By Alec Meer on July 29th, 2010 at 5:42 pm.
The Curfew, a free educational online game from Channel 4, launches today in Britain. The narrative-led investigative puzzle game is designed to teach political awareness, documenting as it does a near-future society dominated by an oppressive government, and asking the player to make decisions that reflect their own political opinions and meaningfully affect other characters in the world.
The Curfew is developed by LittleLoud and written by Kieron Gillen, a highly-respected international game critic, journalist and Marvel writer who AAAAARGH NO I CAN’T DO THIS AAAAAAAAARGH.
Kieron’s written a game, love ‘im. I know, our Kieron – he wrote words and everything, and they weren’t even about Iceman throwing an icicle at The Thing’s the solar plexus. Politics! Drama! Intrigue! Moral dilemmas! Clever Kieron! It’s out now. Go play it.
Kieron has put more details into the comments thread below.
29/07/2010 at 17:45 Feet says:
KIERON WROTE A GA-AME
29/07/2010 at 17:47 SquareWheel says:
KIERON WROTE A GA-AME
29/07/2010 at 17:47 Duffin says:
Who the hell decided to release it the same week as starcraft!
29/07/2010 at 17:48 Kirrus says:
It does seem a tad daft. Saying that, after that trailer, I am tempted to abandon SC2 for a little while…
29/07/2010 at 17:47 Cooper says:
I’ve been looking forward to it ever since I noted the surveillance society / near-future government setting on the C4 page about it.
Not enough of that theme nowadays. Like much of the hyperbole of the 80s and 90s, what has come to pass, though no less terrifying, tends to be much more banal than predicted. Nevertheless, I miss the urgency of those oldies…
Anyway, am playing now…
29/07/2010 at 18:04 Cooper says:
Replace ‘Playing’ with ‘Encountering yet another loading screen after thinking the initial 5 minute wait was all”
Heavy server load?
29/07/2010 at 17:47 Bonegnawer says:
A GA-ME WROTE KIERON
29/07/2010 at 17:47 Azazel says:
A GAME! KIERON WROTE?
29/07/2010 at 17:53 Fede says:
A game, Kieron Wrote
29/07/2010 at 18:10 Kester says:
Starring Angela Lansbury as Kieron
30/07/2010 at 09:13 Cunzy1 1 says:
How do the horses handle?
29/07/2010 at 17:49 Zetetic says:
Next time, write a fullscreen button.
(Looks interesting, but by God the interface is infuriating and noisy.)
29/07/2010 at 17:57 Zetetic says:
Well, it’s managed to make me laugh and smile already despite also provoking me to annoyance!
29/07/2010 at 18:29 Zetetic says:
Well, I’d pay to have all the elements of interactivity surgically removed, if only so I can avoid the bits where it looks like I can click the questions and I can’t. I do appreciate the attempts to integrate the first game into the narrative (shame that finding a minigame irritating isn’t ameliorated by being told that it’s irritating), and rather pissed off by the second one being far more unpleasant to play.
It’s an interesting world already, and the production quality isn’t bad. The nastiest thing comparison I could make is that it’s like Skins meets an episode of Doctor Who. Which isn’t so bad.
29/07/2010 at 17:50 Rinox says:
I am utterly put off by there not being Icemen throwing icicles at the solar plexi of Things. No sale!
29/07/2010 at 17:54 Phydaux says:
loading…
29/07/2010 at 17:55 The Hammer says:
Who’s Kieron?
29/07/2010 at 18:06 TheApologist says:
No idea
29/07/2010 at 18:33 Man Raised By Puffins says:
I think he was The Doctor’s saucy new assistant.
29/07/2010 at 18:49 Duffin says:
Now she is a bit tasty.
29/07/2010 at 19:10 Shih Tzu says:
I dunno, but “Kieron Gillen” is an anagram for “Kernel Oiling”, whatever that tells us.
…Also “knee + groin = ill”.
29/07/2010 at 17:59 Novotny says:
What time are we allowed to play until?
29/07/2010 at 18:00 Dyst says:
Style is fucking awesome. Actors are pretty low quality.
29/07/2010 at 20:30 PHeMoX says:
It doesn’t ruin it for me though, I think this is a pretty neat game and the ideas are pretty good.
I, like many others though, am not that fond of all those loading screens.
At times it’s not that clear that you should expect staying longer in a certain area, so things that follow each other up might not feel that intuitive (like getting the ‘next version’ of that program to crack the air tag, but there are more occasions of this.)
All in all, pretty enjoyable game though. I like it.
29/07/2010 at 18:03 Kieron Gillen says:
It’s only the first part of four. The other three should arrive early next week, I’m told. It does save your game after each scene, however, so you can pick up where you left off.
It’s also worth noting that, as the text at the top of the page says, it’s the Beta, so there’s some stuff that’ll be tweaked. Stuff like tags not having text is the only really obvious thing I can see, though I still hope they have a cut-scene skip button.
Oh – and there’s another video on the site. A party political broadcast thing with an actor whose sleaziness who I can only applaud. Go watch that here..
KG
29/07/2010 at 18:08 The_B says:
I enjoyed your and Simon Parkin’s cameo in that broadcast. I also blame society.
29/07/2010 at 18:12 Cooper says:
Note for tweakage:
Don’t dive straight into an interactive mini-game after a loading screen without a ‘Start now’ button.
