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-   -   Vicious Cycles 2011 Redux - Interactive Fiction (https://adventuregamers.com/archive/forums/ag-underground-freeware-adventures/28910-vicious-cycles-2011-redux-interactive-fiction.html)

bloomengine 04-19-2011 10:27 PM

Vicious Cycles 2011 Redux - Interactive Fiction
 
Hey Everybody,

I just wanted to share this game I made. It's a browser-based text game with a minimalist, point-and-click interface.

If anyone is up for giving some feedback, that would make my day.

http://bloomengine.com/cycles/vicious-cycles-logo.gif

Play it Here.

Story & Concept:
They sent you to sanctify and purify the timeline. You relive the same moment and die many, many times trying to stop the bombing of a commuter train.

With each "cycle" you accumulate fragments of information, until you have all the pieces in place to stop the bombing. But what do those extra pieces mean?

The actual game has no graphics but no parser either. Anyone who has ever surfed the web and clicked on a link can just pick up and play. But it suggests at a complexity of object/environment interactions that can be found in graphic adventures.

Play the game here.

thanks, hope you enjoy

And no, I did not rip off the concept of the movie Source Code.

stepurhan 05-11-2011 02:55 AM

Oops. Somehow missed noting this one down. I shall look at it now and give you feedback afterwards.

Unlucky about the whole Source Code comparison. It's weird how that sort of thing happens sometimes.

stepurhan 05-11-2011 04:43 AM

Interesting concept and nicely implemented. The hyperlink based interface actually worked a lot better than I thought it would. I think you need to include a warning not to use the back button (the browser one, not the in-game one) I did once and the game predictably did not like it very much.

The story is interesting as well. I like the way that there are hints of a lot more going on than just the events in the game itself. I'd be interested in you expanding on this and telling more about the game setting. Did you do this in later text adventures?

Being an old time gamer, I'm perfectly fine with the lack of graphics, but you might find that makes the game a harder sell to modern gamers. The descriptions are decent and the pictures in your head are always better than what ends up on-screen but that is just a facet of modern gaming.

Ascovel 05-11-2011 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stepurhan (Post 580281)
Unlucky about the whole Source Code comparison. It's weird how that sort of thing happens sometimes.

This concept is not unlike a segment of The Last Express as well (right down to a train with a planted bomb). And similar to the essential ideas of Groundhog Day, Orion Burger (another adventure game) and of an indefinite amount of short stories.

I guess it's a very game like concept - repeating a sequence of events over and over until you get everything right. If this idea is worked into a story it usually involves time-travel and the goal is preventing some kind of catastrophe.

bloomengine 05-21-2011 08:17 PM

The browser back button should work fine. (Works almost like an undo button) It's all URL-based so I'm not sure why the game goes funny when you click it. Can you explain what happens?

As for the extra layer of details and what they mean, I'd like to leave that for players to decide. They're scattered, but all the pieces are there to figure out the general picture.

What you find at the end (other than the bomb), is important. If you think about how it got there that may explain things.

I may make another game fleshing out more details.

Thanks for checking out the game!

stepurhan 05-21-2011 10:49 PM

It seemed to behave as if I was on the final page visited, meaning any links that weren't on that final page didn't behave properly. I am assuming that the automatic save function was cookie-based and activated on entering a new page. Presumably this wouldn't happen if a player hit the back button.

Having enjoyed the game, I covered it in the April Following Freeware article by the way.

bloomengine 05-22-2011 05:19 AM

Thank you enough for putting it in the Following Freeware Article! That is amazing!

Squinky 05-23-2011 11:44 AM

Just played it. Great stuff. I love seeing IF becoming more accessible.


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