henke on 15/10/2017 at 10:28

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Damn, an hour and a half late. I guess it's true what they say... YOU CAN'T RUSH PERFECTION! :cool:

[video=youtube;SFIgiq1dXaA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFIgiq1dXaA[/video]

(http://henke.itch.io/in-search-of-paradise-2017-edition) henke.itch.io/in-search-of-paradise-2017-edition

demagogue on 15/10/2017 at 14:06

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Congratulations on making a great game even better, henke.
Looks fantastic!

Random fitting quote:

qolelis on 17/10/2017 at 23:36

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Congrats to the release!

First impressions:
I have always been very bad at car games: I either drive at maximum speed all the time or very slow. Behind the wheels I'm like that old man in a tweed hat who drives safe, but really, really slow, or Steve McQueen in that movie where he drives really, really fast, except that I know very little about how to drive a car, other than a few basics, so I either hardly get anywhere or keep crashing into everything all the time, turning my vehicle into a deadly weapon.

With finally some free time on my hands, and disregarding everything I said above, I decided to go on a search for paradise, but didn't get very far -- I even got farther away from my goal then when I started. I was able to get the engine going, turn on the headlights (or what I suppose was the full beam), get the radio going and listen to some music while the darkness tightened around me, but the only way I was able to go was backwards by pressing the breaks; pressing accelerate didn't do anything for me, and eventually I entered the tunnel behind the starting point and got the "died of old age" ending.

I tried switching gears, in case I had it in reverse, but the gear stick never lit up, and I also looked for a handbrake, in case I had forgotten to loosen it, but none was found (and the handbrake button didn't help either), so those ideas didn't solve anything. The sounds from the motor did gave the impression that it was speeding up, even if I wasn't moving, and the gear stick kept twitching as if it wanted me to do something, but I couldn't figure out what to do. I want to find paradise, even if I'm bad at it, so I'll try again later (have to make dinner now). I probably just missed something obvious (and might even realize what I missed the second I post this).

I enjoyed the writing and the choice of music (for the most part).

Edit:
Second time I tried, everything worked. I crashed several times, but I got longer than I expected, and had a few great moments like when the sun went up again, or when I was coasting into the second gas station on an almost empty tank. I want to think I got better at it after a few runs, but that was probably just wishful thinking, so maybe I should stick to skiing... :erg: This game actually reminds me a lot of your skiiing game: it has the same vast landscape with few or no landmarks, it was easy to get lost in both, although I might have an idea on how to proceed farther (I got as far as a sign pointing out what I think was the third gas station (beneath the power lines?), but then I lost my way and soon ran out of gas).

qolelis on 18/10/2017 at 11:06

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I'm using a gamepad (a wireless Steelseries Stratus XL), but also tried briefly with the keyboard, which didn't help. It could be specific to my gamepad, because it has misbehaved in the past with games not recognizing it or not being able to connect at all, although that got solved after a few software updates. It was, I think, originally meant to be used mainly with a phone (because that always worked perfectly), and being able to connect it also to a stationary was added almost as an afterthought.

It was as if I was stuck in the ground with mud spurting out behind me. I'll try again a couple of times to see if it happens again.

By the way, I gather you meant to say right trigger (as stated in the controls "menu").

Edit: Once I got started, I enjoyed playing; it made me want to get better and I have to ask: is reaching paradise a real thing or just a mirage? Cool either way, but I can imagine a few getting mad if it's the latter....

qolelis on 18/10/2017 at 14:18

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Oh, sorry, that thing about the mud spurting was just a figure of speech; I didn't know that was implemented, so never thought to check it. The engine did sound like it was speeding up, though.

I tried again a couple of times (both with the gamepad and with the keyboard (with no gamepad connected)), but couldn't make it happen again. If it helps, the one time it did happen was the first time I started the game after a clean install. Speaking of which: How do I clean out all save files? I removed all files I could find (game files + AppData) to see if that made the thing happen again, but when I unzipped the game again, I still started where I last left off.

This might not be related, but at the forth wooden telephonepole(?), counting from the start, where the landscape dips, the road is floating in the air, causing the car to get stuck if trying to get back up on the road. I also noted that when I start a fresh game, the camera gets quickly teleported from some point off the map, sometimes through the landscape, before it reaches the starting point.

On another note:
Hah, I made progress and found my way towards the power lines. You can coast quite some distance after full speed, but unfortunately I ran out of gas before finding the next gas station.