[T] The Judge's Cup - Round 1 Completed ●○○○○

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SpiritofAce
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Re: [T] The Judge's Cup - Round 1 Completed ●○○○○

Post by SpiritofAce »

Thank you so much for your reviews, both of you! I still don't know how to quote two people at once in the same post, so I'll just have to reply to you both in this post for now until I figure it out.
Your reviews were both great to read, and we've started fixing a lot of the issues already - as you know as Star posted an update earlier. I'll be posting an update shortly too as I've spent the last 3 hour or so working on fixes.
the.armenator wrote:Yeet so I just got through this thing and REALLY enjoyed it. Solid 8/10 cause the writing is good but could use some work, and I guess other people have pointed out some small logical fallacies that I didn't notice.
Since my SoC is in a google doc, I'm going to link it in this spoiler: I'm really excited for Round 2! Thanks for this :)
Thanks, armenator. I'm glad someone on Reddit actually left a review after playing the game. :calisto:
Your SoC was thoroughly detailed and hilarious to read, so thanks a lot for that! Your observations had me chuckling. Kind of like this. :calisto:
I did have one thing that I wanted to check with you, though -
Spoiler : Late Case :
You said that there was no Pursuit music triggered when Phoenix accused Armstrong of being responsible for the thefts. There definitely is, me and Star have checked, and it triggers for us. It should be there, but obviously for you it wasn't for some reason? Maybe it was just a one-off bug?
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SpiritofAce
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Re: [T] The Judge's Cup - Round 1 Completed ●○○○○

Post by SpiritofAce »

Right! Star did a progress update earlier, so I got to work as soon as I got back from college. Have done plenty of fixes, and also Star is working on an animated intro which is going to be added soon. :D
Spoiler : The Judge's Cup Changelog - Round 1, ver 1.02 :
• I've figured out the scrolling issue and most cases of disappearing characters are solved.
• Many frames have been fixed which sounded off.
• Added a text tone sound effect and a beep sound for answering the phone. They both work pretty well.
• Gumshoe transitions in to the Courtroom now, and has some dialogue before his testimony begins, so it is not just straight off the bat. Added more forgetful Judge dialogue.
• The Cross-Examination tutorial now flows properly into the cross-examination.
• 'Witness Testimony' popup no longer keeps repeating.
• Used a wait timer on the introduction frames of Testimony/CE so that both sound effects for the testimony can be used, and also so that transitioning into the cross-examination now happens just as it would in the game.
• Phoenix now suggests that the waitress be called and the Judge accepts this, but more dialogue is added especially between the Judge and Payne to make the transition into a recess less abrupt.
• Maggey should no longer.... zoom in from the left?? as she for some reason did when she first arrives on the stand. I think this was a scrolling issue.
• Changed the music in several parts, especially where players felt it was not fitting. Added a more appropriate song... basically people just want the Pursuit theme :P
• Started work on fixing the extremely long pauses - Star did not define the length of the pauses, so each time a pause was added mid-text it would take forever. We've got a guide we are using for it now, so by tomorrow hopefully all instances of long pauses should be resolved!
• Subdue the Judge in certain instances where he overreacts to the situation.
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Enthalpy
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Re: [T] The Judge's Cup - Round 1 Completed ●○○○○

Post by Enthalpy »

DWaM wrote:
The Anwser wrote:Dunno if this is your guy's fault, but I keep having an issue where if you click through too fast, the sprites stop working. As in all of them. I think it has something to do with all the soft sweeping you have happening in the scene, rather than just hard cutting back and forth between the characters.
Yeah, it's a well-known issue at this point. Saving, refreshing the page and reloading the save should fix it.

(And if it doesn't, refresh the page and load a save before it happened.)
And also a bug that will be fixed, the next time we update AAO...

Do the changes thus far include the point I noted? If so, I'll resume playing.
[D]isordered speech is not so much injury to the lips that give it forth, as to the disproportion and incoherence of things in themselves, so negligently expressed. ~ Ben Jonson
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SpiritofAce
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Re: [T] The Judge's Cup - Round 1 Completed ●○○○○

Post by SpiritofAce »

Enthalpy wrote:
DWaM wrote:
The Anwser wrote:Dunno if this is your guy's fault, but I keep having an issue where if you click through too fast, the sprites stop working. As in all of them. I think it has something to do with all the soft sweeping you have happening in the scene, rather than just hard cutting back and forth between the characters.
Yeah, it's a well-known issue at this point. Saving, refreshing the page and reloading the save should fix it.

(And if it doesn't, refresh the page and load a save before it happened.)
And also a bug that will be fixed, the next time we update AAO...

