MAGS June Special Edition "Rescue" (RESULTS)

[Shadow1000]

I'm a bit bummed out by this comment to be honest. I would like to ask how much time did you spend on trying to learn to fly the helicopter? Did you just crash a few times and then give up? I understand that going back to the main menu and trying again is time-consuming and tedious (my bad there, as I got so good at piloting during my own testing that I didn't consider repeating that over and over as a new player would get annoying)...

I stood behind a student of mine today and taught him to fly the heli in about 5 minutes (in English of course...it's an English lesson... ) and then he could fly it masterfully...

I'm a bit bummed out, still... Could you give it another try?

Just a suggestion: people might be more inclined to keep at it if you had a 3-life system or something like some games. That way you don't lose all progress when you crash.

Some ways to implement this:

- You can start the game with three helicopter icons in the top and when you crash you lose one. Lose all three and it's over
- Instead of a crash ending it all, maybe have a certain amount of damage sustained as a percent and when you're down to 0%, it's game over. There are many other ways to further this graphically (icon depicting helicopter on fire, and so on). Maybe you can pay for repairs at the shop if you earn money, etc.

The point is that I think people would stick to it more if they didn't just lose everything with one mouse-slip. And it would let people get past the initial learning hump so they can really get into it to the point of addiction.

Just my opinion!

Cheers

[Mandle]

I'm a bit bummed out by this comment to be honest. I would like to ask how much time did you spend on trying to learn to fly the helicopter? Did you just crash a few times and then give up? I understand that going back to the main menu and trying again is time-consuming and tedious (my bad there, as I got so good at piloting during my own testing that I didn't consider repeating that over and over as a new player would get annoying)...

I stood behind a student of mine today and taught him to fly the heli in about 5 minutes (in English of course...it's an English lesson... ) and then he could fly it masterfully...

I'm a bit bummed out, still... Could you give it another try?

Just a suggestion: people might be more inclined to keep at it if you had a 3-life system or something like some games. That way you don't lose all progress when you crash.

Some ways to implement this:

- You can start the game with three helicopter icons in the top and when you crash you lose one. Lose all three and it's over
- Instead of a crash ending it all, maybe have a certain amount of damage sustained as a percent and when you're down to 0%, it's game over. There are many other ways to further this graphically (icon depicting helicopter on fire, and so on). Maybe you can pay for repairs at the shop if you earn money, etc.

The point is that I think people would stick to it more if they didn't just lose everything with one mouse-slip. And it would let people get past the initial learning hump so they can really get into it to the point of addiction.

Just my opinion!

Cheers

Yeah, I thought of the damage to HPs option for the helicopter and a repair station back at HQ, but it was one of the concepts that I eventually ditched because: Helicopters don't just take damage when they hit a mountain, they crash, and I wanted to maintain the feeling of the fragility of the machines that these badasses actually go out in and risk their lives in choppers that can barely even fly at such high altitudes.

And also: I wanted to maintain the risk factor of knowing that this is your one and only life on the line, and hence no extra lives.

So I guess this means it's a difficult game and not suited to everyone's tastes, but I was curious if people gave up before or after learning how to fly the heli...

[Funkpanzer]

Spoiler

Nice graphics, with really good animations and sound effects which worked very well. The puzzles are bit simple, although the solution to finding the code was a neat idea, and the story itself is sweet. It would have been nice to have had a proper ending, but I understand you wanted to leave it open so you could link up the events with an existing game. Overall, great work!

[close]

Thanks for the feedback! I ran out of time and couldn't add in the last two scenes! selmiak very kindly pointed out that I needed to give in and just post what I had at a certain point.

Yes to the spoilers please, not everyone will see that scene!

edit: Could selmiak be added to the Bury Me credits? He made himself available for a lot of testing and took on some of the animations I didn't have time for. My bad for not making that clear!

[Shadow1000]

Just a suggestion: people might be more inclined to keep at it if you had a 3-life system or something like some games. That way you don't lose all progress when you crash.

Some ways to implement this:

- You can start the game with three helicopter icons in the top and when you crash you lose one. Lose all three and it's over
- Instead of a crash ending it all, maybe have a certain amount of damage sustained as a percent and when you're down to 0%, it's game over. There are many other ways to further this graphically (icon depicting helicopter on fire, and so on). Maybe you can pay for repairs at the shop if you earn money, etc.

