Adventure Gamers - Forums

I have created an online adventure game based on Jonathan Coulton’s music (the guy that wrote the Portal songs, as well as many other geeky songs)

It’s a flash game, completely free and in the style of Lucas Arts games.

I just want as many people to play it as possible, as I spent a very long time making it.

If this sounds like something you’d like to play, the website is:

http://www.JoCoAdv.com

Hope you guys enjoy it.

Some initial feedback:
- Either you don’t have an intro, or skipping the tutorial skips it. That’s quite confusing.
- That sidekick-ish voice is extremely annoying.
- You need to document in the tutorial how to de-select inventory. Double-clicking is not used for that purpose, usually.

Yes, I couldn’t figure out how to un-select the inventory either.  I am having fun with it though.  I have been to the house, but, couldn’t figure out the password for the computer yet, so, went back to the hospital and started talking to people there.  Also, the commentator is quite annoying. I really like the hint button, as I usually need lots of hints.

Thank you for your feedback.
Due to the way I had to make this game for no money (excluding having to pay for the graphics), some things are out of my control.
The intro is very short, you did see it. In an ideal world it would have had audio, but it was made quite late in the process, and the person I needed to voice it never got back to me. The point of the game story is you have no memory, so I have to be careful what details I give out in the intro.
None of my beta testers mentioned the ego being annoying, it is sort of meant to be, but in a funny way. It sounds like I may have gone too annoying.
The tutorial *does* mention how to deselect items on the cursor, yet *everyone* has that issue. I have been unable to figure out how to solve that issue.
I agree that double clicking to drop an item is non-standard (that is clearly part of the issue), but this is not something I can change, I am using a game tool to make the game in, and that is part of that framework.

I hope these issues haven’t put you guys off finishing the game, and that you are enjoying it.

Most peoples favourite parts seem to be the first conversation with the guard and the robots in the coffee shop. Although there are plenty of other parts people seem to like too.

I’ll elaborate.
Intro: It would be sufficient if you just had the character think “what? Who am I? where am I?” etc. Just dropping you in the middle of the game is problematic. It gets worse later when you leave the hospital, because now you have no clear direction. You’re supposedly trying to get your memory back, but how? The logical thing to do is go to a doctor, but that’s not an option. The “adventure game” way is to look for things to jog your memory, but as a player I don’t know what those might be and where I’m supposed to go. So I end up just looking for obstacles and trying to overcome them, because that’s what you do in a game.

Sidekick: It would’ve been less annoying if he talked less often. As it is, whenever you look at the key, for instance, he’s got something (the same thing) to say. The first time it was okay, but Ego shouldn’t repeat his comeback every single time for everything you do.

Tutorial: Where is it? I’m pretty sure I’ve exhausted dialog with the guide and I haven’t seen it mentioned. Also, can’t you have inventory deselected whenever you click on something that’s not a hotspot?

There’s actually another framework (probably) issue - when you interact with a hotspot, the character moves so his midsection is aligned with the hotspot, and then faces the camera. It looks weird when you click the cabinet and the character stands with its back to it to say what he has to say.

The doubleclick was mentioned in the tutorial, it’s just that it’s very convoluted with additional questions popping up. I like the idea to integrate it into a dialog but it feels like work having to go through all those points, and having to quit the dialog in order to be able to test what you learned and then talk to the guy again to continue the tour doesn’t help either.

I haven’t played far but I didn’t mind the ego’s voice or commentary too much.
But like Antrax said, it’s probably a bit overdone.

The short guitar loop started to grate on my nerves very soon, however.