Prodigal INTERVIEW on reloaded.org! 3/13/06 update!

[Trisk]

Prodigal is finally out! Get your horror/thriller fix today! Turn down the lights, crank up the volume, and download from the AGS webpage in the "Full length games" section,Ã,  This link right here.

Filled with FMV, a sterio .mp3 soundtrack of spooky music and sound, character art by the soon-to-be-legendary Edgar Rocha, an epic story spanning centuries, and 3D rendered art by yours truly, Prodigal is a game like no other!

If you enjoy it, spread the word!

And let me know what you think!

real_trisk[at]yahoo[dot]com

Trisk

[i k a r i]

Downloading RIGHT NOW...thank you!...I'll post my comments later...And if I can't sleep tonight, you will have my comments in your e-mail

This will be a good one...

EDIT: O_O..Great game!..I didn't like the GUI so much, but I can't say nothing else (bad)..the atmosphere is great, I can't wait to have more time to play it..

[Barbarian]

Okay, just downloaded and been playing through it for about half-an-hour...
First impressions: Wow! Amazing!Ã,  really, from what I've seen and played of it so far, you've done a fantastic job on making this game.

The intro movie is really interesting to watch, the graphics, sounds and story line from what I seen really set the mood well.Ã, 

Only a couple of minor things I seen so far that maybe could be improved on, example

Spoiler

Some objects in the Inventory are hard to see/notice, depending on the room background, such as the Knife and Bow, as for me those objects were almost "hidden" within the border art of the Inventory GUI.Ã,  Also, for when controlling the main character , he seems to be lacking facial details (such as a mouth), but for the movie scenes it's great detail. The walking speed of the main character is a little bit slow, but still bearable.

[close]

Ã,  but those are just really minor things... but really, overall I really think you've done a great job on this and I'm enjoying it so far.

[En garde!]

yay!

[Trisk]

Barbarian. Read the manual! :b there is a way to make him walk faster, but you'll have to go read it to find out. ;b

As for his facial features, I designed the sprites to look as close as I possibly could get them to Sierra style sprites. All my warm fuzzies of adventure gaming come from the old Sierra games, not the Lucasarts games. That's why they look that way.

Specifically, I used the general character design style of "Quest for Glory 1: So You Want to be a Hero" and "Space Quest IV" as my inspiration for character design. The character details come from the frequent character closups, as was always the case with the old Sierra games.

Finally, as for the inventory...sigh, yes, I am aware of this problem. My GUI design had this one flaw. I tried about 1000 different designs for the inventory GUI graphics, and this one was the most visible, aside from black, which I didn't like because it wasn't thematically correct. I tried to make MOST of the inventory items visible on it...I think once you get used to it you won't have any problems. Least wise, my Beta testers seemed to be OK with it...

[Iv4n]

Aaargh! I don't understand why the game runs in 320x200 when I selected 640x480? My LCD doesn't support quite right 320x200 and I can't play games in this resolution...

Actually, when in the game, it displays me 640x350?!? Doesn't matter if I select 320x200 or 640x480... Any help?

[Mordalles]

personally ive been waiting for this one, but i will only get my hands on it on friday when my brother is going to download it at varsity, since my internet connection is a bit slow.  :'(

i can't wait!

[Trisk]

Iv4n, the game is rendered in 320x240, only the character sprites and certain cutscenes will see a benefit from the higher resolution. I still consider it "the" way to play, however. Run the game in either 320x240, or 640x480, and it should work. I tested it on a friend's LCD and was fine in those resolutions...

Mordalles, I feel your pain, believe me. I'm still on a modem, too. I crunched the game as much as I possibly could...as you'll see, it is over 120MB when uncompressed.

My modem is actually the reason the game came out a day late.  :

[Barbarian]

Trisk: Ã, Your game is just about perfect the way it is, so don't worry about those little minor things I mentioned. Ã, I say just a few of my thoughts on those matters as some constructive critisism so you may take note for any future projects you work on.. but overall it's your project so you design it the way that makes you most happy Ã,  Ã, 
As an amateur game-maker myself, I found one of the best ways to continue to improve my skills as a game-maker is to welcome comments and suggestions from the players. Ã, Overal, you've done excellent job! Thanks for sharing a great game with us. Ã, 

Iv4n: From the Winsetup, did you make sure the "Force Alternative letterbox resolution" is selected? If it was, did you try Un-checking it as well? Ã, If using LCD, you'd probably want to insure "Use 85 Hz display.." is Un-checked as well.

