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The Cave |OT| Choose your own Adventurers

DFNathan

Neo Member
HELP, my game is lagging hard (on PC, Steam) What should I do to make it run smoothly?

First thing to look at is running at a lower resolution and/or disabling some of the more expensive visual features like SSOA, DOF, high quality particles, and FXAA.
 

DFNathan

Neo Member
Anyone else here having performance problems with the Wii U version? It's super stuttery for me.

Are you playing the game from external storage by any chance? If so it's possible that the storage isn't fast enough to stream the game smoothly.
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
HELP, my game is lagging hard (on PC, Steam) What should I do to make it run smoothly?
The game started me out on native resolution but at 20hz and that was very laggy, switch to 60hz and you should be fine again.
 

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Yeah the jumping feels too floaty and kinda off.

It definitely is. I love how when I first started to play, in that "Pre-Cave" area, I lazily took a jump over the spikes after the first descent, and my character visibly slipped a bit off the edge, right over the spikes, and THEN jumped off thin air, to cross the pit.

This isn't a HORRIBLE thing in the end (it just makes the game lazy to play), as you can't really say Jumping / Climbing are stars of the show. So if one likes the adventure aspect of the game, the "meh" feel of playing it can be overcome.
 

DFNathan

Neo Member
What do you mean that off-tv requires the dev to implement it entirely?
there's not an available api you can just use for that?

i'm not bashing you guys for not doing it, i understand you had enough to worry about, i'd just like to know how easy it is to implement it and how much effort you think it's needed to use that feature.

are you also thinking about adding that feature later on with an update?

edit: one more question, how is it exactly the language support? Is the spoken dialogue always in english and you just get subtitles for the other languages?

Much to my surprise, there is no such API. Tellingly, there's also no general way for the consumer to choose "launch this game in off screen mode" (afaik).

This support isn't technically hard, esp the graphics part. The audio requires compressing audio differently, which is easy, but would blow up the download size, whih is fine except it would make the demo download too big so it's not fine :p There may very well be a way to workaround this issue or to further compress the demo, but both take time.

Adding support in a patch is basically a question of priority and return. We only have so many engineers and tons of tech work to do on various games (announced and otherwise) so we have to allocate that time very carefully. We also have to look at how much benefit a given thing will have to our customers (and our business ;) vs its cost and chose things with the best bang for the buck. This dynamic is true for any game developer, but it's especially present at a multi-title but still indie studio like DF.

Loc is subs only and we chose based on your system language settings.
 
The time traveler, the twins and the adventurer have the longest and most complex puzzles in the game. It still entirely depends on how long you are stuck at some of the puzzles.

I started with those three on my first game. I'm on the zoo section, and going over 3 hours of play. I don't know how can anyone can finish this in 3 hours without using a walktrough or with some other help. I was expecting it to be over by the zoo, but I still have some work to do.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Tried demo, pressed jump button, was immediately repelled. Game feels like shit to play. :\

Might give it a shot at some point but it definitely didn't make a good first impression.

Don't worry too much about it. You won't miss any jumps. They could have made jumping automatic for all purposes.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
I know, but still, when you spend so much time running around you expect that action to feel pretty good.
It's true, jumping feels terrible, but at least it works well enough that I don't have to jump over and over to reach the same platform or anything like that.
 

nickcv

Member
Much to my surprise, there is no such API. Tellingly, there's also no general way for the consumer to choose "launch this game in off screen mode" (afaik).

This support isn't technically hard, esp the graphics part. The audio requires compressing audio differently, which is easy, but would blow up the download size, whih is fine except it would make the demo download too big so it's not fine :p There may very well be a way to workaround this issue or to further compress the demo, but both take time.

Adding support in a patch is basically a question of priority and return. We only have so many engineers and tons of tech work to do on various games (announced and otherwise) so we have to allocate that time very carefully. We also have to look at how much benefit a given thing will have to our customers (and our business ;) vs its cost and chose things with the best bang for the buck. This dynamic is true for any game developer, but it's especially present at a multi-title but still indie studio like DF.

Loc is subs only and we chose based on your system language settings.

Thanks Nathan for the sincere answer!
I work in software development (completely not gaming related) and i know what means to juggle several project at once.

If you guys want to share some more details about how the gamepad implementation works it would really be appreciated, i love reading about this kind of thing. (if you can of course, you are probably under some kind of no disclosure agreement)
 

Volodja

Member
Mh, the first run took me around 3 hours, and I already really don't feel like doing one particular shared "section" again for the following run.
 

Jucksalbe

Banned
I love all the small references to Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island in the game. :)
And the game really gets a lot better once you get to the character specific puzzles. Finished the ones for the twins and the time traveler.
 
Boooo the game doesn't react to you breaking the sequence of the puzzle, somewhat depressing.

Yeah this happened to me
when getting in to the dragon's cage I used the time traveler to warp through the door instead of getting the key, but it still said I forgot to lock the door on the way out
 
Played one hour so far, and it's a really enjoyable title.

