The Execution of Anne Boleyn [MAGS September]

Started by Riaise, Sat 30/09/2017 15:26:49

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Riaise


Story:
Created for MAGS September 2017, for the theme "Past and Future Collide". When villains from the future alter the past, a time traveller must try to set history back on track with the help of an imprisoned queen.

Screenshots:

Details:

  • Two-click interface: left-click to interact, right-click to examine
  • 320 x 180 resolution
  • Game Length: Short

Shadow1000

WOW! What an awesome game.

- The whole idea is such a perfect and creative application of the theme for the month
- I loved the graphics and animation. There's one thing that would have been better but I assume that it was done the way it was due to time constraints (I can PM if that's ok so I don't give it away)
- Great puzzles. Not a huge number of puzzles but a very appropriate amount for this short-ish game. Well done and a good variety. I don't want to elaborate but I really enjoyed some of the more unusual ones. Kudos for inventing those for a MAGS entry!
- I really felt the excitement and tension. It's a real art to create an immersive and compelling game like this.

Well done!

SHADOW

Mandle

#2
I think I may have found a game-breaking bug.

Spoiler
I took the magnet out of the teleporter and put it back in before using it to get the keys with the string(I assume). Now the game won't let me take it out again so I think it's game over.
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EDIT: I played through the game from a restart and it was wonderful!

Nice puzzles!

I'm proud to say I got the
Spoiler

Door code on my second try, and without going back for more clues to the tower.
My first try was:
Spoiler
842
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and when that didn't work I tried
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1842
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which did the trick.
I think the first number I tried was more logical though considering the wording of the riddle as it asks:
Spoiler
"How did the pregnant lady dine?" and, as the riddle asks how the lady dined, the logical response would be "She ate for two." or just "Ate for two.", rather than "One ate for two.". I think the logically correct riddle for that answer would be: "What happened when the pregnant lady dined?" but that might just confuse the player.
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Oh, also found another glitch here:

Spoiler
You can overflow the textbox down to the next row if you type in too many numbers. The textbox size needs to be more limited.
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I had a great time playing this game! Thanks for the fun!
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Riaise

Thanks, Shadow! :-D

ARGH! Sorry, Mandle. :( I thought I'd limited that to certain rooms, but obviously I forgot. I've fixed it now. About the other thing:

Spoiler
Yes, I see what you mean. I was a bit worried about the wording of that puzzle, especially whether non-native English speakers would be able to get it, which is why I added so many clues. If you keep going back to the tower then
Spoiler
eventually the guard just flat out tells you the code.
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I hope you didn't feel cheated by it though. Maybe I'll rethink the wording of it for a later version.
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Thank you for playing it right through, even though you had to start again. I'm glad you enjoyed it the second time around! :)

Mandle

Oh no....no worries....I didn't feel cheated at all! I felt great that I cracked it without hints, and on the second try!

And it was no problem to replay the game. The issue happened early on so it was no great chore or anything. And I got to better appreciate the situation Anne was in.

One thing though:

Spoiler
I really loved the name "AnneDroid Boleyn" but then you changed it to "AnneDroid Botleyn" I believe. I would suggest chaging it back to the original. A good pun is funny, but two puns done at the same time is not twice as funny. It's half as funny. At least that is my opinion.
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Riaise

Mandle:
Spoiler
It was actually "AnneDroid Botleyn" all along. I had exceeded my pun quota from the very beginning. (laugh)
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Mandle

Quote from: Riaise on Mon 02/10/2017 14:50:10
Mandle:
Spoiler
It was actually "AnneDroid Botleyn" all along. I had exceeded my pun quota from the very beginning. (laugh)
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Oh, my misread then... And of course any comment I make on comedy is only my opinion... But part of my job as a teacher is making kids laugh. They are a pretty easy audience but also unforgiving. They will not do the polite social laugh when I screw up on a joke, so it is useful feedback now and then. (laugh)

Blondbraid

I'm stuck with the letter puzzle, any clues to what words I'm looking for?


Shadow1000

Quote from: Blondbraid on Tue 03/10/2017 20:25:35
I'm stuck with the letter puzzle, any clues to what words I'm looking for?

