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I immediately got Kathy Rain when it came out, it took me some time to finally play and finish it, though.

Well, I'm glad to say I really love this game, mostly for its characters (Kathy, Eileen and Goober were really fun, really brought to life by the amazing voice actors and expressive portraits), its atmosphere (moody backgrounds and music) and mid-90s setting. The story kept me interested too, although the ending feeled a bit rushed and unsatisfactory.

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While there was some intruiging development for the character of Kathy Rain, not much of the actual mystery is uncovered, which is a bit of a letdown after the captivating premise. I easily accept that Kathy let go of her father and shrugged off the feelings of guilt towards her mother and unborn son, those are very strong resolutions. But we still don't know what happened to Grandpa (couldn't she at least ask him?). Also, why was he waiting all the time in the nightmare world? What were the rules he said he broke? Why was he even able to? Why could Eileen escape the nightmare world? Was she even there, too (at least the phone book suggested that)? If so, why didn't Kathy meet her there? What parts did Charles Wade and Cocky have in all this? When Isaac was opposing the Crimson One, why did he seem to be following similar goals? Why is Ethan so fond of the Crimson One?

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The puzzles were a bit on the easy side, but that's not a bad thing necessarily. I really liked the notepad system for the dialogues and there were some very ingenious puzzle ideas (e.g. computer puzzles on day 2).

The game reminds me of Twin Peaks (the early 90s TV series by David Lynch) in many respects. This is probably the most Lynchian adventure game to date, with some neat little nods to Gabriel Knight and Full Throttle as well.

Hope we will see more of Kathy Rain in the future. I'd buy a sequel any day.

Liked this cute game and its feline characters a lot. The nice happy music fits the game well, too. Definitely an adventure game I'd love to play with my children, once I have some.

Some minor criticism:

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The solutions to the puzzles with the hairball and nugget (honey + stone) I could only figure out by guessing.

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[Warning! Major spoilers!]

FINALLY, I finished it!  What an incredible game... this is one of the greatest examples of what computer games can do. It has not been frequent that a game got me this emotionally involved. But enough of generic praise, here's what I liked about your game Warning! Major spoilers!:

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- Many fresh characters outside of usual gaming and movie conventions. It always feels great controlling an edgy and believable character who isn't your run-of-the-mill 30-ish tough-yet-sensitive hero-kinda-guy or your typical 20-ish female attractive light-hearted brunette. Donna is brutal and fragile at the same time. She experiences intense love, intense fear, intense hate... and the game makes you feel very close to her on that emotional journey.
- Fantastic, interesting and challenging (!) puzzles... all the way through. And I wouldn't say many adventures get this right (even the Gabriel Knights games have some horrible puzzles). I could not bear to look up a single clue, it would have felt like ruining one of your carefully thought-out puzzles. It was great that you made extensive use of keyboard entries, so the players had to chew through all the documents and clues themselves instead of just relying on trial and error. Some of the puzzles were of a kind prevalent in old interactive fiction classics. I often though about possible solutions to puzzles on my way from or to work.
- The descriptions and dialogues. Donna is a text-heavy game - another thing few modern adventure titles dare. Of course you might have done that badly and bored us to death, but that never happened. I really tried to get every text message out of the game you put in it. Looking at every detail on screen to get more of Donna's insightful, sarcastic or touching remarks, showing Mulkin all my items, reading minor characters' minds to figure out how they tick. I have the feeling that the coherent world you created through this helped make the puzzles so logical.
- Even with all these dark themes dominating your game, you managed to smuggle a tiny bit of humor in there. You just have to love Mulkin and the guys at LaBookery. Also, the guy trying to commit suicide at the hotel was hilarious.
- The art style. Very expressionist. Did you shoot the photos yourself?
- The relationship between Donna and Milena. Best relationship in an adventure game so far. Period.

