Purgatorio now available for download

[Johanas]

Hi guys,

This is Purgatorio and it is the first game I've made that I've decided is good enough to be put up on the AGS website.

It took me six months to make and all of the visuals and music are completely original. It's quite a large file, but I think it's worth it for the look and feel of the game. I've tried to create an involving atmosphere and game world.

The game follows Frank O'Shea, A soldier on a peacekeeping mission. He is shot in the line of duty and blacks out. He awakens to find himself wounded and in a strange, but somehow familiar town. You must act as Franks guide as he tries to remember what has brought him here. Welcome to Purgatorio…

The game can be Downloaded here (89MB):

Purgatorio


Features:

- 800x600 resolution with 32 bit colours.
- A mixture of photographed and hand drawn characters and backgrounds, tailored into a common visual style.
- Animated characters, locations, and effects.
- Interact with the inhabitants of Purgatorio.
- Inventory and conversation based puzzles, as well as some lateral thinking.
- Explore over 25 unique locations, indoor and outdoor.
- There's a couple of Easter Eggs to be found, and a few sly references to other games and genres.
- All music is original and created solely for this game. 8 different tracks add atmosphere to exploration and puzzles.
- Simple, easy to use interface.
- Not really a feature but occasional bad language and strong, implied violence.
- Finally, an interesting storyline and game world.

Screenshots:








I think the game has been well tested but get back to me if you find any bugs or inconsistencies

Hope you guys enjoy playing it.
(Extra points if you can tell me what Irish town provided the backgrounds)

Purgatorio created and designed by Jonathan Lynch

[Jon]

The artwork looks nice, and it has a lot of interesting features, good work!

[Nlogax]

looks good. Will d/l tomorrow.

[Afflict]

Downloading, looks awesome! Btw Congrats on your first release & I hope to see more!

[Shellz]

Very nice game if somewhat short. Excellent graphics, and a very interestingly done puzzle.

[tube]

Excellent. A quite original and enjoyable piece of entertainment overall. This story has been told before, but you managed to spin it into a dreamlike, well paced, refreshingly modern fable. The graphics were beautiful and the style was a perfect fit for the story. If I was desperately nitpicky (which I tend to be, at least if you ask my wife ) I'd mention a few insignificant spelling mistakes, but (to prove her wrong perhaps?) I won't.

Thanks for sharing the game with us and I hope it serves you well in your quest for a dream job.

PS: Extra points for ags linux compatibility.

[Nikolas]

Very enjoyable indeed.

I found all different elements very well crafted. Story and puzzles were also very well made!

The only thing that I would suggest is maybe to have the hero walk a bit faster. There are many BGs that are not necessary for the game, but just prolong the walking and when you are searching a bit (like I always do), you can start feeling non patient anymore...

Spoiler

I didn't wait long but I think I'll replay to see what happens if I don't hide in time

[close]

Well done on a very well made game and good luck with you portfolio!

[Nostradamus]

Very good game!
I like the interesting story, somewhat creepy dialogues, great graphics, good puzzles.
This is the kind of the game you get hooked on due its mystery.
The one thing I would change is that I'd like the player character to walk faster. The game world is pretty big and he walks pretty slow.
One big flaw: it's physically impossible for both sides of the street to be a circle where if you travel to any of the two direction you will end up back where you began after passing the screens of the circle. Unless it's intentional and the whole creepy point of the game, as I think I might have caught a hint for that from talking with the bartender girl.
When I finish the game I'll know better to judge that.

[Canardo]

The only thing that I would suggest is maybe to have the hero walk a bit faster. There are many BGs that are not necessary for the game, but just prolong the walking and when you are searching a bit (like I always do), you can start feeling non patient anymore...

Agreed. The slow pace of the character makes moving around a pain, maybe he should walk just a little bit faster.

Otherwise, it`s pretty impressive. The audiovisual side is very well done, and it actually reminds me a lot of Police Quest IV. I`m not yet very far, but still it seems to make for a game everyone should try. Nice work!

[radiowaves]

OO, this I will definately check out when I get time! Looks promising.

[Silent_bob]

Could anyone please tell me the numbers for den keypad to the house.
Maybe my english isn't that good to figure the riddle out or i'm just plain stupid...so please help cause im stuck

[peter]

Could anyone please tell me the numbers for den keypad to the house.
Maybe my english isn't that good to figure the riddle out or i'm just plain stupid...so please help cause I'm stuck

Look in the Hints and Tips forum

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=31664.0

[Nostradamus]

OK, now that I've finished the game with some help from the hints & tips forum, I still stand with the praise I wrote earlier and would also like to add praise about the great music in the game which sets up exactly the right mood & atmosphere.
However the game has strong flaws IMO:      (only people who completed the game should read the following)

Spoiler

1) pixel hunting puzzle with the lighter. Most people aren't fond with pixel hunting, especially where no clue comes that tell you you should search the pixel in said room. Yeah a glint appears but it's so small and fast it's very easy to miss.

2) the frustrating keypad puzzle. As you already understood in the hints forum, most people don't like this sorts of puzzle, and this was insanely difficult. The letter made no sense whatever, and although I read in the hints & tips that you could look at they numbers in the keypad and on the verses in the letter to get hints, the point is most people just won't use the look icon on neither the pads nor the letter. Why I would the player look at a key? the player wouldn't expect anything interesting in response. And even less probable, why would the player use the look icon on the verses when he can clearly read the text on the letter? what would make him think there would be any point to use the look icon on it then?   I just took the code from the hints & tips but I saw there that even after reading those clues people still weren't able to solve it.
I think you already said in the hints & tips that you were gonna take this into mind in your next games, just wanted to explain to you why this puzzle is so flawed.

