Adventure Game Studio

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgP4grIqiHA

Story:

Help Molly achieve her dream of entering the legendary Feria d'Arles - France's greatest bullfighting competition. Meet, betray, and generally become a nuisance to a host of characters. Point and click your way around the French city of Arles, famous for:

• bull fighting
• being difficult to pronounce
• being where Van Gogh cut his ear off (and painted some masterpieces, I guess.)

With glorious pixel-art animation and quirky puzzles, this is a small game about a girl with big dreams.

Price: $3.99

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1181570/Feria_dArles/

Itch: https://tomsimpson.itch.io/feria-darles

Screenshots:
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjQyMjk3LzI0OTc2NjgucG5n/original/AMrnU5.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjQyMjk3LzI0OTc2NTkucG5n/original/%2Ba9Sh3.png)

Congrats, this looks gorgeous and fun! Reminds me visually of the Gobliiins games.

Quote from: Ben X on Fri 06/12/2019 13:29:06
Congrats, this looks gorgeous and fun! Reminds me visually of the Gobliiins games.

Thanks Ben! Long time fan of your games :)

Congrats on the release Tom!   8-)

I'm trying to avoid Steam, but...
10% discount 2.96 â,¬

Itch
Discounted price after tax and "translated" from dollars 3.85 â,¬

Any idea how this works? Is it the "hipster" add-on?

Hmm! I am not sure. On both backends, I enter $3.99

Steam then converts and lets me manually change a conversion if I wish per currency.

Itch just does its thing.

Congrats on the release!
Hope it sells like pastis... I mean hot cakes.  (laugh) !

Many congratulations on the release Tom! ;-D

Congrats on the release! Is there DRM in the Steam version and does it require the Steam client? I'm thinking about where to buy.

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Fri 06/12/2019 14:43:28
Congrats on the release!
Hope it sells like pastis... I mean hot cakes.  (laugh) !

Thanks! And thanks again for all your help. You're one of the few that when they see the garage, they'll see llamas :)

Quote from: Jojo_the_monkey on Sat 07/12/2019 08:17:29
Many congratulations on the release Tom! ;-D

Thanks Jojo! Dunno if you got the game yet, but have you found the jojo the monkey reference in there??

Quote from: cat on Sat 07/12/2019 19:27:30
Congrats on the release! Is there DRM in the Steam version and does it require the Steam client? I'm thinking about where to buy.

There isn't any Steam DRM / doesn't require the Steam client. Both versions have steam dlls where I did the achievements, but if any issues please send me a PM :)

Congrats on the release.

I've completed one task so far.

A couple of bugs:

Spoiler

- Something changed my baseline in the barber's room. Now, all the walkbehinds are broken.
- I still have the sticky hose after crafting the bagpipes
- The escape key doesn't trigger the main menu. Ctrl+Q works but the main character remains visible. Since there's a picture of Molly in the main menu, that's 2 of them at the same time at different resolutions.

[close]

It's been a treat to play your game after a hard day's work. Lovely stuff   :-D

I'm really enjoying it so far but I'm stuck!

Spoiler

- I got my haircut
- I got taller
- Now I need the suit

I got a sticky hose, a pair of scissors, and horseshoes. What am I missing?

[close]

Edmundito

Spoiler

You can get a free bag from the salesman to combine with the sticky hose
There's a flyer on the bus' windshield with a coupon for the hat

[close]

And that's how far I got, myself

Quote from: Creamy on Mon 09/12/2019 22:35:08

Spoiler

- Something changed my baseline in the barber's room. Now, all the walkbehinds are broken.
- I still have the sticky hose after crafting the bagpipes
- The escape key doesn't trigger the main menu. Ctrl+Q works but the main character remains visible. Since there's a picture of Molly in the main menu, that's 2 of them at the same time at different resolutions.

[close]

Spoiler

- This is a bug which I've fixed, but haven't released the update for (was waiting to see if anything else cropped up, but only knew of it happening to 1 other person so far - funnily enough Edmundito! But I'll release the update, which should work without breaking saves.

