Where Did the Humans Go?

[lorenzo]

STORY

A pilot descends on a planet where something strange is going on. When he arrives at a scientist's camp, there's no trace of humans. Only robots are left and their behaviour is strange. Where did the humans go?

Made in two weeks for the Adventure Game Challenge.

SCREENSHOTS


Pilot a spaceship (in a non-interactive cutscene)!


Will you be able to fix the spaceship?


Explore every building on the camp!


Visit old cars at the hospital!


FEATURES
- Be a tourist on a lonely planet with no tourist attractions!
- Explore an isolated scientist camp!
- A strange mystery you'll have to uncover!
- Fix vehicles!
- Meet more than 5 characters, but less than 10!
- 12 rooms to visit! Plus some for cutscenes and stuff!

DOWNLOAD!


--

The game uses:
- The amazing TweenModule by Edmundito
- The fantastic Speech Bubble Module by Snarky

Music by the awesome Eric Matyas
www.soundimage.org

[CaptainD]

As always with your games, this looks great! Though I am greatly disappointed by the brevity of your game title. 

[heltenjon]

That's another great story from you. Congratulations!

Praise first. As always, the art is magnificent. I don't think I've ever mentioned the font you use, but it's a marvellous fit for the speech balloons, emphasizing that graphic novel feeling. The music chosen also is appropriate for a sci-fi feeling, and Eric Matyas' tunes sound professional while not stealing the spotlight.

The story and characters also work very well. There's both comedy and tragedy here, mixed together to create a story worth thinking about and discussing after playing the game. I liked the tailor and the cook best...given more time, perhaps even the guard could have played a bigger role?

Then there are the puzzles. I didn't have any difficulties, but still felt very satisfied while solving them. There's quite a lot to do, and the way you keep track of it, is also very nice and user friendly. It's hard to rank difficulty, but I'd guess it's about average - perhaps going on easy for experienced adventurers, like most of us are. It'll be fun to read how people outside the Blue Cup Community do.  Favourite puzzle - getting the steering rod. (I laughed!)

Any gripes or suggestions for improvements I may make, are hardly fair, given that you made the game in 14 days for a jam.  But if you decide to tinker more with it, I guess there are room for more animations (which I always love to see how you do) and "unnecessary" actions. I would have loved to see the pilot have a go at the  static training cycle, for instance. Some sentences (especially questions) have what I guess must be Italian sentence structure: "Why there are (...)" instead of "Why are there (...)", and some dialogue options may be removed after they have served their purpose. The tailor can still be asked about his hat after you have taken it.

Even so, I think the game is great and heartily recommend everyone to have a go at it. Play it through to the end to get the entire story!

[lorenzo]

As always with your games, this looks great! Though I am greatly disappointed by the brevity of your game title. 

Thank you! Of course, the full title is "Where did the humans go? Why there's no one around? You'll have to play the game to find out".

--

Heltenjon: thank you for the comment and feedback!
I'm happy you liked the story!

given more time, perhaps even the guard could have played a bigger role?

Initially, the guard was supposed to have a bigger role, in fact.

Spoiler

There were supposed to be two guards and you had to speak to both of them to convince them to let you inside. But since it didn't add much to the story, it's the first puzzle I had to cut in order to finish the game on time.

[close]

I don't think experienced adventure players will get stuck in the game, but I hope that at least the puzzles were entertaining. Some of them were supposed to be a bit more hard/complex, but I didn't have time to implement them:

Spoiler

for example, for the car, the idea was for you to have to put the right voltage, plus add fuel and oil to it.
The nursery puzzle was more involved, with you having to discover what triggered the alarm/cry from the baby bot, and then having to find a way to activate it.

[close]

I appreciate the feedback!
Regarding the typos and sentence structure, I didn't have time to have the text proofread and I mostly checked for typos before submitting the game. When writing quickly, I make all sorts of mistakes, I guess Thankfully, these are easy things to fix once they're found and I'll update the game once the voting period is over (I'm not sure how much patching is allowed before that; probably only game-breaking bugs).

Unfortunately, animations are one of the first things you have to sacrifice when it comes to game jams, since they take so much time even for just a few seconds of animation (although they do add so much to a game!).

[Mandle]

Looks absolutely beautiful as always!

[lorenzo]

Thank you very much, Mandle! 

[TheFrighter]

Now we know that 500 are everywhere in the universe.

