Adventure Game Studio

Riel must embark on a dangerous quest to save her sister, who is on the brink of death, by stealing a magic stone with healing powers from an evil enchanter.  After infiltrating the enchanter's castle, you must survive sinister traps, talking gargoyles, quite nearly logical puzzles, terrible puns, and finally the enchanter himself in order to get the stone and save your sister.


Game includes: Fun puzzles, full-sized animated dialog portraits, shameless references to vintage adventure games, all original graphics, sliding menu bar, hotspots that let you know they're hotspots, quirky humor including short jokes, and fuzzy purple slippers.  Release Date: Saturday, August 20, 2011.


Thanks to all those who have volunteered their beta testing services.  All bugs have been fixed!  A few additional sound effects still need to be added, along with the final little bits on the ending cartoon...  All should be done by the end of the week!

Thanks to everyone for waiting so patiently and for so many supportive comments on the forums.  I hope you all enjoy the game!

This looks very interesting, keeping my eye on this one!

P.s.: if you need betatesters...

booobieee....-traps! :D

What I can say, I always look forward to those fantasy adventures with Zanthiaesque heroines.

HOWLY goodness, batman! This looks... Pretty freakin' sweet.

I love that walk cycle. Very smooth.

This looks awesome -I love the comedic fantasy genre!  Not sure if the (high res?) talk portraits fit in with the rest of the graphics, but otherwise this looks and sounds like it will be a great game.  Good luck!

Wow, this looks gorgeous!   ;D
Very Kyrandia\Zanthia-like.  
LOVE that bed the enchanter is in.   :D


I also volunteer for play-testing, if you're looking...   ;)

What's the purpose of that sundial b.t.w.?

Quote from: Arj0n on Tue 18/01/2011 10:11:24
What's the purpose of that sundial b.t.w.?

I guess it's the cursor  ;)

Wow.. this looks great.. love the characters and the backgrounds.. but i don't really like the talking portraits, agree with Baron, maybe the high res portraits doesn't really fit the graphics.. anyway, good job and good luck in completing it..  ;D

Looking nice... I'm especially looking forward to the "quite nearly logical puzzles"!!  8)

WOW!  This type of game is right up my alley, graphics and all.  It's beautiful, great work and I can't wait to play! 

Thanks to all for the feedback.  It's much appreciated (except maybe for the "boobie traps" comment...  Come on, this is G-rated! ;D).

Fear not about the dialog portrait, it's in all the lo-res glory as the rest of the game.  I just doubled the size of all the other pictures and forgot to on that one.  The whole thing's in 320x200.  And yes, the sundial is the "wait" cursor.  I moved it to the corner when taking screenshots so it would be out of the way.

Quote from: antipus on Tue 18/01/2011 21:56:47
Thanks to all for the feedback.  It's much appreciated (except maybe for the "boobie traps" comment...  Come on, this is G-rated! ;D).

Hey, you mentioned the boobie traps yourself - it simply got me excited.

It's been a long time since I encountered some good boobie traps in an adventure game. ;)

Quote from: Frodo on Tue 18/01/2011 09:53:41
LOVE that bed the enchanter is in.   :D

All graphics in the game are original, mouse-drawn pictures, but I happily steal graphics from other games and paint over them.  Hopefully other people recognize where the bed is from.   :)

Quote from: Arj0n on Mon 17/01/2011 19:57:02
This looks very interesting, keeping my eye on this one!

P.s.: if you need betatesters...

For all beta testers, I need to finish a few animations so that the entire game path is complete.  Right now there are three things that the character MUST come across to win that are still stuck in the nasty on-off animations.  Once those three are done (and a few other tweaks), I'll be looking for a few preliminary testers, probably in March.

This alreadly looks like a game I would love! Even if the graphics look simple, they give me such a wonderful Kings Quest-feel.
I WANT TO PLAY IT!

Are there other locations to explore besides the castle?

Quote from: MMMorshew on Thu 03/02/2011 19:13:59
This alreadly looks like a game I would love! Even if the graphics look simple, they give me such a wonderful Kings Quest-feel.
I WANT TO PLAY IT!

Are there other locations to explore besides the castle?

Thanks for the feedback.  The game is definitely inspired more by the King's Quest atmosphere than anything else: life-threatening dangerous quests littered with so many bad puns you couldn't possibly groan at them all.  ;D

The original story for the game called for a full-length fantasy, where the first 3/4 of the game took place in the town of Arden's Vale (hence the name), and the surrounding forest (like QfG1's Spielburg).  The last 1/4 was the enchanter's castle.  But since I had the puzzles and rooms sorted out for the castle first, I decided to start work there, thinking that once that was done in a few months, I'd go and attack the rest of the game.  ::)

Two years later...  I decided to polish and release what I've got.  Hopefully someday the whole vision will come together, but for now the enchanter's castle makes for a really fun mini-quest.