If you haven't already used the rope on the chair, that should fix it (the bug is with using any inv other than the rope on the chair) or in the updated version a) it shouldn't happen to start with b) using any inv item on the chair will fix it if Molly's baseline is messed up previously)

Hose: That's fine, some items can be used for more than one thing! :)

- I didn't set anything as the escape key, as that can be used to skip cutscenes and didn't want someone doing that accidentally while trying to open a menu. F1 - Options, F5 - Save, F7 - Load as handily demonstrated here (but not anywhere in game yet)
Two Mollies is because of the previous baseline / walkbehind bug, because the interface actually uses characters for a little scaling trick. Once the baseline is solved, you should only see one molly :)

(http://tom-simpson.com/controls.png)

[close]

Quote from: Creamy on Mon 09/12/2019 22:35:08
It's been a treat to play your game after a hard day's work. Lovely stuff   :-D

Great! Glad you're enjoying it :)

Wait, what? There's an option's menu?  8-0
Like creamy I've only tried ESC, since that's a "default" key combo, and never thought of pressing F1.

I'm not sure I got to say this, but I think you should have a little GUI to the game to call in the menu/load/save... even if it's a "magical" GUI with just 1 button  in the right upper corner that shows up when the mouse cursor is there.

Yeah, that's probably the best way to do it. I'll see what fits in.

The options / save / load screens I really like, because if you're playing at something like 3x and above in windowed, or full screen, you'll get to see Jen's high res illustrations even though the game is 320x180 ordinarily.

Ah, maybe an options button on the main menu would also be nice. Probably why I didn't realize there was an options menu in the first place.  ;)

I already got it yesterday and I plan on playing it this weekend! ;-D

But yeah, I definitely agree with Cassie and Creamy. Pressing Esc to pause the game and show a menu with options, save, quit, etc, is pretty much standard game design these days. Having to learn three different keys for that is just not good UX :-D

Congrats on the release! I'll be getting this soon!

Quote from: Laura Hunt on Tue 10/12/2019 11:38:57
I already got it yesterday and I plan on playing it this weekend! ;-D

But yeah, I definitely agree with Cassie and Creamy. Pressing Esc to pause the game and show a menu with options, save, quit, etc, is pretty much standard game design these days. Having to learn three different keys for that is just not good UX :-D

F1 does it all, just F5 and F7 go to those sub ones directly :)

Standard AGS keys! Darn kids and their escape keys  :=

Quote from: Privateer Puddin' on Tue 10/12/2019 13:09:25

Quote from: Laura Hunt on Tue 10/12/2019 11:38:57
I already got it yesterday and I plan on playing it this weekend! ;-D

But yeah, I definitely agree with Cassie and Creamy. Pressing Esc to pause the game and show a menu with options, save, quit, etc, is pretty much standard game design these days. Having to learn three different keys for that is just not good UX :-D

F1 does it all, just F5 and F7 go to those sub ones directly :)

Standard AGS keys! Darn kids and their escape keys  :=

"Kid"? Me? OK, millennial (laugh)

But hey, I'll take the Esc key not doing anything over it quitting the game without a warning any day! (Yes, I've played games like this. And games that did not have a "quit" option at all and made me Alt+Tab+F4 to exit :all_the_facepalms:)

Just wanted to say how much I love this game, and everything about it.  I'm pretty stuck right now but was able to get unstuck on my own twice so far. And I hope I'll keep it that way :)
Didn't encounter any bugs so far.

Again, awesome job, to all involved! The sheer amount of beautiful animation frames is mind boggling.

(btw, I switched off the highres sprite scaling and I'm kind of torn between the pixel-perfect old school look and not missing out on the highres animation frames... might switch back)

Finished. The bull fight (not a spoiler, since that is the point of the game) was rather confusing but I found out how to beat it after a while. I gotta say, I like the "smearing" animations.

Continuity error:

Spoiler

Molly says "I know who you are" at the end even when the player skips the alley/dark house encounter with the Order of the Bull

[close]

I finished it and loved every minute of it! Some of the best animations I've ever seen, such a charming and unique setting, such funny characters, interesting puzzle design, lovely soundtrack (with a great hommage to iMuse!). But it has been such a short pleasure, I'm longing for more of it!
Anyway, fantastic work, well worth the price. :)

Thank you all for the kind works, really glad people are enjoying it!

