Today is FRIDAY THE 13th so I am finally releasing my first game...
(http://www.castironmuse.com/games/9h2d/title7.png)
(http://www.castironmuse.com/games/9h2d/2.jpg)
During a thunderstorm in Northern California, five strangers find shelter in an abandoned log cabin. As the hours pass, they become increasingly aware of a supernatural evil that lurks in the cabin, in the woods, and in the dark corners of their hearts.
Down the game here. (http://www.castironmuse.com//games/9h2d/9h2d.zip) (28.3MB)
My goal was to create a game that was heavy on atmosphere and storytelling. As a result, the puzzles fit the story and none of the beta testers had to ask any questions to find the solutions. In the end there are 37 rooms, 4 playable characters, three alternate endings, and one mini-game.
A few suggestions for the game. Talk to the people around you, and expect them to have something new to say after a significant event. (i.e. After every hour they have something new to say.) Also when you complete the game, watch the credits through to the end. I give an epilogue there.
It was never my intention to create an offensive game, however, there are scenes containing profanity, violent death, and posterior nudity.
All comments are welcome,
Cogliostro
Found a bug:
When trying to leave to the forest to the west ( screen the garden hose)
the game locks up, i.e. the message box doesn't close
Sorry about that bug. New version already uploaded.
WORK AROUND: For those of you who don't have the bandwidth to do a new download, hold down the ESC key while moving away from the edge and it will eventaully unlock.
- Cogliostro
Need help on hour 7
Spoiler
How do I get past the blue sphere?
Quote from: I am a loser on Sat 14/05/2011 12:38:35
Need help on hour 7
Spoiler
How do I get past the blue sphere?
Nevermind !
Found it out.
Very nice game !
Still need help:
Spoiler
I cannot get the combination for the gate's lock.
Used magnifier to read writing but I get no message
except that it's in Enlish, no in Latin.
I guess it must have to do with the letters I and V, i.e. numbers one
and five, right? Or did I miss something in that screen?
Found it, too :-))
Another bug , this time it's severe!
Spoiler
I took the girl to the cave, gave her the magnifier
Then she's gone, nowhere to be found
I already have the bible on me, maybe that's why?
I am so happy that this is out ;D congrats, downloading now.
Loser - Sorry about that bug. I managed to get three amazingly dedicated beta testers on my team, and I still blow it with my last minute updates. At any rate, I've corrected the bug and uploaded that version already. Check you PMs for the conversation that would have occurred. It'll let you continue.
vertigoaddict - This game was anticipated?! I love the sound of that. Thanks!
- Cogliostro
Thanks for the help!
A real nice game. Hope to see more from you
I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you could go to the games page and review it, I'd really appreciate that.
EVERYONE ELSE: Make sure you're playing version 1.3.0.2 I made a last minute change to the earlier versions and made it impossible to complete.
EDIT -- This warning really only applies to people who downloaded the game during the first 24 hours it was available, by the time I posted THIS reply, I had already replaced the incorrect version with the working version.
- Cogliostro
Quote from: Cogliostro on Sat 14/05/2011 16:16:36
I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you could go to the games page and review it, I'd really appreciate that.
EVERYONE ELSE: Make sure you're playing version 1.3.0.2 I made a last minute change to the earlier versions and made it impossible to complete.
- Cogliostro
I seem only to be able to download version 1.3.0.1 (from the games page and here) is there link up for the most recent version?
I just downloaded the zip file. I haven't installed it yet but the program file 9h2d.exe shows a product version 3.2.1. I don't know how to relate that to your recommended version number 1.3.0.2. Do I have the right one, and if not how do I get it?
VertigoAddict -- It's the only one available on the server. When you get to the opening page the version # is listed in the lower right hand corner.
Minero -- 3.2.1 refers to the version of AGS that I used to build the game. Again, the only version on the server is working version.