I'm playing the PC version with a XBOX360 joypad, and I don't get the complaints about the control at all. Not even the slightest. It's no Mario game or Super Meat Boy in terms of control, but they haven't been an obstacle for me at all. Feels great.

It's nice to see that the different characters provide slight differences to the puzzles overall. O of course haven't even beaten it once yet, but I have found some puzzle solutions and shortcuts with character specific abilities.

Really like it so far, and it's great value for this price.
 
Sweet game! It's kind of rough on the edges sometimes but that's ok, the art style and everything else is just sooo adorable! I'm playing with the monk, archaeologist and the twins. In the long run I prefer little gems like this to almost every blockbuster out there.
 
I beat it last night. It took me a little over 3 hours to finish the whole thing. For reference, I used the adventurer, the time traveler, and the monk. Maybe it's because I grew up on Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max: Hit the Road and the other LucasArts adventure games, but most of the puzzles seemed pretty straightforward to me. It was really fun, though. I mean, to me the time traveler's puzzle
almost worked exactly like a mini Day of the Tentacle, which was awesome.
The only time I really got stuck was early on, on the miner. This was really, really fun, though, and I've already started my second playthrough with the knight, hillbilly, and scientist.

I'd say most of the humor is hit or miss. I wasn't hilariously laughing at anything, but it got a few chuckles out of me. Definitely not as funny as previous Ron Gilbert games.
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
Finally bought it, via GMG on Steam. Joypad or Mouse?
 
Finally bought it, via GMG on Steam. Joypad or Mouse?

Definitely better with a controller IMO.

Yea, I want to know this. Is this a GF friendly game?

The humor is a little dark, but the game isn't really violent. It's also a fairly easy game to play.

I just beat it with the Hillbilly, the Twins and the Adventurer. Pretty fun game overall, but the jumping is a little finicky. However, it's only a minor annoyance because the platforming isn't too taxing.
 

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
How's the multiplayer?

With the way the characters DON'T follow you upon the main one moving (an option for this would be nice, but the "all catch up when you move to a new scene corridor" idea is a nice compromise), having a 2nd Player to help move characters along with you feels very nice.

It's doesn't overly objectify it's female cast, and their roles seem to feel just as significantly meaningful than the males, if not more so.

The co op features are probably the 2nd best element of the game, really...
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
Alright, got through Adventurer and Twins so far, Time Traveller's up next. Love the game so far, after reading some of the comments before I really hope I didn't pick the best ones first
but I kinda fear I did
.
Also I kinda can't really 'connect' with the characters and the story as I would for example in the Maniac Mansion series. I really hope Double Fine will do a 'real' old school story focused adventure game at one point. I have the feeling they would blow Telltale out of the water if they really go for it.

Anyhow, great game.
 

ymmv

Banned
The game started me out on native resolution but at 20hz and that was very laggy, switch to 60hz and you should be fine again.

Same here. The game tried to run at 1920x1080 at 23hz. 23.976 fps is a good frame rate for Blu-Ray movies but not for gaming. That should be fixed in a patch.

Beautiful looking game BTW. I've only played 45 minutes but I was impressed by the animation of the
fire spewing monster
 

L00P

Member
I've played about a couple of hours of this so far, with the hillbilly, scientist, and adventurer in my team. The way you clear the carnival place reminded me of Silent Hill for some reason. I'm assuming each of the characters' story is a wee bit messed up in some way? Totally getting a Psychonauts vibe here when it comes to piecing bits of the story together.

Oh and did anybody figure out how to uncap the frame rate for the PC version yet? I really want to play it at 60fps :(
 

Artanisix

Member
The carnival is AMAAAZING. And yes, everyone's story is twisted a little bit in some way.

I'm playing through right now with the Knight, Hillbilly, and Twins. Currently on my Twins story.
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
The Cave is now first on eshop in recent bestsellers and 8th in the all bestsellers charts on european eshop, so I think is going nice on Wii U. Also the community in quite active in Miiverse.

It's fun to play co-op and it easier in moving the characters around. My girlfriend enjoys this as much as Trine 2. I hope we will have a nice flow of indie games in the eshop this year until the big guns come.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
I just wrapped up the Miner segment and I'm really not impressed with the puzzle structure or the way that the lack of inventory is used.

The art is gorgeous at least.
 

zkylon

zkylewd
Super stuck trying to solve the Twins' basement puzzle.

Guess I'll follow Ron's advice and take a break.

Frankly I find the linear nature of a sidescroller combined with the lack of inventory system goes against the awesome Monkey Island 2 thing of finding all the puzzles and then jumping from one to the other as you got stuck.
 

Tattooth

Member
I started playing this single player on PC, and the other two characters don't really follow me, are they supposed to. I makes puzzles with multiple objects and items a bit of a chore. Otherwise the game seems great.
 

