58

[alphadalekben]

58

Story

Another headline; ‘58 murders and still no sign of ‘The Count''. Another victim, huh? And for what? What have they got against society?

Thrust into a bizarre and complex mystery through fate, 60 strangers are split into groups by a shady and corrupt General and have to combine their wits to complete his mysterious task.
Play through six unique, interlinking story-lines as six of these strangers to unmask his plot and escape, preferably alive.

Game Play Features

Investigate, among other locations, Area 58 via a first person view to solve puzzles and talk with the 9 intriguing characters in your party and discover more details about your situation.
Fight against the clock for your very own life in the surreal and intense PANIC! mini-games, which crop up at various points during all 6 story-lines.

Screenshots of the upcoming demo build as of 31 Jul 2014;




EDIT:

Download Demo

http://www.mediafire.com/download/o7a42chdy8gwdz4/58.exe

Winsetup for Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/download/c2p02dslqahz1of/winsetup.exe

Note
You need to right click on the start screen until you get the look icon.
The demo consists of the opening investigation and the first PANIC! section of the 'Journalist' story-line.

There will be an updated and improved demo in the near future.

Updated artwork

[Darth Mandarb]

Are these screenshots from "in game"? 

The second one looks like the menu screen... I see no player character/GUIs/etc.

[alphadalekben]

Yes they are. The game's played completely from a first person view, so the player character (the head) only appears when there is a conversation going on. I have disabled the GUI completely, so you would have to use the V, B, N and M keys (thanks for reminding me to put that in) or right click to cycle through look, talk etc. The screenshot was taken at a point where the player character isn't on screen (not intentional, just too slow with taking the screenshots.)
Would you want me to update the second one for you?

[Darth Mandarb]

No.  As long as they are "in game" it's all good.  Thanks for the clarification.

[alphadalekben]

The demo has been added to the main post. By the way, the current in-game graphics are temporary until an artist is found. Comments and opinions on the demo are much appreciated.

[Slasher]

My own experience playing this demo (or trying to):

It's just as well you left Debug on as the game failed to do anything from the start screen (no interactions at all). I teleported to another room and watched endless Say dialogs, which were quite well written. At this point in time I find it lacks quite a lot of elements that I hope you will improve on before any release. I would say, from my experience with it, it was far far too early for any kind of gip release. You should wait until it is much more solid. Screen shots and a video would be fine and much better then you releasing it as a gip demo game of any kind at this quality.

No setup either, just an executable file.

Best of luck and keep going and hopefully we'll see a more pro demo from you

This was based of my experience of this gip demo.

[alphadalekben]

Ah, so should I include a download to the winsetup then? I'll do that now.

Thanks for the comments.

Could you elaborate on the missing elements please?

[Khris]

I tried this and was as confused as slasher.
First of all, you should publish the entire Compiled folder, not just the exe. Those other files are in there for a reason.

The first room says "press F to start" in a font that's pretty much unreadable, took me a few seconds to identify the letter (since indeed only the f key works... why?).
In the next room there are no hotspot indicators, and I clicked on everything using every available cursor. Got two or three responses, but mostly nothing. Then I moved to the third room using Ctrl-X and ended in a long cutscene crammed with adjectives. The demo finally crashed when there was no room 7.

I realize that this is a WiP, but why publish this demo now? Like slasher said, it's much too early to start a thread about this. (And please, fix the screenshots; they are arbitrarily upscaled to different sizes, screwing up the pixels in the process.)

[alphadalekben]

Cheers Khris, I'll do my best to fix the issues that you have. I haven't put in the VBNM shortcut keys quite yet and I'll redraw the title and Darren's flat. The reason the demo crashes is because I haven't figured out any other way to close the game (i.e. I've no idea what the Quit Game command looks like yet.) To be perfectly honest, the part in the 'demo' is most likely to be the most text-packed part of the 'Journalist' story-line and it will open out not long after that.

The main reason I uploaded is to get an idea of how to refine the game mechanics. So, in that regard, it's been very successful.

Anyway, less chatting, more working. Thanks guys for the comments. I'll upload a few screenshots of the improvements (maybe even a small trailer) before I upload the updated version of the demo.

So, if there's anything else I need to add and refine, please say.

[Slasher]

Hi

I've no idea what the Quit Game command looks like yet.

Basic Command:

Code: ags

QuitGame(0);

Manual:
Exits the game and returns to the operating system.
If ASK_FIRST (QuitGame) is zero (0), it will exit immediately. If ASK_FIRST (QuitGame) is not zero (1), it will first display a message box asking the user if they are sure they want to quit.

Edit
I also would like to point out that if you press Escape (Esc) Key the control panel opens, if you click resume the inventory suddenly appears...

While making a game (adding graphics, text, interactions etc)is fun there is also the 'Back end' scripting that should also be done. This is where things can get real tricky. But in the end greatly enhances any game.

I will say this though:

Only by making games, reading the manual and taking note of all criticisms can you progress. Some people don't and spend months and months and in the end do not really produce anything worthwhile. Or they procrastinate and never get to finish a game.

