Haven 2 - Not with a Bang, But a Whimper

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/5295/hav2.png
It's hard to fault an indie game for its engine. Especially an indie game made by a single developer whose had less than a year's experience. However, [user]Cleril[/user]'s games can't be completely exempt from this criticism. Although the low development time could play a factor into how the game ultimately flows, the true fault plays into the very nature of its author, and titular hero.

Haven 2 is a sequel to the original, an abandoned project whose full length could perhaps be gracefully set at an hour. Given that it was the creator's first foray into the world of game-making, and in a perpetual state of alpha, this could almost be forgiven. Factoring in engine only adds to the reasons the original game has for being less than stellar. This is understandable, if not wholly comforting while sitting behind the keyboard to experience the game.

Haven, and its sequel Haven 2, pride themselves in being "Non-Combat RPGs," which for the sake of this review, fills the same role as a visual novel. This means that the majority of the game is hinged on the writing. Haven was a spectacular failure in that aspect, as the writing was mono-dimensional, and the effects and map design failing to compliment the sprite work and music, none of which suited the writing except that the whole thing played out like a pessimist's wet dream.

The titular character, a severely schizophrenic poet, has been locked away for his incomplete actions in the first game, and is facing a life sentence in solitary confinement. The game begins with Cleril being roughed along a hallway, and ultimately flung into his cell for crimes unnamed and unclear. The beginning plays along as an interactive cutscene, where the player controls but has no influence on the events.

This scene sets not only the tone for a majority of the game's writing, but also for the general interactivity of the player within the narrative. A majority of the points in the game offer the illusion of choice without the true presence thereof. It ends up feeling like a slanted experience, in which the player would be better off reading these events in a book. This would enable the writer to manipulate perspective, sequence of events, and atmosphere. However, as a game, it enables the player to play, but gives them no choice, no control, and ultimately pads the gameplay and experience to a similar if repetitive adventure. The current alpha, allegedly 90 minutes of gameplay, would likely drag monotonously for the duration.

However, my build lead me to an impassable room half an hour into the game. Make of that what you will.

The story, as it was, centers around Cleril's instantaneous devolution into insanity, and his mind's metaphors and visuals to help cope with the monstrous decline of a departing mind. This tone is uniform throughout, and ends up bogging the game down with a pessimistic attitude that was omnipresent in the prequel, and frustratingly more so in this title. The Jester went from being a light-hearted and affable character, if occasionally over-enthused toward his chosen profession, into a demented mind of humor and madness. The parallels between this character and the Joker are possible, but vary in the methods of the characterization. While the Joker has a light tone but a demented setup, the Jester offers a harsh and demented dialect, but a relatively tame series of consequences.

The Stranger, a character meant to be the cold, aloof, and distant part of Cleril's mind is played to represent the sociopath inside the poet. His lack of face, and lack of facial recognition in general, seems to allude to the strange and unknowns within all minds. A marriage of the unconscious and conscious minds. This character has little representation, as his screen time is quite short, but his message's subtleties were lost to the game's tendency to over-write.

The Writer is the light-hearted and poetic part of Cleril, whose pleasant disposition from Haven seems to have taken a permanent vacation, liberal and often cheery musings having been replaced with blind obsession with Cleril's repressive pessimism and unending arrogance. His character goes from observational and poetic to bland and wishy-washy. Considering this is a fourth of the world's representation, he leaves a sour taste in what is already a sub-par experience.

The Flirt, the fourth and most confusing of Cleril's personalities, is a female whose form seems to center in the romantic snippets and obsessive libido. This character plays out like an abstracted form of sexuality and romance. Her problem, including Cleril's own insanity, is lack of depth. The Flirt is characterized by her lust for the indulgences, which is both physical and chemical in nature. Her character's sequences are the most unique within Cleril's mind, but lack any depth, and alternate between stereotypical and flat.

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/9408/haven2screen3.jpg
Part of the problem with the game is the over-reliance on the effects. These added a certain "beyond control" feeling for an earlier (and chronologically, later) title by Cleril, Peakaboo, but ends up hampering the player's ability to experience the world in Haven, rather than in the world that Peakaboo better represented.

These effects, coupled with the dark and brooding tone, exist to direct the player's impression of the prose. The insanity is centered in an off-color mind, where a majority of the narrative takes place. The direction makes it so that the player only experiences a specific set of circumstances, and the writing takes further pains to include poetry and riddles that cement the feel of the game, regardless of what mood the player may bring to the experience.

