Topics

1

Critics' Lounge / Let's Draw an Ogre!

« on: 03 May 2013, 10:06 »

Okay, so as some of you may know, my primary area of expertise is pixel art.  I've never been particularly 'adept' with hand drawn artwork and I avoided getting a Wacom for years because A) They were inhibitively expensive for me and B) I didn't really need to do any kind of hi-res digital rendering.  The latter has changed and now my trusty Intuos 4 is starting to get the shit beat out of it on a daily basis until I get reasonably competent, which leads to the piece below:

x1 x2 x3 x4

Basically, I think I spent about 3, maybe 4 hours on this and wonder if that's too long for something so basic?  The steps I took were:

1.  Establish a basic sketch (this always takes me the longest).
2.  Fill it in with basic values.  I have the hardest time getting the paint bucket to just fill areas I want without dumping on the whole canvas, so advice on how to make it work more like DPaint/Pro Motion flood fill would be great (or an alternative).
3.  Add highlight without any aliasing.
4.  Add shadow without any aliasing.
5.  Use an 80% opaque brush that tapers to blend the highlight/midtone/shadows.
6.  Go back and add detail and cleanup.

I am still learning how to get the most out of paint programs and how to maximize my workflow.  Also, a general critique of the technique would be nice, though take in account that I'm aware it has some of that paint streak look still because this is still very much practicing techniques for me.  I've switched to using Paint Tool SAI as the controls are so much more intuitive than photoshop and the brush movement is smoother and I don't suffer any of the occasional streaks or lag I do in photoshop.  Fortunately, it outputs to .PSD so I can easily import my linework there to add effects and such, so any tips for photoshop are welcome.

2

General Discussion / Some Great Halloween-themed Boardgames to Try.

« on: 24 Sep 2012, 01:29 »

Since many of my friends have children now, there's fewer occasions for us to get together and play any kind of serious pen & paper game like Call of Cthulhu, All Flesh Must Be Eaten (Sorry we didn't finish the game, Snarky and Jen!) and others, and Halloween is a great time for games of this sort.

Therefore, I bring you:

Halloween-themed boardgames that are completely awesome!

Game 1:  Elder Sign

Designed for quick play and casual players, Elder Sign (made by the creators of the more involved boardgame Arkham Horror) combines rpg and card gaming to produce something that my friends and I find quite enjoyable.  As a hybrid, instead of an actual board it uses cards as the playfield in the form of Adventures that any player may engage in, the description and rules regarding said Adventure written right on the card.  Each player may select from 1 of 16 unique player characters, each with a unique and useful ability (one player allows you to reroll two of your game dice each turn, for example).  The goal is to enter and investigate Arkham Museum where 'strange happenings' have been reported, culminating in a frantic search for the fabled Elder Signs, wards that each player may acquire and a certain number of which are needed to banish some Lovecraftian horror before it destroys the world.  Within this pretty basic premise is a fully realized game world, where you move your character between adventures (even other worlds), collect weapons, spells, and artifacts, battle monsters, and suffer the effects of whatever Elder God you're facing.  Each game is pretty different because there are a variety of Elder Gods, each with their own effects on the game and, in some cases, their own minions.  The players need to join forces and use their abilities and items to keep their Sanity and Endurance levels from bottoming out (or they die) while completing adventures to gain more items, artifacts and most importantly Elder Signs.  Each turn ends when a Mythos card is drawn, usually adding a Doom Token to the Elder God.  When all the Doom Token slots are full, the being stirs from its sleep and you are forced to do combat with something beyond your understanding, which usually ends in death or insanity.  Obviously, you want to prevent the God from waking from its slumber, so gathering Elder Signs is your top priority.

We really enjoyed the game in spite of the initially daunting setup, which mainly consists of placing the six initial adventure cards, the clock (which you advance every turn), and other cards down to form something resembling a game board.  Once it's setup it's really fun to play, and in our first game we frequently came close to death.  It can be made more or less challenging depending on your skill level, and combined with the variety of player characters and Elder Gods and adventures it has great replayability.


Game 2:  A Touch of Evil!