[Trisk]

Oh, no problem, Barbarian!  I was just giving you my reasoning for doing what I did. If enough people complain, I will certainly make changes. Sorry if I sounded defensive, I wasn't trying to be...just putting down my 2 cents of the wheres and whys. 

[Iv4n]

Aah thank you Barbarian! Using the "Force Alternative letterbox resolution" option did fix my problem! The game seems great so far! Now onto the game... See you later .

[Stefano]

Uh-uh. Found a little bug. It isn't a crucial one, though (i guess).
When interacting with the light in the stairs after the demon:

Code: ags

---------------------------
Illegal exception
---------------------------
An exception 0xC0000005 occured in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x0041E27B ; program pointer is +77, ACI version 2.70.864, gtags (0,0)

AGS cannot continue, this exception was fatal. Please note down the numbers above, remember what you were doing at the time and notify CJ on the Tech forum.

in Room script (line 57)


Most versions of Windows allow you to press Ctrl+C now to copy this entire message to the clipboard for easy reporting.
---------------------------
OK   
---------------------------

I'm loving the game, Trisk!
Cheers,
-Stefano

[Candle]

For those on dialup I split the file and made five files .
Just download the five and unzip them all to one folder and run the bat file or the one exe to merge them and you have the main file .
http://www.mytempdir.com/253080
http://www.mytempdir.com/253104
http://www.mytempdir.com/253109
http://www.mytempdir.com/253149
http://www.mytempdir.com/253150
They run aboiut 11.4 MB each but the one file that would be 469 bytes.
Hope it was ok to do this .

[Trisk]

Wow, that's great Candle! Thanks! I'm on a modem too, so I know I'd certainly appreciate a split version!

Stefano- Eek! That is a bug, alright. A cute little typo. There is nothing you can do with the light though, so "using" on it wouldn't have done anything but give you a red X. Prolly why I didn't catch it.   

[Candle]

Your welcome , btw nice game. playing it now when I should be working on my games. lol

[AlbinoPanther]

Candle you are a savior.

Trisk you are THE SAVIOR


LONG LIVE AGS

[Stefano]

Another tiny bug:

Spoiler

everytime you leave the kitchen in the ruins, the guard keep asking about his Aegis...

[close]

Still loving it... 

[Candle]

I found a bad bug.

Spoiler

I got stuck to the rocks in the oilywater when I was clicking around it to find the key in the rocks

[close]

Link to image
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/760/oilywater0cc.png

[Trisk]

Candle, I can't reproduce this bug...could you PM me more details, or send me a save game file of it? Otherwise, I think it must just be an AGS bug. You shouldn't have been able to walk over there, the walkable area ends about an inch to the right of the rock sticking out of the water...a long way from the edge of the screen.

I clicked all around all over the place on the edge of the screen and couldn't get Jacob to go over there...

[Candle]

I think I may have not clicked down  enough maybe so he would move. I will try it again .but I think thats what I did.

[Stefano]

Well, I guess I'm out of luck in this game.
Another small bug...

Spoiler

When you're in the upper room, coming down from the watch tower in the ruins, if you use "walk" on stairs and then "interact" with stairs, the character vanishes and you get only the screen showing the base of the stairs... tried to use everything, walk, talk, etc. and the character doesn't come back. Maybe he liked hanging out with the depressed guard, Linus. 

[close]

[Trisk]

Well, this is another one I can't reproduce...

Spoiler

Have you tried clicking on the door to exit the base of the tower, then click the middle mouse button? This should cause you to instantly arrive at your destination. If nothing happens, then Jacob must be stuck somewhere, although I'm not sure how. Do you mean AFTER you changed to the base of the tower area, you clicked USE on the stairs, or did you click WALK, then immediately USE in the top of the tower? Clicking USE on the TOP stairs should trigger an "unhandled event" e.g., the game just gives you the red X. Clicking USE on the BOTTOM of the stairs should cause Jacob to walk over to them and arrive at the top, unscathed...

