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[AussieBen]

Hello, TIGSource people!  My name's Ben and I'm working with Brawsome on a game called MacGuffin's Curse.  The game is a mix of top-down puzzle (think Sokoban-style games, or the dungeon puzzles from the earlier, 2D Legend of Zelda games) and point-and-click adventures.  While there's no "pointing and clicking", there are inventory puzzles, conversation puzzles, silly and (hopefully amusing!) dialogues between various members of our cast.

The main goal of each puzzle is to put a battery on the battery slot, which powers the exit door, allowing you to exit.  But of course, it's never that easy.  Our main character, Lucas, can't move the batteries - they're too heavy.  Luckily, he's also able to transform between himself and a huge werewolf in the moonlight.  As a human, he can unlock doors, operate switches, and slip through windows, while as a wolf, he can easily push heavy objects, smash obstacles, and claw his way through piles of dirt.  Only by swapping between the two characters, the player is able to solve puzzles and make their escape.

And now (because text is boring!) here's pictures!

Also, we've been writing bits and pieces about the project (and other things) as we've been working on it, if you want to take a look.  I reckon most of you lot probably know all about this stuff already though, you seem to be pretty cluey. =)

I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments!  Have been working on this for quite a while now, so hearing from other members from the game dev community I think would be quite valuable.  Cheers guys.

[SirNiko]

This is looking lovely. It makes me think of Adventures of Lolo with a lot more chaos in the form of single-room gimmicks, which could be a good thing. I notice multiple doors - will this be a little non-linear with optional side paths or multi-room puzzles? A yes is a good thing.

The 'ground' elements in the screenshots aren't clear if they are interactive, or only decorative. If decorative, their colors might be muted a bit to make it clear they are part of the ground and can be crossed effortlessly.

Other than that, the screenshots look great. Looking forward to seeing this in action!

[AussieBen]

Thanks SirNiko!  Yes, my copy of Lolo 2 is nearby, and my Link's Awakening strategy guide is on my desk for ref.  =)

Well spotted on the multiple doors!  Yes, there is some non-linearity, you can go a-wandering if you like, and some quests require you to explore some of the surrounding area before you can progress a bit.

My goal with the level design was to stagger it a bit, so that a few areas open up and you don't always feel "stuck" to one level.  If you're having trouble with one area, you can explore another level instead.  I suppose a good example is that of the Game Boy Mega Man games, which had 4 bosses, then once they were completed, the next 4 were unlocked.  Something along those lines, anyway!

Bah!  I know exactly what you mean, that cobblestone path is the worst offender, it really does need to be muted.  Early tests by people didn't know you could walk over them because they thought they were walls.  Oops.  Thanks for the reminder, that's something that really does need to be looked at!

[AussieBen]

A video preview of MacGuffin's Curse has gone up, if you're interested at taking a look at the game in action.  Very happy that it's gotten a positive response so far!





Back to it, I guess!  (But fire away with any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you!)

[AussieBen]

Hello everyone!

Sorry it has been a while, but I've been hard at work on MacGuffin, work is progressing well.  The game is now fully completable from start to finish, so from here on it's mainly bug testing until it's robust, and polishing rougher elements that I'd not had a chance to scrutinize earlier.

ALSO!  We have a trailer which came out yesterday, I hope you all really enjoy it:





As usual, I'd love to hear from you guys!

[SirNiko]

This is looking pretty neat - the trailer does make me want to play this. I am reminded strongly of the Phantom Mansion: Spectrum of Souls games with moderately higher production values. The trailer doesn't give a good indication of the writing quality, though, which is unfortunate given you appear to advertising on that.

What are you looking at for a final room count and price point?

[Franklin's Ghost]

Great looking game, really like the jumping through windows.

When do you think you'll be releasing it?

[AussieBen]

We've got about 150 rooms in total, and over 90 "quests" to be completed as you progress through the game.  So, a reasonable amount of content.

Price point I'm not sure of as yet, as we're still evaluating the market - we want this to be priced fairly, but still reasonable enough that a player will be quite happy to take a "gamble" on an indie title.  =)

Glad that the trailer has done the deal of making you want to play it! I wanted to put more dialogue in the trailer myself, but it just became too verbose, and in the end meant that rather than seeing all of the different locations and things you could do, you saw a few too many text boxes!  We've also made a demo version of the game that gives you the opportunity to play the first area, with "easier" introductionary puzzles and about 12 rooms available.  And because it's steam, if you finish the demo then buy the full game, your save data will be kept so that you don't have to redo the whole thing again.  The demo should help give a good idea of the game's tone regarding the writing.

I'm (quietly) happy about the feedback I've been getting, everyone reacts really positively to it.  Just hope I can get it more noticed, which is always the tricky thing! =)

Comes out Q1 next year (I've always wanted to write that kind of publisher-speak!).  More specifically, I'd say about sometime early April.  Our facebook page would probably be the best to keep an eye on for that, important things always go on that. =)