(http://herculeaneffort.adventuredevelopers.com/app2shot4b.jpg)
That's right, folks, those hearing aids aren't on the blink after all. The second installment in the Apprentice trilogy is now available for public download!
Check out the game entry here:
http://www.agsforums.com/games.php?action=detail&id=435
Or our official website at:
http://herculeaneffort.adventuredevelopers.com
NOTE: Game includes several original jokes.
Is it? Really??? Woohoo!!!
Downloading now!
Finally! Oh, I can't wait to play it! I'm going to download it right now.
I'm downloading it now! I can't believe it! :)
Oh yeah, oh yeah!!! I was just reading a thread at Adventure Gamers that said that the game was almost finished. I never knew it would be this soon...
/me goes off to play it
Weeeee!! Good job!
but... it crashed when...
Spoiler
...i was doing Navy Joe's pocket game and the game crashed after playing a while...
i got this message:
(Room 4 script line 192)
Error: GetObjectY: invalid object number
This is a very good game as far as I can tell by now...
Spoiler
Strange, I played the pocket game about 30-40 times until I finally understood how it works, but it never crashed...
Yay, it's finished!
I'd download it now, but it would probably be faster to wait for tommorow and download it on broadband than to download it on a 28k modem tonight..
I can't wait! I've been anxious to play this game since I saw the trailer!
This looks very good. Some people are SO talented. Downloading now and waiting patiently. 36% ... 37% ... 8)
Just d-loaded it and played it for about 10 minutes... and Wow! It's a really professional looking game from what I've seen so far.
Once I get a chance to play through it some more, I'll probably give some more feedback. Great job!
*Salutes*
Just as amazing as I'm sure we all anticipated, however I have also run into the same problem with Navy Joe's pocket puzzle. Now and then, while clicking about, the magic wand cursor loses it's yellow aura. When this happens, clicking seems to cause the game to crash, and display the error message that Inkoddi mentioned earlier. Waiting a moment allows the game to catch up and play whatever animation will play, but if you're impatient, or don't notice the loss of aura, the game crashes out. Saving before I started probably would've been a good idea.
Damn! I can't download some thing that big. :'(
:o Woohooo! I was just informed of this on IRC.
Downloading, more feedback to come...
I. Love you. So damn much.
I played it only a bit, but it seems great so far, great job guys!
And I would like to salute you for finishing such an ambitious project in such a short time. Thumbs up!
Excellent! I'll download tomorrow when i'm back at my own place!
jaja! very good indeed!
nice job!!!!
(shuts himself in the pc room with 5 large pizzas and 6 pack of light pepsi)
been waiting for this for quite a while :) 10% ...
ps, welcome back ginny :)
GREAT game so far but I'm stuck
Spoiler
I can't work out the pocket game and i can't find a cog anywhere. hope someone can help.
Thanks OSC :)
I'm a bit stuck, but I'd rather not get hints until I'm desperate. Absolutely amazing game, and very inspiring. Are you planning on adding voiceacting (good voiceacting that is ;))?
A small thing I noticed: In Pib's bedroom, even though there is no dolphin figurine (I wonder why :D ;)), the game acts as if there is. A little voice in my head is telling me it's intentional, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
And, the crashing thing happened to me too.
I'm loving it. ;D
I'm a fair way along (or at least I have managed to solve quite a few puzzles).
But I have a question:
Spoiler
I need to get the autograph.
I have already removed the roof cover from the stables. So I'm in speaking terms with the centaurs.
Also, when I try to forge the signature with the quill, Pib says he can't do it because he's never seen the real thing before.
Quote from: Zootyfruit Unplugged on Thu 29/07/2004 18:15:34
GREAT game so far but I'm stuck
Spoiler
I can't work out the pocket game and i can't find a cog anywhere. hope someone can help.
Hiya.. well, as far as the pocketgame
Spoiler
I couldn't really figure out a set patten except.. when two numbers were in sequential order, such as 4 and 5, then the next one you choose would be 6. But if the numbers were not in sequence, then, I couldn't find any kind of pattern at all. Just seemed almost random. It was a lot of hit and miss untill I finally got 3 Bears in order. And at one point it the pocket-game gave me a crash with an 'Invalid Object' error or somesuch.