Tabbed browsers & alt-tab & the general attention deficit of the average regular internet user means I’m already somewhere else the moment I so much as glimpse a loading bar.
And then get confused by the sudden noises, wonder where they’re coming from and lose 1/2 of the time of the game…
29/07/2010 at 18:16 Kieron Gillen says:
Cooper: You are meant to fuck up the game though. It’s more of a gag than a game.
KG
29/07/2010 at 20:34 Cooper says:
Yeah, I realised that moments after posting. I was posting mid-game. Less out of anger, more out of bafflement. Odd noises reminded me I was in the middle of something other than work / conquering the galaxy, and, instead of playing the game, I simply went straight to the source. I then went back to the game, played 10 seconds of it and got the joke and didn’t care anymore. I almost became Mr. AIM there. I got the whole ‘knee jerk reaction’ thing pat down. Maybe I should have called you names as well?
29/07/2010 at 20:38 Kieron Gillen says:
Nah – I think the intro game may be a tad too long as is too. Its purpose is primarily for narrative rather than the actual experience.
KG
29/07/2010 at 18:04 nmute says:
amazing music. sounds like something on Warp.
29/07/2010 at 18:04 Dyst says:
Is it me, or does saving take forever?
29/07/2010 at 19:52 Ezhar says:
That red bar is supposed to be a loading bar, not a saving bar, methinks. And yes, it does take forever.
29/07/2010 at 18:09 fitz says:
Note to C4 staff: please learn the difference between Affect and Effect. Then correct the typo in your game.
Thank you.
29/07/2010 at 18:17 YogSo says:
Hey, Kieron never warned us it was going to be [spit]educational[/spit]! Give me my money back!
Seriously now, congrats to KG. Going to check it immediately.
29/07/2010 at 18:25 Kieron Gillen says:
I did! All C4s games are!
KG
29/07/2010 at 18:17 Peter Radiator Full Pig says:
Excited!
But im going to wait the week, for the other parts.
I have breaking a narrative.
29/07/2010 at 18:27 Morti says:
jesus christ, the loading times are ludicrous, i cant play this.
first scene, 4 characters, 2 out of them wont talk to me, the nerd kid does. I answer his question and bam , ANOTHER loading screen. Fuck this. Wish there were a client version of these games.
29/07/2010 at 18:30 Kieron Gillen says:
That’s the last load for ages, btw.
KG
29/07/2010 at 19:31 somnolentsurfer says:
I’m finding it neigh on unplayable. Not just the loading times (which are long), but the general performance. Mouse is so laggy the pixel hunting required to find the interactive bits is completely impossible. Shame, ’cause, you know, the writing seems quite good.
29/07/2010 at 20:04 somnolentsurfer says:
Ah. I rebooted to Windows and it’s much better. I guess this would be the poor Flash performance that Steve Jobs is allegedly so angry about.
29/07/2010 at 20:44 Phydaux says:
@Morti
Yea that is exactly where I gave up. I had spent ages waiting at the loading screens for a few seconds of mediocre dialogue, then the “game” started. I spoke to the guy at the computer and he responded in a way that made no sense to the question I asked. Then it jumped straight into another loading screen. After waiting 5 mins, and the progress bar flitting around the 1/3 mark I decided that there was no way it could be worth my time.
29/07/2010 at 18:31 Dyst says:
Well. I just completed the game and I’m now writing my third comment on this news article. Awesome!
Really enjoyed it, the acting wasn’t brilliant but the whole thing was pretty cool and I really enjoyed the setting. Also, Crystal Castles.
29/07/2010 at 18:34 Flimgoblin says:
Is this one better than VVVVVVegetable? :)
29/07/2010 at 18:34 Kieron Gillen says:
NOTHING IS BETTER THAN VVVVVVEGETABLE!
KG
29/07/2010 at 18:36 Serenegoose says:
You got Mark Thomas! Man. He makes an exceptional newsreader. I lol’d, hard when I seen that.
31/07/2010 at 00:18 TeeJay says:
Mark Thomas?
This alone will make me play it.
29/07/2010 at 18:52 skalpadda says:
I’m not a fan of hunting for hotspots in the environment and the mini games feel a bit unnecessary but the writing is really good so far, looking forward to completing it next week :)
29/07/2010 at 19:02 gnodab says:
damn you floorsweeper!
i chechked the airtags on the menu like ten times but the game just does not progress, its sad.
29/07/2010 at 19:05 Dyst says:
Click the red tag, and then speak to the guy again. Then click the green tag, and speak to the guy one more time. He’ll then send you to the PC and you can continue.
29/07/2010 at 22:00 Amanda says:
Close the phone and open it again. The first time I found it, it wasn’t clickable at all (this was before it would even tell me I had the outdated thingie.)
Also, there’s a typo in the loading screen tips. “The questions you choose ask…”
29/07/2010 at 19:03 Chris D says:
I especially liked the irony of mentioning how the evil government was selling off personal details to private companies while at the side of the screen I was being encouraged to share the game on facebook.
29/07/2010 at 19:07 Christian Otholm says:
That’s not irony. Irony would be if you were forced to share the game on facebook. There’s quite a difference between being asked to do something and being forced to do something.
Also – the game sadly crashed at the window cleaner scene. Otherwise it looked interesting.
29/07/2010 at 19:16 Chris D says:
I’m not sure being forced or not is relevant. It’s the juxtaposition of warning against government violation of privacy on one hand and being encouraged to voluntarily provide all kinds of personal information to a site with a lax view on who else gets to see that information, including private business interests.
