Alice Dreams 3.0 released !

[Sweater Fish]

Man, truly an excellent game. I love the mix of point-and-click style adventure (without the pointing and clicking) and precision platforming. And of course, the art design is just phenomenal, among the best I've *EVER* seen in a video game. Dynamite Dreams is killer, too; now I'm looking forward to the next demo almost as much for the new mini-game as for the new stage of the main game.

A couple questions:

Will the final game have cinemas that perhaps explain a little better what's going on? Because as it is the story doesn't flow very smoothly; I mean the whole thing with the white rabbit on the scooter just appears so abruptly and the scene with Gravel and also the fact that you're suddenly falling at the beginning of the second stage. These things could all be cleared up with some small cinemas, though, so I guess you probably will have some, but they haven't been worked on yet.

Second, since you've implemented VMU saving now, it would be nice if the language and dialog options were saved to the VMU, too.

Also, I think it would be cool if there were some small secret things hidden in stages 2-3 or 2-4 to reward people that explore them more fully. Maybe there already are and I just haven't found them. I explored 2-3 extensively, but 2-4 was harder since there's no ground below you.

By the way, I found a small bug in 2-4. One of the last moving platforms in the level (the first one after the dry waterfall) is split into two pieces top and bottom that move at different speeds. It's just a graphical bug, the platform is still usable.

Anyway, thank you so much for giving us Alice Dreams. It's a shining example of what homebrew games on the Dreamcast can be.


...word is bondage...

[patbier]

Thanks for your suggestions. Please continue to write them, we need them to make the next release better.

Wasn't that hard after all, i guess i took a shortcut in stage 2.2 i wasn't supposed to take (run all the way to the right from the beginning and then jump).

Strange i need to look to this bug

-graphics really improved compared to stage one, looking awesome
-the climbing animation could do some improvements, as could the walking sounds in stage one

Yes, for the sound effects we really really need improvements. We're looking for a man who can make sound effects for us but we never found one who have enough time. If someone here is interested, or if someone knows good free sound effects which we can use, we are interested.

-i really like the gameover and stage completed screens, any chance you also add this to the normal loading screen, it still looks a bit empty

yes, the loading screen is too empty, and i'm developping a new font renderer to improve it.

-while i really like the first bonus game (despite being unable to beat it), i'm not really happy with the 2nd one, it's just running WAY too slow, any chance you can speed it up a bit?

For this demo, i made 4 beta tests and, believe me or not, i've increased the default speed at each beta release. Many people think the speed is too slow, so i'll speed it up again.

in case i'm sounding too negative... just to have said it - this game is totally AMAZING and really some of the best homebrew stuff out there, getting close to the range of commercial games... and i love it.

Thanks a lot !

[patbier]

Man, truly an excellent game. I love the mix of point-and-click style adventure (without the pointing and clicking) and precision platforming. And of course, the art design is just phenomenal, among the best I've *EVER* seen in a video game. Dynamite Dreams is killer, too; now I'm looking forward to the next demo almost as much for the new mini-game as for the new stage of the main game.

A couple questions:

Will the final game have cinemas that perhaps explain a little better what's going on? Because as it is the story doesn't flow very smoothly; I mean the whole thing with the white rabbit on the scooter just appears so abruptly and the scene with Gravel and also the fact that you're suddenly falling at the beginning of the second stage. These things could all be cleared up with some small cinemas, though, so I guess you probably will have some, but they haven't been worked on yet.

Yes, we have the idea to have cinematics. But, it will take time to do them.
We think that the best thing is to do them when the game is complete.

Second, since you've implemented VMU saving now, it would be nice if the language and dialog options were saved to the VMU, too.

Normally they are. If you select for example german and you play the game. If you reboot, the german language will be selected as the default choice (but you'll have to press A to validate though)

Also, I think it would be cool if there were some small secret things hidden in stages 2-3 or 2-4 to reward people that explore them more fully. Maybe there already are and I just haven't found them. I explored 2-3 extensively, but 2-4 was harder since there's no ground below you.

Good idea.

By the way, I found a small bug in 2-4. One of the last moving platforms in the level (the first one after the dry waterfall) is split into two pieces top and bottom that move at different speeds. It's just a graphical bug, the platform is still usable.

Yes, i know this bug, i thought i corrected it in the last beta test, but you demonstrate me that it doesn't. It's a really strange bug because these platforms are 90% good, but in 10% of the cases they appears in 2 pieces. I'll investigate...

Anyway, thank you so much for giving us Alice Dreams. It's a shining example of what homebrew games on the Dreamcast can be.


...word is bondage...

Thanks

[kungpow12345]

i have a good sound effect kit i can let you use patbier, it has like 2500 sound effects so probably what you want, it's there.

[Sweater Fish]

Second, since you've implemented VMU saving now, it would be nice if the language and dialog options were saved to the VMU, too.

Normally they are. If you select for example german and you play the game. If you reboot, the german language will be selected as the default choice (but you'll have to press A to validate though)

Hm, when you select the language on the first screen the game must automatically change the spoken dialog to that language, too, then because I always have to switch it back to French in the menu.

