Technical Wishlist (not gameplay related stuff...mostly)

[sm4k]

I've really enjoyed what I have played of season one so far, but here's what I would like to see changed in season two:

1) It seems the splash screen that comes up when you double click a season has no option but to launch the game. This is annoying if you accidentally open the icon, or like in my case this morning: I saw that my download of episode six was done, and I proceeded to install it while checking my mail before work. After it was done installing, that splash screen came up to launch the game. Since I couldn't close it, I figured I'd just launch the game and then quit. Unfortunately, I was also forced to watch the entire opening sequence before I could quit. It tacked on about an extra ten minutes to what I was doing. A simple 'x' close button in the corner would be appreciated for when that splash screen comes up and I don't want to play right that minute.

2) Having six different icons for each season clutters things up. I'd like to see a single "Sam and Max" launcher, and then I either pick which episode I want from an in-game menu, or from a unified splash screen to replace the one that each episode currently has (which will have an 'x' close button, right?).

3) Sam and Max apparently does not support wide screen resolutions. With wide screen laptops being so popular, and wide screen LCDs becoming more and more prevalent on desktops, I hope that season two supports wide screen resolutions. I don't really care about the cut scenes taking up the whole screen (I know a lot of that is direction and 'framing'), but it feels silly to have to click twenty times to get Sam in front of Bosco's when I have two inches of blank screen that could cut the clicks in half. Which brings me to my final wish:

4) Click & hold movement. This really seems to be an annoyance only on the wide, scrolling areas in the game. But as I said in point three, it's annoying to click a bunch. Especially when I walk up to Bosco's and accidentally hit the gumball machine. Then of course Sam comments on it's contents... again.

Season one has been great, I'm really looking forward to the sixth episode. I'll likely buy season two reguardless, but changing the above points I think would make me (and I imagine quite few other people) enjoy the experience even more.

[MrSneeze]

My wishlist is: double sized download files (which would suggest: more locations, more dialogue/puzzles/story, better sound compression, maaaaaaybe better graphics). That's not too much to ask, is it? OK, I'll stop now ¬¬.

[David Giles]

I think speed of getting arround is an issue so (at least give the option for):

• Double clicking on an exit to leave straight away,
• Double clicking to run somewhere,
• Right clicking to skip past action sequences as well as dialogue
• as well as the click and hold movement as described above.

Also right click to look would be neat -

• it would need a little more descriptive audio, but could provide clues in a neat way
• you could look at objects with out moving
• even perhaps a way of looking arround if you right click where there are no objects and drag. It could be limited to prevent people realising the lack of detail accross the road from the office etc...

I agree with the widescreen, and launcher surgestions, but also - if you fail to activate the game - don't just lauch the demo!

[MrSneeze]

Originally Posted by David Giles

• Right clicking to skip past action sequences as well as dialogue

Dialogue can be skipped by right clicking already. It also works on some action sequences, depending on what's going on.

[Quuux]

All I really miss is mouse capture, since i have to be careful not to move the mouse too far to the right or it goes onto the next monitor and the game minimizes

[Armakuni]

Originally Posted by David Giles

[*]Double clicking on an exit to leave straight away
[*]Double clicking to run somewhere

These are great suggestions!

[David Giles]

Originally Posted by MrSneeze

Dialogue can be skipped by right clicking already. It also works on some action sequences, depending on what's going on.

You misunderstand me - the suggestion was for right clicking to skip action, as already happens with dialogue.

[Armakuni]

That's not a good idea, you could miss out on some important stuff if you accidentally right click.. I'd rather have the same system as in old Lucasarts games where you can skip stuff by pressing both mouse buttons at the same time.

[ReverendTed]

*Higher-quality audio files for speech.

Emily hinted on the blog that they're looking into a system for quick replacement of sound files, so while we may not see it for the Season 1 DVD, we might see it in the future.

[purple_monkfish]

The right click look function already mentioned.. YES OH GOD YES!
the clicking and walking doesn't bug me too much to be honest.. it's a staple of point and click adventure games.. the easier option is using a keyboard system like Grim Fandango etc, it would work given the 3d nature of the game after all.

Also, if there are going to be more driving scenes.. perhaps some keyboard stuff there? I expected it to go into full keyboard mode like GTA or something not click... it was a bit odd to get used to and a little slow on my pc to react to my clicks.

Widescreen? bah.. I'm still stubbornly using a 17' CRT screen and damnit! I WILL GET ANOTHER! my VGA cable is well... broken.. and I hate LCD screens (don't even talk to me about them damnit, i'm an artist and the colour resolution is WRONG)

[ReverendTed]

I guess I might contribute a gameplay-related issue to the list, despite the subject line.

* More minigames with more depth

It's become clear that the puzzles in an episodic release simply can't have the same depth as a single full-length game, so it makes sense to augment the gameplay experience with some form of skill-based minigame, which would also have the added bonus of increasing replayability (and therefore "value") - something that's been lacking from adventure games of any duration.
As far as adding more depth to the minigames, that's a trickier subject. Of course, everyone here should remember Carbomb from Hit the Road.) I was disappointed that driving around aimlessly in the first episode didn't have some sort of minigame aspect to it.
These wouldn't even necessarily have to be integrated into the story, but usually these sorts of things are done in a way that you have to at least get a minimum score to progress with the story, but you can go back and play for fun if you want.
Suggestions that I could make would be things like some form of Hangman with Sam-and-Max related words, a shooting gallery (like the HtR end credits), a diving minigame on the street where you might have to jump over, drive around, or shoot certain obstacles, any sort of old-school arcade game on Bluster Blaster would be a shoe-in, and I'm trying to think of a way a DDR-style response game would work, but can't really come up with anything right now.

