The Blackwell Deception - now on Steam!

Sslaxx · Tue 25/10/2011 16:36:54

Bug report time...

Spoiler

Selected as Joey, when you're standing on the deck of the ship when it's on a collision course with the shore, trying to speak with Rosa has him saying "What are you standing around for? Abandon ship!" - but there's no speech to go with it.

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arj0n · Fri 04/11/2011 17:04:55

DVD just arrived, yeey!

Dave Gilbert · Mon 07/11/2011 16:56:54

If you care to hear me ramble about game development, I was interviewed by the Geekfist podcast during New York Comic Con. We talk about Blackwell, comics, and assorted nerdery. Also, Mr. T bench pressing the Silk Spectre: http://bit.ly/rVhE2F There's lots of background noise but it was a fun time.

theo · Wed 09/11/2011 15:20:27

Hey guys, I just wanted to drop a line and say good work on this! I played through it the other day and had a blast with it all the way through.

My first concerns regarding the backdrop style turned out to be somewhat unfounded. When I was actually playing the game and not just looking at screenshots I thought the whole style worked great. The only thing I found myself missing visually was that wider spectrum of scenery as seen in Convergence, for an instance. The environments did become somewhat samey and thus bland, but this is nitpicking. Also I have a hard time with portraits, but I always do, so this can be ignored.

Apart from a select few over the top dialog puzzles I loved the whole thing from a gameplay standpoint. Again I salute you for stuffing so much solid gameplay into your environments! I envy your talent at reusing puzzles and locations without having them feel over-done. kudos.

As with previous games I found myself caring a lot more for the individual sub-plots than anything connected to a wider story arc, but this I believe is merely me not liking to constantly be on a "you'll find out on the next episode" leash.

The music and voice acting was brilliant as always. I loved the dialog. Joey delivered some extra sweet lines this time around and many of them put a grin on my face. I loved the whole exchange between him and Red when Joey gets that kiss from the girl at the night club. Heh, that was hillarious.

I'm willing to say in fact, that I enjoyed this even more than the brilliant Crackwell unhinged, and thats no easy game to beat.

Good job guys, I look forward to whatever you come up with next! (make more cool stuff with jburger!!!)

BLUEKNIGHT38 · Thu 24/11/2011 20:48:42

Really enjoy your games, Dave!! I have all of them, but this one. Have to wait until I have some extra money to purchase it. Thanks for all your hardwork. Have a Great Thankgiving!!

Dave Gilbert · Wed 21/12/2011 22:18:24

Guess what's coming to Steam!

And look what's getting achievements:

Buckethead · Sat 24/12/2011 08:47:50

Yay! Finally Blackwell will be on Steam

Cirius · Thu 12/01/2012 11:12:04

Reticule coverage of Blackwell Deception.

http://www.thereticule.com/blackwell-deception-the-verdict/

Diath · Sun 15/01/2012 06:53:53

I no longer had an excuse to not get them, so I bought the whole Blackwell package on steam!

Dave Gilbert · Mon 16/01/2012 16:27:38

So a few days late to announce this. All the Blackwell games launched on Steam last friday! You can even nab all four games at the stupid low price of $14.99 during the first week. Assuming you're into Steam!

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Mon 16/01/2012 22:48:52

Yes!

Ali · Mon 16/01/2012 23:46:49

Great news! Congratulations, Dave.

blueskirt · Sun 19/02/2012 18:31:39

I finally got around to play Blackwell Deception and I must congratulate you for what is in my opinion your best game so far. Thomas Regin is excellent as always. The plot had me on my seat, I can't wait to see where you will take it in the next chapters. But what amazed me the most were the puzzles.

I remember disliking Convergence because it seemed like the series was heading straight into interactive story territory rather than adventure game, and I remember saying Deception would be my last Blackwell game if it came to that but Deception blew away my expectations. It was a brilliant move to bring back all the gimmicks from your past games in Deception and I especially loved the new Joey, the one that goes through doors, spies on people, displaces items, looks inside objects, finds otherwise unattainable information... it's impossible to play through Deception without "Thinking with Joey". And it wasn't just the gimmicks, I had four or five "ah-HA!" moments on traditional puzzles during my playthrough, that was amazing, and they didn't feel like road blocks too. I haven't had this much fun solving puzzles since Time Gentlemen Please.

Anyway, if you can demonstrate the same creativity and ingenuity in your future games, you've got one faithful customer for life with me. Keep up the good work!

Dave Gilbert · Tue 21/02/2012 20:22:23

Thanks Blueskirt! I wrote a bit about this subject on my blog a few months ago, but in a nutshell I took a lot of the Convergence feedback to heart. With Deception I spent a lot more time getting user feedback in order to make the game as involving as possible, and I've slowly given Joey more things to do with each game.

"Thinking with Joey" sounds like an awesome gameshow. Fanart, anyone?

-Dave

blueskirt · Mon 05/03/2012 19:25:25

D: !

I don't know how I managed to miss this link when I first read your post but I've read your blog entry and I must say I can't wait to see your future projects with that new philosophy.

Dave Gilbert · Sat 17/03/2012 15:25:10

Blackwell Deception got a shout out on G4TV!

Assuming you're into G4TV at all.

Crimson Wizard · Sun 15/07/2012 19:46:03

Finally I got my hands on this.
I really really hate to do this, but seeing bugs everywhere is my doom. So...

If before having any saved game I will go to main menu "Options" then select "Load" and then "Restore" (while no saved game is chosen in the list), I will be returned to main menu where all options are missing. But inventory is now enabled!

I can examine items and use the phone.
After checking "Business Cards" and returning to main menu again all options are back, but there's now Rosangela standing beyond them... playing idle animations!

.

Crimson Wizard · Sat 21/07/2012 23:45:32

Finished this one. A good game, interesting puzzles. Also funny ending. The one after the credits.
(Note: when I say 'funny' I don't mean 'ridiculous'; it just made me smile.)
Perhaps it's overall mood of the game, but I felt the atmosphere of loneliness surrounding Rosangela and Joey most of the time. Maybe it is because they didn't have a chance to speak with any friendly NPC, at least living NPCs.

Here's little bug report, just FYI.

Spoiler

1. I noticed that sometimes you have to do extra click with mouse before hotspots start to respond. This seem to happen if I wait for character speech ends in natural way. However it is not 100% reproducible.
2. When discussing the Peridot item ('Chat with Joey' dialog option right after I stole it) the last Joey's line is "Good", but voice over is "The cost is clear, let's split".
3. Tiffany's voice-over missing for the line "I love him." (topic "Ken Sharpe")

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