SEE THE DEMO HERE: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=852 (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=852)
UPDATED April 1st, 2007
Welcome to the year 2195. You are Rhys Dryden, detective for the department of Bureau 6 responsible for hunting down and bringing to justice dealers of the deadly new virtual drug, SMASH. You have been transferred to District 13 to assist them in a difficult mission: one of the Bureau's own, a Cleric for Bureau 7 named Zadok Allen, has changed sides. Not only is he dealing in the drug, but he is also assisting the other local SMASHers to smuggle information out of the worldwide database known as Alpha-X to create a counterfeit system accessible to those less-than-law-abiding citizens he has joined with. The time has come to take him down.
Alpha X is the sequel to the recently-developed short "Alpha-X: Project SMASH." It features better, hand-drawn graphics, a much longer (full-length) story, and some other special features...
-First person adventure
-gunplay system... the spacebar arms and holsters your ion blaster, and clicking fires.
-access to the whole ALPHA-X system, granting you knowledge about the many characters, locations, and ideas in the gameworld
-a DRIFTER (pictured below), with many functions including a scanner which can help discover otherwise undecipherable clues
-a deep storyline with twists and turns aplenty.
(http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/8654/screenie1ij4.png)
This is the lovely Katherine Jackson, secretary for Bureau 6 HQ in District 13.
(http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/2554/screenie2kb7.png)
Meet your robotic D.R.I.F.T.E.R., Roger. He'll become your assistant and your best friend in Neo York.
(http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/4053/churchsanctumct4.png)
The government-sanctioned church where you learn "the truth..."
Current Progress:
Story: 100%
Background Art: 100%
GUI: 100%
Character Art: 40%
Cutscene Art: 0%
"Specialty" Scripting: 95%
Regular Scripting: 45%
Sound Effects: 98%
Music: 45%
I could do music. MP3 or MIDI, it doesn't matter. Do you need epic stuff or techno style stuff? If techno, then no.
Wow looks cool.. should be fun to play.
I liked your little teaser game, but I felt that I was a machine instead of the person, the way the GUI was made. I think it would be good to keep that idea of two different actions to do everything, but make it look a little more like you're an actual person. That's what drew me into games like that one where you have to find that little kid's toys and The Oracle.
Hey guys, glad everyone is liking it so far.
Steel Drummer: Check your PM's
Candle: I hope so. A demo will be out within the week.
Cheese: The GUI is reworked. It still looks futuristic, but instead of making the whole motor sound when you click on it, instead, you click on your DRIFTER companion, the little robot pictured in the second screenshot. When the game starts, before you have access to the DRIFTER, there is no GUI... you simply right click to cycle cursor modes and then use them. There are three main cursors: interact (which doubles as "take" and "talk to"), move (which, unlike in the teaser game, changes shape when you pass it over moveable hotspots to reflect which direction you'll be moving), and Investigate. When you get your DRIFTER, a SCAN option becomes available on your interface that allows you to do a deep scan of an object to find clues invisible to the naked eye. Finally, pressing the spacebar arms and holsters your gun, so in all there are five different types of interaction.
That sounds really awesome, Esper. I'm looking forward to playing the finished game. ;D
Coming along nicely. I haven't yet updated the completion percentages above, but there has been a good amount of progress, and I want everyone to know that a demo will be available by next Sunday. I have Steel Drummer on board for most of the music so far, and the demo is almost completely scripted. It will include:
--a demonstration of your DRIFTER's scanning capability, although with no evidence to be scanning he pretty much just makes fun of you for trying to use it on things like styrofoam cups...
-- A shooting gallery where you can try out your skills. Like he does most times, Roger will make fun of you if you do too poorly ;D
-- Full sound effects and two musical tracks by Steel Drummer.
--the Bureau 6 headquarters complete for your perusal, including the chief's office, the lobby, the operations center, the autotran parking lot, and the moving walkway linking them all.
--access to the Alpha-X database, where you can learn about the game world, or type in the names of the characters you meet in the game to learn more about them.
Stay tuned.
I'm glad you went with the full on hand drawn graphics! Wooh!