However, I did find that if the numbers were out of sequence, that IF you did get lucky and guess which one the bear was hiding it, then it would be the same for if the same two numbers are picked again later. So, you could take out a notepad and write down what the order of what 3 numbers give you the bear when you find it.
And for a cog?:
Spoiler
Go to where the girl is working on the diving suit. Examine the machine she's working on, and you'll be able to take/borrow a 'gear', which might be what you're looking for? You can take something else there too.
So far, I think the game is great. Though it's got me a bit stuck for now. But I'll figureÃ, out more after I get some sleepÃ, ;)
Great game but now i am stuck
Spoiler
what do you do to bring down the awning,i know it has something to do with the peg
About the pocketgame:
Spoiler
I'm not sure, but I think you just have to add 2 to the first number. Don't know what happens when the first number is 8 oder 9 though...
Nice. Especially I'm enjoying the music.
Pocketgame:
Spoiler
I actually noticed that it doesn't have to be two numbers in sequence for the correct pocket to be the same, just the first one. For example, 9, 6 and 9, 4 etc all end up in the same pocket. I just used a pen and paper to keep track of which pockets are wrong for which starting number, and knowing which pocket it was not in helped aswell. :)
It would've been nice to be able to bet the copper in the game with Navy Joe. Not that I think he has any money :P.
Got a bit further :)
It's a great game so far but I'm also stuck with that pocket puzzle. I almost thought that it was similiar to the fingerpuzzle in MI2 (remember Bruno, the guy who you only see his hand?) but I was wrong.
I tried to think in the terms of math with plus and minus but it was proven wrong too. Well, I will get it eventually.
[/spoiler] Looks to me the pattern is that you add 2 to the first number.Ã, So if the first is 1 then the answer is 3.Ã, This patter seems good all the way to 8.Ã, I found if the first number is 8 then the answer is 9.Ã, If the first number is 9 (you are going in a circle) then the answer is always 2 (9.....1......2). [/unhide]
Would you guys mind asking for help in the Hints and Tips forum? I stopped reading the 7 Days a Skeptic thread because it got drowned by people asking for hints...
http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?board=7.0
Okay, my responses to a bunch of topics here:
- I haven't been able to reproduce the crashing bug in the Navy Joe puzzle. I will figure it out eventually!
- The dolphin figurine in Pib's bedroom was not put there on purpose. It was the result of a gaggle of mischievous elfs.
- As far as giving out hints, we have decided to recline for the moment. The game will be more enjoyable for you that way (like the old Lucasarts games, when you had to use the hint-line because nobody had Internet connection). You guys seem to be solving the puzzles excellently anyways, so it's not like my hints are needed. :)
- Also, if I have to make enough bug fixes to upload another version, I'm not going to overwrite the old download file, so it won't ruin the download for those of you using download resumers.
Also, I'm sorry about the game size. There's just no way we could've made a game of that quality without taking up that much space. Use a download resumer (Star Downloader is free and good) or I believe there is a website -- something like CDpost.com -- that will burn a CD for you with file(s) from the internet. First CD is free, last I checked about a year ago.
EDIT: I've tested the Navy Joe game and still I am unable to regenerate the crash. Perhaps it has something to do with your computer, or even worse, AGS. I'll work on it. Not sure if there's any more details you are able to give me besides the error code that comes up.
EDIT2: The game should definitely be still beatable, though. Hey, I've beaten it before! :)
So you sayin you're goin to make a new version. I'm not sure if i should download it now or after you've fixed it because i'm still on ISDN.
Anyways.
Finally! I can't believe it's already here, baby i just couldn't believe it is already done. When people usually do big titles like this it takes them years after their deadline, and maybe they never even finish it.
The thing that is better than your games is that you finish them! :P
Well I'm going to download this Boom louder than Yahtzee's new game!
