This City at Night

Started by paolo, Fri 21/12/2018 15:45:16

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paolo

After 11 years on and off working my fingers to the bone, it's finally here! 8-0

This City at Night
by Paul Giaccone and Ben Chandler




Tracey hates her humdrum job at Insurance International, but it turns out there is more going on there than meets the eye. An unknown organisation is plotting a coup that will have catastrophic global consequences, and unless it can be stopped in time, the world will be brought to its knees...

Special features:

* Early scenes contain gameplay, art and special effects not seen in the demo
* Multiple endings
* Minigames
* References to many classic adventure games
* Easter eggs


Screenshots:







Note that this game is marked as "mild" for language, but some players may find the language offensive. Some stronger words are censored (but guessable). There are one or two mildly suggestive scenes, and some mild violence. This game isn't suitable for young children.

Game page: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2313/

Currently available in English only. Italian version coming shortly (done and currently being checked).


Click'd


lorenzo

Congratulations on finishing the game, Paolo! 11 years is a lot of time!
Downloading it now.

paolo

Quote from: lorenzo on Tue 25/12/2018 19:24:40
Congratulations on finishing the game, Paolo! 11 years is a lot of time!
Downloading it now.

Thank you, Lorenzo. Enjoy the game.

paolo

#4
Some more screenshots to whet your appetite...

In the rain


Captured

Durq

I just finished playing through the game. I had a fun time. Congrats on the release!

paolo

Quote from: Durq on Sat 29/12/2018 21:14:57
I just finished playing through the game. I had a fun time. Congrats on the release!

Hey, well done! You might be the first to complete it.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Please do rate the game on the game page if you would like to.

Shadow1000

#7
I finished this game last night at 1 am. I actually was intending on leaving it for New Year's day but I just couldn't stop playing…

Before I start my comments, I first have to congratulate Paul for persisting with this project for over a decade. It's a true inspiration to see someone push through a project over such a period of time, even if the game would not have been of such a high calibre, so congratulations!

As far as the game, my overall rating is excellent. Here are the details:


  • The story/plot is an important aspect of a good game. It's what drives the player to keep going and complete those puzzles. This game is on the longer side so it's an even bigger challenge to get the puzzles to synch with the pace of the plot and have the plot make sense and continue to be compelling all the way to the grand finale. This game aced that aspect. I will admit that there were times that some of the details of the plot got a well-deserved eye roll from me, but hey, it's just a game…
  • The graphics and environment made the game a real pleasure to play. I saw that Paul recruited an all-star cast and it really made a difference. Smooth animations, beautiful backgrounds, character art and sound effects really contributed to the experience. Ironically, I do find Tracey's face to be a bit creepy. That makeup makes her look like a raccoon or zombie but that would be the only exception. I did wonder at times why the specific music score was chosen for that stage of the game.
  • The real star here is the puzzles. The pacing of the puzzles with the plot plus the variety and difficulty of the puzzles were spot on. The puzzles ranged from classics to some fresh thinking. I found myself challenged but (almost) never frustrated (see below for exception). I specifically like the fact that I was able to complete the game only requiring help on one puzzle
  • Lots of small details such as the fight scene, interactions with NPCs, characters with personality and more really bring the game to life.

There are only a few things that I would say detracted from the quality of the game, in my opinion:
  • Dialogue-based puzzles are great. And this game had lots of dialogue. Dialogue is a good way to give the player clues and bury them in conversations without just handing them over. But I found that this game just had WAY too much talking. Between dialogue trees with too many choices to self-propelled dialogues that just seemed to drag on, I would recommend trimming that down to keep the player's attention.
Spoiler
  • I've made my points about the slider puzzle on the hints and tips, so this is a summary: Slider puzzles require patience but they are ok. Puzzles were you have to find a clue and match up the right letters are ok too, even if the clues are a bit vague and thus require trial and error. But the combination of trial and error because the hints are ambiguous and a slider puzzle that takes a long time to solve is a problem.
[close]

I did notice that there are multiple endings and I only got one.
Spoiler
I also tried playing the fight scene twice, once winning and once surrendering, but both of those seemed to take me to the same place. Am I missing something?
[close]

One other small weird thing that I found annoying:
Spoiler
When entering the crypt to get the cellphone, the door was open and the light was off. It was very difficult to turn on the light because the switch is behind the door. I sat there clicking every little spot to get the switch. This is not a puzzle but some poor object positioning!
[close]

Overall, this game is an awesome creation. I've been itching to play it since the demo came out a few months ago and it was well worth the wait. Congrats on a brilliant job to the creators and for the rest of you, stop reading the message boards and download it NOW!!!!

Cheers

paolo

Thanks for your kind comments. I'm glad you (mostly) enjoyed the game.

To respond to the points you mention:

I agree, the game is rather wordy. There is a lot of exposition because the plot is quite complex, and in some places I have committed the sin of telling rather than showing. This is especially true in the scene in the nightclub. Most of the wordiness is discussion of the content of documents, and I have an idea for how I could cut down this down without losing any of the content.