In A Touch of Evil you are one of eight Monster Hunters and it is the late 1800's.  You are called to a small village to investigate a series of murders and this is where the game becomes interesting because you can either play it competitively or cooperatively (decided beforehand).  As an investigator you have a unique ability as well as hitpoints (known as wounds), cunning, combat skills and spirit.  Each of these skills is used differently based on the Villain you select, so if you select the Spectral Horseman you will largely be fighting him with your knowledge and strength of Spirit.  The village has 6 town elders that each have a deep, dark secret (randomly selected and unknown to the players) that may help their investigation, impede it, or in some cases, place the elders on the side of evil.  The game board has a variety of locations, from an old windmill to the Mayor's manor, each with its own deck of encounter cards to draw from (rare items, enemies, allies and event cards).  Additionally, the blacksmith in the village has items you can buy outright from him in your quest, and this requires Investigation.  Investigation is the currency of the game, and you gain it for each successful event, for solving mysteries, and defeating monsters on your search for the Villain's Lair.  Investigation can be used to view an Elder's secret, though in a competitive game you would not give away what you've learned.  As you journey around the map learning things and gathering your strength, the Villain is also gaining strength and sway over the town as more people are killed (this is represented by the Darkness Track which counts down from 20 to 0), so it becomes a race to find the Villain before he kills enough of the town elders or the Darkness Track reaches 0.  Each time the Villain gains a victory the darkness track moves down, but interestingly enough, certain hero victories may movie it back up.  Ultimately, the player goal is either to competitively or cooperatively use their guile to track the Villain to its Lair, confront it in a grand battle and destroy it if they can.  To this end, each player can carry a certain number of weapons, artifacts, and allies with them (limit of 1 from each of the map locations) into the battle along with a Town Elder of their choice, who will boost their stats.  The risk here is that, if any of the Town Elders is evil they will join the Villain and instead boost IT, making your fight more dangerous.  The game ends either when the Darkness Track reaches 0, either the Villain or the players are defeated, or the elders are all killed or have converted to evil.

This makes for a fun game in groups of 4-5 because there's so much room on the map to move around, get in fights and solve mysteries.  Many of the encounters are resolved rather cleverly by effect cards that can alter the outcome.  For instance, if you are battling the Werewolf on the old bridge and it's going badly, you can leap into the river to live to fight another day.  Little touches like this make the game really cool in my opinion and the combination of effect and mystery cards can lead to some interesting events.


Game 3:  Nightmare!

This is an old game, but having recently discovered it I have to say it does have a place as a Halloween game because it's short (60 minutes regardless of what you do) and it has the bonus of coming with a VHS (you can find the full recording on the internet as well) that runs along with the game, the Gate Keeper being something of a belligerent Dungeon Master (and an unintentionally hilarious one at that!).  While I cannot say the game has great replay value due to it running essentially from a preset video, one game of this on Halloween is likely to provide a lot of laughs as you collect keys, get sent to Limbo, and otherwise become chastised by the Gate Keeper in your quest to get to the center of the board and unlock the doors to get away from his crazy ass.

Edit:  There was a re-release of this in 2003 that uses a dvd, a new Gate Keeper, and a random mechanic to make the game more interesting, though consensus suggests the new Gate Keeper isn't as fun as the original.

Some runner-up games I'd like to recommend:

Zombicide! I haven't gotten up the guts to shell out the $100 for it, but from the description and details it sounds really cool.  It's a lot like A Touch of Evil except that you are battling zombies, scrounging for resources, and you can actually level up your player and improve their skills (and the zombie threat).  It even comes with 6 pre-made adventures and a full campaign!


Fortune and Glory (by the same team that makes A Touch of Evil) basically puts you in the shoes of an Indiana Jones clone complete with adventures around the globe as you search for treasures of awesome power while battling villains and rivals.  Something really cool about Fortune and Glory is that the treasures are created from 3 stacks of random cards, so it is very rare to get the same thing twice.  While not strictly a Halloween theme, it has the same kind of appeal as A Touch of Evil! and the same type of mechanics, making it a fun game for a group.

Arkham Horror, as I have mentioned previously, is a greatly expanded version of Elder Sign with a multitude of addons that will keep you playing and replaying it for years.  Arkham Horror takes place in and around Arkham, Massachusetts, where portals are opening up at random locations and spewing out things from other realms.  As a unique investigator, it is your job to seal these portals before they create a dimensional crisis and allow an Elder God to cross over.  This involves gathering information, weapons and artifacts and battling minions in your way to closing the portals.  It's recommended for advanced players who don't mind spending 2-4 hours a gaming session.  Mansions of Madness is another game by Fantasy Flight and allows you to explore a differently built mansion each adventure (from tile blocks) but is similar thematically to Elder Sign and Arkham Horror in that your goal is to stop a great evil from appearing.

