Head over Heels

cat · Mon 20/09/2010 20:17:46

Head over Heels

Actually, you just wanted to help your grandpa and get his tools from the workshop. But then something happens, that will turn your whole life upside-down.

Download here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1359

This is the deluxe version of a game I started to make for MAGS March 2010 ('A game of two halves' by tzachs),
first published for MAGS May 2010 ('Complete Your Game' by ProgZmax).

New features:

*) an awesome soundtrack by Bulbapuck
*) more animations
*) hand-made sound effects
*) custom GUIs

Story, graphics, coding: cat
GUI design, calibration puzzle and sounds: raeff
Music: Bulbapuck

Special thanks to the guys from Mittens Italy for the motivation to finish it!

Snarky · Mon 20/09/2010 21:08:11

Sweet! This was my favorite AGS game I played at Mittens.

But seriously, it's a fun little game. Congratulations on finishing the deluxe version!

arj0n · Mon 20/09/2010 22:08:41

Nice one

tzachs · Mon 20/09/2010 22:29:08

Fun little game, and a really nice take on the original theme.

Loved the graphics and the concept.
I didn't hear any music though, only sfx.

bicilotti · Tue 21/09/2010 00:16:55

Short and sweet.

Interesting background style, lovely music, a GUI that I really enjoyed much (I wish every game had one like that!).

Maybe a bit too easy and definitely too short! I liked the unnamed heroine, I hope to see her in future episodes!

Igor Hardy · Tue 21/09/2010 00:31:03

Great that you updated this! I remember playing the original and was only sad that there was no music to compliment it.

cat · Tue 21/09/2010 08:25:33

I'm glad you all like the game!

Quote from: tzachs on Mon 20/09/2010 22:29:08
I didn't hear any music though, only sfx.

That's strange. It is normal MIDI tunes. Did you try changing the settigs in the setup? Did anyone else have this problems?

ThreeOhFour · Tue 21/09/2010 13:11:16

I hadn't played this until now, but am glad I did.

It's a nice little idea for getting puzzles into the single room, and charming music and graphics. Nice work

tzachs · Tue 21/09/2010 21:33:45

Quote from: cat on Tue 21/09/2010 08:25:33
That's strange. It is normal MIDI tunes. Did you try changing the settings in the setup?

Yep, tried and still it didn't work. I also played some random midi files to make sure I can hear them, and I can.
Maybe you used some rare instruments that my midi mapper didn't like, that's the problem with midi, you can never know for sure...

OneDollar · Tue 21/09/2010 21:55:19

Music works fine for me. Did you check the volume of your synth channel? I used to have have problems with MIDI music in AGS games, but they'd play fine in Windows Media Player. Turns out that when I played a MIDI in Media Player it would set the volume of the synth channel to max, and as soon as I stopped playing it would set the volume to zero, meaning AGS MIDI music was essentially muted.

Nice little game. I played the MAGS version, but I can't remember it well enough to comment on how much of an improvement this is. Still, quick and fun enough for a second play-through.

tzachs · Tue 21/09/2010 21:59:14

You're a genious, OneDollar!
That was it, thanks.

I wonder if AGS should do the same thing that media player does...

cat · Wed 22/09/2010 08:29:13

Thanks, OneDollar, I'm glad this is sorted out!

Bulbapuck · Wed 22/09/2010 15:56:30

It's out yay

I had a lot of fun working on this. Thanks cat for the oppurtunity

Congrats on releasing it!

abstauber · Thu 23/09/2010 18:44:48

Hooray for Midi Drumkits

Good job everyone. Like Ben already said, it's a charming little game.

I'm waiting for the talkie now

Ozzie · Fri 24/09/2010 00:36:09

That was indeed a sweet little game. The puzzles were alright for me, which probably means that they were far too easy for everyone else.

I also like the interface! I think context sensitive verbs are the way to go, and I'm also toying around with an interface that makes use of them. If I only knew how to implement it...
What's more to say? Logical puzzles, sweet graphics, fitting music. Certainly an appetizer for a longer game of this kind!

cat · Fri 24/09/2010 12:10:15

Quote from: abstauber on Thu 23/09/2010 18:44:48
I'm waiting for the talkie now

I'd love to make one, but I don't know any English-speaking girl of an appropriate age.

Quote from: Ozzie on Fri 24/09/2010 00:36:09
I also like the interface! I think context sensitive verbs are the way to go, and I'm also toying around with an interface that makes use of them. If I only knew how to implement it...

I thought about releasing the interface as a template but it is currently not translatable and has some other technical restrictions so it's rather pointless.

abstauber · Sat 25/09/2010 22:11:23

Quote from: cat on Fri 24/09/2010 12:10:15
I'd love to make one, but I don't know any English-speaking girl of an appropriate age.

Audacity has a nifty voice pitch tool

I'm pretty sure that this will create convincing girl voices.

Alun · Mon 27/09/2010 02:44:17

Quote from: abstauber on Sat 25/09/2010 22:11:23
Audacity has a nifty voice pitch tool I'm pretty sure that this will create convincing girl voices.

Unfortunately, it almost certainly won't. There's more to it than pitch. Having tried to create female-sounding voices for some projects of my own, I've dabbled with this myself, and it turns out (both from what I've read on the subject and from my own experience) that just shifting the pitch isn't enough to make a female voice that sounds remotely realistic. You may also have to play around with something called formants. Without tweaking the formants separately, just shifting pitch up may make you sound more like one of the Chipmunks than like a girl or a woman (and, conversely, shifting the pitch down may make you sound like you're underwater).

I found a thread here that dealt with trying to change a male to female voice in Audacity... maybe it will be of some help. (I haven't tried using Audacity for this myself... the attempts I made were with a commercial program called ProTools (which does have the option to change the formants separately), and even with that I met with rather limited success...)

abstauber · Mon 27/09/2010 08:23:01

But pitching a female adult voice to a child's voice should work, right?
At least I've got the feeling that they're doing it all the time.

Anyway that's been a pretty interesting thread and I agree... doing that with a male voice sounds awful

Alun · Mon 27/09/2010 09:03:43

Quote from: abstauber on Mon 27/09/2010 08:23:01
But pitching a female adult voice to a child's voice should work, right?
At least I've got the feeling that they're doing it all the time.

Ah, didn't realize cat was a woman.

Hmm... might work, but I'm still not sure; after all, just raising the pitch of a man's voice doesn't necessarily sound like a boy, so I have my doubts that just raising the pitch of a woman's voice would sound like a girl. Still, I guess there's no harm in trying.

tzachs · Mon 25/02/2013 09:01:45

Could this game have inspired an Oscar nomination?

cat · Mon 25/02/2013 19:30:37

Awesome!

Shadow1000 · Tue 26/02/2013 00:19:15

I just noticed this game today because of the recent discussion.

Short and sweet and creative in the interface and theme. Thank you for this delightful game!

SHADOW

CaptainD · Tue 26/02/2013 08:53:54

Played it last night - sweet game and cool aesthetics!

cat · Tue 26/02/2013 19:17:04

I'm glad you like it

yashination · Thu 28/02/2013 04:55:11

I had fun playing and I enjoyed the art and music. I've seen problems similar to the light bulb puzzle in other games. Layton, Puzzle Agent to name a few. It still was very charming and I was disappointed it had to end so soon.

Ubel · Tue 12/03/2013 18:56:48

Oh what a lovely game. I also had not noticed this before and it was a very pleasant short adventure.

cat · Wed 13/03/2013 10:21:19

Thank you for your nice comments! I know it is very short and the light bulb puzzle is not the most original one, but I'm glad you liked none the less

Head over Heels

bicilotti