- Cogliostro
Okay, it's been three days and more than 200 downloads. Which has resulted in exactly two comments totalling 21 words with an opinion about the game. Perhaps my expectations were off, but I was hoping for a little more feedback. Positive feedback keeps me motivated, and negative feedback means I can fix my mistakes. I really do want to know what everyone thought of the game.
- Cogliostro
Interesting story, packed in a game with lots of love to details, very nice drawings and well done animations. The atmosphere is wonderful and I had fun to play it (and nearly got a heartattack at one point). (http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm313/DXcellence/Smilies/eusa_clap.gif)
Thank you very much for giving this to us! Hopefully this novel won't be your last one.
Quote from: Cogliostro on Sat 14/05/2011 16:16:36
... If you could go to the games page and review it, I'd really appreciate that. ...
I did it and those of you, who are not familiar with this - it's to be found here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1431) ;)
Even if you don't like to do comments or user ratings for games ...
...
you shouldn't miss this one to play! I really can recommend it!
(http://smilies-smilies.de/smilies/community/ja.gif)
... a bit of sad (http://foolstown.com/sm/nomail.gif)
Is there something serious about this game, I don't know? (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-think005.gif)
Here we have a game, which is downloaded hundereds of times and I know, that it is done with lots of love to details and also in a quality, you'd not expect for a first game. The creator offered us a wonderful story, gave us a nice gameplay and only want's some feedback for it.
Quote from: Cogliostro on Mon 16/05/2011 19:15:55
... I really do want to know what everyone thought of the game.
The lack of responses doesn't sound like the forum I used to know and love so much!?
Did I miss something? Did you all download, but not play? (http://planetsmilies.net/not-tagged-smiley-10063.gif)
Since I recommended it (and still do(http://foolstown.com/sm/nunu.gif)) I'm asking myself,
what the meaning of this silence is about.
Please enlighten me! (http://www.gamershood.com/forum/images/smilies/fools1/au.gif)
If you don't want to post a reply in here, you are also welcome to send me an answer via pm because I really want to understand! (http://bestsmileys.com/whisper/2.gif)
just finished it and I must admit that it was a very interesting experience
here are my thoughts on this
pros:
as I said above - a very interesting experience, I haven't played any adventure that had so many characters guided by the player :D
- multiple endings, I reached all of them (I hope) and every single ending was unique and almost the hidden thruth was revealed there :)
- excellent story, at one specific moment I almost pissed in my pants :P
- I really like the part you take role of that guy that is searching with his camera for the existence of ghost, that was really clever part,
- detailed characters' discriptions, funny dialogs and remarks :D
cons:
some typos here and there, but not so much
may be a bu: after second attempt to get a different ending I played it pretty fast, and tried to skip some obious parts and I stumbled on some weird things, e.g. warning spoiler below
Spoiler
the 6th hour - the mini-game I tried to escape the wolf several times, but I could not pass the third screen. Every time I got kiled, even though I pushed my hero as hard as I could.
When you use shears BEFRE the guy is cought by the skeleton on the necklace, then it everything is ok, BUT when you try to use them AFTER the skeleton part, the shears are no longer in your possession..
the 7th hour - after you either throw or tied up the bold guy, you have to return to the cabin to tell the news and only after that you can go down the cave and talk to the blue thing otherwise you cannot show him your fake badge, and maybe you have to explore the cave especially the blue wall in case showing the badge.
And the most funniest part is in front of the gate; when you know the code you can simply put the right combination and then easily go through without the puzzle and with the girl as well.
hope this info helps, other than that this is A MUST PLAY for sure and must COMMENT too 8) 8)
I wish more games were out like this one
Even though this is a non-commercial andventure I would give it more points than those commercial ones in these days
Quote from: Cogliostro on Fri 13/05/2011 22:20:21
My goal was to create a game that was heavy on atmosphere and storytelling. As a result, the puzzles fit the story and none of the beta testers had to ask any questions to find the solutions.
