Two of a Kind - v1.01

[YOke]

Post 100 in this thread is a nice setting to inform you that Two of a Kind is accepted into Home of the Underdogs where it has achieved a Top Dog rating, no less. Are you happy? I know I am!

[i need help]

how do i umm...get the water for bum?

[lakerz]

Good to hear about HOTU giving you guys some pub.  Very well deserved.  Two of a Kind was a pleasure to play.  A few hard puzzles, nothing too hard though.  Always interesting to get the chance to play as two different characters in the same game.

One minor quibble, really not even an issue.  At the end of the game I had the twins talk to each other and when I selected "What should we do?" the other answered back "Let's explore the mansion some more."  Eh, good advice except the ability to go back to the mansion at this point is nil.    Other than that, a few spelling errors, the game was just about perfect. 

[AGA]

Post 100 in this thread is a nice setting to inform you that Two of a Kind is accepted into Home of the Underdogs where it has achieved a Top Dog rating, no less. Are you happy? I know I am!

Yes. Notice whose review they quoted too

[qptain Nemo]

Post 100 in this thread is a nice setting to inform you that Two of a Kind is accepted into Home of the Underdogs where it has achieved a Top Dog rating, no less. Are you happy? I know I am!

Yeah, we are happy!

[Einoo]

The game's wonderful, but I need help:

Spoiler

How do I get the milk from the cow? I've got the gold bowl under the cow. I've tried an idea by getting the bees near her, but it didn't seem to work.

[close]

By the way, when will a release with some of the bugs fixed come out?

[BerserkerTails]

Einoo:

Spoiler

Your idea was right. Try getting closer. And waiting for a few seconds... SPLOOSH!

[close]

[Snarky]

Thanksgiving weekend gave me a chance to catch up with some of the recent AGS games. Two of a Kind was easily the best of the bunch. In fact, it's right up there with the cream of AGS games. Thanks, guys, for making such a cool game!

Going on the idea that by offering constructive criticism I can influence future games to be more to my liking, I'd like to offer a short (well, superficial, at least) review. Hope you don't mind.

Writing
Very high quality, especially the dialog in conversations. The characters have distinctive voices which provides a lot of personality without becoming annoying. It's often funny, and rarely seems like it's trying too hard. There are only a couple of misspellings in the whole game, which is up to the high standards of the other elements.

The story is surprisingly minimal. There are only three or four plot developments altogether. The intro is the weakest part. It is wasted explaining something that turns out to have no bearing on the story. While it gives a "rational" explanation for the supernatural powers seen in the game, the story soon brings in magic and demons regardless. It seems like the explanation "people have different magic powers" would have been sufficient.

There are some half-hearted attempts at character development, but they don't really go anywhere. A hint about unpleasant events in the past is nicely underplayed. The conflict is completely external to the two protagonists, and they have no real personal stake in their quest. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the story feel a bit lightweight.

Puzzles and Gameplay
The puzzles are all pretty reasonable. The game is highly non-linear, which I found made it significantly harder than it would otherwise have been, because the different puzzles served to obfuscate each other. That's probably a good thing, but it also went some way to ruin whatever momentum the game had. A couple of the locations that show up on the map at the beginning of the game (specifically, the store and the farm) are quite arbitrary. The story doesn't do anything to explain why the characters feel like going there. It works much better when locations appear after they are referenced.

I thought there was some inconsistency in the level of hints given out given out for each puzzle, for instance

Spoiler

getting through the gate by (among other things) getting nuts for BerserkyTails from the store by wearing a funny hat by finding a replacement for the bum

[close]

seemed excessively "breadcrumbed", while the solution of

Spoiler

having Dr Love pretty up the flower

[close]

appeared to be taken out of thin air. However, I see that some people have been stuck on puzzles I thought were obvious, while there are other bits that no one but me seem to have found difficult.

One minor complaint about a puzzle:

Spoiler

If Tim tries to OPEN/CLOSE the window where the rat is stuck there is no response, whether he's levitating or not. Shouldn't he give some kind of feedback about not being able to open the window with his hands?

[close]

The gameplay is very good. The shtick of being able to switch between two characters works extremely well. Not only does it provide a different perspective on things, it's used for all it's worth in constructing puzzles. Cooperation puzzles, conversation puzzles, puzzles that rely on one character's special ability, multiple paths, even tasks where the other character has to be absent.

The balance between the characters is a bit off, though. I counted eight animals Tiffany gets to talk to, with only three places in the entire game where Tim needs to use his floating.

Interface
The interface is solid. I grew particularly fond of the follow (or, the way I used it, summon) button, which made an enormous difference in playability. I had a problem with it once, when switching to Tim while he was following caused him to materialize outside of the walkable area, but that was easy enough to get out of (switch back to Tiffany, go to another screen, and summon Tim). I didn't like that follow got turned off when you switched characters. That seemed like a bug to me.

There are a few scripting issues with the GUI buttons, too. The text in the status bar often doesn't get updated to reflect the currently selected action, especially when over the inventory. Using one inventory item with another has to be done without any feedback.

I don't much like the layout of the action buttons. It seems like an inefficient use of space, and they were unnecessarily fiddly to hit. I really wanted one (or more) of these options while playing:
-cycle through actions with right mouse button
-keyboard shortcuts for the actions
-default action on rightclick

Any of those would have made a big difference.

Kudos for a very brief, skippable, splash screen when launching the game. The save game system is a neat gimmick, and the slots are just about sufficient for the length of the game.

Other Stuff
The graphics are great, the music is great. Good work!

Overall, it's a great game. It's not quite a masterpiece, but it's a great example of a multi-character adventure, guaranteed to be referenced whenever the topic comes up in the future.

