About time that I post this here:
Concurrence
About the game
Concurrence is a so called cinematic platform game. Unlike other platform games you will know (like „Super Mario Bros.“ or „Sonic the Hedgehog“), this game focuses on realisitic movements, puzzles and a dense atmosphere. If you have played games like ‚Prince of Persia‘, ‚Another World‘ or ‚Flashback‘ you will know what awaits you. Many of parts of the game will require precise jumping and you might feel a little frustrated at the beginning. But don‘t despair, study the movements described in this manual and keep on practicing and you will find that it isn‘t so hard after all (you also have unlimited continues). This version was done for the april 2011 Monthly Adventure Game Studio Competition (MAGS) and does not feature the full game. It‘s more of a demo. The finished version will follow sometime 2011. ptp88 composed a great soundtrack for the game.
- Have fun playing
Story
My blood was beating against my skull as the blazing sunlight and the piercing screams of the bird-like creatures give me a rough awakening from a dreamless sleep. I was wearing an astronaut suite, but my helmet was missing. The steaming pile of metal right next to me indicates that its some kind of vehicle and that it probably brought me here. Where was I?....Who was I? Who sent me here and for what reasons?
As looked to the sky, shielding my eyes from the bright sunlight, I suddenly realized that these questions had to wait. I had to get leave this place. Now. Time was running out for me. As I know today: In more than one sense....
Screens
(http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6088/screen2lw.png)
(http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/5167/screen1g.png)
(http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8764/screen3mn.png)
(http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/2395/screen5g.png)
(http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9136/screen4wu.png)
Updates
- Improved loading/saving system
- Now with manual!!!!!
MAGS
If you liked the game, vote for us at MAGS (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=voting)
Download
http://www.mediafire.com/?hfoli9x1w0jcizx
Hi mode7, how are You? ;D.....WOW :o :o , this looks absolutely fantastic!!!!
Downloading ;D
Is that Thom Yorke? :=
Looks really awesome!
Quote from: Chicky on Sat 07/05/2011 14:26:55
Is that Thom Yorke? :=
Looks really awesome!
+1 to the question and comment.
Arggggg >:(, I have reached a point where I can't continue and I don't know what I'm doing wrong :-[
Spoiler
I'm in the screen where a door is closing and a red sign is flashing. I jump the hole while running but I'm never able to go through the door, no matter how fast I do the operation. I've tried keep running after jumping and also getting close to the door and then crouch and roll, and, although visually I should be able to pass because there is enough room I can't
Am I doing something wrong?
I'm having the same problem as Zenger, it really seems impossibe.
Quote from: anian on Sat 07/05/2011 14:35:34
Quote from: Chicky on Sat 07/05/2011 14:26:55
Is that Thom Yorke? :=
Looks really awesome!
+1 to the question and comment.
My thoughts exactly. Gonna check this one out, looks spiffy.
I'm at the same bit as Zenger and Matti.
Lovely game though. The controls are a bit fiddly, but I'm enojoying this one... apart from being stuck :(
[update]
I've had to quit....
Spoiler
My clock was down to 5 minutes, so I decided to keep running left while my clock ran down (did you know you can just keep running left? You can't see your character but you can hear his footsteps.
Anyway, the clock ran down, and nothing happened... it just went into minus numbers.
I'm starting to think it was all a prank... :-\
Quote from: Zenger on Sat 07/05/2011 14:59:10
Arggggg >:(, I have reached a point where I can't continue and I don't know what I'm doing wrong :-[
Spoiler
I'm in the screen where a door is closing and a red sign is flashing. I jump the hole while running but I'm never able to go through the door, no matter how fast I do the operation. I've tried keep running after jumping and also getting close to the door and then crouch and roll, and, although visually I should be able to pass because there is enough room I can't
Am I doing something wrong?
Well I just tried it again and it worked right away. Just jump the gap and keep on running.
EDIT: Did you try this version or the one from the mags thread. This one is easier
Yeah, I also couldn't get past that door, when I tried ducking in front of it, my character wouldn't pass even though visally there was lots of clearance.
Further more I quit and started the game again only to recieve this error:
An error has occured...(regular error text about how it isn't AGS's fault)
(ACI version 3.20.1110)
in "room9.asc", line 5
from "room9.asc", line 9
Error: Error running function 'room_AfterFadeIn':
Error: Script appears to be hung (a while loop ran 150001 times). The problem may be in a calling function;check the call stack.
I see there's a 1.2 version now, I'll try that.
EDIT: yeah, the error doesn't appear now, but still can't get through that door.
