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Reviews for "Shooting in the Dark"

Hello, always glad to see a new submission, but I have to say I was rather displeased with a number of things overall in this game.

Let me start with what I liked:
The music is fun and really quite nice. I think it reflects the atmosphere of the game perfectly. It really captures the emotional range I think you were aiming for. The art is also fun, a nice retro look that I would like to see more of. And I'm always a fan of point and click adventures.

But here's what I didn't like:
The lack of actual choices that could be made in the game. I couldn't opt to -NOT- skip school on the first day. I also couldn't say something to the bully that kept him from hitting me. And then I get home to find out that because I was forced to skip, I am now punished, namely by my father hitting me, and sending me to my room without dinner.
The next day, I am forced to encounter the bully, and again, there is nothing I can do to stop it. I'm not even prompted to fight back. I just get knocked down, and face ridicule. It finally reaches the point where I am forced to go and get the gun from the safe, and it is then implied I went and performed an act of gun violence at my school.
And finally, the only way to beat the game is to not play it at all.

These are the changes I would recommend to improve the game:
On the first day, allow the player to go to school, and get into a fight with the bully. Force the encounter, so that he hits the player, no matter what. That way, on the second day, the player is prompted to skip school, avoid the bully and further humiliation, but now there is the issue with the parents finding out about the player skipping class (but no fight with the bully at the park, doesn't make sense to hide at a place the bully would frequent). So the player is locked in his room after the father hits him. He vents his frustration by playing the game. From this point, I would have it play out much the same. Go to school, face bully again, then the facebook comment that ignites his anger, and the final day plays out as before with the gun.

You have a good concept, it just needs a little refinement. I hope this critique helps with future submissions. Although I prefer something not so railroaded, and would like to see an option for proper conflict resolution, even if that means beating the bully's ass and humiliating him in front of everyone just for the sake of showing that while violence is sometimes the answer, it doesn't always have to be the greatest of extremes.

It's very annoying that this game keeps you from making choices just to end with "you always had a choice".

*sigh* Not much of a game, is it? "You always had a choice". Not much of one, the only choice was whether to play or not - after that, the game won't let you do anything else.

An interesting concept? Certainly. A commentary that suggests that those who chose violence somehow had no choice? Seems like it. A good game? Not even a little. It would've been better as a movie. We DO have choices - namely how we handle things. And after playing a second time through to be sure that it could progress no other way, the 'you always had a choice' thing is just annoying.

i can't go to school D:?
is tht part of the game in the begining?

Its amazing that I got to the end... I honestly thought it was going to break down :S

I didn't really have any choice... didn't want to skip school, didn't want to then go to school (And have the same event occur twice)... I didn't want to get him to play games and I didn't want to take the gun 0,0 Even the 'end' can bug out if you click around the text -_-

Could of been good without the bugs and a few choices.