The McCarthy Chronicles: Episode 1

[MrCheminee]

i presume you mean "the yahtzee games" since there has only been one mccarthy game so far :p

Yeah, I got distracted... 

[Calin Leafshade]

Technique & Storytelling: McCarthy
Game length & Puzzles: Trilby

Final verdict: thanks for finally making a better scary game, it was about time

I'm happy with that verdict.

i presume you mean "the yahtzee games" since there has only been one mccarthy game so far :p

Yeah, I got distracted... 

Any insight on why you think the trilby games are 'more believable'?

insight is always useful

[MrCheminee]

Well, I already commented on the small details in the story that are missing. The respawning window, the main character knowing who screams, and where and doesnt tell the player, the same comment on the lit window after Ive allready been inside. Besides that, the story is very straight forwards. Too make a world interesting or at least believable it would have to react on me in a logical matter. The dialogs really were like talking to robots because they would say the same over and over again, even when I allready played that part of the story. I couldnt look at things other than the Van Goghs paintings and the bookcases.  And even on the big full bookcase I got the same message everywhere, a randomized message on books would be nice, but I would also like to see the table and where was the chair? And maybe some small light, to make it easier to read at that table. It was a hotel, but where was the dining room? And what was up with that kitchen and the other room. There was almost no stuff there excet for the stuff I needed to use. So I could simply solve any puzzle by looking at something I didnt use yet. possibelities would add a lot to the realism of the game. But I also understand that the more details you make, the more audiofiles you need...

[Calin Leafshade]

All that seems pretty reasonable, thanks.

My next project wont make the same mistakes hopefully.

[MrCheminee]

Im really looking forward to it 

[Layabout]

All that seems pretty reasonable, thanks.

My next project wont make the same mistakes hopefully.

All you need to do is ask around for some beta testers. Get some before the voices are recorded so if you realise more dialog is needed, you don't have to drag your friends around again to record more voices.

The most jarring thing here was the repetitive dialog opening lines.

[Cryxo]

Just played through it, and 'tis brilliant!

Love the water, reflection effects. The story is quite chilling, some moments were quite unnerving, voice acting is superb (nice to hear British accents  ).

The cliff hanger is grinding on me... Must have episode 2! *Gnaws own arm*

[Calin Leafshade]

It occurs to me that i never got around to address the points made by ascovel, so here goes.

I finally found some time to finish McCarthy. Overall, I have a bit different impressions than the majority. "Different" not meaning negative, just different.

But first, something I agree with everyone - the quality of the audio presentation alone is worth playing this first episode through. As for the visuals, the combo of the (maybe a little too) bare locations and snazzy visual effects in B&W gives a very striking, attractive effect.

The locations are *far* too bare. This was mainly due to my inescapable lack of artistic talent... The major upshot of this is that i can't change the style or makeup of the locations for episode 2 since that would result in some pretty awful continuity issues.

Also, I must strongly compliment Calin for the cliffhanger at the end. Especially the choice of that rising musical piece and the way you put it in sync with the shown events is great. In general, there are little things in the game that make me think of cinematic movie editing. Even if the scenes usually are from only one angle.

The ending is probably the part of which I am most proud. I nearly killed Tabitha's actress getting her to redo that line repeatedly. I think she nailed it in the end though.

Now, there's one thing about the game I can't understand... Why do so many people (the author included) describe this game as film-noir inspired? It has a chain-smoking PI for the lead and we hear his internal monologues, but otherwise nothing of the story, characters, or dialogs is any bit like film noir. The game is very much a perfect pastiche of 19th century Gothic fiction, with its larger-than-life characters, their melodramatic lives, depressions, poetic flowery language, search for enlightenment, falling in love on first sight etc. The only major difference is that the story is set in modern times.

This is true. I do plan to write a post-mortem of mccarthy in the future since its development was very very badly done. Essentially alot of the design decisions were arbitrary or done for terrible reasons. The game is possibly the most cliched piece of rubbish ever commited to fiction Originally I thought the purple-prose and melodrama would be interesting and beautiful in a kind of dreamlike way. Unfortunately this fell very flat in my opinion in the same way that a Barbara Cartland novel would.

I didn't find the game too short or puzzle-less as some, but I have a different serious complaint - the huge amounts of walking inside and around the house. Partially, this is caused by several events being just randomly triggered in different locations, which requires the player to search the entire building again and again to progress within the story. I started using the solution later on, just because I was tired of wandering aimlessly. This would be easily fixed with giving the player an optional map of the house, so he can get around faster.

The puzzles on their own are not particularly interesting and the hints just spell out what to do sometimes which is annoying. The one that I liked was how McCarthy used the coathanger. It was used for a believable problem and in a believable way. However, the coathanger was too well-hidden and the player didn't even know he needed one. I would much prefer if it just hanged in an open closet in McCarthy's room. The puzzle that gets McCarthy in the house for the first time was also nice, except there was too much trouble with finding the item needed for a certain easy to guess action.