For those of you that like a bit of tabletop gaming and want to have friends over for Halloween, I hope this list gives you some ideas.

3

Critics' Lounge / Limey Lizard: Cursor Quizzer!

« on: 16 Jan 2012, 19:20 »

For those of you who have been keeping up with my website over at www.pixelgeddon.com, I've been dropping hints since December about what my next 'big' project is going to be, and it has a lot to do with the return of a certain lovable cockney lizard.

As the next game will not be restricted to Commodore 64 double-wide pixels and colors, I've had some time to work on some NEW cursor variants that I want to share with you and get your vote on.  Bearing in mind that my goal is to maintain some consistency with the original game style and lightheartedness, have a look at the cursors below and then, if you feel like it, go to my website and cast your vote for the one you like the best since polls are neat!

The original cursor



The NEW cursors




Additionally, if you have the perfect cursor in mind for Limey to chase across the vast expanse of space, through sewers, and even a jungle planet (SPOILER!), draw me an example or explain how it looks so I can recreate it.  

If I have enough good suggestions by this Sunday I'll take the top 3 voted cursors from my list and combine them with your suggested cursors for a second round of voting!

4

General Discussion / Dead Island Anyone?

« on: 08 Sep 2011, 06:40 »

I'd like to get together a solid group of 3 other people who'd like to really put Dead Island through the paces in a co-op game.  For zombie survivalists, this is hands-down the most expansive and gritty survival horror zombie game made so far, and it's pretty much everything I was personally hoping for Left 4 Dead to be (instead of a linear campaign).  It has a score of bugs but fortunately as of yesterday most of the problems I was having have been fixed (the memory leaks were the worst).  So if a few of you I know would like to get a steam game of this running from scratch, my steam name is...ProgZmax. 

5

Competitions & Activities / Sprite TIMEWARP! 8-29 to 9-12-WINNER

« on: 29 Aug 2011, 15:36 »

We all know that movie/tv to videogame adaptations have had a less than amazing showing over the years, so what if I handed the reins of a project over to you?

In the relatively brief history of videogames, every one of us has seen a movie or watched a tv-show and said, at one point or another, "This would be awesome/horrible as a videogame!"

Well, now is your chance to put pixels where your mouth is and CHEW LOUDLY.

GOALS:

1a.  Render either the protagonist of your favorite movie or the principal cast of your favorite tv-show faithfully into gamedom, bearing in mind all the reasons for thinking it would be an awesome idea!

OR

1b.  Render either the protagonist of the worst movie or the principal cast of the worst tv-show you've seen into gamedom, bearing in mind all of your reasons for thinking it would be a horrible idea!  


2.  Pick a platform and produce your artwork based on the color and resolution limitations thereof.  For example, if you choose to render your favorite/most horrible game idea to c-64 then you'll need to find one of the primary c-64 color palettes available (there are about 4) and then render your art bearing in mind the restrictions of the day (2 color sprites unless you sprite-stack).  This is all stuff you will have to research for your favorite delivery format.  Any of the early consoles, handhelds and computers are allowed (Spectrum, NES, c-64, Genesis, VIC-20, Gameboy, FM-Towns, Atari 2600, Super Nintendo, right up to the mid to late 90's.  Modern pcs and consoles hardly have any limitations at all other than your own imagination so, in order to present you with some kind of challenge, stick with the more modest machines that required a bit of creative fiddling to get things done.  Most game genres are acceptable with the EXCEPTION of text-based games with no graphics.  If your text game has renderings of the cast and scenes, it is allowed.

3 (optional).  Produce a complete mockup of the game including the interface.

4 (bonus).  Provide box art for your game based on the platform of choice.  This will net you BONUS POINTZ!

5.  Give us an exciting or terrible (depending on which approach you took) summary for your game.  This would normally appear on the back of a game's box art, enticing people to buy.

6.  You must have fun even if you're making the worst movie/show ever into a game.  If you're not having fun, what's the point?

Oh, and here's an old mock-up I did quickly of a Robocop adventure game to get you started.




MISSION START!!

6

General Discussion / A Small Request.