[Dave Gilbert]

Hi Snarky,

Thanks for the comments. I definitely agree with the points that you raise about the story.  I wanted to give their "backstory" a more central role in the plot, but since I only had a few days to plot out the game I was forced to keep it simple.  In the end, we figured the strong "oil-and-water" character dynamics would be enough to pull the game through.  Hints about their past are given in various conversations, but they don't take center stage.  At some point, we will probably do a sequel where the twins' relationship and history is explored a bit further.  That has yet to be seen.

Regarding the game update.  I've fixed a number of bugs, and added something very special for the end credits sequence.  However, my home computer is being slow and stupid lately.  Getting it to do anything productive takes forever.  I've done all the things you are supposed to do to fix it, but nothing works.  I've backed up all my important stuff, and plan on re-installing windows soon.  Hopefully  I'll get a new version uploaded by the end of the week.

[Einoo]

Regarding the game update.Ã,  I've fixed a number of bugs, and added something very special for the end credits sequence.Ã,  However, my home computer is being slow and stupid lately.Ã,  Getting it to do anything productive takes forever.Ã,  I've done all the things you are supposed to do to fix it, but nothing works.Ã,  I've backed up all my important stuff, and plan on re-installing windows soon.Ã,  HopefullyÃ,  I'll get a new version uploaded by the end of the week.

That's why they have the Macintosh. You may have been enlightened partly (by AGS), but you have yet to be enlightened fully.

[Einoo]

Spoiler

How can I get the black wax to go in the bowl! It doesn't work!

[close]

[BerserkerTails]

Einoo:

Spoiler

The black wax does not go into the bowl.

[close]

Bigger hint:

Spoiler

Maybe if you were able to create a fully-fledged candle from the wax, you could put it in the bowl... But what is needed to make it a candle?

[close]

Even Bigger hint:

Spoiler

You need a wick, or something wick like.

[close]

Solution:

Spoiler

Get the shoelace from Bovino's closet, and put it in the wax.

[close]

Oh, and Einoo: AGS and AGS-Made games do no run on Macs, or any Apple product, without an emulator.

[Einoo]

I know. I think it sucks. I have both a wintel box and a Mac. The Windows computer doesn't have Net access, so I have to download it here and then put it on a CD.

[koula]

how do i get the antenna?None of the characters can reach it not even Tim who floats!!!!!!

[BerserkerTails]

Koula:

Spoiler

You need to get the antenna down to you somehow... Or at least within reach....

[close]

Bigger hint:

Spoiler

What's the antennae attached to? Looks like a TV antenna... Maybe you should check out the TV in the store.

[close]

Even Bigger Hint:

Spoiler

An electrical shock of enough ppower should jar the antenna down into reach... But what could interfere with the antenna to create that shock?

[close]

Solution:

Spoiler

Turn the device next to the TV in the store on high. Then get Tiffany to ask the bird to sing from on top of the antenna. While the bird's singing, get Tim to turn on the TV. Then take the antenna.

[close]

[Einoo]

MY REVIEW OF "TWO OF A KIND"
Note: No review for puzzles because I can't do any puzzles at all without hints anyway.

STORY: The story is pretty good, although a bit stereotyped. I agree with that other reviewer on the intro issue, it seems pretty redundant, especially because the game gets magic involved later on anyway. This is one of the only things that could be worked on.

MUSIC: This was nice, I really have to thank BerserkerTails for this. It was all enjoyable> My favorite music was the "detective-y" music, like the splash screen stuff, the office music, and the beginning credits theme. The happy version of the office music at the end was a clever touch. The end credits track was really excellent and haunting music, but didn't really fit the tone of the game.

GRAPHICS: Nothing to say except...
Let's all give a big round of applause to Dart and Scotch!

CHARACTERS AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: This is the best part of the whole game. The characters are so vibrant, and they are funny. I could just picture Farmer Yoker, desperately seeking Tiffany's attention, begging Dr. Love for help.  I was disappointed how little screen time Farmer Yoker and BerserkyTails got though. about character development... I love the way Tim and Tif change a tiny bit at the end, but not enough to really notice. It could have been less subtle though. The reason I even say this is because saaying somebody sucks at something doesn't seem like something Tiffany would do, and Tim seemed a bit more eager than usual to take on the challenge.

OTHER (or where I stick all my criticism): The game was buggy, and most of the bugs were pretty major. But my one real thing I hated about this game is was how FREAKIN' SLOW the game was!!!! The talking animations were so slow, the mouths barely had time to move at all! I tried to put it at 320 x 200 and turn off the anti-aliasing of scaled-down sprites, but the game wouldn't let me! This was most noticeable in the room with the demon.

So that's it. A little buggy and slow, but overall, it still wins my Seal of Approval.

EINOO'S SEAL
       
OF APPROVAL!

[Dave Gilbert]

Hi Einoo,

What happened when you tried to change the resolution?  I can't think of a reason why the game wouldn't let you.

I am aware of the bugs.  Most of them are fixed.  I recently reformatted my home computer (backing up the source code, of course) but it seems to have destroyed my internet connection.  I am working on getting that fixed so I can upload the new version.

[Dave Gilbert]

Rats.

My home connection is still kaput.Ã,  I am still trying to sort it out.Ã,  In the meantime, I thought you would be interested in seeing a sneak preview of the closing credits sequence.Ã,  Matt Gardener (Wogoat) has created a number of lovely sketches to play over the music.Ã,  Here's a sneak preview:

[Einoo]

Oh never mind about resolution. I just realized that the game was locked. D'oh!

[Einoo]

Actually, it STILL won't work.