproduce it.
Hm. That would explain why it is mentioned occasionally but not on a regular basis.
I myself have not yet been able to reproduce this crash intentionally, but it has happend once or twice. I'm currently adding some code that just sets the ActiveInventory to null via on_event and also after a mouse click (just to make sure). I'll try it out, maybe this is the cure I need.
Dang! I nearly missed this one! And I was looking forward to it so much...
EDIT: Thanks for the mention in the acknowledgements. That's a completely unexpected trait!
@aussie:
My pleasure ;)
(Though by seeing the time between your original post and edit, you've seen the end of the game far too soon! I really need to put more overly complicated puzzles in my next game!! And a maze!!! And reduce the walk speed to 1 pixel/minute!!!! And have the text displayed hebrew style!!!!! :D )
Aussie, I too am amazed. Especially, did you solve the cherry bomb by yourself? That small amount of time doesn't leave space for brute force!
Quote from: Ghost on Sun 13/01/2008 19:28:50
@aussie:
My pleasure ;)
(Though by seeing the time between your original post and edit, you've seen the end of the game far too soon! I really need to put more overly complicated puzzles in my next game!! And a maze!!! And reduce the walk speed to 1 pixel/minute!!!! And have the text displayed hebrew style!!!!! :D )
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires
Aussie, I too am amazed. Especially, did you solve the cherry bomb by yourself? That small amount of time doesn't leave space for brute force!
LOL
I haven't completed the game yet!
I saw the acknowledgements in the readme.txt file, that's all... ;D
Ah. That explains *everything*! I'm relieved...
You mean you actually read the readmes? :o
Quote from: Ghost on Sun 13/01/2008 22:05:55
Ah. That explains *everything*! I'm relieved...
Yeah, I know. I feel it's a bit of a let down when people beat my games way too quickly. Especially if I've been working on them for months. :P
Don't worry. It wasn't the case with OUAC.
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires
You mean you actually read the readmes? :o
:-X
;D
Anyway, enough offtopic talk now...
Er, I know, I would look like an idiot, but what should I do first playing this game? I mean, what to do with the package and PI card in it? How do I open it? Please?
There's a help thread in Hints and Tips:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=33355.0 (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=33355.0)
But for such a basic question:
Spoiler
You need to open the package, and there is this rock... which has, if you look at it, a very sharp edge... so maybe that edge can give you, er, the edge? ;)
This game is really something! Thank you for it, I enjoyed each minute of playing :)
Quote from: kajlin on Wed 30/01/2008 15:40:18
This game is really something! Thank you for it, I enjoyed each minute of playing :)
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
he i played this and it isnt fun because there are no real chars in thie game all you did is rippin stuff and the whole end is stupid too. with some more effort you will make a game but this is not a good one.
Mr Guest, I respectfully disagree with your comment, and don't feel it is in anyway useful, funny or interesting. Congratulations on having an opinion.
he well it sure needs skillz yes to take chars from kidz tals and put them togehter huh? and yes i have oponin. but i said with some more work he can make good game. so what?
Saying things like "The whole end is stupid too" has no actual purpose or point. It doesn't help Ghost improve his game making skills, and I found it quite offensive. I agree with you, it does take skillz (sic) to take characters from children's tales and put them together. I don't agree with you that telling somebody who has invested hours into a game that they allow you to play for free that they need to put more effort into their work is a fair call - remember these games are made by one person, not a team of people - and I am in no way impressed by people such as yourself, hiding behind your anonymity and making such comments.
I sincerely apologise to the moderators and all other forum members for feeding this troll, and, having made my point, refuse to take this discussion any further.
huh maybe it is better if ghost says somethin then because he made the game. it is not your fault ben that i dont lik the game. so ghost answer this and also this questions because that is what makes me mad
that there is no speech that the girl has that there is no blood in you "crime"
that there is bad english that ther is no end (viruz? huh fat idea) that you claim all chars bein yours when they are not and why is the boggie gone in the end.
he i thought that ghost would answer quick because i only help and i give good feedback but this is no forumz here calling me troll so goodbye.