Sorry for commenting on the game a bit too late I was still trying to figure out how to word my opinions on it.
The game was pretty engaging and I enjoyed it.
I felt the graphics were a little inconsistent, for instance the bg colour for Astreid's speech sprite is darker than everyone else's and in some occasions the main character's face would change, I'm guessing you had rushed a bit to release it on Friday 13th. Some of the other character's mesh quality (for lack of a better word) were not as good as others. Personally it didn't bother me much, but I needed to find a con somewhere.
I would often have trouble finding exits and enteries to other 'rooms' paths were a bit ambiguous and often the cause of me getting stuck in the game.
I liked the cause and effect aspect of it, how the actions that you took earlier in the game would affect the ending.
I found it funny how the characters did not comment on the bloody floor in the kitchen, even if it was not blood, it looked like it.
Spoiler
It was strange finding a red star behind the painting, if it was a christmas ornament, wouldn't it be more logical to have found it on a decorated tree, or a box in the shed?
PS: I noticed you took out the painting of the girl who was thrown out the window (I played the demo when it got out). There's nothing wrong with that, but it just made me wonder why you did it, was there supposed to be a puzzle behind it that you decided not to include?
Thank you both for posting your opinion!
It's a good feeling to get confirmed and I am a bit relieved. :)
Maybe you want to vote about this game or/and leave a comment for other users outside the forum, too? You can to do it here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1431).
@david:
If you push up the gamespeed, naturally the speed of
everything changes. So you have to be
very fast at the point, you told about. ;D
- But there
is a way to get a benefit for Jack only. 8)
a little hint:
Spoiler
Also a broken flashlight can be usefull sometimes for something ... ; - )
Still hoping for more to come ... (http://www.smilies.4-user.de/include/Denken/smilie_denk_58.gif)
Just posted some positive feedback on the games page after having just finished it. Thank you for this great game, I really enjoyed it!
Just a couple of minor things:
Spoiler
-You cannot show the star to the ghost unless you have a couple of looks at the plants in the background. I was a bit stuck at this point because I already knew what I had to do from the dialogue with the ghost, but it still didn't work. Maybe you could have added some more pointers here, or have been more lenient with the conditions, or only have that bit of dialogue after having had a closer look at the plants?
Spoiler
-I'm sure I had the broken flashlight on the first attempt at running through the woods, and I could throw it at the wolf then, but then I had to load and I didn't have the flashlight anymore. The sequence became a bit impossible afterwards, maybe because of that? (Don't know if you really need the flashlight.) Luckily I could skip it. Overall I thought it to be a bit too unfair/hard that the wolf could move through the rocks.
Spoiler
I thought it was a little bit weird how some dialogue repeated itself at one point, for example speaking to Astrid in the cave: the dialogue always starts with "I don't know what to do about Sal."
Which reminds me: I actually already got this dialogue before finding Sal & tying him up. I thought it was about not knowing where he was at that point, and it works for that as well, but it's rather weird to have the exact same dialogue after tying him up.
DAVID -
1) I left the options menu available, including the part where you can increase the speed of the play. That may have been the cause of the problem with the wolf on the thrid screen.
2) Losing Inventory Items -- When I lose the key out of my pocket, I don't realize it immediately. So, when the character loses something, the player won't notice until they go and look for it. This is my take on it. However, this sits badly with most of the players, so in the future, inventory items will not vanish without some comment.
3) Points 1 & 2 are related:
Spoiler
I intended to make the Escape from the Wolf mini game hard. So hard that you couldn't just wait for the right time and run for it. You were supposed to have to throw the dead flashlight and the shears to distract the wolf and get by. But, you're right, in one sense the shears were needed for somethine else so, this brings us to point 4.
4) The necklace can also be taken apart by using it on Jack.
5) Sal / Run back and forth to the cave.... Yeah, during some hours there was a lot of running, that's why I left the game option on to increase the speed.