[close]

[InCreator]

Oh, I was pleasantly surprised after started the game...
Though screenies were a bit boring...
It IS good! 

Strong side is story & atmosphere, weakest one - characters and GUI art (too messy, especially inventory window). But nothing serious, really.

Ah, and I don't know if it's the already mentioned bug, but

Spoiler

The oily water area is made of 2 rooms. You can get stuck in one of them (second one) so character won't exit to the first.

the way: Enter second water room and immediately look at rocks to get closeup. Then exit closeup. Since character is still in area which triggers first room, AGS ignores that fact.

workaround: walk down a bit to exit the trigger area and walk up again.

Nothing serious again, but confusing.

[close]

[Rosie]

CANDLE:

Spoiler

Stop playing....... I am waiting for your game to come out
LOL

[close]

[Candle]

Rosie

Spoiler

want to bug test? email me

[close]

Great game so far.

[ggp]

Im really enjoying the game but i went into the cave, then back out, and now i cant seem to get out of the bedroom into the rest of the house ?!

[Trisk]

InCreator, that is a bug, alright. Thanks for reporting. I'll have it fixed for the next version. Glad to hear you are enjoying it!

ggp-

Spoiler

The exit to the bedroom is on the left wall, not the bottom. Just walk to the left and you will get back to the hallway in the cabin.

[close]

[Rosie]

This game looks good, however I just exited the bathroom and went to do save number 4 and the game crashed.........I guess the 4th save is a bug? I even tried resaving over save 1, but that caused a crash also.

ok here is my message
Internal error has occured. (ACI Version 2.70.864)

Error: Run text _Script.error - 6 running function 'go SaceLoad OK _Click'

Error: Error retrieving pointer: Invalid handle 492
in Save Games with screenshots (line 106, 117 244)
from global script (line 1986)

Hope this can be corrected.  I just went to an earier save (3) and continued on and got into cave where I decided to try a save again.  When I click on a save, it goes blank and then the game crashes.

[Trisk]

Yikes, I used the save system extensively while testing, up to around 16 saves and never had a problem. The save engine is a direct plugin from SSH. I'll talk to him about it ASAP. In the meantime, I'll see if I can recreate the bug.

Is anyone else who is playing the game having this problem?


Edit: I just tried to recreate it and I can't...I PMed SSH on the subject, we'll see if he has any idea what it could be...

[Candle]

When you get ready to update the game use patch maker it will make the file to update the game and you won't have a big file to upload again.
http://www.clickteam.com/English/patch_maker.htm
you can use it for free.

[Rosie]

Candle

Spoiler

Go to your room........... and work on that game....LOL. 

I can see why it's taking  you so long to finish your game, you are a good samaritan.........Nice to have people like you.  But really!!, the GAME.

[close]

[SSH]

Error: Run text _Script.error - 6 running function 'go SaceLoad OK _Click'

Error: Error retrieving pointer: Invalid handle 492
in Save Games with screenshots (line 106, 117 244)
from global script (line 1986)

This is the same Internal AGS Error reported in another game. CJ hasn't been able to reproduce it yet, nor have I, so we don't know wheat the cause is, but the "Internal Error" indication tends towards an AGS problem. Trisk: you might want to use the lastest versions of AGS (2.71 RC3) and the savegames module to see if that makes a difference?

[ggp]

Ive saved lots of times so far on the first 3 saves boxes - just keep overwritting the save. As long as you dont use slot 4, it should be ok.

[ggp]

Ive got a problem;

Spoiler

Ive unlocked the cell door with the sludgey key, but the door wont open ? It just says he 'may as well try to pick up a boulder than lift the door off' or something like that, but using the key, definately says its unlocked ?

[close]

[ggp]

Ok, realised what to do for the above post....but found a bug;

Spoiler

Once i blew the cell door off i went into the water to look at it, but then couldnt get back out of the water. In fact even though i was at the end of the pool (by the cell,) the screen was still showing a long shot from the other end of the pool, and i couldnt climb out at all.