The point is that I think people would stick to it more if they didn't just lose everything with one mouse-slip. And it would let people get past the initial learning hump so they can really get into it to the point of addiction.

Just my opinion!

Cheers

Yeah, I thought of the damage to HPs option for the helicopter and a repair station back at HQ, but it was one of the concepts that I eventually ditched because: Helicopters don't just take damage when they hit a mountain, they crash, and I wanted to maintain the feeling of the fragility of the machines that these badasses actually go out in and risk their lives in choppers that can barely even fly at such high altitudes.

And also: I wanted to maintain the risk factor of knowing that this is your one and only life on the line, and hence no extra lives.

So I guess this means it's a difficult game and not suited to everyone's tastes, but I was curious if people gave up before or after learning how to fly the heli...

I agree as far as making it life-like, and as the author that's certainly your prerogative.

However, every game from Pacman to Mario Brothers to Call of Duty has a 3 life or hit point system to let the user progress and get into the game rather than giving up. Imagine playing Call of duty and it's game over with no progress saved the second you're hit by a bullet, which is sadly the reality of war. No save-points, no magic healing, no med packs, etc...no one would play.

Just to repeat: just my opinion! There's no right or wrong in game design

Cheers

[SilverSpook]

On the Rotary Club three lives / no lives topic / how to get more people to play longer:

I'd say definitely shortening the time between a helicopter crash and starting the game again would help, even being able to just skip the entire title screen with escape or a click. This is one thing that wouldn't compromise the realism / rogue-like-ness of the game, but also people might not get frustrated as quickly.

I'd also say that roguelikes involve permadeth and thus greater difficulty -- that can deter certain players, but that's part of their appeal as it increases intensity, suspense, and excitement, for that more specific subset of gamers. This game is also a realtime dexterity / eye-hand coordination game rather than a point-click knowledge and logic game. In my limited experience in the community, the realtime dexterity-based games are just not the blue cup of tea of many of the AGS folks, and it makes perfect sense. As I came from the Mario, Sonic the hedgehog, and later FPS end of the spectrum, Rotary Club was kind of second-nature in a sense, like riding an old bike, and so I had a great time with it. (In fact, Neofeud I had originally designed to be a Megaman-like, SNES action platformer, with lots of running, shooting and jumping, if you can believe that! I only later switched to point and click adventure game after having difficulties with the Unity engine!)

So basically, don't feel too bad about it. As a veteran arcade-action gamer, I can say Rotary Club is top-notch, my friend.

[Riaise]

I'm a bit bummed out by this comment to be honest. I would like to ask how much time did you spend on trying to learn to fly the helicopter? Did you just crash a few times and then give up? I understand that going back to the main menu and trying again is time-consuming and tedious (my bad there, as I got so good at piloting during my own testing that I didn't consider repeating that over and over as a new player would get annoying)...

I stood behind a student of mine today and taught him to fly the heli in about 5 minutes (in English of course...it's an English lesson... ) and then he could fly it masterfully...

I'm a bit bummed out, still... Could you give it another try?

Nooooo, I didn't want to make you feel bad! I'm useless at these type of skill games, my co-ordination is pretty awful. I'll admit that I didn't spend very long on it before I gave up, I just couldn't get how the thrust worked with the left and right buttons and I didn't manage to save anyone. HOWEVER, just for you Mandle, I gave it another go and I think I've worked it out now. Although I still keep lowering the winch when I mean to click left or right . At one point I think I saved about six people before I crashed. So that is a definite improvement.

One thing I would say is that when I clicked load after crashing, it would just load up the crashed helicopter. I think this is intentional (you only want it to load after someone has quit the game rather than crashed, right?), but it might be worth disabling the load button if the player crashed during the last game. Other than that, I think the gameplay is fine as it is. It is very difficult, but people who want to keep playing will do so for the fun of it. So in that respect, it completely fulfils it's purpose.

EDIT: I completely agree with what SilverSpook said.