Voting is not the only way we can give up our freedoms.
I should probably also mention that I did like the game.
29/07/2010 at 19:04 Jimbo says:
Cor-phew!
athankyouverymuch
29/07/2010 at 19:14 The_B says:
WHAT ABOUT THE DRM?
29/07/2010 at 20:14 Jad says:
AND HOW MUCH DID YOU CUT OUT FOR OVERPRICED DLC?
29/07/2010 at 19:43 brog says:
impressions (spoilers):
- writing in the intro is tight. good job kg. i like how it acknowledges that it’s giving the player information the character should already know.
- disappointed at having to go through the characters in a particular order. starting at the left is obvious, so i deliberately didn’t.
- wtf gun-shooty minigame? not what i was expecting. didn’t like how it started instantly when i was away because of loadingscreen.
- spent ages convinced it was a puzzle who to type into messenger program, no luck.
- want to slap that guy.
- finding “bonuses” is a bit of a dull distraction from finding where to actually go.
- minigames continue to be a bit shit. no sense of where the slingshot is actually aimed.
- “come back next week” eh what?
29/07/2010 at 19:43 Diogo Ribeiro says:
Liked it a lot.
As I’ve told Kieron over Twitter, it reminds me of Floor 13, in terms of choice and consequence. Come to think of it, it’s Floor 13 on a ground level, figuratively (the themes and vibe of the game are also of suspicion) and literally (if you ever wondered how your agents would treat people and how the streets would be patrolled, The Curfew is kinda of a possible answer to that; also it’s hard not to imagine, as you walk those streets, some asshole in a suit overseeing things, creating more oppresive laws to oppress that which he can’t control more directly).
I only missed one secret in the Boy’s flashback and, unfortunately, lost a bit of his trust in the final dialogue.
What I liked about the game, so far, is that it reminded me of the same sense of paranoia and suspicion I only found in games like Shadowrun (Sega Genesis) and Uplink: that something or someone really is watching, that what you do has a meaning beyond your immediate awareness, that there are plenty of things you can miss if you’re not looking. I honest to god mucked about with the chat messenger to see if I could prod someone (other than the a specific person) to talk to him.
I think that’s what got to me. It may be a MacGuffin but it’s applied in a way that you can’t stop falling for it.
MOAR!
29/07/2010 at 19:46 Diogo Ribeiro says:
On minigames, well, they could use a little bit more integration. The shooty bang thing kinda made me go “lol wut?”; it caught my attention’s pants down.
Also: man, if someone didn’t know Kieron was on the job, the subtitle of that Holy Grail of ShootyBangs gave it right away, hahaha!
Also 2: Kieron and Parkin on that short movie :)
29/07/2010 at 19:53 RagingLion says:
I am officially stuck. Been staring at the street scene of the Boy’s story (the one after the fast food place) for ages and can’t see what I’m supposed to do. Talked to the policeman at start of scene and haven’t made any real progress since. Can’t fathom any hints from the air tags. Clicked on the boarded up sex shop but that just bonus material. The cursor changes to an upward pointing hand when on the right side of the screen and when I click it plays a sound effect and adjusts the screen but nothing changes. Any clues or has something gone wrong with the game?
29/07/2010 at 19:56 Kieron Gillen says:
Actually, let me put that backwards….
yawyella no eht thgir. kconk no eht rood.
KG
29/07/2010 at 20:27 somnolentsurfer says:
Yeah, I got that. I think it’s bugged. When I started again it worked fine.
29/07/2010 at 21:27 RagingLion says:
Yep, it’s a bug and it worked when I reloaded it just like for the others. The first time round I didn’t get any of the annotations with the tags either, it just displayed ‘XCVXV’ … I was starting to think there was some sort of obscure puzzle with Roman numerals or something.
I also had the parts where it returned to the main room have the audio out of sync with the video.
30/07/2010 at 12:59 Chris says:
In case it’s useful: I also got the window cleaning bug and the xcvxv (or whatever) text on the airtags. Selected all responses to window man, ending with “come back later.” Got his response, then video froze and game unresponsive. reloading (F5) solved this, at the cost of replaying the scene, and also fixed the airtag text. On returning to the safehose, the video sync also went, although it returned for the next scene.
I don’t go for pixel hunting much, but this was interesting and well done. Congrats on the writing!
- Chris.
29/07/2010 at 20:06 Bas says:
I’m stuck too. Kieron’s probably saying to himself “I’m not Gamefaqs, piss off”, but can anyone else help? I think the dissident’s part is bugged. She walks into her office, and nothing. The mobile says there’s airtags, but it shows none.
Also in the same section, if you browse for tags in the previous aquarium bit, you’ll see a woman standing somewhere, and she disappears when you turn off your phone. Ghost lady!
For the rest, excellent writing! Can’t wait to finish it.
29/07/2010 at 20:23 Kieron Gillen says:
How on earth have you got into the Dissident’s game? That’s part 3. It’s only meant to let you play Part 1.
KG
29/07/2010 at 20:38 brog says:
going back to the site and loading seems to skip ahead to the next one. i got the first girl up to the first questioning, then it went black, now it’s loading the second girl.
bugs, eh?
29/07/2010 at 20:40 Kieron Gillen says:
I suspect you may have precipitated a panic at Littleloud.