I prefer to play with French dialog and English subtitles.


...word is bondage...

[jessman]

heh... played it, beat it, love it. is the second mini-game 4 players with humans also? i haven't gotten around to playing it with a friend. It was a COMPLETE shock though, and I know that it's just a mini-game, but I've waited forever for a game like this on the DC. Are you planning on implementing more stages/items as well as increasing the speed? Also, I almost shut off my DC because the loading time was KILLER. I thought that my system froze! You should release the source to the mini-game. It was TOO COOL!

ANYWAAAAYS, the unlockables aren't the game, so....I'll stop talking about it. The second level had me grinding my teeth and wanting to murder my Dreamcast, but after a few deaths and some exploring, I couldn't believe that this game wasn't linear like I originally thought! A 2D side-scrolling game with such depth! MAN! It's amazing. The English voices seem to randomly cut out thought, which is a little annoying. The voices don't really follow the text too well. I'd glady do some voices if possible in the future. Just please, keep working on this game! This is the most in-depth homebrew game I've played.

P.S. I think it should be Dreamcast exclusive! This system needs more street cred so people will buy it, lol.

[kungpow12345]

well patbier and i will make sure that the next english dub will go by smoothly and I'll make sure that the next version is much better than the first one. I thought the audio dub sync was fine but it was a little fast but we'll work on that.

[patbier]

Second, since you've implemented VMU saving now, it would be nice if the language and dialog options were saved to the VMU, too.

Normally they are. If you select for example german and you play the game. If you reboot, the german language will be selected as the default choice (but you'll have to press A to validate though)

Hm, when you select the language on the first screen the game must automatically change the spoken dialog to that language, too, then because I always have to switch it back to French in the menu.

I prefer to play with French dialog and English subtitles.


...word is bondage...

For this case, you're right ! Thanks, it will be corrected in the next release !

[patbier]

i have a good sound effect kit i can let you use patbier, it has like 2500 sound effects so probably what you want, it's there.

ok, thanks ! you'll tell me more about this on MSN

[patbier]

heh... played it, beat it, love it. is the second mini-game 4 players with humans also? i haven't gotten around to playing it with a friend. It was a COMPLETE shock though, and I know that it's just a mini-game, but I've waited forever for a game like this on the DC. Are you planning on implementing more stages/items as well as increasing the speed? Also, I almost shut off my DC because the loading time was KILLER. I thought that my system froze! You should release the source to the mini-game. It was TOO COOL!

Yes , when you have unlocked a bonus stage, you can play it again in the "bonus game" menu in the principal menu (namely, in the menu when the window is highlighting, move your paddle to go to the videogame station and push A button)

If you launch the Second bonus stage in the bonus stage menu, the game is playable at 1,2,3 or 4 humans. Just connect 2 or more controlers before power on your dreamcast.

ANYWAAAAYS, the unlockables aren't the game, so....I'll stop talking about it. The second level had me grinding my teeth and wanting to murder my Dreamcast, but after a few deaths and some exploring, I couldn't believe that this game wasn't linear like I originally thought! A 2D side-scrolling game with such depth! MAN! It's amazing. The English voices seem to randomly cut out thought, which is a little annoying. The voices don't really follow the text too well. I'd glady do some voices if possible in the future. Just please, keep working on this game! This is the most in-depth homebrew game I've played.

P.S. I think it should be Dreamcast exclusive! This system needs more street cred so people will buy it, lol.

Thanks !

[skar]

Thanks for your suggestions. Please continue to write them, we need them to make the next release better.

Wasn't that hard after all, i guess i took a shortcut in stage 2.2 i wasn't supposed to take (run all the way to the right from the beginning and then jump).

Strange i need to look to this bug

it actually is stage 2.3 if you count in the falling thing (like sweater fish did in his review), the 2nd platformer level of stage 2.

[carbon14]

This is an awesome looking game.

The graphics and music really make it special

[Mr. Jones]

Wow.

Guess I got a reason to grab a CD-R from work.

[No Name]

Just coaxed my dying Dreamcast into playing it. Its quite fun, I always love adventure games.

On a related note, sorry about flaking before, my life was rediculously busy and my internet was acting up. If needed I will re-record what I did, I noticed the sound quality of mine was quite below the rest of the game.

[curt_grymala]

This game is really fun. I can't figure out what to do after unlocking the gate in Stage 1, though.

The beginning of Stage 2 is a lot of fun, but extremely difficult for someone with my limited video-game skills.

Great work on the game. Keep it up.

BTW - I noticed that you spelled Lewis Carrol incorrectly in the final credits.

[ajay()]

This is really cool, well done patbier - I love it

I've been really neglecting dc stuff lately, this has got me right back into it.

[LyingWake]

Pretty cool, I finally got to test the new version. I can't tell you how much it reminds me of Torin's Passage.

[Christuserloeser]

Something very special, this game. A killer app for Dreamcast Wonderful arts too.