I have to be honest, the ending was so sad, it actually made me cry. As much as I love unconventional games, I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to the death of adventure game protagonists at the end of a long story. I didn't mind though. A happy ending probably would have been out of place (kind of like the Blade Runner Non-DC).

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Currently, I don't have a PayPal account, but I guess I might create one to make a donation for the great experience I had with your game.

Wow, I recently wondered what had happened to this game. I re-listened to the sound files I downloaded oh so long ago and searched for the game in the forums for it just to find out what I had already expected - no progress report for years. "What a shame, it seemed so promising" I thought. And now this...

Congratulations on finishing it after such a long time. Considering that life has this mean habit of getting in the way of personal projects such as this, that's quite a feat! I'll comment on the game when I've finished it.

What a great and wonderful game you have created!

The game truly makes you realize the place many of these classic games have taken in one's heart, no matter how things have changed, how much time has passed and independently of the perception of the majority of the "outside world" that does not even know about them. And yet, you feel connected to people around the globe who care the same way about these games and were influenced by them one way or the other. Almost jerked a tear from me

I also found the execution of your brilliant idea to be remarkably good - loads of really smooth hi- (and lo-)res animations, really good facial expressions on your own characters, unintrusive blending of drastically different graphical styles and resolutions, and fun dialogs loaded with inside jokes.

To sum it up: Thank you for this gem! Might I ask if you already have plans for another game?

Looks very interesting, like it's going to be a fun nostalgia romp. In any case, you're going to write adventure game history with this one - this has got to be the first graphic adventure to feature a middle-aged female as a player character (well, almost, of course there was KQ7...)

You must be the same Akril who did that SQ based web comic some years ago, I recognize your style. Good to see more of your work.

[Haddas]

Please excuse the delay.

These are some wonderful entries, thank you all for participating!

Haddas: Very simple execution, but still a good idea.

Alliance: Well done! Cool idea as well.

Jack "Shade" Sparrow: Very nice! Truly living up to your name, eh? Very nice palette and texturing.

Flukebake: Looks adventurous indeed!

Palikka: Great first entry in a competition! I really like your palette and background.

=The=Brat=: Cool entry! Is that character from a movie?

Sinsin: Really cute, nice hairstyle.

Neil Dnuma: Absolutely awesome. From the basic idea to the palette, texturing and the expression on his face.

Coolio: Hilarious idea! A cyborg with fairy floss...

Here are the winners:

3rd place:
The Bronze Mop-Swirling Janitor goes to Palikka for Bob the Diver.


2nd place:
The Silver Sword-Wielding Mighty Pirate goes to Jack "Shade" Sparrow for his rendering of Captain Jack Sparrow.


1st place:
The Golden Whip-Swinging Archeologist goes to Neil Dnuma for his crossdressing giant. Congratulations!

[THE AGS COLORING BALL]

THE AGS COLORING BALL

So, what's the deal?
An image is supplied, and entrants color. A general theme is given, but it is optional. The winner hosts the next AGS Coloring Ball.

This week's sprite:



This week's theme: Adventurer in "Action" Pose

Objectives:
- The character has to be colored as an adventurer in the broadest sense. You may choose clothing, a hairstyle etc. to your liking.
- Two objects which might in some way be useful for adventuring must be put in the character's hands.
- Creative backgrounds will be rewarded with extra points, but the main focus is on the character itself.

Feel free to be silly here, people If you've got any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I know I suck at human anatomy, but I tried my best.

Rules:
- maximum of 32 colors
- competition ends on Friday, 18/08, 8pm GMT

Prizes:
- Home-made pixel trophies for the best three participants
- The winner gets to host the next competition

Wow, thanks, that's really unexpected! There were a lot of awesome entries!

Give me some days to think of a good theme for the next Coloring Ball.

It's The Evil Baron Atomic-Rat. 21 colors.

I think the general premise of the game is good, however, I must say that I don't really like the way you handled it.

