Adventure Gamers - Forums

DaveyB - 31 March 2013 11:03 AM

Really? According to Wikipedia The Silver Lining was released on July 18, 2010. The KICKSTARTER for Cognition started on Oct 29, 2011…nearly a year and a half later!! And the first episode of Cognition was released on Oct 31 2012. What advantage exactly do you think they got for Cognition in 2010?

Yes, really. They might not have had an official title, but they announced plans for a commercial project around that time. There weren’t many details yet. Not only that, but you were REQUIRED to register with them in order to download the free TSL game. They just wanted to create a database of contacts for future advertising. It was clear early on that POS had a commercial project in the works, and they were using the attention from their “free” KQ game to solicit information from potential future customers. And they never even finished TSL, but they got what they wanted out of the publicity.

DaveyB - 31 March 2013 11:03 AM

Let me get this right:
1) You’re totally against Phoenix Online being involved in producing Mobius because of the quality of “The Silver Lining”
2) The problem with TSL was the writing & story
3) Technically it was impressive for a fan game
4) Jane Jensen will be producing the writing & story for Mobius, not Phoenix Online
5) Phoenix Online will be responsible for technical aspects

 

I would have never given money to a project run by the POS people. I don’t like the way they operate and I’m not impressed with their work. That’s number one. Number two, TSL had so many problems, and I just don’t feel like rehashing it all again. While technically it may have been an admirable achievement for a fan game in some ways, it still wasn’t what you’d expect from a professional, commercial release.

You say that POS will only be involved in the technical side, but they are developing the game and will have huge influence over all aspects of production. I am a little late to the party in finding out about POS’ unfortunate takeover of the Moebius project, and it looks like there’s nothing that can be done at this point with regard to finding someone better. This makes me very sad, as I had great hopes for Moebius.

I wish Jane would explain why she changed developers and went with POS. Was that the plan all along? I hope this wasn’t some kind of bait and switch. I don’t think it was. I just think we have a right to know.

I also hope Mystery Game X is developed by another team.

Iznogood - 31 March 2013 10:07 PM

Let me just see if i got this right, you are basing all this hate towards Phonix, based on a conspiracy theory about using TSL to promote Cognition. And your lack of confidence in their abilities purely on having played Ep. 1 of TSL, which is really only the prologue to the actual game?

No, I am familiar with more of their work than just that. And can you really claim that POS is one of the better developers out there? Maybe they will grow into something great, but I didn’t even think they were one of the better fan game developers, even if TSL did have some impressive technical aspects. POS isn’t exactly known for polished products. Anyway, I really don’t see the need to continue this particular topic. Suffice it to say that they wouldn’t have been my first choice, and I feel a little perturbed about not being given a reason why they were the ones given backer money to make Moebius after we had been introduced to the Russian team.

Quest1 - 31 March 2013 10:24 PM

and I feel a little perturbed about not being given a reason why they were the ones given backer money to make Moebius after we had been introduced to the Russian team.

because it didnt work financially? Do you really need a reason? Signus labs had even less experience with adventure games.. and making a point&click; like this was going to be new for them. Its not a big loss.
Anyway, the moebius demo so far shows a number of similar traits to cognition.. but it also has its own feel and its looking good.

I wish this tangential little chat about the merits of Phoenix Online could take place elsewhere; I was hoping to come in here and see people discussing first impressions of the Moebius alpha release.

I had a little play through the demo just now and it was fairly entertaining. I didn’t finish it because there was an awful lot of talking to get through and the dialogue wasn’t enough to hold my interest at 4am.

The backgrounds seems fairly nice and the character models are OK. Malachi seems rather out of proportion though with these spindly little limbs, and also a terrible hunched posture.

I don’t find Malachi Rector at all likeable. I trust that Jane’s written him that way for a reason, but it seems a bit of a risk to have the hero of your game as someone who I doubt many people would want to spend 5 minutes in a room with. I shall be expecting big character development throughout the progress of the game, so that he exhibits some redeeming qualities by the end.

The voice acting of the side characters is quite good, but Malachi’s is rather poor; I think this may be a contributing factor to why I find myself disliking him so much. The English accent doesn’t seem very authentic or believable, and the timing and delivery of the lines is completely off. It doesn’t sound like natural conversation, it sounds like someone from an amateur dramatics class reading from a script, and stressing random words because they can’t convey emotion through their intonation. It reminds me somewhat of the British doctor from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. That guy’s acting really was awful, especially in the early seasons, and I daresay this is worse. It’s definitely more flat.

