Red Dwarf: The Game - DEMO NOW AVAILABLE!

[Blobby 101]

Hi everyone, I have a new game in production!
I say new, I haven't actually finished an AGS game before but I did post a thread on my last attempt at a game. That was fairly soon after I started using AGS so I wasn't very used to the engine and the project predictably failed.

The game is based off the Red Dwarf TV series which I have been a fan of for quite some time and was surprised at the fact that there was no video game for it. So I thought i'd make one

Red Dwarf: The Game

Here are my screenshots:








As you can probably tell from these screenshots, you play as Kryten, the service mechanoid on the Jupiter Mining Corporation Vessel Red Dwarf. Lister, Rimmer and The Cat are also in the game, with Lister being a playable character in one section.

My Progress so far:
Story: 60%
Scripting: 70%
Graphics: 20%
Puzzles: 35%
Sound/music: 0%

Credits:
So far, everything is by me. When I get the final graphics made and the music and such then obviously, other peoples names will go here too.

Content Advisory:
Language: Mild/none (unless the word "Smeg" counts, in which case it's Frequent )
Violence: Mild
Nudity: None

I have a request, could anyone who has a reasonable amount of skill in character art, background art or animating (or all three but not necessary) please help out, although I can manage the scripting, puzzle design and story I just can't make the graphics all look the same style or animate.

Development Diary:

06/03/10
Started thread, added more progress on Dialogues. Started creating custom GUI.
07/03/10
Finished GUI. Started intro sequence.
24/06/10
I should probably update this more Done a lot of progress since last update, A few other views and talking animations are in there now, also a couple of puzzles have been started.
02/08/10
Probably getting towards the end of the game. After this it's just all polishing it up.

Thanks for reading this thread, please tell me what you think of it

EDIT: 24/06/10 - Demo out, check the last page for download link.

[RedTalon]

As a fellow Smeghead, I approve of this endeavor.

Looks great! 

[Blobby 101]

Hey, thanks!

I also forgot to mention that if anyone can do impressions of any red dwarf characters they are welcome to do voice acting I can usually do a good Kryten voice but it's just not sounding right when I record it

[DutchMarco]

Hey, thanks!

I also forgot to mention that if anyone can do impressions of any red dwarf characters they are welcome to do voice acting I can usually do a good Kryten voice but it's just not sounding right when I record it

You mean, if you listen to the recording, you hear it the way everyone else hears it, which is not the way you want to believe it does.

BTW great idea for a game, I wonder what the story will be, and the puzzles too of course.
Good luck with it!
May the smeg be with you!

[CaptainD]

This could be awesome... will Lister learn to play the guitar in this game?!? 

Really, really looking forward to seeing how this one progresses.

[Blobby 101]

You mean, if you listen to the recording, you hear it the way everyone else hears it, which is not the way you want to believe it does.

umm... yeah, pretty much xD

This could be awesome... will Lister learn to play the guitar in this game?!?

hehe, that depends on your definition of 'learning to play the guitar'. Competently? No. But he'll certainly try xD

Thanks for the great comments everyone! I'm pretty much working flat out on this at the moment, I might possibly have a demo to post up tomorrow but don't hold your breath

[Dualnames]

I like the toaster! In fact one of my favorite shows. If you just put some real emotion on Rimmer's dialogs and you manage to grab the series feeling properly, then SMEG it will be fun!

[poc301]

LOVE it!

I am one of the few people in the states who even know this show exists, and plan on playing it when done

I see the toaster...  Will there be Toaster Heaven?

I also notice the male version of Holly.  Nicely done.

Are you going to use the theme song for the intro/main screen?  If so, what version?

Keep up work on it, I love it.

Thanks,

Bill

[Blobby 101]

I also notice the male version of Holly.  Nicely done.

Thanks - I never really liked Hattie Hayridge's Holly as much as Norman Lovett's

Are you going to use the theme song for the intro/main screen?  If so, what version?

I have got the later theme (the more upbeat, electric guitar one) in there at the moment but i'll likely have to change it at some point (copyright and the like).

Again, thanks a lot for all the kind words.

[Chicky]

I'm a big smeghead, i even have a t-shirt saying so!

Good luck with this, don't cock it up

[Blobby 101]

Thanks Chicky, I'll certainly try not to!

[Ali]

I think the majority of my formative years were spent watching and re-watching Red Dwarf. What a surprise that I turned out to be extremely cool and not a loser after all. If you can capture the charm  (excluding series 7 and 8 *shudder*) then this game will be a lot of fun!