« on: 02 Aug 2011, 08:50 »

As some of you may know, for awhile now I've been trying to put the finishing touches on my website and it has been, to say the least, a rocky road.  Some of the features I wanted proved unrealistic while others just time consuming, though the site in general is very very near the finish line.  And I need your help.  

No, I don't need any money, just a bit of your time to read the news post on my site and a few encouraging words for my web guy Paul, if you would.  He's one of those guys who has very low motivation and needs reinforcement every so often, so help me get him back in action so I can finally call this fucking albatross I've created complete and focus on what I really want to do: make games!

http://www.pixelgeddon.com/


And then, if you like, please join the forum.  The first 5 to register a new account (no Vince, you can't register another account just to get in on this! ) and send me a PM asking for '1337 access' will be upgraded to have immediate access to a growing store of hidden content about some of my secret projects, unreleased betas and even insider stories and bloopers.  Note:  I'm not farming for accounts, this is just my way of rewarding some of you for being good sports and helping me to motivate Paul to action.


Thanks!

7

Competitions & Activities / Orwellian Jam: 7/16-25 - WINNER -

« on: 17 Jul 2011, 07:01 »

George Orwell (pen name of Eric Blair) was privy to much of the 'inside-baseball' in 1939 when he wrote the epic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and saw much of what he described coming to pass.

Some believe we've already surpassed 1984 in several ways with programs like Google Maps, GPS tracking and CARNIVORE that track your every move and store it in massive databases along with your purchase history and much more...

But let's say that there's room for MORE....MORE interference in your privacy.  Interference with your very WAY OF LIFE.

That's why the National Security Agency (www.nsa.gov) has hired YOU, afterall!  That's RIGHT!  You've been hired to invent and construct a piece of 'orwellian' technology for the future world, something that will give us more control over...allow us to better protect citizens from threats abroad AND at home!

Rules:

1.  Cannot exceed 64 unique colors.

2.  May either be an in-game object (like a sophisticated ATM) or an inventory item, or both.  

3.  There are no resolution restrictions other than those that apply to AGS and reasonably to inventory sizes.

4.  Must catalog the features of this "Orwelltech" and its applications, both mundane and military.

5.  Get those sci-fi braincells firing and come up with something crazy and downright ORWELLIAN!


Begin.  And remember:

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING.

8

Competitions & Activities / Sprite Jam: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! 12-8 to 12-21 - WINNER!

« on: 08 Dec 2010, 19:24 »

Have you ever wondered what The Secret of Monkey Island would have looked and played like if it had been made by ATARI?  Or what if King Graham's adventures were a product of Epyx (they made Impossible Mission) and released solely for the Commodore 64?

WELL NOW IS YOUR CHANCE, BECAUSE THIS IS:

SPRITE JAM: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE!


The rules are simple:

1.  Take a classic adventure game (cannot be a text game, obviously!) and teleport it through time and space to a world where a different developer had made it!  Think about the style and design choices specific developers have adopted and re-imagine the game the way they'd have done it!

2.  Follow the color restrictions of the target system/console used as closely as possible.

3.  A single mock-up action shot of the game is required, though you may do as many as you like.  No title screens unless they are accompanied by an action shot, please.

4.  Please include a SEPARATE image just with the sprites you've created.  This is so I can have a nice look at the sprites themselves, which is the purpose of the sprite jam.

5.  You must have fun.


*BONUS:  In addition to color, obey ALL limitations of the medium you are presenting the game on, such as the limit to on-screen sprites on the gameboy/NES, resolution, and so on.

*BONUS 2:  BOX ART!  Provide some box art for the system the game is for and a short summary of the story and features!


Remember, not only can you take any classic game and place it in the hands of a completely different (but real) developer, you can also show it on a device it never (or has yet to) appear, like Beneath a Steel Sky rendered faithfully (hehe) on Colecovision.  


GOOD LUCK.  For you overachievers who want to do everything, I'll be happy to extend the competition by (1) week if necessary.  

9

Advanced Technical Forum / Experimental AGSEditor *BUFF* Edition!

« on: 18 Nov 2010, 16:39 »

That's right gang!  After reading up on Visual Studio 10 and with some rather excellent help from a friend of mine I present to you the first build of what I'm designating the BUFF Edition of the editor.  Why?  I'm beefing up a few of the features, that's why!

Features:

1.  A reworked Room Edit interface!  I went in and rearranged things, expanded things, and generally tried to re-order the layout of the Room Edit GUI
for current and future improvements.

