The Cat Lady

Started by Grim, Sat 01/12/2012 09:33:54

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Andail

Congrats! Demo and trailer are promising. Hope it sells well!

Mati256

Just finished this and must say I'm really impressed.
At first I thought the game would be really linear, but I was wrong, so wrong!! You managed to create a sidescrolling nonlinear game, and with some of the best puzzles I have seen in a long time, pure art in my humble opinion. I'm not into horror or gore or nothing like that, but the story of the game caught me and I just had to finish it.

Spoiler
You made me really care about Mitzi, my favorite character by far, so I had a really tense couple of minutes at the end of the game. And when everything finished I was really sad. I haven't felt that way for a game in a long time, not even with The Walking Dead that everyone is crying for.
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Congratulations, and I hope the game goes well because it deserves it. Now I will have to play Dawnfall.
Thank you!
My Blog! (En Español)

Grim

IndieRetroNews: Cool:) Thanks for that!:)

Mati256: Thanks, this means a lot to me that even people who don't normally like horror can enjoy TCL;)

Spoiler
Mitzi is my favourite character too, always has been. What inspired me in her case is this music video by Porcupine Tree (this band has been one of my main sources of inspiration for many years now):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZiHTvtB118&playnext=1&list=PL3B6A10C68C34A013&feature=results_video

This unknown emo girl deserved to be developed into a fully fledged character, I though, because just her look alone tells a story, and a tragic one, too. It's strange that this kind of stories seem to interest me the most... because I assure you I'm not at all as grim as my forum name would suggest;) Anyway, this sad look of a lost teenager, faced with a cold dark world, and the train tracks- a way to escape and at the same time such a quick way to die...

That was the plan from the start- make people like her and care about her, so when something horrible- and inevitable- happens, it has a much greater emotional impact. And funnily enough, just played the last episode of The Walking Dead last night and God, was I glad there was no one home to see me fall to pieces as I said my last words to Clementine... "Don't be afraid" I said to her, just before she pulled the trigger...
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Lewis

Only played a small portion of the demo so far. The aesthetic is fantastic, and the general goings-on wonderfully weird. I wish you'd have hired a script editor, though, as there's loads of weird punctuation in the dialogue. And I wish you'd have mastered the audio a little better - having two characters conversing at significantly different volumes in the opening scene is a bad start. Then again, it all kind of adds to the weirdness as well. I'll probably be picking up the full version soon.
Returning to AGS after a hiatus. Co-director of Richard & Alice and The Charnel House Trilogy.

Stupot

The demo causes my shitty laptop to overheat and crash. Not the game's fault really, just my laptop is old and dicrepit. So I'm gonna wait until I have a better machine before buying this game.  I'm a bit gutted. Been looking forward to this one :(

Grim

Lewis: Thanks;) We have since replaced the actress playing Mitzi due to some technical problems with her recording equipment... And although I think she did a great job on this demo part, the whole thing has been re-recorded and volume levels adjusted in the final release;)

Stupot+: Damn, I was hoping to get some feedback from AGS veterans like yourself... I must admit, there are some sprite-heavy moments in the demo. Maybe there's a chance you'll be gifted a new PC for Christmas?;) That'd be nice, wouldn't it?!;)

Then again, just remembered the end of the world is scheduled for just before that... So yeah, damn... ;)

Stupot

Haha, veteran! I still feel like a newbie, looking at my list of completed games :-/
My lappy is long overdue a good clean-up, so hopefully that might sort it out.

xenogia

Quote from: Grim on Tue 04/12/2012 03:09:24
IndieRetroNews: Cool:) Thanks for that!:)

Mati256: Thanks, this means a lot to me that even people who don't normally like horror can enjoy TCL;)

Spoiler
Mitzi is my favourite character too, always has been. What inspired me in her case is this music video by Porcupine Tree (this band has been one of my main sources of inspiration for many years now):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZiHTvtB118&playnext=1&list=PL3B6A10C68C34A013&feature=results_video

This unknown emo girl deserved to be developed into a fully fledged character, I though, because just her look alone tells a story, and a tragic one, too. It's strange that this kind of stories seem to interest me the most... because I assure you I'm not at all as grim as my forum name would suggest;) Anyway, this sad look of a lost teenager, faced with a cold dark world, and the train tracks- a way to escape and at the same time such a quick way to die...

