Tunnel Vision

RootBound · Sat 19/08/2023 22:59:19

It's finally done!

I've been working on this game for a year (I started it before both of my MAGS entries), and I'm excited it's time to share it! It's been so much work, but I am very proud of the result.

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Trapped on a sabotaged train speeding toward a tunnel with a bomb, an heiress struggles to stop the train in time. Save the passengers and escape the train car before it's too late! A first-person game with nostalgic low-res CGA 4-color graphics.

TUNNEL VISION is a first-person point-and-click action adventure puzzle survival game.

FEATURES:
-Multiple animated cutscenes
-All original artwork and music
-Short-to-medium playtime (30-60 minutes)
-Simple one-click interface
-Toggle timed puzzles on or off
-Save points

AGS Database Entry with Download Links

Special credit goes to @Nahuel for very thorough playtesting and MacOS conversion. Huge thanks!

Nahuel · Sat 19/08/2023 23:29:24

Congratulations @RootBound on your release! Major achievement! 👏👏 🎉🎉

As I always say: I fully recommend this game it's really nice to play with awesome artwork, music and puzzles that will challenge you every level!
Excellent game to play!

bitmuchmate · Sun 20/08/2023 07:57:00

This looks incredible.

Stupot · Sun 20/08/2023 09:30:57

Congratulations on the release.

RootBound · Sun 20/08/2023 19:39:59

Minor bug reported with regard to using inventory in a certain situation. Should be fixed in the Windows and Linux versions now, and shouldn't break saves I believe.

Waiting on uploading a fix for the Mac versions in case other issues come up. EDIT: bug fix for Mac versions now uploaded.

Thanks for all the downloads so far!

CaptainD · Sun 20/08/2023 21:54:44

Well, I managed to get past the first timed puzzle (nicely done, that was clever!

), but at a bit of a loss with the next bit! (Well certain actions are obviously needed, but not how to actually achieve them.)

Some kind of cursor change when you're over a hotspot would be helpful since I can't tell whether I've missed something despite seeming to have clicked everywhere.

Spoiler

Seems to be a missing hotspot interaction on the right-side overhead? You can get a reaction to trying to use inventory on that area, but no reaction to just clicking on it.

[close]

Definitely some very good ideas in here and although I can't say I'm a fan of CGA graphics, they're well done and lend a real retro atmosphere to the game.

RootBound · Sun 20/08/2023 22:29:05

Hey @CaptainD , thanks for playing!

Spoiler

I'll check out that hotspot and see what's up. And the solution to the second puzzle involves lipstick.

[close]

Creamy · Sun 20/08/2023 23:31:56

It took me a while to beat this second puzzle on my own.

Now I'm stuck a moment later:

Spoiler

I stacked 2 objects on the seats but it's not high enough to reach the hatch.

[close]

QuoteSome kind of cursor change when you're over a hotspot would be helpful since I can't tell whether I've missed something despite seeming to have clicked everywhere.

+1. Especially when you're using big objects.

Nice game so far.

RootBound · Mon 21/08/2023 00:14:00

@Creamy thanks so much for playing!

Spoiler

there's a red herring in this puzzle. You might be falling for it. Kind of evil on my part lol

[close]

RootBound · Mon 21/08/2023 02:34:31

I made a walkthrough in the hints & tips forum. I'd rather people finish the game then give up in frustration.

Hopefully everything makes sense and doesn't slip into "moon logic."

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/hints-tips/tunnel-vision-walkthrough/msg636657167/#new

RootBound · Wed 23/08/2023 11:58:12

Holy cow you all. I just need to say thank you for an amazing game launch. I've reached 70 downloads and got a 4-cup review from the AGS panel???

This is amazing. It means so much to see all my hard work appreciated.

So glad that so many of you enjoyed it! You all are awesome.

sthomannch · Wed 23/08/2023 14:37:03

Congratulations on this release! It was fun to play, nice visuals and good puzzles.

Spoiler

I got a bit stuck with the metal plate because I put it in the middle of the floor and searched elsewhere if I missed something. But the solution was logical, after all.

[close]

heltenjon · Wed 23/08/2023 22:19:46

I played this now and echo the sentiments of the others who have posted. This is a great game!

Starting off, graphics. Frankly, I've never cared for CGA, but boy, does this look good. Paired with a sort of dynamic musical score and nice use of silhuettes for the characters, the visuals and audio is top notch. You basically had me from the drum track mimicking train sounds on the title page.

You weave in a fun story and allude to a larger world involving these two enemies, and you make this impression so well that I want more stories from this world. Less is more, indeed.

But what sells it, is the puzzles. The timed puzzles, which I usually don't like, feel natural in the circumstances, and the solutions, while hard, are logical and fair.

Congratulations on the release. Highly recommended to players who want a challenge.

RootBound · Wed 23/08/2023 23:09:07

@heltenjon I couldn't ask for a better or more thoughtful review. Thanks so much for playing and sharing your response.

