Featherweight

[ThreeOhFour]

Helme: Yeah, lots of good games slip under the radar - I don't think it's the ratings panel so much as it is the players themselves (since this was the case before we had a ratings panel as well).

clarvalon: Heh, it's always amusing to go back and play my older stuff and go "Man, what was I thinking?". I love all those old games, but I'm certainly not oblivious to their flaws.

kaputtnik: Alright! To the action/party minivan!

cogliostro: Thanks . I finally feel that I'm starting to get the interface I use representing something I'm actually satisfied with, so it's good to hear it works!

DrWhite: Cheers! I always try to make the games that I'd enjoy as a player, not just that I enjoy making, so it's good to hear that my taste in adventure games is not a loner

Bulbapuck: Gah! I swear I had an actual reason why he wouldn't do that!

I guess that got lost in one of the many dialog edits. That actually makes my puzzle there look super lame  haha

[kaputtnik]

Arj0n & Bulbapuck: http://erdbeertelefon.net/en/soundflies

Thank you for insisting, I would have been much too lazy to upload the soundtrack...Now dance! Or something...

[Dualnames]

Ah, the long await for this, well, I'm going to play this as soon as my device for inventing time works!

*Come on you shi%& plotting device!! Do the time-space spectrum analysis!!*

[paolo]

Whew, I've just finished this. Well done, Ben, another quality game from you. The artwork, story and immersion were all top notch.

I had the same problem as Chicky, namely that I couldn't easily distinguish the objects from the background, and sometimes you I could barely see them, for example,

Spoiler

the charge on top of the crates.

[close]

I am keen to know how you got Thadd's walkcycle so perfect... the feet don't glide at all when he walks.

Off to vote now...

[ThreeOhFour]

Good luck with that 'time inventing device', Jim. Send me one once yet get it perfect  8)

Paul: Thanks! Getting the walkcycles pixel perfect is something I've been doing (or at least trying) since around Annie Android - and I do it by counting the pixels of each frame when animating and making sure they're all perfectly even, then setting the speed setting in AGS accordingly. Takes a bit of work, but I feel it's worth the effort 

I actually made that item brighter before release, but apparently not enough. Anyhow, we live and learn - good to hear you enjoyed

[Dualnames]

Good luck with that 'time inventing device', Jim. Send me one once yet get it perfect  8)

Paul: Thanks! Getting the walkcycles pixel perfect is something I've been doing (or at least trying) since around Annie Android - and I do it by counting the pixels of each frame when animating and making sure they're all perfectly even, then setting the speed setting in AGS accordingly. Takes a bit of work, but I feel it's worth the effort 

I actually made that item brighter before release, but apparently not enough. Anyhow, we live and learn - good to hear you enjoyed

I just got what the 304 meant. You'll make 304 games!! That's it. That explains the short length.That explains why I always thought there was something sinister in this world!!

[ThreeOhFour]

Only 297 to go 

[arj0n]

@ Kaputtnik: Thanx man, dancing my 455 off

[arj0n]

About the number 304...
Mystic it is, so what does it mean?

304= EOA = Extremely Often Adventuregames
304= EOA = Extremely Operative AGS-er
304= An mathematical Untouchable Number
(a positive integer that cannot be expressed as the sum of all the proper divisors of any positive integer, including the untouchable number itself)

Anyone has more ideas? 

[markbilly]

Born on the 30th of April?

I really like the idea of pixelising the objects so characters and objects are the same style. It would solve the problem perfectly...

[ThreeOhFour]

304 is quite a prevalent number, actually (although any number is if you look for it, as Morte almost tells me).

Someone once told me that it is the number of Bruce's (and therefore I guess God's) apartment in Bruce Almighty. I checked. It is.

It's also the one door you don't see in The Matrix right before Neo gets shot (honestly, they have like 306,307,305 and 303, but 304 is hidden) - to which a friend of mine amusingly replied "There is no 304".

It's also the length of the Devin Townsend song "Wild Colonial Boy" from which my personal text is taken (for I am in fact wild, colonial and a boy) - something I didn't actually notice until some time after I changed my personal text to that.

I remember a bunch of people telling me a whole number of other places in popular culture it can be found.

But basically, it was a remnant from high school. By the time I graduated, many of my friends and even my math teacher was referring to me as "304" instead of my actual name.

Too long and dull to explain it any further, but no, I'm not born on the 30th of April

And I doubt I'll end up making 304 games somehow!

At various points I've considered changing my forum name to "Ben Chandler" seeing as I was 17 when I joined these forums and the things that seem like a good move to a 17 year old appear slightly less amusing to a 22 year old. But eh... I use this username everywhere else, so why bother?

[Matti]

Just finished it. Nice game as always and I enjoyed the dark sci-fi setting.

Yay, didn't need  any hints, it's just that I forgot about the stuck crowbar when I loaded the game after several days and was a little stuck when I encountered the sentry on the tower.

Thanks for yet another game, Ben "Wild Colonial Boy No. 304" Chandler.

[ThreeOhFour]

Thanks! Coolness to hear you didn't need hints  

I just put the second last puzzle into my next project (no, not IWWHIIWWHITOMIROTPG), so expect a new insane-experiment-game-thing that'll probably be exactly what you're not expecting from me soon  

This time with the most hideous graphics, like, ever.

(and I'm not even lying)

[Chicky]

new insane experiment sounds good!

Btw Ben, i went back and completed Heed and Awakener (i've been out of the ags loop for some time). I really loved Awakener and it felt like Heed and featherweight could be part of the same game universe? Combine them for a sequel! 

... an insane experiment sequel

[abstauber]

Finally some time to comment too

I think, this game has the best color choice of all. This hazy greenish sky and the matched colors of the sprites are eye candy. If one day you manage to sharpen your backgrounds, I swear I will run to a copyshop and get a poster
Enough graphical worshipping. As your beta tester, you already know that I like the gameplay, so I just repeat myself. Very well done!



PS
Go Machines Go! 

[Revan]

I actually played this a few days ago. But haven't had chance to congratulate you on another fine addition to your game library.

I love your pixel style.



Well done and thanks.

[Mazzymay]

Great game Ben.  I dont know how you do it; churning these out so fast but with such quality.

[ThreeOhFour]

Chicky: Heh, it'd be a pretty twisted scenario 

Abstauber: Haha thanks man . I do try to sharpen them up - but I guess it'll be a while before I get it right. Thanks for testing!

Revan: Thank you, and thanks for playing![/b]

Mazzymay: Thanks! Despite popular opinion, the answer to that is neither ghosts nor monkeys

[Ilyich]

You can always tell you're in for a treat, if eyes of the neatly drawn characters have this weird glow.
I admire the way you perfect your style with each new game. They all feature interesting, quirky, imaginative worlds with an established backstory, and the one in Featherweight is probably the best one so far.

Art is gorgeous as usual and dark sci-fi ambience works extremely well.
All the puzzles seemed quite logical and clever to me, the only problem is pixel-hunting - it's hard to notice small obejcts on such dimly-lit backgrounds, but the diversity and the way these puzzles seamlessly fit into the game is just great.

What's always a bit disappointing about your short games, is that they feel like a small part of a very long (even longer than "The Longest" one ) journey, that we'll never hear of again.

Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for so many wonderful games, keep it up!

[Dualnames]

Found the time. It was fast enough, more short than I expected. Some puzzles were good, one (the one with the bomb) sort of bothered me, but overall nice music(really pawned), nice graphics, nice and fluent interface. Short game (even by your standards), but excellent execution!