Jacqueline White - Curse of the Mummies

Started by Grok, Mon 23/11/2015 21:34:24

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oareaso


Grok


Blondbraid

QuoteJean Batten had a cat, Buddy, that she brought along on some flights. That made me considering get a cat for Jacqueline too.
Now that would be adorable! ;-D
I'm looking forward to your game, I love adventure stories!
You wouldn't happen to have read this article? :)


Grok

@Blondbraid

Thank you for the link to the article. I had not read that article, but I knew a lot of what is in it. There also where a couple of things that I did not knew earlier, so thanks for that.

The actress Pearl White mentioned in the article is the source for Jacqueline's last name ("Jacqueline" comes from two pilots, Jacqueline Cochran and Jacqueline Auriol).

The movie serials in the article is much the source for the background of the "Red desert"-game, "The Hazards of Helen" is mentioned in the game as a serial made of a competing movie company to the fictitious movie company in the game. 

Jean Batten's cat probably had a rather bad life. The cat hated flighing and grew to be scared of the sight of an airplane.
Jacqueline's cat, if she will have one (that's still on the drawing board), would love flighing.  This would be a case of fiction being what the actually facts should have been. :)


Grok

Welcome to the team Blondbraid.

Demo soon to be released.

See original post.

Blondbraid

I got the idea of making a poster in the same vein as Indiana Jones for Jacqueline's next adventure!


Darth Mandarb

#26
Is that actually related to this game (part of the production) or just fan-art?

Thanks!

Grok

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Fri 10/06/2016 20:55:20
Is that actually related to this game (part of the production) or just fan-art?

It is part of the production


Shadow1000

I finished the demo last night. I am REALLY liking this and that's why I want to provide my feedback.

The reason I like it so much is for all the reasons I commented on Bad Trouble in the Red Desert.

- Graphics and animation are SUPERB. They really match the context of the type of movie you are portraying. This is both for in game action and cutscenes.
- In game hint system is a great idea.
- The story is intriguing and compelling
- LOTS of puzzles packed into the game. More about this later.
- All those extras such as the arcade sequences and the flight simulator. Ok, I tried it 3 times and crashed each time but still....lol

Overall I had a great experience playing. I think this game can match or exceed the quality of the Bad Trouble and the reason I'm commenting is because you released the demo for player feedback. It goes without saying that as the author you can dismiss all or some of what I say. Maybe other players will completely disagree but here's my personal opinion:

First, anyone reading this, please play the demo first OR wait till the full release. Otherwise, there will be some spoilers!

My first comments are things that probably everyone would agree with.

I don't know if the reason for the following is because it's a demo and you intended to change them for the release but I do want to mention:
- Using the default font really does not do justice to the stunning graphics. I did notice another font in the boat-down-the-river scene and I think that worked well. Either way, please change the font
- The text in the Game section of the guide spills past the bottom of the page. That should be corrected.
- When the player dies in the last arcade sequence, the game crashes.
- I think that when the game starts it should load the menu instead of going to the opening scene. I know you can easily skip it but especially if you can die in the game.
- There are so many spelling errors in the game that it really diminishes the overall polish. I can give you a list of those that I've found but I strongly recommend that someone proofreads the script.

Next set of comments will not be universally agreed on but they are my opinion :)

Let's talk a bit about why we adventure game addicts will stay up till 2 am or later, forgo food, drink and bathroom facilities for indefinite lengths of time to play a game. One of the most important elements to creating an awesome adventure game is the pacing of the story and the puzzles. If not for the puzzles, we can just watch a movie that tells a story. If you just have a series of puzzles, well, that might be ok for a short game and a few good MAGS entries are like that, which is ok, BECAUSE it's a short game. But you are producing a full length to-be classic so the balance and pacing has to be right. The compelling aspect of a good adventure game is that the plot is gripping but instead of just watching a movie unfold, we want to INTERACT with the plot and our decisions and skill at solving the puzzles is rewarded by proceeding with the next segment of the plot.

Before I get back to that, I have to issue a disclaimer that I am not a fan of object puzzles. What I mean by that term (I think I made it up so I don't expect anyone to use it) is the "move the tiles around", "spin the dials till something happens", "connect the gears to get the machine going" where you use a bit of logic and trial and error to figure out what's supposed to happen. These object puzzles have their place in adventure games and obviously different players will like them to varying degrees. They are just not my thing.

So, the problem I'm getting at is that I think that unless someone REALLY likes object puzzles, they will find the pacing in the game to be less than compelling.

Example:

Spoiler
Objective: Solve the girl
Solution: Solve an object puzzle to open a door, to be rewarded with 4 MORE object puzzles to open 4 MORE doors to save the girl, then ANOTHER object puzzle to get out followed by a lengthy cutscene that progresses the plot
[close]

So, what's wrong with that? I feel that a well paced game will balance the progress of the plot with the puzzles so the player is rewarded for solving a puzzle by more story rather than more consecutive puzzles. Cutscenes are a great way to advance the plot but there has to be judicious spacing.

I would rather see a better balance between inventory puzzles, dialogue puzzles, object puzzle, toss in your arcade sequences and flight simulator and you have a winner!

I do realize that you have all of the above. I'm just commenting on the game pacing and balance.

Some little things:
Spoiler
- The room with the crazy flying things was just TOO crazy and felt really out of place with the rest of the game.
- The rotating star puzzle assumed that the player realized that one arm of the stars is a different colour or something than the others. I think
[close]

As the author, it's up to you to define your audience but be aware that about 10% of players have some sort of colour vision deficiency. Using colour to define something visually will not work for us. I could have spun those for the next hundred years and not realized that one is different. IF you use colour to define something, try to make the colour definitions REALLY stand out taking this into account. As I said, you can ignore this point and develop excellent games for 90% of players who have no problem but considering that the game is in progress I thought I'd throw this out there.

