Adventure Forums - View Single Post - AG Community Game Playthrough #1: Beneath a Steel Sky

MoriartyL · 01-15-2006, 07:23 AM

The trial was very clever, definitely the best scene so far. The idea of staging a trial as a game show is a very perceptive extension of the problems of modern law.

LINC-Space is cute. Not much else to say, since you see everything there is to see in the first ten seconds, and then it's dragged out for another minute or two.

Neither of these scenes make up for the drudgery of wandering around this area. Sorry, Kurufinwe, but it's just nonstop tedium. Down to the bottom, back up to the top, back down to the bottom, etc. A note about Foster: although he's thinking so many steps ahead that he can find a use for dog biscuits, he's not smart enough to understand that in order to use the elevator, he'll need to take out his ID card. Picking the ID card, then hunting for the slot and clicking on it, is of course not a problem when you're asked to do it once or twice. But I must have done this fifty times already, and still Foster hasn't noticed a pattern. This isn't a very hard problem to fix. But it is very annoying.

Then there's the sluggish pace of walking around. I think I've mentioned it twice already, but since it's so aggravating I think I'll say it again. This game needs double-click exits. This is not hard to program either. The game needs running, too, or something like it; it takes about twenty seconds to get from the front of the bar to the back. Gee, this is fun!

Before, I said that backtracking had no place in adventures. That was just based on a gut feeling. But now that I've actually played some of this game's backtracking, I can say for certain: Backtracking has no place in adventures. These areas are nothing more than a setting for the characters; they're not interesting enough to sustain exploration. You can't take in an atmosphere and participate in a story at the same time. It just doesn't make sense: the viewer of art is looking to take his time and appreciate his surroundings, while the performer in a story is looking to push his role forward. How can these two different approaches be reconciled?

01-15-2006, 07:23 AM	#142
MoriartyL Not like them! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Israel Posts: 2,570	The trial was very clever, definitely the best scene so far. The idea of staging a trial as a game show is a very perceptive extension of the problems of modern law. LINC-Space is cute. Not much else to say, since you see everything there is to see in the first ten seconds, and then it's dragged out for another minute or two. Neither of these scenes make up for the drudgery of wandering around this area. Sorry, Kurufinwe, but it's just nonstop tedium. Down to the bottom, back up to the top, back down to the bottom, etc. A note about Foster: although he's thinking so many steps ahead that he can find a use for dog biscuits, he's not smart enough to understand that in order to use the elevator, he'll need to take out his ID card. Picking the ID card, then hunting for the slot and clicking on it, is of course not a problem when you're asked to do it once or twice. But I must have done this fifty times already, and still Foster hasn't noticed a pattern. This isn't a very hard problem to fix. But it is very annoying. Then there's the sluggish pace of walking around. I think I've mentioned it twice already, but since it's so aggravating I think I'll say it again. This game needs double-click exits. This is not hard to program either. The game needs running, too, or something like it; it takes about twenty seconds to get from the front of the bar to the back. Gee, this is fun! Before, I said that backtracking had no place in adventures. That was just based on a gut feeling. But now that I've actually played some of this game's backtracking, I can say for certain: Backtracking has no place in adventures. These areas are nothing more than a setting for the characters; they're not interesting enough to sustain exploration. You can't take in an atmosphere and participate in a story at the same time. It just doesn't make sense: the viewer of art is looking to take his time and appreciate his surroundings, while the performer in a story is looking to push his role forward. How can these two different approaches be reconciled? __________________ -Mory My first game My second game My third game Last edited by MoriartyL; 01-15-2006 at 07:29 AM.