Murphy's Salvage (1.3 version uploaded)

[Mantra of Doom]

Okay Guys, since I haven't heard anything bad from my beta testers this time around, I've decided to go ahead and release my game.

Murphy's Salvage

"Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way" - Murphy's Law

In a world where most of the human race has nearly been obliterated in a large and silly accident. The accident was, in fact, the invention of the “green” energy source... which prompted a fleet of angry aliens to attack the planet because the Substance 42 (low fat yogurt, used french fry oil and helium mixture) was a sacred sign for them to launch a fleet of land developers. The remaining humans and the Robot Nation have formed under the unified motto of “that really sucked”. Now the humans serve the robots in the Engineering Corps... doing most of the manual labor.

Several groups of Human Rights activists want to change the way things are... Humans will not be second class citizens forever! Though luckily some humans got out of the Corps and have turned to Scrapper Companies... junk collection services and garbage sellers. Some robots join with them during their “rebellious teen years”.

Murphy's Salvage is one of the largest mostly-human salvage operations in Earthspace. Murphy personally owns a fleet of ships with highly skilled crews... but we're not talking about them. Meet the crew of ship 0096632-B or as the crew calls it, the "But her".
Mission 01: Just My Luck

But enough background! This is about one day in the life of Wombat Rowe, a scrapper that just wants to get paid. Apparently that is just too much to ask when you're three weeks into a mission on a Screaming Metal Deathtrap out in the Middle of Nowthere Nebula. But Wombat is a resourceful girl... she can get through, right?

Get it Here!

EDIT: New version up.
*Fixed - The walking dead has been addressed. Please let me know if the rats give you any more issues
*Fixed - When an inventory item is active, right clicking will make the cursor go back to normal
*Fixed - "Eric" no longer appears as a hotspot underneath Del's console when you walk on the bridge.
*Fixed - The Suck button has been removed, as well as the cursor change when using the rat sucker.
*Fixed - You cannot use the RatSucker if you are not holding it. Logically this makes more sense.
*Fixed - You can keep the RatSucker until the end of the game, it no longer disappears from the inventory.
*Fixed - After the credits run, the game resets.

EDIT: I'd like to thank Leon and Brentimous for the final testing. Couldn't have done it without you!
*Fixed - The major suckiness of the Rat Sucking has been addressed and it works now.
*Fixed - Character interactions with inventory items actually work now.
*Fixed - Keyboard shortcut keys bring up the custom guis instead of the default ones.
*Fixed - F7 load screen will populate now.
*Fixed - The Hint system now syncs up with the game.
*Fixed - Other minor incidental things...

[m0ds]

Yaya I really do like this game, the art is really nice and the puzzles are fun. I like the fact it takes place over a short amount of time, and that you are effectively part of a much bigger scheme which is hardly, and I really mean hardly, explored. Gives a sense of some possible future sequels, and I'm not just excited cos I did the music I genuinly think you have a nice game and series there Well done, Andrea! I mean, Angela :p

[Leon]

Nice grafix indeed. Fun story. And yeah Mods, the tunes are making it very hi-tec.
The hint system is great (although not really needed). I'm running into a dead end I think.

I discovered the hint system pretty late. I already had my rat sucker configured. When I looked at the hints it says I need to configure a ratsucker. I already sucked them all three and now I get the counter in the lower right saying (0/3). I assume that's my rat-counter, but I already sucked them all.... ? The hints are saying that there are 3 rats hinding in the vents.... I have a feeling that the hint system isn't completely in sync with the game since I get hints about things I've done already.

Furthermore it's very difficult to release objects once taken from the inventory. Normally right-click should free the mouse from the object but in this case I have to find a location to use them.

About your first statement:

since I haven't heard anything bad from my beta testers this time around,

Normally when going into beta-state, you set a release date minus a few days and let your beta's know to report everything before that time. At the release date minus a few days you want to hear at least something from them. Either a go-ahead, nothing to report or a hold on, Murphy struck and I found some major issues. But not hearing anything at all must make you wonder if you're not trying to play a game with Murphy....

Some more oddities while playing:

Spoiler

I ask for Eric tie, he asks if I have a use for it and then there's silence. I have the tie in my inventory and absolutely no clue what to do with it. Bit of a strange dialog..

[close]

[Mantra of Doom]

Leon, could you send me a PM and tell me in which order you sucked up all the rats?

also, did you

Spoiler

click on the Rat sucker GUI to put the vacuum in Wombat's arms?