[close]

[Trisk]

ggp:

Spoiler

That is a known bug in this version of the game. walk SOUTH well into the screen, then walk back north and it should switch you to the north side of the pool. This is happening because you actually enter the far south side of the pool by the rocks ABOVE the zone line that would take you back to the jail cell north side. This bug will be fixed for the next version.

[close]

SSH-OK, thank you! I figured it couldn't be something we'd done, as I never had this problem. I'll see about getting the newest version of AGS and porting Prodigal v1.1 to it.

[Mordalles]

great game, trisk, i can tell you put a lot of effort in. i love the atmosphere.

oh, i did save on the 4th slot without problems.

im stuck now, but im forcing myself not to look at walkthru. dont know how long that'll last. 

[Fisher]

GREAT GAME!!!! Lovin' it!!!

Well, I've now learned my lesson

Spoiler

I've been saving games with no problem.....THEN, after I made it through the door to the garden where the boys played and got the spear----I went back out, moved to save the game..........and CRASH!

[close]

The sad part.....I have to go and make the dang chicken dinner again!!! Yep, startin' from there.....

But this game is really fun with LOTS to do! I really appreciate all the work that's gone into this--------THANKS!

[Trisk]

I'm working as fast as I can to get a stable compile on the newest version of AGS. (2.71 RC3) Sorry about this problem in the meantime. It only seems to happen to a very small minority of players.

Unfortunantly, because of changes to the global script, the new version won't work with old saves. :/ I hope to have a patch ready in a day or two at most, with a new version up on the website soon after that.

[InCreator]

Now... finally finished the game (took 2 days since I managed to keep myself away from walkthrough)...
...after getting my jaw back in in place and eyeballs to normal size....
...and having normal body temperature again...

I say that this is fucking awesome.

The sluggish character speed, some fps problems and way too much area to explore in the middle of the game started to bore me.... until I finally made it to the end.

Though the game has "horror" written all over it, I didn't find the game giving me chills or anything much, but more like AGSer interest about all these neat GFX effects all over the game... Until the end.

The ending... my back went freezingly cold, the story, superb music and cinematics... well, it makes it all worth it and much more!

Excellent. Though I'm feeling a bit sorry about somewhat weak technology behind this (I mean art, low resolution and somewhat weird 3d that's there). With a story so good, it sounds a bit like a waste. A bit more polish, and you could have gone commercial with this!

It may be the best AGS game released in 2005.

Now stop writing useless posts in Gen-gen and start a sequel!
That's an order.

[splat44]

Hi InCreator,

Yes, I was part of beta testing team and I do agree you it may be the best AGS game released in 2005.

That game is well done with least bugs.

For trisk to work on sequel, depends on how this game was received.

Be sure to vote on this game. Voting link is found on original post.

Regards

[Trisk]

InCreator

Hey, I'm glad you enjoyed the game! Yeah, I was calling it a thriller more than horror for a while, but when the end got to being the way it was, I started billing it as a horror/thriller. I hate games where the end LAMES out and stops being scary, so I worked hard to make the end the crecendo to the chills. :b

As for the technology...I recognize some of my rough spots. Keep in mind this game was 95% done by just ME, and that made a tremendous work load for one person. Edgar Rocha did all the inking for the character closups, but I was still coloring them all. He also did most of the monster animations, which look fantastic, but that was late in the game, so I didn't utilize his tallents as much as I could have, had I known how good he was at animating.  :

I was doing ALL the storyboarding, most of the dialogue, 3D rendering, programming, sound, many of the music bits, FMV, puzzles...by myself, which started to get overwhelming. It is for this reason that I say I'll only do a sequel if this one gets popular. If this one does well enough, I should have enough respect in the AGS community to be able to put together a tallented TEAM to help me.

Also note I started this game as an homage to Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, and it grew into what it is. Some of the backwards tech was to remain true to the era of Sierra games.

Here's a short list of improvements I would want for the next game:

-High res 16bit color all the way. 640x480 mandatory. This may not include FMV, however, for space reasons. FMV would prolly still be captured at 320x200.

-A team to help with programming and puzzles so I can focus more on 3D rendering to give each scene the TLC I wanted to.

-High res detailed character sprites. Edgar (En Guarde!) has already said he wants to work on the sequel and will probably become the lead animator for it.