2.  Added a checkbox that only appears when 'use low res coordinates' is enabled and your game is in high resolution that will allow you to display the mouse coordinates visually as low res mouse coordinates.

3.  Characters now appear visually in rooms!  I know, you're saying 'fuck yeah!' right now, and thanks to my friend Paul this happened a lot sooner than I planned.  Simply select the new CHARACTER view from the drop-down and you can see and reposition them all you like!

4.  Character speechcolor is now represented by a color swatch that can be adjusted visually via a drop-down box to any color you want!  No more typing in numbers and guessing!


And more!  (read the readme for details).



Characters in Room Edit!?




A few words before you click download, though:

1.  While I've worked hard to make this a relatively bug free release, CJ's editor is MASSIVE internally and it's very possible I missed something.  For this reason, do NOT use this on one of your games unless you have a backup.

2.  I've included all the msvc files needed to run this, but in case you get errors you might need the latest Visual c++ 2010 runtime.

3.  Yeah!



What I could use from you:

1.  Some patience.  I'm still working my way through the loads of files in the editor and seeing exactly what I can manage, so please don't spam me with requests.  I'm sure Calin or tzachs can implement anything you have an immediate need for .

2.  Bug reports in THIS THREAD.  Particularly I'd like you to just beat the hell out of the characters in room edit; screw with the scale, whatever you can to try and break them.  I am aware that clicking on them is sometimes strange; while I'm using some adapted code from how the room edit handles objects I've also designed the mouse to lock at the bottom middle of the character so you can place them at precise StartX and Y values which is responsible for this.

3.  If you absolutely cannot get it to work, my advice is to make sure you have all the Visual c++ runtimes up to date.  If it still doesn't work, please post the error message here and I'll see if it's something I can fix.

4.  Have fun!  


Fixes:

1.  Drawing modes are no longer continuous.

2.  Creating a new character with an empty view will no longer crash the editor if you assign it to a room and open the room in room edit.

3.  the Checkbox for low-res mode has been removed in favor of checking the "use low res coordinates" property in the general property pane.  When that is checked in a high res game, the mouse coords will automatically scale to low res.

4.  Copying to clipboard now takes into account whether or not "use low res coordinates" is checked in a high res game.

5.  Restores some original property display names

6.  Allows you to see the reserved AGS colors (0-31) by entering 0,0,x, where x is a blue value between 0 and 248 (in units of 8).  

7.  Made a quick fix to the gui backgroundimage property so imported guis from old versions of ags don't produce negative image numbers.

AGSEditor BUFF Bugfix Edition D


I haven't received a lot of reports but the ones I have are encouraging so I'm going to release the source today and if I come up with any more improvements we'll just go from there.  Included is a rar with the latest build compiled (E) that simply disables warning reports for large gui sizes since I found this to be somewhat annoying personally, especially since rooms can change dimensions.

I've tried to comment about 95% of what I've done as well as offer some explanations (particularly in the new content).  The spots I may have missed shouldn't be difficult to follow, though.

Enjoy.

AGSEditor BUFF Source code

You'll also want to download this version of the ikpMP3.dll as the one included above does not work properly in the editor.

http://www.mediafire.com/?xa21v9n2r1s88w5

10

General Discussion / A Moment of Your Time, Please.

« on: 30 Sep 2010, 13:13 »

I think that there comes a time in every generation where we begin to find ourselves surrounded by people of power; people who believe that it is their right to tell you how to live because they obviously know what's best for you.  The whole 1984 racket.

Well, for many of my brothers and sisters here in America the past 10 years have been a hard uphill battle to maintain what freedoms we enjoy.  Some, perhaps many are unaware of this fight because they prefer ignorance to the realization that their government is no longer by them and for them.  Others will argue that these changes don't mean what protesters think, and then 5 years later realize the protesters were right all along because the defense of liberties is never a sin.

One such fight coming before America is the 'Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act', and while it may sound innocuous, even patriotic and lawful in name, so did our disastrous Patriot Act.  In reality, the COICA (if one cares to read it) boils down to giving the US government an exclusive foothold into what content Americans (and not only Americans) will be able to access by way of literally erasing unwanted content from the internet.  Similar systems have been proposed in places like Australia (Clean Feed Filter) but they are waiting to see it succeed in America first, where opposition will likely be the most vocal.

