The Chrysalis -- new horror adventure

Started by KyriakosCH, Thu 09/11/2017 16:40:25

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KyriakosCH

The game is now in the AGS archives too!
Thanks Peder!!!

Link added in the AGS site page :)
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

TheFrighter


Les jeux sont faits, rien ne va plus.

I'm a bit sorry The Chrysalis didn't get any nomination, it have a lot of potential.:-\

_

KyriakosCH

Bets never stop, in reality :D

Cool! You can say what you thought of it. Actually i was coming here to bump the thread so as to ask if anyone else has a review, given the game has been dled 240 times now :D

(if i ever get to making a new game or revise this, i have a lot of things to improve...)
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

KyriakosCH

Thank you to whoever made a donation while dling the Chrysalis from Itch :)

I hope i can update it in the future, and include more chapters...
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

st.

#24
Hi KC,
Thanks for the game.

I would like to join the others in congratulating you on your first achievement: It is a healthy start which shows good game-maker potential. I think that It might be developed alongside your writing, as p&c-AG design can open new storytelling perspectives, in general.

By now you probably are very aware of your game's weaknesses. Let me know if you would need any assistance identifying them. I will only refer to one major aspect, cohesion; and we could start a dialog from there, if you like. But before I do, let me propose that we see my comment as referring to a personal preference, rather than to a fault.

Spoiler
For me, the game's elements started to work together only some time after reaching the end; in my mind. I had to realize what it was all about, first.

I would have liked it better if the game's idea would have been approached through a gradual build-up in my awareness, while playing the game, instead of coming as a surprise at the end; or rather, beginning with the end. And I believe that, by trying to make the player aware of the game's idea through the various game elements, not only would everything have worked more harmoniously, but some minor weaknesses would also have been, implicitly, avoided.

There is one category of minor weaknesses that is of particular interest in connection to the above: bits of the protagonist's attitude that could stand in contradiction to the main idea. One example is treating the friend's house as that of a stranger. Shouldn't it rather be evoking some memories, even if only vague ones? (And I'm refering to the furnishings, of course, not the books' contents.) For the case when you agree that this would have been a better choice, I add that this change would be one means of making the game's idea available during the time of playing.

If keeping the game's idea a secret is a must, then there is an alternative way to achieve cohesion, while not (gradually) sharing it: richer and more dynamic interactions, both between the protagonist and the game world, and between the protagonist and the player. As it is now, not much is happening in the game to keep the player engaged.

This is probably obvious, but I will say it, if only to avoid an abrupt ending: Without enough cohesion, the various game elements stand individually out more, and that may lead to them being appreciated only as such; instead as one game.

There was one compensating factor, at The Chrysalis: that you did not try to achieve too much for a short game, KC. And this may be off-topic, but I would like to say that I enjoyed the game for its modesty, the most.
[close]
I hope that you will find this comment interesting. It is also meant as the encouragement of no more than a fellow game-maker.

I also wrote a short and formal comment on the game's download page. I hope that you will find it fair.
springthoughts

morganw

#25
I played this today (having wanted to see how envy can ruin a man) and thought I should give some feedback. Firstly, congratulations on releasing the game. It looks like a lot of effort has gone into it, and as a first game, I would say the result is pretty good. I enjoyed playing it and am interested to see what you make next.

Bugs
Spoiler
  • When you have already taken the blank paper from the antique hanging drawers and have copied the picture, on the next cycle (after the clock has changed) you can get the blank paper again (even though it was no longer visible) and your inventory is described as holding a blank piece of paper (it now has a drawing on it)
[close]
Pros
Spoiler
  • background graphics are very good
  • story is interesting
  • tone of the game is generally consistent and made me want to keep playing
[close]
Cons
Spoiler
  • character walk speed is quite slow and this is made worse by some strange paths the character takes in confined spaces
  • character motivation is questionable - I think it may work better if you could illustrate a sort of mental decay and/or slight environment change every time the clock changes, both to demonstrate that the characters actions may become more extreme and to build towards what happens in the second apartment
  • there seem to be a lot of interface issues, where the cursor position for hotspots doesn't seem to line up with the graphic, plus issues where hotspot positions are obscued by the character (e.g. when using the railing and then trying to enter the second appartment). Also I think you could probably use a single click handler rather than have 'look' and 'use' (e.g. when copying the drawing I think I had to look at it rather than use it, looking at and using books seemed a little redundant)
  • the room layout makes moving between rooms quite difficult, and it is not obvious that 2 of them exist to walk to (particularly as, if the character is meant to have just arrived, he starts at the wrong end of the initial room)
  • some of the graphics are too dark (e.g. paper on the floor)
  • I would have preferred to destroy the picture myself, rather than have the game do it for me (and not show it)
  • I would have preferred to be able to turn the faucet off, if I can turn it on
[close]

Anyway, to sum up, I'll be looking out for chapter 2...
Edit: have also just noticed that the download seems to have two copies of the game in it, Mygame.ags and Mygame.exe.

KyriakosCH

Thank you both, for the comments :)

Yes, i agree re the weaknesses/cons. I did find it very difficult to create the game... It took far longer than expected, as well!
Also, i am no good at animating a character (and the player character has other issues too, eg pixels/transparency).

Re the first post, about the plot:
The player hasn't been in the apartment alone, prior to when the game begins (the host just left). One may assume he has either only been there once (but with the host there) or been there before, but with the host never leaving, and therefore he wasn't able to look at much.

Re the small bug (not gameplay harming, but a bug still) with the blank paper: yes, i meant to fix that, but i never quite got round to doing so (laugh)

Re the running faucet: actually there is a joke there. I fear no one saw the joking scene! If you leave it running AFTER you realize you are locked in, the player says something rude against his host ;)

Thanks for playing the game!!! I may try to make a new one in the future, yet it does take A LOT of time... It also requires some talents which aren't really there in me - i can mostly write a story, and (to some degree) create gfx, but a whole game needs a lot more. :)
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

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