Board index » Present Evidence » Games

Page 1 of 1[ 36 posts ]
 


Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 4 Preview)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Image

Appeal to Truth should (hopefully end up as) a four-case fan game developed in PyWright, taking place in alternate timeline during the Apollo Justice era. Currently three cases are complete with the fourth one ideally being out by the end of this year.

The case four intro is now available!


Huge thanks to everyone who helped me ensure its quality!
Spoiler: Case 4 Preview, Credits
>CG Art by Samallama, check out their Kofi HERE
>A shoutout to SuperAj3 and DeathByAutoscroll for helping out with various assets
>And of course my playtesters: Xavier Wright, BirbIsTheWord, and PanicStrech!





This fangame has been designed with PyWright 0.989 in mind, and most of the play-testing has been done in that version. I've gotten a few reports of some problems with the cases using other versions, using .989 may solve them.

Cases and Progress:
Spoiler: Case 1 - Turnabout Dawn
Image
Several months into his new career as an attorney Apollo is finally promised his first chance to work in court alongside his mentor, taking a case on the request of his closest friend. However, when the day of the trial finally comes he finds himself to be the only defense attorney in the defendant’s lobby. With mere minutes before court begins and his mentor nowhere to be found, Apollo is forced to take on his very first case- whether he’s ready or not.

Spoiler: Case 2 - Turnabout on Rails
Image
Determined to keep his promise, Apollo looks into a case he believes could illuminate the history of the office. Only in meeting with his potential client does he discover a strange woman, claiming to be her defense attorney. Almost ready to abandon the case, unusual circumstances lead him to be recruited onto the defense and give him a chance to uncover information that he hopes will lead to reconciliation back at the office.

Spoiler: Case 3 - Amusement and Turnabout
Image

(Huge thanks to SuperAj3 for Debeste's artwork)
A few months have passed since the resolution of Apollo’s second case, and the office has fallen into a new routine. During one of Maya’s now regular visits to the office, she insists the pair join in on the case Debeste and Gumshoe are currently working- a murder at a local amusement park. But as the defense looks into the recent work of the victim they discover a mysterious request Debeste had asked of him, and a blackmail ring that seems to have trapped nearly everyone at the park.

Spoiler: Case 4 - The Spirited Turnabout
Image
Not wanting to leave the resolution of the previous case unaddressed, a nice surprise is arranged for the members of the Fey Law Office. Obviously, things do not go to plan.
Progress:
Planning: 100%
Initial Draft: 100%
Subsequent Drafts/Script Polish: 30%
Sprite-Work: 20%
Coding: 15%
Testing: 15%

Image


Last edited by MasqueradeDemure on Thu Jan 18, 2024 3:08 am, edited 32 times in total.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Playable DeTopic%20Title
User avatar

איך טאָן ניט וויסן ענימאָר

Gender: Male

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2017 11:25 pm

Posts: 1

Just finished the demo, good stuff! Can't really comment too much on things like case logic, pacing, etc. considering it's only a demo with one testimony, but I can say that the returning characters seem to be written consistently with the main series, and the sprites look pretty nice. Overall, I thought it was a good start, and hope you stick with this, an AA fangame that's actually alive in 2020 would warm my heart.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Playable DeTopic%20Title
User avatar

Gender: Male

Rank: Medium-in-training

Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2009 12:08 pm

Posts: 361

The intro should be automatic, as it always was in the games. That's how I feel, at least. With the EPISODE 1: TURNABOUT DAWN in the down-right corner of bottom screen. Also, blips are often muted in intros.
I noticed a few errors in the GUI; evidence names are misaligned, you should check your court_record_vars file.
Considering this is an AU, maybe a little introduction from Apollo to the players would help? He may already be an established character to much of the fanbase, but seeing as this is a whole new universe, the players might need some little background. As if it's truly a new beginning.
It's really hard to tell anything about the story itself, as it is just a demo and lot of questions will just have to wait for their answers (how did the killer hide the body unnoticed, how did they remove the blood, etc.), I can only assume you've got them prepared.
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Playable DeTopic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Darth Wiader wrote:
The intro should be automatic, as it always was in the games. That's how I feel, at least. With the EPISODE 1: TURNABOUT DAWN in the down-right corner of bottom screen. Also, blips are often muted in intros.
I noticed a few errors in the GUI; evidence names are misaligned, you should check your court_record_vars file.
Considering this is an AU, maybe a little introduction from Apollo to the players would help? He may already be an established character to much of the fanbase, but seeing as this is a whole new universe, the players might need some little background. As if it's truly a new beginning.
It's really hard to tell anything about the story itself, as it is just a demo and lot of questions will just have to wait for their answers (how did the killer hide the body unnoticed, how did they remove the blood, etc.), I can only assume you've got them prepared.


Thanks for the feedback!
You’re right about the intro, I probably should’ve cross-referenced it with the official game’s a few more times. I’ll make sure to get to fixing the GUI too, not sure exactly what caused that: I’ll look into it. As for the introduction bit, I’m not sure how much background I want to give away just yet. I think I want to reveal details about this AU gradually throughout, but I’m pretty sure this first case is just going to create more questions than answers- so maybe a bit more is a good idea? I’ll see if I can use the next round of play-testing to figure out if I’ve struck the right balance or not for this first bit of the game.
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Playable DeTopic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Coding for Case 1 of Appeal to Truth has been completed and I'm now looking for some play-testers!
Feel free to reach out to me if you're interested.
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 1!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Case 1 is complete~!
The download links have been added to the main post, and they should allow you to download the entirety of Case 1. Let me know if there's any problems. Hopefully it's good.
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Beta-testing for case 2 is finished and it should be out now~! :pearl-blush:
Once again, if there are any problems with the download links feel free to reach out to me.
Hopefully it's good! :oops:
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

“The path to paradise begins in hell.”

Gender: Male

Location: Empyrean

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2020 11:13 pm

Posts: 2

Hi! :apollo: I just wanted to say, that this case series is very well done...well, so far, anyway :D. I usually don't post on this forum(or any other forum, for that matter :godot:), but I wanted to show my support for your project, MasqueradeDemure.

As somebody, who has done some writing himself, I know that motivation can be a fickle mistress and that every tiny bit of support helps immensely, so here I am :D.

Besides, I would really hate to see another fan project end up like Trials after Justice(or any other of the billion unfinished project that were made over the years :(). Especially one as promising as this :D.