That was the plan from the start- make people like her and care about her, so when something horrible- and inevitable- happens, it has a much greater emotional impact. And funnily enough, just played the last episode of The Walking Dead last night and God, was I glad there was no one home to see me fall to pieces as I said my last words to Clementine... "Don't be afraid" I said to her, just before she pulled the trigger...
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Grim I thought it was just me and I was going mad, but I thought there was a Porcupine Tree influence in there.  Not only with the general vibe of the game but with the music as well.  I was definitely getting an In Absentia vibe throughout considering that game deals with death quite extensively.  I was expecting Collapse Light Into Earth to pop up somewhere.

Cogliostro


Grim,

I've never moved this fast to download a game!  Made it to chapter 2 -- before sleep and life and work interrupted -- so far I'm impressed.

- Cogliostro



"First things first, but not necessarily in that order." - Dr. Who

Grim

Quote from: xenogia on Wed 05/12/2012 00:36:28
Grim I thought it was just me and I was going mad, but I thought there was a Porcupine Tree influence in there.  Not only with the general vibe of the game but with the music as well.  I was definitely getting an In Absentia vibe throughout considering that game deals with death quite extensively.  I was expecting Collapse Light Into Earth to pop up somewhere.

xenogia: Ah, of course! It is their (arguably) best album to date! And- it tells stories of serial murderers and ghosts and such, or at least that's what I always thought (it's actually very clear in songs like The Creator Has A Mastertape or The Blackest Eyes), which is exactly the kind of stuff that inspires me. There's more references to PT throughout, in one of which Mitzi actually quotes a title of one of their older songs;)

Cogliostro: Thanks! I remember playing your game 9 Hours To Dawn and liking it;) (it's been a long time though, I hope you've got a new project in the works!) ;)


an Urpney

Born to the sound of marching feet,
Trained as a military elite.
Each of us drilled and singled out to be,
An Urpney.

Grim

Quote from: an Urpney on Thu 06/12/2012 21:25:34
Grim, you may want to read this:
http://www.cdaction.pl/news-30021/the-cat-lady-polak-tworca-ciekawego-indyka-dla-doroslych.html
Even here you get some recognition : )

Oh, nice one!;) I remember reading their magazine from time to time when I lived in Poland. And now I'm in it!!!:)

m0ds

#32
Available at Desura! http://www.desura.com/games/the-cat-lady

You can now get it on DVD-rom from the official website or Screen 7.co.uk! 1 disc or 2 disc set with audio CD. You get the game as a digital download too.

If you bought the game before today (or today), enter your original transaction ID [typically 16 digits] in the "discount" box & update the cart so that you don't pay for the game twice, just the cost to make the DVD.

Please allow 7 days delivery (USA) and up to 15 elsewhere for the DVD-rom. Digital download is of course distributed instantly! Oh, and there's 10% off when you spend over £10 so a small reduction on the cost of the DVD's this Christmas :)

Desura update: http://www.desura.com/games/the-cat-lady
Fireflower update: This website has been under construction, it's very nearly ready...
Zodiac-Store update: The game should appear there at the beginning of 2013.
Translations: The first free translation, Francais, will be available in the near future thanks to Herve!

Miguel R. Fervenza

My laptop become hotter running the demo than playing a threesome video. This is the first AGS game I can't play because of that (it's a pity you can't reduce the game detail in configuration menu). By the way, it seems very interesting, I'll play it in the future (several years, I hope; laptop, don't die soon, I need you).

Grim

Quote from: David_Holm on Fri 07/12/2012 18:44:15
My laptop become hotter running the demo than playing a threesome video. This is the first AGS game I can't play because of that (it's a pity you can't reduce the game detail in configuration menu). By the way, it seems very interesting, I'll play it in the future (several years, I hope; laptop, don't die soon, I need you).