EDIT2: it's seems that the problem is you have to do it on your first run in that room, if you die or don't make it on the first try you can't pass it...weird
Thanks for the bug report, ill look into that.
Thanks everyone for the feedback.
IMPORTANT REQUEST
If you had particular trouble at an certain area (like the door) or if you even stoped playing because of frustration. Please tell me so I can improve it and i'd be very happy if you even have improvement suggestions.
Quote from: mode7 on Sat 07/05/2011 19:49:07
Quote from: Zenger on Sat 07/05/2011 14:59:10
Arggggg >:(, I have reached a point where I can't continue and I don't know what I'm doing wrong :-[
Spoiler
I'm in the screen where a door is closing and a red sign is flashing. I jump the hole while running but I'm never able to go through the door, no matter how fast I do the operation. I've tried keep running after jumping and also getting close to the door and then crouch and roll, and, although visually I should be able to pass because there is enough room I can't
Am I doing something wrong?
Well I just tried it again and it worked right away. Just jump the gap and keep on running.
EDIT: Did you try this version or the one from the mags thread. This one is easier
Hi, I've used the link You have posted here
I've been doing some tests and I think I found the problem
Once the door reaches the point when You couldn't pass, You cannot pass through the door never again even if You die and try again correctly. It sounds to me that the room is not being reset correctly when You die, at least the part/flag that signals the door as close/not walkable because
-If you enter the room for the first time and You do it correcty You can pass through the door
-If you enter the room and die as many times as You like, but always before the door reaches the point when You couldn't pass, and then You try again and do it right You can pass trough the door
-Once the door is closed/reaches the point of not passing, no matter what You do, even if the door is still closing and you have enough room to pass through the door, the character can't pass never again
Anyway, I didn't like what was behind that door :P... not a bit ;D
I really liked the game a lot mode7, it's fantastic, amazing work... more please? ;D :P
Kind regards
PS: opps sorry anian, when I wrote this post I didn't realize of your edit2, so I'm repeating the same thing You said
I didn't notice the bug with the door until I restart the game, that's quite annoying because the savegame is automatically set to this room so you have to start over.
The game is awesome, I liked the intro, although the eyes of the main character seemed strange, maybe due to the distortion it looks like the entire eye was moving, not just the eyeball. The giant birds and all tiny animations in the backgrounds are cool.
Stunning graphics and atmosphere, the music/ambiant sounds fit the theme well. Of course how could anyone miss the so obvious reference to Another World, how nostalgic...
I have to say I stopped playing because of frustration 2 times, but it was mainly because I couldn't find the controls. And I'm not telling you how many times I stopped playing Another World because of real frustration :P
Just one thing I didn't like is the fact the player can't jump right away, you have to wait for the character to finish the walking animation (like 2 steps) before you can jump so I ended up hitting the up key repeatedly while running.
Thanks for the great game!
Mode7, this is extremely good. I was surprised to see a game like this being made in AGS, as usually AGS isn't very good for platformers due to it not being very responsive. But it worked well for this game. The entire thing was very involving and atmospheric from start to finish. And a great ending that definitely leaves me hungering for a full version! Very well done.
My only nitpick, if I have one, is that the walkable point of the platforms seem to end a step or two before they feel natural. I always felt like I could take an extra step to get to the very edge of a platform, but my guy would fall off.
Beautiful stuff! Very close in feel to the Delphine's games, which is great. Maybe even a bit too similar. But still - very well done! Great atmosphere, graphics and the controls are surprisingly adequate. Thom Yorke creeped me out a little (get it, huh, huh? ;D ), but hey, he should be a protagonist in more games, he's awesome! :)
And the manual is quite cool too. Hope to see more of this!
These design, atmospehere and sounds are SO COOL.
Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World
EDIT: And Flashback's gameplay. The best of each world, it seems (even though the controls are a bit inaccurate here)
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Mon 09/05/2011 12:27:36
My only nitpick, if I have one, is that the walkable point of the platforms seem to end a step or two before they feel natural.
+1
EDIT: I came accross what I believe is a bug: In the screen where there is a blinking large red screen, a large hole and some sort of door on the right, I managed to go "past" the door. I don't know if it's meant to be "open" at first, but I just walked past it by "insisting" (propbably by luck). I didn't have to perform any fancy action to do so, like using an object or whatever.
Then the character is hidden by the walkbehind of the door, but cannot change screen. He's stuck. You can't see him anymore and when you press the inventory key nothing happens (but the game is not entirely frozen, as the red alarm keeps blinking)
EDIT2: I restarted the game and retried. That time everything went fine.
