What would make my games better?

[FrairPhil]

Just doing a little informal survey to try to improve the quality of the titles from Pinhead Games.  For those unfamiliar, I have been producing point & click 3rd person adventure games specifically designed to be played on the web.  So far our releases have been "A Case of the Crabs" and "Brain Hotel".  As I begin production on two brand new games, I'd like to hear your opinions about what we can do to make our games better.  Try to keep in mind the limitations of trying to desgin for the web.  

If you havent tried the games before, please give em a shot, then come back and just give me a quick comment on what you liked, what you didnt, and what we can do to imporve!  

Thanks alot!

[Strange Custard]

I liked your games a lot - the plot and scripting were excellent, as was the voice acting.
One major gripe I had however was that some of the puzzles were a bit on the obscure side (eg the fusebox puzzle in COTC) - they could do with being a little more logical.
Also be sure to test the games THOROUGHLY - I found some irritating bugs in Brain Hotel that should really have been found during the testing stage.
The graphics were good but could be improved - judging by your adverts calling for artists a while back I guess that this is already being taken care of.

...apart from that, keep up the good work!

[FrairPhil]

It's true that Brain Hotel was rushed a bit durring testing so that we could hit our deadline, but the major bugs only appeared on a few machines.  The graphics for the new games should be of considerably higher quality.  Some of the artists who have signed on have produced some real quality work!  I cant wait till I can start showing screen shots!  And you'll be happy to kow that the new Nick Bounty game contains 100% less Crab Spit!

Id still like to hear a few more opinions to make sure Im headed in the right direction (Irwin, Deadworm... Im looking at you! )  What are you opinions on interface, dialog, web playability, etc...

[deadworm222]

I have to give your games a second chance some day. When I do, I'll get back to you...

[DCW]

It uses Macromedia Flash, right? Can you save your game with it?

[FrairPhil]

Yes, you can save your game.  Currently the released games are only capable of a single save state, but I am looking into the possiblity multiple states for future games if the demand is high enough.

[Erwin_Br]

I finished 'A Case of the Crabs' today and I really enjoyed it. It's been quite a while since I laughed out loud when playing a game. The dialogue is very amusing and even hilarious at times. I would love to see the same kind of humor in the sequel. I also loved Nick Bounty's voice: very good.

Now, to answer your question: What would make my games better?

The dialogue is so great, that it's a pity that the amount of it is rather sparse. I'd very much like to see a bit more dialogue, with deeper branches, in your future games. Especially with that kind of humor.

The interface was all right, though saving a game in the map is a little awkward. I'd go for the Brain Hotel solution next time. I have no problem with the restriction of one save slot, though.

The game was a bit short, but hey; I can live with that. Besides, all the good games are always too short.  

Puzzles were clever, but I'd love to see at least one or two more complicated puzzles. With that I don't mean more difficult, but... how do I explain this? Uh, bigger in size? Requiring more different actions from the player to solve them, if you know what I mean...

Overall, I'd say keep up the quality dialogue and excellent humor. The end scene was just hilarious. I reccommend everyone to play it. :great:

I also started playing Brain Hotel, by the way.  

--Erwin

[FrairPhil]

Thanks for all the great comments, Erwin!  I am glad you enjoyed the game.  A Case of the Crabs was my first attempt at creating an adventure game and I was fairly new to Flash at the time.  I have learned alot of new tricks since then and Im confident that the new games will be an even better experience!

The dialogue is so great, that it's a pity that the amount of it is rather sparse.

This was definately the hardest compromise I had to make.  Two of the things I had decided on early was that game was going to be designed to play online and it would feature speech.  Because of this, the amount of dialogue used had to be cut drastically to keep the file size at a reasonable level.

The interface was all right, though saving a game in the map is a little awkward.

When I orignally created CotC, I had no idea how to create a save game file for a game played online in a browser.  The first release had no save option at all!  The reason it eventually made it to the map screen was simply because I had nowhere else to put it" :rolleyes:

Now that you have played the game, how do you feel about Flash as a valid tool for building adventure games?
 

[deadworm222]

No, we can only judge the playing experience. We don't know how frustrating it might be to catually develop the games in Flash.

[Erwin_Br]

No, we can only judge the playing experience. We don't know how frustrating it might be to catually develop the games in Flash.

That's right, though you do get a good look, as a player, at the possibilities of Flash. But those were already obvious to me (small filesize, smooth vector graphics, etc...). I never doubted Flash as a valid development tool.

Anyway, in the end it's not the engine or authoring tool, but the developer, who makes or breaks a game. It's not about the tool: it's about what you do with it. And in this case, I think Mark (and the crew) did a fantastic job, especially considering there's almost no documentation available on how to build an adventure game in Flash. (At least, not to my limited knowledge)

--Erwin