MANHUNTER LONDON (or MHIII)
UPDATES AT BOTTOM OF POST
As the title of this thread suggests I am making an attempt to create the sequel to the MANHUNTER series that was never completed. The story picks up where MANHUNTER: SAN FRANSISCO left off, having chased the evil android Phil all over the city of San Fransisco, you think you finally have him cornered. But in an act of desperation, Phil escapes in an Orb Alliance space ship. You could do nothing but grab hold of it with your bare hands as it flew in to the sky, its destination unkown.
This game has gone through many many changes over the last year, from almost certain termination of the project to completely reworking the graphics to fit a 320x200 resolution. Now I can at least say that the plot has been defined (6 days) and a more detailed master solution (containing all possible solutions to puzzles) is half complete. 42 rooms are ready for entry in to AGS. Character portraits have been drawn of Phil, Ming, Pro-Orbs*, Fox* and some of the Orbs themselves.
* - new character
Screenshots
As I've stated before, strictly speaking, these screenshots do not qualify as 'real' screenshots of the game as they were not taken in-game. However, due to the nature of a 1st person perspective game there would be no difference to in-game screenshots and the original artwork used in the game, since no movable character will be visible. (if this is unsuitable I'll change them, all Darth need do is PM me)
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/images/screenshot10.jpg)
Kent street, your first stop in the City of London.
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/images/screenshot12.jpg)
Cell, the very first area you are able to investigate.
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/LB2.jpg)
London Bridge, very close to the site of the new orb headquarters in London.
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/RSt.jpg)
Regent St. Manhunters Apartment.
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/KSAlly.jpg)
Kent Street Ally, scene of a muder.
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/D1.jpg)
Day 1 (the day that will be included in the demo)
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/FR2.jpg)
The fishingboat rescue. (Thats you in the water)
Features
Some areas you may investigate:
The London Eye
The British Museum
Many abandoned underground stations
Whitechapel Gallery
The Tower of London
..and much more!
320x240 Resolution
More than 60 locations to investigate!
Meet old friends and make new ones!
Put an end to Orb rule in the City of London!
Updates:
30-04-04 - The website is partially up - so all ye who be interested, have a look
MANHUNTER LONDON WEBISTE (http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/)
02-12-04 - Work continues on both the website and the game. I have now officially recieved permission to work on the game from the orginal creators, Evryware.Ã, Look at the website for more information. I am starting an appeal to anyone who lives in London, England for photographs of a few areas (ie i can't find any photos on the internet or in my own collection). If you can help, please contact me via my website (either message board or through e-mail)
19-02-06 - Work DOES continue, and i'm very sorry to all those who have emailed me asking if it has been completed yet as the game is very far from completion. Basically, due to other commitments I don't have copious amounts of spare time to work on the project. But as was stated on my website, this doesn't mean that there isn't any work being done on the game. The game plot/script is now 48 pages long, 42 rooms have been completed or are close to completion, not to mention the 3D model of London i've created to use as a template for some citywide views.Ã,Â
10-07-06 - Again, work still continues. I decided to upload some new screenshots for you all to look at. I plan on releasing a "prequel" that will explain what happened in the first 2 manhunter games for those of you who don't know, and soon after that I will try to finish off the demo (the first "day" of the game). And yes, before you ask, I do know I've been working on this for over 2 years now, but the fact that i'm still bothering to upload these images should tell you that i haven't given up on it and that progress is being made.
16-02-07 - [CATASTROPHE]
A few weeks ago I had serious problems with my boot hard disk drive. Despite my best efforts (and to my great dissappointment) most of the work I have done on this game has become corrupted. That is to say, instead of being somewhere close to halfway through production, I'm not back to where I was about 2 years ago. I'm very sorry to say that due to this I have lost the motivation to replace those artworks that have been lost. Thats not to say MHL is completely canceled, the little work that has survived unscathed will be kept for a later date. Until then, I thought it was only appropriate to tell anybody that was interested in this game that I am currently no longer working on it and don't expect anything tangible to be released in the near future.
The sad part is that I had been preparing to release not only a demo, (featuring the first day) but also a 'prequel' to explain to those who had not played the manhunter series what had happened. But thats all gone now. Again i'm very sorry about this, I doubt, though, that anybody is more disappointed about this than me after all the effort i had put in to this project. For my next project (if there is one) I will be making SEVERAL backups on a regular basis.
Thanks for those who had supported this game over the years I have been working on it, and I hope one day a MHL will be become a reality one way or another.
:o wow i wrote alot!! hope some of you can stay awake long enough to read it all! ;)
Nice to see someone else who likes the series as much as I do.
I've often though of making a sequel to the Manhunter series as well, at first I figured London for the same reason as you, but just in case the original authors decided to pick up the series and the plot at some point I decided not to. Another alternative would be to set the game in another city with different characters.
