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[WordAssassin]

I'm REALLY looking forward to this. I don't have any adventure games on my iPhone or iPad yet, but something about the art style, the story, it just clicks for me. I saw some of the other short films done by this artist and they are so fucking creepy and good, I want to play this game NOW. But I want to do it on a portable device so I can take it everywhere with me!

Some questions about it: Is it going to be a universal app, or will it be an iPhone/iPod Touch version and a separate iPad version? Will it cost $10? (totally fine with this price, just curious) and, will it take advantage of the iPhone 4's retina display? (if not at launch, perhaps in an update?)

CAN'T WAIT! If it's submitted early next week hopefully that means I'll be playing it by next weekend! *fingers crossed*

Edit: Holy shit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rc3FoOPT9Q

Spoiler

the duck

OMG :lol :lol :lol

 

[Wizpig]

I'm pretty sure it will be a separate app, one for the iPhoneTouch and the other for the iPad.
But we should wait for TTG to answer this one.

$10 is your best bet.

 

[Wizpig]

Just finished the game D:

edit. My opinions about the game on the TTG forums

 

[Wizpig]

Well...

It's out on Steam!
And it's -10% off the normal price!

 

[hamchan]

Well...

It's out on Steam!
And it's -10% off the normal price!

Just bought it. Will try later.

 

[RockmanWhore]

Yay, just bought it too. I hope it won't suffer because of Monkey Island. I feel a little bad for Telltale, first the steam sales, now Monkey Island 2 :lol

 

[Deleted member 30609]

the wait for this is killing me.

 

[Wizpig]

Yay, just bought it too. I hope it won't suffer because of Monkey Island. I feel a little bad for Telltale, first the steam sales, now Monkey Island 2 :lol

Yeah, but MI2 is a different type of game after all. =P

 

[Jangaroo]

Well I finally beat the game. I really liked it for the most part, but I wish the ending wasn't so anti-climatic. I'm assuming the loose ends are going to be covered if the game becomes a full season so go buy the game people. It's like an amazing mish-mash of awesome Grickle zaniness and Professor Layton.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I was on such a high for this game. Now, with an iVersion still MIA, it has kind of passed. Shame.

 

[Bebpo]

Finished this up. Not sure exactly what to think. I liked it...but I didn't love it.

Pros:
+Art and animation was absolutely wonderful. I would kill for more Telltale games with real 2d animation like this.
+Humor was good
+Weirdness of story was good, story was interesting

Middleground
+/- Puzzles were ok. Some were good fun, some were less so. The balance seemed all over the place with lots of really easy ones and then a good amount of real hard ones. Didn't feel like there was much middleground.

Cons:
-Puzzle interface. They need to figure out a way to have puzzle instructions on the same page as the puzzle. The whole "click on what and transition over" for rules was really bad. The first time you see the rules it's hard to grasp what they mean without seeing the puzzle and then when you do the puzzle you forget some of the rules and have to click what and go back and forth. Either make puzzles straightforward enough to not need a "rules" page, or make the rules fit into the puzzle image screen.
-The item sonar when you click on the screen. Since it shows everything that will respond it takes out the fun of "hey, I wonder if I click on the mail box, if something will happen?" fun.
-Short story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense complete with an abrupt ending I liked the story, but wish there'd been more to it & that it had some proper explanations in the end.

Overall was an enjoyable experience, but I think there's room for improvement.

 

[Bliddo]

I was on such a high for this game. Now, with an iVersion still MIA, it has kind of passed. Shame.

Same here.
This delay makes no sense

 

[Wizpig]

Can't you guys just buy it on PC?
If you really want to wait, maybe the "high" for the game will return before it comes out on iPod.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

IPHONE VERSION IPHONE VERSION

WHERE ARE YOU

IPHONE VERSION

WHERE ARE YOU

 

[Jake]

IPHONE VERSION IPHONE VERSION

WHERE ARE YOU

IPHONE VERSION

WHERE ARE YOU

I played it today. It's nice. Will be going to Apple for submission in a couple days, for real. I'll let you know what's going on in this very thread, as soon as I know.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I played it today. It's nice.

frrrr

 

[Haunted]

Pros:
+Art and animation was absolutely wonderful. I would kill for more Telltale games with real 2d animation like this.
+Humor was good
+Weirdness of story was good, story was interesting

Middleground
+/- Puzzles were ok. Some were good fun, some were less so. The balance seemed all over the place with lots of really easy ones and then a good amount of real hard ones. Didn't feel like there was much middleground.

