Murder in a Wheel - A Locked Room Mystery

Rosie · Thu 18/10/2007 18:19:56

This game looks so good. I downloaded it and then after playing for awhile, had 3-4 saves on it, I quit the game......When I try to get back in again, it doesnt come up with any saves, but if I press saves, they are there, but they dont download.

Help please

LimpingFish · Thu 18/10/2007 22:22:04

I enjoyed this a lot. Funny and clever, and very well presented. Good stuff.

paolo · Fri 19/10/2007 08:03:10

Murder in a Wheel...

Spoiler

...otherwise known as MiaW.

[close]

Could this be a clue?

j-Hed · Fri 19/10/2007 10:35:49

The graphics are very good and the dialogue is brilliant!

I love the humour, subtle sarcasm with these small pauses in between makes it so enjoyable.
Great game I know about the music but the humour is the funniest so it doesn't matter.
Please make more games! Maybe episodes like Sam & Max 2?

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Fri 19/10/2007 13:23:28

I'm truly loving it, but regarding the keyboard shortcuts, little advice for next time:

"Push"'s shortcut is "S". That's correct - it's a synonim of "Shove".
"Pull"'s shortcut is "X". That's incorrect, in comparison with LEC games, plus it makes no sense. The correct key would be "Y" - "Yank".

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've a murderer to catch.

Mazoliin · Fri 19/10/2007 15:02:56

It's a fantastic game. I just finished it and I absolutely loved it. I hope there gonna be some more great game from you soon.

Buckethead · Fri 19/10/2007 15:21:42

I've finished the game and it was wonderfull! There was some good humour in it and sometimes I even found myself laughing out loud

Spoiler

like when you are awnsering questions and the guys say: the butler did it. And lord blackwin is like: "we don't have a butler" and then you awnser will an all serious face"never the less the butlers guilty"

[close]

I always feel a bit envious when people with a low post count seemed to have find a way to make great games. But oh well this game was really nice so I don't mind.

Ieremiou · Sat 20/10/2007 00:13:50

Awesome work. Nicely thought out. The music was a bit weak and the credit music really sounded awful. It sounded like a train wreck because all the instruments began to stack on top of each other.

A 4.5 out of 5. Well done.

Eshaktaar · Sat 20/10/2007 09:05:21

Thanks for playing!

Quote from: paolo on Thu 18/10/2007 09:16:47The game crashed at this point. I tried doing the above again, but the game worked OK the second time round.

Do you know if anyone else has had the same problem?

I remember one person reporting a crash while playing the German version, but it happened at a different spot and couldn't be repeated either. I blame Windows.

Quote from: Rosie on Thu 18/10/2007 18:19:56When I try to get back in again, it doesnt come up with any saves, but if I press saves, they are there, but they dont download.

Help please

I'm not sure what is causing this. Normally, old saves can't be loaded if the game's resolution was changed in the setup.

Quote from: Ieremiou on Sat 20/10/2007 00:13:50It sounded like a train wreck because all the instruments began to stack on top of each other.

Haha, the joy of midi files sounding different on every soundcard.

Regarding the music, it was really a compromise as the project had to be finished within a rather tight schedule. For the next game I'll try to find someone who can create a few original tracks.

Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Fri 19/10/2007 13:23:28
"Push"'s shortcut is "S". That's correct - it's a synonim of "Shove".
"Pull"'s shortcut is "X". That's incorrect, in comparison with LEC games, plus it makes no sense. The correct key would be "Y" - "Yank".

Ah, that is good to know, thanks. I chose the X it because it's next to the Y on my keyboard (I've got a QWERTZ one). The German version uses the QWE/ASD/YXC key block where the key position corresponds to the verb's position in the GUI.

Lucifiel · Mon 22/10/2007 07:03:42

Ooh excellent!

I really enjoyed this game a lot.

And I look forward to your next game. Btw, the twist at the end of the game was brilliant and flipped the tables on the suspect.

Venus · Mon 22/10/2007 20:16:17

~~You should really enter this little masterpiece in the game database. I want to officially give it top scores in all categories.~~
Ok, found it. I was trying to get to it using Eshaktaar's profile and didn't bother checking the database myself. Thanks tube. I have now given it top scores in all categories

I just finished playing the German version and will soon replay in English just to see how well the jokes translated. You did an amazing job on the game. Congrats and thanks

Pelican · Mon 22/10/2007 20:21:52

Short and sweet.

Good graphics and puzzles. Entertaining and amusing, I loved all the little jokes. Keep up the good work.

tube · Mon 22/10/2007 20:22:29

A well written game with beautiful graphics, gotta love it. The ~~stolen~~ borrowed music was admittedly a low point, but I'm sure you'll have no trouble recruiting a musician for your next project.

Venus: It's already in the database.

Charity · Mon 22/10/2007 21:18:46

I quite enjoyed this. Short and funny with some excellent artwork.