The puzzle in the church does take time to solve, it's true, but there is a much quicker shortcut if you are able to find it ;) The clues to be found in various places need to be studied closely and possibly multiple times.

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Mon 31/12/2018 22:54:02
Spoiler
I also tried playing the fight scene twice, once winning and once surrendering, but both of those seemed to take me to the same place. Am I missing something?
[close]

No, both outcomes take you to the same place, but what you need to do next is different depending on whether you won or lost.

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Mon 31/12/2018 22:54:02
Spoiler
When entering the crypt to get the cellphone, the door was open and the light was off. It was very difficult to turn on the light because the switch is behind the door. I sat there clicking every little spot to get the switch. This is not a puzzle but some poor object positioning!
[close]

There is a large hotspot, but perhaps it is not labelled in the way you would expect...

If you don't mind, could you post your review on the game page (without giving the things away in the spoilers) and voting if you haven't already done so? Thank you!

Cassiebsg

Oh, congrats.
I missed this release due to holidays. Hope to find the time to play it soon...  :)
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

paolo

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Sun 13/01/2019 21:28:51
Oh, congrats.
I missed this release due to holidays. Hope to find the time to play it soon...  :)

Thanks, Cassie :)

xandmatt

I liked this - there was an interesting story and some of the set-pieces were good and it never felt repetitive. I liked Tracey as a character, too.

Any niggles? That church puzzle was trying at parts - but I really do appreciate that there was eventually a way to cheat it that was in game. It just took me a while to get to that point. I also agree with Shadow1000 about the amount of dialogue - there's a lot of it that slows the pace down and I just started skipping it to get through it.

I did enjoy it though - well done.

paolo

Quote from: xandmatt on Sat 26/01/2019 15:28:51
I liked this - there was an interesting story and some of the set-pieces were good and it never felt repetitive. I liked Tracey as a character, too.

Any niggles? That church puzzle was trying at parts - but I really do appreciate that there was eventually a way to cheat it that was in game. It just took me a while to get to that point. I also agree with Shadow1000 about the amount of dialogue - there's a lot of it that slows the pace down and I just started skipping it to get through it.

I did enjoy it though - well done.

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Please do give it a vote on the game's page if you haven't already!

paolo

I've just uploaded an updated version with some bug fixes and an Italian translation.

Vincent

Quote from: paolo on Sun 16/06/2019 12:11:13
I've just uploaded an updated version with some bug fixes and an Italian translation.

Thank you very much for the translation, the graphics of this game looks really beautiful! I really can't wait to play this game in Italian.

SarahLiz

Any walkthrough planned or available?   :=  Love this game but I get stuck quite a bit...

Shadow1000

Quote from: SarahLiz on Mon 17/06/2019 22:01:05
Any walkthrough planned or available?   :=  Love this game but I get stuck quite a bit...

Maybe try the hints and tips? I created a thread when I played it back in December so maybe try asking there?



paolo

#17
WARNING: I've been informed that there is a crash at the end of the game if you don't complete it successfully. (The crash is only present in the latest version: if you downloaded the game before yesterday, it should be fine.) I have a fix which I will be releasing in a couple of days after further testing, but in the meantime, save your game often, especially in the final scene (in the villain's house). Apologies for the inconvenience.

The bugs in v1.1 have now been fixed and there is a new version available for download (v1.1.2). Apologies again to anyone who has experienced problems.

SarahLiz: I don't intend to release a walkthrough, but as Shadow1000 says, try the Hints and Tips forum.

Vincent

I just finished playing through the game and it really has an intriguing story that I really liked very much, I hope there will be some sort of sequel one day!
Spoiler

I was just expected at least an hot scene between Stevens and Tracey after the final interview!  :-D
[close]

The graphics and animations are very well done and accurate as well as the plot story. All of this motivate me to move forward in the game and go on countless well designed riddles. Congratulations on the amazing work!


ALERT SPOILER:
Spoiler

At the first attempt I was able to destroy the computer and to stop the virus properly. So I assume I managed to see the good ending by now but I missed 3 Easter egg somewhere. It's a good reason to play it again and find them all!  ;)


[close]

paolo

Quote from: Vincent on Sat 29/06/2019 14:13:05
I just finished playing through the game and it really has an intriguing story that I really liked very much, I hope there will be some sort of sequel one day!
Spoiler

I was just expected at least an hot scene between Stevens and Tracey after the final interview!  :-D
[close]

The graphics and animations are very well done and accurate as well as the plot story. All of this motivate me to move forward in the game and go on countless well designed riddles. Congratulations on the amazing work!


ALERT SPOILER:
Spoiler

At the first attempt I was able to destroy the computer and to stop the virus properly. So I assume I managed to see the good ending by now but I missed 3 Easter egg somewhere. It's a good reason to play it again and find them all!  ;)


[close]


Hi Vincent, great, you made it to the end! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you very much. Please consider giving your votes on the game page.

Regarding the Easter eggs, the Info button will tell you how many you have found so far, so you can keep track during the game and find out which actions increase the total.

And as for alternative endings,
Spoiler
you can find these by deliberately doing something wrong at points in the game where the screen flashes red.
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