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Comments on 'Lost Gadgets'

A topic by Garry Francis created Mar 14, 2020 Views: 97 Replies: 2
Viewing posts 1 to 3
Submitted

I played version 1.0.0.

Your itch.io page is very bland. See how-to-make-your-itchio-game-page-more-appealing.

Add a title screen. You've already got it as a screen grab on your itch.io game page.

Consider changing the colour scheme from the default TWO colour scheme, just so that it looks different. See how-to-come-up-with-a-game-idea-q-a. You might also like to consider changing the colour scheme in each of the case areas or "time zones".

Consider replacing the default CREDITS command with something more appropriate for your game. This is allowed to be more than six words. You can still see the system credits using *CREDITS.

Consider overriding the default system HELP, as this responds with more than six words.

Add full stops at end of sentences in responses.

When you OPEN DRAWER a second time, there's no response. It should say "Already open."

You can't CLOSE DRAWER.

You can't EXAMINE or READ the three cases. This could give a (very brief) reminder of what the case was about.

You can't open the three cases. Perhaps you could say, "It's not that sort of case."

You generally can't TALK/SPEAK/ASK/TELL/GIVE/SHOW non-player characters.

If I try to GET OFFICER, it says "Not here.", but he is there. It should say "Can't take." Have you defined the object correctly? Check the other scenery objects, as well, as I didn't check them all.

The operation of the portal is a bit clunky. Although it works, you can only carry one case at a time. If you have more, it asks "Which case?", but you can't answer the question. When returning, you can't enter the portal unless you have the case. I feel it would be better if you had a slot at the main portal and you had to INSERT <CASE> into the slot and REMOVE <CASE> from slot. In this way, there is a mechanical rationale behind the portal working, you can carry the other cases with you and you don't need to check that the case is being carried when you return. Anyway, just a thought.

When you OPEN CHEST, "Doesn't work." should be "It's locked.", otherwise it looks like a default system response that gives you the impression that it can't be opened because we know it's rusty.

UNLOCK CHEST: With what?
PAPERCLIP: Not understood.
WITH PAPERCLIP: Not understood.
USE PAPERCLIP: Doesn't work.
PICK LOCK: Doesn't work.
PICK CHEST: Doesn't work.
INSERT PAPERCLIP: Not understood.
BEND PAPERCLIP: Not understood.
And so on... Try to anticipate actions that a player is likely to perform and give appropriate responses. The silly thing is, the paperclip is actually used for the same purpose elsewhere.

You can't READ legible things like BOOKS and PAPERS.

You can't EXAMINE PAPERS when they're in the study, but you can examine them when they're in your inventory. It shouldn't be necessary to pick something up in order to examine it. In this case, you should be using is_present rather than is_carried. Also be careful about pocketing something in situations like this or it can lead to your inventory limit being exceeded.

There's a similar problem with the CAN, BACKPACK and possibly other things.

The opposite occurs with funnel, microscope and tweezers. You can examine them when in the laboratory, but not when they're carried or in another room. In this case, use is_present rather than is_beside or is_at.

If you EXAMINE TYPEWRITER when not carrying the can, it says, "Royal Quiet" (no idea what that means, maybe a brand name?), but when carrying the can, EXAMINE TYPEWRITER says, "Well-oiled". Huh? What's carrying the can got to do with the typewriter description?

When you USE TYPEWRITER, "Letters appear". Huh? What do they appear on? Ther's no paper in the typewriter and you can't insert it.

The "Garden, Pool" locations should be "Garden", as pool is already in those locations as a separate object. There's no need to mention it twice. Better still, the second "Garden, Pool" should be "In Pool" with water and sharks as objects, as these are examinable even though there's nothing to indicate that they're there.

Similarly, "Garden, Ocean" should be "Garden", but this time, ocean should be a separate scenery object.

Every time you EXAMINE PLANT, the key reappears. Use a test with has_not_created to avoid this.

Ditto for EXAMINE BACKPACK and the ball reappearing. This is particularly annoying if you've dropped the ball and it magically reappears in your inventory just because you've examined it.

You can OIL LEVER without having the can of oil, yet you can't OIL CHEST, even if you've got the can of oil, unless you first get the can and examine it. This is crazy.

You can PULL LEVER repeatedly, but you can't PUSH LEVER to reverse what PULL does. This should be a toggle. Pull it the first time. Pull it a second time and it says "Can't pull any further." Push it back to its original position. Push it a second time and it says "Can't push any further."

When you EXAMINE HATCH after it's open, it says,"Closed, heavy".

Why would POISONOUS FROGLEGS be a treasure? And shouldn't it be FROGS' LEGS (two words, plural possessive)?

After finding 3 of the 5 treasures, I was stumped, so looked at the solution. X FLOOR in pool! Give me a break. Floor is not mentioned or hinted at anywhere. I don't know what it's like in other countries, but, in Australia, we would never refer to the bottom of the pool as a "floor". You can't stand on it or dance on it or even touch it unless you dive underwater. I had previously tried DIVE and this wasn't understood, but this would have been a better way to find the thing on the bottom of the pool.

You can't WEAR SNORKEL.

LEAVE POOL is pretty obscure. Although I guessed it, I tried things like GET OUT, OUT, UP and EXIT beforehand. You probably need a few alternatives here.

I think there's something buggy about the dog and the ball. The first time I played, when I examined the dog, he was always a happy dog and he followed me when I had the ball, but he wouldn't follow it when I threw it in the appropriate place. The ball just dropped to the ground. When I came back much later after checking the solution, THROW BALL worked. I have no idea why it didn't work the first time and it did work the second time. When I replayed the game from scratch, I couldn't get the dog to follow me, even though I had the ball. I think PAT DOG may have been the trigger to get him to follow me, but that wasn't obvious from the responses.

In summary, this could have been a really nice game, but it was marred by some silly bugs, insufficient hints in the responses and one really nasty guess-the-noun problem in the pool. Please do some revisions as soon as possible before the judges see it, because it has an interesting concept and some nice puzzles. If this was your first Adventuron game, then I'd say you've done a really good job, as these are only beginner's mistakes. Please write some more Adventuron adventures.

Submitted

I liked the James Bond-esque theme of this one.  I got a bit stuck at various points (I was convinced that you were supposed to lead the dog to the lonely henchman, so spent ages trying to get the former through the portal), so did need a quick glance at the walkthrough at times.  This was also partly because there are several objects that can only be examined when they're in your inventory - I had already examined them before picking them up, so didn't realise they needed to be examined again once carried.

Something to fix - you can pick the chest up and carry it around, but can only oil it when it's dropped back in its original location.  It should be scenery rather than an object.

Submitted

Thanks a lot for the amazing feedback! I really appreciate the effort. I also appreciated how you concluded, with some uplifting words. If I will be able to address this before the judges see it, I don't know but I will definitelygive it a try!