Prodigal INTERVIEW on reloaded.org! 3/13/06 update!

[Trisk]

A quick update on version 1.1:

I've ported Prodigal over to AGS 2.71 RC4, and with any luck it SHOULD fix the savegame bug. Now I'm having trouble with the Snow/Rain plugin not working! All my cool rain is gone. It seems the plugin no longer works with any version of AGS 2.71. I PMed Scorporius about it, but I'm not going to wait too long for a fix. I really want to get the new version out, so I may have to substitute the plugin for a lame sprite overlay. Sigh...such is life.

Anyway, I'm going to release 1.1 THIS WEEK, reguardless. So we should have a good fix for the savegame problem soon! Sorry to all who are having to wait!

ness and Nikolas-

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the game! Spready the word about it!   

[lakerz]

I bow down to your greatness trisk!    Prodigal is an amazing achievement for AGS.  I agree with others that the beginning grabs you by the throat, the middle is not quite as gripping.  Oh, but what an ending!  I encountered no bugs, had no issues with the GUI, just two days of great gaming.    That Peter guy is a maestro with music too!  This may be the best AGS game I've ever played.  Definitely top 5!

[Ozzie]

What can I say?
I played through the game one and half a week ago. I sat before the flimmering monitor nearly non-stop, the hints of a story, the atmosphere, the want-to-know-what-happens-next chained me on the seat, the right hand firm on the mouse. Another reason was that the game never frustrated. I'm more than a little bit surprised that not only a few had problems figuring out the puzzles. I thought that most of them were pretty obvious, if not too easy. I'm actually a guy who reaches pretty fast to the walkthrough - probably caused through impatience on my side or failing to see any rational reason why I should waste my time running across the screens searching for well-hidden items or another hint. That's because most worlds in adventures are too empty, have too little to offer to keep the player motivated through longer times where you remain stuck. I can't name an adventure, except probably some short 10min. AGS Game, that I solved without the helpful assistance of a walkthrough.
And, a bit regretfully, I even used here one,

Spoiler

in the part when you're stuck in the elevator and have to open the toolbox with a stone that lies on the ground, but you can only pick it up if you had lit the torch before. Since I inspected the ground some times before I didn't thought about looking at it again. Also, I had the feeling that I was trapped in a dead end, so I just had to be sure that I went the right way.

[close]

The game has another weakness that many others named already and I want to confirm it. In the middle part of the game, at the cliff dwelling, there's too much walking in comparison to things to do. Puzzles in this part are much too sparse.

Spoiler

After I played through the game I understood why it wasn't possible to really die, also graphically you got your head cut off and got squeezed. But I think it took something from the atmosphere away and/or disappointed because it wasn't more than a imagination, instead of a hindrance. It felt like a missing challenge and for pure effect it got a bit stretched too far. When the "The End" screen appeared suddenly after a stone block squeezed the player under its mass, just for the purpose to get thrown back into the game some seconds later, was a bit of an atmosphere killer. Probably a better solution for such seemingly deadly situations would be to reset the player in a position shortly before the death trap snaps and asking himself what just happened ("What was that?"). I think this would remain logical enough because you don't really die, you just get pushed back and can only get further until you tricked your imagination! Well, just a thought....

[close]

And I found a bug by the way, I'm not sure if it has alread been reported!

Spoiler

After you left the...guy who tells you much backgound information, after the cutscene, the GUI, which tells you the name of the hotspots the mouse is hovering over, is turned off. You have go for example to the room with the radio to turn it on again.

[close]

Oh, and about the ending, I can only say, wow!! It is truly the most impressive part of the game, the last 5-10 minutes! It's like the endings of all Fincher and Shyamalan movies are thrown together, it blew me away so much, with the power of a hurricane, really!! I was shocked the whole evening after the game was over and left me thinking when human forget all their principles and get insane, kinda. It was honestly the best ending I ever encountered in a game, I can claim that.

