09.25
ON SALE NOW for $4.99 (US), £2.99 (UK), 3,99 € (Europe) and $5.99 (Australia).
iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/gamebook-adventures-1-an-assassin/id352871101?mt=8
We proudly announce our first book in the Gamebook Adventures fantasy series, An Assassin in Orlandes! Set within Orlandes City itself, nobles are being systematically murdered by a ruthless assassin no-one seems able to catch. Finding yourself thrust in the middle of a large conspiracy, you must make decisions that may put yourself and one other most precious to you in great danger. Can you locate the Assassin in Orlandes before it is too late?
- Newly written story by S.P. Osborne that twists and turns taking the reader on an exciting adventure through the land of Orlandes. We are not simply a re-print of old gamebooks with each GA story lovingly crafted by experienced gamebook authors.
- Easy to use interface with classic page turning. As easy as reading a book!
- Dynamic page links that respond to your situation.
- New gamebook rules and battle system unique to Gamebook Adventures. Rules are accessible at any time during the adventure if you need to refresh yourself.
- Real-time 3D dice rolling with realistic physics. Shake the device like a dice shaker and watch the 3D dice bounce around the scene and off each other. Stop shaking and the dice will land giving you a result.
- Easy to change fonts, font sizes, and paper type to set up the book the way you want it.
- Accessible character sheet at all times during reading which auto updates when you pick up an item, your stats change, or you gain valuable information to help in your quest.
- Use bookmarks to save your progress helping you get past tricky sections.
- Achievements to collect throughout the book for those who wish to thoroughly explore all aspects of the story.
- Beautifully illustrated by Pirkka Harvala. Once found, each illustration is framed and mounted on the achievements wall so they can be accessed full-screen!
- Keep informed as the land of Orlandes grows. “Orlandes Uncovered” is a detailed history of the fantasy setting and will be updated at regular intervals giving you a rich and rewarding overall experience with the gamebooks.
- Interactive world map which can be zoomed and scrolled. This will also be updated regularly as the details about the world unfold and expand.
Gamebook Adventures is brought together through the efforts of passionate and avid gamebook enthusiasts. If you are familiar with the Choose You Own Adventure, Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf or Grail Quest series then Gamebook Adventures will really appeal to you. Our aim is to give those nostalgic readers of old something new and fresh, and bring a new exciting experience to those unfamiliar with gamebooks. If you enjoy fantasy RPGs or adventure games then this is for you!
iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/gamebook-adventures-1-an-assassin/id352871101?mt=8
REVIEWS:
[...] find out more about An Assassin in Orlandes click here! It costs $4.99 (US), £2.99 (UK), 3,99 € (Europe) and $5.99 [...]
what about if you don’t have an iPhone, can you still buy this gamebook?
Hi Tony,
At the moment “An Assassin in Orlandes” is iPhone and iPod Touch only. We are looking into getting this into other digital formats though. All I can say for now is watch this space!
Thanks!
Neil
I tried to buy it, but, when I went to buy it, iTunes just kicked me over to the American site (since that is where I live) where it is unavailable.
I tried again after I commented, and it worked fine this time. Disregard.
I’m looking forward to playing this when it downloads.
Hello , i would absolutely be interested in this, unfortunately i dont have an iphone, so i hope you could make this available for those of us who dont have an iphone! tthanks
Hi jujujones (great name by the way). We are looking at providing Gamebook Adventures for other gaming platforms and perhaps in print too if there is demand.
you thought of translating it into Italian?
Hi diego. I would dearly love to translate all our books into many languages so that they can be read around the world. The trouble lies in the costs to do so. However I will say that should these gamebooks prove a success we will look at translations.
Great story. I’m an avid fantasy fan, but like others, I’d love to see some gamebooks on different genres. Post apocalyptic storyline would be cool. Like a Mad Max Road Warrior type setting. A western story would be cool too. Gunslinging, castle rustling, bar brawling, bank robbing, wild Indian country setting.
Hi Randy. We completely understand. Over the coming year expect to see some other gamebook genres appear from us! Love the idea of a Western set of gamebooks.
Great! Keep up the good work! I enjoyed Assassin and look forward to Necromancer. I grew up in the 80s and loved the fantastic game books back in the day. Don’t want to show my age but I’m still an avid pen and paper gamer, lol. I love being able to carry around these great books of my youth on my Ipod. I’ve read some other reviews on people craving different genres and the wild west theme was one I hadn’t noticed. Another idea I haven’t stumbled across is a Superhero genre. I still play the old Villains and Vigilantes game by Jeff Dee and Jack Herman. Just throwing out some ideas!
Anyways keep up the great work guys and I’m excited to see more books pumped out by you guys regardless of the genre. It’s a breathe of fresh air to see these books revived!