6) Opening the Gate:
Spoiler
The game was unbelievably long, and there were dozens of variables controlling the sequence of action. I left some "skip ahead easter eggs" in the game to make beta testing bearable. If I changed so much as ONE sprite, the old saved games could not be used.
Using the COMBO was only one of three such easter eggs.
VERTIGOADDICT -
The main character's face would change? LOL!! I was *attempting* to give both Jack and Astrid different expressions. When you see the flesh stripped off a human body, some sort of change in expression seemed merited.
Blood in the Kitchen?! I got so used to ignoring that, I didn't even think that it looked like blood. My photoshop skills improved dramtically during the course of creating the game. The ground floor of the house was done first and when I merged two different images together to create the kitchen, the floor was left bloody.
Ornament stuck behind the tapestry... It doesn't make a lot of sense, but there's not supposed to be anything left in the house. It's empty and they're trying to sell it. That's my BS answer. The real answer was I was just getting a feel for manipulating objects when I drew that room.
The missing painting == The original story behind the game was some variation on "The Shining", the father was supposed to have gone insane and killed his family. The painting was worked into that story. I abandoned the idea early on, but forgot to eliminate the picture until MUCH later.
Valentijn -
The flashlight vanished from your inventory BEFORE you made it back to the driveway? First, I've time I've heard of that problem. I'll take a peek at the code.
"I don't know what to do about Sal." - This repeats? I'll take a look.
The ornament:
Spoiler
The idea of using a separate "Ghost logic" to solve this puzzle appealed to me. Adding a clue when Jack refuses to show the star isn't a bad idea though.
EVERYONE -
Thanks for letting me know what you thought of the game.
If you're really hard up for laughs, try using bizarre inventory items (Like the piece of string) on the wolf or the zombie.
- Cogliostro
NOw I see my problem with the wolf, I didn't know I could throw things on it, I was just running. I thought I was supposed to it properly, sorry my mistake. ;)
The speed button I used only after the mini-game, I think it is obvious thing, why.
And finally I realized I could use other items on the necklace as well.
Well, thank you Cogliostro for these points :)
Just finished this yesterday, my boyfriend and I played through it together. It was fun, we liked the story, and as someone else already mentioned, it's cool and immersive to get to follow the threads of different characters as we would in a movie.
What we liked:
-really strong sense of storytelling
-well-crafted suspense that feels very much like a horror movie
-interesting, likeable characters who seem three dimensional even though we only get to see them in this one situation -- we particularly liked Sal and the way that he is used to point out that behaving badly while under psychological distress doesn't make someone a worthless or evil person
-for the most part the puzzles were logical and intuitive
-the whole complex with the endings was a great way to end a horror movie/game and make it about something more than just running away from axe murders, kudos
-the general level of the art was good, we thought -- the models were good, and the animations were better than anticipated based on past experience with people using 3D art in a 2D point-and-click game
-the What Puzzle Am I On? button on the GUI was very useful and appreciated :D
-for the most part, the feedback you get from trying to use items on the world and on other items is informative and gives you a pretty good idea of whether you're on the right track or not
What we thought could be improved next time:
-it's worth noting Jack is a tad Gary Stu-ish -- he kind of functions as the narrator and so has weirdly complete knowledge about caves, for instance, and even though you get to play some of the other characters (which was a lot of fun), Jack is pretty much the only one who is going to get them out of the situation alive. Granted, it's a horror game, and in horror films there is usually only one guy who performs all the feats of heroism that rescue everyone who gets to live to the end, but he just really gave off the sense of being the avatar of the game's creator rather than one of the people trapped in the situation. This is sort of exacerbated by the fact that his skin texture is much higher res than anyone else's.
