Messages

In the mood for halloween, this Mandle gem works fine as a single player for kids:Trick or treat simulator.

While the game/activity is rigged for multiplayer of sorts (sending files to each other), my kids had fun using the Continue button to play both the owner of the house and the trick-or-treater. It's made somewhat like the dress up games some kids like, so I guess you know if this is something for your child or not.

Back to the future?

Was there ever released an English translation of Osher Bli Gvulot - Boundless Osher?

Nope, there's only the non-english version, created at 17-09-2007.

Thank you. That's a pity. Reading this thread https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=33092.msg428660#msg428660 it looks like the creator found a way to implement the finished translation.

Was there ever released an English translation of Osher Bli Gvulot - Boundless Osher? The version available on archive.org predates a tech thread about the difficulties of making the translated speech files work, and the link on the download page on this site only links to the torrent (which I cannot use).

Awesome game, but I'm badly stuck:

Spoiler

Mutated Gordon has grabbed the girl, and I'm supposed to cut her loose I guess. I've been looking all over the place but can't find anything to do that. All I have is the pocket knife.

[close]

Spoiler

I think what you need to do is to set the monster on fire. Have you climbed down the ladder and looked around a maintenance/office room?

[close]

Pogwizd is right.

Spoiler

It's a bit odd. The ladder the player character "didn't want to" climb down earlier, is now open for exploring. There you'll find the items necessary, although you have to figure out how to use them.

[close]

Congratulations on winning the game jam! I haven't played all the entries, but I'm glad the judges share my feelings about your game.

Interesting topic! The old Sierra games had quite a few sudden death situations where the only possible way through was to learn from dying and try again until you found the correct way to avoid death. I reckon the idea came from action games, where this kind of learning gives the player an advantage in the next game. In adventure games, however? Compared to the action games, where you could have to beat ten levels before losing all your lives against the same enemy, the Sierra games at least had a save option. But it's clearly an example of the player gathering knowledge the character doesn't know. Not the type of puzzle I prefer.

We've had this discussion in our home recently. My kids helped out as playtesters for BYO Hero, and when they restarted, I had to explain why they couldn't do certain actions yet. "You know that, but Coco (the character) doesn't know it yet!" In that game, Coco has a sort of amnesia. The players will probably understand what has happened before she has gathered all the pieces. It's not a problem, though, just makes the kids feel smart.

Mandle makes a good point about controlling different characters, but on the other hand, Maniac Mansion and especially Day of the Tentacle are exactly like that, and I can't really say it's a problem. Perhaps because they are comedies?

Is immersion necessarily the same as identification with the player character? I'd say no. Larry Laffer makes his one-track observations on his own. Without his goofy personality, the games wouldn't be as fun to play. Gabriel Knight misses several of the hints a German-speaking player will catch, but it's still fun to find the clues together with him.

Another option is the unreliable narrator. This opens up for subjective ways of showing the surroundings. In these cases, the player (probably) knows that the world isn't how the character sees it, because we know that he/she is under the influence/infected/hallucinating in the desert/in denial/whatever. This can be pretty great, but it's not a common trope in adventure games, I think.

Suddenly, the count of games decreased from 50 to 49. Which one was removed from the contest?

It’s alright, but the problem with those riddles is that they can’t really be solved just based on the riddle. It requires A LOT of investigation through probing the riddler. I think a good riddle should stand up to those Agatha Christie rules (ie you can’t hide anything from the reader; they should be given enough to figure the mystery out,  etc).

Nah, this is another kind of riddle, requiring lots of yes/no questions.

The seagull riddle reminds me of another one I heard in a similar vein (if anyone wants to try it):

A young girl opens a door in her house and this changes everything she knows forever. What was the door?

(People might have heard that one before. Otherwise, I don’t think it is possible to guess what the door is without lots of investigation.)

Again, this type of riddle will find its audience better if you post in the Black Stories thread, which is dedicated to this kind of riddle. But I'll be delighted to have a go.

Is the door a normal, physical door? (Not some "door of the heart"-thing.)
Have she ever seen that door opened before?
Does the door lead out of the house?
Does she live there alone?
Has she never been outside?

You could perhaps seek out the demos from the games page and see what the ones with highest ratings do.

That's the same problem with the:

Spoiler

"Luke. I am your father!"

[close]

People just forgot that no matter how old the movie is that "everybody" has seen it a million times, there are new viewers that haven't seen it! So no matter how old and well known a movie is, FFS, please use spoilers when talking about movies/shows!

Oh no! How the West was Won spoiled! Darn if I'll ever click on an unmarked spoiler tag again! 

When The Two Towers was coming in movie theaters, the trailer was showing something everyone who had read The Lord of the Rings would know,

Spoiler

That Gandalf wasn't dead and would return

[close]

. My wife hadn't read the books and didn't know. I actually successfully distracted her for months during the key moment of the trailer, offering pop corn or something to make her look off screen. She got the surprise when watching the movie, as everyone should, if possible.

How about making a "rate some games" competition? It could be free form or steered towards a theme...I tried to suggest to people to play and rate dog or cat games in another thread, but I guess making it a competition where you feel like part of a team would perhaps be more motivating. One could assign more points to rating previously unrated games, bonus points for playing and rating long games or whatever is necessary to get in those votes in the right places. If using a theme, the host could provide a list of games, or the players could play and rate any game that fits a given description. I guess a mod would have to be judge to be able to see how many votes was actually cast, or it could be done based on an honour system where the participants post their opinions on the games (hopefully leading to discussion).

