Gemini Rue

Started by TheJBurger, Thu 24/02/2011 18:22:18

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TheJBurger

Quote from: TheRoger on Tue 12/04/2011 14:54:04
Awww...damn...I got stuck. It's a bug or something...

Spoiler
I wanted to go to that hotel where Mathias were, I should meet with that smuggler there, but when I enter hotel I get error message: "room11.asc, line 438; Character is not in the current room"
[close]

I think I forgot to talk with someone or to do something, who is that guy anyway?

Sent you a PM!

TheRoger

Just finished it, and it was....pretty awesome, though I had to replay like three times, because of that bug and hard drive disconnecting(I should save more often).

Also, that "Would you kindly..." place cracked me up, though I wanted to use that phrase in my game.


Snarky

Interesting read. It explained a number of features of the game, and your analysis of what worked and what didn't seems right on.

Your strategy of completing the skeleton of the game first without worrying too much about the quality of each element, and filling in details and polishing up each part afterwards sounds like great advice. I'm working on a game right now, and while that's what I planned from the beginning, I've found myself getting stuck redoing backgrounds and inventing new features before I even have a whole section playable. (And since I can't knock out a background in a couple of hours, it gets really time-consuming!) You've made me determined to get back on track.

I also think your point about playtesting is really important, and may account for why Gemini Rue is more compelling to play than it seems like it ought to be. And the improvement you gained from cutting over-verbose dialogue tends to prove a theory of mine, so that's nice.

Grim

Man, you've got your game reviewed by Games magazine in UK!... It's probably next to Edge, the most serious gaming magazine available here. I've been buying it regularly for over 4 years now. I never got featured there myself ( bastards!:)), but the only other AGS games that have are Emerald City ( or was it not an AGS game?... well, it's Dave's anyway) and Time Gentlemen, Please.

  So, well done. Great success and just think how many more people will hear about Gemini Rue... :)

  Oh, yeah, of course, the most important thing- you scored 8/10. It says under the score that "one man can make a good adventure game". Amen to that.:)

I'm really jelous of that... but also happy for you:) Great job! :)

Snarky

Looking at Metacritic, I noticed that Gemini Rue has finally received a couple of non-positive reviews. Well, at 70% they're classified as "mixed," and the summaries sound pretty supportive.

I checked out the one from Norwegian site gamer.no, and despite the not-enthusiastic grade, the reviewer actually liked the game a lot. The grade seems partly to be an attempt to indicate that the game may not be for everyone (i.e. people who can't stand low-resolution graphics), although the reviewer also says that he didn't let the graphics pull down the score, since he personally liked them.

Anyway, the other points of criticism raised are:
-Getting stuck (from not knowing what you're supposed to be doing) in the latter parts of the Delta-Six section, which ruins the otherwise very engaging flow of the game
-The slight clumsiness of the interface, in that you have to right-click on a background object to bring up the inventory
-Repetitive screens and excessive graphics reuse in Center 7 and the Barracus apartment building hallways
-Some of the voice acting for smaller parts, with Balder mentioned specifically for being too obviously eeeevil

TheJBurger

Quote from: Snarky on Mon 18/04/2011 17:08:49
Looking at Metacritic, I noticed that Gemini Rue has finally received a couple of non-positive reviews. Well, at 70% they're classified as "mixed," and the summaries sound pretty supportive.

I checked out the one from Norwegian site gamer.no, and despite the not-enthusiastic grade, the reviewer actually liked the game a lot. The grade seems partly to be an attempt to indicate that the game may not be for everyone (i.e. people who can't stand low-resolution graphics), although the reviewer also says that he didn't let the graphics pull down the score, since he personally liked them.

Anyway, the other points of criticism raised are:
-Getting stuck (from not knowing what you're supposed to be doing) in the latter parts of the Delta-Six section, which ruins the otherwise very engaging flow of the game
-The slight clumsiness of the interface, in that you have to right-click on a background object to bring up the inventory
-Repetitive screens and excessive graphics reuse in Center 7 and the Barracus apartment building hallways
-Some of the voice acting for smaller parts, with Balder mentioned specifically for being too obviously eeeevil


Yeah, one of the things I realized after reading so many reviews was that things you intended to have in the game that personally appeal to you are not always going to appeal to every reviewer out there. So no matter how close you may come to realizing your vision, there will usually be someone out there who does not share the same sentiments.

That aside, I don't think I could have asked for a more positive reception to the game, so I am grateful for that.  :)

LimpingFish

#127
Just seen two new print reviews today:

GamesTM and PC Gamer (UK) have full-ish page reviews (positive!) and PC Gamer has the demo on it's cover DVD (as does PC Format). \o/

Scans:

GamesTM

PC Gamer
Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

TheJBurger

Quote from: LimpingFish on Fri 22/04/2011 18:48:53
Just seen two new print reviews today:

GamesTM and PC Gamer (UK) have full-ish page reviews (positive!) and PC Gamer has the demo on it's cover DVD (as does PC Format). \o/

Scans:

GamesTM

PC Gamer
Sweet, thanks LimpingFish!

