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To be brutally honest....wasn't too impressed by the demo

Started by sivvrianBARRY, July 31, 2006, 10:48:28 PM

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sivvrianBARRY

Now I realize that you guys have put a HUGE amount of work into the game, but I just feel that with all the hype that the game was "near commercial quality," my expectations were FAR from being met.

The point and click engine was REALLY shaky. REALLY shaky. While using it, I started to think that using AGS would've been a far better choice. It was extremely frustrating for me to control Graham, as I had him going to the wrong screens, walking further than I wanted him to walk, and most of all, he could only follow predetermined paths. I really doubt I could play through an entire game with this engine, it was really frustrating and just plain buggy.

I don't know if it was jsut my hardware or what, but all of the scenes loaded up as just a grass plain, and then all the buildings and scenery popped up on top of it.

There were also a bunch of spelling errors, odd annunciations, awkwardly worded sentences and dialog, and grammar mistakes. It REALLY could've used a good proof-reading.

Again, I don't know if it was my hardware or not, but the dialog kind of overlapped at a bunch of places.

One thing that really bugged me was the apparent inability to skip dialog.

Overall, I really admire you guys for all the hard work you've put into the game. But I just don't feel the early demo comes close to living up to the hype of a "near-commercial" quality product. Hopefully these are problems that can be worked out, but I went into the demo excited and came out dissapointed. Sorry if I'm being a downer about it, but I've been following the project for a long time now and I just felt like I needed to share my thoughts.

sarahrah

A lot of your complaints are answered in other threads.  This game is not up to par for the release - it's just the demo which is yes, full of bugs. 

However you can skip dialog.  Try right clicking.  That also changes the cursor. 

sivvrianBARRY

I figured some of the problems would be ironed out by release.

However, I also remember that the game was on track for a release LAST WINTER...I figured that the game would have been at least CLOSE to release-able form by now.

TribeHasSpoken

Quote from: sivvrianBARRY on July 31, 2006, 10:56:53 PM
I figured some of the problems would be ironed out by release.

However, I also remember that the game was on track for a release LAST WINTER...I figured that the game would have been at least CLOSE to release-able form by now.

We understand where you're coming from. We ask that you bear two things in mind.

a) This demo is actually nine months old
b) Nine months ago, it was put together in only three weeks
Once the votes are read, the decision is final. The person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes...


koko_99_2001

Quote from: TribeHasSpoken on July 31, 2006, 11:10:14 PM

We understand where you're coming from. We ask that you bear two things in mind.

a) This demo is actually nine months old
b) Nine months ago, it was put together in only three weeks

Tribe, you got here before I could :P I was planning on saying exactly that XD

sivvrianBARRY, what kind of spelling and grammar errors are you talking about? I do know that quite a few had been caught before the demo was released.

As for the timing/dialogue "bug" Click Here
<3 Happily married to FataliOmega since July 11, 2009 <3

The Unofficial The Silver Lining Official Sarcasm Cleaner Upper :cat:

Catherine DaCosta

TheGreatGraham

  I can understand where Barry is coming from, and I agree with him on some points, but as for the actual quality of the demo, if it came out like that (with the few bugs and stuff, and Graham not walking right, it would not be the best of quality.  However, I trust they will fix these problems for the game, and will continue to work to make things better.  The graphics are very excellent.
  Also, talking of it being of commercial quality, I think its sure to pass up at least a few official King's QUests on my list as to how much I like them (definitely VIII, and who knows how many others.
  The one thing is I'm afraid this game might not come out this year.  After all, if you guys thought it would come out in a month, you probably wouldn't have released a demo.  This demo also demonstrates all the bugs still have to be ironed out, so it will probably take a while.

Alexandar28

Actually, didn't someone say that because the demo was nine months old that most of the bugs from it had already been fixed in the actual game?  I think someone (yes, the mythical "someone."  Ranks right up there with the equally mythical "they.") said the characters could now walk around the landscape as opposed to being restrained to a relatively straight line, and the sliding thing with Graham had been fixed.  I can't remember which thread I saw the post in, I thought it was by Yonkey though.  ;D

Delling

Quote from: Alexandar28 on August 01, 2006, 08:41:34 AM
The only spelling/grammar thing I noticed was after you've clicked on something several times there's a line (within the line) that reads "we don't care you are the King," which should be "we don't care if you are the King."  It's a mistake I make all the time when I'm typing fast and/or already have the line in my head.  I don't remember anything else.

Actually, Alexander28, that's a perfectly fine sentence. The introductory word "that" is often excluded from noun clauses functioning as direct objects.
Noli me tangere! Nescio ubi fuisti!
Don't touch me! I don't know where you've been!

Marquess of Pembroke
Duke of Saxony in Her Majesty's Court
Knight of the Swan for Her Imperial Highness

...resistance was obviously useless against a family that could invent italics.

