itch.io

"Thank you for playing!"

I won't be, just FYI. I decided to try the itch.io app to download the game (I do not play games online), and the downloaded files don't run by themselves, I need ScummVM. As it happens, I do have ScummVM, but there are only so many hoops I'm willing to go through to play something, and I've hit my limit.

Of the two reasons you gave, one was related to a frustrating event that happened but is over now; and the other is an admission of bugginess - you are essentially saying "the game is still buggy and I'll still fix it so I won't make if available for download because it's tricker to fix if I distribute it like that". Fine; if it's THAT buggy, it's  best not to waste time on it anyway. Because, from what you're saying, if you'd reached a point where you'd stopped tinkering, you'd have made it available. Incidently, I notice that the last update was exactly one year ago today.

By all means mange your creations as you see fit. This is merely feedback. Consider that for every person who gives you feedback like this, there are a number of people who feel the same way but just don't bother to say anything. Accessibility and availability are key things. It's one thing which you can do or not do; and a plurality of players (the people who, well, are to play the game you made) who are affected. Even if it's only two players being inconvenienced, that still more than the one person who is inconvenienced by putting the game available offline. I hope this has been useful to you.

FWIW: using the itch.io program downloads the AGS data but no interpreter, so unless I use ScummVM or something it's still not possible to play the game. So that's two applications I have to use to play the game offline.

Just an FYI; just stating facts. I personally have ScummVM, so it's fine. It's just interesting to expose how the developer can choose to do one thing, which is make it available for download, and it's one thing they have to do and all the users for the platform have access to the files in a standard way; or the the developer can choose not to do it, and then every user who wants to have it is inconvenienced.

Meh. I've used up enough energy on this one. It's working now, but I do not appreciate having to go through such hoops to play it offline unnecessarily, so I'll just delete it and pass on it.

Ah, a difference in the graphics, I see! Should be worth getting them all and comparing them, then. Thanks!

Hi, what is the difference between the various models available for download, please? Cheers.

I played this years and years ago. I never forgot it, and I always bring it up when I'm speaking to people who I think don't quite get what it's like to have gender dysphoria, and could stand to experience a good, honest, first-hand account. Together with Caelyn Sandel's "Cis Gaze", this game has the power to make the player a better person, through its openness and honesty. It can be the very first step in educating a cis person about something they will probably never experience.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. You've made the world a better place. Like I say, I played it years and years and years ago. I never forgot it, nor its lessons.

Very nice indeed. The strongest point of the game is, obviously, the art - and the animations, while not being numerous, are "just right". While the game is, mostly, visually static - most of the times that something happens, the screen fades out, and then fades in again after it's been done, so that it didn't have to be animated - the art is vibrant enough, and the game has enough life (the Podlings moving around, spiders, small elements of the bacgkround which animate, and a beautiful thunder/lightning effect in rooms with windows), that it really doesn't matter if it takes this little shortcut sometimes.

I preferred to play it in french. I felt that the english version was competent, but lacked the character of the french lines.

The game has a "danger/safety" meter, but it's very easy to stay safe all the time. I daresay you'd only be in danger if you made it so on purpose.

Mechanically, most (not all, but most) of the game is one long fetch quest or another. Now, by rights this should be boring, because you're literally going over to one person to get A; they tell you you need to go to Z to get B; you do, and at Z they tell you you need to go to Y to get C. This is only not boring if the game is interesting and engaging.

Well, I was interested and engaged. Even if the beautiful backgrounds don't have many interactions or hotspots, they had life (those little animations I spoke earlier about); the characters, even though they didn't speak a lot, had personalities. The puzzles were fine and fair (except for a pixel hunt. Hint: look carefully around the kitchen area).

It's a nice game, with terrific visuals, and a story that manages to progress somewhat unpredictably, and which echoes the heart of the main film.

No reason not to play this. But if you can play it in french, it's simply better. :)

Ah. The Stranga universe. Thanks for that clarification!

Helps a lot, many thanks! :-D

Incidently, if you could be so kind as to indulge my organizational crazyness, would you call this the "Big Sister" trilogy/series, or something?...

Or, is it recommended to play both the original and the remaster? As in,

1 - My Big Sister, 2 - Ashina, 3 - My Big Sister Remastered, 4 - Red Bow?