[Yohmi]

Noooooo please, no grim fandango controls :-(

About enhancements, for me, I just would add to have the star on the corner to access the menu, even for the intro : It's being frustrating to watch intros with a smaller resolution than the game...
And I'm also for the sound quality improvement, the widescreen ratio, and the drag button (to walk).

[edit] I hope your post, reverendTed, will not turn this topic in another "here's what I want to see in season two" because there is already tons of them

[tobar]

Originally Posted by ReverendTed

I guess I might contribute a gameplay-related issue to the list, despite the subject line.

* More minigames with more depth

It's become clear that the puzzles in an episodic release simply can't have the same depth as a single full-length game, so it makes sense to augment the gameplay experience with some form of skill-based minigame, which would also have the added bonus of increasing replayability (and therefore "value") - something that's been lacking from adventure games of any duration.
As far as adding more depth to the minigames, that's a trickier subject. Of course, everyone here should remember Carbomb from Hit the Road.) I was disappointed that driving around aimlessly in the first episode didn't have some sort of minigame aspect to it.
These wouldn't even necessarily have to be integrated into the story, but usually these sorts of things are done in a way that you have to at least get a minimum score to progress with the story, but you can go back and play for fun if you want.
Suggestions that I could make would be things like some form of Hangman with Sam-and-Max related words, a shooting gallery (like the HtR end credits), a diving minigame on the street where you might have to jump over, drive around, or shoot certain obstacles, any sort of old-school arcade game on Bluster Blaster would be a shoe-in, and I'm trying to think of a way a DDR-style response game would work, but can't really come up with anything right now.

Also for a mini-game they could play Fizzball.

[AdamG]

The engine just has to have a couple bells and whistles added for Season 2, or people will beep and moan nonstop. Add an "advanced settings" category in the graphic settings menu and let people tweak as many things as safely possible, and add some reflective surfaces and normal maps or something and that should do it.

[maximmortal]

Originally Posted by sm4k

1) It seems the splash screen that comes up when you double click a season has no option but to launch the game. This is annoying if you accidentally open the icon, or like in my case this morning: I saw that my download of episode six was done, and I proceeded to install it while checking my mail before work. After it was done installing, that splash screen came up to launch the game. Since I couldn't close it, I figured I'd just launch the game and then quit. Unfortunately, I was also forced to watch the entire opening sequence before I could quit. It tacked on about an extra ten minutes to what I was doing. A simple 'x' close button in the corner would be appreciated for when that splash screen comes up and I don't want to play right that minute.

I agree with this, although the work-around is Ctrl + Alt + Del to bring up Task Manager and closing the splash screen that way.

[maximmortal]

Originally Posted by Yohmi

Noooooo please, no grim fandango controls :-(

I also agree with this.

Point and click all the way.

[fajerkaos]

Originally Posted by maximmortal

I agree with this, although the work-around is Ctrl + Alt + Del to bring up Task Manager and closing the splash screen that way.

You can't actually do that... Even if you try closing the screen that way the game will still launch

I really hope you guys out there can get a desent launcher til' Season 2, 'cause this one could be really frustrating sometimes :P

[jmm]

Actually you can, just go to the processes tab and search for the game process (i.e: "Sam and Max - Bright Side of the Moon.exe") and hit "End Process".
If the process is listed twice, just end one, the other will follow suit.

[lotr-sam0711]

High Definition Resolutions:
I would agree with having High Definition resolutions. It looks OK on my HD LCD 17' monitor but it could look a lot better.

Stay Point and Click:
Please point and click works great, don't screw up something that already works fine. Besides it's old style adventure gaming and brings back my memories of Myst!

[Cyberlink420]

One of the biggest things I'd like to see is some slightly better driving scenes. The ones in Season 1 were okay, but they got dull quickly, not to mention that there wasn't one at all in Bright Side of the Moon. I think that, if reworked a little, these sequences could easily become the best part of the game, but only if they were a bit more eventful and interesting.

For example, let's say Sam and Max wanted to go back in time. A good way to do this is to have a driving sequence where they have to dodge various obstacles, similar to Episode 1's sequence, until a speedometer in the corner tells them that they're going 88 MPH and launches them through the time stream, a la Back to the Future.

Or, perhaps, Leonard somehow got free and is fleeing with a valuable item. Sam and Max would then engage him in a high speed "boss battle", in which they'd have to fire enough bullets into different parts of his car (tires, lights, etc.), depleting a health meter until it reaches zero and his car explodes, because there's no way in hell he's stopping for anything no matter how beat up his car gets, not as long as the Freelance police are tailing him. Inversely, however, he can fire back at you as well, and if your health bar runs out, then you'll be forced to return to the office and try again with Leonard back at full health.

Ergo, if the sequences had a little more...zing (for lack of a better word), I think that they would be an even more positive asset of the series.