The Shivah

Rosie · Sun 02/07/2006 18:14:58

Very nice game.... Really enjoyed playing it..........Thank you for your talents.........

Petra · Sun 02/07/2006 18:33:07

Thank you for this game, it is really nice

Great game idea and nice graphics.

One thing however...the only thing which keeps annoying me is the permanent log in to the computers....

But overall well done!!!

Thumbs up

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 03/07/2006 16:16:35

Superb. Simply superb. What a pity it's such a short game. It's been a long time since I've felt such a compelling atmosphere in a game. Same goes for the characters. Brilliant dialog also deserves a mention, and the gameplay is...

...oh, to hell with it. The whole is more than the sum of the parts. The parts themselves are excellent. The result is outstanding. It's not often you find a game that can touch you, or make you think, or really make you step into the shoes of the main character - with all the side-issues that brings, such as suddenly being faced with problems you probably wouldn't meet in real life. This game does all three, and more. Pity it's so short.

The community seems to have some pre-defined great gamemakers, whose every single game is, at the very least, noteworthy. Mastah Gilbaht's one such person. Two thumbs up, way up.

DoorKnobHandle · Mon 03/07/2006 16:51:41

Yeah, it's great. Finished it a few days ago. Keep it up!

Mikko · Mon 03/07/2006 17:58:52

I just want to congratulate you for this marvellous game. Making a game like this in a short timespan of one month is indeed a great accomplishment.

deadsuperhero · Mon 03/07/2006 19:59:18

Hey Dave, great game!
I voted for it AND posted a loving comment on the game page.
So now will you be my bestest friend?

bbc · Wed 05/07/2006 11:21:31

My game just crashed when i tried to load, and i got this error message:
"Global script line 108. Error: Listbox.savegameslot: Index out of range."

voh · Wed 05/07/2006 12:42:49

As a jew, I must say I was intrigued by the premise. Good job, nicely done!

The game was too short for my taste, though, and I really do think you've got a nice character here with whom you could do a lot more. Regardless, I played it through in one sitting, at 3am while I was supposed to sleep but couldn't, because it was still 25 degrees, and fucking damp at that.

So thank you for giving me some quality entertainment during my insomnia

BunnyMilk · Wed 05/07/2006 15:21:41

Right, I've heard nothing but good things so here goes *downloads*

Wow that was a nice game!

Spoiler

I was merciful and let both Joe and the Rabbi live but I'm very curious about what happens if you kill them. I quite felt like throwing Joe in front of the train...

[close]

Ali · Wed 05/07/2006 17:28:37

This was an enjoyable and distinctive adventure. Bravo!

I would love to see this style of dialogue based investigation employed in a longer game. It would really allow characters to develop. If you're not planning another Rabbi Stone game I may be compelled to become a Rabbi as a substitue.

In a Columbo/Stonesque manner, just one more question:

Spoiler

Do I recognise the girl in the bar? Talking apparently to no-one eh?

[close]

FieryPhoenix · Thu 06/07/2006 09:14:15

I adore "The Shivah" - I don't have much patience with gams- but your game kept my attention and (much to the surprize of the people who know me)- I couldn't tear myself away. As a history teacher and life-long student of World Relgions and Spirituality- I truly enjoyed the writing and such. I'm a lasped Catholic/ Jewbie, /some parts Muslim/ lots of Buddhist "stuff"- and not to leave out Zoroastrianism and Sufsim. I hope you do another game along the same line. However, I am looking forward to BoE.
I'll be visiting Union Theological Seminary and The Jewish Seminary in a few weeks- so I've been concentrating on German Prot. Theolgians. I have a nice section on Judaism as well. Who knows maybe I'll atempt a game some day with Ahura Mazda.
Not my thing really- but I hope you do more games like this one.

Dave Gilbert · Fri 07/07/2006 01:39:23

Winnage!

"Shivah" was just voted the winner in the June MAGS competition. Thank you, everyone, for your votes and feedback.

Stickieee · Sat 08/07/2006 16:27:02

This was an amazingly great game. I'm left speechless here! As a player I just got so sucked into the world of the game. It's so cynical, so nihilistic, so real. I've completed it three times now, and I'm just starting the fourth round. :o

Vince Twelve · Mon 10/07/2006 04:36:08

I went away on vacation for two weeks and a bunch of great games came out!

Dave, I loved the game! Amazing writing and atmosphere! Yay for no inventory puzzles!

Snarky · Mon 10/07/2006 04:40:56

Congratulations on the MAGS win, Dave!

I just finished the game, and I have to agree with everyone that it's excellent. You do a great job defining Rabbi Stone's character with just a few strokes, skillfully drawing on stereotype to create a character who is human if not always sympathetic. I also enjoyed the gameplay, especially the piecing together of clues and searching the Internet for information. Most of all I'm impressed by the way you've taken a simple concept ("a Jewish noir mystery") and followed it through in every part of the execution, from the jokes on the computer to the rabbinical conversation techniques to the tone of the conclusion.

I also liked the length. This is the kind of game I have time to play! It certainly didn't outstay its welcome.

It's a shame that the dialog is marred by a few typos ("curtesy", "conscious" instead of "conscience", inconsistent capitalization) and grammatical errors ("your" for "you're", etc.). I also experienced a bug where reloading a game made the wrong dialog portrait show up for Joe, as well as other graphical glitches. And I think Rabbi Stone was inconsistent about how long ago he threw Jack out of the congregation (he says five years at one point, eight later). I'm sure if you had had more time these bugs would have been ironed out, but I rather hope you'll go back and polish up some of the rough spots.

Oh, and just out of curiosity: Are you yourself Jewish, or is the setting a product of background research into Judaism and Jewish culture?

Vel · Mon 10/07/2006 09:07:31

Yay, wonderful game, Dave!
Great writing, great characters, the sympathetic point of view somehow reminds me of Graham Greene's "The Human Factor".
It was fun writing music for this game and I'm proud to have contributed to its creation.

Dave Gilbert · Mon 10/07/2006 15:29:00

Thanks again for the comments, all.

Snarks, yeah, the typos make me cringe. There was a lot of dialog in the game, and a limited time in which to get it done so there were a few ugly spelling/grammatical errors that slipped through the cracks. I needed a definite break from the game after the deadline, but I'm going over it now and I'm trying to sort those typos out.

As for that talking portrait bug, I have no idea why that happens. I have dutifully reported it to the tech forum and i'll hopefully have an answer soon.

linus · Tue 11/07/2006 18:47:52

Just finished the game and loved almost every minute playing it.

Just one minor gripe:

Spoiler

It should be mentioned in the readme file that clues can be combined. I immediately realized that JDM stands for Joe DeMarco, what I didn't realize is that I need to "tell" the game.

[close]

I liked the main character a lot and the last two puzzles of the game were exceptionally good. They required some trial and error (or dying and loading), but that's something that never bothered me about a game.

Another job superbly done, Dave, you're always pushing the boundaries of the genre a bit, both plot- and puzzle-wise. Good work by the rest of the team as well, especially on the character portraits.

The Book · Tue 11/07/2006 19:03:51

To put it short: games like "The Shivah" remind me why I'm playing adventure games at all.

DeviantGent · Wed 12/07/2006 15:19:26

An excellent game. I cannot decide if I like this fellow more than Raspy Finch though. Oh, how you divide my loyalties sir!

Rock on.

The Shivah

bbc