[Mandle]

Cheers, mates! Everything you commented on makes perfect sense! Hopefully in a future version I think I will include a "safe mode" at the start of the game where you can't crash until you at least rescue someone and make it safely back to the HQ. As the in-game excuse for this it will be because the Rotary Club owner is along for your first outing and takes the stick whenever you are about to crash.

I think this will give people a chance to get a better feel for the controls and reduce the rage-quit factor.

[DBoyWheeler]

Played all the games (and posted my comments on each game's individual section).  And cast my vote.

Best of luck to all the entrants.

[Tycho Magnetic Anomaly]

I am going to steal Mandle's sensible idea and bunch all my feedback on this mags into this post of which I will update as I play/complete each game.



Hang On

Spoiler

This was on my MAGS list first. and I am happy to say I loved it.
Its quite short, but incredibly sweet.

A very neat and tidy game, the visuals have such a strong style, I love your de-saturated/pastel-ish pallet, excellent delicate color combos.
The characters had so much charm with very apt dialog.

I would love to see you expand on this game in some way or another.

And of course super well done on getting it complete it such a short time frame.

[close]

THE ROTARY CLUB

Spoiler

Well this was an unexpected experience for me indeed!, So very far away from what I would expect AGS to do, yet people that push tools beyond their defaults often produce something innovative, which I think is what you have managed to do here.

I love the idea, and this reminds of some classic games with a similar premise.

As a proof of concept the idea is well executed, and after all game jams are all about executing concepts, however I thought as pure game experience I felt the control of the helicopter could have been better in some areas.

Improvements such as when the heli turns around when flying, could be as simple as a few frame animation of it yawing 180 degrees, then heli sprite slightly tips back and forth as it pitches. Those 2 things alone could make the feel of flying it better, maybe even make the mouse wheel action more sensitive to throttling so there is more obvious feedback to the player they are throttling up or down.

Even with the slightly stiff feel of the heli I found myself playing this for a good while, and did enjoy it to bits. I love your upgrade system too, and I really also think with a little more time and work this could in fact be an interesting casual game. I could see myself getting lost with this on my mobile/tablet.

All in all, great work, and super well done on getting it all complete for the contest.
Keep up the good/innovative work dude!

[close]

Terror Of The Vampire

Spoiler

Well, there is no doubt in my mind this game is at such a high standard, and perhaps I was lucky to play this after bugs had been ironed out but I will ignore them and focus on your game.
The graphics are wonderfully charming, and so much of it too. As with the graphics the characters and their dialogs fit the bill so perfectly.
I assume you made the music custom for the game? and its great, but I thought some of music distracted away from the atmosphere of the game, I think if you toned down the beats of one or two of them they would set more into the atmosphere of the game.
The work gone into this astounds me considering the time it had to be done in, and some of the effects seem to really be pushing AGS such as that amazing glass refraction.. just wow. I cant tell you how long i spend scrutinizing that refraction
The composition of the rooms are top notch, and I really admire and am inspired by how you  use the foreground layers to help compose your scenes.


I have not completed this game yet, but felt I had played more then enough to give feedback, so I may comment a bit more when I complete it fully.

Considering the clear amount of work gone into this in such a short space of time it is a true achievement you got it done. No reason why you cant make a few bob on this by making further improvements and expanding on it more.

Well done.

[close]

Rosaura Docelestial: Rescue From Despair

Spoiler

Fantastic atmosphere, especially with your music choice, at times it felt like a Ghibli movie or classic jrpg!
The scenario which the game is based on I thought really interesting.
I was very surprised to see you enter this game only a week or so after the contest had been announced. Like others I definitely feel the game could have benefited with a bit more attention to details and features that could have been done with extra time worked on it. I would love to see you make an improved version of this, and perhaps work a bit more on the player walk/movement which I think is pretty OK as it is, but you seem to be missing a frame or two in the animation to complete the walk cycle?
Asides from that I really though this was charming, and the theme in particular was very clever, its a very strong theme to build a game around.

Even though I thought you entered this way too early, well done anyway on getting it complete, and I hope to see more from you soon!

