.NET Profit - update 11/21/06

[That Guy]

from out of left field comes...

.NET PROFIT

It is the year 2055.  Justin Hunter, a security consultant freshly hired by CyberWatch Incorporated, has just been transferred to their Beijing office where most of their most hush-hush R&D occurs.

It all just goes downhill from there.

Features:

* Fully-functional CyberLink palmtop allows interaction with the local .NET
* "Jack in" to .NETspace to help solve your problems in the "real" world
* hi-color, 640x480 resolution images
* SCUMM-style interface

09/02/05 update:

Phew.  I had thought I'd had a functioning SCUMM gui, but as I delved deeper into interactions beyond getting the sentence constructed I realized I had something very fancy that didn't actually *work*.  I spent most of yesterday rewriting my SCUMM interaction scripts, and now it's all good.  Gonna get back to the artwork in another day or so.

Script's about 25% done, but I'm going to do the rooms and what-not on an incremental basis

09/06/05 update:

Yesterday, I finished Justin's walkcycle.  Today, I decided it sucked and redid it from scratch.  much better.  Now that Our Hero can walk and talk, it's time to modify the SCUMM interface a bit and get crackin' on the implementation of the first act!

09/10/05 Update:

SCUMM system is pretty much complete.  new screenshot of Justin in his hotel room posted to the thread.

09/12/05 update:

Replaced a few screenies showing off intro and opening cinematics. Fixed more bugs in the SCUMM system.  Oy.

[Mordalles]

wow, looks cool. like the table. nicely done.

eh, which guy?  just kidding.

[AlbinoPanther]

Realy like the idea of .NETspace(is it going to look like BASS LINCspace).
And cyberpunk part of adventure genre need a fresh blood.
Just try to make a good story your graphic is in cyber mood and we are down with that.
You have our encouragement to finish this game

BE VIGILANT
``````````

[DCillusion]

Hey, That Guy, is that you in the .Net Profit splash screen?  Are you Justin?

[ildu]

He can't be Justin. Justin exists in year 2055. It just isn't possible...or is it? :o :o

[That Guy]

yes, that's me in the title screen.  8)

I'm heavily into the use of photos for reference and paintovers, so I figured it would be easiest to use my own photo for Justin since I can get more, in any pose, as needed. 

Justin's girlfriend will be based on my sister-in-law, also.

[Candle]

Nice stuff .

[DCillusion]

A cyberpunk future where you live in China & hook-up with your brother's wife?

......quite a healthy fantasy life you've crafted for yourself.

[That Guy]

A cyberpunk future where you live in China & hook-up with your brother's wife?

......quite a healthy fantasy life you've crafted for yourself.

LOL 

My wife's Chinese, so it's her sister I'm modelling the character after.

There's a lot of rationale behind the setting and character choices.

The game's set in China because, for one thing, nearly every cyberpunk type setting is Japanese or urban America.  It's too cliche.  Plus, I've spent all of one day in Tokyo but months in northern China, and I have bunches of photos of the cities I can use.

My wife's a camera-shy accountant with a name unpronounceable to most Westerners.  Her sister's a camera-hogging attention-getter who used to be a small-time TV personality, with a much more palatable first name.  Plus, I have several full-length photos of her dressed nicely I can use for reference - including one of her and me (aka, "Justin") posing in the middle of Tiananmen Square.  That picture was the whole inspiration for it, really... don't be surprised if it finds its way into the game somehow.    Conversely, I have very few pictures of my wife where she's not looking incredibly businesslike (actually, I just have very few pictures of my wife, period), which isn't very suitable for a game...

[That Guy]

bump.

you know you wanted to see another screenshot. 

Game'll be on hold for a few weeks.  I'm moving cross-country and my computer's going into a box for a while.

[ildu]

The latest screenie looks good, except for the heavy texturing on the walls and the wood texture in the indentations of the door. Also, a big thing, add basic shadowing to the bedspread. And what's up with the player character's shoes. They need to be darker, bigger and more detailed.

[That Guy]

They're basically grey slip-ons.  The kind "Weird Al" Yankovic wears, 'cept not as colorful.  I have three pair myself, but they're all of the black "kung fu" variety.

That bedspread... oh, how it gave me fits.  I'm not happy with the way it textured at all, but I'm terrible at doing cloth.

[ildu]

You should still make the slippers bigger and maybe erase some of the heal area from them to make them look more like slippers.

And I didn't mean the texturing on the bedspread, just the shadowing. Now the shadowing is flat, whereas it should be darker on the side.

Also, I just noticed this; the pose on the player char is quite awkward-looking. Looks like he's adjusting his crotch. I would have the other hand also in it's pocket, so then you can avoid any left/right side animation discrepancies.

[Hendroz]

yes, that's me in the title screen.  8)

I'm heavily into the use of photos for reference and paintovers, so I figured it would be easiest to use my own photo for Justin since I can get more, in any pose, as needed. 

...and I thought it was John Lennon.... 

Keep up the good work! Doing the game in high res is a good idea. I would have made the two asian guys a little less yellowish, though.

[Totoro]

Aiyaaaa, this game is still not finished? bu hao!  Looks really unique and interesting, keep up the good work.

[That Guy]

Hi everyone,

I haven't been abducted by eco-terrorists or anything... merely packed up and moved halfway across the country.Ã,  It took forever to buy a house, find a job, get unpacked, hook up the Internet, etc... but I'm back, and once I stop being distracted by The Movies (stellar game!) I'll be picking up where I left off on .NET Profit.Ã,  I also got a great new Photoshop book and have been getting much better, I think, so I can produce better-looking stuff in much less time.

Still no word on a release... and I'm actually struggling a bit with how to make the game engaging, since sitting around hacking websites doesn't make for much of a story.Ã,  I don't want to just plain clone Neuromancer, you know?

Anyhow, hope everyone has a great Holiday, and I'll have a new update soon.

[Gregjazz]

"Ai ya, mei guo ren bu hao?"

Hmmmmm... 

[ManicMatt]

Oh you tease! I've had the movies game here for 3 weeks and I haven't been able to play it due to a faulty disc drive! Good to know it's a great game though! (Got half life 2 waiting around to be played too)

Anyway, nice to meet you, and your game has a cool original style! I like sci-fi type stuff so I'm looking foward to this game!

[That Guy]

"Ai ya, mei guo ren bu hao?"

Hmmmmm...Ã, 

It's placeholder text until I can get a proper translation for "You big jerk!"

[scourge]

your graphics rule! The game looks like its gonna rock

[That Guy]

Hey, guess who?

.NET Profit has been cancelled.  I was relying on my wife to be the primary translator, cultural advisor, and supplier of Chinese text for the building graphics... and we divorced late last year.  Few months after my last update, to be precise.

I would like to resurrect the game concept eventually, but for the time being I'm working on another AGS project entitled "No Laughing Matter".  When it's far enough along to provide screenshots, I'll post a thread for it.