So, thanks so very much for this unique and extraordinary experience, if the term art really means still something in this world, this adventure proves that computer games can really be a work of art.
I will surely promote this game under my friends. 

[Nikolas]

One other thing to ad:

The final song of the game (Alone, by Shadowplay), is a really great, amazing choice which is very much into the game, although probably not written for it (?) Still one of the best AGS games!

[Trisk]

Prodigal v1.1 is finally out! You can download it from the game's main page, or from here:

http://prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com/download/prodigalv11.exe

A list of fixes:

V1.1
-Fixed a typo on the wooden stairs light that caused a game crash. Thanks to Stefano for finding this bug!
-Fixed a zone line problem in the “Oily water” area of the cliff dwellings. Thanks to InCreator for first reporting this!
-Many users are reporting strange behavior in the game. Jacob disappearing, getting stuck outside of walk-able bounds, crashing on game save, etc. Ported the game over to AGS 2.71 RC3 in the hopes that these odd happenings will stop.
-Upgraded several GUIs to high-color sprites to make them easier to see. Also fixed a couple GUI buttons to increase visibility.
-Added backdoor cheat codes to allow users who are experiencing problems with SSH's save/load GUIs to be able to use the stock AGS save/load GUIs. Simply hit CTRL-S to save and CTRL-X to load. PLEASE do try to use SSH's save/load GUIs first, though…just use the backdoor if you have problems. EDIT: SSH recommends saving with the old GUI first, in case of problems. Please DO use the normal one as well though. Without it I won't know if this fixed the problem or not.
-Added a clipping cheat. If it becomes necessary, I will tell people how to activate it. This should help if people have problems with Jacob getting stuck outside walkable bounds.
-Fixed frame mismatch on the storage room guard's knockout animation. Frames now display in correct order.
-Fixed a bit of sloppy coding with the portcullis in the dining room of the Cliff Dwellings. Looking at the portcullis will now yield a close-up, just like using it will.
-Ported up to AGS 2.71 RC4. We hope this will fix the glitching savegame system, as well as the many, many odd glitches being reported.
-The snow/rain plugin has stopped working with v 2.71 of AGS!!! ARGH! As a result, I had to remove the excellent plugin and make a sprite based rain sheet that doesn't look nearly as cool. If the plugin is ever fixed, I shall create a patch to add it back in.
-Fixed odd bug in “cancel” button on savegame GUI. Not sure when this happened…
-Added a real icon to the executable file. No more stock icon! Now you can create a decent shortcut, too!


So anyone having problems can go download now! Let's hope it'll fix 'em all! Let me know!




lakerz-
Glad you enjoyed it! We had fun making it, and hope we can do the sequel!

Ozzie-
Thanks for all the kind words and well composed thoughts!

Spoiler

You actually CAN pick up the stone before lighting the torch. I do it all the time in my playtesting!Ã, 

As for the bug...ACK!Ã,  I just released v1.1, and hadn't noticed that one! Well, it isn't too severe, I guess...if a new version ends up getting released, I WILL fix that though. Thank you!

[close]

And I'm glad you enjoyed the ending! There is still alot of story to tell, so stay tuned!

Nikolas-
I was OVERJOYED when Shadowplay said I could use "Alone," because it does FIT so perfectly! It seems as if it was written for the game! I HATED having to cut the first verse out, but it was needed to make it fit entirely.

You can download the full song FREE from Shadowplay's website! Just head over to

www.theshadowplay.com

[Nikolas]

Yes, Trisk I found that out a little. Later.
But it was fucking great! Of course it would be unfair to you (the direcotr) not to mention that your orchestration of the finale is excellent. Honestly the choice of the song+the ending+the conducting of the whole scene=Perfect!

I did download did and I went out shopping listening only to this one track (6 minutes). Well I had one heck of a time. And scenes from the ending kept coming to me in flshes.

Man oh man!

[peter]

Thanks Trisk i can now go further when i use the Aegis on the  cell door

but did get maybe a other bug?

