Topic: Echo in the Clouds (demo out)

[Hobo]

Story:
After her colleague is taken off station because of a mysterious illness, Alawa Velasco is working double shifts on a old terraforming station. She won't be alone for too long...

Demo: Download the MAGS demo from here.
This demo version is actually still missing quite a few puzzles, interactions and story parts. So, I'd say that it's more of a proof of concept, than an actual finished and polished sample of the game, but hopefully it will give a little taste of the planned atmosphere, mechanics and visuals.

Team:
Hobo: design, scripting, writing, character sprites and animation
Pinback: background art and music
selmiak: environment animation, sound effects, additional design and writing
Myshkin: music

Estimated release date: 2018

Screenshots:

[Durq]

Loved the demo. How big is the final game going to be?

[Hobo]

Loved the demo. How big is the final game going to be?

Hard to say at the momenent, it really depends how much time we want (or can spare) to put into it. I'm guessing that something between 30-45 minutes sounds like a reasonable goal, but we might add some branching paths, so maybe there's some replayability.

[C.L.I.C.K.]

The graphics are unmistakably Pinback's style. No idea if that is a good or a bad thing. Games can blur into each other this way. Looks good, though.

[Matti]

I enjoyed the demo very much, despite the missing story parts and rather limited puzzles. Atmosphere and artwork are superb and I really like to know how the story progresses. I hope you'll find the time to add all the things you have in mind.

[Pling!]

Spoiler: ShowHide

Really sad I didn't get my ice cream.

[selmiak]

for those just interested but too lazy to play (which you should!) here is a longplay of the demo already

[Creamy]

Well done! It was really immersive and piqued my curiosity.

Even if the demo is linear, the interface spurs me to think that we'll have to make choices at one point - both in dialogs and in actions.

[Hobo]

Spoiler: ShowHide

Really sad I didn't get my ice cream.

If you play your cards right in the full version, you'll defenitely get some

Even if the demo is linear, the interface spurs me to think that we'll have to make choices at one point - both in dialogs and in actions.

Yeah, I'm certainly planning a couple of branching paths and multiple solutions to some puzzles. There's already a bit of non-linearity in the order of doing (or skipping) some of the tasks and it will probably be even more prominent in the final version.

Thanks to everyone who have either played or watched or commented. As I said, the demo still needs some additional work and the whole game is not fully planned out yet, so all suggestions and feedback are very welcome and will help me to improve the game.

[ManicMatt]

I had a quick look at the video (i have ps4 games still in cellophane wrapper, don't take it to heart!) and that looks sweet! I like the incidental background music, it reminds me of the music on Phatt Island in Monkey Island 2.It doesn't sound like it, it's just the way it's composed.

[SarahLiz]

Oh, this already looks amazing.  I’m equally creeped out AND intrigued to see what happens next.  Cannot wait until the completed game (hopefully) comes to fruition!  Love the graphics, and the mystique of the yet unexplained storyline.  Good job so far, I’m already a fan.

~Sarah

[Hobo]

Thanks! I'm still slowly working on it, but it might take longer than I first anticipated, since I'm occupied with a couple of money earning jobs.
I'm still planning to release it this year, but we'll see how it goes. Also, since it's not tied to the MAGS rules anymore, I'm tempted to replace the rats with something else to make stuff less confusing, I guess.

The new interface is probably something that I haven't posted yet, I know it's nothing exciting, but there won't be a lot of new visual assets added to the game anyway and everything else would simply be story spoilers.

x1 x2 x4 x8

[VampireWombat]

Also, since it's not tied to the MAGS rules anymore, I'm tempted to replace the rats with something else to make stuff less confusing, I guess.

Why? What's wrong with the rats? I can't think of anything that would be more fitting. People experiment on rats. And rats are small, so they'd be decent pets on a space station or whatever the setting of the game is. Unless you want to use chinchillas. Those things are pure evil...

[Hobo]

Why? What's wrong with the rats?

I simply have trouble figuring out how to properly weave them into the overall story, especially in the later part, but we'll see, they're not cut yet.