This is the Way

Started by KyriakosCH, Tue 21/07/2020 10:55:57

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KyriakosCH

You have invested  a lot, possibly everything, in getting here - and problems still arise. Even more troublesome is the insinuation: that you do not actually realize what it is you are going after...

Database link: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2460-this-is-the-way

The game trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZOcR8reekY

The team:

Spoiler
Story - Kyriakos Chalkopoulos (https://www.patreon.com/Kyriakos)


Music - Krzysztof Gorzkowski (http://soundcloud.com/vorches)
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In this brief horror game (which has three different endings) you arrive in front of a door, after apparently a very long journey.
You believe that getting behind the door will solve all of your problems - but a new problem is unexpected, since it is locked, and someone stands behind it, not letting you pass...

Made for MAGS July (Distance) ...!

Spoiler for how to get the three different endings:

Spoiler
The three endings are accessible like this:

Ending 1: you don't pick up the paper which fell when you became dizzy. So you are kicked out of the hall before all questions are asked. This is actually the "good" ending ^_^ You imagine the orange floral wallpaper corridor.

Ending 2: you pick up the paper when asked. You ask everything and in the end decide you believe the person/thing behind the door. You get the bad ending, where you dream that you fall to the ground from an apartment high up.

Ending 3: you ask all questions and in the end decide you don't believe him. You get the middle-of-the-way ending, where you are on a bus, returning home, wondering if the person behind the door is in alliance with the people in the office who ask you to leave.
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This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

milkanannan

Very cool concept. The pacing in the game is great.

Spoiler
Love the pausing as each message gets produced. Some really great moments of suspense like finding out the door is being held closed and not locked and finding out the messages were pre-written. The game is clearly surrealist. I sort of presumed the player is trapped in their own mind, like they knew all the answers to the questions ahead of time and were still holding themselves hostage in behind an unlocked door. They’re in a waiting room but no one else is waiting, I.e. there’s no line up to achieving salvation; they can free themselves if the wish.

Just so you know: choosing to stay in the room causes the game to freeze (at least for me). I watched the ending videos included in the game folder, but I don’t think these are loading properly in the game.
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Had it up on the big screen ~ :=

KyriakosCH

#2
Thank you for the comments!!!

Are you sure about the videos issue? Cause that would be terrible!!! - but others haven't mentioned anything like this, so if you have the time please try again, and tell me :D

Regarding the plot:

Spoiler
Pretty much :) My own idea was:
-You try to move within your own imagination. But a defense mechanism is blocking you (the "person" behind the door). More than likely the office is real, but nothing special exists there.
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This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Shadow1000

#3
Quote from: KyriakosCH on Tue 21/07/2020 10:55:57
Spoiler
The three endings are accessible like this:

Ending 1: you don't pick up the paper which fell when you became dizzy. So you are kicked out of the hall before all questions are asked. This is actually the "good" ending ^_^ You imagine the orange floral wallpaper corridor.
[close]

I got endings 2 and 3 by going through the options but I don't know how to get 1.

What do you mean by
Spoiler
...when you becamse dizzy? I assumed it meant the beginning of the game but it seems that it's after a specific question or paper? Also, why are there several papers that you are sent that you can't pick up?
[close]

Crimson Wizard

#4
KyriakosCH, I think there was still a misunderstanding, you do not have to have OGV files in the compiled folder, you may place them in the project root and then AGS will embed them into exe.

KyriakosCH

#5
Quote from: Shadow1000 on Wed 22/07/2020 20:54:24
Quote from: KyriakosCH on Tue 21/07/2020 10:55:57
Spoiler
The three endings are accessible like this:

Ending 1: you don't pick up the paper which fell when you became dizzy. So you are kicked out of the hall before all questions are asked. This is actually the "good" ending ^_^ You imagine the orange floral wallpaper corridor.
[close]

I got endings 2 and 3 by going through the options but I don't know how to get 1.

What do you mean by
Spoiler
...when you becamse dizzy? I assumed it meant the beginning of the game but it seems that it's after a specific question or paper? Also, why are there several papers that you are sent that you can't pick up?
[close]

Spoiler

You get ending1 if you do not pick up the paper you (by default- coded) let fall to the ground (instead of placing it on the chairs, like all the other read ones). So it is right after you are told that the messages have already been written. Then you ask the new question, you get the screen where the paper falls to the ground, and you are told (by the left office head) to pick it up. You can pick it either then, or the next time you get to  that screen - after that it is locked and you cannot touch it. To get ending 1 JUST LET THE FALLEN PAPER STAY ON THE GROUND. Click only on the new paper, which appears from behind the door :)  You can't click on any other read paper, cause you already read them and have nothing more to do with them.
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Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Wed 22/07/2020 21:20:04
KyriakosCH, I think there was still a misunderstanding, you do not have to have OGV files in the compiled folder, you may place them in the project root and then AGS will embed them into exe.

Yes, I just wanted to be rather safe than sorry :) Some might have other video programs running and perhaps this can disable the ingame video (??? at least I guess that is what happened to Milkanannan).  But I will erase the videos when I make an update.

