THE BUM - Now available in German!

[Ghost]

Yes. I played some more and it is really happening a lot, not just with "f"s.

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/eJQjlf8.png[/imgzoom]
(h, l, i and t are all cut off)

It's really nothing critical, but (IMO) exactly the kind of oddity that stands out once a game reaches a certain amount of quality. 

[Gribbler]

We played the game so many times and neither Parafia nor I noticed it. Well, I'm gonna have to ask SSH for help with this. It's his description module, he may know how to resolve this.

[Ghost]

Most likely the actual GUI to hold the label is not large enough, or the label is a bit too much "at the top".

But really, this is just one little detail and I don't want to come over all citicizey. It's an awesome game so far.

Spoiler

The little scene with the "other" sock had me in stitches! we don't trust silent backstabbers, indeed! 

[close]

[dactylopus]

This game is a lot of fun!

Congratulations on releasing it!

I did happen upon an error:

Spoiler

This happened when trying to use an item on the skull.

[close]

Still trying to figure out the game, but having fun.

[Gribbler]

Ah, bugs... how I missed you

Thank you, dactylopus for finding it. Already fixed!

I will upload updated build tonight.

[JSH]

Alright, finished it, very nice little game, you guys did a great job!

The good:
- The graphics and animations -  Looks like a professionally made old point and click adventure!
- The characters, humor and dialogue - Well written, many funny jokes and weird characters!
- The ending! Love the slideshow in the credits and the awesome cliffhanger!

The bad:

- Everything being unskippable except the very first intro. There is no reason to not have this, since AGS supports skippable cutscenes with a simple tag. This becomes very annoying since your scripting uses a lot of pauses and animations in dialogue, which is great for comedic timing but makes it impossible to skip quickly through speech by left clicking. In some places you can't even click past the speech at all making it even worse(like the guitar guy song).

- Tiny hotspots. I got stuck three times due to miniscule hotspots:

Spoiler

1. The pipe thingy which you put the valve on
2. The branch that you break off
3. The rope around the dragon

[close]

- Playing ahead of the game, there is a whole bunch of puzzles that can be completed before you have any idea of why or any reason to. (Revealing the solution before the problem). It's a common thing in these kinds of games though, especially the wacky humorous ones so I'd say it's more of personal taste than anything.

- Unrelated cause and effect, not giving the player any indication(or even logical reason) that something has changed in a different place and that he needs to backtrack. It's not a huge problem in this game since there is so few rooms but I just thought I'd mention it.

I'm thinking specifically of the fact that:

Spoiler

looking at the pipe in the sewers spawns the guitar guy up above. It makes sense from a puzzle perspective, but I would prefer a chain of events caused by the player, like for instance, maybe the guitar guy would be trapped in the sewers and released when you opened the first door or something like that.

[close]

Overall I think this game is great, especially being your first and I would definitely pay for a full length game like it

I hope I don't come across as super negative but I also found some bugs:

Spoiler

1. There seems to be some kind of problem with sounds sometimes suddenly cutting off at the end? Mostly noticable when the guitar riff thing plays after the ginger guy puts on his shades.
2. The grating in the sewers always look closed if you view it from the right side(next to the knocked out guy) even when it has been opened with the valve.
3. The very same grating will have the hand icon animate if you hover over it from the right side, but no description or reaction if you click. Could be a problem in more places if you deactivate other hotspots in a similar way.

[close]

[Gribbler]

Thank you JSH for all the comments. We will draw conclusions (some people might go jump off a bridge, but never mind that) 

In some places you can't even click past the speech at all making it even worse(like the guitar guy song).

This was intentional because of the timing with the music. But you're right, it should've been skippable entirely with ESC. Btw, I had a problem with skippable cutscenes, namely the game was freezing after pressing ESC. It only worked in the intro for some reason.

[Parafia]

Ghost, Jsh and others, thanks for honest opinion and pointing out the flaws. Both of us treat this game as a test of our abilities and everything you or anyone else writes will be taken under a consideration and analyzed. Jsh I'm especially glad you liked the cliffhanger:) I hope in the end, the flaws wont take the fun out of the game.

[Gribbler]

I've just uploaded new build with the Skull error resolved so if you didn't download the game already and wanna go and use bunch of items on the skull, you can now do that

[EchosofNezhyt]

Looks good man nice.

[The Fool]

LOVED IT!
Excellent writing and jokes, neat graphics and music.

I would only suggest to

Spoiler

expand hotspots for thinner piece of branch, rope and place for valve

[close]

Congratulations on making great piece like this.

[Gribbler]

Thank you so much for kind words, RaGG! I'm happy you enjoyed our game.

Suggestion on hotspots noted I assume you got stuck on them

[The Fool]

Just a little

Spoiler

The only major stuck was caused by the rope

[close]

Oh, and the ending rocked!

[Shadow1000]

I finished the game and loved it! The puzzles are well designed and the best part of the game is definitely the humour, followed by the creativity. I had a lot of laughs and really enjoyed the game.

Thank you for your hard work!

SHADOW

[dactylopus]

Just finished the game.  Got a little stuck here and there, but I should have tried things repeatedly rather than ruling them out when they didn't work the first time.

Excellent work, both of you!

I really enjoyed this game.  I liked the characters, particularly Evil Man Thomas.

The ending is fantastic.  I had to re-launch the game so I could watch it again.

[Tabata]

Finally I found the time to play the last part of the game and finished it.

… and it really has been my blue-cup of tea

You didn't make me feel to play your first game.
Nicely drawn and animated with individual characters, lots of humor and
a not-like-every-day-story entertained me very well . . . and the end was unexpected.
In short:
           

You did a very good job here and can be proud of your game. 


... and now I hope that well-behaved Pola (congrats to mum and dad)
                                     
will give you time to go on with game making.

- hop, hop, hop - DO IT!
I want to play more 

[Tramponline]

Lovely game. You guys did a marvellous job! Congrats on your first release you two.

A lot of wacky and hilarious lines, Gribbler and great graphics and animations, Parafia!

I'm guilty of overlooking that

Spoiler

valve hotspot

[close]

as well, hence I played your game in a kind of topsy-turvy puzzle order - (as JSH has already mentioned before me) -
which subsequently left me a bit dangling plot-wise right after I got the

Spoiler

ueberball.

However this small detail could be easily rectified, if the 'sock' would elaborate a bit on his response, "Not yet."/"How do you want to fight him?" when the player is using the ueberball on the goal for the very first time. On all subsequent occasions this response is perfectly fine!

[close]

Perhaps keep in mind to build in some kind of 'failsafes' for parallel or 'reverse' puzzle solving in order for the player not to loose the golden thread of logic & motive.
Other than that there's nothing stopping you guys.

I had a thoroughly great time playing this game!   

[Gribbler]

I want to play more

This is music to my ears, Tabata

Now I only have to convince my wife that the fans demand more. I'm sure Pola would be very proud if daddy were to make another game

[nihilyst]

I really enjoyed playing The Bum, although I got stuck on

Spoiler

finding some hotspots (like the small end of the branch or the flies).

[close]

Graphics, music, sfx, humor and lots of funny animations. Good one! Play it!

[Shadow1000]

Perhaps keep in mind to build in some kind of 'failsafes' for parallel or 'reverse' puzzle solving in order for the player not to loose the golden thread of logic & motive.
Other than that there's nothing stopping you guys.

I find this interesting because I'm intrigued by adventure game puzzles and how they are developed

Can you please elaborate on what you mean by 'failsafes' for parallel or 'reverse' puzzle solving?

Do you simply mean alternative methods of completing a puzzle if you get stuck trying the "right" way?

Thank you

SHADOW