Games

Anna
Author: Vince Twelve Resolution: 640x480 at 32-bit color Downloaded: 12205 times ((size unknown)) Genres: Sci-Fi, Drama, Original Length: Short games
Added on: 26 August 2005 Website: http://www.xiigames.com Content advisory: Occasional, mild  None  None Ratings: AGS Panel: (what is this?) Player rating: 82% Awards won: Best Documentation 2005 Welcome to Outpost Station. A deep-space lookout intended to serve as an early warning system in case of attack by "the enemy." You are Hero, a clean-room technician charged with the maintenance of all the station's systems including Anna, the intelligent computer system that runs the station. The day starts as routinely as any other, but ends with Homeworld's very survival in jeopardy. Anna was one of the joint winners of the One Room One Week Competition 2. The game is presented in pseudo-3D with a keyboard interface. This version is spruced up with sound, music, and a flash manual that keeps track of your progress in the game and can provide hints if you're stuck. Download Now - Download from Mirror 1 (if the download doesn't work, try Right Click, Save Target As)
User ratings for Anna:
From 26 peoples votes so far: (vote here) Visual: 77% Immersion: 89% Puzzles & Pacing: 82% Overall Enjoyment: 82% You can see a detailed breakdown of the votes.
Anna was brought to you by:
VinceXII  Design, Writing, Scripting, Art, Sound
Other games by Vince Twelve:
Domestic Conspiracy Demo (Demos) What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes Are Closed (Medium length games)
User comments about Anna:
Posted by lostbuthappy on 2009-05-02 at 22:28 (IP logged): 1: Very good. Like a good short story this game - although quickly finished - will not be forgotten. 2: The visual and auditory presentation was outstanding, unique and helped transforming the game into a piece of art. The abstract black-and-white interior of whatever-it-was emphasized the feeling of being lost to a huge degree. 3: While I felt quite lost initially, this was the mere seed for the feeling of accomplishment that followed once I knew what I was doing (although I felt a bit embarrassed, too :~) 4: The characters where not only believable (as far as this can be said about a fictional AI), but helped also to pull me into the game. Especially Hero, the well-educated protagonist, reminded me a bit of Kubrick's 2001. 5: The Hanoi-Puzzle was a bit of a downer and ate up a bit of the immersion the game established. 6: The philosophical discussion the characters had was a bit lacking especially for an "intelligent" AI, but I sure liked it anyway. If you don't know whether to download this game or not my advice is quite clear: Do it for God's sake! It's an hour well spent. Posted by Lanchong on 2009-03-04 at 05:13 (IP logged): Great game to play at the office :) Posted by Lazy Lisa on 2009-01-07 at 01:42 (IP logged): This game really blew my mind. It was so unlike anything I'd ever played before. Even if the puzzles themselves are really, at the core, nothing special, the whole look and feel of the thing made it truly fascinating to play. Figuring out what I was supposed to do and how I was supposed to do it felt very rewarding. The previous comments referring to the characters of Hero and Anna, their relationship, and their philosophical discussions definitely apply in my case too: terrific stuff. I can't believe it only took a week to put together! Posted by Marion on 2008-11-05 at 13:23 (IP logged): Very interesting and beautiful game ! Original and well done. Posted by Dharma_and_Greg#1fan on 2008-05-21 at 07:15 (IP logged): The story was nice if not a bit generic. The dialog made it great though. The puzzles were very well designed, but leave you wanting more from such a short game. The involvement of a technicians manual outside the game was cool. Above all though I really liked how this game put you almost in the eyes of Anna and it felt like you were remotely controlling Hero. Posted by Tino113 on 2008-05-13 at 23:21 (IP logged): Hey, I loved the atmosphere of this game, It reminded me a lot of '2001: A Space Odyssey'. The dialog was fairly witty and in depth, it didn't give too much of the story away and yet it said enough to be interesting. The graphics, while minimal, were fitting for the scene. The puzzles left a bit to be desired but I really liked the way that the speech synthesis system used the letters you had solved in the puzzle. Overall a great little game, and definately worth playing at least once. :) Posted by uvaagsfan on 2007-10-07 at 21:06 (IP logged): Cool, I finished it and now that I got past that whole first puzzle with the gibberish and activating letters, the rest of the game was much more fun. I really enjoyed the dialogue between the two characters. I also liked the use of the Tower of Hanoi puzzle. Posted by uvaagsfan on 2007-10-07 at 20:55 (IP logged): Nevermind about earlier comments, I'm strating to get it... I'm sure I will return with a good review eventually. Posted by uvaagsfan on 2007-10-07 at 20:29 (IP logged): Am I playing the same game as everyone else? All of the text comes out as random gibberish and the puzzles don't seem