Fading Shades v0.5

[Blue]

Hi all

So, after working on it for years it seems I'm finally ready for my first AGS game to be tested. So I'm looking for people who'd like to betatest for me.

"Fading Shades" is a very simple first person adventure game. It's not too big, since it's my first attempt at creating an adventure game.



Download here (link removed  You'll have to wait for the release now. )

If you feel like testing for me, please answer the following questions:

1) How long did it take you to complete the game?
2) Did you find the game too difficult? Too easy? What's too difficult / easy?
3) Do you find the graphics too dark on your monitor?
4) Find any bugs?
Any other feedback also appreciated.

Thanks for helping

[Darth Mandarb]

An interesting game...

I didn't get to finish it.  I got a bit stuck:

Spoiler

Found the ring, opened the chest, got the blue pearl, got the rock and moved the lever, read the diary and got the crowbar .... but then didn't know what to do next.  Thought to use the crowbar to move the bars (glowing red) but it didn't work ... then I ran out of play time.

[close]

The writing in the diary has some grammar/spelling errors.  Nothing major, but little things (cosy instead of cozy) and some is/are mistakes.

Navigation was a little odd ... the cursor stayed the hand which led me to think I could click on anything so it was a little confusing.  I think a generic cursor which changes to the hand when you're over an object you can interact with would be better.  I don't mind a little pixel-hunting ... but the only time the cursor changes is when you can "go" a direction.  Also, though not terrible, sometimes it's hard to tell which direction you came from when you get to a new screen so you think you need to go one way to get "back" and it's the wrong way.

It wasn't too dark on my [laptop] screen.

The inventory/options screen up top ... I think those would work better if just mouseOver would open them rather than having to click.

Last thing; the interactions seems to ... stick ... at times.  Like I can click on something, but then can't click again for a bit of time.  (I don't have my sound on so there might be some sound playing that causes/justifies this sticking)

All in all I'm pleased with it! 

[Blue]

An interesting game...

I didn't get to finish it.  I got a bit stuck:

Spoiler

Ok, there are several ways to go from here. So here are a few hints: Where did the rock come from? What does the red pearl represent?

[close]

The writing in the diary has some grammar/spelling errors.  Nothing major, but little things (cosy instead of cozy) and some is/are mistakes.

I thought it could be spelled both ways. I'll see if I can find the smaller errors too.

Navigation was a little odd ... the cursor stayed the hand which led me to think I could click on anything so it was a little confusing.  I think a generic cursor which changes to the hand when you're over an object you can interact with would be better.  I don't mind a little pixel-hunting ... but the only time the cursor changes is when you can "go" a direction.

Well, we thought the game would be way too easy if you got that kind of feedback from the cursor.

Also, though not terrible, sometimes it's hard to tell which direction you came from when you get to a new screen so you think you need to go one way to get "back" and it's the wrong way.

It would be nice if you could mention in which rooms you got confused about this In the beginning of developing the game I thought of including a map, but later I found it a bit overkill..

It wasn't too dark on my [laptop] screen.

Great 

The inventory/options screen up top ... I think those would work better if just mouseOver would open them rather than having to click.

I'll consider that. Thanks

Last thing; the interactions seems to ... stick ... at times.  Like I can click on something, but then can't click again for a bit of time.  (I don't have my sound on so there might be some sound playing that causes/justifies this sticking)

Actually, there is a certain place in the game where I placed a wait(), because of a soundclip that needed to be heard. So you can't leave the screen right away because that would make it stop playing.. I dunno if that's the right way to get around that problem though.

All in all I'm pleased with it! 

Good to hear. Thanks for your time and feedback. I really appreciate it

[DazJ]

What a different and unique style. Very appealing. Yes there were a few grammtical errors in the diary but overall I was impressed with it

[INA]

1. It took me about 40 min to complete the game.
2. I don't think the puzzles are to difficult.
3. I love the grafik, it was not to dark. But maybe you could animate the background to make it look even better (water, torch).
4. I found no bugs, but I startet directly in the first room with no intro. I dont know if this should happen.

I think you could improve the puzzle some more. I think the hints for the red pearl were out of place. Maybe you could include them into the diary? Like a sketch between the entries. Or you could replace the crowbar with a branch of the treeroot.

[Khris]

Wow, very nice atmosphere, I felt relaxed immediately

Didn't encounter any bugs so far, but got stuck:

Spoiler

Got to the diary but am still lost how to get the red pearl, what to do with the tree roots or which demon to set the panel to.

[close]

[Blue]

Wow, very nice atmosphere, I felt relaxed immediately

Didn't encounter any bugs so far, but got stuck

Ok, here's a hint:

Spoiler

To get the red pearl, you must know what it represents.

[close]

And another hint:

Spoiler

Where did the rock come from?

