WAKE UP [Short] [Sci-Fi] [14 Endings]

[78909087]

This story is mainly a mystery that's intended to sort itself out pretty quickly.

You wake up from cryostasis in a fairly empty room to the chirpy voice of the AI Christopher.
You don't remember what's happening, and it feels like you've been asleep much longer than you should've been.
Christopher prompts you to rest, but there's something nagging at you.

Wake Up is set in a future where humans have inserted moral code and synthesised emotions into AI's in order to speed up their learning process and enable them to make better decisions.
This creates personality- which varies between jobs. While the robots include the traditional Asimov's Laws, as you learn, tampering creates loopholes.

When I say 'short' I mean that I've been working on this for a week, and it's probably going to have maybe somewhere between 10-30 minutes of playability. I'm pretty sure everyone will skip the first five endings really easily, and get the final endings quickly- but I'll do my best to convince.

There are 14 endings- you can see which ones you have unlocked from the Endings screen on the main menu.

I apologise for the terrible art, but I did what I had to xD


Yes Pacermist is me.



Ahahaha...

You can download it from MediaFire here.

[Segaco]

i like it
you should put images about the game tho

7/10

[78909087]

i like it
you should put images about the game tho

7/10

I'll see what I can do about that

[Segaco]

PD: i like the backgrounds c:

[78909087]

PD: i like the backgrounds c:

Not sure if you're kidding, orrrr...

Ahahaha, thanks?

[Catlip Candy]

So... I played it, and here are my thoughts. I guess I should share them. It's unfortunate about the backgrounds though... They're all sketches. Do you have any paint tool downloaded on your computer? I'm sure that even on Paint, you could have drawn the bgs instead of paper, it would take time, though.

I am missing four endings, though. Midway, an error was displayed. The time wherein Aaron (chose the name Aaron) didn't pick up the crowbar.Then the error happened. I took a print screen of it, but I left my laptop at home. Shucks. I was guessing that there's an ending wherein the protagonist would like to take Christopher with him into the capsule. But because he didn't take the crowbar, he couldn't rescue Christopher.

Also, I noticed the music came from incompetech. You really really need to include that on the credits. MacLeod's music are just amazing!!!

About the name, why'd you have to make player choose from your given list of names when player could input the name he/she likes to have? I'm sure there's a code for that. I have it on my laptop, but well, I don't have it with me at the time... Well, if you have a reason why you decide to make player choose the name from the list, then skip this comment.

Lastly, about the story, I like it! It kind of makes me sad with imagining Christopher developing feelings even he's a robot, but then Aaron left him!!! I like the concept! I hated myself when I chose to leave Christopher on his own, but well, I should get all the endings Congratulations on the release! You did a good job!

[78909087]

So... I played it, and here are my thoughts. I guess I should share them. It's unfortunate about the backgrounds though... They're all sketches. Do you have any paint tool downloaded on your computer? I'm sure that even on Paint, you could have drawn the bgs instead of paper, it would take time, though.

I'm not an artist. Originally I planned to release it without any art at all, but decided it would be best to at least sketch some scenes to get an idea of what I meant. Using a computer program would only make it WORSE.

I am missing four endings, though. Midway, an error was displayed. The time wherein Aaron (chose the name Aaron) didn't pick up the crowbar.Then the error happened. I took a print screen of it, but I left my laptop at home. Shucks. I was guessing that there's an ending wherein the protagonist would like to take Christopher with him into the capsule. But because he didn't take the crowbar, he couldn't rescue Christopher.

PLEASE get back to me asap with this. It takes 2-4 hours to upload, so the sooner you get back to me, the sooner I can fix it.

Also, I noticed the music came from incompetech. You really really need to include that on the credits. MacLeod's music are just amazing!!!

He is credited? He's on the splashscreen, before the game, right next to me. Heck, he's in the ORIGINAL POST^.

About the name, why'd you have to make player choose from your given list of names when player could input the name he/she likes to have? I'm sure there's a code for that. I have it on my laptop, but well, I don't have it with me at the time... Well, if you have a reason why you decide to make player choose the name from the list, then skip this comment.

I know the code, but considering I wanted the MC to be a male, and if I wanted the player to know this and choose a name I would have to break the atmosphere and say 'hey, you're a male, what's your name?' and get them to enter it- it was just a lot easier to give a list of male names.

Lastly, about the story, I like it! It kind of makes me sad with imagining Christopher developing feelings even he's a robot, but then Aaron left him!!! I like the concept! I hated myself when I chose to leave Christopher on his own, but well, I should get all the endings Congratulations on the release! You did a good job!

Thankyou ^_^
I was feeling pretty down about releasing it because of the 'artwork' but I thought it would be better to release something.

[Catlip Candy]

Yes! Yes I see the credits now! Damn that one got me! I am very very sorry for my clumsy mistake! Forget about the crap comment from previous post! I've read too fast and so clicked the screen wherein the three rules are still in display. I didn't know there was more, but there is more. So sorry about that.

That's why I was confused why it didn't show up, y'know? He's in the thread, but not in the game. Usually, credits are displayed at the end. But I know where you're getting at. The idea of making credits in the beginning is neat. But if you come up across someone like me who clicks right after reading too fast... well. Confusion starts.