-the art assets, while good individually, are a bit mismatched -- Jack's face, as mentioned, is a lot more realistic in texture than everyone else's, and Gordy's model is not quite as human as the rest, particularly the face; the photographic backgrounds work fairly well usually but their rendering doesn't match the character model renderings in style and so the characters tend to leap out at you from a dark, pixely world that they don't seem really grounded in. Also, Sal's pants model kind of gives the appearance that he's wearing an adult diaper and when the puts his hands on his hips it appears he's holding up said diaper. :D
-I thought there was a little too much exposition at the very beginning, before we know Jack or what's going to happen or have really become invested. The magic really begins when Jack starts interacting with the other characters, as their differences of opinion and personality and the stress of the accident cause conflict immediately. I would suggest trimming back to the introductory narration and letting the character interaction fill in the details we need to know before we play.
-the Last Supper painting REALLY seems like it's part of a puzzle; I don't know how many times I went back to that thing trying to figure out what it was for.
Probably the thing that was the most problematic, for me, though, was that in order to have them not walking around like slow-pokes all over the place (and I had to go back and forth between the cave and the house a few times, for instance) I had to turn the speed up, which was an option, but then in the action sequences, before I realized I had a chance to affect the outcome, it was already over. Obviously I could go back through and play it again and switch to low speed when I know an action sequence is about to happen but after trying to get past the wolf several times the legit way, I sort of lost interest in arcade aspects -- but then you're sort of locked into only one ending, I think? Just putting it out there.
Anyhow, hopefully this is useful to you in some way, and hopefully you continue making games, woo. :)
Quote-I thought there was a little too much exposition at the very beginning
I would agree to a lot of your comments but I wanted to give my opinion on this bit: I actually thought there was a very good degree of exposition at the start. It's hard to get this right in adventure games: you want to start playing as soon as possible and get the story flowing while you're playing it, but it happens quite often that you hardly know anything about the person you're playing for, or what led you to the exact moment when the game begins (an example in professional games: I thought this to be the weakest point in the first two Broken Sword games)
In my opinion, the well written text boxes that set up this game did an excellent job at that.
Quote from: Valentijn on Sat 28/05/2011 22:55:59
Quotebut it happens quite often that you hardly know anything about the person you're playing for, or what led you to the exact moment when the game begins
I really agree, actually. Maybe it wasn't the amount that was the problem, maybe Jack's wistful angst and mountain talk just didn't connect with me. :=
I've not finished the game yet, as I'm stuck on the blue sphere, but I wanted to give my overall impressions so far. The game is far from perfect. It has a very plastic 3D feel, and there are times when the proportions are off in relation between characters and backgrounds....okay this is only in the shed and axe screen. However the atmosphere is pretty great, and the game did manage to make me jump a couple of times. Other than that I never really felt frightened by the threats the game produced so far. Now, let me get to what I really love about this game.
The multiple playable characters with their own take and perspective on the story. I always love this take on a game. I love to see a story from the points of view of different types of characters, and this game plays with perceptions a bit which is nice. This is also one of the most inventive games I've seen come out of AGS in a while. I can literally remember every puzzle vividly in my head so far, which is a very good thing. I can remember them so well because they're very unique, though not fully fleshed out. I went into this game with low expectations and was floored by the neat concepts used in it. This entire game is almost completely one cool idea after another, and I really really am impressed by that. You need to make more adventure games, because you really have a knack for designing them. I have found the game only moderately difficult, but I honestly don't care.
So far I give it a six out of ten. Would play again.
Pslim:
The compliments:
When I started off, my goal was to create a game that was heavy on atmosphere and story, I'm delighted to know this came through! Especially since the story development was done "on the fly" while I was writing the scripts in AGS. (I had an entire plot written out, but abandoned all of it except the characters and the way they got stranded in the woods.)
The mistakes:
Jack / Gary Stu: I can't tell you how much this observation bugged me, not because I disagree, but because it's so dead on and I didn't see it coming?! My problem with graphics was accidental and the super-cave knowledge skill can be dialed way back. However, even without those points, Gary Stu is still there somewhere and I'll need to address it further. The art discrepancies largely reflect how much I improved with my tools during the year I was making the game. A map is a must have feature in all future games. It was starting to bug me near the end, and that should have clued me in that it was going to bug everyone else too. Suffice to say, all of your comments are appreciated and are being given careful thought.