_

[Shadow1000]

I really enjoyed this game. Like Lorenzo's previous games, pro-grade comic art, creative theme and decent puzzles. Although the puzzles were on the easier side, they were enough to make the game an enjoyable experience. Some feedback:

Spoiler

1. The character can walk right past the nurse. He can't do anything once there but you probably should block his ability to proceed past where the nurse is standing until the time is right.

2. I realize that the game was made under time constraints, but if you expand the game, you can put in a few things to do or even some challenges or things to go wrong once you've collected the necessary items rather than have the game just end there

[close]

[lorenzo]

Now we know that 500 are everywhere in the universe.

As they should be!
I think I snuck in one or two FIAT cars in previous games as well.

Shadow1000: I'm happy you enjoyed the game, thank you for your comment!
Regarding the feedback:

Spoiler

1. The character can walk right past the nurse. He can't do anything once there but you probably should block his ability to proceed past where the nurse is standing until the time is right.

[close]

Spoiler

If that happened before showing her the bot, it's a bug, and the second walkable area activated by itself for some reason. Otherwise, I guess it could make sense to have the area on the right smaller, until the nurse is distracted.

Originally, the puzzle was supposed to be larger than that, but I had to cut it due to the time limit of the game jam. I had to simplify it and in the end I didn't have time to polish it.

[close]

[glurex]

Wow! great game, Lorenzo. And only in 2 weeks! I love the comic aesthetic.

[cat]

I don't have much time to play games anymore, but every time there is a new lorenzo game, I have to play it.
Lovely game! It's cute but also a bit sad and makes you think and smile at the same time. The length is perfect for me. Graphics are wonderful as always.
The puzzles are on the easier side but with some nice twists.

What could be improved:
I hope you find time after the jam to fix the typos and grammar issues.

Spoiler

At the beginning, when your find your tasks they disappear somewhere to the top left but don't show up in the inventory, yet. Maybe you could show the list inventory item from the start and add items as you find them? Or just don't show the text swooshing over the screen and vanish.

[close]

[lorenzo]

glurex: Thank you very much! Happy you liked the game (and graphics)!

cat: thanks for playing and for the mini-review!

I hate typos! Unfortunately, in this game jam there wasn't really time to get the game proofread.
In fact, I've found a bad mistake in the text near the end that is really frustrating, because I have to wait until the voting period is over to be able to update it. But yes, I'll fix what errors in the text I can find (I already started, but I can't upload it yet).

Regarding the "spoiler" section:

Spoiler

I could have the player start with the "to-do" list and fill it in as you find problems. Although you can't leave the room before you've assessed all the ship damage so there's no way that the player can leave without getting the list of needed items.

Maybe it could at first appear as a list at the top, that updates as you find what's needed, and when it's filled you get the "to-do tablet".

[close]

[CaptainD]

Just wanted to add that so far this seems like a perfect game to play with young ones - my 8 year-old has been thoroughly enjoying it and laughing herself silly at some of the things she's tried to do and the responses the game gives her! 

Annoyingly, she has also developed a vice-like grip on the mouse when it's "her turn" to play games on my PC... I wonder where she gets that from... 


Finished it - good story and a very melancholy ending. Nice puzzles, lovely graphics and great choice of music tracks. Well done mate!

[lorenzo]

I'm really happy she enjoyed it! But now you won't ever get your computer back! Well, if you're lucky, maybe she'll lend it to you sometimes, but you'll have to wait your turn.

Thank you for the comment!

[lorenzo]

hiroka: Thank you!

--

Since the judging period of the game jam ended, I've updated the game! It's nothing huge, but I fixed some bugs, typos, and the structure of some sentences (thank you heltenjon for pointing these out!). Plus, I've added extra responses to some interactions, especially after seeing what some of the streamers tried to do.

So, it's mostly a bit of polish to the game. But if you have already played it, there's not much new, I'm afraid.

[KyriakosCH]

Nice style with the art!

[cat]

Since the judging period of the game jam ended

You forgot to mention the most important fact: Your game has won the Adventure Game Challenge! https://itch.io/jam/106-adventure-game-challenge

 
Congratulations!

[Shadow1000]

Wow! Congrats!!

[lorenzo]

KyriakosCH: happy you like the style!

cat: I guess I suck at self-promotion! Thank you!

Shadow1000: thanks! 

[Ramorama]

Where Did the Humans Go? could be also a plot for a Twillight Zone episode!
It's outstanding!