This speaks to a flaw within all of Haven and Haven 2 that went unaddressed. The writing is too introspective, and in its single-minded purpose loses the influence of the player to the narrative. It's hard not to fault Haven for its short-comings, but the biggest flaw comes in repeatedly telling the player something, rather than showing them. Aside from occasional snippets of characterization from the Jester or the Stranger, there is little character growth. Cleril's mind and tone remain unchanged from one title to the other, and across a year of development spanning two titles, the character has learned nothing. If anything, his regression into one mind is even more pervasive as time goes on.

As a primarily philosophical and psychological horror novel, Haven 2 completely fails to accurately probe the depths of the human mind. It insists on a single, solitary world view whose failings are illustrated by the result of the narrative, but not within the narrative itself. Each word, poem, and graphic simply mean to tell a story, instead of showing the player an experience that enables the growth of philosophy or wisdom. The best narrative will do so without a word on the subject. This one runs it into the ground, and fails to even touch on the most remote of premises.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/786/haven2screen1.png
As a piece of narrative, Haven 2 is such an overwhelming letdown because of everything it tries to be, and how little of it the game ultimately accomplishes. The world is too controlled to really represent the chaos of a man losing his grip on both his mind and reality. The writing fails to yield any depth, both for the character and his world. The characters external to Cleril's mind, few and far between as they are, very rarely use the opportunity to contrast the complete world to his decaying mental state. However, even this growth would be stifled by the character's lack of stability. His mind is unstable from the first line, and devolves so rapidly that its descent is indistinguishable from his normal attitude.

The first visit to Cleril's mental "Meadow" poses a series of questions. It asks if Cleril - and by extension the player - wishes to know how to cope with silence, insanity, and the impending mortality. (As pictured on the left.) This game, and its philosophies, have taught me that I want nothing to do with the practice, lest I have to play through it again.

Bottom Line: The short development time, its creator's impatience with the complexities of the scenario, and the over reliance on direction to fill the gaps in the writing produce an experience unlike anything else out there. And for good reason.

Recommendation: Skip it. There's little appeal here, and the psychological implications are better handled in multitudes elsewhere.

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

Hm, well, as a reviewer I just see the only issue being that you don't back up a lot of your statements. You say short development time but don't offer any numbers, my impatience but again don't offer any details, and you miss writing on a lot of basic game oriented things. You don't mention the music, the step up of gameplay from the two games, and the change in Haven 2 to a more linear but still replayable game. You pretty much just keep speaking of the writing and never get onto any of that.

The point I made early is that the writing will make or break the game. As a player, I hardly noticed the music, the "step up" of gameplay, and the changes. I spoke on the writing because that's what had importance to me. By the time I had finished played, the cosmetics couldn't draw my attention away from the tone and style of the writing. Any writing-heavy game, like Indigo Prophecy / Fahrenheit will also have this problem. Having been about a year, I can still explain every quirk in the writing I disliked, but I couldn't even hum a single tune from the game.

As a reviewer, I'm limited to the most important points for me. For me, the narrative was the piece that needed the most attention, and correction. I could write a supplement piece, but it would be pretty standard.

Given that I got stuck: the cosmetic pieces, such as being able to mold the meadow to my own likes had little effect on the overall theme. The writing made it so that this was an arbitrary decision, and didn't have much of a feeling of personality. It meant a character with a clearly defined personality allowed the player a minimal interaction in as far as the aesthetics go. It's like the roof colors on Animal Crossing. Neat, but ultimately pointless.

The music was a tone-setter. As a sound designer, the fact that I didn't notice the music speaks for it's effectiveness. The more obtrusive a soundtrack, the more likely it is to be noticed. Given that the tone of the game came off very clearly, that means the music did its job. Clean, succinct, and effective. There's little else of interest to say on the subject. Perhaps if I went through the game again listening for it, but that seems like it's defeating the purpose.

As for the minor gameplay changes, a lot of design decisions were tooled to play into the writing angle. How you make decisions in The Flirt's quests, for example, lean heavily on how it influences the result of the narrative. Theoretically anyway...

There are a few glitches in the game. The later part of the meadow is littered with poems, but these notes will change shape when interacted with. This is because the events will turn to face the hero, but the items in the sprite database turned are just different objects. I just know that from my RPG Maker experience.

As well as that, a lot of design decisions, such as the slow down and voice/graphic overlays often hamper the player's ability to play the game. Specifically, the Flirt's "picnic" remind me that I'm playing a game rather than letting me get immersed. The slow movement speed, plus the teleporting, makes it so that a good ten minutes of game time is spent actually trying to walk 10 or so paces. This is artificially limiting, and serves little purpose within the narrative compared to how immersion-ruining the experience is. Little quirks like these litter the game, not to mention that I got stuck in a room with no sense of closure.

