Sunday, April 8, 2007

Welcome to Masq's blog. Thanks for sharing your comments.

47 comments:

Paulina said...

I really like Masq. I's cool to be able to make so many choices and end up with different endings.

Unknown said...

Loving the concept. An interactive comic book if you like :) look forward to more unique games in the future!

Dlarit said...

Great game, really clever! I tried being totally moral highground and it got me a jail cell for life (as in real life good guys always come last dont they). Next game i'm going for an evil, murdering cheating liar sounds more fun anyway :-P thanks for the game!

Unknown said...

Found out about this in PCGamer UK. Went through it once. Intresting concept in itself. It's refreshing and new and I love that.

The content didn't bother me, although it would be intresting to see something with a more British theme someday. Perhaps even less violence/sex etc. Not being prude but rather out of interest to see how it would be pulled off and still be as good as Masq was.

Adrian Delso said...

"The aim of MASQ is to promote the exchange of information on the marine aquarium hobby for the benefit of hobbyists and the marine environment. ..."

...was one result of my Google search for "Masq"!

Love this game. If only Marvel Comics could do something as clever and good-looking as this.

Adrian Delso said...

I'm new to this blogging lark. Dunno if my comment appeared, yet. If this is a repeat, please delete.

"The aim of MASQ is to promote the exchange of information on the marine aquarium hobby for the benefit of hobbyists and the marine environment. ..." says Google!

Nothing about fish, but a great new game idea. If only Marvel Comics would hire Javier.

I played as a real prude and got (spoiler) killed, saved (spoiler) and got a big round of applause.

Croften said...

I also found this through PC Gamer UK. I love it! I think it's very original and a lot of fun to play through all the different scenarios. Managed to finish successfully two different ways now (for me, by successfully I mean be faithful to Susan (and get to sleep with her ;) ) and secure the money without and bad outcomes). It's very cool all the different outcomes that can happen.

By the way, has anyone managed to get Alice to trust you by getting a friend to tell her about yourself? Is it even possible?

Javier said...

Yes Nathan, it's possible to make Alice trust you, if a friend tells her you can be trusted.

Unknown said...

I'm gaming form many years (since nintendo's mario 3).I saw a article in a gamers magazine and I tried it. Why not it was free right.
And even its my first kinda point and click game, i have to admit it I just loved it. (I only played the frist two episodes because i didnt get that email yet)

The comic style is greath, its an adult story that you can play many times over.
The 2 downsite are that there was no music. That would really created even a better atmosphere.
Plus the fact you only had a that little screen to play on.

Anyway if you ever make a game you have to pay for, i would buy it.

Greetz

Van Gucht Johan (Belgium)

BTW: How long does it take to get that registration mail??

Unknown said...

Hi,

I'm gaming form many years (since nintendo's mario 3).I saw a article in a gamers magazine and I tried it. Why not it was free right.
And even its my first kinda point and click game, i have to admit it I just loved it. (I only played the frist two episodes because i didnt get that mail yet)

The comic style is greath, its an adult story that you can play many times over.
The 2 downsite are taht there was no music. That would really created even a better atmosphere.
Plus the fact you only had a that little screen to play on.

Anyway if you ever make a game you have to pay for, i would buy it.

Greetz

Van Gucht Johan (Belgium)

BTW: How long does it take to get that registration mail??

Javier said...

Hi Johan,

We are glad you liked Masq and really appreciate your comments. They are right on target because we're working on making Masq use the whole screen and considering adding music and audio FX.

Regarding the activation email, you're supposed to receive it almost immediately, so maybe there was a problem. I believe we were able to locate your account and activate it but let us know if you have any problem. You can email us at info@alteraction.com

Javier

Joost said...

I pretty much agree whit everyone here saying it's a great game. I think you chould be an antisocial lowlife thinking he knows everything could possibly have any comments on this.
But because it's my job (I'm a teacher) I'll continue.
No really great game the only thing I'm worried about are the "lives" you get. Does this mean that after 15 times playing the game you'll never be able to finish it anymore?
btw I would I do have a few additional questions about them:
1. Do you lose a life if you're in level 5 and load a game from a previous level?
2. Do you lose one if you load a previous game elready in level 5?
3. Do you lose a life if there is a connection failiure en the game has to stop?
But enough complaints now and I do want to say I totally loved playing the game and am impatiently waiting for the next one.
So get on with it!!!:).

