Stained with Magic - Volume One Released!

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qirien
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers

#31 Post by qirien »

Awesome! I hope you reach your goal! :-)
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers

#32 Post by Daarkess »

qirien wrote:Awesome! I hope you reach your goal! :-)
Thanks for the support.
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers - Playable Demo!

#33 Post by Daarkess »

Indiegogo Campaign: http://igg.me/at/stainedwithmagic

News Updates: 26 November 2014

Our indiegogo campaign is still ongoing. Please give the demo a playthrough, offer some feedback, and support us if you like the game. We are at a critical time where we need support and feedback. Even a few encouraging words will keep us going.


25 November 2014
The first of our two planned demos has been released! Visit the website's media page now to download!

Demo #1's goal is to tease parts of the story, and showcase a few of the basic game play features. Such as timed choices, and the debate system. Once you have played the demo. Feel free to offer feedback via our website or social outlets.

Game Website - Media Page: http://www.stainedwithmagic.hikagestudios.com/media/
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers - Playable Demo!

#34 Post by truefaiterman »

Well, I've played the demo, and the worst thing about it is that it's SHORT. WTF HAPPENED!? GIMME MOAR!

Nah, I won't complain, being short is what allowed me to actually finish it without taking too much time. The overall feeling is very promising, but allow me to give you some feedback:

-The graphics are decent, but the backgrounds need more polishing (the pink room feels really plain).
-A few more sound effects may be cool to enhance the experience.
-The music is... pretty much awesome. I love it. Hard.
-The characters are pretty interesting, I don't know what is that maid doing there, but I'll assume she has a reason for dressing like that xD. Also, I want more of dat Listener.

I've also seen the info you've posted here and in the crowdfunding, and the concept of Science vs Magic has always appeal to me. I'm waiting for some payments (damn voice acting studios taking their time =_= ) but I'll try to at least put a few bucks in the project as soon as I have them.

Good luck, and keep up the good work!
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers - Playable Demo!

#35 Post by Daarkess »

truefaiterman wrote:Well, I've played the demo, and the worst thing about it is that it's SHORT. WTF HAPPENED!? GIMME MOAR!

Nah, I won't complain, being short is what allowed me to actually finish it without taking too much time. The overall feeling is very promising, but allow me to give you some feedback:

-The graphics are decent, but the backgrounds need more polishing (the pink room feels really plain).
-A few more sound effects may be cool to enhance the experience.
-The music is... pretty much awesome. I love it. Hard.
-The characters are pretty interesting, I don't know what is that maid doing there, but I'll assume she has a reason for dressing like that xD. Also, I want more of dat Listener.

I've also seen the info you've posted here and in the crowdfunding, and the concept of Science vs Magic has always appeal to me. I'm waiting for some payments (damn voice acting studios taking their time =_= ) but I'll try to at least put a few bucks in the project as soon as I have them.

Good luck, and keep up the good work!
Thanks for playing the demo.
I know its short, but remember that it is the first of two planned demos.

- If the indiegogo campaign is successful, you will see very polished backgrounds in the near future.
- Sound effects are always a work in progress.
- The music is awesome. Terra is an awesome composer.
- The writers and the lead designer have put a lot of effort into character development. Expect lots of awesome scenes with our characters. And yes, the 'maid' is very important. (Though, she isn't a maid.)

Thanks for the support.
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers - Playable Demo!

#36 Post by qirien »

Hey, just played the demo - I'm intrigued! Here's my feedback:
- I think you mentioned earlier that this script is pre-editing. I noticed a few typos and awkward sentences, but if you have an editor already looking at it, that shouldn't be hard to fix.
- The sprites are great. I don't know if there's any way you can show a picture of the character you are currently playing as, but that would help reduce confusion, since the game seems to switch between two perspectives.
- Great music and sound effects
- Lots of great visual effects (shield, blood spatters, fireflies, etc).
- I'm not sure if you are going to have a combat system or not, but the action sequences might feel more suspenseful if the player has a little bit more say in how they play out. Or maybe they just need to be a bit quicker, with the words trimmed down a bit so the fighting feels more tense and real-time.
- I love the GUI. The font you use for names and the quick menu is especially good, as is the dark gray/red/white color scheme.
- I like your inter-scene definitions, but you might want to simplify them so they have more impact. For example, for "Mind" you could just have "the element, substance or process that reasons, feels, perceives"
- I like how you darken the screen to show the narrator's thoughts; that's a subtle device that works well.
- I'd love to see a closeup of that beetle, maybe crawling along a flesh-colored background or something... that would sure make it more creepy!
- I was so engrossed I kept forgetting to save my game - that's a good thing. Normally I'm a compulsive saver. :-D
- I like your timed choices! Those really up the excitement factor of the game (though it would be nice if the game auto-saves right before choices, since some of them lead to death...?)

