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Had my eyes on this one right away but only got round to playing it yesterday. Thank you for bringing some life (and more...) to Reality!

It's easy, perhaps a bit too easy, and relatively short - but that didn't stop me from being entertained throughout, alternating between grins and laughs at the dialogues, the crazy story and the great use of the RON cast! I have to say it was great for me to see Llamaman and the dastardly Hoff back (I'm the guy behind 'Defender of RON').

I really liked it and am hoping that this is a sign of more to come... as in both more Oldschool Wolf RON games and more RON games in general!

HOFF!

Thanks for that! I still have the earliest release/download of Surreality which does not include that text file. There's only a readme which asks players to send their thoughts on the identity of the Surrealist to the game's creator by e-mail.

not as his alter-ego, which was discovered in "Surreality"

Um, yeah, that's the part I didn't really get! Because of this thread, I recently re-played that one and still... as far as I could see it ends with at least three main suspects but no clear 'discovery':

Spoiler

-Tom himself would probably be the main suspect, although this is denied in some dialogue
-The new character (whatshisname) on the final screen, right of the village square
-The Baron (or his brother?)

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Would be grateful if somebody could tell me what I missed there, what should be the key hint, what eliminates the alternative suspects... I might be over-thinking things..?

AMAZING game, I just wrote some of my many positive thoughts about it on the AGS game download page. Thank you for finishing this (after so many years)! It's exceptionally great, one of the Big Ones of AGS as far as I'm concerned.

One question, and since it might be an additional puzzle but may also not be, and is in any case not a puzzle needed to progress, I thought to put in here rather than the hints & tips section:

Spoiler

In the Countrysons headquarters, is there any way to get into Ernest Rightwell's computer? Any way to figure out the password? And if so, would that make a difference for the remainder of the game?

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Hi Ezekiel, thank you for your nice comments on my game!

Back when I made it, I was optimistic about making a sequel, I did have some plans but I never got further than drawing the sprites for Llamaman. I've been nothing but a forum lurker ever since... Maybe I will still get to make that game someday, but I would like to finish up some non-AGS projects first.

I do remember intentionally setting up several plot points hoping that other people would pick them up if I wouldn't get to do that myself (so, feel free! (that goes for everyone!)). Someone actually did do that, more or less! The game 'Surreality' is about an investigation into the identity of the Surrealist. It's a bit... abstract... (I must admit I didn't actually understand it!)

Not really plot-related, but I could certainly recommend last year's 'The Affair Of The Weirdo', for the excellent characterisations, including for characters appearing in 'Defender'. That game does follow up on Phil's character development in a very good, natural way.

-I thought there was a little too much exposition at the very beginning

I would agree to a lot of your comments but I wanted to give my opinion on this bit: I actually thought there was a very good degree of exposition at the start. It's hard to get this right in adventure games: you want to start playing as soon as possible and get the story flowing while you're playing it, but it happens quite often that you hardly know anything about the person you're playing for, or what led you to the exact moment when the game begins (an example in professional games: I thought this to be the weakest point in the first two Broken Sword games)
In my opinion, the well written text boxes that set up this game did an excellent job at that.

Just posted some positive feedback on the games page after having just finished it. Thank you for this great game, I really enjoyed it!

Just a couple of minor things:

Spoiler

-You cannot show the star to the ghost unless you have a couple of looks at the plants in the background. I was a bit stuck at this point because I already knew what I had to do from the dialogue with the ghost, but it still didn't work. Maybe you could have added some more pointers here, or have been more lenient with the conditions, or only have that bit of dialogue after having had a closer look at the plants?

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Spoiler

-I'm sure I had the broken flashlight on the first attempt at running through the woods, and I could throw it at the wolf then, but then I had to load and I didn't have the flashlight anymore. The sequence became a bit impossible afterwards, maybe because of that? (Don't know if you really need the flashlight.) Luckily I could skip it. Overall I thought it to be a bit too unfair/hard that the wolf could move through the rocks.

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Spoiler

I thought it was a little bit weird how some dialogue repeated itself at one point, for example speaking to Astrid in the cave: the dialogue always starts with "I don't know what to do about Sal."
Which reminds me: I actually already got this dialogue before finding Sal & tying him up. I thought it was about not knowing where he was at that point, and it works for that as well, but it's rather weird to have the exact same dialogue after tying him up.

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Ah, wonderful!! So great to see you back on the RON-scene! Laughed my way all through this!! The puzzles were really nice too. I couldn't believe you got all of this together in one month!