Well, it's a very hot game! It doesn't quite have the same system requirements as Crysis 3, but it definitely runs better on newer machines;) Now give your laptop a cold flannel and tell it to pull itself together (and no threesomes for a week!).  ;)

RitakaRex

I can say this over and over again and it'll never cease to be true:
This game is amazing. Hands down.
Visuals, atmosphere, story, everything. This game nails it all.
It'll definitely have you on the edge of your seat.

If there's anyone on the fence about this game, then I can assure you that it's well worth it.

Fantastic job, Rem.

Crimson Wizard

Just finished the game, and I must say, I am totally impressed. It's very different from Downfall in terms of atmosphere, probably because most of the time the world is far more real (or close to real).
Downfall had depressive story and gruesome places, yet it was not scary real much for me. In Cat Lady there's always a feeling in the air that something bad will happen any moment.
By the way, I found Susan's appartaments most scary place in the game. Those pictures in her bedroom gave me creeps. No wonder she was so unhappy :).
One thing that actually made me jump was
Spoiler
MIZEREEEE!!! lol :) quite a disturbing voice really.
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I really liked storytelling. The switches between past and present is done very clever.
Spoiler
Probably, only time I got little confused is when Susan woke up in the psycho couple's house. However, when the game started switching between womans talk and Susan looking for gas ingredients I felt like watching a movie. When I saw a speech option to promise Mitzie that Susan will never try to kill herself, I immediately recalled the words about how sorry she is not to keep some promise, so I decided to play up and chose that right away :).
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The game progression I had was quite steady. I really stuck only once,
Spoiler
in the hospital, when trying to find out Ann Burton's name. First I thought it may be mentioned in those files on nurse's table. Then I made a guess that it should be written on mirror, but could not figure out what to do with it. So I checked hints forums and oversaw few words about "turning hot water"; that gave me a starting point :).
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Most of the time puzzles are solved with a combination of plain logic and intuituve decisions.
The two doll-guardian puzzle is one of my favourites
Spoiler
but unfortunately I solved this puzzle already in the past, so I just had to remember the solution. Still nice to see something like that in the game.
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Padlock puzzle was interesting.
Spoiler
However, there's a curious detail: there's number "4" scratched on the door itself, don't know if that's intentional or occasional. It confused me a bit for the first time.
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There were a number of options during the game, which made a lot of possible combinations in total, but their effect on the course of the story remained unclear to me.
Spoiler

1. At the beginning I have a choice to either follow Queen's orders, or "do it my way". The first time I played the game I chose the latter. The Queen shouted something like "you'll be sorry", etc, but still I was able to get a good ending (I guess it's good, it is the one where Mitzi survives the encounter with Adam).
Later I reloaded and checked other option. The Queen seemed very pleased and gave few tips about how to blow candles and run the machine. Is there any far-going difference between those two options?
2. Doctor X's questions.
3. Puzzle with doll-guardians. If I solve it right I get table with flowers. Otherwise I don't.
4. Whether to strangle Joe's "wife" or refuse.
5. In the end Queen tells Susan to blow one of the candles. I can choose any or refuse. I tried all options, and the ending still seem the same (depends on the use of gas mask and your actions in Adam's room).

Also I don't quite understand why Susan is still transfered to other world if she uses gas mask and let Mitzie die.
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Hmm, is there anything else to mention...
Spoiler
The Teacup, - I thought her role would be more important for some reason. When Susan was crying on her bed after quarell with bald man, there was Teacup watching from behind the window (IIRC), and on the next day Mitzie appeared. For the first time I thought that Mitzi was Teacup who took human form to help Susan :).

I found Maniac Mansion house clone pretty amusing. There's one thing though, at some point the evil wife (?) appeared when I was passing the kitchen, and there was no way to predict it or evade being killed. I think that's spoils the game play a bit.

