The McCarthy Chronicles: Episode 1

[LimpingFish]

Glass half empty, etc. 

I think it's quite positive overall. And it's quotable!

"...McCarthy Chronicles isn't rubbish." - "Horror adventures don't usually work, this one does..." - "The graphics...succeed in giving the impression of a world filled with loneliness and despair."

Frame it, man!

[Gravity]

It's a good thing the world wasn't built by critics. Seems to me that the review was a mild complement - followed by a couple of slaps to the face - then ended with a friendly hug. It's not all bad I suppose since the game was reviewed and shipped on a disc. Well, it's easy to criticize and hard to contribute. At least it is for some people. Still...

[auriond]

And in addition to the choice quotes picked by Fish:

"Noir adventuring goodness"

"(Adventure games) only get in if they offer something interesting"

"Let's hope for more episodes soon"

Looks like a firm thumbs-up to me. And you've already said you'll tone down the poetry on the next episode, so that's that. Congrats man!

[Captain Ricco]

So in conclusion: the puzzles are none existent, the writing is cringeworthy and the voice acting is dreadful?

I'll give myself a gold star.

Oh, NOW i know where Mcarthy gets his personality from 

[LRH]

I'd hardly call the voice acting bad. There were a few moments that I didn't care for (namely when McCarthy says "Don't come any closer, or I'll shoot!" I wish he had really shouted it...) but it certainly wasn't bad.

I actually quite enjoyed the writing style. To me it was over the top, but it felt like it was supposed to be. It's hard to explain but just seemed to work.

Meh. Always gotta' take any criticism with an open mind and grain of salt I spose'... I can't wait for mine   

[auriond]

It's the film noir "hard-boiled detective" style. McCarthy follows this trope very faithfully, right down to the "narrative technique of introducing a central character after his death". I don't know if Calin meant to take it over the top, but I saw McCarthy as a slight exaggeration of everything that makes the film noir genre.

[Scarab]

I'll give you another if you manage to get McCarthy to shout at the top of his lungs somewhere in episode 2. In a way that screams, "I AM FED UP WITH THIS MUMBLING SHIT, HEAR ME ROAR!" Either that, or a song and dance number, maybe during the end credits.

Calin, if you put a musical number in part 2, I'd love you forever.

[GarageGothic]

Either that, or a song and dance number, maybe during the end credits.

No way it could top this.

[Questionable]

It's the film noir "hard-boiled detective" style. McCarthy follows this trope very faithfully, right down to the "narrative technique of introducing a central character after his death". I don't know if Calin meant to take it over the top, but I saw McCarthy as a slight exaggeration of everything that makes the film noir genre.

Well it's a similar style to Pulp Noir narratives but Calin Foliageshadow pulled some pretty esoteric crap out of his ass. =P  It makes it unique though...

[Snarky]

It's definitely not a hard-boiled, "noir" style. While those stories could occasionally get poetic, the writing was usually clipped and minimalistic: characters would be described in straightforward, general terms plus maybe one telling detail ("In five minutes he was back with a slender blonde girl of twenty-three in pale green silk. The looseness of her small mouth and the puffiness around her blue eyes weren't yet pronounced enough to spoil her prettiness." Dashiell Hammett, "Fly Paper"); a lot was kept implicit (very often the main character's emotions, for example) and only revealed by the characters' actions.

Most of all, the hard-boiled style was intensely, sometimes ridiculously macho. The writing in The McCarthy Chronicles, on the other hand, is flowery, pretentious and fey, or in other words: emo. To my mind that is a negative; I can see others liking it, but regardless, it's certainly not hard-boiled.

[Igor Hardy]

Most of all, the hard-boiled style was intensely, sometimes ridiculously macho. The writing in The McCarthy Chronicles, on the other hand, is flowery, pretentious and fey, or in other words: emo. To my mind that is a negative; I can see others liking it, but regardless, it's certainly not hard-boiled.

Yeah, that's what I've said in my old comment - the writing reminded me of the original gothic novels: Frankenstein, Portrait of Dorian Gray and the like. The story is also much more gothic horror than anything associated with noir, so the style of writing fits pretty well.

The fact that nowadays any dark story with a PI as the main hero will be called "noir" just shows how this word has lost all its specific meaning. Basically, today it just means "dark + cool".