Really enjoyed this one! I admired how you tapped into earlier RON-games while introducing a new story and setting up new plot points for future games. The characterisations were right on the mark, the atmosphere & humor brought back many memories of RON's glory days - I hope to see more games like this in the future!

Thank you for using some of the things I introduced in my game 'Defender of RON' and using them so well (in my opinion), like Phil's superpowers - while at the same time finding a clever way to return him to his Nihilism roots!

(Playing through this made me miss working with those guys, makes me wonder...)

The art looks pretty nice, but you know, I honestly really liked the photo backgrounds of the first two games! They really added to the atmosphere and I didn't even think that the sprites looked too odd over the photos. I had that problem with other games (Other Worlds, ...) but not with Murran 1 & 2.

Anyway, I am very much looking forward to this third part! The first two were excellent in my opinion. Cool stories, great writing, pretty good puzzles... I had a great time playing through them!

There was only one very minor thing which I minded, and that was the main character's speech portrait - I thought he looked like he was 12 years old or something! (Hope I'm not offending whoever is on the picture - I think the black mouth for the talking animation has something to do with the way I look at it.) Happy to see that the portrait has been updated.

Yeah, so, keep up the fantastic work & thank you for the wonderful games!

I've always considered The Postman Only Dies Once to be the essential RON-game. It uses clever scripting, has hilarious dialogues, good puzzles, a nice story with great use of pretty much the 'main characters' of RON, and a 'classic' look (graphics-wise). Also, it's not extremely fancy so beginners can use a game like this as a quality standard without setting the bar too high for themselves.

When I got into RON about eight years ago, I played them in order of release and this was the game that made me think: "Maybe I could try to make a game like this!"

Eventually it might not be my fave RON-game (I'm not decided: could be one of the Kittens games, or III Spy, or Purity of the Surf), but 'the Postman...' is still the game I first think of when I think of RON.

Reading this article made me very happy indeed! I can't believe my game made their top 5 - I'm already happy if I see someone mentioning it seven years after making it. This little ego-boost got me out of 'lurking mode' here!

The screenshots are rather shamelessly ripped from the RON-site. At least the descriptions of the games and the characters weren't copied and pasted. It's a pretty nice read!

Would have liked to see something out of Creed's games in their spotlights, like Mary the Fox in the selection of characters.

This seems very well done and very user-friendly. I think many people will be very grateful for all of your hard work!

I skimmed over the ratings. Of course there will always be personal preferences there, but I actually found myself agreeing with almost all ratings for the titles I instantly recognized! For those I'd personally give higher (Prodigal) or lower (Other Worlds), I could imagine the average rating being a more likely standard.

Thumbs up!

(Although... only three cups for Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment..? I would say that this game's unique, innovative gameplay alone should make for an extra cup...)

That original Stonekeep box with the hologram cover is very cool.

I have many great memories of Stonekeep. At one point you find yourself in a fairy realm, welcomed by a bunch of fairy performers who actually sing some funny and well-performed songs for you if you give them flowers. The company includes a 'Forrest Gump' character who's always behind with his lines. There's a good chance that your party includes a dwarf who hates fairies and knows how to voice his frustrations. Wonderful, really.

Back on the subject, I forgot to mention one of the greatest of AGS games: Prodigal. Fantastic atmosphere! Very, very creepy.
Yahtzee's games can be quite scary too.

Oh, and some Myst-style games are very good at making you feel isolated in worlds that have a perilous feel to them. Sirrus' prison world in Myst IV is a good example. The game 'Lighthouse - the Dark Being' is also very good at this.
And let's not forget the 7th Guest and the 11th Hour (although the latter is slightly ruined by awful voice actors like the emotionless woman telling you "Keep trying, Carl, you're getting closer." and Stauff with no wit left in his mind telling you just how stupid you are if you click on the wrong object).

Does anybody know this mid-90's RPG called Stonekeep? I really loved that game, despite any bugs and flaws it may have had...
Anyway, there is one level in this game that has one obvious difference from all other levels: there are no monsters on this 'floor'. Yet, it is a large level and you'd expect trouble everywhere. Many doors are locked and require you to find the right switches and settings to unlock them. Everything about it gives a sense that something really dark is hidden in the centre. To make matters worse, the music in this level is very soft and eerie, and appears to be unstructured... but every now and then, some loud piano beats burst through. They startled me every single time. And then there's the best bit in the level: there's a cul-de-sac hallway where you can see a note hanging in the end, and lots of large buttons on the floor towards it. You have no choice but to walk over the buttons, hearing them activate 'something'. Then you reach the note, which says: "All traps are set." You turn around again, to leave the hallway... and you suddenly hear insane laughter coming at you.
You never get to find out who was laughing, by the way.

