I didn´t try it until today (monday) and I was happily surprised.
I really liked it alot:)
The graphics were crisp and clear, the music was nice in the background and the text was easy to read. I still haven´t died;) but save rather frequently. I´m drawn into the story and wan´t to know more.
Thank you for a very good game!

..................Moderator comment..................

Thank you for your feedback.

Hi, it's over 24 hours later, but I still wanted to comment so the developers could have some input (isn't that what drives GiveAwayoftheDay?)... I Love this game. It is old-school, and maybe that's why I like it so much... sorta reminds me of my days reading comic books, choose-your-own-adventure books, and playing (some kinds of) text-based computer games from the 80's in my early childhood.

I've been hoping for games to be more like that... and this game allows you to go at your own pace, pause at any moment, etc. Here's some positive suggestions:

Auto-save at the start of each new day (or some-such)... over-write the previous day with the auto-save, and forbid the user to personally over-write the auto-save value... then label the auto-saved slot (aligned to the start of the new day) uniquely. [This can run into problems when several "forks" want to go their own way, and wind up starting the same new day (such as the 2nd day) -- The player can set a setting to skip later entries, over-write previous entries, create a new entry (if available), etc. Personally, this isn't such a big deal for me... provided you listen to my further suggestions.

It wasn't so obvious to me how to bring up the save/load screen (it seems I have to press F1 followed by Esc key)... and when I do trigger it, it comes up somewhat slowly... I then go to load a game, and it's all to easy to instead save and over-write a value... it would be better to be able to right-click on a value and choose load/save from the menu (or have two toggle boxes adjacent to each save/load slot). That would make saving/loading easier, and I would do it more often, and wouldn't worry so much about "instant death". Though the auto-save function at the start of each day (or LEVEL) seems useful too.

Now, as to game-play. I like the fact that it's like choose-your-own-adventure (CYOA) books, but has the added element of skill... which is something the books didn't incorporate. The skill of solving word-puzzles is not my favorite type of choice, but it's ok.

The letter boxes (inside the word-solve section) need to be brighter (greater contrast) relative to the rest of the screen... as the font is completely invisible in them with my typical monitor settings (causing me to ramp up the brightness/contrast levels, and straining my sensitive eyes).

Also, the ability to type letters in the word-solve section (rather than mouse click) is a nice function.

Some sections (like on the train... such as forcing me to open the window, then allowing two options of "it smells" or "it's hot"... offer no significant clues, or such... and can be a bit time consuming especially on replay.

It would be cool to have an option to SKIP story-line frames of the game all the way to the next option to make a choice (that would significantly speed the game up on replay... if you didn't save or such). Maybe the F12 key, or ctrl+space?

Lastly, the girl looks a little bit old in relation to the intro where I get the feeling she should only be 14 + 3 or 4 years (17 years) old?

But that being said, artisticly, it was nice to see the foggy shower scene, and some frames are well drawn, whether of this person or that, but some of course are less well drawn.



.....................Moderator Comment.....................

Thank you for your excellent feedback

I've never played a text game before and I am enjoying this one very much. I especially like reading people's minds because I like 'hangman' and work type games.

I click through the dialouge quickly after reading it. I did not save for awhile and died in the game. I started over from my last save and I got a very different path that made it interesting and not tedious to have to redo my previous investigating. But I'll be careful to save more often anyway, as noted above in the review.

I like the comic book look of this but I'm not driven by graphics in a game as much as the style and type of gameplay. If you love realistic, 3D environments, then this is probably not for you. For those who want a different kind of adventure, then this is enjoyable.


.....................Moderator Comment.....................

Thank you for your feedback

Well, it is different! Just download the game and activated on Vista x 32 without problem.
On the first try, I didn't get killed, but train was brown up.
I guess it takes little time to get used to the game.

Never mind the help for previous post. I don't know how but I managed to install it. Played it and finished it in less then half an hour??? Is that normal? I've never encountered such a game. Maybe I missed something so I'll try again tomorrow.

Thanks GGOTD & Winter Wolves Computer Games for this freebie. Also, thanks WR for your review.