So spread the word! And get some of those AGS vets to play the game! 

laters,
Trisk

[Kweepa]

I liked it a lot!
Thanks!
Probably the most effective facet for me was the sound. Great stuff. Congrats also to Peter Thomas for the music.
Great ending too.
Have you been playing Eternal Darkness at all?

I wouldn't do a "sequel" but I'd love to see another game with the same attention to detail. I wouldn't go with 640x480 - the resolution of this game about matched the detail. 16 bit colour, sure. That just makes your life easier.

Thanks for the walkthrough. I don't think I'd have gotten through the game at all without it. I noticed a few places where repeated actions produced a hint, but there were too many leaps of logic for me to solve it on my own.

Cheers,
Steve

P.S. The game locked up during the FMV credits... I haven't tried to repro it yet but just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else had the same problem.

[scourge]

hey man, i completed your game. Without the walkthrough i think it would have been impossible. Sometimes things just doesn't make sense even after i read the walkthrough.

I must say that this game has probably one of the best endings i've seen in all the ags games i've played, which is a few. Very good ending!!!

Your graphics are very good.

I feel you tried to fill in gaps too much in terms of story and items to use, as though you didn't sometimes know 'what i could put in here '...

I found a range of bugs which really puts a down the game a bit. You should have your betatesters payed betterÃ, 

Great game.

[passer-by]

Nice game, thanks.

Spoiler

I liked the random cutscenes that happenned in the characters' imagination. I was repeatedly fooled.

[close]

If you ever make a sequel, please don't change the ending of this one, it was a success.

[Pumaman]

This game looks good, however I just exited the bathroom and went to do save number 4 and the game crashed.........I guess the 4th save is a bug? I even tried resaving over save 1, but that caused a crash also.
Hope this can be corrected. I just went to an earier save (3) and continued on and got into cave where I decided to try a save again. When I click on a save, it goes blank and then the game crashes.

Interesting .. can you save at all now? If you restore save 2 and then try to save again, does it work? Is it just if you restore from save 3 that you can't save again?

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Oh boy, where to begin...
   ...well, at the beginning, I guess. Presentantion - 5 stars. Sure, at first the character art bugged me a bit, but it was all a matter of getting used to it. Anyway, after seeing that intro - beautiful work, great atmosphere, even story-telling-wise it's great - I knew I was in for a treat.
   I didn't have any trouble with the game, not needing the walkthrough once. Puzzles were simple and straightforward, and still challenging enough to be stimulating. Great gameplay balance, in other words - good show!
   The best part was definitely the music. It reminded me of Phantasmagoria 2, for some reason... and it added so much. Especially in the first few rooms (the ones on the cabin especially).
   The random effects, the images, those things... damn, they're great! And that's all I have to say about that.
   The ending is among the best, and is easily the best part of the game, hands down. I didn't catch all the background story, but I caught enough of the plot.
   My advice would be not to make a sequel, actually. At least not one that follows the obvious direction suggested by the ending. This particular bit of story is nicely wrapped up.
   And an interesting thing I found was how we didn't really understand how Prodigal 0 fit in until the end. Clever.

Spoiler

Incidently, is "Prodigal" an ironic reference to the Prodigal Son, the son being Jacob?

[close]

   All in all, a wonderful game that I just wish was longer.

[Mordalles]

yeah, i really liked the game. the ending was really good, i did not expect that. one of the best ags endings (or any other game for that matter).

although, the walking around got me a bit after a while. good thing you put that "middle button" thing in. personally, i had trouble with the puzzles, but then again, i always have trouble with puzzles. im probably the worst adventure gamer that exist.

some of the things im still trying to figure out how you did it, for instance, at the end when  the background moves, while the 2d sprite of the your character in the prison moves at a different pace. that was really well done, and could you please tell me how you did it! really impressive.

enjoyed it! thanks, and you should make a sequal.