I can vouch for this opinion.

The key-frame animation style is a bit jarring at first, but it quickly grew on me (probably also helps to keep costs down. ).

Cons:
-Puzzle interface. They need to figure out a way to have puzzle instructions on the same page as the puzzle. The whole "click on what and transition over" for rules was really bad. The first time you see the rules it's hard to grasp what they mean without seeing the puzzle and then when you do the puzzle you forget some of the rules and have to click what and go back and forth. Either make puzzles straightforward enough to not need a "rules" page, or make the rules fit into the puzzle image screen.

Yeah. The puzzle instructions weren't handled ideally. Especially since they've made "not making a mistake" into a part of the grading system, it's not cool to have points deducted from your performance because the instructions weren't clear.

-The item sonar when you click on the screen. Since it shows everything that will respond it takes out the fun of "hey, I wonder if I click on the mail box, if something will happen?" fun.

Eh, it only showed the interactive points in the immediate vicinity of your sonar, which I think it's a good compromise. It alleviates some of the obnoxious pixel hunting you have to do in Layton and other point n click games without giving you too much information. Maybe make the sonar optional in future installments to satisfy everyone.

-Short story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense complete with an abrupt ending I liked the story, but wish there'd been more to it & that it had some proper explanations in the end.

no way! Asking for a proper explanation is like asking for a proper explanation to Donny Darko or Twin Peaks. The vague/abrupt/open-ended ending is perfect for this. Remember, it's supposed to be a pilot, it doesn't have to be self-contained. I do admit that this is up to preference, though. I know people who hate it when an ending isn't neat and tidy with every question answered - I love it. Glad it was this kind of story.



Overall, I really liked it. It's a mature take on Professor Layton. I really hope this pilot makes it to syndication, so to speak.


edit: Also, this game prompted me to go and seek out more work from Graham Annable. Good stuff.

 

[Wizpig]

edit: Also, this game prompted me to go and seek out more work from Graham Annable. Good stuff.

Oh, same here, I was thinking of buying the grickle book.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

loved everything about this game, except the boring ASS puzzles

 

[bon]

ETA on the Wii version?

 

[Wizpig]

ETA on the Wii version?

Nope

 

[tokkun]

Finished the game today. I enjoyed it a lot and hope there are further installments in the series. Overall, I liked the game much more than the Layton series. I would say that Layton has better puzzle design, but its stories are so boring and slow-paced. The ratio of story to puzzles is much higher in Puzzle Agent, and the story is actually pretty engrossing. I think that this sort of adventure game with discrete puzzles is actually much more conducive to storytelling than the classic sort of adventure game because you can tell a tighter, better-paced story when you don't have the player constantly backtracking and wandering around.

I've seen a few people saying that the puzzle difficult was too inconsistent, but I actually found the puzzles to all be fairly easy, at least compared to Professor Layton. I guess that makes sense since most of the puzzles in Puzzle Agent are mandatory. The only puzzle that I had to use Hints on was the hotel check-in.

The main complaint I have is that the ending didn't really do justice to the rest of the game.

Remember, it's supposed to be a pilot, it doesn't have to be self-contained.

This is the same excuse people are using on the Telltale forums, and I really don't think it's valid. When I was looking at information on the game on Steam and on the official site, I never saw any sort of disclaimer that this game was going to be part of an episodic series or any other indication that I shouldn't expect it to be self-contained. Moreover, the problem with the ending isn't that it leaves unanswered questions, it's that it is extremely abrupt. That

Spoiler

Tethers just goes back to DC after seeing the gnomes kidnap the foreman seems to be very inconsistent with his character's motivations, as he clearly cares about saving the man and unraveling the mystery and not just re-opening the factory. If he was going to be forced back to DC, he should have at least expressed some desire or regret at not really solving the mystery.

