Incline Heroine's Quest - D/L Link in OP - Available NOW (FREE)!

[flabbyjack]

I thought this was Heroin Quest, now I am disappoint

 

[Unkillable Cat]

You guys have no idea how how *glee!* came from me when I read one of the books in the library and discovered it's describing the plot of Eversion. :D

 

[Fizzii]

I'm having a go at this.

Upsides: Too many to mention. Even the voice cast surprised me for being miles better than I expected.

Downsides: Was playing with 1.0, so I'm dl'ing 1.2 (1.2.1?) now, which might invalidate my savegames.

But the biggest gripe I have with this game is a personal one. I'm Icelandic, and I'm getting several shades of cringes when I hear how those "Olde Scandinavian Wordes" are mangled into something horrible. 'Hervor' should be pronounced 'Herwere' instead of 'Hervore' and 'Thrivaldi' should be pronounced 'Threevaldi' instead of 'Thryvaldi', just to name two examples. (Don't get me started on the dark elves.) It's too late to change any of this, but at times I feel like my culture is being oppressed when I hear these abominations.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the game except for the butchered names! We did get a linguist to help with some pronunciations, but even then I had some trouble working out how exactly it should sound (probably would have been easier for me to understand how something should be pronounced when it's in context/flowing rather than said slowly by syllable, as that doesn't help with getting the right emphasis). I became very much aware of the mispronunciations very soon after release because of comments made by some Swedish and Finnish players. To add to confusion (because I was definitely confused at the time), it turned out that there were different ways of pronouncing the names too (e.g. Skrymir should have been more along the lines of 'Skree-meer' or 'Screw-meer'). I did find out that there are lots of pronunciations on Youtube, so I will definitely be referring to that in the future to get a full picture of how names can be pronounced, should we do another mythology based game .

By the way, the standalone download is also available at IndieDB (http://www.indiedb.com/games/heroines-quest) and Desura (http://www.desura.com/games/heroines-quest/).

---------------------------------

While I'm at it, I'd like to provide an update on what we (Crystal Shard) have been up to. 2014 proved to be a very busy year for Radiant in real life, but we've made some headway with the following:
- Quasar (deluxe edition) has been completed and will available on Fireflower games (fireflowergames.com), and also should be on Desura very soon. Quasar will no longer be free, as our ultimate aim is to get it (and other games) onto Steam for more coverage, and we can't expect all our games to go on there for $0.00. On the upside, it has updated graphics, music and voices, and should appeal to those that want a casual game which doesn't require a huge time investment.
- Warthogs (deluxe edition), a Harry Potter parody, is also in the making. Graphics and voices are done, awaiting music and programming. Should be out sometime this year (I would hope within the first half, but dependent on what Radiant works on next).
- Started a couple of newer projects. One is a sequel to Indiana Rodent (platformer), the other is a spiritual successor to Subterra (Subterra was published by Spiderweb Software back when it was released, but was since released as freeware). Radiant wants to also get onto a new adventure (to be announced), but only after he clears his backlog
- Recently updated our website to a more streamlined interface. Check it out at http://www.crystalshard.net

I'll post again when we have more news on releases, but if you want to hear from us via social media, there's our Facebook page which we will also be posting major announcements to: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crystal-Shard-games/220546147965145

Thanks again for everyone's support here! We were very happy and humbled to see Heroine's Quest ranked within the top 10 of the 2014 RPGs

 

[Kaldurenik]

...

Are you working on a new game?

 

[Fizzii]

I'm always working on something

Let's see...

- Quasar: deluxe edition is due for release on Desura (http://www.desura.com/games/heroines-quest/) on March 6, a couple of weeks away from now. It is already available at Fireflower here (http://www.fireflowergames.com/shop/quasar).
- Warthogs: deluxe edition will be the next project Radiant works one, followed by Indiana Rodent (some levels have been designed already).
- After that, we'll be focusing on a bigger project. I don't want to announce anything yet until Radiant has started working on it, but it's something we've both wanted to do for a long time.

