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Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 3:52 pm
by navynuke04
This is an exciting day for King's Quest fans all over the world!

BTW, I edited the name of this thread to make it easier for people to find.

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 4:05 pm
by KatieHal
Thanks navynuke!

As well, the game is officially releasing at 1 PM PST/4 PM EST today. (Somehow announcing that part anywhere but our forums totally slipped our minds!)

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 4:36 pm
by daventry
Thanks Navynuke ;)

Well its 6:30pm here in South Africa and someone said that at my time the Game will be released at 10pm :alien:

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 5:26 pm
by Anonymous Game Creator 2
KatieHal: Congrats to you guys again on getting the official go-ahead from Activision. I honestly didn't expect them to cave, but it looks like the fans spoke out loudly enough in the end, resulting in a great turn-around. That's the great thing about the adventure game community - never underestimate fanbase's loyalty to the genre, nor their collective power!

I can just imagine what you're feeling at the moment. It's certainly a very exciting time, releasing a new game. And this being your first title, receiving all the press coverage, interviews, and articles about your hard work feels very flattering and rewarding. Lap it up! :D

The Silver Lining is looking great, can't wait to give it a go! :)

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 1:44 am
by pbpb33
I just got the first eipsode up and running. It's clear this was a labor of love! Beautiful work. It also seems quite similar to the demo release, and it will be interesting to see what's coming in future episodes.

I noticed that the Phoenix Online website requires you to register with your e-mail in order to download the game. Seems like this could be a good way to build a database of e-mails for sending out advertisements in the future about the team's upcoming (and maybe commercial?) titles? Still, I wonder if requiring the registration limits (through a bit of an inconvenience) the number of people who will download the game. Hard to say. Seems like flashing the website address/logo when the game loads up and when the game quits would be a another way to remind people who the designers are and where players can go to find similar products.

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:24 am
by navynuke04
Awesome work so far guys! I loved being able to explore The Land of the Green Isles in more depth than I was allowed to in KQ6. The story telling is great. I really like how the 3D works. The game played beautifully for me. I only wish there was more puzzle solving in this episode. But... I read on the TSL forums that this was more of an introductory episode and the the puzzle play will pick up in future episodes. I'm really looking forward to that.

On a side note, my daughter is convinced that the cloaked man is The Father from AGDI's KQ2VGA. I tried explaining to her that he is part of our games and not part of every KQ game. I think the concept was lost on her. As far as she's concerned, AGDI's games are official KQ material. ;)

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 12:52 pm
by MusicallyInspired
Downloading. Probably won't get a chance to play it until tomorrow or so, but I'm quite intrigued to play it after all this time!

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 7:44 pm
by Allronix
Downloaded and played through.

Crap. Now, I have to dig up and find a way to resurrect Quest Cross...

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:17 pm
by rugged
I enjoyed it, although was pleased I had read the disclaimer on their forums that it was a very short episode. The most impressive thing for me was the atmosphere, well done phoenix

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:06 am
by pbpb33
Yeah, Episode 1 felt more like an introduction. Hopefully there isn't a long wait until Episode 2 comes out!

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 3:43 am
by Lambonius
If my will power doesn't crumble, I'm going to try and wait til Episode 2 comes out before I download and play this. :)

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:13 am
by MusicallyInspired
Just finished it. Very introduction-oriented. A lot of questions raised with no answers. The narrator is slightly annoying but I can live with it. She's not so bad when she's not making bad jokes lol (which seem far too frequent for such a serious-toned section of the game). But that's more a fault for the writers than her anyway.

It did a good job of making me want to play the next episode, though. So mission accomplished, I guess.

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:45 am
by pbpb33
Do they have the entire game completed already? How long is the wait between episode releases?

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 12:55 pm
by Erpy
They said it was very close to being "done" and they're aiming for about a monthly release schedule so all episodes will be out by the time the calendar ticks over to 2011.

Image

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:21 am
by crayauchtin
They're not promising every month, but they said the longest any episode should take between releases in 3 months. (Notice, that's a "should" :P) Either way we're not waiting another eight years for ep 2 so I'm happy!

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 4:18 am
by Lambonius
They also at one point said that the whole game was coming out by Christmas of 2005, so... ;)

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 4:38 am
by Blackthorne519
Lambonius wrote:They also at one point said that the whole game was coming out by Christmas of 2005, so... ;)
Man, we all know what it's like seeing deadlines drift by!

Bt

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 10:14 am
by pbpb33
I wonder if feedback from players would ever lead them to tinker with later episodes and push back release dates.

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 3:21 pm
by MusicallyInspired
We can only hope.

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 5:19 pm
by Spikey
This was highly enjoyable. Spoilers ahead.

Graphics look awesome, I really like it. Gameplay; very great. Much better than true 3D for point & click, like GK3.
So far so good!

The aim for a 'darker' tone is also a succes to some extend, even though I wonder if it could have been done without so much soap opera. The dialogue really feeds this opera level, but it doesn't always work. The opening sentences by Cassima and Edgar are really weird, and I really don't like the passive reactions of Cassima, Edgar and Valanice (all three renowned heroes)
Valanice answering "That's what we're all wondering" doesn't stop her from askind much the same questions.
KQ has always been very down to earth to me.
The narrator makes annoying jokes, but all in Sierra fashion. :rollin

The details are nice! Just outside of the castle, the story reveals to you which path Alexander took. So there is much attention for detail, but maybe sometimes too much. Alexander obviously found a grocery store nearby where they sell l'Oreal Studioline products and Rosella obtained a Michelle Williams face. Cassima's parents are not at home, but why?? (Or maybe I missed a part where that is explained). Also, the details in some places make the missing parts in others more obvious. Taking the path to the rear of the castle (to see if they erected a monument for Alexander's door) leads to the crossroads instead. And small tree you can walk around or climb over blocking the path to the beach? Odd. The comment of the narrator something like "there's nothing there, the villain didn't come by sea okthnx bye", sounds really out of place in this situation.
The flower doesn't look like a nightshade at all, and when you try and pick it up, the narrator doesn't explain why you can't do it. The shaman doing a ritual with astrological symbols is odd; pagans usually use counterclockwise astrological circles to make a 'reflection' of the zodiac.