SeqUELZ r0X0RRR!!!!
8)
I'm currently straining my computer greatly by trying to download it everything is so slow.
Edit: Almost there!
Edit: Woohoo! Finally!
Quote from: Geoffkhan on Fri 30/07/2004 03:14:57
Okay, my responses to a bunch of topics here:
- I haven't been able to reproduce the crashing bug in the Navy Joe puzzle. I will figure it out eventually!
- The dolphin figurine in Pib's bedroom was not put there on purpose. It was the result of a gaggle of mischievous elfs.
- As far as giving out hints, we have decided to recline for the moment. The game will be more enjoyable for you that way (like the old Lucasarts games, when you had to use the hint-line because nobody had Internet connection). You guys seem to be solving the puzzles excellently anyways, so it's not like my hints are needed. :)
- Also, if I have to make enough bug fixes to upload another version, I'm not going to overwrite the old download file, so it won't ruin the download for those of you using download resumers.
Also, I'm sorry about the game size. There's just no way we could've made a game of that quality without taking up that much space. Use a download resumer (Star Downloader is free and good) or I believe there is a website -- something like CDpost.com -- that will burn a CD for you with file(s) from the internet. First CD is free, last I checked about a year ago.
EDIT: I've tested the Navy Joe game and still I am unable to regenerate the crash. Perhaps it has something to do with your computer, or even worse, AGS. I'll work on it. Not sure if there's any more details you are able to give me besides the error code that comes up.
EDIT2: The game should definitely be still beatable, though. Hey, I've beaten it before! :)
GREAT GREAT GREAT GAME.
I am really enjoying it and had no problems with crashing or errors.
I like the fact that there are lots of rooms to work on and lots of puzzles.
OK I got stuck a few times..........I am still stuck in lots of places but I think that's what makes the game interesting. If I didn't get stuck I would find the game boring.
So congratulations for the good work and THANK YOU for giving us this great game :) ::)
I think the crashing is dependant on the computer you are using. I've tried to make it crash in the Navy Joe game, but I can't. I even beta tested the entire game again, and I didn't run into any problems.
Czar, I haven't uploaded a new version yet. There are currently only 2 typos and a small bug (the mysterious "dolphin figurine" in Pib's bedroom) that I am aware of and have fixed, but nothing as serious to upload the new version yet.
If your computer is the kind that may crash in certain areas of the game, I can only advise you just to save it often.
Also, to do with the puzzles, just look at all the objects around. We put in hints for everything.
Finally! Downloading now, slowly longing for a faster mirror, only 60 KB/s...
(What? Am I the only one on 10Mb at home? ;D )
By the way, for as long as you don't mind it, I've put up a mirror at http://ggy.ath.cx/apprentice2.zip.
Well, I'm off to play it.
eric
Thank you for the mirror! I will add it to the download list immediately. :)
Huzzah!
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/WeirdGuy.JPG)
While I was playing the game (again because of that puzzle that needs to be complete before a certain point), I got to the above part. This is when you go to the tent, you go into a dialogue automatically. Well, because of this, I think the script for that little guy did not run correctly, so he just sat on the screen doing nothing.
He's not a hotspot or anything, I think it's just part of a script, but here is a picture of the guy that everyone has been talking about. I assume it's just a little easter egg thing, but I thought you guys might want to see it.
EDIT: Finally got the picture to work correctly.
Wow. That's really wierd. Not sure how that got there.
I'm going to look into the game source code again.
Just finished the game (and I have a pretty good idea of what the bonus puzzle is) and I have to say that was great. It was a good story and rather good puzzles that actually were pretty easy to figure out given the hints. Aside from the Quill part, it was all laid out for you as to what to do, you just need to pay attention.
So, I just have to say a job very well done, boys. Keep up the good work.
One bug I did notice, though, was that when you are on the pier, if you are by the diving machine and you click on "walk to main map," you get sent to the main map, although you are no where near the stairs. I'm not complaining about this, because it actually saves a lot of time, but I just thought I'd mention it.