I'll leave it with this. Looks familiar?

(No, it's not a sequel to HQ; just that the game will feature portraits of some characters you may have come across in our older games).

 

[Kaldurenik]

Thanks looking forward to it

I know Heroines quest is free but how did it do on steam? Do you have any numbers?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I finished this over the weekend. I am amazed at the quality of this game. In retrospect I say this is the only real opposition 'Papers, Please' had for GOTY 2013, and that coming from a freeware title is worth mentioning out loud.

I played a Rogue and can agree with that path being the hardest - not hardest as in 'toughest puzzles', but hardest as in what actions are the correct ones to take as a Rogue to get all the points.

 

[LESS T_T]

the game will feature portraits of some characters you may have come across in our older games

I got a leaked screenshot.

Spoiler

 

[Fizzii]

I know Heroines quest is free but how did it do on steam? Do you have any numbers?

The last update I heard about was end-January, which reported at least 27000 players. Which isn't bad for a retro old school game

 

[Crooked Bee]

Another Crystal Shard game, a short sci-fi adventure called Quasar, is now available on Desura:

http://www.desura.com/games/quasar

Quasar: Deluxe Edition is now available on Desura, featuring improved graphics and professional voice acting. Control four different characters and help them work together to solve their predicament!

Is this coming to Steam as well, Fizzii?

 

[Fizzii]

We would like to but haven't gotten anything in motion yet.

Our predicament is that we'd probably have to go to Steam Greenlight, but it's hard to envision that we could drum up enough support to get it Greenlit given that this particular game is very niche! If we see there is more interest in it then we'd probably go for it, but I'd rather ask people to help Greenlight one of our other (upcoming) games at the moment

 

[Crooked Bee]

Review of Quasar at AdventureGamers: http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/28571

The real beauty of the game is in the characters themselves. The dialogue and the performances blend perfectly to create a set of believable personalities. There are even hints of their life beforehand, with one conversation mentioning a previous crew member and an undisclosed incident involving that person. The result is that you feel these are all real people, with their own foibles and quirks, and I would be happy to find out more about them all in a much larger adventure.

Probably the only real downside to Quasar is its size (and therefore length). There are only a handful of screens to explore, and even exhausting all the various character interactions available, the game can easily be completed in under an hour. It’s a shame that some optional puzzle solutions haven’t been added to give the re-release a little replay incentive, allowing for more experimentation. The Deluxe Edition is budget-priced accordingly, but you’ll still need to weigh the cost against the actual game time offered. Despite its brevity, however, the short stay is time well spent aboard the spaceship Quasar. It may not be the longest or most difficult game out there, but as a finely crafted character piece, it is well worth checking out.

The Good:
Good voice-acting; well-crafted characters; decent pixel art graphics.

The Bad:
Extremely short, with limited environments and largely linear progression.

 

[Fizzii]

Thanks Crooked Bee!

I guess here's as good a place as any to make an initial announcement as to our next big project. We're doing a full graphical makeover of Leylines, and it's coming along well so far (and this is where that last Egther portrait I made comes in). Radiant also plans to implement multiplayer functionality, so we'll see how that goes.

As to what it's about, Leylines is a turn based fantasy strategy similar to Masters of Magic. The game description can be found here: http://crystalshard.net/?g=1.

Once we have some in-game screenshots to show, I'll make a thread in the Strategy forum, with a proper 'official' announcement. We'd be looking at putting this game on Steam Greenlight as well, since it should have wider appeal than our smaller adventure games.

 

[Cadmus]

Fizzii is there some fix for the mouse smoothing/acceleration bug? I found something about a logitech mouse driver but I'm using a HP mouse with the windows drivers. Win7.
I tried using the direct 5 option and various scalings but nothing fixed it

 

[Fizzii]

If it were Logitech it would be fixed by disabling set point, but since it isn't, is there is anything you could try turning off with your HP mouse?

If there isn't any difference between Direct3D and DirectDraw5 then there aren't any configuration options within the game itself which can help the issue. Also, if you can't find a workaround, could you please PM me your specs and I'll let Radiant know so he can chase it up.