Looking forward to the finished game; the story and setting are very captivating. Keep up the good work! :-)
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers - Playable Demo!

#37 Post by Daarkess »

qirien wrote:Hey, just played the demo - I'm intrigued! Here's my feedback:
- I think you mentioned earlier that this script is pre-editing. I noticed a few typos and awkward sentences, but if you have an editor already looking at it, that shouldn't be hard to fix.
- The sprites are great. I don't know if there's any way you can show a picture of the character you are currently playing as, but that would help reduce confusion, since the game seems to switch between two perspectives.
- Great music and sound effects
- Lots of great visual effects (shield, blood spatters, fireflies, etc).
- I'm not sure if you are going to have a combat system or not, but the action sequences might feel more suspenseful if the player has a little bit more say in how they play out. Or maybe they just need to be a bit quicker, with the words trimmed down a bit so the fighting feels more tense and real-time.
- I love the GUI. The font you use for names and the quick menu is especially good, as is the dark gray/red/white color scheme.
- I like your inter-scene definitions, but you might want to simplify them so they have more impact. For example, for "Mind" you could just have "the element, substance or process that reasons, feels, perceives"
- I like how you darken the screen to show the narrator's thoughts; that's a subtle device that works well.
- I'd love to see a closeup of that beetle, maybe crawling along a flesh-colored background or something... that would sure make it more creepy!
- I was so engrossed I kept forgetting to save my game - that's a good thing. Normally I'm a compulsive saver. :-D
- I like your timed choices! Those really up the excitement factor of the game (though it would be nice if the game auto-saves right before choices, since some of them lead to death...?)

Looking forward to the finished game; the story and setting are very captivating. Keep up the good work! :-)

Thanks for playing the demo and giving us feedback. This is the sort of response we were looking for. Let me tackle your list.
- Editing for the script is still ongoing.

- Having an indication of who you are playing at would be a good idea. The team will look into options on how we could do this, while still fitting in with the UI theme.

- Our artists have done a great job with the sprites. As well as our composer, simply doing an amazing job.

- Glad the visual effects have enhanced the storytelling. The darken screen for inner monologue is working for you as well. Good.

- Your views on making the combat parts to have more supense are important. We will look into making them even more action-packed with better storytelling.

- Glad the UI design was well recieved. The UI has gone through many redesigns. So I guess we have found a style that works.

- The inter-scene definitions are a demo only thing. But we will take your advice for future demos.

- A close-up of the beetle? We would love to more CGs like that. I hope time and budget allows that. We shall what the future holds.

- Forgetting to save your game? I'm glad your getting engrossed in the story.

- Glad the timed choices are being well recieved. Will look into having auto-saves happening before timed choices.

Thank you for the feedback. You have given us a bit to think about.
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers-Playable Prologue+D

#38 Post by Daarkess »

News Updates: 6 March 2015

Prologue Released!
News details on our website - http://stainedwithmagic.hikagestudios.c ... -released/
Details about release schedule can be found within.

Prologue Download: http://stainedwithmagic.hikagestudios.com/download/
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers-Playable Prologue+D

#39 Post by tigerrenko »

I played demo...

cool atmosphere and The Listener is cool character. Writing isn't all bad, but the story is a bit confusing. It's good that story starts with action, but without any introduction and orientation it quickly becomes too alien for me to be able to feel that my decisions are based on anything but a twitch. Also, not sure if decisions that end the game should be planted this early... coupled with insufficient info to make choices sound it really enhances the impression that choices are as whimsical as outcomes behind them...

Cool music, cool art, cool coding, tho.

Cheers
R.

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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers-Playable Prologue+D

#40 Post by Daarkess »

tigerrenko wrote:I played demo...

cool atmosphere and The Listener is cool character. Writing isn't all bad, but the story is a bit confusing. It's good that story starts with action, but without any introduction and orientation it quickly becomes too alien for me to be able to feel that my decisions are based on anything but a twitch. Also, not sure if decisions that end the game should be planted this early... coupled with insufficient info to make choices sound it really enhances the impression that choices are as whimsical as outcomes behind them...

Cool music, cool art, cool coding, tho.

Cheers
R.
Thanks for playing the demo. The support has been well received.
The demo was a collection of a variety scenes from the main game. The prologue and on-wards will feature more in-depth story-telling, and more meaningful choices. The feedback from your play of the demo will be taken into consideration.

Thanks for playing.
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers-Playable Prologue+D

#41 Post by tigerrenko »

Oh, sorry, didn't know that...

