Feng Shui And The Art Of TV Reception (June MAGS 2015)

Started by Mandle, Sun 05/07/2015 12:00:45

Previous topic - Next topic

Mandle

FENG SHUI AND THE ART OF TV RECEPTION



Your TV reception goes out during a violent thunder-storm.

Can you manage to restore it?

Game Features:

* A weird interface
* Atmosphere
* Feng Shui
* Animation
* Sound Effects
* A TV
* Voice acting of an excellent quality!!!
* Reception
* Art

So....erm...yeah...I hope the reception of my MAGS entry will be better than the one on the telly...

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Some advice about using the interface (No real puzzle SPOILERS) :
Spoiler
Keep a close watch on the TV screen while moving/placing items. If you have done something right you might notice the reception has improved slightly with each step. A good way to practice looking for these improvements would be fooling around with the TV antenna for a while.

Right click drops objects but it also uses them on each other if they are able to be combined and are in the appropriate positions/close enough to each other etc...I tried to be as generous as possible with the size of the hotspots for this kind of actions but please let me know if anything was too fiddly to get working...

The books and the curio-shelves (the ones with the lips,the purple tentacle, the euro, the Gumby head, the Information sign, and the Kilroy) can be a bit tricky, especially the shelves. Click on the area between two items to swap their positions and not on the actual items for best results.
[close]

Below is a Hint Manual in various stages:
(WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS!!!)
Spoiler

If you have not yet managed to obtain the OWNER MANUAL:

Spoiler

Slight hint:
Spoiler
Are you hooked on this game yet?
[close]

Medium hint:
Spoiler
What do you call a pole on the floor?
[close]

SPOILER hint:
Spoiler
Move the hook down to the left-most end of the pole and then right-click to attach it.

Then what???

(MAJOR SPOILER)
Spoiler

You need to match up the hook on the end of the pole to the hook in the ceiling trapdoor and right-click.
[close]
[close]
[close]

If you have managed to obtain the OWNER MANUAL:

(MASSIVE SPOILER HINTS BELOW!!!)
Spoiler

What does "Horizontal Control" mean:
Spoiler

Slight Hint:
Spoiler
Horizontal means flat...
[close]
Medium Hint:
Spoiler
What can you move on a flat surface left and right?
[close]
SPOILER HINT:
Spoiler
The vase needs to be just a few pixels left of its starting position.
[close]
[close]
What does "Vertical Control" mean:
Spoiler

Slight Hint:
Spoiler
Vertical means up and down...
[close]
Medium Hint:
Spoiler
What can you move up and down?
[close]
SPOILER HINT:
Spoiler
The lightbulb needs to be just a little lower than the right-hand shelf.
[close]
[close]
What does "Colour Balance" mean:
Spoiler

Slight Hint:
Spoiler
Balance some colours...
[close]
Medium Hint:
Spoiler
Where can you see matching colours?
[close]
SPOILER HINT:
Spoiler
Put the Xmas decorations on the bonsai tree in the same pattern you see in the curio-shelf.
[close]
[close]

What does "Linear Control" mean:
Spoiler

Slight Hint:
Spoiler
Do something in a linear order...
[close]
Medium Hint:
Spoiler
ABCDEFG...etc.
[close]
SPOILER HINT:
Spoiler
Arrange the books in alphabetical order from left to right.
[close]
[close]
What does "Key Point" mean:
Spoiler

Slight Hint:
Spoiler
A key on a wire is needed...
[close]
Medium Hint:
Spoiler
Hang the key on the wire somewhere...
[close]
SPOILER HINT:
Spoiler
Hang the key on the wire from the hook on the opened trapdoor...
[close]
[close]
[close]
[close]

THIS JUST IN:

MASSIVE thanks to Bulbapuck for his blind Let's Play of the game on YouTube:

(THE VIDEOS GIVE AWAY ALL THE PUZZLES OF COURSE AND THE ENDING SO MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY PLAYED AND WISH TO...)

CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE (22 minutes)

CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO (THE FINALE) (2 minutes)

THIS JUST MORE INNER:

YAAAAAAY!!!

THE GAME WON THE MAGS CONTEST!!!

