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Author Topic: Blackwell Unbound - ** More prizes 'n stuff **  (Read 23148 times)

Dave Gilbert

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Blackwell Unbound - ** More prizes 'n stuff **
« on: 04 Sep 2007, 17:15 »
Thirty years before The Blackwell Legacy comes...


The year is 1973.  The sound of a lone, ethereal saxophone drifts over the Roosevelt Island promenade, while a series of accidents plague a midtown construction site.  The citizens of Manhattan take no notice of these events, let alone think they are connected.

Embittered medium Lauren Blackwell and her spirit guide Joey Mallone are the only ones who believe that there is anything strange going on, and they are the only ones who can stop an enigmatic killer from striking again… 

Features:
- An original score
- Full voice speech
- DVD-style commentary with Dave Gilbert and Erin Robinson
- Unlockable bonuses, such as bloopers and concept art

Screenshots:

Yet another confused, lost spirit.  What's a medium to do?


Lauren's reputation procedes her.


Lauren takes a smoking break.


Trolling the local businesses for information.


Once more, looking at photographs will provide clues.

Team:
Writer/designer/coder: Dave Gilbert
Sprites/animation/Background: Erin Robinson (The Ivy)
Music: Thomas Regin
Poster art: Dan Lee

Price:
$9.99 (digital)
$20.00 (CD-ROM, includes soundtrack)

You can download a demo HERE.


For more details on the game (like character info, concept sketches, and other goodies),  please mosey over to the Wadjet Eye Games website.
« Last Edit: 14 Dec 2007, 23:10 by Dave Gilbert »
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Vel

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #1 on: 04 Sep 2007, 17:36 »
I seem to be the first to buy it, yay! :D
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BOYD1981

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #2 on: 04 Sep 2007, 17:47 »
weeee! downloading my pre-order now :P
i have been looking forward to this.
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Limey Lizard, Waste Wizard!
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voh

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #3 on: 04 Sep 2007, 18:07 »
Purchased it just now, downloading.

Man, oodles of cash must be coming your way right about now ;)

And I'm sure I'm going to enjoy this game!
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Brad Newsom

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #4 on: 04 Sep 2007, 19:40 »
Ive been looking forward to this for so long! Can't wait to play it. :D
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Becca

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #5 on: 04 Sep 2007, 20:57 »
Congratulations! I'm sure this one will be as popular as the last!  :=
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JB

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #6 on: 04 Sep 2007, 23:22 »
I liked the last game, but it wasn't worth the price. I mean, it was good, but I've played games just as good or for better for free. It was too short, and I'm worried that if I pay to play this one, I'll be in for the same old disappointments.

(by the way, you are an amazing artist, and I love your cover art!)
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Grundislav

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #7 on: 05 Sep 2007, 00:40 »
This game is great.  Incredibly atmospheric, brilliantly written, and superbly acted (although I may be biased on that one  ;))

Lauren Blackwell is definitely my favorite AGS game character, maybe even my favorite character of any adventure game.
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nihilyst

Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #8 on: 05 Sep 2007, 00:43 »
This looks great, although I don't have the money to buy it.

Are you getting paid by Marlboro or what? On every second screen I see Lauren smoking ^^
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Dave Gilbert

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #9 on: 05 Sep 2007, 00:45 »
Quote from: nihilyst on 05 Sep 2007, 00:43
Are you getting paid by Marlboro or what? On every second screen I see Lauren smoking ^^

Damn.  Why didn't I think of that?
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voh

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #10 on: 05 Sep 2007, 00:55 »
So far there's been some weird things. Dunno if they're glitches or intended, but...

Spoiler: ShowHide

- When Lauren enters the appartment smoking, she throws the butt on the floor. This is dangerous behaviour ^_^;
- In the notes, talking to Joey as Lauren or vice-versa you get exactly the same responses about John Durkin as with Sam. Weird.
- There's hardly any reactions to most inventory item usage on things that aren't scripted.


Other than that, I'm intrigued though slightly frustrated with the part I'm at now. I have absolutely no clue how to progress :(

edit:
Spoiler: ShowHide
I just realized that I could look up characters from the cast list in the manual ahead of time. I looked up cecil sharpe that way, with no in-game reason to do it. Maybe an idea to remove the cast list from the manual?
« Last Edit: 05 Sep 2007, 00:57 by voh »
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BOYD1981

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #11 on: 05 Sep 2007, 05:28 »
really great job Dave, i've enjoyed playing it and am now going through it again with the commentary, and will probably play through a few more times (or atleast create more saves than i usually do) so i get to hear all the dialogue options  :D
the musician has done a really great job, i especially love Lauren's apartment music, when she's standing on the balcony it totally reminds me of the blade runner game  :)
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Cino

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #12 on: 05 Sep 2007, 06:26 »
Bought and downloaded it last night, though I didn't have much time to play it yet. But I love the music so far, far more to my taste than in the last game. Hope to find time to continue playing it this week.
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Ubel

Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #13 on: 05 Sep 2007, 08:03 »
Congratulations, Dave! I'm not planning on buying it but it looks great and I know a lot of hard work has gone into it. :)
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wavigravi

Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #14 on: 05 Sep 2007, 08:19 »
Played for about an hour, am really enjoying it so far and the difficulty level seems about right to keep me busy awhile
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Nikolas

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #15 on: 05 Sep 2007, 10:00 »
I'm jealous!