Once again, a very well made game.
Incredible game so far!
This really feels like a Lucas adventure. Everything is so smoothly animated! How? Where do you find the time?
I can only assume the relative lack of posts here is because people are busy playing...
Quote from: Sutebi on Sat 31/07/2004 00:28:49
Just finished the game (and I have a pretty good idea of what the bonus puzzle is) and I have to say that was great. It was a good story and rather good puzzles that actually were pretty easy to figure out given the hints. Aside from the Quill part, it was all laid out for you as to what to do, you just need to pay attention.
So, I just have to say a job very well done, boys. Keep up the good work.
One bug I did notice, though, was that when you are on the pier, if you are by the diving machine and you click on "walk to main map," you get sent to the main map, although you are no where near the stairs. I'm not complaining about this, because it actually saves a lot of time, but I just thought I'd mention it.
Once again, a very well made game.
CJ's pathfinder thingy. :)
HorraY! :D :D
I have been waiting, and I'm sure that it won't dissapoint.
I'll Download it 1st thing tommorow morning! :)
An issue of logic:
What is the LOGIC that will lead Pib to the decision to
Spoiler
drink the potion while standing on the pier? I don't see any!
It is a potion that has an immobilizing effect. So - what is that talk about giving the sea monster a Trojan horse?!? How, on earth, would Pib come to the decision that it would be "wise" to immobilize himself in order to proceed to the monster?..
Congratulations on the game!
I finished it, and I enjoyed it.
Having in mind the size, I expected, however, more (and harder) puzzles and twists of plot.
I remember my excitement and enjoyment over the first Apprentice. That was really fabulous... enchanting. I know that I sound somewhat disappointed. Obviously I expected way too much.
But that is colossal work that you did, and you deserve our applause!
The logic of the Draon puzzle is that it turns you into an object, as Pib can't put people in his book he can use this to hide in the Book, get stolen by the dragon and then come out in the lair.
Quote from: Mephistophilis on Sat 31/07/2004 11:23:32
The logic of the Draon puzzle is that it turns you into an object, as Pib can't put people in his book he can use this to hide in the Book, get stolen by the dragon and then come out in the lair.
Thanks a lot! Really stupid of me... I've been wondering and wondering.
As usual, obvious things are the hardest to see. And now the Trojan horse makes sense.
Excellent work guys....
Everything from music to animation and background art is first rate...
I have`nt had chance to play much but what i have seen impresses me...
greg your music is excellent and fits perfectly.
I `m very green with envy...
Goddammit, why does all the cool stuff happen when I'm on vacation?
The odd thing is I read the GIP thread and replayed Apprentice just before I left...
Like everyone has been saying, everything in this game is great. Good job. Ever thought about releasing a soundtrack for your games?
I agree this is a great game. I loved the animations, the puzzles, the music - everything ;-)
But now I am stuck - or maybe there is another design flaw
Spoiler
I used the sea water to make grog, but now I have no water left to make the golem. Do you just have to make the golem BEFORE you make grog (so I have to restart the game), or is there another way to get any water?
The golem requires FRESH water, so salty brine does not fit the bill.
Ah, okay. Let's see if I can find some :)
Edit:
Yes, I must have been blind ;D
I finished the game, it was great! One of the best AGS games I played so far.
This game is most excellent.
I just finished it, I didn't know what to wait from this one so I loved it even more. Man, that pirate tune at the docks is catchy, I've been humming and whistling every now and then. All the other tunes are top notch aswell, and very fitting too. Graphics and animation are what I expected them to be, brilliant. Puzzles were really good and there were some hard ones, but I managed to finish the game and use hints only twice, and in those parts I had figured out what I had to do, I just didn't know how to do it. Story is getting more and more interesting...
Now, on to... hunt for the secret puzzle!
Gosh, you guys are so awesome. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Outstanding work!
