LOL! thanks! made me laugh!

Cheers!

Did you expect me to recommend a game where the very core of the game, the text (hence, text adventure) is badly broken? As has been said before, you really should have had someone proofread it before you started asking money for it. I spent $15 on a game that looks like the designers were very very lazy about it - and ignoring the parser problems, you're left with nothing that makes a text adventure appealing.

Even if you patch it, it will be a lot of work to sort out the text and I hope a native English speaker can even make sense out of the broken translation because even if I fix all the errors, the story is very hard to follow and makes little sense in areas.

I think your best bet, is to have someone rewrite the text from scratch instead of simply proofreading it because the quality is always going to be horrendous otherwise. Let me write an example:

"You lock the wooden door of the tiny apartment and place a sensor on the knob while yelling the voice command at the computer to dim down the lights hoping "retrievers" didn't spot you coming into the building"

Now, what's wrong with that? It's far too long a sentence but it's pretty much OK otherwise yet it reads really badly and I would change it to something like:

"After locking the front door of your tiny apartment and placing a sensor on the knob, you yell at the computer to dim the lights. You hope no "retrievers" spotted you entering the building."

Shorter, to the point, reads better. And every line of text needs to be modified like that - it's not just a matter of tweaking, it has to be rewritten all over. Don't rush the patch.

Also try to make the parser work better - never ever let the user see "syntax error" and also don't let people type "more" to continue - just let them press enter. Having to see the entire intro is bad enough each time you start the game without having to type "more" several times. Also, let you repeat the last command by pressing the up key or something like that. If people mistype they don't like having to retype it all.

In the end, I think you need to take criticism on the chin - you're not giving away your game for free and the moment you ask money for something, people expect a certain standard. Fact remains, that the game is very very rough around the edges and should have been called a beta at best. Also, do remember that you can't simply translate a text adventure - each language has different peculiarities that need to be implemented into the parser. For this game, I felt that English wasn't properly integrated into that parser which may explain why. Writing a good parser to an English game when you're not native speakers is going to be VERY hard because a parser has to make sense of what is being typed. Your parser gives syntax errors each time you type something that it can't recognise even though it's perfectly good yet simple English.

Or in short: you got a LOT of work ahead of you to fix this.

Aren't you aware that people on the internet told them that they love their game, that they are indie devs making a DRM free game that is revolutionary for the genre, and that they are whipping up a path that should be ready really soon? Oh and that their game, the game that they refuse to take refused to have proofread by any English speaking person, will Immerse You Like Never Before?

It's pointless talking to this guy because he responds the same way each time. What's sad is that Carlos, the illustrator, look like a wonderful artist. The real issue is that they didn't test this game before release, they just sort of released it into the wild. They would have had these complaints established well before release and people would feel cheated with a game broken at it's core.

You really are a complete troll, aren't you?

You've gone from talking about how you'd love to play the game to making negative comment after negative comment to the developer, and to eventually declaring the game is "broken at it's core".

Really? Have you bought the game? Have you played it? No. Didn't think so.

And, by the way, the developer writes (and I'm presuming, speaks?) at least two languages fluently. His English may not be perfect, but at least he's trying. Do you speak another language? No. I'm guessing not. But, it's just so easy to trash someone who has done something you couldn't do in a language other than your own, isn't it?

I probably wouldn't buy the game as I don't like text adventures, but kudos to the developers for making a huge effort with this, plus doing marketing it to get the word out. And yes, the artwork is beautiful.

They're indie developers, with probably not a lot of money behind them yet their website is gorgeous and the game looks interesting. Is the English in the game perfect? From what some are saying, no, it's not, but then again I haven't played the game so I'd have to reserve judgement. Can it be fixed? Of course it can. But trolling a topic and declaring a game "broken at its core" when you haven't even played it doesn't help and is, quite frankly, idiotic.

And no, I'm not going to hang around here and debate you, or even read your response because I just don't have time for your particular form of abuse as, when anyone calls you on it, you are then the "injured party". Plus, you've already proven you've a lot of time on your hands and are willing to keep blathering. Sorry, I have better things to do.

But somebody needs to say "Stop attacking the developer". It's rude. Unnecessary and beyond stupid when you haven't played the game.

