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[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

My friend Orchard-L (who made Missing) has released the first two episodes of Fedora Spade: http://studioeres.com/games/fedora -- I coded the "tomato engine" for him in Game Maker, but Orchard-L did all the graphics and wrote the story, so it's really his game. It's an adventure game about solving cases. Let us know what you think!

[Zaphos]

This is good stuff!  One confusing thing I noticed: when the detective VAL_DETH says you can look at his case files but not take them, um, the only place they show up is in the TAKE menu.  Shouldn't there also be a way to look at them?

[Zaphos]

And shortly after that, I end up in interrogation mode but none of the objects in the USE menu do anything?  And the TALK option gives me nothing as well, and I can't leave ... so I'm pretty stuck.  Attached a save file so you can see what I'm talking about.

As a side note, it would be nice if there were a way to break out of dialogs / introspection ... I'll sometimes say, "what was that thing again?" and select it, but then I'll know on the first line and be annoyed for the next twenty lines.

[Orchard-L]

Regarding the Autopsy B file, I can't believe I missed this. The problem is simple enough, I mispelled the tag/flag name for it. I'll fix it and upload a revision after I get back from work.

I checked the save file. It's not a bug but I wonder if I've been completely unfair about this puzzle. It's admittedly pretty obscure. The correct item to use is the newspaper, but it won't work unless you know meaning behind the message. Try contacting KILLYOU.

Orchard,

[Zaphos]

I checked the save file. It's not a bug but I wonder if I've been completely unfair about this puzzle. It's admittedly pretty obscure. The correct item to use is the newspaper, but it won't work unless you know meaning behind the message. Try contacting KILLYOU.

When I first saw the newspaper I thought "oh, I should try that number" ... and then I never did.  It's probably not *that* obscure, especially since there was a letters->number puzzle before.

edit: And now that I've finished it -- great game!  I'll look forward to the future episodes

[Jimbob]

Very sweet little game.
The button tones did get a little annoying though I have to admit, and I echo Zaphos' sentiments on having something to skip repeated conversations.
And I'm also looking forward to the next case!

[Guert]

Added to my "To play and review" list...
I'll be back with something late next week.
Later!

[Guert]

Hey there!
Not bad. I'm not much of an adventure gamer so I can't really criticize. The story looks a bit generic bt haven't played it much.

I think what the others said has more value. Tell your friend to keep it up, specially if there are some people waiting for the next chapters!
Later!

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Just an update, case three is out. Feedback on the new case is of course appreciated:

http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2007/11/death-wears-fedora-fedora-spade-episode.html

[Jimbob]

The addition of the 'password' type puzzles, the new sort-of-image puzzle, and the more freeform interrogation/forensic options really push this game way ahead of the previous two chapters. The story did keep me thinking a little more, not quite revealing everything when you thought you knew everything, but not getting you lost in a sea of red herrings. A real pleasure to play. Apart from the occasional (unexplainable - seriously, there appears to be no reason for it) slowdown...

For the next chapter, I'm looking forward to maybe a few more 'image' based puzzles, keep the 'password' puzzles up, and just some more entertaining dialogue. I really like this series. I just hope the speed issue can be resolved...

[Zaphos]

Episode 3 seems decent, though it's not as strong as I remember the previous two episodes being.
I haven't finished it, but here are some thoughts from what I've played so far:

Writing:
There seems to be more juvenile humor ("haha sex and gay people!") in this episode than I remember being in the last ones -- it's been a while, though, so not sure?  It makes Fedora Spade a more pathetic and less likable character than I had remembered ...

Also, were these always set this far in the future?  The future looks ... pretty much like the present.  Or possibly the past, especially given their computer system.  It's weird to see them talking about these dates way in the future with nothing else to indicate 'future' ...
Especially with the already-dated pop culture references -- lines like, "If it's Michael Jackson, you're going to wake up with a sore ass," don't really seem to fit with the setting.

Puzzles:
The puzzles so far seem more oriented to the 'collect random number/dates/codes and then use them whenever given the opportunity' sort of thing than before, now that there's the new password input system, which just feel like a slog to me.

Walkthrough?
In general, for adventure games, I'm thinking that it might be a good idea just to write a walkthrough and publish it alongside the game, like Yahtzee does.  It's just too easy for the player to miss some key detail and get stuck randomly trying actions ... sometimes for the game to remain fun, you need a hint system or a walkthrough to give a shove in the right direction.

Episodes?
I'm not sure how much you're benefiting from the episodic format for these games -- it's definitely impressive for a small group to put out episodes of this size at this rate, but ... well, it's still kind of too slow to really fit with the whole 'episodic' notion; once per month is about at my limit for actively caring about a plot, so at this rate you're only really getting the benefit of a pre-established setting.  But the setting is generic enough that I'm not sure how much you get out of revisiting it vs inventing a new one.  And the games (especially this episode) seem to be getting large enough to consider them full games on their own.