Quote from: Click'd on Tue 10/12/2019 15:41:31
Continuity error:

Spoiler

Molly says "I know who you are" at the end even when the player skips the alley/dark house encounter with the Order of the Bull

[close]

Spoiler

She shouldn't have the Muleta either, but we felt chances are people will go into the Order of the Bull door, and if they didn't, we didn't want to shoe horn that meeting in somehow when entering the arena :)

[close]

Ok then.

I finished the game! Worth playing all the way through. Thanks for keeping it updated, the Esc main menu is a nice addition.

Another bug I noticed:

Spoiler

When I use the stick with the scissors it says "%s on a stick?" instead of putting the name of the object in %s

[close]

Loving it so far! It's all that I hoped for and more, congratulations again for the fantastic work ;-D

I think, however, I've run into a bug:

Spoiler

If I use the rope on the horse and exit that same screen to the right instead of to the left, Molly says "I shouldnt' take this with me" or something of the sort, and the rope disappears from my inventory. I can't seem to be able to find it again.

[close]

Quote from: Laura Hunt on Thu 12/12/2019 07:14:20
Loving it so far! It's all that I hoped for and more, congratulations again for the fantastic work ;-D

I think, however, I've run into a bug:

Spoiler

If I use the rope on the horse and exit that same screen to the right instead of to the left, Molly says "I shouldnt' take this with me" or something of the sort, and the rope disappears from my inventory. I can't seem to be able to find it again.

[close]

Glad you're enjoying it!

Spoiler

Could it be the rope is there, but too hard to see?

Molly should drop it attached to the horse (it's by her feet as well)

(http://tom-simpson.com/rope.png)

[close]

Ohhh I see!

Spoiler

Yeah that was easy to miss :)

Another glitch is that if you've already had your haircut and lost your hat, it reappears if you talk to the American guy:

(https://s.put.re/Xczqgx5h.jpg)

Still running around trying to make myself taller! How can I be so lost in just 5 screens? :-D

Edit: Nevermind, I figured it out! (nod)

[close]

Another one fixed - Thanks!

Did you forget the 6th screen?  :-D

(counts on fingers) ohhh right, six :-D

So I finished the game and really enjoyed the experience! Well worth the wait and the hype. Hope there's a sequel at some point (pretty please?) ;-D

It sure ends with a lot of unresolved elements.

A sequel?!

(http://tom-simpson.com/shockedmolly.png)

I'll get working on that like a bat out of hell

Hey, I have not played the game yet. Sure, I will try it in Christmas time, since the reviews for the game are great!!

Congrats on the release! I've just finished the game and really enjoyed it. Great work! I'll leave a glowing Steam review in just a sec.

A few minor points:

Spoiler

When I asked for a glass of pastis after the parrot had already flown away, the parrot still ended the conversation with "Good one", despite not being there. (I'm pretty sure it was the parrot who said this, not the market trader. If I'm wrong, obviously scratch that.)

[close]

Spoiler

Like Creamy, I thought it was a bug that I still had the sticky hose after attaching it to the bag - until I realised why I still needed it, of course. Perhaps the player should have to cut the hose with the scissors before making the bagpipes... or something?

[close]

Spoiler

After I'd got the horse to run away, when I talked to the guy in the stables he still told me to get my horse ready to run.

[close]

Spoiler

When I switched the blue mug for the red cup (the initial switch), the next sip the guy took was from a red cup, yet the red cup remained on the tool chest. By the following sip it had correctly disappeared. I assume this had to do with the precise point during his animation that I happened to make the switch. Anyway, it's obviously an incredibly minor, nitpicky detail.

[close]

Spoiler

As others have said, the game could've done with some explanation of how to access the menu. I only knew because I'd read this thread before playing.

[close]

All in all, you did a fantastic job. The puzzles, writing, art and animation were all great. I, too, look forward to a sequel! :-D

Quote from: Kini on Fri 13/12/2019 12:29:49
Congrats on the release! I've just finished the game and really enjoyed it. Great work! I'll leave a glowing Steam review in just a sec.

Thanks  :kiss:

I'll fix those points in a future release!

For anyone interested in picking it up - the launch discount of 10% on Steam is coming to an end in the next few hours, and Steam doesn't let it go on sale again for 2 months so now's your chance!

Fantastic game! I'm still working my way through it. I'm a bit stuck at the moment but I'll keep on trying! Congrats!  8-)

Great game! According to Steam, it took us 100 fun minutes to play.
We enjoyed the story, characters, graphics, millions of animations, puzzles and music.

