The McCarthy Chronicles: Episode 1

Patternjake · Fri 04/12/2009 21:43:21

Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Fri 04/12/2009 20:16:31
kind of you to say so.

As for episode 2 I'm hoping for a 6 week dev cycle. Hopefully looking to release by february.

And open a few doors? You're really going to have to elaborate on that because currently you sound like one of my spam emails. :p

Too cool, I will be happily awaiting for Ep 2 then !

Yeah I know what you mean, Sorry that was vague of me, (I too get MANY spam e-mails a day lol). What I mean is a know a lot of people and I actually run a software development / publishing company myself. If its media attention, e.g spread around gaming forums, download sites etc I can get you there within a month.

Also if wanted you can have your files hosted on my server for dedicated uptime, If anytime you do, just ask.
(That applies to any other AGS game creators too xD)

Calin Leafshade · Fri 04/12/2009 21:53:00

Well any help you think you can give is ofcourse 110% appreciated. I would very much like as much publicity as possible i suppose. Let me know if you need anything from me.

Crimson Wizard · Fri 04/12/2009 23:00:01

Erm. heh. I finished it. Honestly I am rather dissapointed because it ended so quickly.

Generally game is cool, especially with all those appropriate sound effects.

I'd wish you use someone with rougher voice for the groundskeeper role. It is highly weird to listen to a zombie who speaks like a gentleman on the high society meeting

Oh yes, and in the crypt the tip of zombies' axe is visible before he actually appears.

Calin Leafshade · Fri 04/12/2009 23:02:35

its episodic and thus short.

the second episode will be longer though. Consider episode 1 an intro i guess.

The groundskeeper was supposed to sound wise and enlightened in an odd kind of way. Whether i achieved that or not is debatable i guess.

Crimson Wizard · Fri 04/12/2009 23:08:16

Well, speaking of voice acting in general, I'm afraid I must say that male voices lacked emotion greatly. For some reason it felt like you are trying to keep voice faint, maybe to make it sound lower.

Calin Leafshade · Fri 04/12/2009 23:11:08

oh, well thank you for being honest. I'll see if i can improve the quality of the acting for the next episode.

Ryan Timothy B · Fri 04/12/2009 23:59:39

I honestly didn't think there were that many issues with the voice acting. For a freeware game, I was very impressed. That is all that matters.

But yes, I forgot to mention (as crimson pointed out):

Spoiler

seeing the axe partly on screen (from the groundskeepers sprite) in the final scene. I knew it was part of a character--therefor I completely expected a surprise visitor.

[close]

Arclight · Sat 05/12/2009 00:21:47

Breaking my customary silence for this...

Very good game. One thing that bothered me, though:

Spoiler

The demon-dog-thing jumps out the window and breaks it. When you return to the room... the window is there, intact.

[close]

Minor thing, but it jumped out at me. But, again, great game.

Calin Leafshade · Sat 05/12/2009 00:31:31

Thanks for breaking your silence for that :p

I agree thats just pure laziness on my part.. and i should really have fixed it.

Galen · Sat 05/12/2009 23:18:44

Quote from: DazJ on Mon 30/11/2009 13:55:27
Spoiler

Is Chapter II going to be featuring the same main character despite him appearing to be left with no hope at the end of Part I?
[close]

Spoiler

No hope? His hands and arms didn't appear to have been bound so he could possibly hold on to the noose enough to stop suffocation. I guess getting free might be problematic though.

[close]

Anian · Sun 06/12/2009 00:08:19

Quote from: Crazy on Sat 05/12/2009 23:18:44
Spoiler

No hope? His hands and arms didn't appear to have been bound so he could possibly hold on to the noose enough to stop suffocation. I guess getting free might be problematic though.
[close]

Well maybe he'll:

Spoiler

become the very monster he is chasing and spend the rest of his days fighting with his dark side and inner demons...we shall see

[close]

Scarab · Tue 08/12/2009 16:15:49

Finally, Bandwith!
Downloading now

Ali · Tue 08/12/2009 16:40:55

This game was lots of fun, the atmosphere was very well evoked and the voice recoding was of a very good quality overall. Me and the missus are very much looking forward to Episode 2!

I do think that the writing sometimes tended away from hardboiled towards flowery. However, I really did like the use of Broken Sword style internal monologues, and this is something I think you could really exploit to witty or dramatic effect in future. I also think it's interesting that the game is ostensibly set in 1920s England, but the style and atmosphere distinctly like film noir.

Scarab · Tue 08/12/2009 18:11:18

Just finished it, great work Steve, I really enjoyed it. The dialogue puzzles were very logical and I was never walking around wondering what to do. The inventory puzzles were a bit too straightforward if anything such as when

Spoiler

The coat hanger was not long enough to reach the key... and there was a vice just to the left of the screen.
I think this really comes down to the fact that each item is used once and only once, making the decisions made very linear. If, perhaps, some of the items were used a couple of times for different puzzles, this would break the "well I haven't used this yet" mindset.

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I also noticed that the "infinately more dirt roads" typo remains from the demo, although I really like the new driving silhouette.
Atmosphere: Brilliant, the rain and the grain really set the scene.
Dialogue/speech: The voice acting was very good, the groundskeeper reminded me strongly of Jigsaw. I think the in depth, somewhat 'posh' descriptions created the impression of reading a novel, which I think also helped to remind the player that it was not set in the modern day. I think it would be nice to be able to turn off the subtitles and just have the voices.
Animations: Very good. A lot more quality and quantity than one has come to expect from independent games.
As a side note I'd like to add that I think a game that is perfected to such a degree elsewhere would benefit greatly from custom GUIs.