The poor crazy Joe Davis. Since I played Downfall before, I was almost sure he will reappear in the end, murdering everyone in the building.
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I found choice of controls pretty good too. There are no "stacked" objects on screen, so basically only horizontal dimension matters. And you do not have to wait when character walks close to hotspot, since you'll have to do that on your own anyway, so you always both feel connected to player character, and have more precise control over what she does and where she walks.
There's one thing that bothered me, though, is that it is impossible to discard the action menu other than by stepping left or right - that looks like something not quite thought through. IMO it would be better if Escape key could be used for that too.
Also, I believe that shortcuts would really benefit the gameplay, like 'E' for examine, etc.

Savegames is, in my opinion, a biggest technical problem, the feature itself appears to be broken. It does let you save up to 50 files, but does not let you delete these to free space, nor overwrite existing ones. Unless you know where the saves are stored on the disk, you will be unable to save anymore - at all.
I believe it must be corrected, otherwise you'll receive more complaints by angry users.
Also, it is non-intuitive that you have to press 'Right' to cancel loading or saving. Would be better if Escape worked too.

I may be overthinking, but I wonder why the savedgames become so large as the game progresses... is it AGS issue or your game's? I can't think of anything but non-released dynamic sprites, or something like that. Or is the amount of rooms with saved state really that huge?
Just being curious. Something to investigate, in my opinion.

There are number of minor glitches I met throughout in the game.
Spoiler
For example, in the episode One a deer reappears at one forest location, it does not move anywhere just stands there, and when walking over him the character sprite sometimes blinks and becomes covered by deer's.
In the Old' Lady's house, there's a pitch black passage way near the candles - when I walk near sometimes character's head dissapears - seems to be covered by some black object or something.
In the hospital when you pass near mirror, there's reflection even above the missing piece (which was broken). And when you turn hot water on, the whole rectangular gets smoky, even the hole.
There were couple of voice-overs missing. The one that I do remember is one line when Susan and Mitzi are sitting tied in the bathroom speaking about how Susan survived after being hit by the hammer.
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Save/Load menu has graphical problem - it misses border on bottom and right - not important, yet a bit annoying detail.

There are also probably few times when the scene is not made good enough, from theatrical point of view.
Spoiler
In the scene of Liz's suicide on the roof, Liz stood so that her head is not visible, and that really looked silly.
Sometime characters just talk while standing so that Susan is covered by an object (like wall). In the chapter's One forest, if you enter the place with Raven on the cross from opposite direction (from the right), the crow is covered by foreground tree and so its flying sequence looks a bit awkward.
In the scene where Mitzi was hanged, after Susan pushes the chair for her to stand on something and starts walking towards the kitchen, the chair "moves out" out of Mitzi's legs, because the object and character are on different paralax planes, so there appears to be a difference in their location on screen.
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an Urpney

Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Sat 08/12/2012 15:18:29
Spoiler
5. In the end Queen tells Susan to blow one of the candles. I can choose any or refuse. I tried all options, and the ending still seem the same (depends on the use of gas mask and your actions in Adam's room).
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Spoiler
If you choose to blow the candle, Mitzi dies of her cancer. If you refuse, she gets better and gives you the best ending I've found so far
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Born to the sound of marching feet,
Trained as a military elite.
Each of us drilled and singled out to be,
An Urpney.

Crimson Wizard

Quote from: an Urpney on Sat 08/12/2012 15:41:00
Spoiler
If you choose to blow the candle, Mitzi dies of her cancer. If you refuse, she gets better and gives you the best ending I've found so far
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Hmm, that was the first option I chose and yet it was like the others. Perhaps there are some other requirements?..

an Urpney

Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Sat 08/12/2012 15:49:43
Hmm, that was the first option I chose and yet it was like the others. Perhaps there are some other requirements?..

Spoiler

- Give Mitzi the gas mask,
- Refuse to blow a candle,
- Convince Mitzi to let Adam live.
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With those choices I got the best ending. Maybe there was something earlier?
Born to the sound of marching feet,
Trained as a military elite.
Each of us drilled and singled out to be,
An Urpney.

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