A few things I want to especially point out:

Spoiler

• The setup: classic three item quest, Guybrush style, objective clear from the beginning
• The inventory
• The drawn rope of the horse
• Hanging upside down + dialog options
• The room layout was clever with going in a circle - very convenient

[close]

There were a few issues that I would like to mention, though:

Spoiler

• If it wasn't for this thread, I would have never figured out how to save the game.
• I didn't like the high-res character scaling. I also think the portraits should have had more details or being skipped at all. The looked rather blank.
• When you put on a t-shirt, there is a great animation but then nothing happens and it confused us. A simple message like "It does not fit." would have been enough.
• You get the pink item from the order but it disappears. I was afraid it is a bug and that I cannot finish the game.
• After lots and lots of tries, we solved the final puzzle, but I didn't find the solution very good. What we tried but didn't have any effect was changing the location where standing when using the shield, like standing directly at the back to cause the bull to bump the wall or standing on the left to get another angle on the arena. We also tried attaching the silver shield to the one mounted on the wall and other stuff. Btw, reading labels in the mirror was hilarious

[close]

I don't have much time to play long games anymore, so little gems like this are more than welcome  :)

Quote from: cat on Sat 28/12/2019 19:53:14
Btw, reading labels in the mirror was hilarious

Hah yay, at least one person did that interaction  :cool:

Quick review roundup!

First up is Adventure Gamers, who gave the game 4/5! - https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/39391

and secondly it was reviewed on the latest episode of the Adventure Games Podcast - https://adventuregamespodcast.com/podcast/2020/1/10/episode-46-reviews-of-feria-darles-and-over-the-alps-and-adventure-game-of-the-yeardecade

Hope you don't mind the bump, just a few updates..

Feria d'Arles on macOS!

Thanks to Edenwaith (https://twitter.com/Edenwaith), there is now a version of Feria d'Arles available for Mac! You can pick it up on itch.io now: https://tomsimpson.itch.io/feria-darles

(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_4afe019a4fea4b2491a90df56f199213~mv2.png)

Tested on macOS Mojave (10.14)

Buried Treasure

John Walker reviewed Feria for his Buried Treasure site. Check it out here: https://buried-treasure.org/2020/02/feria-darles/

AGS Awards

Thanks to everyone who nominated! Feria is up for 9 awards. Now we're into the voting stage - The awards voting closes on Sunday 15 March 2020.

Best Game Created with AGS, Best Writing, Best Character, Best Gameplay, Best Background Art, Best Character Art, Best Animation, Best Music & Sound, Best Puzzles

Thought I'd give a few samples as a refresher, of if you didn't get a chance to check out the game yet!

Best Writing
(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_c3331e69979a46dab9a76f8b133e4c86~mv2.gif) (https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_93ed9d9a5d5647319cdd489219e4e0c7~mv2.gif)

Best Background Art - Construction of the Alley scene
(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_89962f6b925e497882a195478c69d2ab~mv2.gif)

Best Animation
(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_a895efeb7ad540b5928b788ff506ca6c~mv2.gif) (https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_a0146a3ae86e4a07a04cd67134ebf604~mv2.gif) (https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_328352f52b694fdebae3baa919d0e7c3~mv2.gif)

and one of my personal favourites, the opening of Raiders...

(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_32326d8662f04c38a75d08dd6c148a68~mv2.gif)

Best Character - Molly
(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_24e0305a23a4475b9b473194f2e194f5~mv2.gif)

Adventure Gamers Aggies

Feria also got a 'Best Retro-Styled Adventures' Silver Aggie from AdventureGamers.com, alongside being a runner up in the Best Writing â€" Comedy category.

https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/39494/page14

(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f31578_b37b4e6c6c9948949aa04a3d259445ab~mv2.jpg)

 :cool: 8-) :cool: 8-) Summer Sale time! :cool: 8-) :cool: 8-)

Feria d'Arles is 20% off! Available on both Steam and itch.io;

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1181570/Feria_dArles/

https://tomsimpson.itch.io/feria-darles

Sorry for the bump, but it's that time of the year again!

Feria d'Arles is now a whopping 25% off!

For both Windows and Mac:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1181570/Feria_dArles/

https://tomsimpson.itch.io/feria-darles

Merry Christmas one and all!