Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! - Update 13th February

Ali · Mon 26/12/2005 21:42:26

NELLY COOTALOT: Spoonbeaks Ahoy!

Pre-amble:
All-too-recently (Edit: About a year ago) I decided to make a game with my girlfriend as the hero for a Christmas present (she loves adventure games, I'm not just the worst boyfriend ever). Needless to say, I didn't finish it in time. She was happy with just a demo though, and I submit it now for cutting and brutal examination. I'm aware that I'm on well-trodden ground making a pirate game, but my aim wasn't to be startlingly original. I just wanted to make a game that would be fun for my ladyfriend and hopefully for other people too.

Plot:
Nelly Cootalot, fearsome pirate and lover of tiny and adorable creatures, is charged by the spirit of a dead buccaneer to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a fleet of birds known as Spoonbeaks. Her adventure will bring her face to face with the nefarious Baron Widebeard as she uncovers corruption and wanton punning in the Barony of Meeth.

Screenshots:

Features:
640x480 Resolution
Verb Coin Interface
The opportunity to aquire morally dubious items for minor aristocrats
More skull imagery than you'd expect in a game that centers around cute animals
Real-time particle effects courtesy of Akayumo's Particle Engine.

Demo:
The aim of the demo is to get a hold of a map of the Barony of Meeth. The demo's puzzle(s) won't actually be in the finished game, they're just there to give you something to do.
http://themonkeyhut.tripod.com/Nelly_Cootalot.zip
(Use 'Save Target As...')
If you're not using Internet Explorer:
http://www.xtrafile.com/uploads/cb29de7b39.zip.html (Thanks to GBC!)

Update 13/5/6:

Well, progress has been slow because I've been very busy with other projects. I haven't forgotten about Nelly though, and I don't want you guys to forget either so here's a quick update.

After realising I'd missed my original optomistic deadline, I decided to rethink the weaker parts of the plot. I've added new rooms (drawn new backdrops) and worked out new puzzles where they were needed. The completed game should now be comfortably medium-length. I hope.

I'm glad to say that m0ds has agreed to use his magic fingers* to create some midi tunes for the project. You can hear what he's been up to on this thread:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=26241.0

Update 1/10/6:

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy is currently about one 'pick-up' interaction away from being playable start-to-finish. I still have to script the final cutscene and plenty of non-essential interactions, but the gameplay itself is in place.

Also, here are some of the latest tunes m0ds has worked up:

Main Theme

General Exploration

Uh-oh!

The game now uses Akayumo's Particle Engine for some special effects too. I'm tempted to set myself a deadline for completion, but I'm so busy at the moment that would be foolish. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I can ask for beta-testers.

Update 19/12/6:
The game's so nearly finished I can taste it... no wait, that's metal. Is that bad?

It's missing a few music tracks and a couple of sound effects, but the bulk of the work is done. Check out the statistics below. I plan release the game in early 2007, depending on how long beta-testing takes. My plan is to make sure everyone has forgotten about it in time for the 2007 awards.

Update 13/2/7:
The music is complete, and it's all gorgeous. Huzzah! All that remains is dropping the tracks in place, and a wee spot of beta testing.

Statistics of a now pretty damn accurate nature:
Plot/Dialogue: 100%
Background Art: 100%
Character Art: 100%
Animation: 100%
Scripting: 99%
Music/Sound: 100%

*Fingers may not be magic.

Hammerite · Mon 26/12/2005 21:44:59

Aw... thats sweet

scourge · Mon 26/12/2005 22:09:28

heya, the graphics are great. Hope the game goes well!

Ali · Mon 26/12/2005 22:20:48

Quote from: HillBilly on Mon 26/12/2005 21:58:45
The .ZIP don't seem to be a valid archive to me. Is this happening to anyone else?

The previous demo was compressed in Power Archiver, this .ZIP was compressed in Winzip: http://themonkeyhut.tripod.com/Nelly_CootalotWZ.zip
(Again, 'Save Target As...').

I hope maybe that helps.

ildu · Mon 26/12/2005 22:27:28

Looks really nice.

Squinky · Mon 26/12/2005 22:55:16

Although it looks really awesome, I am unable to use either on of those zips. Which is a bummer, because I love pirate games and this looks nice...

