You can find the demo here:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?category=5&action=detail&id=980
Remember not all features work and there are a couple of bugs!!!
I'm going to get on with the full version now :p
Coming soon from Screen 7 is a small title that gives YOU the chance to control & run a small games production company! The idea is simple - hire staff, release games & make a bucket load of money - whilst earning a very good reputation of course! It's a game similar to the tycoon games, only you do not "build" anything per se, other than your reputation! As you progress more staff become available, design & development times become quicker & more oppurtunities arise. It's not about having a hundred titles, it's about having a few that sell WELL! Now you can share the strain Dave Gilbert wakes up to every day, or simply fire him :D
This is NOT an adventure game!! It is a menu based AGS game.
- Hire and fire staff, including ProgZmax, Gilbert Cheung & Chris Jones!
- Release point & clicks, racing games & FPS games!
- Advertise to increase profits & boost the popularity of your company
- Keep an eye on all aspects of your finances, the design & dev processes & more
- Sell your titles & ideas to other companies, or go freeware
- Loads & loads of other ways to make & lose money!
A demo is very close!
(http://www.screen7.co.uk/games/images/gg_shot1.jpg)
(http://www.screen7.co.uk/games/images/gg_shot2.jpg)
|
(http://www.screen7.co.uk/games/images/gg_large_shot.jpg)
The full-game will feature over 20 objectives. The demo features just one.
Expected demo release: April 2007
Expected release: Autumn 2007
Now, Mark!
THIS looks incredibly interesting!
how much do you charge to include the name of a member in your game. How much did ProgZmax and Dave paid you already? huh >:( You bastard! you never answered my PMs! Never! I hate you! why not include my name? huh? Am I too little for you? Am I trivial for you? Don't I have a reputation to keep? Don't you think it is healthy to be able to fire yourself?
*ahem*
Excuse me for this, just that the game really seems greatly interesting!
Freeeze!! FBI! You're under-estimating me! :) You have to employ musicians too!!!
(http://www.screen7.co.uk/games/images/gg_nik.jpg)
You just haven't been fully coded yet ;)
Thanks for the kind words though! It's just a little bit of fun :D Hopefully in the future someone could help work on some kind of isometric capabilities. For now though it's just a cheap shot at a tycoon game :p
I love the concept of this, and I'm really looking forward to autumn 2007 now. The screenies were a bit on the small side, though.
Sounds awesome! I too would like to see some full-size screenshots.
Ooo can I be some virus that corrupts all your games and makes you lose over $1,000,000 dollars in profits?
Lol, sounds like a cool sim. If you need ideas, you should play this:
GameBiz 2 (http://www.veloci.dk/gamebiz/gb2)
Sounds good!
Lets see now.. I'd make a bunch of FPS games, and then release the odd adventure game, so the FPS bring the moolah in. Ooh and underpay ProgZmax!
And call my company "Assholes inc" for a laugh. or swear words. Like those games where when I'm bored of them, I'll name my character "you bastard", like I did in FF7 once.
This looks like a good laugh, good luck!
This looks so awesome! :D Will there be the chance to win the AGS Awards?
Haha, this looks hilarious. I've seen a few designers be asked in an interview about they themselves making a game about games development but I've never seen any for real. ;)
Can you get any testers who ask you to "tighten the graphics on level 3"? ;D
Speaking of which:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BkHt8ybWkg&NR
Quotehow much do you charge to include the name of a member in your game. How much did ProgZmax and Dave paid you already?
What? He should be paying me!
Hahaha. Brilliant. I wish I could get people willing to work for only $250 per month. This must be a fantasy game.
Don't forget voice actors! And marketing. And team members who flake out at the last minute.
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Wed 11/04/2007 21:48:32
Hahaha. Brilliant. I wish I could get people willing to work for only $250 per month. This must be a fantasy game.
Don't forget to include team members who flake out at the last minute.
And lazy people, like me.
Come to think of it, make it so that I make decent artwork, but it takes forever and there are "sudden delays".
This game would absolutely rock.
This might earn you an entry in the "First Casual Game made with AGS" award tombola ;D
Looks very promising and reminds me of some german titles like Mags!
My suggestions: Include random events for workers (good day, demanding more money, being ill) and maybe some sort of dynamic market for genre games- including the golden age of adventures, the renderware rush and the rise and fall of RPGs!
Ooh I could be a voice actor for hire!
or make me a terrible low end graphics artist! I don't mind, it'd be cool just to be in the game! hehe
Matt, you are an annoying member of the public who floods the company email inbox. The objective featuring you is for the company to design some kind of system to make your PC explode. Hehe...well, that would be kinda fun... :P
The first version, which is very very slim when it comes to features, is almost ready. I'd love to include lots of complex stuff but I can't see that happening in this first version!