This looks really cool. Reminds me a bit of B.A.T., but I imagine that combat will be exactly one million billion times better in this game. Looking forward to playing!
I just played Project SMASH and I was impressed, you've come a long way since ESPER. And now I find this thread... congratulations on your evolution. I'm really looking forward for the completion of Alpha-X. Everything about it - graphics, gameplay, story, use of music and sound effects as seen in SMASH - calls out to me, CALLS OUT I say, I feel myself drawn, you hear me, DRAWN, to the finished product, to have, to hold, to smell, to play, play PLAY! SO FINISH THE THING!!!ONE!
Ahem.
I'm eagerly awaiting the release. I said this before and I'll say it again, I think 2007 will be a great year for the AGS Games database.
Looks classy. Reminds me a bit of an old Mega CD game called 'Snatcher' - a possible influence?
I am interested in helping you out with music. I'm willing to compose whatever you feel will best fit your vision.
contact me at peteralex82@gmail.com
thanks
-Peter
Duck: yes!!!! I haven't seen or heard mention of that game since it came out! I played it, loved it, and wrote a really crappy Alpha-X comic based on it. Sadly, both my copy of Snatcher and that comic have been lost to the annals of time, but I still remember...
The opening segment (which will consist of the entirety of the demo) will be one big homage to Snatcher. Bureau 6 HQ has a moving walkway, the chief's office, a shooting range, a computer that you can look up anything on, and a lobby with a secretary. In fact, I even found a MIDI of the theme song and gave it to my music guy for inspiration.
Snatcher was the best... game... ever. With the exception of the fact that to do anything you had to examine and interact with every object five times to progress.
Rui: thanks so much. I really appreciate that coming from you.
Peter: sorry, pal, I've already got someone to work music. I also have someone to make the battle animations, but I'm still looking for someone to make ambient background animations.
Also, I'm looking for someone who has a band (heavy metal, grunge, industrial, anything like that) to spotlight one of their songs in a bar scene. If anyone would like to have their song in the game, drop me a line. Anything's cool. The only exception is that the song can't mention anything we know about today, or in the past. One of the premises of this game is that all history before the year 2100 has been lost.
no prob thanks anyways
There are a couple of really good songs in the Dead Rising soundtrack that would fit your description perfectly. I have the manual, so I'll upload the list later.
Well, first off, that would defeat the purpose... I would like to showcase the work of a musician who is a part of AGS. But I agree... I have Dead Rising and would love to have "Gone Guru" by Lifeseeker (the song they play during the fight with the convicts in the courtyard).
I could use it, as I have the MP3 (downloaded off Lifeseeker's MySpace page), but I also would like to try to not use copyrighted shiznazzles.
You would definately need to ask permission first before using anything. Not that they would find out, or care, or hurt them financially, since it is already available through myspace, but you do need their permission to put it on your game. That said of course it's most likely that they will say ok. There are already many examples of songs, with permission granted, to AGS games (Prodigal for example...)
And it really honours you to hear you say that you want the game to have music from an AGS musician! BRAVO!
The game itself looks lovely, and you really have gone a long way since esper... (And the HOA...) Graphics look lovely and the story is intriguing as I would expect it to be.
Just wish I wasn't so damn busy... :(
TECH DEMO NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=852
Quote from: esper on Mon 29/01/2007 20:48:18
Duck: yes!!!! I haven't seen or heard mention of that game since it came out! I played it, loved it, and wrote a really crappy Alpha-X comic based on it. Sadly, both my copy of Snatcher and that comic have been lost to the annals of time, but I still remember...
Twas written by Hideo Kojima, don't you know (the guy who writes the Metal gear games). Shame you lost your copy, it's worth a small fortune now. Look forward to playing this!
Very nice tech demo.
Snatcher was an absolute classic, and it took me over a decade before I got to play it properly. On an emulator, I might add. ;)
I'd give my left nutball to play the sequel.
Keep up the good work. :)
This tech demo looks pretty nice!
I'm not sure what you're considering "finished" so I'll comment on what I see.
