Loftus and the Sky Cap

[iSTVAN]

Barnstable Loftus was a great inventor. He had been credited with the creation of the steam operated player piano and the fire powered ice cream refrigerator. What would become his most acclaimed and most dangerous invention, however, was yet to be revealed.

But this game does not follow the story of the great inventor Loftus, rather the story of his adopted daughter and loyal assistant Inessa.

Inessa is woken by the smell of smoke and burning chemicals. She races down the stair case to discover her Master’s workshop torched and no trace of Loftus.

The townsfolk are convinced that a dragon must be responsible or that the crazy inventor must simply have blown himself up- but Inessa believes otherwise.

Isn’t it a little suspicious that Loftus would be targeted on the eve of presenting his new invention? The miraculous flying machine known as the Sky Cap, which had consumed much of Loftus’ career, had to be involved somehow.

Reveal clues, solve the mystery, explore vast environments and interact with colorful characters in this fantasy adventure game.

Music and sound by Jake Craig.



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NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR:

This is my fairly blatant attempt to cash in on the popularity of Hayao Miyazaki's films. I went through a lot of dramas in the production of this game, but I'll refrain from divulging them unless you're absolutely interested.

I'm not completely happy with the game, but I've decided rather than sit on it any longer, I should release it "as is" in the hope that some find joy in it. The story is incomplete as the game was intended as the first in a four part series. Please ignore the "CHEEKY CHIC DESIGN" splash screen. I thought it sounded cool at the time.

There are some slightly ambitious things about this project that I am proud of.
1. The nearly completely customised GUI, including a saving system, a main menu, an inventory, an objectives panel and an actions panel.
2. The inclusion of special hidden "star dust"  that allows the player a chance to buy clues.
3. The excellent sound track by Jake Craig (I know, I can't really take credit for this, but I'm still really proud of his efforts).

Okay, enough jabbering. Enjoy the game!

[Leon]

Wow.... looks fantastic! I'll let you know more when I have finished the game.

[update]
I'm not sure if you will maintain this game but I'd let you know my findings anyway, maybe for future projects.

I must say, the interface works quite well. It's certainly getting used to, right clicking all the time at first to change mode, but after a while it's ok. Sometimes it's confusing not to see directly what action the cursor does.

Also, when having used an object on something, the cursor doesn't change back. You then have to select an action again to 'loose' the item.

One tiny issue: after looking at the objectives, you can't select an item from the inventory. You first have to close the interface before using it again and selecting the object.

Make that two: selecting Walk and clicking on hotspot CrossRoads from outside the cave doesn't do a roomtransition. Walking to the right from there does...

And a third maybe less tiny: According to the readme "To merge an item, make sure that the Merge ability is selected". I think I'm at a stage in the game that I need to merge but can't figure out how....
Nevermind ... figured it out. But is was quite a struggle and.. it's pretty hard to browse through the inventory with other objects.

[Buckethead]

My heart missed a beat when I saw the word "cash" 

[Alarconte]

I have played twenty minutes the game.

I love the way seems a SNES-RPG game (the way the characters fits (and don't fit) in the scenarios, and the complicated interface (the way when you take an object you're advised as if you were in a console RPG. The graphics are much much cronno trigger - final fantasy tactics advance wars (Even some races of the unhabitants of the city).

But I think the complication of the interface can not be good to much common adventuregamers.

I will continue playing

[kaputtnik]

The graphics remind me heavily of that Japanese SNES game where you are controlling a kind of "Pinocchio", too bad that I forgot the name, I really liked it.

One thing: When starting winsetup.exe, it can't find loftus.exe, which may happen so because you renamed it to "Loftus and the Skycap.exe" after compiling.

I'll give you some real feedback on your game soon.

[iSTVAN]

Kaputnik: Damn, you're right about the setup. I'll upload a new version. In the meantime, go ahead and rename the file if you need to go into the setup.

[Khris]

kaputtnik: It's called "Wonder Project".

This looks awesome, and I love unannounced, great-looking games suddenly appearing here

[Layabout]

Lovely graphics, (although the mixture between low and hi-res is a bit confusing, and some look sort of unfinished.)
Complicated GUI, I'm just a bit confused as to why you had to overcomplicate things.

That said, I like it and I will continue to play it. Great style you got going there.

[TheJBurger]

I immediately got the Miyazaki vibe from the startup screen, so I guess that's a good sign.
Graphics are nice, but I'm wondering why you switched between resolutions, as I'm sure it couldn't have been unintentional.
I like the puzzle design alot but I'm kind of stumped right now.

