Falling Skywards (Bake Sale) Update: Let's Play + Dev Commentary in 1st Post

[ThreeOhFour]

When the meteor hit, huge chunks of the earth were launched into the Earth's atmosphere. Now, high above the ground, where the air is thin and gravity weaker, there are whole cities, shattered and orbiting the planet.

Some see opportunity here and fly up in pairs - as one waits for the other in their aircraft, the partner searches through these broken midair wastelands for treasures that can be flown back down to people below, where the world is still recovering from the catastrophe, for a fair profit.

But these airborne cities are desolate and empty, devoid of life, for the air up here is too thin to support mammals without respiration equipment.

...right?

Falling Skywards

Also! For those of you who want to watch someone else play the game and hear me discussing various things in the game, you may now find a video of this right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXMXJjBi2Ww. I sound sleepy and Australian but had a lot of fun doing this with WHAM, so hopefully some others will enjoy it too!

[veryweirdguy]

Just finished this 'un (first Bake Sale game I've finished!) Excellent stuff. Great work Benny.

[Ponch]

Finished this one last night. Another good game, Ben. That odd, haunting world is going to stay with me for a while. Nicely done. 

[ThreeOhFour]

Thank you, Ponch and Cooper! Your approval leaves me feeling fulfilled! 

[tzachs]

Beautiful game. I loved the concept and the world that you built, I can already imagine more stories revolving around this world, and since you left some unfinished business

Spoiler

The father and the voices

[close]

I really hope that you've made plans for expanding on that.

Also, a few bugs that I saw:

Spoiler

There were a few inventory items that you didn't give a name to, so it showed "New Inventory Item" when you hovered the mouse on them, and there were also a few objects that didn't respond when you looked at them. Sadly, I didn't write down which...

[close]

[Tenacious Stu]

This was the first Bake Sale game I played and I really enjoyed it. I thought the story was very unique and original along with the setting. The gameplay was solid. I enjoyed the puzzles, in particular the

Spoiler

Briefcase Puzzle, where the code was upside-down

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, they were all pretty good though. The artwork was amazing as always and there were lots of unique animations used which really made the experience flow very nicely. I was fond of the music and the whispers were very creepy, but not in anyway annoying whilst playing. All in all another great game from Ben. I too would like to see a follow up, perhaps

Spoiler

We see the main character and the girl (I forget their names ) revisit the house that her father built? I would love to see what the background art for that would look like- a floating house in the sky made out of bits and pieces.

[close]

Well done Ben!

[ThreeOhFour]

Thanks Stu and Tzachs!

I haven't made plans to revisit this world, really. Even though I left a few things unresolved, I didn't really think they actually needed resolving, personally. I won't so that I won't revisit it, but if I do it will probably be a fair time before I do.

Thanks for playing and commenting, I really appreciate it. This game was probably the hardest one to make because I had a lot of trouble feeling satisfied with it, and still don't fully feel satisfied that I did it right, but I am glad people are enjoying it anyway.

[Big GC]

Its funny, even though I agree that seeing some of the things that were hinted at in the story would be cool, I kept wondering what the dust covered ruins of earth would look like missing big chunks of land.....

[Tabata]

This is a very impressive game with wonderful graphics, nice puzzles and almost poetic. The sound effects and music emphasize the emotional story effectively.
I loved sharing the thoughts of someone who takes care of memories while dealing with all the troubles of surviving in an uncomfortable world.
A sensitive told story about several kinds of value, respect and esteem, loss and restart.

                                     

And of course I like stories that also include thoughts about ...

Spoiler

   ... stealing a kiss!

This is sooo romantic I saved a bit of it for myself.   <3  <3  <3  <3

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[qptain Nemo]

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to know that people who liked the music in the game may now get it in good quality for whatever price including 0.
http://qptainnemo.bandcamp.com/album/falling-skywards

[Ali]

I think the world of this game is incredible, even by the standards of ben's games.

Looked at as a kind of puzzle poem, I think it's very successful. I liked the story and the writing, though felt that the ratio of text to gameplay was slightly skewed. Perhaps I was a little disappointed that the puzzles were mainly straightforward object collection. It would have been great to solve something more rich, more to do with fragments of history or the strange ecosystem of the fragments.

My main reason for commenting is - Please make falling skyward game in 3D. Pleeease! I don't care if it's heresy.

The atmosphere of lost places reminded me so much of the MYST series, and an URU-like version of falling skywards would be amazing. I want to jump between floating islands in 3D!

[Ilyich]

I want to wholeheartedly agree with Ali's definition of this game as a "puzzle poem" - it is indeed a wonderfully poetic and sentimental experience.

I also think that this is one of 304's most accomplished games, with a very well established and interesting world filled with emotional mix of nostalgia, sadness, longing and hope that accompanies every little bit and piece of the 'old' world - something that SuperGiant Games' "Bastion", with it's somewhat similar premise, completely failed to do in my opinion.

And altough the amount of narrated text and 'use yet another pipe on yet another piece of concrete' puzzles are obvious drawbacks, I didn't care or even notice that on the first playthrough - it all felt very organic and natural. The sound design and music are also spot on and add a lot to the eerie atmosphere. And while I felt that graphics are a bit ramshackly this time, the inventive and consistent graphic design more than makes up for it.

I also agree that it would've made a great 3D game, with all the jumping and stuff, but I still prefer 2D most of the time.

In short - thanks for yet another great game, I loved it, and as always, look forward to seeing more from you! Cheers!

