Messages

Looking/sounding good! 

[AWARDS]

FYC: 

Azriel Odin, ex-assassin, arrives on the rain-drenched planet of Barracus to find someone.  When things go horribly wrong, he can only seek help from the very criminals he used to work for.

Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a man called Delta-Six wakes up in a hospital with no memory.  Without knowing where to turn or who to trust, he vows to escape before he loses his identity completely.

As fate brings these two men closer together, we discover a world where life is cheap, identities are bought and sold, and a simple quest for redemption can change the fate of a whole galaxy.






AWARDS
Independent Games Festival 2010 - Student Showcase Finalist
Featured at IndieCade 2010 @ E3
Indie Games Arcade 2010


FEATURES
Full Voice Acting + Developer Commentary
4-8 Hours of Gameplay
Over 80 hand-painted backgrounds
A fine-tuned action system, fair to both action and non-action gamers
A traditional verb box point 'n click interface with the "KICK" Verb
Neo-Noir soundtrack by Nathan Allen Pinard

PRESS

"Without a doubt, this is already one of the best adventure games of 2011; visually, aurally and thematically stunning. A phenomenal achievement."
-Alternative Magazine Online

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Cheers! 

Remember that thing that wrecked Balder's face? Yes, that is what's happening.

[Trailers]

I've got some comments!  

Trailers Look up trailers you like and figure out why you like them and why they work. For GRUE, I looked up the trailer for Moon. Pay attention to the pacing and development of information it relays -- it's kind of split up (intro / mystery / action / reflection / title), with the editing and cuts becoming progressively more rapid. Cuts Try varying the length of the cuts from image to image - consider increasing the speed of the cuts during the second half to increase the feel of tension and action (I think you are already doing it, but try more so). Also consider cutting from the middle of an action, rather than the beginning--you don't always need to show its entirety. Transitions Think about mixing up the transitions between cuts. Most of them (at least during the first half) are cross-fades. You can do instant cuts, cut to black + fade in, pauses, etc. It also helps to have moments of reflection after you make a profound statement or image rather than to cut directly to the next idea. Storytelling Think about what story you are trying to tell. Every trailer tells a story -- usually different from the promoted movie, game, etc itself, but a story nonetheless. This is because each little image and dialog contributes to a self-contained narrative in the trailer. Think about what each line of dialog means in juxtaposition which the image it overlays, and whether or not that is contributing to the idea you want it to convey. Here are two examples: - ("...You're Dead"): We see Rosangela and Joey in a darkened apartment - great, sets the mood, tone, etc. The "You're dead" line can refer to Rosa and also her state of mind, rather than Joey and other ghosts. Good set up. It's also empty, so we get a feeling of isolation and loneliness. - ("He brainwashed that poor kid!"): We see an alley, and Joey and Rosa walk in it -- not a lot of connection or juxtaposition between image/audio. This is where you can strengthen it. You can show them interrogating someone, or anything related to strengthen the juxtaposition.

Hope that helps!

Happy birthday JBurger!!

Thanks Dual!

*here's a free copy of Gemini Rue!*

No prob. Thanks for playing!

Hello!

I am trying to import a font with extra (German) characters into AGS. The original English font used in the game was exported, appended with the extra characters, and then sent back and re-imported into AGS. However, when compiling and running, extra characters (such as "ü") still display incorrectly with the default unknown symbol despite the fact that the font was appended with the characters.

I can upload the new font somewhere if that would help.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Hi, I have same error. Please tell me how to fix it.

PM'd you.

Also: GAMESPOT Review up: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/geminirue/review.html?tag=summary%3Bread-review

Really, really fantastic atmosphere. There's one tiny detail at the start of the game which made it all click for me and my lady friend...

Code: ags

...when the Boryukudan goon asks you for a light, and shouts after you when you go past.

That just created a sense of a 3 dimensional world in a very filmic way. We were completely involved in the story from then on. Nelly liked the rain.

I was also slightly frustrated by the inventory, having to walk towards some objects before using them, and I would have liked the gunplay to have become more complex in some way as the game went on, rather than enemies just becoming harder to kill. But those are very minor grumbles.

