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[SiXX]

Hi RPG team!

I just finish MISSING, (which I play straight from the beginning to the end since 1:00 in the dark night whee.....) and love every seconds of it!

I don't know what to begin, but hey 'Hardi "Orchard-L" Gosal' you r0ck!!! I'm a long-timed horror game fan and some years indy game fan. I really thank myself for checking out Independent Gaming site tonight! This game is sure a few gem that I craved for. 

For most part, I love the atmosphere - since I don't mind retro graphics and 8-bit sound effects this game done a wonderful job. 'Creepy' is what I feel when playing it. The only game beside this one that make me feel like this recently is 'Scratches'. (Okay, victorian mansion always got me!)

For the story though it's not very complex and quite easy to follow (which is much appreciate to a non-native english player like me), it's solid and intrigue. However it's not many surprise and not much original idea in it, but I think it's good enough. I also love the funny stuff you put in, some really make me laugh! You know, it's not a perfect adventure game without comedy. 

I see that many scenes are 'borrowed' or 'inspired' by some other horror games and flicks.  Since I've play and seen tons of them, I'm not going to say 'Hey, I've seen that trick before'. You put them just 'right' with this game. Some may complain about that, but it's okay with me.

[SPOILER WARNING]

The most shocking moment... yeah, not the ghostly dream, nor the hidden corpse, it's the name tag! And the fact that she is 'The Sixth Sense' person OMG! This really give me the chill.  Really kick-ars!

[SPOILER END]

Whew... I didn't think I will post this long for the first one. But hey, all I want to say for now is Thank you for making this.

Oh, I almost forgot... I saw in the game infos on indygame site there is an easter egg?
I may miss something, or I may found it but don't know that it's an easter egg. Could you tell me what it is?

[kimkallstrom1]

the easter egg was the tag.

i had planned to put alphasix and missing as GOTW, but since alphasix is already in Cage Match (go vote!) and missing isn't getting enough reviews, so I just highlighted that instead. (and i'm in serious need of game reviewers)

I watch a lot of horror movies, and missing is by far one of the best stories i've seen in any media. (owing much to it's subtleties) plus the graphics are A+. I really hope you make another one, doesn't matter what the story is about.

when I was playing, at times it feels a lot like snatcher. comparing to snatcher is probably the best accolade i can give, that kojima masterpiece sure rocks. i don't know if there are other easter eggs in missing though...

yeah, if i haven't emphasized it enough... looking forward to more adventure games like missing.

Before reaching the end, it was already an A game. But with the easter egg, it pushed it beyond A+. (yeah I played scratches too) the way you set us up is brilliant. mr. night should take lessons from you.

[orchard-l]

Hello, thanks for the words of encouragement.

Scratches is a fantastic game and I won't lie to you, Missing is partly inspired by it . It's really too bad that it received a lot of flak from the mainstream media. If memory serves, Gamespot gave it a 4.0 out of 10 or something.

Yeah, a lot of the scare scenes are inspired from games and movies that I saw. I rented 10-20 horror movies just to prepare myself for research purpose to make this game

Oh man, I LOVED Snatcher. I think I've played through that game 3 times already. To this day, I'm still bitter over the fact that Konami decided to skip Policenauts for the NA market. Have you played Portopia by any chance? Kojima said it's the game that inspired him to make games along with Super Mario Bros. It's really easy to see the influence too, Snatcher definitely borrows some features from Portopia.

[kimkallstrom1]

i'm a big kojima fan myself, unfortunately.

but his earlier works, i think i've only placed snatcher. mgs is still my favorite series. i really have to say this, the graphics in missing are amazing. had read somewhere that you were influenced by scratches (i played it myself). though scratches was great i rate missing slightly higher.

come to think of it, i probably enjoyed scratches a bit more than dreamfall, and at least a whole lot more than that rubbish of an adventure game called paradise...

i'd love to check out portopia someday.

there are a number of small parts in missing that actually made me jump. (even though i didn't want to admit it, heh) and yeah, i feel bad myself that not a lot of people will get to play your game (their loss) but the small number of fans you have really love your work.

i think missing would be great with a developer's commentary. i'd like to know what you were actually thinking about when setting up each scene.

i'm broke as well but if i had money i would donate some to you for the games you made. if i had any sort of money i suppose i wouldn't be playing free indie games in the first place.

[orchard-l]

I actually tried to write some sort of post-mortem for the game, but I ended up starting at the MS Word screen for an hour before I eventually gave up. Writing post mortem might be a little bit too much for someone who find writing a difficult task to do.

That being said, I think the hardest part for me is to maintain the balance of mystery and the supernatural. I don't like to delve too much into the supernatural... because for me, I think it's probably going to be pretty hard to end the story and make it sound plausible. Most of the stories of these kind end with a very supernatural solution, usually by some form of exorcism. I kinda find it hard to believe with with a little by prayer, ritual, or usage of holy water, you can easily get rid of the avenging spirits.

As far as the mood and plot presentation goes, Scratches and Tale of the Two Sisters are probably the influential works that I often use for reference.

What I really like about Scratches is that it makes you feel like there's something supernatural going on when there actually isn't. It just feels like a smart thriller. It also doesn't try to over-explain everything, something which I think I did at the end of the game. Tale of the Two Sisters approaches the plot the same way, it maintains a delicate balance of mystery and the supernatural, but in a movie format.