 

[Cadmus]

If it were Logitech it would be fixed by disabling set point, but since it isn't, is there is anything you could try turning off with your HP mouse?

If there isn't any difference between Direct3D and DirectDraw5 then there aren't any configuration options within the game itself which can help the issue. Also, if you can't find a workaround, could you please PM me your specs and I'll let Radiant know so he can chase it up.

No, as I said I use whatever the windows 7 does to make the mouse work, there doesn't seem to be any UI for the mouse settings or anything.@MRY PMed me to try to turn of enhanced precision and it seems to have fixed the issue although I don't like the way the mouse feels without it. Thank you both, I don't think anything else can be done now and I can get into the game.

 

[Fizzii]

Cool, glad you got it working.

And thanks MRY

 

[Fizzii]

From our Facebook page:

Announcing Summer Shards! The Crystal Shard design team has numerous games that are on the brink of being ready for release. These include the action game Beer!, deluxe versions of several of our classic adventures complete with voice acting, and a sneak preview of our 4X strategy game, Leylines.

Basically, we'll be releasing one game per week for as long as we can manage. Some of these are low-budget titles, others are simply free; exact dates are subject to approval of our hosting sites. Afterwards, we're launching our Steam Greenlight campaign to get a combo pack of our adventure games published, offering the deluxe versions for a low price.

Stay tuned for further announcements on Facebook and Twitter; and in the meantime, here's a trailer of Beer!



----------------------

We're trying to clear up our backlog of projects so this should get us motivated I'll post here as the games get released (as they're mostly smaller projects).

 

[Outlander]

That is so random

Could do well as a mobile game, though.

 

[Fizzii]

Summer Shards #1: Beer!

First in our set of Summer Shards releases is the casual action game Beer!

Beer! is a collection of frantic minigames where you have ten seconds to grab the beer! Easy to pick up and difficult to master, this game rewards quick and out-of-the-box thinking. It comes with a cheerful cafe-style soundtrack, and assorted cast of bears and deer.

Designed for a community fundraiser, Beer! includes 33 levels, a secret bonus round, and several cameos. Suitable for all ages; alcohol not included.

Available here: http://radiant.itch.io/beer

(Next week will likely be an adventure game )

 

[Fizzii]

Summer Shards #2: Oceanspirit Danish

Our Summer Shards action of releasing a game every week continues. This week, we offer Oceanspirit Danish, a creative re-telling of Shakespeare's classic Hamlet. The game is free, fully voice acted, and more than a little silly. Also, for the duration of our summer action, we'll give a 25% discount on our regular games, such as Quasar.

A Shakespearean adventure! Watch Oceanspirit Dennis and his companions Ray and Mr. Cheeses as they stumble through the plot of Hamlet, order too much room service, and make a general mess out of Denmark.

There are lots of combat scenes with an innovative rune engine, and as befits a Shakespearean tragedy, most of the cast dies like mayflies. With dialogue written by The Bard himself, how can you resist a game like this? As Guildencheese says, "Squeak!"

Available from: http://crystalshard.net/?g=21

 

[CryptRat]

Summer Shards #2: Oceanspirit Danish

This game sure is stupid (mostly in a good way).

 

[Fizzii]

Wait till you see the next game . A lot of the games in our catalogue (which we are updating) are quite silly!

 

[Fizzii]

Summer Shards continues! This weekend's game is Infinite Monkeys. Written early in our design, we're re-releasing it (for free) so it works better on newer systems. In its retro style, the game is light on plot and heavy on puzzles; but hey, at least there are no dead ends! Check it out here: radiant.itch.io/infinitemonkeys



For those that like the challenge (or frustration) of multiple verbs, this might be the game for you

Originally written for a MAGS (monthly AGS) competition, and incorporates themes from all the previous MAGS!

 

[Wolfenswan]

I'm getting Woodruff vibes there.

Is that Osama Bin Laden at 0:16?