[close]

Bury Me In The Sand

Spoiler

This was a really sweet game
I particularly love that electrically vivid pallet you have chosen, its a really strange thing but I never would have though these colors suit would suite the theme so well.
I tried this as native pixels, but also tried out playing with the filter and I have to agree the filter really dose add a touch of class to the whole look of it.
Another relatively short game I thought, as is understandable with a game jam. The animations where superb, little touches like the flag waving really catch my eye a lot. I got stuck a few times but managed to get through it, the dialogs where very amusing and all in all I thought this was a very neat experience. I would love to see a more fleshed out game made with this style for sure.
Great work on getting this in on time too.

[close]

Bustin' the Bastille

Spoiler

Although I have not completed this game yet (seems to be quite lengthy) but I think I have played enough to at least give some initial feedback. I really thought you did very well with the period setting, it must be an extra challenge to make something that is based on something specific historically.
The game itself is very very charming and really made me feel like I was playing a game set in that period of strife.  I loved the puzzles in particular the whole cannon set up, that was really clever indeed. I thought the graphics suited perfectly and your colors reflect those troubled times.
A couple of times I felt some of the dialog could have been cut down a tiny bit as it took me ever so slightly out of the game experience.
All in all a very strong entry, with an obvious amount of work and passion put in. Extremely well done on getting it polished off in time for the deadline too.

[close]

Forgotten City

Spoiler

Extremely impressed with this entry, although it was quite short. The time gone into its graphics and general presentation amaze me. I love the attention to details on the various animation sequences, the backdrops where awe inspiring.
Just the whole atmosphere was spot one and that surreal/grungy sound track playing in the background really added a cherry on top.
I love how you explored a variety of interesting mechanics from body parts system up to infra red viewing mode.
I was surprised to see most of it was voice acted too, however I thought one of the characters accent/culture of language was a bit over done in a stereotypical way
All in all a fine experience set in a believable world and if this demo is anything to go on I will most surely give the full game a solid play through. I just wish has been a bit of a longer experience.

And really amazing work getting this to such a state in so little time. Well done

[close]

Be very proud each and every one of you for producing what you did in such a short time. Just amazing, everyone!

[Blondbraid]

Now I have played through most of the games, but I'm stuck on Bury me in the sand.

Spoiler

Does anyone know what to do when Millie tells you to give something special to Ernie?

[close]

[Stupot]

@Blondbraid

Spoiler

I'll give you a clue, but it'll cost you.

[close]

[Shadow1000]

Now that I voted, I'll leave some comments:

First, I'm very pleased that there were so many entries this month. I congratulate anyone who took the time to work with the deadline to get something in to be played and evaluated. It's amazing to see people put their talents to work for the competition.

My vote went to The Robolovers. The reason for this decision was the overall experience playing. I took into account the gorgeous graphics, the well designed puzzles, variety of puzzles, lovability of the characters, perfect length of the game, plot, humour, dialogues and overall presentation. Great application of the Rescue theme. I can't believe that something so complete and almost flawless was made in such a short time period.

I did experience some frustration with one of the early puzzles that requires the player to have good colour-vision, requiring me to get the exact answer from the author. It's worth suggesting that future games account for the 8% of male players who will be locked out of such puzzles.

Runner-ups:

Terror of the Vampire!
This was a real treat. The puzzles are great, the scripting is hilarious, the spoofing of 18th century european superstition as well as psychology as well as British superciliousness is BRILLIANT. I love vampires and this is almost a complete twist on the Van Helsing character and I LOVE IT. The Psychoanalyse verb-coin was a GREAT touch. There were some other parts that I think are genius in how they were presented but I don't want to ruin it for others. Again, hard to believe that it was developed considering the time constraints.

The two things I didn't like were the drawn out dialogues (just too much talking that gets in the way of the flow of the game) and I just don't like the colours. Pixel art is great but the colours just didn't work for me. I am overlooking the bugs that I and others encountered and am focusing just on the finished product.

Busting the Bastille
Another classic showcasing Blondbraid's cartoon graphic style being applied to European history. I enjoyed everything about the game. The message is actually quite thought-provoking. Great puzzles and humour.

Hang On
Very attractive art. Great adaptation of the Rescue theme.

To me the best part was the well-designed puzzles. It's amazing what you can do in a short game done with time contraints - exactly what MAGS is about.

The two-playable characters just adds to the overall polish of the game.