I think it would have been better if they had just left him in Scoggins and did a "To Be Continued..."

 

[thetrin]

Buying the Steam version. No reason not to play this game. I am a giant Layton fanboy.

 

[thetrin]

Played a bit of the game today and yesterday. The puzzles are generally good, but the puzzle instructions sometimes don't cite all the rules, forcing you to use hints to figure out what they actually want.

Good game, but still not a contender for Professor Layton.

 

[Wizpig]

Played a bit of the game today and yesterday. The puzzles are generally good, but the puzzle instructions sometimes don't cite all the rules, forcing you to use hints to figure out what they actually want.

Agreed, I had the same problem.

 

[pakkit]

I beat it a few days ago.

I loved the presentation, dialogue, and story (what little was given). Unfortunately, as far as gameplay goes, it doesn't have a single improvement over Professor Layton (except maybe the dialogue trees). But in Layton, I played the game to get from puzzle to puzzle, whereas here I played to see the end of the episodic story.

The hints were all over the place (sometimes the second or first hint would be essentially the solution to the puzzle, whereas other times the hints just overly confused me

Spoiler

I'm looking at you, room number puzzle.

). Finding the hints was a joke, they were really obvious and, if they weren't, the game would just tell you where they were. I prefer PL's pixel hunting style. If you're going to go this route, just make hints unlimited, but make it hurt your overall score (like it already does). The second half got a bit better, but that was mostly because they started repeating the puzzles so I had figured out the rules through trial and error the first time around.

The beauty of the dual screen design in PL is that you can read the rules and solve the puzzle. Here, I often had to shuffle from screen to screen just to digest all of the rules. Also, some of the puzzles just really sucked. The "fit these items in this area" puzzles were ridiculous because all you had to do was jumble around all the pieces until they eventually clicked together. There were several occasions where I was sure that I had solved the puzzle only to be rejected and then, when I discovered the developer's answer, the "How?" button (which was a good addition) rarely added the insight that I was looking for.

I'm being really negative, but I still enjoyed the game. I'm glad that Telltale has an original IP, and the characters so far have been memorable and interesting. Twin Peaks is a series that isn't borrowed from enough in videogames.

Hopefully the gameplay can match the quality of the presentation in the next few episodes.

 

[Bebpo]

Yeah, one thing that was a little annoying is if you aren't really sure and take a guess you have to sit through the whole letter -> rejected animation. Then you take another guess and have to sit through the animation again, etc... I think a speedier animation or the ability to click a button and instantly see accepted/rejected would be an improvement.

 

[tokkun]

The beauty of the dual screen design in PL is that you can read the rules and solve the puzzle. Here, I often had to shuffle from screen to screen just to digest all of the rules.

This is definitely an issue with the game, especially during the logic puzzles. Really, I have to feel like they could have reasonably worked out a way to get the rules on screen without having a dual-screen design. I was playing the game at 1920x1200, which is the equivalent of like 30 DS screens worth of pixels.

 

[Twig]

I am fully aware of all of the flaws in Puzzle Agent, but I expect them to be ironed out as the series progresses (if indeed it DOES progress), in much the same way that Sam and Max of today is BILLIONS better than Sam and Max of yesterday.

So I hope Telltale takes that into account when considering sequelhood. ;_;

(I also wouldn't mind seeing a few more pilots!)

 

[HadesGigas]

It's on sale for a whole dollar off on their site right now. That was enough for me to buy! (Or actually enough to get me to finally try the demo then buy it).

 

[Wizpig]

It's on sale for a whole dollar off on their site right now. That was enough for me to buy! (Or actually enough to get me to finally try the demo then buy it).

Oooh, they also have Strong Bad full season for $5!

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Finally just caved and bought the game on PC.

It was the first game I played on my shiny new 32" Bravia, and man, the clean colours were just to die for. The game is beautiful.

I love the general tone of the whole thing. Not digging the main character's VA, though. Otherwise really liking the package.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Just finished.

The music and general sound design was just fantastic. Jared Emerson (I have a feeling that's not his full name, I should know it, I've seen it a million times in TTG credits) is consistently the secret star of Telltale.