As you can also probably tell from the screenshots, Kryten is always facing forward, this is because I can't make good graphics for anything, there are currently no character animations in the game, or side views for any of the characters. I have a request, could anyone who has a reasonable amount of skill in character art, background art or animating (or all three but not necessary) please help out, although I can manage the scripting, puzzle design and story I just can't make the graphics all look the same style or animate.

I haven't enough time to offer to help, but I think you've started out with a style you can't maintain.

I know this isn't the Critics Lounge, but why not try something charmingly very low-res like Duty and Beyond. Red Dwarf was hardly a hi-fi show, so why not embrace retro graphics? Think of the way lego star wars captures characters with very little detail. Perhaps you would find it easier to draw the other characters in a style like this:

[m0ds]

Looks like it will be great And you're right, Red Dwarf point n clicks are much needed, and should be in their hundreds. Good luck at pioneering

For inspiration, here's my edited down version of the Red Dwarf theme, because the original has a really lame bit in the middle!

http://screen7.co.uk/junc/reddwarf.mp3

[Blobby 101]

Thanks again everyone!
Ali: Thanks for that, I might change the style of it to be honest, as much as i'm quite fond of my Kryten sprite your right, i'm not able to maintain it.

Mods: Hah! That's a really cool version of the theme! I've had an offer by someone else on the forums to do music for the game (which i'm accepting) but would you mind me using that version for the intro sequence? I think it would really fit what i'm thinking of for it

Oh, and i've done a sketch of Starbug for use in one scene - Here it is:

[Mr Flibble]

I had a Red Dwarf game on the go a while ago, 320x200, pixelated graphics in the style of sprites I sometimes post in the C&C... nothing ever came of it though.

Good luck!

[CaptainD]

I'm really hoping there'll be room for:

Albert
Ace Rimmer
Lister's socks
Rimmer's mother
Stasis pods

[Dualnames]

Also as List would say:
"Koooonchaaaaansskiiiiiiii" (Altogether)

[CaptainD]

Also as List would say:
"Koooonchaaaaansskiiiiiiii" (Altogether)

Yeah but only if she's the snooty Scottish lass of the first season, not the one who invaded the last couple of seasons...

[poc301]

Also, you HAVE TO have a gazpacho soup inventory item, or puzzle, or something.  I always found it funny that it was to blame for Rimmer's demise.

-Bill

[neon]

I have the uncomfortable feeling, that we've missed something here in Germany, because it seems like this series has never been on german TV. Or maybe I just missed it.

It sounds interesting.

[Stupot]

I'm really hoping there'll be room for:

Albert
Ace Rimmer
Lister's socks
Rimmer's mother
Stasis pods

There's a distinct lack of Duane Dibbley in this list.

[Blobby 101]

hah, yeah - I have to add Dwayne Dibbley in here somewhere!
I'm not sure about Gazpacho soup. I never found that joke particularly funny - I'd probably have done something similar in Rimmer's shoes - I'd never even heard of Gazpacho soup!

[Mr Flibble]

The Gazpacho Soup joke is a classic.

"I thought they were laughing at the waiter! But they were laughing at me... as I drank my piping hot Gazpacho soup..."

[Dualnames]

Never liked the soup joke, it's as appealing to me as the Konchanski pipe joke. Though I really liked Rimmer's scenes from back in the red dward episodes. Especially the salute.

EDIT: Also the legion episode. "What's this square piece of art?" "I call it the 'light switch'"

[SSH]

My favourite RD joke is the Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Reintegration Into Society 

[Jared]

The soup 'joke'? To me that's not just a gag, that's a great encapsulation of Rimmer's entire character. In his refusal to take responsibility for ANYTHING he ever did in his life he's gone off the rails to the point where he blames a gaffe he made a dinner party nobody probably remembered a week later for destroying his entire career.

"I bet Toddhunter had gazpacho soup for lunch since he was five! No, I bet he was BREASTFED with it! One nipple gazpacho one nipple chardonnay!"

Now, if I can just go on an unrelated tangent...

"Everybody dead everybody is dead dead is everbody everybody is dead, Dave."

"A superlative suggestion, sir, with just two drawbacks. Firstly we don't have any defensive shields. Secondly, we don't have any defensive shields. Technically this may be just one problem, but considering the scale I thought it was worth mentioning twice."

"Six? Do me a lemon. That's a poor IQ for a glass of water"

"Hey, oxygen's for LOSERS!"

I'll definitely check out this game when it's finished.

[Mr Flibble]

I say "Do me a lemon" far too often.

Edit: Also a word of advice, from where I stuck in development hell in my early projects. I notice you're working on the intro. Do this last. Make the game first.

