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Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Printable Version

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Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Thomas - 02-11-2008

Below are some questions that we would like you to answer in order to make our upcoming games as good as possible:

1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them?

2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one?

3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened?

4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay?

5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst?

6) How did you like the ending?

Thats all folks! Thanks to all who participate!

RE: Some quick questions - NeroAngelos - 02-12-2008

I'll use spoiler tags in case anyoen reading hasn't completed the game yet

1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them?
Spoiler below!
They were all great but my favourites were the hive tests, especially the self sacrifice one

2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one?
Spoiler below!
The library secret room puzzle, I just assumed it had something to do with the clock, I'm guessing that's what you wanted people to think, if so: mission accomplished Tongue

3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened?
The pace was good, a nice balance of fast and slow bits, no complaints

4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay?
Spoiler below!
Loved the bits where clarence messes with your perception, sometime hard to tell wether it was real or clarence being his sneaky little self Tongue

5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst?
Spoiler below!
Loved them all, especially crazy ol' clarence..even when he tried to kill me and made me kill..whats-her-name...arabel? although that bit gave me a funny feeling in my guttywuts(well done for that Tongue) Also the fact that I have the same name as the main character added that little extra bit of immersion ^^

6) How did you like the ending?
Spoiler below!
Loved it, although I kinda wish it hadn't ended Sad
Completed in just under 4 hours, normally if a game that I'd bought was that short I'd be really annoyed and disappointed..but not in this case, they were an awesome 4 hours and well worth the money Smile

Hope that helped..if not it at least helped me kill a few minutes..or 15 Tongue

RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - lowenz - 02-14-2008

Quote:1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them?
Spoiler below!
The fire in messhall, simply *perfect*

Quote:2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one?
Spoiler below!
Red Card, because of 2 holes in kennel's right corridor: i had to read here in the forum the solution Sad

Quote:3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened?
Spoiler below!
No, it's well balanced!

Quote:4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay?
Spoiler below!
Again, it's good but there's only one thing i cannot understand: why put in game a VERY UNREALISTIC head in cryostasis for the eye quest and not a scalpel in the inner part of infirmary for take the eye of computer room's scientist? (He has got an human eye! Maybe we can kill "it" with some electric incident - see the exposed cables running in computer room - when he is locked and then take the eye with the scalpel).

Quote:5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst?
Spoiler below!
Voices are fitting well (Clarence is fantastic) and all characters are fine

Quote:6) How did you like the ending?
Spoiler below!
Well.....the idea for the hivechallange is good, but it seems a bit tutorial-like :p


RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Betruger - 02-14-2008

Thomas Wrote:1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them?

I really liked the puzzle with emergency waistband and that chemical lowering heartrate, when you needed to cause an emergency for the cryo doors in the infirmary to open. Really neat idea. I also liked Clarence's comments on that one.

I also like the mental realm a lot, but not really because of the puzzles, but the overall atmosphere. It was wicked!

Thomas Wrote:2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one?

Spoiler below!
The only part when I was stuck was than puzzle in Kennels where you had to block 2 holes in the corridor using the heavy metal crates.
For some reason I didn't strike me that there were 2 holes and 2 crates.
So for quite some time I tried to put flares in front of the holes before turning lights out.
I also tried directing my flashlight at those holes as I walked passed them.
To me this puzzle was a bit unlogical, because if the thing was scared of light then how come he attacked anyway when the corridor was almost fully lit using the flares?

A close second is the puzzle with the gigantic worm. For some reason I assumed you were supposed to play dead (giving yourself an injection of that aforementioned chemical).
Mostly it was difficult because you needed the worm to make a hole near the cables to see that it's possible to kill it with electricity, and I usually died before that hole was made. (Somehow, I stayed away from that part of room, so the worm didn't attack through there).



Thomas Wrote:3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened?

The pace was just right.

Thomas Wrote:4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay?

The events were superb. Adventure game should be a good mix of gameplay and storytelling, the second being more improtant to me.
You managed to mix those just about right.

Some gameplay puzzles were quite tedious though (like those crates you had to move in the sewers to make a bridge for yourself. Trivial puzzle with obvious goal with a lot of tedious walking and moving stuff around)


Thomas Wrote:5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst?

Spoiler below!

All characters were good. I just loved Clarence and the Hive had very interesting voice too.

Grey's voice acting was a little awkward.
At first, when I didn't know the story behind all this, I thought that it'd be much better to leave those guys without speach, only with some inhuman grunting.


Thomas Wrote:6) How did you like the ending?

Spoiler below!

Good one. Those tests I were put to by the Hive were quite refreshing really, and they felt like a equivalent of a boss battle Smile
I also like the way the story concluded very much.


I hope you'll continue to make fascinating adventure games like this one!

RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Janakev - 02-14-2008

Thomas Wrote:1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them?

Spoiler below!
I know it's very general but I can't say there any I didn't like; they all seemed very well thought out.

Quote:2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one?

Spoiler below!
There were only two occasions where I can say I was really stuck: looking for the jar of sulphur (more due to my own short-sightedness) and looking for the entrance into the blocked room in the Examination Room (again, my own fault).

Quote:3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened?

Spoiler below!
After the Chemical Lab collapsed there was only one infected walking about near it. The rest of the facility was just so empty. Admittedly when I was found by that infected I was a little frightened but it didn't carry the same fear that having them dispersed throughout did.

Quote:4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay?

