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Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! #1098977
01/31/17 07:43 PM
01/31/17 07:43 PM
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In the Naughty Corner
BrownEyedTigre Offline OP
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Hey everyone! Ever want to find out what goes on behind the scenes of your favorite developers? Here is your chance to ask what's on your mind and the developer will answer!

If you have any feedback you'd like to give as to what you like or dislike in casual games, you can also join in the chat, but please be respectful. thanks

I also have a coupon code good for one regular game to give away to one lucky participant of the chat. I will give that away on Sunday February 5th at 9PM. Thank you to the generous anonymous donor for that!

Follow MadHead Games here:

Visit the Madhead Games website: http://www.madheadgames.com
Follow us on Twitter: @MadHeadGames
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madheadgames/

I will start off the chat with a question.

How do you decide what subject matter you will base your game around?

And......we are off!

Ana joy


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Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1098986
01/31/17 09:30 PM
01/31/17 09:30 PM
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The Country
Winfrey Offline
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Do you already know what puzzles you will put into a game or do you decide as you go along?


Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody
Gibran
Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: Winfrey] #1098988
01/31/17 09:37 PM
01/31/17 09:37 PM
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Marian Offline
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Playing Adam Wolfe, I felt some adventure game influences such as Tex Murphy and Gabriel Knight. Am I right? If correct, are there any other games/books/movies that influenced you/inspired you to make Adam Wolfe? wave

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1099035
02/01/17 03:58 AM
02/01/17 03:58 AM
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MadHeadGames Offline
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BrownEyedTiger, thanks for indroducing us to the forum!

We are very excited to have found yet another way of communicating with the ones who love our games. smile Feel free to ask us anything, and we will do our best to reply as quickly as possible!

Let's start!

Deciding what subject matter to base the game around is one of the most taxing, brain-wracking experiences because we all have such a wide variety of interests and inspirations. Many a brainstorming session has been wasted in making melting-pot over melting-pot of ideas that all cancel each other out. In our experience, sometimes it's better to go with a gut feeling or instinct and then just run with it - only change if your initial idea is so broken, you have to change in order not to lose time.

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: Winfrey] #1099036
02/01/17 04:00 AM
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The puzzles are usually decided and designed by feeling "the moment" - what kind of puzzle would be good for the scene and the pacing. Some puzzles, however, we feel are good enough to warrant writing 'around' - we would design a segment of a scene specifically tailored to fit that particular puzzle.

Which puzzles did you find most interesting? Which were the hardest?

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: Marian] #1099037
02/01/17 04:05 AM
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Hi Marian,

You are among the few who got the reference to Gabriel Knight! thumbsup

We were heavily inspired by graphic novel Dylan Dog, tv shows such as Angel and Supernatural, Max Payne and games by Sierra.

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: MadHeadGames] #1099042
02/01/17 05:11 AM
02/01/17 05:11 AM
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Mad Offline
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I felt the number of puzzles and the difficulty levels of them was just right for the game.

How do you determine the difficulty levels ??

Anyway, I absolutely enjoyed the whole package from start to finish. Yeah !! And as well as the Gabriel Knight influence, the story promoting comic book style graphics reminded me very much of Noctropolis - that splendid 1994 DOS game smile


Time : The Most Precious Commodity
Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: Mad] #1099044
02/01/17 05:30 AM
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Determining difficulty is a tricky proposition; too hard and it can bog down the gameplay...too easy, and the whole ordeal becomes a glorified storybook without much gameplay. Luckily for us, we have plenty of us willing to play-test meticulously, but also our dedicated play-testers that are much more in line with what our audience prefers. Long story short - we try over and over again until we get it just right.

We are so glad to hear you loved Adam Wolfe!

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: MadHeadGames] #1099049
02/01/17 06:51 AM
02/01/17 06:51 AM
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Mad Offline
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Thanks for your response wave


Time : The Most Precious Commodity
Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: Mad] #1099070
02/01/17 09:57 AM
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You are welcome! smile

Feel free to aks us anything, we are more than happy to share more about our work and games, and to discuss ideas with you!

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: MadHeadGames] #1099107
02/01/17 02:26 PM
02/01/17 02:26 PM
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Marian Offline
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I would be interested to know how you came up with the idea for the Cadenza series and what inspired you - it was such a refreshing change in content as compared to what we had been seeing previously in the HOPA genre. I remember loading up the first Cadenza, and listening to the music (such an important part of a game) and thinking that I had rarely seen it so well-implemented before as a way of enhancing the story and the setting. wave

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1099122
02/01/17 03:57 PM
02/01/17 03:57 PM
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8dognight Offline
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I liked the touch of humor in Adam Wolfe's hog screen at the bar collecting decidedly odd items; the humor reinforced the connection to Gabriel Knight and Tex Murphy. Will you be continuing that element?

Like a lot of people, I play casual games in-between replaying old favorite full length adventure games and finding promising new ones or when life's stresses and obligations make escape into the fast pace of a HOPA just the ticket. For the latter reasons, I rarely enjoy HOPAs with depressing settings. "Shadowplay" is an exception to this preference. I am only just past the ventilation ducts, and I even enjoyed the maze, which reminded me a bit of a Nancy Drew puzzle without the tedium. Good work.

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1099175
02/01/17 10:24 PM
02/01/17 10:24 PM
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In the Naughty Corner
BrownEyedTigre Offline OP
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Thanks for participating MadHeadGames! joy

Here's a couple more questions:

How long does it take for you to develop a game after you have decided on a basic theme?

Also, will we be seeing more of Adam Wolfe?