I also want to ask if anyone thought the messages on the paper go through too fast to read. I thought they weren't that fast, but two non-native english speakers complained about that... (other non-natives did not - I am not a native speaker either).
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Shadow1000

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Wed 22/07/2020 21:58:59


Spoiler

You get ending1 if you do not pick up the paper you (by default- coded) let fall to the ground (instead of placing it on the chairs, like all the other read ones). So it is right after you are told that the messages have already been written. Then you ask the new question, you get the screen where the paper falls to the ground, and you are told (by the left office head) to pick it up. You can pick it either then, or the next time you get to  that screen - after that it is locked and you cannot touch it. To get ending 1 JUST LET THE FALLEN PAPER STAY ON THE GROUND. Click only on the new paper, which appears from behind the door :)  You can't click on any other read paper, cause you already read them and have nothing more to do with them.
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Ok, I got it now. Thank you!

KyriakosCH

^_^

Did you like anything about the game?
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Shadow1000

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Wed 22/07/2020 22:27:36
^_^

Did you like anything about the game?

I'll comment more during the voting but when the game was introducing itself and the interface and overall gameplay, I thought it was pretty cool and suspenseful and a nice interface graphically. It lost my attention somewhat when it felt repetitive.


KyriakosCH

That is true, it is repetitive... Though that is part of the actual story. It is pointless, because likely the person there
Spoiler
is just imagining there is something special behind the door. He thinks there is a conspiracy to drive him away, but more than likely he is in a random office waiting hall, projecting mad ideas about meaning.
[close]
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Shadow1000

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Thu 23/07/2020 02:38:19
That is true, it is repetitive... Though that is part of the actual story. It is pointless, because likely the person there
Spoiler
is just imagining there is something special behind the door. He thinks there is a conspiracy to drive him away, but more than likely he is in a random office waiting hall, projecting mad ideas about meaning.
[close]

Ahh,...ok I get it now. I didn't realize that during or after playing. I still don't quite get the endings unless those were also somewhat random in meaning. BTW, fix the spoiler tags in your message!

KyriakosCH

The endings are basically this:

Spoiler


Ending 1: He is on a high, cause he didn't get to see that even when he insists the door is opened, others intervene. So he is imagining getting behind the door in some future attempt - just has to pick up that paper and no one will bother him and the door will open.
Ending 2: He is starting to doubt there is a point in trying to go beyond the door. Maybe due to fear, or some sanity kicking in.
Ending 3: Begins to suspect the people in the office are all working together, which may block him from getting the door opened. But hasn't given up.
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It all makes sense, in the way the protagonist sees the world  8-)
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

milkanannan

I'm just happy there wasn't...
Spoiler
...a jump scare. The whole time I was playing I was expecting the door to burst open and some cheap scare to end the game. Thanks for not doing that. (laugh)
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KyriakosCH

#13
Quote from: milkanannan on Thu 23/07/2020 02:50:23
I'm just happy there wasn't...
Spoiler
...a jump scare. The whole time I was playing I was expecting the door to burst open and some cheap scare to end the game. Thanks for not doing that. (laugh)
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:D

I would never do that.

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

TheFrighter


Finished! The game is sure eerie, and the gameplay fits. Problem is the voice, I don't fully understand what you say expecially on the endings.  :-[

_

KyriakosCH

Thank you for playing, TheFrighter!!! :D

I think that the voice creates issues for some non-native speakers (it would for me too, if it was the voice of another non-native speaker...).
Anglophones just view it as some exotic accent, I suppose  :=
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Shadow1000

So, last question:

Now that you explained the idea behind the game, and the three endings, was the player expected to understand this: a) while playing as the game progresses; b) after completing the game, perhaps having to complete all endings; or c) only after having it explained and discussed on the forum?


KyriakosCH

I think it doesn't matter; in the "About" you can read in the end of the game, I write that if one likes the story, they already have created a meaning for it which is personal, and so that meaning is more important than what I meant.
Of course, if one doesn't like it, the above doesn't work :D But it still works in regards to whether my own meaning is the important thing... It's not like I could say: "Yeah well, you didn't get it, so it's your problem". That never works, nor should it - I know it from my work as a published author of short fiction :)
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

arj0n

Eerie game with a somewhat strange atmosphere (in a positive way)

One little thing that could enhance the game: adding subtitles, since the pronunciation is sometimes a bit of and the audio quality of the spoken text also sometimes differs in quality.
Plus point: imo your type of voice does fit well within the game's atmosphere.

Question: what are these 3 figures that popup one by one throughout the game?
I couldn't see the connection with the story for some reason....

And oh: the in-game ending-videos do play correctly.

KyriakosCH

Thanks!!!

-The three figures are just office workers (assuming they exist; maybe not even the office exists). They appear when the protagonist has just been too much of a nuisance. Though in his own mind they are co-conspirators, with the end to not let him pass.

-I will consider subtitles, I wanted this to have more of the "you are there" feel, which is why I didn't...
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

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