Something Else

Title: The Vacuum
Author: David Proctor
Release Date: August 2008
License: Freeware; click here to download
Author’s Site: Serious Business

[SPOILER ALERT: This article contains some spoilers.]

You get off smelling clean, looking prim and proper in your red long-sleeved shirt from the bathroom. When you reach the kitchen, one of the other passengers on your ship apologizes for grabbing that last cup of English tea. A few minutes later, you’re back in your room, wondering what the hell those rumbles were, and, after a few more hours, arguing with your girlfriend who could have perpetrated the murders.

And it all started when she asked for tea on her breakfast. And all that happens right here in The Vacuum, David Proctor’s debut AGS game.

The game intro

Now it all comes together

Title: All Roads Lead to Paradise, The Good Dr Ferrer, Jack French and the 7 Dwarfs[sic] (Jack French series)
Author: JohnnyBDesign Games
Release Date: 2006-2007
License: Freeware; click here to download all three games
Author’s Site: JohnnyBDesign.com

Having further exposed myself into other game “genres” the last month or so, I’ve gained a better appreciation of different kinds of game design, and its various methods.* Just before I got back to sampling other game types, I swerved back a bit into the point-and-click adventure genre, but this time I took a look into one of those that are considered “classics” of the Flash adventure game: the Jack French mystery series.

For those who aren’t familiar, players assume the role of Jack French, a detective who looks almost like James Dean but sounds more like Arsene Lupin. He is tasked with solving the mysterious deaths that happen in each of the so-called “webisodes” of the game. Within the game, players are given the opportunity to, of course, question the witnesses and examine the crime scene for any clues that will help solve the case.

Unlike most adventure games made with the likes of AGS or Wintermute, Flash adventure games tend to keep the plot short and have lesser objects to interact with, probably to keep the size small and make the game load faster on browsers. There are less menus to deal with, and inventory menus are made as simple as necessary as there’s usually no need to save games.

The Jack French mystery games are no exception to this. Each of the webisodes’ plots are kept tight and short (”web episodes”). Though there are less objects in each location to interact with, each game is well-clued enough for beginning players not to get lost in pixel-hunting. The puzzles are not really that hard to begin with, and these mostly consist of getting one item after another and using it when interrogating characters, or when getting a quick lab report.

The art is quite decent and almost life-like, which helps lend the game its somber, sober mood. I’m guessing the author’s artist (I’m not sure if it’s the same person or not) used actual photographs of staged murder scenes (fake blood with models, etc.), then rendered to be more cartoon-like for the game. Nudity grew less with each passing episode, but the art became better, especially with the last one, Jack French and the 7 Dwarfs[sic], which featured more abstract art than the others.

Music is well-used only in some parts of the games, contributing a lot to the atmosphere and the tension brought about by the murders. In others, such as the ending cutscenes, music was altogether not present. Take for example, the ones where the actual murderer confesses to their crime. The speech is there, with subtitles and all, but no scary or haunting music. Just the voices of the different characters. (The author finally decided to add music at the end on the last webisode, whch is a bit disappointing.)

Overall, the Jack French series should serve as a good introduction to point-and-click adventures, and should be included in anyone’s list of games for newbie players. Those also looking for a short game to play with over breaktimes should be well-satisfied with this one as well. Heartily recommended for the “quick” adventurer.

——————-

*Or at least I appear to be. It helps if you just play and play these games - whether I understand more design concepts or not, one thing’s clear: I’m having fun

SLUDGE goes Open Source

Finally, Tim Furnish has decided to officially declare SLUDGE as open source! He had recently uploaded the source code to Sourceforge, and has renamed the whole bit as OpenSLUDGE.

Here’s hoping all the bugs get fixed once people start tinkering with the engine’s code, especially those memory leaks some authors had been experiencing.

Definitely w00t!

[ Thanks go to Erwin from Adventure Developers for the link. ]

Some house that was

Title: The House
Author: “vdweller” (Emilios Manolidis)
Release Date: May 2007
License: Freeware; click here to download
Author’s Site: Vdweller’s website

[SPOILER ALERT: This article contains some spoilers.]

I came to this game primarily after browsing through Gnome’s Lair (where it was featured) looking for any new games I could sample on. Since The House was entirely homebrewed (having been made entirely from Visual Basic), I decided to give it a whirl and see what it could offer.

The House is a very short 2D adventure game where the player is cast as a stranger inside a mysterious abode, with no recollection as to how he got there or how to get out. There is very little information about who the player is in the game, as well as how the House is related to you. All the background “story,” as it were, was contained in a few dialog boxes at the start, and nothing else in the game that provided more clues for this.