Ana wave


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Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1099184
02/02/17 04:34 AM
02/02/17 04:34 AM
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Wales
meryl Offline
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Would you say Maze The Broken tower is significantly different to most other of your games, in concept and mood? I found it to be a masterpeace although I have enjoyed all the Madhead games I've played. (I've only played a few and am looking forward to exploring the others)
What inspired it and do you intend to make more of this sort?
I'm not very sure what i mean by this sort but it is one of the few casual games in which i bacame totally immersed and felt a real sense of personal jeopardy.

I like that! smile

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: meryl] #1099200
02/02/17 08:02 AM
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Hi Meryl,

The Broken Tower was inspired by a plethora of 'AI-gone-rogue' movies and books, but also by a lot of more classic horror movies meant to invoke a feeling of unease that is not generated by a character, but a location - such as The Shining. The idea was that the very building itself is the antagonist, not a single villain. For S.A.R.A - Glados from Portal was an obvious inspiration. For The Architect, there was an unlikely inspiration of sorts in Tom Hiddleston's character from the movie "Crimson Peak" - he is, ultimately, a tragic, flawed figure secretly seeking a form of redemption from his 'evil'.

Hope that answer wasn't too long, and really gratified you enjoyed the game!

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: Marian] #1099201
02/02/17 08:04 AM
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Thanks for the interesting question Marian! The inspiration for Cadenza came from two distinctive points. First is our endless love for all kinds of music, good, bad and even the really weird laugh Visiting any of our offices first includes hearing the music blasting there, which can be any genre, including jazz many of us really love. Secondly, when Cadenza: Music, Betrayal, and Death started to be developed, there was a huge void of any reality-based HOPA games. That is why we wanted to produce a realistic, hard-boiled detective tale that was soaked both in mystery and great tunes.

A few months later, an important part of Mad Head history was made!

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: 8dognight] #1099202
02/02/17 08:29 AM
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We carefully collect feedback from the players, so each part of the game which was impressionable, will definitely find its way into the next title smile

Thanks for sharing the thoughts about Shadowplay and Maze - we saw the genre was lacking diversity, and decided it for time to act! wink

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1099203
02/02/17 08:32 AM
02/02/17 08:32 AM
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connie Offline
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Will we be seeing more of Adam Wolfe? I enjoy all of your games, but that one is my absolute favorite. Thanks for giving us this chance to learn more about Mad Head Games.


Connie
Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1099206
02/02/17 08:39 AM
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We are glad to be here! joy2

It usually takes us about nine months to create the game from scratch. It is never a linear process, we always discuss ideas along the way (there is always room for improvement!) and like to take our time in order to deliver a different, exciting game.

As for the Adam Wolfe sequel, we are still gathering all the impressions of the game and will discuss it later. However, we are working on a number of games, so you have a lot to look forward to in 2017!

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: connie] #1099207
02/02/17 08:42 AM
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MadHeadGames Offline
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Hi Connie, thank you for sharing how much you love Adam Wolfe!

As we said, due to number games we are developing at the moment and the fact that we are still collecting feedback on Adam Wolfe, we can't share any exact information on the sequel right now.

One thing is for sure though - we have learned a lot from developing Adam, and will implement a lot of that into our new titles smile

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: MadHeadGames] #1099300
02/02/17 10:05 PM
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Marian Offline
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I would be interested in hearing more about your Beyond series and the inspiration behind the games. I thought it was fantastic that you offered the players a game that was science fiction (yet another theme that we rarely see in hidden object puzzle adventure games). I thought the opening of Beyond: Light Advent was fantastic and set the mood perfectly - the music and the initial scene were very reminiscent of a good science fiction movie from the 1950s. There aren't many games that I am convinced that I want to purchase within the first three minutes of play, but this was one of them. yay

I like the fact that you take risks with your subject matter. I assume that there are fans of science fiction at Mad Head? Did you feel that you were taking a risk at the time? Did you wonder whether or not players would respond favorably to the subject matter? For me, it was a breath of fresh air. thumbsup

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: Marian] #1099335
02/03/17 07:49 AM
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We are huge SF nerds! From the golden age of American fiction to experimental genres, we binge on it all!

The initial idea with Beyond series was to implement SF elements we love into the hidden object games, but within the attributes of the genre. The risks were big, we were aware of them, but believed we could pull it off . In the end, each our game brings something risky, innovative, and we are not afraid to explore our ideas.
Looking back, the risk paid off since we learned so much from developing the game, and the ones who like SF as much as we do, got the taste of it wrapped in their favorite game genre. Every time we hear a praise, we are more determined to continue to take risks. happydance

Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1099345
02/03/17 10:40 AM
02/03/17 10:40 AM
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In the Naughty Corner
BrownEyedTigre Offline OP
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Do you have any plans for what we refer to here as an "adventure lite" game. A casual game with no Hidden Object scenes?

Ana wave


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Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1099350
02/03/17 11:25 AM
02/03/17 11:25 AM
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The Country
Winfrey Offline
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I am on the 3rd chapter right now... I think it is very close to an "adventure lite" game.... also finding it just a little to easy..


Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody
Gibran
Re: Ask the Developer! Mad Head Games Chat With GameBoomer Members! [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1099404
02/03/17 04:56 PM
02/03/17 04:56 PM
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I loved the Cadenza series because of the incorporation of the African American culture and characters. This
is so rare in the gaming world and you did it so expertly. Have you thought about creating other series with an African American hero? I have every game you made and I think you guys are awesome. Keep 'em coming and I'll keep buying.

Last edited by exalthim2; 02/03/17 04:58 PM.

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