[close]

[BOYD1981]

The writing in the diary has some grammar/spelling errors.  Nothing major, but little things (cosy instead of cozy) and some is/are mistakes.

cosy actually is the correct spelling, cozy is the americanisation of the word.

[Darth Mandarb]

Navigation was a little odd ... the cursor stayed the hand which led me to think I could click on anything so it was a little confusing.  I think a generic cursor which changes to the hand when you're over an object you can interact with would be better.  I don't mind a little pixel-hunting ... but the only time the cursor changes is when you can "go" a direction.

Well, we thought the game would be way too easy if you got that kind of feedback from the cursor.

That's understandable.  My follow-up suggestion would be to change the default cursor to something other than the "hand" which, because of the web, symbolizes that something is a link (clickable) thus makes me think everything is a hotspot.  It's just a suggestion

The writing in the diary has some grammar/spelling errors.  Nothing major, but little things (cosy instead of cozy) and some is/are mistakes.

cosy actually is the correct spelling, cozy is the americanisation of the word.

I stand corrected

[MashPotato]

A nice game; like others have said, a very good atmosphere and it looks spiffy That said, I'm stuck near the end

Spoiler

I've gotten the red and green beads, but don't know what to do with the crowbar to get the last one

[close]

I found the graphics a tad dark, but my monitor is kind of old and I've had that problem before.

One suggestion I have is that the narrator not refer to the player (eg. "I don't know what you want me to do").  Since the story seems to be a very personal one to the narrator, I think it kind of breaks the fourth wall to have the player reminded that they're directing another person, not doing things themselves.

Congratulations on the imminent release of your first game!

[Blue]

A nice game; like others have said, a very good atmosphere and it looks spiffy That said, I'm stuck near the end

Ok a hint:

Spoiler

You've practically solved it. The crowbar might be good at opening things, but besides that, it's also long ;-) I know it's not a very logical solution, but this way, the crowbar serves as a decoy because of what you normally would use it to.

[close]

I found the graphics a tad dark, but my monitor is kind of old and I've had that problem before.

Ok, you're the first to say it's too dark, so I guess I'll wait and see if there are others too. Otherwise I don't think I'll change it.

One suggestion I have is that the narrator not refer to the player (eg. "I don't know what you want me to do").  Since the story seems to be a very personal one to the narrator, I think it kind of breaks the fourth wall to have the player reminded that they're directing another person, not doing things themselves.

You're right. I didn't think about that. It will be corrected. Thank you. :-)

Congratulations on the imminent release of your first game!

Thank you very much :-)

[Blue]

It seems everyone has said what needs to be said, so I thank everyone who took the time to test the game and give feedback

[m0ds]

Is it pre-rendered screens or do you actually walk around like in an FPS?

[Blue]

Is it pre-rendered screens or do you actually walk around like in an FPS?

If pre-rendered means static images, then yes.

[Blue]

Fading Shades now released

So, since the betatest version was released, I actually didn't change that much.

That doesn't mean I didn't listen to your feedback, but some of the stuff you suggested was just not that easy to fix.

If you'd bother reading my excuses, they are listed below. Otherwise you can download the game here.

Spoiler

Eg. The spelling errors in the diary. As the diary was hand written about two years ago, the original pages somehow got lost. I tried to fix the errors in photoshop, but it was too obvious that it didn't fit in with the other writing.

As for the rather confusing navigation, people will just have to adapt to it. I thought for a while about including a map, but since the game is so small, it seemed silly to me.

When starting the game, the cursor was a hand in the beta version. It still is. It was suggested that I could make it an arrow instead, but I don't think it would solve anything. The hand suggests everything can be interacted with while the arrow suggests the opposite. I don't know which is worse. ;-)

The inventory / options bar at the top annoyed a few people. I would have made a change to it so that it popped up on mouseover, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Some didn't like the cowbar puzzle, but I kind of liked the decoy effect about it, so I didn't change that either. The red pearl puzzle is also still "out of place", since I was fresh out of clever ideas to implement hints.

The graphics are too dark on some screens, and I'd really like to brighten them up, but all the work required afterwards with importing the graphics and objects all over again was too much. I'm sorry but I guess I'm really lazy.

[close]

I hope you can forgive me my laziness. I will certaintly keep your advice in mind for future games!

[Puddleglum]

I really enjoyed this game. I liked the style and first person perspective. I didn't find the navigation difficult at all. I really hope to see more from you in the future!

1) About half an hour
2) I thought the difficulty was just right, I got a bit stumped but nothing I couldn't figure out
3) Nope!
4) Nope!

Congratulations and thank you for sharing 

[Darth Mandarb]

If the game is released ... post in the Completed Games board!

Thanks and congrats on finishing a game!