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Very impressive. I've been working on a 3D-ish rain module myself for a while (sprite based particle system), but haven't so far found a viable way to draw transparent rain in front of characters and objects without slowing the system down massively (and without giving up on lighting and tint effects as you would do if also RawDrawing the characters). I'd be interested in how you'll manage this - for non-transparent rain Overlays would perhaps be the best solution.

Jesus H. Christ, is nobody reading what I actually write? I said that running the game at a LOWER resolution than it was designed for was problematic. Running Lo-res game in high resolution is fine with me, as is running games with the 2x and 3x nearest neighbour filters which don't actually change the visual style of the game.

And to avoid confusion for those who haven't tried the filters: No, running a 640x480 game in 960x720 doesn't mean higher resolution - it means scaling the original graphics down to a 320x240 window, then enlarging THAT window by a factor 3.

I never said anything about deactivating the nearest neighbour filters. I spoke specificly 1) of using the Hq filters, which modify the intended graphic style and lower performance considerably. And 2) Running the game at a (engine wise) lower resolution than it was designed for, meaning pixelly graphics and - at least in my case - fonts so large that most text boxes overrun and one section of the game crashes due to GetTextWidth routines being invalid.
What bothers me about the filters in particular, is that they are presented as offering higher resolution, which could possibly lead to misunderstandings (one would think that 960x720 looked better than 640x480, right?). I don't really understand why the 320x200 (and scaling thereof) options aren't just greyed out in hi-res games, as they will most likely make the game unplayable and certainly doesn't look anything like the artist meant it to do.

Sorry for bringing the thread off-topic - my original suggestion was meant to allow custom setup programs as an alternative to just complaining that the setup screen is getting a bit crowded with (sometimes unwanted) default features.

Well, if it doesn't run, then I fucked up - I can't see how that is any different from my scripting making the game crash or using a video codec that your machine doesn't have. On the other hand, I do see your point and I agree, but I do reserve the right to keep my game from running with settings that I don't approve of (such as running a hi-res game in 320x200 or using the Hq2x and Hq3x filters).

The main reason for my previous post is that I think the hardcoded setup menu takes away too much control from the designers. Especially the filters and the (seemingly) higher resolutions they allow along with horrible slowdowns is something that really bothers me. I'm aware that you can disable them in the .cfg file, but if anybody deletes the .cfg the options will be available again. I can just imagine some asshole running a 640x480 game in 960x720 filtered, thinking they will get better graphics and in reality getting 320x200 with gigantic fonts and incredibly poor performance.
I totally agree that games should support gamma settings. But I really think this is up to the designer to implement, just like mouse wheel support, sound volume and any other helpful feature.

Ah, so I finished the game with both endings and have a few more comments.

• I love the backgrounds. You've managed to emulate the early 1990's style to perfection. Some of the rooms would fit seamlessly into FoA while others made me think of Innocent Until Caught/Guilty and Beneath a Steel Sky. The character animation is also exellent (love the janitor's idle anim) and there are so many little details to notice, like the puke freezing after a while.


• Sound design was excellent, footstep sounds, ambients, everything just right. And even though the music wasn't original it added greatly to the atmosphere.


• The interface is really well designed (and nice idea to have two different graphics for the GUI). The more I use it, the more I come to realize that a single cursor interface is probably the least intrusive for adventure games. Having to "look at" the necklace to activate it does show the system's limitations I guess. The doubleclick-on-exits option is very welcome (although it's slightly inconsistent for some exits).


• I had a lot of fun with the puzzles. Many nice twists that don't often appear in AGS games such as time limits and multiple use items that you have to go back to retrieve. It did cause a bit of backtracking, but it was worth it.  I also liked how several puzzles could be solved using different items. I was only truly stuck once (see end of post) and considering this the probable most balanced gameplay in any AGS game I played this year.

While the game overall is great, there's also room for improvement - some of these details could be dealt with in a later version, others you could keep in mind for your next game:

• Starting from the very beginning, the "Press SPACE to continue" screen in the beginning come across as an attempt to seem more professional, without considering that those screens mainly show up in crappy console ports as a stand-in for the PS/2's ubiquitous "Press START button to continue". Why even ask the player to press space in a game that's otherwise controlled by mouse clicks?


• As I and others have commented, the English translation is a bit lacking in places. But another detail I noticed in the text is that you put a space before question- and exclamation marks. This may be a style choice, and I know it's common in French, but due to the linebreaking this often leads to the character being isolated on a line of its own which just looks bad. If you do need the space, use a hard space (hold ALT and type 0160 on the numeric pad) that won't linebreak.


