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Love for Sail - Try the DEMO before release!
#197408
09/23/06 10:19
09/23/06 10:19
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 190 Greece
OP
Member
Love for Sail - Try the DEMO before release!
Hi guys, here is finally the trial version of Love for Sail. I put it here in front of you FOR THE FIRST TIME, before publishing it. The main reason for doing so is because I feel that it is a work from all of you that have helped in various moments of this project's lifecycle. Thank you George, Matt, Dan, Rhuarc, jcl, Doug, Steempipe, DavidLancaster, Drew, Larry. Thanks to anyone else I forgot. Nough said! If you want to give it a try, here's the 67 MB version which contains 2 levels: - One simulation level (AEGINA island) - One race level (DEMO RACE) You can see the Trailer here: trailer (8 MB) trailer (23 MB) Oh and don't forget to visit the *brand new* Love for Sail website! (still in the works..) ( What do you think of the game? What do you think of the website? Constructive criticism is more than welcomed ) Cheers.
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Re: Love for Sail - Try the DEMO before release!
[Re: immersionfx]
#197409
09/23/06 10:38
09/23/06 10:38
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 772
AndrewSwallow
User
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User
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 772
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For some reason the flash on the Love for Sail website isn't loading. However the main page does load. The screens look good , ill leave more comments later. I'll download it later, quite busy at the moment Andrew
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Re: Love for Sail - Try the DEMO before release!
[Re: AndrewSwallow]
#197410
09/23/06 13:53
09/23/06 13:53
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 2,628 IL,US
FeiHongJr
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 2,628
IL,US
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Awesome game I feel like a real sailor now Seriously well done. It looks and plays like a professional game. I enjoyed it quite alot although the difficulty is a bit to ummm difficult. Tho I did get better the last few times playing which is a good sign. I had a little difficulty understanding the directions.... 45 degree angles 90 degree angles and so on... but eventually started watching my speed opposed to where my sail was and helped alot. I almost made it to the finish line... or might of been a check point.... red bouys with a red ribbon? Anyways the graphics are very well done. I really like the water shader tho real time reflections wouldve deffinately added alot... Prehaps they were there and I just didnt notice them... The babe on the boat was a nice touch too made me feel not so lonley but I kept waiting for jaws to appear tho and take a bite outta my boat ... I did encouter a problem tho... after playing about 6 times it crashed on me.... Possibly because of my computer tho. It likes to play games on me every now n then. I saved the error report in case it might be of use to you... Doesnt make any sense to me. Anyways congratulations this is deffinately a well made and very original game I must say. Just goes to show what can be completed with enough dedication.
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Re: Love for Sail - Try the DEMO before release!
[Re: FeiHongJr]
#197411
09/23/06 17:24
09/23/06 17:24
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,659 San Francisco
JetpackMonkey
Serious User
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Serious User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,659
San Francisco
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Congratulations on making a finished game!
Okay, this is all meant to be constructive observations, so please don't take it otherwise.
First off, this isn't a criticism or a problem right here: It's more of a sailing simulator more than a straight out game, so I have a lot of the same problems i do with any complex simulator.. I found that couldn't just jump in and begin playing, after about 10 minutes I could only move the boat a little bit, never get away from the harbor. I have the same problem with perfectly good flight simulators too, though. Having the little tutorial comments are a good idea.
I'd recommend making it a LOT easier so a novice can hop right in and start sailing, with winds set up nice and easy, giving the player the easiest possible situation to begin with, even if it's unrealistically easy, then slowly make things harder and give tutorial points on how to use the controls more and more.
Though for someone looking for a real sailing simulation, it would probably be a good selection.
I'm not sure if there's romance involved in the game, like the title suggests, though. If that's the case, hmmmm it might not be a good name for it? Or am I wrong here? Personally I do not like the scripted font for the 'for' part of the "Love for sail" loading screen, but that's just me. To be honest, I find the title kind of kitschy, like you chose it because it's a play on words, but it really doesn't what the game is about. It almost sounds like it could be a Leisure Suit Larry game (yeuch!)
Seems to me that a few things really do not fit the interface:
I'd recommend changing the finger pointing cursor to something else, it looks too cartoony for the otherwise realisitic interface.
I cringed when I heard the conitec beep on the top interface! It's really an unappealing sound, I think it should never be in any finished A6 project personally, and instead it could be replaced with something subtle or suited to a sailing game.. anyway, I think it's a good idea not to use art assets with come with 3DGS in a professional product in general just on principle.
Also, I kind of think that the 5,4,3,2,1 countdown doesn't sound high quality enough for a professional quality game-- you might want to either record it with a good mic or studio, or get rid of it and replace it with some kind of visual countdown with beeps like Pole Position did.
In novice mode, a window kept appearing where I think the picture of a helper is supposed to appear, but it was just a brown square. Might not be implemented yet?
For an A6 game with probably a very limited budget as most of us are working with, it looks quite good, nice one. Lots of luck!
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Re: Love for Sail - Try the DEMO before release!
[Re: JetpackMonkey]
#197413
09/24/06 08:02
09/24/06 08:02
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 190 Greece
immersionfx
OP
Member
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OP
Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 190
Greece
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First of, a true bug finder (thanks to Jetpack_Monkey): there is indeed a grey box showing when the captain gives advices and that's because the relative video was not included in the package That's too bad, I will upload a new corrected version in a couple of hours. @Jetpack_Monkey: the easiness of the gameplay was an issue that troubled me a lot. As a sailing simulator, and not a casual game, it is supposed to make the player work out the controls a bit more and probably have a look at the manual (which is intentionaly not too complicated). So, I guess you should be aware that keys Q, W control the Sails and they're probably the most important controls in order to make the sailboat move due to the wind. You can also raise a spinnaker with O, P if the wind is from behind (really fast mode ) A sailing simulator can't get any easier than that! @andrewds: I believe the website is working now. @FeiHongJr: could you please PM me the report from the crash you had? Guys, all your comments are taken very seriously as there is still time for making improvements, though not big ones.
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Re: Love for Sail - Try the DEMO before release!
[Re: immersionfx]
#197414
09/24/06 10:08
09/24/06 10:08
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,659 San Francisco
JetpackMonkey
Serious User
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Serious User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,659
San Francisco
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You might want to ask some friends or relatives who do not know about sailing to sit down and try to play the game for a while and watch how they play, and ask for things they might find easier. Especially if you're going to sell it, I know a lot of companies spend a lot of money and several months doing this, but even getting some friends or kids or buy some people some beer to do it, I bet it would be helpful! Looks great, you're probably the envy of many people here, having finished a professional quality 3D game. Bye! JPM
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