I disagree with a lot of your points. Firstly, the short dev time you state Haven 2 has. You realize I've spent maybe 200 hours or so on this game? No sure, that's a short dev time compared to say, Bioware. However, considering I'm one guy, it's a damn long dev time. My proof? Well, ever hear of Cactus Games?

I dunno if he still does but at one point he placed the time it took to make all of his games. The majority of them took him about a week to make. Haven 2, while not even completed yet, has taken 200+ hours. Divide 200 by 24 = 8.3 (repeating). So while you can spout me putting in a short dev time for Haven 2, I've spent more than a week on it, more than CactusSquid spends on the majority of his games.

And theoretically, using the Unreal Engine and provided models, you can make a first-person shooter in a week. However, you're building a game whose competition can boast 200+ hours of gameplay, rather than 200 hours of development time. Instead of using the time as a defense for your time, consider the stance that you're continually releasing games with short gameplay time and all of whom will either die in alpha, or will boast thirty minute play-time or less.

Instead of pointing out Cactus Games, I direct you to Pixel. He's a single-man Japanese developer who built the engine, the audio creation software, and did the art work for the game Cave Story. By himself, he created a game with roughly 20 hours of gameplay, with no audio or music training, that has one of the most celebrated art styles, gameplay mechanics, and soundtrack. If you're looking for recognition, step up to Pixel's level. He worked hard and long on a very good game. Until you can say you've achieved that, I will continue to point out your failings. It's not out of spite, it's that pointing out what's wrong is more constructive than pointing out what's right.

I myself am bummed you don't discuss the original soundtrack, how the gameplay has improved drastically from Haven (it has, that's objective, a lot of what you say here is subjective, like your opinion on the writing). You also state the writing does a lot of telling and not showing, yet I see no examples offered. Not to say you're incorrect, just stating that if you will speak be sure to support the speaking.

The beginning of the game, the white-text overlay tells the player "Cleril has gone insane." We are told what mental illness he has, and where he's being put for it. From the character, I see no signs of this. The subtleties of his quirks are represented in an abstract manner in his mind, rather than the results of his actions. An example of showing would be to start the game in the manner Indigo Prophecy did. Or maybe contrast what Cleril was thinking versus what he was actually saying. Anything could go to show the player the illness, rather than it being narrated on the fly by unnamed characters.

Furthermore, characters like The Stranger speak on what he is, rather than letting context of his personality imply it. His "impartial eye" mission speaks more for his character, but because it is overexplained at the end, it flirts more with telling the player why rather than showing it with the design choice. That is what I mean.

You say the player can experience only a "specific set of circumstances." Well firstly, who are you to say how interpretation takes part in Haven 2? Secondly, you have freedom of choice. Yet again, when you mention Haven 2 has an illusion of choice, you do not give examples, and it does not have an illusion of choice.

The Writer, first quest. You're told to write a poem. You have two options for poetic pieces, both of whom center on the tone the game keeps. Personally, I empathized with neither option. However, I was given the illusion of choice to write my own poem. It broke ties with my character, so that I was given two choices I didn't agree with, and was forced to consider it my "choice" in molding Cleril. It was the illusion of interaction, whereas either option still made me feel apart from the character, rather than a part of the character.

What your failing to take into consideration is the fact that it's not a completed game. A lot of what you say is tracked and used. For example, The Flirt will say different things if you deny her in the second quest only, the first + second quests, and none of the quests. She will react according to your choices.

Right, but you're meta-playing. On my first and second playthroughs, these events were unclear. The choice option doesn't work if the player can barely notice them. Speaking as a player who's experienced the game his own way twice, with slight variations, I'm allowed to comment on what I say. If this really had such a large effect, then why didn't I see it?

The mistake here is you're taking my criticism from your perspective. Imagine I'm a player completely withdrawn from you as a developer. Speaking solely on your product, the differences in replay value were limited, as I saw little result in how I would try to change the game. Ultimately, I got the same experience both times, and this speaks to the fact that the implied replay value didn't work for me.

Beyond that, you are allowed to even inflict a painful choice on Cleril, changing his graphic. I fail to see how that is an illusion of choice as you say.

Can you really tell yourself "This is how I perceive the worst possible changes within Cleril's life." and mean it? Little changes affect the game cosmetically, but its effects on the character are minimal, and the significance of these actions is actually lost in Cleril's endless turmoil. The writing hampered the game's ability to communicate the gravity of a lot of these choices, and as a result, it translated poorly in the game.