KG
29/07/2010 at 21:46 Bas says:
I used my 1337 hacking skills. Oh wait no, I just hit F5 after seeing the “see you next week” screen.
WHY ARE YOU LOCKING CONTENT THAT’S ALREADY FINISHED? DO YOU EXPECT US TO PAY YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD?
29/07/2010 at 22:00 brog says:
none of it’s quite finished, hence “beta”. i assume the bug you found with the missing airtag is due to the unfinished state (i had the same).
(some of the later parts had text on airtags though, which is missing on the bit we are supposed to have, so that’s a bit weird.)
29/07/2010 at 22:14 Bas says:
Also, the game’s fatally broken at the second questioning of the dissident.
SPOILERS
She asks how you think you knew why her boss would backstab her, and whatever answer you give turns the screen to black permanently.
END SPOILER
29/07/2010 at 22:33 Kieron Gillen says:
Bas: The reason why the other stuff is locked off is that it isn’t finished yet, which is why it’s probably a bad thing that you play it.
KG
30/07/2010 at 04:33 bill says:
I heard the F5 thing works in Starcraft 2 as well. Lets you access the Protoss and Zerg campaigns, bu they’re bugged.
29/07/2010 at 20:15 Trans says:
There is a bug at that bit. I was stuck there for 15 minutes, every time I tried to go to the alley on the right a weird visual effect happened but it didn’t go to the alley, just refreshed the same scene. I reloaded the game, hey presto, first time I click I get a new scene in front of the green door.
Apart from that, pretty good. I look forward to playing the rest of the :)
29/07/2010 at 20:17 Trans says:
Sorry, was meant to reply to RagingLion.
29/07/2010 at 20:17 Diogo Ribeiro says:
Oh.
The game erased my save file :/
29/07/2010 at 20:18 Trans says:
I really shouldn’t, but… lol
29/07/2010 at 20:24 Diogo Ribeiro says:
Well, I did finish the first chapter so no harm done. I’ll replay it some time later, before the new one.
29/07/2010 at 20:27 JohnnyMaverik says:
“written by Kieron Gillen”
I’m in
*gives myself an obnoxious arse kissing point*
29/07/2010 at 20:28 Gritz says:
Really cool. It’s like you reached into my brain and pulled out that I love Tex Murphy games and civil liberties activism. Was not expecting that.
29/07/2010 at 20:36 Gritz says:
At this point I think we can go ahead and say that this is a new Golden Age for the Adventure Game genre.
29/07/2010 at 20:43 Nallen says:
I love the idea of AR airtags! I feel almost totally convinced they’ll be real.
…someone will now tell me they are…
29/07/2010 at 20:49 somnolentsurfer says:
Is that video specifically selecting people from my Facebook friends with ‘Liberal’ political views? Win.
29/07/2010 at 20:57 EthZee says:
What, that computer “most wanted” thing? I’m not sure. I did see Cory Doctorow at the top of the list, though.
Yeah, the game was alright. It ran terribly for me, though that’s probably the laptop more than anything. And I was slightly irritated by the Trust/Interview game, but that’s mainly because I have no idea what sounded suspicious or not; I’d pick a question which sounded perfectly innocent, only to get a surly response and a “LOST TRUST”. Well, I can’t help it if I don’t understand you surly, rebellious teenagers!
I mean, there were options which resulted in “GAIN TRUST” but which made little sense to me. Any of them could have been ways of surreptitiously finding out information on the boy. But, then again, I am a paranoiac.
29/07/2010 at 21:03 somnolentsurfer says:
In the Keep Safe, Stay In video, rather than the game itself. Saw Cory Doctorow and Simon Parkin in the game.
I only lost trust once, I think for doubting his ability with a catapult. I got no change a couple of times though.
29/07/2010 at 21:05 Nallen says:
@EthZee – This is what I like about it, it’s the first game I can remember playing where there is some actual ambiguity about the way people will react to things you say to them (like you know, real people) rather that the option you pick clearly being positive, neutral or negative.
29/07/2010 at 21:14 EthZee says:
Yeah, I see what you mean, but it’s a bit annoying when something important is based on the results.
Which is an odd choice for me to take, as usually I prefer random-chance stuff to direct skill-based things.
Hm, I do hope there’s an option to be the traitor all along. That would be, as they say, a right larf.
29/07/2010 at 21:21 Kieron Gillen says:
I suspect it’s the sort of thing you’ll feel out by the end of the game, one way or another. Different characters are, by definition, different.
KG
29/07/2010 at 21:34 EthZee says:
Bah. I find interacting with people on a deep level in real life to be irritating as well, so I guess it’s not a problem with the game, per se.
29/07/2010 at 20:52 simonkaye says:
When are they going to let Kieron write an episode of Doctor Who? It’s only a matter of time, after all.
29/07/2010 at 20:59 brog says:
something i’m quite liking about this, over the average adventure game i’ve played (admittedly not so many) is that they haven’t felt the need to let the player go through all the content. your choices in conversation are real choices, the things you didn’t ask are left unasked.
29/07/2010 at 22:11 passingtramp says:
Enjoyable, but I simply can’t shoot that damned camera. Is there a particular way I should be using the slingshot?
29/07/2010 at 22:15 dalziel86 says:
SO MUCH LOADING SCREENS! SOOOO MUCH LOADING SCREENS!
Load screen. Start Game page. Load screen. Intro cutscene. Load screen. Talk to a guy. Load screen.