Ali · Mon 26/12/2005 23:05:29

In a last ditch attempt to validate the word 'available' in the thread's title, here is the demo as zipped by Windows XP's compressed folder function:
http://themonkeyhut.tripod.com/NellyXP.zip
If anyone has successfully unzipped the demo, or can explain why this might be happening, please let me know!

HillBilly · Mon 26/12/2005 23:07:49

Neither one of the latest versions worked, sorry. I'm using firefox, if it's of any relevance.

EDIT: Yes, that's the problem. I downloaded it via IE and it worked fine.

Ubel · Mon 26/12/2005 23:37:30

Ali, this is pure awsomeness! I just so very much love this game already! The style of these graphics is so adorable and fun. And I love all the animations, they're so smooth and nice to watch. All in all, I really like the look of it.

This is just the kind of game I'd love to play.

Good luck! I'm waiting to play this one.

Kweepa · Tue 27/12/2005 01:20:00

Those graphics are freakin' awesome! Beautiful style. Lovely animations too. Please finish!
I too had to use IE to download.

Candle · Tue 27/12/2005 01:48:56

Here is the Nelly_CootalotWZ.zip on a free site that should let everyone download it.
http://www.xtrafile.com/uploads/cb29de7b39.zip.html

big brother · Tue 27/12/2005 04:29:24

Oh man! This art is tops, sprites AND backgrounds! I love the style! I know this isn't the CL, but I would suggest dropping the "Nelly Cotalot" from the title. "Spoonbreaks Ahoy" is original enough without having the odd proper noun preceding it.

Ali · Wed 28/12/2005 11:50:24

I'm starting to feel self-conscious about how many times I've posted in my own thread, but thanks very much for the firefox friendly link GBC. I hope you don't mind if I add it to my original post.

Many thanks for the feedback from those of you that managed to download the demo. With regard to the title, I chose the 'Nelly Cootalot' prefix because 'Spoonbeaks Ahoy' is a profoundly obscure half-reference to a comedy series called The Mighty Boosh. So you see to me it doesn't sound original, and I like long titles anyway.

ManicMatt · Wed 28/12/2005 14:22:53

Neat game you are cooking up! Playing it made me forget about all my woes... which means you managed to capture the audience, so to speak!

Mozesh · Wed 28/12/2005 15:44:07

He sure does, I just loved the demo.
Really great atmosphere, style, smooth animations and you just gotta love those characters

scourge · Mon 02/01/2006 21:19:46

heya, awesome game. I hope you finish this. I love the graphics and the idle animations rock. Its a very interesting and awesome style!

ThreeOhFour · Tue 03/01/2006 11:58:19

Pirates rock. Your game design rocks. I am very much looking forward to the completion of this game.

SSH · Tue 03/01/2006 14:46:00

Links seem borken to me, but here's a mirror: http://www.americangirlscouts.org/agsuploads/files/Nelly_Cootalot.zip

btw, good of you to follow in the Princess Marian tradition of games as presents to the "other half". However, you'll need some work to bring your gfx to the Princess Marian standard

stu · Tue 03/01/2006 17:07:19

wow, that's fantastic.
the style you have for the graphics is tops, and the animations are nice and smooth.
good work!

Dr Lecter · Tue 03/01/2006 18:24:55

Nice

Mats Berglinn · Tue 03/01/2006 21:47:07

Seems interesting. I like the paperdoll/comic/cartoony style.

I'm seeing foward to the full game. Is it much left before that?

I'll play the demo whenever I can, it's too late right now for me. Perhapes I'll try it tomorrow.

Iv4n · Tue 03/01/2006 22:00:32

Thanx SSH. It seems your to be the only working one. Great game so far.
Is it because of the default "Force alternative letterbox resolution" tunred on that at some central parts of the screen some letters looks like a little bit blured or something? Maybe you should consider turn this option to be accessible.
btw when I try to save, the game crashes. It tells me that it's some kind of script error at line 577.

ps. I can collect unlimited amount of bottles in my inventory :

.

stu · Tue 03/01/2006 22:33:11

Quote from: Iv4n on Tue 03/01/2006 22:00:32ps. I can collect unlimited amount of bottles in my inventoryÃ,Â :.

