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The Summer is Magic!

Welcome to Sweet Middleground Summer Edition!
This is the fourth episode of Sweet Middleground and DEFINITELY needs to be played after the first three to be appreciated fully.

Did you already play the other episodes? Very well, because I've some interesting news for you: it's summer, time for holidays and leave the old apartment and city block for the beaches! Yay! Yes, this time we have a new location, and clearly new adventures and puzzles!
As I said before the premise is simple: the gang goes on vacation, renting a couple of rooms, we have Vincent and his friends, Antigone and her fangirl we met on last episode (and I totally hate her since I was disappointed to learn the she was NOT the person guilty of the events of last episode... well play it, at least that one if you already didn't!).


Oh-ho... blue haired anime girl incoming!!!

Ok, so without spoiling much, let's speak about the puzzles and acivities of this episode. The title is "the sand castle", so I won't surprise you when I tell that all the minigames and activities are related to building and decorating a big sand castle on the beach! But what are these activities?
Well except for the obvious talk to people/look for items and info (let's call them "classic fetch quests", more or less) there are three kind of puzzles, encoutered in this order:

1 - Moving sand around with bucket and wheelbarrow
2 - Pulling crabs away with the crab pole
3 - Dragging bushes around with gloves

Ok, so each tasks requires first to retrieve an item and then some precise rules: for example the bucket may hold one unit of sand while the wheelbarrow is useful to transport a lot more around, the pole can pull the crabs but only if you have a square between them and Vincent, and the bushes can only be dragged backwards.
The game starts easy with some simple tasks that makes you get accustumed to these single activities, then after you grasped the essentials it offers some puzzles that combines all of them. As you can expect it's possible to mess things but if you leave the map (like entering the building) and re-enter it the position of the items will be resetted. This helped especially when I was able to get the wheelbarrow stuck. Uhm. Ok this happened more than once, in the end I simply decided to take long trips with the bucket...


Noooo please, I just wanted to play volleyball a bit!

There is also another section before the ending but I won't spoil this last task. Was very fun nonenthless!

Ok so this is the main activity of the game but it's only a part of it. There's also a cute story (that I cannot describe clearly or you miss all the fun) that frames the game. Graphics and music are as good as last episode, so in other words they are excellent! I especially liked some of the little animations like Antigone's "small steps"! Unfortunately here I also noticed a couple of errors: the japanese girl (Fumiko, Antigone's fan) in more of an constantly changes her portraits from the swimsuit one to the normal one and this happens when it's supposed to have the swimsuit on (as showed by the charsets), also the castle gate somewhat disappears after a certain point and Antigone doubles during one of the last cutscenes. Ok, a couple of little imprecisions, but nothing much.

Final Verdict
I think it took me 1 hour and 20 to finish the game, and yes, it's quite a bit of fun in the usual self contained story. I liked a lot the puzzle because they were not too difficult but still not really easy and they started simple, adding more complications later. Nice one! I also liked the custom (I will say it again, CUSTOM!) graphics with more animations and clothing than before. And the music, of course, pretty good that too. Uhm the only flaws are just the little imprecisions I listed before, but clearly it's nothing much and maybe the only excuse for not liking this game is not liking this kind of genre (slice of life + puzzles)!

Anyway, speaking a bit about the story... I loved this one maybe even than the previous episodes, but clearly are those that made me like this so much! This is a bit of a turning point in the series. I like the cast and how we learn something more about them (well, except Fumiko, tu tell the truth!). Oh and speaking about the cast I hope the "anime siblings" will be back in next episode!

Ok so now why don't you try this game?


UH????

Posts

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It's summer in here too, I'm overheating twice a day ._.

So you hate Fumiko and you can't push a wheelbarrow, eh... No, just kidding. You're right, she was a red herring, and my sokoban gameplay is bound to end up in corners sometimes. And I'm proud 8D. I was proud of the "section just before the ending", too. It took me a while to event, and it let to enrichment on some other projets (but, it's not really related). It's funny how you're especially wary of the spoilers on that one, and in a sense it's a good sign for me. It means my assessment of the game matches your experience. I'm happy about that, I had a bit of a hard time meeting my plans on that one... I don't know if I ever told you, but I'm rambling right now xD

The few bugs you found are found and corrected, they'll be in the next upload. Apart from the "castle game disappearing" thing, you'll have to tell me more about that one. And if that's the worst of it, then again I'm proud and happy. These are the games I'm the most attached to, and this episode in particular... Well, you said it without saying it. Spoilers spoilers ='D
Thanks for playing, and thanks for being receptive to the direction it's taking.
author=Zorga
It's summer in here too, I'm overheating twice a day ._.

So you hate Fumiko and you can't push a wheelbarrow, eh... No, just kidding. You're right, she was a red herring, and my sokoban gameplay is bound to end up in corners sometimes. And I'm proud 8D. I was proud of the "section just before the ending", too. It took me a while to event, and it let to enrichment on some other projets (but, it's not really related). It's funny how you're especially wary of the spoilers on that one, and in a sense it's a good sign for me. It means my assessment of the game matches your experience. I'm happy about that, I had a bit of a hard time meeting my plans on that one... I don't know if I ever told you, but I'm rambling right now xD

The few bugs you found are found and corrected, they'll be in the next upload. Apart from the "castle game disappearing" thing, you'll have to tell me more about that one. And if that's the worst of it, then again I'm proud and happy. These are the games I'm the most attached to, and this episode in particular... Well, you said it without saying it. Spoilers spoilers ='D
Thanks for playing, and thanks for being receptive to the direction it's taking.