Looks great! Will you include types of games to make? I.E. Single short game, Epic full-length game, episodic series, MAGS game?
Hahaha :) In this version, it's not specifically "AGS games", the types of games you create are Puzzle games, 2d adventures, 3d adventures, sports games & FPS's. They have various different attributes like low or high development costs, lower or higher selling prices. You can create "special editions" etc, but eventually you have to declare them abandonware so that you can proceed to make more titles. It's a bit odd, but I'm no programming guru - so I've had to keep it pretty simple so far! Thanks for taking an interest!
Finally I'll be able to release fiendishly original games, just like EA! Medal of Duty: The call of honor - The last battle of WWII! Medal of Duty: The call of honor - The last battle of WWII 2! Medal of Duty: The call of honor - The last battle of WWII 3(D)! Medal of Duty: The call of honor - The last battle of WWII - Seriously this time! :=
No, seriously. This could get a nice game... especially, if you have the ability to create own TV spots and watch them. "Pizza Syndicate" made it and it was a just GREAT feature - the game itself was sh*t and the spots were put together from pre-made videos, but they SEEMED original and stuff.
(also, second post with my new keyboard and it STILL WORKS! guess it's true what they say abot Logitech)
This looks funny! Not enough stuff is 'galore' these days.
Not fair, I'm doing a Visual Basic game also about game making...
Image Link (http://www.lumpcity.co.uk/~n-games/temp02.png)
But still, go m0ds, can't wait, yours looks better too :)
How much for being featured? :)
Seriously though, it looks like an interesting concept. I've always had a soft spot for corny sims :)
No fee for people like yourself, Andail! Just no moaning when you find out someone is faster & cheaper to employ in-game than you :p
M0ds, how much longer, I feel I'm going to explode if I keep waiting! :)
Well, the current "first" objective can be achieved but there's a lot of tidying up to do of other features. I might even go with a second scenario too, and then release a demo/beta/whateverma... for people like yourself to have a go and make suggestions on. Simple suggestions though :p There are many things I'd rather keep to a sequel. And most of those are complex coding issues! So realistically I'd say you'll see it within 2 weeks. If you like a good sim you could check this (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=30754.0) out! I dunno if it IS good but if it is let me know! :p
Ah. Well, thanks for a date, at least I don't have to wait and go every 5 minutes on the forums to check if it's out. Go to it, m0ds, good luck!
Thanks! Yours looks interesting to. I wouldn't be afraid to set background images into those forms and boxes n stuff. I think VB sim games are an excellent idea, but I can never stand staring at Windows dialog boxes. I'm sure it'll play well, but I think you'd increase the playability much more if you padded it out with little graphics :) You have a lot more technical catagories there though, something games galore definitely wont have!!!
Image Link (http://www.lumpcity.co.uk/~n-games/temp03.png)
So, this is better, then?
And yeah, this started out as an incredibly realistic simulation, but I compromised, so it'll be semi-realistic, but with lotsa features.
And your game will be more fun :)
edit by darth - please stop posting images for another game in this thread
Oh guys let me post a screenshot of my game Limbo here whilst I'm here.. ::)
Only teasing Dan!
Sounds extremely interesting!
I hope it won't take as long as FOY does-- :-\
It won't ;) Just a little update; the demo is terrifyingly close! I've been able to do quite a bit in the last couple of days, so yay! Though I must forewarn you. I have debt to pay, so the full-game will probably be $2. But, I am now adding a whole bundle of mini-games to make it worth it :)
$2.00, are you crazy? That is robbery; down right robbery. I am going to have to ask my elderly parents for a loan and they will charge me interest. I see bancrupcy in my future. I also see spelling lessons because I am pretty darn sure I mispelled. :D
I look forward to the game. Your price is very reasonable.
2 USD is an amazing price, and if it works well and is fun, more than worth it :)
Looking forward to it!
I'd hate to be a nag and a thread bumper, but, er... shouldn't the demo be done by now?... I'm just saying...
Done? By now? What gave you the impression I work by schedules?! :P I've only had a little bit of time to finish up the demo, there is still a lot to do - as I said I am mostly in a tweaking stage. But, as you're eager & I know the scenario can be completed, I may as well let you play the beta of the demo thingy!!
Most of it is working! Of course, there are some limited features but they will be working and I hope to include more still in the full game, like mini-games such as racing games etc, possibly induvidual options for each team member, useable phone line etc. We'll see!
So, the basics of the game. Make money! That's all the help you get :p You've got to find the best way to reach the objective (just open the Finances page to find it!). My intention is that you'll learn what works for you and what doesn't. There are still quite a few placeholders in there, especially these three buttons;
(http://screen7.co.uk/games/gamesgalore/buttonsnotworking.jpg)
..so don't expect every button to work :D There are hints and tips throughought the first couple of years but these will run dry because they're one of the fancy things I'll add in later, such is the team member "speech".