Spoiler
It's a call for help. Henry hid his message in the letter. Find some words in the letter that can be assembled as a 4 word sentence that would be indicating where he is
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I hope this puts you on the right path. I'm not sure it's what you're after or if you gathered that already!

Blondbraid

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Tue 03/10/2017 22:56:25
Spoiler
It's a call for help. Henry hid his message in the letter. Find some words in the letter that can be assembled as a 4 word sentence that would be indicating where he is
[close]

I hope this puts you on the right path. I'm not sure it's what you're after or if you gathered that already!
Yes, I knew that already, they did state outright that I need to find a 4 word message,
but I can't find any combination of four words in the message that makes sense. :-\


Mandle

Quote from: Blondbraid on Tue 03/10/2017 23:07:40
Quote from: Shadow1000 on Tue 03/10/2017 22:56:25
Spoiler
It's a call for help. Henry hid his message in the letter. Find some words in the letter that can be assembled as a 4 word sentence that would be indicating where he is
[close]

I hope this puts you on the right path. I'm not sure it's what you're after or if you gathered that already!
Yes, I knew that already, they did state outright that I need to find a 4 word message,
but I can't find any combination of four words in the message that makes sense. :-\

Spoiler
There's a numerical code key in the message.
[close]

Shadow1000

Quote from: Mandle on Tue 03/10/2017 23:25:57
Quote from: Blondbraid on Tue 03/10/2017 23:07:40
Quote from: Shadow1000 on Tue 03/10/2017 22:56:25
Spoiler
It's a call for help. Henry hid his message in the letter. Find some words in the letter that can be assembled as a 4 word sentence that would be indicating where he is
[close]

I hope this puts you on the right path. I'm not sure it's what you're after or if you gathered that already!
Yes, I knew that already, they did state outright that I need to find a 4 word message,
but I can't find any combination of four words in the message that makes sense. :-\

Spoiler
There's a numerical code key in the message.
[close]

@Mandle: That's a different puzzle :) He's on the Letter puzzle

@Blondbraid: without giving it away altogether:

Spoiler
The message is in two parts: First is an instruction (2 words). So, you want a verb and noun. Next, you need to know Henry's location (2 words). So you want a location and a preposition describing where Henry is relative to the location
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Does that help?

Mandle

#12
Quote from: Shadow1000 on Wed 04/10/2017 01:10:09
@Mandle: That's a different puzzle :) He's on the Letter puzzle

I know. ;)

And from your hint it looks like you might have:
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Bruteforced the puzzle without realising the code key disguised in the letter.
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Blondbraid: (and possibly Shadow1000)

HINT:
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There is a code key in the letter you can use to figure it out.
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BIGGER HINT:
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The dates.
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SPOILER HINT:
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They indicate how many words to count from the start of the letter to find each word you need in order.
[close]

Shadow1000

Quote from: Mandle on Wed 04/10/2017 02:44:05
Quote from: Shadow1000 on Wed 04/10/2017 01:10:09
@Mandle: That's a different puzzle :) He's on the Letter puzzle

I know. ;)

And from your hint it looks like you might have:
Spoiler

Bruteforced the puzzle without realising the code key disguised in the letter.
[close]

Blondbraid: (and possibly Shadow1000)

HINT:
Spoiler
There is a code key in the letter you can use to figure it out.
[close]

BIGGER HINT:
Spoiler
The dates.
[close]

SPOILER HINT:
Spoiler
They indicate how many words to count from the start of the letter to find each word you need in order.
[close]

That is AMAZING! I don't consider my approach to be brute force but rather a logical reconstruction. It seems that your mind just approaches puzzles differently and I am just amazed at how Riaise buries both approaches into the puzzle and on top of it all, this is a contest created under time constraints!

It's probably no surprise that this game got my vote.

Mandle

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Wed 04/10/2017 04:03:26
It seems that your mind just approaches puzzles differently

Not really.

