[MAGS] Of the Essence

[WHAM]

Download from this link:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1426
Don't forget to give deedback! good or bad, it's always welcome!

Of the Essence
Can you escape impending doom? Run! Run for your life!





For the record: I won't be expanding this game any further than it is on release. The reason for this is, that this game was more of a proof of concept game, a way for me to show myself that I can do keyboard controls, rolling gameplay etc. I also had to cut a lot of corners to make this game work before deadline, so my original plan to make it sort of modular and easy to add more levels got lost there. A lot of people have asked me to expand and add better controls, but I'm afraid I will have to disappoint them here.

What I will do is take the skills and tricks I've learned here and put them to good use in my future projects, hopefully allowing me to make even better games.

If I am not mistaken, this might also be the first AGS game to feature achievements! Correct me if I am mistaken!  


I was mistaken

[cianty]

Oh boy! I've been waiting for this! *downloading*

[Sslaxx]

Not the first. "Hello, Neighbour!" had them. So does AGDI's version of KQ3.

[WHAM]

Not the first. "Hello, Neighbour!" had them. So does AGDI's version of KQ3.

Damn and blast! And I was so hopeful! 

[selmiak]

this is a cool action game. I like the sprites and stuff. And the readme and story introduction is also cool.

You said you won't improve this one so maybe this is good for future games from you:

*why the Z key? It's very far from the space key and for qwertz-keyboard users a pain in the asshand. Why not C or something? or C for shooting and V for ducking. Or customizable controls.

*As I rather frequently die, please make the intro speech at the beginning of playing also skippable, even though it are only 5 sentences or so. Or at least let the player mouse-click away the sentences. I only read it once, some don't read it and with every replay it gets more annoying.

*everytime I'm hit the player turn to the lower part of the screen. Just let him be faced where he was looking before.

*gimme something to shoot at... or is there something later on that I haven't seen as I always die before?

[Hudders]

After writing the following list, I realise I am basically echoing selmiak:

Pros:
Music and sound effects are excellent.
Graphics are very nice.

Cons:
Intro should be skippable.
Controls should be more obvious - I wasn't even aware you could duck or shoot until I read selmiak's comment above.

[WHAM]

@ Selminak

Good to hear you enjoyed the game and the story! I wanted to use this game to give some background to the universe I use in my other games (Infection) and it's good to know someone actually read / watched the stuff.

About controls: I'm so used to QWERTY keyboards (never seen any other kind of keyboard in my life), that I hadn't realized that Z could be difficult for people. I usually use Z, X, A and S as action keys along with space. I'll have to think about this in the future. I could try to add a new feature in my next game, which would allow players to customize keys...

About unskippable intro: I wanted to cerate a new talk function myself, using timers and GUI elemets. I made the mistake of using the same timers to adjust other game events as well, which caused the game to bug out if I allowed the dialogue in the beginning to be skippable. Either I would cause bullets to stop mid-air, or characters would talk, talk talk, then wait for a while and THEN start moving, making the scene look very silly. I opted for the easy solution instead, as the deadline loomed over me. I won't do it again, promise!

Getting hit should not change your direction, however  taking cover will reset you to facing down. I could blame the deadline, but will instead admit to being lazy and drawing just one taking cover frame, instead of making four. However, I can't really see why this is an issue in the current game.

Controls should be more obvious - I wasn't even aware you could duck or shoot until I read selmiak's comment above.

This is why the readme.txt is named the way it is. 
I often cleverly hide secret stuff like the instructions and controls there, along with other information, story details and credits. I'm evil that way!

[Monsieur OUXX]

I tried it out and the intro/graphics/music/general atmosphere made the very basic gameplay actually enjoyable.
My 2 major drawbacks are :
- The unskippable intro (you already addressed that one, but, seriously, it makes the game unplayable!!! Fix your timers, I beg you)
- I have no idea how to avoid the explosions. I don't know where they come from, or when they're going to happen.

[WHAM]

Since everyone is complaining about the intro, I need to find out: are we talking about the few lines of dialogue when the game characters become visible, or the whole intro with the commander's speech and tactical displays etc, which is shown before the main menu becomes visible. This first into CAN be skipped with ESC. The few lines of dialog in the beginning should only take precisely 27 seconds and should not make the game unplayable on repeated runs.

@ Ouxxey
There should be a sound of artillery shells falling down on you to warn you of the explosions, which are in fact artillery fire landing around you. The mines have the same explosion animation, but I'm sure you've noticed those.  

[Monsieur OUXX]

The few lines of dialog in the beginning should only take precisely 27 seconds and should not make the game unplayable on repeated runs.

I was talking about those. It's approx. 30 seconds of waiting every 1 minute of game (since I keep dying). Maybe when I understand the game better (and hence play better) it won't be a bother, but at the moment it drives me crazy.

There should be a sound of artillery shells falling down on you to warn you of the explosions, which are in fact artillery fire landing around you.

OK for the artillery sounds. How do you protect from them? Only by ducking into a hole, or can you also use any other cover up? (I'm asking because I'm not sure if the artillery support also comes strictly from the upper part of the screen, just like the regular shots, or if it may fall anywhere, including behind a cover up).

[WHAM]

Cover works as is mentioned in the readme file. In "craters, trenches or behind solid objects".
Basically taking cover lowers your chance of being hit by the shrapnel, but is not 100% sure.

[Monsieur OUXX]

OK, thanks!

[moshboy]

I dug this and made it to the end. It was frustrating at first but once I figured out the taking cover mechanic and the general timing of enemy fire, it wasn't so bad. I do hope you use elements from this in a larger, future project where you actually get to return fire at something.

[WHAM]

Thanks Moshboy!

I'm hoping to use some of the elements from this game in my future projects, so I think I will be able to grant your wish some day.