Starship Poseidon(Update 1.06)

[saluk]

The big issue in my opinion is switching game modes so fast and without warning, and bugs in the various systems, not the fact that there are multiple systems. 

Walking with keys - this was not bad at all, and kind of fun

Interaction with parser - as a system, text parsers can be fun.  Without care though, it can be frustrating for players who type things and can't guess the right thing.  In "look around" (which "look" on it's own should do also) make sure to list nouns of all or most items that can be interacted with.  Pretend it's a text game, and the only view of the room the player will have is from the text.  If the player does not know what a graphic item represents, there is no way they can refer to it in text.  Secondly, provide AT LEAST a LOOK response for most of the nouns in the room, especially the ones you list in the look description.  This gives the player a feeling that there is an actual environment that they exist in.

Unexpected mode changes - the main problem with the action sequences, (besides bugs with the shooting itself) is that the player does not really expect it to happen.  A mode change is best if the player knows there will be a mode change, and is the one who determines it.  When the player gets a gun, looking at the gun might give them a description "It is a gun.  You can SHOOT it."  This will let them know that they can type SHOOT to do something with the gun.  Then there would be several rooms with no enemies or just one enemy, for the player to learn the new system.  Tutorials that explain how something works are always worse than just giving the player a safe way to figure it out on their own.  In shoot mode, you would have a button called holster weapon.  Now the player can choose whether they want to shoot or not.  This is better than having something else the player does - like walk into a room - automatically switch modes causing confusion. 

Also, the choose your own adventure section was another unexpected mode change.  All of a sudden, we have to choose something off of a menu, but all of the actions relate to things that we should be able to normally do just by playing the game.  Do we want to play a game, or tell the computer what we want to do?  In certain games or situations, a menu is certainly called for, but in this case it didn't make much sense. 

Try to picture things from the players perspective.  Remember to put the power in the players hands where you can.  When he feels like the computer is taking away his control, he gets frustrated.  He wants to play a game, not watch a movie!  Have you ever played a game and been frustrated because a cutscene was going on for too long, and you wanted to get back to the game?  Just something to keep in mind.

[Dualnames]

Version 1.05
-Mouse is dead. Almost everything by keyboard
-Changed choices menu, now you get to type

New version is up..That would fix most of the things up. First of all now you get to know when the game's on a cutscene.
Second of all, now all menus are handled via keyboard. Third and most important, I'm working on the sequel.

[m0ds]

Dude, you really need to invest in beta testers before you release a game like this! The thread makes your game seem quite unprofessional.

[Leon]

Oooh... I love the way the dialogs look.. Now there's also a good difference between characters and narator. Way to go... but.... (must there alwasy be something to nag about? ;-)

You skip text by using keys. Not only enter, also the cursor. So when you try to walk during a naration or dialog, the text speeds by without being able to read, so:

- Can you skip text only with ENTER? All other keys stay as they are.
- The combat is now more difficult? I harldy seem to hit anyone/thing...
- The sound of the zombie slashing doesn't stop even after I'm dead (I had this once, in combination with using the spacebar in 'mouse-mode'. Can't reproduce it at the moment.)
- When I say LOOK GUN, I get, there's nothing to look at. It would be nice if I'd get the instructions again?
- After a restart of the game (from the menu), I don't get the warning message anymore in the room with the two zombies about acting fast.

I hope you're not discouraged by all this. I still like the game 

[Dualnames]

Dude, you really need to invest in beta testers before you release a game like this! The thread makes your game seem quite unprofessional.

Can't agree with you more mods. But once we started doing public beta testing, we can't stop.

EDIT:

- Can you skip text only with ENTER? All other keys stay as they are.

That seems like a good idea.


- The combat is now more difficult? I harldy seem to hit anyone/thing...

Probably it seems that way, but I'll adjust this.

- The sound of the zombie slashing doesn't stop even after I'm dead (I had this once, in combination with using the spacebar in 'mouse-mode'. Can't reproduce it at the moment.)

Mostly if a sound is played repeatedly(many times) and you change a room, the sound stays in. I've added plenty of stop channel lines, but well, I'll just add in a few more.


- When I say LOOK GUN, I get, there's nothing to look at. It would be nice if I'd get the instructions again?

You mean after you've picked it up... good suggestion...

- After a restart of the game (from the menu), I don't get the warning message anymore in the room with the two zombies about acting fast.

That's probably an AGS thingy. I'm only using RestartGame(); at the GUI button and a restart point on main menu's.. after fade in. I'll remove the point. That might unmess it.

[Dualnames]

Boom. Guess?! Another update.
That should be the final version/update.

Version 1.06

-Fixed Savegame system bugs.
-Zombies are now easier to kill.
-Fixed sound staying there.(Thanks Leon)
-Fixed restart game process(Thanks Leon)
-Added ability to be able to look at your weapon(laser/smg), so you can read the instructions again.(Thanks Leon)
-ENTER skips speech. Nothing else.(Thanks Leon)