Messages

Ah... That makes sense.
Sorry about that. Not much I can do about the colour of the apples.
Mind you... If you can see brown then just catch everything that isn't brown.

I think you will find that you will miss out on 5% of the completion percentage.

Red and green are indistinguishable; I can't identify which one is brown, although it would look different. Hard to explain

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The apple quest gives you 250 coins and adds to the completion percentage at the end of the game.

I can't tell visually which apples are which colour.

May I ask why?
Are you, by any chance, unable to see certain colours correctly?

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Correct. Red/green

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Now For The Apple Quest.
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Catch only the red and green apples. Red apples give you a life. Brown apples take away a life. Allowing red or green apples to hit the ground will also take a life.

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I can't tell visually which apples are which colour. I wish I had known that this was a requirement for this quest before spending all that time Does this quest lead to another quest or is it just the 250 coins? If it's just the money then I'll pass

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Hi, Shadow1000.

Glad to hear you are progressing well in the game.
Let me see if I can be of assistance here.
I will answer you second batch of questions, first. 

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For the barrels in the Bar cellar do them in this way...
Second Barrel, Push left. Move down... Push barrel Left. Move down... Push Barrel Left. Move down... Push Barrel Down. Move Right... Push Barrel Up.
Move Right... Push Barrel Down. Move Right... Push Barrel Right. Move Down... Push Barrel Right. Move Down... Push Barrel Left. Move Down... Get Key.

To get out...
Move all the way up and Push barrel up. Move Left... Push Barrel Up... And exit.

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Thanks for the solution. I am wondering HOW players were supposed to solve that? Short of mapping out each barrel and jotting down which directions it moves and restarting over and over.

I downloaded and played last night. What a shame that you lost motivation! It really looks like a lot of work and thought went into what's in there and the art is amazing! Maybe if you team up with some of the talented people on the forum you can back to completing the project?

Good luck.

After playing this for over 14 hours, I'm finally at the point of needing help

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I closed all the portals and got all the characters. My starting character is on level 10 with 3 skills and I have the completed crown, including the diamonds. He is nowhere near ready to slay the monster on the mountain. What is the recommended level to even try the boss fight? I could keep training him and try again every few levels but that would be very expensive in terms of potions and shields and take a LOAD of time...

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As far as outstanding quests:

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I have the barman quest. He said he left you the key. I assume that's the building to the left of the bar/casino where there are barrels in a grid blocking a key. I have NO idea what to do there. There is no way to know which barrels move and in which direction and I've sunk a lot of time into this one.

I have the apple farm quest. The apples fall WAY too fast to catch them so I slowed down the framerate to a point where I can actually catch each apple. But the task STILL fails! It seems that sometimes catching an apple will actually deplete lives. How is this one to be played?

I have no idea how to fish. The instructions from the guy at the lake are pretty vague. I see the bullseye and a timer. I've tried randomly mashing enter but I've yet to catch a fish. Is this an important part of the game? What is the objective here?

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I've only completed 55% of the game so I am hoping that completing some of these quests will open new quests to play...

Any walkthrough planned or available?     Love this game but I get stuck quite a bit...

Maybe try the hints and tips? I created a thread when I played it back in December so maybe try asking there?

Just to add to my previous: my character has 70 HP now, so the enemies have 70 HP now. To kill an enemy can take 2 shields by the time I get through all those hit points. That's 100 coins to kill a single enemy. Considering that the quests for the mayor pay 50 coins, it's a losing deal...

Yes, as well as the fact that

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the quest is always for the same creature type that you have which means no "easy" fight now and then against an opposite creature. I must wonder why the quest wasn't randomized.

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Also

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When the player beats a portal guardian (which is also always about the same level as the owned creature) and receives the creature as a new "pet", why does it start off at level one instead of the real level it was? It's so long and hard to train up a creature as it is, and I never saw the point in training anything except my starting creature. Which is a shame because it made the whole opposite creature system a bit pointless for me, when it's such a vital part of games like Pokemon.

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I did NOT realize that! I don't know how you figured that one out. Either way, I'm not too worried about leveling up, because as we said, a higher level just means stronger enemies..

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Also no ability to choose a different creature at the start of each battle? Not a huge issue as you pretty much always know what kind of enemy you are going to be facing except perhaps the first time you enter the dark cave.
It's also a bit strange that the player must remember to equip a new card every time they get one even though there is no way to run out of slots for cards or vary your deck.
Having the player leave the house every time he sleeps is a bit troublesome too as almost every time I slept I wanted to save right after.
Another thing is the unskippable and rather long scenes when using the cable-car, the ship, and when sleeping. I realize the game is mostly in real time and things should use up time but I think it might be better to make these skippable and just add the time to the timer, which is done when you sleep anyway.
Also, the game keeps track of many of the player's statistics but doesn't show them at the end of the game.
Oh, one last point: The star-drawing puzzle. Maybe it's just my computer but, even though everything else in the game ran perfectly smoothly, the tracing puzzle slowed my system noticeably after I had drawn about 1/3 of the shape and brought it almost to its knees by the time I'd finished 3/4. It was moving so slow that the entire puzzle took me about 20 minutes to trace plus the slowness of the controls caused me to fail it once when I was about 3/4 done. I'm guessing AGS is drawing every one of the lines every frame? Is that necessary? Can't you just draw each line once?