Anyways, that all I've got for now :phoenix:. If you would like something, for example a review of the cases, let me now. I'll try to find some time to write them :bellboy:.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Rafael(theArchangel) wrote:
Hi! :apollo: I just wanted to say, that this case series is very well done...well, so far, anyway :D. I usually don't post on this forum(or any other forum, for that matter :godot:), but I wanted to show my support for your project, MasqueradeDemure.

As somebody, who has done some writing himself, I know that motivation can be a fickle mistress and that every tiny bit of support helps immensely, so here I am :D.

Besides, I would really hate to see another fan project end up like Trials after Justice(or any other of the billion unfinished project that were made over the years :(). Especially one as promising as this :D.

Anyways, that all I've got for now :phoenix:. If you would like something, for example a review of the cases, let me now. I'll try to find some time to write them :bellboy:.


Hey, thanks for the reply. ^.^
It’s good to hear people are liking the cases so far. I’ll try my best to stick to it, motivation hasn’t been the biggest problem yet due to being stuck inside most of the day, but given how long these projects can take I’m sure I’ll run into some kind of block eventually- so thank you! I’ll see if I can get case 3 out sometime next year.
Also, yes: I’d be happy to read some reviews if you have time to write them up! The more feedback I can get the better!
I also would just kinda wanna know more about what you thought :pearl-blush:
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

“The path to paradise begins in hell.”

Gender: Male

Location: Empyrean

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2020 11:13 pm

Posts: 2

Quote:
I also would just kinda wanna know more about what you thought :pearl-blush:


All right, I'll give it a shot :apollo:!
Case 1 general thoughts/review:
Spoiler:
=I really like the way you write charaters, you really make them unique, each with some individual characteristics :pearl:. I really liked the friendship between Apollo and Clay. Although I feel like Apollo could have made a bit more jokes about Clay liking/dating the defandant(and he felt a little less sarcastic than he should be...but maybe that's just me :apollo:). I also kinda liked the fact that the defendat wasn't totally innocent, it gave her a very realistic feel. She felt like a real person, not just some damsel in distress(albeit, there is nothing wrong with a good damsel in distress...that is just a classic :pearl:).

=This case was like a modern version of waiting for Godot. But in this case, Godot actually showed up by the end. :godot:. I'm really interested in seeing how this :godot:- :apollo: mentorship will end up developing.

=The cast was maybe a little longer than a first case should be, but given the fact, that you had to set up your alternate universe, that is understandable :apollo:.(Anyway, it's not like I'm complaining, longer case = more content :javado:).

=One thing that I found quite peculiar were some of the objections. It's not that they were hard, but I just felt like they used some strange logic :think-think-think:. Maybe you could include some inner monolouge of Apollo with some hints as to what the player should focus on...although tha is just a suggestion on my part :apollo:.

=To sum up, the case did a very good job of setting up the alternate universe and I look forwand too seeing more of it :javado:.

And that is pretty much all I've got for you. Hope it helped/helps in some way :apollo:
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Objection, or something or other...

Gender: None specified

Location: Maybe...

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2014 6:45 pm

Posts: 6

I just played through the 2 cases available and I really liked them! I think you capture the original 'flavor' of the canon Ace Attorney cases well in your writing. The AU is being set up slowly but surely with the various hints dropped. I'll leave what I liked and what I didn't like before.

Forgive me for rambling! I like to explain myself by using examples to better illustrate my point, and in the process I tend to just...use a lot of words. But I hope it helps you better understand my state of mind. Better to have too much of what you need than too little of what you need, after all.

Spoiler: What I Liked
- The characters are all very well written. The canon characters are, but what I want to focus on is the original characters. For example, Edwin Sharp is a very good Case 1 culprit because he has a surprising amount of depth to his character that helps you understand why he did what he did, while also just making him more entertaining. His "acting smart" gimmick not only makes for some fun dialogue, but also ties into his character of wanting to be accepted and feeling rejected due to his inexperience and inferiority complex - which ALSO ties into his motive of faking that whole research scandal. The little details like the way he enunciates words when he's feeling stressed (ex-cla-ma-tion) just really bring it all together. You remember that each character has their own motivation behind them which influences not only what they focus on in their testimony, but how they testify. Hal Seasons is a good example as his desire to 'stick to old traditions' and protect Pearl leads to him spinning a story that helps the defense, even if it is ultimately useless. It's more entertaining than if he were to just testify against you begrudgingly like 'normal' witnesses.

- The writing in general just strikes a nice balance between not being detailed enough and being too detailed. There's banter between characters that doesn't go on for too long, exchanges that serve to add little bits of personality, etc. It knows when to speed up and knows when to slow down. There's humor and there's heart and there's tension and there's real emotion, like the exchange between Clay, Medina and Apollo at the end of Case 1.

- When the high difficulty works, it works. Generally, difficulty in AA ranges from "contradictions that involve pointing out basic inconsistencies" (easy) to "contradictions that involve actually working out logic or theory crafting" (hard). This makes sense as you go from gaining footing by tearing the prosecution's case apart to going on the attack by building your own case. When you puzzle something out that isn't officially stated in the evidence, but it is something that should be realistically possible and is supported by the evidence, then present it, you feel really smart. Like, nobody even considers the possibility O'Ryan was pushed from the stairs, but it's something you could conceivably come up with. Even with the easier contradictions, I don't think there's anything super simple like using basic time contradictions simply because the canon games do. The problems you point out to push your case forward feel inventive.


Spoiler: What I Didn't Like
- This is a technical nitpick, but I really don't like how almost entire sentences are highlighted in orange. In the original game, this is usually only done with singular, important/strange words or short phrases to draw attention to them. It's distracting when you do it to an entire message, and so frequently. For example, at the end of Case 2, Maya says, all in orange:
Quote:
"I would've appreciated having someone else to talk to these last few years..."

But you could easily get away with...
Quote:
"I would've appreciated havingsomeone elseto talk to these last few years..."

And it would've gotten the same point across without sticking out so much. This happens a lot, too, so it adds up.

- Testimonies are sometimes redundant. For example, Hal has two statements at the end of his first testimony that ultimately amount to the same thing - that someone was running away from the train station. Those two could easily be combined into one. I noticed it most often from Perune. For example, the last two statements of her third testimony basically amount to "This plan is too risky", then "Why would I enact such a risky plan?", both of which could realistically be objected to with the same thing(that's a press all testimony, but the point stands.) Her second testimony is the most problematic, as it contains two statements that both say "Getting onto the train is impossible", and then at the end three statements that all just say "I couldn't be in 2 places at once". That last one is especially annoying as you could realistically present the relevant evidence to all 3 of them, but only the second statement of the three works. I get in some of these cases it's IC (Perune mocking Apollo) but it makes them feel somewhat poorly constructed.

