Scratches

[JackVanian]

Obviously, Scratches was a brilliant game that found a lot of fans around the globe (around 250.000 copies sold - who can claim that of himself?). I would be very interested to hear how you're looking back at Scratches a few years later. What worked well and what could have worked better? Are there any lessons you learned from the feedback on Scratches that you will implement in Asylum?

[Agustin]

Like I always say, I'm still surprised to see Scratches winning so many fans (and they still keep coming!). It was a very demanding game with an excruciatingly slow pace, at least during its first moments. A few puzzles were unfair too.

But, apparently it struck the right chord with many folks and I couldn't be happier

I do see many flaws years later and things I would have done differently. While I would never change its basic design, I would try to improve the flow of the game and add more hints. For example, the first day was weak. My intention was to include puzzles that would encourage players to explore the house but that didn't turn out well. It basically felt like a chore with way too many unnecessary triggers (that's something I'll be doing much, much less in Asylum, if any at all).

I'm satisfied with the puzzles, even though there were occasional fillers here and there, but a persisting problem in the game was lack of direction. It was very difficult for players to determine what to do next (there were hints alright, but you had to be paying MUCH attention). So that's something I'm also keeping in mind in Asylum, which could be even more critical given the size of the gaming area. Overall, I think the second day in Scratches was the most accomplished one: I think it had the just the right balance of revelations and puzzles.

There were many complains about the ending (although there were just as many folks that loved it) but that's something I would never, ever change. I think it's just the right ending for a game like Scratches; rushed, yes, but a minute longer would have diminished the impact of the final revelation

[Kradath]

It indeed is a great game.

What I didn't like though was the fact (in the director's cut?) that there was an explanation for everything supernatural. Of course that does not mean that everything supernatural in the game wasn't, but the fact there always was a "sane answer" to everything was a bad decision in my opinion.

As far as I remember the only exception were the dreams.

Do you disagree with that point of view?

By the way I loved the ending.

[Agustin]

You mean the pills thing? They were always present, only they were more noticeable in DC.

I disagree. The intention always was to provide enough evidence to support both theories (real and supernatural). The pills may or may not have something to do, and keep in mind its use was very common in the early 60's. It could be just a coincidence...

For every sane bit of evidence there's a strange occurrence that defies explanation, like the flower after the ending. It's always up to you to decide

[Kradath]

That's of course true. It just felt too 50:50 for me. It's of course taste as with everything. I'm maybe more the 90:10 guy, show everything in a certain light but leave that one nagging thing in there that gives you still a doubt, it drives one more crazy. The whole puzzle fits except that one damn piece which you simply can't put aside. Examples for that are Blade Runner, Inception, Shutter Island.

That's maybe what I disliked in the DC in that case because it felt a bit like the pills were just too much present, a bit to "forced" upon the player.