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Thank you so much for playing!
1. Point taken! Should be easy enough for us to bind a button for that :)
2. The full game doesn't actually start this way — it has a slower start with more exposition, character introductions and research puzzles in the library. We felt that the demo needed to hook the player quicker with a crime scene right off the bat, so things are a bit more fast-paced, while still not going so far into the game as to need a lot of awkward exposition or spoiling too many of the twists and turns in the main story.
So essentially, the demo features a combination of some early parts and the later cabin area which normally doesn't open up until a couple of hours in on the second "day".
As for the quiz, duly noted! We've tried to accept as many combinations as possible for the inputs, but if you have any suggestions that you think should be valid answers, we'd love to know so we can implement them for the next version :)
We've also considered making the puzzle easier by having Randy note down exactly what you got correct, maybe with a green checkmark or red X on each question or something like that.
Lastly, for the next version (in the full game or if we patch the demo later) we have put in an alternate, much simpler solution for the quiz, which will be handy for those who really hate it: Burning up the quiz with the lighter in front of Randy :D
3. Yeah, I was worried about this sequence too! Maybe we should just bite the bullet and allow the player to hide under the table. It's a bit tricky animation wise, but rather that than unnecessary frustration. I wanted the sequence to be tense and dynamic and Kathy having to move around to stay out of view but maybe just having to lock the door and then find one hiding place is more than enough.
The quiz ... well, the step-dad thing and tea give feedback on how they weren't specific enough if you at least get close. So that sorta thing is I think already helpful, though I didn't enjoy backtracking for the information (not like it's "far away" but still).
Double-checking I'm fairly sure I had a typo in Mauve Affair but that seems to have been accepted which is nice. I must have had something else wrong and thought this was the problem, but apparently it wasn't.
First question is the one that gave me real trouble. I thought it was making a point about hunting/warrior/quest or something. I eventually gave up, backtracked again ...
Actually, bit of a detour: this is also a bit annoying - maybe you can get her to think about the answers and give a sorta "hmm something doesn't look right" answer (I know it's rationally kinda nonsense but I'd say it's puzzle game convention that protagonists tend to know when they get things right/wrong in those situations) so you don't necessarily have to go back and forth between the cabin/library).
Anyway, I ultimately landed on "tribe" because that's literally in the book descriptions (tribe/tribeswoman anyway). But I got told I had to be more specific, and "Cree" wasn't it - so here I think the hint wasn't useful. Okay, I get Native Americans/Indians as solution, and the game talks about how that's important to her, so in retrospect that is an obvious answer. But you know how it sometimes is ^^;
In any case if it's just a demo thing and the lighter option is implemented it's probably fine. I feared this would be basically the start of the game, in which case I'd expect a lot of people to bounce off right away.
3. Maybe the far right corner could make her a bit "greyed-out"? Like ... she's in shadow. It's a bit game-y, but some palette manipulation of the sprite or overlay or something is maybe not too difficult and would give some visual indication that doesn't require another animation? Or give her a short "I shouldn't be visible here!" line if you are in the right spot.
I was furiously clicking on the empty shelves, bookcase, table, and fireplace trying to get Kathy to do something.
Therefore, I think there should be multiple solutions: click on the bookcase, shelves, or table for the final hide.
As for the fanclub quiz, I enjoyed the sleuthing; however, I do admit that—perhaps—another solution should be to submit a wrong quiz three times, and then have him throw up his hands in exasperation and say, "Well, F it!" That would be a nice "out" for the player and developer alike.😅
Maybe make it so that for each step there's 1 Hotspot + 1 "area" that is okay if you stand in it?
I was also VERY confused by the Trapped puzzle but in hindsight the solution felt "obvious". As a developer you could tweak that in a hundred ways or add alternative ways to clear the puzzle but my immediate instinctive reaction to discovering the solution was just "DOH of course, git gud".
I FEEL like the inventory didn't close by itself as often in your other games and that might also be part of the issue mentioned above.
11/10 cats.
As for the library puzzle, I found it a bit strange that Debra Sinclairs adoptive parents were supposed to be authors, yet none of their books could be found on the computer. The same goes for the three books mentioned by Randy.
Overall, except for the last puzzle (I hope you will be able to improve the most counterintuitive parts), I enjoyed the demo and am looking forward to the full game.
Quiz, 2nd question: Nothing's found if "Sebastian Sinclair" is entered into the computer, although the librarian says both parents were authors. The computer says to enter the surname, and honestly, without a guide, I would've never entered "Sebastian" as a last name. But I guess it's an American thing...
Quiz, 3rd question: I tried "Unbound" as it's the only book listed with both Sinclair's and Collins's name in it. Sure I would've brute-forced the right answer eventually (there are only 2 possibilities) - or maybe I missed a clue that Debra wrote some chapters in the "Mauve" book?
Quiz, last question: The name of the tea, yeah. In retrospect it's stupid that I've missed the small caption of a picture on page two of a very lenghty newspaper article. Well, I'm a slow reader, especially with small font sizes. Overall it's an okay puzzle-piece, as she's sitting there with a cup of something in her hand. It's a cup, right? Not a glass?
