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I get an error 403 when voting:

Error 403
We're sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /site/awards/ on this server.
You do not have permission to access this server. Before trying again, close your browser, run anti-virus and anti-spyware software and remove any viruses and spyware from your computer.
Your technical support key is: 62b8-90b6-b40c-8ddc

I was able to fix this by clearing my browser cookies for the website.

@cat Could the rule about not voting for your own (or your team's) games be also included on the voting page itself? Otherwise people may miss that information if they don't follow the forum thread.

Also, congratulations to the nominees!

Seconded, I didn't realize this wasn't allowed before popping back into the thread A suggestion for next year - Maybe we could deny voting on a particular entry if the forum account is listed on the team in the game database? Would be a way to automate this process and prevent anyone from making that mistake.

Hey guys, as you probably know, Kathy Rain was nominated in eleven(!) categories in the AGS Awards!

The voting is now open, so if you enjoyed the game, I'd be very grateful for your support!

Thanks to everyone who nominated Kathy Rain!

I finished the game on android the other day and I really enjoyed it. Great graphics, good controls, overall very atmospheric. I liked the story too. I think it is not necessary to answer all questions that have been raised. Hope it sells good enough to see a sequel in the future.

Thanks, glad you liked it!

On another note, we have released the soundtrack now!

iTunes
Google Play
Amazon
Spotify
Bandcamp
Groove Music

Enjoy!

[Kathy Rain]

Kathy Rain

[embed=960,540]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oxhUgUhq3g[/embed]

Set in the 90's, Kathy Rain tells the story of a strong-willed journalism major who has to come to terms with her own troubled past as she investigates the mysterious death of her recently deceased grandfather. Armed with her motorcycle, a pack of cigs, and a notepad, Kathy begins to delve into a local mystery surrounding her hometown that will take her on a harrowing journey full of emotional and personal turmoil.

As she follows a trail of clues he left behind, questions emerge... What was Joseph Rain really looking for that night all those years ago? What turned him into a mere shell of a man, confined to a wheelchair? What secret did a suicidal young artist take with her to the grave, and why are so many people in Conwell Springs going mad? The truth is dark and sinister...

AGS Database Entry
Steam Demo
GOG Demo
Official Site

Announcement time! Pontus "StillInThe90s" Lund has joined the team as an Assistant Animator

If you haven't already, be sure to check out his short and sweet game, Camp 1: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=52224.new#new

linus & Andy - Glad you liked the game!

I also wanted to mention to you all that Kathy Rain has been released on iOS and Android! The game is a premium app, available for $4.99 or your regional equivalent:

iOS: http://apple.co/2geSoHA
Android: http://bit.ly/2gw58Nb

Enjoy!

[looking for an additional animator]

Love the visuals, and it's fun to see character with an asymmetric style.

Indeed, this is going to be a nightmare to animate - doing all animations twice...

Twice is a bit of an exaggeration, frames just can't be flipped horizontally without tweaking the head Kathy Rain was a bit more difficult, since the asymmetry for her was prevalent over the entire sprite, not just the head. It still wasn't as much work as you'd think though, as many animations were drawn for a single direction anyway.

With that being said, since we are in somewhat uncharted waters with the bump to 640x360, we ARE looking for an additional animator to help alleviate the workload!

[contact [at] clifftopgames . com.]

*edit We've found someone now, thanks!

Hi guys,

Me and Andail are looking for an animator to help alleviate the burden on Whispers of a Machine. The vast majority of the work will be character animation in 640x360.

Details on the project can be found here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=53552.0

This is a paid position, but we're a small team with a limited budget, so be aware that we won't be able to offer too much from a monetary standpoint.

If you're interested, please send a sample of your previous work to contact [at] clifftopgames . com. Thanks!

Looks awesome.  Any chance of a sequel to Kathy Rain?

It's a possiblity further down the line, but right now I'm fully engaged with WOAM

Alright, me and Andail are now booked at the quasi-mercure too! We'll arrive on friday evening and leave on monday morning

Hi all, thought I'd chime in here a bit

This project is something me and Petter have been discussing for years, super excited that it's finally gonna happen! Things are moving a bit slow as I'm still quite busy with the mobile ports for Kathy Rain, but at some point this fall we should get going properly with the development. Stay tuned!

