Messages

Just finished with a score of 154.

As far as the game goes, in a word: Wow! 

There are games you play - commercial games too - where everything is done correctly, but after a few hours you just can't be bothered to finish.  TFCotW hooked me BIG time.  I HAD to keep playing.

Trying to capture why it had that effect is probably impossible, but let me comment on a few contributing factors: the waiting room had people who had no effect on game play, the T-Rex was a copy of Sue, Spider's attitude, the basic idea that the things are hidden by the sister thus lending itself to adventure-game-solutions rather than relying on a suspension of disbelif on the part of the player,  and annoying the couple in the park!  All the little things that come together.  Anyhow a great game.

Bug: this one might be legit

Spoiler

If you bother the love-birds in the wrong order, you have to repeat steps.
I did it: DOG, CELL, KID, and since that didn't send them packing, I did the DOG again.
It's always possible I goofed up and restored a game in the midst of all that, but I'm pretty sure I didn't

[close]

Hope to see the next chapter soon.

- Cogliostro

Okay, new problem

Spoiler

Trying to get the "tile" out of the sewers.  The hooded-person is in EVERY room trying to stop me.  I've wandered aimlessly trying to get back to the room, and got nowhere with that.  So I tried to set a trap, something that might knock him off a bridge and into the sewage when he chases me.  But nothing works on the bridges and nothing works on him.   

BTW Thanks for the hint about the painting.  When I couldn't turn the painting around, I thought I was on the wrong track.

[close]

- Cogliostro

EDIT:

Now that's more like it.  I post the request for information and solve the problems two minutes later.

Spoiler

For those of you looking for the clue... there's only one thing in the whole sewer you can pick up.  You better bring it along.

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[JUST ONCE!!]

About halfway through the game now, my comments so far:



PROs:
It's just too much fun!  The background for Jeff and his sister was beautifully told.  I can't over state that.  The puzzles are pretty good.  Enough of them are thrown in the players path to make the story enjoyable.  The drawings of the rooms are primitive, but have enough detail so that the players can overlook it and get on with the game.  (i.e. Nothing screams novice effort like completely blank walls. )   Spider makes a great side character, usually when characters are that unimportant to the game, their personality gets skipped to the point that they are more of a decoration than a person.  Nice job.



CONs:
I've been enjoying the game to the point where I've been nitpicking.  Take that as a compliment.  When individual points stand out as errors, it means everything else was working right.  Anyhow:

Spend $1000 on apartment rent, but roam over the city to find tweezers.  Thsi struck me as odd, but what the hell, this is an adventure game.

Lottery numbers come up once.  JUST ONCE!!  Like all other dialogues, they will time out and go away, if you miss it and haven't saved recently, life sucks.   I favor the choice where each conversation MUST be clicked out of in order to continue.

Trip to Club convinced me I was supposed to be able to get into the club, right then!  Having something suggest you can't solve the number pad would have been appreciated.  Some puzzles obviously must be solved later, but passcode/password puzzles occassionally mean TRY HARDER.  With the newspaper clipping in the trash, and an uncomminicative bouncer at the front door.  I squandered some time on various combinations of dates in American and UK standards.

Tried to use the stove to read the lime juice message, made sense to me.

When you enter into the waiting room at the hospital, you can't go immediately left to leave the screen, you have to go into the room, before you can back out.



Overall, a great game.  Doubly so for your first effort.

- Cogliostro

Spoiler

The golden disk is laid out at the apartment.  I got the magnifying glass and used it on the mountain.  I've tried every logical combination I could think of.  Then ran every variation on the inner two rings.  Nothing.

[close]

What do I do now?

- Cogliostro

Okay, how do I get the airport to show up on the map?!

- Cogliostro

Nevermind!

EDIT

Spoiler

ARGH!  I ended up restarting the game before I found the stupid GPS.  That gave me the park and the airport.

[close]

Okay, trying to break into Club Morello.

Spoiler

Read the newspaper clipping, have one full date, and a year.  Tried all combinations, using the UK and American formats.  None of those dates work on the keypad.

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- Cogliostro

I REALLY like how you hid the GPS coordinates.  Quite clever.  I'm still trying to get the docs to stop gabbing about golf, but so far I like it.

And, I found a bug:

Spoiler

When I first enter the apartment bldg, Suzies door can be seen.  When I use the HAND icon on the door, Jeff turns to face the main door, opens it, and steps into Suzie's apartment, without having to actually walk up the stairs.