In conclusion, I'm really excited for the release! Judging by the demo, I know this is going to be an awesome game! If you or others disagree with my evaluation, then don't worry about it and just continue. Everything I said is completely my own opinion and experience and other people might say "what?? Give us MORE object puzzles!" and that's fine. I'm just expressing one voice.

SHADOW

Grok

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Wed 22/06/2016 19:55:09
I finished the demo last night. I am REALLY liking this and that's why I want to provide my feedback.

-----


Thank you for the feedback and the the time you have put into that. I do appreciate that.

The game is a team effort and the good things in it is also something that the team should have credit for. The things that work less well is ultimately my responsibility.

The demo is not the finished product so some of things you remarked on might be different in the final version.


-----------------

When player dies in the last arcade game the game crashes
I have not observed this. Is this the room with the pillars coming down from the ceiling?


Intro movie
From a storytelling point I want this before the main menu. You might not have noticed this but in the main menu you can set the intro movie to off. If you do that it will not play the next time you open the game. An alternative could be to automatically set that to off and give the player an option to play the movie again if they want to.


Balancing different types of puzzles and story telling elements
Well, that is the trick, isn't it :)
Interested to hear how folks feel about the balance.
In the end I'll do something I would like to play.


Rotating star
I'll add something to the "pointer arm" to make it stand out besides having a different color. Good to have this pointed out since I didn't realize there would be a problem for some people and it is fairly easy to fix.


The crazy room
The Paris section is basically a game I made before The Red Desert (in flash). I have reused the art from that game and stuck closely to what happened in that game.
The crazy room was in that version a top down shooter, somewhat similar to Space invaders. I thought that it was too similar to the shooting game in the tunnels in the Egypt section, so I changed it, but reused many of the graphic elements from the original version. So that is the story behind the look of that room.
We have some ideas about more stuff for this room and the final version might be even more crazy. :)




Shadow1000

Quote from: Grok on Wed 22/06/2016 21:52:23

Thank you for the feedback and the the time you have put into that. I do appreciate that.

In case you're wondering, it took me between 2 1/2 to 3 hours to play.

Quote
The demo is not the finished product so some of things you remarked on might be different in the final version.

Certainly understood! :)

Quote
When player dies in the last arcade game the game crashes
I have not observed this. Is this the room with the pillars coming down from the ceiling?

Yes

Quote
Intro movie
From a storytelling point I want this before the main menu. You might not have noticed this but in the main menu you can set the intro movie to off. If you do that it will not play the next time you open the game.

Good point and I did notice that but for some reason didn't bother to click the check!

Quote
Balancing different types of puzzles and story telling elements
Well, that is the trick, isn't it :)
Interested to hear how folks feel about the balance.
In the end I'll do something I would like to play.

Certainly and whatever direction you take, I am sure the result will be excellent and I will enjoy playing.

Quote
The crazy room
The Paris section is basically a game I made before The Red Desert (in flash). I have reused the art from that game and stuck closely to what happened in that game.
The crazy room was in that version a top down shooter, somewhat similar to Space invaders. I thought that it was too similar to the shooting game in the tunnels in the Egypt section, so I changed it, but reused many of the graphic elements from the original version. So that is the story behind the look of that room.

Well, that explains it. As I said it didn't feel like it belonged. As far as a shooter in that room, I don't think that an arcade sequence belongs next to the next arcade sequence...

Cheers

SHADOW



Creamy

#32
Hello, I started the demo and crashed the airplane into the ground after a few minutes but I'll give it another try later. First impressions :
- Good things :
Spoiler
- I like the intro. It gets you nicely in the mood.
- beautiful graphics.
- flying the airplane 8-)
[close]
- Not so good things :
Spoiler
-   when you fly the airplane, there could be more visual elements on the ground and in the sky to position yourself in space.
[close]
Good luck.

 

Darth Mandarb

This is not the critics lounge (even in hide tags). I have removed the paint over.

Grok

Quote from: Creamy on Mon 27/06/2016 20:44:52
Hello, I started the demo and crashed the airplane into the ground after a few minutes but I'll give it another try later.

----



Thank you for the feedback. I've put some tips on flying in the hints and tips thread.

I did see the image before it was removed so I have understood the point you wanted to make (I don't necessarily completely agree with you, but I have understood the point).

sthomannch

Fantastic demo!
Was very entertaining, good puzzles and mini games and nice graphics. I also appreciated that some of the arcades could be played in easy mode, so the mini games did not stand in the way of the flow.

Found a minor glitch
Spoiler

After getting out of the tomb, do not climb down the collapsed well, or you get stuck
[close]


Grok

Quote from: sthomannch on Sun 17/07/2016 23:59:19
Fantastic demo!
Was very entertaining, good puzzles and mini games and nice graphics. I also appreciated that some of the arcades could be played in easy mode, so the mini games did not stand in the way of the flow.



Thank you! I had not noticed this post earlier. I do appreciate the feedback and the info on the glitch.

However, due to certain reasons I will not continue to develop this game. At least not for now and not in this format.

I thank everybody that has supported this game. A special thanks to Shadow1000.





Darth Mandarb

Quote from: Grok on Tue 16/08/2016 19:26:50However, due to certain reasons I will not continue to develop this game. At least not for now and not in this format.

Sorry to hear that. If you change you mind let me know (via PM) and we can unlock this.

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