Adam, I have to say that I think you truly made something special with this new version of No Players Omline. This is a full-on commercial release of one of my favorite freeware horror titles that has a surprising amount of content, story elements, and deep lore surrounding both the developer John Mullard and Sarah. I even love how many simple, silly little mini-games there are, like the parody of Minesweeper and that fake visual novel dating sim. The most notable part about what makes me love it so much is that it is a full single-player campaign. Whereas the original freeware title was just a base for a really in-depth alternate reality game (ARG), this is a game that explores the concept even further and takes it to new heights and levels. You enter the world of MC-93, a fake operating system tied into the game's world where you learn of a mysterious capture the flag game that has long since been abandoned, and you eventually trudge through the OS, finding clues and secrets to uncover the story of John Mullard, the owner of Enuit Games, and his mysterious, never-released video game. You spend a lot of time in the OS digging through archives, notes, and downloading and even combining fake software that you will combine with the main CTF build, which usually are separate playable games with their own unique charm and feel to it before you are able to reconnect Sarah with her past and eventually John Mullard himself. This, in my eyes, is a massive exploration game where you advance the story at your own pace, and you even can dig through a whole fake in-game internet complete with fake forums, websites, blogs, and everything else, reminiscent of one of my favorite indie games of all time, Hypnospace Outlaw, where you take the role of a HypnOS Enforcer to clean up people's acts and keep the world of Hypnospace under control. This CTF game John created is actually a portal to Sarah, who in this game, has taken the form of a record player and only has very limited memory of her past. It contains all of her memories and her past life with John, who added her to his game to remind him of her and keep her soul and spirit alive. The original game released all that time ago was just the base of an ARG experience, where you would have to dig through the game's blog posts here on Itch to uncover hidden features or even separate games outright that tie into the game's interconnected world. But this? This is a full commercial game that takes your original idea and concept and cranks it up to 100. The original game was a short experience, a short freeware title, but this on the other hand is a multi-hour long commercial package with hours of content and mini-games to play on top of the game's main campaign and story. This new expansion takes what made me love the original so much and just improves upon it tenfold. For a game priced at $15 USD, this is a massive steal for what you get. I honestly think that this is a special little game that people who play it will only get to experience once. I highly advise against backseating with this game, because it is truly special and I think players who play it need to go in blind to get the full, raw experience like I did. I beat the game's campaign in roughly 4 hours and I had an absolute blast. This has to be one of my all-time favorite indie game releases from this year. As a big fan of your original No Players Online game, this took everything I loved with the original game and just absolutely shot it into the stratosphere.
1. So, the UI on John Mullard's beta copy of the CTF makes it look like I can't click on the start game button. The text on the button is a really similar gray value to the button block, and the mouse doesn't change shape to indicate that the button is clickable. This sounds like a minor issue, except I spent way too long trying to make another stone because I thought that I needed another stone to make the game playable.
2. The game is really difficult and confusing to play. And on the one hand, that is fantastic. It is so satisfying to solve puzzles without any handholding. But on the other, some parts are really frustrating because there's almost no indication or feedback on what I'm supposed to be doing. For instance, when I was in the ocean with the snake monster, I fell in that ocean about 4 or 5 times before I tried finding help online for what I was supposed to do next (was I supposed to let the monster kill me? Was I supposed to kill the monster? Where was I supposed to go?). And the only help I got online was "capture ALL the blue flags." And that's when I finally noticed a really faint blue light coming from behind the monster that I was able to swim to (after, of course, trying to swim directly for the blue, flag-like monster). I understand if the intent is to make it difficult intentionally (because we're supposed to be playing as a snoop on someone else's computer, so if we can't be bothered to hunt for difficult things, then what's the point), but it'd be great if there was a little more help in the game. I don't know if it's possible to add any help to the game while still letting the player do pretty much everything on their own.
But really, truly, this game is so clever and strange and mysterious. I can't believe I waited so long to try it.
hey! the game got blocked? can you explain what it says? EDIT: if it's a popup by windows defender when you try to open it. windows does this automatically for most downloaded files. just click open anyway, or right click the file > go to properties > check "unblock".
this game is so goddamn confusing.it doesn't hurt to give hints. like im not reading 100000 texts. thats boring gameplay. i rate this an absolute snoozefest/10
hey! where did you get stuck? a lot of the text is optional to read and i designed it with that in mind. it's good feedback to know where you got stuck so i can make things clearer for the full release!