I am stuck

Spoiler

with the chickens, still don't have the feathers, pot, or fabric--still trying to figure out how to read--

[close]

but I'll post my current comments:[/s]

Love the "Objective" and "Items acquired" drop down menus and sound effects. It helps add meaning to every mundane action you perform that furthers the plot. I don't like how Inessa must say "I can't do anything there" when clicking on nothing. It's slightly unnecessary. It would be simpler if the inventory did not pause the game when opening it and just acted as a slider menu (like old Sierra P'n'Click games). I don't see the reason you require the players to click "PLAY" again to proceed. It's kind of cumbersome. I think the interface could benefit from an alternative way to use verbs, such as right clicking, or keyboard shortcuts. Right now, it's a bit of a hassle to switch between verbs and go back to the hotspots over and over. It would be nice if the ASK menu went back to itself after selecting an objective instead of going back to the dialog menu. BUGS: You can select a blank objective from the ASK menu before getting the "Learn to Read" objective. Clicking "back" in the ASK menu does not remove the ASK gui. EDIT: Finished it. Spoiler Loved the overall idea and atmosphere, but yeah, the story doesn't resolve itself, even in the slightest bit. [close]

[Leon]

@ TheJBurger:
I think you missed a location at the far left from the book shop (great logo by the way :-). There will be solutions to your objectives.

[miguel]

Istvan, I love your game so far and is very well accomplished both in graphics, music and coding.
But I must agree with some of the others that you did complicate stuff with the interface. A simpler one would add more to a great game.
I hate it when the verb gets stuck to the player's action, what normally happens is that if you are using the USE verb, then you will use it with every object/hotspot in the room while you should be examining first.
But don't get me wrong, I am just saying this because this game deserves to be spoken about and it is a GOOD game and it is just a minor aspect of it.
cheers and great work.

[ThreeOhFour]

Nice visual and audio, fun characters (especially Bridget) and interesting puzzles. Really nice animations on the main character.

I really like the objectives screen and being able to buy clues with unlocked fairy dust.

Sadly, I have a small bug(s) to report:

Spoiler

I didn't pick up the plucked chickens until after I did the 'spell' in the magic shop. Bridget has left the cave at this point, but the conversation with her still plays out as if she was there.

[close]

Am I correct in thinking this will be an episodic series? If so, I look forward to seeing a continuation of the story! If not, thanks for this game !

[paolo]

I'm enjoying this game - I like the clean, pretty graphics, and the puzzles are not too difficult.

But I have some bugs to report too:

Spoiler

It's difficult to walk out of the forest. I seem to have to click to the right of the hotspot in order to get out.

The guard dog says he has "smote" many monsters - this should be "smitten" (I smite, I smote, I have smitten). (The same error came up in Ben There, Done That, so if this is a running gag in adventure games, excuse my ignorance.)

[close]

[saluk]

Yeah, the layout of the town, the chicken, the workshop etc, it all really reminded me of Wonder Project J for snes.  I think they might also have been channeling miyazaki for that game.  You did really great work on this game!  From interface to animations everything is very professionally done.

The story on the other hand reminded me of a book about an inventor, which is also about a flying machine, and there is a fire at the beginning to boot.  I don't remember what the book was called, Thomas something?  I'm not sure.

My one complaint is, allowing you to buy the same hint more than once.  I assumed that if I bought "another" hint for the same objective that it would give me a better hint.  Instead, it gave me the same hint and charged me anyway.

Anyway, great job with this game!

[EKM]

This is a great game. I enjoyed it. I can definitely see the Hayao Miyazaki influence with the fantasy world, characters and atmosphere/setting. I loved the music. It complemented well. One thing I found odd was during the beginning with all the

Spoiler

smoke and fire...yet Inessa is smiling through the entire event lol.

[close]

The game-play needed a little getting used to, but it's different and I like that. I also liked Inessa's antics with the

Spoiler

cave monster.

[close]

That was cool. Graphics and animations were tops. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series. I want to know what happens next!

[Sallow]

Your graphics are very adorable, and enjoyable to look at, and the story holds a lot of potential. However I just feel like the game ended just as the story was beginning. I was having such a good time playing your game that I was at a loss when it abruptly ended; I'm looking forward to playing your future games.

[Helme]

A sweet game. I like the idea, that the main charakter can't read.
At the beginning I thought the Interface is a bit confusing but I got used to it and I liked that you always see your objectives (what is not really needed in a short game) and the idea of buying hints.
I'm waiting for the sequel.