I also thought Realms of the Haunting had its moments, but unfortunately you're teamed up with Rebecca Travisard quite soon in the game, and it would have been so much scarier if Adam had been all alone in that dark house all the time.
Still, great game... one of my all-time faves.

The part in Gabriel Knight III where Grace hears a baby crying in the attic of the vineyard mansion kind of creeped me out as well.

>where is the "Either you keep Au Naturel, either you remove my games from the database as well" solidarity?

I actually went as far to request this exact thing yesterday (I'm 'Turquoise Daffodil', I made the game 'Defender of RON' six years ago). I'm astonished by the fact that this game even sparked such a debate. I can't see any harm in it whatsoever.

People who are interested in this issue should really read the thread about this on the RON forum (http://ron.the-underdogs.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7=670&st=0&sk=t&sd=a). Apparently, the admins are afraid of legal action in the light of an upcoming law regarding copyright issues. And they're of the opinion that Au Naturel counts as porn, and could eventually brand them as criminals.
(Wow, this sounds like a plot for a game by itself..!)

So great!! Thank you for getting this together; getting this nice fresh spark into RON!

I did not recognise the locations right away and while playing it even felt a bit out-of-RON to me, but after I had finished the game I came to realise that I DID see this part of town before and you actually used a main part of the established map... these locations were featured in 'Rend', right? This is actually really great! Cheers to you for getting these obscure parts more into the spotlight!

I really liked the dialogues, the jokes and the game in general. There are some very nice puzzles in the game and the working camera (& its use in puzzles) is one very, very neat touch.
I can also appreciate the use of red herrings!

The one thing that I did find quite annoying was that I didn't see the point of some puzzles & parts of the game until the ending. It wasn't clear to me at all why I had to 'get rid of' Max & Hooky. Only afterwards I realised that it wasn't so much about getting them out of their locations... With the leaflet being on a different building than the store, and the changing number inside the store seeming to be nothing more like a jokey detail, I thought this whole goal was rather unclear. It also seemed strange to me that the dialogue with Biggs (or is it Vicks) featured a bit about him giving up smoking, but using the cigarettes on him or anywhere near him wouldn't give any response.
In the end, the objectives made sense to me. In hindsight I liked the game better than while I was playing the second half! This may just be me, though (and my girlfriend who played it with me).

I also found the interface a bit clumsy to use. It was a bit weird not to be able to use inventory items on each other, for instance.

I had downloaded the game the day after it was released so I got the buggy version too (you could also find the lighter again and again), which was a bit of a shame (felt a bit messy, slightly rushed even). I also found another weird bug: using the camera in the restaurant gives visions of the future... (interesting plot!)

But never mind the whining. Overall I'm very positive about the game, and very happy about somebody releasing a new RON-game of such a quality! So will you send it to the RON-homepage too, or are you waiting for a redesign of that site (as discussed some months ago)?

Heel goed gedaan! Hartelijk dank!

I quite like that idea of an author picking up a multiple-ending game thread deciding which is the right one, that might even surprise the author behind the original game!
Of course it's only really an issue if some endings have a specific unique impact on the world.

In any case. I was thinking some more about the folders and categorising and such. All the time I've been looking at how it's done with the AGS games page, but to be honest I always thought that was too disorganised as well.
One filing system which is, in my opinion, an excellent, organised and user-friendly one is the one used on Home of the Underdogs. You can do lots of different sorts of queries there, and then sort the list based upon multiple conditions.
Something like that might be a good example for a new RON layout. I'm all for loads of extra tags/labels per game. I like Anym's suggestion made in response to my ideas, of getting 'themes' in. And maybe another tag could be given to 'puzzle type' (simple / errand / nonsensical(abstract) / complex / ...). Similar for art style and everything, and with a few easy clicks on the search page everybody can find the game they may like best.

It may even be a nice idea to nick the recommendations thing from Home of the Underdogs, where three similar ('if you like this you may also like') games are given. I sure discovered lots of stuff via the Underdogs' pages... including RON! Okay so maybe incorporating this on the RON site won't work at all with so many similar games... but in any case, it never hurts to look at good & working examples!

(By the way... 'World of RON'? 'RONmania'? 'RON - the next generation'? okay I'll shut up now...)

