Please critique this small demo

[Bernie]

A while ago, I took a break from Hero Theorem to make a small game with simpler graphics and sprites. This is what I have so far:

Click this here text to download!

Now, I kind of seem to have lost interest in this for some reason. I have a nice script and the puzzles planned out, and liked it in script form. Please give this a go and tell me what's wrong with it or just tell me what you think. Critique the graphics, dialogs/writing, gui, whatever you want.

---How to play---

Hold the right button so a verb coin pops up. Move over the desired icon and let go to trigger an action. Move the cursor to the bottom of the screen to access the inventory window. The rest is pretty standard adventure stuff. Hit F5 for a menu. You can change the game speed in it if you think it's too slow. A bit later in the game, you can use three buttons at the top to switch between different character modes.

Also, here's a screenshot:

[Mozesh]

Really nice Bernie, I like it.
Nothing to critize really, except the over greenish but I know why that is, it gives a unique touch to your games (wait wasn't that said before somewhere) anyways I really like it, nice dialogs, nice graphics nice everything.
Good job,

Spoiler

Though I got stuck at the fire alarm, I got the matches, gloves, knife and sensor and Jack has the keycard, but I don't know what to do.

[close]

[Bernie]

Thanks for trying it! There isn't much about I can do about the green, but I hope it won't disturb anyone too much.

Spoiler

Regarding the fire alarm: A dark corner may help you on your quest.

[close]

By the way, the demo is over after getting the second keycard.

[Mozesh]

Ah yes, I finished it. Really nice, are you going to make a full game of this? maybe after Hero Theorem or something?

[Ubel]

Holy mother of god, this looks awesome! How do you make those graphics look so good? Wonderful usage of colors. You should make an art tutorial (if you haven't made one yet that is).

Didn't beat this yet but the story is very interesting! I hope you'll finish this.

By the way, the way you call the verb coin gui up in the game by keeping the right mouse button down is interesting. Care to share the script with us?

[Darth Mandarb]

A nice little demo ...

Some things:

1) the "nice hat" option in the dialogue always stays on there when talking to the guard.  Is this intentional?

2) when the same person/object is "speaking" the picture (and text box) goes off then back on for each statement.  It's a little confusing because it seems, to me at least, that it would then be somebody else talking instead of the same person/thing?

I like the interface, although finding the inventory took me a few seconds.  Maybe put some sort of indicator on the bottom?  To let people know it's down there?

Great graphics and nice environment!  Keep up the good work!

[RyRayer]

Very nice. I really liked the story of the game and all the graphics and stuff. Am I right if I say that one music in the game is from Elder's Scrolls: Daggerfall?
And again. Nice work.

[TheJBurger]

Loved the game, great job.

Graphics were superb and I thought the story was quite interesting with all the futuristic elements and stuff.

I also think I found a walking dead,

Spoiler

When you have Jack pick up the matches, he cant give them to Clark. So then you always have to get Jack to use the fire alarm, and I couldn't win this way. But I loaded it and had Clark pick up the matches and got the 2nd keycard afterwards. Is this a bug or did I do something stupid?

[close]

Anyways, great game, I enjoyed it alot.

[Paper Carnival]

Really impressive! I just finished it and I want more

I was also stuck because of the walking dead. Thankfully I saved right before I took the matches.

[Bernie]

Thanks for the comments! I forgot to mention that the game is still in debug mode. It's best to let Clark pick up the matches, or just press enter to add them to the current character.

TheJBurger & Guybrush P.: The problem you've encountered is that I simply haven't coded exchanging items yet. I forgot to mention that, sorry.

Darth:
1. I usually keep one option activated to keep the dialogue from auto exiting, I don't like it when it does that.

2. The dialogue windows flash for a fraction of a second when the next dialog text comes up, so I decided to put a wait() between each dialogue to prolong the pause. It simply feels more clean to me that way. ^^

_RyRayer_: There's a good chance they are. They were available for download at some free midi site.

Pablo: Thank you! The code for the verb coin is very simple. Here's a quick description: Make a GUI with 3 buttons. In repeatedly execute, make the GUI appear when the mouse button is being held down. Store the location number the mouse was over before the GUI appeared. Check for the button the mouse is currently over and once the button is released, trigger the corresponding action.