Is it just me, or does the bed in the Enchanter's Castle look like the one from Mordack's bedroom in King's Quest V?

Quote from: Kyougi on Sun 06/02/2011 19:06:46
Is it just me, or does the bed in the Enchanter's Castle look like the one from Mordack's bedroom in King's Quest V?

Hooray!  Someone is catching old Sierra references!  Bonus points for anyone who can guess (a) which game the enchanter's room is modeled after, i.e. circular tower with cut-away stones for the player to see through, (b) which game the magic mirror is modeled after, since there are a million different versions, and (c) what in the world is on the circular table.

And yes, your character reflects as you walk by the mirror.  It's obligatory.  :)

Happy March!  I've updated the main post...

After two years of working, I'm finally CALLING ALL TESTERS!!!  I'm looking for 8-10 very talkative people who will give me specific gameplay-based feedback.  If you think you've got Graham's blood in your veins, send me a PM!

I was always anxious for summer as a student, but that's nothing compared to being a teacher.  It's been a very long last month of classes.  But summer's coming, which means the game is that much closer to being done.

I've been giving some serious thought to adding a fun intro and ending cartoon to the game, but that would obviously add a lot of time to the production (I've got the story, but would need at least three new backgrounds, and a lot of additional animation).

As gamers, would you prefer the game sooner without any introduction (well, just a written one, not a cartoony one), and maybe add an intro later in a special edition or something, or is the game itself enough of a draw?  Any thoughts?

How much extra time do you think it will roughly take to create an cool animated intro and outro for the game?
Since the game itself is really beautiful, it almost deserves such an intro/outro.  :D
I would say, finish the game for the full 100%, that is with intro/outro.
Maybe create an intro that is a somehow a mix of textual explanation combined with animations if that saves time?

And making a special edition just only for an intro/outro...(or will it contain more extra's?)

just a though...

*waiting for the next test round*

bang, smack right in the face how gorgious this looks.. look really forward to playing this...

Thanks, SuperDre.  I hope you'll like it.

COMING REALLY, REALLY SOON!!!  I've just finished a week-long "animation blitz" going through all sorts of not-entirely-necessary but really sweet animation sequences and sprite work.  Looking at the game stats, I just hit 1,300 sprites and 18 GUIs.

If I wasn't such a stinking perfectionist, this game would have been out last year.

So here's a shout-out for more beta testers for final beta!  Send me a PM if you're interested!!!  It'll start within a week!

Quote from: antipus on Tue 12/07/2011 19:42:02
I've just finished a week-long "animation blitz" going through all sorts of not-entirely-necessary but really sweet animation sequences and sprite work. 

Wow, I'm really really curious how the new beta looks  :)

Quote from: antipus on Tue 12/07/2011 19:42:02
So here's a shout-out for more beta testers for final beta!  Send me a PM if you're interested!!!  It'll start within a week!

Ooh, me, me!  Pick me!   :D


*sending PM*

Me too, me too  ;D ;D

Sending PM  ;D ;D

Good to see you're nearly done with this.  I've been keeping an eye on the project since you started and look forward to giving it a play when it's ready.

Yaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!  Get this beauty of a game OUT already!!   ;D. Stupid question maybe, but how long does beta testing (on average) take?  Just being very annoying & curious (and very anxious, as you can tell)...

As I think I mentioned before, this game is beautiful and intriguing...reminds me of a King's Quest type game, which is my all-time favorite Sierra series.  I've been keeping an eye open for it for a looooong time--I simply cannot, CAN NOT wait to play it.

Cheers!!



Sarah

Quote from: ProgZmax on Wed 13/07/2011 17:23:00
Good to see you're nearly done with this.  I've been keeping an eye on the project since you started and look forward to giving it a play when it's ready.

Quote from: SarahLiz on Thu 14/07/2011 05:54:15
I've been keeping an eye open for it for a looooong time--I simply cannot, CAN NOT wait to play it.

Arden's Vale has been posted in production for a long time without getting a whole lot of response in the forums.  I can't begin to tell you how encouraging it is to know there are a few more people out there excited for the game to come out.  That's really made me push that much harder to get the thing out the door.  We're really almost there!!!

Quote from: antipus on Fri 15/07/2011 02:17:34
We're really almost there!!!