You alcoholic you!

Candle · Wed 04/01/2006 02:34:03

That link I posted went bad so here is a new one and should be good for a year.
http://www.upload2.net/download2/vmzXHHJ8TCqVyaU/Nelly_Cootalot.zip.html

m0ds · Wed 04/01/2006 22:51:02

I haven't had any success downloading it from that website yet, but I will keep trying!

From what I can see the screenshots look awesome, looks like such a cutesie game! I'm impressed!! I see your music level is only at 2% though so if you need that to boost significantly do get in touch!!

Anyway - im certainly keeping my eye on this project

Lush!

ida · Thu 05/01/2006 16:24:02

Played the demo and was really impressed!

Loved the movement of the characters and there was a real feeling of a pirate environment

Erwin_Br · Thu 05/01/2006 23:51:06

Unable to download. Even the latest link from Candle doesn't work. It just doesn't save the zip file to my HD for some strange reason. It only saved the file once, but I had to delete it because I couldn't open it (invalid archive, it said) and now it doesn't even download it anymore.

--Erwin

stu · Fri 06/01/2006 07:22:00

here's another mirror. i even re-zipped the game, just incase anyone else got Erwin's, "invalid archive" error.

http://www.safewire.net/stu/NellyC.zip

Ali · Tue 10/01/2006 10:36:13

Thanks for all the mirrors guys, am I right in thinking it's the Tripod site that's hosting the demo that won't let people download it properly?

Quote from: Iv4n on Tue 03/01/2006 22:00:32
Thanx SSH. It seems your to be the only working one. Great game so far.
Is it because of the default "Force alternative letterbox resolution" tunred on that at some central parts of the screen some letters looks like a little bit blured or something? Maybe you should consider turn this option to be accessible.
btw when I try to save, the game crashes. It tells me that it's some kind of script error at line 577.

ps. I can collect unlimited amount of bottles in my inventory :.

Thanks for spotting my mistake at line 577, I'll look into that. As for the bottles, they are only there to test the scrolling function on the inventory screen. For now it's up to the player to drink responsibly.

I'm not sure what you mean by "blurred" though on the lettering, the game actually isn't in letterbox, its at 640x480. Do you mean speech or buttons? Has anyone else spotted this?

Thanks again to all of you for the positive feedback,

Ali.

Mats Berglinn · Tue 10/01/2006 21:28:50

I have played the demo and I like the game so far. The humor seems quite Monkey Island-esque, which is a good thing in my book.

I look foward to play the full thing.

otter · Wed 11/01/2006 05:16:06

OK, so this is definitely Yet Another Pirate Game, but... awesome graphical style!Ã,Â I'd love to see a full game done this way.

Ali · Sat 13/05/2006 10:54:22

There be a detailed update i'the first post, mehearties. Here be another screenshot for ye to study wi'yer only good eye:

Ahoy,

-Ali.

Play_Pretend · Tue 16/05/2006 01:11:56

I just want to say, I love the graphics style you've got going on there...I haven't played the demo yet, but I can't wait to download it when I get home tonight. This looks like it'll be a lot of fun. Cheers!

Ali · Sun 01/10/2006 12:08:11

See the first post for a full update or, if you can't be bothered, click below to hear some of the latest tunes m0ds has worked up:

Main Theme
General Exploration
Uh-oh!

Sparky · Sun 01/10/2006 17:58:44

Looks marvellous, Ali! I was sold on the art style as soon as I saw the first screenshot. Unfortunately neither of the demo download links seems to be working for me. I'm using a PC with the Firefox browser. Keep up the good work- I definately want to play the full game when you finish.

Mats Berglinn · Sun 01/10/2006 18:23:41

Oooh, great! Almost finished! Can't wait to play it.

skuttleman · Sun 01/10/2006 19:23:18

I'm really looking forward to this game! Looks great.

Abisso · Wed 04/10/2006 11:54:05

Hey, very nice game and graphics.