I have no idea how I went past the door the first time, because it seems I performed the right sequence of actions the very first time, by luck, without even knowing what I was doing. I'm even wondering if the door was actually slowly closing the time I encountered the bug (the contrast on my screen is awful, I might have missed that). The point is that the cutscene never started after I walked past the door, even though, as I said, the game didn't get frozen per-say.
There is another issue in that room: You can exit it from the left, and the character cann walk away indefinitely, but the room doesn't change.
+1 for the walkable areas/character taking another step before jumping. The fact that some jumping actually needs to be taken from a step back from the edge or you overjump is fine, since it requires to percieve how a character acts, but falling of edges, even though they're clearly there gets anoying pretty fast.
I realize it's time limited and animations and backgrounds look brlliant though. In any case, I see there's lots more coming that is not included in the Mags edition, so if there's just a bit more play testing for the full version, it would make the game awesome.
I love the intro and character movement, visually.
This type of gameplay though, makes me want to pee blood and break my keyboard in two pieces. At least you have the good sense of not forcing the player to re-do ten rooms every time the player dies, that is definitely a design choice I appreciate.
I too think this type of gameplay requires exact precision regarding where the player perceives an edge to be. With this tweaked, you'll have solid gameplay. Good job!
http://kotaku.com/5801135/this-one-goes-out-to-fans-of-out-of-this-world
HOLY SHIT!
Quoteit looks a little rough (in its defence, it was made using Adventure Game Studio!)
>:(
I think what he means isn't "AGS can't produce decent games so that's to be expected" but "the engine wasn't made for that type of game at all and he still pulled it off".
thanks for all the nice critique! I really appreciate it! As I mentioned before i will give the engine a little overhaul before continuing. Namely braking the running up into 4 instead of 2 steps, which makes it much more precise when falling down and far jumping. I'll also implent some mechanism that makes you stop at an edge when walking.
Actually, I could have fixed that by now but I have to do quite a lot of work for university (which I didn't do because I was busy playing portal 2)
Anyway...
Damn...I just saw whams post down here. No way Kotaku. This is...good I guess. Unless Radiohead is going to sue me....
Blaming AGS for the stuff I did is not really fair. If its buggy its my fault and not ags one.
Apparently some people are a bit put off because of the animations. Yes they are mostly traced over the flashback frames. I honestly didnt think much about rotoscoping rotoscoped animations would be that much of a big deal, especially as I didn't have that much time equipment or even room to capture these animations myself.
As for Thom Yorke..well - that was the first picture I found on my HD. He didn't come to record the facial expressions though - I had to do them myself. :=
The game's an amazing super-atmospheric tribute to Another World, but I had great trouble getting through some segments not knowing where to stand, run or not to run. Couldn't beat the part with the rock falling from under your feet for example.
But I understand that it's MAGS and all future versions will be even better.
Quote from: Ascovel on Thu 12/05/2011 22:31:05
Couldn't beat the part with the rock falling from under your feet for example.
Spoiler
run & jump & jump
Oh, I meant I couldn't do it for a long time, but I finally made it past that segment.
Now I'm seriously stuck. How to open the blast doors? Do I need to go back to do something?
Quote from: Ascovel on Fri 13/05/2011 22:00:54
Now I'm seriously stuck. How to open the blast doors? Do I need to go back to do something?
Read through the thread. ;)
LOL. And I seriously... I mean seriously, thought that Concurrence would be too easy for you all... ;D
Well, luckily I was wrong and I am glad now for that. For me it was easy, maybe because I am so familiar with the Another World ;)
Quote from: anian on Fri 13/05/2011 22:08:41
Quote from: Ascovel on Fri 13/05/2011 22:00:54
Now I'm seriously stuck. How to open the blast doors? Do I need to go back to do something?
Read through the thread. ;)
I did. Some other door is discussed, or if it's the same one, it concerns a later point in the game.
I'm near the door with the console where some text in Latin shows and where you find a pipe lying on the ground. Also the countdown has just begun.
Quote from: ptpt88 on Fri 13/05/2011 22:09:37
Well, luckily I was wrong and I am glad now for that. For me it was easy, maybe because I am so familiar with the Another World ;)
I'm familiar with Another World, but this didn't help me much. :( I'm also too lazy to jump all the locations back, unless I can be sure this is the solution.
Quote from: Ascovel on Fri 13/05/2011 23:13:33I did. Some other door is discussed, or if it's the same one, it concerns a later point in the game.
I'm near the door where the console where some text in Latin shows and where you find a pipe lying on the ground. Also the countdown has just begun.
Hate to disappoint you, but it's that door, it's the last "thing you have to do" in the MAGS version. Though the screens really show an interesting game ahead in production.