[poc301]

Good idea about the intro last.  In all my games I've done the intro first, but in the forthcoming Murran Chronicles 3, I am 80% of the way through the game, and have still not even touched the intro sequence.  It makes for a better development process in my opinion.

-Bill

[Blobby 101]

Good ideas guys, but I am hoping to make the majority of the game original, not too much ripping off xD

and good call about the intro I guess, there is some important info that needs to go in the intro though so I may just replace it with a single screen telling you the info for the time being.

[roll]

I was expecting a red dwarf. 

[CaptainD]

I was expecting a red dwarf. 

I think he means it will be Red Dwarf in the true style, but with an original storyline and jokes, not just ripping off the jokes we all know and love.  Though we all have favourite bits from the shows, for a game this is the best idea I think - otherwise it would just be a pastiche rather than a game. 

It's Red Dwarf, Jim, but not as we know it...

[Kweepa]

I was expecting a red dwarf. 

I think he means it will be Red Dwarf in the true style

And I think he means a russet hued individual with dwarfism.

Looking forward to see what you make of this game. Like the show, it'll live or die by its humour...

[Blobby 101]

hey everyone, not much progress on the actual game ATM, been a bit busy with school and things but i've been working on updating the graphics to a much more manageable style like Ali said - I'm making it lower res for a start so this might take a bit of time to re-do the backgrounds and things but i think it will definitely pay off in the long term.

[Galen]

Just a minor thing: I'd quite like to see Rimmer and any other holograms in black and white, it was how they were originally intended to be shown but budgets and easy of filming got in the way.

[Mr Flibble]

They also wanted occasional interference effects, which obviously would just have been too difficult to do. Back to Earth had a few of them.

[Blobby 101]

hmm... yeah - that would be quite good actually. I'd heard that they were originally going to do that (and the comic books all had Rimmer in B/W as well) but i hadn't thought about doing that in this game. I'll see how it looks

[Blobby 101]

Sorry for the lack of progress recently - this spriting is harder than i thought
I'm getting it done though, no matter how long it takes

P.S: Just to demonstrate how bad I am at pixel art 

[Pixelton]

Thats pretty funky actualy I like it.

[Jeopardy]

I agree, change the skin tone and you're golden

[Ali]

Glad you're sticking with this, I think that's a great start. Though, you'd be better off using a .png/gif rather than a .jpg.

Don't worry if you're not happy with the sprite yet. Put together a little cast of characters in that style, post them in the Critics Lounge and wait for the paintovers to come rolling in!

[Blobby 101]

thanks guys - I'm working on Rimmer at the moment - If anything he's a bit harder to make recognisable, He's not very distinctive xD

[Blobby 101]

Sorry about double posting but I have a question about copyright for you, Do you think it's best i email Grant Naylor (the company) about whether it's OK to carry on with this game, just to make sure it's all cleared before i've gone too far with the game or should I just leave it and get on with the game?

I mean, there are advantages either way - If they do clear it, I'll know that I'm fine to make it and i'm not going to be stopped, but if they say no then that's the end of the project right there and then. If I just leave it then I get to make more of the game, but I could get a C+D order at a later date :/

What do you guys think?

[Ali]

This question has come up again and again, I guess you read about the King's Quest fangame business?

My feeling is that they ought to be pleased to stumble upon a tribute game. LucasFilm is wise not to go around shutting down every StarWars tribute. They should be particularly pleased since the show lost its way to such an extent in the last two seasons.

*Shakes fist at new Kochanski*

On the other hand, what ought to happen, and what actually happens... well. Incidentally, I would have expected the BBC to be the copyright owners, rather than the writers or their company. But I could be wrong!

[markbilly]

As long as you aren't planning on selling it just carry on. Make sure you put a disclaimer saying "this is a freeware, independent fan game. I do not own any of Red Dwarf. I love Red Dwarf!" at the start of the game.

Chances are they won't spot it at all, or at least not until it's released. In which case, you loose nothing even if they do decide to shut it down.

[Blobby 101]

OK, and that's a good point Ali, I think i would contact Grant Naylor first and i I get a reply saying to contact the BBC instead then I will, but i'm not too sure - I mean, a new series has been commissioned by Dave (the channel behind the Back to Earth specials)  And not anything to do with the BBC :S

Oh, well - We'll just have to find out I guess - I'll just plough on with the game.

[Ali]

I'd forgotten about that, for some reason I'd suppressed my memory of the few dreadful minutes I watched of the Dave version.

Nonetheless I suspect the BBC still owns some of the rights. The Dave episodes were released on iTunes by BBC Worldwide according to this press release.