3) The end - I don't get it!!  I just don't. And consequently I don't get the whole game. So he walks into the light, that means he's dead. So judging by the game's title and then its ending that means this whole town is actually purgatory. So.... then what was all the game about then?  What was the meaning of the people, the conversations, the creepy ultraviolet room, the box....? what was the kidney all about?  I found it but it never was explained... if this is purgatory and people in it are already dead, or whatever you would define their state, what would a kidney help them?   I just don't understand the meaning of all this... why does all this happen in purgatory? what's the relevance of all that happened since the player character wakes up until he walks into the light?

I would like an explanation.. is it something only you understand?  Does it have something to do with some sort of book or something that only people familiar with said story would understand?  or did I miss some info or something?

4) As I mentioned before, it's physically impossible for both sides of the roads to be a connecting circle. Even if it purgatory, a spirtiual world which doesn't obey the laws of our world, still it would makes no sense how a man walking in the street could walk in circles in both sides. Can you see it in your eyes?

[close]

In conclusion, I really like the style of the game. You made something uniquely impressive visually, musically, atmospherically as well as in interesting story & advancement altogether and I am waiting for your next games cos I see that you are hard working & talented and are concerned with quality. I just am very very confused, maybe to the point of frustration with it due to what I wrote above, especially on point #3. I would like an explanation for it and I hope your next games will be how can I say... more clear?

[Nikolas]

Spoiler

I think that the in the game, the hero was being hold between heaven and earth somehow, until being purified. The minute he found the box and returned it to the lady in the bar, he did the one good deed that helped him go through the purgatory and up to heaven (the light)

[close]

At least that's my take on it

[tube]

I just am very very confused, maybe to the point of frustration with it due to what I wrote above, especially on point #3. I would like an explanation for it and I hope your next games will be how can I say... more clear?

Remember that this is just your personal point of view. There are people like me (I hope?) who didn't find the story in the least confusing. It was pretty much exactly what I was expecting from a game named Purgatorio, especially considering the premise set by the intro. It was just another take on the whole purgatory/limbo concept thoroughly minced in literature and occasionally in film. Thankfully it was not even close to being disappointingly obvious, probably partly due to the interactive medium.

I also happen to consider the keypad puzzle to be one of the best parts of the game. Obviously there are bound to be players that find it hard/obscure/whatever, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a good puzzle for the rest of us. I like a good riddle every now and then.

To everyone his own, right?

[Johanas]

it's physically impossible for both sides of the roads to be a connecting circle

True. luckily in Purgatorio it doesn't matter. I was going for the feeling that no matter where you go you always end up in the same place and there is no escape by simply running away (think of pacman). It's based loosely on Dantes purgatorio (hence the shop names, woodcuts and title) so if you want a meaning for the people they can be guides to heaven or hell, the meaning of the room and the box is to show you that other people have gone through this before you, and this is how he delt with things. The kidney is a leftover of something that never made it into the game but I didn't take it out because I personally like games where you can pick something up for no purpose, just to have, but I can seehow it looks like it should be an important plot point and it can be misleading. as for the ending, I'm not going to say anything about it. You can make up your own mind. somebaody asked me why I included the guys records seperatley. It was an afterthought, you don't need to read them at all to play the game. My friends asked me what the records said so I made them up afterwards.

Sorry about his slow walking speed. I wish i included some sort of map to allow you to move to where you want to go. I'll know for again.

[Holocoz]

It's a very nice and good-looking game. I hope I get to download it someday (I have a slow internet connection). The screenshots look eerie, effective, and quite realistic. Great job.

[Shellz]

As to the verses puzzle, I thought it was, all in all, a very good one. As I told the creator of this game, it reminded me of the map puzzle from Gabriel Knight 3. There are some problems with how it was constructed however.

First, if the player doesn't realize that he needs to use the look icon on both the individual verses and the keys then the puzzle is unsolvable. Thus, somewhere the player should be told or given a clear hint that he needs to do so. (Maybe the game does, but I don't recall. I lucked upon doing it.)

Second, and as I told the creator

Spoiler

the first verse is inaccurate, and as such misleading, for you can't be situated in the middle of four. That is, if you have four things in a line none can be in the true middle. However, with the other verses it becomes apparent that that the number for the first has to be what it is. It can also be said that given the hints you get from "looking" at the first verse itself, again the number can't be any other as there is no place else that it can be between/in the "middle" of. Still, the verse is inaccurate, misleading and, thus, could have been done better I suggest.

[close]

This being said, I think the verses puzzle was a unique one; one I haven't seen in any AGS game. I liked the challenge and enjoyed the creativity of it. To me, I will remember Purgatorio for it.

[TerranRich]

I found a minor bug:

Spoiler

Once you get the lighter, interacting with or looking at certain things int he kitchen at the hair salon adds on a message regarding the lighter. Something like "I can't do anything with the lighter right now" or something. I can't remember what it is, but I'll try to recreate it and report it better.

[close]

I finished the game (with some minor hints regarding the keypad puzzle) and loved.

Personally, I would classify it as a short game.

[Nostradamus]

Thanks for the explanation Johanas, it somewhat made the whole thing clearer to me. I get the general idea.

BTW, here's a small little thing I forgot in earlier posts - why does the game manual says under running instructions to put the game DVD in the drive and run the game from there?  That's kinda awkward, obviously this game doesn't come on a DVD, and even it if would have been published on an optical drive, it would be a CD since the extracted game only takes roughly 200 MB.