I did not can take the receipt ( i did all before in the WT and did ask all at Arch-Lord ).
I did can get in the kitchen.
I did get back again to  talk with the fat Demelza (Arch-Lord)
and then i did can take the receipt?
When i go back in the kitchen the guard keep saying he want his Aegis but i did give it before.
The book with the Aegis are there not anymore but i can go in the kitchen.
I have finished this excellent game

Thanks

[Iv4n]

GReat work Trisk! Are the old saves compatible with the new version?

[Necro]

Just found some time to play this game, Awesome!

Nice cinematic sequences at the begining, loved the use of FMV, puzzles were not too hard or obscure, and the close up art work was very cool, all topped off with the perfect ending, I loved if from start to finish.

I'm trying to think of any area's where it could be improved, but there are not that many at all, only little things that bugged me like...

Spoiler

...finding that damn stone on the ground (its infuriating stuck in a room) , and the metal detector (I was at least expecting some beeps to help me out to tell me if i was hot or cold), and some camera angles didnt help, i found the tv puzzle by complete accident, i was trying to look at the bed.

[close]

... but as you can see they don't really amount up to 1/1000th of a percentage against this game.

I have played some great AGS games this year and this is a definate contender for the best game of 2005.

congrats

[Trisk]

Nikolas -

Yes, they are an awesome band. I really wish I could buy their CD...but that'd be hard to do since I'm in the US and they are in Australia now. The other songs on their sight are great too. Check 'em out!

Peter -

Spoiler

I don't THINK that's a bug, you may not have talked through all the dialogue topics with the Arch-Lord. He has to tell you where the recipe is before you can pick it up.

[close]

Iv4n -
Sorry, no. Old saves will not work with Prodigal 1.1. Because the game is ported up to a new version of the AGS engine, AND because I changed the global script to include the cheat codes, the engine will crash if you try and load a Prodigal 1.0 savegame.

I was really hoping to have the code so clean that new versions wouldn't be needed. And from my end, it was. Nobody has found any show-stoppers that were my fault. All the odd crash bugs people experienced were/are from AGS 2.7...which CJ has hopefully fixed with this version. 
Necro -

Glad you enjoyed it! I guess how you like any puzzle is a matter of personal taste...I like single room lock-in puzzles because you KNOW the answer must be right there in front of you...it is just a matter of puzzling it out. Sierra used these on many of their games, such as the inn in King's Quest 5, or the Sea Slug battle in Space Quest 4. 'Sides, I included a walkthrough in case you get stuck on anything. 
Laters!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Heh, just had to say this: in Sierra's games you didn't always know the answer MUST be in front of you. You were always wary you hadn't picked up something you needed, and always wondered whether you were in a dead end...

[xenogia]

Trisk I was wondering if you could tell me how you did the whole ingame fmv thing I was wondering if you can email me how you did it at dean.thomson@gmail.com

Thanks

[Traveler]

Trisk, excellent game, I just finished it. The ending is simply amazing. 

I, too, wouldn't mind a quick description as to how you did the full motion sequences in the game. Are they painted on screen frame-by-frame?

[Trisk]

Eh, good point Rui...  Maybe I shoulda thought of some areas in Lucasarts games instead.

xenogia and Traveler- While the in engine FMV thing isn't really hard to do, or that difficult to figure out how to do  it if you are an AGS programmer, I don't really feel inclined to give out a "trade secret." It took me days of research into all available methods of in game FMV to find. Sorry.

Traveler-

Glad you enjoyed it!

[strawberrypicker]

Hi, I experienced 2 errors consecutively, the 2nd one causing the game to crash. Here's what happened:

Spoiler:

Spoiler

After I talked to the wise old Demelza in the lone cave dwelling and saw the cutscene on Alexander Demelza entering the portal,

[close]

all the active object labels disappeared. (i.e. All the active objects' labels won't come up even when you move your mouse over an active object)

Then after the cutscene and the active object labels disappearing, I walked back into the (spoiler):

Spoiler

room with the radio playing "Walk In" (i.e. the antichamber to the dining room),

[close]

and the labels came on again.