Anyway. I want to show you this beta mmainly for some initial feedback, specifically;
- is it fun?... i'm not so sure if a hundred GUI boxes and buttons are that fun?? lol
- what are your code-words?... how well did you do? :D
The only other things:
- Hit ZERO dollars and you're OUT!
- People who've asked to be in it may not be in it at this demo stage :)
- Some photos are highly innacurate!
Enjoy!
OFFLINE FOR A DAY OR SO WHILST I WRITE A README FILE
(7mb RAR file)
Can I hire and fire Darth Mandarb? Please tell it's urgent.
Not in the demo! :P Try your luck with ProgZMax instead.
Looking promising! :D
I sold a shedload of games, saw no return on them before I'd sold them all and ran out of money.
I also accidently fired Rui by clicking on his face 'cos I wanted to learn more about him, only to read afterwards about clicking on him will fire him. How about a stat screen about the staff, with a bio, and a star ratings for their stats? And then a fire option there? Or at least a "Are you sure you wish to fire him/her?" window?
What would make it more interesting for me would be to see more design input from a visual aspect. Like.. some kind of basic images and colours selection thing.
Could do with tidying up the GUI too! It's a bit cluttered looking, and the font is awkward.
EDIT: Nope Mod, I did advertise! The games were being sold steadily but I saw no profit on them for some reason! Code-words? I don't understand.. I didnt see any code words when I went bankrupt.. did I skip it?
Matt, sounds like you forgot to advertise! ;) Thanks for the comments and suggestions though! Get some code-words for me and maybe I'll implement them :P
Edit, oh and one other thing...AGS v2.71 only allows something like 20 controls per GUI, hence why I had to make it "click the face to fire" for now... maybe a more recent version allows more? :)
Matt you probably had the same problem as me - I'd set the price to sell the game but didn't actually highlight it, so I was giving away 100+ games for free! By the time I realised I was really in the brown stuff.
m0ds - really fun game to play around with, a few things that cropped up:
- During 2nd game production I received a message (on bottom bar) that crashed the game:
---
in Global script (line 2081)
Error: Cannot display message with extended characters in SCI font
(Accented characters, for example the special French and German e/a/u/i letters cannot be used by default. You need to import a TTF font to do so).
---
- I found myself spending most of my time bashing the tea+coffee button and the empty was button. Perhaps this should be replished faster or bulk buy options or something.
- You can't tell if your game has stopped being developed until you go have a look. A popup hint at the bottom saying to get more coffee would be very nice
- I had just under 4k when I selected and bought a soundtrack for my first game in production. I instantly got a buzz and a "you've failed your objective" + quit without really being sure why. Buying music on other attempts seemed to work fine
- What is that slider on the far right?
Loving the game though, and I'll carry on and try and beat the demo.
Thanks man! Thanks for the comments too! No magic code-words yet though :p
The error you mention is strange but I'll definitely look into it! I added the majority of the "emails" in tonight and wasn't able to check they all worked...so my apologies! EDIT: I think I've found it, just re-download and it should be working fine.
QuoteI found myself spending most of my time bashing the tea+coffee button and the empty was button. Perhaps this should be replished faster or bulk buy options or something.
Understandable :) But that's part of the early objective! ;) Honestly, once you find the right kind of method to go about getting a couple of games under your belt, the demo objective can be completed with only 3 or 4 replenishments. I understand it's a clickfest and people hate these, but I've found it harder to do more graphic things....but you're right, perhaps just offering more for the money would make it easier/better :)
QuoteYou can't tell if your game has stopped being developed until you go have a look. A popup hint at the bottom saying to get more coffee would be very nice
Quoted & noted!
QuoteI had just under 4k when I selected and bought a soundtrack for my first game in production. I instantly got a buzz and a "you've failed your objective" + quit without really being sure why. Buying music on other attempts seemed to work fine
Hehehe, yesh, you silly .^^ I have not added the prices. Basically you bought a VERY expensive soundtrack, didn't you!!! ;) Here are the costs of the four working soundtracks in the demo;
- MIDI $50
- ARCADE $150
- HOLLYWOOD $5000
- ARTISTS $10000
so spend wisely! :P
QuoteWhat is that slider on the far right?
DOES need an explanation you're right. It's your
Appeal Bar. Basically, that's how popular your company is with the world. So the better you do, the more things become available to you. As your appeal grows, more people will want to work for you! More things in the full-game will open up to you, and basically, when you reach the highest appeal available, you're the don :)
Many thanks again for your comments and suggestions!!
One last thing. I have to keep this game simple for the fact I can't code complex stuff like this so well! That's why the majority of the gameplay/guis are low graphics! BUT, if anyone wants to contribute graphics that they think will compliment the theme I'm running in the game, I'd be more than greatful to use them :)
Wow, very nice!