Javier said...

Joost, thanks for your words... and thanks to all the other players who have posted their comments here.

Regarding the lives, it's simple: you loose (spend) one life every time you enter episode 4. However, if you (or anyone else reading) run out of lives and want to keep playing, write me a line at info(at)alteraction.com. I may be able to assign more lives to your account.

Aynen said...

I really like the concept, it's adaptive nature and it's simplicity in use.
What I would like to see though, is that the story-telling takes it's time.
I'd like to see deeper characters and more challenging and enriching conversation.
What to me makes a graphic novel so tempting is that it, unlike movies, allows for a very rich and deep world and characters because it isn't bound by a timeframe of 90 minutes or so.
You can still work with short, episodic content to make individual playing sessions short, but take your time in the telling of this tale.
Don't shun away from long conversations, this is one of the few platforms that allow that kind of depth.

Javier said...

Yes Aynen, this design platform allows much deeper exploration of characters, and having conversations with them is not only one way to get to know them better, but a device to explore themes deeper, and maybe even explore ourselves (as players) through our choices. It has been interesting to discover how different people play Masq differently. The obvious challenge is to build compelling enough interactive conversations to maintain the excitement (vs. more action oriented interactions). Regarding the length of the experience there are many variables to consider; from commercial and development issues, to replayability. However, in any case we agree that this design model represents an opportunity to explore many possibilities that most traditional games can’t explore.

Aynen said...

Allow me to think along with you for a minute...
Apart from the production, the design itself might suffer from long conversations in that they would force players to go through them every time.
Even though they can do them differently, over time they would have encountered the same conversations multiple times.
For the conversations not to become boring they would have to be of such an intellectual proportion that it might even require multiple reading sessions to understand fully.
This CAN be done.
But lets see if there's another way...

Perhaps you can separate the deeper conversations from the rest of the game, where the making of choices is of greater importance.
From the start menu one might have the option to talk to any of the game characters which would be scened as flashbacks or appendixes.
This makes all these conversations completely voluntary without holding up the story.
This makes the conversations kind of like some background story you might find in the manual of some games, designed to be able to read them when you're not behind your pc and to emerge you further into the game.
These conversations would then be about a character's history, their opinions of you and everything else, it's philosophical points of view, etc.
The game itself is nearly devoid of these elaborate background conversations to keep the speed and pressure into the story.
This also creates a different method of producing them, as they are not required for the story to function, they can be made and added to when the core of the game is already produced and published.
You can then spend as much or little time and effort on them as you can afford, it is completely flexible.
Since you can play with the principles of prologues and appendixes the possibilities for adding to the story in any way you see fit are endless.
Link this to a system of being able to purchase individual appendixes and prologues separately without it ruining the main story and you have a story any user can expand on in the way he or she sees fit.

Javier said...

Aynen,
I’ll answer you in the AlterAction discussion blog, http://alteraction.com/discussion/ where I believe this conversation belongs. In addition, there is a lot of information that you may like to check out, if you haven’t done so.

JMoran19 said...

This game is absolutely amazing! I am completely addicted, I can't stop trying to get the happy ending with



::SPOILER:: Nikki and Andrew on the beach::END SPOILER::



I can't wait to see what comes next from Alteraction! This is exactly what the gaming world needs. The only thing I can compare it to is Facade, another indie game that attempts to be completely non-linear, but the style of the graphic novel with point and click options is a lot more fun to me.

Wynter said...

Hey, I really love masq, I just wanted to ask Alice from the internet site tells you she is in the game somewhere, I've played the game a lot but never found her, any tips?

Javier said...

Alice shows up again during Masq's launch show

Unknown said...