Do the changes thus far include the point I noted? If so, I'll resume playing.
Yes we believe this is fixed. Was just poor wording on our part in the evidence.
Look forward to seeing your review!
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risefromtheashes
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Re: [T] The Judge's Cup - Round 1 Completed ●○○○○

Post by risefromtheashes »

SpiritofAce wrote:Thank you so much for your reviews, both of you! I still don't know how to quote two people at once in the same post, so I'll just have to reply to you both in this post for now until I figure it out.
Your reviews were both great to read, and we've started fixing a lot of the issues already - as you know as Star posted an update earlier. I'll be posting an update shortly too as I've spent the last 3 hour or so working on fixes.
the.armenator wrote:Yeet so I just got through this thing and REALLY enjoyed it. Solid 8/10 cause the writing is good but could use some work, and I guess other people have pointed out some small logical fallacies that I didn't notice.
Since my SoC is in a google doc, I'm going to link it in this spoiler: I'm really excited for Round 2! Thanks for this :)
Thanks, armenator. I'm glad someone on Reddit actually left a review after playing the game. :calisto:
Your SoC was thoroughly detailed and hilarious to read, so thanks a lot for that! Your observations had me chuckling. Kind of like this. :calisto:
I did have one thing that I wanted to check with you, though -
Spoiler : Late Case :
You said that there was no Pursuit music triggered when Phoenix accused Armstrong of being responsible for the thefts. There definitely is, me and Star have checked, and it triggers for us. It should be there, but obviously for you it wasn't for some reason? Maybe it was just a one-off bug?
Spoiler : Late Case :
Well, I remember the Pursuit music being there, just not at the moment I expected. Let me go find which line specifically, but yeah, there was a moment where it didn't play and I really thought it should've, even if it were just briefly.
EDIT: I replayed that section and the music played this time! Never mind. XD
Also, thanks XD I really try to be casual and memey about how I handle these kinds of things sometimes, because I feel it makes it more engaging. :)
Starora wrote:
SuperAj3 wrote:Hi! I'm giving this case a play through now and so I might share some feedback to help you out:
Spoiler : :
I think Enthalpy pointed some of these out, but I'm writing this as I'm playing.
  • The use of reduced speech (shortening words with an apostrophe) is inconsistent. You use it in some places, but not others. To be more specific. You use "It is" instead of "It's", "I have" instead of "I've", "you are" instead of "you're". It's better to be consistent and use the reduced forms for those terms as it sounds more like natural speech. This ends up sounding a little unnatural when too many are missed in one sentence.
    e.g: Maya says "Yeah! It is us that should be wondering why you are here!", when it would be more natural to say: "Yeah! It's us that should be wondering why you're here!"
    When the characters are reading their scripts though for the mock trial, this can be forgiven though (I can understand scripts sounding a little stiff XD)
  • Some text isn't centred correctly (like the first time you're moved to the District Court)
  • It might just be personal preference, but pauses are used a lot, and I think you can control their length, so some might want to be made a little shorter. It breaks the pacing a little bit. I turned on instant text typing because I was finding I'd click next before all the dialogue would appear, and wasn't sure when a pause was happening and when one wasn't.
  • Pressing Gumshoe's statement about who was at the restaurant and asking "How many tables were there?" added 2 pieces of evidence to the Court Record that weren't mentioned at all in that dialogue (Powers' Coffee and Penny's Coffee).
  • Penny changes to "Ms. Byrde" at one point during the cross examination when pressing the statement "When Miss Nichols started feeling unwell, the waitress took her to the back of the restaurant..."
  • Presenting the wrong evidence in the testimony revealing Maggey's an undercover cop didn't result in a penalty. (That's fine if you don't want any penalties in the case).
What I liked about the case
  • The custom assets are really nice.
  • I like how you've written the characters. It suits their personalities. (Maya's the only one who I think sounds too stiff, but her jokes are good)
  • I like the premise of the case being a mock trial done for TV.
  • I like the stage fright from being on TV causing Phoenix to need a refresher on cross examinations.
  • The jokes and cutaway lines are good. "The Wright Way Lunch" and the "did she think a gavel is a dog" joke XD
  • The trial is well structured so far IMO. It moves a little quickly, but I was able to follow what was happening, and join the dots to present the right evidence.
the.armenator wrote:Yeet so I just got through this thing and REALLY enjoyed it. Solid 8/10 cause the writing is good but could use some work, and I guess other people have pointed out some small logical fallacies that I didn't notice.
Since my SoC is in a google doc, I'm going to link it in this spoiler: I'm really excited for Round 2! Thanks for this :)
Thanks, both of you, for the kind words and helpful feedback! It seems that there was a lot more overlooked than I had suspected, but it shouldn't take too long to fix!
In fact, I have already made a few improvements:
Spoiler : CHANGELOG: The Judge's Cup - Round 1, ver 1.01 :
  • Lots of words have been contracted where needed! (It is safe to say that this problem was clearly my fault... Contracting words doesn't seem to come naturally sometimes. >-<)
  • Grammar, spellings, and phrasing have been changed in many, many places. It is a lot better now, I think.
  • A couple of the early timestamps have been aligned a bit better!
  • Powers' missing headshot has been found! (Looks as if the frame which revealed it must've been replaced at some point, and the action was not put on the new one.)
  • The coffee now appears at the correct place! (Seems there was a problem with a jump to another frame, which, for some reason, decided to make it pick up the evidence.)
  • The name-related mix-up has been corrected. (Yeah, that problem was the result of last-minute changes...)
  • The "contradiction coach" pun has been changed, hopefully to make it more understandable to non-British players. (The idea was that Maya said "trial train", and Phoenix says that it is more of a "contradiction coach", with a coach being a type of bus. If it still doesn't work, further adjustments may need to be made.)
  • Maggey now has the correct headshot, corresponding to her sprites.
  • Given some of Payne's lines to the judge, where they make more sense to be.
  • Some sprites have been changed to make them more appropriate in relation to the dialogue.
  • Fixed a messy transition after the final recess, wherein the timestamp frame still featured the background and sprite from the previous frame.
  • Added a little reference to the structure of the rounds of the competition.
Additionally, I will be working on an intro for the case, but it may take some time, because of the graphics which need to be created.
Further improvements, largely related to images, audio, and cross-examination formatting, are also being worked on!
Yesssssss queen, thanks for taking my tips! Makes me feel super validated, lmao. Good luck with everything, and I'm definitely replaying!
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OUR CASES:
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Starora
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Re: [T] The Judge's Cup - Round 1 Completed ●○○○○