- When the high difficulty doesn't work, it doesn't work. Some of the testimonies and logic leaps are just a little obtuse. I think the one that sticks out to me the most is the knife contradiction, where Apollo claims that the way the knife is positioned on the floor is proof of foul play. However, I just couldn't wrap my head around this. The knife is very small and could've landed any number of ways regardless of how it fell. It could've bounced a little as it hit the ground and faced a completely different direction, like if it landed on an end. It just reminded me of when I drop something on the floor like a remote and it somehow ends up all the way on the other side of the room. It just feels like too flimsy a point to build a case on. As well, at the end of the case it pulls one of those "Here's THE definitive piece of evidence!" moments. When a game gets vague like this, I tend to dislike it as it starts to feel like I'm no longer trying to get into Apollo or the killer's head, but rather the case maker's head to try and discern what weird clue they want me to present(especially if there's more than one point you could think of). Those moments are why AA created Revisualizations and I will be forever grateful. The final point in Case 1 is a lesser example as the player is expected to figure out the car is how O'Ryan got those bruises. It's a realistic conclusion to draw, but the game doesn't tell you that Clay's car is acting strangely in the sense that it bumps up and down until after you try to deduce it, only that it is acting strangely - and if the player knew this I don't think the point would feel any less satisfying to figure out.


Final verdict: I think the creativity of the game is its brightest point, as you flex your writing muscles very strongly. Story elements mesh together to create an entertaining tale, and investigations and trials alike progress at a steady and logical clip with fun character moments. However, sometimes the logic gets bumpy and requires the player to make decisions/assumptions that aren't the most intuitive. Of course, there's always the possibility I'm stupid. I overlook basic stuff in other cases sometimes and I've seen moments in videos I watch where people reach conclusions way faster than me. But I just wanted to put out my own experience for a little perspective.
Something was here. It isn't now.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

i make things, broseph

Gender: None specified

Location: Installation 04

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2020 4:48 pm

Posts: 9

Okay, so I just finished Case 2, so I'll leave my thoughts on the game as a whole.

Spoiler: Plot
First of all, the AU you've set up is really interesting. It's uncanny (in a good way) to see how similar yet differently things have turned out for the characters.
I love the way Godot is portrayed, and it's interesting to see a world where he can't blame Phoenix for his woes, and ultimately never resolves them, causing him to still live a painful existence.

The first case was pretty good! Ticked a lot of the boxes you'd expect from a tutorial case, but kept me interested all the way through. While, it doesn't seem it'll have that much of an impact on the story overall, it was good to see how ruthlessly pragmatic Godot was in court, and the consequences of said pragmatism.

Now for the meat and bones, 'Turnabout on Rails'. While on the whole I appreciated the case, there were regions in terms of the plot that could've been improved upon. I feel Perune being a bitter branch family member was kinda just strung upon at the end of the case, and felt a bit jarring - although her ulterior motives were brilliant when shown, and I loved the breakdown, that was fantastic.

It's good seeing the Fey clan again, I'm always more than happy to play stories based on them - and you've set up a good 'mystery box' for future cases, with Godot and the rejuvenation of the clan at large.

Overall, I'm pleased to say I really enjoyed the narrative you've woven so far. My money on what caused the 'timeline split' which made this AU was Phoenix not existing at all, and this is events playing out without the main man himself.



Spoiler: Gameplay
To be honest, this was the roughest part of the package for me. There were several times in both cases where there were pretty severe jumps in logic, almost like you just wanted the player to get to the conclusion without really figuring it out for themselves. Also, relying on diagrams as heavily as you did can get overwhelming for the player, so in future cases maybe try and cut that down. There was a little too much logistics for my liking, and a lot to remember can make you feel a bit detached from the logic of the case.

My biggest concern with the gameplay was how 'on rails' (pun totally not intended) the trial segments seemed to be story-wise. Perune even acknowledges how frankly useless Sebastien is at times, and his 'buddy buddy' dynamic with the defense fell flat for me, as I never really felt the tension and push-back you should usually expect from an Ace Attorney prosecutor. If you wanted a more chilled out and rational prosecutor, I can see the merit in that, don't get me wrong. But see Klavier in AJ. Despite being pretty relaxed, I'd argue from a gameplay standard he's probably one of the most challenging to go up against.

With the detective, prosecutor and even Judge at times being so lenient to Apollo with his theories (most of which should've been shut down due to a lack of any evidence) The game can feel kind of a pedestrian.

The investigation segments were where the case shined, the characters were well written and I never got lost, so that's a huge huge plus for me. If you work on the trials, you can get even better.


Spoiler: Presentation
This is a mixed bag, for me, personally. I'll get the bad out of the way first:

A lot of my gripes come down to textbox usage. (I'm a stickler for this, so don't take this too seriously)

It's a pet peeve of mine when people don't utilize what makes the AA games so great - how dynamic their textboxes are! Almost every line is spoken at a different speed, and there are many many pauses in between punctuation. This really helps the characters feel ALIVE, and not just like they're spouting exposition at the player. Please try and use more of the {f}, {s} and ESPECIALLY {spd}/{delay} commands. It's a rule of thumb in sound design there should never be an action without a responsive sound, and the opposite also applies. With any sound effect, the screen NEEDS to animate. I'd recommend again looking at footage from the canon games, and this should give you a deeper understanding of what I'm referring to.

As well with textboxes, the spelling is good - I didn't notice any mistakes, (although that could be down to how BAD I am at spelling...) with that said, you're missing wayyy too many commas, and sadly this also contributes to a lack of pacing with the characters, where it seems like it's just reading a script instead of emoting. PLEASE also use {p30} or there abouts after full stops/periods. It helps the dialogue flow way better, and breaks it up so it's easier to digest for the player. You're also cramming the textboxes too much, try and split sentences up between textboxes. I tend to always start a new line after a sentence. Again, this makes it easier for the reader to digest.

Now onto the good - The art assets, including the ones you've made yourself are fantastic. The game looks great, really. I'm excited to see what else you bring to the table! (Although Seb does look a bit off due to him using the AAI perspective, which makes him look a bit too big and close to the camera, but that's a minor gripe.)


Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Appeal to the Truth (so far) and eagerly await case 3! Please don't take what I said too seriously, again, I'm a stickler for certain things so I'm more prone to care than others. Thanks for a great case(s)!
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Woah, that’s a lot of feedback! Thank you so much! :draw:

I’ll definitely work on ironing out the gameplay next case. I’m not surprised it’s a little janky here and there, these are my first fan-cases so there were bound to be a few logical problems. I’ve noticed a few logical leaps here and there in my plan for case 3, and I’ve altered things already to break them down and help the player along. I’ll try to reach out too more play-testers if I can too, I’ve only had a sample size of four people when it comes to difficulty- and a majority of them have spent a good while on the fan-case side of things, so I’ll see if I can get some different perspectives for next case and iron out those issues.

