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It's always fun to get a sneak peek behind-the-scenes, so we are proud to present to you some concept artwork from our lead UI designer - the uber-talented Robin Pirez.

 

But of course, I suppose every Indie company has its humble beginnings! Witness UI concept artwork #1, created by no other than the wife of Black Chicken Studio's El Presidente (shall I stress humble to the tenth power):

 

ui_by_president_wifey.jpg

 

Then came Robin, and it was magic indeed:

 

academagia_logo.jpg

 

colleges_crests.jpg

 

colleges_crests_detail.jpg

 

Stay tuned for more this week!

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Really like the crests from the different colleges :D

 

As for the UI design I prefer the new one. Comparing the #1 and this, it really looks smoother with the background & the ornaments. Moreover it seems easier to read the texts and contains more than just the colour range of different brown tones :rolleyes:

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Hoped there would be more stuff before tomorrow (~ then we will get less time to investigate them) :rolleyes:

 

By the way: I read the review from Electronic theare and disagree with their conclusions. Perhaps you should tell them next time your inspiration sources (~ like "A Wizard of Earthsea" etc.) refer to another target group. Personaly, I never consider "children" as the audience - since Academagia seems to be a very deep and complex game which is hard to understand for the youngests. Although it's good to hear that finally someone post an article and reveal the subtitle of the first part: Academagia - The Making of Mage :D

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Hawkey;

 

We also disagreed with their conclusion- not just sources and their label for the game, but also as to what constitutes a game for children (or for adults) to begin with! Still, life simulation games are generally unknown, so it will take some effort before reviewers understand them.

 

All in all, we were very happy that Electronic Theatre was so objective in their review. :rolleyes:

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Hawkey;

 

We also disagreed with their conclusion- not just sources and their label for the game, but also as to what constitutes a game for children (or for adults) to begin with! Still, life simulation games are generally unknown, so it will take some effort before reviewers understand them.

 

All in all, we were very happy that Electronic Theatre was so objective in their review. :)

 

 

For the review: did you read the one from diygamer ? The game doesn't just get praised, but even blamed. Didn't you said you created an User Guide at your last Facebook entry ? Seems like no-one of the reviewers read it :)

 

Just a short try sum up the weakpoints and a suggest to solve them:

- no explanation => read the manual, don't get why nobody read them (~ at least I hope there is one) :rolleyes:

- getting bad results => read manual and think about your faults as a gamer, see it as a challenge or at least get excited about it ^^

- long loading times => guess you got an "release-patch" for the last bugs, hope this will improve the loading time :D

 

The rest are complains about the story etc., which seems quite subjective. It's interesting to see more reviews and hopefully the others will report better about the game (~ at leats they didn't complained about the prices, but just recommend to buy a Harry Potter DVD). Otherwise you need some urgent fixes and think about promotions :)

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Hawkey;

 

Thanks for bringing this up- I haven't seen this one before. It's a disappointing read: I do not think that the reviewer understood the game. It's actually surprising to me, since the preview from DIY was promising, but I do see that the reviewers were different in each case.

 

Unfortunately, it's true- the manual seldom gets read, and some of the answers he is lacking are within. That said, the reviewer does raise one interesting point: we very rarely explain concepts in detail- for instance, why would you want to raise the Skill Patience? We do not tell you. Of course, it's our feeling that you should role-play, experiment and explore to get those kinds of answers. He mentions that there is no way to tell if any of it is 'important'- I think that this is the real problem. What is important for you and for your character? Why...that's your decision! That's the point of the game. :D

 

For future titles, we are considering a new kind of character creation which steps through these things in more detail. It's possible that would make you feel more engaged at the start of the game, and perhaps give a more directed focus.

 

As for the bad results in Events- it is a statistic based game, after all. If you want to succeed at something, then you must Train your Skills. It's one of the things we have long wrestled with, actually, but as your character progresses in the game, and you see the impact your Skills have on the results, I think players will be pleased by the outcomes of Stories. I believe the reviewer either did not get very far in the game, or did not train his skills during play. It's hard to tell.

 

For the loading time, unfortunately there is little more we can do. There may be further optimization, but the truth is the game is huge, and it takes time to load your game. :rolleyes:

 

I certainly hope that as more reviews come we see more of Electronic Theatre and less of DIY Gamer.

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I think alot gamers have the need to "win" but I don't see this as the point of this game. Outcomes may be good or not so good based on decisions and circumstances. Its the freedom to experiment and tweak and see what happens next. Its that unknown outcome that's the fun when its revealed.

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