The prtscren, gosh, I still don't have it with me... Still on the computer for rent 'coz my wifi got cut off. Doesn't it display the error on your screen? Just make the choice not to pick the crowbar... Though my previous choices might affect the game for it to show the error. Okay,I'll get back to you as fast as I can!

Well, since the story is good, it's worth it!

[Catlip Candy]

So I downloaded the game again from this computer. Wow, downloads with the speed of lightning! Probably bad signal at home.

[YossarianIII]

I enjoyed this game. TBH, I found the handmade backgrounds kind of charming... maybe because I'm a fan of lo-fi bands like Guided By Voices and Ween.

If you were interested in doing more background art yourself, you can do a lot with a cheap artist's pen, a scanner/camera, and a free image editor like GIMP.

As for the story:

I found the final ending where you have to choose between going and staying on the station to be the most compelling choice because you're presented with two options with their own pros and cons. The musical choices did a good job of matching the emotion of each ending, too.

I did find the early choices in the game a little too simple, generally boiling down to do this thing... or not. That's not a huge issue, especially for a game this short, but it might be something to keep in mind when writing future stories with choices.

But overall, the writing was effective. You stuck with your concept and told a short, focused story--which is much more difficult than it sounds. Good work!

Finally, one minor formatting note: You used hyphens instead of em-dashes. See, for example the sentence "There was no need to time it- but you would have to rush."

To make an em-dash in Renpy, just put two hyphens in a row, either: "There was no need to time it--but you would have to rush" or "There was no need to time it -- but you would have to rush". I'm only spending time on this issue because it's a very quick fix with Search and Replace... if you don't mind all those hours re-uploading, haha. Not a big deal if you don't fix it, though.

Cool game and best of luck on future projects!

[78909087]

The prtscren, gosh, I still don't have it with me... Still on the computer for rent 'coz my wifi got cut off. Doesn't it display the error on your screen? Just make the choice not to pick the crowbar...

Thank-you for the follow-up! The internet/phone cable running to our house has been damaged so I'm running on another computer— and I can't access my games yet— but I'm pretty sure that's just a silly coding error I couldn't pick up. Probably just the capital (damnit, ahaha).

I enjoyed this game. TBH, I found the handmade backgrounds kind of charming... maybe because I'm a fan of lo-fi bands like Guided By Voices and Ween.

Thank-you for your appreciation (though undeserved ) for the artwork. I have absolutely no plans to continue my own art, but I know, since I'm poor and have many stories to tell, it will probably happen many times more... I'll just beg my artist friend a lot... And give her food.

I found the final ending where you have to choose between going and staying on the station to be the most compelling choice because you're presented with two options with their own pros and cons. The musical choices did a good job of matching the emotion of each ending, too.

Yay! I really try hard to find good music. While Incompetech has a really wide range of royalty-free music, a lot of it is a bit too... Different- like my fiancée's music. He's a bit cuckoo about simplistic music. I write more simple pop-ish stuff... Not the kind of dramatic, captivating music I need... I'm going on a tangent here. The point is, I'm super glad for your effort in even writing this response.

I did find the early choices in the game a little too simple, generally boiling down to do this thing... or not. That's not a huge issue, especially for a game this short, but it might be something to keep in mind when writing future stories with choices.

Yeah... That was probably because I really had no idea what else to do when you're stuck in a room with a stubborn robot who really just wants you to sleep and I suck at art I wanted to be a little simple-minded, and not branch off everywhere... Yeah. That.

But overall, the writing was effective. You stuck with your concept and told a short, focused story--which is much more difficult than it sounds. Good work!

Again— YAY.

Finally, one minor formatting note: You used hyphens instead of em-dashes. See, for example the sentence "There was no need to time it- but you would have to rush."

To make an em-dash in Renpy, just put two hyphens in a row, either: "There was no need to time it--but you would have to rush" or "There was no need to time it -- but you would have to rush". I'm only spending time on this issue because it's a very quick fix with Search and Replace... if you don't mind all those hours re-uploading, haha. Not a big deal if you don't fix it, though.
Cool game and best of luck on future projects!

I literally just looked up what the hell they were and oh my LORD. My entire life is different now. I've lived off of em-dashes— my English teachers hated me for it, though I used them correctly. I'm studying the different dashes right after I reply. Thank-you for opening my eyes!

And DOUBLE thank-you for your replies, I feel so elated!

[Haze]

Alright, played this game. I felt like it was way too easy: I got the true ending on my first try. Almost every choice has a pretty obvious "right answer"

For example, why would you not take the crowbar? You gain a good thing by picking it up, and nothing by leaving it, so it's obvious what the right choice is. The same thing goes for the "go to sleep or not" choices at the beginning: it's pretty apparent that staying awake is the better option.

The only slight exception was the "talk to Christopher or not" choices, but, again, talking to him could be good, and ignoring him would either do nothing or make him angry, so...yeah. Another easy choice there.

The writing was fine. The backgrounds weren't the best, but they did their job, so I didn't mind them. Overall, this was an alright first project...

...though the story did remind me A LOT of the game "A Small Talk At the Back of the Beyond" with the ending. If you play this game and see the similarities, though, don't be too worried: stories with lying AIs aren't too uncommon.