If you do decide to try Portopia, it's probably good to keep in mind that you shouldn't be expecting Snatcher for NES. I wish it is, but alas, it is not. It's still pretty great for a 85 release though.

Also, I'm glad to hear that the scare scenes worked on some people. I was starting to think that it is something that is impossible to do in a 2D game.

I'm kinda content with the exposure Missing has gotten so far. Missing's download count is increasing at a steady rate once you mentioned it on indygamer. I think those slovakian sites check your blog frequently or something.

[SiXX]

Hey... Tale of the Two Sisters is my all time favorite! Now that's another reason why I'm falling in love with Missing so easily. 

and that movie, yet again feature victorian mansion ...damn.

[Nekrocow]

I really loved the game but, sincerely, I didn't like the ending , it's too abrupt and Melvin was just too cool to die T_T

[RinkuHero]

I agree with you; I tend to like happy endings. I asked Orchard-L if his next game would have a happy ending and... things aren't looking good.

[kimkallstrom1]

no happy ending? excellent! 

[Zeltaen]

I stumbled across Missing after someone on 4chan started a thread about indie games. I came across a huge collection of indie games and played Fedora Spade because I dig the whole Film Noir ennui. After I finished it, I craved more and decided to try Missing.

Holy crap this game was great. Shows like CSI have really sucked all the fun out of the detective genre--it's all about semen stains and DNA, where's the good old fashioned footwork?

I liked the "downer" ending. I think that with supernatural stories, it kind of kills it if the heroes somehow defeat the ghosts. It's much more fun to go with the Lovecraftian idea that the best you can do is escape with your life.

[RinkuHero]

Yeah, I don't even really play mainstream games anymore -- I think I'd play mainly indie games even if I didn't make them.

[orchard-l]

Hey, thanks. I very much agree with your view of horror/supernatural stories. Happy endings almost never work because they usually resort to the cheesy 'exorcism' scene. Which is just plain bad. Holy water? Warding evil spirits with the prayers? Icky stuff.

[Starmaker]

Just finished Missing.
Highlights of awesome.
1. Lighting changes. Sunlight, then the warm glow of lamps and how that very same glow turns sinister in Day three.
2. A kind of "two-face" effect to characters. Not the game to be played at night in a dark room. (I left the lights on but that didn't help much.)
3. Briefing delayed until the game proper. No history lessons before you get to play. That's very good and refreshing.
4. The door opening during the second night scene. Now that I've seen this device, there's just no excuse if a later horror game doesn't rip it off in some way.
5. The road to the village and the text saying something to the effect of "I don't need to go there right now". Like mirrored walls in establishments, this has the effect of virtually expanding a game's play area and allows for the fact of being trapped inside the house to have an appropriate emotional impact.
6. The description for the basement key - FINAL DESTINATION, the feeling of impending doom.
7. Humorous comments. Given the mirthless nature of the plot, these serve as hints that Melvin is going off rails while actually lightening the atmosphere.
8. The phone line cut, I expected this would happen after I went pixel-hunting in the room, but I was too excited the first time I played to check. Sure enough, it's cut.
9. An appropriately slimy villain. I love Immortal Defense because the characters there are alien but sympathetic. I love Missing for quite the opposite: the villains are monsters who just look human.

Difficulties.
I've had exactly two, both with pixel-hunting for something below ground. In the first instance, I had to consult the forums, in the second instance, I went mad and clicked all over the room, not really expecting a result.
Codes.
I've had some trouble with the first lock, going all over the place looking for something that might be unlocked after I clicked on stuff in the correct order to no avail, then I realized the aristocrats would say "dexter" and "sinister" rather than left and right, and the problem was solved. The other code I've solved as soon as I read the hints - I knew exactly what info I need and how to get it...
...and now I have you, Orchard-L! Ha ha ha ha ha! They're British, they should have used British format!
But that's the only significant nitpick, which just goes to show how awesome this game is.

[RinkuHero]

i should have caught that british system thing when i proofread it for orchard

[orchard-l]

Hey wow, I thought this game has a become a fossil by now. Apparently it hasn't. Yet. Anyway, thanks for the comments. It's been a while since I last heard anyone said anything about the game.

"3. Briefing delayed until the game proper. No history lessons before you get to play. That's very good and refreshing."
>Actually, I'm a bit ashamed to say that my latter games deviate from this design. They tend to have long story driven sequences for the intros.

"4. The door opening during the second night scene. Now that I've seen this device, there's just no excuse if a later horror game doesn't rip it off in some way."
>This is probably the first time anyone has ever mentioned this scene. Usually it's either the jump scare scene in the first floor hallway, or the eye peering through the keyhole scene.

"5. The road to the village and the text saying something to the effect of "I don't need to go there right now". Like mirrored walls in establishments, this has the effect of virtually expanding a game's play area and allows for the fact of being trapped inside the house to have an appropriate emotional impact."
>I can't really claim credit to this. I think this device has been used in other adventure games. I do know that it's used a lot in text adventure games.

"8. The phone line cut, I expected this would happen after I went pixel-hunting in the room, but I was too excited the first time I played to check. Sure enough, it's cut."
>It's a cardinal rule to have the phone line cut in the finale of a horror game/movies/fiction. :p

Yikes, I completely forgot about the British system thing. I didn't even notice the error until you mentioned it just now. It's not just rinku who missed it. All of my other proofreaders did.

Orchard,