Valentijn:
I'm glad you liked the introduction. I felt it was important to know who was doing what and why. Otherwise you find yourself asking; why is the main character leaving his truck behind to chase a stranger through the curiously abandoned town? Without the backstory it seemed pointless. However, pslim is right, there's something wrong with the introduction. I used inspirational quotes to set the tone for a game about supernatural horror. WHAT WAS I THINKING?! That had to kill the sense of dread and fear more than anything else.
Secret Fawful:
You thought the game game was almost entirely "one cool idea after another" WOW! I can't image much higher praise than that. There are future games in the works. It's my hope that people would play *THIS* game, be convinced that I could actually design a decent game, and then agree to help out when I sent out a request for animators or graphic artists on my next game. Incidentally, the title will be "Bone Island".
- Cogliostro
Good game. Hopefully this (http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,1326) will help it reach a wider audience.
I've just played through this game twice in one day so I've seen two endings now... but I have some thoughts.
Spoiler
I just played it through the second time and I saved Astrid as I didn't realise I had a chance to the first time! (oops) The epilogue at the end though still said they found her body. What happened to her? The 'being' at the end said she was ok?! Also they said they found Gordy's corpse, but I assumed that even though he seemed fine when I left him, he probably bled out and died.
My only criticism is the spelling and grammar errors throughout, and, more minor, the fact I finished it and then played it all the way through again in one day (and I'll probably do it again after I've posted this to see what happens when I'm 100% evil!) makes me think it's a bit short. But for a home-made game I found it amazing, and I'm a seasoned adventure gamer, so I DO get through games quickly.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to see more games from you. Perhaps even carrying on from where this left off. I'm not sure where it could go, but I'd love to find out!
stepurhan -
A friend of mine told me about a web site called http://AdventureGamers.com (http://adventuregamers.com) last Friday. Yesterday I had some free time and checked it out. I was shocked to find I was already there. It brings whole new meaning to the phrase - "getting ahead of yourself." Also, they've done a better job of describing the game than I ever did!
I just checked my webstats - I've now cleared 2100 downloads! Pretty good if I do say so myself.
EDIT: I just re-read your posting and realized you were the one who posted 9H2D on Adventure Gamers! Thanks for the gorgeous write up. 8)
faerieevenstar -
Short Answer: If Jack isn't there, things go very badly for everyone he left behind.
I still have spelling and grammar errors? I would have sworn I hunted every last one down. I am married to an English teacher after all.
The game was short, after all it is my first game. I wanted to learn the subtleties of AGS and see how my style went over before I dove into the larger story. Additionally, I needed to find a couple of beta testers who I could work with. Finding good beta testers proved to be much harder than I anticipated. (Thanks guys!)
Finally, yes, I have ideas for two sequels. The story I originally had in mind was too big for a first game, and now I've broken it into two separate games. In addition to the reasons I've already mentioned, "Nine Hours to Dawn" helped flesh out Jack's background.
- Cgoliostro
Quote from: Cogliostro on Wed 15/06/2011 01:45:55
stepurhan -
A friend of mine told me about a web site called http://AdventureGamers.com (http://adventuregamers.com) last Friday. Yesterday I had some free time and checked it out. I was shocked to find I was already there. It brings whole new meaning to the phrase - "getting ahead of yourself." Also, they've done a better job of describing the game than I ever did!
I just checked my webstats - I've now cleared 2100 downloads! Pretty good if I do say so myself.
EDIT: I just re-read your posting and realized you were the one who posted 9H2D on Adventure Gamers! Thanks for the gorgeous write up. 8)
I can write the descriptions to your future games for a reasonable fee if you like. ;D
< Guess the tag over there isn't as obvious ss it should be. ::)