Spoiler below!
When the infected that was in the Computer Room tricked me into passing in the saw and then burst through the door, with the result of having to trap him (after madly scrabbling about in terror) that was brilliant. I was just about to say that a few more events like that would have been nice but now that I think back on it I think it was balanced very well.

Quote:5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst?

Spoiler below!
As with the others that have responded (and from being around a few sites, other people who have posted there) Clarence was perfect; the whole premise of who and what Clarence was was simply brilliant. However I have to say I really, really didn't like Dr Swanson. She always seemed so calm and relaxed which was completely at odds with her situation. Philip was perfect, the infected were perfect and the Tuurngait were perfect.

Quote:6) How did you like the ending?

Spoiler below!
Loved it. Tied in wonderfully with the beginning of Overture as well as Black Plague and I honestly didn't see Philips reaction coming. Even as he was typing out his message I still thought he was going to close off the Tuurngait from the world. That's fantastic writing, and a special congratulations to Thomas for that.


RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Thomas - 02-14-2008

Janakev:
To clear things up, Tom wrote the story, not me (Thomas) Smile

RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Janakev - 02-14-2008

Thomas Wrote:Janakev:
To clear things up, Tom wrote the story, not me (Thomas) Smile

Oh my apologies. I forgot we have two Thomas' here.

RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - lowenz - 02-14-2008

Janakev Wrote:
Spoiler below!
However I have to say I really, really didn't like Dr Swanson. She always seemed so calm and relaxed which was completely at odds with her situation.
Yes.....this is a bit strange Big Grin

RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - eliasfrost - 02-14-2008

1) I liked the computer puzzle the most. It was the one that appealed the most to me.

2)
Spoiler below!
The very last one, when you are supposed to sacrifice yourself.
I tried to just run through it but i ended up restarting the puzzle all the time, i think i tried that like ten times, i thinked of a solution midtime.

3) No, not what i can remember.

4) It fellt like Overture, run around in the same corridor with a couple of doors and solve puzzle. Not the most attractive changes but i liked the events more than overture, they fellt so...Wierd.

5) The character i liked the most was Clarence. With his "crazy professor" voice, *haha. Even though it sounded almost to humoristic at some places. The worst character was... Eh.. I don't know-

6) Meh..

RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - WindexGlow - 02-15-2008

1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them?

I enjoyed the puzzles where you have to think; with a small pressure to get it one fast (or scare factor) involved.
The most rememoriable was getting the computer-parts made. Hearing that guy bang on that door..priceless.
The last puzzles in the game were definetely refreshing, however they became tedious after the 20th time of failing it.
I disliked the 'boss' battles. They were more of a "run as fast as you can and hope you're lucky" style, which isn't very fun. The idea behind the rock worm and Lady were great, but badly prepared.

Overall: The puzzles where you're under pressure were fun, but not the pressure that gives you headaches.

2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one?
The Play-Pen-For-Dogs part. It would never occur to me that zombies can break down doors, yet a weird-dog thing (that can kill a good 10 dogs) is unable to move a relitively light-weight box around. Having him scared of the flashlight would have been great.
What scared me more was I thought he was real, and not a game scripted event. I was too scared of turning my back and seeing some awful creature about to jump at me!

I tried placing flares in front of them, using my flashlight, crouching, running as fast as I can, ect. Thank god for these forums!

3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened?
After I found Howard, I kind of lost interest in the game. Maybe it's just I had other things to do, or it seemed like the game was coming to a close but I wasn't into it as much as I had before I knew howard's fate.
So, the second half of the game seemed a bit slow, and very confusing. I somehow managed to not see one map for 30 minutes, constantly running around in circles.
Even than, I entered the wrong places and had to keep searching for other rooms until the pieces started matching up.

4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay?
My favorite part, by far would be the Scripted Events. Clarence's events really added to the game, but I wish there had been more of them. Having him make sounds in my head would have been pure awesome, such as in the dog kennel part; 'hearing' a dog come 'running' at you, but turn out to be nothing would be frightening.
Gameplay; it was kind of annoying. Instead of killing all my enemies like I did in overture, I just ran from them. They could never keep up! Also, the maze-light sctructure really gets to my nerves, Don't Use It In Your Next Game Please!!!!
I wish there had been more than 1 global puzzle for each area though, and more dangers in the sub-rooms. Levels seemed to be desigened like this:
Main Level: Enemies patrol here, only puzzle requires completing all the minor-room puzzles
Minor Rooms: No enemies, small puzzles work together to give you a piece of the Main Level. Rarely if ever do Minor Rooms effect each other.


5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst?
The characters paled compared to Cheery Ol` Red. You can become fond to Clarence, but he doesn't keep the story going. the Girl (forgot her name) seems to be the new "Red" but I kept forgetting about her and her 'jokes'. Not to be an ass, but when I killed her I actually thought "Oh good, no more of her now".

I wish there had been more notes like in Overture. This area of the game seemed rushed, there weren't even 10 notes!

6) How did you like the ending?
50/50
I knew it was going to end in a basic sense of how it did; some ancient force fighting back at humans for trying to control it; but I didn't think the player would actually tell people to kill it.
It was really confusing though. The puzzles before it (and it's annoying voice) kind of lets the pressure wear off.

I was kinda hoping after the "Kill them. Kill them all" part, you would play as another player with a gun for a few minutes.. Sad


Thomas; if you'd like I can make a better more descriptive post.

EDIT: Shame on you frictional games. SHAME ON YOU. You actually killed off Red! How could you? I would have loved and cherished the moment when "Dear friend, it is I!" blasted from the ceiling speakers!