Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

A dark sci-fi visual novel: http://winterwolves.com/bionicheart.htm
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Franka
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by Franka »

All right, these are the endings I just can't seem to get:

Guilty (as you know)
To the Moon (I always get "Swan Dive" after "No Trust")

Also, there seems to be something wrong with parallel plots option. Choosing not to have parallel plots means that you can't get a Mars ending (it skips the Mars ending completely). I think you need to disable "No Parallel plots" option (or figure out what's causing this).
suburbantimewaster
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by suburbantimewaster »

jack1974 wrote:Luke kills himself only if is depressed :wink:
There are only 1309523 possible combinations in this game! :lol:
I remember Elmsdor managed to get all the endings, but the Guilty one now is impossible for sure. I should ask him to write a guide since he knows more than me...
I'd hate to give unsolicited advice, but maybe you should have
Spoiler:
Tina get the boss fight with Rob and still search for clues even if Tanya gets captured as long as you have her say that Tina doesn't trust Agent Storm. Tanya can still get captured because she doesn't trust Tina, showing that if Tanya did trust Tina, she wouldn't have gotten captured. Then Tanya can die like in the Buried ending and Tina will have enough clues to get Richard Meier arrested.
If there's a way to get it that I'm missing, feel free to point it out.
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OtterFace
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by OtterFace »

Yeah, I just got this game in the 50% offer and I can confirm that both "Swan Dive"/"To the Moon" and "Guilty" are bugged.

I always get "Swan Dive" after "No Trust" and when on the path to "Guilty", the game just skips Chapter IV.

I know this game was released a while ago and didn't sell too well, but is there anything that can be done so the people who paid for it aren't getting a broken product? It's a shame as well, because the writing is really good.
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jack1974
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by jack1974 »

I really don't want to touch this code anymore, since every time I did, lost days, and for one thing that I fixed, I added 3-4 new bugs (indeed I think in some previous version those endings worked).
The simplest thing is to remove those endings that cannot be reached from the list :) Also because most endings have only slight variations.
Also I think that without the parallel plot, all endings works fine. I decided to keep that option, but if I remove it (as probably should since is only getting people to complain about the unreachable endings) then the game should work fine.
Don't get me wrong your complaints are legit, but I need also to think about not losing even more money on a project (that's why I never did a 3rd game of Vera Blanc, I don't want to go ask charity to feed my cats :lol:)
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OtterFace
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by OtterFace »

A quick fix like that would be acceptable at this stage, I think.

It's a shame this game had so many problems, with both development and sales. Of all the different WW games I played, this was definitely the most interesting and mature. Every choice had consequences and as a player, I felt thoroughly responsible for what happened to my characters. The first ending I got was "Swan Dive" and it left me very shaken emotionally. I had to get myself a hard drink before attempting another path.

I've read some reviews elsewhere on the internet criticising the characterization and the overall message, but I disagree. It was a great experience, even if collecting all the endings became a bit tedious towards the end. Keeping track of all the branching variables was a nightmare, even with the walkthrough.

On that note, I really think that 26 endings was too much -especially considering how similar some of them were. Fewer endings (around 4-5, definitely less than 10) with a higher emotional impact would be better, imo. It would make the game a more manageable size for development and debugging and the player wouldn't have to go through the entire game over 20 times to see the whole story. Quality over quantity, etc.

Still, I bought this game on a whim and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. The first game read like an ultra-campy Blade Runner with lots and lots of fan service ( :lol: ), but the second one was miles ahead in every aspect. Rebooting the first Bionic Heart in the style (presentation and narrative tone) of the second would be beautiful, but considering the commercial performance, I'm not holding my breath for it.


Out of pure curiosity, how many units did the game sell? If you don't mind sharing, of course. I'm really curious as to what constitutes a "flop" by small indie standards.

UPDATE: I just went through the game again with the Parallel Plots turned off and I still couldn't obtain these two endings. In fact, the game just skipped the endings I would normally get as well (like, "No Trust" for example). So yeah...taking these two endings off the list might be the best option after all :(
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jack1974
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by jack1974 »

The units doesn't really matter, depends on the expenses - if I spend $100,000 on a game, even if sells 10,000 units at $10 is still a flop because I earned $0 :lol:
Let's say this: I recovered THE COSTS of the game (not including my own time) in SIX MONTHS. Games like Nicole or Rommates recovered the costs in 30 DAYS :shock: (and Bionic Heart 2 was less expensive than those 2, so should have recovered earlier, not later!) So that gives you a good idea of how much bad it sold.
I don't know honestly why sold so bat either. Sometimes games are just cursed! The same writer wrote SOTW, and I think turned out very well and I'm very confident about the game in general (with the tilesets and everything).

Anyway yes, I think will do a quick fix removing some of the endings since is pointless to keep them there if they cannot be unlocked.
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Lonestar51
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by Lonestar51 »

After reading this much about hard to fix bugs in BH2, I have to say: I really want to see the code. And how complicated the decision logic is under the hood.