@Ascovel
Did you
Spoiler
cut the vines to the right?
Quote from: anian on Fri 13/05/2011 23:17:50
Quote from: Ascovel on Fri 13/05/2011 23:13:33I did. Some other door is discussed, or if it's the same one, it concerns a later point in the game.
I'm near the door where the console where some text in Latin shows and where you find a pipe lying on the ground. Also the countdown has just begun.
Hate to disappoint you, but it's that door, it's the last "thing you have to do" in the MAGS version. Though the screens really show an interesting game ahead.
Then why is it closed from the start and no red sign was flashing? Also I never found this location:
(http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9136/screen4wu.png)
Was it cut out from the demo?
Just try and play from the begining
Spoiler
and after the alarm goes off and you go to the next room and jump over the chams on the first go. Then watch the cutscene.
As I said, I believe it'll be in the "full" game.
What alarm? There's no alarm.
Ascovel, you're not at the end of the game. It is possible to get through the first door with the computer console. There's just a puzzle, you havent solved yet ;)
Oh good. But some hint please. I think I already tried everything on everything.
Quote from: Ascovel on Fri 13/05/2011 23:53:37
Oh, good. But some hint please. I think I already tried everything on everything.
Spoiler
Well, you have a iron rod...maybe you can use it to break something a few screens back with it
Thanks. Finished. Very nice ending... or should I say cliffhanger. Also, really loved that you show how unstable some of the rocks the hero stands on are.
Spoiler
Oh, and would be nice if in the full version there was some visible crack in that wall. I never even noticed there was an active hotspot there despite running through the cave several times.
The first thing I thought when I saw the screenshots: Another world.. LOL... looks amazing..
I just downloaded the demo from the AGS games page. So far I only had a quick glimpse at it (I'm looking forward to playing it though once I find a little time) but what I've seen was amazing, cool idea, awesome design, graphics and cutscenes! For the time being, just a quick bug report:
- In the manual under the heading "Loading and Saving" there's a typo:
"it will ask you, if you want to continue grom that point"
- If you leave the first screen and then try to enter it again, the screen remains black and there's also a chance a save stat message pops up, followed by the question if you want to quit. If you save and quit and then continue from the last save stat, you get the black screen again. IIRC even holding the key for movement to the right didn't get me out of that predicament so I had to quit and restart.
Anyway, thanks for creating and sharing Concurrence, and btw, I liked Abduction, too! :)
beautiful game! I love another world and flashback! I think Eric Chahi would be very proud. And I like Thom Yorkes Music. ;) Really well programmed. Respect. Cinematic platformers are not easy to create. Unfortunately when I got to the cave after I used my glass on the roots it appeared an error! :o
Do you mean the game crashed? What kind of error do you still remember?
Quote from: mode7 on Tue 17/05/2011 20:48:59
Do you mean the game crashed? What kind of error do you still remember?
I think it was a typical ags-programming error. I can't remember the whole error message. I could just remember the formulation which seem to be from the ags-engine. Sorry I can't be more help. :-\
Whoa dude. looks good. How did you make those graphics though? Thats what I wanna know, including any technical details.
I'm stuck though. Is it possible to do a directional jump from standing still? I can't seem to do it.
Really great job so far. I like how you're presenting the story, especially with the mystery character and the discovering of plot elements (meteorite impact!) by the player as opposed to cut-scenes.
I wish there was an in-game tutorial though. I kept pressing RIGHT and UP at the same time, thinking that was the correct way to horizontally jump, which led to a lot of unnecessary dying and frustration.
But good job! I look forward to seeing where you take it from here.
Thanks JBurger.
The finished version will feature a ingame tutorial. In fact the first screens where already laid out for this purpose. It was just scrapped (like so much else) due to the close deadline.
Quote from: NEON-GAMES on Tue 17/05/2011 20:48:06
beautiful game! I love another world and flashback! I think Eric Chahi would be very proud. And I like Thom Yorkes Music. ;) Really well programmed. Respect. Cinematic platformers are not easy to create. Unfortunately when I got to the cave after I used my glass on the roots it appeared an error! :o
Im getting the error too
in "room5.asc", line 10
Error: Error running function 'room_AfterFadeIn':
Error:Null pointer refrenced
I noticed after playing around with the demo that it's possible to bypass the door beside the console by simply crouching and rolling through it. The door remains closed but you're able to pass it regardless. I assume this is not supposed to happen.
And this really is a fantastic looking demo. I'm a big fan of Another World and the vibe is really there. I'm hoping that the final release will sort of "go its own way" a little more, but at this point I really like what I see. Great work!
