Urban Witch Story (English Translation Available)

Started by Postmodern Adventures, Mon 06/01/2020 12:28:04

Previous topic - Next topic

Story:

During the first night of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, two police officers resolve on investigating the disappearance of the children of one of their acquaintances.
Throughout their search they will face street gangs, their own colleagues and even the supernatural.

Features:

-Over 30 playable rooms in full Sierra AGI style.
-Over 40 interactive characters.
-Character close-ups on the characters who advance the investigation.
-Only inventory based puzzles.
-Language: English and Spanish

Trailer:


DOWNLOAD:


Screenshots:








ZapZap

"Loose ends have a way of strangling you"

shaun9991

This looks really cool - congratulations! Let us know if/when the English language translation comes out :)
Support Cloak and Dagger Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=460039

Durq

This game looks great. How's the English translation coming along? Is someone still working on it?

Gendgi

Oh sweet! I am portuguese living in Spain lol so language is not a prob hehe, will try it when I have the chance  (laugh)

Thanyx

Oh my god! It looks so sweet!

Too bad I don't speak the language. But the graphics, man, that's right up my alley.

I have a weird question. How did you manage to make the art looking kinda like stretched out to the sides? What I mean is that the individual "pixels" are not exactly squares, but rather rectangles. Because it looks exactly as classic Sierra games, and they had this "effect". When I wanted to make Sierra backgrounds they looked completely different because they were typical square pixels.


AnaMoon

I'm enjoying this game a lot! In case someone wants to have a look at my gameplay:
Spoiler

Thanks to everyone!

Durq: There's only a small translated section. But, an AGS forum user played the game,liked it and wants to translate it. So... stay tunned!
AnaMoon: Thanks for the gameplay!

Thanyx: In Photoshop (or similar, i guess) draw a 2 pixels rectangle with the pencil tool and select them. Go to EDIT>Define Brush Preset. Name it (i called it AGI Pencil) and... that's all. Now you have a new pencil with those characteristics.

A new version (1.3) is in the works and it will come with the long awaited (for me at least  :)) english translation.


Athanor

That's fantastic news! I'm eager to play the game. :)

newwaveburritos

A la verga, this looks great.  I love the artwork, it's really evokative of the style.  Let me know if you need a hand with some of the English translation. 

Stupot

Oh this looks great. Good stuff.

KyriakosCH

This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

#13
Thanks for your words!
For this version i'm improving the speech style. Old versions had Lucas Arts speech style, but  some players complained that the color of the text was sometimes confused with the background. This is the result now:


Athanor

I like the new speech style, very clear and clean. Man I can't wait for the english version of this game. :)

KyriakosCH

Me too. The painting of the priestess/saint reminded me of Santa Sangre  8-0
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

AnaMoon

Quote from: Postmodern Adventures on Fri 04/09/2020 09:54:05
Old versions had Lucas Arts speech style, but  some players complained that the color of the text was sometimes confused with the background. This is the result now:



Much better now  (nod)
I complained a bit  (laugh)

gspit1124

Quote from: Postmodern Adventures on Wed 02/09/2020 18:04:15
A new version (1.3) is in the works and it will come with the long awaited (for me at least  :)) english translation.



I'm so excited!! I can't wait to play this game.  :-D

lorenzo

Quote from: Postmodern Adventures on Wed 02/09/2020 18:04:15
A new version (1.3) is in the works and it will come with the long awaited (for me at least  :)) english translation.
That's great! I've started playing the game in Spanish but didn't go very far. There were a lot of dialogues and I had to play it very slowly (my Spanish isn't the best...). Can't wait for the English translation!

At last the new version is out! It includes:

-English Translation. Thanks to Gretchen Uhler and Guillermo G. Zapico (gspit1124 and zapzap in these forums)

-New Speechstyle with portraits for every character.

-More backgrounds animations.

-More sounds.

I hope you enjoy the game!

Athanor

That's the announcement of the week! Wonderful!

gspit1124

I am so excited and happy for you Postmodern!! I am going to play this right now!

Thank you for the opportunity to translate the game. It has ignited a new interest for me and I am working on new translations with the MMM games too :)

Gretchen (gspit1124)  :grin: :-D

Thanks to you, Gretchen. Without you this wouldn't have been possible. It's a pleasure to work with you. She's wonderful, boys!  ;)

heltenjon

#23
Downloaded. Looking forward to playing this. It looks great!

Quote from: gspit1124 on Fri 25/09/2020 19:14:31
Thank you for the opportunity to translate the game. It has ignited a new interest for me and I am working on new translations with the MMM games too :)

Gretchen (gspit1124)  :grin: :-D
I hoped someone would start on the MMM games. That's wonderful news!