"Let the locative live."

http://my.ddo.com/referral/Delling87

Cez

Quote from: sivvrianBARRY on July 31, 2006, 10:56:53 PM
I figured some of the problems would be ironed out by release.

However, I also remember that the game was on track for a release LAST WINTER...I figured that the game would have been at least CLOSE to release-able form by now.

thing is we've kind of forgotten about chapter 1. Because we have to port it from the old engine and system into the updated version, we kind of been leaving there and working on other stuff. We just wanted to show you guys that there exists a game without spoiling too much. So, there :)


Cesar Bittar
CEO
Phoenix Online
cesar.bittar@postudios.com

sivvrianBARRY

Quote from: César_Bittar on August 01, 2006, 07:37:55 PM
Quote from: sivvrianBARRY on July 31, 2006, 10:56:53 PM
I figured some of the problems would be ironed out by release.

However, I also remember that the game was on track for a release LAST WINTER...I figured that the game would have been at least CLOSE to release-able form by now.

thing is we've kind of forgotten about chapter 1. Because we have to port it from the old engine and system into the updated version, we kind of been leaving there and working on other stuff. We just wanted to show you guys that there exists a game without spoiling too much. So, there :)

Sounds good then. Keep up the good work!

Matt Vassar

Your other criticisms aside...

Quote from: sivvrianBARRY on July 31, 2006, 10:48:28 PM
One thing that really bugged me was the apparent inability to skip dialog.

Though it's not exactly intuitive, I found that you CAN skip dialogue by right-clicking.

J-Rod

My expectations were FAR exceeded. ;D Comaped to commercial quality games with multimillion dollar budgets, I think TSL is amazing.

Now I'm kind of upset that most $50-60 games aren't better than what they are. Looks like they need to get POS to help them. Publishers would actually get my money then. XD

Yonkey

Thanks for the feedback everyone! XD

If you haven't already, go download the Patch v.1.0.1 now available at: http://www.postudios.com/archivedTSL/trilogy/

MANY of the major bugs were fixed, and many enhancements were added as well. :)
"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."

Matt Vassar

Quote from: J-Rod on August 03, 2006, 05:19:57 AM
My expectations were FAR exceeded. ;D Comaped to commercial quality games with multimillion dollar budgets, I think TSL is amazing.

Hear, hear! :)

Boogeyman

#14
Link
These fools need a strict talking to right now!

Media w***** and utter b*stards indeed!



EDIT: Fixed link :)
I don't narrate for stinky kings!

maestro

Quote from: koko_99_2001 on August 01, 2006, 05:57:02 AM
what kind of spelling and grammar errors are you talking about?

If I remember correctly, at one point the oracle says "he who" when she should be saying "him who."

Either in this demo or in KQ3VGA, I can't remember which, "all right" is spelled "alright."

Yonkey

I wouldn't expect an Oracle to have perfect grammar, I don't even think they need high school diploma when they can forsee anything about to happen. :P

Also, it's pretty rare for "all right" to be used, even in general.  Here are the only two occurances of "alright" in our game:

Titania: Oh that's alright. I'd much prefer to stay outside. This garden reminds me of the beauty of my homeland, and I feel at peace with nothing but the sky above me.

Hassan: Alright, alright. Your story has touched me. I'll rent her to you for two days for this quantity, just out of respect for my king.


Both cases seem fine to me...
"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."

markornikov

wouldn't it be non-canon if this KQ contained almost no bugs? :suffer:

It's been years since i ran KQ5 WITH sound >:(

Alexandar28

Quote from: Yonkey on August 04, 2006, 12:38:05 AM
I wouldn't expect an Oracle to have perfect grammar, I don't even think they need high school diploma when they can forsee anything about to happen. :P

Also, it's pretty rare for "all right" to be used, even in general.  Here are the only two occurances of "alright" in our game:

Titania: Oh that's alright. I'd much prefer to stay outside. This garden reminds me of the beauty of my homeland, and I feel at peace with nothing but the sky above me.

Hassan: Alright, alright. Your story has touched me. I'll rent her to you for two days for this quantity, just out of respect for my king.


Both cases seem fine to me...

In British English, both "all right" and "alright" are acceptable.  In American English "alright" is not technically accepted but just about everyone outside of an English Major (like me!) uses it so it really doesn't matter.  Give it a while longer and both forms will undoubtedly be acceptable in American English as well.  So yeah, they're really fine and it's not a mistake if you live in England!  ;D :suffer:



Yonkey

Quote from: markornikov on August 04, 2006, 07:43:55 AM
wouldn't it be non-canon if this KQ contained almost no bugs? :suffer:

It's been years since i ran KQ5 WITH sound >:(
As a Software Engineer, it actually is my goal to always produce software with no bugs. 8)

Quote from: Alexandar28 on August 04, 2006, 08:25:40 AM
So yeah, they're really fine and it's not a mistake if you live in England!  ;D :suffer:
Or Canada, like myself! ;D
"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."