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Rosewater - wild west adventure set in the world of Lamplight City

Boleskine

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Sep 12, 2013
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https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/03/13/rosewater-announced-lamplight-city-western/

Lamplight City follow-up strolling into the wild wild west
Alice O'Connor

13th March 2019 / 1:01PM

70


The designer of Shardlight and Lamplight City will return to Lamplight’s steampunk-ish alternate world in his next adventure game, with a rootin’ tootin’ twist. Francisco González of Grundislav Games yesterday announced Rosewater, a western click ’em up. Rosewater is set a few years after Lamplight and, clearly, is out in some dusty hinterlands rather than a bustling city. González is playing his cards close to his chest at this point, not revealing much, but isn’t it enough to know he’s adventuring again?

González describes Rosewater simply as “a Western drama adventure set in the world of Lamplight City.” From that ↑ screenshot, I’d guess we ain’t from ’round these parts. That’s it.

He does note on Twitter that he “just started working on it full time in January” so the launch is “probably not for a good while.” He added that it might be “hopefully within the next year and a half.” So by the end of 2020, maybe?



Characters will be rotoscoped again, he says. And he does hint that he is “looking forward to bringing back a character from Lamplight City who would fit into the prospector life amusingly well.”

González had worked with famed adventure game developers and publishers Wadjet Eye Games, making Shardlight with them, but split in 2016 to go his own way from Lamplight onwards. Shardlight was a right good’un.
 
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Starwars

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I liked Lamplight City but it was not exactly amazing in any way whatsoever. This guy's games just don't quite hit the spot for me, though LL was definitely the one I enjoyed the most of the bunch.

Good to see more coming at least.
 

taxalot

I'm a spicy fellow.
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I liked Lamplight City but it was not exactly amazing in any way whatsoever. This guy's games just don't quite hit the spot for me, though LL was definitely the one I enjoyed the most of the bunch.

Good to see more coming at least.

His games seem to be getting better and better while Gilbert's Unavowed was a terrible let down. I played Lamplight & Unavowed back to back thinking I kept the better for last, but really, Lamplight was a lot better.

I'm looking forward to this game rather than Gilbert's next iteration of the same thing except more dumbed down. At least Gonzalez is trying new things.
 

HoboForEternity

sunset tequila
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
glad they are making more adventure game. i love unavowed, but lamplight city has better gameplay and the detective mechanics, while still pretty easy was really cool.
 

MRY

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Francisco is about as prolific and hardworking as they come. He's been coming out with a commercial adventure game every two years since 2014 (prior to which he released at least eight freeware adventures), and each one is a huge leap forward in quality from the last, at least from a visual standpoint.

2012 [last freeware]
maxresdefault.jpg


2014: A Golden Wake
ss_7e95532168a985f52a4b661c74032f680f3be356.600x338.jpg


2016: Shardlight (technically Ben Chandler's work)
ss_34869d3608e004e7159ca1fbe089bdf7734b641d.600x338.jpg


2018: Lamplight City
ss_1a766fb5148759e39e1d144d3d225b013e596993.600x338.jpg


2020: Rosewater
rosewater-b.jpg

If nothing else, you've gotta admire the work ethic!
 

MRY

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It's really astonishing to compare Francisco's art from A Golden Wake -> Lamplight City -> Rosewater. He's a tireless self-improver.
 

LESS T_T

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Codex 2014




It's been several years since Harley Leger left New Bretagne and headed west, hoping to leave the past behind and make her way as a freelance writer. After arriving in the sleepy border town of Rosewater, a seemingly trivial assignment for the local paper leads to the hunt for a missing man's fortune—and the story of the century.

Harley and her ragtag posse embark on a harrowing journey across Western Vespuccia, facing bandits, rebels, ruthless oil barons, and many more obstacles on their quest for fame and riches.

Features
  • A thrilling treasure hunt with 5 travel companions. How you treat and interact with them affects the story.
  • Traditional adventure game puzzles (i.e. inventory-based) some with more than one solution.
  • Fully rotoscoped animations, including cinematic closeups.
  • High resolution 1280x720 graphics (yes, that's 720p!)
  • Full music score by Mark Benis, featuring live instruments.
  • Meet over 50 professionally voiced characters.
 

HoboForEternity

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
those look great! it's totally worth the extra effort over a close up portraits with flapping mouth (which i also don't mind, but the body movements looks awsome)
 

Zombra

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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Lamplight City was solid and kept my attention to the end. Having cases with multiple solutions, however easy, required player investment in their own ability to interpret information. I'm disappointed to see the developer revert to inventory-based "use apple juice on thorn bush" style gameplay. They took adventure games a few steps in an interesting direction and are now retreating to safe ground. Oh well, I don't have to like every game.
 

CyberWhale

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It's really astonishing to compare Francisco's art from A Golden Wake -> Lamplight City -> Rosewater. He's a tireless self-improver.

I like Shardlight the best. The newer ones simply seem kinda... off. Not sure what it is, maybe too clean while lacking enough detail and clutter in general?
 

WallaceChambers

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My only big issue with Fransico's artwork is that he sometimes doesn't use the right brush for his rendering. Which can lead to a very odd, "streaky" look to some of the brushwork in his backgrounds. It's especially noticeable in the way he paints floorboards for indoor environments.

If he stepped his brush game up (using crunchy textured brushes when appropriate, better blending, etc) he could very easily step his artwork up several notches over night.

Regardless, he has made drastic improvements over the years and I really respect that, looking forward to Rosewater.
 