Comments on the other games:

Rotary Club
As others have mentioned, it's amazing what you can do with AGS. Definitely fits the theme. Once you get into the game it can be really addictive. I had a bit of trouble getting used to the controls and I posted my comments on considering a way for new players to learn the controls without the Game Over so they can get a chance to get into it.

Forgotten City
This game gets the award for the cool factor! Mind-blowing art, well-performed voice acting. As the title says, it's a demo and incomplete at this point.


Bury Me in the Sand
In a similar vein, this game is a small part of a bigger game. The puzzles were decent and the game was playable, but there was a lot of feeling that there's much more going on that never became clear.

Rosaura Docelestial: Rescue From Despair
Great first game. Fits the theme well. Impressive that it was made in a short time period. I get the attempt to give people personality with some humour, but like others, I didn't care for the language stereotypes. There were some other stereotypes that I didn't care for either.

Thank you to everyone who entered, played and voted!

[Blondbraid]

@Blondbraid

Spoiler

I'll give you a clue, but it'll cost you.

[close]

Spoiler

It will cost me?

[close]

[Mandle]

@Blondbraid

Spoiler

I'll give you a clue, but it'll cost you.

[close]

Spoiler

It will cost me?

[close]

I think that was the subtle hint

[Tycho Magnetic Anomaly]

I have got through all the games, however still need to finish off a couple of them, but I have updated my comments above and cast my vote since I feel I have played deeply enough into all the entries.

I cant say how amazing it is to see all of your produce such amazing things in only a month, , just imagine what you guys can do with 6 months or a year!.. keep up the great work each and every one of you.

[cat]

I'll add reviews as I play the games:

Rosaura Docelestial: Rescue From Despair
There were lots of locations to explore. The puzzles were straight forward and all logical. The writing was good but too many stereotypes for my taste. The close-up graphics were nice, but sadly the detail got lost with the scaled down version during the game.

Hang On
Lovely graphics! The setting and puzzles were really nice with two playable characters. The only thing I was missing is some background music or wind/ambient sounds.

Terror of the Vampire!
Wonderful graphics and animations but I couldn't get into the game. I found the writing way to verbose and most characters annoying. I also didn't like the GUI, it was not convenient to use and that flickering effect (the lamp?) in the foreground was distracting. I wasn't able to run the game with the default settings and had to fiddle around in winsetup to get it working (windowed mode did the trick). Maybe I'll continue playing once I've finished the other MAGS games.

The Rotary Club
Interesting concept but I'm bad at figuring out such controls. Maybe I would have tried harder if I were just reset to the base after a crash, but back to the main menu was annoying.

The Robolovers
Lovely graphics and heart-warming finish. I think the concept was great but lacking a bit of polish (there were a few glitches here and there and lots of missing interactions, especially for the drone). The music was fitting and the puzzles were nice, but could have been better balanced (lots of GUI puzzles).

Bury Me in the Sand
Wonderful little game! I love the pixel graphics, limited palette and animations. The setting, puzzles and characters are very enjoyable. Too bad there is no real ending and full of dead ends, otherwise this would have been my favourite of the bunch.

Bustin' the Bastille
Interesting historic setting, nice graphics and original puzzles although

Spoiler

obtaining the wooden rail was rather obscure and not hinted at at all

[close]

The music was also quite fitting.

Forgotten City
Promising demo, amazing what you managed to accomplish within just one month!

[Mandle]

The Rotary Club
Maybe I would have tried harder if I were just reset to the base after a crash, but back to the main menu was annoying.

I know, right! This was one thing I didn't consider properly during the rush to complete the game as I got too good at flying the heli myself...

If you could try again I would give you this advice: Go slow on the left-right button holding at first until you get a feel for how that affects the up-down lift of the heli. You have plenty of fuel to play around with at the start so take your time. Once you have a feel for the controls the game actually becomes very easy. I hope you try again, and sorry for such a noobie-dev fail on my part for that annoyance factor...

[Stupot]

Finally finished the remaining games. My personal vote went to Robolovers, which for me was the most complete package. I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and put all my mini-reviews here.^*

Forgotten City

Spoiler

Although this was just a small taster for a larger project, this has got everything: badass music, great art & animation, decent voice acting, a couple of nice puzzles and heaps of cool. If I was ever on the fence about buying Neofeud, this has pushed me off of it (into the yes garden).