I got stuck on the part after i signed into the first guys account. From there it was so confusing, I couldn't figure out if i was even making progress. I think more sounds that could help point where to go, or some sort of notification that leads directly to the next part. idk if it was more obvious and i just missed it but the game was fun the bit i played just after that got boring to me because it felt like anything i would do lead me nowhere.
Ok! Thank you that's good feedback. To progress, you can download games from the internet (check the bookmarks), those can be combined together with the Soul Transfer application.
This game is SO much more than I was expecting. What a blast. If for even a moment I was starting to get a little bored a new discovery dragged me right back in.
Games of this quality can only be made with real, genuine passion. And skill. Eagerly looking forward to the full release.
EDIT: Okay, so I'm a complete idiot. I didn't realize that you had to be positioned and facing just right through each blue frame to be able to trigger the crosshairs, etc. Runtime logic is fine XD
I'm not sure if I have a glitch or not, but everytime I make it to the glitchy and unfinished house, I can't click on the easel to get the dialog started with who I presume to be the wife. It triggered the very first time I ran that segment, but when I no-clipped back to the first room with the stairs, I got stuck behind the stairs, so I had to restart the program (the whole program on my actual computer.) Since then, I can't click on the easel and so forth. What gives? I tried resetting the game in-game, but it doesn't work. I think some runtime logic broke somewhere, but I'm not sure where. I'm going to try re-downloading the demo and see if that fixes things, but I'm not sure if there is going to be persistent gamesave logic residue somewhere on my system still.
I am absolutely in love with this demo, there's so much potential here! I noticed there was an update available on Steam recently, was that adding any content or was it just a maintenance update or something? Also, if you have a patreon or kickstarter or equivalent please let me know, I would 100% be interested in supporting this project!
hey! thank you so much that's very kind :) the best thing you can do to support the game is tell your friends and wishlist on steam! as for the update— that was just for small bugfixes
Hello! I always looked up to your game as a very great horror game I was so happy to be able to play it on this stream. This was the last game I played. This has always been an awesome game!
i am in love with this game, i cant WAIT for the full version. but i was wondering, are there any clues in the game that would lead me to finding sarahs password? im not asking for help finding it, but if i set out to find it would there be a way?
THIS IS FUCKING FIRE. Terrifying, disturbing, beautiful, and sickening all at the same time. I genuinely adore this game so, so, SO much. This is literally on the same level (if not my preferred option) to MOUTHWASHING. LOVE this game, I'm so desperate to see it done!
I have a problem that I think might be a bug. I fused the visual novel and FWK2 together and got the stone on my desktop after that, but then it just disappeared. I didn't have the fused .exe anymore and I couldn't download the original game files again since it gave me the message that the attachment was already downloaded. Can't combine the other CTFs with minesweeper so I think I'm stuck.