I did quite like the feature where you got to analyse clues.

The interface for interacting with things was great, though I’m biased because I know the guy who designed it.

I can’t comment on the puzzles because I didn’t actually find one as far as I played.

Amusing error: I initiated a phone call and Malachi’s head rolled clear off his shoulders, then his torso slowly began folding in half.

Sometimes I forget that so many different development team members read these forums. Now I feel bad for posting so many harsh comments about POS. I hope none of them take anything personally, and I hope they are able to succeed in making a great game. At this point, what’s done is done and we can only hope for the best and give them as much feedback as possible.

I just want to know who is to blame for the name Malachi Rector.  Just once I’d like to play a game with a main character who has a normal name, like Richard Johnson.

For $16 and a budget of around half a mil, I don’t expect a game with extremely high production values. I can live with questionable lip syncing and limited animation, if the writing and characters are good enough, and that isn’t something you can judge until you’ve played the final product. Game stories are all in the execution.

As an aside, personally I find the art-style to be a little too shiny and clean. The bright lighting and vivid colours are pleasing in the same way a lot of casual games are, but I’m not sure it will be very conducive to creative atmosphere. Surfaces look extremely smooth and polished, and every single object catches light and glows like it’s ready to photosynthesize.

Eh, I’ll live with it, but I would have preferred something else—something more gritty and realistic, or even more painterly and abstract.

Some spoilers for the alpha build!

I liked the alpha build quite a lot. The characters looked better and moved more fluidly than I was expecting based on the trailer. It shows that the budget is small, but I didn’t spot any glaring flaws that would bother me in any way.

The voice acting was fine as well, especially for the minor characters. It’s going to take me a while to get used to Malachi, not because the acting is terrible but because I find that kind of snotty British accent to be pretty grating.

My only problem with the build is a very personal one, namely I hope that the EU crisis and Italy’s political/financial situation won’t be big plot elements. I have a good friend in Italy who loves Jensen’s games, and we were hoping to play Moebius simultaneously and discuss our progress, but it’s going to drive her up the wall if the game is going to focus on Italy’s politics too much, particularly since the game will present an outsider’s perspective of what’s going on in Italy.

I don’t have any problems with the art/graphics/music/animation - the trailer’s just confirmed two of my worries about the game from the initial pitch:

Dull/invisible supporting cast: I don’t mind having a fairly bland protagonist (Sam wasn’t particularly exciting) but GK1-3 and GM both had great secondary characters.  The way this story looks to be set up makes it looks like it’s more of a ‘one man’ adventure, with a character less likeable than Sam or Gabe and without any kind of compelling backstory. 

MacGuffin-led story: All 4 of Jensen’s big games have had one ‘major’ setting that’s given a lot of character, as well as an overarching theme.  This seems like more of a Broken Sword globetrotting thing that won’t have so much of that and the ‘space-time’ thing seems like an afterthought (Not inherently a bad thing - ‘Resonance’ was about 90% MacGuffin)

Hope the demo proves me wrong though.

Lambonius - 01 April 2013 12:17 AM

I just want to know who is to blame for the name Malachi Rector.  Just once I’d like to play a game with a main character who has a normal name, like Richard Johnson.

The Cat Lady had a normal name - Susan Ashworth.  Only thing in the game that was normal though

wilco64256 - 31 March 2013 11:44 PM

One big benefit to doing a free game first and then episodic releases in general is you can work with feedback, learn from it, and apply it. It’s probably a good thing we’re not a multi-million-dollar AAA studio or we’d probably be too stuck up to listen to anything from anybody

Free game with bad results, does the damage in flux of thousand choices customer got in
this age, unless your segment is totally adventure and niche. The same ole people who will
try their favorite writer game anyway, like me out of love.

Kentucky Route Zero, Witness and other indies havent got AAA budget too, but
skill and talent, look at the guy who is making adventure game Stasis, posts here,
how talented he is and knows his stuff, hardly anything to point major flaw in his
work.

And its other way around, onus is put on customers when they get stuck up with any ADV
game from anybody.

nomadsoul - 01 April 2013 05:43 AM

Kentucky Route Zero, Witness and other indies havent got AAA budget too, but
skill and talent, look at the guy who is making adventure game Stasis, posts here,
how talented he is and knows his stuff, hardly anything to point major flaw in his
work.

Not to sidetrack the conversation, but I have to say the Stasis game looks amazing, especially since it is the work of just one person! Is that the style that Hero-U is going to be? Personally I prefer a side view of the action, so you can see more details. Also, all the rooms look so much more distinct in the side view.