Kickstarter

Creator Richard Martin on April 7

I backed this project. When it came out I missed the download link and am just now getting around to trying to play. The links all seem to be broken. Is there any way to get this game now? I really look forward to trying it.

Creator Nicholas Halderman on December 31

Also, the dreams don't seem to be working for me. The text shows up, but I can't see anything--the screen is just black. In the soggy-bot dream, the screen is just green, and it looks like I threw something.

Creator Nicholas Halderman on December 31

Ah, see, I didn't even realize the cereal was in a drawer. I thought it looked like there was a microwave on that table, but when I used "look", it told me about cereal, so I assumed I was just confused by the low-res model. Until I looked at the walkthrough, I didn't realize there was also a microwave, and the cereal was in a drawer. For that matter, I've never known anyone who kept cereal in a drawer--only on shelves in a cupboard. I didn't know you could get the teddy, either--I'd looked at the bed and seen the teddy, but when I hit "get" it told me "you can't get that!" or something similar. It seems like the "look" command works on the bed, but the "get" command only works on the teddy, which has a different and smaller activation area, so I just assumed it was non-interactive.

I also think I was forgetting about the "open" command. It seems like "use" would usually work in place of "open," unless there's some specific case where you have an object that you can either use or open. With a door, for instance, it seems like "using" a door would probably mean the same thing as "open" a door. If you want to maintain the two commands, in order to hew more closely to the spirit of the old adventures, I'd probably have the first few things in the game which can be "opened" but not "used" offer some kind of message in response to "use" which reminds the player that there's a separate "open" command.

It does seem like an interesting game--I love the odd humor and the style. It just needs some playtesting and revision. :)

Creator Nicholas Halderman on December 30

So, what with the new distribution method, I actually took a look at the game today. It's cool--the graphics definitely feel 8-bit. But game-wise, I'm finding it a little lacking. I hope you'll tune it up a little; I think with some tweaking this could get some cult attention. My issue is mainly with conveyance. While Maniac Mansion was equally low-res, it was very generous with implementing the "look" feature, so that if your eyes wouldn't tell you what a game-world object was, the text would. If you did the wrong action on a thing, or used the wrong object on it, it would indicate that you might be able to do something with that object, but not the thing that you'd tried to do. You might even want to take some cues from Zork: when someone does "look" in a room, but isn't near any particular object, you could describe what objects draw the eyes of the character...i.e., what things might be worth investigating close-up.

At this point, I'm basically stuck in the game. I've wandered around the house and yard, but there doesn't seem to be much to do. The gate is stuck. I need to mow the lawn, but the lawnmower is out of gas. I found the bucket and the hedge-clippers. I couldn't use the bucket to get gas from the car in the garage to the lawnmower, which seemed like a reasonable idea. (I didn't mind leaving the car without gas, because there's no gap in the fence to allow a driveway to get out, so it's pretty clear that I'll never be able to use the car, except maybe to get the briefcase I can see in the rear window.) I was able to fill the bucket with water from the tap on the house, but there doesn't seem to be anything to do with it. From wandering in to the garage, I can see that there are stairs to the attic (which is a nice bit of conveyance); but there's a closed door in front of those stairs, and my character doesn't seem able to see it--none of the actions yield any specialized text about the door. It seems like the cereal is related, since one of the cereal's texts says it "contains the key to a higher place!", but I can't figure out what I might be able to do with the cereal. I tried using the bucket of water on it (because of the bit about "battling captain sog"), but there's no feedback to indicate you've used an item, so it's hard to tell whether it's actually doing anything. The only place I've found that even made it clear that pressing "use item" in the world did anything was the sandbox, where it told me it was "fun, and absolutely nothing happened." The hedge clippers don't respond anywhere that I could find. I thought perhaps I could use the hedge clipper to cut the grass, which would be slow and inefficient but probably doable, but couldn't really work out whether anything had happened. There's also some sort of brown thing in the back yard, maybe a package or something, but I can't figure out what it is, and the game certainly isn't about to tell me.

Basically, I find the game intriguing, and am curious about its game world, but it is so obtuse about its feedback that I find it hard to bring myself to stick with it. It's frustrating that it'll tell me that I "don't see anything special" when I'm looking straight at something that I'd like more information about, particularly when, as in the case of the lawnmower or cereal box, it turns out that in fact it's something I can interact with, but only from some very particular location and angle. Another one that was particularly frustrating was when, from the front yard, I could dimly see an odd shape down the street, bobbing up and down in the air, but the game insisted I wasn't seeing anything special.

I recognize these are things that a lot of early games did wrong too, and maybe you wanted to preserve some of that feeling, but I don't think most people are so nostalgic about that aspect of games.

The engine you've developed is quite neat, and the music is pretty cool too. I'm definitely interested in the idea. But I think with a little work, this could become a game with appeal outside the small nostalgia niche it currently occupies. I hope you'll consider refining it a bit. To be clear, I'm aspiring to be helpful and constructive--I don't mean to belittle the tremendous work you've already done, or deride the game you've produced. (Is there a cat in the kitchen window? It looked from the outside like there was a cat sitting on the windowsill looking out. I particularly liked the small touches like that.) I just think the game could be more than it is, and I'd like to see it achieve its potential.

Thanks for all your work! I'll be watching for your future projects.

Creator Robert Miller on October 15, 2012

So the game's coming out this month, right?

Creator Tadeusz on September 29, 2012

Could you write new update what's going on? Are you working on something special?

Creator Devon Rampe on September 10, 2012

How's things coming alone with the project?

Creator Nelson Carter, Negotiator on August 17, 2012

congrats :) look forward to playing

Creator Shaun McCutcheon-Kay on August 12, 2012

Really liked the graphic style in the video, backed it purely for how unique it is, congrats on funding, hope everything goes smoothly for you :)

Creator Richard Martin on August 9, 2012

Really interested to see what this game turns out like. Maybe some day it will see an Ouya port.

Creator James Mason Pierce on August 8, 2012

I wish you the best in your indie endeavours.

Creator Devon Rampe on August 8, 2012

Congratulations!

Creator Muskie on August 8, 2012

@bonuswavepilot: the $25 tier will net you the source code and the game editor!

Creator Muskie on August 8, 2012

now start thinking about stretch goals. XD

Creator Muskie on August 8, 2012

FUNDED! right on the dot! grats!

Creator Benjamin Olson on August 8, 2012

Will the final release have a higher framerate? The videos look kind of choppy. Excellent work though!

Creator bonuswavepilot on August 8, 2012

I love the psuedo-old-school look of this - do you have any plans to release the engine itself for other folks to mess around with, Michael?

Creator Muskie on August 7, 2012

You are the real reason why Kickstarter exists. Have Have 25 bucks, i'll spread the word.

( Also, you got RockPaperShotgun'd! http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/04/kickstarter-katchup-2 )

Creator Samui Shiiba on August 7, 2012

This looks quite interesting. Hope it makes it. :D

Creator BaconSplat on August 1, 2012

This looks cool!! :D

P.S. - @Gold_Kitsune - Brony!! :D /)