As expected, it sounds great - frantic music and effects. I can tell the money draining away sound will be frustrating!
I look forward to being able to give it some decent play time.
m0ds, I love it. I really think you have a winner on your hands.
Critique:
- The clickfest for the recycle bin was alright, because that was kind of optional. But the clickfest for the coffee was just tedious, in my opinion. I was developing a bunch of games, and I constantly ran out of coffee over and over, and it didn't help that the coffee was being drained at almost the same rate I was clicking.
- Once you fire people, you can never hire them again. This might be semi-realistic for what you were going for, but you might want to be able to hire them back.
- I found it odd that you had to highlight certain aspects of the game, and it got me confused several times.
- What was with the tiny button that gave you 1000 copies of all your games? :D It didn't cost me any money either.
- I think it would be better if some games got less popular over time. If they already do, I didn't notice it. I just kept advertising my oldest games and it kept selling just as much as the newer games.
- I think selling your ideas should generate a little more profit than just a couple hundred bucks.
- The advertising button is basically a magic button that makes you much more money. I always clicked it over and over. Perhaps there should be a bigger drawback or a chance factor involved to how much publicity you get.
- Buying music, publishing your website, including stuff in your game boxes, all didn't seem to work for me. If they do work, I don't know what I did wrong.
Bugs? --
- At a certain point in the game I could "re-introduce" my company by clicking on the games/inc/software/company buttons. I was like, "woah, free publicity, alright!" But then I realized that I was just draining my money. Is this a bug?
But I love the game. Just the feeling I got from releasing my "idea-games" and putting their titles on the games I was selling was an awesome feeling. Good work!
Oh yeah, I too found the constant clicking for coffee and trash a pain.
Perhaps if when a staff member is fired they will be unavailable for a set amount of time?
my mind boggles at how you programmed some of this stuff though, woah! Many integers and values no doubt!
Okay, due to WhatPulse, I managed 7,668 clicks until I failed the objective. The game is fun, but quite a clickfest. Coffee -> Advertise Game A -> Advertise Game B -> Coffee -> Advertise... also, it'd be nice if you could lower your own wage again. I accidently set it to quite the maximum...
Nice, failed on first try, but will try more later.
I'M CHEAP!!! ;D
I enjoyed the demo a lot! The music sounded oddly familiar...
I ran out of money because I hired beta testers before I had a game idea. Damn Rusalka Clarke, she bankrupted me! I had fun though. Here are a couple of things that seemed odd to me:
The scroll-up and scroll-down buttons are hard to distinguish and click on.
I felt that the scroll boxes should loop round after you get to the top/bottom.
The coffee-clicking was fun at first, but did become tiresome. If the full game allowed you to hire an office manager to do it for you that would offer the best of both worlds.
Alasdair Beckett's name was misspelled. Also what was that no-account drifter doing in the game in the first place?
Aside from those points, it was very amusing, good luck with the full game.
Sorry, m0ds, for nagging :).
But anyway, this is a lot of fun, although the coffee clickfest was a bit tedious... Perhaps you could add a label to tell you how much coffee you have, and have some buttons like "buy 10 litres of coffee", "buy 25 litres of coffee", "buy 50 litres..." and so on. A discount offer would be nice...
Also, how does selling copies of your games generate actual profit? I mean, I released a game, it was selling like hotcakes, but I still failed the objective :(.
Also, it would be nice if the finances GUI would have income/expenditures so that I'd actually know where my money's going to.
And, m0ds, why don't you add newbies? I mean, it'd be nice if at least one slot down at the bottom of the employee list, there would appear a highly cheap, but with random and low stats writer, coder, etc.
And does the "Buy Soundtrack" button actually do anything? :D
Overall, this is a VERY fun game, too bad I've got no way to pay for the full version :(. I'm still playing it, and I've yet to not fail the objective. Good work, m0ds!
Many thanks again for all the comments! I'm actually pretty pleased no-one has completed it yet...that just goes to show its not as easy as it seems ;) Anyway, here's a breakdown of all your questions...
TheJOrionBurger:
QuoteThe clickfest for the recycle bin was alright, because that was kind of optional. But the clickfest for the coffee was just tedious, in my opinion. I was developing a bunch of games, and I constantly ran out of coffee over and over, and it didn't help that the coffee was being drained at almost the same rate I was clicking.
I understand this is still a problem for you peeps! I will try and make it a bit easier in the full-game. But seriously, as I've mentioned previously, I have made sure that once you learn a good way to start making games/money etc, you really do only need to replenish these 4 or 5 times. If you fill it right up each time, then you'll be okay. Basically, when I first made the game up until about a week ago, this feature wasn't in there. So, because I've been playing the game since its conception, I know how to use the coffee thing properly. It's hard to judge what a first-timer might think. But, I've taken note. I like the other suggestions, maybe get coupons or bulk buys etc. So we'll see!! :)
QuoteOnce you fire people, you can never hire them again. This might be semi-realistic for what you were going for, but you might want to be able to hire them back.