Mozesh: No idea when I'll finish this. Maybe before HT, even.

[Razorback]

Wow, loved it.

I'm not the biggest fan of the standard AGS playing interface, so its refreshing to see someone try to do something different. And you did a wonderful job at it too. The Verb coin interface is also what I'm doing for my current unannounced project. And it’s my personal opinion that it is the most intuitive system for adventure games.

Now for my critique...

The walking dead also gave me trouble. Right after I found out I could play multiple characters I decided that jack should be the one in command in that particular situation. So it was logical that he should be the one doing all the matchbox stealing.

I had a little trouble finding out that you could un-link the characters in the fire alarm sequence.

And finally I think that in future rooms you should try to tone down that reflectivity of the floor. It’s not extremely distracting to not have the characters reflect, but things like the bathroom door's reflection not react to being opened stuck out a little.

But overall I enjoyed the story and the characters very much and it’d be great if you could finish it one day.

[Bernie]

The walking dead also gave me trouble. Right after I found out I could play multiple characters I decided that jack should be the one in command in that particular situation. So it was logical that he should be the one doing all the matchbox stealing.

As soon as exchanging items is coded in, this problem should go away. In the finished game, there won't be any walking deads. I never liked those in the earlier Sierra games. KQ5 had an awful lot of those.

I had a little trouble finding out that you could un-link the characters in the fire alarm sequence.

Yeah, that might be a bit hard to figure out without any pointers. It will be explained in the manual and the game help I'm going to add.

And finally I think that in future rooms you should try to tone down that reflectivity of the floor. It's not extremely distracting to not have the characters reflect, but things like the bathroom door's reflection not react to being opened stuck out a little.

Oh hey, I didn't notice that yet. I'll write this down so I won't forget it whenever I start working on this again.

But overall I enjoyed the story and the characters very much and it'd be great if you could finish it one day.

Thank you. The story didn't have time to properly kick in in this demo, though. Things should definately get more interesting later on. Thank you for testing my demo!

[big brother]

Loved this "test" to pieces. A few things to note:

- When I looked at the 12th floor card when it was on the counter, Jack walked around then THROUGH the counter and ended up directly behind the receptionist before chattering off his description.

- Also, before I discovered the intended way to unlink the two characters (an awesome feature, btw), I figured out that I could trap one guy in the bathroom by using the door after the second man walked into the room.

- When I set off the fire alarm the first time, the bathroom door was open. Regardless of this fact, the receptionist stood in the (open) doorway and told the characters that she was about to enter. It didn't really make sense if the door was open and she was already looking into the bathroom.

- Shouldn't there be a toilet stall in the bathroom, too?

[Bernie]

Thanks for testing!

- When I looked at the 12th floor card when it was on the counter, Jack walked around then THROUGH the counter and ended up directly behind the receptionist before chattering off his description.

Oha! Easy to fix, thanks.

- Also, before I discovered the intended way to unlink the two characters (an awesome feature, btw), I figured out that I could trap one guy in the bathroom by using the door after the second man walked into the room.

And thus also being able to solve the puzzle? Didn't think of that possibility, but I'm sure I've covered all eventualities and this shouldn't cause any bugs.

- When I set off the fire alarm the first time, the bathroom door was open. Regardless of this fact, the receptionist stood in the (open) doorway and told the characters that she was about to enter. It didn't really make sense if the door was open and she was already looking into the bathroom.

Aye. I'll make her stop before the door when it's open.

- Shouldn't there be a toilet stall in the bathroom, too?

If you mean those cabins with the flushing toilets (if that's what a toilet stall is),Ã,  there are three, one is even visible, but covered by a walkbehind.

Thank you for your insights!

[aussie]

Loving it.

One thing:

Spoiler

You have released the debug version. I'm sure sure if that's intended, but I thought I'd let you know.

[close]

[Bernie]

Thanks, aussie! Yes, the debug mode was intended. It's still very WIP in its current state, so it doesn't really matter.

[Krynge]

This demo is AWESOME!!

I've been lurking around and haven't posted on these forums for almost TWO YEARS, but THIS GAME definitely deserves a mention !!

Can't wait till the full thing is out !

[Bernie]

Thanks for trying it! I wish I had more time to spend on game making, it wouldn't take long at all to finish it then.