Spoiler:
Quote:
Testimonies are sometimes redundant. For example, Hal has two statements at the end of his first testimony that ultimately amount to the same thing - that someone was running away from the train station. Those two could easily be combined into one. I noticed it most often from Perune. For example, the last two statements of her third testimony basically amount to "This plan is too risky", then "Why would I enact such a risky plan?", both of which could realistically be objected to with the same thing(that's a press all testimony, but the point stands.) Her second testimony is the most problematic, as it contains two statements that both say "Getting onto the train is impossible", and then at the end three statements that all just say "I couldn't be in 2 places at once". That last one is especially annoying as you could realistically present the relevant evidence to all 3 of them, but only the second statement of the three works. I get in some of these cases it's IC (Perune mocking Apollo) but it makes them feel somewhat poorly constructed.


Also yeah, you’re totally right about this. Due to how far in advance I planned testimonies for On Rails some of the repetitive statements actually WERE the same statement at one point, but they had to be broken up when I got to PyWright because they were too long for one text box. :oops: Most of my focus is on Case 3 right now but I’ll at least go in and change Perune’s testimony to make presenting on the other statements viable whenever I next update.

One last thing: I’ve already shared these in a few other places but I haven’t put them here yet. So here are my sprites bases for all of case 3’s cast!
Spoiler: Case 3 Cast
Image

Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:52 pm

Posts: 2

I just joined this forum, and I'm afraid I've encountered a game-breaking bug in Turnabout on Rails.

Spoiler:
After I've examined everything in Hal's house and exhausted all Talk options with him during the first investigation, he gives me something to give to Pearl at the detention center (forgot what :payne:), but after that, there is no Move option to go to the detention center, and examining anything in Hal's house again at this point will result in the game crashing and me being taken back to the PyWright title screen.


Do you know what's causing this? Because I can't progress in the case at all unless this is solved, and that really frustrates me.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Spoiler:
LegalEagle55 wrote:
I just joined this forum, and I'm afraid I've encountered a game-breaking bug in Turnabout on Rails.

After I've examined everything in Hal's house and exhausted all Talk options with him during the first investigation, he gives me something to give to Pearl at the detention center (forgot what :payne:), but after that, there is no Move option to go to the detention center, and examining anything in Hal's house again at this point will result in the game crashing and me being taken back to the PyWright title screen.


Heyo, thanks for notifying me. I'm gonna try to recreate this glitch right now.
I'm not sure exactly what's causing it yet. I'll follow up on this post if I can imitate it in-game.
Here's my best guess as to what might help solve the problem right now:
Spoiler:
In order to head to the detention center at that point in the investigation you need to trigger a specific scene at the train station first. If nothing new happens when you enter the train station, try going back to Gumshoe- since you need to collect a few flags from that scene to progress, and you might not have them if the scene isn't showing up. The steel beam and the straphanger both need to be investigated, but there hit-boxes are close to each other, so that's what you might've missed there?

Worst case scenario, I can send you a save-file that should let you progress.
Sorry 'bout this. :oops:
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Sorry 'bout that~
Bug has been squashed and I've updated the game-links so that any new downloads shouldn't be able to crash during that scene.
LegalEagle:
Spoiler:
You should be able to progress, even without the updated version. Just make sure you go back and finish Gumshoe's scene, and then return to the train station. That should trigger what you need.

Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:52 pm

Posts: 2

MasqueradeDemure wrote:
Spoiler:
LegalEagle55 wrote:
I just joined this forum, and I'm afraid I've encountered a game-breaking bug in Turnabout on Rails.

After I've examined everything in Hal's house and exhausted all Talk options with him during the first investigation, he gives me something to give to Pearl at the detention center (forgot what :payne:), but after that, there is no Move option to go to the detention center, and examining anything in Hal's house again at this point will result in the game crashing and me being taken back to the PyWright title screen.


Heyo, thanks for notifying me. I'm gonna try to recreate this glitch right now.
I'm not sure exactly what's causing it yet. I'll follow up on this post if I can imitate it in-game.
Here's my best guess as to what might help solve the problem right now:
Spoiler:
In order to head to the detention center at that point in the investigation you need to trigger a specific scene at the train station first. If nothing new happens when you enter the train station, try going back to Gumshoe- since you need to collect a few flags from that scene to progress, and you might not have them if the scene isn't showing up. The steel beam and the straphanger both need to be investigated, but there hit-boxes are close to each other, so that's what you might've missed there?

Worst case scenario, I can send you a save-file that should let you progress.
Sorry 'bout this. :oops:


Yeah, that was indeed the reason I was unable to progress, but it's good that that bug got squished anyways thanks to my blunder. :oops: Thank you.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Made a small update to the original thread that includes a few more details about case 3!
More importantly I added the newly made case art!
Huge, huge thanks to SuperAj for making art of Sebestian’s redesign. It’s amazing! I couldn’t include the whole piece in the case art but the full-res version is so good. :pearl-blush: Here’s a look at all of what he made:
Spoiler: pretty art
Image

Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 2!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:54 am

Posts: 2

So I watched Visual Novelty play this. I watched him playthrough all of Case 1 and most of the investigation section of Case 2 before I decided "You know what? I wanna play this by myself!"

I haven't gotten around to it (currently busy playing a few other PyWright projects) but I'll be sure to post my thoughts here once I do! I'm delighted to know that PyWright is still being used to create games in 2021 and I'm really excited to see how this particular project pans out! Forgive the accidental alliteration XD
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Case 3 is ready??? Well I did put it there...
Amusement and Turnabout is go!
New download links should be up for the game. Please tell me if there's any problems. :nick-sweat:
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

You best rethink that evidence, compadre

Gender: Male

Location: Next door to the Kitakis, by the burger shop

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:19 pm

Posts: 13

I'm absolutely gonna test this but please say you're gonna finish it. I don't wanna be left with an inconclusive game with no finish :(
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:54 am

Posts: 2

Well... holy cow.

Spoiler:
Case Three was quite the wild ride. There were some testimonies that I was too dumb to figure out without the provided walkthrough, but it really hurts to find out my hunch about the killer's identity was actually correct. And my hat goes off to you for giving this turnabout one of the creepiest and most heartbreaking Final Breakdowns I've seen in a while. And then you go and end the case with a cliffhanger like that?!?! Thank goodness I'm going back to college soon, because I'm going to need something substantial to occupy my noggin to keep me from agonizing over how long I'll have to wait before that cliffhanger is resolved!!! Holy smokes!!!