MRY

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Coverage of demo here: https://monstervine.com/2020/08/rosewater-preview-a-wild-west-adventure/

Plus?
Rosewater features a similar point-and-click interface as Lamplight City, where your cursor changes when you hover over a particular object in the environment depending on the actions available to you. If multiple actions are available, you then select one from a list. This felt slightly inconsistent in the demo, however. One area had numerous objects I could either “look at” for Harley’s personal commentary or “ask about” to learn more details from their owner, while another area only had the “look” option available yet sometimes involved Harley asking about them anyway. There also appears to be a more traditional inventory system here, where you select items from your inventory in order to use them.

Minus?
Numerous dialogue options are available when you talk to characters, although the choices in the demo didn’t seem to influence the story at all; one section in particular that seemed to have multiple paths based on the dialogue options forced me into a specific solution anyway.

I need to give the demo a spin!
 

Boleskine

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https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/gamescom-2020-round-up-part-2

Rosewater
Like a grizzled cowboy with a sudden surprise second wind, Rosewater punches you round the chops with a whole host of choices. In this entertaining point-and-click pixel art jaunt through the Wild West set in an alternate 19th century, you can pick your friends, your enemies, and even your puzzle solutions. Playing as pugilist-turned-freelance writer Harley Leger, the demo saw me arrive in the so-Western-it-hurts town of Rosewater looking to speak to the editor of the local paper, a seemingly simple task that eventually leads to being assigned to help in its search for a missing scientist's fortune, while encountering a whole heap of trouble along the way.

To find that fortune you'll end up making five travel companions who'll form part of your posse, a few of which I got to meet (or deeply annoy) in the demo. Developer Francisco Gonzalez of Grundislav Games tells me that later in the game we'll be given companion-specific quests too, two for each companion but only one you can access, depending on how well you're getting on with them. Whilst the demo wasn't voiced, Francisco says the plan is that all fifty-plus characters will be by the time the game is finished. And there’s plenty of interaction to be had with the town's eccentrics; from the local pickpocket to the man you “meet” after he comes flying out of an upstairs window, a variety of colourful tropes of the Wild West are all here in beautifully rotoscoped animation.



Whilst Francisco says there will be some slight crossover with his previous adventure, Lamplight City, including the return of one or two unmentioned characters from that game, one thing that won't be returning will be the lack of inventory. Instead, this time players will see a streamlined take on the system. Basically this means that objects that can be used with an inventory item will be highlighted, whilst ones that can't, like signs, will not. This is to try to stop the “use everything on everything” approach that desperate adventure game players resort to when they don't know where to turn next, and it seemed to work pretty well in the demo.

That's not to say there won't still be puzzles, though, all of which will apparently have a few solutions. I was told that even the demo has plenty of ways to solve the main challenge, including an “extra extra jerk” path, which, my being such a nice person, obviously never presented itself. But as well as giving you lots of extra choice, Rosewater will, in a sense, also take some of that away in the second act of the game. There, as you make your way to your treasure goal with your ragtag gang of misfits, players will be presented with “random vignettes,” says Francisco. These will be chance events and quests you can participate in, so you won't encounter every one of them in one playthrough. The aim apparently is to make it feel like a road trip with your mates (though I'd suggest abandoning your trip if some of these people were your pals in real life).

However, rest assured that whilst your changing relationships and quests will add a different layer to big story moments, if you're only planning to play through the game once, you'll still experience the full story, just not see everything a replay would have to offer. Judging by the sheer number of people to meet and things to do in Rosewater, however, you'd have to be a few pints short of a jug of moonshine not to want to give it at least one extra go when it comes out at some point in 2021. Yeehaw!
 

Darkozric

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I never understood the appeal of those fake adventures. Especially the wadjeteye adventures. They are very bad, all of them.
 

WallaceChambers

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I played the demo and it was good. I liked how fleshed out the setting was, that seems to be one of Grundislav's biggest strengths. Harley is a cool character and I enjoyed her backstory. It does seem kinda forced that she's the "muscle" for the proposed heist at the end of the demo. She does come off as tough in her own right and resourceful during the bar fight, but the idea that a woman of average build is the strongest person they could get strains credulity. Especially with the mostly grounded tone of the narrative.

The puzzles were light fair, but it was fun slamming that one dude with the dumbwaiter door. Seems like there's branching paths/alternate solutions to certain things as well. Which I didn't experience firsthand since I only played the demo once.

Overall the demo did sell me on the game. Seems like a fun wild west adventure story with some neat ideas. Best rotoscoping Grundislav has done by far, as well. The gesture and expression adds a lot to the characters.
 

Boleskine

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Show us where the AGS games touched you, Darkozric.

yR4mahN.png


Most of the AGS games do strike a nice balance between being retro in presentation and modern in design. There's an overall shift away from complex puzzles, but I can't really blame the devs for that. If they want to make money, these games need to have wider appeal to audiences who aren't as interested in the moon logic of some 80s/90s adventures.
 

MRY

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Complex puzzles are not the same as puzzles afflicted by moon logic. For instance, the spitting puzzle in Monkey Island 2 is quite complex, but pretty rigorously logical. Very simply puzzles can have moon logic; the same game with the complex but logical spitting puzzle has the simple but nonsensical monkey wrench puzzle.

The reason AGS adventure games don't have complicated puzzles is that they are very hard to conceive, design, and implement. And, you're right, the market is not really there for them. Resonance has complicated puzzles, and it's the worst-performing WEG game on Steam other than A Golden Wake, despite having an engaging story, innovative gameplay systems, and great art.
 

Erebus

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you can pick your friends, your enemies, and even your puzzle solutions. (...)That's not to say there won't still be puzzles, though, all of which will apparently have a few solutions.

That sounds worryingly similar to Unavowed.
 

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