[close]

- Cogliostro

Okay, can I get a hint about getting the doctors to stop talking about golf?

I've already kluged together the GPS coordinates, though using those on the map or anyone at the museum will NOT let me figure out where those cooridnates point to.

- Cogliostro

[HOW DID YOU ANIMATE THAT GRASS!]

And also plenty more cool animations to come now that I master the Youtube-ripping Process™  ;-)

Any chance that you'll share with the rest of the class? 

Are you downloading looping scenes from YouTube, breaking them in 10 frames, making it an object and animating it?  Are you turning it into the background?

HOW DID YOU ANIMATE THAT GRASS!

In complete awe,
- Cogliostro

A FAN MADE VERSION!?! I never knew this existed!  Downloading it now.

BTW that means I have no idea how to get past that guy.

- Cogliostro

Okay, there are four games in the Broken Sword franchise, I'll assume you're in "Shadow of the Templars", that you're in Syria, that you've tried to open the door, read the sign, and talked to the manager about the bathroom.  That a LOT of assumptions

Spoiler

Go downstairs and outside, look around on the street.  You need to find something.

[close]

Spoiler

Take a closer look at Arto, the kabob seller.

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Spoiler

What is he using to baste the shish-ka-bobs?

[close]

Spoiler

It's a toilet brush.  You need it.

[close]

Spoiler

Arto doesn't speak any English, but there's one native who does.

[close]

I'm out of hides.  At this point I'm just going to list the steps...

Spoiler

Go talk to Nejo

[close]

Spoiler

Give him the RED BALL

[close]

Spoiler

Go talk to Arto

[close]

Spoiler

After he chases you off, go back and get the TOILET BRUSH.

[close]

Spoiler

Give the brush to the bar manager to get the BATHROOM KEYS.

[close]

- Cogliostro

[loathed]

Interesting that you didn't like the stripped-down verb-coin.  I was rather inspired by http://americangirlscouts.org/agswiki/Why_Your_Game_Is_Broken when I was writing my design notes.  I felt very strongly that it was a dramatic improvement on many of the other interface choices that remain popular. 

The first game I played with a verb-coin had beautiful graphics, inspired concept, witty dialogue and a cumbersome verb-coin.  I was drawn to the game, but the more I played the more I loathed the verb-coin. 

In your game, however, the stripped down version stream lined play.  I was completely over the old aversion when the power allocation puzzle came up.  Lots of clicking was required, the verb-coin slowed me down, and the lingering disdain resurfaced. 

You made it work.  Ignore my ealier comment.

- Cogliostro

*PLEASE* keep making these games.  They're meta-game humor merged with distilled nostalgia.

- Cogliostro

Are there multiple ways to complete the game?

- Cogliostro

One more thing, music and sound effects can do wonders to establish mood.  Put some real thought into what background music sets the mood for each stage of the game.

- Cogliostro

Congratulations on completing your first game.

Parts of the "puzzle box" were clever.  However, the language problem caused me to break down and use your hints.

The one thing that the biggest difference in your game is to have someone play test them.  Assuming your native language is Serbian and you plan on releasing more games in English, have someone who speaks English as their first language play test it.

- Cogliostro

KodiakBehr,

PROs:
Game was fun, absurdly so.  Well played references and meta-jokes.  So big points for that.

CONs:
Issues with graphics have already been addressed. 
I'm not a fan of the verb-coin.
The writing was off, and I think I can target the biggest reason why...

Spoiler

Most of the game you were writing a comedy / homage, but the game concepted centered on an insane genocidal, ranting AI. 

The broken AI was central to the game, but its rants should have been more "Marvin the Android" and less "SHODAN."

[close]

Looking forward to your next creation,
Cogliostro

Shadow -

Spoiler

In order to get the piano wire, you'll need something exceptionally sharp.

[close]

- Cogliostro

Okay, I'm pretty well stuck.

Spoiler

Made a solenoid - got a metal key - it doesn't seem to open anything.
Can a casino credit - can't get into the casino
Where is the ring?  EDIT - found it
Where is the rewards card?

[close]

- Cogliostro

EDIT

My luck stays true to form.  Post a request for help, within two minutes, find the solution myself. 

Whoa dude. looks good. How did you make those graphics though? Thats what I wanna know, including any technical details.

I'm stuck though. Is it possible to do a directional jump from standing still? I can't seem to do it.

Please share the details! 

- Cogliostro