AnasAbdin

First.. can I read the second book from the left? If no, I'd really be disappointed :P

NickyNyce

He even put Gumby's head in the game!

After playing this, I'll never have to whip out the tinfoil and close hanger again. I'll fix this T.V. later today.

Mandle

Quote from: AnasAbdin on Sun 05/07/2015 13:14:32
First.. can I read the second book from the left? If no, I'd really be disappointed :P

You will have to play the game to find out...And cheers for the interest in a book about me!!!

Quote from: NickyNyce on Sun 05/07/2015 13:19:17
He even put Gumby's head in the game!

So far you are the first person that recognized that! Yay!!!

(That I know of...)

AnasAbdin

Fun game Mandle. I was too sleepy but my determination to finish it was stronger. Took me a while.. and now I'm too afraid to sleep :~(

Mandle

QuoteMost Popular This Week

Feng Shui And The Art Of TV Reception
(61 downloads)

Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok
(45 downloads)

Maniac Mansion Deluxe
(43 downloads)

Fanbots [MAGS June 2015]
(42 downloads)

Self
(40 downloads)

Hahaha! I never thought I'd see one of my games on this list (laugh)

Yeah, yeah I know it won't be there for long...

AprilSkies

It deserves mate!
It's a really inetersting game, with a GREAT ending!
Can't tell more because I don't want to spoil it!

www.apemarina.altervista.org

ManicMatt

I nearly downloaded some dodgy .exe file, yikes! I do not like mediafire. I got the right file now I think!

MiteWiseacreLives!

I am assuming I stink at this game because I know nothing about Feng Shui :-\
I'm gonna sleep on this...

Mandle

Cheers to everyone who is trying out the game! All comments appreciated. The game is a MAGs entry and some of the interface is still a bit clunky which may add to the difficulty.

Quote from: MiteWiseacreLives! on Tue 07/07/2015 07:16:48
I am assuming I stink at this game because I know nothing about Feng Shui :-\
I'm gonna sleep on this...

I also know nothing about Feng Shui except that it is the art of arranging things in a certain order to achieve a favorable result. It's fake Feng Shui in my game and quite arbitrary, but the basic concept is the same.

Some advice about using the interface (No real puzzle SPOILERS) :
Spoiler
Keep a close watch on the TV screen while moving/placing items. If you have done something right you might notice the reception has improved slightly with each step. A good way to practice looking for these improvements would be fooling around with the TV antenna for a while.

Right click drops objects but it also uses them on each other if they are able to be combined and are in the appropriate positions/close enough to each other etc...I tried to be as generous as possible with the size of the hotspots for this kind of actions but please let me know if anything was too fiddly to get working...

The books and the curio-shelves (the ones with the lips,the purple tentacle, the euro, the Gumby head, the Information sign, and the Kilroy) can be a bit tricky, especially the shelves. Click on the area between two items to swap their positions and not on the actual items for best results.
[close]

I do plan on polishing the game a bit more and releasing a new version in the near future so lots of feedback in this thread or by PM to me is always welcome.

Please do hide any spoilers though, especially concerning the game ending...Cheers! :-D

Khris

I'm going to give this another try now, thanks to your tips.

(also, even real Feng Shui is fake, it's pseudo-scientific nonsense ;))

Edit:
Spoiler
I'm furiously dragging around the tree ornaments and switching shelves items, can't make any progress though. I think I know what's going to happen in the end though :D
[close]

Cassiebsg

Quote from: Mandle on Tue 07/07/2015 07:29:56
Spoiler
Click on the area between two items to swap their positions and not on the actual items for best results.
[close]

And NOW you tell me! Took me the last version to figure that out! :P
Congrats on the release BTW. (laugh)
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Mandle

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Tue 07/07/2015 16:41:22
Quote from: Mandle on Tue 07/07/2015 07:29:56
Spoiler
Click on the area between two items to swap their positions and not on the actual items for best results.
[close]

And NOW you tell me! Took me the last version to figure that out! :P
Congrats on the release BTW. (laugh)

Oh....that reminds me! I will be crediting the testers both in AGS and in the game credits when they exist. Thanks guys!