Have a great weekend everyone :-)

There are a wide variety of game genres and this is one that is not developed very often--the advancement of computers and gaming systems has enabled the quality of real-time animation to take giant leaps over the last decade. However, building games like that takes significant effort and teams of programmers, resulting in high up-front cost. While they are quite engaging, it's refreshing to play something different on occasion and this type of game satisfies that perfectly! I've played it three times now and haven't survived yet, but I'm drawn into the story line. I like the fact that your decisions dictate what happens and you need to be a good detective and follow instincts to survive--there's no "respawn" in 10 seconds to try again (although you can save and load your place in the game).

This game will run on slower computers just fine and doesn't require a fast video card and headphone. In other words, I could play this on a tablet computer taking public transportation!

I applaud the developers of this game for their creativity, the quality of the type of game they produced, the simplicity (I didn't have to memorize 15 hot-keys to move, aim, jump, crouch, switch weapons, etc.), and for the guts to put something out there like this knowing the high expectation of hard-core gamers.

Hi, again! No, the forum is not by invite only. We do not have a large group, really, probably about 70 or so people who post regularly and a raft of lurkers, but we have some great discussions, and nothing is off the table. We also have some developers who visit regularly, and some we do alpha and beta testing for. It's a good group, friendly, knowledgeable, and no backstabbing. Trolls are quickly dispatched, LOL.

So come on over to the Diving Bell Pub, hoist a pint or two, and join the discussions! :)

LOL, we even have a GGOTD thread where the games are posted every weekend.

http://divingbellpub.ipbhost.com/

There is a website, too, divingbellpub.com with a link to the forums, but the site is long overdue for an overhaul, and will be offline in the near future for a bit. The forums are separately hosted, and there will be no interruptions there.

Hope to see you soon!


...................Moderator Comment...............

Thanks phatkat, I will certainly be visiting soon. Sorry this got moderated late. I overslept this morning. Spent too much time playing Dead Island online with a good friend.

This game is different, in two ways:
1. It's text heavy and probably low on action
2. It uses an open source game engine

I'll focus on #2. The game uses an engine named Ren'Py, which specializes in visual novels. It's a Python based engine, and will run on all three common platforms, plus Android. There are a whole bunch of files in the folder, and most of them are engine files. The actual game data is stored under the game folder. The game is probably not one you'd really mod, but one of the goals is to extract the game data from the archive, and maybe decompile the scripts to see if there's anything interesting.

So... Two file types of interest:
data.rpa: Ren'Py archive format. Uncompressed, but with encrypted index table. Shouldn't be too hard to unarchive.
*.rpyc: Compiled, compressed Ren'Py scripts. The scripts are Zlib compressed, and after decompressing, reveals script bytecode. Due to some decisions by the Ren'Py community, it's easier to decompile the script than before, as the Python script sections are stored as plaintext instead of bytecode. If you delete bytecode.rpb, it'll take 30 seconds to regenerate.

If you want to play on a non-Windows platform: Install the game to a Windows computer, and pull out the files under the "game" directory. Then install the demo version of the game on the platform of your choice, empty out the "game" directory under the program folder, and replace it with the ones from today's Giveaway.

(I spend more time trying to mod a game than actually playing it. Maybe I'm missing out the fun of this game, but I'd rather not read paragraphs and play hangman. It'd be better if each scene was animated and if there was voice-acting.)

P. S. Remember Ghost in the Sheet? That was a pretty good game.


...................Moderator Game.................

Hi GMMan, yes I do remember Ghost in the Sheet. Still got the game. Yes I agree, some animation would have improved this game a lot.

Thaks for your feedback. :lol:

Add more player movement and spread the actions out more, but not too much (add rooms or different areas)

So far I find the game kind of fun - reading through all the text is like reading a mini-book, with some puzzles along the way. A great alternative to Match-3 and shoot-em'-ups (I enjoy those too).

I guess I am a contrarian, but I am really enjoying it. I'm pretty burned out with the endless SOS from Big Fish, too. The themes have been done to death, and some good developers have been prostituted by the drivel BFG expects them to crank out. (ERS being a good example.)

