Wadjet Eye Games -- Emerald City Confidential has Released Through PlayFirst

I received Dave's email saying EC is ready for purchase - download - I am going to wait until it is on CD to order
Love, Betty Lou

Here's the official announcement of the Emerald City Confidential release on the Wadjet Eye Website.

And here's the link to the purchase page (download) at PlayFirst.

Betty Lou -- I changed the thread title so I could sticky this thread.

Good, it works for me! Thanks
Love, Betty Lou

In my opinion having purchased all of Daves games thus far this is is best game yet! This game is so much fun, and I never get in the position not knowing what to do next.

Is there a real possibility that the game WILL be released via retail box?

Sherrah...I agree. I'm just loving it. I have not gotten lost yet and it is a lot of fun. GREAT GAME Dave...Thanks.

Lexxy, PlayFirst does release their popular games in boxed versions so there is a goodchance that this too will make it to store shelves. I will write them and see if they already have plans to do so and confirm.

Ana

What a great game I hope it never ends. Taking my time playing it. Thanks
Richard

I am playing this game as well and loving it to. The only problem I have is when I am not really sure what to do and I go talk to the same people and end up asking them the same questions over and over again. However, I am not usually stuck for very long so that raises high marks for the game!!

Kem

I played the demo and immediately bought the game for full price from Playfirst. I am really enjoying it. The hint system is great. The only problem I am having is being able to pick up the buttons. I see them glinting, but if I try to pick them up during a conversation,clicking on them just skips the dialogue. Sometimes if I wait until the dialogue ends, the scene changes and I miss the button. Oh well, still a great game. I played for 4 hours yesterday and am only about halfway through.

Doreen

@dorish

When the scene changes, later you'll be able to get to those scenes again to get the buttons.
I actually managed to get all of them

It was also cool to see the medals you could earn.
The only medal I didn't get, was the one fighting in the magic ring... seems one has to beat her the first time to get it

Just finished the game. Well worth the money!!

Doreen

I finished this game but apparently didn't find everything I needed to because my medal and trophy case was not full. What a great motivation for me to play the game again and find all the things that are there. Scraps is very funny and I also enjoyed Lion and Tin Man. I really thought that Jack would be in it more but oh well.

Kem

I'm glad you all enjoyed it.

I just finished Emerald City Confidential and had so much fun!

I hope Dave wins an award for this game because his hard work really paid off. Congratulations Dave for a great game!

The storyline is great, and puzzles all were logical. The hints in your journal used as needed really helped me a few times. Well more than a few times!


I love the voices of all the characters. I swear the Wiz of Oz sounds just like Danny Divito. I wonder if there is someone who can find out if this is true. Does anyone know for sure?

I really loved the graphics and couldn't help wishing the other game he is working on would have the same vibrant graphics.

Playfirst and Dave have a winner here and I hope everyone will at least try the demo.

If you like a game with a great storyline, good use of inventory that is logical, beautiful graphics in a toon style, and of course the voices and music I think is spectacular. This game has everything I was looking for. I laughed aloud many times.

Oh Please Dave, I hope you make a sequel to Emerald City Confidential. One last thing, I feel I got my money's worth because it wasn't a short game.

I highly recommend this game to everyone that likes a good adventure game that doesn't take itself too seriously and likes to laugh.

Sherryah

Hi everyone! Just popped in to say hiya. I'm glad you all are enjoying/did enjoy the game! It was a lot of fun to work on. Definitely the biggest game I've ever made!

Sherryah - the actor who played the Wizard is definitely not Danny DeVito. It's funny, because while we were rehearsing I noted that he was starting to sound like Danny DeVito, and I told him that it really worked. The same actor also played Toto.

the lion reminded me of my lazy cat or is that naughty cat when I catch her laying on things she shouldn't. She has that same look that the lion had with his tone like "really, I really shouldn't be doing this? Oh well I guess I'll do it anyway!!" I thought all the characters were funny and I really did feel like I got my money out of the game because it took me awhile to finish it. A sequel would be great but even if there isn't one the game was a good stand alone.

Kem

Thanks Dave,for letting me know that wasn't Danny Divito he sure did a great impersonation of the actors voice.

Also I thought I recognized the voice of Joey the ghost can't remember which character now. Am I right on that?

Will we see more of the same kind of graphics in your upcoming games? I applaud all of people who did the voices, each one was unique. There is no way you could have improved the game I gave it 5 stars at Gamezebo.

Sherryah

Hi Sherryah. Yep! Abe (Joey) did the voices of Jack Pumpkinhead, the Wogglebug, and Ruggedo. It was great fun working with him on something different.

I'm not sure you'll be seeing these types of graphics in any of the upcoming Blackwell games. I can't really afford it. But who knows? Maybe I'll be able to one day. :-D

-Dave

I hope this will be a best seller for you, and you will be able to afford the same kind of graphics for Blackwell. But even if you don't whatever game you create I will buy. I have all your games and have never been disappointed yet. Keep up the great work.

Dave, is there any chance you will have a sequel to Emerald City? I know its just been released but I figured I would ask
anyway.

Sherryah

A sequel is a possibility, but it's too early to say yet. It's up to PlayFirst.