Hi. I have a big problem! After just five minutes into the game, I was so addicted to it that I forgot what time it was. I LOVE THE STORY..it was very well structured and instilled fear and amusement. But, the problem is that I got so far into the story when I suddenly opted for the wrong choice and ended up getting “Orlando destroyed”! Its just way too easy to die..I wish you guys could have made it bit easier. I know there are three bookmarks to use, but I kept getting afraid so I used all of them at the beginning. I wanted to use the cheat function but it says that I need to unlock an achievement to do so. And the only reason why I wanted to cheat is so that I can keep reading the book (usually I never cheat at games like this). The story, graphics, and interface in this game is AMAZING..that’s why I just can’t throw this game away like I did with other games that disappointed me. It just gets repetitive when I keep dying and while having my bookmarks used up in the beginning. Please do something about it…I’m sure I am not the only person who feels this way, there is but the elite few who are able to manage the difficulty of this game. I just can’t let this game go, it is just too good. I have hated reading books all my life, and was skeptical about this game at first but when I started playing I just couldn’t stop! That’s why I’m appealing to you guys to do something if you can about this..perhaps in an update. Thanks a bunch!
Hi Vino. Thanks for your kind comments and really glad you’re enjoying playing and reading Assassin. I’m sorry you’re finding it difficult. You can restart the book at any time by going into the “Options” menu and selecting “Start Book Over”. I would suggest that you use your bookmarks sparingly! Keep going – I’m sure you’ll succeed in the end!
Pff… i want Windows version!
My husband and I really loved this game. I got really annoyed that there are no guides online to cheat by looking up walkthroughs, but my husband thought the challenge was good for me, in the end he was probably right as we got to the finish! I have a question though, what is ‘cheat mode’?
Cheat mode is our gift to you if you’ve gone to all the effort to finish the game! Basically it means that you can cheat through the battles to enable you to find all the remaining achievements and illustrations that may be missing in your collection. Thanks for taking the time to let us know you enjoyed the game! Much appreciated.
[...] If you’ve just come to this blog post and unsure whether An Assassin in Orlandes is for you, then check out the game features and video here! [...]
Help, love the game, but it keeps shutting down on me. Myiphone is 1st generation, is that the problem?
Hi Ryan. You probably are running version 1.4 which had a horrible crash bug. Version 1.41 has just been approved by Apple so update as soon as possible and it should run fine! Sorry for the inconvenience.
I am new to the whole choose your own story games but I have been into rpg video games for a while and this game is amazing! I can’t wait for the next one!
That’s great James! Glad you’re enjoying Assassin. Thanks for dropping us a line and I’ll pass your kind comments on to the rest of the team.
I loved the game initially, but also found it extremely frustrating that only one branching path actually leads to success. Too many choices end in a death or a dead end, even those beyond your control. Taking the wrong turn down a corridor leads you to a test…even if you pass it and go on, you end up fighting a enemy, after defeating said enemy, you still lose. That is really frustrating and made me take the gamebook off my phone. Because of the limited ways to succeed, I wouldn’t actually recommend this to anyone quite yet and probably won’t purchase any successors until this aspect is improved. Thanks and sorry for the negative review!
Hi Jason. Sorry to hear that you found Assassin frustrating and don’t worry about the negative review! We can’t please everyone and you backed it up with a detailed reason of why you didn’t like it, which is great for us.
In response to your major issue, that of getting frustrated at going down a wrong route that ultimately ends in losing, I would say that this is a nature of some gamebooks and is meant to inspire re-reading. Whenever we do conclude on a bad ending, we try and give enough clues so that you can go back and work out what it is that needs to be done in order to succeed. The situation you describe is one of the particularly unfair scenarios that can be played out in the middle of the book, but hopefully you worked out the item or information you were lacking and could go back and deduce what was required. Assassin is a tough gamebook, we didn’t intend for you to finish it in one, two or even three sittings. We know from some people that have completed it, that they have felt a great sense of achievement at the ending which not only satisfied them, but gave them great value for money due to the amount of time they spent with the app.
You’ll be happy to know that we’re planning a great range of gamebooks of differing complexities. Hopefully you’ll find one in the future that suits your tastes.
Hi
firstly I would have to say, really awesome game.
After trying at least a dozen times, I finally get the ultimate end, and unlocked the cheat mode.
I then went on to complete almost all the achievements except the 3 which requires you to find every page, ending and enermy.
However it is frustrating, as I believe there are some impossible routes. Such having heard the omnious warning in the beginning, and the finding of elthon’s ring and his wizards name.
There are many routes that do not lead up to the ultimate end, however, this is how I feel a gamebook should be.
Very challenging, keep up the good work! (:
Though there should be an inbuilt hint system, to hint to players where they went wrong, after meeting many ends. This needs a walkthrough too.
Hi John,
Glad you loved the gamebook. Very impressed that you unlocked so many achievements! I’m also glad you commented on liking the difficulty as that’s been an issue for some people. Sorry you’ve not found the last 3 achievements – have you mapped out and tried every route?