And I must say I'm very sorry that your girlfriend lost an eye: she's cute enough anyway.

sthomannch · Thu 05/10/2006 12:46:19

A nice demo, I enjoyed playing this short demo and I hope to see more sometime. I also want to offer my condolences for your girlfriend (and her eye patch). She looks and acts cute, even with one eye :-)

Ali · Fri 06/10/2006 12:51:42

Thanks for the feedback! My girlfriend does have two eyes, the eyepatch is just for fun. At least, it was for fun until I realised that it meant I couldn't just flip the walking views. From that point onwards it was torture.

I'm sorry people are still having trouble downloading the demo. I'll have to find a better place to upload the final game! Sthomannch, you seem to have succeeded in downloading it recently. Which link worked for you?

m0ds · Tue 24/10/2006 01:20:02

Music is at about 50%! Yay!

Ali · Tue 19/12/2006 10:42:50

Here's a screen from the November 'Release Something':

There's light at the end of the tunnel, this game will be finished!Ã,Â See the first post for a progress update.

JackAnimated · Tue 19/12/2006 12:50:37

Cant wait till its finished. Looks amazing.

Jack

i k a r i · Tue 19/12/2006 16:23:17

Im glad to see the project is alive and almost finished.

You never mentioned if it was going to be full or mid lenght, tell us please!

Ali · Tue 19/12/2006 17:20:54

I think that it'll be mid-length. I did mention that in one of the updates on the first post, but in truth I don't really know how to gauge its length.

I played it through in about 40 minutes, skipping all dialogues and non-essential interactions. Bearing in mind that I know the solutions, I hope it'll keep a first-time player busy for an hour or two. I guess I'll have a better sense of it's length once I get to beta testing.

Thanks for your interest guys!

buddha · Wed 20/12/2006 22:45:15

Great to see that it's nearing completion! I've been looking forward to play your game for quite a while. Good luck on giving it the final touches&finishes

Peder 🚀 · Sun 07/01/2007 22:21:59

Yay, looking forward to play it when its done!!

It is looking really good!!

Peder.

auriond · Sun 07/01/2007 22:50:58

Oooh, an hour! That's good enough for me (I'll likely get stuck and take longer

)

Beta testing is exciting! It means the game really is pretty much complete ^^

Dualnames · Tue 09/01/2007 22:15:47

i don't know if anyone did notice it but that character looks like wally b. feed. From Curse of Monkey Island.

m0ds · Mon 05/02/2007 01:00:01

Music at 92%. I can't wait for this game and I'm the FCC hold up!

Cue witty response

Soon!!! And I just want to thank Ali for letting me in on this project, it's been incredibly fun! 2 tunes to go, Ali - providing you ever come online

They will be with you by the end of this week.

CosmoQueen · Mon 05/02/2007 03:00:29

YAY! It's almost done! I can't wait. The main character is so cute!

Sparky · Mon 05/02/2007 08:37:32

I'm really excited. Thanks for the good news, m0ds!

m0ds · Mon 12/02/2007 20:37:03

No problem! The music is done and dusted!

Looking forward to playing this game

NOTE - soundtrack is 30 mins long

thewalrus · Tue 13/02/2007 15:49:23

So I guess we don't have that much longer to wait..... Good luck getting it out soon.....

m0ds · Wed 21/02/2007 22:14:36

Beta testing has begun. And if you're a beta tester please pm me cos I'm stuck!

thewalrus · Thu 22/02/2007 19:33:40

Get those beta testers moving! I really wanna play this game! Can't wait for it's release!!!

Peder 🚀 · Thu 22/02/2007 21:54:08

I am beta testing with all my powers!!!

Peder.

m0ds · Tue 06/03/2007 14:42:24

Word on the street is......tomorrow? :o

Steel Drummer · Tue 06/03/2007 15:00:54

:o Sweet! Are you going to release the soundtrack separately?

m0ds · Tue 06/03/2007 15:07:19

Yup, it'll be available on my music page a few days after the release

Nightfable · Tue 06/03/2007 16:34:17

Woohoo, I can't wait to play this!!

Ali · Tue 06/03/2007 16:45:09

Quote from: Coffee Lady on Tue 06/03/2007 16:34:17
Woohoo, I can't wait to play this!!Ã,Â

You don't have to!

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=30440.0

Moderators, please lock this thread.

Thank you!

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! - Update 13th February

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