Quote from: Postmodern Adventures on Fri 25/09/2020 20:36:13
Thanks to you, Gretchen. Without you this wouldn't have been possible. It's a pleasure to work with you. She's wonderful, boys!  ;)
If you edit your entry, you can probably properly credit her with the translation, which in turn may give her more assignments.  (nod)

Athanor

#24
I already have to say this game has a great atmosphere, fantastic pixel art, wonderful sound design, great dialogues and a very unique and original setting! I love it so far! Like your other masterpiece "Billy Masters" it feels like a game from the hey-days of the genre but with a great accessability and playability (and I have to add: The cover images for both games look just fantastic and classy too!). With these two games and their high production values you are becoming my favourite indie game developers and I salute you! If "Dead Dimenson" will be translated as well I'll look forward to play this game too. :)

Thank you very much for these words, Athanor. I hope that the next one didn't disappoint you!
Dead Dimension was a sort of narrative experiment. It was fun to develope it but it's not my best game and I didn't put the same love on it as  Billy Masters or Urban Witch Story. Translating the game it's not on my plans in near future. But, who knows!

SarahLiz

Oooo!  How exciting to be able to play it now that there's an English version!  This game looks so great, I can't wait!!

Shadow1000

Quote from: SarahLiz on Wed 30/09/2020 21:18:15
Oooo!  How exciting to be able to play it now that there's an English version!  This game looks so great, I can't wait!!

You are right to be excited. I am REALLY enjoying it. I actually look forward to having time to continue when I get out of work this afternoon...


SarahLiz

It's really amazing so far!  I, unfortunately, am stuck already.  If there's no walkthrough I'll be posting stuff in the hints section...

Ian Aloser

This is a great game !
Full length and packed with nice puzzles, an amazing story , a great end.
All in all: Thanks for this jewel !
And a great compliment to the person who did the translation from Spanish to English, great job!!

KyriakosCH

I started playing the game. Very well made, congratulations :)
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

SarahLiz

Wow!  Great game!  I really enjoyed it.  And that ending...unexpected!  ......possible sequel?  :)

Thank you for making it.  It was very well done and I can't say enough good things about it.

Thank you to all! I was really excited to read opinions from non Spanish players. So, thank you again!


Shadow1000

In my mind, the one absolutely outstanding thing about this game is the reality in the relationships between the characters. It's harsh, it's unvarnished, it's unpredictable and it's real. I can't offhand think of another game that aces the personalities, characters and relationships so well.

As far as the game itself: the character portrait art is plucked right out of the genre. The pixel art and sounds are executed perfectly for the early 90s. I happen to have been growing up back then and I remember the Rodney King riots in the early 90s and everything was really brought to life that way. The story and plot were engaging and exciting and the pace of the plot and puzzles is perfect. This is possibly the hardest part of developing a game. The longer the game, the more difficult it is to keep it interesting, but this game really has it perfect.

The puzzles were at a good difficulty level. I have to admit that I got stuck a few times for a number of reasons (in one case, I think the translation was misleading) and needed help. Otherwise, they were fun and balanced without being too easy or too difficult.

I can't commend you enough. The best thing you've done is have it translated to open it to the many English speakers who crave this type of adventure.

Congrats




Thank you, Shadow1000! Yes, it was fun to write the dialogues between John and Al. I wanted to show a strong complicity and the years of friendship between them. I'm glad you enjoyed that.
What was the mislead of the translation in that puzzle? I know there is an innocent tricky clue in one puzzle. Can you show me it, please?

Shadow1000

Quote from: Postmodern Adventures on Wed 07/10/2020 09:12:35
Can you show me it, please?

Sure

Spoiler
The drawers in the Voodoo shop were "closed". I didn't know that meant "locked". When the message said they were closed, I though "ok, so open it, dammit!" and moved on. Had it said "locked" it would have been pretty obvious that I need to pick it.

As well, I missed the pillow with the gun. I did try shooting the lock and John suggests waiting for a train. I actually tried waiting for a train but that didn't work. When the partner says that there must be another way, I abandoned trying to shoot the lock and find a way to muffle. I felt that this is a bit misleading
[close]

Other than that, the puzzles are awesome.

KyriakosCH

I am still playing - this is a large game ^_^
Having fun, though.
The soundtrack is very nice too.
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

agentbauer

Wonderful game, very long, got stuck 2 or 3 times, the puzzles are fair and the museum, what a work...
Hoping for a sequel, and love the graphics.
Roger Wilco Rules
NEW HOMEPAGE: http://spacequestiv5.pytalhost.at
Space Quest IV.5 Version 3.00 is finally done, check it out:
http://www.bigbluecup.com/yabb/index.php?topic=40735.msg538357;boardseen#new

Kyriacos: The average lenght of the testers  was 4-6 hours. When i was making the game i thought it was going to be too short!

agentbauer: Thank you! The museum section was inspired by The Lost Crown, the game of Johnathan Boakes. There is a museum on it where you can spend time hanging around and looking at artifacts, books and paintings that are not needed to complete the game. It was fun to make it, but some players may be not interested on it, so when the player takes the essential object to continue the plot, Jackson says to you that there's nothing left to do in the museum. I hope the players realize it!

