Broken Age (formerly Double Fine Adventure) (Finally complete!)

[bVork]

I wish they'd hurry up and send my email.

Still no email, but I used this and it sent me the Humble page with my key on it: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/keyresender

[James]

Yeah, I've learned to keep time on the Humble releases rather than rely on their e-mails. I've gotten notification days after I've started playing that a game is available.

James

[Hero]

So I didn't back this, but does the Steam pricetag get both parts of the game (that's what I came away with, reading the store description)? It's just part 1 next week, and part 2 whenever?

I'm curious to try it (especially since my backer funds on KS were never validated, meaning I was never 'in' on this project :/), but also conflicted. Outside Iron Brigade/Trenched, I can't remember a Double Fine game that I didn't have serious qualms with. Then again, they seem to be a much better team when making smaller games or adventure stuff like this. But also...there's that whole budget mismanagement nonsense to consider...say what you will in their defense, but it is mismanagement at the end of the day. It's almost as if Double Fine weren't used to that aspect of development, or that a publisher was always there in the past to keep them in line...?

[Frogacuda]

So I didn't back this, but does the Steam pricetag get both parts of the game (that's what I came away with, reading the store description)? It's just part 1 next week, and part 2 whenever?

Anyone who buys Part 1 gets Part 2 when it comes out.

It's almost as if Double Fine weren't used to that aspect of development, or that a publisher was always there in the past to keep them in line...?

No, it's alsmost as if they started without any pre-development work whatsoever. Which is exactly what it was. You can't itemize a budget if you don't even have a complete design doc. They just started people right to work without any of the normal prep being done, so of course they didn't really know exactly how it would play out.

You have to remember that when they set out to do this, the documentary was more the point than anything. When it blew up, the game itself became hugely important, but by then they were already committed to doing it backwards.

[Frogacuda]

So I finished Act 1.

Honestly, it's wonderful. It's clever, well-written, and ends on a big plot point that has me excited for the second Act.

It's about 3 and a half hours long, but fairly large. The short length is because the puzzles are mostly very easy, although not necessarily simple or linear. It's probably a credit to the game's clear design, because I only got stuck a couple times and always unstuck myself on my own, despite there being no hint system. Both stories have a pretty large explorable area, and in terms of the number of screens, this game is already bigger than some of the old Lucas adventures.

In the end, it's still very much half a game, and I'm still eager to play the conclusion, but I'm very happy with the first half. If the second half is solid, it'll be the best adventure game I've played since Machinarium.

[AaronChance]

Yeah, I've only played about an hour, and it's an incredible game. The puzzles are easy, but it's still loads of fun poking and prodding along to the solution. Like the best adventure games, I already know I'm going to be replaying this in the future.

[YellerDog]

I will seek this out when it's inevitably Humble Bundled!

[Frogacuda]

That seems a reasonable course of action, especially because it's still incomplete and ends on a killer cliffhanger. Waiting seems reasonable.

[Diff-chan]

I will wait until forever.

[James]

I really like the world, characters, and story, but having not beaten the game yet, it feels more like a visual novel than adventure game. Do the puzzles turn into something that warrants the word "puzzle" at some point?

James