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Lady KestrelluckyloserTheTMDwalas74

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The Journey Down

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Anyone playing this new episodic ag,is it near of fun Sam&Max;‘s level?

     

“Going on means going far - Going far means returning”

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I enjoyed it quite a bit. I can’t compare it to S&M though. They’re very different.

     

You can play my game Frasse and the Peas of Kejick for free! (AG review here.)

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is there a boxed version of the game or is it only sold in digital version?

     
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jhetfield21 - 21 May 2012 10:33 AM

is there a boxed version of the game or is it only sold in digital version?

Episodic games generally are not sold Physically until the very end.

     

Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation

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right….not much of experience with episodic games.

     

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Trumgottist: Big thanks for your kind words and positive comments about the game. It’s great seeing people are enjoying the ride!

jhetfield21: We are currently discussing boxed versions with a bunch of different partners alt. looking at doing something ourselves. We’ll see what happens in the future. Smile

We are currently working on getting a demo online, so people easier can evaluate the game to see if it’s their cup o tea or not, before purchasing.

     

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I finished it yesterday, and the game is fine. I can’t believe no-one mentioned the similarities to Monkey Island 3 - it has beautiful hand-painted backgrounds, fantastic caribbean-esque soundtrack in the vain of MI3, and even very similar used fonts & cursor…

What I didn’t like was the stereotypical characters, their awful 3D art design and the wooden dialogues (altough there are some good jokes, majority of jokes simply doesn’t land). It’s hard to comment on the story yet, because the first episode felt only like an introduction of setting and characters.

I believe Skygoblin is an indie developer, and hopefully after the success of Journey Down they will have more resources for hiring experienced game designer & story consultant.

     

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Lhurgoyf: Well spotted! We have indeed drawn inspiration from MI3, though the earlier MI games have certainly inspired as well, visually.

To answer your speculations, yes we are a small indendent game studio (four guys) with no external funding whatsoever. Our resources during this production have been extremely limited.

As for story, don’t worry - it opens up for real in chapter two, which actually is well under way production-wise. Now that the launch-storm has settled a little bit we will finally be able to get back to work on it again, which is something I’ve been looking forward to for months. Smile

If you’re curious about Chapter Two development, me and Henrik (the animator), just started a thread over on Desura where we plan to regularly post behind-the-scenes type posts during the remainder of the project. Check it out if you’re curious.

     
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I enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to Episode 2.  The unusual characters were fun to spend time with.

     

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theo: good luck and a lot of enthusiasm with developing Chapter 2! Hopefully the sales of Chapter 1 are going well for you…

Can I ask you more about the characters: why did you decide to use 3D models instead of hand-painted ones? They stick out in the beautiful environment like a sore thumb… Also the decision of not include eyes in their design is a big flaw, as they all seem completely without life (in Grim Fandango it was fitting for apparent reason, in Journey Down it doesn’t work… The main character is a laid-back guy full of life, and yet he visually seems dead all the time).

Also, who does the dialogue? Sorry to say, but it is mundane, predictable, simplistic and quite often boring… I wish the dialogue was more self-aware, and don’t be afraid to throw in some absurd jokes. I expected some hilarious lines from sophisticated crew members at the diner, but no…. I cringed at the whole dialogue and especially the final line “Nobody likes me” from Maitre D in line cruiser (also why he looks like Adolf Hitler? Is there a joke in that?)

Please consider this as a constructive critisim, not trolling… I’m sure the second episode will be a lot better.

     
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Lhurgoyf - 24 May 2012 12:42 PM

They stick out in the beautiful environment like a sore thumb…

I don’t know if it’s because my eye isn’t trained enough to notice, or or if you’re just wrong, but I can’t see that.

Also the decision of not include eyes in their design is a big flaw, as they all seem completely without life (in Grim Fandango it was fitting for apparent reason, in Journey Down it doesn’t work… The main character is a laid-back guy full of life, and yet he visually seems dead all the time).

Here I know you’re wrong. Wink They look a bit alien, but dead? No. I like that it’s different, and in character design it measures up quite well when compared to MI3.

     

You can play my game Frasse and the Peas of Kejick for free! (AG review here.)

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Just finished the game…..it was excellent.rather small but as i’ve no experience with episodic games it might be normal i don’t know.i’m looking forward to the next chapter.i also liked the behind the scenes as i’m very much interested to see how studios work even the new ones as you guys!!

as far as the 3D models go i guess it was a call made from judging the skills of the team and what would be faster.3D models can be faster to work with.and even if it sticks out it probably is fixable.

on the other hand i feel they made the right decision about the eyes.they look like african statues which is their origin anyways so i think it’s better this way.and also you don’t need the eyes to convey life.just the expressions the guys did on Bwana and the VO is enough.to tell you the truth it’s much more interesting this way.to see how much life can be conveyed in an otherwise non-living statue just by using a good VO and funky facial animation(at least the facial animation on GF wasn’t as good as this)

     

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After only a month the game has dropped in price to $7/£5. I thought I’d mention it here to let those of you who already played it know that if you bought it at $14/£10 you are entitled to a free copy of the soundtrack. Email theo [at] skygoblin.com and they’ll set you up with the album.

edit: Oops. I left out a detail. Email your receipt and they’ll give you the album.

     
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nice!!

     
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Lhurgoyf - 24 May 2012 12:42 PM

Also the decision of not include eyes in their design is a big flaw, as they all seem completely without life (in Grim Fandango it was fitting for apparent reason, in Journey Down it doesn’t work…

I also disagree that the hollow eyes are a mistake. if you have watched the bonus features you’ll see that the character design is inspired from african masks. now, there aren’t many masks with eyes, are they Smile and the grim fandango parallel is quite obvious too, so this eye issue (and the mask idea as a whole) is one more small similarity between the two and I find that appealing.

     
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For those interested, I interviewed Theo about the game last year and he gave some more information about his design choices, including the use of African masks and the character names.

     

I am the founder of Alternative Magazine Online - a UK website offering alternative views on films, games, books, music and more! I am also currently working with Revolution Software co-founder/programmer Tony Warriner on ‘Revolution: The Quest for Game Development Greatness’ - now live on Kickstarter!

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