Hi Dave! I really like this game! I think it's great. But, I have a problem at Woot's arena. I am stuck there. I did all that was needed but I can't complete the quest "Defeat Mombi In The Ring". Unfortunately, I don't have the time to play the game from the beginning. Please do something with the bug

Other people have this problem too :
http://www.playfirst.com/forums/thread/152223?show=10&index=0

I don't understand I had no problem with fighting Mombi. In fact that was one of my favorite parts of the game. It was so funny! I hope for those who are having a glitch here it will be fixed so you can continue to enjoy the game.

Sherryah

According to PlayFirst it is already being addressed.

Ana

Is there any possibility that this game might make it onto Big Fish or be released on disc sometime?

I would think that it would make it to BigFish Chrissie and I am awaiting confirmation from the publisher on the boxed copies.

Ana

Ooh! Both sound promising - thank you Ana!

I hope it makes it on to Big Fish so I can use one of my credits to purchase it. It sounds fantastic. I love all of Dave's games. Keep up the good work, Dave!

As the background artist for Emerald City Confidential, let me thank you for the compliments.

And I'd love to work on one of the Blackwell games, so we'll just have to see how things go.

Well Done JohnGreenart! I hope you all get to live out your dreams, that would be awesome!

Ana

Hi JohnGreenArt -- you do beautiful work!

John Greenart, your artwork is beautiful and especially
the eye popping vivid colors in all the scenes. Looking forward to more of your work.


Sherryah

I played through the demo but will either wait until it turns up on Big Fish or a disc version is released.

The artwork is lovely, the characters are interesting & there are some great one-liners! The story flowed along nicely but does the game get more challenging in the full version as I found it a tad on the easy side as far as I got?

Chrissie -- it does get more difficult as you progress, but it isn't a "tear-your-hair-out" kind of game at any point.

Well Chrissie, I got stuck more than one time and had to turn to the journal for help. Yes, it does have its moments when you ask yourself what to do next?

Thank you Becky & Sherryah for the comments! I'm glad it's not a 'tear-your-hair out' game but I'm pleased that there will be a little bit more 'bite' later on.

I saw the ending few days ago, and I can recommend this game to every gamers around me.

Hi Dave,
I don't want to sound too negative here because I enjoyed playing Emerald City Confidential very much, but to tell the truth I enjoyed the Blackwell series a whole lot more. Please don't change/upgrade them as that will lose the connection (or whatever it is) that I have there. Different graphics, for better or worse, change the whole atmosphere of the game somehow. Obviously, not everyone (not anyone?) will agree with this point of view, but I just want you to know that you did a great, wonderful job with The Blackwell Legacy and Blackwell Unbound and why tamper with perfection?
On the other hand (and as I read somewhere recently "there is always that other hand") I also hope there will be a sequel to ECC as I like it too, even if second best.

Looking for a hard copy - as is my wont - I had a very pleasant and helpful email "conversation" with PlayFirst.

And a hard copy sounds probable - in a few months time

That's good news Mad. Thanks

Great news!

Hi GBS and Dave,
Just putting my opinion in here, I dis agree I would love to see the graphics updated if possible for blackwell series. I really enjoy the graphics and color in Emerald Confidential and drool just thinking about Joey in the colorful updated not hand drawn graphics. Ok drool is too strong of a word! I think drooling is disgusting and wouldn't drool for anyone!

Sherryah

You mean like these?




I can't believe I still have these. Back when I first planned the Blackwell series (and before I decided Rosa should wear glasses), I wanted everything to be in high resolution. I quickly realized that it would be waaaay too expensive and time consuming. We were at work for several months and all we managed to make were the above character designs and one background. I finally gave up and went with the low-res pixel art instead. It might not have been as pretty, but it got done! The low-res pixel art is so much easier to deal with, especially for a small operation like mine.

Those high-res sprites do look awesome, though. A shame they never got animated!

-Dave

Whoa that is awesome Dave! Yeah Rosa and Joey really do look better in my opinion. However you must do what you can afford. I will continue to buy your games either way.

Better is so obviously in the eyes of the beholder because when I first looked at that Joey and the girl (didn't recognize her as Rosa) I thought these were the new versions and my reaction was, "Oh, NO!" For me, that art just doesn't work at all. I don't know why but it looks too *cold* and even *harsh* to me. The only reason I bought The Blackwell Legacy (since I had read nothing about it) was because I liked a screenshot I ran across somewhere that had Joey and Rosa in a park (I think) talking to a sad ghost girl they were going to help. Immediately I connected with them and had to know more! And the game certainly lived up to that screenshot! Not all games do, I'm sorry to say.

Thanks, Mindy! I have to admit that I'm glad we didn't go with the high-res, as the pixel graphics give it a "raw" feeling that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Most assume i did it that way on purpose, but it was a happy accident.

You're welcome, Dave,
Happy accidents = serendipity = something good happens. May your luck continue! (OK, I know it was work too, but luck is also very important in life.)

Mad,
Thanks for the info concerning the possibility of a hard copy. Maybe I am just old school in my line of thinking but I just adore a nice box/dvd case to add to my evr inreasing game collection.