I didn't recognize most of the music, and I thought it at least fit pretty well. You do what you've got to do when there are time constraints involved, I guess!

The English in the game was very good, for the most part, but there were a few errors. I'd point them out, but it's been a couple days since I played.

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 22/10/2007 23:23:25

Dunno what's the big fuss with the music. It was well chosen, it was good, it fit the style and the situations. So it was ripped, who cares. It's not even as if someone wouldn't notice, they're popular tracks in hugely popular games.

I particularly loved the final "interrogation". In fact, the whole thing was brilliant. Congratulations!

Ali · Sun 28/10/2007 11:09:27

I enjoyed this game, and I particularly liked the way the mystery was just this side of logical rather than really 'wacky'. The backgrounds were really nice, particularly the lounge, and I loved the use of textures. The sprites weren't entirely stylistically coherent, but they were effective and the cat looked terrific.

I look forward to more games of this quality!

Lucifiel · Sun 28/10/2007 16:13:50

Quote from: Ali on Sun 28/10/2007 11:09:27
I enjoyed this game, and I particularly liked the way the mystery was just this side of logical rather than really 'wacky'. The backgrounds were really nice, particularly the lounge, and I loved the use of textures. The sprites weren't entirely stylistically coherent, but they were effective and the cat looked terrific.

I look forward to more games of this quality!

Oh yeah, the cat.

Who could forget Mrs. Winterbottoms? It looked pissed enough to just leap out of your monitor and re-arrange your face before slinking away in blissful glee. :p

Drawken · Mon 29/10/2007 02:12:29

Lovely game. Great graphics. Didn't even notice the music was from other games except for the title screen, which I believe was from Maniac Mansion. All the music fit nicely into the game.
I had a fun time playing it.

I have to honestly say I was a bit confused, at the beginning of the game, when the answer choices came up when Ernest asked Lionel about his profession. I had thought that Ernest was the main character since he was the first one to be shown. I became brain dead for a couple of seconds and thought "Why is he answering his own question?". It finally clicked that Ernest wasn't the one answering. It was one of the two guys on the couch. (I would have known which one, had I actually comprehended beforehand what the LEFT guy said about being a psychiatrist.) Well, I finally found out who it was after selecting one of the answers, obviously.

Am I the only one without foreknowledge of this game to be confused this way?

Wow. I feel stupid.

InCreator · Mon 29/10/2007 07:24:51

Whoa, completed!

I Liked--!

* Backgrounds. Strongest point in game, absolutely functional and nice looking. Made me sorry that game itself was so short...
* Inventory icons. They look sooo cuuute! Also... how could it be? They're looking WAY better than ones in any LucasArts game I know.
* Story. Funny, simple, yet interesting. Well-written, I say!
* Touch of a designer. How every menu, screen, cursor, font is thought through, how they really blend well together and show a considerable amount of professional designer behind it. Are you one?

BUT in your next game, avoid or improve--!

* LEC gui, if it has no meaningful use in game. Push? Pull? Give? Pick up? Use? Lots of verbs, but they aren't used much actually. Simple look-interact-talk could do the whole thing. I don't remember pushing or pulling anything, neither closing, and the complicated verb gui was there more to confuse me than make anything more interesting or complex.
* Ripped music. As everybody said. Wasn't badly chosen, but still, these tunes belong to overly different, loved game worlds and sound out of place in your game.
* Lazy animation and different sprite design. That was worst part in this otherwise brilliant little game. Characters look too real for this cartoony style and their animations feel really rushed and low on frames. Atleast main character could have a bit more fluid and cartoony animation.
Also, characters feel somewhat different from backgrounds and don't blend in well.
Maybe if you drew characters directly onto the background, or used background on a layer under character sprite the time you drew them (I always do so), the harmony could have turned out better. Right now, it kind of looks like MSPaint versus Photoshop, both trying their best.
* Getting into thing. The intro didn't say anything to me, to be honest. A man hates the hamster. Next screen, lots of people, questions and confusion! I had no idea what's going on or who is who until later in the game. Intro could have shown the dinner, with people introducing themselves by hints in dialog or something like this, to understand what the hell was going on at all and where. Even a simple text, like "there's a dinner at Blackwin manor and he and he is invited and suddenly something happens blah blah" could give a better idea.

Though I wrote few long complaints here, I still loved every second of the game.
Make more!

Drawken · Mon 29/10/2007 08:37:59

Quote from: InCreator on Mon 29/10/2007 07:24:51
* Getting into thing. The intro didn't say anything to me, to be honest. A man hates the hamster. Next screen, lots of people, questions and confusion! I had no idea what's going on or who is who until later in the game. Intro could have shown the dinner, with people introducing themselves by hints in dialog or something like this, to understand what the hell was going on at all and where. Even a simple text, like "there's a dinner at Blackwin manor and he and he is invited and suddenly something happens blah blah" could give a better idea.
[/color]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt confused by the introduction. Now I don't feel so dumb.