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Hi everyone,

After finishing my last game, Absurdistan (https://lazy-squirrel.itch.io/absurdistan), I was left with a few leftover assets that never made the cut. This got me thinking and after a few days of brainstorming I ended up having a design document for a short puzzle game.

However, as much as proud I am of Absurdistan, I know that pixel-art isn't my forte. So, rather than doing the same thing again, I thought I would scrap the leftovers and try to buddy up with someone who can actually do pixel-art.

Hence my offer: if you enjoy playing point'n'clicks and doing pixel art and would like to work on a game, feel free to get in touch with me. Who knows... maybe together we will create something absolutely mind blowin' : ) Probably we will not, but at least we might have some fun with it.

The game is fully planned out (plot, logical puzzles, etc.).

As for the assets the following would be needed:
- 4 characters (3 would need walking cycles, too).
- 4 rooms (ideally with animated objects).
- 4 puzzle panels.

Because I am planning on reusing the interface from Absurdistan I thought that this game could also be a 2d side-scroller with a part of the screen dedicated for the text.

If you are interested please feel free to drop me a PM and I could provide you with more details about the game, so you can tell whether or not it's something up your alley : )

If there is one thing I know for sure, it is that there is no better fun like a good hangover.

It is interesting to see that this game will feature some RPGish elements like stats (friendship and hangover). If these affect the gameplay, I am guessing the game may have high replay value.

Good luck with the project : )

I said I would post a review after finishing the game and I did but only on itch.io. Only now I realised I haven't posted anything here.
So here it goes:

The game has an amazing atmosphere and right from the beginning you start to feel the drama of people living on the planet. I found the image with the cranes and red sky particularly memorable.

As some pointed out, there is plenty of narrative. I believe it's a matter of taste, so it really depends on what you are looking for in an adventure game.

I found the puzzles to be relatively easy, however, they were logical and fun to solve.

To sum up, I enjoyed it a lot : )

About the warnings that you get, I guess that you downloaded the game some time ago and got to play it now? Because that issue should be fixed in the most up to date build (at least it is for me).

I downloaded the game yesterday in the morning from itch.io. Not sure if this helps, but after finishing the game I played the poem, too. 

Money joke continued in spoilers:

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"How many pieces of eight do you want for that gas station?"

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True. One would need a really big bag of coins to buy a whole gas station : )

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The fun part is that you could carry the coins with ease, because of the low gravity. Any coin toss could result in a new satelite.

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Speaking of gravity. The children playing with the paper planes mention that the gravity specifically on Trappist is very low. But, if they were Trappistians (?), would they actually feel the need to highlight that the gravity on Trappist is this or that? I mean for them it would be just gravity, wouldn't it?

I know I am overthinking stuff right now, but I've just downed two Leffes and I really can't stop thinking about it...  : )

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I really enjoyed the story in this game. I must say that I wish more games were made with the purpose of telling something about other parts of the world : )

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Personally, I would love to see a bit more puzzles, but that's me : )

I don't know if you noticed but upon completion the game generates a warning file with information that some of the dynamic sprites don't get deleted.

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I'm happy you managed to solve that problem! Feel free to write if you need help.

Thanks, lorenzo. I didn't have enough time today, but I will try finishing it over the week. If I get stuck again (either for real or due to my clumsiness) I will get in touch.

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"How many pieces of eight do you want for that gas station?"

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True. One would need a really big bag of coins to buy a whole gas station : )

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Ok, my bad. I forgot that there was a credit card representing your money! Funny that despite living in the 21st century and using debit cards every single day, I still expect to see a bag of coins when playing a computer game : P

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I haven't finished the game yet, but from what I've seen the atmosphere is awesome! For a few reasons (interface, text-based nature and the setting on a strange planet) it reminded me of Dead Dimension. I will try to post a review when I finish it, before this happens I need some help, though...

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I got confused as to what happened in the game and I am not sure if I am missing something or the game glitched out on me:

I got the precision screwdriver and took the wristwatch apart, then I gave the watch to the hotel owner, who was supposed to pay for it. But after using the watch with him I lost the watch, but didn't get any new inventory items. I still went to the real-estate agent and tried to buy the old gas station, but she kept saying that I should come back when I've got enough money. When I go back to the hotel owner, though, he is saying the same line about offering to buy the watch from me. The problem is I don't have it anymore : (

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So, I am sure some people solved this one correctly but it's not my cup of herbata...

This actually cracked me up. You won't believe how often me and my wife say things like that.

I understand your reservations about the puzzles that require going through an awful amount of text. In the case of Absurdistan, however, this solution seemed appealing to me, because it let me tell a few absurd stories in one go.

For some reason this discussion reminded me of Neverhood, which featured 8 or 9 rooms that had the story of the game's universe written on the wall. I didn't like it at all to tell the truth, because it was taking an awful lot of time to read just to find out it wasn't relevant to finishing the game. But that's me, I appreciate there are players who enjoyed it, though.

Also, I don't want to repeat myself too much but I truly am flattered to see that people enjoyed my puzzles - it's really nice.

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Matt, please do play it and tell me if it's better than Good God ; )

Shadow1000, reading comments like yours is the biggest reward for spending so much time on the game, as you seem to have enjoyed all the aspects of it I cared most about. I wish the graphics would be a little bit better, too, but since drawing is not my forte I found such low resolutions to be much easier and safer to use.

