thanks for the replies all. to answer some questions:
1) i run a 3d adult art forum, and the first two games are available for download there for free. members have to be 18 or over to join the forum itself, and because of the nature of the games, also have to specifically request to join a sub-group in order to have access to the downloads (although this is mainly to prevent people from trying to hotlink to the games). i'll provide details by pm to anyone who would like to play them, but i really don't think the games themselves are suitable for posting on this forum particularly as members here could be as young as 13
2) of the screenshots i've posted for this game, only the top left one is a straightforward render. the other three are taken from what will eventually be the game itself, with the jenni character moving across pre-rendered backgrounds with walk regions defined (you'll notice that those three shots all have cursors in). one of the major things i learned from the 2nd game i created was to not use fancy camera angles for such scenes, otherwise the characters can look as if they're sliding drunkenly down the deck of a sinking ship
3) her animation consists of 8 frames in each movement direction (using all 8 directions), and 4 frames for the idle animation (again using all 8 directions). they're a compromise. they do sometimes look a little jerky (and especially when the figure is displayed at 100% size or more), but on the other hand i don't think i'd have the patience to sit and render any longer sequences. dialogue will also be animated for all the in-game characters, although not lip-synced or voiced
jenni herself is based on vicky4.2, with a custom morph which i created specifically for this game. i take no credit for creating any of the other sets or models that will be used in the game. they're all commercially available, mostly from daz or renderosity
4) i have a LOAD of ideas for this game, but as we all know, there's a big difference between having ideas and actually implementing them. what i'll probably do is what i did with the first game i produced, which was to release it in small self-contained chunks - in other words, the first release comprised both ACT01.exe and ACT02.exe. finishing ACTO1 triggered ACT02, but in the first release ACT02 was simply a "placeholder". the second release comprised ACT02.exe and ACT03.exe, ACT02.exe replaced the old "placeholder" version, and ACT03 then became the new placeholder. and so on and so forth. that game eventually comprised 5 acts, which could be played all the way through in sequence or each as stand-alone games
it lead to rather sequential gameplay, but it had the big advantage that i could work on, and release, each chunk separately, without really knowing exactly what was going to happen in the next one
i've already pretty much made the template for this particular game, and i'll be using that to create each individual act in the game
5) as to whether there will be combat or not, on balance i expect not. AGS is a great system, but not really suitable for implementing arcade style action. when i started off i had some vague plans for a kind of resident evil "inventory management" style game, where any combat just involved pointing a gun at some shuffling and groaning zombie type characters (shuffling so that they wouldn't have to move too fast across the screen) - but i rather think i'll end up going for more psychological horror