All in all, another great addition to a game that is shaping up to be just as well polished as other PyWright classics. I adore this game and look forward to its next update!
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2021 1:44 am

Posts: 3

Hey, I do not if here is the right place to ask for your permission to use your Clay Terran sprites. I find them inside art/port folder in your PyWright game, so can I use them for my own games and do you have more Clay Terran poses? He's going to be one of my main characters.
Thank you!
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

DetectiveSkye wrote:
Hey, I do not if here is the right place to ask for your permission to use your Clay Terran sprites. I find them inside art/port folder in your PyWright game, so can I use them for my own games and do you have more Clay Terran poses? He's going to be one of my main characters.
Thank you!


Sure, go ahead! Just make sure to give credit is all!
I intend to put most of the custom-cannon sprites in this game up somewhere for free use once the game's done anyway, so I don't see any harm in it.
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2021 1:44 am

Posts: 3

MasqueradeDemure wrote:
Sure, go ahead! Just make sure to give credit is all!
I intend to put most of the custom-cannon sprites in this game up somewhere for free use once the game's done anyway, so I don't see any harm in it.


Awesome! Thanks for your permission!

By any chance, do you have more poses/facial expressions for Clay Terran sprites (e.g. shocked, nervous, sweatdrop, gloomy)? If you don't have them, are you currently open for art commission? I do not mind if they are not free because I request for more than what had been given freely :will: :will:

Clay Terran's going to be one of the main characters alongside Ema Skye in my games, and she has plenty resources and sprites to work with :notes: :scientific:
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

DetectiveSkye wrote:

Awesome! Thanks for your permission!

By any chance, do you have more poses/facial expressions for Clay Terran sprites (e.g. shocked, nervous, sweatdrop, gloomy)? If you don't have them, are you currently open for art commission? I do not mind if they are not free because I request for more than what had been given freely :will: :will:

Clay Terran's going to be one of the main characters alongside Ema Skye in my games, and she has plenty resources and sprites to work with :notes: :scientific:


I'm a bit preoccupied with case 4 right now and haven't set anything up for commissions at all so I don't think I can help in that regard for a good bit, sorry. :oops: Feel free to edit the bases and make addition poses if you like though.
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2021 1:44 am

Posts: 3

MasqueradeDemure wrote:
I'm a bit preoccupied with case 4 right now and haven't set anything up for commissions at all so I don't think I can help in that regard for a good bit, sorry. :oops: Feel free to edit the bases and make addition poses if you like though.


Oh that's fine. Thank you for letting me know. Unfortunately, I'm bad with drawing, and I do not know how to draw facial expressions that could go well with your sprites. I have thought about copying and pasting some faces' parts from other sprites, but that would not turn out quite well hahaha. In the meantime, I request artists help in aaonline.fr forum because the forum there has been more active. Hopefully, someone will pick it up and help me.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to continuation of your game. I had a blast playing it. Hope you will finish it as planned :will: :will:.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2022 10:47 pm

Posts: 1

Spoiler:
I had to create an account to applaud you for this whole fangame, but especially case 3. The writing for the characters, especially Maya, was excellent and seeing what the diverging moment in this universe is was brilliant and can't wait to see more of what the end credit section means. Felt quite proud for figuring out certain parts of the mystery beforehand, but like with the first 2 cases, I think it is sometimes an odd placement for the contradiction and set up (hissing noise hinting at the dry ice explosion), or more hints could be given for the contradiction (mysterious note being the dimensions and timing of the bomb). Additionally, case 3 could have felt more satisfying in terms of the trial sections, although this may have been intentional, as the first trial section felt like little ground was covered, and in the second trial, all the reveals came too quick and fast, requiring little evidence. The killers' identity and Mayas behaviour reactions make me feel this was a necessity to some extent. Still, perhaps equal distribution of twists and revelations over the different trial sections for the last case might help the pacing and feeling like things had naturally developed. However, the breakdown and character beats for this case were excellent and chilling with the former. Overall, the writing more than made up for any stumbles I had with the mystery, and I hope progress is going well for the last case.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

hi

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2022 9:31 pm

Posts: 5

MasqueradeDemure wrote:
Image

Appeal to Truth should (hopefully) end up as a four-case fan game developed in PyWright. It’s something of an alternate-universe Apollo Justice with what’s probably going to be a narrative that focuses a bit too much on its characters. While it’s not really relevant yet it’ll eventually spoil a lot of the mainline and investigations games, so maybe keep that in mind going forward. That being said, I kind of doubt my ability to put together an appealing pitch with just plot summary alone, especially one that I don’t end up making super awkward. I think it also might be a good idea to keep a lot of the plot details I’ve planned secret for now as well. Taking that into account, I figured the best way to garner interest would probably be to actually put something out there instead, so…

Case three is done somehow!




This fangame has been designed with PyWright 0.989 in mind, and most of the play-testing has been done in that version. I've gotten a few reports of some problems with the cases using other versions, so maybe use .989 if you're having trouble?

Cases and Progress:
Spoiler: Case 1 - Turnabout Dawn
Image
Several months into his new career as an attorney Apollo is finally promised his first chance to work in court alongside his mentor, taking a case on the request of his closest friend. However, when the day of the trial finally comes he finds himself to be the only defense attorney in the defendant’s lobby. With mere minutes before court begins and his mentor nowhere to be found, Apollo is forced to take on his very first case- whether he’s ready or not.

Spoiler: Case 2 - Turnabout on Rails
Image
Determined to keep his promise, Apollo looks into a case he believes could illuminate the history of the office. Only in meeting with his potential client does he discover a strange woman, claiming to be her defense attorney. Almost ready to abandon the case, unusual circumstances lead him to be recruited onto the defense and give him a chance to uncover information that he hopes will lead to reconciliation back at the office.

Spoiler: Case 3 - Amusement and Turnabout
Image

(Huge thanks to SuperAj3 for Debeste's artwork)
A few months have passed since the resolution of Apollo’s second case, and the office has fallen into a new routine. During one of Maya’s now regular visits to the office, she insists the pair join in on the case Debeste and Gumshoe are currently working- a murder at a local amusement park. But as the defense looks into the recent work of the victim they discover a mysterious request Debeste had asked of him, and a blackmail ring that seems to have trapped nearly everyone at the park.