In the full game,
some will come crying back when your company is ultra-appealing.
QuoteI found it odd that you had to highlight certain aspects of the game, and it got me confused several times.
Dunno any other way to do it, sorry :( It's an AGS thing I think. I'd rather you didn't have to highlight it but could just use whichever option appears currently in the scroll-boxes, but AGS doesn't seem to work like that. So sorry. You need to remember the full game/official demo will include a proper manual explaining all these issues;
- What all the GUI's are and do, including the appeal bar
- Little things you need to do like highlighting text boxes etc etc
QuoteWhat was with the tiny button that gave you 1000 copies of all your games? It didn't cost me any money either.
?! Didn't realise I'd made one, but perhaps I did :p That'll have been for testing purposes. Which GUI is that in??
QuoteI think it would be better if some games got less popular over time. If they already do, I didn't notice it. I just kept advertising my oldest games and it kept selling just as much as the newer games.
Good point. I'll look into it, but for the full-game rather than the demo. In theory, you're likely to either win or be bankrupt within 5 years, and you can't "lose" your games in the demo, so there's not really much point in this for the demos sake.
QuoteI think selling your ideas should generate a little more profit than just a couple hundred bucks.
Ahh yes, another "demo" thing. In my original post you may remember I mentioned various other game types that will become available as you hire the right staff and your appeal grows, like 3D racing games or online multiplayers. Those kind of games WILL have higher production costs and selling rates! :)
QuoteThe advertising button is basically a magic button that makes you much more money. I always clicked it over and over. Perhaps there should be a bigger drawback or a chance factor involved to how much publicity you get.
Tricky one that one. I'll see :)
QuoteBuying music, publishing your website, including stuff in your game boxes, all didn't seem to work for me. If they do work, I don't know what I did wrong.
Yep! Released to shut Dan_N up so I didn't bother finishing these sections off ;) The soundtrack one does work, but it's not really needed in the demo, as its mostly an appeal thing. Four of the soundtracks can be bought (see my above post), and as with ALL the scroll boxes, you have to highlight the one you want.
QuoteAt a certain point in the game I could "re-introduce" my company by clicking on the games/inc/software/company buttons. I was like, "woah, free publicity, alright!" But then I realized that I was just draining my money. Is this a bug?
Not entirely sure! I don't think it IS a bug. I made sure that after a certain while, you could re-decide if you wanted to be an INC, ENTERTAINMENT, GAMES etc group. All this SHOULD affect is your appeal. So if it's taking cash, that IS a bug :) I'll take a look!
Thanks for your kind words though dude!!! :D
Matt:
Quotemy mind boggles at how you programmed some of this stuff though, woah! Many integers and values no doubt!
LOL yeah that's all it is. The easiest type of programming for me :D
Jan:
Yes! AND FAT! LOL :p
Akatosh:
You are able to lower it, just re-highlight the lower one (100 or whatever it is).
Ali:
QuoteThe scroll-up and scroll-down buttons are hard to distinguish and click on.
Agreed! Sadly though I need all the space in the GUI's and the bigger I make the scrollboxes, well the crapper it all looks :( I know its frustrating, but you can't really make any mistakes with the scrollboxes...
QuoteI felt that the scroll boxes should loop round after you get to the top/bottom.
So how does one do that? :P :D
QuoteAlasdair Beckett's name was misspelled. Also what was that no-account drifter doing in the game in the first place?
Haha :) I will correct this. You're a decent animator, that's why!
Dan_N:
QuoteAlso, how does selling copies of your games generate actual profit? I mean, I released a game, it was selling like hotcakes, but I still failed the objective .
Did you check the objective? It says release 3 games to bring the company back into profit...so basically, release 3 games and you will make profit! You're never gonna win on just one game..!
QuoteAlso, it would be nice if the finances GUI would have income/expenditures so that I'd actually know where my money's going to.
It almost did have, but when I came to coding it, I realised it was far too complex for me to code, so it probably won't happen, sorry :( It's all about the little profit guage, thats the only thing you're
really meant to worry about!
QuoteAnd, m0ds, why don't you add newbies?
You really want me to answer? :p Nah. All the slots are taken now, so no more room for n00bs.
Many thanks agaaaain! Yaya :D Still no-one with code-words, lol :P
I finished the demo: "Not-bad"!
A few more bits (from the new download):
- I think the early design artwork was available to sell more than once. I'd already sold it but it popped up again, I don't know if that's for the project in development or something. When I looked at the game info page for the new game the artwork was available to sell, but I might've missed the popup for that one.