Good to hear from you, Bumblearse! It's great that somebody's really enacting upon this thread and RON 2.0 ('name pending') is getting realised! I really like your idea of splitting the site in the suggested sections!!
Should you need any help in getting some information pages or such together, feel free to ask, I'd be happy to try and help out.

Anyway, something I still wanted to add, or more, repeat, is the suggestion Dave Gilbert already made very early in this thread (and I myself made later as well) to get a better RON promotion on the AGS site.

The counterargument to this was that RON isn't (at least, has never been, and probably isn't going to be) AGS exclusive. But I still think that RON is best known for having AGS games, and it may do the community a lot of good to start advertising with the very best it has to offer - which currently are some of the AGS games.

Right now there's one link leading from there to the RON site, as well as a couple of odd games having their single entry (MI5 Bob, for one). I see MMMania has more entries, easier found right there at the letter M.
Wouldn't it be a good idea, wouldn't it be possible to either:
-Get ALL of the RON AGS games on the AGS game pages, giving all titles the RON prefix (=the option I'd favor as the games can then all be rated using the better AGS rating system, on a place where more people go than the RON site (even tho that site is going to be revamped))
-Advertise with a selection of the best games (the suggested 'essentials')

I think there is one game in particular which should be used as a sort of flagship. It's 'The Postman Only Dies Once'. It features a classic RON art style (people may easily get the idea that they could do that too, as opposed to something like III Spy or the Phantom Inheritance), good puzzles, a very nice story and lots of good jokes... but most of all it features enough different 'classic' locations to make for an 'essential' RON introduction and even above that it has a great introduction into many characters. You don't need to know that Mika arrived in RON in I Spy in order to understand her character in the Postman. You don't need to know who Davy is and his whole death thing isn't even featured in the game; the character is presented in a very clear way. A lot of things are really good about the game, I think it clearly shows what you could do with AGS and RON, I think many people will agree with me on the good quality of this particular game.
I think it would be very helpful if the first RON game people play is a good game, that will encourage them to 1. play more 2. make one themselves. In my opinion, The Postman Only Dies Once is this game. I suggest it's the game to go on top of the list on the games page.
Does anyone agree with me on this?

But what would be the alternative? Purging everything from the database based upon some subjective criteria?

Well, maybe, yeah!
I think somebody (preferrably a selected 'jury' or something like that) is going to get into the subjective anyway even if the 'three folders' plan will be acted out. I mean, what exactly will make a game go into the second category rather than the third?

Yes, an improved voting system. Should be decisive. Which brings me back to my point about the current inactivity on the RON-site. Where are the voters? I think they'll be found right here. RON was never an AGS series by essence, but it's how it's best known. If somebody is familiar with RON they're also familiar with AGS.

I personally still don't see why more subfolders make for a less organised layout. It's like entering a paper archive either having loads of documents scattered in different rooms, or having those documents in labelled boxes in those different rooms, or having labelled boxes in labelled cabinets in those different rooms. It's one extra mouseclick making the difference. You could have a number next to the subfolders indicating how many games can be found there.
It's just my two cents for the organisation. If nobody agrees with me on this, then don't do it.

Priority goes to a main sorting system. Extra tags are a must, as is the ability to sort games based upon tags and do multi-queries: 'give me all/long/short/... games and list by: ranking and/or game type / engine / author / ...'

Although I really love the liberal idea and the possibility of having lots of creative input from different sources, the old rules made it possible for a six year old to get a game together where you have Mika in the town square, clicking on Scids in order to reach a night-time forest area, where she can pick up a blue cup after which she'll say "I want to be a buterflie", after which you get a message saying 'game over' indicating that you finished it. Such a game then had to be put on the games list, after which the kid in question could make a sequel a week.
Even though somebody else could then make a game making creative, good use of the contents of the cup-butterfly concept, you shouldn't have to expect that. And in the meantime, RON gets killed again because people will get the same issues that were made clear at the start of this whole thread.
Such a scenario should be made impossible to make for durability.

I think the inaccessibility stems more from the fact that there's no easy way for a newbie to tell a good (or an important or self-contained) game from a bad one (which is something the categories would hopefully take care of)

Categories along with a better voting system, and also a timeline extract. The current huge timeline is fantastic. It's well kept, very complete and thought through. It works. But it's a huge list that probably puts people off on a first confrontation.
What would be the really important stuff? Which games should be presented as the main games? What will make up the introduction to RON?
A voting/rating system seems to be the first thing needed. I'm lost as to where and how to get a new system together.