The puzzles were mostly pretty good, but there's still plenty of room for improvement, but I'm not going to sit here and try and point out where, it seems to me like something that will naturally evolve over time if the series continues.

I was super-impressed by presentation. Everything from the 'submitting puzzle" screens to just the simplistic main menu were so damn beautiful and effective. I was really surprised that they managed to build this on the Telltale engine (not that I'd actually know whether or not it's a typical thing).

I really dug the story and general progression. EXCEPT IT DIDN'T FINISH PROPERLY. Even if the series continues (please please please) it seems like we're done with the factory (or that village, at least) and that would be a shame. Hopefully the story returns there, there seemed like there were unused areas and paths leading off on the map, so fingers crossed.

The VA was mostly great, but I feel like I would have enjoyed Tethers more in text only, as the VA just wasn't hitting the lines as cleverly as a lot of the cast or like a character like Guybrush or Sam and Max (grammatically they are one character in this sentence for some reason).

Anyway, I hope we get more of this.

 

[nny]

I enjoyed this game, the ending could have been a little less...inconclusive? The town seemed interesting and I would have liked to have some more freedom to explore it, since this was basicly an "on-rails puzzle solver". I guess they made you choose the next location to go (instead of just changing scenery automatically) to give you at least some illusion of control. P Also,

Spoiler

you should never ever again, in a middle of a puzzle, black out the screen and show a elf suddenly...I was calmly trying to solve the puzzle and that scared me to hell. That's just wrong Telltale. Wrong.

:|

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I enjoyed this game, the ending could have been a little less...inconclusive? Also,

Spoiler

you should never ever again, in a middle of a puzzle, black out the screen and show a elf suddenly...I was calmly trying to solve the puzzle and that scared me to hell. That's just wrong Telltale. Wrong.

:|

heh, I loved that.

they might have went to the well one too many times by the end of the game, but the first time got me good. :lol

 

[nny]

heh, I loved that.

they might have went to the well one too many times by the end of the game, but the first time got me good. :lol

Damn, I jumped on the chair. Did not see it coming :lol

 

[Haunted]

Also,

Spoiler

you should never ever again, in a middle of a puzzle, black out the screen and show a elf suddenly...I was calmly trying to solve the puzzle and that scared me to hell. That's just wrong Telltale. Wrong.

:|

Genius move by Telltale.

Spoiler

Putting a scare into a perceived "safe" room is messing with the rules gamers have learned over the years, in a good way. It not only provided a good scare (completely got me when I was concentrating on the puzzle in a dark room with headphones), but it made the puzzle feel more like a part of the rest of the game instead of being completely separate as is often the case in Layton.

 

[Wizpig]

they might have went to the well one too many times by the end of the game, but the first time got me good. :lol

They

Spoiler

used it two times, and i got scared - for good - the second time, just when i was sure i was safe.

FFFFFFF

 

[Mifune]

I just finished this over the weekend. I really dug it.

As has been said a million times, the art and sound design are just magnificent. The game simply looks gorgeous on my laptop. The atmosphere was great.

There was at least one puzzle that was really poorly explained, though. I'm thinking of the quorum of crows. Even with the hints, I had no clue what I was supposed to do with that one. Also, sometimes it got kind of cumbersome having to switch back to the rules of the puzzle, memorize them, and return to the actual puzzle. That school of fish one just about drove me insane.

Anyway, lots of love for a new IP from Telltale. I can't wait to see what they do next.

And yes,

Spoiler

the suddenly-appearing puzzle gnome scared the crap out of me...twice.

 

[tokkun]

Also,

Spoiler

you should never ever again, in a middle of a puzzle, black out the screen and show a elf suddenly...I was calmly trying to solve the puzzle and that scared me to hell. That's just wrong Telltale. Wrong.

:|

That was probably my favorite part of the game.

 

[Jake]

I really dug the story and general progression. EXCEPT IT DIDN'T FINISH PROPERLY. Even if the series continues (please please please) it seems like we're done with the factory (or that village, at least) and that would be a shame. Hopefully the story returns there, there seemed like there were unused areas and paths leading off on the map, so fingers crossed.