What I loved most about the Manhunter series was the atmosphere and that you had to figure out exactly what was going on all by yourself by tracking people, finding clues etc. The blood red skies, the deserted streets and the silence helped set the mood perfectly. You never knew for sure what you might find every time you tracked a suspect to a new location. What I didn't like about the Manhunter series was the at times annoying puzzles and as with most Sierra games, the dead ends.
Regarind the images, they're all good but I feel only the first one captures the mood of the Manhunter game, the map looks a bit out of place with the other images. As for the third one, the tree and surrounding grass looks rather good, but the street and the buildings look out of place with these two areas.
I'd still like to do something with the series at some point but right now I don't have much time. Good luck with your project though, it sounds like a fun idea!
hey Chrille ~ thanks for the comments
I still haven't found another game that equals manhunter in the atmosphere department (IMO).
about the images: i have noticed now that i have gotten some of them mixed up, the third 'screenshot' is not actually made for this game (but yet another, which I shall not speak of until its further developed). I will correct the mistake as soon as i'm able to make the actual screenshot more presentable.
Hi all -
Just thought i could ask a little help from this bb's population.
I need some interesting (and humourus) tomestone rhymes,Ã, as seen in MH and MHII.Ã, For those of you who have no idea what i'm talking about, When you die in the older Manhunters, a screen is shown of your tomestone, with the games makers standing over it. The epitaph is a short rhyme about your death.Ã, For example:Ã, a bat steals your eyes
Rats and Bats,
thats no lie,
they eat your face,
and then you die.
or, one that I have made:Ã, you are thrown on to a fire after trying to lie your way out of being captured
your quest failed
when they found you a liar.
and now you've found that you
make a good fire.
so if anybody can think up some intersting epitaphs and post them here, you never know, they may just appear in the finished game.
Too far ahead,
they ate your face!
Don't be dead,
this ain't no race.
Manhunter! This manhunter? Whoa-hoa! It was about time someone to get such a cool idea...
This better be good... or..! >:(
I thought it was about time i put another screenshot on here
- this time of PHIL,
you may notice thaÃ, phil is a little bloody, its not his own, but rather this picture depicts him just after one of his grizzly murders...
http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/Images/Copy%20of%20PHIL%20-%202.jpg
for those of you who have no idea who phil is
- let me 'phil' you in *ba boom*:
Phil Cooke used to be a manhunter like many other humans,Ã, Ã, people recruited by the orbs to hunt down other humans who did not obey the will of the alliance. Somehow at sometime Phil was converted, under mysterious circumstances in to a machine, the perfect, loyal tool for the orbs. For some reason, the machine, or android if you will, enjoys its work so much that it acts independantly of the orbs. In New York phil bombed the freed humans as they celebrated in the streets,Ã, in san fransisco he killed the king of a race of rat-dog-humans and lead them to do his bidding. You, as the manhunter (from the title), have vowed to stop him - "he has killed to many"- and London might just be the place to do it....
Quote from: Moneo on Sun 16/05/2004 05:58:56
http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/Images/Copy%20of%20PHIL%20-%202.jpg
Maybe you should lay off the smudge tool. Also, if you're going to do low detail graphics, you might as well use a lower resolution; it gives a better impression. Every pixel counts.
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/Images/Copy%20of%20Orignial%20Phil.jpg)
concidering the original......
erm... my style of art (on the computer at least) revolves around the SMEAR tool, if i 'layed off it' there would be no detail at all, just a few blobs of colour. And, are you supposing that I am attempting cartoonish graphics one usually sees in AGS games? i'm trying to remove myself from that as much as I can, so if that was what you were meaning by 'low detail', ie no well defined edges etc. then yes, i'm going for low detail.
On Phil especially i wanted to try something a little different to the other portaits i've drawn for the game to make him a little more menacing then just a grinning face the shows itself every now and then, in the original games i think you only ~see~ phil murder one 'person' (it was actually a rat-dog-human-thing).
The rooms will have a 'higher detail' (if you take that to mean well defined edges and colours)
On the other hand, taking another look at this phil portrait i did notice some scrappy parts which i had neglected and overlooked for some reason. using the smear tool, i cleaned them up.
About lower resolutions: i have no problem with pixelated graphics, especially in AGI (60x80 i think),Ã, but the facility is there in AGS to go up to 800x600 and its much easier to create an original, clear artwork that sets an atmosphere, not unlike the original, when you have lots of room to work in. possibly 640x480 would suffice but why bother changing it now? also, many of the portraits will be cropped, stretched, shrunk etc. once they are added to the game to preserve continuity in sizes and the like, so the bigger they are to start with the more detail is preserved once they are completed.
i'll upload the new 'copy of PHIL - 4'Ã, Ã, (this time without the blood,Ã, you will probably see both in the game,Ã, Ã, its just the same picture with an overlay on top)
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/Images/Copy%20of%20PHIL%20-%204.jpg)
also - forgot to mention - though it might not sound like it from my previous post (who knew i would take constructive criticism so poorly?) i am thankful for your comments !
