sync::routine

[Jimbob]

sync::routine
A short adventure game by James Riley

A short adventure game developed for me to get to grips with the AGS system, which I hope will still provide some entertainment, some head scratching and some interest towards future adventures...

The game follows Roman, a hacker trying to gain some information regarding the whereabouts of his former partner, Laura Gibson. The only lead he has is an old company, Solomon Associates, which he's conned his way in to try and access their systems...

Download here (22mb)

Some short post-mortem comments:

I'm fairly happy with this as my first AGS release but I know there is a lot to be improved, mainly due to inexperience at writing in general and using scripting. That said, I feel that I nailed quite a few different puzzle interactions and tried to make it slightly different with the inventory examination and computer interfaces. The final dialogue is a bit bolted on, partly because in designing the game, the room and puzzles came first and then I just started writing in whatever came in to my head that would make it in some way cohesive. Another part is that I haven't written much before, and it took a lot more effort than I bargained for. Hopefully that won't put too many people off, and my next project, which I'm about to post some info on soon, should be a major step forward and a completely different experience...

But we'll see... for now, enjoy!

[NsMn]

oh I so love this game. Thank you for making my day joyful.

*Cuddles Jim*

[GarageGothic]

Congrats on releasing your first game!!! Very impressive debut judging by the screenshots.

Looks great, I really dig the hard drive close-up. So annoyed that I don't have time to play all the great games being released these weeks, but I'll definitely try this one ASAP. I'm working on a hacker game myself at the moment (focusing on cryptography and social engineering), so I'm very curious to see how you've implemented the hacking gameplay.

[GreenBoy]

YES! downloading now.

EDIT:  Very impressive first effort, the graphics and animations were slick.  I found the puzzles to be a good difficulty especially the hacking puzzles, I'm no expert with computers but I found using both computers quite intuitive.  Awesome work, I'm looking forward to your next game.

[Kweepa]

Cool game! Thanks!

Spoiler

I had some trouble with the password, and the red herring inventory items...

[close]

Are you planning to continue the story?

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Very nice first effort on your part.  I especially enjoyed the interactive item closeups!

[Diath]

Started playing the game. I am very impressed with the graphics. It may just be because im a nublet, but I could not find a way to save the game. Also the game crashes if you hit the load button at the beginning in the game as well as

Spoiler

The game crashes when you try to use the screwdriver kit on the hard drive when your looking at it up close

[close]

[Jimbob]

Thanks for the HD bug, it was one letter out from being okay... gah.
Fixing the loading one...

Cheers for the comments guys...

EDIT: New bug fixed version uploaded.

[Stupot]

I also couldn't reload a game because it crashed when i clicked on 'load'
So I started again with the intention of playing right through without saving...
but then it crashed quite a way into the game:

Spoiler

I had retrieved the folder, cracked the lock, and taken the disc.. then I was a bit stuck so I was looking at the folder again for clues and it crashed.

Is there much more to go, because I was really enjoying it up until that point.  I might wait a while for a more stable version.

[close]

Enjoyable game so far though.  Cheers JB.

[Jimbob]

Odd, I'll look for that bug.
Thought I'd caught all the loading bugs :S

I'll give it a look now.
EDIT: Same one letter difference in the function call. Bah! Testing the loading now...

EDIT2: Can't seem to reproduce that crashing on loading bug, can you remember what screen you saved it on and what items you had? Possibly better to do through PM...

[Khris]

Cool game, very nice first effort!

The crash happens if you click on load although there aren't any savegames.

[Jimbob]

Hmm that load bug (with no initial save) has been fixed and reuploaded but the one Stu is seeing I can't quite fathom. I've saved, reloaded, deleted, reloaded, saved all over the game and it seems to be okay. It may well have been fixed at the same time... *fingers crossed*

[LRH]

Looks interesting, for sure
I'll give it a go later.

[TM]

This was great! Nice puzzles but dammit, you've got to be kidding me! That is the end? I was ready to play lots and lots more of it. Very inspiring.

[Tinytim]

sync::routine
A short adventure game by James Riley

A short adventure game developed for me to get to grips with the AGS system, which I hope will still provide some entertainment, some head scratching and some interest towards future adventures...

The game follows Roman, a hacker trying to gain some information regarding the whereabouts of his former partner, Laura Gibson. The only lead he has is an old company, Solomon Associates, which he's conned his way in to try and access their systems...

Download here (22mb)

Some short post-mortem comments:

I'm fairly happy with this as my first AGS release but I know there is a lot to be improved, mainly due to inexperience at writing in general and using scripting. That said, I feel that I nailed quite a few different puzzle interactions and tried to make it slightly different with the inventory examination and computer interfaces. The final dialogue is a bit bolted on, partly because in designing the game, the room and puzzles came first and then I just started writing in whatever came in to my head that would make it in some way cohesive. Another part is that I haven't written much before, and it took a lot more effort than I bargained for. Hopefully that won't put too many people off, and my next project, which I'm about to post some info on soon, should be a major step forward and a completely different experience...

But we'll see... for now, enjoy!

Is there more than one ending? :

[Jimbob]

There are choices in the ending dependent on whether you found certain things out, solved some puzzles, or skipped them entirely, but they don't add/take away much from the game.

As for a sequel or a continuation, I've been considering writing a long form adventure game, but the chance of it arriving any time soon with my current experience is slim to none. That said, if you can wait ten years, I've been considering entering the 10 years competition which will give me enough to get better I think. I've started writing ideas down (if I do continue it, it is likely that this section would be completely remade and included as a prologue) but no more than that, I don't know if it will even have the same protagonist or not...

Don't worry though, I'll release many other games besides, and you never know, it might take less than 10 years.

[Hubris Incalculable]

Brilliant job, Jimbob! i quite enjoyed it. the story was good, the graphics were good, pretty much all of it was good. i hope you do write a sequel, it would be as awesome or moreso than the original.

[Ilyich]

Wonderful little game! Everything fits together neatly, nothing stands out in a bad way, which results in great immersion. It would be great to see more story/dialogue in your next game, but this is quite solid already.
Escpecially liked the inventory close-ups and I find that computers always work well in adventures (what an irony!).
Well done and good luck!

[Storygamer]

Very challenging and fun game.  Are you going to continue the story at all?  It felt like a prologue to a larger story.

[xenogia]

Downloading it now, looking forward to playing it.