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
nice its released
Adam, I have to say that I think you truly made something special with this new version of No Players Omline. This is a full-on commercial release of one of my favorite freeware horror titles that has a surprising amount of content, story elements, and deep lore surrounding both the developer John Mullard and Sarah. I even love how many simple, silly little mini-games there are, like the parody of Minesweeper and that fake visual novel dating sim. The most notable part about what makes me love it so much is that it is a full single-player campaign. Whereas the original freeware title was just a base for a really in-depth alternate reality game (ARG), this is a game that explores the concept even further and takes it to new heights and levels. You enter the world of MC-93, a fake operating system tied into the game's world where you learn of a mysterious capture the flag game that has long since been abandoned, and you eventually trudge through the OS, finding clues and secrets to uncover the story of John Mullard, the owner of Enuit Games, and his mysterious, never-released video game. You spend a lot of time in the OS digging through archives, notes, and downloading and even combining fake software that you will combine with the main CTF build, which usually are separate playable games with their own unique charm and feel to it before you are able to reconnect Sarah with her past and eventually John Mullard himself. This, in my eyes, is a massive exploration game where you advance the story at your own pace, and you even can dig through a whole fake in-game internet complete with fake forums, websites, blogs, and everything else, reminiscent of one of my favorite indie games of all time, Hypnospace Outlaw, where you take the role of a HypnOS Enforcer to clean up people's acts and keep the world of Hypnospace under control. This CTF game John created is actually a portal to Sarah, who in this game, has taken the form of a record player and only has very limited memory of her past. It contains all of her memories and her past life with John, who added her to his game to remind him of her and keep her soul and spirit alive. The original game released all that time ago was just the base of an ARG experience, where you would have to dig through the game's blog posts here on Itch to uncover hidden features or even separate games outright that tie into the game's interconnected world. But this? This is a full commercial game that takes your original idea and concept and cranks it up to 100. The original game was a short experience, a short freeware title, but this on the other hand is a multi-hour long commercial package with hours of content and mini-games to play on top of the game's main campaign and story. This new expansion takes what made me love the original so much and just improves upon it tenfold. For a game priced at $15 USD, this is a massive steal for what you get. I honestly think that this is a special little game that people who play it will only get to experience once. I highly advise against backseating with this game, because it is truly special and I think players who play it need to go in blind to get the full, raw experience like I did. I beat the game's campaign in roughly 4 hours and I had an absolute blast. This has to be one of my all-time favorite indie game releases from this year. As a big fan of your original No Players Online game, this took everything I loved with the original game and just absolutely shot it into the stratosphere.
9/10, this is an absolutely INCREDIBLE game.
not opening
This game is so cool! I almost didn't beat it.
Some feedback (with spoilers):
1. So, the UI on John Mullard's beta copy of the CTF makes it look like I can't click on the start game button. The text on the button is a really similar gray value to the button block, and the mouse doesn't change shape to indicate that the button is clickable. This sounds like a minor issue, except I spent way too long trying to make another stone because I thought that I needed another stone to make the game playable.
2. The game is really difficult and confusing to play. And on the one hand, that is fantastic. It is so satisfying to solve puzzles without any handholding. But on the other, some parts are really frustrating because there's almost no indication or feedback on what I'm supposed to be doing. For instance, when I was in the ocean with the snake monster, I fell in that ocean about 4 or 5 times before I tried finding help online for what I was supposed to do next (was I supposed to let the monster kill me? Was I supposed to kill the monster? Where was I supposed to go?). And the only help I got online was "capture ALL the blue flags." And that's when I finally noticed a really faint blue light coming from behind the monster that I was able to swim to (after, of course, trying to swim directly for the blue, flag-like monster). I understand if the intent is to make it difficult intentionally (because we're supposed to be playing as a snoop on someone else's computer, so if we can't be bothered to hunt for difficult things, then what's the point), but it'd be great if there was a little more help in the game. I don't know if it's possible to add any help to the game while still letting the player do pretty much everything on their own.
But really, truly, this game is so clever and strange and mysterious. I can't believe I waited so long to try it.
I cannot I add my guest account as a friend in the chat program, literally unplayable.
I think I got softlocked on the "set max players", I think I press "esq" and got unable to interact with the game in any way.
ahh i see, did you try pressing return / enter key?
If I remember correctly, yes.
Fire..I mean..just FIRE!!!
Really like the concept of the game. I want to report a bug. I got stuck after going through the wall and stuck between wall and stair
I saw the thumbnail of this game and I'm already scared 😭 idk why
Cool concept, and well executed for what I have experienced :) I am looking forward to a full release!
scary :c
is there a mac version?
Certainly made me spooked. Really liked the story and the atmosphere gave me chills at times. Scary game was, in fact, scary.
yo game blocked by windows defender, that says smth abt you and that game
hey! the game got blocked? can you explain what it says?
EDIT: if it's a popup by windows defender when you try to open it. windows does this automatically for most downloaded files. just click open anyway, or right click the file > go to properties > check "unblock".
this game is so goddamn confusing.it doesn't hurt to give hints. like im not reading 100000 texts. thats boring gameplay. i rate this an absolute snoozefest/10
It's not hard to read. Judging by your lack of proper grammar I'm going to guess you're not smart enough for this game???
NOT COOL DIM HEAD, BE KINDER
hey! where did you get stuck? a lot of the text is optional to read and i designed it with that in mind. it's good feedback to know where you got stuck so i can make things clearer for the full release!