* Title of activity - Play and rate. (Or any good title, really.)
* A thorough description of its concept and purpose (educational or entertaining?) - Concept above. Purpose - to get the games in the database proper player ratings. Other than that, mostly entertaining, though constructive criticism could be educational, too.
* Periodicity (how long each round will be and how often it will occur) - No idea. A month?
* Type of competition: Will there be a winner, who will elect the winner (if there is a vote, how long will voting go on) - This would depend on the form chosen. Probably a team would be set as winners.
* Thread administrator: Will the activity/competition be maintained by the winner of the previous round, or by the same person every time? - Don't know.

I’m publishing a game soon, and I’d like it to be a success (no way of knowing if it will make $500k or $57.80, but hey).
I’ll be putting out a demo - how long should it be? Should I even bother with one, and just put an enticing video/screenshot package?

A demo is a good idea if it makes the player want more.

Gameplay is about 3.5 hours at the quickest, full dialogue.

What’s a good length for a demo? 30min, 15min, 1 hour?

If total gameplay is 3.5 hours, you don't want to give away a full hour. I'd say 5-15 minutes should cover it.

Should I leave them hanging or make it obvious when the demo is done?

I think it's really annoying if there's no signal that the demo is done, si I definitely would want it restricted to doing a task, showcasing only a few locations or similar.

 The dog vs cat challenge!

Are you a dog person or a cat person? Please participate as we play and rate some dog games or some cat games! 

I've found some games that need more votes to get a player rating:

That damn dog
Murder Dog IV
Hell’s Puppy
Alpha dog

Cornelius Cat in: The Uncontrollable Pest
Confessions of a Cat Burglar
Too many kittens
CATapault

If you want to suggest others, please do! Now, let's see who can get five votes in and get those player ratings up and running. Will it be the cat people or the dog people? Or will the cow people suggest games of their own?

(For convenience, I've checked that the games suggested are available and given proper links in the comment section where the download link is faulty or troublesome.)

Pogwizd, I started a thread in the Hints and Tips section and answered you there. I think this game has enough downloads to warrant a hint thread.

Pogwizd asked: I'm in the lab. 

Spoiler

I have a soda can, a hammer, a fretsaw and a drill. I used the ladder (quite a big ladder to carry around in your pockets ) to open (?) the fusebox. Any ideas what I should be doing next?

[close]

If I remember correctly:

Spoiler

You need to use most of those items in order to make a trap for the giant monster who's barring your escape route. Go to the room with a glass wall with water and another monster behind it and try to make a crack in the wall. There's a bit more to making the trap, but hopefully that will get you on the right track.

[close]

What a charming escape game! I've played it some nights in a row now, and finally made it through without hints. Beautiful drawings and suitably exotic (for me, at least). And a challenge. The logic behind the puzzles isn't always straightforward, but that's par for the course in this genre. But an option to save the game would have been nice.

Even though the game doesn't always use normal logic, the tasks are hinted at enough to tell the player what to do.

And finally: All you who played this - remember to go to the games page and vote/rate. We need at least five votes to give the game a player rating. Your vote is crucial. 

EDIT: The game isn't added to the database! FolieduJour, please add it so we can vote for it! You do this by going to the games page and click on 'Add your game' down in the corner. This will make the game more accessible and probably generate a lot more plays.

I think I want to add another way of suggesting games here: the challenge. We could list a few games that need more ratings with some kind of common theme (Halloween, based on a book, kid friendly, games about cats, or whatever). Then we could try to play and rate said games to meet a challenge - or maybe some/one of them. Every rating counts! I'll give it some more thought before I suggest any games in a category; it would be even better if different people came with proposals. Old games are fine, too.

Lost?

[I am a Vampire]

I've played some more games in addition to the two I've already mentioned.

So far I've also  played:

I am a Vampire: This I liked. It's a quest for candy in the neighbourhood. Okay puzzles.

The Man Who Mistake His Wife for a Hat: A bit experimental with using different senses. Not always logical solutions to the puzzles, more of clicking around to see what happens. A lot is not implemented. Don't play if that bothers you.

Wilbur the Wizard: Five minutes with a stickman. It doesn't pretend to be more than it is, which is charming. But not a great game, exactly.

Marmotte: You control a ghost that hasn't grasped his own death yet. Nice minimalist graphics and a couple of small puzzles...which doesn't make sense with the ghost setting. Five minutes well spent nevertheless.

Lost Space: Unfinished game with placeholder art, made in AGS. I don't know if it's winnable in its current state.

Cosmic Truths: Philosophical adventure. I liked this one.

A Delusion: Short attempt at an adventure made with RPG maker. The story branches, and it's not a satisfactory end to one of the stories. Not finished, but playable like a demo or intro.

Room 238: Your quest is to enter the locked hotel room. The player progresses from room to room, gathering what (s)he needs along the way. Fun in a retro way, but with no real reason why these items are available.

I guess there are some more good ones in there. And I'll have to play Vampire Wombat's game now, no matter what he says.