Journey To Hell (v.1.2)

[Romeo]

Bleeding Romeo presents a fantasy game about sorcery and the first appearance of crop circles phenomenon back in 1678 (the so called "Mowing Devil").
Here's The story: 

1678, England, south coast.
One night some strange symbols appear in the crop fields near the village of Newhell. As the population depends on his crops to survive, the damaged harvest is declared an act of Devil. Martyn van Dalem is the last member of a Dutch sorcerers dynasty and the last chance for the local peasants to defeat the evil forces, save the harvest and the entire world...



Game features:

- Artistic backgrounds
- A long game with about 50 rooms
- Day/night cycles
- A lot of puzzles
- Magic spells to control the elements (water, earth, fire and wind) and create weird cretures
- 3 arcade sub-games
- A superb classical soundtrack (including Vivaldi and Bach)
- Two different endings

Some pictures:
Town square at noon


Dialog window


Cemetery at night


DOWNLOAD HERE (English version):

https://hotfile.com/dl/168348559/d6a8fb4/JTH_-_Eng_-_v_1.2.rar.html


SCARICA DA QUI (versione in italiano):

https://hotfile.com/dl/169086864/d11167d/JTH_-_Ita_-_v_1.2.rar.html

Cheers,
Bleeding

[Tabata]

Yeah â€" You made it!

   

It has been a pleasure goin' to hell and out while testing it
Even if I am still going crazy with those arcade-parts 

There are a lot of clever puzzles and not only those depending to the daytime can get really tricky sometimes.
But with a little persistence and searching you often should be able to find a hint in game to proceed.

Something recommended for real adventurers!
Will you make it through this hellish trip?

       

Only if you try 

[david]

Just played a bit and I am lovin it so far, some really tricky puzzles, and pretty challenging,
one minor thing it's a shame that you have to always pick the item from the inventory to use it on anything,
will keep playing it later

[Romeo]

Tabata:
it's been a pleasure for me to have a really, really, really valuable help. Thanks (Also for writing "clever puzzles")...

David:
I'm glad you love this game. Thanks for posting your opinion. I hope you'll keep playing and you'll post your comments again.

Cheers,
BleedingRomeo

[Shadow1000]

I'm enjoying this game very much. The graphics are beautiful and in conjunction with the music really make a good atmosphere. Some of the animation is a bit weird looking and even comical (look at the bartender walking) but the environment overall is really nice. The game is moving slowly but I am making progress.

I agree that items should stay "in use" once activated. Finally, the font is very difficult to read and I have trouble making out some of the letters and words.

I'll post more if I either get stuck or finish the game and am ready to rate

SHADOW

[Romeo]

Hi Shadow1000,
I'm glad you're enjoying JTH 
Thanks for your opinion: the atmosphere in a game is very important for me. I hope you'll finish JTH and you'll rate it (that would be great).
BRomeo

[Shadow1000]

Hi Shadow1000,
I'm glad you're enjoying JTH 
Thanks for your opinion: the atmosphere in a game is very important for me. I hope you'll finish JTH and you'll rate it (that would be great).
BRomeo

I think there is a glitch in the game that would make the game impossible to complete if you do something very early on in the game...it seems there's no backsies and I actually had to restart from the beginning. Do you want me to post it here using the hidden font or PM it to you?

SHADOW

[Romeo]

Hi shadow1000,
yes, please. Post it here using the hidden font, so other players can read it if they want.
Thanks.
BRomeo

[Shadow1000]

Spoiler

If you leave the house without the money, as I did initially, then approach the woman to buy seeds, she will tell you the cost and you will say that you don't have money. Then, if you go back to the house to grab the money bag, come back to her, you will be asking for mushrooms. I don't know if there's a way to get seeds if you initially didn't have money.

[close]

It's possible that there is a way but I spent a long time trying unsuccessfully.

Also, I'm stuck:

Spoiler

I just got the rope. That should give you an idea of what inventory and skills I have (I'd rather not give too many spoilers). I suppose the next step is to get the berries for the wind skill but I've just been wandering around using my inventory items and skills in different places with no progress.

[close]

Can you provide a bit of direction?

SHADOW

[Romeo]

Tabata told me about that "glitch" when she tested the game and I was sure I fixed it... I was.
About the point where you're stuck:

Spoiler

I think you need the lightning bud (the one hanging from the tree in Martyn's kitchen garden). If you have the rope it means that you have the earthquake power, so you can shake the tree with earthquake to make the bud fall down. Remember also that is important to talk to all the characters you meet. If you know that you need to go to Venice and that there's a galleon ready to sail away maybe someone at the tavern can help you

[close]

. 
Thanks for playing JTH
BRomeo

[Shadow1000]

About the point where you're stuck:

Spoiler

I think you need the lightning bud (the one hanging from the tree in Martyn's kitchen garden). If you have the rope it means that you have the earthquake power, so you can shake the tree with earthquake to make the bud fall down. Remember also that is important to talk to all the characters you meet. If you know that you need to go to Venice and that there's a galleon ready to sail away maybe someone at the tavern can help you

[close]

. 