Anyway, thanks for the great feedback – always appreciated. If you have time, we’d love a review on the App Store!
This game is impossible.
- 3 bookmarks: i think the creators didnt understand the meaning of a game. It should be fun not too difficult.
- i’ve been playing for hours but i cant get all achivements. (3 are lacking)
i cant even finish the game: wizard’s name and Eltan’s ring doesnt exist anywhere.
The magical sword too.
- a great bug: at the begining you can save a nobleman, eltan kills him and runaway in a carriage. And when you go to the archives you can talk to a scrib but you cant select the option mentioning the great escape of eltan’s carriage, tought you just so it.
I m so upset.
I followed every rout, killed the albinos beast, killed the magical goblyn, even found Medium. But i still not overcome the story. This app is a trick.
When i played it, i loved it. Great gameplay, nice story… Two words: good work.
But then… Dead end.
I dare anyone who finished it to give me the walkthrought. Coz for a book with several ends, there only one way to succeed….
To finish, i dont want your ‘restart the book and blablabla’ solution. Be honest. Or i ll not recommend your book to my friends.
Try to make the next book easier and u ll sell more: larger public.
Thank you.
Hi Kwasi38. Thanks for your negative review on the app store. I did send you a personal email to answer all your concerns above (please check your hotmail account), but you obviously still feel angry enough to give us a bad review. This app is not a trick and can be completed. You just have not found the right way to complete it yet! It takes many hours of work to create these products and we inject lots of love and care into their development, yet it only take a few minutes to write a bad review which, as it is the only review on the french app store, will damage any potential sales in that region.
I loved it, it takes me backto boy hood years of choose your own adventure books, but I don’t know how to use a book mark..hahaha
Hi Chris! Glad you’re loving it so far! If you want to use bookmarks you need to click on the small black bar at the bottom of the page which will take you into the character sheet. Scroll down and you will see a “bookmarks” button. Click on that to place a bookmark! Hope you enjoy the rest of the book.
I have to echo a lot of the comments so far:
1) Great scenario with a lot of thought put into it in terms of mythology, cultures, locations etc
2) Good writing throughout the book
3) Way too “difficult”. I put difficult in inverted commas as I want to stress I unfortunately dont mean this in a good way. There is (apparently) only one road to success – that isnt the case for any of the numerous other gamebooks I have tried.
As James above eloquently says – you can successfully pass a number of challenges, fitness tests, fights etc and then find out that you fail – and that no what you had done for the last few turns you would have failed anyway.
There also seem to be some frankly impossible issues too – the ring, the wizards name and knowing simultaneously the dead nobleman’s name and the destination of the assassin in the coach to name a few.
The old “dart in the back” when walking through the market was also a bit unfair.
I really wanted to like the game given the positives and the overall originality, but unfortunately couldnt recommend at the moment.
Some helps or hints would be gratefully appreciated!
(sorry I meant Jason not James)
Hi Andy,
Thanks for your feedback. I understand you’ve found aspects of Assassin disappointing but thanks also for pointing out its strengths too!
1) That’s great. Exactly as intended, and this world will grow and grow and hope you stick with us for the ride. Orlandes has only just begun.
2) Thanks a lot. We’ve a number of great different writers working with us and we work hard to make the stories compelling and exciting.
3) Understand your criticisms here. All your comments are completely valid and not the first time I’ve heard them. We’re actually working on a revised Assassin in Orlandes to be released later this year which should fix the difficulty some people found and make it easier to find the one true route. It’s strange I’ve actually had some messages from people heralding the difficulty saying that games these days are too easy and they loved Assassin because it made them have to think a bit more! We can’t win in that respect.
However, I understand your concerns and we will be looking into it. Perhaps try our second book which has multiple ways of making it to the even if you don’t pick up all the relevant items.
Ok dude. Thanks for your response. I think I will buy the second game now. I wasnt going to, but I like the way you positively respond to criticism, and the fact the next game seems to be a bit different. That and the underlying positives I referred to earlier.
Interesting to hear you have had positive feedback on the level of difficulty for Assassin. Maybe I’m approaching it in the wrong way. I suppose I am finding frustrations in that I seem to make logical choices (in terms of picking up items, winning fights etc) but then still seem to be stuck at the end.
Anyway, I wont bore you by repeating myself!
Best of luck with your endeavours in the future.
Thanks Andy. Just to let you know too that the next updates of both GA1 and GA2 will have three difficulty modes too, giving you the ability to have more bookmarks as well as an ultra easy mode giving you a Fitness value of 12 as well as higher Vitality. You may want to hold off playing GA2 until then.
Are there news about this gamebook on other platforms (Windows espacially)?
I would really like to read/play this book!
lg
Gerhard
Hi Gerhard. At the moment we have no firm plans for what versions to do next. It all depends on what platform is cost effective for us to develop on. As soon as we have some firm decisions, we’ll be sure to post a blog post about it so keep checking back. Thanks!