Is Sorcery the name of the book serie? If so that probably means that they'll include the future books within the app (as iAp or free, I don't care). Anyhow, in my experience, game books were always short on the first read (may it be on paper or on iOs), the longest it took me to complete one was five hours (it was my second one and it was from the lone wolf serie, which was really complicated for me at the time ) and as mentioned the fun is then to go back and explore the extra possibilites. Anyhow back to the book now...
Agreed on this. In fact, I would say the uniqueness of the Sorcery! epic is precisely that the 4 books are best not read as standalones. They were designed to run together, and did so gracefully as no other gamebook series did. Take for example, I wonder about the locket with the portrait - is it in this app? If so.... will I still have it later on in one of the later books if it's a separate app? Sorcery! veterans will know what I'm referring to! Still - I'm going to buy this app based on the fact that the developer has obviously thought through and redesigned it for mobile - really appreciate that. Hope the support helps.
The thing to remember about this game is that it is a rather novel adaptation of a gamebook from 1983, it's not meant to be inkle's Frankenstein-esque take on Lord of the Rings, or a full-scale RPG like some text-based version of Baldur's Gate. It's not a game that is supposed to take you six hours to play through once, but it's also not something you're going to fully experience in a single playthrough, and often not even two or three. Most gamebooks are in one of two camps: either longer, narrower and more linear, or shorter, broader and more open; both the Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Adventures series demonstrate this quite well. I have a feeling that, "I got to the end in only two hours," would tend to be a criticism made more often by people who weren't even in existence when the books were originally published. A major part of that is because four apps have a great deal more visibility than one that is just getting updated, especially when those updates are necessarily months apart. Each of these releases will generate a burst of interest and app store recognition/promotion for the other existing titles that simply wouldn't come via a simple update adding IAP. There's also a higher chance of books 2-4 each being "featured" independently than there is of the original base app making it back into the spotlight each time a new IAP book was added in. It's a different matter when you're adding IAP that integrates into the game and cannot stand on its own, like a new deck of cards, boardgame layout, or army for a wargame, but this would literally be the addition of a new game into the old one. In addition, while it is clearly optimal - and just makes more sense - to play all the books in order, they were always marketed as being able to be played independently. The other three books in the series will be separate paid apps. The developers have already stated that the mechanic for carrying characters/items/etc. from one book to another is in place.
Well, the book took longer because, IIRC, you used dice and had to do the math, etc. But I'm pretty sure the book cost more than this app, even though it was the 80's...think of it that way.
so my comment abt completing the game in 1-2 hr may be harsh to some. yhaving only played the lone wolf series (and some sci fic books that i can't rem the name) way back, i remember it was much more complicated than this. maybe because i was just a kid. so back to this game, i was intrigued by the video and went to check out some previews and interviews and i heard abt the moral choices that u make that can affect the game ending etc. so i was kinda expecting something like that. so to me the game ended quite abruptly having not seen any consequences of my actions. i understand these will tie over to the subsequent chapters but like some of the concerns here, i'm worried that they wouldnt be published.
Sorcery! is indeed quite complex if you look at it as a whole, but the first volume is a nice walkaround introduction. Khare is already a hell of a dangerous maze if you're unlucky or ill-prepared. And you have to do a perfect playthrough of the third volume (unlikely to happen the first time) if you want to have an easrier time in the last one.
I'm still still surprised he completed the game so quickly. I downloaded this late last night and really enjoyed getting into it, taking my time, played for about 30 minutes and hadnt got that far. Had a look at the spell book (lots of pages), loved the graphics. Only minor thing is i wish i could press on a location rather than draw a line but no biggie. Also saving ? I couldnt seem to find any button to save, so i just quit the game. Does carry on but if i close down the app properly (which i'm nervous to do) will it still carry on ? But i'm in heaven, what with the other Fighting Fantasy books and the way this book has been recreated its amazing. Shall be leaving a 5 star review on itunes soon, really great interpretation of the book, works very well. Well done devs ! Back in the early 80's this book must have been about £7 or so, you could have probably read it very quickly and 'completed' it very soon. Years later we have a great version to carry round with us on our device for a couple of pounds, well worth it
The whole package is head and shoulders above any other CYOA game available on the App Store but I was pretty disappointed to learn that I would have to pay full price for the next book considering I was able to complete this one in one sitting. I appreciate that there's a lot of branches I didn't see but it would feel more fair to me if the next installments were $.99 or $1.99.
Is that confirmed though there'll be seperate apps or even the prices of the other games ? Even if its $4.99 for the next one its still dirt cheap, think we've been spoiled with too many 99c games ! For the license/the love and detail theyve put into this game (must have taken a while to program this) i'm happy with the next episode being the same price or whatever it'll be. Shall play this one much more later
How can these prices be justified? The actual physical books will set you back more than the price of the app and the dev's have and to take those books and convert them into a game/book and now somehow its only worth 69p Some people today are mental with what they expect to pay for games. I'm damn sure if it was my time I'd spent making a game I'd want paid for it
Gamebooks have never been designed to take multiple days to finish; I don't think there's a single physical gamebook that couldn't be finished in one sitting (assuming you didn't mess up). I have no idea why you'd be under the bizarre impression that you wouldn't have to pay a fair and appropriate price for the other books in this series, though. Considering what's gone into these adaptations, and the generally niche nature of this product, those prices wouldn't even be remotely close to fair. This is about as far from "up for discussion" as you can get. The developers have stated multiple times (even in this thread) that the other books will be separate apps. It's likely that the rest will be priced the same as this one. On another note, there's a bug with the spellbook in this release. On an iPad at least, if you start the game in landscape orientation, the layout of the spellbook is screwed up, with the font oversized and the spell names missing, making it unusable. If you turn the device to portrait, it'll fix the pages, which will then remain correct if you then return it to landscape. You only have to do this once per session, but it's something that should be cleared up in a bugfix update.
Game Impressions I will post detailed impressions when I have finished the game, but I just wanted to quickly say that this is an incredible experience. On one hand, it may be very frustrating if you are looking for something very faithful to the book aspect of the gamebook (I tend to be conservative with my childhood memories), but on the other hand, this is a magistral reinterpretation of what a gamebook can be once transposed to digital format. This is truly a goldmine of innovative ideas, thoughtful designs, and respect for the original material at the same time. Very highly recommended, if only because it is both a very bold and highly qualitative approach of this niche genre. I can't praise Inkle enough for their work here. I'm tingling all over when imagining my encounter with the time serpent now...
Apologies if this has already been mentioned; I did read the entire thread so must have missed it. Will this game run on a first generation iPad?