The puzzles have been mentioned before but my official excuse is that I didnt really fully understand the mechanisms of adventure games. I was trying to avoid wedging in puzzles that made little realistic sense. The irony is that I ended up doing exactly that only the puzzles I wedged in were boring.

As someone already said, the verbcoin was a bit underused because the mouth icon didn't seem to be used to anything else than talking. However, it's always nice to have more action choices than just the "it chooses the right action by itself" button.

Hmm after developing a game with Ben304 and reading Vince12's excellent article, I'm of the opinion that the left click/use right click/look is the only way to go with regards to adventure game interfaces

It's too early to say much about the story (it was getting interesting when the game ended). It does seem a bit style over substance, but that's appropriate for the fiction genres McCarthy is the most close to. I also suggest thinking about adding an atmospheric title for each individual episode. To be honest if I was an AGS newbie I wouldn't be able to tell which games are called Blackwell, which Blackstone, which McCarthy, which Murran... There are a couple more of this sort which I can't remember now. Those names don't strike any sort of associations, they are nothing beyond common names.

The game is too short and one of my downfalls was thinking "oh i'll explain it in the next episode". The problem with that is it makes *this* episode boring and unfulfilling.

Thanks for your comments thought, insight is always helpful.

[ddq]

Not trying to pimp it or anything, but I did a video review on HardyDev that addresses a few changes that I'd like to see in episode two. If you don't watch it, the biggest one is to have fewer diaries and to give McCarthy a journal system separate from inventory.
It's also nice that you don't think you've made a perfect supergame whose flaws should be overlooked in the name of creativity.

[Dualnames]

Not trying to pimp it or anything, but I did a video review on HardyDev that addresses a few changes that I'd like to see in episode two. If you don't watch it, the biggest one is to have fewer diaries and to give McCarthy a journal system separate from inventory.
It's also nice that you don't think you've made a perfect supergame whose flaws should be overlooked in the name of creativity.

Pimp it, really worth it! Nice review, pretty much comes to me agreeing with it!

[Atelier]

It's a bit frustrating you can't use inventory items on things in succession - if you want to try every possibility you have to re-select it after the speech is run. It would be better if the cursor mode was kept until the player cancels it with a key press, or something.

[MrCheminee]

I understand that McCarty is actually going to die? Or will he be safed last minute? Though the poetic stuff felt a bit cliché I actually liked the direction, I was hoping to see this back in the next game but perhaphs better developed...

[Takyon]

Very, very nice atmosphere and the attention to detail is amazing. The only flaw for me was McCarthy's voice, although the voice actor was very good he just sounded a little young to me but he created the mood very well.

[Bobby]

Hmm after developing a game with Ben304 and reading Vince12's excellent article, I'm of the opinion that the left click/use right click/look is the only way to go with regards to adventure game interfaces

Any chance you could point me in the direction of Vince12's article? I've had a look for it myself but haven't found anything.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Any chance you could point me in the direction of Vince12's article? I've had a look for it myself but haven't found anything.

Right here buddy, it's a year and a half old, but worthwhile reading:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=35142.0

[LUniqueDan]

Great short game! I played some weeks ago and really enjoyed it.

[LRH]

Pretty cool game!
A bit short, but that's okay.
Loved the graphical style. Interesting ending, looking forward to see what happens next...

[qptain Nemo]

Not sure if anyone here needs yet another opinion on the 9th page which probably won't content a single new bit but...

I definitely liked the atmosphere. It was solid and immersing. The rain effects are great, it's the best rain I have seen in an AGS game. The music selection is so great and fitting, it's really a shame that the score isn't original.

The story is not bad, but the way it's told in terms of scenario and gameplay... man, it just begs to be better.

The gameplay isn't just linear, it's mockingly linear. Game doesn't only prevent you from getting stuck, it pushes you so hard from one story trigger to another that it feels like an intentional parody of adventure gameplay, and the cheesy ways and reasons that game chooses to push you are so cliche that they can't be taken very seriously as well. And that diary lock puzzle is simply purely laughable.

I liked the game, it had style, it had content, it entertained me without bothering me with a single chance to get stuck, but also it didn't give me a chance of expressing myself in playing it.
But I sure do hope you continue making such cool stuff and improve on that, good luck with that!

[Igor Hardy]

Any chance you could point me in the direction of Vince12's article? I've had a look for it myself but haven't found anything.

Right here buddy, it's a year and a half old, but worthwhile reading:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=35142.0

Very, VERY soon there will be an all new article too.

[SuperDre]

Just finished this one, loved the graphix, and I also loved the speech (even though the doorbel message is still missing)..
The only thing I don't like is the episodic part, I really hate it when a game doesn't finish, without an assurance that there will be a next episode (that's the biggest problem with episodic gaming, you're stuck with unfinished business if they stop creating episodes (just like on big TV-shows which just stop in the middle of a season or with a big cliffhanger at the end, but never get a new season or explained (luckily lately they do tend to finish it off with a tv-movie)..

Hope you publish the next episode soon.. at least keep up the great work..