I'm the first 20 to have boght the CD game (to get the soundtrack as well), and I'm still waiting!

DAMN! >:( Why wasn't I living in NY or something, to get the game straight away, instead of waiting for the damn Atlantic to open up? :'(

Anyways, I'm really looking forward Dave to the game, and from what I've heard to the music, I'll have to agree that it should work immensly with the game! ;)
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vertigoaddict

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #16 on: 05 Sep 2007, 11:22 »
Wah! can't wait can't wait! I can't wait for the announcement of the fanart contest winners! OwO

I hope I win, my parents don't let me buy stuff off the net... T_T
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voh

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #17 on: 05 Sep 2007, 14:30 »
Well, almost finished it and so far there's certain... Annoyances...

Spoiler: ShowHide

Why is it that when as Joey you find the letter in the Seagram realty trailer, you canNOT talk to Lauren about this? Yet Lauren's the one who has to look up Harriet. There's a gap in logic here.

When you need to look at the sheet music, Lauren says "I can't just TAKE it... That would be rude.", implying to me that while I can't just take it, I do need it. Having Joey look at it be the solution made the earlier statement feel like it was misleading.

There wasn't much to be done with the notes but to combine 4 of them and talk about them endlessly. While Blackwell Legacy did this very well and forced you to think of combinations, causing new topics, it feels like a missed opportunity in Unbound, since it functions like only just a list of topics for discussions.

And like mentioned before, the lack of responses to 95% of inventory item interactions as well as the same response on the two Durkin notes


edit #1: Okay, finally managed to beat that pesky bug that kept happening, and I've now finished the game. It was well-done. The art was up to par with the previous game though I felt the animations were somewhat less fluid. What I really dug about it was the seperate cases which weren't seperate. I liked how it all worked together. Of course it's intrigueing to see Lauren in action knowing  what happens with Rosangela in Legacy (and Convergence to come).

I've been fairly negative about it so far, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. I don't regret spending the money to get the game, and it was entirely worth it.

It's official. I can't wait until Convergence is released.

Also, rock on, Ivy! Your art in Unbound is such a step above what you did for Spooks, and given that Spooks was far from ugly (and my eyes won't bleed due to it), that's meant as a compliment :)

edit #2: Also, I'm going to replay Legacy now ;)

All in all, I'll give it a 7.5/10 :)

(Where Legacy would get an 8/10, woulda given it a 9 if it hadn't been a remake ;))
« Last Edit: 05 Sep 2007, 17:39 by voh »
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GarageGothic

Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #18 on: 05 Sep 2007, 20:09 »
Wow, this was some game. I played non-stop after downloading it, completed it at 5 in the morning, then when I got up around 11, the first thing I did was restart the game to listen to the commentary track. I'm honestly surprised that the price is only two-thirds of Legacy, seeing as this game had at least as much gameplay (in fact I think I spent longer on Unbound - but it could also be that Legacy had a lot of exposition before launching you into the investigation). Plus it has lots more bonus features - which were as funny and inspiring as always.

Spoiler: ShowHide
I even liked Lauren better than I liked Rosangela - perhaps because she's a more tragic character. I actually had tears in my eyes at the end of the game - which truly proves the quality of the story and dialog writing. The other characters were also great. My favorites are probably Isaac Brown and Joseph Mitchell (who I was actually surprised to find out you did the voice for, Dave. A great performance). Voiceacting was overall great, and The Countess genuinly freaked me out.

The narrative flow was much better this time around (the "Lauren has a cigarette on the balcony while Joey talks to her" scenes got a little repetitive, but they actually helped the by providing act breaks and allowing a moment of reflection on the themes of the game. As voh said, I also enjoyed the two cases coming

I loved the phone book and the puzzles that came from it. I have a very similar feature in my game, except there you use an online phone directory. To be honest - and not to say "my approach is better than yours" - I think interfaces like this, where the player has to input the solution themselves (also the textbox for the aparment number), is a lot more intuitive way of letting the player put together the clues than the notebook inventory-combinations.

All in all a great game - your best so far, if I may say so. And I hope to see Lauren and hear her raspy smoker's voice again soon.
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The Ivy

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Re: Blackwell Unbound
« Reply #19 on: 06 Sep 2007, 00:04 »
Quote from: voh on 05 Sep 2007, 14:30

Also, rock on, Ivy! Your art in Unbound is such a step above what you did for Spooks, and given that Spooks was far from ugly (and my eyes won't bleed due to it), that's meant as a compliment :)


Aww, thanks Voh! :D Heh, I see you listened to my commentary. I guess everyone will tell you they don't like their old work, but thanks all the same. Now hopefully I can put these skills to good use and get some of my own games done... ;)
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