The game has to speak for itself. The fact that this review is so negative on the writing speaks for how the narrative doesn't do that. It ends up coming across as preachy and aggressive. The developer's personal philosophy bleeds into the work, and it communicates a message separate from the events in-game. It speaks more for how the developer wanted to tool the player, rather than letting the player perceive and experience.

I'm not saying any of your thoughts above are wrong, I simply fail to understand how you got to these conclusions, and understand how you do not show any support to a lot of your claims. You're rather focusing on the subjective writing rather than objective materials. You state the game has a depressing tone, well, so does your review sir. So which of us is more depressing? I'd wager to say the review if I will.

That doesn't matter. The game's review is my perception of a game and its elements translated into a review by me. My play experience was peppered by the subjective experience. Speaking as a writer, I spoke primarily on the craft. The craft of the writing is piece-work at best. Objectively, the glitches in gameplay hamper the unique quirks the game is supposed to celebrate. The basics of game design often felt rushed, and incomplete. This could be due to your first game dying in alpha, but you didn't polish the basics before working on the side things such as the customized soundtrack, or the graphic overlays.

For example, the basics of movement, map design, and camera were a little choppy at times. It's not a bad flaw, but considering how advanced some of the graphic effects and minor details appear, the lack of foundation looks unprofessional and shoddy. A few elements in the maps feel sparse, hasty, and distracting. Certain key events take place by making the player go extra distance, or have to maneuver around obstacles that serve no purpose rather than aesthetically. The meadow with all of the poems comes to mind, as there's no need to make the player go through the maze-like corridors, but it forces them to do so several times to reach all four rooms.

The sprite work is clean, if a little overburdened by graphics and effects at times. There were moments where getting through the game were in spite of the mechanics, rather than thanks to them. This feels limited, and breaks immersion.

You also say a rather bullshit statement. "The best narrative will do so without a word on the subject." What does that even mean? To my knowledge, you're saying that if a book about child abuse mentions child abuse it is apparently impossible for the book to be the best narrative on the subject because it lets the reader know that it's talking about child abuse. That's just so....facepalm worthy sir. That's like saying Beloved is a terrible book about slavery because all of the main characters are slaves and it's made clear that they are.

This is a derivative of "Show, don't tell." Look at Elie Wiesel's Night for example. Very rarely, if ever, will the book say "Nazis are bad." The point of the narrative is to show what being in Auschwitz was like, and how terrible and tragic the book's events are. The character never once says "This is horrible, the nazis are bad people." It's all communicated through the medium. I was left with a sickening taste in my mouth, because the events got me there, not because the author told me I should.

As a player, we're told Cleril is insane, and every word he speaks starts with either a pessimist world-view, or "woe is me" style dialog. We're told Cleril feels awful, and excepting a few graphic overlays, we really don't feel it. We don't get to see him unravel. He doesn't snap at any characters, or yell when he's alone in his cell. He doesn't emote, he dictates. "I feel bad, because..." The player should see the signs, and let their own impressions and observations fuel the insanity, the disappointment, the soul-crushing defeat. Instead, we're just told.

What? Should I have made Haven 2 talk about puppies instead to better explain the narrative? That makes utterly no sense, I'm not the only one to go "What does that even mean?" regarding that statement of yours. Should Mass Effect 2 take place in the caveman era now as to be a better sci-fi narrative? Based on your statement, it should, which is silly.

No, I'm speaking on philosophy. Your poems all directly address a sinking, drowning feeling. Directly. Instead, there could be some allegory, some symbolism, some metaphor to indirectly address it. Think Inigo Montiya's quote, direct and forward. "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die." Contrast that with V from V for Vendetta, whose actions speak more to his character than when he says he wants vengeance. The characters slowly discover more about him, he says nothing on it. Shown, not told.

Thanks in any case for choosing to review Haven 2. I simply feel you've done a lacking job as a reviewer (missing details on basic things) and are more subjective in your views than objective (the writing in the game is subjective, the minority dislikes it to be honest, and this review is essentially all about the writing. In other words, purely subjective.).

As a gamer, I feel you're lacking on basic things. Your RPGs, which generally require large teams to make expansive, are rushed. I wouldn't want a game to only have 200 hours in development time as a publisher. However, they're often limited by how long the publisher can wait before pushing a product out the door. To use the earlier example, Pixel spent five years on his game. Five years. That's about a fourth of your total time alive.

You have no deadline, no upper limit on what you can do. You can spend the time to polish, absorb, ask players to play, review, edit, change. You often try to rush your product, content to push quantity over quality. Had you spent all of this development time on a single project - for example, the original Haven - the result would be cleaner, crisper, and more polished. However, you've attempted to develop Haven, Fallen, Duel, Peakaboo, Split, and Haven 2 in that time.

