Darkdevil County -- Demo 2.0 Released

[freshpaint]

UPDATE: July 23 -- Demo version 2.0 released

Mirror 1:
Darkdevil County Demo 2.zip

Mirror 2:
Darkdevil County Demo 2.zip

New characters, rooms, quests, animations (same old walkcycle, still -- will fix one of these days).

Trust me, you will like it!  Download is about 20 meg of 800x600 32bit color hand drawn storybook fun! (yeah, I know... lame..)

(I have limited bandwidth on these sites, so if you have problems downloading, check back later or let me know and I'll add on another mirror).

Tech note:  this is compiled using the latest version (3.10 Beta 5) of the compiler, so if you notice any problems please let me know asap.

Any save files you have from previous versions won't work, alas.  As time progresses I may add a cheat to help testers, but only if you're good.

Have already started the next set of quests/puzzles.  I would very much like some feedback on what's out there so far.  I particularly want to know whether things are too hard/easy/stupid, etc.  Some of the artwork, animations, inventory items, etc. are still in progress, so bear with me on that.

UPDATE: June 27 -- New concept art!



UPDATE: June 17



Yes, new rooms are being added -- will be uploading a major extension to the demo in the next few days -- I might even call it Demo 1.5!


UPDATE June 10:

Darkdevil County Demo.zip

Have uploaded latest version (1.01) with several of the main screens in full color, and have fixed one or two minor typos and  bugs. That's about it.

Work progresses on the next phase:

Animations (add 15%)
Rooms (added a new one)
Plot (no new changes)
Puzzles -- one new one

Have removed the rapidshare upload.

Will be using

Darkdevil County Demo.html

as a second site.  I like this site a lot so far, since they apparently virus check the file and give a count of downloads too.  Cool.

AND YET ANOTHER UPDATE: 6/3:
Snapdrive is back up. (as of 23:38)

Darkdevil County Demo.zip

ANOTHER UPDATE 6/3:
Have also uploaded to rapidshare.  Snapdrive appears to be down right now (Tues).

Darkdevil County Demo

UPDATE: 6/3/2008: New opening screen shot



Yes, with full color!  Have taken several of your suggestions to heart and am working on the artwork.  Also have fixed a few bugs. I hope people will download the demo and let me know what the gameplay is like before I move forward again.

UPDATE: 6/1/2008: Demo has lost weight!

Thanks to speedy release of 3.02 RC2, have recompiled and reuploaded, so file size is down to about 12.5 meg.

UPDATE 5/31/2008: Demo available

Darkdevil County Demo.zip

This is a fairly large (30 meg) download, since the "exclude rooms" function in 3.02 isn't excluding rooms correctly right now.  As soon as this feature is fixed, I'll replace the demo. [ UPDATE: DONE! ]But several people really want to see this, so I'm uploading it now.  You have been warned!  Also, I've never used snapdrive.net before, so am anxious to find out how accessible it is to everyone, speed, etc.

Thanks for the comments and support!

PREVIOUS POST:

War is coming ever closer to Darkdevil County.  Magwyn Urban-Dweller, a tech worker, has been oblivious to much of the outside world because of the demands of her job.  All that changes the morning she gets an urgent message from her best friend, Lina, begging her to go to the hospital and donate blood.  She rushes from her apartment to help her friend.

Magwyn soon begins to understand that not everything or everyone is what it seems.  The warring factions include robots, clones, Queen Miria and the reigning royals, scientists, gnomes, doctors, and friends.  Some are interested only in developing and using new weaponry -- others vow to stop them -- others are dedicated to peace and a quiet life.

A mystery in her family's past links her to a world seemingly gone mad.  To save herself, she must save the world.  And maybe change it too.

But first she must figure out how to get out of the hospital...







STATUS:

I will be uploading a playable demo soon and welcome comments.

The demo contains the opening scenario (getting out of the hospital so she can continue her journey) and is fairly complete except for an opening cutscene/startup menu and a few closeups.

The next scenario involves a quest given to her by a security robot and has the following status:

Plot & dialog: 80%
Backgrounds: 70%
Scripting, guis, etc.:60%
Animations:60%

There are 3 more major quests planned after that, but I'm still keeping it very loose (it's just me doing it all).  I plan to release this in stages.

I'm a complete newbie to AGS and game creation (tho have played them forever) --am an artist who also has extensive experience as a C programmer -- odd background, I know.