I fully agree with ben.
It is sad that destructive people like guest talk about "constructive criticism" and "help"
At least, I had a good laugh when I read guests examples of high-class English
I feel rather stupid but I have to ask: in this game there is music playing at all scenes or just particular scenes? I've started playing OUAC recently (and I'm loving it so far, by the way) but it pains me not to hear any music! :'(
In the setup there is a choice between default MCI music device and Win32 MIDI mapper and with none of it I hear music (I hear the footsteps quite alright, so it's a MIDI problem). Does anyone else have this problem? Maybe it's not the appropriate place to ask, sorry about that, but I wanted to make sure there really is music all throughout the game...
Excellent game!!! Definitely one of the best games I've ever played! The puzzles were quite tricky and the dialog was always interesting!!!
I hope this isn't the last time we'll see Red P.I.
*hint, hint* ;)
And one more thing:
Spoiler
Hook never got me my drink!!! That's so not fair! LOL
I played the game during the forum downtime, after having it recommended to me by
bicilotti on IRC, thanks for that BTW (and of course big thanks
Ghost for making it and releasing it for free), but didn't get around to submit feedback as neither the game, nor the readme, nor the website seem to include any contact information? Is that intentional? Or did I just overlook it? It just seems kinda strange for a self-declared feedback addict not to provide a means to send him feedback. ;)
While I'm on the topic of the readme.txt, I'd like to add that I didn't like the layout at all. The lines are so long that they didn't on my screen when opening the file in a maximised notepad with the default font at the default size and turning on Word Wrap just makes it look ugly due to the lines not having a uniform length. While this may seem extremely minor and nit-picky, it did give me a less than optimal first impression and I would really appreciate it if you could limit yourself to 72 or 80 characters per line in the future. :P
The game also crashed on me a couple of times with
Error: run_text_script1: error -6 running in function 'on_mouse_click':
Error: Null pointer referencedI got several different versions of the crash, all the above message, but different line numbers, namely
in Global script (line 319)
in Global script (line 357)
in Global script (line 371)
in Global script (line 387)One of them (line 371), I can even reliably reproduce.
Spoiler
Just talk to Mr. Smee and then, on the Three Shells screen, use an inventory item upon another inventory item (which ones doesn't seem to matter). Note that the cursor doesn't change back to the default. Left-clicking on any inventory item now will crash the game.
The other crashes also seemed to happen while I was interacting with the inventory in some way, but I can't reproduce them. Those crashes were annoying, but I probably got more of them than a player would expect to encounter during a normal playthrough, because I was actively trying to find a way to reproduce the crashes after encountering my first one while still on the scene of the crime.
Partly because of that, I think it would have been nice if there was the possibility to load a saved game (for example by having a button on the title screen or having keyboard shortcut for the system menu) without having to skip through the intro, like
Anonymous already suggested.
FWIW, I was playing v1.3B in windowed mode on Windows XP SP2 and without any mouse wheel emulation software.
I also noticed that at least one of the typos already mentioned in this thread was still present, namely
Spoiler
that there's a "); that shouldn't be there when Granny Smith says: You'll need to keep your eyes peeled, and remember, it must be no larger than 2 inches!");
While I don't have any experience whatsoever, I think releasing a new versions with improvements, no matter how minor, is always worth it. Sure, a skip key won't make me replay the game immediately, but I will give players that haven't played the game yet even more of a polished experience. And it's not like other games didn't release several versions, each with minor improvement over the last, in quick succession,
5 Days a Stranger or
Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment, for example.
Now, after so much "preface" some comments about the actual game itself:
The graphics are absolutely gorgeous, the setting was interesting and the game used the borrowed characters in interesting ways and in a respectful manner. I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the game, basically until
Spoiler
the Bogey Man makes his appearance. After which, the game made a turn for the worse IMHO. I found the "resolution" of the original murder mystery and the ultimate ending extremely unsatisfying and having the Bogey Man break the fourth wall and the introduction of modern techonology didn't sit to well with me either. Those seemed very out of character to the game up until that point. Even the graphics seemed to get uglier, especially the altered versions of the pig's home and the world map.