Great atmosphere, got stuck in the door-closing room bug, but working my way to back there.
One thing though that I'm finding of slight annoyance is that I seem to be falling off the edges even though I'm roughly ( using the player charatcer as scale) a sprite-witdth away from the edge presented. I'm not sure if this is because of the edge-grabbing mechanic or not, but it does pull some fun having do do the jumps when you keep falling off the edge before you get to the visual representation of it.
It hasn't detoured me none cause the atmosphere is so great I just want to fight on and see all that this planet has to offer. But figured I'd point it out since you asked =P.
Sorry I'm late to the party, only just played this. I'm really impressed by the whole style of it, of course the beautiful graphics and animation, but the whole thing was great. Can't wait for the full game to come out!
Quote from: deltamatrix on Sat 21/05/2011 20:29:43
Whoa dude. looks good. How did you make those graphics though? Thats what I wanna know, including any technical details.
I'm stuck though. Is it possible to do a directional jump from standing still? I can't seem to do it.
Please share the details!
- Cogliostro
???Any progress on the error?... :'( I have really been wanting to complete this game however I constantly get that same error...
I'm really sorry. Maybe I can make a quick fix
This game looks real promising! ;D
Little update:
I was able to fix the room 5 null pointer error. It has something to do with the sound channel.
However the infamous doorbug remains unfixed. I have no Idea why the door doesn't reset. It'll need more time to figure it out, time which I don't have. So I'm sorry but this won't be fixed until the final release by end of the year.
Quote from: mode7 on Mon 01/08/2011 11:01:31
So I'm sorry but this won't be fixed until the final release by end of the year.
No problem at all as long as you bring us a final version ;)
Quote from: Ouxxey_games on Wed 11/05/2011 17:21:30
Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World Another World
YEEEEEES. That's exactly what I thought when I saw the screens. I swear, as soon as my internet goes back up to it's normal speed, I am SO downloading this. It just looks so cool.
Until then, I'm going to sit in front of the screen, fidgeting my thumbs, and hoping that I won't fall victim to any of the bugs mentioned. :)
I played the game, and I LOVE IT. Unfortunatly, I couldn't get very far, as the controls were really starting to bother me as I was playing. So to be fair, I'll started off with the things I didn't like, then make up for it with the things I loved. :)
I think using the arrow keys might be a little inconvinent, so I was wondering if it could be possible that you include a "W,A,S,D" keys option? The arrows make timing runs more difficult, and trying to run with the "right-shift" (Since it's much easier to use with arrow keys) is very annoying, especially when you die as often as I do, and have to continuesly move your hand to press the space button. It's also the control more gamers are used to using.
Another SMALL (very, very small) pet peeve of mine whilst I was playing this game was that for a I was a bit lost whilst looking for the inventory. But then I again, like I said, it was only a small problem, which I don't really mind. I'm just one of those gals that runs into a game without reading a manual. :P Maybe including a small text tip after picking up the glass shard at the very start of the game? But honestly, I don't think it's that much of a big deal.
Now to the good:
I loved the game environment, and the graphics in general are wonderfully made. Definately reminds me of Another World, but in a good way-- Since I haven't seen anything like it in a long time.
The atmosphere is PERFECT and I love the sound and music.
The game overall is quite relaxing... :=
Thanks for the nice feedback Viktorija,
I agree that the controls are frustrating. Once I get back to work on the game I will either have to improve the step-controls or dump them all together in favour of a more responsive control system (this would make the animations less smoot and realisitc though)
Actually I'd like to hear some feedback on this. Thats something I've been thinking a lot. Maybe someone knows a (2d)game which has smooth, realistic animations yet responsive controls.
For the sounds and music I can't stress enough how much credit goes to ptp88 for making this incredible atmosphere possible.
Great game cannot wait for the full version.
And I would not change the controls a lick, Anyone who has played Another World would consider then extremely responsive.
And not everything needs to be so smooth, I think their are reasons to want the unresponsive controls, to kind-of mimic the clumsy-ness of a regular person.
Wow, now I'm glad I decided not to enter that MAGS. Would have been pointless against this diamond from another world. I almost had a flashback when I was playing.
Seriously, great game, just a bit too buggy. For instance
Spoiler
I managed to get past the closed door in the room with the console and the rod by simply crouching and rolling forward. Then I tried about 30 times to go past that closing door but never managed to. But I liked the game so much that I decided to give it another go from the start. I passed the first door by crouching once again but then managed somehow to pass the 2nd one before it was closed at my 2nd attempt. Wonderful ending there :P
Can't wait for a polished full version.