[ThreeOhFour]

Oh hello, sorry I haven't replied to lots of people, but I have been doing other things lately  

Big GC: I totally understand that, but one thing I really wanted to avoid in this game was one of those post-catastropic/post-apocalyptic settings that looks like Fallout 3  . I have a lot of love for the settings of the Fallout games, but I also think that games like Enslaved have way more interesting settings for a destroyed earth scenario, and so I wanted to do something completely new. Halfway through making it I learned about a game called Bastion and played it and loved it, and realized that the two settings were kinda similar so hooray for being unable to do something original even when you you thought you were  8)

Tabata: Hehe, thank you, ma'am  . I agree the music and sounds are great, I was really lucky to have tricked Ken and Nemo into making stuff for the game for me, although I think they both enjoyed it a bit too  . Also, yes, about the spoilery bit, all my stories seem to be about that, I guess I am a hopeless romantic, I think the screenshot picture you made is very cute and here is some extra emoticons just for you to show you how jolly it made me:   8)

qptain Nemo: lol what a sellout (just kidding man you know I love you, c'mere sweetie   )

Ali: Those are some nice things to say! I really agree with the fact that I wrote too much, but I couldn't seem to stop myself and ran out of time at the end to edit stuff out. I totally agree that it would have been nice to have more complex puzzles, but I always seem to require some surreality when I design more complex puzzles, and I didn't want to push this any further in the game because I thought it would be too much. I would love to make a game like this in 3D, with a real focus on jumping between platforms, such a thing could surely be magical to play as you jump around. Sadly I lack the ability to code 3d games and also the ability to do 3d graphics, so I'm pretty much the exact wrong person to make this game   Maybe I'll try for this one day when I am uber smart and talented and can do 3d things

Ilyich: Hello, what a lot of lovely words you have written! I think because Bastion is an action RPG they probably didn't have time to slow down and look at each thing and get the gravelly voiced narrator guy to speak about it all, although I think they still did a reasonably good job at establishing the character of their world. But thank you, I am glad that all the rambling I did onto my keyboard about the game paid off, and happy that it felt ok at least the first time . If I may ask, what part about the graphics seemed ramshackly? Was it a specific element, or that the whole thing just felt a bit rough?

Sorry if I have written crazy things, it's a pretty silly hour of the day to be sitting here writing comments, and big thanks to everyone who has played and supported the Bake Sale, you guys are amazing!

[Ilyich]

If I may ask, what part about the graphics seemed ramshackly? Was it a specific element, or that the whole thing just felt a bit rough?

Well, maybe 'ramshackly' is too strong a word. And not even a real word at that. I mostly mean that backgrounds are slightly rougher and less detailed than in some of your games. Now that I look at them - it probably seems that way because there's more empty space due to it being in the sky and that they're brighter than usually. They are still very pretty and nice to look at, and even better than usual from the design point of view, I just felt that they could've used a little more polish. But they still convey the atmosphere perfectly, so no harm done, really.

Oh, and it was fun to play for the second time too, just slightly different.

[Icey]

Can someone please tell me how to get through the first code puzzle?

[Ali]

Actually, Icey raises a good point. The solutions I came up with for the code puzzle didn't work, and I solved it by accident.

Spoiler

Sorry, no solution in here... just my confusion. I didn't understand why the first number in the clue referred to the second lock. At first I thought the paper was upside down, but that didn't seem to be the solution. I've forgotten the numbers that worked, but I remember not understanding why they were correct.

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But apart from that (and a couple objects called "New Inventory Item") it was a smooth ride!

Ali: I would love to make a game like this in 3D, with a real focus on jumping between platforms, such a thing could surely be magical to play as you jump around. Sadly I lack the ability to code 3d games and also the ability to do 3d graphics, so I'm pretty much the exact wrong person to make this game  Maybe I'll try for this one day when I am uber smart and talented and can do 3d things

Nonsense, it would be easy! Do it now!

[Stupot]

Can someone please tell me how to get through the first code puzzle?

Actually, Icey raises a good point. The solutions I came up with for the code puzzle didn't work, and I solved it by accident.

Spoiler

Sorry, no solution in here... just my confusion. I didn't understand why the first number in the clue referred to the second lock. At first I thought the paper was upside down, but that didn't seem to be the solution. I've forgotten the numbers that worked, but I remember not understanding why they were correct.

[close]

Spoiler

Nah, I think that is just the answer.  When trying it the right way up didn't work, I basically imagined my paper to be upside down and then kept trying, changing the first number each time until it worked.

[close]

I'm still playing this, but really liking it so far.  Such an interesting world. I wish I could explore more freely, in a kind of Skies of Arcadia kind of way.

[Icey]

Well I got the right one by an accident cause I put what I thought the order was going in (696-969) but I still cant get the left open. :\

>.< 796 or 769

[Icey]

Ben there is one little bug, not really big but when you click on the bird house he does *his thing* but he doesn't actually move to it.

I finished it. It was so good it left me wanting more even with it being hard at times.

[ThreeOhFour]

Ilyich: Yeah, I think I get what you mean, although I thought I put enough detail in. Oh well, your point is noted.

Ali + Icey: The code is indeed meant to be solved the way Stupot did it.

Stu: Aye, the more I think about it, the more I imagine I'd like to create a game in a setting like this but more exploration based than escape the room-y (which is how a lot of my puzzles usually are). Not sure if I'd be able to do it in a style that is good or not.

Icey: Thanks . With regards to the bug you mention, that's actually an issue with the AGS pathfinder and me making too complex walkable areas. Not sure I could fix it, sadly. Thanks for the nice comments

Thanks everyone else for the nice comments as well . I kinda pushed the game out of my mind so I could move on and work on other stuff, but I am glad some of you are enjoying it, that's great to hear.