Creamy · Sun 27/08/2023 23:56:29

The game is technically solid and visually impressive - especially for being CGA.
The constant animation of the backgrounds make it more dynamic than your average point and click (incidentally, I wonder how the speed effect is done).

The story doesn't take itself more seriously than an old James Bond movie. Crashing a whole train to get a necklace? It's enough to drive the plot forward but won't stay with me for long.

The puzzles are challenging but the restrictive play area and low number of interactions keep it fair. As I dislike clicking in vain, I wish there was a hotspot indicator.

Quite typically for the genre, you're expected to solve the puzzles in a specific way. It's handled well for the most part, with a few nitpicks here and there.

Spoiler

Examples:
-the scaffold must be placed at a very specific spot.
- at the end, you need to add weight to the end of a rope to pull a lever. Ok, but why throw the weight out the window? You could simply tie the weight higher on the rope if it's too long.

[close]

But nothing more than I have been guilty of doing myslef

Well done Rootbound.

RootBound · Mon 28/08/2023 01:55:51

Hi @Creamy and thanks so much for your comments! I'm happy you found so much to like about it, and your critiques are certainly fair. I appreciate you taking the time to give feedback.

Which speed effects were you wondering about? There were a couple different methods depending on which room.

Creamy · Mon 28/08/2023 18:52:24

QuoteWhich speed effects were you wondering about? There were a couple different methods depending on which room.

The one on the roof is particularly cool.

RootBound · Mon 28/08/2023 23:12:33

Quote from: Creamy on Mon 28/08/2023 18:52:24The one on the roof is particularly cool.

Thanks! This is the effect I'm most proud of too.

The movement in this room can be divided into a few different effects:
1. The movement of the train tracks
2. The "bumping" up and down movement.
3. The movement of trees, poles, and shrubbery.
4. The movement of the "ground" under the trees.
Here a screenshot for reference:

1. The train tracks are a repeating animation, part of the animated background, that changes every frame.
2. The "bumping" movement is one frame out of the five animated background frames, where the entire background shifts up/down by one pixel (except for the train itself, and also the tracks because they are so small that even one pixel looks weird). The changing of the lake surface is also animated background.

3. The movement of everything else is more complicated. Basically I have five "rows" or "paths" that the trees, poles, and shrubbery follow (think of them as conveyor belts), two on the left and three on the right. On the left we have one row of poles and one row of grasses. On the right we have two rows of trees and bushes (closer to the train), and a "wall" of dense foliage (the back row).

There are around five grass objects on the far left, two poles on the near left, and I think six or seven tree/shrub objects in each of the rows on the right. These are all dummy characters, for a few reasons: (1) the x-coordinate is the center-bottom of the image instead of the corner, which makes more sense for a tree and makes it easier for differently-sized trees to follow the same path. (2) this allows for the "movement linked to scaling" option, which makes the trees move slower when "farther away" and then speed up as they get "closer." They are moving along a continuously-scaled walkable area. Any images that pass the bottom of the screen get switched to manual scaling until they are out of sight (you can spot this change if you watch closely--there's a better way to do it, but I didn't figure that out until afterward, and I was trying to avoid having to code the "movement linked to scaling" option by hand).

Once each tree reaches a specified "out-of-sight" coordinate, it resets its xy position to the vanishing point (or the beginning of the "conveyor belt"), which is also the level of smallest scaling on the walkable area, and manual scaling gets turned off again. This is also where the magic happens--in the editor I have all the sprites for all the different trees and shrubs in one "view," each sprite on a different loop within the view. When each tree resets its position in the room, it also gets assigned a random loop from the view, changing it from, for example, a tree to a bush. This is based on a random integer that has the same range as the number of loops in the view. This gives the appearance of a kind of procedural generation so that it isn't the same trees in the same order every time. Each tree then follows the conveyor belt again, resetting and changing its sprite yet again when it goes out of sight, over and over, for as long as the player is in the room.

4. The "ground" is actually included in the same sprites as the foliage, like so:

By having ground only "in front" of the trees, this allows the ground to always be behind the "closer" objects that have a higher y-coordinate, and to never have the ground be drawn on top of a tree behind it. The ground is also drawn wide enough to fill in the gaps between each tree, both horizontally and vertically. (Again, if you watch closely, you can still see the boundaries between each "piece" of ground, especially when they are not moving at the same speed). This reduces the number of moving components on the screen as well, because this was already a lot of dummy characters.

The back row of foliage sprites is designed to almost overlap into a wall, in order to hide the fact that farther away ground (not underneath the trees) is not moving. I made it high enough that the only non-moving ground is fairly far away.

All these components together result in the illusion of movement. If any one of them were missing, I think the overall effect would be less convincing. It took me forever to figure out how to do it, but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Thanks for asking, and I hope you enjoyed this look "under the hood."

RootBound · Sun 17/09/2023 15:03:12

A user reported the windows download as broken, but it seems to work fine for me. Has anyone had any issues with downloading or running the game?

Nahuel · Sun 17/09/2023 15:11:41

Just tested both links games AND itch directly no issues on my side.

Tested the link from AGS Games - OK
Tested the link directly from itch - OK