The flaws in this game, from my point of view, stem from two major roots:

(1) Your unwillingness to give your games the time of day necessary to build up the proper steam. You rush from project to project, impulsively jumping from idea to idea until you feel like you like one, then you give it a good 250 hours before throwing it away. I can assure you that few books were written in a total of ten day's time. Few movies. Few games. You're trying to defend a medium with a number, but relatively, your direct competition has more patience, more time in development, and more experience than you. You're defending the flaws and quirks as "well, it's in alpha," and that's BS. Minecraft, a game sold in alpha stages originally, was more polished than this. You're making excuses, and this is bad because of...

(2) Your refusal to adopt criticism. Your writing consistently shows the same flaws in craft. You have a bad habit of telling, rather than showing. You speak too directly on your worldview instead of letting it translate into your worlds. You take too direct a hand in what you demand your audience to see rather than letting them get there themselves. Look at the movie Bridge to Terabithia, and how it translates the views of the author and its experiences by the events of the narrative. You continue to write for the same tone, same characters, same style, and rarely deviate. It ends up making all of your projects single-dimensional, and stale.

To point, I would argue you're developing for the wrong medium. Your work seems better suited for a novel or movie. As games, they just lack... depth. At the very least, they work work better as text-based or flash.

To that end, I give up. This is the fourth review for you, and I find I'm hitting on the same points every single time. You attack my review with comments of how it's insufficient and subjectively aggressive. I write these reviews for you benefit, and you instead favor giving me judgement for my opinions.

Perhaps I could give you more carte blanche if I felt like you genuinely took criticisms to heart. However, I feel like you're happy with your tone and style, and refuse to change it. More power to you for standing up for your convictions, but I think it's just not for me.

 

[UnusualStranger]

Valid ideas and thoughts.

Alright, lets see if I can clear a little bit of air here.

From what I understand from you, NewClassic, you are largely trying to point out to Cleril that he needs to sit back and look at his projects, and possibly get someone to go over his scripts. I can very much see the point in which you are making, where having to read text telling you what is going on is somewhat....slow paced, and perhaps not really your way of doing things.

However, I think you are also saying that instead of pushing out a game and numbers, that he needs to understand that his writing style needs some changing, and perhaps gameplay style isn't as enjoyable as games are usually portrayed. You figure that the game would be better suited to be much faster, and not push you around in a maze. You don't want to be told all the time that things are going on, and if you read text saying you can do something, you want to be able to or have at least a decent illusion of, you having a say in it.

Regardless, it might be better for me to say that you prefer to figure things out for yourself, but want some sort of information that makes it so that your imagination can't simply make the game what you want it to be by simply making huge assumptions about things. You would like general direction, and actions much more than a text game at times, mostly cause you figure the writing not quite up to the task, or explains everything when it shouldn't.

Response

Alright Cleril, you have some good stuff going for you too. You are doing the best with what you have, and the engine you have in place to do everything. You find yourself improving, and are doing all you can to make the mood make sense, and with your graphics portraying all you can.

You like your criticism to be backed up with valid examples, so you can later look at those very things and tweak and correct them. Its just how you work, and it makes sense to me. Also, you figure that if people don't say anything about the other things in the game, they are blatently leaving them behind, and ignoring what you have been doing your best to fix.

Just thinking that perhaps while you can take the reviews, I think its more of a "Sometimes, things just don't come out as flashy as they want them to." I figure NewClassic was expecting a hell of a big game and new experience, but when it came out so quickly, he began to wonder as the game didn't seem to be a huge improvement because you were rushing and because you didn't realize the flaws. You do realize them, just NewClassic doesn't think you are taking the time to truly address them.



You have gone a little far in this posting thing, I think. A little on both ends, and a bit of a communication error on both ends too.

Regardless, this is just random Stranger trying to see if he can get you guys to see what is going on.

 

[minakorocket]

Before I begin, I want to say that I am impressed that a single person made this. It is something I cannot do--not without a lot more classes and such at least.

I am not very good with my words and my opinion is about as important as a speck of dirt on my lawn but... I could not get into the story. This is the not the fault of the game designer--it is a problem with myself, the player. There was a time and place this game may have been enjoyable for me when I was striving to be 'dark, emo, and too cool for everything else' stage of my life. I find the writing to be confusing or teenager angst portrayed. I know there is a crowd and a market for those people and I am certain they will love this game.

I think what could have really improved the game would be maybe a proofreader or someone who went through and checked the dialogue for you. Just someone to offer advice or some grammar corrections to make the story a bit less confusing.

Just my dumb opinion and honestly, it does not matter.

