-- Ark 22 -- Adventure/rpg; Complete., Updated 08.11.07 Options

[S-Chuck]

At that early point in the game, coffee is used to increase your health as soon as you find or buy it. So if you have full health, you don't need any coffee.

[Axle the Beast]

At that early point in the game, coffee is used to increase your health as soon as you find or buy it. So if you have full health, you don't need any coffee.

Ah. So it's just a quick, instant health power-up..

I was particularly curious about that coffee thing in my inventory, though.

[S-Chuck]

I think the only reason it's in the inventory (you can't take it out of there and use it) is so you can read the description of what it is.

[Stargateanubis14]

I have been playing this and just want to say:

"THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I have been to cheap to buy any of the horrible games that have been coming out for console, and have been looking on the forums for some new games. When I found this, IT ANSWERED MY PRAYERS!

[Omega_Squid]

love the squid in that pic! Is it a squid though?
plus, looks like an awesome game, once I get finished with my current game ill take it for a spin!

EDIT: Played some of it, and i really liked the beginning movie! great job!

10/10 Great game!

This post has been edited by Omega_Squid: Jul 22 2006, 06:13 PM

[MS-DOS]

Mmmm nice game. Wow 3 years!!!! i'd already given up in the 3rd month. Having a bit of trouble, but im pushing along. The large ammouts of text I have to read are pissing me off though... i'd give this 10/10. Very nice work. There appears to be little to no bugs.
I'll edit when I remember all the rest of the stuff I wanted to say...

EDIT: Now I remember! I cant get that key to unlock the gate. I followed your instructions, (I didn't take the bath though. I just got a double-whip coffee) and still no key! whad I do wrong?

This post has been edited by MS-DOS: Apr 11 2006, 01:57 AM

[PLAY: More]

edit: never mind...

This post has been edited by PLAY: More: Apr 14 2006, 11:05 AM

[Srehpog]

Thanks all for the positive responses. It seems the random extra work on the beginning of the game wasn't for nothing. S-Chuck is right about the Coffee icon, it's only in there to tell you what/why/how it works. Real Coffee appears in the game world; you just walk over it to replenish health like any other pickup.

The inventory screen isn't 'interactive' as such; it just holds information on the stuff you've picked up - press F1 in-game to bring up the shiny new Controls menu; that will tell you how to use the things you have. The 'Press P to Pause' thing is also fixed now - I'm not sure if it's uploaded yet though, I doubt it was important enough - people seem to work it out alone fine until then.

love the squid in that pic! Is it a squid though?]

Well, it floats in the air and is made up half of pure energy, but....yes. "Cannonball Octopus Thing" is what most people seem to settle for.

Now I remember! I cant get that key to unlock the gate. I followed your instructions, (I didn't take the bath though. I just got a double-whip coffee) and still no key! whad I do wrong?

If you have done these three things;

- Talked to the crystal kiosk person (and so got the '0/ 0' crystals display on the HUD)...

- Opened the SAT station (teleport-ish thing in the Library - turns from grey & red to grey & blue once activated, talk to the NPC in black to do that)...

- Got the sword from the NPC sitting at the table facing south in the building where you wake up...

...then go to the large building on the hill with the health machine in and talk to the NPC in yellow standing on the small platform on the right of the room. He'll give you the radio transmitter and key, and you can walk out of the village gate north.

Hope that helps.

If anyone finds any bugs, no matter how small, feel free to PM me or post here - I welcome the work, and the small step closer to a truly finished game. Thanks, everyone.

[darkwater]

I've found a bug. When the pyramid boss shoots in every direction at once, the bullets don't destroy after leaving the room, so my fps drops a lot.

This post has been edited by darkwater: Apr 24 2006, 11:17 PM

[Srehpog]

You're right, that's fixed (but not uploaded, as it's fairly easily avoidable). Those projectiles have now been given an order to destroy themselves on room exit. I've debugged that room with various instance counts and everything seems to return to normal - about 127 instances. Thanks for that.