And each of these loading screens takes a minute or two. Can’t some of this stuff be streamed more efficiently?
29/07/2010 at 22:20 dalziel86 says:
I eventually just gave up after being stuck on a load screen for ages. I figure I had the tab with the game on it open for at least 10-15 minutes, and I got maybe 10 seconds of interactivity out of it.
TOO MUCH LOADING SCREENS.
29/07/2010 at 22:49 Markoff Chaney says:
Nice work, from what I’ve played so far. I do want to express gratitude for allowing non UK people with insufficient Citizen Points to enjoy this interactive experience. I’ve been awaiting playing this for a while. Even having half of it with subtitles is a joy, but I’m playing a beta, so I should just be grateful.
I also would like to echo the affect/effect sentiment. I could tell you didn’t write those bits. One of the loading phrases I keep turning around in my head and still can’t quite figure it out. It is pleasing in a sort of Dadaistic perverseness, but not quite right grammatically, nor fully sensical when prised into its constituent pieces. Or maybe I just don’t get that part of the game yet…
Regardless, I look forward to exploring more of this Brave New World brought to life by your wordsmithing. Thank You, Kieron and Littleloud, even if I wanted to shoot the guy in the suits.
30/07/2010 at 10:38 Will says:
I wish I had enough Citizen Points for the BBC iPlayer :-(
29/07/2010 at 23:14 ContingencyStan says:
I agree with those above who have pointed out that the affect/effect error is rather jarring.
In the interests of helping, the two statements affected by the issue are:
“From time to time a character may turn a question back on you. Choose your response carefully, as the effect [affect] will be greater than usual.”
“Pay close attention as you play through each character’s story. The questions you choose ask about their decisions afterwards will effect [affect] how much they trust you.”
The second statement also seems to be missing “to” between “choose” and “ask” in the second sentence.
On an unrelated note, I really like the design and content of the dystopian notice boards, posters, and screens. They evoke a strong sense of a modern-day first-world surveillance state.
29/07/2010 at 23:39 JohnnyMaverik says:
Done, it was interesting, I didn’t find it nearly as challenging at some of the people above seemed to, but I liked it. Only complaints would be the game glitching up on me a few times, specifically not letting me return from certain view points and forcing a re-load, and Nigel Harman’s over-acting… although the cane didn’t help much.
Looking forward to seeing what the Scottish dudes story is, although by the looks of things he’ll be pissed by the time we get that far.
30/07/2010 at 00:19 cypher says:
The control system can feel a little clunky at times and the loading screens are ridiculous…
But the settings really fun, and I love simple things like getting you to manoeuvre your phone to highlight the airtags or type in a persons name yourself. Its an old trick that really helps to up the immersion and yet seems to be used less and less these days!
30/07/2010 at 00:37 A-Scale says:
Tremendous voice acting, great writing, and I love the inclusion of future forward tech (e.g. the phone that permits you to see digital things).
The slingshot crap on the other hand is unacceptably bad. I can’t hit the camera because there is no sense of depth or reason behind it, and I quit the game in frustration there as such. Also, I thought I was meant to kill off the mass of 4 cameras you can click on, not the single measly camera off to the right in the darkness.
Regardless, a wonderful experience. Let the libertarian inside you be free, Kieron. Britain can be great again.
30/07/2010 at 00:52 phineas says:
I wonder if The Call of Grand Theft Duty XIII: Hyperdeath Electrofight is PEGI 18
30/07/2010 at 02:31 Sinomatic says:
I love the setting, the concept, the design.
I don’t love the dodgy english in the text, the missing text in some sections, the long loading times, the near-constant flashing between scenes, the glitchy bits. As its still beta however, I’m hoping these niggles can be improved upon.
I hates the slingshot bit. Hates it with a passion.
My biggest gripe by far is not having a clue of the tone of my question when I ask it. Since the main point of the game seems to culminate around discerning truth and gaining trust during the questioning phase, this seems just a tad daft.
Its one thing if they react in an unexpected/bad way to something I asked in a friendly/nice/innocent way. Its another thing if they react badly to something that I chose believing it to be complimentary and was, in fact, insulting from the outset.
During the boy’s story we got to hear *how* he was saying his dialogue before choosing an option (although I’m not sure how you chose made any difference to the reply in his case). Something similar for my character would have been really handy.
(…And yes, I know that would have a) required additional voice acting, and b) replaces the player’s own identity with that of one provided by the game….but still, I think its important enough to warrant the inclusion).
Regardless of my griping, I really enjoyed playing through it and I’m genuinely looking forward to the release of the other sections of the game next week.
30/07/2010 at 09:30 Kieron Gillen says:
We didn’t want to assume the lead was a “he”, which makes it a bit tricky there.
KG
30/07/2010 at 05:35 jpipesup says:
Love it Kieren,
Great concepts, Get story, Great game
Loading screens are a little long, and definitely needs a button after the loading screen to continue (maybe only show it if focus was lost during loading).
And bug wise – a couple of times I ended up with a blank screen and had to refresh, one computer I played it on failed to display the actual text for the airtags, it showed the title, but not the actual information for the tag, and of course the wonderful bug that lets you play through to the next episodes! Classic!
30/07/2010 at 05:50 vanarbulax says:
Overall all I quiet liked it, my thoughts/nitipicking/griping below: Also spoilers.
Firstly anything re-exploring FMV or dystopias is great in my book.
