One thing that annoy me was the phone number puzzle. I am not a native english speaker, while i mostly can hear English without text, i still rely more on subtitles because reading comes easier for me than hearing so i find phonetic/puns based puzzles hard to figure out sometimes.Thanks -- I think that is right. For some players, it will feel artificial, for some it will feel uncannily real. For that latter category, some will be upset (we got one absolutely livid email from a reviewer who found it triggering) and some will be moved. I'm glad to hear that you've found some lights lately. And I look forward to reading your full review.
In the meanwhile, I should say that we now have native Linux builds for those few who are interested.
"le chuck style confrontation"
It was a deliberate homage. I have always thought it the best adventure game finale but it turns out that is not a universal opinion (to put it mildly).
Glad you guys liked the rest!
No, all along I felt that there needed to be a choice at the end because the option to resign oneself (one way or another) has to be in there.II do wonder, did you ever consider withholding/offering the player "bad"/ "defeatist" endings (e.g. jump, knife)? The commentary makes their inclusion sound like it may have been tacked on, perhaps requested by testers?
Yes, the work that went into the finale looking good was pretty absurd. We started with three sprites standing there talking, and needless to say, it was terrible. The temple stroke was either my idea or Dualnames's, I can't remember. The Scribe feet was just something that Vic put in; at the risk of sounding like an even more ludicrous Tarantino, I've always thought that was probably the coolest detail in a sprite. Getting the perspective, anatomy, and animation right on feet in that position is no joke!-I love the small detail of The Woman caressing The Stranger's temple in the finale + The Scribe shuffling his feet, wiggling his toes
No, not intentional. The way Vic did the Deadland rooms in general, the exits were not super clear. The "tent" room to the Shooting Gallery was so unclear Dualnames had to add first a purple glow (insufficient) and then an arrow sign.the only thing that looked "off" to me was how the left side exit from Eitri's room in DEADLAND didn't really look like it led to the Black Dog/Feral Man room. Was this intentional? I recall the STRANGELAND room pretty clearly had a more readable route
Yeah, all Vic. At first it felt too much, and then when I saw it in game, it was perfect.the close-up of the Dark thing in DEADLAND...BRAVO. One of the most wonderfully horrifying images I've seen.
absolute last thing the world needs is yet another Silent Hill knockoff. every horror mod for the last 20 years and 9 out of 10 indie horror games are more than enough (and every single one of them would have been better off without the overbearing and obvious influence of said game, to the point where when I see references to or obvious influence of Silent Hill it makes me think the mod or game is amateurish). maybe you should recommend he also play and ape off of Earthbound to really fill out the list of games that have been exhaustively mined for inspiration by indie developers.it's not about twists, really. it's about the presentation of the game and how PC and NPCs behave, that japanese productions like SH2 and many others cultivated almost to perfection, making dream like scenarios seem "real". u would have been well advised to study them before attempting a game of this kind. u could still add ur own western and personal perspective, building upon the concept.
anyone who is familiar with those games probably notices that u made a lot of "beginner mistakes" in Strangeland.