-Tim Schafer became available, but his salary is missing.
-The popup saying Tim Schafer is available came again and again and again (although I did never employ him). Once is probably enough.
-I'll admit that I was a bit of a beast once the 3rd game was ready to market and fired off my whole team. Even then the waste basket continued to fill, does this fill regardless of how many employees you have?
-Unless it's only for the demo, you should be able to produce more than 3 ideas, since they don't really take up any resources to 'store'.
-Even when I've released games, I still get messages saying "z0mg where r ur games???"
-Make more user comments, they're hilarious.
I've noticed though that the writers take the early phase, art and animators in second phase, coders in third and testers in fourth. This is a bit of a problem since you can only work on one game at a time so most of your staff are redundant. Perhaps you could give them holiday or set them to work on something else? When you want to upgrade staff, I'd suggest being able to either make staff redundant or fire them. If they are fired they can't return, but while redundant staff can return you have to pay them to leave.
One idea is maybe to set unneeded staff to 'practise mode'. They are paid less but learn how to produce better material, and maybe coders can research new engine technologies?
For the GUI it would be nice if you could switch between the menus just by clicking on the icons on the left - they're already nicely aligned to be like that. For the games on the right perhaps tabbing between each one instead of opening/closing windows?
Sorry if I sound too critical, I do like the game really :)
Hehehe thanks! Everything you've suggested is too complicated for me to code though, sorry!
Quotedoes this fill regardless of how many employees you have?
Yep, at the moment it's continuous.
QuoteTim Schafer became available, but his salary is missing.
Yep, he's not available in the demo, so, some information better left for the full-game methinks :)
QuoteI think the early design artwork was available to sell more than once.
That's likely! I had problems with it in the earlier stages of making the game and haven't really gone back to it yet. There's another problem too, the game that actually gets developed may be a different "type" to what you originally chose to make. Also, the "type" of game is not displayed for game 2 or 3. But, as I've said, this is a very rough demo beta :)
QuoteThe popup saying Tim Schafer is available came again and again and again
Odd, I'll check it out!
Anyway well done completing it SimB!!! NOT BAD isn't so bad! But it's not so good, either! ;) Still, I bet you're just happy it's over :P
One other thing! SteveMcCrea - yep, it is an annoying sound and once you have a game or two on the go it becomes very intense! If you click the "SCREEN 7" logo you can visit the OPTIONS page and there you will see the only available option at the moment is to toggle the cash sound on and off :)
Quote from: m0ds on Tue 01/05/2007 19:07:06
I'm actually pretty pleased no-one has completed it yet...that just goes to show its not as easy as it seems Anyway, here's a breakdown of all your questions...
Actually... I beat it when I first posted, but I forgot to mention it. Once you crank out 3 games and advertise the life out of them, it's pretty easy.
Quote from: m0ds on Tue 01/05/2007 19:07:06
QuoteWhat was with the tiny button that gave you 1000 copies of all your games? It didn't cost me any money either.
?! Didn't realise I'd made one, but perhaps I did :p That'll have been for testing purposes. Which GUI is that in??
When you click on each game, there is a tiny white letter in that GUI that gives you 1000 copies of that game for no charge.
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QuoteBuying music, publishing your website, including stuff in your game boxes, all didn't seem to work for me. If they do work, I don't know what I did wrong.
Yep! Released to shut Dan_N up so I didn't bother finishing these sections off ;) The soundtrack one does work, but it's not really needed in the demo, as its mostly an appeal thing. Four of the soundtracks can be bought (see my above post), and as with ALL the scroll boxes, you have to highlight the one you want.
Ah, I forgot to highlight it.
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Many thanks agaaaain! Yaya :D Still no-one with code-words, lol :P
Spoiler
Fair play?!?!
Some other things I forgot to mention:
- It would be nice if you could have more than 3 ideas. After that, it seems like your writers are pointless, and you should fire them.
- Once you have 3 games, I guess you should just fire your whole staff, since they can't make anything else. I didn't do it, but it makes sense to.
- What's the point of giving yourself a salary? :O
- It might be a good idea to have 2 different bulletin boards. One for comments, and one for gameplay notifiers.
Ahh, the button! That's a slider :D I forgot to make it invisible! You cheat! Hehehe... thanks again for the feedback and suggestions!
The first objective will be the same in the full game I'm sure, once you start releasing more titles advertising will ease off and so will some of the other annoying things, giving you time to play the mini-games and so forth :)
Bah, you use my name in a game and then take the demo down before I can even play it? I should have beta tester access to this thing! :=
I find it weird how you use everyone else's real names except ProgZmax.
Forum-namist! :=
I can't remember his real name. I thought it was Neil. But it's not.
:P
I think it's Shane Stevens.