The graphic design is excellent, I love the look of the posters and such all over the place. The FMV also worked surprisingly well, apart from one or two sections (e.g. the arrest of the games dealer). I was also impressed with how slick and inventive it was at times. The acting was good enough and the writing flowed well (though I could see that pretty much my dialogue options lead to the same outcome, something I can’t really complain about based on a free game taking such a scope already). Overall all it was really well done.
As it in beta I hope these few things will be tweaked:
-Slingshot thing has got to go (sorry but it’s just awful)
-A small gripe but after the dialogue with the man to wash his windows the reply is on the lines of “I might comeback sometime” along with a couple saying “you serious?”. I took this as me as the player is not going to wash the windows and has to find another way, yet in fact I do have to. Basically it was a conflict between my character’s stated aims and what I had to do. A simple “I guess so” will suffice to both be in character and instruct the player.
-I believe after getting Call of Grand Theft Duty XIII: Hyperdeath Electrofight (Really?!) I said I would keep my crimes virtual but then it gave me the same dialogue options again as if I hadn’t picked it, I assume this is merely a bug.
-Is it possible to cut the second loading screen somewhere else? I don’t if the way it’s programmed makes it difficult but it’s just at the worst possible location. Either load the game outright when connecting or load say the first part of the flash back and then load for the rest in between different flashbacks. People need to play some of your game before they are going to sit through another loading screen.
Also complaining a bit about its message:
While I thought the world was established well enough I did want to hit the kid (was that the intention?) as his only motivation seems to be acquiring mindless entertainment. I hope the next installments have a chance to explore this but I haven’t actually got a sense of why the Sheperd party is evil. Like the description of the poster, you’ve got some good graphic design but this episode did seem be a bit ideologically absent (I realise it’s a hard format to explore difficult politics). I like the premise of people sacrificing rights for safety because of one incident, but I feel like I’m meant to dislike the Sheperd party because their message and presentation are “unhip” (to use a terrible world to explain it). I’m probably going to sound old and curmudgeonly (I’m not old, but probably curmudgeonly) but I wish that the “enemies of the state” weren’t cool looking people you’d like to meet in a bar while the “system” seems to be run by people you look at and think “stuffy old suit.” Basically the Sheperd party should have motivation also (no matter how twisted their outcome) so I can dislike their motivation and means not just that they appear to be no fun conservatives. This also ties in to the fact that it touches briefly in the trailer on personal information being public in a surveillance state but then encourages you to share it through facebook or twitter… Also if the bomb threat was actually a plant by the Sheperd party I will be severely disappointed.
Basically I thought it was great. If I write reams about what I didn’t like in something that means I thought it was good enough and had enough potential to stop and think about ;).
30/07/2010 at 09:36 Kieron Gillen says:
I’ll agree the boy is pretty cheerily mindless. We wanted to start somewhere pretty light, and just do a “this is what even the most unpolitical person would have to deal with” story.
KG
30/07/2010 at 06:34 Muzman says:
Creepiest ‘Staring Eyes’ yet! Never peering though a mail slot again
(will play the game at some point).
30/07/2010 at 06:57 john says:
Ah, the glory of our gun laws, thanks to all the terrified cretins in this country, if we ever did have to fight an oppressive government we’d do it with slingshots!
30/07/2010 at 07:43 HawkesOfSavileRow says:
Firstly, gratz on the game kieron. And splendid music, but I have to ask: whats with the AA and HA sponsors? This all seems rather dangerously sensational. Teaching kids to be wary of government is one thing, but too much of this creates an environment which we now live in. (seriously, who in their right minds wants to go into politics these days?) This a time when we should be encouraging gifted and driven (preferably pragmatic) young ‘uns to pursue a life in politics to weed out and replace the fishy, stagnant, ineffective limescale that inhabits parliament.
30/07/2010 at 07:48 HawkesOfSavileRow says:
I should point out that this is only a concern as this is touted as an ‘educational game’ Otherwise, i wouldn’t give a lambs bollocks in hell.
31/07/2010 at 00:32 TeeJay says:
*Noone* should be encouraged to pursue “a life in politics”. I’d like to see more people pursuing careers outside politics first and less party-network-robots. People who are passionate campaigners don’t need much enocouragement anyway, especially via ‘it’s a good/worthy thing to do’ media messages (as opposed to actual concrete help/training and actual concrete changes to the system allowing more access).
31/07/2010 at 10:37 HawkesOfSavileRow says:
No one is encouraged to pursue a life in politics. And that is exactly why our nations politics are in such a state. Running a country should not be a taboo job. Continuously preaching that such a career is to be despised means that those who enter governance will be of a sub-par quality (or insane) Its an extraordinarily short-sighted outlook that seems to define this century. Popularist governance (which has proliferated enormously in western country’s in recent years with the likes of blair and obama) is cancer on modern society. We have become used to knee-jerk reactions and endless popular promises. Why should government be your best friend? The vast majority of people are simply uninterested, politics has become a black/white, right/left homogenisation. Life is an infinite shade of grey. Anyone who claims they are diehard conservative or liberal is either deluded or extraordinarily narrow-minded .
Its late and im rambling so ill shut up now.
30/07/2010 at 07:59 brog says:
I detonated a nuclear weapon in Future Britain in my dream last night.
