Hi, im really enjoying the narrative in this game and gameplay is very well done, but can we adress the animations in this game? All animations, especially in dialogues and walking is frankly not good at all, they are often buggy and mechanical looking. I'd be enjoying the game much more, if i wasn't laughing at animation bugs and characters looking like robots.
Another thing i have to say and it is really affecting my time with the game is loading times, it takes good 10 seconds to go from one screen to another, and this game has a lot of screens and a world map, so it seems most of the times i dont play, i'm waiting for a screen to load, this is not acceptable behavior for an adventure game. There is so many loadings, that often i see characters "think" too long to perform an action...
I hope the sequel episode will adress some of my concerns, becaue otherwise it is a really interesting game and i will play more of it.
We're definitely making efforts to improve both of those things for future episodes, though note that loading times will vary significantly depending on how much RAM and dedicated video memory you have. A game loaded with 3D models and complex textures is always going to have some loading time between screens, regardless of genre.
I'm not myself an animator--but as I'm watching an LP of the game right now, I have to say they've definitely gotten even better since those early animations for Episode 1. Rich drives that team like the perfectionist he is! Comparing the earlier stuff to what's going into Episodes 2 and 3 now, I'm even more impressed with how their work has improved. I think they did well then, but are even better now.
I've not experienced any noticeably long loading times, and I'm playing on a 3 year old iMac. The animation isn't amazing, but it's passable, given that this is the team's first commercial effort. I'd only expect things to get better in the future.
Bear in mind that most recent adventure games tend to focus on story, puzzles, dialogue and graphics, but leave animation to the bottom of the "to do" list. I'm currently replaying The Book of Unwritten Tales, which is a really fantastic game - but too often characters only vaguely animate properly with regard to the scene they're in, and when they pass objects to each other they often gesture wildly rather than actually passing an actual object.
It's a pain, but this is not a problem isolated to Cognition. And while I'd love the animations to be a bit tighter, just to help with the suspension of disbelief, I'd rather they focused on the story, puzzles, atmosphere and gameplay rather than the animation. :)
Hey, very nice to see developers willing to chat with fans ;) I hope the game will be greenlighted on Steam, because i want you to make money from this game and push other episodes to be better and longer. This game has potential and your studio seems passionate enough to make good adventure games, as there is always not enough of them.
P.s : please, less bugs in episode 2 ^_^
I don't think people know what the word "bug(s)" means in reference to computer programs these days.
Bt
Quote from: Blackthorne on November 04, 2012, 04:20:10 PM
I don't think people know what the word "bug(s)" means in reference to computer programs these days.
Bt
I don't think I had any kind of clear understanding of what went into fixing bugs into games until I got into this industry. Used to be I would run into some bug or crash or something and rant, "OMG HOW THE HELL COULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE MISSED THAT??" I've become much more forgiving of bugs in other products. We literally found and fixed over a THOUSAND unique reported issues in Episode 1 during development. I've learned that no matter what you do as a developer, the end user always finds a way to do something you didn't test for or predict. Then you just add that to the list of stuff to test in the next product.
Quote from: Blackthorne on November 04, 2012, 04:20:10 PM
I don't think people know what the word "bug(s)" means in reference to computer programs these days.
Bt
well, i'm quite sure i know what bugs mean, because i was a developer myself. If your character flyes or her legs stretch for a miles, that's definitely not what you want in the game
Yeah, bugs are a pain.
But at least there aren't (as far as I know) any "Crash the game when you enter this room" bugs. I got that in Dishonoured, which cut off an entire sidequest for me.
Quote from: superfranky on November 05, 2012, 05:43:46 AM
If your character flyes or her legs stretch for a miles, that's definitely not what you want in the game
Or is it?
Quote from: wilco64256 on November 04, 2012, 04:38:07 PM
Quote from: Blackthorne on November 04, 2012, 04:20:10 PM
I don't think people know what the word "bug(s)" means in reference to computer programs these days.
Bt
I don't think I had any kind of clear understanding of what went into fixing bugs into games until I got into this industry. Used to be I would run into some bug or crash or something and rant, "OMG HOW THE HELL COULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE MISSED THAT??" I've become much more forgiving of bugs in other products. We literally found and fixed over a THOUSAND unique reported issues in Episode 1 during development. I've learned that no matter what you do as a developer, the end user always finds a way to do something you didn't test for or predict. Then you just add that to the list of stuff to test in the next product.
Bugs are why I have a job. :)