- the text in the speech balloons could do with more of a border to keep it away from the balloon edges
- the speech balloon tails aren't the same thickness as the balloon edges
- the balloon tail for the chief doesn't point at him
- some of the font characters are a bit odd. for example, the '.' has too much of a space before it, which makes phrases like 'A D .R .I .F .T .E .R .' look odd; and the '?' doesn't have a gap between the top and bottom
- the computer research interface is rather clunky (for example it doesn't show you what section the page of text you're reading comes from) and the text window doesn't fill the right hand side of the screen
- search doesn't seem to do anything
- I tried to scan the secretary and depending on the click location, Roger scans the energy shield instead
Combat and scanning are both fun, and of course the plot sounds interesting. Looking forward to this one! It's got a real Atari ST/Amiga feel - must be that font.
...Which is why you release tech demos.
Steve, most of your list has been updated. I wasn't going to mess with the word balloons because I figured no one would notice. Nice call. The thickness of the balloons has been equalized and a new one has been made specifically for Chief Harris. The text fields inside the balloons have been resized.
I can't find a good font to use. I have one I'd like to import, but every time I try to import a TTF, AGS crashes. If someone can find me a good small, all-caps SCI font (because I played light 'n' loose with capitalization and don't feel like going back through the entire script to fix it) I'd be happy to use it. I changed D.R.I.F.T.E.R. to DRIFTER, although you can't tell it's an acronym now until Roger tells you what it stands for because of the all-caps font. The question marks will have to remain deformed until I can find a more suitable font.
What else do you see wrong with the computer interface? I didn't actually change it in this version, because I'm not sure what all the problems are. I thought it was rather streamlined, myself. The search function works just fine for me. Click on the search button and then type in the first name, last name, full name, or nickname of anyone you know in the Alpha - X world. Currently, it supports Zadok Allen, Marshall Harris, Rhys Dryden, and Katherine (or Katie, or Kathy) Jackson. And the text doesn't go all the way to the right because pictures of the individuals come up when you search for them.
Also, the area of the energy shield around where Katie is has been removed, although imperfectly, so now there may be an area of nothing around her.
Take a look and provide any feedback, especially on the computer issue.
Bump.
I normally don't bump my threads, but it has been quite a while and I have a new announcement to make: an internet gaming company has shown interest in publishing Alpha - X! I just signed and sent out the contract this morning. They're not going to pull an Al Emmo and try to get as much as a new XBox game for it... Their other games sell for around 8 dollars each. I think that's like 4 pounds.
I really hope people don't look at this negatively. For me, it isn't grasping at dollar signs and trying to use the game to make money... I am honestly hoping that this is going to result in a broader spectrum of people hearing about me and my game, and, by proxy, my writing, so I can have a little jumpstart in my writing career.
HEY!
This is great news!
All the best esper, and do keep us updated. This seems like great luck, and hope that your name (whatever you want your real name to be ;D) will be famous in a little while.
GREAT!
GREAT!
Great news! Do I get any money from this (since I'm the musician)? Who knows, maybe you could become the next Dave Gilbert!
Hey, congrats!
Did you contact them or did they contact you?
Are they filling more of a publisher (up front money, editing, QA) or distributor role?
Did you get a lawyer to look over the contract?
I haven't played this yet, but the graphics make it look a bit like a Nintendo DS game. I like!
They contacted me, they are distributing it completely free of charge to me, and the contract is nearly exactly that which I had for the Esper RPG, which my literary agent assured me was kosher. I've looked into them, and although they're fairly small (with only three published games at present) they're reputable and have even been interviewed on IGN. It's all good, and it won't be terribly expensive (which was the problem with my last two books... I went with a total crap publisher and they charged 20 dollars for a 120-page book >:( ).
It's still mine to give out for free, and so if anyone feels they can't afford it, please let me know and I'll email you all a copy, since almost all of you had something to do with its creation (if for nothing else, inspiration). But I hope you might decide to support a starving artist :P
EDIT: Haha! A pretty girl posted in my thread!!