Heh the title was also a reference to a Playahitty song, anywaaaaaay...

Uhm well yeah I hate her since she is useless and well I love Vincent's friends but I cannot stand her as much as him since he even say "Why did you ask her to come?".
Good question, she is creepy lol!

I CAN push the wheelbarrow, but I learned later that you need to be careful and give some light touches...
The castle... GA... gaTe! Damn autocorrect! LOL XD gaaah I mean that the gate of the castle partially disappears, only one branch is left after a certain scene.

Anyway yes, kudos for making this series better and better, because you know, after a good start and direction it is not eally easy to keep improving... and yet this is the case!
I wasn't about to catch the reference, I have no idea what Playahitty is °u°.
And you know, I think it's pretty healthy for you to hate a character upon proper criteria. She is kind of useless so far - at least, for the players - and I say it's a reasonable point. It means that the characters you don't dislike (the main two in particular) didn't get a free pass, y'know? I like that.

I'll check the castle gate next time I open RM.

It's not really easy to keep a general direction interesting, no, you're right. And... Well, not speaking of games, but of stories in general: the value of what your story is centered around shakes a bit, as it gets explored; both because it's less new, and because it's increasingly complicated. Normally (normally), this is my domain, but games are a somewhat new way to tell stories to me, so I do wonder.
author=Zorga
I wasn't about to catch the reference, I have no idea what Playahitty is °u°.
And you know, I think it's pretty healthy for you to hate a character upon proper criteria. She is kind of useless so far - at least, for the players - and I say it's a reasonable point. It means that the characters you don't dislike (the main two in particular) didn't get a free pass, y'know? I like that.

I'll check the castle gate next time I open RM.

It's not really easy to keep a general direction interesting, no, you're right. And... Well, not speaking of games, but of stories in general: the value of what your story is centered around shakes a bit, as it gets explored; both because it's less new, and because it's increasingly complicated. Normally (normally), this is my domain, but games are a somewhat new way to tell stories to me, so I do wonder.

Well it was an old classic summer song really popular here in the '90s and maybe also abroad because had some covers (one by Corona... the singer not the virus, lol!).

Uhm I could probably check with the savegsmes when this happens. The double Antigone happened after shooting the girl swimming (last one left).

Well also she does not seem to be involved or care so much despite her fangirl status. Instead Vincent's friends were gradually developed as we learned something about them in this episode and in the one before this. I like how they are characterized quickly but effectively. And I also liked the "anime siblings", great addition! I expected some new character of this kind, maybe just one!

Speaking about the story the difficult thing is also making a series of connected episodes with the right pacing. I mean, it is maybe easier with single self contained episodes, like yournother series. But I admit that I'd have probsbly made the events develope faster (I expected this at first... luckily I was wrong because it's better going at a slower pacing).
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
This game was among my favorite games made during Seasons 4, and the soundtrack is a reasonable contender for "Summoner of Sounds" this year, in my humble opinion.

I have not played the other games in this series, but, I'm mildly curious to check them out. Probably should fix that, one of these days!
The double Antigone is fixed, it's the gate I didn't catch. But I'll find it, don't worry~
Well, Fumiko is a bit particular, because she's not part of a context. She's an addition to the existing context, she's basically a plot device that's connected to Antigone and growing there. That's why she's presented so gradually, and seems to lack a proper will. But I don't want to go into details - there are gonna be more characters, and more places. And more measured pacing, surely, as it is slice of life after all =P

author=Marrend
This game was among my favorite games made during Seasons 4, and the soundtrack is a reasonable contender for "Summoner of Sounds" this year, in my humble opinion.

I have not played the other games in this series, but, I'm mildly curious to check them out. Probably should fix that, one of these days!
You don't know how pleased that makes me. I was certain the game would tank without the previous three pre-played, and being congratulated on a soundtrack is really valuable to me.
More places and characters? Oh nice, this was nice also because it was the first time outside the usual city block that now we know very well (well familiarity with places is nice in these slice of life heartwarming games). I am curious.

Oh yes the music! I probably just mentioned that briefly but music is very good, I am not sure if the theme is the ine I liked more because each entry had good and appropriate musics! I do not know my favourite, but this is one of the best episodes also for the music.
Fortunately, I'm also improving with the composition, so it should keep getting better : D
I'm surprised he didn't point out the amusing spelling error in one of Antigone's lines.



After all, I'm pretty sure hitting someone with a wet cupboard would hurt pretty badly. Though how she'd load a piece of furniture in that tiny cannon is anyone's guess.

And you used the incorrect portrait for Fumiko in one of the early conversations as well.


Slowed down so it's a bit easier to see her sprite before her head covers most of it. And I left the dialogue section in so it's easier to find.

And yeah, I already recorded and posted a Let's Play for the fourth game that will go public in November, but I did point out that changes are coming. I'm just not the most patient person when it comes to stuff like this at times. It's why I'll probably ask the developer of Klonoa FanRPG if he's going to make that public anytime soon since he told me it should be ready over two months ago at this point. And it's been about a month since I last asked him about it.

And it's possible to trap yourself in this game on the map with the brambles.



Though, I'll admit the likelihood of anyone doing so is pretty small.
Good catch xD this is obviously cardboard.

Regarding Fumiko's portrait, it's been fixed for a long time, I simply never updated the dl.

As for the softlocks... Well, you're right, there are a few possible softlocks, but they all require willingness. And since the puzzles are quite precise, I'm hesitant to touch them at all.
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