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

I can agree that yes, 200+ hours is short dev time compared to many, many games like Pixel or Notch. Namely, there games are entirely different in every way from mine. Pixel made a 2D side scrolling shooter. That instantly makes gameplay, bam, right out the door the gameplay comes. I have to craft gameplay as I don't make 2D side scrolling shooters which instantly provide a basis for gameplay. Haven 2 has 1.5 hours of game time, considering the fact I've spent 200+ hours working on it, that's a perfectly 100% fine ratio of numbers. If Pixel has 20 hours in his game with 5 years working on it, I think I'm fine. The gameplay between Cave Story and any of my games is so drastically different. Surely you have a point saying how I should focus more on the numbers I provide than on the numbers I use. I agree, however, take into the account that unlike Pixel, making a 2D Shooter, I'm making a non-linear game. Gameplay is not solid like it is in Cave Story, the players of Cave Story never once had to think about the gameplay going from 2D shooter to hidden object fun.

In this, you're confusing game time with game quality. The narrative of Cave Story is succinct in as much as it needs to be, communicates the narrative as best as it can, and does so in a compelling and interesting way. In my experience with Haven 2, it is not the same way. There are moments where too much is said. The Jester, after the first sign in the meadow, is an example of this. He is basically a vehicle for exposition.

His personality doesn't come across clearly, and what of it does has the small requisite experience with previous stories. I had an easier time understanding what he meant, but five persons I was playing with didn't. Even though they couldn't understand his role, they still felt he was too exposition heavy, and didn't like his character. One compared him to the Old Man in Pokemon Red / Blue, who taught you how to use Pokeballs.

Contrast this with the first meeting with the Writer, a moment where not enough is said. It was unclear to the persons I was playing with as to why the Writer was the way he was, and what Cleril's interactions meant for the sake of the narrative. None of us could figure out the significance of the scene, despite replaying it for the sake of assured clarity.

Haven 2 does that, it goes from quiz show to horror show. With no basis of gameplay, constant gameplay, it can be expected that not every quest is the shining epitome of gold. Not all quests are made equal anyway.

I agree, but can they really be considered quests when they're unavoidable? They're forced events in the game that cannot be sidestepped, changed, or altered, and regardless of how things happen, the outcome (gameplay-wise), is exactly the same.

The slow movement speed in that quest is because The Flirt is stabbing Cleril with drugs, like with a knife. I dunno about you, but go ahead and stab your leg with a needle, and tell me how fast you walk.

You're sacrificing your medium for your message. I don't think the message you tried to communicate in that event failed. I think you did very well at communicating that he'd been stabbed. However, the actual play during that time was dry, arbitrary, and forced me to proceed with something I did not want to do to progress.

The fact that I actively wanted to stop playing speaks for why I dislike this design choice.

Theoretically I can program, in practice, no. I've programmed in visual basic, even once started using an interactive fiction engine (but that shit gets cluttered like nobodies business). My competition can boast 200+ hours of gameplay all, they, bloody, want. I can boast unique concepts, stories, etc. By your standards Amnesia cannot compete because it's only 8 hours long, yet it does, and does well.

I haven't played Amnesia, so I'm going to use a different title, Portal. Spoilers ahead. The dynamic of Chell and GlaDOS is the driving point of the narrative. Everything that Chell learns from Aperture Science test chambers is never stated by GlaDOS. It's highlighted in the scrawling on the walls, the desperate pleas from GlaDOS, and the too-empty hallways and windows tell a story. Not a word on the subject emptiness is spoken, but it bleeds out of the very walls.

This narrative is meticulously translated solely by its elements, with such a light touch of dialog that it's hard to miss the message. And the game maybe lasts 4 hours total. However, despite that, I've replayed the game at least 5 times.

I don't feel like Haven accomplishes the same thing. It tries, and reacts in similar ways with the visual static, the graphic effects, and the music. The problem is that it feels slightly successful in spite of the engine, not because of it.

I understand that it is because of the engine that the flaws exist. However, given that you are familiar with the flaws of the engine when writing these game's scripts, why are you using the same engine? Either change the engine to suit the script, or the script to suit the engine. Using both, and blaming the engine, solves nothing. I understand that you like this engine. Because that is the case, write different scripts, and try different gameplay elements.

Well, if you ask someone if they're stupid, they tell you yes, or no. People tell, they don't show. Themes are shown, not told. My issue is that Haven 2 does show. It shows a hell of a lot. First opening scenes, Cleril is crying. I show Cleril's feelings. I never say "Hello player, Cleril is crying!" You only ever state that I purely 100% no holds bar tell the player everything. You never once give me credit where credit is due. I have showed a lot in Haven 2. I have gotten better, I have improved. I can take criticism, yes, I tell in Haven 2, maybe more than I should. But I will not accept that you deny any improvement whatsoever. Your review shows nothing but contempt at any progress I did make.

