How They Found Silence

discordance · Sun 30/08/2009 23:57:11

I am the last of the treasure hunters.

I've spent my whole life finding treasure: not boring ordinary treasure, real treasure, under mountains, in dark jungles, at the very ends of the earth. You'd think I'd be rich, but I'm not. It usually gets taken away. Museums get rich. I don't. I just keep going. It's all I really love.

Not long ago I got an unusual call. Most people don't know I exist, except government interferers and museum curators, and a few real die hards of treasure hunting who wish the good old days would come back. They won't. But I digress. I got a call from a man called Lord Fern, asking me to find a something for him. It's not something I ever do, find things for other people, but I've been getting bored and tired with my usual expeditions, and besides I haven't been on a usual expedition for over a year now. I'm beginning to fear that there isn't anything left for me to find.

So I accepted.

Of course, there's a lot more to Fern Island than is immediately apparent: there seems to be a ghost haunting the abandoned lighthouse, and Lord Fern and his house guests all act suspiciously like they're hiding something. Not to mention what I keep seeing in the mirror.

Look! This place has a front door!

And there's a well-stocked library.

Weather's not so good, though.

This is the very first game I have ever released, so I'm eager to be lambasted for incompetence, i.e. criticism is appreciated. If you happen to like it, I won't complain about compliments either.

Download as follows: Click on the big blue "Download" button.

Download

Crimson Wizard · Mon 31/08/2009 00:04:55

I wish to suggest from the very beginning to rename archive from Compiled.zip to something more appropriate, so it would be easy to distinguish from other AGS game archives people downloading.

arj0n · Mon 31/08/2009 00:05:47

"How They Found Silence.exe" should be named "organ grinder.exe"

arj0n · Mon 31/08/2009 00:11:15

Entered the cave and went back out to the start screen. Then the game crashed.

The error message:

In "room2.asc", line 25

Error: EndCutScene: not in a cutscene

discordance · Mon 31/08/2009 00:15:28

Dangit, that doesn't look good, does it! My apologies. I'll fix this as soon as is humanly possible.

EDIT: Okay, I've updated the download link. Sorry about the instantaneous bug, hopefully there are no other major ones.

Vince Twelve · Mon 31/08/2009 02:56:31

Just wanted to say that I love the title! Congrats on getting it done!

discordance · Mon 31/08/2009 03:16:12

Although my syllable count hasn't touched yours yet

Grim · Mon 31/08/2009 03:16:27

Game looks interesting... I'm going to try it out:) Like Vince said before me, I think the title is great! Good enough to capture one's attention!

Vince Twelve · Mon 31/08/2009 03:19:34

Quote from: discordance on Mon 31/08/2009 03:16:12
Although my syllable count hasn't touched yours yet

Keep practicing! You'll get there!

arj0n · Mon 31/08/2009 03:24:03

It's a nice game for a first game.
But I don't really like the swimming part in the pool in the cave.
And that's because I have totally no clue where to go or whatsoever.
I've been swimming around for some time but never ended up
somewhere then back at the surface to get some breath...
But apart from that it's pretty OK.

discordance · Mon 31/08/2009 03:29:23

Quote from: [ Arj0n ] on Mon 31/08/2009 03:24:03
But I don't really like the swimming part in the pool in the cave.

Spoiler

You might not want to persevere at that for too long.

[close]

Crimson Wizard · Wed 02/09/2009 12:32:42

At first I thought the title is very romantic and sad in some way... after certain game events I found it rather creepy

Had not much time to play this game, so not much comments now; but I keep playing.

Ah, yes, there's one thing which I thought is a bit strange, it is a discussion with sailor during intro cutscene. Author did not tell what year is it, but considering the clothes I could guess it is XIX century perhaps... if this guess is correct, I'd say a mere boatman mentioning archaeology sounds like anachronism.

Intense Degree · Wed 02/09/2009 14:41:54

Enjoying the game so far but have found a bug.

I have just...