If passed, this act will allow a panel of government appointed men and women to decide for you what is and is not objectionable material.  This goes way beyond anti-piracy, and any one who tells you different is either uneducated or a liar.  This is the foothold towards 'reining in the internet' as one Senator put it.  Point being:  the government dislikes the amount of freedom, whether it's to view things of a dubious nature or not, and this bill is all about control.

Make no mistake; they expect many people to fight this and will try to pacify them with promises that it will be used only for policing the internet for illegal material, but even that is an overreach in my view.  The US government does and cannot be allowed to wield exclusive jurisdiction on what is acceptable.

This is not a battle against 'illegal' behavior; there are plenty of agencies who successfully punish the guilty already.  This is about control and whether you'd rather the control remained in the peoples' hands or government's.

I know my choice.  Read this article and make yours.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/stop-the-internet-blackli_b_739836.html

11

Competitions & Activities / Pixelween: Icons of Horror 9/27-10/13 - GAME OVER -

« on: 27 Sep 2010, 09:12 »

Alright gang, welcome to another edition of Pixelween, this edition starring your favorite (or most familiar) horror icons in their very own game!

That's right!  It's your job to create a convincing 2d game mockup for Ashley J. Williams, or perhaps you want to give Pinhead and the Cenobites free roam of Earth to capture souls at their leisure?  The choice is yours, but with a couple of limitations:

1.  Player/npc/enemy sprites may not exceed 32 colors (all numbers are excluding transparency).  This goes for everyone.

2.  Backgrounds may have any number of colors.

3.  Objects, pickups, powerups, and the like may not exceed 16 colors.

4.  There must be a visible game user interface of some kind.

5.  Should be an 'action shot' of the game as though it were being played, so don't just submit a title screen (though you can do one of those as well)!

*6.  In spoiler tags, please add a reference or the name of the characters/movie your game mockup is about.

*7.  Any game genre can be used, though the topic must be horror/horror-comedy.  This includes FPS,action,adventure,shooter,puzzle game-what the hell!  

Just to be clear, the color restrictions apply to each item individually, ie, different sprites can have different colors.



Good luck, fright fans!

THRILL ME.

12

General Discussion / Sculptris 3D Tool- Buggy but Neat.

« on: 02 Aug 2010, 09:29 »

I'm just posting this for those of you who haven't heard of Sculptris and would like to do basic 3D modelling in a very hands-on fashion similar to working with modeling clay.  

For now, Sculptris is a completely free low-level modeling program that lets you directly alter mesh shapes realtime with left or right clicks of the mouse, and will add or subtract triangles from the mesh as you go.  The learning curve is rather light since the program doesn't have a lot of options, but that shouldn't stop you from making some pretty cool stuff with it as long as you can deal with some bugs (mainly stack overflows so far, though I have crashed it once by adding too many spheres).

First, here's a video showing some pretty cool stuff people have made with it already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DNRg6pdNeE


And here's the site where you can get it.

http://www.sculptris.com/download.html


I think it might be cool to have some kind of Sculptris event in a week or two, a one-day type thing where people make something weird and post their work.  You can of course do that now, in this thread.  I'd like to see some of the stuff you can come up with .

13

Advanced Technical Forum / Weird Issue: Warnings on GUI's larger than default resolution, etc.

« on: 03 Jul 2010, 00:02 »

By CJ's request, I've made a separate thread for this issue:


I found some weird behavior with resizing guis.  In particular, if you change to a room with a room size larger than the default game dimensions and try to resize the gui to fit that room size you'll get an error.  Now, while I understand it's going by the game resolution only for gui size limits I see this as rather strange behavior.  Why shouldn't we be able to make guis larger than the game resolution and have them off the limits of the screen?  It certainly wouldn't break anything by default.  I bring this up because, if you make one or two guis larger than the primary resolution of your game by default you get constant warnings that it may cause errors (which it doesn't) and since it doesn't actually break anything I'd rather either the warning was removed or the limitation of resizing guis beyond the game set resolution removed, that way I could avoid the warning by resizing the gui when you entered the larger room and changing it back when you leave.

14

Completed Game Announcements / HARD SPACE: Conquest of the Gayliks (now in Eroti-Vision!)