[close]

In an earlier version I encountered this bug once, but I haven't been able to replicate it since. And it hasn't been reported since then either. I think it might be the order that you went it, but I'm not sure.

The sooner I can replicate this, the sooner I can get out a better version.

Thanks for playing!

Edit: I uploaded a version with the fixed inventory cursor. Now if you pick up the wrong thing, a right click will kick that off. I also made sure that the line about the tie goes away after he gives you his tie. 

[Leon]

Allright here's what I did so far.
It's pretty straightforward: pick up all the items to create the sucker without talking to someone, then suck up all the rats.

I noticed that if you stick to the hint systems order (so talk to Del first, because only then your ratcounter pops up before sucking them), it's ok. Don't give objects to people/bots, just talk to them and it will be automatically transferred. Follow conversations as they popup in the order they appear and all will be allright. Trying to do things in different order have major effect on your scoring system and ability to have conversations.

When I use the completed sucker, I select it on the left and Wombatt's holding it. But then my cursor also becomes a sucker... quite annoying.
More about the sucker: 

Spoiler

on the bridge use the hose on the pump, then the battery on the pump. A sucker appears on the left. You can now toggle between Wombatt carrying the sucker (a red cross appears on the left) or not. When pushing the SUCK button on the left, the cursor changes into your pump but you can't use it anywhere.

Now to get the rat out of the vent there:

- Make sure Wombatt is not carrying the pump
- There's no red cross on the left
- Open the ventilation cover
- Use the ventilation shaft. So, DON'T USE THE PUMP in any way... and your rat will be sucked !!?

[close]

[Stefano]

Firstly, thanks for the game MantraofDoom!

I've found a micro-bug:

Spoiler

when you enter the bridge for the first time, there's a hotspot near Del's desk that says "Eric". It's to the right of the rectangular bolted pannel

[close]

-Stefano

[Leon]

There's more that can lead to a dead end:

Spoiler

When you talk to Del after you put the rats in the torpedo's, you can access the weapons option on the panel but when you push FIRE you get "access denied" and the message that the torpedo's aren't armed with anything.... But there's nothing anymore to put in.
My mistake, you can put the rats in the torpedo before talking to Del. You get the message "Torpedo armed with rats". But the rats don't disappear from the inventory. Your sucker does though... ?

[close]

[Mantra of Doom]

Thanks guys, I'm going to go through the code tonight and try to clean up my mess.... so that you can't do the puzzle until you are told you have to do it.

I will try to have the updated version out either later tomorrow or Monday.

Also I'll see about making the vacuum gui less confusing and change the cursor to something less obstructive.

Again, thanks for downloading and finding my dead end.

[Dualnames]

Wll, glad to see a game , apparently infuenced by Douglas Adams(not plotwise), and well, definetely sounds like a very interesting idea.

[Mantra of Doom]

This game was influenced by a few things and I will list them from most inspiring to least:

Red Dwarf - scifi TV comedy
Blakes 7 - scifi TV drama
The Phemomenauts - psychobilly band that claims they are from space
Hitchhikkers Guide to the Galaxy - you all should know this one

[Leon]

Kewl,  new version.. but still some issues though:

- The first rat to suck is not counted, so you actually need 4 
- After building the sucker and picking it up 1 point is added. Dropping the sucker, picking it up again adds another point. You can repeat that until 5 points and only then the ratcounter shows up... 

[Dualnames]

Kewl,  new version.. but still some issues though:

- The first rat to suck is not counted, so you actually need 4 
- After building the sucker and picking it up 1 point is added. Dropping the sucker, picking it up again adds another point. You can repeat that until 5 points and only then the ratcounter shows up... 

That reminds me of Starship Poseidon thread..we'd be glad if all beta-testers were as FSi and Leon..

[DoUn2u]

Hi there, just played the game through, I thought it was good 

I do think, however, that things could have flowed a little better. Some things didn't seem to make sense at the time, for example getting Eric's tie for no apparent reason. It might have been better if you could only get his tie after examining the hidden panel in his room? Or only being able to assemble the rat-sucker and suck rats after you have been told you need to.

All in all though, I'm looking forward to the next installment!

[Leon]

That reminds me of Starship Poseidon thread..we'd be glad if all beta-testers were as FSi and Leon..

You're always welcome to ask me before you release a game.... :-)

[Dualnames]

That reminds me of Starship Poseidon thread..we'd be glad if all beta-testers were as FSi and Leon..

You're always welcome to ask me before you release a game.... :-)

Which is the reason, I'm gonna PM you in the following days..