Arden's Vale

antipus · Mon 17/01/2011 18:53:23

Arden's Vale

Medium-length Fantasy Adventure

Riel must embark on a dangerous quest to save her sister, who is on the brink of death, by stealing a magic stone with healing powers from an evil enchanter. After infiltrating the enchanter's castle, you must survive sinister traps, talking gargoyles, quite nearly logical puzzles, terrible puns, and finally the enchanter himself in order to get the stone and save your sister.

All original icon bar, and the main bar is updated with a graphic for "Arden's Vale".

Don't you just hate it when you have no idea which objects in the room are important and which are just background? No worries! The object's name can appear next to it, at the top of the screen, or you can turn the feature off.

Progress (08/2011)
Backgrounds: 100%
Animations: 100%
Scripting: 100%
Puzzles: 100%
Music: 100%
Sound Effects: 100%
Beta Testing: 100%
Intro/Ending Cinematics: 100%

Game includes: Fun puzzles, full-sized animated dialog portraits, shameless references to vintage adventure games, all original graphics, sliding menu bar, hotspots that let you know they're hotspots, quirky humor including short jokes, and fuzzy purple slippers. Release Date: Saturday, August 20, 2011.

08/16/2011 Update:

Beta Testing Complete

Thanks to all those who have volunteered their beta testing services. All bugs have been fixed! A few additional sound effects still need to be added, along with the final little bits on the ending cartoon... All should be done by the end of the week!

Thanks to everyone for waiting so patiently and for so many supportive comments on the forums. I hope you all enjoy the game!

For the previous updates, including Generic Man(R), visit my blog.

arj0n · Mon 17/01/2011 19:57:02

This looks very interesting, keeping my eye on this one!

P.s.: if you need betatesters...

Igor Hardy · Mon 17/01/2011 20:34:14

booobieee....-traps!

What I can say, I always look forward to those fantasy adventures with Zanthiaesque heroines.

Swordofkings128 · Tue 18/01/2011 01:54:17

HOWLY goodness, batman! This looks... Pretty freakin' sweet.

I love that walk cycle. Very smooth.

Baron · Tue 18/01/2011 01:56:47

This looks awesome -I love the comedic fantasy genre! Not sure if the (high res?) talk portraits fit in with the rest of the graphics, but otherwise this looks and sounds like it will be a great game. Good luck!

Frodo · Tue 18/01/2011 09:53:41

Wow, this looks gorgeous!

Very Kyrandia\Zanthia-like.
LOVE that bed the enchanter is in.

I also volunteer for play-testing, if you're looking...

arj0n · Tue 18/01/2011 10:11:24

What's the purpose of that sundial b.t.w.?

Matti · Tue 18/01/2011 10:22:35

Quote from: Arj0n on Tue 18/01/2011 10:11:24
What's the purpose of that sundial b.t.w.?

I guess it's the cursor

mintymint · Tue 18/01/2011 15:24:04

Wow.. this looks great.. love the characters and the backgrounds.. but i don't really like the talking portraits, agree with Baron, maybe the high res portraits doesn't really fit the graphics.. anyway, good job and good luck in completing it..

CaptainD · Tue 18/01/2011 16:43:03

Looking nice... I'm especially looking forward to the "quite nearly logical puzzles"!! 8)

SarahLiz · Tue 18/01/2011 20:30:28

WOW! This type of game is right up my alley, graphics and all. It's beautiful, great work and I can't wait to play!

antipus · Tue 18/01/2011 21:56:47

Thanks to all for the feedback. It's much appreciated (except maybe for the "boobie traps" comment... Come on, this is G-rated!

).

Fear not about the dialog portrait, it's in all the lo-res glory as the rest of the game. I just doubled the size of all the other pictures and forgot to on that one. The whole thing's in 320x200. And yes, the sundial is the "wait" cursor. I moved it to the corner when taking screenshots so it would be out of the way.

