[Giligan]

Spoiler:

Killing the guard by stabbing him in the foot never fails to be amusing.

[Melanie68]

I went through and added some spoiler tags (perhaps overdoing it, I don't know). If you're going to give any details away, try to use them. Thanks.

[Squinky]

Spoiler:

I, personally, don't really think there's anything in that game that COULD be spoiled, but I guess it all depends how people like to approach things. *shrugs*

[stepurhan]

It's the joy of silly discovery rom finding all these things out for oneself.

I like to think the use of my pseudonym was not "cheating" but "creative thinking".

[Len Green]

Exactly how many possible different endings are there ?
I got to over half a dozen ... and can see that there are (probably many) more... but have several beta-testings to attend to !!

[Trumgottist]

Originally Posted by Squinky

Spoiler:

I, personally, don't really think there's anything in that game that COULD be spoiled, but I guess it all depends how people like to approach things. *shrugs*

I agree with the second part of your statement. In my view, any screenshot or any information about any game constitutes a spoiler. A screenshot of an early, or insignificant part of the game is a very small spoiler, but it still means that my first encounter with it is outside the game.

So my view on what's a spoiler is very strict. That doesn't mean I get upset if I see someone post a minor spoiler of something (to put everything in spoiler tags would quickly get ridiculous), but my general rule is that the less I know about a game (or book or movie…) before I experience it myself (for the first time), the better. I enjoy the exploration and discovery of it, even for small things.

That's why there's only a single, partial, screenshot from Frasse on my site, btw.

(If a moderator wishes to move this post from this thread to a separate topic, that's fine by me. I couldn't decide where to put it, so I left it in the thread containing the post to which I was replying.)

[Melanie68]

I just thought that people describing specific things they did in the game to get an ending might constitute a spoiler. They may want to discover those things on their own. I would much rather play it safe than have someone come to a thread and see something they weren't ready to.

[Tyler_Legrand]

Spoiler:

I'm so chivalrous I can kill a guy, give a supposed hero a love potion, and still win the queen

I think

[Panthera]

I just downloaded it and went through several versions too. I really like the humour and dialogue in the game, and how the characters change.

My long version was:

Spoiler:

get the guard to go and fulfil his childhood dream to be a ballet dancer, get the queen to talk to leslie, get leslie to talk to the wizard, and make the queen not like leslie. Make the bard fall in love with him, buy the sword, and kill the evil guy himself, and asking the queen out. Only bad thing was that I made leslie sad, but I didn't really understand why he liked me anyway, since I was always rude to him..

I laughed a lot!

[Jatsie]

Why doesn't the man on the right have nipples? This is prejudicing my view of the game, I'm not sure if I should download it now.

[Squinky]

Because I tried drawing nipples on him, but they looked stupid. Hence, I went for the Ken doll look. (Yes, he has smoothness between his legs as well.)

Still, you should download the game anyway, if only because I have commanded you to.

[Jatsie]

I think you're lying, the reason he lacks nipples is the same as the reason he doesn't have a navel, he's not a mammal! See, I've cracked some hidden plot twist here, he hatched out of an egg!

Now I must go play it to see if I'm right.

I'm choosing to believe that by "smoothness" you mean he's a modern man and he waxes, in order to produce topiary from what could be an unkempt conifer.

[JKR]

I just read the Adventure Architect feature, so I thought I'd revive this topic and say once again "good work" on the game! I really enjoyed it. The only thing I didn't like was how I ran into a wall at the market and couldn't figure out how to do the "good" thing there (or what I perceive as good, anyway). So I was stuck.

All in all, a lot of fun. I think it would have been cool to have more in the backgrounds for Phlem to look at and make comments on. He has such insight into things. (I understand why you kept it simple, though.)

[Squinky]

Thanks, JKR. Glad you had fun.

[MoriartyL]

I don't understand why the Minstrel always sings the theme song from Gilligan's Island. Is that some sort of clever reference I'm not getting?

I can't say I saw a theme there at all. My expectations from adventure games are that every character (especially the player character) is going to be random and silly. And this is a game with a setting totally detached from reality. So I didn't read anything into the characters' morality at all. I think the reason a lot of people (myself included) started the game by killing the princess is because we didn't see any reason why this mindless minion shouldn't.

This is probably related, but I don't understand how the title applies to the game at all.

I did enjoy the game in the same way I enjoy other adventure games. The plot and the puzzles were entertaining enough to justify the game's length. (If the game were much longer, I'm not sure I would have been satisfied by the experience.) The dialogue was cute. And I'm impressed that you managed to make this game on your own in six months. (I don't know if I could ever be that self-motivated.)

However, I have two complaints. First, I don't understand why you broke the fourth wall. (You know which scene I'm talking about.) It derails the story, and I got very impatient with the game for the scene to end. (Not to mention that because I wanted to get a few different endings I had to play through it several times.)

Secondly, I didn't like how there were so few options until the very end of the game. The end of the game is when all the options should tie together, not when they should open up. I felt like I was given very few meaningful choices the whole game, and then suddenly at the end I was overwhelmed with them. I can see how that's more practical, but if the rest of the game had to be so "uni-linear" I would have preferred fewer options at the end, for the sake of consistency.

[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Secondly, I didn't like how there were so few options until the very end of the game. The end of the game is when all the options should tie together, not when they should open up. I felt like I was given very few meaningful choices the whole game, and then suddenly at the end I was overwhelmed with them. I can see how that's more practical, but if the rest of the game had to be so "uni-linear" I would have preferred fewer options at the end, for the sake of consistency.