• Is there any special reason that the intro movie wasn't done as part of the game (in-engine rather than avi file)? Except for a few blur effects and perhaps the audio sync, it doesn't contain anything that couldn't be displayed using AGS script. No big deal, I would just prefer it hadn't been a separate download is all.


• "He is ugly" as a look response for most of the NPCs doesn't help to establish the characters. And the lack of conversation with the two soldiers near the end - especially the last - means that you can't even TRY to TALK your way past, which makes them seem more like mere obstacles than people.

Most of the above are minor annoyances, but the issue below seems to be a problem for several users judging by the hints forum. It's a simple matter of a lack of hints that stops the game dead in its tracks:

Spoiler

The door to the room with the blue crystals in the spaceship is lacking proper look/interaction responses. All I got was "I don't know what to do with it", "I'm not touching it" and "I better leave it alone". No indication that it might be interesting, and even less that it's stuck and a tool should be used.

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MadEvie and Sciere:

Spoiler

Did you use the vine to swing across to the dead body yet? If I remember right, you'll find a part of the key there. Don't worry about the gun yet.

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The setup menu has had so many "features" added by now, that I'd like to request an option NOT to have it open when you run "gamename.exe --setup". I'm writing my own setup program to read/write to the cfg file with only the options that I feel are necessary, plus some extended options that only pertain to my game.

Candle's post on page 3 mentions multiple sites that host 100+ MB files.

Spoiler

If you did indeed put the lamp on the drain, there should be light shining through the shaft showing that the drain leads to this shaft

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If you stop calling me george, I'll be kind enough to tell you

Spoiler

Go to the flooded room in the underground area (left and in the door from the screen with the guard) and look at the shaft.

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Edit: Meat got there before me, but I think you also must look at the shaft to be able to drop things down the drain.

MadEvie:

Spoiler

The purpose of the light on the drain is to see where it leads. Once you have found this out, you can drop the things through that drain.

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MadEvie:

Spoiler

No, we're talking a different spaceship. But if you can't use the battery in the crashed ship, make sure that you're using it in the correct place (under floor plate).

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Thanks a bundle  Jimtbrit:

Spoiler

who'd have figured that a door giving responses such as "I don't know what to do with it", "I'm not touching it" and "I better leave it alone" should actually be opened... 

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Mac:

Spoiler

You open the bullet with the screwdriver (or so I think). If you haven't found the bullet yet, there's plenty more to do before you need to assemble the gun.

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MadEvie:

Spoiler

The pipe with the gum will help you fish something out of a hole in the hallway floor - that item will in turn grant you access to the room where you'll find an item to get you down the hole

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KhrisMUC:

I'm stuck at the exact same place. Let me know if you find the solution.

Of course there's always this thread in the GiP forum.

Mac:

Spoiler

Perhaps you could get electricity from one of the lamps in the room?

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KhrisMUC, you're actually giving the answer to the problem yourself:

Spoiler

"I put the battery in the programator [...] I have to open the door in the ship I awoke in, [...] and there's no power source." - many things in this game can be picked up again after use...

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Congratulations on finishing a wonderful game, Sektor 13. So much beauty and atmosphere along with nicely designed puzzles - I especially like that so many inventory items are re-used throughout the game. I won't comment too much now, since I've only got one ending so far and am struggling to get the other.

Spoiler

For the life of me I can't figure out what to do inside the cave, neither with the hole nor the army box.

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You should probably have a native English speaker proofread the text though - I noticed quite a few spelling mistakes, even in the cutscene narration.

I dislike most machine puzzles (anything from Myst to Syberia). Mainly because they rarely seem to fit into the story and just end up as very obvious obstacles. At least Syberia came up with a good excuse by telling the story of a demented toymaker.

However if you do need to have them, there are a few important things to keep in mind:

1) The interface must be consistent. I remember being stuck in The Dig for ages, because I didn't realize that the lightbridge control switch needed you to hold down the mouse button rather than just click it like everything else in the game.

2) A lot of bad machine puzzles have two modes: Working and not working. Unless you understand exactly what's going on, you won't have a clue whether you're going in the right direction. Half of the fun of machine puzzles is experimenting, AND GETTING FEEDBACK on everything you do. Whether it be audio, lamps or parts moving.

3) The only kind of machine puzzles that don't feel like chores and I actually enjoy toying with are the ones where it's totally obvious what every single part is doing. Imagine a simplified version of the Rube Goldberg machines from Sierra's The Incredible Machine series or Armadillo Run (great little indie game). You have the parts for a machine but most place them in the correct sequence to make everything run. I think Fate of Atlantis had something like this with a door opening robot inside Atlantis.

Most importantly - make the process as fun and rewarding as actually solving the puzzle. Games are (at least in part) toys. And in my opinion, every single interaction in a game should ideally be there because it's entertaining for the player to perform.