« on: 11 May 2010, 23:48 »

Have you ever wanted to Captain your own starship?
Do you like boobs -- especially big ones?
Do you have the need to tear off your pants and make manly poses?
Do you love ACTION and SEX and MYSTERY?


If you've answered yes to anything then Hard Space is just the thing you need to make your day complete!

Jack says hello to a down-on-his-luck local.


Story:

You are Captain Jack Hardin, sometimes hero, often playboy, but always the black sheep of the Interstellar Commonwealth.  Recently re-assigned to the ISC Penetrator, a ship crewed almost entirely by male homosexuals, you (as Captain Jack) must find a way to satisfy your monstrous libido while saving the crew from certain death at the hands of a strange energy force that could threaten the very Commonwealth!

You are cordially invited to a deathmatch with a gigantic bear monster.  Pants are optional.



Features:

Brain-bending PUZZLES!

Pant-Pissing ACTION!

Gut-Grinding SUSPENSE!

Scintillatingly-Sexual NUDITY!

Amazingly-Accurate AWARDS and DEMERITS!

AND MORE!

Search results that just might make your face fly off in astonishment!



So what are you waiting for?  Oh, a download link!

Updated October 30, 2010:

1.  Included a circuit status LED to make the Transputter puzzle easier.
2.  Cleaned up dialogs.

http://www.pixelgeddon.com/downloads/games/HardSpaceAdvance!.rar

OR

http://www.bigbluecup.com/games.php?category=&action=detail&id=1318

Bug Reports?  Questions?  Love for me and the guys that made this possible?

http://www.pixelgeddon.com/forum/index.php

15

Competitions & Activities / 'Twas the Winner of SPRITE JAM! 12/7-12/15

« on: 08 Dec 2009, 01:25 »

'Tis the season to be jolly, and what better way is there to spread Christmas cheer than by

MAKING SPRITES FOR YOUR VERY OWN CHRISTMAS TILE-BASED ACTION-PLATFORM ADVENTURE!?


That's right, kids!  This week you'll be tasked with the duty of drawing at least one of each of the following:

a player character, an enemy, a power up, and a background or foreground object made up of tiles.

Additional rules:

1.  While the setting must have a distinct Christmasy flavor, the genre of your game can be Sci-Fi (aliens vs. elves for example), western (Christmas Cowboys!), post-apocalyptic (santa vs. the zombies!), cyberpunk (robo-claus!) or steampunk!

2.  Sprite sizes can vary, but none should be beyond 512x512 for hi-res or 128x128 for low-res.

3.  All the colors of your imagination are allowed!  NEAT!

4.  Tile sizes for the object can be multiples of 32x32 up to a maximum size of 128x128.

5.  Have fun.

BONUS!

Make as many enemies, powerups and objects and players as you like!

Design all your art for an isometric game!

Give us a background about the game, describing the story and what the player(s) goal is.


EXTRA BONUS!

Provide a mock-up game screen with the player, any enemies and powerups and tiled objects!


If enough people need more time I'll extend the competition deadline to accommodate.


Good luck and may the most interesting Christmas things win!

16

Competitions & Activities / Sprite Pet Superwinner!

« on: 25 Jul 2009, 22:43 »

Most everyone has (or has had) a favorite pet animal.  It is time for your pet (or your family pet if you don't have a specific pet of your own) to star in his or her very own adventure game!  But wait -- there's more!

1.  Dimensions cannot be less than 32x32 and must not exceed 192x192.
2.  Pet must be between 8-64 colors, inclusive.
3.  You must tell us your pet's name and any special tricks he or she can do that will come in handy in the game.
4.  You must have fun.


Edit: I increased the maximum dimensions by 64x64.  I'm sure that's more than large enough for an 800x600 game.

17

Competitions & Activities / Ye Olde Sprite Jam - TOLKIEN OVERLOAD WINNER

« on: 25 Jun 2009, 17:11 »

I'm making this an extra day because I'll be busy the 2nd, so without more ado:


IT'S TOLKIEN TIME!

Yes, I'm sure many you have read the books, many more have seen the films, and everyone at least knows that it's about.

Take a favorite character from any of Tolkien's published fantasy tales and bring him to life as a real, playable game sprite!  That's right, kids!  This is your chance to make that LOTR game you always wanted, or to show Tom Bombadil in all his silly multi-colored glory!  Or how about all those weird things from the Silmarillon?  The choice is entirely yours, with a few caveats:

1.  The final sprite must use no more than 64 unique colors and no fewer than 4.  Color reducing is allowed, though depending on how it's done the quality may clearly suffer, so it's up to you.