[close]

Bustin' the Bastille

Spoiler

Lovely art and great storytelling. And with the music I really felt like I was in Revolution era France and badly wanted to explore around the streets more. The ending is funny and the puzzles are mostly satisfying, if a little rough around the edges. Good game, just needs a little polish.

[close]

Bury Me in the Sand

Spoiler

Really nice stuff. Great attention to detail, wonderful sun-bleached atmosphere, fun puzzles. It's a shame you couldn't quite finish it up in time, but what we've got is really fun and I hope you keep working on it.

[close]

Terror of the Vampire!

Spoiler

A fine game with poignant message, lots of lovely animations and the characters are great so they are so they are.

[close]

The Robolovers

Spoiler

Very nice stuff, really well put-together. The puzzles are fun with a couple of head-scratchy moments. The writing is pretty funny and the artwork is gorgeous. I would love to see more games in this universe (hint hint).You guys make a great team.

[close]

The Rotary Club

Spoiler

This game is cool. There are so many things that you learn after every few goes that you can use to improve your next turn.
It could benefit from an option of difficulty levels (preferably easy mode), but I love it.

[close]

Hang On

Spoiler

Very nice work. Cute concept, pitch-perfect puzzles, superb visuals. The only thing missing is some background music or sound effects.

[close]

Rosaura Docelestial: Rescue from Despair

Spoiler

I enjoyed this. Could have done with a bit of polish but it's a charming game. Great job in the time you did it.

[close]

^{*These can all be found on the games' database pages. If you haven't already, it would be great if you could rate and comment on each game. If you've commented in this thread or in the games' announcement threads, you can just cut and paste them. :-)}

[SilverSpook]

Ok, here are my reviews!

Rosaura Docelestial: Rescue from Despair

Spoiler

Fantastic job for a first-time AGS developer. And this guy finished first -- he should unlock the Speedy Gonzales achievement or something!

Loved the game, very sweet and kind-hearted, that's just about helping people out and being a good person just because. Kind of refreshing in that way.

Great work man!

[close]

Hang On

Spoiler

Great game, very tight and just enough challenge to the puzzles not to rage-quit. Love the unique art style here and the animations are all very well done. The writing is spot-on as well; the dialog feels natural, and the characters come off like real people. A rarer delight these days!

Great job!

[close]

Terror of the Vampire!

Spoiler

Awesome game, and very funny. Graphics are stellar, animations are amazing, pretty much everything is amazing here. It's also got something to say, and a heart, beneath the cartoon exterior, which you can't say about every game. Five overweight rodents out of five!

[close]

The Rotary Club

Spoiler

I am not a roguelime fan by any stretch of the imagination (I can't even spell it right), in fact this might have been the first real roguelyke that I have played, Mandle. But I could not stop playing "The Rotary Club" for at least an hour after I started. I felt like 5 again with my Nintendo, feigning the flu so I could stay home and beat that goddamn Quickman level in Megaman 2. Super awesome job, and a true feat of programming to make that out of the AGS engine, I'm amazed you did it in a month!

Graphics were also perfect for this sort of game. Controls themselves were super smooth, feels like piloting an actual helicopter! Not that I have any experience in that field, but it was very intuitive! The sound effects all added great and appropriate atmosphere as well. The shop was really fun to play around with too, an incredible amount of depth in this game that was made apparently in like 9 or 10 days (!#!(@?!!!!???) it seems like you could clock in hundreds of hours with this on Steam and share oodles of achievements to feel cool with your online friends like, "Insomniac - played for 48 hours straight". I'll probably win that award soon

[close]

The Robolovers

Spoiler

Awesome game! I finished it last night and it was a real blast. I'm all about the robots and cyberpunk, so this game was right up my alley.

Graphics are pro and it's obvious Tycho came from the industry. The writing is snappy and funny, and I really liked the 'leet-speak' character names (G1R7, etc.) and the witty wordplay that you can only really get away with in these sort of cyber-adventure games.