Volodja

Member
I just wrapped up the Miner segment and I'm really not impressed with the puzzle structure or the way that the lack of inventory is used.

The art is gorgeous at least.
I've only the first run with the Scientist left but my impression is that most puzzles require you to just bring a thing to a specific place, sometimes you may need to use a lever or two to reach said place, but the fact that the number of items at any point is very limited and they all are used to solve puzzles in that enclosed section of the cave makes the process of working out what you have to bring where very simple and it becomes just a matter of figuring out the fastest way to reach the places you have to reach. Furthermore, a lot of item-place to bring the item interactions are pretty evident so it is more of a fetch quest than a puzzle.
The only one where you have to think a bit less about what's already there and may want to imagine things on a different level could be the Time Traveller's one, but even then, they are all pretty easy solutions to reach.
 

Artanisix

Member
I've only the first run with the Scientist left but all puzzles seem to just require you to bring a thing to a specific place, sometimes you may need to use a lever or two to reach said place, but the fact that the number of items at any point is very limited and they all are used to solve puzzles in that enclosed section of the cave makes the process of working out what you have to bring where very simple and it becomes just a matter of figuring out the fastest way to reach the places you have to reach.
The only one where you have to think a bit less about what's already there and may want to imagine things on a different level could be the Time Traveller's one, but even then, they are all pretty easy solutions to reach.

From what I've heard, the Scientist is one of the easier ones. The Knight is also very easy from my experience.

The Twins and the Hillbilly were a lot more challenging.
 

Violet_0

Banned
Pro-Tip™

In the Time Traveller's area, if you are stuck it's probably to do with the game. This shouldn't be a problem in Co-op.

When you are pushing the stone to let the water drip you have to be actively holding/pushing the stone when you switch for it to work. You can't just be blocking it from moving.

THANK YOU! This was already driving me crazy

finished my first playthrough (Twins, Knight, Time Traveler), awesome game. Got some minor complaints (controlling every character separately is often annoying and rather time-consuming, no online co-op and too many damn ladders) but otherwise a very enjoyable experience. I think my favorite part might honestly be the pictures you collect on the way, I love the all the little character stories
 

Volodja

Member
From what I've heard, the Scientist is one of the easier ones. The Knight is also very easy from my experience.

The Twins and the Hillbilly were a lot more challenging.
Maybe they were, but I still wouldn't call them challenging and I've never been particularly good with point and click adventures.
The game is still very charming however and my main complaint is about how stiff moving around the levels is, especially with ladders and ropes. Even with the ability to jump up and down ladders the whole process is so slow.
 

aeolist

Banned
OK I'm done fucking around, someone just tell me how to solve the Knight puzzle. I can't find a single thing in this environment I can interact with other than the
dragon's food bowl
 

Artanisix

Member
OK I'm done fucking around, someone just tell me how to solve the Knight puzzle. I can't find a single thing in this environment I can interact with other than the
dragon's food bowl

Instead of pushing the dragon's bowl towards the dragon, try pushing it away from him ;)

Good luck!
 

Lain

Member
Finished my first play-through after 4 hours, more or less.
Used The Time Traveler, The Twins and The Explorer, but only with The Time Traver, at the end, I noticed that
you could give the item back.
The game is fun, nice to look at and interesting, though it fell a bit shorter on what I was expecting out of Ron Gilbert. The atmosphere though is top notch and I love the voice over for The Cave.

I still maintain that going up ropes is too slow (here hitting A or B does nothing for me), while for ladders just when there is something between the forefront and the ladder, so hitting jump to drop down faster requires you to first descend some.
 

Zeal

Banned
I just wrapped up the Miner segment and I'm really not impressed with the puzzle structure or the way that the lack of inventory is used.

The art is gorgeous at least.

I'm honestly in the same boat. I love everything this guy does, but I am just not feeling this game. I thought having to switch between characters would have added great fun to the puzzle solving elements of the game but I am finding myself increasingly annoyed or simply bored. The characters, art, and voice acting are all phenomenal, but the gameplay is just not doing it for me.

I guess I was just looking for a more classic adventure game, ala Monkey Island...
 

Volodja

Member
I still maintain that going up ropes is too slow (here hitting A or B does nothing for me), while for ladders just when there is something between the forefront and the ladder, so hitting jump to drop down faster requires you to first descend some.
Yep, it's terrible.
The reason why I hate going through the Mine section and the fact that the game makes you replay the shared sections over and over again doesn't help.

I don't know if I'll be able to stomach all the additional runs I'll have to do for the
redemptions
.
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
I love how every character is their own particular brand of shithead. The twins' story was so funny.

And I like that Cliffy B was a playtester.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Just wrapped it up. I think it was good, not great. I loved the art and I liked the idea behind the story, but I found the characters to be under-developed and the dialogue to be pretty lame overall.

Replaying it 2 and 1/3 times to see all the unique content is a bad idea. The no-deaths achievement is gonna be a bitch too, I suspect.
 
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