Wow already typed a lot more cricticisms than the game deserves. Great job!

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 6:50 pm
by Lambonius
Blackthorne519 wrote:
Lambonius wrote:They also at one point said that the whole game was coming out by Christmas of 2005, so... ;)
Man, we all know what it's like seeing deadlines drift by!

Bt
Oh I know it. :) I was just joking around.

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:46 am
by navynuke04
Cassima's patents are explained if you examine their portrait in the castle.

I was wondering why Graham needed a fairy when the family has a genie...

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:12 am
by Spikey
navynuke04 wrote:Cassima's patents are explained if you examine their portrait in the castle.
I didn't know there were patents on anything Cassima did.
:D

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 12:32 pm
by pbpb33
I have since taken a little closer look at Episode 1, and, while I think there is a lot to like, there are some things that also disappoint me.

First, what I like: the music and sound effects! The music puts me in a contemplative mood, and I think much of the game's atmosphere is owed to this effective music. Still, I hope there are more upbeat and grander theme-style parts of the score to come in future episodes. Also, the interface is easy to use and I enjoy the way the camera moves as Graham walks to different areas on the screen. The 3D renderings and various cinematic visual effects are simply beautiful. I love the dramatic touches, such as when Graham first emerges in his adventuring outfit. Another little bright spot was the rendering of the characters on the title screen.

Now, the not-so-good: The horrendous dialogue. It's not bad in a "it's so bad it's funny" campy sort of way. It's bad in a "it'll put you to sleep" kind of way. It feels kind of blasphemous and party pooperish to speak somewhat negatively about a game that so many have waited so long for and that Roberta Williams herself even graciously complimented, but I think it's important to give honest feedback. In the first scene when we hear the first dialogue in the game, the conversations are terribly artificial and stilted. None of the characters are believable. None of the dialogue is memorable nor anything but throwaway, standard-issue game banter. It reminds me of the kind of predictable, blah dialogue you'd see in an old NES action or RPG game, where it was clear that the majority of the designers' time was spent elsewhere in the game. The TSL team could have recruited a very talented writer who could have brought more imagination (and maybe some more grittiness?) to the dialogue and overall storyline. Someone earlier in this thread described the conversations as having a soap opera quality... well, at least soap operas are interesting, often outrageous, over-the-top and don't induce drowsiness. Heck, even that timeless classic Kinky Island had more inspired writing.

Also, the narration doesn't provide the benefit it could have. The choice of voice actor was wrong. Her young-sounding voice isn't a good fit for an epic adventure, and I can't take her seriously. There is no "gravitas" quality in her voice nor in her delivery. A lot of the descriptions could have been trimmed a bit, delivered faster and snappier. It also would have been nice if the tone of the narration had remained a bit more consistent with what was happening in the story. The sound quality of the narration recordings also sounds a bit muffled at times.

Another problem I have is with our main character. I'm talking about his looks, the way he moves, the laughable, wooden way he behaves/speaks and the fact that he is unable to climb over a fallen tree or tread water for more than 10 seconds. This guy is supposed to be the best hope for the people of the Land of the Green Isles? Good luck with that. His skin-tight, male figure skater-style red top that shows off his ample bosom makes him look like an unrealistically-costumed character from one of those really old Robin Hood movies. They could have given him a more realistic, gritty, heroic look, while still generally staying in keeping with the traditional appearance of the character. The clothes by themselves wouldn't have been a big deal and could easily have been forgiven if he had been given more of an engaging personality or showed a bit more passion. A little more depth of character through small bits of inspired dialogue or descriptions would have been good. Also, given the circumstances in the plot, he should be running (or at least jogging) instead of robotically walking around in such a prissy manner. Here was an opportunity to improve upon some weaker aspects of the original KQ games, but TSL seems intent on serving up the same shortcomings.

I also didn't like how the island seemed so empty. Where is everyone? How do those shops stay in business?

The voice acting also disappoints at times. Not believable in the least, but the writing is largely to blame for this. In particular, the dog guard outside the castle had to have been voiced by the same guy who did the wolf in KQ5:



Maybe I should stop now. I didn't intend to write so much negative stuff, but I feel like it should be taken as constructive criticism from an interested fan and not as bashing. Essentially, I think the subpar writing betrays the excellent music and visual work. They could have found writers closer to the same level of talent that the game's 3D artists and music composers clearly have in their respective areas. Had the game had amazing writing and terrible graphics, I would have been a lot more forgiving; I just can't excuse the fact that it seems like the quality of writing was apparently not a primary focus. This was probably not related to a production time constraint issue nor anything related to the limitations of an indie, "fan" development team... it just seems like misplaced priorities.

Despite all that, I'm still looking forward to future episodes. I hope the plot picks up and that there is more puzzle-sovling gameplay in the rest of the game.

Re: The Silver Lining Lives!

Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 1:51 pm
by MusicallyInspired
I actually think the music is boring. Void of any main "themes" or enchantment at all. Well-made, but just boring. Gets the job done, but doesn't do much for me. Hopefully future episodes will be better.