Spoiler

nope...I got the lightning bud so that's not where I'm stuck...sorry. I'll speak to people at the tavern and see if I can progress from there. I know about Venice and I know that I need the password from the Archduke but that's about it

[close]

SHADOW

[vjeepusofthenile]

I dig the fantastic imagery, sort of Terry Gilliam meets Hieronymus Bosch. The style more than compensates for my having trouble getting into the logic of the game, partially because of some cosmetic/mechanical issues (like not every object having a "label" to identify it as something I can interact with).

[Tabata]

Hmmm â€" I'd like to give some help, but I don't understand the problem with the not labeled items/objects you told about.

When hoovering with the cursor over an item in the inventory the name of it is shown at the bottom of the screen without the need of an action.  Also you can pic the item (left-click) and move it to the eyes-symbol to get more information/a description about it.

Outside the inventory are hotspots for all the objects/characters... to interact with and the names are to be seen without doing an action (right-click to look at and left-click to use/talk). Possibly you didn't realize it appearing at the bottom of the screen?

[Shadow1000]

Hmmm â€" I'd like to give some help, but I don't understand the problem with the not labeled items/objects you told about.

When hoovering with the cursor over an item in the inventory the name of it is shown at the bottom of the screen without the need of an action.  Also you can pic the item (left-click) and move it to the eyes-symbol to get more information/a description about it.

Outside the inventory are hotspots for all the objects/characters... to interact with and the names are to be seen without doing an action (right-click to look at and left-click to use/talk). Possibly you didn't realize it appearing at the bottom of the screen?

I think the concern is that there are many items that you can't interact with that are hotspots with descriptions and just messages that you can't do anything. When you're playing the game, it really slows things down when you have to guess what you can interact with if there are that many red herrings.

At least that's how I understood the complaint because that's something I experience when I play.

SHADOW

[vjeepusofthenile]

Well the meteor for example - although that may be the only one that wasn't a case of my eyes just not looking at the right part of the screen. The black-on-black of the time text is also hard to see. Shadow1000's point is also valid. But none of that matters now that I've gotten into the groove of the game.

[Tabata]

Ahh â€" okay!

Just to mention it:
   There are a lot of hotspots to explore you can't really interact with (at first!),
but often it will  be of use to remember them later on in the game - when the time is right 

[Romeo]

Yes, there are some red herrings but the meteorite isn't one of them... I tried to give the player the chance to interact with many objects and do things he would do if he was "inside the game".
Anyway, I'm glad you like the atmosphere. Thank you vjeepusofthenile: what you wrote about Gilliam and Bosch is the best compliment I've ever received...
Cheers,

BRomeo

[Shadow1000]

I guess it's a question of how many red herrings are appropriate to keep some balance between reality and bogging down the player. I can't answer till I've finished the game because as Tabata says, maybe some of the hotspots are actually useable items in the game.

I'm stuck again:

Spoiler

I need to write a letter to the priest. I have the feather and paper but no idea how to get ink. I've guessed from the burnt cork or dark berries but no avail. Any hints?

[close]

SHADOW

[sthomannch]

Shadow1000

Spoiler

You can use the burnt oak on another inventory item

[close]

There is a thread in hints :-)

[Shadow1000]

Shadow1000

Spoiler

You can use the burnt oak on another inventory item

[close]

There is a thread in hints :-)

Indeed...I started it...lol

Thanks!

[Andail]

Guys, don't fill the thread with hints and tips, there's a special forum for that.

[Shadow1000]

I finished the game after playing for 2 weeks. I am taking the liberty of posting my comments/review:

(Caution: may include mild hints or spoilers)

OVERVIEW:
Journey to Hell is a dark game involving demons, witchcraft and evil where the hero travels several continents in a mission to save the world from the impending Apocalypse. Dazzling art combined with appropriate music create an enjoyable and immersive game environment. A well-designed plot and some really good puzzles show that a lot of effort and artful creativity went into this game. The game is about 2/3 of a full-length adventure game.

