15th of August, 2012: MBTK is still alive and well! Check the third page for visual goodies! ;-D
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mbtk-banner-temp1.png)
MBTK is a novella-length, point and click adventure game that revolves around the murder of a smaller city's mayor in the early 1940's.
The mayor has been shot dead and the prime suspect is his closest friend, Gottfried Heinrich, whom was supposedly seen fleeing from the mayor's mansion very early in the morning. You take on the role as renowned detective Francis Dale and the murder suspect's son, Gabriel, as they both search for the missing soup kitchen cook Gottfried.
What really happened after last night's cocktail party at the mayor's? Did the kind, caring and tragic Gottfried really murder the only person in town who showed him any respect? Who will find the murder scene escapee first, and what is in that hidden safe?
Find all of this out in this short but story-heavy adventure game, available free to download soon!
SCREENSHOTS:
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/mbtk_wipscr_01.png)
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/mbtk_wipscr_02.png)
PROGRESS:
Story: 100%
Scripting: 90%
Graphics: 80%
Revised backgrounds: 6/9 finished
Audio: 25%
The game is actually more or less finished, interaction and scenery-wise. It's just missing these two (very important) things;
* Final character sprite designs and animations to go with them.
* Some ambient music to make the game less eerily silent.
If anyone would like to lend a hand with these things, I'd appreciate it greatly! The game's not far from release, but seeing as how I'm not an expert in these last two areas, a helping hand would bring release day closer than just "when it's done." :)
For regular updates on the game's progress, keep a lookout in this thread, or visit the blog on my website; http://perdiv.com/news-blog/ (http://perdiv.com/news-blog/)
I must say that this game sounds and looks deliciously interesting to me! Looking forward to its release.
(Anyway I really wonder how you got the name Gottfried, was it purely random? Or was it out of inspiration? It sounds awfully familiar but I just can't put a finger to where I saw it before)
Thanks a lot, Timo! I'm glad you like what I've got so far! :D
Gottfried was picked partly out of the blue, and partly because of its meaning. I think you'll find in the finished product that it fits the character pretty well. :)
This looks very nice! Looking forward to it.
Very nice. Those character sprites look great already.
btw
Francis York Morgan, best game character ever. ;)
Looks nice and as mentioned, you could keep those sprites as they are.
Are those painted over 3d modeled rooms?
Gorgeous backgrounds, and the sprites are ace too. The GUI could do with some tarting up, though.
All the best getting this polished off, man.
Thanks a lot for all the comments, guys! They're greatly appreciated.
Buckethead: Thanks! I'll probably spice them up a bit and use them in the game. Animating will be a different story though...
Francis York Morgan is an awesome character. ;D
anian: They sure are! I rendered the scenes in Maya with an ambient occlusion shader, then reduced the colors and painted over it, for a classic-ish feel. :)
Stupot: Many thanks! I'll see what I can do about the GUI. :)
A pleasant suprise :)
My favorite AGS style ;D, though, I don't don't do anything in it. Nice screens, waiting for more news.
It looks really good, the graphics are made in 3d of course, but I believe they fit the characters in a quite awesome way. So well done for that.
Very cool! The style fits the 2D character spritely suprisingly nicely.
Another bunch of great comments, thanks guys! ;D
I'm glad you find that the styles don't clash with each other. I'll do my best to keep them in harmony. :)
Not a lot of news to report yet. I'll try to get some sprite work done during the week. I've gotten used to using my tablet for pixelling, but of course I left it at my apartment.. :P
Love the look of this, story heavy is like music to my ears (well, eyes). I feel many adventure games strangely lack an immersive narrative.
Story sounds cool and the sprites look great!
Mind those floor reflections on the first screen, they're all bonkers. (why not just render them?)
Slightly: Thanks man! It'll be a short game, but hopefully it'll satisfy peoples' story hunger. ;D
theo: Thanks a lot! :)
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about the floor, thanks for reminding me! I just threw them in there to give the scene a bit more depth. I think I'll replace the floor entirely with wooden boards.
A quick update for you all; I haven't had the chance to work a lot on this lately, what with the last course of the year starting last Monday and all. I did get the chance to do just a little bit of pixelling characters today though. Here's a mockup of what the interrogation scene looks like with proper, sitting characters.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/Largo/mbtk_interro_mockup.png)
Some things are still a bit wonky, like Gabriel's arms (guy on the right side). At least I have a base to work with now for the rest of the scene. :)
Great graphics!