Spoiler

I had just learned this kind of numerical code key from other games, books, movies etc. so it was immediately obvious when I saw the numbers. Doesn't mean I have any particular approach. It was just something I was used to.
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selmiak

It took me a while to figure the letter puzzle out, but now I need
Spoiler
something to use my flintstone on, probably the very last puzzle :P
[close]
Also while fleeing from robohenry and switching characters I somehow crashed the game. Will see if this is reproducable.

Mandle

Quote from: selmiak on Wed 04/10/2017 07:55:45
It took me a while to figure the letter puzzle out, but now I need
Spoiler
something to use my flintstone on, probably the very last puzzle :P
[close]

HINT:
Spoiler
Flint needs to be struck against steel to spark.
[close]

BIGGER HINT:
Spoiler
The game mentioned something made of steel earlier on.
[close]

SPOILER HINT:
Spoiler
The magnets in your teleporter are made of steel.
[close]

Blondbraid

I've finished the game, even if the puzzles were a bit hard.
It's a nice game and I liked the twist near the end.


Mandle

I have a question I would like to ask to the author about this game:

Spoiler

Was the time-traveller character supposed to be tone-deaf to the sometimes horrible things that were going on around her?

Like, was she supposed to seem emotionally disconnected because this is just her job, which is the vibe I got from the writing.

Or did you write a lot of the character on the fly because of the time constraint?

I found this character quite unlikeable at the end of the game and I was wondering if this was on purpose or if it just turned out that way, or perhaps a bit of both?

No criticism intended here: An unlikeable character is fine in my book. I was just wondering if it was on purpose or not. And of course there is also the option where it's just a personal feeling on my part.
[close]

Riaise

Thanks, Blondbraid! I'm glad you stuck with it until the end! :)

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Wed 04/10/2017 04:03:26That is AMAZING! I don't consider my approach to be brute force but rather a logical reconstruction.

I will fully admit, there is no hidden brilliance here. I didn't realise it was even solvable that way (other than literally trying every possible combination of words) (laugh). I suppose the content of the message is guessable, and some of the words in the letter hint within itself as to the outcome. But the rest is just coincidence, I'm not a secret puzzle genius. ;)

Quote from: selmiak on Wed 04/10/2017 07:55:45Also while fleeing from robohenry and switching characters I somehow crashed the game. Will see if this is reproducable.

Yeah, that's the place there is most likely to be crashes, with the characters moving around so much. I'll have a look and see what could have caused it. Do you remember if either of the characters was speaking at the time?

Quote from: Mandle on Wed 04/10/2017 14:10:20
I have a question I would like to ask to the author about this game:

Spoiler

Was the time-traveller character supposed to be tone-deaf to the sometimes horrible things that were going on around her?

Like, was she supposed to seem emotionally disconnected because this is just her job, which is the vibe I got from the writing.

Or did you write a lot of the character on the fly because of the time constraint?

I found this character quite unlikeable at the end of the game and I was wondering if this was on purpose or if it just turned out that way, or perhaps a bit of both?

No criticism intended here: An unlikeable character is fine in my book. I was just wondering if it was on purpose or not. And of course there is also the option where it's just a personal feeling on my part.
[close]

Yes, the part in bold is exactly what I was trying to get at! I didn't think I'd got it across very well, but my thinking was this:
Spoiler
I imagined the game as being part of an ongoing monster-of-the-week type of thing, like Doctor Who or something, where the protagonist is sent to a certain point in history, saves the day and then goes off on another mission. Except this is being seen from the point of view of the people left behind, rather than from the perspective of the "hero", so they have to deal with the consequences, while the hero moves on (also part of the reason why I didn't give the hero or villain names; they are the ones passing through this story, not the other way around). Also, the fact that these people are all long dead in her time means that she feels no connection, almost like she's just inside a story and that they are just characters and not real people. I mean, I wasn't aiming for her to be unlikeable, but emotionally distant, or desensitised to the situation, was something I was definitely hoping to get across. So, sort of yay? (laugh)

But also, yes, a lot of it was written on the fly. If I'd had more time I would probably have tried to make her attitude a bit more get-on-with-it businesslike, rather than downright uncaring.
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