The puzzles were all pretty much spot-on. I got stumped by the janitor door bit, but it made perfect sense in retrospect. Probably if I was playing in the morning rather than around midnight it would've come to me sooner.

Took me a little over an hour to finish, I think.

Overall, fantastic job!

[close]

Bury Me In The Sand

Spoiler

Fantastic game, absolutely loved the color scheme!

It's very polished for a one-month MAGS job. The writing is great and lots of humor, lots of visual gags (some raunchy ones, but it's about getting some in the summer -- what do you expect!? ).

The puzzles are all well-done, nothing head scratching and all felt satisfying. The 'hearts scratched into the wood puzzle' was very original and well-designed. There's a lot more depth than the sunny cartoon feel lets on!

Highly recommended to any adventure lover, or adventurous lover! (Seriously, there is a great makeout scene and everything! )

[close]

Bustin' The Bastille

Spoiler

Awesome game! If Monty Python did adventure games, and comedy on the French Revolution, I imagine it would be something like this.

The graphics are great, animations are smooth, and everything really puts you into late 1700's France right around the Revolution. The writing is great, with lots of hilarious bits, especially if you know a little of the history. My favorites were the 'hero getting shot mid-speech' scene, and the 'house husband who does the sweeping, sewing, etc'. It seems to be a signature audience-expectation-subversion of Blondbraid's, and it works perfectly in Bustin' the Bastille.

5 beheaded fish out of 5!

[close]

[Funkpanzer]

I played through everything with my partner over the weekend and we had a blast! I have a strange urge to thank everyone for making these...

Rosaura Docelestial
I'm impressed by how quickly you managed to finish this and I was really into how earnest and sympathetic the story was. The accents were the only off-putting thing, and made the game a bit difficult to read. Your characters are interesting without them! I hope you'll revisit this at some point because I think it's a really pretty story.

The Robolovers
Absolutely gorgeous on every level! I love the dialogue and especially anything to do with iGore. It all had that nice lived in smell to it.

Spoiler

My gripe is how dark the game got at the expense of sex workers for humour or tension. The game never really took itself seriously until you meet the janitor and he starts talking about robots being beaten. I know they're just robots but you have such a fun, empathetic game and it bummed me out way more than I think was necessary.

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Bustin' the Bastille

Spoiler

I have a recurring nightmare. At first it's the sound of a bird's wings or distant gunfire. I try to run the other way but still it gets ever closer and louder until I have my eyes clenched shut and my palms pressed to the sides of my head. I scream but it's not my voice I hear… my lips flap and my tongue flicks violently but all that comes out of my mouth is a thick, wet “POP!”

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HangOn
The muted palette and friendly puzzles were just what I like on a lazy afternoon.

Spoiler

The one thing that bugged me though… the stalactite! I have a ski pole! I'm gonna whack that thing, or jam it in the crack I made! Why couldn't I just grab the cog with it? I think it would help alot if items could be lost or if there were explanations for why certain combinations didn't work but the amount of polish on everything and the fact that the solutions were still logical in some way made up for it.

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The Rotary Club
This shit got me PUMPED UP! I didn't get very far but we laughed the entire time. It reminded me a lot of 90's Apple shareware (in a good way!). I don't know what the solution is for the difficulty and those of us that aren't good at these things but I would definitely spend more time with an updated version that skipped the menu and instructions after a crash.

Terror of the Vampire!
I walked through that gas lantern just to see it distort everything so many times… I love the amount of care that went into this game's visual style. My favourite part is the "Psychoanalyze" animation, I just wish it played every time!

Between the dialogue often filling the screen and the high-contrast of the text, I got lost and never quite knew what I was trying to do. Because the game is so dark, it might help to have the text UI background be a slightly darker colour. I'm also going to have to agree with cat for some of the characters. I ended up skipping through some dialogue and got stuck while trying to avoid him telling me I couldn't leave again.

All that said, I played Terror 2nd to last and I'm excited to do a fresh headed play-through this weekend and finish the game with a better idea of what's going on!

Forgotten City
There are a lot of fun ideas here and I'm pretty damn excited to get my hands on Neofued while you expand on this. I also really appreciated your live dev streams. The art style really sells the dark future, everything looks like it would be sticky and smell terrible.