Igor Hardy · Tue 18/01/2011 22:16:33

Quote from: antipus on Tue 18/01/2011 21:56:47
Thanks to all for the feedback. It's much appreciated (except maybe for the "boobie traps" comment... Come on, this is G-rated! ).

Hey, you mentioned the boobie traps yourself - it simply got me excited.

It's been a long time since I encountered some good boobie traps in an adventure game.

antipus · Wed 02/02/2011 04:00:29

Quote from: Frodo on Tue 18/01/2011 09:53:41
LOVE that bed the enchanter is in.

All graphics in the game are original, mouse-drawn pictures, but I happily steal graphics from other games and paint over them. Hopefully other people recognize where the bed is from.

Quote from: Arj0n on Mon 17/01/2011 19:57:02
This looks very interesting, keeping my eye on this one!

P.s.: if you need betatesters...

For all beta testers, I need to finish a few animations so that the entire game path is complete. Right now there are three things that the character MUST come across to win that are still stuck in the nasty on-off animations. Once those three are done (and a few other tweaks), I'll be looking for a few preliminary testers, probably in March.

MMMorshew · Thu 03/02/2011 19:13:59

This alreadly looks like a game I would love! Even if the graphics look simple, they give me such a wonderful Kings Quest-feel.
I WANT TO PLAY IT!

Are there other locations to explore besides the castle?

antipus · Fri 04/02/2011 03:25:38

Quote from: MMMorshew on Thu 03/02/2011 19:13:59
This alreadly looks like a game I would love! Even if the graphics look simple, they give me such a wonderful Kings Quest-feel.
I WANT TO PLAY IT!

Are there other locations to explore besides the castle?

Thanks for the feedback. The game is definitely inspired more by the King's Quest atmosphere than anything else: life-threatening dangerous quests littered with so many bad puns you couldn't possibly groan at them all.

The original story for the game called for a full-length fantasy, where the first 3/4 of the game took place in the town of Arden's Vale (hence the name), and the surrounding forest (like QfG1's Spielburg). The last 1/4 was the enchanter's castle. But since I had the puzzles and rooms sorted out for the castle first, I decided to start work there, thinking that once that was done in a few months, I'd go and attack the rest of the game. :

Two years later... I decided to polish and release what I've got. Hopefully someday the whole vision will come together, but for now the enchanter's castle makes for a really fun mini-quest.

Kyougi · Sun 06/02/2011 19:06:46

Is it just me, or does the bed in the Enchanter's Castle look like the one from Mordack's bedroom in King's Quest V?

antipus · Mon 21/02/2011 04:07:07

Quote from: Kyougi on Sun 06/02/2011 19:06:46
Is it just me, or does the bed in the Enchanter's Castle look like the one from Mordack's bedroom in King's Quest V?

Hooray! Someone is catching old Sierra references! Bonus points for anyone who can guess (a) which game the enchanter's room is modeled after, i.e. circular tower with cut-away stones for the player to see through, (b) which game the magic mirror is modeled after, since there are a million different versions, and (c) what in the world is on the circular table.

And yes, your character reflects as you walk by the mirror. It's obligatory.

antipus · Sat 12/03/2011 22:06:49

Happy March! I've updated the main post...

After two years of working, I'm finally CALLING ALL TESTERS!!! I'm looking for 8-10 very talkative people who will give me specific gameplay-based feedback. If you think you've got Graham's blood in your veins, send me a PM!

antipus · Wed 25/05/2011 04:51:21

I was always anxious for summer as a student, but that's nothing compared to being a teacher. It's been a very long last month of classes. But summer's coming, which means the game is that much closer to being done.

I've been giving some serious thought to adding a fun intro and ending cartoon to the game, but that would obviously add a lot of time to the production (I've got the story, but would need at least three new backgrounds, and a lot of additional animation).

As gamers, would you prefer the game sooner without any introduction (well, just a written one, not a cartoony one), and maybe add an intro later in a special edition or something, or is the game itself enough of a draw? Any thoughts?