I like the comic book style - and after all, it IS an interactive graphic novel. I do think the speech balloons would have added to the feel, though. I'm an old adventure gamer, and for me, the story is the most important part of the game. The extensive text doesn't bother me, and though I prefer games where you cannot die, I've learned to save often.

This is kind of intuitive to play so far, and I actually like the "hangman" game mind reading. Haven't gotten to any STD puzzles, and I don't like them, so not looking forward to that. Please tell me there aren't any sparkles or hidden objects... ;o)

I run a games forum for "serious" casual gamers (though we have core gamers, too). We talk a lot about the direction of the gaming industry, and a lot of us are not happy with the seeming dead end that we are on. And a year or so back, a German gaming magazine had an article on that very topic.

I don't have good reflexes, so I don't play a lot of shooters or platformers, but I find myself drawn to physics based puzzle games, strategy games (totally addicted to Tribloos right now, LOL.), and my old standby marble poppers.

I'd invite you all to drop in for a pint and games discussion, but not sure if it's allowed to post links to personal sites. If it is, I'll post the link later.


...................Moderator Comment...............

Please do post a link. I’d be very interested in visiting and maybe joining the forums. 9Unless it's by invite only. I’d call myself a fairly serious gamer with thousands of games and too many hours to play them. I spend several hours a day playing games, sometimes longer. I tend to focus on a few games and revisit others for a break. I love anything to do with games. I'm considering going one of those course that has been ratified by a couple of British university either in Game Development or graphics; though not sure which to pursue yet. I have some good ideas for games (well games I’d like to see), some based on a mash of films, life experiences and interests and others ideas taken from various games that I've played over the last 30 years, then melded together to create something a little different. :lol:

I didn't want to bias my own comments above so I made them without reading other people's comments.

Now that I've read what other people have to say I'd like to make two additions:

1. A readme file is no way to give game play instructions. Readme files should be reserved for installation instructions and version logs only. Put the play instructions in the game, in a help or in the settings.

2. I don't think text based investigative games are going to attract many pre-teens, so why not make the plot and characters a bit more mature.

Forget the G rating and go for PG-16 is my advise. (Make it a romantic adventure and you'll have the market to yourself.)

3. I didn't mind the sudden death, I'm used to that sort of thing from when I played Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider II, back when I had more time for games.


....................Moderator comment....................

Thank you very much for more useful feed back

I gave Vera Blanc -- Full Moon a thumbs up. This is a good game for people like me, middle aged and doesn't play time consuming games (the sort of person most game creators ignore despite our fat wallets).

It has a good lead character. Playing games I'm one of those people who sees himself/herself as the lead character, so a good looking intelligent likeable lead character is important.

Issues:

1. Vera disarms the bomb, but according to the news the bomb exploded. This needs explanation; how is that possible?

2. The "find the difference" puzzles were a bit too easy.

3. On Day 3 Vera's hips are too wide.

4. There were a couple of grammar mistakes towards the end (last 2 days). Unfortunately I passed the pages too quickly and didn't write them down.

5. I had to adjust my video card settings to make the image full screen but with the correct aspect ration on my wide-screen monitor. Not every occasional game player knows how to do this so the game should have an option setting for it. (The "window" setting gave an image way too small.)

Overall I enjoyed it. Would I pay money for it? It was a little short, the graphics could have been a little higher quality, but quite possibly.


....................Moderator comment....................

Thank you very much for your feed back

This game is boring an there isn´t much to do in the story. You read a lot of text and is able to save the game at any time. That take away the "fun" of the game ! $14.68 ? Nope @3 is a better price !

I am looking for the MAC OSX installation part as described in the System Requirements. Where can I find it?


........................Moderator comment..............

Sorry, I've never owned a Mac so don't know what you are looking for. The giveaway dual activation and set up module may install to either?

I used to play games of this general type and it brought back pleasant memories. The instant death referred to above was somewhat off putting but I will probably come back to the game somewhat later. Based on limited play the game does not seem to have much replay value and IMHO is definitely not worth the asking price.