Post by Starora »

Hey, it has been quite some time since the last update on this, but, I assure you, we are still working on it!
The addition of the intro is long-overdue, but, I assure you, is coming soon! I was actually just playtesting it once more to make sure that this work hadn't broken anything, when I noticed that there were a few minor problems which had sprung up at some point. Here are the fixes which I have made this time around:
Spoiler : The Judge's Cup Changelog - Round 1, ver 1.03 :
  • The evidence metadata for the Case File had vanished for some reason??? Well, it is back now.
  • Aligned the time and location text when first entering the lobby. It was a bit lopsided.
  • Replaced some transitions (i.e. before witness introductions, testimonies, and cross-examination scenes) - they are a lot smoother now! (If I remember correctly, the "fade" function did not yet exist when this case was first made, so this was more a thing which needed updating, rather than an error.)
  • Looks like Payne wandered off for a bathroom break when pressing the 4th statement of the 1st Cross-Examination. He is back now, and I made sure that he washed his hands, too.
  • Again, Payne was up and out of his seat (he really is a pain, huh?). He has been put back where he should be.
  • Removed a stray black frame which somehow got in there.
  • There were a lot of missing/untimed pauses. I think that I found most of them (my hands are cramping up now...).
  • A full stop had escaped when Gumshoe is talking about lunch... It was not that important, but it is a change, so it is listed here.
  • I also added in a comma, and a captial letter elsewhere... Exciting stuff.
  • There was a bit where Phoenix was moving his mouth along to his thoughts, so I fixed that.
Well, that was tedious.
If anyone spots any more problems, I would like to know, so I can get things fixed as quickly as possible!

...Anyway, it looks like the next update is going to be the addition of the intro scene (just waiting on a few little bits now...).
I am sorry that it has taken so long (oh my goodness, is that OVER TWO YEARS!?), but we are getting back on track, and it shouldn't be too long until we can make an estimate on how much is left to do on Episode Two!
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Starora
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Re: [T] The Judge's Cup - Round 1 Completed ●○○○○

Post by Starora »

Just a couple of changes to Round One which I must note!
Spoiler : The Judge's Cup Changelog - Round 1, ver 1.04 :
  • The intro is now viewable! The animation was quite a task, so I hope that you enjoy it!
  • A little additional dialogue has been added to the prosecution's opening statement.
  • Now with 100% more bad jokes from the judge.
  • After much bother, I finally figured out how to host custom audio files, so the missing music and sound effects should now be back!
  • A couple of minor grammatical errors spotted and corrected whilst testing the other changes.
And that should be Round One completed, now that it has its intro!
Hopefully, we should be able to focus on Round Two now (I started writing the trial segment the other day!), but, if there are still any remaining problems with Round One (or if any issues suddenly decide to crop up in the future), please let us know!
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