I've restarted playing 'cause of the quill problem and now I'm stuck again but at the t-shirt puzzle. Before restarting i'd success in giving the shirt now pibs doesn't want to give it.... why??? it's another stuck bug??? help please I'd like not to restart again
Quote from: AgsFanatic on Sat 31/07/2004 22:20:25
I've restarted playing 'cause of the quill problem and now I'm stuck again but at the t-shirt puzzle. Before restarting i'd success in giving the shirt now pibs doesn't want to give it.... why??? it's another stuck bug??? help please I'd like not to restart again
You need to know that you need to go to the mansion.
Quote from: Geoffkhan on Sat 31/07/2004 22:29:36
Quote from: AgsFanatic on Sat 31/07/2004 22:20:25
I've restarted playing 'cause of the quill problem and now I'm stuck again but at the t-shirt puzzle. Before restarting i'd success in giving the shirt now pibs doesn't want to give it.... why??? it's another stuck bug??? help please I'd like not to restart again
You need to know that you need to go to the mansion.
Right.... sorry but replaying it fast and i missed a piece of dialog elsewhere... the pibs comment on that was a bit confusing too (perhaps a different something like "no, i don't want to give it away" or something similar would have helped more....)
PS: GREAT GAME...
I've just finished playing, and it was fantastic! I had to restart due to the quill issue, and used 2 or 3 hints, but I absolutely loved this game! The graphics and animations were suberb and I loved the music. The ending has me really excited about the next part :). I liked the golem, it was amusing, too bad we didn't see more of it, I guess it just wandered off ;).
Off to try finding the secret puzzle :).
:o ;D
I'm still downloading so no complaints or praises yet, just wanted to congratulate you on finishing, you guys rule.
I've been waiting for this game ever since I finished the original, and from the comments, it sounds like a worthy sequel, so... yeah... that's it... bye!
I'll be quite flattered if I overhear someone humming/whistling one of the tunes from the game.
I made them catchy on purpose. :)
Yeah, it's all great. But i have one complaint. It is that st00pid annoying music. Who made that anyways?
I thinkÃ, I shouled ouse the old STFU n00b!!
for real! ;P
First of all: Fantastic job! I'm enjoying this game very, very much :)
I don't know if someone already found this bug, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating it: Navy Joe's puzzle (with the numbered pockets) crashed when I clicked one of the pockets. Some message appeared saying illegal object or illegal action (I accidentally clicked away the error msg). You might want to check it out.
One point of critique though: That music is waaay too cathcy, man! I find myself whistling Pib's theme and the harbour theme all the friggin' time! It's driving me nuts and I like it at the same time! >:(
;)
Can't wait for Part 3 and the Find, of course :D
--Erwin
Yeah, we've been alerted to the presence of that crashing bug. I'll see what I can do. So the crash only happens with one certain pocket?
Also, is that the only place that it crashes? Or does it crash in other parts also?
Quote from: Geoffkhan on Mon 02/08/2004 00:38:20
Yeah, we've been alerted to the presence of that crashing bug. I'll see what I can do. So the crash only happens with one certain pocket?
Also, is that the only place that it crashes? Or does it crash in other parts also?
I noticed that the pocket game crashed when I received the same combination two times in a row. For example if he indicates that the first pocket is five and I find the teddy bear, and then the very next round, he indicates the first pocket as being five once again, and so I had to select the same pocket two times in a row.
I'll keep that in mind, but I'm not exactly sure why that would cause the crash.
At present, I believe it is one of these reasons:
- Clicking on a pocket and swiftly moving the cursor off. (this is probably not it, though, because I tested this method for a long time)
- Clicking very rapidly
- Only one of the pockets is acting up. (maybe I scripted one pocket wrong)
What happened for me is the game seemed to hang after clicking on a pocket, leaving a few seconds between the click and the appearance of whatever was in the pocket, and giving you time to move the cursor off and cause the InvalidObject error. This only happened every once in a while, though.
Strange... am I the only one who haven't got the game crashed during the Pocket game? It never happened to me ever. Maybe it's kind of a random error/bug?
I have by the way finished the game it was fantastic. I can't wait for part three and for the moment when Pib is going to kick Ironcrow's metallic butt (not litarely, because that would be too humorous if you see what I mean).