I enjoy adventure games, including text-based ones and this one sounded interesting enough to at least try out.

I haven't progressed far into the game (Prologue, just arrived at the hotel), but here're a few points I'd like to add to what Stephen (currently #15) said (completely agree with him on all points).

When you're asked to make a choice, after you make it and it plays out, you should be given the rest of the choices again or at least the ones you'd logically make, especially after a failed attempt at something. For example, you're given the choices to read someone's mind or talk to that person. If you pick to read their mind and fail, you'd logically try to get some info/ clues by talking to them. But the game seems to lock you into a certain direction, maybe because, in the end, the outcome's the same regardless of your choices? Of course, it could just be me failing to get them back.




I also found the play-mode of mind-reading to be very boring and lacking any element/ sense of interaction - as someone else said, like Wheel Of Fortune but without the option to buy any letters.

I will play it to the end to satisfy my curiosity though its lay-out (again, see Stephen's comment) makes it less engaging than it could have been.

I don't want to sound too critical (after all, it's no easy task to make a game), but from what I've seen so far, the normal price is too high for what you get (BTW, choosing to buy it from the developer's site, it costs $8.50 and not $14.68).

Regards,
Kate


........................Moderator Comment...................

Thank you for your feedback Kate

Thanks for today's game. I played it for a while and I like it, although I was blown up a few times at first. I did not know how to save the game, but reading the instructions again, this time more carefully, I managed to do so and that saves a lot of clicking time to go through the game again, once you are dead. I really like the mini letter games and guessing what's on people's minds. Have not finished the game yet, but up till now I have enjoyed it. An improvement might be to have spoken text as well. That would make it more lively.

........................Moderator Comment...................

Thank you for your feedback

FYI - You can use your mouse wheel to scroll back to previous text and to retry failed mind-reading attempts. Also, right-click to bring up the menu.



........................Moderator Comment...................

Thank you for your feedback

Thanks for offer and excellent reviews/comments. Pass for me based on comments plus look-feel-style to this one. Does suggest a change (tho backward) from the find hidden object story line genre that has gotten way old. Reaaly time for gamemakers to find a whole fresh new genre of game play. Can't be we've come to end of line and now just expect endless variations on existing forms?
Rule one per today's comments would be - Don't bore....
I realize the inherent difficulties with creativity itself and the varying responses by audience. Just sensing a general fatique with what seems to be dog chasing tail gaming lately. Like with movies offering King Kong 15 or rehashed Small Hit Film 3D. Now gamers face Son or Daughter of Text Adventure 5000. Come on people!

....................Moderator comment................

Got to agree with you on that. It's the main reason I cancelled my Big Fish Game account because of the incessant HOG drivel that was being released (though some are excellent, especially when mixed with other genres). Generally though it's gone on for too long. It was a cash cow, now the gaming community are starting to get fed up. Still there's a thriving indie sector that are creating some superb games. Steam and Direct 2 Drive have a large selection of great indie games now. They have just started stocking some of those Japanese side scrolling shooters that are really good. The graphics are fresh with a retro feel, but modern as well and with great action. (Check out GundeadliGne, Gundemonium Recollection and Hitogata Happa, all three games are only £3.99/approx $5 each). I'm hoping that they will be populqar enough for Steam to get more of them as so far i'm having a ball with all three. (They sort of take me back to my university days when I spent my spare cash in 'The Cave', where those large arcade game consoles used to reside. I loved the side scrolling and bottom to top shooters. These remind me of those games, but with better graphics. Oddly when we were in disney last year there was this large four or five story building that was crammed from top to bottom with arcade games from the latest games to ancient games from the 1980's that looked like they had been restored. I actually enjoyed myself playing those older games that the modern ones. :)

@Whiterabbit-uk

Regarding uninstall:
There's an uninstaller in Winter Wolves>Vera Blanc folder that's created in Start>Programs during installation. But, your advice to just delete the game folder still stands as there're no registry entries and "delete" is what the uninstaller practically does (checked with RevoUninstaller).
You also get a desktop shortcut, which the uninstaller removes (if you go by delete, it will be left behind).

