Sleight of Hand - Demo Available

[Storygamer]

Hi everyone!  So, yeah, this is my first post on these forums.  I wasn't entirely certain where to post this, as I see posts about completed demos in both this forum and the "Completed Games" one.  I decided to play it safe (I think) and post it here.  If I'm in the wrong place, hopefully some mod will be kind enough to move the thread.

Simon Hand is an accomplished performance magician. He can do all the card tricks, hat tricks, box tricks, and escapes necessary to stun his audience at every show. But when a mysterious woman shows up backstage after one of Simon's shows and asks for his help, Simon finds himself face to face with people who believe in magic in a very different--and far more deadly--way. He is soon caught up in a kidnapping case and a hundred-year-old feud between two magical cults, both desperate and willing to kill for an artifact that each believes Simon already has in his possession. With very few allies and plenty of enemies, Simon must find a way to diffuse the conflict before it ends with his own early demise.

The playable demo is now available at The Storygamer Blog (my site).

And here are a few screenshots:



Intro Shot
Gameplay Shot

<EDIT: I feel like an idiot, I finally saw that little link and got this game submitted to the game page >

As for a progress report...well, this actual download (the demo) is 100% done, of course.  The full progress report is as follows:

-3d environments & background graphics 75%
-Sprites ~48%
-Room builds ~25%
-Music ~100%
-Cutscenes 20%
-Dialog 0%
-Extras 0%

I wanted to ask for criticism but it appears I can't by the forum rules , so I guess I'll run over and create a thread in the Critic's Lounge...

Feel free to email me and let me know what you think: carlpalmner@gmail.com.  Also let me know if you find any bugs.

EDIT (4/21): Sorry I haven't been updating this post.  I've kept the website updated, but haven't had a chance to come back to this post in a while.  Anyway, it's updated now--more backgrounds and sprites finished.  Since I do these with 3d render programs, it takes just as long to make the backgrounds and sprites as it does to build the actual rooms and such.  I haven't worked on this in about 2 weeks due to my own illness and my computer issues (site has more details), but hopefully in about a week or so I'll be able to return to the project.

[auriond]

The story looks good! Am downloading the demo now

[Nikolas]

Looking very good and an intruiging story indeed!

Looking forward as well!

[GarageGothic]

This sounds very intriguing. I absolutely love stage magic and have studied it quite a lot since a stage magician also plays a major role in my own game-in-production.
I played the demo, and apart from the Poser'ish look of the characters, which can hardly be avoided, it seemed very professional (perhaps you should work on your camera placement in Poser though - the character is closer to camera in the front view than the back view, and the camera angle from the front almost makes the shoes look like he's standing  on his toes).
The intro cutscene was very nicely made, the comic book style reminded me a bit of Max Payne, and the way you turn the door into part of the background looked very stylish. The story starts off rather clichéd, but I hope that it will develop in unpredictable ways - also I hope we get a chance to use some real magic tricks.

Good luck. And hats off for not announcing the game before the demo was done!

[Vince Twelve]

Looking good StoryGamer!  Like GarageGothic said, there are a few graphical issues with the perspective on the walkcycles.  There are also lots of walk-behind issues in the apartment at the end of the demo, but it's a nice work-in-progress.

I'm definitely looking forward to learning more of the story.

[Storygamer]

Thanks for all the positive feedback so far!

Yeah--ironically I discovered the walk-behind issues a few minutes after posting the demo.  I might fix it and re-post, but probably not, since the demo is really such a tiny portion of what will be the entire game.  It's not just the woman's apartment--there's a walk-behind issue with one of the posts holding up the upper floor of Simon's apartment complex, too.  I also found two or three unessential interactions which cause nothing to happen when the button is pressed, so that needs to be fixed as well.

As for the Poser issues--really?  I'll have to have a look at that, I didn't notice it when playing.  Someone else not on this forum (who doesn't use AGS) also said that the "alpha channels" of the character sprites needed work.  I had to ask him what that meant--for those as ignorant as me, it means the transparent vs. opaque parts of the sprite.  Anyone else notice any issues with sprite transparency anywhere?

EDIT: I forgot to answer GarageGothic's questions about the plot.

The story will remain fairly straightforward--nothing huge, new and unpredictable about the plot--and will delve into the history of an actual magic-based society that existed and was torn up by feuds.  The main groups of Sleight of Hand are fictional descendants of the original group.  It will also deal with an important artifact of Jewish Kabbala.

As for doing magic tricks--yes.  There will be at least a couple places where you have to use your skills as a magician.  However, you won't go through every step of the trick.  Rather, you'll choose what to say and you'll use the appropriate item (for example the deck of cards).

[Storygamer]

Is there any way I can make the character sprites less jagges on the edges?  Even with "anti-aliased sprites" turned on, they still look...well, not anti-aliased on the edges.  Is there some way to make the edge pixels 50% transparent, or antialias with the background somehow?

[Gilbert]

Well you can use sprites with alpha channels if your game is 32-bit true colour.

The "AA sprite" option is actually a bit misleading in words, it's actually interpolating the inner pixels of the sprite rather than its edges.


But this is sort of an AGS related question, it would be more suitable to ask this in the Beginners' Tech. forum than in your own game's thread.

[Storygamer]

Ah, I didn't know that!  Thanks Gilbot!  This will make a huge difference.

[Storygamer]

Updated the first post here, which hasn't been updated in forever .  Sorry about that--I tend to keep the website more up-to-date than this thread, but the project is continuing, I assure you.

Also, there is a new screenshot available at the website.

[Regun]

The game looks good with a very awesoem story!!!

[Afflict]

Must say the story sounds awesome. Will keep an eye open for the full release.

[Storygamer]

Just doing my once-in-a-blue-moon check-in to this thread.  More progress has been made--I'm too lazy to update the top post but I did update the WEBSITE--and among other things there are two new screenshots on the site.  The most recent one is HERE and it includes links to previous screenshots.