No Save? Are you kidding me?

[thatswhatshesaid]

I played Serena for an hour, went round the room twice, basically, and then my gf and I wanted to cook. So I hit Esc, which is the usual button that gets you to a menu for saving the game. It just exited to the desktop. OK, I thought, autosave, I guess.

Started it up again just now, and I'm back at the start.

WTF? Awful. Awful Awful Awful. If you're not going to give a save option, then at least WARN US AT THE GAME START.

Not going to bother doing it all again. Thank god it was free.

[Timelady700]

Yeah, I mean...I love this game, I love this story, but I'm not sure if I'm going start all over again from the beginning. I'm not upset (I'm not upset in general, actually) that there isn't a save, but even a dialog box when you hit esc saying "Are you SURE you want to quit? Your progress will NOT be saved!" would be way less of an immersion-breaker than suddenly hitting the desktop...

[Slippery When Dead]

you are right, we would appreciate such a warning message. and the one before you was also right - topic missed. so please can we close here with the solutions:
1) yes a warning about quitting without saving the game would be nice
2) it is not soo very important because it is a short and very interesting game, and for free
3) no need to change topic here - question solved

love

[Steven Chung]

I agree. This is something that I also had issues with regarding the game. It's something that is especially annoying, since most of what you're doing involves going back-&-forth, back-&-forth, back-&-forth just clicking on things repeatedly in order to get anywhere with the game's "story".

[Diluctensity]

Even a 30 minutes game would do better with a save option. Or atleast graphic settings.

[нιт◈ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ]

Wow. Complaining about a free game that lasts maybe 30 minutes tops not having a save feature? Are you kidding me? Just.... Wow.

The reason they don't supply a save feature is because they want you to experience the story in one sitting. If you played the game for 10 minutes, and came back to it a week later, it wouldn't make the experience feel as impactful as if you were to complete from start to end.

Quit your moaning and play your free entertainment.

[нιт◈ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ]

Messaggio originale di (Mabi) Luctensity:

Even a 30 minutes game would do better with a save option. Or atleast graphic settings.

What graphics are there to set though? I can run this game on a freaking 2004 computer, give me a break. If you want to play in windowed mode just hit Alt+Enter.

[Iso Koala]

Its a free game so I dont complain about features like save and graphic options.
Something similar happened to me though as to OP, I missed 45 mins or so when I first played and then had to restart. But clicking mouse quickly to skip everything will get you to the end of the game in 5 minutes, really. Its supposed to be played at one sitting anyway.

[Stigma]

Are you people still whining??

[Equation™]

Does anyone have any vinegar to counter this salt?

[Boogaloobob]

I have to totally agree that a save option should be included no matter how short the game is. Simply because ther is no guarantee that you can finish it in one go without, for whatever reason, having to shut the game down. And if you take your time investigating everything and reading and looking you're not gonna do all that again. Simply because it's no fun grinding yourself through to the point where you were before. I have plenty of other games that I can play in my gametime and I'm not gonna spend it on replaying a game.

[Iso Koala]

Feel lucky that you are used to the games of 2000`s. Back in my youth most games didnt have saves and we were fine with it. But, that said- story based games need saves I agree.

But complaining about save feature for a -free- game is just pointless. Its a big process to make bug-free save feature in a game, and for a short free game that is supposed to be played in one sitting, it wouldnt have been worth it to do it properly. Complaining about lack of it is like complaining about lack of napkins when someone gives you free food.

[grox]

Thanks for the game. I also was suprised when clicking ESC. Save option is not necessary, I agree. But exit the game without request is the worst solution IMO. Why not pause the game or stop or ask for exit?

Especially since it is not only a free game but also a demonstration of the engine and a little bit advertising for the game Asylum.

[sull]

I am slightly bothered by this "quit complaining, the game is free" mentality.

You could call it "complaining" and think that its only purpose is to hurt people's feelings and express saltiness.

Or, you can call it "criticism" and realize that it helps developers by showing them the faults of their products. This way, they know to fix them and/or avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

The $0 price tag on Serena should encourage constructive criticism. The dev made a whole game and gave it to you for free. It's the least you can do to give them your complete feedback, rather than only praise their work.

[thatswhatshesaid]

There's two factors at play here which have caused gamers like myself and others to feel negativity towards the makers of this game.

1. There's no save option.
2. There's no warning about there being no save option. If when I had started there had been 'WARNING - THIS GAME HAS NO SAVE FEATURE. PLEASE PLAY THROUGH IT ALL IN ONE SITTING' then this thread woudln't exist.

[Iso Koala]

Messaggio originale di Barack Brobama:

I am slightly bothered by this "quit complaining, the game is free" mentality.

I get what you are saying, and generally agree. Something being free doesnt make it invulnerable to criticism. Especially when it comes to storytelling, I think it doesnt matter if the product costs $60 or $0, if the story doesnt work people are allowed to say their opinions about it.

But save feature is not that instant feature to add as you might think. It is a "feature" that needs to be implemented and which takes time/money to do. Thats why I wouldnt complain about the lack of such feature in a free game. Similarly, I wouldnt complain about lack of voice acting in a free game either or a lack of cutscenes in a story game even if those would make the game better.

Bad writing, boring setting, badly designed game overall, badly designed puzzles etc. are things I would criticize a free game with the same standards as I would criticize an triple A game, but a lack of some features is something that I would see as an acceptable choice given by the budget the game has/gives them.