Haven't played yet.

Regards,
Kate


...................Moderator comment.............

Thanks Kate, too be honest I was being lazy this morning. I really did forget what had and had,'t been installed, from when i installed it a few days ago. I lost interest in the game very quick, and didn't enjoy writing a review, which is why it was so short. :lol:

I'm a bit older than most of the people here (except #10), so I remember text adventures fondly. I even played the original "Adventure" on my college's mainframe! I have all of the Infocom games, all of the Scott Adams adventures and a library of the best from the old Usenet groups.

Sadly, today's offering does not measure up. Like #19, I am opposed to the "sudden death" choices. Additionally, the quality of the puzzles is minimal, more akin to the old "Choose Your Adventure" books than true text adventuring. I suspect that the "Hangman" mini-games were added to cater to the short attention span of many of today's gamers. :>)

On the positive side, it installed cleanly on both my Vista-64 system and my newer Win7 box and the comic-book graphics are nice.

Bob

I love to read and this game fits right in with that!! Played it and liked it! Thanks GameGiveAway!!

Well, unlike whiterabbit, I happen to enjoy text-based adventures such as this, and playing through this game brought back many happy memories of reading through the Choose Your Own Adventure books (http://www.cyoa.com/) as a child -- and to banditrider, "instant death" was always a possibility in these old adventures and was instrumental in adding a bit of tension to the narrative.

The game installed and ran smoothly on my Win7 64-bit system. It did provide a desktop icon.

I managed to play through the entire adventure in about 35 minutes, but I am also a very fast reader, so it will probably take more time for others.

The story is about average for an adventure of this type. The plot and complexity of the puzzles seem to be geared for the pre-teen (8- to 12-year-old) crowd, although there are not particular reasons older kids and adults cannot enjoy them as well. As Alison pointed out, the presentation will likely lose the very audience at which the game seem to be targeted, but I feel that has more to do with how the text is provided rather than simply the amount of it.

I would suggest that the game developers run down to their local comic book shop and see how they are laid out. Moving the text out of the lower-third-style box and into speech bubbles that are placed at different locations on the screen pointed at the speaking characters would help relieve some of the tedium of reading. Further, using thought bubbles in contrast to speech bubbles would help differentiate what characters are thinking versus what they are saying out loud, which is an important
distinction given that the entire plot revolves around Vera's "cooking skills."

I would also recommend looking at some of the recent motion comics that have been published, especially the Watchmen (http://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Complete-Motion-BD-Live-Blu-ray/dp/B001QFYLKS) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 (http://www.amazon.com/Buffy-Vampire-Slayer-Two-Disc-Blu-ray/dp/B003WJRW9I) for ideas on how to lay out dynamic screens and integrating implied motion, both of which would make the "reading" experience far more pleasant. Further, like those motion comics, a good narrator and/or voice cast would help by letting players listen to the text, rather than having to read it (there is an option for Voice Volume in the Preferences menu, so I presume that was the developers' original intent; I wish they'd gone through with it).

Dealing specifically with the script, I would again point the developers to their local comic shop. Text in comic books, particularly speech, has a certain flow and rhythm that has developed to accommodate the fact that it must be delivered in short bursts, within the space of a few speech bubbles. As the text in the game is delivered in the same method, the script writer would do well to imitate that style of writing. Further, there were a *lot* of spelling and grammar errors in the text. I understand that the developers may not be native English speakers, but such errors will be far more jolting to players of a text-based game than those of a shooter or platformer. I would recommend hiring an editor who is fluent in English to proof the text. Finally, there were a number of logical errors in the plot flow. I don't want to give away any spoilers but, as an example, after successfully completing a particular timed minigame on the train, later text assumed I had either failed or never attempted it. There were also times when certain events were referenced by characters before they occurred in-game.

Regarding gameplay, the controls are mostly intuitive, but there are a couple of places where I feel there is room for improvement. First, while there is a readme.html file included in the game folder, it would be nice if those controls were referenced in-game. Specifically, I would have liked to know that the tab and ctrl keys can be used to enable text-skipping when having to replay scenes after receiving a "sudden death." More, I would have placed a "skip" button directly on the main screen for those who prefer using the mouse alone (given the alternative is to right-click to bring up the main menu, then clicking "Preferences" and finally "Begin Skipping."