But there was something I noticed that nobody else said about.
Don't read if you haven't finished the game:
Spoiler
Although you see the screenshot of Ironcrow's wigroom it doesn't appear anywhere in the game, plus you only see Ironcrow twice with different wig. Why's that, Geoffkhan and Big Brother?
It does appear if you dress as a Soldier and keep talking to the lieutenant guy, eventually he will say:
"I wonder what devilry Lord Ironcrow is up to?"
and then it will show a scene of Ironcrow trying on different Wigs, including, I believe, Bumpus' (from Sam and Max) wig on a hat stand to the left.
There are some other references as well ....in the shipwreck near the potion is a model of a purple tentacle....
Great little touches like these add to the whole enjoyment.....
"off the subject .....greg i am still working on the MIA project when i can , sorry i have not been in contact much...i`ll have the game finished before the end of the year if its the last thing i do....."
Back to the subject...
HURRY UP AND MAKE THE LAST INSTALLMENT......This game leaves the first game behind by miles.......what will we get in the last game......3d cutscenes...
I thought Action Jackson was gonna win all the awards this year .......maybe not....
Theres a bit of competition...
Foz
QuoteThere are some other references as well ....in the shipwreck near the potion is a model of a purple tentacle....
And also Green Tentacle model on the shelf in the stable. I don't actually want to be picky but the correct term for funny references in Adventure Games are "in-jokes".
Oh, there's a lot more "in-jokes" than just that. But I'll leave you guys to discover them. :)
Thank you so much, Redwall. You have given me a good idea how the crash occurs. So it is a matter of computer speed, which is why I couldn't get it to crash. But I'm going to put some code in to prevent that anyways.
Not sure 3D cutscenes is quite what we're going for in Apprentice. That might not fit the style. Right now we're beginning work on The Find -- we're all sick of working on Apprentice. :) We'll make the last installment of Apprentice after The Find, then.
EDIT: The updated version is now available. It has replaced the old download link. Don't worry if you're in the middle of a download of the old version, because I didn't overwrite it.
Another great game - and a lot longer than the original! The graphics and sounds are fabulous. I still suck at these LucasArts kind of puzzles, and don't really enjoy them - same thing with No Action Jackson - but at least the bonus puzzle was much easier to find this time around.
Two thumbs up. Looking forward to The Find!
Is it just me, or did that sunset at the end look a lot like the ending of Full Throttle?
I had a whole lot of fun playing this game and can't wait for Apprentice 3: Checkmate! Though maybe you should change the name to something else besides Apprentice 3, because he's now a fully fledged wizard. Oh, and I loved the mice that jump up and say Bom inside the book. PLEASE start working on Apprentice 3, I really want to see what happens and I want more adventure out of the story.
I can't wait for The Find aswell, I'm sure it'll be of the same quality. I think there's a certain feel to the name Apprentice that suits this, so I prefer the name you have already :).
And btw, I love the irnoy of the game. :D
Glad to hear people are enjoying it!
GarageGothic: Yes, indeed, that sunset is similar. I used the exact colors FT used because I wanted to evoke the same feel. You've got some good eyes there! You might want to take out an insurance policy on them or at least lock them in a safe when you go to bed at night.
JBiker51: I wish our cloning project didn't fall through, otherwise we could make a whole army of myselves and Gregors to work on multiple projects (maybe take over the world while we're at it). But right now, we both need to take a break from Apprentice and work on an entirely different (better?) project. I know that if I had to redraw one more frame of Pib, I would probably drop kick the monitor out the front window.
However, I have started the design document for Checkmate and come up with some (hopefully) pretty good stuff so far. It looks like the third installment will be longer than the second and have a bit of a darker tone.
As far as the name goes, we also realized the Apprentice misnomer, too. But between Master and Pib, Pib will always be Master's apprentice. I know this sounds like a cop-out, but it's also important for people to recognize that Checkmate belongs in the Apprentice trilogy.