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As for the mailbox puzzle, in my mind it was supposed to be solved just like sthommanch has described it. So, the first step would be to check the plates in front of Mrs. Szczypiorkiewicz's and Leszek's flats to learn that the first digit of the flat number stands for the floor number and that numbering goes up by three. And then to overhear the two ladies gossiping in the hall about the new neighbour that leaves his locks open. The mailbox parser, on the other hand, would accept any number and if it wasn't right it would just say that the mailbox is locked.

In my initial design, this was all that there was to that puzzle. And I was happy with that until the very last moment before sending the game out to the testers. I realised that the world I created didn't add up because the flat numbers were supposed to go up by three and yet if the Player typed in a number that is in between (say 301) Leszek would still say that that mailbox was locked, implying that it exists. To work around it and to give the game's world more credibility I had to refactor the parser and to check if the provided mailbox actually "existed" in the game (so to check if it is divisible by 3 and in the range of 00 - 57). The "funny" thing about it is that I never really wanted the Player to try solve the puzzle by checking the feedback from Leszek when keying in different numbers. The information about a certain numbers being divisible by three was supposed to be just a clue hinting at the fact that the numbers go up by three, but I see how some people may think that that was the way the puzzle is supposed to be solved. I did think about omitting the info about the numbers being divisible in order to put players off from brute forcing the puzzle, but on the other hand that gives you some sort of a backup if you get stuck for good.

I rambled a bit but that's because today I got my first covid jab and I am not feeling well... Hope this still makes sense, though : )

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Thanks Kyriakos : ) I am no pixel artist, so it's always great to see that someone enjoyed the feel of the game : )

I didn't use any existing modules and I am not sure if the way I made the typing-machine effect is the most efficient one in AGS but it worked for me just fine. If you want, I can send you the code that does it. It's not a proper module but I think that with a little bit of explanation it should be easy to port over (I think, might be wrong, though).

The puzzles were a bit leaning on math.

True, but only few of them : )

You would for sure enjoy Alex Bello's Monday puzzles in the Guardian (www.theguardian.com)

Funny you mention that because I remember looking at some of them.

As for the jokes about the Party, some of them are indeed a creation of my imagination (or borrowings from other content). But I also spent a lot of time watching Polska Kronika Filmowa (Polish Film Chronicle) documenting oftentime a surreal reality of the communist Poland to cherry pick the most absurd stories and embed them in the game. And I didn't even have to spice them up... they were already silly! In other words, some of the jokes were a reality at some point in the past.

Wow! That was quick, sthomannch. I didn't expect anyone to finish the game within a few hours after the roll-out : )

I am particularly happy to hear you enjoyed the puzzles. Initially, my main goal was to create an interesting and "unusual" atmosphere, but the further I progressed with the game the more I realised that I enjoyed creating the puzzles.

Thanks for playing the demo : ) As it happens, I've just rolled out the full version of the game and you can find it at https://lazy-squirrel.itch.io/absurdistan  

[Link:]

Link: https://lazy-squirrel.itch.io/absurdistan

Dear Comrade,
The Party needs you! You must come to Absurdistan immediately and join Leszek on his little quest to save his father's name's day! A trifle you say? Oh, Comrade, how wrong of you! Don't you forget that Absurdistan is a place where logic is nowhere to be found and that Absurdanis are reluctant to help each other out. Where keeping your profile low and showing your devotion to the Party is your bread and butter. Hope now you understand that in this place even a simple task becomes an adventure in its own right.
There is no time to lose, so get your passport ready and hop on the first train to Absurdistan!
Glory to the Party!

About the game:
Absurdistan is a partially text-based, side-scrolling adventure game featuring simplistic graphics.
You play as Leszek, a young Absurdani, who, just like his family, is fed up with the regime imposed by the Party. But, dear Adventure Gamer, fear nothing! Despite the seemingly gloomy setting, the game doesn't intend to get you down, as its main goal is to poke fun at many absurdities of the daily life in a totalitarian-communist state. 

The game features a whole variety of puzzles, which, unlike the state of Absurdistan, do make sense. Some of them may even require you to grab something to write and figure them out in real life.

Manual:
-You control Leszek with the mouse and occasionally with the keyboard.
-Left mouse click is used to BOTH inspect and interact with objects/hotspots/characters.
-Right mouse click is used only to click out of GUIs, interfaces or deselect active inventory items.


This is probably a matter of opinion but I think that due to low resolution the game looks best when played in a windowed mode in native resolution. I think it gives it a Yoda Stories vibe : )

Poster by: https://www.instagram.com/marianna.illu/

 

Thanks Kastchey, I find it very encouraging to know someone is looking forward to it

Hi all,

Not sure how but I think I've managed to finish Absurdistan. Sadly, due to time limitations I had to cut out a few (brilliant) ideas I had, but the game still offers 40 min (or so) of gameplay.

However, it would be great to to have it proofread and   tested by a few people before I roll it out. If you think you could/would like to help me here's a link to the recruitment post: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=59099.0

Also, the game has a poster now (I added it to the first post in this thread)

Hi all,

The full version of my game is practically finished and hopefully it will be out within a fortnight or a month. I've been wondering, though, if anyone here would like to help me with proofreading the dialogues, since I am not a native English speaker.

I've been also thinking about having the game play-tested by two or three people, so if you like the concept for the game and have a little bit of free time, feel free to send me a PM.

If not, then you may at least scroll to the top and admire the new poster for the game : )

Link to the game's thread: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=58366.0

for some reason that art style looks kinda like an Inspector Gadget to me.

Correct! The full title is: Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 â€" Global Terror!


Over to you