Most of the puzzles were well done and logical. I was a bit disappointed that most (all?) items in the game only had exactly one use, especially true for those in your PI kit. Even if they had only one proper use, I think it would have been nice had you been able to check all kinds of surfaces for fingerprints, which might have also been a great opportunity for more funny messages.
Spoiler
On a similar note, I feel that the "default" messages were used a bit too frequently. For example, trying to "Get" the molasses yields the default "waste of storage" message rather than something more appropriate considering that Red will happily use the sample glass on the molasses (twice).
Another thing I didn't like about the puzzles was that some things seemed to happen randomly, witout reason, like
Spoiler
Gepetto's tools only appearing when you need them or the blue cup transforming when you visit a specific location.
On a positive note, I didn't have any issues with pixel hunting of any kind. Finally, there were two puzzles I found downright illogical and rather frustrating, namely
Spoiler
using the fuse on the cherry and using the muck on the magnet.
The rest of the puzzles was fine.
Another thing, that's probably just a minor gripe of mine (like the readme.txt thing above), was the use of *asterisks* for highlighting. I think it looked really odd. You wouldn't use *asterisks* in the speech balloons of a comic, would you? Here I think CAPITALS might have been a better choice.
Overall, I enjoyed the game, but would probably had enjoyed it even more if it had ended after the first two thirds as the last third effectively worsened my impression of the game as a whole and if it didn't crash on me so often. The positive did outweigh the negative though, even if I spent more time detailing the stuff I didn't like than the stuff I enjoyed in this message. Sorry about that. :-\
Judging from the parts of the game that I liked, though, I'm confident that you can avoid some of the negatives in future releases and I continue to look forward to
Daemons in the Attic. :)
Hey what Anym said reminded me that the game crashed on me too. I forgot to mention that earlier. And it had the same messages as the ones he posted.
@Firestarter: There is music in every scene, so I guess you might need to experiment with the setup settings. Sorry for the inconvenience.
@CosmoQueen: Why, thank you! Ah, you cannot trust pirates with a nice cocktail, Mr. Hook's probably still in the cellar, sippin' rum ;D As for a sequel, I really see some potential there, so well, yeah, why not ;)
@Anym: That's the kind of feedback I love most, thank you very much for that. As for the missing contact, well, I was quite confident that, this being an AGS game, available at the AGS site, people would just... find me here. My bad, really.
Re strange crashes- I am a bit puzzled here but think it's some scripting glitch. I have never had any crash, and the corrected version I put up seemed to have solved the issue for some players... I think I have made some error somewhere, and will investigate a bit further. Thanks for mentioning it, though- I was thinking I had solved that...
Re readme - Thanks, I will keep that in mind. Nice to see someone reading the readme ;D
Re last bit of game - Sorry to hear you didn't like the plot twist, but it was, from the very start, something I wanted to have in the story. With some distance, I still think I made a "good" decision, though I have to admit that I could have elaborated a bit more.
All the points you made are totally valid, and as once mentioned there will be a new, "polished" version anytime soon- pablo took a huge effort and provided me with an excellent proofread, and hopefully I will be abe to fix these strange crashes, too. Glad to hear that the good outweighted the bad for you!
(Gee, it's so nice to have the forums back!)
Just want to say it's a great game, you are a pixel-artist! Hope to see more!
Hey Ghost, just played your game on a Saturday morning while waiting for the technician from Comcast. :)
The graphics are obviously very good, though I think you can do even better if you don't rush the backgrounds. I particularly enjoyed the Parodise (ha ha, very clever) setting; I'm always a sucker for fairy tale mashups. Have you read
Fables, by any chance?