Mr Flibble

This is one of those games I was too excited about to ever actually expect to see finished.

I played through the demo last night and I wasn't disappointed. I was primarily interested in the sci-fi setting and the amazing graphics, and I was wondering if the actual gameplay would quickly deteriorate into bog-standard puzzles and lame characters. It didn't. I'm particularly impressed by the voice acting. I can only presume professional voice actors were involved? The quality was impressive. I've never played an AGS game with voice acting that didn't have nasally, unexpressive voices.

Aaaaand it's looking like it's going to be the first AGS game I've ever paid money for, because damn it, I want to see more!
Ah! There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling!

Igor Hardy

Quote from: TheJBurger on Sun 24/04/2011 09:18:34
GamesTM

Is that the famous Games magazine which Grim mentioned? The score is fine, but the text itself is surprisingly lousy.

Dave Gilbert

Quote from: Mr Flibble on Mon 25/04/2011 22:18:53
I'm particularly impressed by the voice acting. I can only presume professional voice actors were involved?

Thanks! The voice actors were chosen from our usual crew, although Brian (who plays Azriel) is kind of new.  He had a small role in Convergence as the ghost on the window ledge.

LimpingFish

Quote from: Ascovel on Mon 25/04/2011 22:29:35
Is that the famous Games magazine which Grim mentioned? The score is fine, but the text itself is surprisingly lousy.

Yep. One and the same.
Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

Grim

Quote from: LimpingFish on Wed 27/04/2011 03:12:42
Quote from: Ascovel on Mon 25/04/2011 22:29:35
Is that the famous Games magazine which Grim mentioned? The score is fine, but the text itself is surprisingly lousy.

Yep. One and the same.

Yeah... I don't know why I bother with it... I guess it's a gaming equivalent of women's magazines like Cosmopolitan. Pretty stuff with little substance. Still, it's good to be in it!!!

LimpingFish

Just noticed a tweet from Vinny on Giant Bomb that a Quick Look of Gemini Rue is now up on the site!
Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

theo

Just beat this the other day and gotta say I loved every second of it.

Great job on differentiating the gameplay in so many ways! Impressive length and good pacing. Also generally very good voice acting too.

My only gripe would be the (understandable) over-using of certain art assets and the somewhat dodgy inventory.

I am very impressed! I certainly got my moneys worth:)

Great job.  8)

TheJBurger

Quote from: theo on Fri 06/05/2011 12:33:33
Just beat this the other day and gotta say I loved every second of it.

Great job on differentiating the gameplay in so many ways! Impressive length and good pacing. Also generally very good voice acting too.

My only gripe would be the (understandable) over-using of certain art assets and the somewhat dodgy inventory.

I am very impressed! I certainly got my moneys worth:)

Great job.  8)

Thanks, Theo! Appreciated. Looking forward to the next Journey Down.  :)

Ali

Really, really fantastic atmosphere. There's one tiny detail at the start of the game which made it all click for me and my lady friend...

Code: ags
...when the Boryukudan goon asks you for a light, and shouts after you when you go past.


That just created a sense of a 3 dimensional world in a very filmic way. We were completely involved in the story from then on. Nelly liked the rain.

I was also slightly frustrated by the inventory, having to walk towards some objects before using them, and I would have liked the gunplay to have become more complex in some way as the game went on, rather than enemies just becoming harder to kill. But those are very minor grumbles.


TheJBurger

Quote from: Ali on Sun 19/06/2011 15:51:11
Really, really fantastic atmosphere. There's one tiny detail at the start of the game which made it all click for me and my lady friend...

Code: ags
...when the Boryukudan goon asks you for a light, and shouts after you when you go past.


That just created a sense of a 3 dimensional world in a very filmic way. We were completely involved in the story from then on. Nelly liked the rain.

I was also slightly frustrated by the inventory, having to walk towards some objects before using them, and I would have liked the gunplay to have become more complex in some way as the game went on, rather than enemies just becoming harder to kill. But those are very minor grumbles.

Hehe, thanks. Those are valid comments. Did you finish the whole game? The gun combat does become slightly more complex.

And for those interested, there was also an interview on indiegames.com about the publication of the game here: http://indiegames.com/2011/06/publication_of_gemini_rue.html

Ali

I meant to make that a hide tag, not a code tag! Still it's not really a spoiler...

I did finish the game and I was aware of the combat becoming more difficult, but not more complex. By more complex I mean it could have incorporated working out the enemy's pattern, distracting the enemy, shooting at something other than the enemy. Perhaps even not shooting when shooting seems the obvious course of action.

But that's a minor quibble, because the storytelling and puzzles were top notch!

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