If we did more Puzzle Agent, at least with the currently written-out story arc for Nelson, there'd be more time in the general Scoggins area.

 

[Twig]

If we did more Puzzle Agent, at least with the currently written-out story arc for Nelson, there'd be more time in the general Scoggins area.

I don't expect an answer, as I'm sure Telltale doesn't want to talk about it, yet, (and maybe you don't even know!) BUT...

What are the chances of the series getting "picked up", as it were? Or, since it really hasn't been that long since the game was released, is there a general time frame when we'll find out? O:

Similar questions also sittin' around for when we might learn about the next potential pilot. Although I realize with BttF and JP, Telltale might be somewhat busy at the moment.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

If we did more Puzzle Agent, at least with the currently written-out story arc for Nelson, there'd be more time in the general Scoggins area.

Good to hear.

 

[thetrin]

Finished the game last night. I like it, but I did find the puzzles surprisingly easy as the game progressed. This is neither a positive or a negative, but I've been conditioned by Layton to expect block moving puzzles (which I fucking hate) when I get near the end of the game.

I really enjoyed the story, and I hope the series continues.

 

[Jake]

I don't expect an answer, as I'm sure Telltale doesn't want to talk about it, yet, (and maybe you don't even know!) BUT...

What are the chances of the series getting "picked up", as it were? Or, since it really hasn't been that long since the game was released, is there a general time frame when we'll find out? O:

Similar questions also sittin' around for when we might learn about the next potential pilot. Although I realize with BttF and JP, Telltale might be somewhat busy at the moment.

I really don't know the answer to that. I mean, even if I did I don't think I could say anything, but I don't know the fate of Puzzle Agent. I'd love to do more, but I'd generally love to do more of anything we've done, more or less. The (still around, still tiny) Puzzle Agent team is closing bugs this week on the Wii port. I imagine once the game has had a chance to live on the App Store and WiiWare for a bit, people will start talking about the future. I'm already off onto a million other things (we just closed Sam & Max 305 on Friday, and I'm on a new small project right now, along with the Devil's Playhouse DVD and other things).

 

[thetrin]

I really don't know the answer to that. I mean, even if I did I don't think I could say anything, but I don't know the fate of Puzzle Agent. I'd love to do more, but I'd generally love to do more of anything we've done, more or less. The (still around, still tiny) Puzzle Agent team is closing bugs this week on the Wii port. I imagine once the game has had a chance to live on the App Store and WiiWare for a bit, people will start talking about the future. I'm already off onto a million other things (we just closed Sam & Max 305 on Friday, and I'm on a new small project right now, along with the Devil's Playhouse DVD and other things).

If it were a perfect world, what was the original plan for Puzzle Agent? Produce it episodically like other Telltale titles?

 

[Twig]

I really don't know the answer to that. I mean, even if I did I don't think I could say anything, but I don't know the fate of Puzzle Agent. I'd love to do more, but I'd generally love to do more of anything we've done, more or less. The (still around, still tiny) Puzzle Agent team is closing bugs this week on the Wii port. I imagine once the game has had a chance to live on the App Store and WiiWare for a bit, people will start talking about the future. I'm already off onto a million other things (we just closed Sam & Max 305 on Friday, and I'm on a new small project right now, along with the Devil's Playhouse DVD and other things).

Yeah, I figured that was the case. Had to ask anyway. Ah well.

I look forward to whatever comes next. U:

 

[Jake]

If it were a perfect world, what was the original plan for Puzzle Agent? Produce it episodically like other Telltale titles?

The plan's always been to do it as a single small-team pilot episode. That didn't stop the design/writing team from coming up with a ton of story though. We wanted to be sure we knew what everything meant and where it would go before putting it in the pilot.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

there's a disturbing lack of Puzzle Agent for iPhone on the App Store.

It would look so damn nice on my pretty new iPhone 4 screen. I'd play through it again just for the cool music and general vibe.

 

[the-iek]

there's a disturbing lack of Puzzle Agent for iPhone on the App Store.

It would look so damn nice on my pretty new iPhone 4 screen. I'd play through it again just for the cool music and general vibe.

That's what I'm waiting for. ;(