I got stuck on the part after i signed into the first guys account. From there it was so confusing, I couldn't figure out if i was even making progress. I think more sounds that could help point where to go, or some sort of notification that leads directly to the next part. idk if it was more obvious and i just missed it but the game was fun the bit i played just after that got boring to me because it felt like anything i would do lead me nowhere.
Ok! Thank you that's good feedback. To progress, you can download games from the internet (check the bookmarks), those can be combined together with the Soul Transfer application.
Gen Z moment
This game is SO much more than I was expecting. What a blast. If for even a moment I was starting to get a little bored a new discovery dragged me right back in.
Games of this quality can only be made with real, genuine passion. And skill. Eagerly looking forward to the full release.
I did not realize how long and how much effort was put into this game! Loving it and continuing my journey as we speak! Thank you!
Such a cool game. Fishing with knives was incredible lol. Props to the guys who made it, I was shocked there were only 3 of you!
EDIT: Okay, so I'm a complete idiot. I didn't realize that you had to be positioned and facing just right through each blue frame to be able to trigger the crosshairs, etc. Runtime logic is fine XD
I'm not sure if I have a glitch or not, but everytime I make it to the glitchy and unfinished house, I can't click on the easel to get the dialog started with who I presume to be the wife. It triggered the very first time I ran that segment, but when I no-clipped back to the first room with the stairs, I got stuck behind the stairs, so I had to restart the program (the whole program on my actual computer.) Since then, I can't click on the easel and so forth. What gives? I tried resetting the game in-game, but it doesn't work. I think some runtime logic broke somewhere, but I'm not sure where. I'm going to try re-downloading the demo and see if that fixes things, but I'm not sure if there is going to be persistent gamesave logic residue somewhere on my system still.
I am absolutely in love with this demo, there's so much potential here! I noticed there was an update available on Steam recently, was that adding any content or was it just a maintenance update or something? Also, if you have a patreon or kickstarter or equivalent please let me know, I would 100% be interested in supporting this project!
hey! thank you so much that's very kind :) the best thing you can do to support the game is tell your friends and wishlist on steam! as for the update— that was just for small bugfixes
Hello! I always looked up to your game as a very great horror game I was so happy to be able to play it on this stream. This was the last game I played. This has always been an awesome game!
Can't wait to CHECK THIS OUT!
thank you so much! I actually played the game in this stream! thank you ^^
You got around to this, I see, truly a marvel of a game. So happy to see you playing something so classic.
This was amazing!! Have you played it? I will have to check your video out! Hope you have been amazing!
fuckin excellent work dude. best itch.io game i've played in a long time and possibly ever.
Will this game have the same "up up up down down Enter" as the previous one?
is there any release date yet or a discord for talking adam pype
no release date yet! but hopefully soon :) i should set up a discord...
if u do pls inv me
also is there any beta testing spots open
agree... maybe make a it general place for the adam pype cinematic universe and not just npo.
i am in love with this game, i cant WAIT for the full version. but i was wondering, are there any clues in the game that would lead me to finding sarahs password? im not asking for help finding it, but if i set out to find it would there be a way?
not yet
:)
Nice game my friend, keep them coming !
Does somebody want to join me on my server on
No Players OnlineCapture The Flag?THIS IS FUCKING FIRE. Terrifying, disturbing, beautiful, and sickening all at the same time. I genuinely adore this game so, so, SO much. This is literally on the same level (if not my preferred option) to MOUTHWASHING. LOVE this game, I'm so desperate to see it done!
hehe thank you so much!!! were so excited to get it done and have everyone play it :)
will there be a linux build for the demo? :)
Is it strange that I feel that I saw a full game walkthrough? With lots of dialogue with "<0>" fella. Was it some beta?
that was the original game from 2019 :) it's linked in the description (now called No Players Online Classic)
I have a problem that I think might be a bug. I fused the visual novel and FWK2 together and got the stone on my desktop after that, but then it just disappeared. I didn't have the fused .exe anymore and I couldn't download the original game files again since it gave me the message that the attachment was already downloaded. Can't combine the other CTFs with minesweeper so I think I'm stuck.
Did you check to see if it was still in the infusion program?