Swarm Development: Postmortem

[Icey]

Thanks guys

And nice animation Big GC. I have been waiting to see that one for sometime.

[Tabata]

YIPPY - I - YEAH!   .  .  .     .   .   .   .    SWARMING-ALERT!!

A lot of cool entries!

... am i part of the swarm yet?  

I am pretty sure, that you have been draculated already.  

I like, what you have done (and wanted to see it in action). For those of you, who are curious, too   -  



When watching the scientists in one screen ...

             

I am a bit worried, that “little Blondie” will get hurt as soon as “Redbeard” starts talking


@ Icey:
You draw a nice character and I don't have a real problem with the blonde scientist being so young.
I can live with the differend lab coats they are wearing, too (even if it is unusual â€" but the whole game is unusual, so why not)
- but I think they should have their ID-cards in the same style, don't you?
Do you have time and lust to make him a bit more fitting to his colleague (but without loosing the style you gave him)?

@ BIG GC:
Just WOW!  :o

[Icey]

Sure I think I can fix the id card. If that's what you mean't by fitting 

[ZapZap]

wow lots of awesome new things (studio and Big GC)! thanks Tabata, which program do you use to make gifs? i did notice though that the "closed mouth" frame i used it's different from the one i used as a base for the talking, here's the one

GO SWARM

[Tabata]

@ Icey:
Yepp, would be cool   (... and maybe a little bit taller ... what ever you can think of to make them more "belonging together" and not like strangers, who meet somewhere â€" you know, what I mean? I have a bit trouble, explaining it in english, sorry! )

@ Cleanic:
I am just going to learn "GIMP"  

[Icey]

I think there should be a lazy chubby scientist in the corner of the room who just sits there eating chips even though hes supposed to be working.



P.S. I still got to edit the scientist. And Tabatha I think he is tall it's just that the other guy has a ...Big head

[Tabata]

Oh yes, his head is huge, for sure 

[Icey]

Well I guess if your gonna be smart you gotta to have big brain. however the side effect is you getting a head like his 

[Baron]

 :o :o :o :o :o

OK, somebody recruit Big CG to do animations for an epic full-length game already.  Something where he has to animate crazy stuff, like a giant octopus rampaging through the street canyons of New York.  This guy is amazing!  And quick!  And he takes the initiative!  And he asks nothing in return!  Seriously guys, here is the perfect development partner.  Seize him while you can! 

[Wonkyth]

Yeah, CG is pure G...C. 

[Baron]

A'ight, it's BETA TIME.

I think I've got all assets up to date, all puzzles functioning, all descriptions & cutscenes (except the very very last scene).  So what I need now are people to beta test and then beta test some more, and then finally report any and all glitches and bugs here so that I can hunt them down.

No one volunteered for the writing working group, so I just hacked out the writing the best I could.  If anyone has any suggestions regarding improvements I'd love to discuss them.  In particular I'm eager for an uninitiated player to be able to grasp the simple plot quickly.  Are there any places in the game where you feel there are not adequate directions/clues?  Let me know.  Finally, we want dialog to convey the urgency and intensity of Merrick's escape, and the raw emotion of his final encounter with his would-be saviours.

I see some people working on the sound front -that's awesome.  Can you guys compile a master list of sounds required?  Then we'll send the swarm off to hunt them down.

Musicians.... I PMed our musicians like two weeks ago but no one has gotten back to me.  So what I'm going to do is repost that PM here and turn it open to the swarm.  Ideally there would be different music for at least the important rooms (surgery, robot lab, guard room/finale), but as a last resort we'll just play the same music straight through.

Finally, I'm going to start compiling a master list for the credits.  I've got a text document table organizing most of it, but I'm sure in all the chaos I've missed something.  So over the next couple of days I will post the master list, and then the onus will be on the swarm to spot any mistakes or omissions.  

Estimated release date is now approximately September 15th.

Any questions?

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EDIT: As promised, my musician recruitment PM follows....

Greetings Swarm Volunteers,
     If you are receiving this you have volunteered (or were volunteered...) to spend about an hour composing music for one scene of the collaborative swarm game.  It's fine if you want to spend more than an hour, but that's up to you.