News?

Still waiting for last snippets of bugtesting to come through on Ark 22, then I think we can safely declare it finished forever. Once it's wrapped up and shiny I might send it.....everywhere.

Meanwhile, work has begun on the next game - be warned though, it's nothing at all like Ark. It's...

[DtD]

Great game!

Nice and challenging, although you really need to have more save points (EG: before the boss in Dungeon 1!) also some things that sort-of anoyed me:

• Player didn't "snap" (he moved freely)
• Not enough save points
• You have to be below most characters to talk to them.

~But desides that great!

~DtD

(Don't flame me for bumping an old topic!)

[Yeakisen]

Well done! I'm not interested in the whole future rpg thing going on so I kind of lost interest. But this rpg is awesome. Takes a while to figure out everything, but I got up to when I awoke. I'd give this game a nice 10/10! I found no problems with the game, graphics were up to par, sounds were amazing, collision detection on the dot, and story telling is perfect.

Great rpg! Can't wait till the sequel!

[Srehpog]

Thanks DtD and Yeakisen, although I'm afraid there won't be a sequel - not for a good long while, anyway.

Are you sure you don't want to play on? If all you did was wake up, there's so much left out there to kill.....or be killed by?

    - Player didn't "snap" (he moved freely)
    - Not enough save points
    - You have to be below most characters to talk to them.

Player snapping is a design choice. Since so many enemies attack with randomised patterns and angles, radii, distances and so on (which means a lot of very un-rounded numbers), having the player move only within 16x16 would have been impossible. That, and imagine driving the boat with grid snapping.

Save points are a difficult thing to judge - a few people have said there are too many, although you're right in that there are a couple of key locations which could probably have done with an extra save. I suppose the strategy is to save as often as possible. If you do this, the D1 boss room is only 4 rooms away from the nearest save.

NPC talking is probably the largest glaring fault I couldn't fix. It does take people a bit of time to get used to it, and it reflects the fact that I should have thought of a few things (such as "depth=-y", inheritance, the use of masks) before I'd done things a different way. I changed a lot after 'release', but I doubt NPCs will ever be improved - it's not a key area like the title cutscene or save interface; I guess it's just a bit counter-intuitive. Next time, though...

This post has been edited by Srehpog: May 11 2006, 09:45 AM

[General Leo]

don't worry people, he has a good fast host for his game. 20MB isn't too bad for an RPG. As long as 19.999999MB of it isn't mp3s like people tend to do now-a-days.

[trickman]

I can't complete chapter 2!
I got the battery and the map... now what?

[Hellbound]

That game is amazing!

[lukesterspy]

What combination should I use for this puzzle. I have been trying to crack it for a day, but can't...

BTW, great game, I started to play yesterday and I love it. Oh, and one more thing, I would make it so that, you know at the very begening when your in the ship and it tells you how to play in the top left corner, to change it from saying "Press P To Go To The Pause Menu" to "Press Esc To Go To The Pause Menu", becuase, unless I am wrong or somthing, when I pressed P nothing happened, but when I pressed Escape, it took me to a pause menu thing. Anyways, love the game, good work.

PS: Can I put a review on my site, I am still working on it though, but it will be up soon, I just wanted permission, you know?

PS: I found a bug, but I don't know what it is, it just came up and said "An Un Expected Error Has Occured" and then the game shuts down, it was wierd, and it has done it two times, once on the ship, and once in the temple ruins, I think???Hmm

This post has been edited by lukesterspy: May 16 2006, 12:33 AM

[hilfog]

Very good game man! Its too cool Keep it up. I'll download 20 more MB next time so don't worry

What combination should I use for this puzzle. I have been trying to crack it for a day, but can't...

its Up, Down, Left, Right I think....yea, i think thats it.

[Cloud Architect]

MODS... Come to your senses and put this game in the staffs choice topic! It really is good enough, Well I think so.

[trickman]

MODS... Come to your senses and put this game in the staffs choice topic! It really is good enough, Well I think so.

Me too!