Quote from: Moneo on Mon 17/05/2004 12:01:14
erm... my style of art (on the computer at least) revolves around the SMEAR tool, if i 'layed off it' there would be no detail at all, just a few blobs of colour. And, are you supposing that I am attempting cartoonish graphics one usually sees in AGS games? i'm trying to remove myself from that as much as I can, so if that was what you were meaning by 'low detail', ie no well defined edges etc. then yes, i'm going for low detail.
Well, it just screams photoshop. I think smudge (which is a synonym of smear, FYI) doesn't add any detail, it just gives a bad impression of trying to add detail since it actually degrades sharpness.
Quote from: Moneo on Mon 17/05/2004 12:01:14
About lower resolutions: i have no problem with pixelated graphics, especially in AGI (60x80 i think), but the facility is there in AGS to go up to 800x600 and its much easier to create an original, clear artwork that sets an atmosphere, not unlike the original, when you have lots of room to work in.
Sure, if you had clear artwork, but you make your artwork blurry and unfocused in order to hide the fact that you don't have any detail. More pixels means more work, not the opposite. When you work in a high resolution, people will expect sharp graphics, so again I suggest that you go for a lower resolution. You'll probably get your game done faster doing that, as well.
[edit]BTW: I have nothing against working in a higher resolution than what the game is in.[/edit]
*clears throat*Ã, Ã, ;)
Quote from: trylle on Mon 17/05/2004 15:41:22
Well, it just screams photoshop. I think smudge (which is a synonym of smear, FYI) doesn't add any detail, it just gives a bad impression of trying to add detail since it actually degrades sharpness.
i'm actually using corel (photopaint),Ã, and yes, smudge is a synonym of smear, (i was hoping you'd find the humour in my need for technical correctness),Ã, ~but~Ã, in corel there are two different tools, one called smudge and one called smear. Smudge actually 'mix's' the colours in the tools radius with no blur (shown in example, left side of yellow smear).Ã, Smear pushes the contents of the tools radius around(shown in example, right side of yellow smear). i'm not sure what these tools are called in adobe, I never much cared for photoshop.
I start out with a blob of a colour, (in the example below, on the left side),Ã, making the very rough shape of the person/room/object. i also add blobs of any other colour i think i might like to have in gradients or shading. I then use the smear tool to push and pull the shape out to give it more detail. e.g. the hat and face shown on the left compared to the one on the right. ~This~
is what i mean by adding detail.Ã, I realise that the very sharp edges are gone, but they were never really there to begin with.Ã, I'm not sure what other detail you mean,Ã, i'm not blurring my work to hide anything, infact i spend much of my time trying to separate colours using the smear tool ~adding~Ã, things/detail to the picture, which works well enoughÃ, (you can see this on the left side of Phil's face,Ã, i used the smear tool to redefine some spots that had a bit of rubbish left over from when i smeared out the shape of his face)
Quote from: trylle on Mon 17/05/2004 15:41:22
Sure, if you had clear artwork, but you make your artwork blurry and unfocused in order to hide the fact that you don't have any detail. More pixels means more work, not the opposite. When you work in a high resolution, people will expect sharp graphics, so again I suggest that you go for a lower resolution. You'll probably get your game done faster doing that, as well.
[edit]BTW: I have nothing against working in a higher resolution than what the game is in.[/edit]
by 'clear' in my last post, i mean't clear as in, "clear as to what its supposed to be" not "its sharp, clear and in focus."Ã, Ã, ~Ã, a good room/bg for AGS, i would imagine, is one that is clear as to what it shows, who/what it is,Ã, and if its of a person, thier expression, identifying characteristics etc.Ã, I don't think it should have to conform to a single art type.
by the way you word your reply, "you make your artwork blurry and unfocused in order to hide the fact that you don't have any detail." your making it sound like i'm grabbing images,Ã, applying a gaussian blur and changing some colours - and sorry, i tried to take your replies keeping constructive criticism in mind but I don't understand what detail you are looking for, a hair on the end of his nose? a pimple?Ã, to me it sounds as though you don't really like the images i have, and thats fine, you have every right to your opinion (of course) - but why say that i'm deliberatly trying to hide something? or that i can't draw and therefore i make it bluring just to hide that fact?Ã, Ã, if you think that thenÃ, -Ã, thats ok, its great infact, its your opinion,
but just say what you mean if your going to say anything at all (I don't want to take offence from your posts, but its heading that way).