Then when I exited this room and went into (spoiler):

Spoiler

the chamber leading to the caves where the dig is (i.e. the one with the big barrel and the aegis symbol over the cave door),

[close]

the game crashed and gave me this error message:

[Trisk]

strawberrypicker-

The first bug with the hotspot bar is a known issue. Since it doesn't bother game play at all, and comes back on soon thereafter, I'll only fix it if a new version needs to come out. Thanks for reporting, though!

The second bug is an AGS issue, and has nothing to do with Prodigal or my programming. Just restore your game and try again and you should be able to continue with no problems. If it happens again, do what CJ recommends and post that screenshot up on the tech forums.

hopefully you can get through the rest of the game with no issues!

[strawberrypicker]

Thanks for the reply; I restored to an earlier point and managed to get through the whole game. I've finished it the same day I reported the bug! 

It's a great game, and IMO, one of the true full-length games out there. The ending suggests there's a sequel, & I can't wait! 

There's another little piece of feedback I'd like to give:

Spoiler

I absolutely loved the artwork for the entire game, but the flashing rooms in Ulasigi Ela (including the prison where Mike was held) made me feel sick. Maybe there's some other way to convey the same effect of madness/evil without using flashing lights?

I believe people with epilepsy would have a problem with the flashing lights too. (Um, no, I don't have epilepsy, but for some reason I can't play games where 3D panning is involved, or there are lots of flashing bright lights - they make me nauseas and unwell, and I feel sick for quite some time after that.)

[close]

Other than that, everything else was fantastic. Oh, and my favourite room in the entire game?

Spoiler

Call me sick, but the room with the numerous corpses of Jacob wins hands down 

[close]

[Tzupy]

http://www.geocities.com/tzupy_hp/error.bmp

Spoiler

i keep getting this error after i unlock the cell door and try to use the aegis on it

[close]

[Tzupy]

i found out another bug
it's the wave surrounding the character like he's in water

LATER EDIT:
i went into the water and the wave disappeared
and i could open the cell door

[m0ds]

Looks and plays great, I certainly haven't finished it yet but it's a great download - I'm glad I've had a go! I will play it further! You've put great effort into this and so far its slick and professional! Its a shame you wont discuss FMV though, because it really has made the gameplay much more exciting. I'll have to explain what I know.

For an FMV sequence like one in the game, i.e. when we zoome back from the mirror, you will need a program that animates motion aswell as renders still images. I'll use Bryce as an example because its really the only one I've used and I know it can do both. You'd need to build your scene, carefully planning where any camera motion will go and also where any additional art (like a picture frame) will go. You would normally have to import that artwork into your 3D motion proggy, like Bryce - and place it in the scene. With Bryce you take pot luck as to whether it will come out clearly or not, perhaps Trisk has a special method but this is the part I don't think he's willing to give away (boooo!)

Then you'd take all the static shots of your scene, before rendering the motion, making sure that the motion points start and end in the same or similar position as your static renders. It's also noteable that you won't really see any characters in FMV shots, simply for the fact that they're 2D and the FMV motion is made in a 3D prog in a 3D world, so you'd have to do some crazy camera trickery or sprite model trickery to get a 3D effect to work. In AGS its pretty self explanatory. Playing an AVI or what not at the end of start of a scene, depending on the movement. For example

// start video
INTRO FMV - Camera zooms into house window
// load room
ROOM 1 (static shot of where last FMV motion finished) - Man walks out of closet into his room. Realises he's insane and walks back into closet.
// start video
OUTRO FMV (contiuning from same position, or even a new camera position from within the room) - Whole room shakes, closet falls over.

Anyway Xenogia - it's funny you should be asking this, I thought you had it implemented many moons ago into your game!!! Back to this game, I am extremely impressed with it - and am having fun playing I had a strange error saying it couldnt find the intro_room.crm to start with, but after trying to load the game about 5 times it just went into it and worked.