[Orchard-L]

It's always  been set in the "near future" setting. I kept it vague for the first two games (they're set in the infamous "20XX" era), but this no longer becomes an option since I put in the newsstand feature which require you to put a specific date. To be fair, back in the eighties, we have this romantic image of what the future would look like, 20XX was depicted as a metropolitan jungle with fancy art deco architecture and flying cars, and now it's 2007 and things still look pretty much the same (minus the ridiculous hairstyle and ridiculous clothing.) Admittedly, I think I should've set the game time around 201X-202X instead.

About the crude humor... yes, I think there are more of them. It was always a gamble including jokes like these. A few people have complained about it, so I'll definitely keep it in mind for the next episode.

Oh, about the walkthrough, I wrote one but haven't released it to the public yet. It's really rough and is probably still missing a couple of stuff. You can grab it here if you want to:

http://studioeres.com/fedora/FAQ.rar

I think it should be enough to give you a nod in the right direction. Anyway, thank you for the comments.

Jim, thanks for the playtesting/proofreading. And yes, that slowdown bug is pretty darn annoying. And the most annoying thing about it is that we really have no idea what's causing .

Orchard,

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I agree with Orchard about the time thing. Take a look at this photo of NYC from the 1800s: http://www.archives.gov/research/american-cities/images/american-cities-101.jpg -- it looks nearly exactly like it does today. We tend to underestimate how little things change over time. 2030 will probably look almost exactly like 2000, just as 2000 looks almost exactly like 1970.

[Zaphos]

Hmm, I think things like computers at least would be a bit different.

I'm still a bit stuck currently ... I see the relationship between Rosalia and Diamond, but I'm not sure how to get to a point where I can type it in and there's nothing in my inventory that seems to help when interrogating her?  (Edit: Nevermind ... I figured it out immediately after asking, heh  )
Edit edit: The FAQ mentions a 'leaflet from Eddie' ... is there a character named Eddie?

[Orchard-L]

Check the desk in Diamond's office. You'll find his phone number in the stack of business cards.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Computers might be different, but remember that Spade is broke and Lawless city is a ghetto, so it makes sense that they'd be using old equipment. And computers in the 80s at least *looked* like computers today externally, even though their insides were inferior.

[Zaphos]

Check the desk in Diamond's office. You'll find his phone number in the stack of business cards.

Ack!  I knew I should have called all of those numbers.  Thanks!

Computers might be different, but remember that Spade is broke and Lawless city is a ghetto, so it makes sense that they'd be using old equipment. And computers in the 80s at least *looked* like computers today externally, even though their insides were inferior.

Hmm, fair enough.  I guess my main comment should not be that it's a totally implausible 2040, but just that when you set something that far in the future, people will start wondering about how the world has changed in all those years ... so if it's not something your plot is going to cover, it might be better to stay closer to the present.  Right now it sort of sets up sci-fi expectations but then doesn't follow through either way, which feels a bit strange.
Anyway, it's not a major point ... and now that it's a 'done deal,' I wouldn't bother changing it!

[Zaphos]

Okay, finished it ... a few more comments:

It seems like Theo finishes his autopsy after a certain number of visits to the library ... but you have enough other things in the series where Spade has to find the right evidence before the plot will progress that the player's assumption here is not "oh, I should leave and come back a few times," but rather that he's missing some important evidence, which can lead to some frustrating "let's go back through all the rooms and make sure we hit all the dialog options" time.  So, as funny as Theo's dialog is, I don't think that's a good 'puzzle.'

Typing answers is neat -- removes some of the "well, I don't know, I guess I'll just try going through all of the items in my inventory" from the game, so good idea there.

The "Objection!" reference was funny, but you might have overused it.

The "cutscene" where we see the encounter between Prinz and a shadowy figure seemed jarringly inserted -- maybe I was going through the dialog too fast and missed it, but I didn't notice a transition between Spade looking at his revolver and the cutscene.  Not sure how that issue might be avoided.

The occasional mention of "the event" that got Spade expelled from the main office doesn't tie in at all to these stories, so by now it's not really intriguing so much as it is obnoxious ... in a "nanana we have a secret" kind of way.

In general, it seems like there is a joke at every possible opportunity ... and much of the humor is of the 'making fun of stereotypes' variety, so all the characters ended up becoming caricatures.  Which is still funny, but it prevents me from really caring about any of them, and it makes them get old a lot quicker.
The non-stereotype characters are much more consistently entertaining to me, even when they are a bit one dimensional -- Theo remains awesome, for example ...

[Orchard-L]

Okay, perhaps I shouldn't really put a tag on theo's conversation as it's confusing some people and it's not a good way to progress the plot (and not to mention, unimportant). And  for the record, I don't really count it as a "puzzle," it's just a bad placement of tag in my part. I don't consider tags & flags as puzzles but as a way to make sure the players have read and gotten the evidence items needed for the interrogation.

Also, the person who is holding the revolver is not Fedora. I don't think I ever gave any indication that it is Fedora. It's the killer who is holding the gun. There might be others who are also confused by this scene... I'm not sure. I'll have to ask around. However, at the moment, I have no idea how I could improve o n the clarity.