Spoiler

solved the book case puzzle with the note from the drawer upstairs and got a "ker-chink" noise or something (couldn't work out what it opened though).

[close]

...Then I went down to the beach, the game crashed and I got this error

Code: ags

In "room2.asc", line 79
Error: FaceCharacter: characters are in different rooms

Crimson Wizard · Wed 02/09/2009 14:50:27

Oh, yes, and there was this bug: I fyou enter the cave just in the beginning, they music changes, then when you return and go to mansion music stays same as in the cave all the time until the end of the intro.

Snake · Wed 02/09/2009 15:41:22

Discordance:
I'm enjoying your game quite a bit. It may not have the best graphics or many animations (the only animations I've seen are walking animations... you didn't even animate Rholand in the water! Heh), but I must say that it's kept me interested and I haven't lost interest in the least. There's just something about it. It funny, it's the last thing I thought about before going to sleep and the first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning... very strange. Out of all the attention that the XDays series has recieved, I never thought about it like I do yours. Or ANY AGS game for that matter. It's making me NEED to finish it.

Great job with keeping me playing!

\\--EDIT--\\
And yes, it is your title that drew me right in right away.
I think the title of a game plays almost just as big of a role as the story itself does.
I wouldn't have been as interested in it if you had named it Fern Mansion, or The Sea Stone or similar. I LOVE the title.

I agree with what Crimson Wizard had said about it as well:

QuoteAt first I thought the title is very romantic and sad in some way... after certain game events I found it rather creepy

sthomannch · Wed 02/09/2009 17:53:40

Was a nice and interesting game, congratulations on this one.

But it crashed a few times when Kara and the main character changed the room. You should also

Spoiler

work on the puzzle with the books. If I touched a booked that belonged to the lock and later on tried to solve the puzzle, I got only this "ker-chunk" noise, even if I left the room and tried again. Had to reload the game from an earlier position, so I could finally finish it.

[close]

discordance · Wed 02/09/2009 22:39:16

Wow, thanks for all the positive comments! I'm honoured!

And for all the people who mentioned having issues with the book case:

Spoiler

I think I figured out the problem. It seems to be an issue with the interface: if you click on a book and then move the mouse away, the wrong book may register as being clicked. The puzzle should work perfectly as long as you click on the book and then *don't* move the mouse until Rolande walks over and you see the "click" appear. If you solve it you should see an immediate and very obvious result in the library. Sorry, I'll try to get this fixed as soon as possible.

[close]

And thanks for bringing up that other bug, Intense, I'll try to get it fixed too.

As for the time period, the look is kinda 19th century, but I certainly didn't fix a time period and the game world can be considered entirely fictitious. I did absolutely no research whatsoever

EDIT:

Also, thanks for giving the title some love, Snake! It's interesting you should mention that, because early on I was calling this game "The Fern House" . . . I guess it's a good thing I changed my mind.

ANOTHER EDIT:

Okay, I think that's the whole shebang fixed and the download link updated. Should be smooth sailing henceforth.

Snake · Thu 03/09/2009 13:32:07

Oo, I should mention too that while in the library with Lord Fern, you probably shouldn't be able to mess around with the books. I was actually surprised that I could. This was in the very beginning. I mean, you don't get invited to find treasure for this guy and then start messing with his bookcase... at least not when he's in the room

donmartin · Thu 03/09/2009 20:11:31

Nice game and puzzles.

I have given up at preparing the potion. It seems there are at least 5*2*4*4 possible combinations (too many) so IÂ´ll wait for a hint from a charitative soul.

Cheers

Helme · Thu 03/09/2009 20:27:58

I'm stuck with the potion-puzzle, too.

Spoiler

I have no idea, what colour the salamander blood has. I even tried to google it, but I couldn't find it out.
I suppose the dragon eye is the red one, the kalamancus powder should be the green one. I'm also not sure about the unicorn heart. The hints only say something about a unicorn horn.

[close]