Spoiler: Case 4 - The Spirited Turnabout
Image
More details may be added as development progresses.
Progress:
Planning: 100%
Initial Draft: 2%
Subsequent Drafts/Script Polish: 0%
Sprite-Work: 5%
Coding: 2%
Testing: 0%


The inevitable part of the thread where I ask for help

Marked so you can conveniently ignore it if you don't care

I think it might be possible for me to get most of this done on my own if I stick with it, but any kind of help I can get would be hugely appreciated. Even one person to help with the game’s art would be amazing and help this project get to release so much faster. CGs and backgrounds aren’t exactly a strong-suit of mine, so even working with a non-sprite artist would be great. It’ll be awhile before case one is completely done, but I’ll also be needing play-testers eventually as well. Overall, the more feedback I can get the better. If there’s anyone who wants to help I’ll probably respond fastest via discord (MasqueradeDemure#9967). I’ve also set up a little discord server for the project, since I think it’ll help with overall motivation: it probably won’t be much but here’s the link if there’s any interest.

Thanks for reading through the whole thread! I've been really nervous about putting this out there for a while now so I hope I presented it half-decently. :nick-sweat:



this game is good play it
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Gender: Male

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:26 pm

Posts: 7

I hope things are good with the progress of Case 4?
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

Lemming20 wrote:
I hope things are good with the progress of Case 4?


Yup! Case 4 is progress, thought admittedly a little slower than I'd like due to various things IRL I have to contend with. For reference here's a little progress update:

-The case is fully planned down to the testimonies. I could tell you how many there are and how to solve them right now if I had to.
-All Case 4 characters have base sprites, a few have various poses done
-All locations have at least a placeholder sprite, several are already edited and converted into the proper resolution
-Investigation Day 1 and Court Day 1 are written (not polished yet though)
-Writing for Investigation Day 2 is being worked on
Image
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

Gender: Male

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:26 pm

Posts: 7

MasqueradeDemure wrote:
Lemming20 wrote:
I hope things are good with the progress of Case 4?


Yup! Case 4 is progress, thought admittedly a little slower than I'd like due to various things IRL I have to contend with. For reference here's a little progress update:

-The case is fully planned down to the testimonies. I could tell you how many there are and how to solve them right now if I had to.
-All Case 4 characters have base sprites, a few have various poses done
-All locations have at least a placeholder sprite, several are already edited and converted into the proper resolution
-Investigation Day 1 and Court Day 1 are written (not polished yet though)
-Writing for Investigation Day 2 is being worked on

Take your time my friend, i see this is done with love and passion for this game.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:02 am

Posts: 2

Heyo! I'm making a remastered version in objection.lol of this just out of boredom, and If you could, I'd very very much appreciate it if you'd give me some possible HD non-pixel models of the custom characters of this fanmade game? I'm loving it so so much so far, and I'd love if you'd give me some HD sprites to use on this, It'd be an honour! I can make it public or private if you feel like it! Ofcourse, i'm crediting you in the most ways possible so people can go check out what a beauty your original work is! Contact me if you agree sending/creating HD models for all of the custom characters! :apollo:
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title
User avatar

The Witch of San Ignacio

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:00 am

Posts: 1

Created an account so I could drop some rambling brain thoughts, I arbitrarily decided to play this based on something really random so of course I had to get really extra about it. I'm going to ramble a lot here but I promise you there's a point somewhere in there.
Spoiler: Full spoilers up to case 3
I think it’s very complicated and surprisingly difficult to pinpoint when I first thought about the concept of a “what if” in a story, a branching point about what could have been. There are some very easy and clear-cut answers, of course. A visual novel with multiple routes, a choose your own adventure book with many game overs. But what else counts as a “what if”, exactly? Does it count if we think about what happens if Mario runs into the first Goomba he sees and instantly fails his journey? I’m sure people have pondered that before, at least for a laugh, though alternate universes tend to need more meat on them to really expand beyond just a simple gag. I mean, I could ask “what if Phoenix completely botched the very first testimony against Sahwit and failed spectacularly” but if you did that in actual gameplay you’d just get the regular game over screen. It also probably wouldn’t be much of an AU unless you were making a comedy or reinterpreting Phoenix as a character pretty drastically.

But then there are other ways to make AUs that do seem more plausible. What if Sahwit had been much more competent at covering his tracks, forcing Mia to take over the case since Phoenix wasn’t at that level yet? That idea has a little more meat to it. You could do something with that. Alternate universes are fun to think about, I mean I’ve explored the idea of alt history in my own writing so I’m speaking from experience there. To go back and answer my own question, my first time thinking of a “what if” was probably something very mundane, like wondering what happens after you game over in a videogame or the ever classic generic "what if this pure hero turned EVIL". I imagine a lot of people start off similarly before they branch out and explore more detailed AUs. People have been writing about them since roughly forever, I mean the history of fanfiction is quite ancient and mythology also has various different retellings of the same stories, if you want to stretch the definition of AU a bit.

There’s also the question of what counts as an alternate universe as well. When I write fanfiction, I usually tend to go for fanfiction that I tag as “canon-compliant”, meaning that it could have taken place within that series’ canon since nothing really contradicts it. Is it an alternate universe if I, for example, make a case set between Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies that doesn’t contradict either and could have happened quite easily off-screen, even if it’s obviously not referenced in the official games? Perhaps this thought exercise doesn’t actually mean much of anything though.

Of course, there’s also the idea of what ifs within what ifs. For example, a common AU I’ve seen in Ace Attorney swaps Phoenix and Edgeworth’s roles as defense attorney and prosecutor, but everyone has their own idea of how that would shake out, and you could do several different types of endings with that setup. And perhaps just like in canon, Phoenix and Edgeworth would end up married despite the branching timeline, no one fact check me on this I asked my local AA BL fans before making this post. (I’m just rambling about nothing at this point, maybe.)

That said, Appeal to Truth is billed as an AU, though exactly how isn’t made clear until later. With AUs, I find that there are (broadly speaking) two types of AUs: ones that try to justify where they split off (what if AJ-4 bad end timeline), and ones that just do whatever and don’t explain their changes (let’s have Moe the Clown as the elite judge mentor of nervous rookie Damon Gant and also they own a Gundam, sure why not). Either one can work depending on what they’re going for, and my point is more that I wasn’t sure which one Appeal to Truth was until I was a fair way in. I really enjoyed the unusual cast dynamics. There are a lot of characters here who interact a lot who either didn’t interact at all in the canon timeline, or they knew each other under different circumstances. Even characters who did talk to each other quite a bit in the canon timeline, like Maya and Gumshoe, are obviously very different people now.