I would also allow access to notebook from the map screen so that players could check over clues while trying to decide where to go next, rather than forcing them to enter a random location just to read their notes. Lastly, instructions for mini-games don't need to be repeated every time you play a game of that type (here I am referencing the "spot the differences" minigame, where the text reminds you each time not to click randomly and that you will fail after making three errors). That is simply more screen clicking require for no good purpose.

I think that this could potentially be a solid introduction to a larger series of mysteries starring our heroine, but that the areas above must be addressed before proceeding.

As a final note, this style of game would likely feel more at home on a tablet device like iPad, Nook Color, or Kindle Fire rather than as a desktop game. I would strongly urge the developer to push production in that direction.


....................moderator comment...............


Thank you for the excellent feedback Stephen.

Not bad once you get into it. I wonder if much of the criticism is symptomatic of the low-attention-span society that we live in now. Yes, there's a lot of reading, its a bit rough around the edges and dated, but I actually quite enjoy playing it, although like Banditrider, I neglected to save and will have to start from the beginning again as I got eaten by a warewolf. I'll definitely give it another go though, thanks Stephen.

................Moderator comment................

No I don't think it's that; I reckon it's the sparce nature of the game play. Read, make a few decisions based on what you've read, solve a few very simple missing word puzzles then it's over. Most want something with a bit of variety and action. That's the main reason many don't like this IMO. Then again you may be right. Though from my point of view I play loads of games that require you to read quite a lot of dialogue, but prefer something with action, complicated puzzles and gorgeous graphics. :lol:

In addition to what number six has to say if you go to the developers website and watch the video preview for this game there may be some images that are not appropriate for the younger gamer (Ex panty shot) but then again what hasn't a kid seen these days. This game could have easily fit the Mega CD Platform back in the day, but its 2011 now and may expect higher standard games, it seems to be more focused on making users remember a number sequence then anything else. If two people put effort into this game one can cheat by writing down the numbers and then reading them back off to the other player to accomplish their goal. It's too easy of a game that you won't get your moneys worth for $19.99, especially with many other quality mystery / hidden object games out there of higher quality from other developers, often at half the price.


....................Moderator Comment..............

Thank you for the feedback Jason, much appreciated.

Quite frankly I am positive that this would be real boring so I am not even going to bother to download although I am disabled and do wait for the weekend games. Thank you anyway but I'll wait until tomorrow.Have a wonderful life everyone!

Whiterabbit,

Can you recommend any games today, other than the one above?

....................Moderatorcomment..................



Chazzo has posted some excellent free games over in the forums over the last few weeks. If you haven’t already, check through the games discussion forums. We've been posing free games every week for over three years now and there are loads of fantastic games (almost 2000). There’s a games synopsis, though it's not been updated in a long time, so any game that's been posted this year will be found in the game discussion forums.

There's also some great deals over on Steam or one of the other digital download services such as Direct 2 Drive and Impulse. you can check them all out via the following link:

http://didimatic.com/dd/en/onsale/

You'll find loads of games for 50% to 75% off. Steam have the three last Lara Croft Adventures on sale for 66% off, plus the Warhammer: Dawn of War series for 50% off and all the Max Pane games for 75% off. Some of these games are less than $5.

On the other hand if you are only looking for free good quality games, apart from the ones you can find in the free games project you'll find loads over at MyPlayCity. They have had a lot of premium arcade games added to their catalogue recently including several Alawar games such as Action Ball 2 and Hyperballoid 2 , two very good arkanoid games.


Dragonlair has posted a list of all of the games that are available at MyPlayCity via the following link. you'll be amazed at how many there are (over 400 commercial arcade games, that MyPlaycity are able to giveaway for free.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/10476

I was quite enjoying the game and had played for about 30 minutes, and then the "instant death syndrome" reared its ugly head, requiring me to restart the game. Partially my fault because I hadn't saved the game, but instant death should never be part of an adventure game, in my not so humble opinion. I've been playing adventure games for more than 30 years and this subject comes up time and again on forums, etc. I don't know anyone who thinks the instant death thing is "a good idea." However, I was enjoying the game enough that I will start again, but I would think if it happens again in a different place, it'll be time to uninstall.