Kastchey

This game is doing whatever in its power to best me, but I shall not be bested!
I will retry today evening.

An interesting concept Mandle, the controls do feel a bit awkward to me and it's somewhat difficult to figure out how to progress even with your interface hints, but I've got hooked anyway.

The atmosphere totally makes up for the difficulty of navigating the game, and the voice acting is AWESOME. The way the main character speaks freaked me out more than the occasional jump scares, great job there :)

Mandle

Quote from: Kastchey on Wed 08/07/2015 10:28:36
The atmosphere totally makes up for the difficulty of navigating the game, and the voice acting is AWESOME. The way the main character speaks freaked me out more than the occasional jump scares, great job there :)

It's wonderful to hear that riding my bicycle 5km to my school to do the voice acting last Sunday and then 5km back home to import it into the game paid off...

I'm sure the old Japanese lady who lives just behind the school and just so happened to be out taking care of her garden really appreciated my rantings and does not at all think that I'm completely insane...

Yeah...the navigation/interface is very clunky...This shall be improved upon very soon...

But this is a MAGs entry so I will go by what I had at the time of entry for now...

Kastchey

Yeah absolutely, honestly as an almost complete scripting illiterate I'm quite impressed that you have managed to pull off this kind of a custom interface within such a short time frame all by yourself.

As for the Japanese granny, you're a foreigner which means you do all kinds of outlandish things per se! She was probably hardly suprised =)

Mandle

Quote from: Kastchey on Wed 08/07/2015 11:20:07
Yeah absolutely, honestly as an almost complete scripting illiterate I'm quite impressed that you have managed to pull off this kind of a custom interface within such a short time frame all by yourself.

I always planned to take advantage of AGS's hard-wired features to get this done in time...And it led me down a very dark bunny-hole while doing so...

The best laid plans...and all that...

Quote from: Kastchey on Wed 08/07/2015 11:20:07
As for the Japanese granny, you're a foreigner which means you do all kinds of outlandish things per se! She was probably hardly suprised =)

She has lived behind our school for the 18 or so years we have been running it...

Heck...She can probably understand English better than half of our students by now...

xil

Fantastic game Mandle, I can tell lots of hard work has gone into the interface! I can confirm the effort gone to put voice acting the in the game was worth it, I loved the ending as well :D
Calico Reverie - Independent Game Development, Pixel Art & Other Stuff
Games: Mi - Starlit Grave - IAMJASON - Aractaur - blind to siberia - Wrong Channel - Memoriae - Point Of No Return

Mandle

Quote from: xil on Mon 13/07/2015 01:10:44
Fantastic game Mandle, I can tell lots of hard work has gone into the interface! I can confirm the effort gone to put voice acting the in the game was worth it, I loved the ending as well :D

Cheers mate!

Thanks for the good words on the game!!!

ALSO:

MASSIVE thanks to Bulbapuck for his blind Let's Play of the game on YouTube:

(THE VIDEOS GIVE AWAY ALL THE PUZZLES OF COURSE AND THE ENDING SO MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY PLAYED AND WISH TO...)

CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE (22 minutes)

CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO (THE FINALE) (2 minutes)

It was a first-time experience for me to watch somebody play one of my games through blind from start to finish in real-time and it was delightful!

I don't have any friends in real-life who want to play these kinds of games, and they would only be humouring me if I made them try so it wouldn't be interesting on both ends...

The fact that he was F-bombing when frustrated and excited when he discovered new stuff got my heart racing while watching his videos: This is exactly what a developer wants their players to go through while playing their game!!! I loved seeing those reactions!!!

I loved seeing the deductive leaps he made both correct and incorrect and it was a very important study for me in where my games connect with the player logically and also where the logical disconnects might lie...

Thanks again to Bulbapuck!

Slight spoiler:
Spoiler

(Oh, I also tripped out when every time I said "I shut that infernal machine away in there for a reason..." he told me "Good for you!"...It was hilarious to hear someone answering back my own voice inside my own game: But still a bunch trippy...(laugh) )
[close]

Mandle

THIS JUST IN:

YAAAAAAY!!!

THE GAME WON THE MAGS CONTEST!!!

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk