Adventure Game Studio

this is gruesome but fun! Read my longer feedback on the video description...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAtSTfmuf4E

A lovely treat for Christmas from the twisted, genius mind of The Outer Zone.

I loved this game all the way through but especially

Spoiler

when I found out that it's a continuation of the last chapter and not a stand-alone like I was expecting

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Absolutely amazing stuff and I hope you continue on with further episodes!

@selmiak - thanks a lot for the let's play!
@Mandle - The plan is to make around 10 episodes. But I dont know when I will have time again for the next episode. We'll see. I aim to make the whole series on game jams. I love how the theme/story of each episode is made in one day, based on the theme of the jam.

I'm happy you enjoy my games :)

Quote from: Mandle on Tue 25/12/2018 09:02:43
A lovely treat for Christmas from the twisted, genius mind of The Outer Zone.

I loved this game all the way through but especially

Spoiler

when I found out that it's a continuation of the last chapter and not a stand-alone like I was expecting

[close]

Absolutely amazing stuff and I hope you continue on with further episodes!

Waaiiittt...

Spoiler

what last chapter...?

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@Shadow1000: Yes - it's episode two of Tales From The Outer Zone.
The first episode is Cyborg Seppuku: https://theouterzone.itch.io/cyborg-seppuku (https://theouterzone.itch.io/cyborg-seppuku)

Quote from: The Outer Zone on Tue 25/12/2018 15:30:32
@Shadow1000: Yes - it's episode two of Tales From The Outer Zone.
The first episode is Cyborg Seppuku: https://theouterzone.itch.io/cyborg-seppuku (https://theouterzone.itch.io/cyborg-seppuku)

Well, I played that one, loved it and voted for it. But I don't see any connection to the Goat Crone...

@Shadow1000: did you finish the goat crone? If not watch this lets play https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cSUNX0Xp1Ig (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cSUNX0Xp1Ig) to see the connection :)

Quote from: The Outer Zone on Tue 25/12/2018 20:29:08
@Shadow1000: did you finish the goat crone? If not watch this lets play https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cSUNX0Xp1Ig (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cSUNX0Xp1Ig) to see the connection :)

Oh, I didn't recognize the guy. It's been a few months. Cool!

Outstanding graphics. The puzzles are on the simple side but the story flows nicely.

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I just didn't like the first scene. Forcing the player to act very badly is not a good idea IMO.

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Just played through Cyborg Seppuku and The Goat Crone. Loved 'em! I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Thanks a lot Durq and Creamy! Glad you liked my game.

@Creamy
Forcing the player to behave badly is an interesting topic. The interactive medium can do things other mediums cannot.
I love to explore these areas, so I decided to try it out in The Goat Crone.

I totally understand your opinion - it can feel very strange going against your will in a game.
In The Goat Crone, the player is playing as Alma - it's not a blank slate first person character - it's a character just like
Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. You just click instead of turning the page. So the actions are hers, not yours.

You might get more connected with the character, when you control his/her actions..
This is true, except you don't really control Almas actions, you just play out her actions.
If The Goat Crone offered a choice however, it would feel more like the player's choice than Almas choice.
This would work much better in a RPG for example, than in Tales From The Outer Zone, which is meant to be a linear story with written characters.

Some games have succeeded in doing a mix - like Unavowed. Still, in this kind of game, you don't really play AS the character - they have their own will. And at the same time you sometimes feel that the character is incoherent, as you can manipulate them into doing something out of character.
It is a hard thing to master, but an interesting thing to explore.

Thanks for your comment - Hope this made any sense :)
-Malte

Quote from: The Outer Zone on Sat 05/01/2019 10:08:22
Thanks a lot Durq and Creamy! Glad you liked my game.

@Creamy
Forcing the player to behave badly is an interesting topic. The interactive medium can do things other mediums cannot.
I love to explore these areas, so I decided to try it out in The Goat Crone.

I totally understand your opinion - it can feel very strange going against your will in a game.
In The Goat Crone, the player is playing as Alma - it's not a blank slate first person character - it's a character just like
Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. You just click instead of turning the page. So the actions are hers, not yours.

You might get more connected with the character, when you control his/her actions..
This is true, except you don't really control Almas actions, you just play out her actions.
If The Goat Crone offered a choice however, it would feel more like the player's choice than Almas choice.
This would work much better in a RPG for example, than in Tales From The Outer Zone, which is meant to be a linear story with written characters.

Some games have succeeded in doing a mix - like Unavowed. Still, in this kind of game, you don't really play AS the character - they have their own will. And at the same time you sometimes feel that the character is incoherent, as you can manipulate them into doing something out of character.
It is a hard thing to master, but an interesting thing to explore.

Thanks for your comment - Hope this made any sense :)
-Malte

Having just played the game, I interpreted the scene as a young child not understanding the consequences of what she was doing, but I can understand Creamy's discomfort.
I too think a character with a will and personality separate from the player is interesting to explore but from my experience this generally works better when the character has
had their personality and motivations more fully established, and in the intro we still haven't learned much about Alma or what kind of person she is yet.

For me, Unavowed didn't work because your character was a customizable blank slate that you could project yourself on while still putting your character in very dark situations,
compared to an AGS game where I enjoyed the protagonist, Emily Enough, which establishes that the titular heroine is a murderer in an intro cutscene, but the player is merely steering
Emily rather than roleplaying their own character, and the player doesn't actively participate in any truly evil act Emily commits until well after we've already gotten to know her.

But back to The Goat Crone, I enjoyed the beautiful graphics and story although the ending reminded me a bit too much of M. Night Shaymalan's The Village, and I am curious as to see
your next game and weather you have plans for an extended universe of MAGS games.

@Blondbraid - tak for din kommentar :)
I always liked the idea behind the ending of The Village, but not how it was executed, so when I realized (midway through production) that I was
doing a similar ending, I thought "Ahh.. it's The Village! - Oh well.. I'll try to make a nice version of this great idea".

Good point about the protagonist being a blank slate until you build her/him up - I see the problem.
In The Goat Crone, I wanted the story/character to start off eerie and unpredictable - and that seemed to work :)

Cheers,
Malte