Dammit Keiron, you’re subconsciously influencing me into hallucinated terrorism! (actually it was the opening salvo in a noble fight against our robot overlords, but I’m sure there are those who would label it terrorism.)
30/07/2010 at 09:14 aerozol says:
Yes!
I’m majoring in Interactivity at uni, and the current project I’m working on is ‘Develop a ‘serious’ game, that deals with/ teaches about a current issue or skill’.
I’ve been working on it for a while, and it is really hard to put in ‘cool’ features without completely bogging down the usability and immersion. You guys nailed it, in a huge way thanks to the writing and acting, although the really really nice production doesn’t hurt at all.
Tons of nice little touches, I’ve been taking notes and screenshots the whole time. Some of the characters seem a little cliche, and like someone said, the Shephard Party seems a bit generic ‘big bad guy’, while what we should perhaps be more careful of is the less obvious evils… But a big bad wolf is necessary for the good story, without getting way to complicated, so I don’t think it was a bad decision.
So, basically, real fucking nice job!
30/07/2010 at 10:29 megalomania says:
That was cool. The Boy isn’t getting the info, I’m not going to stop him from playing CoGTD13.
30/07/2010 at 10:32 Robin says:
Stellar production values.
Far, far, far too much loading. You’ll be losing at least 50% of players from the first loading interval, let alone the ridiculous second one. (Although I guess a lot of players will be being forced to play it in school, ironically.)
Audio went out of sync towards the end and couldn’t see a subtitles option. Conversation system at least better than Oblivion’s. As with Bow Street Runner, the minigames are the weakest part, but at least they’re easy. LOL’d at the Sewer Shark-esque ‘chase’ scene.
There’s also the nagging issue of having to roleplay a character I disagree with and awkwardly funneled conversations.
Overall a pleasant way to spend 20 minutes. I learnt nothing!
30/07/2010 at 10:51 Kieron Gillen says:
The team are hopeful at getting the loading working better. It’s not actually that bad for me – though the three on the first short ones on the first screen is a little strange.
(Though they were 1 second for me)
KG
30/07/2010 at 11:00 BaronWR says:
Nicely produced and written, but I feel that a bit more interactivity would be nice… A few bugs were also evident: I didn’t get anything but xcvcv on a lot of the tags, and some of the subtitles didn’t match with the audio.
Also, what’s on the soundtrack? Some of that was stuff I want to hear outside a game…
30/07/2010 at 11:16 Kieron Gillen says:
The game features licensed music from The Arcade Fire, TV On The Radio and Crystal Castles. All the other music is done by the awesome Mike Reaney (http://www.jophus.com/).
KG
30/07/2010 at 11:17 Kieron Gillen says:
I’m told by the ever-loving Simon Parkin that a load of bugfixes have gone up, including the fixed loading screen dialogue. They also thank you guys for all the bug tips.
Regarding loading, while they are tweaking it, it’s worth mentioning that the whole game is 1.3 Gigs, which they suspect may be the biggest flash game ever.
EDIT: Actually, it’s “only” 773MB. Woo.
KG
30/07/2010 at 11:25 Alex says:
Only *just* started this.
First (interactive) scene: You are in a room with strangers. You should talk to someone.
Talk to girl: “Er, Hii (subtext: piss off)”
Talk to boy by computer: “Can you fix my computer for me?”
So far, so very, very realistic. :-(
30/07/2010 at 11:41 David Hayward says:
I really want to love this, both for its theme and its point-and-click-ness. The game and I have irreconcilable differences over the slingshot/camera sequence though.
30/07/2010 at 13:36 Huh says:
I play it for 20 minutes or so, liked it, quit, wanted to continue later… didn’t save. Great. :/
30/07/2010 at 14:03 Kieron Gillen says:
Any more details on that? Its meant to save between chapters.
KG
30/07/2010 at 13:55 nil says:
Is (as suggested by the icon) one of the interactive media laws broken by The Call of Grand Theft Duty XIII “No Interracial Threesomes?” Pretty sure Ubuntu got there first!
30/07/2010 at 13:59 Lambchops says:
Gets stuck on a loading screen for me I’m afraid. There’s a circle thing going round and round but no red bar like on the previous loading screens so that leads me to reckon it’s doing naff all.
Might try again in a few days when any bugs are ironed out.
30/07/2010 at 14:57 Hmm-Hmm. says:
Yeah, that first minigame is hugely annoying. After that, the first area was not really good at introducing me to the whole thing.. no idea what to do except pixel-hunt and click everything. That could’ve been improved a great deal.
30/07/2010 at 15:02 Devenger says:
All sorts of bugs, from the XCVXV showing instead of any of the AirTag text, to being stuck in a conversation with zero conversation options available (and no apparent way to leave the conversation), to things sometimes being clickable and sometimes not…
I like the look of the game, the writing seems solid, the premise is excellent… but it’s currently unplayably buggy. I’m going to wait it out and hope things are fixed for the full release. Otherwise, I’ll be very disappointed – such a shame to miss out on a game I really want to play (partially because I think it’s great that C4 have a budget for this sort of thing).
30/07/2010 at 16:19 Diogo Ribeiro says:
As for the loss of save states – does the game save data on their servers or on our PCs? It might just be that, what caused me – and is causing others – to lose save states is probably an option like deleting history, cookies and whatnot when you close the browser.
If it’s saved on the players’ end of things, that might be the problem. If not…
30/07/2010 at 16:20 Diogo Ribeiro says:
Fake edit: to clarify, I have Firefox and have that option on at all times, so it wipes everything when I close the browser.