[EnoRed]

Sorry for the lack of progress recently - this spriting is harder than i thought
I'm getting it done though, no matter how long it takes

P.S: Just to demonstrate how bad I am at pixel art 

Maybe try widening Kryten's head a bit, making the chin and the top of the head a bit less narrow. Also, the arms could do with lengthening and maybe straighten his posture, since the bent legs don't quite look right for Kryten who is usually a lot more upright and stiff.

The armour detailing is pretty good though, and the subtle shading on his head does a pretty good job making it look angular without it being too distracting.

[Mr Flibble]

Don't email Grant Naylor. I did with my project and I guarantee you they won't support it.

[Blobby 101]

Don't email Grant Naylor. I did with my project and I guarantee you they won't support it.

Oh, That's a shame Lets just hope i can finish this before anything gets out

[Jared]

On the other hand I can guarantee the BBC Legal Department won't send a response back.

Well, not entirely, this was perhaps eight years ago when I naively emailed to say "You won't C&D me if I do who a Doctor Who game, right? Cos otherwise I won't bother!" They might have sharpened their game since 

[AnalogGuy]

No room for Mr. Flibble?   :

[Dualnames]

Don't email Grant Naylor. I did with my project and I guarantee you they won't support it.

MrFlibble, can I really ask you to publish parts of their e-mail to the AGS forums? It would be really interesting to see what it's like.

[Mr Flibble]

I don't have a copy of it any more, but it was from some underling, not either of the big cheeses, and it was along the lines of "we could not permit or condone unauthorized use of Red Dwarf even for a non-profit."

Actually, now that I remember this, they actually said it was because an official Red Dwarf game was under consideration. I doubt it was very SERIOUS consideration, but they wanted to keep the market clean and clear for themselves.

[Blobby 101]

Urgh, Education.

It has a really bad habit of getting in the way of good, adventure game development time!
As you can tell, progress is sub-snail slow at the moment, thanks to a few minor setbacks and other commitments but I AM still carrying on with this. I know this is perhaps more of a critics lounge type question but as I'm not really asking for crit and more just asking a general question of opinion, it should be fine here;
Which of these background styles do you prefer?

Old/classic 2D:


New/3D:


I'm not sure myself, 3D makes it easier to work with for me (I'm a 3D modeller generally before a 2D artist) but seems to come across as a bit more tacky. It also leaves me in a similar position as I was in before with not being able to model humans very well - The upsides though is that I can animate things easier in 3D than in 2D.

So, please post your opinions

I've made my mind up to carry on with the old style (but you will see the 3D background in it somewhere )

[roll]

Can you put a real red dwarf in this game please?

[Blobby 101]

Ok everyone, It's here at last, The first demo


DOWNLOAD


A few things to point out:

*Very few backgrounds are final, I'd say maybe the quarters one is and possibly the drive room. Most of the others will be replaced or at least touched up. The elevator is the most rushed there is - I know how out the perspective is so don't worry

*Same goes with the character sprites really, Kryten is probably the most complete - either him or Holly but these will hopefully be redone at a later date.

*There are NO walking animations. Due to a lack of animation skills, No walk cycles are in the game so the characters just glide at the moment.

Because of these things, the game may not feel particularly smooth, and I apologise. Hopefully having a demo out may increase interest in the game/belief that it will be finished and persuade someone into helping out

Either way, Enjoy - there's 1 full puzzle in this demo which I felt was a reasonable difficulty for the beginning of a game, although some hardcore adventure gamers may say otherwise! Oh, and a little bit of background - The game's full intro (after Holly's finished speaking will show Lister, Rimmer and the Cat heading off to investigate a meteor heading for the ship - That's why they're absent at the moment.

Cheers!

[Captain Lexington]

Man, so after a long while of loosely knowing about Red Dwarf, a few days ago I noticed the whole thing was on Netflix On Demand. So after watching four series in as many days, I remember "Didn't I see something about a Red Dwarf game a while back?" so I head to the search thing and find the thread. After downloading and playing the demo (which was great! I laughed out loud at the twenty minutes/five hours joke) I head back to the main board and make my rounds. Upon going to the In Production board, I see that this one...is third from the top. -_- After almost a month of inactivity! Updated the very day I started watching Red Dwarf!

Anyway, I like it.

[Blobby 101]

haha, brilliant! thanks

you have no idea how good that is to hear to be honest - after reading the same jokes several times throughout testing you stop finding the at all funny and I was worried that no-one else would find it funny either xD

As you're the only person I know of so far that has played it through, how difficult/easy did you find the puzzle? were there any bugs that i need to sort out?

