Icon Architect 1.0

Trapezoid · Wed 04/02/2015 08:04:04

Coming in 1990...

This is a full-length game I'm working on. It takes place within the headquarters of a major computer company-- contemporaries of Microsoft, Apple, and NeXT...

The hero is Jan,
a young graphic designer who is tasked by Giacomo,
(master painter of clipart and icons)
with taking reference photos of wastebaskets.

Their team is building a revolutionary operating system.
Jan will explore the burgeoning world of tech culture;
A state-of-the-art corporation
on the verge of unleashing an incredible new paradigm.

Jan soon becomes caught up in an industrial espionage plot,
uncovering the strange, world-shattering secrets of her employers.
Exactly why is this OS so revolutionary?
Exactly how many floors does this building have?

Masochistically created in 256-color mode, so I can do effects like this.

Parallax scrolling test.

Planned features:

40-ish rooms
OPL2 (Adlib/FM synthesis) music and sound effects
Quasi-iMuse music system
Verbs and context-menus
Pause during cutscenes!
Save during conversations!
The extremely Good fashion of the time
Beige
Fear
Blood
Antediluvian relics
Trust exercises

AnasAbdin · Wed 04/02/2015 09:10:16

Congrats! Very stylish

and the color cycling is amazing!
Great work

RetroJay · Wed 04/02/2015 09:30:04

This looks great!
I love the rain down the window effect.

Can't wait to play.

ThreeOhFour · Wed 04/02/2015 10:21:10

This looks fabulous!

NickyNyce · Wed 04/02/2015 10:57:21

Wow...This looks great.

Wyz · Wed 04/02/2015 11:18:58

Wow, I really dig the style of this game. This is really up my alley, great job on the contemporary art the walls are sporting. Cool palette cycles. Overall a very ni...WAIT did you say OPL2?

Awesome!

Armageddon · Wed 04/02/2015 11:22:46

That art is too adorable! Can't wait to see it.

AprilSkies · Wed 04/02/2015 11:31:24

This looks amazing!

KodiakBehr · Wed 04/02/2015 13:13:45

I'm quite excited about this.

Stupot · Wed 04/02/2015 13:22:45

Cool, this looks sweet.

Snarky · Wed 04/02/2015 13:29:12

Loving the look of it! You've really captured that late-eighties/early-nineties aesthetic. Among other things, it reminds me of the in-house proposal for the LucasArts logo:

Spoiler

(from https://home.comcast.net/~ervind/leclogos.html)

[close]

Lasca · Wed 04/02/2015 13:36:37

Looks wonderful! I love the colours!

Erenan · Wed 04/02/2015 16:58:51

Looks very cool.

Trapezoid · Wed 04/02/2015 17:00:42

Quote from: Snarky on Wed 04/02/2015 13:29:12
Loving the look of it! You've really captured that late-eighties/early-nineties aesthetic. Among other things, it reminds me of the in-house proposal for the LucasArts logo:

Spoiler

(from https://home.comcast.net/~ervind/leclogos.html)
[close]

Oh, perfect. I have a huge inspiration folder full of images like this. The game is partially inspired by looking at old photos of LucasArts and Sierra employees. So delightfully dorky.

Quote from: Wyz on Wed 04/02/2015 11:18:58
Wow, I really dig the style of this game. This is really up my alley, great job on the contemporary art the walls are sporting. Cool palette cycles. Overall a very ni...WAIT did you say OPL2? Awesome!

Well, not true OPL, but emulated.

Fitz · Wed 04/02/2015 17:10:48

Love the rain effects, looks awesome -- but my favorite is Jan's sweatshirt. And her hair. And... well, everything. Is that the 80's or is it just her?

selmiak · Wed 04/02/2015 18:51:30

This looks very funkey!
Is the menubar really changing color depending on the room you are in? Great!

Galen · Wed 04/02/2015 23:09:28

QuoteAntediluvian relics

Noah's Ark is a possible inventory item / player character then? Sweet!

Loving the 90s-ness.