2.  The sprite can range from 32x32 pixels to 200x100 pixels.  This should allow you to make anything from a Hobbit to a dragon!

3.  A description of the character for the uninformed explaining who they are and where they fit into Tolkien's works.  Remember, it must be a pre-existing character.

4.  You must have fun.


Good luck, and please try to visualize these characters yourself rather than translating them directly from Peter Jackson's films or something else.  This is about your imagination bringing one of Tolkien's characters alive!

18

Competitions & Activities / Sprite Jellyfish - 5-29 to 6-5: Dithered Aquatic Winner!

« on: 29 May 2009, 22:26 »

This is Pac-Fish.  He is very lonely.

Sea life can be fun to draw because underwater life comes in so many shapes, sizes, and especially, colors.

You are tasked with the awesome responsibility of creating your own undersea life form that will either be a buddy for Pac-Fish, a predator, or some neutral thing like coral.  Therefore:

1.  Create an aquatic buddy/enemy/other for the lonely Pac-Fish!

2.  Name your aquatic buddy/enemy/other and tell us a bit about it.

3.  Use gradient-style dithering to help shade your aquatic lifeform.

4.  And the most important rule:  Have fun.

Size can be anything, though it would be nice if your creation could fit nicely with Pac-Fish.  Likewise, colors can be anything as long as you employ some clever dithering on the finished product.  You are welcome to draw in either a realistic or cartoony style, so go with whatever interests you most.

19

Competitions & Activities / Sprite Jelly - CAMP COPYCAT RESULTS!

« on: 18 Apr 2009, 20:26 »

You have been tasked with a 'community project' called Camp Copycat.  Camp Copycat is a game about Mike Higgins, charming prankster, and his adventures at Camp Copycat, a summer camp for ne'erdowells and unlucky children.  At Camp Copycat, virtually anything is possible, but there must be some ground rules before you go and create!

1.  Match (as closely as possible) the style of your character to that of Mike Higgins, well-meaning prankster hero.  This includes the general anatomy (big head, smaller body) and dimensions.  Adult characters or fatter characters can be bigger, just as younger/smaller characters can be smaller, so just use Mike as an average.

2.  Camp outfits must either:

    A.  Match the design of Mike's uniform.  You can add clothes over/under the uniform as long as it's clear that they are wearing the blues and reds.

    B.  Be a rival camp uniform (yeah, you can have an enemy camp full of goody-goodies or kids even worse if you  want!)

    This is necessary for visual consistency, and both girls and boys at the camp wear the same colors!

3.  Create a character that would logically fit into the 'Camp Copycat' mold:  anything from an animal mascot sidekick to a variety of pals for Mike to a group of bullies, even Camp Counselors are allowed!

4.  Color scheme should follow the original but it is not required.  Different skin tones, for instance, are allowed.  There is no set palette aside from approximating the colors of his uniform so you are free to experiment.


5.  Name your character and give him/her a short description so we know where he/she fits into the Camp Copycat universe! 


6.  The style has been kept rather simple and color-lite so many people can approximate it, but if you're having trouble don't give up!  I still want to see your contribution, and this competition is about fun -- don't forget that -- so have fun!


Since the plot of Camp Copycat is wide open, you have a lot of latitude about character design.  Now get in there and make some friends and enemies for Mike!




Edit: Oh, and remember that counselors will be wearing their camp outfits as well.  Exceptions would be Mr. Peabody and Nurse Rubens because they are not leading activities with the children.  Just keep that in mind if you come up with a certain tall, geeky character to be a counselor (or anyone else).

And since the thread's gotten so large, please limit yourselves to just one character, please .

20

Competitions & Activities / Photoshop SWEEP THE LEG Edition! 12/2 - 12/9 - Winner!

« on: 02 Dec 2008, 08:05 »

Yes, grasshopper, it is time.  It is time for that punk Daniel Laruso and Mister Miagi to get theirs for disgracing Johnny in The Karate Kid!  Or maybe it's time for Chong Li to defeat Frank Dux!  What if Chuck Norris beat Bruce Lee in that one movie?

Well now's their chance!


Take your favorite martial arts film and make a scene or a movie poster from the villain's perspective!


And don't forget to sweep the leg!