Great game, nice drawings, It reminds me on some clasic adventures on Amiga and later on the pc like "uninvited" and such. I really love it And hope more episodes will come! And yes if it will be sold, I'll buy it! :)

I read an article in the PC gameplay (Dutch Magazine), checked the link and I was hooked from the first moment!

Thanks for making such great game and good luck with your further plans.

Khorne

Anonymous said...

So far, its an awesome game! Absolutely love it! Only issue is I can't play episodes 3-5, because whenever I attempt to log on, it claims unable to validate user... I've tried various things including turning off my internet security, is there any way to get round it?

Javier said...

Hello Myrph,

I'm sorry to hear you're having problems playing Masq. Please email us your username at info@alteraction.com so we can try to solve your problem.

Unknown said...

I had the same problem as myrph, and also emailed info@alteraction.com several times. I have yet to receive a response.

danny said...

God this is good, i just spent an entire day going through all the different paths. Though i still havn't figured out how to run away with my child and mistress...and i only have 15 lives left! Any ideas?

javier said...

Daniel,

I apologize for taking so long to answer. Have you checked the post: "SPOILER--I ended up w/Nikki and Andrew at the beach" in this blog?

http://alteraction-masq.blogspot.com/2007/05/i-ended-up-wnikki-and-andrew-at-beach.html

There are some hints there. Let me know if it helps

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Anonymous said...

I really liked playing this game a lot. But the only problem i have is that once i finish a life anything i try and save will not be there anymore and it gets really repetitive when i go through the same exact path only to try a different option at the end.

Is that the way it is suppose to be?

Besides that, I have to give much love on this great game.

Javier said...

Unfortunately every time you reach the end your save is lost. You can use the save option only to try different paths before ending a life. However, there is a workaround. There is a group of files that get updated as you play Masq. They are saved in a folder called Prefs that get saved in the same directory where you have Masq. At any point where you want to save, stop the game and backup the Prefs folder. Keep playing. Once you want to go back to the previous point, just replace the Prefs folder.

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Anonymous said...

you mentioned on the main page that on july 11 you fixed a problem that was keeping people from getting to episode 4. i still can't get to episode 4. any help would be appreciated.

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Joson C said...

Love the concept and ace game, but I can't get to episode 4, it keeps asking for registration even though i've already done it.

Javier said...

Please check the fifth item in the help section at our home page.
http://www.alteraction.com

If it doesn't work please write me at info@alteraction.com and I'll try to help you further.

Unknown said...

I now that this is a late post, and its already a year since the last one, but I have the same problem with Joson C. I followed the FAQ and troubleshooting guide but I still cannot continue to episode 4. I really enjoyed Masq and was really looking forward to every episode, so please, if this site is still used or maintained, then some help please?

Jakesomage said...

Ok so like, i was playing masq this morning, and i left it on pause. But, my computer unexpectedly turned off, and i turned it back on again. But now i can't play it. I don't know if its not playable at night or something, or if its on maintainence, but i cant go on the site either so i dont know whats going on :C

Unknown said...

Is the whole game dead or something ? It's completely disappear as of now , 2014 . Does anyone still keeps the game ? can i have a download link for this game?

Unknown said...

Try this link to download Masq http://www.alteraction.com/masq67.exe

Unknown said...

Is there a way to get more lives, or to do away with the whole lives concept? I want to play this game more, but I'm out of lives and the website to request more is gone. It says to contact infoCatCalteraction.com, but there is no website there. Unless this is an email address that somehow got malformed.

Mechasaurian said...

To AlterAction and the creators of Masq,

I happen to be curious about Masq and wish to play it, having stumbled on a reccomendation of it from several years back. However, key parts of the experience seems to be disabled. The "masq67" executable file demands an internet connection, yet attempting to play always results in a "connectivity error." Meanwhile, alteraction.com itself seems to be defunct, accessible only via the wayback machine.

Is it at all possible to play Masq now? Can


Sincerely,

An interested player.

Unknown said...

I used to enjoy this game but it seems the servers are gone. Any chance that you'll let me run the necessary files on a server to allow people to play the game?

e-mail me.

mim.heijn@gmail.com