First of all, the complete background story is revealed much too early and everything develops way too fast before you even care for any of the characters.

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After the introductory sequence, you practically learn nothing new during the whole game.

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Also, people's behaviour is very strange.

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When the main character tells the truth about his past to his friends, they are shocked at first, but then obviously don't care enough to stop watching TV or shutting off the computer. They even give you the trivial task to search for a book completely unrelated to the situation. The police inspector tells the main character details about the case without even knowing who he is talking to and then, after asking his name calls him by his first name.

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The dialog in all capital characters is annoying and should rarely, if ever, be used to convey strong emotion. The same goes for stuttering implied by dashes and suspension points. If people are genuinely shocked or scared, they seldomly start to scream long sentences.

You should post some of your graphics and animations in the Critic's lounge, there's really a lot that's very wrong with them. For example, the perspective is very off sometimes, doors are too small, houses become much larger when you enter them, the main character has a belt buckle on the back side of his belt.

There actually seems to be a bug when

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the Mafia guy attacks you. If you don't hit him with the baseball bat, you're dead. If you do hit him, you see a short animation of the Mafia guy being hit and then you are teleported to the room to the right without any explanation.

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I wasn't able to continue the game after that point.

Don't get me wrong, I can see a lot of effort went into this game, but if it is supposed to be a rewarding experience for the player, there's a number of things you need to keep in mind while designing the game. Just remain critical of yourself and keep on practicing and you will definitely improve.

The game is looking better and better. The screenshots look so deep, intense and almost scary. What a style, Goldmund, what a style indeed!

It'd be a considerable understatement to say that I'm looking forward to the day you finish the game.

[linus:]

linus: I would have liked to make a sequel to Loom, but I find that doing so, would overanalyse my memory of the original, so I am against that idea. I admit I am concerned when you say that there are parts that remind you of it loosely.

About the resolution, 320x200 might appear quite nice for the creator, but one of the reasons I have second thoughts is because adventurers have connected those resolutions (and that particular style) with Lucasarts, Westwood and Sierra.

I certainly wouldn't want to work on this game only to be told in the end that the graphics look like a copy of something else. A higher resolution would allow me to use my own personal style in the game so I am still thinking about this.

I guess that if I do make this game in 320x200, everyone will keep seeing the ghosts of older games haunting it. I don't want that to happen.

Oh no, what have I done! I absolutely didn't intend to say that your game doesn't seem to have a very original and creative concept that I would be able to enjoy as an experience by itself. It's just that I've played and finished about 200 adventure games in my life and of course every game at least very loosely reminds me of something else I've played before. People like to draw comparisons and they always will, that is not to say they won't recognize the game as standing on its own merit.

Games and works of art in general are influenced by former works of arts and I don't see this as a bad thing. There is still much room for originality, even when influences are more or less visible. There are quite a few AGS games in 320x200 resolution that have managed to achieve a mood and atmosphere not seen in any LucasArts, Sierra or Westwood game.

I really would hate never to see this game finished because you get frustrated with the speed of your progress (and a hand-drawn 640x480 game is a hell of a lot of work to do all alone, regardless how much talent you have).

However you decide to continue with your game, I wish you the best of luck

The game looks very promising and I love your original story concept. Some aspects very loosely remind me of Loom, but that is definitely not a bad thing.

One advice: Don't use a higher resolution than 320x200 if you're doing all the graphics on your own and if you want to finish the game in the next few years. Everything will be more than four times the work if you want to get decent results at a higher resolution. You've mastered the current pixel style perfectly and you will probably get faster as you go along, so keep the current resolution.

Actually, like smx stated, The Wizard and The Princess IS a remake of Roberta Williams' first game set in the King's Quest world (http://www.vintage-sierra.com/hires/two.html), released even before King's Quest I and shortly after Mystery House (the first graphical adventure game ever). The Wizard and The Princess was a very simple first person game without any animation, originally released on the Apple II, I think.

