4 of Clubs - an interactive murder

[bicilotti]

4 of Clubs

An interactive murder by Francesco "bicilotti" Ariis.



It is a short game which revolves around a game of poker during the second World War.

Please C&C and most importantly vote in the game's page

I'm still waiting for one of the beta tester feedback, but there should be only few minor changes

[Khris]

It's well done for a first game, although almost a bit too easy. I finished it in under 10 minutes.

-I'd speed up the player character, he's pretty slow.
-The interface doesn't disappear during cutscenes; I'd hide at least the mouse cursor.

I've encountered a small bug: When I tried to click away a cutscene speech text, the mouse was hovering above the gui and the game crashed. Unfortunately I've clicked away the error message before realizing I should've written it down, but it was about a GetInvItemAt-line in the global script, I think: "Invalid InventoryItem specified" or something like that.

(This is a matter of personal taste, but given the functional yet simple graphics, wouldn't you've been better off using 320x240?)

[bicilotti]

It's well done for a first game, although almost a bit too easy. I finished it in under 10 minutes.

-I'd speed up the player character, he's pretty slow.
-The interface doesn't disappear during cutscenes; I'd hide at least the mouse cursor.

I've encountered a small bug: When I tried to click away a cutscene speech text, the mouse was hovering above the gui and the game crashed. Unfortunately I've clicked away the error message before realizing I should've written it down, but it was about a GetInvItemAt-line in the global script, I think: "Invalid InventoryItem specified" or something like that.

(This is a matter of personal taste, but given the functional yet simple graphics, wouldn't you've been better off using 320x240?)

Thank you for the comment!

The game was intended to be "fast" and "easy", but I hope neither too fast nor too easy...

I'll try to fix the bug (and the other bugs other people saw) even if I'm not sure how 

Yes, it was my first game and I made some common errors: the graphic resolution was one of them. Next time i'll stick to 320x200, 256 colours, which is fast and reliable.

Thank you again.

For the rest of the forum, keep commenting and criticizing!

[Khris]

The error is probably already in the template you've used. A simple method to get rid of it is setting the GUIs to turning off during cutscenes.

Btw, I wouldn't use AGS's 256 color setting. Stick to Hi-color, just don't use Hi-res if you don't really need it. Using 256 cols will force you to do all the palette-managing yourself which can get tedious really quickly.

[Canardo]

I share my opinion almost word-to-word with KhrisMUC, but I`d also comment about the ending. Is it intended that

Spoiler

the game ends in a black screen where you are forced to quit the game with Ctrl+Q? I`d put a title screen with New Game and Quit options in it, just to make the game feel "complete".

[close]

Otherwise, a good effort. For a short game, it has this nice sinister atmosphere around it, making the game fun to complete.

[bicilotti]

Two things:

1. Thanks again for the feedback, I'll try to fix the bugs as soon as possible (next few days probably)

2. I wrote two versions of this game, one "simple" and one with trickyier puzzles. Before drawing the first background I choose the first one because I feared most people would have been stuck since the first minutes. SHAME ON ME: I will never ever underrate your cleverness again, AGS community!

[m0ds]

Well I'm pretty dumb & slow at solving puzzles, so this could just be the game for me! Downloading now!

[bicilotti]

Well I'm pretty dumb & slow at solving puzzles, so this could just be the game for me! Downloading now!

zomg, m0ds playing my game!  8)

I've just checked the work of my final beta tester Ghost, which has done indeed a marvellous job! His and yours comments (exp. Canardo) have lead to a version 1.01 with some minor changes.

Enjoy and vote!

[bicilotti]

I've received this message:

Hi!
Even if you already have a beta-tester, I figured out that it still might help you to tell you the different crashes I encountered during the game (always fatal):
- looking at the coat
- looking at the vial
- using the vial on the glass (without having opened it)
- looking at the final mixture whiskey - poison - gin

Thanks very much for the game!

This does not happens to me  Any oyher player had the same problem? If so please report  the name of the error, so that I can flood the tech forum  :

[paolo]

Yes - the following sequence of actions made the game crash:

* pick up coat
* use coat (getting cigarettes)
* look at coat

Here's the error:

in Global script (line 31)
from Global script (line 130)
from Global script (line 442)

Error: GetInvName: invalid inventory item specified

I also got a crash when using at the vial without opening it first:

The game says "I should open it first" and then it crashes with the same error as above, but with 342, not 442.

[Ghost]

These crashed didn't appear in the version I tested, but the new version did indeed crash on me, too. It should be quite easy to fix, though, and I'm positive bicilotti will refine his game.

[ankushm999]

Short , but satisfying... will you expand on it or will the hero star in another game? That would be nice.

[bicilotti]

Short , but satisfying... will you expand on it or will the hero star in another game? That would be nice.

Thank you! Yup, I tought about another game that will expand the plot and "close" the entire story. I'm scripting it right now and in the future I'll work on the project (maybe with the help of someone of the forum too: say if you're interested!)

... and I'm positive bicilotti will refine his game.

I was a little busy last week but I'm going to work on the bugs today. That GUI is a damn bastard!

P.S.: Do you write/compose/draw Ghost? I'm sure there's a lot of talent in you

[Ghost]

Writing, yes, I used to. Drawing, a lot. Composing... no. I can hardly play the radio 

Should you have any trouble with the GUI script, always feel free to post in Beginners/Technical. Or heck, PM me, I think I know the template, too.

[Guest]

Very buggy, but a nice little game. I liked the graphics.

[accolyte]

Yes, I too encountered the same bug as described by Paolo and an additional one which occured when

Spoiler

I looked at the spiked drink (after having mixed it with gin.)

[close]

For that it gave the following error message:

in Global script (line 31)
from Global script (line 130)
from Global script (line 544) 

Error: GetInvName: invalid inventory item specified.

Apart from these bugs, the game was quite nice.

[Afflict]

I too got the coat error

[bicilotti]

I'm really sorry fellow AGsers, but it seems that most of the errors are due to the GUI I've chosen. It is an overwhelming job for a |\|003 like me, i promise to take care of that seriously in August when I hope I'll have more free time.

Bye and see you soon

[Afflict]

Sweet dude no problem. Think of it as a beta test report

Grats on the game though it seems pretty cool I haven't played it again after the kick out.  :