AnasAbdin · Fri 06/02/2015 06:43:56

Man this is adventure game making at its best

Scavenger · Fri 06/02/2015 07:59:04

Aaa! This looks great! I can't wait to see it in action! And in 8-bit, too? I can't wait to see the kind of palette effects you come up with.

shaun9991 · Fri 06/02/2015 09:23:32

Oh my goodness, this looks amazing, and what a cool concept. The quality of AGS games getting made lately is STAGGERING

xil · Fri 06/02/2015 11:22:44

Great looking game, the level originality is amazing

I could stare at the rain coming down those windows for hours on end and can only imagine how good it'll be in game with sound!

arj0n · Fri 06/02/2015 14:11:33

Lovely!

HanaIndiana · Fri 06/02/2015 17:51:17

I too have to say this looks amazing. I'm really digging that 80's style.

Calypso · Fri 06/02/2015 22:22:41

Very nice indeed!

Lt. Smash · Sat 07/02/2015 02:20:13

Very great art indeed! I like how you use perspective to make the scenes more dynamic and interesting.

Armageddon · Sat 07/02/2015 02:24:39

Something about this keeps making me think of the Thomas Pynchon book 'Bleeding Edge'. It's about a girl that finds this huge conspiracy within a company, it's pretty strange but cool.

I'm assuming this game takes place in Washington because of the rain and trees and tech industry there?

Trapezoid · Sat 07/02/2015 03:28:00

It was gonna be in Silicon Valley, but I decided I liked how trees and rain looked, so I guess it's somewhere in northern CA. I can probably get away with being nonspecific.

Mati256 · Sat 07/02/2015 04:11:16

Looks beautiful and interesting!

Good luck with it!

Secret Fawful · Mon 09/02/2015 01:55:20

That palette-cycling effect is gorgeous. I've always known that could be done in AGS, so I'm glad to see someone make use of it.

Trapezoid · Sun 02/04/2017 08:28:44

This still lives. It's been slow since it's a one-man project and I have other stuff I'm working on. Here, have some newer backgrounds!

Conversation menus in action:

Cassiebsg · Sun 02/04/2017 08:38:45

Oh, goody! Glad to hear it's still in production!

Was thinking about it just the other day.

Love the new screens and the pastel palette you're using!

The dialog style seems rather interesant! Though the Gif is running a bit too fast.

Privateer Puddin' · Sun 02/04/2017 09:29:00

This continues to look amazing. Love the palette cycling!

Peder 🚀 · Sun 02/04/2017 14:04:19

Man can`t believe this gem went under my radar.. Looking stunning!
The interaction/dialog system looks really nice!

selmiak · Sun 02/04/2017 18:07:19

looking awesome! Keep it up!
That dialog topic selection is cool!

SilverSpook · Sun 02/04/2017 18:49:28

Added to the must-play list!

Fantastically original style... Retro yet contemporary!

Good luck with this!

Nixxon · Mon 03/04/2017 11:26:15

This looks grand. I love those pastel colours! Really reminds me of that early 90's software.

Holy hell with the animated water effects on the glass too.

Snarky · Mon 03/04/2017 14:18:02

Looks as great as ever!

Just out of curiosity, are you actually using in-game palette cycling, or pre-rendering it and importing as animation?

dactylopus · Thu 06/04/2017 03:10:17

This looks fantastic. I love the late 80's / early 90's aesthetic. That minivan fits perfectly. Looking forward to seeing more.

CrashPL · Thu 06/04/2017 07:44:33

Glad it's still being worked on. Looks really lovely, just looking at those awesome screenshots/animations makes me 20 years younger.

Chicky · Thu 06/04/2017 22:32:48

OH I remember this! Happy to see you're still working on it Trapezoid. Genuinely think you've got a winner in the works here, the plot/aesthetic couldn't be more perfect. The palette cycling is lovely too, very Ferrari

Jojo_the_monkey · Fri 16/03/2018 09:35:28

Hi there!! Very good graphics and very good story!!! How is the development going?? Keep up the good work!! I am looking forward to this.

Darth Mandarb · Fri 16/03/2018 09:54:50

Jojo_the_monkey please review the forum rules!

Trap let me know if/when you want to post an update and I'll unlock this!