30/07/2010 at 16:26 Huh says:
Well, what’s considered a chapter? I quit after playing three screens or so of the first character’s flashback.
Got the current Flash version, Safari 5, OSX.
30/07/2010 at 22:24 Hmm-Hmm. says:
As far as I can tell a chapter end with a round of questions after a scene. So, you go to the boy, ask questions, mini game, scene, back to the safe house, questions and THEN it saves when you go to the new scene.
30/07/2010 at 16:29 DMcCool says:
That was rather fun. I appreciated the writing most of all, reminded me a little of the sort of dialogue back in Vampire Bloodlines (high praise this is) where characters might be suspecious of the PC and the dialogue options available steer clear of the Bioware good/bad/neutral nonsense. The UI was rather obstrussive, noisey and slow, which brought the pace of the game down a lot, but overal there were enough little touches and promise of more intrigue to keep me going.
My favourite thing was how it was set in Brighton. Like me :D. Seriously though, anywhere else that games “dealer” would’ve been pantomine and out of place. Here he’d fit in as the manager of the local GAME store. Velvet included.
30/07/2010 at 20:56 Headless Monkey Boy says:
Have to say i’m loving what i’ve seen so far. Loading times arn’t bothering me too much so long as i’m not conantly having to restart.
I’ve not seen this mentioned (so it could just be me) but some of the bonus screens lock you in… as in the return button at the top left doesnt work means having to refresh and start up again from the begining.
Also a full screen button might be nice if possible as is quite small at 1680*1050.
Looking forwards to seeing the end product.
31/07/2010 at 01:35 Flimgoblin says:
Give more + Mark Thomas = yay!
31/07/2010 at 04:09 sinister agent says:
I don’t think my (lack of) video card can handle this, sadly, so it’ll have to wait until I move. I did spot Cory Doctorow on the Gubmint Crimm List, though. Nice attention to detail there, very promising.
I did very badly at being dropped into the middle of the shooty game, though. Shooting the people with big green ticks over them rather than big red crosses made more immediate sense to my brain than the other way round. I don’t get the impression it actually matters though, so.
31/07/2010 at 10:38 Pie says:
Love the part where Call of Grand Theft Duty is from China.
China actually has a video game censorship like the one in game (e.g. Dragon Rising is banned).
31/07/2010 at 12:08 cowthief skank says:
Really liked it, although the slingshot bit was so very annoying. But the feel of the thing was really interesting.
01/08/2010 at 23:16 Ilyich says:
So far, so good! Really nice production values, clever writing and design, great music (didn’t notice Arcade Fire, but TV on the Radio and Crystal Castles were spot-on). The world feels surprisingly like Phonogram, which is good, and is well established even in the first ‘chapter’. Will be looking forward to the next one. Well done, thanks!
03/08/2010 at 06:37 GreenReaper says:
Alas, even being a citizen isn’t enough if you live overseas!
07/08/2010 at 18:35 Is it broken ? says:
Is the game OK right now ? I’m in the first scene of Aisha’s story, in the flat. There are some photos on the bookcase to get a bonus, and an air tag with some cryptic Roman numerals on. The computer is very old according to it’s info.
And that’s it ? Ummm … ?
07/08/2010 at 19:06 Is it broken, no, just poorly arranged says:
Oh, I see, you have to click on things in the right order, and things that didn’t do anything before do now. Gah – suitcases is an example – why can’t these be active all along ?
Anyway, game just goes to a blank black screen when she walks out the door anyway. And stays there. Says ‘Done’ at the bottom. Sigh. Reload page, and have to do the whole room again.
Done the room twice now. Getting bored.
11/08/2010 at 22:22 satehen says:
Whjat exactly do you do in Aishas’ room?
10/08/2010 at 00:45 Kitten says:
Done that level four times now. Still leaves me on a blank black screen. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one. :/
11/08/2010 at 09:03 Sinomatic says:
Um……is it meant to be that you can only see one ending (and that if you want to see another one you’d have to play the *whole* thing again)?
As soon as I saw the ending that I had chosen, I went to go back to load the last save….and it was empty
*sad face*
11/08/2010 at 23:31 satehen says:
I’m stuck in Aisha’s flat. I have found the bonus with the book. I’ve looked at the pictures and the computer. Nothing is happening! I can’t find a single answer on the web and no one I know has played it. Please someone save my sanity! What do I do in Aisha’s flat?
13/08/2010 at 19:00 Denise says:
OK loved it but stuck on the slingshot. Can’t find a way to tell what I am doing wrong or get past it so I’m giving up. It’s totally boring, all luck and no skill, no feedback on how to improve, and no guarantee that I will ever get past it. So I guess I’m done.
14/08/2010 at 16:53 jess says:
i am on the part after the fast food place. clicked on the door down the alley with no luck. help please?
14/08/2010 at 18:22 jess says:
scrap that other post. i am not on aisha’s scene down the alley when she is trying to take the ids back. there is nothing to click!! please help
14/08/2010 at 20:15 liam says:
I’m attempting to make coffee, how the hell do you pass this?
16/08/2010 at 18:35 Jess says:
I am also attempting to make coffee.
This must be the hardest attempt at coffee making ever.
27/08/2010 at 11:15 rubyredslippers says:
Can’t get this game to load! It is doing my head in. Been trying for days now!