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Castle Paradox
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Pepsi Ranger
Reality TV Host
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 493
Location: South Florida
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 Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:11 am Post subject: |
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I knew there was something I had forgotten. Thanks.
Wow, those SDLs ballooned the file up another megabyte. Hope you guys are enjoying the game.
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Rinku
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Posts: 690
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:12 am Post subject: |
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Is the game just updated, or feature-complete finished? I.e. is there an ending now, and is that ending the final ending?
Either way, will try it out.
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Rinku
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:33 am Post subject: |
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D:
It doesn't seem to go any further than the original demo. Seems shorter in fact!!!
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Rinku
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Posts: 690
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:34 am Post subject: |
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Unless I'm playing it wrong. What I did:
fought hyena
went to dream computer
talked to computer
pressed switch on wall
game over
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Moogle1
Scourge of the Seas
Halloween 2006 Creativity Winner
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:28 am Post subject: |
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I think that *is* the old demo
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Rinku
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Posts: 690
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:32 am Post subject: |
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That's not good.
| Quote: | 2/28/2009
The first real release of "Tightfloss Maiden." Includes "Footprints in the Sand," "Dehydration," "Auto Kill," six new maps, and way too many new features to list.
3/15/2009
Repaired the wall in the Wingamabob's Chamber.
Fixed the broken ladder in Trans-Canyon Passage (after collecting the journal).
Restored functionality of random encounters in the passage and the valley.
Major graphic and gameplay improvements coming soon.
3/18/2009
Included some distribution files I forgot were missing. Thanks, Moogle. |
I didn't experience any of that. How do I reach that stuff?
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Pepsi Ranger
Reality TV Host
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 493
Location: South Florida
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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I'll have to test it. It's possible (though I'm not sure how) that I broke something in one of the bugfix updates. I'll let you know if something's amiss.
But no, you shouldn't have gone straight to the computer. Unless you fell.
Did you lose the battle by any chance? The game is designed to take you straight to the computer room if you lose.
What color was the man in the cloak? If he's green, you lost a battle somewhere. If he's blue, you accessed the end, though that should only happen after falling asleep next to the machine.
If it's a loss, all I can say is play the game again. You have to defeat the hyena twice: once by throwing the knife, the second by conventional battle methods.
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Pepsi Ranger
Reality TV Host
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 493
Location: South Florida
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, I ran a quick test.
Everything's in working order, which means you must've lost the battle.
When the hyena first attacks, you're not supposed to win if you try fist-fighting it. You MUST throw the knife to defeat it. And it's important you do so right away because you'll want to enter the next region with as much health leftover as possible.
Also, if you can run over there quickly enough, you'll want to "pull" at the nearby cactus for some added punching power before the hyena attacks a second time. The Unknown Woman will automatically equip the weaponized cactus. Doing this will make defeating the second version go a little faster.
Let me know if this solves the problem.
But yeah, the game isn't as short as it used to be. It's actually double the length and takes most people anywhere from 45 minutes to two+ hours to finish.
Note: The majority of the time will be spent figuring out the first area. If you want to cut down on the frustration (and the time), you'll want to equip the lipstick to the "Accessories" slot and "mark" every few cacti you pass. This way you'll know if you're running around in circles.
Everything after that is pretty straightforward.
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Progress Report:
The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition
Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.
Tightfloss Maiden
Currently Updating: Chapter 2 |
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Moogle1
Scourge of the Seas
Halloween 2006 Creativity Winner
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Pepsi Ranger wrote: | | If it's a loss, all I can say is play the game again. |
The intro is like ten minutes long 
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Pepsi Ranger
Reality TV Host
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 493
Location: South Florida
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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| moogle wrote: | | The intro is like ten minutes long |
Actually, now that you mention it, I think I'll be adding "intro skip" options to my games from now on. I had already planned that for the next Powerstick Man release, but it looks like I'll be doing it for this and At the Risk of Manipulation, as well.
I was thinking about how nice it would've been to have one even as I was testing this issue (I ended up watching That 70s Show while I was waiting for it to finish just to avoid the annoyance).
I think I'll release an emergency update to include this intro skip. I didn't have much else planned tonight anyway.
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Progress Report:
The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition
Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.
Tightfloss Maiden
Currently Updating: Chapter 2 |
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Rinku
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Posts: 690
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| Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, I did lose on the hyena, and yes, the length of the intro makes me cringe to play through that again. There are dozens of ways you could have made the intro go a lot faster :(
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Pepsi Ranger
Reality TV Host
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Location: South Florida
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:12 am Post subject: |
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| rinku wrote: | | There are dozens of ways you could have made the intro go a lot faster |
That is probably quite true, but I have a feeling that most of those ways would've involved giving the player a means to ignore most of what I wrote, which kinda makes me cringe.
Though, if you're referring to cutting the "dramatic" moments like the acknowledgment of pain and loneliness, I must admit that doing so would alter the mood of the game in a way that's undesirable to me.