Caution: This game contains nudity and sexual content and as such may not be suitable for all players.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE GAME
- As I said in the intro, one of the strongest aspects of the game was the background art. I don't know how much was taken from stock images and how much hand drawn but the art created a great environment. I am not usually crazy about looping music scores but the music was very well chosen to fit the different regions and times of day. The sound effects were very appropriate as well

Spoiler

(Am I the only one who thinks the winged horse sounds like a helicopter? )

[close]

- The world is quite extensive with lots to explore and do. That made the game quite fun.
- The plot was detailed enough to keep wanting to play yet not so full of detail that it just got out of hand. The "problem" that the player faced and the steps to solve it were quite clear as the story unfolded. I would consider this one of the strengths of the game.
- Some of the puzzles were very clever and struck a perfect balance between a challenge and providing just enough hints to solve the challenge which really makes adventure gaming what it's supposed to be.
- The gameplay system combining standard puzzles with object puzzles with a bit of arcade-style challenges kept things interesting.

Clearly a lot of creativity, planning and skill went into this game.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
Unfortunately, I had a very difficult time playing this game. Please consider this section more of advice as to how to make a sequel (or totally different game) better by capitalizing on the strengths of JTH rather than criticism.

- I said that the art was beautiful and it really was. However, some of the animation was good but some of the sprites really weren't done well. I pointed out an example of the motion of the innkeeper. Another example is the unarticulated motion of Susan the cook which really looks inconsistent with the overall feel of the game. Many of the characters looked like they were just painted into the background (archduke or people in the inn) and that detracts from an otherwise excellent environment.
- I pointed out that the fonts in parts of the game was almost impossible to read.
- The biggest weakness in the game in my opinion was many of the puzzles. While I did say that some of them were perfect and very clever and enjoyable, unfortunately many of them seemed to have random/illogical solutions and made the game very frustrating. The general problems with the puzzles were:

• Too many too fast. There was almost literally another puzzle in every room you enter. The game starts with a multi-stage solution puzzle even before leaving the house
• Red herrings are ok sometimes but in my opinion, there are far too many in this game. There are many hotspots that tell you "you can't use this at the moment" or something that never become used in the game. Considering that you have to guess as much as you do to solve the puzzles, that type of misleading was overboard
• Similarly, I personally don't care for the "stare at a wall and move the objects while trying to figure out what they do or represent" puzzles. I really was not enjoying it when I hit three of those in three consecutive rooms
• Moreover, many of the puzzles had technical problems, such as a cipher puzzle with overlapping mappings and characters that didn't exist on the key. People playing the game had to resort to German Wikipedia to solve that one...

I came very close to just deleting the game on one of those puzzles, which is something I've never done (with the exception of one game that was impossible to complete where the author couldn't figure out how to solve the glitch). My final statement on this topic: I usually solve about 85-95% of puzzles in games on my own with the rest requiring help from the forum. In this game the number is closer to 40%....
- I pointed out that the arcade areas gave variety to the game. However, as one poster kindly put it "the game mechanics aren't perfect". I'm happy to play those games but they really didn't work well. Perhaps some more testing would have helped.
- If you include nudity and sexual content, please consider posting a warning in the description so the player can exercise discretion.

BUG LIST
- I pointed out that it's possible to be stuck in the game with no way to complete it if you did not take one specific action early in the game
- People pointed out the game halting when you use the wind
- The game crashed repeatedly when fighting the minotaur

CONCLUSION:
As I've said, it's clear that a lot of work and planning went into this game. The author has a lot to be proud of for creativity and skill in designing the gameplay, environment, and art. The concerns I have relate to the technical aspects of the execution of the plan. Perhaps with more testing this game could have some of the glitches cleaned up and been a masterpiece.

Thank you for your hard work and I hope this gives you some areas to consider for your next game!

It goes without saying that all the foregoing is simply my own opinion and anyone is free to agree or disagree. I am curious to hear if other players (preferably those who have completed the game) shared this experience.

SHADOW

[Romeo]

Thank you Shadow for this complete review:
There are 9 bugs reported and I've just started fixing them (actually just one until now). It's going to be a hard work...
Anyway, I'd like to know your opinion on how I could improve the game (I mean what hints exactly I could give the players to avoid them to be frustrated while playing). So, if you want you can send me a pm with some advices. I'll try to change what I can.
Cheers and thanks again.
BRomeo

[Shadow1000]

@Romeo

I'm glad you found the review to be helpful and not unfairly critical. Because I enjoyed the game so much I felt I wanted to contribute my opinion as to how it could be improved if you are revising it.

I'd be more than happy to send you examples of areas that I think require more hints and direction. I'll leave the actual hints up to you and Tabatha

My general approach will essentially be: when I was almost spoon-fed the answer, did I say "ohhhh! I should have thought of that!" OR did I say "What?? that makes sense? how was anyone supposed to guess." I'll send you a list of the latter and explain where the weakness is and you can either provide more hints or you can leave it as is. Up to you

Thank you for the game!

