It might not be ancient for some, but the world of ZX Spectrums and Commodores are to many. We miss those days, so decided to make a homage to the classics. A game within a game.
Oh and it's a horror.
We build this from scratch, and all assets, content and story are new. We've really enjoyed making this, and are considering releasing a series of these. The Twilight Zone meets short story gaming?
Hope you enjoy! Even once you get the gist, please push on with it :)
PC, will require a semi decent machine.
To Play:
Keyboard! Type away! Play with headphones or at the very least, sound.
HINT: Look around, look at everything, leave no stone un-turned. Many clues are gained by looking so don't forget...
Let us know what you think!
THANKS
(No Code are: Jon McKellan (STORY, DESIGN, ART, DIRECTION), Graeme McKellan (STORY), Omar Khan (AUDIO, SCRIPTING, DESIGN), Geoff Angus (CODE)
Wow, this is surely the most professional LD game I have played so far! Amazing in all respect - graphics, sound, atmosphere! Awesome first twist!
There was one major annoyance: When typing a command while some output was still running, sometimes, what I typed was deleted again. That's frustrating, never do that, how realistic it should be.
Also, I got stuck in two places: (SPOILERS) After opening the box, it took me forever to find the correct command to turn the computer on, I had used "use computer" and sorts before. I'm now stuck with the correct lock combination. I tried every 4-digit code I remember seeing in the game, but none does work. Did I miss something? Can you give a hint? Looking forward to completing the game!
Thank you so much for your kind words :) Really appreciate the feedback, glad you are enjoying it!
The command terminology is always a tricky one for these types of games, we basically have to guess all the different ways people might say the same thing :) We've definitely missed a few obvious ones thought, doh!
(Spoilers) the code can be found if you look around the kitchen. It should just be entered in as numbers (eg 1234, not "one two three four")
So, after getting un-stuck via Twitter and completing the game, let me note down some more thoughts.
I tried to leave the lock combination dialog with "put down lock", "exit", "quit", "go down", "leave", and more. The command which does it ("go to hallway") was unexpected, because in that situation, the player *is* already in the hallway. The last phase took some guessing, but it was possible to figure that stuff out :) Expected some big-ass scarejump at the end ;)
I actually played quite a lot text adventures many years back, and two shortcuts which always worked in old games was "look <thing>" or "<direction>" (like "up"). Maybe you'd like to add those to future games. I would also expect "leave kitchen/living room" to work. That's mostly it, everything else worked as expected!
This game was one of the most amazing experiences I ever had in a game jam, thanks for that! It was kind of sad to have the nice pacing and suspense being broken by command guessing/being stuck in stupid places ;-)
Will definitely keep an eye out for your upcoming games, you're very welcome to ping me if you have something to try out!
M
MattFiler31 Aug 2016, 12:28
Getting used to the mechanics took a little while but once I understood them, it was a great experience.
The two parts I got stuck on: turning off the radio and the ending. If you revisit the project for a longer game, a tutorial level or better explanation of the mechanics might help new players!
Really awesome entry though. The atmosphere was really tense.
I loved the atmosphere, but couldn't get past the beginning though..
(spoilers) I got to the yard and 'looked', and saw the generator, but couldn't figure out the verb to use it. 'start / use / go to generator' didn't work...
I've played a number of old text adventure games, so I was expecting to be able to check my 'i'nventory, e'x'amine items, 'l'ook, nsew movement, take, drop, etc.. Maybe it could be added to a next version :)
This Game looks, sounds and is simply awesome but i would like to know what i have to press in some way at least the words don´t dissaper so fast
M
Molpe14 Sep 2016, 07:35
This is AWESOME! Best game I've played so far! The audio is amazing, for a text-based game it has great graphics, and the atmosphere... I didn't expect I'll get scared by this xD And it scared me good xD It took some time getting used to the mechanics, some of the commands could be maybe a bit more "player-friendly", but I figured it out and got to the end x)
Comments10
There was one major annoyance: When typing a command while some output was still running, sometimes, what I typed was deleted again. That's frustrating, never do that, how realistic it should be.
Also, I got stuck in two places: (SPOILERS) After opening the box, it took me forever to find the correct command to turn the computer on, I had used "use computer" and sorts before. I'm now stuck with the correct lock combination. I tried every 4-digit code I remember seeing in the game, but none does work. Did I miss something? Can you give a hint? Looking forward to completing the game!
The command terminology is always a tricky one for these types of games, we basically have to guess all the different ways people might say the same thing :) We've definitely missed a few obvious ones thought, doh!
(Spoilers) the code can be found if you look around the kitchen. It should just be entered in as numbers (eg 1234, not "one two three four")
I tried to leave the lock combination dialog with "put down lock", "exit", "quit", "go down", "leave", and more. The command which does it ("go to hallway") was unexpected, because in that situation, the player *is* already in the hallway. The last phase took some guessing, but it was possible to figure that stuff out :) Expected some big-ass scarejump at the end ;)
I actually played quite a lot text adventures many years back, and two shortcuts which always worked in old games was "look <thing>" or "<direction>" (like "up"). Maybe you'd like to add those to future games. I would also expect "leave kitchen/living room" to work. That's mostly it, everything else worked as expected!
This game was one of the most amazing experiences I ever had in a game jam, thanks for that! It was kind of sad to have the nice pacing and suspense being broken by command guessing/being stuck in stupid places ;-)
Will definitely keep an eye out for your upcoming games, you're very welcome to ping me if you have something to try out!
The two parts I got stuck on: turning off the radio and the ending. If you revisit the project for a longer game, a tutorial level or better explanation of the mechanics might help new players!
Really awesome entry though. The atmosphere was really tense.
(spoilers) I got to the yard and 'looked', and saw the generator, but couldn't figure out the verb to use it. 'start / use / go to generator' didn't work...
I've played a number of old text adventure games, so I was expecting to be able to check my 'i'nventory, e'x'amine items, 'l'ook, nsew movement, take, drop, etc.. Maybe it could be added to a next version :)
You can see me play it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gij7kAOQoaU
(and I had to split it in two parts, the other part is over here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbUpxEPGb2U )