Anna -- One Room, One Week Competition 2 Joint Winner

[Vince Twelve]

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anna
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summary
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This is a polished up version one of the OROW Competition 2 joint winners, Anna.

The game is presented in pseudo-3D with a keyboard interface.

This updated version contains a number of updates including sound and music as well as a new and novel Flash manual that actually communicates with the AGS game in order to unlock story background and hints as you play the game.  For example, if you find yourself stuck in the game, before consulting a walkthrough or the forum, open up the manual.  It will check to see how far into the game you've progressed and unlock the appropriate hint for you.  There are also several other hidden tidbits that will unlock as you play.

Play it again... for the first time!

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links
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The xii games Website.

The AGS Game Page.

Direct Download Link.

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story
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Welcome to Outpost Station.  A deep-space lookout intended to serve as an early warning system in case of attack by "the enemy."  You are Hero, a clear-room technician charged with the maintenance of all the station's systems including Anna, the intelligent computer system that runs the station.

The day starts as routinely as any other, but ends with Homeworld's very survival in jeopardy.

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version information
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This game was originally made for the One Room One Week Competition.  The OROW Competition release version 0.9 was released  July 16, 2005.

This is version 1.0.  The following changes were implemented:

-Added sound and music
-Complete face-lift for the main menu
-Added new load GUI to main menu
-Added custom save/load GUIs to in-game menu
-Added credits
-Slight changes to dialogue text
-Speech is now ALL skippable
-New Flash Manual

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links (again)
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The xii games Website.

The AGS Game Page.

Direct Download Link.

[Kweepa]

The game communicates with the manual? That's an awesome idea!
Looks like it took you almost as long to make the manual as the game...

[Mordalles]

wow! downloading!

[Vince Twelve]

The game communicates with the manual? That's an awesome idea!
Looks like it took you almost as long to make the manual as the game...

It did indeed take me more days to make, but seeing as how I just stole all the graphics for the manual from the game, the manual required a lot fewer man-hours.  I was just unable to devote as much of my time to Anna over the last few weeks as I was during the competition week.

Speaking of the manual, if anyone is curious about it, but doesn't want to actually download the game, the manual can be viewed online from the xii games website.

Direct link to the manual

Of course you wont be able to view any of the unlockable items.  You have to progress into the game for that.

Also I should mention that I stole a few quotes from Helm, bush_monkey, and [...] from the One Room One Week Competition 2 thread for use on my website.  Hope you guys don't mind!

[Mozesh]

Played the game, it's just wow, I really like it. And the manual looks really great.
EDIT:
Comment & Vote posted

[Vince Twelve]

Thanks for the comments and vote, Mozesh!  Be sure to tune in next week for Anna 2: Anna's Revenge!

[Andy]

This game is looking good, but I don't understand how to interact with the manual (unlock anything) 

I have Anna, the game file
I have Anna's Game and Settings, which gives me a menu, but the menu doesn't work.
I have Anna's Manual which is a HTML link
And there's a file called manualShell which is an unopenable shockwave flash object. (do I need some software?)

So far I got the code for the cryo pod, but I don't know where to use it 

But anyways, I like the game so far 

[Vince Twelve]

Well, if everything is working correctly, there should be no reason for you to open the "fscommand" folder.  You should be able to launch the game, change the settings, and access the manual without opening that folder.  (I probably should have made it a hidden file)  The "Anna's Game and Settings.exe" should open a menu allowing you to change the settings or launch the game.  I decided to do this because the game's folder was getting quite cramped with the output and save files.

But, the menu isn't working?  That's strange.  Does it load and then the buttons do nothing?

As for unlocking things in the manual, you should load that HTML file "Anna's Manual.html" and the manual will load and automatically unlock the proper bits.  At your point in the game, you should already have unlocked a few things.  Check the computer terminal on the right side of the room in the manual.

All of these things should work correctly on every Windows system.  If you're running linux, that may account for some problems.  If it's still not working let me know.

Oh and:

So far I got the code for the cryo pod, but I don't know where to use it

If you need a hint:

Spoiler

The cryo pod is on the right side of the room next to the door.

[close]

[Andy]

Many thanks for the feedback.

I re-downloaded the game, and everything works fine. I think the problem might have been that I didn't extract the .rar file to the default folder. Or else it was some weird glitch. After that, I dug myself into a hole trying to figure out what was going wrong  :

Well anyways, I finished the game 

The manual did actually aid me in progressing further from where I was stuck, so cool! I feel like I finished the game without cheating, and that always feels good.

Might as well tell you how, not sure it makes sense though 

Spoiler

It was where it said that the subscreens can be accessed by utilization of three of the switches. I guess that was kind of obvious, but reduced number of combinations from 32 to 10, and then I realized that one of those 10 would do something to the cryo pod screen.

[close]

Really enjoyed the game, not surprised it was one of the winners of the competition 

[simulacra]

I really enjoyed this game too. Great idea with the manual.

[Vince Twelve]

Thanks for the comments simulacra and Andy! 

And Andy: I'm glad that the manual could help you.  I told myself that if the built in hint system could help just one person it would all be worth it!

[Mozesh]

Thanks for the comments and vote, Mozesh!  Be sure to tune in next week for Anna 2: Anna's Revenge!

Ah cool I'll be looking forward to that

[Risk]

short but sweet. nice use of philosophical debates and all-in-all a wonderful demo of something new and different.

i will definetely look forward to upcoming games produced by xii games.

[lakerz]

I just now played Anna.  Very very cool concept and game interface!  Really an excellent job, especially given you only had one week. 

[Vince Twelve]

Thanks for the comments, Risk and lakerz!  If you've got a sec, be sure to leave a comment or a vote on the game's page!

[LUniqueDan]

I rarely download short games but this one *really* worth playing.
Good Job Vince! 

Everything is near perfection. The story's perfect for an adventure games and all the puzzle suits my need.

[Vince Twelve]

Whoah, hello thread!  Thanks Dan!  I actually started making a remake of this game in Flash.  I had three games in this series planned out, just never got around to making the other two.  If I had time, I would finish them all in Flash.

Try it out here: http://www.xiigames.com/misc/anna/

It feels a lot better with smooth movement, rather than the fade in/out that I used for walking up/down in AGS.

Edit: I also think we need an Annie Android vs. Anna spinoff game.

[ThreeOhFour]

Edit: I also think we need an Annie Android vs. Anna spinoff game.

That's a party I'd attend any day! Bring it on!!!