After spending a few days trying to
Spoiler
find a book to lure the dragon with
, I finally read a hint. That puzzle sure was tricky, I don't understand how one should figure it out. I thought
Spoiler
the potion was to be used for giving Seacookie a head start in the race or something
Still have a bit to go, will come back with my full opinion after finishing...
EDIT:
Right! I've dunnit now...
Lovely game! Great graphics and atmosphere in the game. The only downs of the game is the problem described above, and the pixelpushing needed to find some stuff. Otherwise - a masterpiece! Will definately play the last part aswell!
Wow! The animations, backgrounds and music are superb!!! Character development is very well done too. Story is a bit different, but enjoyable. After seeing the pirate girl animate, I'd have to say someone knows there anatomy pretty well to animate it like that! ;)
Splendid job to all that created this wonderful game.
I just finished the game. Like the first one it is very well done in any category. Nice twist in the end.. really makes you anticipate part III
Big thumbs up!
Now I wish I had time to play this. I'm in the middle of backing up all my data and doing a complete windows reinstall, so unfortunately I can't play it at the moment. I did have a look at it and it is awesome looking, and the dialogue is cool.
One more question to the designers before this thread nears the second page. This is more of a general question, and I considered asking it in PM, but thought I'd share it with the rest ;). I also considered making into a whole new topic at the Adventure Talk forum, but I'll do that once I have more ideas gathered. This is partially due to the article Ian wrote about conversationg, but I've been pondering this long ago too, so here goes:
I noticed in some places in both Apprentice I and II, that there were references to characters, events, places, etc, that we have never seen and may never see in the game. I can't point out a good example at this time of night, but I noticed comments like "That sign looks just like a hat my great-uncle Jerald used to wear for parties." (hypothetic naturally ;)).
When these things end up in a game (such as Apprentice) I always wonder how you add that in.
One theory I have is that you add it on the fly, making a note of the idea possibly, for future use, but in truth you just invented that great-uncle Jerald while writing the conversation. This can be tricky cause it's a bit random, and you may not get the idea of adding that in. This is a quick way to give characters lots of depth though, in my opinion. For example, that off-the-top-of-my-head comment (a response to looking at a sign prolly) could be very good at convincing the player that the main character has always had that great-uncle, and makes it seem like the character has a history.
The other theory I had for doing this was actually writing out a (relatively) complete history for (almost) every character, in this case with a family tree full of all sorts of quirky characters, and try to reference them in the game. Of course, I doubt you would think of a great-uncle who wears hats the shape of french fries or something absurd like that, so fitting it to your needs can be done. In more serious games however, having a solid history to shape personality and comments etc might be a good idea. Plus it must be fun, and probably encouraging, to have a document/biography of a character to read, or even to add with the game as an extra (only if there won't be sequels though, cause that could slightly ruin some of the tension or surprise. possibly not such a good idea to release it actually). Some people didn't like reading lots of documents and books and the diary in TLJ, but I found it highly enjoyable, and would love to have the option to read a long imaginary history book about an adventure game world. It can be so much better than real history :D
On second thought, maybe I should post this in Adventurea Talk :). I guess I just had to let that out, but my real question is, what did you do when writing the conversations? Make it up or pre-write it, or perhaps something completely different?
That's the second biggest linguistic-oriantated essay I've ever seen!
Yeah, for background story I have a general idea (no written out lineages or anything) but I mostly make it up as we go along. Every time I make a reference to the past, I keep track of it (ex. Uncle Grimstone, Duraflex twine) to keep things consistent.
We derived Navy Joe from the word "Navajo" (Valley speak pronounciation :)) when we were trying to come up with a "look at" description" for the rug in Pib's room. That gave us the idea of a wandering peddler type character, who played a decent-sized role in The Knight's Move.
In the third game, I'm planning to have a part where Pib visits the ruins of Grimstone's laboratory. But I digress.
Ok, I finally wrote out the post to discuss these thoughts:
http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?topic=16171
You are welcome to discuss if you have anything to add to what you said here. Thanks for sharing your "method" :)
Just had to add my own two cents. I only managed to download this game recently (modem connection *sniff*) but wow, am I glad I did ^_^ What a complete... game. The graphics (and especially the animation!) were gorgeous and had a great style. The music was beautiful, the story was cool and kept you wanting to play as opposed to some games which leave you wondering why you should be trying to do anything at all. It wasn't too hard (well, I got stuck in a couple of areas and it was REALLY frustrating but I can't necessarily blame that on the game).
What impressed me was that you didn't scrimp on the animations and cut scenes. Everytime I thought I'd seen pretty much everything the game had to offer, some cool, different cutscene'd pop up. Fantastic job ^_^ I can't really emphasise it enough. I expect to see awards on this thing come next year.
I just have to tell you guys that I get chills down (and up) my spine!
The graphics has a very developed style, totally magnificent.
The music is the best adventuregame-music I have ever heard!
You should put out the soundtrack by itself also.
Great puzzles I loved them.
Something that would be awesome would be speech if possible, then you probably would get tired of me pestering you with fan-posts ;)
There seems to be a bug in the Load GUI, the down arrow doesn't work.
Major bug found! I think..
I used the gear on the oven hole before the rats were in there. And now they skip that hole when I use the stovepipes.
Is this a bug or am I stupid?
Quote from: Synthetique on Sun 07/11/2004 23:19:54
Major bug found! I think..
I used the gear on the oven hole before the rats were in there. And now they skip that hole when I use the stovepipes.
Is this a bug or am I stupid?
No, it's not a bug, as it's part of the bakery puzzle. So, I guess this means that you're just stup- stupendously misguided. Yes. That's right. :P
Woohoo that's my fav puzzle! Glad to hear there's no bug!
I have finally gotten time to finish this.
It is one of the best AGS games and deserves the awards it got. The graphics are simply oustanding. The music is awesome. I do feel your puzzles are bit unlogical (at least for me ;D) and story a bit like Monkey Island in you have three trials and want to become a pirate/wizard. Though it was originally executed and still one of the games made in AGS. Well done brothers.
i'd like to ask how do i get to the bonus puzzle for this... thanks =]
Little hint: There is an item you can't pick up until a certain part of the game.
Gah!
Apprentice 2 works fine on the Mac AGS player but it crashes right near the end when giving the silver to Master.
Does anyone have screen caps or a description of the end of the game from that point on?
Eeesh.... There's a lot of dialogue, music, and a bit of animation at the end. Perhaps a video could be made? Perhaps Gregor could have a video made?
Can you run Linux on a Mac? I think there's a version of Apprentice that works under Linux.
You could also use a PC emulator, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_virtual_machines.
but you also need an OS to run in it (say, Windows 95 or Linux)
I tried using VirtualPC but the save games won't work since I had been playing with the Mac interpreter. I tried starting from the beginning but it runs incredibly slow on VirtualPC.
Oh well, maybe some day I'll see how it ends...
Quote from: big brother on Thu 01/06/2006 15:49:57
Eeesh.... There's a lot of dialogue, music, and a bit of animation at the end. Perhaps a video could be made? Perhaps Gregor could have a video made?
Can you run Linux on a Mac? I think there's a version of Apprentice that works under Linux.
Yeah.... a video of me beating Apprentice!! :)
I'd better not get stuck anywhere, that'd look bad.
I think this could be done, actually.
geoffkhan, do you still have a copy of the omnivox plugin?
you can contact me through the mailer at http://xhip.cjb.net
thanks.
This game is so awesome :D
It was featured in a danish TV-Show today :)
What, really? Which TV show? Any video clips available?
Quote from: Gregjazz on Mon 30/03/2009 23:35:39
What, really? Which TV show? Any video clips available?
It's called Troldespejlet.
They said it was one of the best games made with AGS and that it looks professional.
I don't know if you can view this website.
http://www.dr.dk/DR1/Troldspejlet/Nettjek/gratisspil/gratisspil/20090327110541.htm
But if you can just play the video clip at the top of the page :)