Actually, some of the choices you make early on (how you deal with the first obstacle for example) do have an impact on the later game. Your interactions with one of the main characters change in tone depending on how you handle that opening puzzle.

Spoiler:

Killing the guard makes the queen snippy and irritable with you throughout. Not killing the guard opens the way to a potential romance ending.

[Squinky]

Thanks for the critique, MoriartyL. Obviously, I don't particularly agree with all of it, but I do find opposing views educational to read regardless.

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

I don't understand why the Minstrel always sings the theme song from Gilligan's Island. Is that some sort of clever reference I'm not getting?

Other than the fact that there's so much music in the world that much of it invariably ends up sounding like something else, I can't think of anything. Sorry. I guess I'm just that unoriginal.

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

I can't say I saw a theme there at all. My expectations from adventure games are that every character (especially the player character) is going to be random and silly. And this is a game with a setting totally detached from reality. So I didn't read anything into the characters' morality at all. I think the reason a lot of people (myself included) started the game by killing the princess is because we didn't see any reason why this mindless minion shouldn't.

I guess the game lived up to your expectations, then. (And as I've said earlier, don't let the Queen of Everything ever catch you calling her a princess, or the consequences will be on your head.)

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

This is probably related, but I don't understand how the title applies to the game at all.

I have a thing for clever-but-only-tangentially-related titles. Some people hate them, though, so that's understandable.

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

I did enjoy the game in the same way I enjoy other adventure games. The plot and the puzzles were entertaining enough to justify the game's length. (If the game were much longer, I'm not sure I would have been satisfied by the experience.)

Why would length alone be a factor in quality, anyway?

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

The dialogue was cute. And I'm impressed that you managed to make this game on your own in six months. (I don't know if I could ever be that self-motivated.)

Thanks. I think.

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

However, I have two complaints. First, I don't understand why you broke the fourth wall. (You know which scene I'm talking about.) It derails the story, and I got very impatient with the game for the scene to end. (Not to mention that because I wanted to get a few different endings I had to play through it several times.)

Well, I obviously can't force you to understand it, and the scene's already there, so there's nothing much I can do here, really. Still, does that mean you actually did find the story immersive enough to actually care if the fourth wall was "broken" (and I wouldn't really say it was, because that's a fictionalised scene to begin with), or are you just plain against it in principle?

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Secondly, I didn't like how there were so few options until the very end of the game. The end of the game is when all the options should tie together, not when they should open up. I felt like I was given very few meaningful choices the whole game, and then suddenly at the end I was overwhelmed with them. I can see how that's more practical, but if the rest of the game had to be so "uni-linear" I would have preferred fewer options at the end, for the sake of consistency.

Yeah, what stepurhan said, pretty much. There are indeed plenty of options throughout, particularly if you don't exhaust all dialogue options like everyone's accustomed to doing (i.e. think before you speak). It just turns out that the end is the only place where the culminations of your actions are most visible. *shrugs*

Not saying it's your fault that you couldn't find all of them, of course. I'm still learning how to do this design thing properly, y'know.

Originally Posted by stepurhan

Actually, some of the choices you make early on (how you deal with the first obstacle for example) do have an impact on the later game. Your interactions with one of the main characters change in tone depending on how you handle that opening puzzle.

Spoiler:

Killing the guard makes the queen snippy and irritable with you throughout. Not killing the guard opens the way to a potential romance ending.

Spoiler:

It's actually not nearly as simple as that (you can still get her to like you again, depending on further actions of yours), but yeah, that's the general gist of it.

[JKR]

Originally Posted by Squinky

Well, I obviously can't force you to understand it, and the scene's already there, so there's nothing much I can do here, really. Still, does that mean you actually did find the story immersive enough to actually care if the fourth wall was "broken" (and I wouldn't really say it was, because that's a fictionalised scene to begin with), or are you just plain against it in principle?

I know I personally found that scene extremely entertaining on my first play through. It was different, and I certainly didn't expect it. That said, I grew less enamored with every further play through. By the 4th or 5th time, I was just clicking away to get that scene done with so I could see the end. I don't know why. It wasn't that it was badly done or written, but I think (as you said) you actually get engrossed in the short but sweet story of Phlem and the crew, and that scene yanks you away from what you really care about.

My 2 cents, anyway. Like I said, I think it was a cool thing to include, even if it wore thin later.

[Lee in Limbo]

I managed t play this a handful of times and found a few different endings. I actually got the point about playing to appeal to characters, and found the dialogue gameplay quite entertaining, though I will admit that at least part of me was thinking more about the game designer than I was about the characters at times.

Lovely work.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by Squinky

Why would length alone be a factor in quality, anyway?

It's not. But a twenty hour game needs to give me more reason to play than a one hour game does, or I won't play through the whole thing. That's all I meant.

Well, I obviously can't force you to understand it, and the scene's already there, so there's nothing much I can do here, really. Still, does that mean you actually did find the story immersive enough to actually care if the fourth wall was "broken" (and I wouldn't really say it was, because that's a fictionalised scene to begin with), or are you just plain against it in principle?

I guess I was getting into the story, now that I think about it. Yes.

It's also annoying in principle, though. It's a cop-out from the world you've set up. I've seen this sort of thing before in enough adventure games that the more cynical side of myself actually is expecting the writers to break their own worlds. And every time I find it frustrating.

Yeah, what stepurhan said, pretty much. There are indeed plenty of options throughout, particularly if you don't exhaust all dialogue options like everyone's accustomed to doing (i.e. think before you speak). It just turns out that the end is the only place where the culminations of your actions are most visible. *shrugs*

I didn't realize her tone was because of how I played. I guess I'll have to play through again!