If I made it any shorter or faster, it runs the risk of giving the player hope, which ruins the feeling that the main character feels for the rest of the game.
I guess you could say that the intro's length has been considered for years and in the end I decided that this is what the game needed.
| rinku wrote: | | Yes, I did lose on the hyena, and yes, the length of the intro makes me cringe to play through that again. |
Having said that, I have given you guys a remedy!!!
While I think the intro is exactly as it needs to be (despite what impatient players may believe), I agree that it's too long for a second viewing (or fiftieth if you're the game's designer), so I have given you all something wonderful, something to put a smile on your face.
I have given you an "Intro Selection Screen."
Designed in the spirit of Wave Race: Blue Storm's main menu (if it were to take place in a desert), you can watch as the sand flies every time you move the cursor, or marvel at the sandstorms as they blow on by (though, I'll be the first to admit that the sandstorms are rushed and pretty ugly at the moment). On this screen you will decide whether you watch the intro or skip it. By clicking "yes," you will not be robbed of anything and the intro will play out as it always does. By clicking "no," you will be given the 10-second version of the intro you skipped and then jump right into the game. It's perfect for those who already played the game at least once.
Also, as a bonus, I designed the selection screen to utilize the new desert graphics that I'll eventually implement throughout the rest of the game. Consider this a preview of things to come.
The latest update also addresses problems that people had with textbox presentation. While I still prefer to see everything that's happening onscreen, I know most players hate translucent boxes, so I bit the bullet and re-solidified everything. I apologize if this means burying some character actions behind a wall of words, but at least now you can read everything a little faster (which I'm also a little against, as you might miss something, but I won't make a big deal about it). I also moved some boxes to the bottom of the screen to give you a better dialogue presentation.
Finally, I did some error-checking for the hyena battle. If you're caught behind the cactus after defeating the hyena once and for all, the game will move you to the left or right (depending where the hyena falls) before you walk south.
So, give the update a try if you've been resistant about starting over. The intro should no longer be an issue.
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Progress Report:
The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition
Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.
Tightfloss Maiden
Currently Updating: Chapter 2 |
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Rinku
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Posts: 690
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 4:16 am Post subject: |
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Will re-download the skip-intro version.
As for the intro length, you may want to consider that making something too long also often has the reverse effect of causing people to pay less attention to it and be annoyed at it while playing, consequently they stop reading it, so its full effect is ruined. This happens more often than you'd expect, and the only way you can test this is through blind playtesting (i.e. asking someone to play the game but not telling them the game is yours, and just watching them play it).
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Bob the Hamster
OHRRPGCE Developer
Joined: 22 Feb 2003
Posts: 2526
Location: Hamster Republic (Southern California Enclave)
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:13 am Post subject: |
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| Pepsi Ranger wrote: |
When the hyena first attacks, you're not supposed to win if you try fist-fighting it. You MUST throw the knife to defeat it. And it's important you do so right away because you'll want to enter the next region with as much health leftover as possible. |
I discovered that if I threw sand in the Hyena's eyes a few times, it would always miss me, and I could pound on it safely. I did this for about 20 minutes before giving up :)
EDIT: Speaking of the intro length, while watching it I was thinking that the coordination with the music was really important to the dramatic mood you were trying to create. If you had a shorter version of the music, and then re-matched the timing of the scene to the shorter version of the song, you could retain the same mood without cutting any dialog or screens.
Of course, now that the intro can be skipped for second-time-players, I guess the issue is moot.
Also, I have to compliment you on the "Zoom" in the intro. It is startling. |
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Pepsi Ranger
Reality TV Host
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 493
Location: South Florida
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:50 am Post subject: |
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| James wrote: | I discovered that if I threw sand in the Hyena's eyes a few times, it would always miss me, and I could pound on it safely. I did this for about 20 minutes before giving up  |
20 minutes? Yikes. That had to be pretty boring.
Guess that means I designed it right?
| James wrote: | | EDIT: Speaking of the intro length, while watching it I was thinking that the coordination with the music was really important to the dramatic mood you were trying to create. If you had a shorter version of the music, and then re-matched the timing of the scene to the shorter version of the song, you could retain the same mood without cutting any dialog or screens. |
Actually, this is one of the few shortening tricks I'd agree on. The obstacle, though, is in the actual shortening of the song. Since it's a premade midi, and one based off a real song no less, I don't think I'd have any way of doing this properly without killing the track.
| James wrote: | | Also, I have to compliment you on the "Zoom" in the intro. It is startling. |
Thanks. Relevant to the music sync issue with the intro's mood, this is the one place I think I'm most disappointed. Unfortunately, because of the way the vultures are presented, I couldn't get the zoom to occur any sooner. And that sucks because there's a spot in the music just before she say "Nngh" that would've given the perfect segue into the cut scene.
But because everything else feels well-timed, I'm not too worried about it. Plus, the ending credits more than make up for the intro's musically-timed shortcomings.
_________________
Progress Report:
The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition
Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.
Tightfloss Maiden
Currently Updating: Chapter 2 |
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