1. I had interest in the game, but I've been given plenty of examples, screen shots, videos, ect. of poor language in the game. You may not understand because you don't like text adventure, but that's the entire purpose of playing it. Broken language in a text adventure is a broken game.

2. It's great that he speaks and writes in two language, but that is really beyond the point. They are charging quite a lot for the game and I doubt paying customers can give a shit about this grand attachments.

3. You act like this huge white knight for indie developers and your schtick is getting tired. Why not talk to ANYONE else in the thread. Your response to me was me responding to someone else. Why not talk to that person? Why is it I'm the troll and bad guy when other people seem less than happy and plenty of people online are unhappy also. I can give you links if you like.

4. Of course you're not going to hang around here because I've pegged you for a coward. When the going get's tough you assume that the person you are berating obviously has no life right? It's called a hit and run.

And you know what? I'm tire of being constantly insulted by you. You are continuing you to call me stupid, saying I have no life multiple times, and turning every discussion with me into a personal attack. You say you have better things to do, well if I have no life then what are you doing on here "blathering" as you so nicely put it.

Wow guys... take it easy, calm down... both. Let's just be nice with each other. ;-)

No need to fist fight for some text adventure. I'm sure more are bound to happen eventually when they see the support people is giving us (because they are, trust me on that). We will eventually fix these errors and move on into something else. Maybe a 2d platformer or something in that line which has been always something we wanted to do too so there is no need to get all worked up because of a text adventure.
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Even if it's the best goddamn text adventure you will ever play in the whole existence. HA! ;-)

Just wait for us to fix these grammar bugs and that's about it. The ones who were lucky to buy it will be definitely enjoy it twice now.

Be fun, have fun man! life is great. Gaming is great! Man this is a gaming site, we are supposed to be having fun...! Let's have fun ;-)

Peace!

OH SNAP! just read this! you didn't buy it? anyway, the game is being update, and is not broken (the game works, runs, etc WIN and MAC). The text won't have grammar errors anymore.

But I guess that won't make you buy the game. Shame but, hope you reconsider once the patch is up.

Have fun man, lighten up a bit. I know it's Monday but still... many good things happening right now to be this stressed for a text adventure you didn't even bought. ;)

Anyway, gotta go work. THANKS!

Peace!

If it's patched and translated I will still consider of course! Right now I'm thinking about replaying an old infocom game.

Listen to advice and feedback and I'll sure you get there. Just make sure to have third parties try future games before you start selling it. I'd have gladly helped out to beta test the game and point out flaws and mistakes but having to pay for the honour is a bit too much for me ;)

LEATHER GODDESSES!!!!!!

@hulksjedi It's too bad you guys made the mistake of getting a non-native English speaker to proofread the text. Nevertheless I wish you all the best in fixing it up. Looking forward to playing it when the translation is fixed.

I actually just started the interactive fiction "Photopia" by Adam Cadre. It's really good so far and free.

As an IF junkie (both playing and creating), I was really interested in this from the webpage, but the stuff shown thus far from others has completely put me off purchasing. I'm very much with Red_Avatar here, retranslating this and fixing the parser issues is no trivial matter and could (and, if I'm being honest, should) take a long time to do. If I had the time I'd probably be happy to go over what's there and give solid recommendations, because it does still look interesting. But my spare time at the moment is close to zero, and from what's been shown so far it needs retranslating from scratch rather than improving what's been done already. So, for me, this is one to revisit in a few months and see what's happened.

Hope to have you playing CYPHER in the future.

Cheers!

I'll check out how it's improved down the line, but the corrections need to be drastic.

Just in case anyone was following/interested, there has been an update released. ive not got a changelog or used it since i installed, but here is an exerpt from the email i recieved:

"CYPHER First update is here!

We are thrilled by the attention and support we have received since we launched CYPHER. From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank everyone who bought our game. But as is seems, you can’t know the sweet taste of success until you get through the bitter taste of failure. We sent the entire script of CYPHER to a translator here in Buenos Aires, who for the most part did a great job but unfortunately the guy wasn’t a native English speaker (you all probably noticed that). After you guys brought to our attention the problems with the grammar, we immediately contacted another person who helped with the problem. The content is now corrected and you are good to go!

Thanks for your support and we are truly sorry about all of the grammar issues. It is our first game and we honestly thought the grammar was correct. Next time, we'll be sure to hire a native speaker."

good news i reckon.

Adam