Your players tend to be recycled. You have a tight-knit series of fans that will praise your games and style come hell and high water. Consider my criticisms the opposite voice, playing Devil's Advocate because of the things other folks won't say.

I admit, your effects work is actually quite crisp and clean. It translates very well onto the screen. One of the viewers commented that the graphic noise in a few scenes was distracting, but other than that, it was clean. However, regardless of how well the graphics or integrated, the writing seems to hamper the piece.

There are instances of both showing and telling from a narrative perspective. The problem is that when things are shown, they're more often told/explained. This is true for first sign in the Meadow, The Jester's first speech explaining the Meadow, The Writer's parts. The Flirt has the opposite problem, and very rarely explains her parts, and their significance.

The inconsistencies there, plus the fact that the narrative is so unclear for many players, means that the game is insufficient in the improvement department. You did good work with the engine, but you're still not addressing the main concern.

Who said what others said of Cleril is true? Who said Cleril has all those issues? A bunch of nameless guys and Frank, the mayor of Haven. It's up to you as the player to determine if Cleril is really the insane man they proclaimed him to be. Perhaps Cleril doesn't do what he should do (considering if these conditions are true) because maybe, just maybe, those nameless folks, and Frank, lied. I didn't tell you they did and maybe they didn't. I clearly showed they were not at least 100% correct and what do you do? You state I didn't show any signs of the illness. Ever think maybe I lied? They lied? Perhaps consider I was showing Cleril is not insane by that definition of mental illness. And then give me credit for showing they were wrong, instead of saying "Cleril isn't sick."

The problem is I, and none of my players, didn't get that. It didn't seem to fit, but it doesn't seem to contrast either. It seems arbitrary, and because of that, it didn't translate well. You have the benefit of being the writer. I don't have that.

You speak of my tone as if it is a negative fashion. Once again, I never intended to have the tone be negative. Perhaps you're just a very protected individual and project anything with a realistic tone. Or maybe you don't like the tone and therefore attribute the negative connotations to it. Either way, I don't see this negative tone you speak of. You do, therefore you see your choices as not relating to what you wish to pick. This has nothing to do with me, this has to do with you. You fail to have the open mind to accept than perhaps the tone is not negative and instead merely different.

Of the six persons participating in the game, myself included, all of us got "emo" from the tone. Perhaps it just happened because of the combined company, but all of us came to the same conclusion. The tone is inferred as negative, regardless of what was implied.

You are correct in saying it is an illusion, it is, I accept, write this down, I accept you're 100% correct criticism about how that is an illusion of choice.

However, if you sell the concept as non-linear. The illusion of choice results in a rather linear progression, unfortunately.

However you should give me the excuse for engine limitations. I can't have a fully featured text box for the player to type in. I'm limited to the player picking from choices. It is not my fault, it's the engine. You can't blame me for giving you that illusion of choice when it was the engine in my own way from providing you a non-illusion of choice.

Using conditional branches, variables, switches, multiple maps, and conditional events, you could produce BioWare-esque choice systems. However, given the limitations of the engine, you should re-tool the script to suit the engine, or avoid advertising a linear game as non-linear.

Perhaps you didn't pick the right dialogue to have The Flirt be denied by you. It's two very specific options, others provide alternate dialogue as well. Don't deny that your choices don't affect how characters respond simply because you picked a more vanilla choice that had less consequence. I'm sorry not every choice you make is equivalent of dropping a nuclear bomb on the asylum. Is that honestly what you expected? Based on your mentioning of choices so much, I can only assume that is what you did expect.

Again, attempt to approach the game from the player's perspective. After several playthroughs, the player's choices didn't feel like they had any effect, short of little dialog quirks. It felt forced.

It's not implied replay value. Take The Jesters very first quest. You get all 10 questions right? You win, no issue. You get enough wrong answers? You get sent to a different gameplay scene. You pick one particular choice? The Jester sends you to that different choice regardless of how many wrong answers you've gotten up to that point. That is in the game, it is not implied, it exists.

The player does perceive and experience. You say nothing but negative comments on the game. The first thing Misaek did when he finished the update of Haven 2? He sent me this: http://blackmarketkidneys.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/kane-clapping.gif

Exactly my point previously. You have a tight group of reviewers, but you very rarely hear negative opinions. To quote: " It's new to me anyway, never heard of my stories being impenetrable or confusing as you said." However, I had similar complaints in Peakaboo and also Haven, which I also stated here.