Shadow1000:

Spoiler


In Spain we usually use the word 'closed' for its meaning and also for locked. It's my fault, not of the translator. When i was writing that puzzle i didn't realize of that. Eddie says that he don't recall where the key of the drawers is. But yeah, it leeds to confusion. I'll fix it. Thank you!

In the first version, the train only passed once when entering the scenario. Jackson suggests waiting for the train. But the train didn't appear. It was a red herring that forced the player to look for another alternative. And don't always listen to Jackson! In this new version, the train appears each 2 minutes i think. If other players mention it, I may write a line so that the player does not have to wait for the train if he decides to listen to his partner.
[close]

ZapZap

Congrats on the re-release man! Enhorabuena!

I'm sorry about the closed - locked drawers thing, I believe it was my fault.

I'm encouraging everybody to try the game, it's good stuff  :wink:
"Loose ends have a way of strangling you"

KyriakosCH

#40
I think I found a bug (unless it is some thing on my end) causing a crash. If you give the cup of coffee to the blond policeman at the hospital... :)

The game is great.

Edit: Nevermind, it only crashed one time, then it worked fine. I am still stuck, though  :=
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

KyriakosCH

Ok, after a century I managed to get into the magazine-article writer's house  :=
This kind of puzzle is not intuitive at all - too close to old adventure games where you tried every random thing, though clearly you needed something from the specific person/company.
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

I usually leave clues for every puzzle in my games. Some clearer and others more hidden (but not so much!) In that case in particular:

Spoiler

-The wife of the librarian says that she doesn't trust anyone except journalists. And we have a journalist near the bar.

-The journalist points to his card on his jacket in the dialog.

-He also likes to dress immaculate as he points in the dialog too.

-We have a stinky lumpy liquid in the Santeria Shop.

The clues are there. Scattered around the scenarios. Like in every adventure game we must see them together. I'm sorry you got stuck there for a long time, Kyriakos!

[close]

As far as I know, very few people are stuck there. Have any of you who have played it had problems in that part?

Shadow1000

Quote from: Postmodern Adventures on Wed 21/10/2020 10:30:27
I usually leave clues for every puzzle in my games. Some clearer and others more hidden (but not so much!) In that case in particular:

Spoiler

-The wife of the librarian says that she doesn't trust anyone except journalists. And we have a journalist near the bar.

-The journalist points to his card on his jacket in the dialog.

-He also likes to dress immaculate as he points in the dialog too.

-We have a stinky lumpy liquid in the Santeria Shop.

The clues are there. Scattered around the scenarios. Like in every adventure game we must see them together. I'm sorry you got stuck there for a long time, Kyriakos!

[close]

As far as I know, very few people are stuck there. Have any of you who have played it had problems in that part?

I solved almost all the puzzles on my own. This was one that I could not solve without help. I think in total I needed help for about 5 or 6.

KyriakosCH

I did solve it on my own, but only because I didn't want to use any help :)
I think what made it a bit obscure is that you don't really go around throwing smelly stuff on people in the game, so it was a bit atypical behavior ^_^
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Haha, maybe! But the journalist deserved it. He almost begs the player to do it!

selmiak

oh cool, there is an english version. But why don't you offer a Linux version on itch?

selmiak

#47
Oh what a great game this is! Really well done @Postmodern Adventures :D

I recorded a longplay and wrote a longer review/praise here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y7q3BW3Z-s


MOOOOOOOOOOOOOREEEEEEE PLEASE! :D

edit: reuploaded a new version of the video after the old version had 10 mins of black screen :P

#48
It's always a pleasure been featured on your channel, Selmiak! And thanks for your review! But one little thing... all the portraits and close ups are in the same resolution. They use the "rectangular pixel" like the backgrounds. But having more space to draw the characters,  there's more detail on it and compared to the rest of art, it seems on hi-res.

And yes, there will be more. Take a look at my tweet of today (@postmodernadv)   ;)

heltenjon

I played this to the end now before the award voting deadlines, and I have to say that it's a shame so few have rated the game in the database. We need five people...I've voted, so please cast your votes so people can see how many cups this one deserves.

The game is exceptional. The art is heavily inspired by Police Quest, and is done very well in that style. But the writing...oh, the writing! The game features lots of major and minor characters, each with a voice and personality of their own. Add to that an incredible amount of unnecessary details placing it in the right time frame. I'm sure I've added an hour or two to my playing time just by reading album titles in the store or looking at stuff in the museum.  (nod)

The characters have real relationships, and the game is so long that there is plenty of time for character development. I spent hours going back and forth between locations, following up all the leads in my investigation. This feels very realistic - you get to know about something and then go around asking everyone about it.

In my opinion, Urban Witch Story is one of the best AGS games of 2020. Possibly the best.

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk