Adventure Game Studio

AGWEII: “Silver Brand”

The Story:

While out scavenging in the forbidden epicenter of the “Metal Graveyard”, Princess Ta’Meryl Fawx is separated from her friends and protectors. On her own, she finds herself trapped in an ancient Sky Carrier, which still shows the battle-scars of a conflict already hundreds of years past. With no food, no protection and nobody to do the thinking or fanning for her, the young Princess may soon find an even more forbidden shiny thing or two, which could alter her own destiny… forever!

Screenshots:
Expected completion date: May 23rd 2011

PLANS: Well, I actually created a blog (www.migoart.com) a little while ago when I started digging into this project officially! While working on a bigger adventure game however, I thought it would be best to uh... be smart, and make something shorter first to experiment with animation and get a strong grasp on how to schedule the whole process. I mean, I have used this engine to make a game before, but nothing ever completely FINISHED. (It did have a start and ending, but I never inserted more than filler graphics.)


So, with that, I decided to make this Mini-Adventure in 4 WEEKS time. That leaves me this week, and the next to complete it. I'm thinking it will take me the rest of this week to finish the base graphics and program it, so I can try my hand at making an animated opening sequence and ending sequence in my final week. My brother-in-law is even helping with the music for this little Adventure!

The game takes place 150+ years before my main game, and will probably be the first of several mini-stories before I get to the main one. The protagonist of this game is actually the young, equally immature, protagonist of my main story. Luckily, I can use her after such a huge span of time, due to her being an Elf!



Thank you for your time: I'm off to get some more work done. Tomorrow. After sleep.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to make them! Also, if the moderators find this post a bit... Heavy, let me know and I'll slim her down.

Holy heck. You've got this in just a few weeks? I salute you!
The graphics are pretty, the story sounds pretty good... Overall, this could be pretty darn great.

If you get near the finish and realize you're running out of time, PLEASE don't rush the game just to meet an arbitrary deadline. I did that, it isn't pretty!

Looks promising. I know this is not critics lounge, but be careful with all "tacky" stuff (especially the font)

Quote from: Ouxxey_games on Thu 12/05/2011 09:14:36
careful with all "tacky" stuff (especially the font)

I have to agree. The font used for the dialogue is bordering on unreadable.

@WHAM It's been slightly painful to do, but yes! And... yeah, I'm worried that if I push the schedule too hard, I'll accidently squeeze some goodness out of the game. And we want to keep all the goodness! So, I may extend my deadline a week or two at the max!  This is supposed to only help me schedule future projects afterall, but that doesn't necessarily mean I want this project to suffer! Thanks a lot for your super kind words: They will help me out a lot! :)

@Ouxxey &  Hudders You're both right! I was kind of experimenting with fonts when somehow colors got in the mix, so then I added an outline temporarily... which... may have made it worse. Any good font suggestions? I'm thinking ANIME ACE since it's so legible at a good distance. I realize that since the game is text-based, this is SUPER IMPORTANT! As is the GUI, which I am considering trimming down to almost non-existant.... Thanks guys! :)

Quote from: MiGo on Thu 12/05/2011 12:08:20
Any good font suggestions? I'm thinking ANIME ACE since it's so legible at a good distance.

I prefer Digital Strip if you're set on comic-style fonts. But Anime Ace is readable too.

Quote from: Hudders on Thu 12/05/2011 12:12:56

Quote from: MiGo on Thu 12/05/2011 12:08:20
Any good font suggestions? I'm thinking ANIME ACE since it's so legible at a good distance.

I prefer Digital Strip if you're set on comic-style fonts. But Anime Ace is readable too.

Ooooo. Then I shall seek out this "Digital Strip", when I get on my actual PC. Thank you, Yes.

http://www.dafont.com/digital-strip.font

Wow! Super helpful guys. Thanks! I actually looked it up earlier, but found that it's Free for "Personal Use", so instead I found one labeled as just plain FREE. Just in case. (This project is FREE, but I want to TRY and pick a font that I can stick with to use on a bigger project later on to maintain familiarity.)

If my thinking on this is wrong, and it's really as free to use as anything else, then feel free to correct me!

I'm "anal" when it comes to the "fine print".

Oh, and UPDATE! I'm totally almost completely done coding the first room! Then I'll script the second and lay down all of it's items and animations. As is, I'm thinking now would be a good time to try the Parallax plugin, or try and learn that I should have done that FIRST. We'll see!

I've got some Gangster Gophers to animate! >8D

Quote from: MiGo on Thu 12/05/2011 17:18:48
Wow! Super helpful guys. Thanks! I actually looked it up earlier, but found that it's Free for "Personal Use", so instead I found one labeled as just plain FREE.

Anime Ace says "free for personal use" on that site too.

If you aren't selling the game, there shouldn't be any harm in it.

Also, I've just realised I was thinking of "Creative Block" not "Digital Strip".  ::) It's what I use when drawing stupid comics. (http://waffleicious.co.uk/archives/28)

Creative Block: http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=2858

Thanks again guys! I'll try out this font tomorrow, and hopefully have some character interactions to show in my next screenshots! :)

Now, if you wanted to be SUPREMELY awesome, you could come on down and program my game for me? 8D

Yes?

No?

Ok then. Sad face.

Quote from: Hudders on Thu 12/05/2011 21:02:06

Quote from: MiGo on Thu 12/05/2011 17:18:48
Wow! Super helpful guys. Thanks! I actually looked it up earlier, but found that it's Free for "Personal Use", so instead I found one labeled as just plain FREE.

Anime Ace says "free for personal use" on that site too.

If you aren't selling the game, there shouldn't be any harm in it.

Also, I've just realised I was thinking of "Creative Block" not "Digital Strip".  ::) It's what I use when drawing stupid comics. (http://waffleicious.co.uk/archives/28)

And just noticed there was an actual LINK hidden in there! They're not stupid. More like, Stupid Funny. :P

That's a compliment!

I split/moved your post to the Critics Lounge.  Please keep C&C requests out of the production thread.  Thanks.

New Link:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=43526.0

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Sun 15/05/2011 04:05:51
I split/moved your post to the Critics Lounge.  Please keep C&C requests out of the production thread.  Thanks.

New Link:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=43526.0

Oh! It was actually more of a passing thought as I updated, but thanks! While I was quite surprised, I can understand nipping the small things in the bud before they can be misinterpreted by others and become bigger "things". If that makes sense (It comes with Management of any kind.).

Anyway, I'll split my update out of the C&C and bring that back over here. That way as to... well, keep things as you ask and make things easier. Besides, your setup does make a lot more sense, although I did not think about it at the time.

I will do as you ask in the future. :)


I've programmed and animated another character into the mini-adventure, and now have to make:

LIST:

PORTRAITS:
Snickers
Chuckles
Kerra
Trevor

BACKGROUNDS:
A big picture of something
A special hallway
The special room
A sky

ITEMS:
Something shiny
A tall object
A toy of some kind


ANIMATIONS:
Flirting
Playing
Opening
Ending
A Story
Picking Items Up
Squatting Down
Survived!
Crawling


And THAT'S IT! 8D

Next Week is devoted to the animations. This week is everything else, and finalizing of the programming.

It's going to be a LONG WEEKEND.

Oh, and here's Fawx in a bikini:

Don't say I never contributed anything.;P

Wow, this is getting better :P

But on a serious note, I like robots and elves, and the art style seems to be very influenced by animes, which is nice. I cross my fingers hoping this will be as a awesome as I expect it to.  :D

Quote from: Dualnames on Sun 15/05/2011 15:16:08
Wow, this is getting better :P

But on a serious note, I like robots and elves, and the art style seems to be very influenced by animes, which is nice. I cross my fingers hoping this will be as a awesome as I expect it to.  :D

Thank you! Actually, I'd say I'm mostly in love with the art style found in DANGER GIRL. Although yeah, I was influenced by anime at one time.

UPDATE:
PRIMARY PUZZLES PROGRAMMED
FIRST TWO SCREENS COMPLETED

TESTED
TESTED
RETESTED

New Portraits!

And now I have 2 more rooms to do!

So, off to sleep I go! CIAO!

Unfortunately, I'm having to postpone the Game's release for a maximum of 2 more weeks. The animating is taking all of my time away from adding the music and sound effects! Without the 3, the game feels like it would come out pretty lame next to what it CAN be.

Do note: I will also be taking the time to work on how I make the next game, since this one starts out more puzzle-centric... which is a personal peeve of mine that I fell into due to the necessity of PRACTICE! I needed to know I could program almost everything I need to later... and now I know.

I'll update with animation snippets later, and some new screenshots since I revised all of the backgrounds. (There are 5 in the mini-Adventure.).

Ciao! And thanks!

Wow! So, that's all six weeks. I've done just about everything that needs to be done... except there are presently two issues keeping me from just going ahead and releasing it: The guy that was helping me do the music has been too busy to actually make me any music, and I spent the last two weekends hanging out with my girlfriend and family (Since my GF was leaving for the entirety of this week, and soon for almost an entire year!

So, my ending animation is not complete!