.......................Moderator comment........................

Thank you for your feedback

How does one install this on Mac OS X 10.4+? The installer is an .exe which only runs on Windows.

Downloaded and installed perfectly.
I find this game to be boring and absolutely tedious
between the " guess the thought" mini-game.

The mind reading is like playing the USA game show " Wheel of fortune".
however plowing through the tedium of the text scenes is far too
boring for my tastes.

Thanks anyway, but I have to give this software
a thumbs down because of the 30 year old approach to
delivering text/cartoon frames.

....................Moderator comment..................

Thank you for the feedback

Not very interresting...I prefer to read a book instead...thanks

I enjoyed the game but found it wasn't always intuitive as to which selection you should make. The game is old fashioned, and i think my son would like it, however it is very text heavy ans as such rules out many of the younger (8-12) gamers that might otherwise play. The violence is minimal compared to much of what they already play but the amount of reading would cause some issues.

Best of luck with future games.


....................Moderator comment..................

Thank you for the feedback. All of their games look retro. After checking through ther games library I found a couple that look quite interesting.

The game was not very enjoyable. There is way too much dialogue.

Just a note for Whiterabbit -- it DOES create a shortcut on the desktop. The installer was retro too -- it's not often these days installers take over the entire screen! -- but it worked okay. No comment on the game yet, but I'll come back if I have anything to add to what's already been said...


........................Moderator comment...................

Thanks Tim, I really couldn't remember. I suppose I could have reinstalled the game, but didn't think to do that this morning (I'm always dog tired whenI get up to post the reviews (usually because I'll have stayed up till 3-4am finishing off the review or having played some absorbing game all night. lol)

Thanks, Very nice and special game !

Well this isn't some kind of action game. It's more like a questgame old style with cartoonlike scenes (stills). It has all to do with texts and that is a bit oldfashioned I think.

Vera gets a braintumor, recovers with the ability to read minds, but feels this to be a burdon unless she can do something usefull with it. She teams up with a private detective and has to solve werewulf murders somewhere in Germany.

While playing the game you have to read minds being Vera and solve the case.
Reading minds is like palying Hangman.

Installation was smooth and quick and the play started by default in Windowed mode (which I really like). In preferences you can choose full screenmode if you want. Right mouse click brings up the menu and there is a file "readme.html" in the installation map how to move around.

Though there is no action I like questlike games and a bit of little old Hangman is nice too. But when you finished the game and you know every thing about the story I guess you will not be tempted to play again. Nice game for a rainy day off but oldfashioned too.



........................Moderator comment.................

Thans for the short Review Alf. (I wasn't in the mood to do a proper review today). The hangman analogy was a good one. :)

The problem with the game giveaways have now been fixed. :) Todays game is a text based/pictorial detective story.

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Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you’ve checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain why your reasons for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

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Problems installing, activating and running today’s gamel>:


If you have difficulty downloading or activating the game you can try again later or do one of the following - for example once downloaded when you click on the dual activation and set up file you may get the message “Failed to connect. Please try again later” Check to see if your internet explorer isn't offline (thanks to MrSnoozles/Mike and GMMan for that fix). If the previous suggestion doesn't work go check out previous comments from the last several weeks and look for comments from GMMan and Mike. They have also posted their possible fixes for this problem.

Mike suggests that you check to see if Internet Explorer is offline (even if you use firefox). If it is make sure that it's online thn try again. I’ve always tried re-booting my modem and/or router with some success, though Mike has said that doing that does nothing. Still, it’s worth a try if all else fails.


If you are getting the black screen problem right click on the games executable and select properties then click on the compatibility mode and select the disable visual themes. This should fix the problem, if not try disabling the display scaling on higher dpi settings and disabling the desktop composition.