First things first - the music was awesome. It’s nothing ground-breaking, really, but when you’re playing the game by yourself at 2 am on a Monday morning, it grows on you. I had to turn the speakers off while I was halfway through to help me concentrate on the damned puzzle at hand. Of course, that could just be me Same goes for the graphics. Simple but well-done, the warm colors especially add to the sense of haunting atmosphere the music is trying to create.

The House employs a Myst-like interface when dealing with objects. Gameplay was smooth as the game responded promptly to my actions, and the hotspots are clearly defined. Since the game is very short, the author had decided to leave out the Save/Load Game features, so be warned.

[OFF-TOPIC: All the game's resources (music, sounds, images, etc.) are kept in separate folders in their native format. A smart player can modify the contents of these folders and ruin the game. I would have preferred it if the author bundled all of these in one or two separate resource files so no one can modify them. That's essentially what an adventure game design engine does.]

What irked me at the end was the “win” screen. It tells the player that he/she was able to get out of the house, and that it took her only so-and-so minutes. This kind of congratulatory text totally breaks mimesis, since it clearly tells the player that he/she has just solved a huge puzzle. The game doesn’t even bother keeping with the plot, no matter how thin it was.

If you’re looking for a short puzzle game with “haunted house” elements, The House is perfect for you. Unless you’re looking for something more deeply involving, which The House is not.

Grolly!

Title: Trilby: The Art of Theft
Author: Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw
Release Date: November 2007
License: Freeware; click here to download
Author’s Site: Fully Ramblomatic

Here’s another testament game to AGS’s versatility as a game design engine: Ben Croshaw’s Trilby: The Art of Theft, another mission-based platformer based on an improved version of the engine Croshaw used for his other more sinister platform game, 1213. According to the author himself, the game is set 2 years before the events in 5 Days A Stranger, which makes TAoT unrelated to the Chzo mythos games. The Art of Theft features excellent artwork and animations from Croshaw, plus some subtly humorous and exciting music from Mark Lovegrove.

The Art of Theft aims to show more of Trilby as a master burglar, and Croshaw has made it a point to produce more of a game this time, compared to the 1213 series which had a lot more backstory. Set in fictional Chapow City, the eccentric Trilby tries to rob the rich Dominic Perota, which unknowingly was part of a plan by a secret group called the Company. The Company wishes to make use of Trilby’s talents, and they do everything to make him do so, with any means necessary. Each act of robbery in the game - whether you steal items, break safes, and turn off alarms and lights - lets the player earn not only money but also what the author calls “reputation points.” These points allow the player to upgrade his skills as a thief by letting him “purchase” whch abilities he wants to further learn.

Though I have only played about 4 levels, I’ve found this game a lot easier to play with compared to its ancestor 1213. The gameplay is much smoother, and there’s a lot more gadgets and objects to play with. There are less restrictions with movement as well - I don’t have to deal with Trilby complaining about his ankles after jumping from tall places, nor do I have to frantically look for a shower just to nurse myself back to health. In TAoT, if you fail the mission, you don’t have to die - you just got caught, that’s all, and you restart the mission.

However, in keeping with Trilby being a gentleman thief, other “restrictions” have been put in place as part of his “personal standards.” Depending on the mission, only a limited number of guards can be immobilized with a taser, and only a number of alarms can be ticked off. There are several ways these can be avoided, though sometimes there are cases where there’s no other choice. Which is fine, in my opinion, since not only does it add more challenge to the game, it forces the player to think and to observe more.

The only thing I dislike in the game is the fact that rolling is something I have to spend reputation points on. I understand Trilby is a master thief, and a gentleman thief at that. That should not mean he doesn’t know by heart how to roll his body on the floor especially when needed. He can’t even run, for chrissakes; he can only creep. This is a problem especially for players with less deft fingers (yeah, that includes me). Rolling should really have been inherent in Trilby, not another skill to learn.

Another complaint I’ve heard from a sibling of mine (whom I’ve introduced the game) about this game are the controls. He complains that game should allow him to set whatever keys he would like to use for the game, instead of getting used to just what was originally set, since some of them are pretty counter-intuitive. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

All in all, I haven’t been able to do work since I started my Thanksgiving vacation because of this game. I recommend The Art of Theft for anyone looking to spend some time with a stealth platformer, or even just a simple distraction. You can’t go wrong on this one.