Comments on: TRAUMA Preview

By: eric

eric — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:00:25 +0000

incredible trailer!

By: Catherine

Catherine — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:04:06 +0000

Hi must say I love the look of Trauma, and as I’ve noticed a few people mention, they second I saw how movement works I immediately thought photosynth!

I look forward to giving it a play when it’s available, as it looks very interesting for the structure of a game

By: Krystian Majewski

Krystian Majewski — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:40:37 +0000

@Finn Sharp observations. Yes, I enjoy the Cing games a lot. I believe they were subconsciously an inspiration for TRAUMA.

You analysis of the gameplay is spot-on. I give away a lot. I don’t want people to get stuck because of some silly details.

@KIAaze: Oh! Skepsis! Very good! I understand your concerns. I was also not happy with the gesture recognition systems in Darwinia. They better in Black & White, but only marginally. Trauma is different however. Unlike in Darwinia or Black & White, the gestures don’t need to be made too frequently, they don’t need to be timed and failure to perform them does not penalize you in any way. Also, they are mostly much simpler. I believe you will find that because of the mentioned differences, the implementations come out very differently. I afraid there will be no alternative input methods. The concept pretty much hinges on it. It’s not a traditional point & click in that sense either.

By: KIAaze

KIAaze — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:07:22 +0000

Mmh, mouse gestures… :/
My experience with mouse gestures in Darwinia is not very good (haven’t finished it yet btw).
I often have to try several times to get stuff like air raids or missiles. (Ok, I admit I mostly played it while on a train with an old laptop so there was a little bit of lag between mouse movement and drawing, as well as some shaking of the table.)

At least, the gestures in this game seem relatively simple.
Still, I hope there will be an alternative.

Gestures can be nice (I enjoyed Firefox/Opera mouse gestures for a while), but they shouldn’t be mandatory.
A point-and-click adventure game is about solving logic puzzles, following a story for me, not about drawing with a mouse.

By: Finn Haverkamp

Finn Haverkamp — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:12:01 +0000

Hey, very interesting game. I too really like the atmosphere and emotional quality the game seems to exude. Reminds me of Another Code (Trace Memory), in a good way, of course. I’m looking forward to playing it, and I congratulate you on completing a game of your own. No easy task. I noticed something I think is pretty interesting at the 4:20 point in your video. The narrator says that she “needs to find a sphere without that sign.” It’s interesting to me because you (presumably intentionally) cut out one step in the puzzle process. The traditional puzzle design would normally involve Step 1. Figure out what you need to do. and Step 2. Do it. You cut out the first step by explicitly telling players what they need to do (find the sign), rather than either assume it was obvious or force them to discover what it is they needed to do. Personally, I’m a fan of this decision. So many puzzle games, like Myst and Riven, are basically impossible because you have no clue what you’re supposed to be doing. Your game tells players what to do, removing the opportunity for frustration, while still leaving them with the task of finding the solution. Additionally, this seems to fit in snugly with TRAUMA’s design, which seems to me to be a hunting, finding, or seeking game. Great job and best of luck.

By: Ben Stevens

Ben Stevens — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:52:10 +0000

I’m blown away by this! Excellent concept & execution, Krystian… my congratulations.
It reminds me very much of the film Memento but with a sinister Resident Evil style edge… can’t wait to play it. Best of luck with the launch & competition entry.

By: Krystian Majewski

Krystian Majewski — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:47:26 +0000

Wow, I'm really overwhelmed by the Feedback. Even though I'm just one of over 300. Thank you, it really helps to keep up the motivation! ^_^

By: Travis Megill

Travis Megill — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:35:29 +0000

Really excited to play this, Krystian. The trailer is wonderful.

By: Almost

Almost — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:35:42 +0000

Wow, very nice style and presentation. Everything seems to fit together perfectly, sounds and visuals have a great feel to them. Looking forward to release.

By: axcho

axcho — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:40:22 +0000

So this is what happened to Illucinated!

The game looks great – I really like the intriguing sense of space, constructed of photographs, and I’m looking forward to trying it out.