(oh, and about how fast the game is proceeding, i'm fine with the current pace,Ã, Ã, its more to let of creative (or uncreative) steam after a long day at uni 'finding eigenvalues')
below is an example,Ã, its part of a picture a drew some time back, (for MHL) on the left side you can see roughly what i started with, and on the right after some progress (of course it isn't finished yet or i would have put the whole thing up)
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/Images/example.jpg)
blah-blah-blah.
Moneo, cut the crap and make the game worth to be a sequel/fangame...! or expect creepy guys with brown robes coming after you... did I made myself clear?
(If you didn't get it then - I'm cannot wait to see/play your game!!!!)
Actually, your smeared/smudged guy looks good. Just do so BUT add more detail too. Then it's perfect.
Make the picture with this (interesting!) smearing tech of yours, but then take an evening off and play a little with pixels. Something like this (hope you don't mind, otherwise PM me):
(http://www.hot.ee/increatorgamez/manh_rmd.jpg)
I just detailed eyes (just four white circles! easy?), brought out nose (using shadow/shading), added a little variety to moustache and teeth. 3-minutes work but changes overall look well. This one was hastily done, but I hope you get my point.
hehe - aliright
Quote from: InCreator on Wed 19/05/2004 13:22:28
blah-blah-blah.
Moneo, cut the crap and make the game worth to be a sequel/fangame...! or expect creepy guys with brown robes coming after you... did I made myself clear?
*salutes* yes sir! I will do my absolute best to make the game worthy to be called a sequel/fangame, sir!
jk
- do appreciate the comments though and will have a more 'detailed' look at all completed portraits/rooms etc. as soon as i have time.
FIVE months have passed since my last update. And unfortunatly not a lot has changed,Ã, but work progresses still.
My site is now about 75% uploaded, so if anyone wants check it out, go right ahead!
Also final work has commenced on room artwork, and the storyline is almost concrete too. In fact, I can honestly and proudly say that there is over 400mb of artwork so far (all uncompressed of course, the game itself will be MUCH smaller)
Also I will soon finish a small "prelude" story soon, starting from the events in Manhunter New York. It sorta has the same sort of mood as the series, just in a literary sense. of course as soon as its complete i'll get to work on the next installment, Manhunter San Fransisco, that will then lead on to my game. It'll be useful to anyone who is unfamiliar to the series so that they can understand whats going on.
And the last and most important announcement is that the game will use a First person POV (like the original series). As i haven't seen this done in any other AGS game so far I think it might be a first (but please, correct me if i'm wrong). New and uptodate shots will be coming soon to my site, so check regularly if your interested, and don't hesitate to e-mail me either if you have any comments about the games.
heres hoping it won't be another 5 months until i next update the site!Ã, 8)
MANHUTNER LONDON WEBSITE
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/)
UPDATES for 7-10-04
The site is being upgraded alot so if there are any problems loading, you know why.
Also, once the even newer version of the site is up it'll be alot easier to cover it with content for ppl to look at and comment on.
and finally, the address has changed:
MANHUNTER LONDON WEBSITE
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/MHL/)
the old link will still work, you'll just have to click on the link to 'MHL'
also, coming soon,
DUNE CHRONICLES WEBSITE
(http://www.arach.net.au/~fhorvath/dune/) '(unrelated to AGS Games)
Looks really interesting. I wasn't a huge fan of the Manhunter games, but it would be cool to see a good fan made sequel.
I must say, your site is awesome. Just get it all updated, and you have a really professional looking site happening. My only concern is that it is hard to determine what are the links - all the text is white.
Quote from: auhsor on Thu 07/10/2004 15:22:43
Looks really interesting. I wasn't a huge fan of the Manhunter games, but it would be cool to see a good fan made sequel.
I must say, your site is awesome. Just get it all updated, and you have a really professional looking site happening. My only concern is that it is hard to determine what are the links - all the text is white.
thanks, I'll be looking in to changing the links to show underline on hover.
Quote from: blackbirdâ,,¢ on Sun 10/10/2004 18:43:58
This game is not made by Gaspop software
Contact gaspop software by the email adress on there site or get to CHRILLE by pm
Don't clutter up the thread of this nice looking game with these postts.
thank you
I second that ;)
UPDATES at bottom of top post.Ã, Ã, ;D
Why dont you post any screenshots? They dont work. >:(
Yes, could you please update the first post to show the screenies?
If you can't, for whatever reason, include them in the post, at least correct the links.
Thanks!
oops - sorry!
The original post is quite old - the original screenshots aren't actually stored on the net anymore - but i'll put some new ones there straight away.
Have updated the original post...
Updates in first post.
Update at bottom of first post.
In summary: the game is no longer in production due to hard disk failure. More details in first post.