SHADOW

[partydoc]

Thank you very much, Romeo, for this outstanding, creative game.

Some of the puzzles were really difficult, somehow I liked that, so it took me some long evenings to find out the solutions. Imo, some games have much too easy puzzles nowadays, so you are through them pretty too fast! Although sometimes it wasn't too obvious what the game wanted from me, but the longer I played it, the more I understod the way these puzzles are constructed.

Really nice game, with a very unique style and atmosphere, afar from the mainstream, although with some little bugs and flaws - most of them already mentioned in this forum. Perhaps you can eliminate those in an updated version of your game.

Be careful, spoiler ahead for those, who didn't complete the game so far:

Spoiler

Some examples:
1.) I felt completely lost concerning the several use of candle wax, the keyhole in the crypt an so on, a few hints would have been appreciated.
2.) It was difficult to find out what to do in the egyptian desert, that I first have to follow the meteorite to find the bedouine, who gave me the stones which, with help of the fortune teller, finally led me the way through the paths corresponding to the star signs. 
3.) The possible crashes of the game mentioned before: in the side room of the pyramid, when producing an earthquake while your horse is in the shed next to your house, during the fight with the minotaur or when using the wind power at the wrong place.
4.) The game mechanics during the fight with the minotaur are unbalanced, it is difficult to find the correct timing when to attack.
5.) Overall, there are too many possible dead ends and red herrings.

[close]

In spite of this criticism, overall a great game and work of art, I had a good time playing it.

Romeo, hope to see and play more from you in the future, you really made a god job!!   

[sthomannch]

Excellent game!

About Partydocs comments:

For (1) and (2) I agree that it was difficult to find out what to do, but with some persistence it was finally possible. The same also for the very last puzzle

Spoiler

use the ice ball only on some of the craters

[close]

Strangely enough, I had no crashes and everything went on smoothly (used Wine on Debian 6, I have no chance to get anything with DirectDraw, DirectX or OpenGL running on my Windows 7 Pro installation on a really expensive Lenovo, crashes right at start). Perhaps you should try with Windows XP?

[Romeo]

Thanks guys for your kind words:
sthomannch: thank you for "excellent game". I'm glad to read that the game went on smoothly.
partydoc: thanks for "great game" and "work of art" and for your comment in the AGS database (thanks Tabata for asking the players to post a comment    ).
Making games with AGS is amusing but it also requires great efforts and a lot of free time. So, it's a reward for me to read your opinions.
About the bugs: I've already fixed all the bugs reported in the forum so the game works fine now (version 1.1), but I don't know if there are more bugs that haven't been reported.
I know that the puzzles were difficult but I think that when the game's atmosphere is nice, the player can take his time to think while listening to some good music. 
Kind regards.
BRomeo

[9cupsoftea]

@BleedingRomeo I love your games (I even emailed you my appreciation), but like Raindog Story I'm finding this frustratingly hard! I know it's often something glaringly obvious, and that it's nice to have some tough puzzles, but I'm sensing a repeat of some of the raindog puzzles which basically had me performing the old 'use everything on everything else, in every order' routine, and I find myself wanting to get through this game because I love the artwork and story already, but despite this difficulty.

Please please please write a walkthrough for this game for people like me who don't play adventure games so much anymore, and who play them more for the story and design than puzzles. I do give it my best, but I'm just not that good at them anymore!

[Romeo]

Hi 9cupsoftea,
thank you very much for your appreciation. The game is hard, I know it, but I think the puzzles have a logic so you just have to think for a while to the right move. Anyway there's already a walkthrough available if you need it:

http://gamesolves.freewebsites.com/free/j/jth/jth.htm

I'd really appreciate if you could post a comment and rate the game after playing it.
Thanks.
BRomeo

[Grim]

This game's getting really great feedback (especially what Shadow wrote- I thought it was very well put together) so I think I'll give it a try!:) Loving the artwork by the way!

[Romeo]

Thanks Grim,
I hope the game won't disappoint you. In any case please let me know your opinion about it.
Cheers,
BRomeo

[Shadow1000]

This game's getting really great feedback (especially what Shadow wrote- I thought it was very well put together) so I think I'll give it a try!:) Loving the artwork by the way!

Thank you! I try to be balanced and fair. My goal is for authors to have detailed feedback from players so they can know what the audience is looking for. Of course I am just one guy but I try to include enough detail so others can either agree or disagree.

Enjoy the game

Cheers

SHADOW