That it happens is even more unlikely than jack telling us hard sales numbers, but still I would like.
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Franka
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by Franka »

jack1974 wrote:Also I think that without the parallel plot, all endings works fine. I decided to keep that option, but if I remove it (as probably should since is only getting people to complain about the unreachable endings) then the game should work fine.
Don't do this, if anything you need to remove the "No parallel plots" option, because that breaks the game. The only way you can reach ANY of the Mars endings is with "Parallel plots" turned on.
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jack1974
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by jack1974 »

Haha see? Is like one of those games, don't know how they're called, where you need to take out a piece to keep the tower up. You think, you are 100% sure about one thing, and immediately someone tells "no don't do that, everything will fall apart!!!". After a situation like this that lasted 2 months, made me go insane at the point of wanting to cancel the project (something that I've NEVER done before in 10 years as indie) combined with the super low sales, and you can imagine that my time is better spent on... anything else. Like working on SOTW :wink:

Regarding the code: it's complicated because you need to check the path of each playthrough. It's also probably the fact that I'm totally burned out on this game :lol: However I remember giving the code to Aleema hoping she could fix it but she gave up after a week, earlier than me. So at least is not just me :mrgreen:

Here's the ending part where you choose an ending:

Code: Select all

    ########################### THE MASTER ENDING SELECTION STARTS HERE! ###############################
label endchoose:
    $showbar=0
    window hide
    ## EARTH ONLY ENDINGS ##
    if parallels:
        if Gameover_Mars and Gameover_Earth==False:
            if end_virus and earthfall==False:#virus spread but Luke not allied with Sarah
                call earth_ending_8
            elif end_nanotechdestroyed:
                if tanyadead:#buried under Nanotech ruins
                    if tinalead==3:#Tina on her own
                        call earth_ending_5
                    else:
                        call earth_ending_4
                else:
                    if tinalead==3:#Tina on her own
                        call earth_ending_7
                    else:
                        call earth_ending_6
            else:#nanotech wins
                if jasoncaught:
                    call earth_ending_1
                else:
                    if tinapromotion:
                        call earth_ending_3
                    else:
                        call earth_ending_2
        ## MARS ONLY ENDINGS, DOESN'T MATTER WHAT HAPPENED ON EARTH ##
        if Gameover_Mars==False:
            if scene29_lukedepressed: #Luke is depressed
                if tomhelenrunaway:#Tom/Helen plan to escape because are scared of Luke
                    call mars_ending_6
                else:#Tom/Helen trust Luke! haha fools
                    call mars_ending_7
            else:
                if earthfall:
                    if scene29_againstsarah==False:
                        if helenback==False and tomback==False and tomdead==False: #Tom and Helen stay on Mars
                            call mars_ending_2
                        else:
                            if tomdead:
                                call mars_ending_1
                if marsfall:
                    if tomdead:
                        if tomhelenlovers:#Helen doesn't listen to Luke because tomhelenlovers=True
                            call mars_ending_5
                        else:#Helen listens to Luke because tomhelenlovers=False
                            call mars_ending_4
                    else:
                        call mars_ending_3
                if scene29_againstsarah and jasoncaught:#and end_nanotechdestroyed #Tom, Luke, Helen destroyed the virus, Jason was caught so can't expose them, nanotech destroyed
                    call mars_ending_8
    ## COMBINED ENDINGS ##
    if Gameover_Earth==False and Gameover_Mars==False:
        if end_virus and earthfall:#virus spread already on earth!
            if marsfall and tomdead and helendead==False:#Luke & Helen go back to Earth and meet Tanya. Follow up to mars ending 4
                call combined_ending_7
            else:#Sarah and Luke blame each other
                call combined_ending_1
        elif earthfall and jasoncaught==False:#Luke allies with Sarah, but Jason exposes him!
            call combined_ending_2
        elif virus_sabotage:#like mars ending 8
            if end_virus:#they destroyed virus on Mars, but Tanya released it on Earth
                call combined_ending_4
            elif tanyadead==False:#they destroyed virus on Mars, Tanya didn't release it on Earth
                call combined_ending_3
        elif end_nanotechdestroyed and tanyadead==False:#tanya is still alive and destroyed nanotech
            if scene29_lukedepressed and tomhelenrunaway:#Tom & Helen go back to Earth and meet Tanya. Follow up to mars ending 6
                call combined_ending_5
            if marsfall and tomdead and helendead==False:#Luke & Helen go back to Earth and meet Tanya. Follow up to mars ending 4
                call combined_ending_6
            if marsfall:#Luke returns to Earth alone, either Tom/Helen are dead or don't trust him anymore and meets Tanya - followup to Mars endings 3 and 5
                if scene29_againstsarah==False and tomdead and helendead:
                    if end_virus:
                        call combined_ending_9
                    else:
                        call combined_ending_8
            if marsfall==False:#Mars didn't fall
                if tinalead==3:#Tina on her own
                    call earth_ending_7
                else:
                    call earth_ending_6

        #Tom and Helen stay on Mars together, Luke stays with Sarah, jason destroys nanotech but not use the virus : extra ending to add
        if tomhelenrunaway and scene29_lukedepressed==False and parallels==False:#Tom/Helen plan to escape because are scared of Luke
            call mars_ending_2

        ## EPILOGUE ##
        #always happens if Jason took control of behemoth device, but as bonus only if you made both Earth and Mars paths!
        if jason_behemoth:
            call epilogue

    scene bg saveload with dissolve
    jump credits
that was after 2 months of testing/failed attempts etc :roll:
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Franka
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Re: Bionic Heart 2 - version 1.0

Post by Franka »

I sunk a few very heavy days into this, and, to reiterate, without looking at the code, there were "just" these three things that didn't work:

Guilty ending (Tina/Rob social battle doesn't occur if Tanya gets captured)
To the Moon ending (calls up Swan Dive instead)
No parallel plots disables/skips ANY Mars ending you would otherwise get.

Everything else works, at least until you try to fix any of these. :lol: Then everything will break again.
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