Mind's Eye!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

It is time to reveal my secret project, and it is:

Mind's Eye!


Mind's Eye is a tale of one man's search for redemption.  You find yourself in a dank padded cell, bereft of everything but a name:  Noah, but even that seems foreign to you.    As a patient of the brilliant Dr. Knox, your one desire is to reclaim your memories and discover who you really are.





As I do not have the pre-requisite two screenshots (the teaser only has one I can take a shot of),

I thought I would include a playable demo of the game, complete with title screen, gui, music and a cutscene!

(thanks to custard for hosting this)
Temporarily offline
www.custardsclutter.com/ME-TEASER.rar

working:
http://members.cox.net/veradin/ME-TEASER.rar

Planned Features:

1.  The completed game will be medium-length.  I'm just not skilled enough with backgrounds to make the scope any larger.

2.  The Redemption Meter, which tracks the recovery of your memories (and provides backstory and hints).  While this is present (and functional) in the teaser demo's inventory screen, there are no events to gain Memories scripted yet.

3.  Combined Actions.  In this game, through the use of skills in logical order, Noah will progress through the game and recover his memory.  While some of these puzzles are not compulsory, they will advance Noah toward the more 'correct' ending (as well as enlighten him about key players and events).  Seeing and Thinking are particularly useful in this regard.

4.  Delirium Mode.  When Dr. Knox shoots up Noah with drugs, all sorts of strange things will happen.  The screen blurs, certain commands are disabled, and Noah moves very erratically.  While avoiding Delirium Mode is usually a good idea, sometimes it will be necessary to progress.


A few notes on the demo:

1.  The title screen WILL run slow on slower machines.  While I empathize with those users, the lack of hardware acceleration in ags makes multiple tranparent layers quite tasking (but pretty to watch).

2.  You CAN complete this teaser demo!  The readme provides the information you need to figure out how.


Progress:

Backgrounds: 60% ( still cry.)
Music: 90%
Sprites: 90%
Scripting: 80%

Estimated Completion Date:

On or about October 31.  (Depending on how fast I can get the backgrounds finished)

Edit:  This target is unlikely since I've expanded the game quite a bit.

Yes, this game is intended to be for Halloween!


Comments:

You are welcome to direct specific questions about how the features I have described will work, but please don't ask for any information about the story.  I am keeping it as quiet as possible to avoid any spoilers.  The teaser will hopefully satisfy your curiosity for now.




Recent Developments:

9/18/2005:  Teaser demo released, scene 2 well underway. 

Edit:  There are two buttons on the lower left of the gui.  One opens save/load and one opens the quit menu.  Right clicking an item in the gui looks at it (hence the eye) and left click takes it.  Hope that clears up any ambiguities.

Edit 2:  Burned the midnight oil to reveal part of scene 2!  Also included Noah's default walking animations (joy!)

Update 10/4/2005:
1.  Completed Delirium mode (looks nice, or so custard and scotch tell me).
2.  Added an interactive help menu
3.  Made 3 new backgrounds
4.  Many animations and music tunes complete.

Update 10/28/2005:
1.  Been slacking off a bit lately, so progress has been so-so
2.  Made 8 more backgrounds
3.  More animations complete
4.  Part 1 of the game nearly finished.

Update 10/31/2005:

My self imposed date for release will not be met as I've decided to expand the game (and backgrounds slow me down).  I have included a demo of what I have so far for the seemingly few interested parties among you for a limited time.  Bear in mind that the gameplay of this demo is sequential and shows several of the gameplay mechanics (such as stealth and delirium mode).  I will not answer questions about what you need to do to complete this demo as it is incomplete. 

Once you give the cigarettes to who they are for the demo is essentially over.

Hopefully this will get more people interested

Update 11/7/2005:

1.  Special demo removed.  I did say it was a limited time .
2.  Added a new cutscene.
3.  New animations.

Update 11/22/2005:

Mind's Eye went through a 2 day test phase and is now ready for release.
Get it here!

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=646



Do not ask for hints in this thread, period.  I ask that Darth please delete any and all such posts.

[DoorKnobHandle]

Amazing. It looks awesome and has a great atmosphere and overall feel to it.

I'd love to see the delirium mode.

[jason]

Very cool, can't wait to play the full game.

[splat44]

ProgZmax,

How do we exit the game. Document fails to mention that.

As for inventory, I know there is something but how adding item's description?

It strange to use the eye to grab item when we using the hand icon.

[Mordalles]

yeah, looks awesome! keep going!

[Kweepa]

Very nice!
I'm interested to see where you take this.

(The F and G are hard to read.)

[Vince Twelve]

In a tangent to the ongoing "cliché" discussion, I love it when someone starts out with a cliché'd concept like waking up in a jail cell with amnesia and takes it in a completely new direction all the while adding their own style to the tale. 

Well done.  I'm looking forward to this.

[Nikolas]

I find it very interesting...

Really.

And I have to say that I had a simmilar idea about this (the main points are all the same): here:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=22253.0

Just wondering...

And I don't mind...

[Chicky]

Awesome progz!

[ildu]

I have trouble running 320x200 and 640x400 games, since I use 1280x1024 resolution. A part of the screen is cut off. So I ran this as 640x400 in a window and the intro was a bit choppy as you said. I'm not sure if it was the animation or my machine, but I'm really surprised about it. I have quite a top-notch comp that runs the newest games on the market well, so I was taken back a bit.

Anyway, it was pretty cool. I loved the doctor character and the ending cinematic. The waking-up-in-a-cell scenario is a bit too over-used though.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

dkh:  Glad you're getting into 'being Noah'!

jason:  I aim to please.

Mordalles:  I don't know the meaning of the word stop.  Maybe that's why I get in so many accidents?

Steve- As usual, thanks for the comments.  I am aware of the F and G issue, but sadly (due to the resolution) I simply can't make the font any larger without seriously taking up space (and it looks so nice!).  In 640x400 it looks excellent, btw, and I highly recommend it for those of you with good video cards!

Vince:  That is quite a compliment, I appreciate it.

nikolasideris:  I rarely read anything outside of the critics lounge so it's very doubtful .

Chicky:  Thanks!

ildu:  Ask yourself what ISN'T over-used these days?  Surf Nazis?  Flying dog pirates?  It's the execution that matters.

[sergiocornaga]

I love the look of this game and especially impressed by the work that went into making the message boxes look original... really looking forward to its release.

[Mortadelo]

I'm really looking forward to this game! Great graphics and interesting story...Now I have to wait a little until it's completedÃ, 

By the way, it was nice to see a nod to Carpenter's "The Thing" introducing ChildsÃ, 

It's a great job, seriously.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Sergio- I absolutely love working on unique concepts for GUI layouts.  This one is inspired (in part) by the GUI I made for Darkmoor Manor, though less impressive in that I kept it gritty and real, whereas Darkmoor is all about supernatural forces.

Mortadelo- I am a major fan of 80's horror and horror in general.  Well spotted!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Bumping to update the download location and to notify of progress.

[edmundito]

Sweet. The title screen has some pretty cool effects!

I also like the inventory fading in, though I would make it fade in a tad faster.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Thanks Edmundo.  I have since improved the fade in speed quite a bit (mainly to make sure you can't partially open it).

[calacver]

it looks great so far. I really like your main character.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

There's a new demo in town.

[Nikolas]

I tried the demo out!

Amazingly impressive.

There is a problem with speed, and I have 2800 MHz.

At some point after the drugs the game became almost unplayable, I actually stoped playint. Maybe a bug? But very very impressive!