The font is taken from the original box art of the game (see http://www.vintage-sierra.com/hires/watpv5.html), so I doubt it's available as a free TTF font, but I don't know for certain, of course.

The town of Serenia and its desert later featured in King's Quest V, so it seems an obvious choice to reuse some of the VGA backgrounds from King's Quest V.

I'm looking forward to this. I've never managed to finish the original game to this day.

Just finished the game and loved almost every minute playing it.

Just one minor gripe:

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It should be mentioned in the readme file that clues can be combined. I immediately realized that JDM stands for Joe DeMarco, what I didn't realize is that I need to "tell" the game.

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I liked the main character a lot and the last two puzzles of the game were exceptionally good. They required some trial and error (or dying and loading), but that's something that never bothered me about a game.

Another job superbly done, Dave, you're always pushing the boundaries of the genre a bit, both plot- and puzzle-wise. Good work by the rest of the team as well, especially on the character portraits.

Well, if people haven't been downloading your game recently, it's certainly not because they don't like it, Mordalles. It's just that it isn't widely known yet (which is very unfortunate, because it is a terrific game). Putting it in your signature and creating new games (maybe smaller ones) from time to time might help.

It seems it still can be downloaded here:

http://pc.hrej.cz/plne-hry/adventura/2d-adventura/mordy-2/download/hratelna-dema/Mordy2.zip/?stahuj

I loved BJ5 and I think it's the best of the series so far. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for almost anything Japanese (excluding Mangas), but I believe it's also because it has much depth. It's not hard to see that the series has become a lot more ambitious. I already like the Ben Jordan series as much as the GK series, which is not to say that the BJ "universe" doesn't have its own special feeling to it. The mixture between genuinely dark and dramatic elements on the one hand and some light, funny elements on the other is something that rarely works without one destroying the other, but BJ manages a very good balance between the two.

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The TV show host was hilarious and also a bit mysterious at the same time.

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The puzzles are very easy and intuitive most of the time, but I don't think that's a problem. BJ is just focused more on story than on puzzles and that's alright. You usually don't get stuck for long in a BJ game, so you can experience the story in one evening and allow it to completely drag you in. I like the new graphics style for the characters, I think it's also more consistent (previously Ben was a lot more cartoony than Alice, for example). I've never minded  the blurry style of the backgrounds, they make the graphics look unique and allow to blend graphics from different sources. Also, I don't think the mixture of photographic images and drawn backgrounds was so bad. The temple with the two lions probably wouldn't have looked very good, if you had drawn them (no offense, these things are very difficult to draw).

There were some strange things that I noticed and which haven't been mentioned yet:

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- Ben couldn't read the Japanese text in the newspaper. But why could he read Inspector Yoshi's name then (or even find out that it was a name)? Japanese names are usually written in Kanji (Chinese characters) and you can only tell them from other Japanese words from within their context.
- All the signs in the police station are in English.
- I've been wondering a while now: How much money does Ben make in his "job" as a paranormal investigator? Did he make any money from case 5 at all? If he's only had five cases in his career so far, how can he afford tickets to Scotland, London and Japan?

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So, thanks for making BJ5. The Ben Jordan game are a great inspiration to me and they're always a pleasure to play.

Finally finished it. I loved the puzzles, for the most part they were very logical, but not too easy either, and very diverse as well. The only puzzle I didn't like

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was the one with the rock creature in the cavern. Was there any clue to that solution?

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Also, I found the music absolutely amazing, it creates a fantastic surreal mood that fits the game perfectly. I really didn't think 3D render graphics would work out for a Mordy game, but you pulled that off very well also. Overall, one of the best and most atmospheric AGS games ever. Congrats! Of course I'd love to see a Mordy 3!

Haven't played it yet (I'm downloading it at the moment), but the screenshots look awesome and the first part was one of my favorite AGS games. I'm glad you didn't get yourself discouraged after all.