[auriond]

That's true, the story does have more in common with gothic horror than film noir. But I don't personally see lines such as "The looseness of her small mouth and the puffiness around her blue eyes weren't yet pronounced enough to spoil her prettiness" to be very straightforward. It wouldn't be out of place in McCarthy, though most of Calin's writing was really quite a bit more flowery than that. That said, yes, McCarthy himself isn't very hard-boiled. I just see it as following an existing trope, or possibly combining a few existing tropes and genres.

[Snarky]

What I meant was:

"a slender blonde girl of twenty-three in pale green silk" - straightforward, general terms
"The looseness of her small mouth and the puffiness around her blue eyes weren't yet pronounced enough to spoil her prettiness" - telling detail

Note also the merciless tone of that comment. Sure, the girl is pretty, but the emphasis is on observing that soon she won't be. That's typical of the hard-boiled hero. Like Verna says of Tom in Miller's Crossing: "I've never met anyone who made being a son of a bitch such a point of pride." (Tom's scornful comment just before that could stand as a response to McCarthy's monologues: "If I'd known we were gonna cast our feelings into words, I'd've memorized the Song of Solomon.")

[Questionable]

Agreed Snarky. I"m a huge Noir fan and I've found three distinct types of work classified as "Noir."  My favorite is "Pulp Noir," which is what Snarky is referring to and what inspired the others. Pulp Noir is from $.02 comics and the back of publication for 14-20(ish) year old males. Pumped full of sexism, machismo, action and all things despicable and badass. The writing was minimal (which made it even harder edged) and the only things that adjectives THOUGHT about touching were the things that matter to 14-20 year old males. Fights, babes and brawls.

Here's an excerpt from a Dan Turner story:

EXCEPT for the maid who let me in, Leneta Leonard
was alone in the house. She was a cute little trickâ€"
all curves and delicious contours. She had on a pair of
sheer pajamas that didn’t hide a thing! When she stood
between me and a window I got a good squint at the
prettiest pair of legs I’d seen in a blue moon.
I told her: “I’m Dan Turner. Your friend Jackman
was in to see me today.”
She nodded listlessly. “He phoned and told me. He
told me about that letter you received this morning.”
I shot a question at her. “When was the last time
you paid blackmail, and how did it happen!”

Note: "I told her" and "She nodded listlessly" as opposed to; "The words floated out of her mouth like butterflys, I couldn't tear my eyes off her lips, glimmering like like the stars reflected in her eyes."

The second form of Noir (and the style I think that has informed the structure of McCarthy) is "Film Noir," which ironically doesn't exist ONLY in films. It has become a style. It is epitomized by the early Noir films like the Maltese Falcon and The Big Combo. It's rather flowy and less razor edged than Pulp Noir, mainly because it was trying to appeal to a broader audience. It's the love child of early films like Casablanca and Pulp Noir. I feel like Calin drew from this genre more than any others in the Noir spectrum. I haven't read too many gothic literature but I can imagine that where you to mix Film Noir and Portrait of Dorian Gray, you would get something similar to McCarthy.

The final bit of Noir is Modern Noir. Modern Noir is anything gritty and dark. It's the the black and the gray, with maybe only a glimmer of the white of things. It's anything related to grime and societies underbelly. It is the distillation and oversimplification of Pulp Noir. None of the style, hardly any substance.

Here's a scene played out in the different styles:

Pulp Noir

"I ran. Hard. I could hear that old jack panting behind me, wearing out. I dive and spin, crashing headfirst through a bush. Bastard passes me, I pull out my Iron and swing- BANG! He trips. No need to rush, so I take my time, he can wait. His skin sizzles when I put the still smoking barrel against his temple:

I stare him down, always look in a mans eyes when you're trying to intimidate him,
'Burke- I want to know where he is.'

He manages to fumble out,
'I don't know! I never knew, he just--'

I stick the barrel in his mouth and cock the hammer. I give it a moment so he can taste the smoke, smoke off his sizzling skin.

'Game time is over. If you want to use that leg again, you're going to need me to call an ambulance pretty quick. If you want to keep on breathing you need to make me happy alot quicker. Now, GIVE ME SOMETHING!'

'Goldfedstein! His lawyer, he always knows where Burke is! Penthouse 1321 at the Harlequin Building!'

BANG! No need to call an ambulance for the wicked."


