Messages

[Shadow1000]

Shadow1000
It's half-half really, as I mentioned above, I'm going to explain myself at the bottom of this post. I do love how you're by far the first person (that I know of) who managed to get the best ending; congratulations, have a cookie!

Thanks! I kind of tried "balancing" the check on Giles and concentrate on road and succeeded after about 6 or so tries. The good thing is that when the game ends it restarts from the car scene rather the beginning of the game. Had it started over then I would have given up.

Now that I see how the different endings are determined, it makes it more intriguing that I got the S at first. The choices you make to get a different ending are subtle. Interesting idea and pretty advanced development for a contest-entry game.

SHADOW

Shadow:

The arrow buttons remaining visible is a bug, they should disappear when night falls and the bad ending cutscene is triggered. I'll fix hat one and upload a new version today.

So the reason I got that ending was because night fell and nothing I did to trigger it? Is there a way to prevent it from happening?

SHADOW

Same here. I get game over if I concentrate on driving and I get game over if I check on him. I don't know if there's any way the player is supposed to know which to do but it does seem like a guessing game.

I did play to the end and got ending S.

SHADOW

I think I got the same bad ending that some others got.

Spoiler

I don't know what happened to the old guy but he turned really dark and jumped off. Was that supposed to happen? was that good or bad? I found part of the sail and 2 cut pieces of sheets but I had no way to mend it. I turned the globe with the rotation arrows and then ended up back on the deck somehow in fog. The arrows remained on the screen and a bunch of guys came out of the water and a big hand appeared and the game was over. I never fixed the sail or found the compass

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I don't really get what happened.

I'd try playing again to see if I get a different ending but there is no way to save, as people pointed out, so I'd have to start from the beginning again.

SHADOW

I completed the game. What was the theme of the MAGS entry?

SHADOW

I finished the game but there seems to be a weird bug in the gameplay. Mind if I PM it to you?

SHADOW

LOL
Not doubting you love it, it's just me, I don't get it and have no idea what to do... walkthrough? Or at least instructions.

It's quite different than other games. For starters, did you read the README_FIRST document that came with the game folder?

SHADOW

I just finished this game. I can't understand why no one has posted to this thread. I hope that people are playing this. If not, then play it!!

I really like this game.

It's not often that I think that the strength of the game is the graphics and animation but in this case, the environment is just so well done that I have to start with it. Anyone can see just from the screenshots that the art is exceptional. I also liked the game system, including modes of travel, ample play area (in terms of rooms and variety of locations) and the ingame hint system.

The next best feature is probably the story. It's a real art to match up the length and depth of a plot with the progress of the game but here they match perfectly. I don't want to give away too much but the story progresses well from introduction to characters and familiarizing the player with the setting to the actual story and then...well, you'll just have to play to find out!

I really liked the puzzles. They offered a nice combination of object puzzles (e.g. open the box, solve the code, press the buttons till something happens, etc...), inventory puzzles, dialogue and even some arcade sequences. Most of the puzzles are creative and fresh and are a real strong point of the game.

The hint system is a nice touch. I think it's a good in-between to accommodate the fact that some players are strong puzzle-solvers, or enjoy more challenging puzzles whereas some are not as skilled and might get frustrated more easily. Giving the user a context-sensitive hint allows each player to progress at the rate that he/she finds best suited.

I think my only criticism of the game is that I found that there was a bit too much "do this; do that; go here; go there". I assume that it was part of the progress of the story, allowing things to unfold without slowing things down with too many puzzles, yet not AS fast as using cutscenes where the user just watches, but it took some time to get into the game before the puzzles started as a result. This does not diminish from my high rating; it's just something to think about.

In short, if you haven't played yet, PLAY IT! Congrats to Grok and team for a really good release.

SHADOW

PS...oh, and save often!

morganw has helped us with test-playing (and proof-reading) and he has done a great job. Any remaining issues are in no way his fault.
He too had some problem with this point which resulted in a special hint being put in to help with this part of the puzzle.

Spoiler

Which serial is 'Oasis of Fear' a part of? Look at the outside of the Metcalf's store.

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Did you get that hint?

Hey, Grok

Awesome game so far! No, that hint didn't help. As I explained

Spoiler

the rules of the game were that the word was supposed to match. Being part of a series may relate the movies but doesn't make the words match so it didn't occur to me that the solution to the puzzle was to use Oasis of Fear. I had expected there to be a way to get "Hazards" into the list somehow.