Cheers for playing anyway

[Captain Lexington]

The puzzle wasn't too difficult because there weren't that many hotspots, but as for what specifically to do I did feel a little lost. Maybe some more direction from either Holly or Kryten's internal monologue? I don't know, however you feel is best. I knew that I was supposed to be communicating with Spacebug, but as to how I was supposed to, I only guessed because there were about two different things to click on in each room.

[Blobby 101]

OK, thanks - I'm adding more responses and things at the moment, trying to make sure there aren't any actions you can do that just return silence any more - hopefully I'll be able to add some helpful comments in with these

[Captain Lexington]

Oh, and as for making Rimmer more distinctive - take that smile off his face! Rimmer never smiles except in self-satisfaction.

I'd almost recommend switch Rimmer and Lister's faces, but Rimmer doesn't scowl all the much either.

[CaptainD]

OK, thanks - I'm adding more responses and things at the moment, trying to make sure there aren't any actions you can do that just return silence any more - hopefully I'll be able to add some helpful comments in with these

Looks good so far, apart from the dreaded "i" instead of "I" as a personal pronoun, the writing's pretty impressive - authentic but not simply copying from the show's dialogue.   

[Dualnames]

Apart from some quirks in terms of programming, I'm still excited on this. The humor is in the right direction IMHO. I found some bugs if you're interested.

[Blobby 101]

Yeah, cheers
What bugs did you find/ what did you mean by programming quirks? xD

[Dualnames]

Yeah, cheers
What bugs did you find/ what did you mean by programming quirks? xD

The lack of responses for starters. Also when I saved, i couldn't bring the pop-up GUI. Thank god TAB was left, and I could still play the game, when I used the first item from the two i got from the AR goggle (not the IO Module), on the Vidscreen, I went and I could still pick up the items.

[Blobby 101]

The lack of responses for starters.

Yeah, I'm working on making it so that every action will give at least some kind of response.

Also when I saved, i couldn't bring the pop-up GUI

I'd noticed this. Turns out that when I customised the save feature, I'd forgotten to make the Iconbar visible again xD so that's now fixed.

when I used the first item from the two i got from the AR goggle (not the IO Module), on the Vidscreen, I went and I could still pick up the items.

Ah, yeah - thanks. I hadn't thought about that. It's because I was using the Vis Chip in the players inventory to check if the items had been taken. You see I'm learning AGS scripting as I go along with this project so at the time of making that section of the puzzle, I didn't know how to use variables. I'll fix that now


Also I've been thinking about the scope of this project. I have lots of ideas that I'd like to put into this game but I'm not sure how well I can make them all fit into the same storyline so I had an idea.
How would anyone feel about this being a reasonably short game (not stupidly short, just not a full length game) and instead did a Telltale Games thing where I make it like a Series of Short episodes? It'd be like a new season of Red Dwarf just in 2D, being a game and not being on your telly...

[Dualnames]

  Good to know, you're already on those. Apart from that, I got the Red Dwarf feeling, and that's great. Plus you got CaptainD fairly excited.

[CaptainD]

Good to know, you're already on those. Apart from that, I got the Red Dwarf feeling, and that's great. Plus you got CaptainD fairly excited.

:o :o

H2G2 filled my comedy sci-fi adventure game yearnings for a while, but now that I've finished that... 

[CaptainD]

Short but sweet.  The puzzle was logical enough, though the inventory handling seemed odd (I'll elaborate in a PM if I can work out how to describe it!  :)

Looks good.  With the missing bits filled in and a good Dwarf plot, this will definitely be a game well worth playing.

[Blobby 101]

Still working on this bit by bit, In case anyone's interested I've decided to make this an episodic game instead of a single long game - It'll be like a new series of Red Dwarf
Not really much else to show, I've been working on making the initial puzzle a bit harder and sorting out various small bugs. Hopefully shouldn't be long before there's a finished game for you all to play

[CaptainD]

Still working on this bit by bit, In case anyone's interested I've decided to make this an episodic game instead of a single long game - It'll be like a new series of Red Dwarf

- Good decision! 

Not really much else to show, I've been working on making the initial puzzle a bit harder and sorting out various small bugs. Hopefully shouldn't be long before there's a finished game for you all to play

- Great news!  8)

[CosmoQueen]

OMG a Red Dwarf game! I'm really excited to play this. I really love this show

[Blobby 101]

Wow - I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I was last on here. Took a bit of a break away from these forums for a while but now I'm back so it's time for some dwarfiness

There's not much visually to show most of the improvements have been fixing bugs and adding more responses to items) But I have come across a major problem which I don't understand. I've made a thread about it
here.


cheers, Rhys

[CaptainD]

Glad to hear that this project is still going! 

Better programmers than I (which means just about anyone...) will be able to help you with your coding problem, no doubt.