Sadly, I'm gonna have to decline after all, my boss won't give me any more vacation days

I've fallen way behind in my adventure game playing, and don't anticipate having time to catch up any time soon, but hearing that a well-received and promising-looking AGS game isn't selling, I felt I should buy it now rather than wait until whenever I get around to it. Purchased!

Thanks for the support, Snarky

(I wonder if it wouldn't have done better if published through Wadjet Eye, with their established audience and PR connections. Though of course it's good to have some game makers go it alone or choose other outlets, so it doesn't become a monopoly for commercial AGS games.)

It's possible, but Raw Fury has done a lot of other amazing things for Kathy Rain and Clifftop Games, such as: http://rawfury.com/the-measure-of-success/. Having the fortune of being able to sign with them was an incredible stroke of luck that I'm extremely grateful for. Also, since Wadjet Eye Games is such a well known brand, both as a publisher and a developer of point and click games, having Kathy Rain be part of their catalogue could've compromised the awareness of my own brand, Clifftop Games, and potentially hurt the studio long term, especially since Kathy Rain is the debut title.

Found a little bugsy...

Thanks for the report, will take care of this if we patch again!

I don't know much about what point and click adventures make, what you have made, and what you expected to have made (although I am curious to know if you are willing to share, via reply or pm), but in my instance it's a PR issue - I just wasn't aware the game was releasing / was close to releasing and since I last saw the GiP thread about a year ago (I know they get updated, but I don't religiously read them) the game was at the back of my mind.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give out this information due to contractual obligations with my publisher, but you can always check out steam spy for some rough estimates on the sales part. And concerning the PR bit, yeah, that's something we hear from players on a daily basis. Despite being blessed with some high end press coverage, it seems that many potential players out there are oblivious to the game. Since the Raw Fury PR people are veterans on the scene, my theory is that traditional games PR might simply not be as applicable to indie point and clicks as your average game.

My I also suggest that mobile markets might get a bit of interest in this, if you can optimise it correctly and get some pr behind it.

Working on it!

Seems I haven't written a congratulatory post here yet, so... Congrats!

About the money part:
There hasn't been a lack of exposure or PR for Kathy Rain (compare the amount of top-tier reviews with recent WEG titles, for instance), the economic situation is mostly due to the production being relatively expensive, and a bit drawn-out.

I'm optimistic about KR's longevity though, as it's a very carefully crafted quality product.

Thanks, man And yup, pretty much hit the nail on the head. The sales aren't horribad compared to similar games, but we overestimated the playerbase and blew the budget out of proportion, so we needed a bunch of sales to recoup that.

Mandle - The discussion is going off topic, I'd be happy to elaborate in that planned thread you are talking about

There are these guys: They only do adventure games and they livestream every week, and then upload to youtube.

They did Gemini Rue in the past, so they are familiar with AGS and sometimes do indie games:

Mostly Walking

Thanks for the recommendation, we've reached out to them now!

Finished Kathy Rain a couple of days back. Easily one the best adventure games I've played, period! Up there with Gemini Rue as my favourite games born in AGS

Wow, thanks for that compliment

I wouldn't be downhearted about the sales at all. A lot of people will be holding out for discounts, wading through other games first etc. I think the good thing about adventure games in terms of commercial stuff is they have have a very long shelf life, sales will tick over for years to come!

I know sales are sluggish out the gate, but adventure games have a pretty long tail.  Hang in there.

Yeah, it's true that these games do have a long tail, and the additional platforms should help too. The problem was that we totally overestimated the target audience, and adapted the budget for that. We spent way too much money on three major gaming conventions, professional translations and quality voice overs. God's Algorithm will be done quite differently.

Try Pushing Up Roses or Lazy Game Reviews. They are Youtubers I watch regularly. and I *think* they're fairly popular (not pewdiepie level, obviously, but yeah) They both love classic adventures too.

https://www.youtube.com/user/pushinguproses?&ab_channel=PushingUpRoses
https://www.youtube.com/user/phreakindee?&ab_channel=LazyGameReviews

She actually did a "first impressions" video already -- and seemed to love it so far So indeed, people are still only finding out about the game -- and the viewers seem to love it, too.

Yeah, I met PUR myself at PAX PRIME last year, and she liked the KR demo we exhibited so we knew she'd upload a video Sadly, the release coincided with her surgery, so her video was a bit delayed, but it was a nice one!