PS: I love this site, AGS, and doing this.  More fun than a barrel of monkeys.  I never understood that phrase before, but now I do.

[Alarconte]

Curious graphical style, Awake me intentios of test it to see if the graphical style works in the game

[Mr. Matti]

Curious graphical style, Awake me intentios of test it to see if the graphical style works in the game

Yes, I'd like too see the character-animation and stuff..
Very simplistic but unique and interesting style. I'm curious.

[freshpaint]

Have cleaned up some of the artwork and know I still have a lot more to do with animations, etc.  Am now interested in how the game plays -- I can't tell any more whether the puzzles are too easy, too hard, or just plain dumb!

[Alarconte]

the download get me wrong, maybe is the spyware, I will check later, but anyone get error to download?

[freshpaint]

I just tried it (at 19:35) and it appears the site is down.  I will post to a mirror and let you know.

UPDATE:

Have also uploaded to rapidshare.  Snapdrive appears to be down right now (Tues).

Darkdevil County Demo EDIT: removed.

[Dualnames]

I've managed to played it on snapdrive yesterday, anyway. I like the style. The animation isn;t top notch, but it works. Like the use of colour and I say go for it.

[freshpaint]

The animation isn;t top notch, but it works.

You got that right! Thanks for playing!Will be working on it as I go along.  I'm very new to this.

Am curious if you played it long enough to get out of the hospital, whether the puzzles were ok, about how long it took, etc.  I have no idea at this point. (or does this discussion belong over in the critique lounge?)

[Dualnames]

It can go here, but you can post about it at the critique lounge as well.

[freshpaint]

Don't usually bump my own threads, but am releasing Darkdevil County Demo 2.0 and thought people would be interested.  It's about 20 megs to download, lots of new stuff.

[Gord10]

I have played the demo and really liked the style.
My some critiques are;
Spoiler below, select the area to read the text

of design;
*Is it really a maze in the end of the demo? At first I thought the whole maze was an illusion and something (except death) would happen after random moves in this illusional maze (and this would be cool idea; our enemies wanted to confuse us), but it seems like it was a real maze that we have to find a certain exit way. If so, I must say that most adventure players hate it.
*I know you will probably do it in the full version, but it would be nice if the story was told us in game, instead of the document of the game (even if it was a demo).

of graphics;
*Some animations look weird (especially the buses, they just ruin the atmosphere). Characters are appearing/disappearing on the screen without walking, at least I would expect the robot to move outside the screen.
*Some items looked weird on the rooms (like the ID card), you could have used a different sprite that's perspective fits to the background.

I am looking forward to see the full game!

[freshpaint]

Thanks for the comments.  Did you play any of the game after leaving the maze?  Or after leaving the hospital?  The new parts I've added in version 2.0 all take place after you leave the hospital (by following one of the paths that had been blocked before).

Yes, I agree, a lot of the objects/graphics/animations still leave a lot to be desired, and I promise to fix them at some point.  Getting them into a consistent style would probably help a lot! (like the bus).

The maze isn't random, but it might be too big to get out of easily (especially if you have sound turned off).  I can probably do more to make the puzzle more balanced.  Did you find the map to get out of the maze?

[freshpaint]

Again, thanks for the comments.  I have fixed the "robot popping up" problem -- he now walks on and off from his post (tho still with a crappy animation).  Have made the maze a little smaller.  Have also added character tinting to provide additional cues, and may add other stuff, maybe a better payoff if you reach the goal.

Thinking also of adding a "Skip" button that appears maybe not right away (don't really want to do this, however... perhaps will bring discussion of this up in lounge).

Will upload changes soon, along with a few bug fixes.  Still want to hear from folks who've made it out of the hospital and on to the next quest.

[Xuewen]

Good topic, good question. I will convert it in a chinese translation version for my girl friend.

[kaputtnik]

Good topic, good question. I will convert it in a chinese translation version for my girl friend.

Why, you naughty spammer! And to disguise this as the totally romantic effort of translating an AGS game for your girlfriend...Shame on you, Xuewen! If I ever need a Chinese translation, I'll make sure I won't entrust it with you!

[robvalue]

It looks interesting, I like it.

I must agree, I really hate mazes whether there's a map or not, they just aren't any fun at all. I would suggest not having them.

Edit: Oh yeah, and being able to die... I don't like that either, I don't think it's what point 'n' click is about.

Looks promising though, I look forward to trying it out.

Good luck with completing it!