While the opening post says it a bit self-deprecatingly, I was very interested when I saw it mentioned that you were focusing “a bit too much on its characters” since I really like character-focused stuff, and when reading a mystery I will always prefer something that’s character-focused (yes hello GAA fan here). I particularly think about the second case during the second investigation day, where multiple talk conversations were focused on character building and had nothing to do with the case’s crime or solving it. It’s not that the crime is considered less important (especially since Pearl is the defendant) but instead that Apollo and his pals have a lot of things to focus on at once.

Something I really liked while going through the three cases released so far was that I thought each one was better than the last. I might be reading a bit too much into it, but I feel like that’s a sign that you’re improving as an author and getting more used to your own AU. I enjoyed the first case well enough, but I do have to admit that I found the character writing much sharper by case 3, while case 1’s characters were entertaining but not as memorable for me. It’s not that I disliked the case 1 OCs, they were fun enough, but I feel like by case 3 the OCs were a lot more compelling, even the ones who get less time overall.

I want to be a bit careful with this next compliment because it’s kind of an awkward one to give to anyone making any kind of fanfiction. I really like your handling of canon characters. That in itself isn’t an awkward compliment, but the fact that I enjoy a version of a character you write over their canon counterpart can be, since it’s sort of like asking you to be like “that’s right, my writing is better than official”. But that sometimes happens, doesn’t it? It’s not exclusive to Appeal to Truth, all throughout fanfiction there are characters who I’ve disliked in the source material who I liked a lot more when handled by a fanfic author. In Appeal to Truth’s case, it would be Godot whose canon self I am charitably not a fan of. Of course Godot came from someone else’s brain who had to consider how to write him under completely different circumstances (fangames and official games are made under very different environments and understandings), hence why I try not to directly compare the two versions. But I will say that your version of him is one that I enjoyed reading, especially since he gets Owned a lot more (affectionate), particularly once he warms up to Maya and she gets some good jabs in. Oh yeah, also I appreciated the multiple co-counselors idea. A lot of people (myself included) tend to feel like there should only be one co-counselor since there's not really screen space for more, but this is kind of a silly rule that just exists in my brain and Godot and Maya providing co-counselor help at the same time by the end was well worth any oddness that resulted.

The other canon characters also fulfill their roles really well and I enjoyed how much time is spent on them and how different they are in this AU. I alluded to this earlier in this ramble that I call my brain prison, but I feel like this is most evident in the conversations between Maya and Gumshoe. Two characters who do interact quite a bit during the original trilogy, but whose dynamic has shifted due to the differing circumstances as well as them getting older and wiser. Actually yeah, I think Maya’s probably a major highlight, which makes sense considering how much the branching timeline would impact her specifically. She’s probably my favorite character in this. Of course I do enjoy Pearl and Yumihiko well enough, but I really think Maya stands out. Our oomfie has come a long way in this timeline (for better and for worse).

Oh yeah, wanted to throw in some kudos for the amount of optional dialogue too. There was a good amount of it, occasionally there were moments where I was left wanting more (the example I can think of most clearly is in case 3, where I felt like Dean’s profile should have gotten reactions from people it didn’t get reactions from). But for the most part it was fun stuff. Present everything redundantly, that’s my motto and path to failure! Losing is fun.

I really appreciate the fact that walkthroughs are provided for the player. Since I’m very new to PyWright I’m not exactly sure whether this is considered common courtesy or not, but I definitely appreciate it in case I need them. I found that there tended to be a major stumbling block in each case where I needed them, from skimming the thread it seems like you’ve been made aware of most points I’d consider hard to figure out but I’ll just list my own hardest spot for each case. In case 1, it was the contradiction about how the body got the injuries from Clay’s car. In case 2, it was the contradiction about how Perune used her shipment of flowers to help reach some things (this was the one I struggled most with overall in Appeal to Truth, I didn’t even consider that the flower shipment would be arranged in such a way that standing on them would be possible). And in case 3, it was completely missing that the vent was a thing you could examine in the initial investigation (it looked like part of the ceiling to me honestly), and the Mysterious Note contradiction (I had no idea what the note was meant to show to be honest with you). On the other hand, I do really appreciate the variety of cross-examination objectives and I like the variety in terms of crimes and settings… Even if I am eternally cursed to always be penalized because I assume pressing further instead of backing down is always the right choice.

There were some typos I noticed, though the script is generally free of them and they tend to be minor enough. Mostly they happen when they’re things that a spellchecker wouldn’t catch, such as a missing word or wrong word usage that’s still valid, and I found them more common in out of the way failure text (for example this from a penalty conversation in case 3, or like this from near the end of case 3’s second investigation when getting the generic Present text for Dean). Still, they were infrequent enough to not bug me, and your dialogue is flavorful enough that I looked past that stuff.

Thinking about “what ifs” once again, it’s sort of a two-way street, isn’t it? If you’re absurd like me, you can spend your time wondering about what happened to the DeLites in this timeline, or what happened to Tender Lender. Or perhaps a bit more relevantly, what’s up with the Gavins or where Trucy’s at. Or how the Investigations games played out with Edgeworth surely having a very different mindset after the alternate outcome of 2-4 (this is my AU micro-fanfic cage now, get in the cage). But it works the other way around, sort of. I could hop on over to the canon timeline in Apollo Justice and wonder what cases Yumihiko’s taking without Apollo’s involvement. Or if the victims of cases in Appeal to Truth would still be alive. How about those involved in crimes? Are Edwin Sharp and Andrea Medina hopping on Fortnite while talking about research? Who knows? What ifs are funny like that since answering every question is often self-defeating and ruins a lot of the appeal of the concept in the first place (show don’t tell is garbage fake advice meant to destroy your writing, sometimes you must Tell Forever, never Show Me Anything Ever - wait, I'm getting sidetracked). I can only focus on what you choose to shed light on, and make up my own ideas of what the rest of the world is like. Sometimes the audience has to come up with their own ideas, probably. So far I think you’ve been doing a fine job balancing what aspects of this universe you choose to push towards the front, and which you leave out.

I had fun playing, wishing you the best of luck in the future Masq.
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 3!)Topic%20Title

Gender: None specified

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:28 am

Posts: 3

Hi so this fan series actually made me make an account because hot damn I have a lot of thoughts. In a good way! I'm going to start spoiler free and then delve into my thoughts case by case.

Overall: The custom sprite work in this game is one of my favorite parts. Often I find with fan cases that sprites tend to be lacking. There's maybe 2 or 3 poses and a couple of expressions. This game blows me out of the water with the amount of custom characters who have fully developed sprite sets! I could conceivably believe that they come from official Ace Attorney and it genuinely makes me happy as a pixel artist. I delight in seeing what new poses or animations are there to see.