     Requirements: Music must be MIDI format and loop, and be in an up-tempo 1950s sci-fi/horror genre (open to interpretation).  We already have a theme composed by JackPumpkinHead: stylistically your music should fit in with that.  Since I don't really know anything about music that's as much advice as I can give.  Please post in the swarm thread if you have any questions and hopefully someone with the appropriate qualifications will get back to you.

     Resources: First and foremost is the LATEST BUILD, in which you will hear JackPumpkinHead's theme.  You can attempt to play the game, but it is in a pre-beta phase still and some things don't really make sense yet.  However, the game can be finished if you are persistent or search the swarm thread for hints.
      For those of you who value your time, however, I offer the following screenshots.  Each room will have its own music (depending on response rate of course), so each of you will ideally end up doing one screen each.  Please post in the swarm thread to claim your screen so that two musicians don't end up working on the same screen.

Surgery Laboritory: Merrick escapes being strapped down and then uses material he finds laying around to break out of the room.  Some urgency to his actions.


Corridor: Merrick must slip past the anti-vampire UV light.  Slightly less urgent, but still trying to escape.


Robotics Laboritory: Merrick must disable the scientists (not yet implemented, if you are playing the game) and steal objects useful for escaping further.  This would be the "calmest" part of the game.


Exercise Yard: Intensity builds as Merrick must overcome the guard remotely and slip past the most powerful guard of all -the sun!


Guard Room (before final battle): High intensity, as Merrick must bite the guards before they shoot him.


Guard Room (during final battle) Ultra high intensity -this is the climax!  Fight!  Fight! FIGHT!!!!


Due Dates: I am guestimating that this game will be released in mid September, so any contributions that you want included should be in my hands by September 7 -after that we'll fill in the remaining blanks with what we have.

Thanks so much for your contribution to the project!

[Icey]

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Adventure Game Studio
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An error has occurred. Please contact the game author for support, as this is likely to be a scripting error and not a bug in AGS.
(ACI version 3.21.1115)

in "room2.asc", line 123

Error: Character.Loop: invalid loop number for this view

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OK   
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I opened the fridge and went to activate the laser when he said the door was still opened. I want't to close a he started walking and poking his had out.

[Baron]

Ah, that's because I just copy and pasted the code from the laser hotspot to the control panel without realizing there is now a reaching animation involved.  Zapped and updated.  Next!

[Icey]

New problem. Running out then Walking back into the room after the crash part seems to make the room looks like it did before that part. Only thing is the guards are gone, there is that light, And the robot is hiding yet it can still talk.

I get this feeling that is wall is an obj with a baseline of 1. Have the room check right before you enter it to see if bsavebtn(or something like that) is visible. If true then wall should be visible however if false then the wall should be hidden. As for the robot I don't know what to say.

P.S. Debugging is still on.

Lmao at the scientist at the end of the game.

[Baron]

Ah, it's probably residual code from the on_load set up that's being retriggered when you re-enter.  Frankly, I'm not sure if leaving should be an option in the real game, but I can zap that bug easily enough in the mean time.  Keep 'em coming!

[Big GC]

Ah, it's probably residual code from the on_load set up that's being retriggered when you re-enter.  Frankly, I'm not sure if leaving should be an option in the real game, but I can zap that bug easily enough in the mean time.  Keep 'em coming!

Agree. the puzzles before hand get you too that room with everything you need to complete the game.

[Icey]

The first time I played I ended up getting all the items some how. The second time I had to "Cheat"

[Tabata]

You have been very diligent, Baron  :o â€" good work again!

I am on my way to work right now, so I will have to take a closer look to it this eve, but I had to take a short peek right now. 


Looking at the doorlock (first room) gives you still the reply two times. 

Ah, it's probably residual code from the on_load set up that's being retriggered when you re-enter.  Frankly, I'm not sure if leaving should be an option in the real game, but I can zap that bug easily enough in the mean time.  Keep 'em coming!

Agree. the puzzles before hand get you too that room with everything you need to complete the game.

I think you have to be able to go back, because if you don't know the riddles, you might need/have to search i.e. for the cone pine -  or stay in there forever. 

[Icey]

I now know where the Pine cone is! Thanks tabata

[Prozail]

Error: Unable to render character 0 (Merrick) because loop 2 does not exist in view 13

Error: Unable to render character 0 (Merrick) because loop 1 does not exist in view 13