I didn't come across any bugs, but I did notice quite a few niggling mistakes in the text, a lot of them having to do with verb tense or English idiom (it's "Queen of Hearts", not "Heart Queen", for example). Glad you're making a polished, proofread version.
However, I'm afraid I can't say I enjoyed the game. This is because I found the puzzles extremely arbitrary. Not illogical, precisely, because they usually made sense in retrospect (the cherry bomb and slop on magnet puzzles excepted), but with solutions that were essentially impossible to anticipate.
For instance, finding "the smallest amount of time":
Spoiler
You solve this puzzle by essentially a sequence of random actions (even if you think of a cherry bomb, why are you blowing up the witch's oven... and why doesn't she tell you to get lost afterwards?), which ends with you digging in the dirt (with your bare hands... I was looking all over the place for a shovel, and I would never have expected "Use marks on ground" to mean "dig") and getting a completely non-sequitur gift from a ghost. Meanwhile, there's a red herring with Mr Smee's incredible speed, and a short fuse that doesn't turn out to be the item you need either.
Another example from the end of the game:
Spoiler
In making your "magic sword", it is not at all obvious that the copper rods are suitable for a blade (I don't even think you can make copper swords, the metal is too soft), it doesn't really make sense to use the log as a handle, the item name "dull sword" is something of a red herring since there is no need to sharpen it (and weren't the rods sharp a second ago?), I still have no idea why you need to electrify it, and most importantly: Why do I even need a sword?! It doesn't turn out to be particularly useful, does it? It merely advances the game one more step.
So, yeah. Too many red herrings, not enough connection between the actions you had to do and the objective you were trying to reach. The honorable exception is the dusted honeycomb quest, which made sense pretty much every step of the way (except for the previously mentioned bomb) without ever being too easy. I ended up having to use a walkthrough, and the "WTF?" tasks it prescribed made me stick to it all the way through. It's a shame, because had the game been better balanced, it would have been very cool.
Finally, if you haven't seen this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_A8htd0fEg) ("Hello World" by students in CMU's Building Virtual Worlds class) I thought you might enjoy it as a possible take on what would have happened if Red hadn't prevailed.
@Snarky:
Thank you for the honest, and very constructive, crits, Snarky- and also for playing ;)
I could easily go into defensive now and tell you that games are always a matter of taste, and you can't suit anyone, and so on, but you put your finger on an imporant spot: With the "distance" I now have towards OUAC I agree that the puzzle setup is far from perfect. I was a bit too sure about, for example, the bomb puzzle to be "obvious", and have learned that it is considered one of the most obscure ones.
I will also agree that some things are a bit forced and just make sense in retrospective, probably due to some glitchy design on my part.
But, to enter some discussion, I do not think that OUAC is choke-full of red herrings. There are several ones, all right, and some objects that do not have the function that seems obvious (I was told from quite a few players that they thought the machine in Red's attic would be used to make the blue candy, for example). I think a game where each item has one and only one function and the puzzles line up to a string sequence is quite boring, so I tried to break the mould a bit. Surely I didn't do so "perfectly" (it is, after all, my first game), but I think I'm on the right path at least.
Let me assure you I've learned some valuable lessons from OUAC, and you've given me some points to ponder for upcoming projects- thank you for that!
(I enjoyed the video link a lot BTW- thankies!)
I just finished the game and enjoyed it. Though I felt once you got the answer for the bomb quest, everything got solved very easily. (Granted that might be because I used the hint forum and the WT to figure it out, which meant reading a portion of the Spoilers.)
That being said, any plans to make another OUAC?
Also just finished the game (I had to use the walkthrough sadly for some parts), and I enjoyed it from start to finish.. Hope to see another game soon.. goodluck and thanx for creating this wonderfull adventure.. ;)
I just finished this game, too.
I did have to use the walkthrough at points, because I just couldn't get my head around some of the puzzles.
For instance, I assumed you'd have to use the file on the copper pipes to make them less pointy, or something.
I pretty much agree with Snarky in that sense.
But I did really enjoy the ending, once I actually got to it. :)