A room without you in it

Started by Laura Hunt, Mon 29/04/2019 09:42:47

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Laura Hunt





Yay I did it!! My very first AGS game, and I even finished it sooner than I thought  ;-D

Like the tag says, it's "A first-person, sort-of-escape-the-room, point-and-click adventure dealing with grief, trauma and depression, and how they can take us to a place that's very hard to come back from."

At first this was meant just as a practice ground of sorts, my own little sandbox to experiment and learn the basics in, rather than something meant to be shared or seen by others. But as I learned more and more stuff, I realized that I actually liked this story a lot and thought it was worth creating a full game out of it. Or at least something with a beginning, middle and ending, rather than a bunch of rooms with stuff to click on  :-D

Still, even for a point-and-click adventure there's not much in the way of gameplay except for one "proper" puzzle, so the focus is mostly on the story/narrative/experience/mood. The inventory gets very little use but I wanted to have the functionality anyway, and if I'm being honest, the one central riddle I ended up including feels a bit tacked on just for the sake of having a puzzle, but again, I just wanted to have something a bit more complex than "game starts, click on everything, read everything, end".

So yeah, despite not being much of a "game", I do hope that at least the writing, story and music are enjoyable! In particular, creating music for a game for the first time has been a super interesting experience, as it really forced me to think in a totally different way to what I'm used to as an amateur producer-slash-musician, mostly thinking in terms of loops rather than fully-fledged compositions. I really want to do more of this  (nod)

Special mention to Khris, Snarky and Crimson Wizard for all their help! I would be so lost without you guys as well as, of course, everybody else who ever stepped in to give some advice. Cheers!


Dualnames

#1
Spoiler

What is the computer code? I even got the note and all, but I can't figure that one out. I tried SHRM no go, I have also tried LHSM also no go
[close]
Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Tabata

for your first release. 
That was a sad but well done one for a first little game to start getting into using the engine.
Hope to see more from you!

@Duals
Spoiler
You need to read the four cards carefully and with having the symbols from the monitor in mind to get the code.
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Shadow1000

I just completed the game.

Excellent job at engaging the player and messing with emotions. I think different people will react differently so it will be interesting to see what people say.

Great job!

Laura Hunt

Thanks all for your kind words and for giving it a try! I'd also like to know what it makes different people feel, given that it can be such a personal matter and hit everybody differently :)

@Dualnames:

Spoiler
In each card there's a word that's different from the rest. With the other clues you have (the black piece of paper and the order of the symbols in the computer screen), this should help you figure it out hopefully  :) (but if you just want the code, simply let me know!)
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KyriakosCH

Great that you made your first game!
I will try it and report ^_^
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

KyriakosCH

Ok, i now finished the game!

Very cool :)
I particularly liked the code  8-)
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!


selmiak



Durq

I just played through the game and wanted to say I really enjoyed it. Nice work!


Dualnames

Hey Laura, minus the code which i find kinda silly, I truly liked the game!! kudos, it was really well done, the theme was nice, kinda cliche, but nice, enjoyed the 20 minutes i spent on this <3
Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Laura Hunt

Quote from: Dualnames on Fri 03/05/2019 08:41:37
Hey Laura, minus the code which i find kinda silly, I truly liked the game!! kudos, it was really well done, the theme was nice, kinda cliche, but nice, enjoyed the 20 minutes i spent on this <3

Thanks! I already acknowledged that the puzzle was silly when I said "if I'm being honest, the one central riddle I ended up including feels a bit tacked on just for the sake of having a puzzle", so yeah, for future games I definitely want to integrate my puzzles better into the story  :)

Shadow1000

Hmm....I actually liked the fact that there was a puzzle. It wasn't too easy but not impossible either so I enjoyed it. I felt that if not for the puzzle then it would have just been an interactive short movie rather than a game.

I guess we all see it differently!

Laura Hunt

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Fri 03/05/2019 16:58:44
Hmm....I actually liked the fact that there was a puzzle. It wasn't too easy but not impossible either so I enjoyed it. I felt that if not for the puzzle then it would have just been an interactive short movie rather than a game.

I guess we all see it differently!

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain myself properly!  :) What I mean is that while I definitely agree that there needed to be at least a puzzle in order for it to be a game rather than an interactive story, what I'm not so happy with is what I ended up coming with, because in the context of the story...

Spoiler
...there really isn't a reason that explains why suddenly you need to unlock your laptop using some secret code hidden in the postcards. I feel it's just not very consistent with everything else in the game.
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I am happy in any case that you thought that the difficulty level was on point! That's something that I feel is really hard to get the hang of, so it's a huge compliment for me  :)

Shadow1000

Quote from: notarobotyet on Fri 03/05/2019 20:00:15

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain myself properly!  :) What I mean is that while I definitely agree that there needed to be at least a puzzle in order for it to be a game rather than an interactive story, what I'm not so happy with is what I ended up coming with, because in the context of the story...

Spoiler
...there really isn't a reason that explains why suddenly you need to unlock your laptop using some secret code hidden in the postcards. I feel it's just not very consistent with everything else in the game.
[close]

Completely true! But such is the nature of most puzzles in adventure games :D

Quote

I am happy in any case that you thought that the difficulty level was on point! That's something that I feel is really hard to get the hang of, so it's a huge compliment for me  :)


Awesome! Looking forward to more games from you!


Cheers

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