M0ds, excuse my daftness, but I still don't get how am I supposed to make a profit. I mean, I'm supposed to release three games, and have $ 20,000. I released three games, they're all succesfull, I have no staff, and yet, the only way I'm making money is by emptying my rubbish bins... At least, to my guessing... And between advertising, and buying more copies, I'm still losing money...
And also, what do you mean the income/expenses bit is too hard to code? I'd settle just for three labels: income, expenses, and overall profit. You don't even need variables, just labels. Well, actually, six labels, 'cos I'd like to have last month's profits too... I'm not asking for breakdowns into writers' wages, artists' wages, office maintenance, rent, publishing, advertising, and such (although that would be fantastic, I've always been a fan of seeing exactly where my money goes to). But anyhow, if you think it's too hard, maybe I could help you.
But still, this game is fun.
Also, Tim Schafer appeared to me ^_^.
Call me Dinosaur Neil. Please.
QuoteM0ds, excuse my daftness, but I still don't get how am I supposed to make a profit. I mean, I'm supposed to release three games, and have $ 20,000. I released three games, they're all succesfull, I have no staff, and yet, the only way I'm making money is by emptying my rubbish bins... At least, to my guessing... And between advertising, and buying more copies, I'm still losing money...
Perhaps you need to post in the hints and tips forum :p
I think that's the problem many of us have been having, if you don't highlight the price you are selling them for you are automatically giving them away.
Was the demo available or not, Mods? I was very curious to test it...
Check your PM :)
I played the demo and completed it also.
I have to say that the idea is great and the game itself is quite entertaining. Maybe it was little too simple when the games had been created, it was just advertising/selling after that (atleast for me :)) but I guess it's like that in real life too. I also understand that some of the features aren't even available in this demo, so that's also one reason why it was little bit too simple.
I think like someones have also said, that the continous coffee clicking is a bit frustrating.
And the advertisebutton is too powerful!
Suggestions:
- It would be nice if the employees have moralelevel which would affect how much
they work. And then there could be someways to try increase it :).
- It would be nice to see, where the money actually goes. It would nice to have some income/outcome page.
But overally I liked it verymuch, good work.
By the way, can I be in the full version atleast :D?
It's a very cute concept which has a nostalgic Amiga feel to it. I'm not entirely sure AGS is the best enginge to create such a game, but it's a question of what you're comfortable working with.
You get an A for originality!
Hey, where did that demo go?
AGS may not be the ideal choice for the game but the fact it entraps you in a DOS like environment is a key to me being able to keep the game fairly linear yet feel not so linear at the same time :P There's a looot of complex stuff I'd prefer to be able to do, loads of iso stuff to - a proper tycoon game ;) but that is beyond me. I know I can make a fairly simple game without much art, and this is basically it!
Thanks for the comments too! The coffee issue will be sorted :p Adding extra gooeys and stuff may be possible too. My code is getting messy :P I'm going to work on some scenarios, see how they affect the gameplay and stuff and then add more stuff if it suits!
Rd27, sure, you can be an email message in the game :D :P
And Radiant, the demo will be back during next week. Hopefully as a completed demo :)
The demo went here!
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?category=5&action=detail&id=980I'm going to leave it at that, cos I'm going to concentrate on getting it all finished. There's a lot to do and I'm going to include as many suggestions as possible... well, as many as I think I can possibly script ;)
But you can play the demo as it aer now. There are several bugs in this edition which I just couldn't iron out. If anyone else suffers further problems please do let me know :)
The following things may occur:
* Video; the intro video has always worked until the new year. now I get a VideoStream error, do you?
* Firing Lorn later on in the demo causes an odd problem, he becomes employable again. although the "become employable" thing is being considered...it hasn't been scripted yet, and I can't find out why this happens... oh well! :P
* Selecting certain criteria for the advert costs will cause it to crash because it cannot divide so much by so much. But I only got a C in Maths so I'm still figuring this one out :p
* Damn, don't think I quite finished up on the title graphic selection thingy (see below)
QuoteI think that's the problem many of us have been having, if you don't highlight the price you are selling them for you are automatically giving them away.
Missed that one too, damn, will look into that! hehehe :O free games??? what are they?!!!?
There are a couple of new things too but everything is pretty much as it was in the earlier release of this demo.
* Coffee less intense (decaf, anyone?)
* Phone calls
* Game title graphics (much lamer than it sounds)
* Nothing else, so is it worth it?
Anyway enjoy :) sorry it all dissapeared for a while.
Half the fun is figuring it all out for yourself, but just in case your actually a multi-millionaire horse rider or someone who's actually just "checking out those point & click things" then heres a manual. The manual is in itself a "demo" version. I'll start with the most important aspect.
THIS IS NOT A POINT & CLICK ADVENTURE!! :p its a tycooooon game! well someone said it was on the wiki, so RETHPECT!