Film Noir

"I ran. Hard. I could hear that dirtbag panting behind me; now is my chance. I dive into a bush. Bastard passes me, they don't make 'em like they used to. I line Betty up for a shot, hold it- BANG! He drops like a god damn piano fell on him. I take my time, let him think he is going to bleed to death, alone in the woods. His skin sizzles when Betty gives him a kiss on his temple, the smell is sublime- it makes me want to vomit and laugh at the same time.

I look into his pupils, you can always tell a liar by their pupils.
'Burke- I want to know where he is.'

He's trembling but manages to stutter,
'I don't know! I never knew, he just--'

I let Betty kiss him, French Style. I cock the hammer and give him a moment to taste his smoking skin. Nothing scares a man like a the sound of a bullet being chambered rattling around in in his head. Scum like this worthless shit are crawling all over my god damned city.

'Game time is over. If you want to use that leg again, you're going to need me to call an ambulance pretty quickly, and If you want to keep on breathing you're going to need to make me happy alot quicker. You don't know where Burke is? Fine, tell me who does.'

'Goldfedstein! His lawyer, he always knows where Burke is! Penthouse 1321 at the Harlequin Building!'

Betty gives him a long hard kiss and he's out cold, I should grease this slimeball. My legs are killing me, running's not my type of game, I wheeze my way back to the car and take off to find that son-of a bitch, Burke."


Modern Noir

"Seven. Eight. Nine. Click- Click- Empty clip. I standup; he's fumbling for another clip. BANG! Shoulder shot... not where I was aiming but it'll do. He's practically sobbing when I kick him, He's definitely sobbing when I slam his face into the cement.

Finally, he's waking up. It must be 40 degrees in here and he's covered in blood, how can you sleep in conditions like that?

"Good morning sleepyhead."

I spark on my blowtorch-"



I'm not a writer, but I tried my best to illustrate the concepts outline above... I think you get the idea. Ultimately I think you can classify McCC as Noir but it's definitely not a "by-the-book" interpretation, instead it's an homage that takes established character traits into a new direction.

[Ali]

I know we're getting off-topic here, but I think it's a mistake to call Film Noir the second type of 'Noir'.

The term was coined by film critics in reference to films, not detective novels. And many great film noirs are as edgy as American cinema of the period got (Lang's The Big Heat, or Welles's Touch of Evil). I agree in other respects, particularly with the remark that what you call 'Modern Noir' is style over substance (Sin City, I'm looking at you).

On topic, I would describe the writing in the game as gothic and certainly not noir. Congratulations to Calin on the reviews and exposure the game has been receiving!

[Questionable]

The term was coined by film critics in reference to films, not detective novels. And many great film noirs are as edgy as American cinema of the period got (Lang's The Big Heat, or Welles's Touch of Evil).

I didn't mean to imply they weren't edgy but with Pulp Noir alot of emotions and internal dialogue was implied. When developing pulp/noir films the need for exposition gave birth to a more "prosey" form of the genre. The radio and production that I classify as "Film Noir Style" lived and died by dialogue, it's inherent in their format, whereas literature has the benefit of a floating narrative, these productions needed the narrative to be verbalized and so (to me at least) the characters developed a distinctly unique style.

These aren't official designations either, rather they are observations that I have never put into words before and so that post was quite stream-of-consciousness.

I'm really interested to get some recommendations on "Gothic Novels" now that I'm hearing about the style. I've never READ Frankenstein, though I have read Dracula and Dorian Grey...

[/threadhijack]

[auriond]

XD

You know what, I should have known better than to make any kind of statement about this game. It seems to inevitably expose my ignorance and bring the discussion completely off topic.

Back on topic now: Calin, I have a question. Will the next episode be completely in the mansion again, or will it bring us to new locales? The initial view of the house had a tantalising number of windows.

[Calin Leafshade]

Well since you asked, Epi 2 will mostly take place beneath the mansion but there will be some of the original locations as well.

[markbilly]

Well since you asked, Epi 2 will mostly take place beneath the mansion but there will be some of the original locations as well.

Re-drawn?

[Calin Leafshade]

Well, I have considered that but my artistic skills simply arent up to scratch. I don't think I could make the backgrounds any better than they already are.

I would get my girlfriend to perhaps do them but she is a painter (similar in technique to ben304) so i'm not sure that would fit the pixel arty style of the game.

So unless I find some willing pixel artist who is better than me, they are likely to stay the same with a few touch ups here and there.