I am wondering what the character is holding in his hand?(third screenshot)
It looks like some kind animal(rabbit or something else)
Regards
Thank you, splat44! :)
That's no rabbit though, I just happened to place the 'Walk To'-icon right by his hand. It does look a bit funny now that you mention it. :D
Great artwork, impressive!
Looks wonderful, best of luck with your game!
You've got to be kidding... this looks so good.. looks really old school indy style...
Thanks so much for the comments, guys! Sorry about the lack of updates recently. Just wrapped up the last course for this term just a couple of weeks ago, been working a bit to make some extra money to afford my bills during the summer too.
The game hasn't been left entirely untouched during this time though, I've been tinkering a bit here and there with the dialogue, extending some lines, shortening some, making some more choices. Overall, the lines and the pacing in the dialogue has been further improved. Now I'm just gonna get my tablet over here as soon as I can, so I can draw some animations. ;D
I'd like to ask you guys, if you'd be interested in seeing/hearing this project fully voiced? Would it be worth the extra wait, and would anyone here be willing to try out for the roles?
I'm thinking a full talkie pack would do a whole lot for the game, and it wouldn't take all that much extra time since the game is fairly short in length. So, what do you guys think? :)
I've been keeping an eye on this one :) Besides audio, it looks like it's near completion... Keep up the good work!
Well, I think it would be worth the extra wait, just try to polish your game as YOU want it to be and the fact you are thinking of voicing make me think you actually want to try to add it, so go for it.. Ofcourse don't go the Duke Nukem route in trying to get your game to be as good as you think you can make it, hehe..
Why stop and release if you aren't satisfied yourself if it comes without audio, it's your baby and people will wait for it anyway..
Snake: Thanks man! Well, it all depends, I think I'm going for full voiceovers as well, and remaking the backgrounds/improving them, so it will take some few months before it's released. Hopefully, it'll be worth the wait, though. ;)
SuperDre: You've got some very good points there. I don't have any publisher looking over my shoulder constantly, so I don't need to worry about getting the game finished at some set time. ;D
I'll make what improvements I feel are necessary for the game/worth the extra time, improving the backgrounds and getting some voiceover for it too.
Although progress is a bit slow due to work right now, I have some good news to report. Our forum pal Shiver has joined forces with me, he'll be composing the music for the game, which I believe will greatly enhance the mood. :D
I've had the time to remodel the first scene of the game during the less hectic moments at work, here's a peek at how it looks so far (more or less finished.)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/Largo/newapartment_finalrender-colorandlight5-x2.png)
That's such a fascinating technique - with stunning results too. Love it!
I love the lighting in that scene! You've somehow managed to make modern-retro graphics. 8)
WOW :o, This looks fantastic Zach :D... I mean ;D.. CoffeeBob :P.
Looking forward to seeing more ;D, great work!!
cianty: Thanks man! Took a good fifteen minutes to render that tiny scene, it sure was worth it. :)
CaptainD: Thank you, I'm glad you like it! It took a lot of tinkering to get it all to 'feel right'.
Zenger: *puts fingers to ear* Hear that, Zach? They seem to like what we've got so far.. ;D Thanks man!
Quote from: CoffeeBob on Thu 30/06/2011 16:45:26
cianty: Thanks man! Took a good fifteen minutes to render that tiny scene, it sure was worth it. :)
Ha ha, 15 minutes? Awesome. :o It definately was worth it!
Quote from: cianty on Thu 30/06/2011 18:32:29
Quote from: CoffeeBob on Thu 30/06/2011 16:45:26
cianty: Thanks man! Took a good fifteen minutes to render that tiny scene, it sure was worth it. :)
Ha ha, 15 minutes? Awesome. :o It definately was worth it!
Looks like I was mistaken, it was the higher res render that took 15 minutes. The pictured render 'only' took six minutes. ;D
Well, then it was double worth it. Near triple-worth-it. Congratulations! :)
Cianty: Heh, indeed it was. :D
Here's another little visual update. I finished up the new version of the interrogation room and adjusted the apartment scene some (just a few subtle changes like ambient occlusion and some discrete glow around the lights.)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/Largo/apartmentandinterrogation-x2.png)
The interrogation room might look a bit less complex than the apartment scene, but it took a whole 4 and a half hours to render (lots of reflections, increased filtering to make the bricks less blurred, etc.)