Esper,
I played through the demo and it was superb I have to say! Highly original, and the graphics wee brillinatly made. The sfx were cool! Yoda, or you (If I may ask). A pity that I didn't listen to any music, but the whole atmosphere is extremely well made I reckon, so well done once again mate!
The soundtrack is mainly going to be ambient music (which esper or somebody else is doing), and so I'm doing music for key moments in the game (action scenes, credits, main title, etc.). I was going to compose two tracks for the demo, but I only had time to do one, so esper released it without that particular track. The track he DID use is the part after you get out of the first room, the elevator/moving thingy. Esper, I recommend you change how loud the room music is for the part I did, as people can't hear the song very much. I could barely hear it myself, and I had to turn up the volume quite a bit.
Steel Drummer
I downloaded the demo -- how do I access my inventory? I need to give the secretary an ID to go further, and I assume that is where it is.
You don't have an inventory yet. Just talk to her again.
In the words of the immortal Simpson -- D'oh!
Holy crap!
I let this thing get to the end of the fourth page without any updates! Shame on me! As soon as I'm finished with this post I'll go and update the progress report in the first post.
Anyway, month one has passed, and all the backgrounds (50!!!) are completed. I spent this month working on art while listening to the theme song to Battle Royale on constant replay. Half of this next month is scheduled for interaction programming, then the next half for character and item / inventory art. The last full month before it's July 1st release date will be spent programming important sequences and making cutscenes, which I've decided will be voice-acted comic strips. ANYONE WHO WANTS TO DO SOME VOICE ACTING let me know! I need a variety of voices, male and female, so anyone and everyone feel free to drop me a PM. I haven't finished the dialog script yet, so I won't be ready for you for another month, but feel free to let me know you're interested.
Anyone working on music or animation, I'm going to need most of the work done within 45 days so I can spend the last 15 days inserting your work. If something comes up and you can't do the work, let me know. I already have backup plans just in case, but I would like to know if I need to implement them as early as possible. It will not be much, but I am offering monetary remuneration for anyone who worked on the project with me who want it depending on how many units are sold.
For those of you who don't know, the game IS going commercial. It will sell for something less (probably much less) than ten dollars. I would most certainly appreciate it if you would support a fellow developer. HOWEVER!!!!!!! Anyone who can't afford it or doesn't have a credit card, let me know. (wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean, know what I mean?) THIS OFFER IS ONLY VALID FOR FORUM REGULARS!!!!!
I demand $0.01 per copy for the use of my font!
The screen you posted in the Release Something thread looks great. Looking forward to the final version!
I'm still happy to voice the robot! If you prefer, I can leave the voice manipulation out and let you do that to how you want it? Give me a bell when you get to the voices stage!
I might as well post the voices I need. If I can't get all of these, I'll either have to do them myself or write them out of cutscenes...
1) Rhys Dryden: I want this one
2) Roger, Rhys' robotic assistant: this can go to Matt
3) Katherine Jackson, the secretary, a girl in her 20's
4) Chief Harris, a gruff man in his early 40's, possibly also me
5) Martin, Katie's brother (possibly no voice needed)
6) Doctor (I haven't designed the character yet, so if anyone wants to play a doctor...)
7) Darren Black, an agent with Bureau 6's homicide department, voiced by Steel Drummer
8 ) His Partner, whose name I forget
9) Zadok Allen, an ex-priest turned SMASH dealer, also Steel
10) Various Paladins, the heavily armored guard of Bureau 7
11) A cleric (priest), played by my real-life friend Aaron
12) Erin, proprietor of Erin's Diner, a woman in her mid-thirties (possibly no voice needed)
13) a strung-out SMASH dealer (possibly no voice needed)
14) A Muto, a SMASH user whose DNA has been altered due to the drug
15) A Feldmanist, a member of a religious cult that believes technology is causing the downfall of man (possibly no voice needed)
16) The Bilderburg brothers, Jonas and Ephraim, men in their late 80's who jointly run the Federated Colonies of New America. They are twins, so one voice should do.
ALSO, I would still like to feature a song by an AGS member in a bar scene. The song can be of any style, as long as it seems like something they might have in the future, and I would prefer something with lyrics.