================================================================
***************
*GAMES GALORE!*
***************
CONTENTS
=======
1. Introduction
2. Playing Games Galore!
... The main screen
3. Recruitment
... Hiring & firing people
4. Design
5. Development
6. Testing
NOT IN THE DEMO7. PR & Publishing
8. Games on sale
9. Finances
10. Code words
1. INTRODUCTION
-----------------------
Welcome to Games Galore, the games development centre. It's your task to start a successful new games development company, using the right employees to build your reputation and most importantly, your income!
2. PLAYING GAMES GALORE
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Playing the game takes place through a set of menus which open at your command! From these you can make sure every aspect of your companies development is taken care of.
The Main ScreenYou can click any of the words or corresponding pictures within the main section of the window to open the relevant options, which will appear in a new window. You can click on the "Screen 7" logo to bring up a list of game options including saving, loading and quitting.
On the main screen you will also see your profit bar situated at the bottom left, which will increase or decrease depending on your income and expenditure. Various hints and reminders will be displayed to the right.
In order to achieve good "code words" you will also need to observe the days & months cycling above your profit bar. The quicker & better you succeed the more likely you are to achieve a high code word.
In future editions good code words will unlock mini-games!Your reputation bar is located on the right and this indicates how respected you are by the gaming community, your fans and other businesses. It's hard to get a bad reputation, though it can happen
and WILL happen in future editions :P but for the demo all you need worry about is making it GROW. Better reputation will earn you new employees, who will all bring faster production times plus some hidden skills up their sleeves, including better game designs & revolutionary features!
3. RECRUITMENT
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You won't be able to make and sell a great game without a great team behind you! So it's time to employ some of the finest minds. However, you might find you need to make way for someone better - or save a few dollars! ;)
Hiring & firing peopleThe main recruitment screen displays everyone in your team - their faces will be "available" to click. Those not yet employed cannot be clicked. This is your FIRING screen. Clicking on someones face on this screen, will fire them instantly. You will NOT be able to re-hire them (in the demo).
The menu buttons allow you to hire new team members in different areas of expertise. You'll need a writer, an artist, animator, coder AND beta-tester before you can fully produce your first game. Simply find their full name and description and click on their face to hire them.
4. DESIGN
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Once you've employed some writers you will be able to select the right game designs for your company. Should you wish to make some short term money you can sell these designs. Providing your design team (the writers) have plenty of coffee, they will work to produce new and innovative games!
Your writers will think up initial ideas and once approved by you they will turn it into a fully workable game design. You will need further employees to make the game a reality!
! a sound effect will alert you of the "design available" & "game design complete" stages5. DEVELOPMENT
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Once a game design is complete its type will appear in a box at the top left of the screen. A "Make my Game" allows you to select it.
You must click the games type to activate it for creation!Prodiving you have the right team members, your game will begin creation, and you will be able to monitor its progress through a percentage (%) reading in RED further down the screen.
You can also select a soundtrack for your game, which can earn you a good reputation instantly (in the demo), but can be VERY costly!
! a sound effect will alert you of the "game production complete" stage6. TESTING ... isn't in the demo
7. PR & PUBLISHING
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Once your game is complete it will be ready to hit the shop floors. Here you must clearly highlight which game you wish to sell & for how much, before hitting the "Sell" button! You can buy more copies at any time - it's wise to keep stocked up.
Other areas of this menu may be available but aren't working in the demo, sorry!!!
8. GAMES ON SALE
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Once a game is on sale it will appear on the main screen with the name and title graphic of your choice. By clicking the title graphic you will enter the games own menu, where you can sell and buy resources to increase the games popularity, plus place adverts to get your game noticed.
In this demo, only a few of these features are working. See what happens :)
9. FINANCES
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This is your personal menu that enables you to control the operation of the company, from finances through to simple office duties like buying coffee and setting up where adverts for your game will appear & what kind of campaigns to run. You can also keep an eye on what awards you have recieved or may be possible to achieve!
You can also check the current objective here.
10. CODE WORDS
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Once you have completed the DEMO objective you will be given a special code word. In future editions you will gain code words after each successful completion of an objective. Not only will they unlock further games & features, they will also denounce just how good a games tycoon you aers!!1
There are several code words you can achieve in the demo. For fun I'm waiting to see what people have got, no-one has achieved the top rank as far as I'm aware! ;)
So have fun, and go make some games!
There are lots of other features & I may expand this but Im too tired. MEH :D
Haha, this "little" game looks cool. I've worked on a "management" game myself (Cycling Manager 4) and I know how incredibly difficult it can be to create even a very simple AI for the management part - I wonder how you did this? I'm going to try your game, I'm eager!
Hehe, thanks - can't say there's much AI going on there :P but have fun!!!