Not a lot else to add. I'll work on touching up the rest of the scenes as I get home from work during the week. The game is making progress, slowly but steadily. ;D
The screens look great, but I wonder if the characters which are shown on the screenshots in the first post will match these backgrounds or if they will stick like a fly to a wall. Or are you also redoing the characters?
I thought the same as SuperDre after seeing the second screenshot (interrogation room). The scene looks very 3Dish/realistic now which makes it hard to imagine it with the characters. I don't mean to turn this into the critics corner, just thinking out loud... and saying: I'd love some screenshots with characters in them. :)
This is looking really amazing! Looking forward to playing :D
SuperDre: Thanks a lot, dude! I'll take that into consideration. So far they've been blending in pretty well with the environment, I'll try to post some proper screenshots soon with the new backgrounds so that you guys can judge for yourselves. :)
cianty: I see what you mean. I might skip the ambient occlusion for the indoor scenes, since it almost adds too much depth for the scenes, when combined with the simpler character sprites.
Like I mentioned above, I'll try to get some screenshots up on the boards to let you guys see how it all looks together, perhaps in the critic's lounge so that I can get some general feedback on the bg's too. :)
Sughly: Thank you very much, dude! :D
No visual update just yet, but I've finished up another two backgrounds for the game. They might need some additional polishing, but they're both pretty close to final. Look out for some proper screenshots, hopefully soon... -ish. ;D
Hello duders (and dudettes)! ;D
I bringeth you, dear AGS community, proper screenshots!
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mbtk_newscreen01.png)
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mbtk_newscreen02.png)
Still work in progress, but at least some progress has been made. Hooray! :D
Also, I wrote a little blog post on my website today, in which I explain a bit about the process behind making the background art for this game. Check it out if you're interested (and comment on it, if you like.)
You can find it here; click me! (http://perdiv.com/2011/mbtk-new-background-art/)
Niceeee! Like it with the characters in there.
I like it! Yellow brick and lighting was better in the first room imho.
Hey there, fellow adventure fanatics! Bet you're surprised to see this back at the first page of threads, if you even remember this little game.
Well, as a veteran forumite/lurker, I know better than to necropost without a good purpose. I'm stopping by here again to let you all know that this game has not died. It's been alive and well the whole time. Well, save for the fact that I haven't had a lot of time to work on it when school started again last year. I did manage to squeeze in a few hours for MBTK every now and then though, so I thought I'd let you all in on what's been going on.
Most of the work done on this project since last summer was in the form of polishing the dialogue and tinkering with existing backgrounds to make them look prettier. Aside from that, the only proper update the game received was a side walk cycle for detective Francis, which you might've already seen if you follow my updates on Twitter or my website. Here it is, for anyone who hasn't seen it yet!
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/francis_side_walk.gif)
Since a few weeks back however, I've managed to get more proper work done on MBTK, like rendering the new backgrounds for more of the scenes, redrawing the walkables, hotspots and whatnot accordingly, since I've tinkered with the render camera for the scenes as well.
To prove that this is just not vaporware-talk, here's a couple of screens of familiar scenes, and some render previews of some of the more recent scenes. ;-D
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/mbtk_wipscr_01.png)
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/mbtk_wipscr_03.png)
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/newapartment_nightversion.png)
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/newoutsidekitchen_render4.png)
A-and a final bonus, a frame-peek at Gabe's walk cycle, which I started today/tonight:
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/mbtk_prevags_gabewalk1.png)
That's all for now, hope you all enjoyed the update! :)
I'm so looking forward to this :D
Glad to hear it, nihilyst! ;-D
I've been making more progress the last few days, finished some animations, re-drew the walkables and such for a couple of scenes, tweaked some cutscenes.
If anyone's interested in more visual proof of progress, here's the finished version of Gabe's walk cycle, which I posted a sneak peek of a couple of posts back.
(http://perdiv.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/gabe_walk_side2x.gif)
Until next time, keep on adventuring!
How did I miss this all the time? Looking great. Can't wait to play it :)
Thanks, selmiak! Glad you like it! ;-D
No visual update this time (boo, I know!) Made some talking animations for Gabe and Francis the other day. It was a lot harder to make them look good than I thought, thankfully I found some Fate of Atlantis sprite sheets and drew inspiration from their talking anims. Gabe's turned out pretty good, looked good in-game too, but I'll probably redo Francis' as his looked a bit.. awkward, to best describe it. :-D
That's all for now, I'll drop in for another update when I feel I have enough to report, as usual. In the meantime, any comments are welcome, of course! ;-D