I was wondering why you didn't give control to the player when fighting Silent Agents, but the more I think about it, the better I like your choice. It made player's char positively badass and since pace of the action and writing is good, it really was a bold move that paid off...

cheers
R.

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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers-Playable Prologue+D

#42 Post by neuropsy »

Bro, can I say intense? The synopsis piqued my curiosities from the start, and both the prologue and the gameplay demo exceeded my expectations.

Since I am a student of science and someone interested in the concept of the supernatural, the lecture from the prologue captured my interests. Although if I were in that lecture hall, I'd overall agree with the guest speaker, I figured in this game's reality, magic actually exists. I love the diverse attitudes of the cast towards the speaker--each character's personality is realistic and entertaining! I related with Amaya, although I'd be on the science side of things. The beginning drew me in, and I found myself wanting to play more at the end.

While the prologue set up interesting lore, the gameplay demo was absolutely exhilarating! I'm evidently terrible at surviving within the plot, but I went ahead and restarted the game to choose different decisions because I wanted to know more about what the heck is going on. The antagonists are utterly despicable, but I wanted to know more about them--and I'm sure that's what you were going for.

The writing, especially the prologue, was very eloquent and clean. I barely noticed (if I did at all) any spelling/grammatical mistakes. The writing is detailed without being oversaturated with adjectives, and everything just flows nicely. I'm usually turned off by the realistic art styles of gritty games, so the art for this game suited me well. Let me say, the music choice and sound effects were spectacular, as if I was watching a movie. Coupled with the programming effects, the presentation was nothing short of excellent.

Also, it was really cool how you showed a mini character bio during their introductions! I don't know if it's just my laptop, but my only crit is for the bio to remain on the screen longer, since it flashed by before I could read everything.

Needless to say, I'm definitely looking forward for the full release. :lol:
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers-Playable Prologue+D

#43 Post by Daarkess »

neuropsy wrote:Bro, can I say intense? The synopsis piqued my curiosities from the start, and both the prologue and the gameplay demo exceeded my expectations.

Since I am a student of science and someone interested in the concept of the supernatural, the lecture from the prologue captured my interests. Although if I were in that lecture hall, I'd overall agree with the guest speaker, I figured in this game's reality, magic actually exists. I love the diverse attitudes of the cast towards the speaker--each character's personality is realistic and entertaining! I related with Amaya, although I'd be on the science side of things. The beginning drew me in, and I found myself wanting to play more at the end.

While the prologue set up interesting lore, the gameplay demo was absolutely exhilarating! I'm evidently terrible at surviving within the plot, but I went ahead and restarted the game to choose different decisions because I wanted to know more about what the heck is going on. The antagonists are utterly despicable, but I wanted to know more about them--and I'm sure that's what you were going for.

The writing, especially the prologue, was very eloquent and clean. I barely noticed (if I did at all) any spelling/grammatical mistakes. The writing is detailed without being oversaturated with adjectives, and everything just flows nicely. I'm usually turned off by the realistic art styles of gritty games, so the art for this game suited me well. Let me say, the music choice and sound effects were spectacular, as if I was watching a movie. Coupled with the programming effects, the presentation was nothing short of excellent.

Also, it was really cool how you showed a mini character bio during their introductions! I don't know if it's just my laptop, but my only crit is for the bio to remain on the screen longer, since it flashed by before I could read everything.

Needless to say, I'm definitely looking forward for the full release. :lol:
Thanks for playing both the demo and prologue. We are always wanting to hear feedback, positive or negative.

Glad to hear our unique spin on the genre has really brought you into the world we are creating. We spent a lot of time fleshing out characters and making sure each scene has a point to it. We are really happy to hear that the villains are bringing you into the game as well. We always wanted to ensure that the villain's stories are being told as well.

I'm also happy to hear the game design is pulling together. For the bio introductions, the animation is too fast. We have received similar feedback regarding that and have extended the duration for it.
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers-Playable Prologue+D

#44 Post by Daarkess »

The next update (in a series) has been released today!

Click over to our website to read on about our second dev-build and (dry) programming.

http://stainedwithmagic.hikagestudios.com/
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Re: Stained with Magic: Chasing Whispers-Playable Prologue+D

#45 Post by Daarkess »

News Updates: 6 March 2015
"I'm no criminal, I just do as I please." - Jacob Frye, Assassin's Creed Syndicate
Our Lemma Soft thread has received a much-needed makeover! Images, music and more!
The Audio of Awe and ARK, second in a showcase series is available for viewing on our website. Part of our drive to showcase a section of the game every two weeks.
This week we cover audio and music. Including samples of the soundtrack from our talented composer TerracottaPie.
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