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Anyway, just because I didn't get the solution doesn't mean that it's not a valid puzzle. If even some of the play testers figured this one out then my not getting it doesn't make it a bad puzzle. I don't expect every player to figure out every puzzle Either way, the other puzzles are fun and clever so running into this one is no biggie to me.

SHADOW

No problem. Hopefully the in-game hints are adequate for the other puzzles... (but let us know if they aren't)

So far it's really a good game. The reason I had trouble was

Spoiler

because rules were established for the game and the solution didn't follow the rules.

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But I want to keep playing because aside from that part, I'm really enjoying it, including the puzzles. I assume that thorough play testing was conducted by players outside the group of those who developed it to make sure that the puzzles are reasonably solved by players, at least in conjunction with the hints, right?

SHADOW

Why don't you try that then?

Because that didn't conform to the rules. Anyway, thank you for your help!

SHADOW

Spoiler

But you got Filthy ways in your list, so when you were asked for a title starting with phil...

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Spoiler

What title got on the list then, because you looked at the hazards of helene poster?

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I don't know. I saw that one before the game started so I'll guess that it's

Spoiler

oasis

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Spoiler

Not fifty ways. FILthy ways.

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Spoiler

I see. I did not know what those scrawls were on the poster until I was given the solution and then used some imagination. Thank you

I'm stuck again because I don't know how to get "hazards of helene" in the list. I see it on the billboard but that won't put it in my dialogue options

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Thank you

SHADOW

Spoiler

The smoking room?

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Spoiler

There's only one poster there: 50 ways to make a fortune. I also spoke to everyone there. Am I missing something?

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Great game so far but I'm stuck!

Spoiler

I'm playing the last word game. I'm stuck at Kill Phil. I've looked at every poster in the game and spoke to everyone in the game again. I've visited every area again in case I missed a poster. I have no idea how to proceed. I have used the hints but they are not helping.

One hint is something like have you made a wrong turn? are you in danger of (something or other)? I assume this was a reference to one of the Highway Danger/Hazard posters but that doesn't help me get a poster starting with Phil. Another one is to look at the Oasis billboard outside Metcalfe. I looked at that repeatedly but don't know what that is supposed to help

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Thank you

SHADOW

I played the game.

Nice first game! Short and simple. I hope you keep working on further games!

SHADOW

Was that supposed to happen or did I miss part of the game?

SHADOW

The way the game works is that it is a solid-state world. By this I mean that nothing changes based on your actions, hence savegames being redundant...

This means that you can:

Spoiler

Guess some of the clues without having to actually go through all the actions of finding them out for "real".

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So yeah...you did miss some of the game mechanics but solving the mystery the way you did is not a bug or anything...

I get that, but I didn't guess! I had all the answers I needed from the newspapers I had read to make the police satisfied. Maybe the system has a certain amount of leeway where you only need 3/4 answers or something like that?

SHADOW

I think I finished the game based on the fact that I got a message saying "End of Chapter 1"

However, I feel that I must have bypassed part of what others experienced.

Spoiler

I told the police the place and date he would strike next and the next thing I knew was that he was arrested based on a newspaper article and then it was over. I didn't open any maps and I didn't call a tire/tyre shop

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Was that supposed to happen or did I miss part of the game?

SHADOW

Well I will add that at certain points the crudity level gets really, REALLY high. I still thought it was funny, but I must admit being a little shocked myself at points.

To be honest, I THINK that the reason I laughed so hard was mostly because of the the shock value of the crudity level more than anything else. It's kind of how Andrew Dice Clay became so popular in the early 90s: simply by saying things that are so shockingly crude that most people would just not think of let alone say in public. Of course you can only push that envelope so far before it's no longer shocking which is why he became an irrelevant bore within a few years, but while it's new still, it makes people laugh

SHADOW

I finished this game last night. This one is a must-play (but see below)

To me, probably the strongest point in the game is the puzzles. The puzzles in this game are clever, creative, unexpected and never cliched. I definitely got stuck and had to use the hint forum but the difficulty level was perfect. A close second strength is the humour. It's not often that a game has me laughing uncontrollably almost every step along the way. This game is FUNNY! To round out the strong points, the art matched the game perfectly and the story and plot were just right for the game in terms of length, complexity, and setting the environment.

The game is well-structured with chapter divisions and the puzzles are fairly linear. I happen to like these elements but some people may prefer things to be more "open".

The only final point I will make is that the game is crude, replete with foul language, sex reference, cartoon violence, sexual activity, nudity, drug and alcohol use and just about everything else offensive. As such, it is not appropriate for minors or people who take offense at these things.

But for the rest of us, it's a MUST PLAY!!

Well done.

SHADOW