Other fixes include changing your screen resolution, installing the latest direct X (remember that XP uses DX 9 or earlier only, Vista uses DX 10 or before and Win 7 DX11 or before). Also try updating your graphics drivers. The main two chip manufacturers are NVIDIA and ATI both of which offer driver downloads for free. Just go to the respective manufactures home page and you'll find a link to the driver download page. To find out which graphic card or graphics chip your computer uses type in Dxdiag in the search field (Vista or Win 7) or the run command (XP); this opens up the DirectX diagnostics panel. click on the display tab and look to the left panel. You should easily see what graphics card or chip you are using. (This is required information when selecting the correct download from the developers site).

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Installationl>

Today’s giveaway downloads as a 33.6MB zip file that unpacks to two files; a read me that contains the terms and conditions and a dual activation and set up file. The game installs to :


C:/Program Files (x86)/Vera Blanc

The game plays okay on XP Pro 32 bit, Vista Home Premium 64 bit and Home Basic 32 bit and Win 7 Ultimate and Pro 64 bit.

To uninstall the game just delete the installed file manually because there is no uninstaller provided. (I think this may be removed to save on bandwidth)

I installed this a few days ago and have forgotten whether there was a shortcut provided. If you don't see one just go to the installed folder to create one. :)

Introductionl>:

You can see a video of game play HERE and a full review/walkthrough of the game HERE

Vera Blanc is a two part mystery / detective game. (We only get the first instalment today which is a standalone game in its own right).

Take on the role of Vera Blanc, a young and beautiful woman with an extraordinary power: the ability to read other people's minds!
Daughter of Emmanuel Blanc, one of the richest people on Earth, she left her life of luxury to use her powers to work alongside paranormal detective Brandon Mackey.

In the first episode, our heroine travels to a mysterious town in Germany deep in the Black Forest. A serial killer is on the loose, and all leads point to a werewolf as the culprit!

The game plays like a visual novel / adventure game with several different paths to solve the mystery, and a collection of challenging mini-games.

Featuring innovative comic-style art, with over 200 unique panels, Vera Blanc immerses you in the world of the supernatural as you play the detective!

Will you be able to solve the mystery?

Edited Reference accessed HERE 13th Oct 2011

The gamel>:

Today’s gamegiveaway is an adventure mystery story that’s been created like a comic book experience. You are asked to investigate a series of crimes and make decisions that will alter the outcome of the multi ending story.

Vera Blanc was only a teenager when she was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave her six months to live, but her exceptionally rich father paid a renowned scientist/brain surgeon for an experimental procedure, that cures Vera and changes the way she thinks. Amazingly she was now able to read other peoples thoughts and read their minds if she wishes. She decides to work with a famous detective called Brandon Mackay. Her first case involves the killing of several townsfolk in the small town of Wolfach where it’s rumoured that a werewolf is responsible for the killings.

The game is presented in the form of a pictorial story with dialogue. Throughout the story Vera Banc is given multiple choices about what to say or do. Which is where the multi-ending story branches to different endings because the choices you make will determine how the story ends.

The first part of the story introduces you to the game play features and effectively acts as a tutorial for the rest of the game. Once the tutorial is completed you will get a map of the town which shows the various areas you can visit. There’s also a notebook that keeps track of the clues that you gather.

There are several mini-games included to break up the main game.

I’d recommend that you save frequently because sometimes a random choice may lead to you finishing the game rather quickly. To save, press the Esc key and click on one of the empty spaces. If played in one sitting the game should last for at least two hours.

Conclusionl>:
I’m not really into text based games any more. One of the first computer games I ever purchased was a text based game called the Island of Artuan which I didn’t particularly enjoy and always felt ripped off later when the first decent games were released for the first desktop computers (I paid nearly £30 for it back in the mid 80’s, which is approximately what you pay for a premium PC game today) This game very much reminds me of that experience so didn’t enjoy playing this game at all. I won’t be scoring this game today because of the above reason as I’m too biased to give it a fair mark. I would recommend you try the game and see what you think. If you like it you may want to check out the second game in the series which you’ll find by following the link above (the reference).