Thorak & Steve Episode 101: The Hunt Begins

[Klink]

Hey guys.

Before I begin let me introduce myself. My name is Mark 'Klink' Kalinic and I have been lurking these forums for quite some time now. I have done so in order to find answers to questions I have had when developing my first game using Adventure Game Studio.

After almost 3 1/2 months of work the game is complete. As you can probably tell from the title, this is the first in a planned series of 12 episodes following the adventures of 'Thorak & Steve'. The idea behind this episodic series (in comparison to adventure games made by TellTale Games for instance) is to provide short gameplay (anywhere between 20-45 minutes) and release the episodes on a weekly basis much like a television show. Instead of waiting anywhere between 1-2 months, players can just 'tune in next week' to get their fix of 'Thorak & Steve'.

Who are 'Thorak & Steve' and what the hell is the game about? The game quite simply follows the weird, random and wacky adventures of Thorak, a surprisingly intelligent caveman, and his best friend Steve, his not-so-intelligent severely retarded best friend.

In Episode 101: The Hunt Begins, a mysterious and legendary bird was found in the forest. When Thorak sees this creature he knows right then and there that he wants to hunt it down and eat it. When trying to leave the village, Thorak is stopped by the village elder (and what can be considered the wisest man in the village); Chiefman Chief Man. Chiefman Chief Man will not let Thorak leave the village until he can see that Thorak is prepared for this hunt.

This is where 'you' come in. Help Thorak find out what exactly this creature is and help him get everything he needs for the hunt.

Download link: http://legionarylabs.com/tse101.zip (Right-Click and select Save As)
File Size: 43mb (includes over 20 minutes of recorded dialog and music tracks)
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As mentioned above, this is my first game made using AGS. Yes, there are several flaws (programming cinematics directly as room events and not as separate cinematics to name one) and the game really is quite easy (which is essentially stopping me from adding it to the AGS Games List), but I wanted to post the first episode here to get some feedback. What did you like? What didn't you like? What could be improved? Do you want to see more? Can it really last 12 episodes? Should I add it to the Games List? Any critique you have please don't hesitate to post it in this thread. Remember, the game won't take that long to finish (see if you can beat my record of 3 minutes  ).

I should also point out that I intend to completely revamp the first episode. Being my first adventure game and using it for a university project meant that I didn't exactly have the time nor freedom for much experimentation. Rest assured, 'Thorak & Steve' will be a hell of a lot better than it is now.

I look forward to all the feedback and it's great to finally join a community as helpful and awesome as this.

[Gilbert]

I'd played a bit of the game. I'll say that in terms of graphics it's very nicely presented (especially for a "first" game). I couldn't comment much on the gameplay and story (as always, as I seldom have enough time to really play a game) though, hope it's in par with the graphics. One thing, is that the graphics of the verbcoin GUI are not very descriptive (for example, I had to think for a while to understand why the icon for 'look' was drawn like that), but as there are text descriptions below it's not a real problem.

Though screenshots are not required for complete games, I think you can attract more people trying out your game if you post some screenies (or, link to a website with details and screenies and yes, I see that the page is not ready yet), especially in the case of this game where the graphics do work, otherwise some people may not download it and try it out (especially after realising the game is 40+ MB zipped). In this way you may get more feedbacks from people.

[neon]

I've also played a bit of the game, think I'm near the end.

The graphics are very well drawn, also the animations are very nice. Very funny how Thorak and the other people talk.

Just one question until now: It is possible to activate the coin menu on an object inside of the inventory, but it is not possible to activate one of the icons. My screen just flickers a bit and returns to the inventory screen. Is this wanted?

Beside, very nice game (episode). I will play on.

EDIT : Debug mode is still activated.

[AsimosVagan]

  Hi,

    Nice graphics and voice.

    But I can´t play the game. The first screen is totally black and then after I click anywhere the introduction begins. At Thorak´s house the only thing that I can do is walk around. If I right-click anywhere an empty rocky window shows up. I can´t interact, look or talk, just walk. I am using Windows Vista Enterprise. 

     P.S.: I already played other AGS Games without problems.

[neon]

Left click an icon and hold the mouse button. A coin interface should pop up. The 'empty rocky window' is your inventory screen.