However, to show just how much I've gotten done, without "giving too much away", here are a dozen or so screenies:

OPENING ANIMATION:
(http://migoart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/GameAnimation001.png)

(http://migoart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/GameAnimation002.png)

(http://migoart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/GameAnimation003.png)

(http://migoart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/GameAnimation004.png)


ANIMATION 02
(http://migoart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/GameAnimation005.png)

IN-GAME:
(http://migoart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Screenie05.png)

(http://migoart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Screenie06.png)

So the sad fact is: I may need another week to find some good music, or just plain find a new composer, animate the ending and another scene I'd just LIKE to put in to help move the story forward.

And with that... I'll probably need to go put in a request for composition help won't I?

(BTW If anyone knows WHERE I am supposed to ask for music help, or could just help with the music, let me know!)

Any questions? :)

Looks very stylish :D

Quote(BTW If anyone knows WHERE I am supposed to ask for music help, or could just help with the music, let me know!)

Those requests go here! (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=36479.0)

Regarding music, if you're in a hurry to hit that 6 (?) week deadline, relying on other people at this late stage would be a mistake.  Google some royalty free music sites.  With some digging you should find what you need.

Yeah. I knew my schedule was botched when my initial composer fell through, so instead of mixing and matching free music I find online (like from Newgrounds), I feel the project will benefit from a single musician. That, and I can use the extra time to put in all those little changes I'd like to see! :)

Ah, if you plan on blowing off the deadline anyway, then there's no reason not to polish it as much as you can. :)

Argh! You make it sound so horrible! I leave this post wounded. But yeah, I totally want to polish it up!

Pff.  Don't sweat it.  I've never met a single deadline I've ever set for myself.  :)

Yeah... I mean, I can meet my art deadlines usually. Except for the animations, since I'm a total amateur when it comes to those!

But just today, before work, I managed to extend the episode, redraw some portraits, edit most of the dialogue, take apart my motorcycle to put new brakes on, realize my brakes were not the problem, find and fix the problem, then reassemble my bike! So, all-in-all, a productive day!

Now I'm stuck with a dilllema you might have an opinion on: To have animated portraits or not to have animated portraits. As is, they are animated, but my new portraits are more my style, and. I have not animated them yet. If I don't animate them, I could create a broader range of emotions! Hrm....

I'd say no, adding a jiggling mouth to a big portrait never did much for me apart from distract me from the character, and lavish, fully-animated portraits doesn't make sense either because of the requirement it be non-specific and looping. Adding the capacity to show different emotions is much, much more important than giving your character an animation with no emotion; but lots of smooth, braindead writhing.

It depends.  I decided for the next Blackwell game to not do animated talking portraits.  It's less work, and you can make more of them.  Also, I realized that the animated portraits look very silly unless you can do proper lip synching.  It can be done in AGS, but it a mechton of work.  Grundislav once tried to explain the process and my brain shut down in protest.  As with anything, it depends on how much time and effort you are willing to put into it.

Well, I took your all's advice and tried just still portraits. Unfortunately, we found in testing the game that the lack of animation kind of... somehow... killed all the funny of the jokes, and made every little bit of dialogue seem like a test of patience. So, I went back and am Animating several different expressions for each. Lots more work than I intended for a simple game, but... well, it's fun to do! (I'd try to do Lip-Syncing again, but well... my game is supposed to be a little silly anyway! Thank Goodness.)

Oh, and one of my animations for the game got entirely corrupted. Luckily, I back up all my stuff... unluckily, I had done a lot of work after said backup!

Doesn't matter though: We found a new game-breaking glitch, which we fixed! (We, being Girlfriend and I, who tests all my stuff!)

Finally: I just need to animate the ending, give a few more days for composers and Voice Actors to e-mail me and then I can figure out how to actually put the voices in alongside the dialogue, input the new music, input an animated ending, revise any dialogue and then... Finalize it! Yee haw!

Note: I haven't e-mailed any composers or Voice Actors yet, since I was just giving people a couple of days to e-mail me to begin with!

Woo! Okay, I'm well aware it's been MONTHS since I started on this: And the fact is: I have not been working on it. Yep, it's been pretty much done since forever ago, but I've been awaiting Voice-Acting/Music for some time. I've also been busy with my new job working in a factory (Messy work, but somebody's got to do it.).

The only reason I haven't put the game up is because the way I did the ending just doesn't work without voices. So, I'm considering re-working that so I can just put the darn thing up!

However, if I wait just a bit more, well odds are I'll have everything I need to finish it as intended! In fact, I have been receiving voices, and now have the music in-game!

A sample of the voices can be found here:

http://migoart.com/about/the-game/silver-brand/characters/

I'm not going to leave this unfinished, and everyone is still on-board!

Thanks everyone. :)

Miranda!  She's awesome.