On the other hand, I had no problem with the "cop/hide" section. The first step was clear after reading "unlocked door" on the door's hotspot, and being familiar with the principle of "line of sight", I just guessed the two hiding places...
Also I agree the last part of the quick time section is really specific, like I was in the far left corner by the cupboard where the ranger shouldn't have been able to see me and he still saw me. Would agree it would just better for the solution to be a hotspot to hide behind another piece of furniture.
Real nice otherwise, looking forward to it.
As it turned out I was getting the drink wrong, I went from Iced Tea to Sweet Iced Tea as that was the only type of Iced tea I could think of, forgetting the clue we were given before. If it had said "No, she didn't like drinking that" then I would have known to look again (and yeah, I did get the response of "You'll have to be more specific when I answered Iced tea, but not when I answered Sweet Iced tea, so it might just be that that should be added to the pile of alternative "close but not exact" triggers)
Aside from that, really enjoyed it. Looking forward to more Kathy!
(Oh, and Kathy had the same thought as I did with the camera and Mildred!)
Hm, good point about the slow detour back to the library. We do have double clicking on exits to teleport but there's still that long walk to the computer. We should technically add fast travel shortcuts to the computer and Randy in the quiz UI or something, maybe two buttons at the top, but it would be a bit game-y and potentially immersion-breaking.
Having Kathy herself determine if the quiz is correct could work (maybe you can click a "confirm" button at the bottom to hear her reactions) but I would prefer to only do that as a last resort.
Regarding visual indicators of Kathy being hidden or not, I think it's better to stick with animations for both the couch and the wall (or whatever second hiding spot we use). Alternatively, maybe we just cut the wall part and go with the couch and locking the door. It doesn't have to be that long of a sequence, just a little tension to break the pace after finding a big clue.
We've got consensus. Reading you all loud and clear, we'll definitely find a better way to hide from the ranger!
This would be easy to implement and probably quite a funny scene (as well as achievement material), but I worry if it's realistic for Randy to trust Kathy with breaking into the cabin if she's doing such a bad job as a "fellow fan". Will think on this!
Can you elaborate on this? When did you feel that the inventory should've closed and it didn't?
It's intended that the library doesn't have every book (after all, libraries have a curated selection), but you're right, we should add a few by her parents. My main worry with that is that some players may confuse them with Debra's books in the same list, seeing as how they'll search by surname.
Maybe a way around that is if the parents have a hyphenated version, like "Sinclair-Smith" or whatever and Debra shortened it when she became an author.
I'll tweak the Mauve Affair description to make it more clear that multiple authors were involved!
We'll see what we can do to improve the legibility of that caption!
Oh, thanks for reminding me, we do have that task somewhere in the backlog!
We'll make Randy mark out what answers were wrong, that should soften up the puzzle quite a bit! As for the "iced tea" part, duly noted! I'll make sure that Randy recognizes any permutation of "iced tea" and gives a relevant hint.
Hm, not the worst idea! Especially the first time. Maybe we speed it up on subsequent failures to not be too long-winded and annoying.
First off, really enjoyed the quiz, having to sleuth for it was great. The dubious nature of an answer wasn't great but a spelling error was worse. Please don't remove it though, please just expand what is acceptable bearing in mind spelling errors. You could have the fan comment on your spelling error too, maybe make a joke at your expense and Kathy can tell him off in her own way. Also, could you put up some false flags. The only answer I got tricked on was her drink. Here is a huge fan of the dead author, one question is about her favorite drink. The fan has drinks, wouldn't the fan drink what the author drinks? So maybe throw a few potential answers in that are wrong but you come across first. The library computer, for example, her friend only has two books. One is co-authored, the other isn't, kinda easy to guess which she ghost wrote for. The thing is the synopsis gives away that multiple authors wrote for it, so why not have another book or two listed to force the player to at least read the synopsis.
Next hiding from the cop scene. At the start Kathy could comment the door is unlocked or maybe some visual cue like a flash on the door knob. I accidentally skipped the dialog between the cop and fan so not sure if it was mentioned there. The sofa, I believe the problem here is the lack of a dual choice. You click something and get one option, most games like this have two, look and interact. Typically when you use something you don't get a different result in the same scene but if you could only look before and interacting was blocked, like "I'm not getting near a blood stained sofa" then you might try interacting again. As for the third part please make it another interaction, like you interact with the empty shelves by pressing yourself against the wall. The whole scene should be foreshadowed earlier though, think tutorial, to help prepare for it. So for example you have to hide from your cat to snag something its hording. Also please rearrange the cabin, either change where you hide or alter its physical layout. Like make the windows bigger to make it more obvious the cop can see you or at least have Kathy comment if she looks though the window she can see everything. The desk needs debris below it, my first thought was to go under it which i couldn't do. Make the chair broken with a note officer Barry broke it, or put boxes of books under it blocking you from fitting. Furthermore please foreshadow things, Kathy is here to find a killer she should be looking for places a killer could have hid to get the drop on the author. Commenting on potential hiding places makes sense this way and helps prepare the player without spoiling the scene, assuming it wasn't done this way in an earlier scene.