So yeah that's just about it. Oh, and I laughed when

Spoiler

McCarthy was told to stay away from the west wing, all I could think about was beauty and the beast

[close]

Congrats on finishing, now get to work on part two!

Snarky · Sat 12/12/2009 20:59:27

Heh, enjoyable little game, this. Very nice graphics, and the effects (both visual and sound) add a lot to the atmosphere. The voice acting was generally good, particularly for McCarthy; the extremely calm tone you used for his VOs seemed very appropriate.

You've chosen a cool look, and I'm a complete sucker for supernatural detective mysteries. But the game wouldn't work as well as it does without your attention to the execution. The game gets a whole lot of small details right, and is just very polished overall. Kudos!

I do have to say I think it was, err... "quite" overwritten. Like when McCarthy first enters his bedroom, and starts rambling about how he feels like there's blood running down the walls or whatever. Or his waxing poetic about Sarah's voice as she shouts "Oi! 'Ello guv'nor!" (or something along those lines). And things seem to "encroach" an awful lot. Maybe it would be OK if it was just him (I guess it's in keeping with his "woe is me" emo angst over the last time he fired his gun), but every diary you find - by three or four different people - is written in that same style. Perhaps cut down on the purple prose for the next installment, hmm?

Apart from that, and the whole thing maybe being a bit clichÃ© (e.g. the crucifixion at the start was completely lacking in originality or shock value), any other criticisms I have are pretty much nitpicking. You really should get a good proofreader to go over the text. In particular, you almost consistently mix up "it's" and "its". I guess it's too late to fix the Grosvenor/Grovesnor cock-up, though. Mordalles did a great job with the sprites and animations, but I think the main walkcycle is a bit stiff, and in some scenes a running animation would be very welcome. It was always weird to me how, by the main entrance, McCarthy would always walk around to take the stairs on the right side of the screen even when coming from the left. Others have already commented on the broken window (and Sarah's changes in location) and the default button GUI on the title screen. I'll just add a couple of places where I think a little bit of extra work would have gone a long way:

Spoiler

When you pick up the gravel (add a sound effect), and when you fish the key out of the grate (add a crouch and a sound effect). Also, add Sarah's scream as a sound effect.

[close]

Given the gameplay, I personally think you would have been better off with a left-click-use/right-click-look UI than a verb coin, but that's mostly just a subjective dislike. Something that might be a bit more work, but would add a lot to the level of professionalism, would be to make the conversations more dynamic, so that you don't ask Sarah where the key is after you've found it, or so Victoria doesn't comment on how you've finally dragged yourself out of bed the fourth time you talk to her on that same day. It's not as bad here as in 5 Days a Stranger (mostly because this episode is shorter and easier, so you don't try to talk to people as many times), but it's the kind of thing that could help The McCarthy Chronicles surpass the Trilby/Defoe adventures in terms of AGS horror games.

Because I think this series has the potential to do that. I hope you don't mind the criticism, which is meant to help you figure out to improve updated versions of this installment as well as future episodes to fulfill that potential. I'm looking forward to what you'll do next.

Calin Leafshade · Sat 12/12/2009 21:05:22

Thanks, all the criticism is very welcome. I'm still trying to find my 'voice' if you like.

There are lots of things I did wrong in Episode 1 due to inexperience with the genre and the engine.

Alot of mistakes were down to "I'll fix it later" or "i'll rewrite that bit later" and then I forgot... for example McCarthy says things are "A simple affair" about 6 times :p

Hopefully I'll address those issues in Epi 2.

Grim · Sat 12/12/2009 22:02:46

Excellent game. Just finished it and really enjoyed it. Very nice use of "28 days later, best zombie music ever" tune at the end:)- one of my favourite tracks actually.
The ending especially has been great- it really made me want more and tied everything up nicely.I can't wait for episode 2!

Also, I'm a real sucker for rain effects, and your rain has been done perfectly.

9 out of 10 for me ( I'm leaving 10/10 score for next episode which I imagine wil be more psychodelic).

Thanks for such a good game!

Snarky · Sat 12/12/2009 22:13:49

Oh, I forgot to say that the music throughout the game sounded a lot like an instrumental remix of/variation on the Tori Amos cover of "Raining Blood" by Slayer. Very appropriate.

Edit: Hmmm, that link played the full song when I clicked on it through Google. Seems like you only get a 30sec preview (and not the bit that sounds the same) otherwise. So probably better to google it yourself.

BlueCupCritic · Sat 12/12/2009 22:39:04

Quote from: Grim Reaper on Sat 12/12/2009 22:02:46
"28 days later, best zombie music ever"

That's where it was from! I was tearing my hair out trying to remember.

But yeah, this is one of the best games I've played in a long time.

Scarab · Sun 13/12/2009 05:34:38

Quote from: Snarky on Sat 12/12/2009 20:59:27
...it's the kind of thing that could help The McCarthy Chronicles surpass the Trilby/Defoe adventures in terms of AGS horror games.

Because I think this series has the potential to do that. I hope you don't mind the criticism, which is meant to help you figure out to improve updated versions of this installment as well as future episodes to fulfill that potential. I'm looking forward to what you'll do next.

I agree with this completely, that's why I was so critical in my post as well.

Furthermore, you can have the trump card over Yahtzee of not being a complete prick...