So keep at it

[alphadalekben]

Ah thank you very much Slasher. I'll put it in when I can get around to doing it. I'm currently creating a half-body view for Evans for when you are talking to him at the end of the demo. I'll edit the post when it's done. Again, all of the current art assets are temporary so that I can work on the game mechanics. There won't be finished game graphics until I can get an artist. I'm hoping a friend of mine can do the art so there won't be any need for recruitment yet.

EDIT: Here's the temporary version of the full body view of Evans:

The reason he doesn't have hands is because the view carries on slightly under the screen.

EDIT #2: Just read the end of Slasher's post. You've just made my day with that last paragraph. Cheers.

Also, a new title screen with the logo.


EDIT: My main concern is how readable the bottom font is now, after Khris' comments.

I also would like to point out that if you press Escape (Esc) Key the control panel opens, if you click resume the inventory suddenly appears...

While making a game (adding graphics, text, interactions etc)is fun there is also the 'Back end' scripting that should also be done. This is where things can get real tricky. But in the end greatly enhances any game.

@Slasher That's certainly an interesting glitch with the Esc key. What do you mean by 'Back end' scripting?

edit by darth - triple post combined.  please do not double/triple post.

[Slasher]

That's certainly an interesting glitch with the Esc key. What do you mean by 'Back end' scripting?

Stuff like adding additional mouse left / right clicks, changing mouse cursor image when over gui's / buttons, making new functions, adding additional conditions like the way gui's display and when to display, re timing how long text is displayed on screen for, timers, variables. The list is endless....  It depends what the game you are doing requires.

About double/triple posting:
You should not make a new post after you have just made a new post. Simply modify your last post. Any new post can be added after at least a 3 day gap I believe.

[alphadalekben]

Ah, my apologies. It didn't occur to me that I had done such a thing.

Quick update: I have updated and improved a few of the graphics in-game (for example the two pictures in my last post.) I have also added a few more dialogues, one as an optional extra and one at the start explaining how to change the views (i.e look, talk etc.). The optional one was added, ironically, because of Khris' comment about it being unclear on the first screen what to do. I have also split the last screen's dialogue into two in order to make the game less of a long cutscene and more of an interactive experience. There was also one at the start of the PANIC! section hinting at the solution.

Would it be ok for me to upload the improved version of the demo either tonight or tomorrow, just to see how the improvements come along? I'd much rather you'd be able to play the segment for yourself and give me advice as you have done over the last 24 hours, than make one large demo and it being unplayable still.

[Crimson Wizard]

I am not an expert in forum rules (moderators should know better), but I wonder if it is a right time to post a game in such early condition on the "Games in Production" forum.
Since you seem to want others to do "technical tests" of your game, as you said yourself -

The main reason I uploaded is to get an idea of how to refine the game mechanics

- maybe it will be more appropriate to post in "Advanced Tech Forum" or "Critics Lounge"?
Because, frankly, from what I see here, it is not really a game demo, in the default meaning of this term, but rather something like a tech test.

Again, not sure about the rules, but I remember Darth Mandarb being not pleased when people discussed the technical properties and solutions in GiP threads.

[alphadalekben]

Alright, I'll carry on work until I have a little bit more story implemented and a little bit more refinement in the mechanics. Hopefully, it should be more applicable to be a 'game demo'.

[Darth Mandarb]

Yeah... it is, perhaps, too early to have posted for this game (particularly since these in-game screens are just placeholders) but, technically, the rules are being followed so it's okay!

As for the loading of demos and the back 'n forth discussion; I actually encourage that!  That is what the GiP is for!  So long as it's not critics lounge type back 'n forth (advice on the graphics, paint-overs, etc) or tech lounge stuff (how to program) I say keep it up!  Just make sure to keep the first post updated with the latest news so people don't have to read the entire thread to find the important/current information.

[alphadalekben]

Alright then, I wasn't going to ask for opinions on art anyway because, as I mentioned earlier, I'm only using scrappy artwork, as that is not my forté, until I get a artist to take care of that aspect for me. So, there would no need for critique in that aspect.

When I said refinements, I meant in terms of how easy the mechanics are to use, but not how to program them in, if that makes sense. So, for example, I've added a few extra dialogues to hint at how the mechanics work.

EDIT: Just a quick question. Would any of you guys be interested in playing a little unrelated demo game I made whilst learning to use AGS a few weeks back? I'll upload the complied folder if so.

[Darth Mandarb]

If you want to get any feedback on the unrelated demo (and there's nothing wrong with that) just post it to the Critics Lounge. 

It doesn't belong in this thread. 

This thread needs to remain about the game in production.

[alphadalekben]

Ah alright, sorry for the misunderstanding.

EDIT: Updated artwork now in original post.

[alphadalekben]

After a few weeks of procrastination and an operating system downgrade from Windows 8 to XP, 58 is finally back in production and all improvements are currently being implemented. Here's a list of what is being worked on:

- A redesign of the talking heads to be smaller, in a border and have a name-tag underneath.

- The implementation of a morale system whereby characters are either friend or foe depending on the player's choices through each campaign (with alternative endings to boot).

- Extra interactions to further expand upon the story.

There will be another demo showing off these changes and possibly more besides. The demo should be the last one with the temporary art before an official artist is brought onto the project.