Hehe, thanks. Those are valid comments. Did you finish the whole game? The gun combat does become slightly more complex.

And for those interested, there was also an interview on indiegames.com about the publication of the game here: http://indiegames.com/2011/06/publication_of_gemini_rue.html

August sounds good to me too.

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.

I'd love to join in! 3-10 July would probably be better for me, but if not, I'll just choose another arbitrary week and try to make a game.

Just beat this the other day and gotta say I loved every second of it.

Great job on differentiating the gameplay in so many ways! Impressive length and good pacing. Also generally very good voice acting too.

My only gripe would be the (understandable) over-using of certain art assets and the somewhat dodgy inventory.

I am very impressed! I certainly got my moneys worth:)

Great job.  8)

Thanks, Theo! Appreciated. Looking forward to the next Journey Down. 

Awesome! I hear there's a cool rain effect in this game.

Just seen two new print reviews today:

GamesTM and PC Gamer (UK) have full-ish page reviews (positive!) and PC Gamer has the demo on it's cover DVD (as does PC Format). \o/

Scans:

GamesTM

PC Gamer

Sweet, thanks LimpingFish!

Looking at Metacritic, I noticed that Gemini Rue has finally received a couple of non-positive reviews. Well, at 70% they're classified as "mixed," and the summaries sound pretty supportive.

I checked out the one from Norwegian site gamer.no, and despite the not-enthusiastic grade, the reviewer actually liked the game a lot. The grade seems partly to be an attempt to indicate that the game may not be for everyone (i.e. people who can't stand low-resolution graphics), although the reviewer also says that he didn't let the graphics pull down the score, since he personally liked them.

Anyway, the other points of criticism raised are:
-Getting stuck (from not knowing what you're supposed to be doing) in the latter parts of the Delta-Six section, which ruins the otherwise very engaging flow of the game
-The slight clumsiness of the interface, in that you have to right-click on a background object to bring up the inventory
-Repetitive screens and excessive graphics reuse in Center 7 and the Barracus apartment building hallways
-Some of the voice acting for smaller parts, with Balder mentioned specifically for being too obviously eeeevil

Yeah, one of the things I realized after reading so many reviews was that things you intended to have in the game that personally appeal to you are not always going to appeal to every reviewer out there. So no matter how close you may come to realizing your vision, there will usually be someone out there who does not share the same sentiments.

That aside, I don't think I could have asked for a more positive reception to the game, so I am grateful for that. 

Gemini Rue Postmortem - now on GameCareerGuide: http://gamasutra.com/view/news/34117/GameCareerGuide_Feature_Postmortem__Gemini_Rue.php

Awww...damn...I got stuck. It's a bug or something...

Spoiler

I wanted to go to that hotel where Mathias were, I should meet with that smuggler there, but when I enter hotel I get error message: "room11.asc, line 438; Character is not in the current room"

[close]

I think I forgot to talk with someone or to do something, who is that guy anyway?

Sent you a PM!

No no, it's Lifification of games, the talk starts at 3:05, if you can't be arsed to watch it all, the most important bits are written below the video.

But yeah, what Khris said.

Ah. Yeah. I saw that video before back when it was first posted.

I think the issue of lifification was not one of the core principles I had in mind when creating the game. Instead, I was mainly focused on the relationship between Azriel and Delta-Six, not between Azriel/Delta-Six & Sayuri/Epsilon-Five. The game is more about who Azriel and Delta-Six are and what they have/will become, and so the relationship with Sayuri/Epsilon-Five is not as stressed. However, the final scene in the game leaves that open somewhat.

Blueskirt:

Which two characters do you mean? 

Spoiler

Since Azriel and Delta Six are one and the same, I was thinking Azriel/Delta Six and Sayuri/Epsilon Five. But like I said maybe I got it all wrong.

[close]

You could be right. But what does "lifification" mean, again?

Haven't finished it yet but really enjoyed the beginning. The reviews you got are totally amazing. Congratulations! Since it came out, I've been waiting for a post mortem blog post. Will we get one? I love reading those.

Something is coming, perhaps soon...