I finished the game, good work. Some little things need to be improved, like deactivating the debug mode and fixing the problem with the inventory items above, but beside that, I didn't have any problems. Maybe the coin icons could be clearer, I had to find out by myself, what action is behind which icon.

[AsimosVagan]

   Thanks neon.

   It is a nice little game, some funny dialogs but I think the puzzles are too easy. 

   I find a few problems: 1) you can ask about the items even after you already had them, 2) the text "use blah with blah" did not change after you give items to chief man and 3) sometimes the text appear behind the coin menu.

   Anyway, I like the game and I think you should develop the other episodes Klink.

[Klink]

Thanks for the feedback guys/girls. Yeah, I've noticed some of the problems that most of you are mentioning. Items in the inventory at the moment do not have any interactions through the verb coin. This was mostly due to a time constraint.

As for the black screen in the beginning, that's mostly due to a problem I had when creating an .avi file. It's a bit of a hit and miss with some of the tests I've done on a number of machines, and one thing I certainly will fix when I revamp the first ep.

To AsimosVagan, after the intro plays and you are at Thorak's house, you are able to walk out of his house by clicking outside. This is another problem I need to fix (adding clear indications as to where you need to click to exit certain areas).

Yes, I will eventually get a website up and provide screenshots to the game (will update this thread later with the screens). The website should hopefully be online once I flesh out more of the episodes and essentially revamp the current state of the game.

[Leon]

Well, that was certainly short. I'd expected a bit more exploring.

Like said by others, graphics are good. The mumbling of Thorak is funny but the voice of the chief/narrator is a bit dull. Not sure how to explain, it's not really monotone but also not very 'lively'. Maybe another voice would have suited better.

If this is the first episode of 12 and they all have similar length, I'd prefer them all in 1. Either make the episodes longer or put them together. But this is just a bit too short to get me really into the game.

I found no technical issues, the only thing I found a bit strange was that the saw disappeared all of a sudden after use and how Steve all of a sudden got out of the tar pit...

I'm curious how the hunt will continue though.

[IndieBoy]

Nice little game, just a few things could've improved it. Such as maybe a text file explaining how to play the game, I'm saying this because it took me a while to figure out how to interact with everything. Also maybe you could have implemented some simple obstacles instead of allowing the player to just solve all the puzzles at once. If done right it would extend the playing time and increase overall enjoyment of the game. It is just that I picked up everything and completed the final task before I even heard about it. Although the graphics and voice acting was great. Looking forward to future instalments.

[arj0n]

Nice little game.

Nice graphics, animation and humor.
Haven't played with sound so no comment on that.

The coin verb wasn't that hard to find out how to work. But for some players it seems to be handy to include a manual or something when releasing it.

I agree with Leon: I'd like to see it as one big game in stead of 12 shorties.
But that's your choice.

Some improvable points:
*The dissapearing sawbird was indeed strange.

*Also should Steve let give some stupid-humorious comment about how he got out of that tarpit.

*At lot's of places I get no comment when using object I cannot use on objects, like using the new club on someone.

*The Intro and Credits videos doesn't play at my pc, same problem as with the game "stargate adventure". But one mouseclick let you continue to the game. So that's OK. No need for the player to rename the video and only than be able to play.

*Hotspot info text would be nice.

Again a very nice game. Short, easy but nicely done!
Congrats allready... It rocks!

[Alarconte]

Very good game! woth quality game for paying! (it was toooo more long, of course)

I love narrator voice, remindsme Mohinder suresh of Heroes voice!

[paolo]

Very nice, very nice. Well done.

I found an insignificant little bug:

Spoiler

If you talk to Chiefman Chief Man after finding the three pages and reconstructing the book, you still have the option of telling him that the pages of the book are missing.

[close]

But that was no big deal.

The graphics and animations are brilliant! Great job.

[Dualnames]

Played finished reviewed..but well it reminds a lot of One Dollar's MAGS entry..

[Creamy]

Nice game with cute graphs.
Why does Steeve wear modern clothes?

Anyway, I'm looking forward for the next one.

[DoUn2u]

I agree with Alarconte the chief's voice sounds like Mohinder on Heroes, I really liked it. I though the game was funny and played nicely, but I agree that the puzzles were too easy and the game too short. I'm looking forward to the next ones!