Asylum Demo Released - Finally!

[draclvr]

The demo for Asylum is finally here! This one has been in the works from Agustin Cordes - maker of Scratches - for almost 10 years. I've been a backer for almost that long! You can find it at their Steam page.

You can find the demo and more info here. Asylum Demo

[Kickaha]

Thanks for posting this Draclvr - like you I’m a backer of this marathon!

[LadyKestrel]

I'm a backer, too, but I'm not sure I want to play the demo. Once I get into the game, I know I won't want to stop.

[draclvr]

Exactly what I'm thinking, LadyK! But then I'm afraid it will be another several years before we see the full game!

[Lucien21]

Agustin is hopeful that it will be out later this year.

I spend a lot of time at Senscapes Discord.

The Demo was great.

[DracheHexe]

I had given up hope for this game (took it off my wishlist long ago)to ever see the light of day so it's nice to news finally, even if thinking about the game itself is like trying to remember an old dream...fuzzy at best. I used to tease Senscape every so often but it stopped being funny about 4 or so years ago.

Is this the same demo that's been out for awhile already because I've already played it a couple of time. Hmm, don't see a download for the demo on Steam.

Anywho I loved Scratches but didn't care much for Serena.

[Lucien21]

A month or so Steam did an Event where they showcased a lot of games with time limited demo.

Asylum was one of those games. So we all got to play it for a weekend. Although I think if you are a backer you can access it from their Discord.

[Lucien21]

Also Agustin gives away free Steam keys to the Directors Cut of Scratches to members of the Discord.

[DracheHexe]

Eh, I have the Director's Cut on Bigfish which is fine as I don't do Discord.

Does Senscape still make available that engine they originally started Asylum in before moving over to Unity? I always wanted to take a look at it but never had the time.

[GreyFuss]

This is the one biggest disappointment of the few games I backed on Kickstarter.

First let me say that I only Backed seasoned developers that have previously made and released great Adventure Games and stayed away from backing anyone that had great ideas but would not realize that it takes so much to make a game and give up once the tediously boring an time consuming part of the development sets in. That being said there are only 4 games I backed, 2 huge games delivered in a short time, one newer KS still in production and then Asylum.

Tex Murphy: Tesla Effect from Big Finish Games
Obduction from Cyan
Firmament from Cyan in development now

The only reason, besides Agustin being an Adventure Gamer himself and releasing the very good Scratches game, that I backed Asylum back in 2013 was that at the time before the Kickstarter started the game seemed like it was almost finished and I thought that a little help would give him the boost to finish the game. BTW: My Kickstarter page that I printed out at the time I backed shows "Estimated Delivery: Dec 2013

Instead it seems like he used the funds to try and create his own game engine instead of finishing what he had. He restarted the game from scratch I think twice after the Kickstarter with engines he was working on and now isn't he back to using Unreal or some other noted game engine?

Sorry Augustin, I do really like you but all the update excuses and promises have gone on deaf ears for me as I have dubbed you the Jonathon Boakes of South America.

[Phlebas]

Yes, I'd put him in a similar category to Mr Boakes - brilliant at making spooky games, bad at estimating development timescales. I still look forward to new games from both - I have faith they'll arrive eventually and it's not like I'll run out of other games to play in the meantime!

[draclvr]

I don't disagree, Greyfuss. This has been nothing but one big disappointment after another. Jonathon Boakes is right up there with him. I know they have real lives and real jobs and that things happen that are out of their control. I understand all that and like Phlebas says, I have plenty of other games to play in the meantime. I still look forward to games from both of them, but when you start talking about years and years and years... it's a bit of a bridge too far. To be honest I've lost interest in Boakes' games.

[LadyKestrel]

I backed Asylum, and I'm still looking forward to playing it when it comes out. I think early on Augustin realized the limitations of the engine he was using, so instead of putting out a game that didn't include things he wanted to do, especially good character movements, he decided to rebuild the game. He probably felt that being criticized for being too slow would in the long run be less damaging than rushing it when it wasn't complete.

[draclvr]

Yes, that's exactly what Agustin said about switching engines. I listened to an interview with him a couple of years ago. I am still looking forward to the game, but he can't be surprised when it starts pushing 10 years that he will lose a lot of interest.

[LadyKestrel]

I also think the operating system changes in both Windows and Macs was probably a contributing factor to the long delay. Configuring things to work without bugs on the newest machines could be headache making.