King's Quest II+ VGA

[AGA]

The other thread's been locked. If you want to discuss the game, post here. From now on, ANYTHING off topic will be deleted.

[The RPG Creator]

Fine. Let's keep this on topic then, shall we?
Since I basically contributed to killing the other thread, I'll get this one going, again.

I have not played Kq2 VGA yet, since I don't have enough hard drive space to download it right now.

I did however play the remake of KQ1 with the voice pack. I played all the way through, but really all I liked about it were the graphics. Did you do those yourself? I wish I had an artist that good to help me with my games...because I suck at drawing.

[Pet Terry]

This game is also bit too large to download at home, so I have to wait after I get to my friend and download this there. Can't wait to play

[Matt Goble]

(cough cough)

Getting things back on subject, I've downloaded KQ2VGA at work and had a bit of a play with it.  Personally I prefer creating games than playing them, in paticular because I'm not very good at playing games!

I'm guessing that KQ2VGA is probably the biggest game yet created with AGS and was wondering if Erpy would mine dishing out a few facts (maybe this is better suited for Tierra's forums, but I've forgotten my ezboard password).

So how about it guys?  How many sprites, views, rooms etc did the game use in the end?

Even if I don't play games, I recognise quality when I see it - job well done boys and girls!

Matt Goble

[Ghormak]

I just finished King's Quest II, and man is it great.
It's indeed an improvement over the original, and I can't really say anything that hasn't been said before. Good work.

Oh yeah, the music pack sounded a bit too synthetical to me, but the final song was beautiful.

[Pumaman]

The RPG Creator: did you not read what I said in the other thread about appropriate forums? Why do you continue to blatantly ignore this?

This is the Completed Games forum, and this thread is for discussion of KQ2. If you want to brag about your game, or pointlessly insult other people, please take it to the General Discussion forum.

I am also having trouble understanding your motivation for being here. In your posts you almost seem to ask "Why haven't I been banned yet?". Which then leads us to think, why are you here? What are you trying to achieve? Are we supposed to be jealous about how many forums you have been banned from in the past? Please, take your posts to the appropriate board.

[Andail]

Listen here, RPG creator...

We know you have made a gimmick about being banned and hated, but seriously, if you think you enjoy it, you're being a hypocrite towards yourself.
Nobody likes to be hated.

Take a look at yourself, what are you doing? Is it a worthy life, messing around and making people dislike you?
You still got your chance, just give it a shot, start writing sensible posts and see how it is when people respect you.
At the moment, nobody thinks you're funny or witty, nobody thinks you're brave or special for wanting to get banned, nobody is impressed by what you claim to have done, nobody even believes. Most of us just think you're a sad, pathetic human being without a life.
Time to change, eh?

PS
Don't write back and try to insult me, I won't get angry anyway

[FenderQ]

the final song was beautiful.

I thought it was really cool too.

[Erpy]

Pfff...hard to tell, really. There are about 140 rooms in the game as well as some close-up views. Don't know if 140 included or excluded them.(the upcoming patch adds one more)

I'm afraid I don't know about the sprites and views as I don't have the "source" and I never bothered to start counting the hard way.

All I can say about the views is; A LOT. Nearly every action is animated. (and yes, it was a massive job accomplishing that)

[Pumaman]

I don't think the AGD's would mind me telling you that it contains 4987 sprites, 270 views and 152 rooms.

[Matt Goble]

Crikey.

You'll have to keep an eye on them Chris - they might just break the bank when it comes to QfG2VGA!!

This is why I suggested the stats option in AGS originally, I like to be stunned by numbers!

Erpy, as you oversaw the beta-testing side of things, how did you QC something of that size?  My day to day job involves testing, and we're never 100% certain we've tried everything.  I know a couple of years ago I did a weeks work experience testing for Bullfrog on Dungeon Keeper Deeper Dungeons and found a bug which the guys believe was probably in the original:  If you posses a chicken just before you get eaten (easiest method by a prisoner), then the screen goes red and the game completely locks up - I'm kind of sick that way!!!

What were some of the more unusual bugs you came across?

[Esseb]

Rpg, our memories aren't THAT bad. Just because your posts in this thread got deleted doesn't mean we've forgotten them.

Edit: Going more off topic... but not to announce a game as rpg did:

Matt, http://www.lucasarts.com/20th/flashbacks_july.htm. Read the last one, Tabby's . Your post reminded me of it.

[Erpy]

We gave the technical testers a point list so they could jump through the game with relative easy and encouraged them to try as many things as possible. The beta stage itself took fairly long (because the 3D cutscene wasn't completed yet at that point), so the technical team had all the time in the world to locate scripting errors. We also had some technical errors, although I feel bad that we weren't able to detect that save-glitch and lockup-issue in the beta stage. (our technical forum was flooded with messages reporting that problem)

My own experience has been that you always stumble across bugs when you AREN'T looking for them.

One of the most interesting glitches we found was the so-called black-book-bug. When Graham would read certain books or notes in his inventory, he'd basically be transported to a new room while a closeup of the book/note was displayed. After clicking the mouse button, the player returned to the room he was in before reading the book/note. Unfortunately, upon returning, it was like Graham walked out of that screen and immediately returned. Example: if you read a note while the enchanter (who popped up randomly in certain areas) was about to catch you, the enchanter would be gone upon putting away the note. Also, at a certain point, Graham would get ambushed and cornered. If you read a book at that point, Graham would disappear, enter the screen from the south, walk past the lines of enemies and after a while, the enemies vanished and then re-entered the screen from the south. We worked around the whole thing by disabling the books and notes in those situations (or simply ditching them if they were no longer needed), but if the stat screen in QFG2VGA is going to be a separate "room", we'll need to have this issue corrected. (otherwise, it's possible to escape random monsters by simply opening the stat screen)

[Relight]

In case you didn't pick it up from his post, Erpy also divided the testing into teams, so that each team had specific things to check (such as a spelling team, a plot team, etc).  That way it wasn't just a flood of messages (presumably).