You can say you didn't like the writing, the narrative, and the game. You cannot tout that your perspective is 110% what everyone else is going to experience. It's so very clearly not. Keep in perspective that you are in the minority in not liking this game. So do not blatantly pass off that I did a utterly tripe job of a narrative when it was just you not liking my perhaps utterly tripe job of a narrative.

Except that a lot of my criticisms can be lifted directly from writer's craft handbooks.

I polished shit tons, what are you not seeing? Please, tell me how many VX games offer non-linear gameplay to the extent of Haven 2? Beyond that TooMiserableToLive and others said Haven 2 is polished. This is again, your issue on expectations if anything. I'm sorry, I can't make anything like the opening scene of Mass Effect 2, I truly, honestly am. But to say I don't polish and again tout it as fact is utterly arbitrary.

Look [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/NewClassic/Screens/Rev/One.png], mistakes [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/NewClassic/Screens/Rev/Two.png] do [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/NewClassic/Screens/Rev/Three.png] happen [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/NewClassic/Screens/Rev/Four.png]. Often [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/NewClassic/Screens/Rev/Five.png] repeatedly [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/NewClassic/Screens/Rev/Six.png]. It's not to say that this is a bad thing, just shows the occasional oversight in polish. It's not arbitrary, these flaws do exist.

You ever think the second meadow is designed that way for a reason? You ever think it's a symbol of Cleril's mind or how Cleril has to go through a maze to find his sanity (or lack thereof)? No, you say it's purposely terrible, crap, bullshit design. That's like saying The Path telling you to stay on the path is bad design because if you do the game says you failed. That's part of the design, to let you perceive the meadow as you saw fit. What does it mean? Well to you, it means I am a terrible mapper. Which I'll happily admit TooMiserableToLive kicks my sweet ass at mapping. My point is that the mapping of the second meadow wasn't made with the idea of "Haha, teh player must maneuver through this shit." No, it was made to offer the idea that in order to confront Cleril's insanity he has to go through many twists and turns. I'm sorry you didn't gather that.

Again, this speaks to the design choice of sacrificing the medium for it's message. Not always "terrible crap design," but also an idea in consideration for how these design choices affect gameplay. Not everything has a concrete result. I gathered that impression, but I still saw necessary to highlight what affect that has on the gameplay.

Overburdened by effects...right, you understand VX relies on "effects" to get across stuff right? If by effects you mean sounds and graphics, every game overburdens on effects. Mass Effect 2 overburdens on the eye vein effect when you get shot, Fallout 3 overburdens on the screen effects when a drug gets out of your system. My effects are only different in reason, not use.

Second meditation, the flashing black, along with the squid-like black streaks across the visibility, and the rain effects. There is effectively 30% of the screen visible, looking for a translucent character in a series of one-character-wide corridors. That is the biggest contributor to this complaint, though there are others when the effects get heavy. Second Flirt quest included.

You're never told Cleril feels awful. Hell, I don't think the word "awful" is ever said in the game at all. And again, who told you Cleril was insane? Was it Cleril? No, it wasn't. You heard it from the gossiping nameless folks. Ever hear high school gossip? It's not very true is it?

However, the Jester, the Flirt, and the ghost Cleril all allude to Cleril not feeling right. Furthermore, the lattermost of those three actually says "Woe is you, poor Poet."

And Cleril never dictates his feelings, in fact, he is indifferent, so if anything he denies his feelings. Let me refer to The Stranger. Muersalt never once shows actual emotion except in the scene with the priest telling him religious stuffs. Muersalt flips on the guy, he gets mad, once, in the entire book. How do you know I didn't want to do something like that in Haven 2? You don't, you just say Cleril is a pessimist but that's your experience you have with Cleril, just like every other player. Also, yet again, one of the first scenes has Cleril crying. I showed Cleril's emotion that time, I didn't tell, give me, as I reiterate, some damn credit.

I have. Several lines have praised what you've done right, including the solid sound direction and atmosphere. However, I choose to spend a majority of my time addressing what can be fixed, because as your words suggest, no one else seems to.

Again, ever consider you hit the same points because of your expectations on my work? You realize psychologically that if one smiles when being told a joke their chances of laughing are significantly higher? It's true. Maybe try playing a game of mine when it's not a rainy day.

I can assure you that I've played four of your games are varying times and with varying dispositions, and they all strike me the same way. However, I may indulge to try again at a later date.

However, I might ask a favor in return. Your tone, on occasions, struck me as overwhelmingly defensive and aggressive. Consider also taking my words with a grain of sugar, and perhaps with cheery music. Perhaps even on a sunny day, no?