Hi, between the prequels and the release dates and there not being a "series" name I'm getting confused. I enjoy playing games in the order they were released, because that's usually the order that makes most sense in terms of how the information is given to the player, although it may mean it's not chronological.

So let me see if I've got this straight. What is your - you, the author, the person who will know best :) - recommended order to play your games?

1 - My Big Sister Remastered, 2 - Ashina, 3 - Red Bow?

Or has the Remaster of Big Sister made it so that you recommend playing Ashina first? If I understand correctly, My Big Sister came first, so that was the first game that showed your universe to players, so I am going on the assumption that that's the way to go, and that Ashina may be best enjoyed if you already know a teeny little bit about it.

About your other series, that one isclear enough, "Just ignore them" first and "Brea's story" second, knowing that it's a prequel.

Ok, I'll consider BtDC1 to be kinda like Leisure Suit Larry 4, then. ;-D Thanks for the clarification!

Hi, just want to confirm, the game file is "Before the Dark Crystal II". Is there a "Before the Dark Crystal I"?

Well, since I did say "there should be a way", I appreciate the reply. Now I know there's a way.

I still don't think it's a good idea for the designers not to make an offline version available, and I'm certainly not going to download an application exclusively for the privilege...

...but you addressed exactly what I said, and provided me with a possible solution. Much obliged.

Did you consider making a page for this at BoardGameGeek, Print and Play category?

You can get 200 more points. Just to give you something to hunt for. :)

Pretty nice. Unfortunately, having been spoiled by Portal (and Complex really looks like Shodan), I was rather waiting for a twist that never came.

Also, the notice by the elevator door doesn't seem to be readable. That's a pity; it's the thing I was most interested in, since it's something outside the area of the experiment.

There wouldn't happen to be more than one ending, would there? Just the one?

(my final score: 1400 + 4 eggs)

Thanks for the reply, I must say I'm surprised; I thought the save function in AGS was always present, and if you didn't specifically disallow its F5 shortcut it would still be there. I re-downloaded AGS and I see that the empty game template doesn't include that, what a strange choice. Not a good one, I'm afraid. I'd thought you'd specifically gone there and removed the function.

Well, things are quite unclear when we're beginners, so whatever happened, happened, and that's the end of it. Thank you very much for the clarification.

I am writing this post in the spirit of constructiveness and giving pause for thought.

Have you considered that, being in the position where you are giving a player a cheat-code (or debug-code, I believe) because the game doesn't allow saving, it's a more awkward and less desirable position than if you have allowed saving at all? After these many years, what are your current thoughts on that particular design decision?

Consider that players can play the game through ScummVM, and can save the game that way. Do you figure those players are having more or less enjoyment out of the game? And are they having the experience you envisioned or is your vision crippled by this save-game functionality?

(An afterthough: if there was a glitch, and I'm not saying there is, in which Antik-sova couldn't complete the game because of a bug, that would be another circumstance in which it's usually a good rule of thumb to allow saving - there could have been a workaround, possibly. The other usual rules of thumb are the well-known stuff like power cuts or batter depletion, unexpected game-crashing or game-breaking bugs - sorry, but they come up even when designers think they don't -, real life intruding unexpectedly, and just plain needing a to take a break. I'm afraid disallowing saving is a design choice fraught with peril. What are you thoughts about it these days?)

Just FYI, a readme file that's all in caps is not easy to read.

Thanks, you just cleared almost 700mb of storage space for me! :-D

Great to know, cheers!

I read LotR and watched the films, but no more than that, it's not a "thing" for me. Is it still possible to enjoy and play this game to completion, or is Rings of Power knowledge necessary?

(if you're wondering "how did I find this game then?", the answer is AGS. AGS is certainly a "thing" for me)

And do we need both or can we delete the Painted Hills data? Asking because I have a lot of adventure games in a portable device, so storage space is very valuable and I'd rather delete whatever isn't necessary.

To whomever it may concern, the information that is currently lacking is that the two files available are two different games; the game and its sequel. Hvac-2.7 from 2025 is not, as one might surmise from the sparse text "New Release Aug2025 / Full update new ver", an updated version, but rather a new actual game.

Looks like a lovely game, but I only play games offline - which is pretty normal for adventure games. Looks like I'll have to give your lovely game a miss, since you decided not to have a simple "download" option.

There should be a way to download embedded games, to play offline with ScummVM, from pages where the authors unilaterally decided not to make them available. Seems to be a growing trend.