Besides the major bugs that came after the release, there were also lots of smaller things that still needed fixing that weren't found by the beta team.

By the way, the patch is now available from KQ2 area of Tierra's website!  And a full list of changes is in the Tierra forums.  Wow, AGD2 really's been hard at work!

CJ, I haven't kept totally up to date on AGS, but I'm just wondering how Tierra is able to release a patch instead of having to re-release the game!  Is this a new AGS feature?

[Spyros]

No, that's from the DOS era.
Everything that's outside the exe works as a patch.
The engine first looks in the current directory for the files it needs and then in the exe.

[Pumaman]

Relight:  http://www.clickteam.com/English/patchmaker.php

although I am planning an AGS feature to allow game patching for a future version.

[Barcik]

I have finally finished this game. I have to say: I am very very impressed. This is truly an AGS masterpiece (can Mr. Genius figure that little hint out?). The effort which has went into the game is clearly seen. Every sprite in the game is carefully polished.
 Now I didn't like the first KQ1VGA. I never played the original, but I guess this was due to a rather uninteresting adventure game. I understood the 2nd was even worse. And you come up with a game I like a lot. So, it doesn't take a genius (again) to find out that you have done something very good with the game designing as well.
  Mostly, I liked what you did with the feeling of the game and the atmosphere. This was one of the things I disliked in KQ1. You seemed to fix it perfectly here.The third part was wonderful and enjoyable. It didn't follow the usual KQ (according to other feedbacks and KQ1) and this is what made it so good in my eyes.
  Nevertheless, this game is flawed. Most of the major flaws are still due to the Sierra old-oldskool (IMO). I am talking about stuff like wondering around in immense woods, random things happening, walking dead (where is that one walking dead, I wonder?), too fairy taly. Also, there were some puzzles with not enough hints.
  If this game had been original, it probably would have passed Chrille's P:DA in my best AGS games list. But as it isn't, it'll have to do with second place. You know, I am really hoping to see you make some original stuff (your'e talent in that field is clearly seen). Erpy, can you tell why you don't?

Anyway, very good game! Very professional looking! Good job!

[Erpy]

CAN MR. GENIUS FIGURE THIS OUT?
OF COURSE I CAN.

YOU SEE, THIS GAME IS NO MASTERPIECE AND I AM VERY ANGRY THAT YOU WOULD EVEN INSINUATE IT. THIS GAME IS GARBAGE COMPARED TO MINE, AND I MEAN THAT.

I AM NOT SAYING THIS GAME SUCKS, BUT WHEN YOU COMPARE IT TO A MASTERPEICE AS GREAT AS MINE, ANYTHING WOULD BE GARBAGE.

MY GAME IS BETTER (AND BIGGER) THAN YOUR HOUSE.


TRY THAt OUT FOR SIZE.

Size does not matter. (and how about ceasing that bragging until you have any way of backing up your claims with more than big words?)

Nevertheless, this game is flawed. Most of the major flaws are still due to the Sierra old-oldskool (IMO). I am talking about stuff like wondering around in immense woods

The old version of KQ2 had a looping map that made wandering around very confusing. We eliminated this aspect. Each to his own opinion of course, but I don't think the woods in KQ2+ are truly big. There are very few screens that don't serve a purpose game-wise. After playing for a little while, you'll know your way around.

random things happening

I assume you're talking about the random encounters with the sorceror and the dwarf. Those two had their roles a bit fleshed out, but the random encounters were there as some sort of an introduction before you got to deal with them further.

walking dead (where is that one walking dead, I wonder?)

We eliminated the sole dead end (not having the lion fur when Hagatha appears) in version 1.1.

too fairy taly

It wouldn't be a KQ without fairy tales. We did some work to integrate the fairy tales into the story a bit and make them less obvious contrary to having the fairy tale characters walk around somewhere and give you an item or a nasty death when encountering them.

Also, there were some puzzles with not enough hints.

It's quite a challenge to get the puzzles just right. People often said that the puzzles were logical. (sometimes too logical as most people beat the game without much help) There were a couple of obscure ones, but hardly any unfair ones.

You know, I am really hoping to see you make some original stuff (your'e talent in that field is clearly seen). Erpy, can you tell why you don't?

Tierra won't be making original games (before Tierra would be able to create and sell original games, we'd have to take all our remake-projects off-line), but maybe its members will some day. (under the banner of another group)

Anyway, very good game! Very professional looking! Good job!

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed playing it.

[Gonzo]

Holy crud, this game's really good. I've not really been a Sierra fan, and I've only played King's Quest V, VI, and VII out of that series, never King's Quest II. This is great though, looks awesome, and the puzzles are just the right level for me to enjoy it, challenging but not ridiculous.

Well done for a great game and an awesome achievement guys, I'll be downloading and playing your KQ1 VGA  as soon as I've finished this one

[Barcik]

I probably used random wrongly. Let me give you an example: When you need to find Possum's basket and it suddenly appeard in on of rooms, and youv'e got no idea in which. I don't like stuff like this.