I do think that some of the mystery solving can be a bit. Obtuse. There were times a pursuit theme was playing and I was like. "Is this really the big gotcha moment we're focusing on?" As well, there tends to be a large amount of evidence that just isn't necessary. Many diagrams could be added together and some stuff is only used once. I think the game could use an occasional "Discarded Unnecessary Evidence" moment. The worst offender of this is Case 2 in my opinion. Which is a shame because I do really like Case 2 but it suffers a great deal by it's logic journey.

Another upside is that it just keeps getting better as you grow and develop as an author! There were times this game actually made me laugh out loud. The characterization is an aspect you can tell a lot of time and effort was put into. One slight downside is I find there's often to much downtime in music. This is usually in investigation segments. Case 3 Spoilers
Spoiler:
Such as the breakroom investigation in Case 3


Now I'm going to give my thoughts on each case!

Case 1

Spoiler:
Case 1 starts off with a murder at a space research center. Right off the bat this case made me smile with the defendant's mention to Tarot Cards. And the sprite work right off the bat got me invested. Like OKAY this is gonna be some good shit, there's a lot of variation and custom animations for Adelina. Then Clay arrived and it got me pumped! The case had an interesting murder weapon and luminol testing. There was just a lot of little details that added up into a level of quality compared to what most fancases go for.

Overall the logic of this murder was pretty easy to follow, I didn't find myself getting stuck and often enjoyed the banter as I pressed every statement of every testimony. It was fairly standard first case fare. Edwin Sharp was immediately obvious as killer and was genuinely fun to corner. He was also the first example of the great character work done here. His small habits of looking up words to make himself seem smarter or sounding them out. I thought it was going to lead to a big plot reveal about him being the CLEAR plagiarist but then Oho! What's this? Instead it's both him and the defendant! Threw me for a loop.

Edwin's Breakdown was pretty solid! I can't really complain about it too much.

And Finally. Godot. WOWWWWWWWWWW WHAT A BITCH. I immediately despised him ngl. It felt really unsatisfying to solve the case at that point. Unfortunately mystery solving dissatisfaction tends to be a trend at first. However, it proved to be an interesting idea with A LOT of creativity. I think that's what this fan game excels at is creativity. Further proven by


Case 2

Spoiler:
Case 2 is one that I want to like soooooo much more then I do. I don't dislike it by any means but the mystery solving in this one is at it's worst I feel. Like. Oh boy. The knife facing the wrong way is my biggest example of that. That was just baffling to me. Like I was semi-hyped because Overtaken was playing and that song SLAPS but it was not great. The other examples I have to offer was Perune running over the Steel Beam. Or Perune only hearing one announcement, Or Season only hearing One Crack. These things were really tiny that they at most I feel like they warranted a that's weird. They aren't the type of thing you make a main contradiction about, that's something that you corner a witness on when they're making up lies on the spot and panicked.

However, speaking of Perune. Holy Shit. Do I love Perune. She really makes the case for me. Her sprites are great, she has wonderful banter. She was fun to corner, her breakdown was fun. Theme Song goes hard. Like MAN does Perune manage to be a fun killer. And her arguments make sense! So much of this case was floundering trying to find a way forward that I felt like there wasn't a lot of progress. She also gets two breakdowns which I appreciate. It was hype once I saw the flowers fall off of her hat.

Another wonderful part of this case and the fangame in general is Sebastian Debeste as prosecutor. You don't understand I have DREAMED of this. I do unfortunately have a small complaint in that, sometimes he doesn't feel. Very prosecutory? My main thing is that we very rarely see Sebastian get damaged as we counter his arguments. It happened once in Case 2 and once in Case 3. This can often lead to cases feeling like there's less progress because we don't see the prosecution's argument falter like we would normally without the recoil sprites. I also felt like his and Apollo's petty squabbles weren't very strong in Case 2. They felt really immature and it took some getting used to. This was something that got improved upon in Case 3 quite a bit!

Finally, this case both suffered from too much hand holding and not enough hand holding at the same time. Mia and Godot constantly reassuring Apollo detracted from the AHA! GOTCHA! moments in the case. Again this was something that was improved upon in Case 3.
Overall, Case 2 is where a lot of fangames start to find their identity and while this one was rocky, it contained a lot of ingenuity and charm that made me like it despite areas where it faltered.


Case 3

Spoiler:
This fan game breaks 3rd case syndrome! LETS FUCKING GO! Amusement and Turnabout is by FAR the best case of the bunch. Entertaining Witnesses, Engaging Mystery, Touching Moments about family. And the Sprite Work!!! Like Masquerade Demure really pulled out the stops for this one! I fucking love it!

There were moments that genuinely had me laughing out loud, such as Cy's drawing of Apollo. I remember seeing Gil and immediately being like Oh Yeah this dude is the culprit. Nobody has a surprised sprite without being some type of murdery. But that was okay because Gil was my sunshine child and I fucking adored him.

Molly was really refreshing as a witness, not having someone be purposefully obstructive just to fuck around and her theme was pretty fun to listen to! I also enjoyed Cy a great deal. He was sooooo much fun to Cross Examine. His no bullshit stance on things was super refreshing cuz at the point that he first came to testify I remember being a little tired of how "Fanfictiony" the writing could feel, mainly from the defense team. The original characters have always been a strong point of the game in my opinion. He ended up echoing a lot of sentiments and oh man. The drawings. Those fucking drawings. Cylen has so much life for a character who speaks so few words.

Case 3 is when the game really lets you off the reigns and is like "Apollo. You're a big defense attorney now. Go get em Tiger." and oh BOY do we go get em. I don't think I'll ever be able to play Monster Rancher 2 after that breakdown. Amusement and Turnabout is the culmination of all of the positives Appeal To Truth has in store and man do I love it for that.


All in all Appeal To Truth is a fan game that just keeps getting better with each case, and I am simply ecstatic to see where The Spirited Turnabout will take us! Great Job Masquerade Demure!
Re: Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney-Appeal to Truth (Case 4 PrevTopic%20Title
User avatar

Am shy. Will lurk.

Gender: Female

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:02 am

Posts: 31

gentlest of bumps to show i'm not dead
I also may have added a lil playable something
Image
Page 1 of 1 [ 36 posts ] 
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

 Board index » Present Evidence » Games

Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum
Jump to:  
News News Site map Site map SitemapIndex SitemapIndex RSS Feed RSS Feed Channel list Channel list
Powered by phpBB

phpBB SEO