Yeeh!

Quote from: antipus on Fri 15/07/2011 02:17:34I can't begin to tell you how encouraging it is to know there are a few more people out there excited for the game to come out.

And you can add me to that list!! Can't wait!

This game is looking great, has a very cozy style to it and the plot sounds fun and interesting. It's a shame I don't have time to sign up for beta testing, but it looks like it'll be worth it to wait for the final release. :)

Quote from: CoffeeBob+ on Fri 15/07/2011 11:55:42
but it looks like it'll be worth it to wait for the final release. :)

It's so totally worth it, such a gem this one is.

Oh wow I don't know how I missed this! This game looks so cool, and I love the feature where it shows the name by the item. Pixel hunting drives me crazy!!

Busy week...  Got a ton done, including fixing most of the reported bugs.  Several of the bugs required a bit of extra animations to really fix well.  It pushed me over the 1400 sprite mark, but it's made a huge difference in the end game portion.

For the next week, I'll working on music and the introduction / ending cartoons, as well as sending out the next build to the awesome beta testers (thank you!!!).

Open question: This game is openly and happily retro.  Would it be funner to have "real" sound effects or should I use fake MIDI musical sounds like in the old school Sierra games?

Quote from: antipus on Fri 22/07/2011 22:26:36
Open question: This game is openly and happily retro.  Would it be funner to have "real" sound effects or should I use fake MIDI musical sounds like in the old school Sierra games?

Well, it should match the music in game. I think that the music from the beta version of the game will match quite properly with MIDI so I should go for the fake MIDI fx...

I think the Sierra-style Midi sounds would fit the game better.   :)

I also think sierra style is fine

Quote from: antipus on Tue 12/07/2011 19:42:02
If I wasn't such a stinking perfectionist, this game would have been out last year.

But wouldn't be so beautiful as it is now.



Can't wait to see it with it's final intro and outro  ;)

As is always the case, things are taking longer than I'd planned.  But thankfully, as is sometimes the case, things are working out even better than I'd planned.  I'm about half-way through the introduction sequence now.  And I'll be using a lot of the same resources in the ending cartoon, so it should go even quicker.

It's all Ali's fault, you realize.  I posted something a while ago in the critic's lounge asking for some help on some of the game backgrounds, and Ali sent me to an educational and terribly humbling background workshop.  Gracious, my art stinks!  I wanted to just redo all the backgrounds in the game, but the thought of retracing hotspots stopped me.

So here's the first background of the intro, version 1:

(http://versethatiwrite.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/house1.png)

I literally spent hours on that stupid tree. And it just looked stupider and stupider.   :-\  So then I decided to try a sketchbook approach to the whole thing:

(http://versethatiwrite.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/house2.png)

That didn't match the style of the rest of the game in the slightest, but at least it wasn't insulting to those of you who have ever seen a tree before.  And the matching brown textures in the next intro screen looked even better, but then I ran into problems with all the dialog that's supposed to go on.  It just wouldn't look good just slapped on top of those screens.  So I scrapped 'em both and went for the KQVI letterbox look.

And way, way too many hours later...

(http://versethatiwrite.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/house3.png)

And we have a winner!  The lighting actually looks like it's bouncing off of something that isn't perfectly flat.  And the LIGHT adds the depth to the scene (that and the cheap blur).

So thanks, Ali.  But boy, I hate you.   ;D

T minus 4 days...

I can't wait to get this into your hands!  That and school's starting on Monday and once I start teaching I will never have free time again.  :'(

The game is in the bug-free-as-far-as-I-can-tell, finished-from-beginning-to-end, just-adding-the-finishing-touches stage.  Intro is sweet.  Ending cartoon is sweeter.  And this is going to be my last post so I can just get... this... thing... out... the... door.

Thanks for the support all along the way!!! You guys are great!

 :D

I have been checking the forum to see when your game was going to be released and I am looking forward to playing it!!!  :D

Excellent!   :D

Great news!!!  ;D ;D

It's 3-stinking-thirty in the morning.  I'm just so anxious to get this thing OUT THERE!!!  A whole day earlier than planned, no less.

Prepare to lock this thread, because Arden's Vale is officially RELEASED!!!

Thanks again to everyone for posting such positive feedback and encouragement every step of the way.  I hope that the game meets all your expectations and makes your wildest dreams come true.  ;D

-Antipus

*claps*

Congrats on finishing your game!

Arden's Vale (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=44237.0) - in the Completed Games board.

You might want to update your first post with this link as well (just a suggestion) :)