Also, Adventure Gamers finally put up their review, they loved the game! http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/30532

In the age we live in you never know though, of course. A single spark, like the game being promoted by a famous website/blogger/youtuber/etc, could send sales rocketing up.

Quick, someone send a copy to Pewdiepie!
But yeah, I agree with Fitz, many games and movies have started with modest sales that grew slowly but steadily. Especially with Steam games many wait until the game is on sale.
I myself have a long list of games that I wanted to buy, but have postponed it until I have more time on my hands.
Many things can still happen, I wish you luck!

That's a great point. It's not like the game disappeared from the shelves, it's still there on Steam and GOG, and anything can happen. It may seem like it's been ages -- heck, the game itself felt like quite a journey -- but it's been just over two weeks since the premiere. So maybe people are still just busy playing, writing reviews or recording letsplays.

Heh, Pewdiepie did walk past the booth at PAX PRIME last year, but didn't end up checking it out I could've tied him to one of the chairs, but I doubt it would've had the desired outcome But yeah, sure, we could get lucky and a big youtuber could pick up the game. It's not a very common occurence though, adventure games are not popular on youtube to begin with, and if a youtuber would pick a game like that to play, they have a lot of options.

The two first two weeks after launch tend to be the most crucial though, and very rarely does the trend change after that timeframe. The only major exception are weird games which go randomly viral in one way or another. Undertale for instance, I think did quite bad after launch, then totally exploded after a couple of weeks.

Anyway, when the next project is done and launched, we'll re-evaluate KR, it's possible that the fanbase and awareness of Clifftop Games will have grown organically to a point where a sequel is feasible to do

And yeah, Fitz - Doing something with Kathy Rain in a non gaming medium sounds cool too, if making another full came does not become an option! I'd love to make a comic, if I could find an artist to partner up with. A novel might work too, although it would play right into the hands of all the people who say I rip off Jane Jensen

Thanks for the compliments, everyone

As you may have noticed, Kathy Rain has not done too well in terms of sales, so a sequel is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future. Clifftop Games has got something new cooking though, which will hopefully fare better. Stay tuned

Thanks everyone! It's been a long four years, thanks for sticking with me and Kathy Rain Sometimes I had my doubts this day would ever come.

Also: what Eileen said at the end... Does thst mean what I think it does?

Probably means what you think, yeah, but try to see it as more as a wish and intent on our part rather than a promise It highly depends on whether or not the world embraces Kathy Rain!

[Soundtrack:]

[embed=960,540]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oxhUgUhq3g[/embed]

Official Website

Buy on Steam
Buy on GOG
Buy on Humble Bundle
Buy on Green Man Gaming

Buy on iOS
Buy on Android

The game is available on either Windows or Mac and has full subtitles in German and French! If you are unsure about a purchase, try the free demo on GOG or Steam!

Soundtrack:

iTunes
Google Play
Amazon
Spotify
Bandcamp
Groove Music

Synopsis:

Set in the 90's, Kathy Rain tells the story of a strong-willed journalism major who has to come to terms with her own troubled past as she investigates the mysterious death of her recently deceased grandfather. Armed with her motorcycle, a pack of cigs, and a notepad, Kathy begins to delve into a local mystery surrounding her hometown that will take her on a harrowing journey full of emotional and personal turmoil.

As she follows a trail of clues he left behind, questions emerge... What was Joseph Rain really looking for that night all those years ago? What turned him into a mere shell of a man, confined to a wheelchair? What secret did a suicidal young artist take with her to the grave, and why are so many people in Conwell Springs going mad? The truth is dark and sinister...

Features:

320x240 (4:3) resolution with crisp pixel art graphics
4,000+ lines of dialogue
Full English voice acting directed by Wadjet Eye Games' Dave Gilbert
Original soundtrack
40+ hand-drawn environments
Compelling narrative with eerie plot set in the 90's

Notes:

Kathy Rain is being developed by Clifftop Games, a small indie studio located in Stockholm, Sweden. Published by Raw Fury Games!

Team:

Joel "JSH" Staaf Hästö - Writing, puzzles, game design, coding and project management
Shane "ProgZmax" Stevens - Art direction, character art and animation
Nauris Krauze - Background art
Tove Bergqvist - Portrait art
Daniel Kobylarz - Music
Dave Gilbert - VO Direction