to be solvable at all? I'm wondering if my copy is screwed up. Posted by TheJBurger on 2007-04-11 at 00:21 (IP logged): Very interesting game. I loved the concept which reminded me alot of Ender's Game. I also suspected the "twist" before you exit the room at the end, which is a nice touch. It really makes you think, you know? :) The intro was quite long, but it felt like it was necessary to the game, and none of the dialogue felt wasted. The music was also nice, and the graphics, while seeming simplistic at first, are very beneficial to the atmosphere of the game. I only had two gripes with this game: 1. Pressing ESC would skip cut-scenes (which I did everytime I got onto another console) and/or access the menu. This seemed like an awkward choice for the interface since I had my left hand on the space bar and my right hand on the up/down/left/right keys. That being, I had to stretch my hands over and over to reach ESC. Perhaps a better solution would be to move all the keys down to the bottom row. TiltOR has a similar interface to this game, and it pulled it off nicely. This is a minor nitpick, but I thought I'd mention it. 2. When the game started I knew I had to establish communication with the homeworld, but I really had no idea how to do that. I tried doing almost everything on the power console but ended up quiting out of frustration and not understanding the puzzle. I came back later and pressed a bunch of random buttons on the console (solving the puzzle?) which let me use the other consoles. I had no idea what I did, but it worked and I proceeded through the game. But besides that, the puzzles were interesting, especially the voice communication one. All in all, it was a interesting, unique, and original game. Definetely worth playing. Posted by CapCase on 2007-01-27 at 04:02 (IP logged): I found this unusual game to be very entertaining. It is very well done. I don't normally care much for the type of puzzles this game uses but the mood and story made me persevere and solve them. And it was definitely worth it. Great game. I recommend the long intro as it really sets the mood. Posted by jkohen on 2006-02-15 at 21:00 (IP logged): This game is amazing, a perfect 10. The previous comments sum it up. I have nothing else to add, but to encourage everybody to try this game out. Posted by Etcher2Games on 2005-10-16 at 08:51 (IP logged): This is one of those great games made with AGS that isn't quite your typical adventure game. The story, music, and atmosphere give you this almost "neato creepy" feeling. The only sad thing is this is a short game. I'd love to see a full (even medium) sized game with this kind of feel. But, every moment was enjoyable. (p.s. don't close the game when the credits show) Posted by Anonymous on 2005-10-07 at 22:00 (IP logged): Very unique game! I recommend it for something different. Posted by madmanmunt on 2005-09-04 at 08:03 (IP logged): Anna is absolutely amazing. I wasn't prepared for how much I was going to love this game. A funny, intelligent and tense sci-fi adventure, Anna is something really different from your average one room game. First, the graphics. Stylised, clinical, brilliant. The multilayered room, once you get to grips with it, works incredibly well. The cold, colourless images, especially that of main character Hero, reflect the technologically advanced atmosphere. And yet, while the game achieves a perfect, detached futuristic feel, this is countered by real warmth in the superb script. A heavily philosophical 15 minute introduction introduces us to our two main characters, Hero and the 80% organic computer Anna. That Anna can feel emotions means that her relationship with Hero is complex and compelling. During the introduction it is set out for us as the pair bounce good natured insults off each other during a debate about free will. The script is intelligent and wonderfully observed. It would be easy to ignore the characters in favour of simply setting out the philosophy that Anna has come up with but the game intersperses this weighty dialogue with realistic emotional responses. Anna is not even a physical presence in the game and yet her relationship with Hero is the most intimately observed and convincing relationship I have run across in an AGs game. The pair lapse into their career dictated roles only when necessary. The rest of the time they are sparking off each other with witty barbs or engaging in emotionally escalating debates. I may be going to far here but I'm sure I even sensed a little sexual tension between the two, the tragedy of which would be the impossibility of consumation. Anna ends on something of a cliff hanger and I really hope that means we'll be getting some more Anna games. I love these characters so much that the entertaining gameplay seemed almost secondary to the unfolding story and superb dialogue. Anna is a major triumph all round and the best short game I've played since the first Ben Jordan. Posted by Mozesh on 2005-08-30 at 03:00 (IP logged): This game is really well put together, I really liked it. The online manual is also really good!

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