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I agree with all these points. My only difference is that the star puzzle was pretty smooth for me. My computer is circa 2012 so not new by any means.

Sorry if these sound like complaints. They aren't. I just want to see the game become the greatest game of its type of all time, which I feel, with a few simple changes, it very well could be.

This is really important. I haven't said anything nice about the game but actually, I absolutely ADORE this! I can go on about it but I was hoping to finish before saying anything. Honestly, other than the points I've made it is SO awesome. There is SO MUCH to do and the game just keeps getting better and better. I'm 35% complete and I do look forward to completing it and then making more detailed comments.

Just to add to my previous: my character has 70 HP now, so the enemies have 70 HP now. To kill an enemy can take 2 shields by the time I get through all those hit points. That's 100 coins to kill a single enemy. Considering that the quests for the mayor pay 50 coins, it's a losing deal...

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The game seems very out-of-balance to me in regard to gaining EXP. No matter what enemy I meet it is always adjusted up to my own level (or a level either way).

I have rarely felt that special feeling that RPGs should provide that I have advanced in power and things that I previously feared are no longer a threat.

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I've noticed this too. It's almost like leveling up doesn't feel like you are advancing; it doesn't have that same rush. Leveling up SHOULD open doors to go to new places or expand what you can do in the game.

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Every time I meet an enemy it's around my level and hard to beat, pretty much a 50/50 chance. I never feel like I'm getting better than any enemies. They just rank up along side me and every fight is as hard as the first ones.

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My problem is that unless I stock shields or potions (assuming I know which altered state I'll be in), I end up in an altered state pretty quickly and the fight is pretty much over. Shields last for 3 hits and at 50 coins each, fighting gets pretty pricey....

I played the demo and I really enjoyed it! I found it CRAZY and unpredictable. I had a lot of laughs and the puzzles were fun and solvable. Good luck on the project.

I'm pleased that we had some last minute entries this month!

My comments:

A Suspicious Date

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As others have pointed out, I spent most of the playing time getting the hang of the interface. The end was predictable yet funny. I really like when people come up with a new way to design puzzles and game interfaces rather than using the traditional elements. Amazing how you can create a game with only one background! Of the two, this one met the theme of the month better in my opinion.

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Cave of Avarice

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I cannot believe that the graphics, puzzles, animations were put together in such a short time for this game! I knew the graphics would be outstanding when I saw Blondbraid's name on it. Sound effects, background sounds, you name it...very rare for a MAGS entry. Aptly named, this game was a pleasure to play. The puzzles were a good variety and well-designed but on the easier side. I had a laugh at the jumping puzzle. And lastly, a moral lesson at the end to round things up

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My vote goes to

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Cave of Avarice. I enjoyed it more overall.

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Congrats! I look forward to next month's theme!

I was a bit confused when I tried the game as all the comments are talking about a verb coin interface, but that isn't what is used

The game uses the 9-verb system by Abstauber

My bad! I misunderstood the term "verb coin". Here's some clarification in case others make the same mistake: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/wiki/Verb_coin

That was really funny and some good puzzles. I am impressed by how almost everything you do has a response from the system. Many games cut corners in this area, especially for a demo!

It's probably a bit late now but I am just not a fan of verb coin interfaces. I know some people like it but in my opinion there's often just so much more clicking and mouse usage to solve a puzzle and that usually detracts from the gameplay.

Nice graphics and animation, especially the campfire! It was fun to play and get a feel for the game. Looking forward to the release.

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain myself properly!  What I mean is that while I definitely agree that there needed to be at least a puzzle in order for it to be a game rather than an interactive story, what I'm not so happy with is what I ended up coming with, because in the context of the story...

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...there really isn't a reason that explains why suddenly you need to unlock your laptop using some secret code hidden in the postcards. I feel it's just not very consistent with everything else in the game.

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Completely true! But such is the nature of most puzzles in adventure games

I am happy in any case that you thought that the difficulty level was on point! That's something that I feel is really hard to get the hang of, so it's a huge compliment for me 

Awesome! Looking forward to more games from you!


Cheers

Hmm....I actually liked the fact that there was a puzzle. It wasn't too easy but not impossible either so I enjoyed it. I felt that if not for the puzzle then it would have just been an interactive short movie rather than a game.

I guess we all see it differently!

Great effort to all you last-minute entries. I actually thought that there would be none this month and then they came piling in last minute!

I'm only going to comment on two entries:

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Heroes of Wyrdale
Great back story and play system. Choosing a character with skills was a great bonus. Graphics and effects are superb. Because of time constraints, the game basically consists of shooting out robots.

The Era-Gone Trail
I loved the graphics and gameplay. Even with most of the game being left to the imagination as to what "could be", even in its current state it was a lot of fun. Once I understood some of the details, it took about 20 or so minutes to complete. A lot of the game is about food management and that can be somewhat random as to how much food or how long you'll last before getting kicked out by the snakes.

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My vote went to

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The Era-Gone Trail. I felt that there is more gameplay in this one

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It's always interesting to see what people come up with when pressed for time.

Cheers! I worked pretty hard on the graphics, drawing all from scratch in GIMP with my trusty mouse, although a lot are still placeholders, especially the GUI layout and hunting/gathering screen. I am pretty stoked with how well my first parallax scrolling went, though!

Actually that part specifically is AWESOME!