[Trisk]

SteveMcCrea- Yes, I've played Eternal Darkness! ^_^ An awesome game, it was my favorite Survival Horror game ever...until Resident Evil 4 came out and was one of the best GAMES ever, never mind best Survival Horror. :b Although I never actively thought about making the horror beats like the ones in E.D., they were rolling around in my brain and prolly came out subconsciously.Ã, 

buloght- Well, don't keep 'em to yourself, tell me about 'em so I can fix 'em!Ã, 

cp- The next game would, if I make it, pick up RIGHT after where this one ended, and yes, it wouldn't change a THING of this game's story. We gots BIG plans for this story, and this game is only hinting at the depths it will go...there were multiple plot twists that didn't make it into the game because they just didn't have relevance to the story at hand. For instance, what was the real story behind their parent's death? It all ties into the story later on.

Rui "Brisby" Pires- Thanks so much for all the kind words! My favorite part of this game was doing sound and music design, and is the part I'm MOST proud of. Standing in the ditch along a busy highway next to a swamp, arm outstretched with mic in hand, smelling the stink of swamp while waiting for a break in the cars to record the sound of swamp frogs for the forest at the beginning...just one of dozens of fond memories I have designing the audio portion of this game.

And thank you for the vote of confidence in my puzzles! I'm also really glad you figured out how Prodigal 0 tied in. I hope people that play both will "get it."

Has anybody else who's played both understood Prodigal 0?

-Mordalles too much to talk about here...I PMed you about it.

Thanks for the kind words all! Spread the word about Prodigal! 

[SHE DEVIL]

This has to be the BEST game I've played in a long time!!! I really loved the ending!!PLEASE MAKE ANOTHER GAME!!!Ã,  J. 8)

[Vince Twelve]

I'm getting the same bug Stefano was reporting:

Spoiler

As Stephano described: "When you're in the upper room, coming down from the watch tower in the ruins, if you use "walk" on stairs and then "interact" with stairs, the character vanishes and you get only the screen showing the base of the stairs... tried to use everything, walk, talk, etc. and the character doesn't come back. Maybe he liked hanging out with the depressed guard, Linus.  "

[close]

I think part of the problem is in using the middle mouse button.  I think somehow, by trying to move very fast through the game (because damn that's a slow moving character) using the middle mouse button can skip the character over some walkable areas that have codes associated with them... maybe... I don't know.  At some points early in the game (in the cabin) I was able to get the character to break the black bars on the sides of the screen by using the middle mouse button. 

[EDIT] You're totally right.  There's no reason the middle mouse button should cause this.  Regardless, the bug is still there. [/EDIT]

Regardless of why, I'm stuck in that same place Stefano was with no character to be seen, and though I was enjoying the game thus far, I don't know if I was enjoying it enough to start over (I wasn't keeping up with saves).

[EDIT]Apparently I was enjoying it enough, because I started over.  And starting over made my P.S. (to follow) just that much more annoying.[/EDIT]

PS. Please let players skip cutscenes.  Please?

[Hammerite]

Er... how DID Prodigal 0 fit in to this?
I STILL dont understand!

[Mordalles]

Spoiler

hmm, in prodigal 0 i think we play with jacob's brother,when he went through the portal. just like jacob was searching for his brother, his brother was searching for his girlfriend, who tricked him in the same way as jacob's brother tricked jacob.

trisk, correct me if I'm wrong.

[close]

[Rosie]

Thank you........Game is working ok now, I downloaded it again and the saves are working fine.   I talked to soon.....Happening again........saves are crashing I am as far as getting the prison door open and trying to get to the digs, but my saves are crashing and I cant get any further.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Mordalles, hide that with the spoiler tag!

[peter]

When i use the USE the Aegis on the prison cell door
I get a error

in room script (line 8 ) and game stopt ?

[Trisk]

SHE DEVIL- Thanks! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

Vince Twelve- I tested the game extensively with the middle button and never had a problem. If I understand the theory of the "middle mouse button code" correctly, (Pumaman, tell me if I'm wrong) The game just skips forward, moving Jacob along his path until he enters an area that would initiate code. So no, in theory, clicking the mouse button to skip ahead shouldn't do anything that wouldn't happen otherwise.

That said, and being that I am CONFIDENT that these problems are NOT with my code, I'm working hard to get a new version of Prodigal out on the latest AGS version, 2.71 RC3. This may go a long way towards removing some of these problems.

Hammerite and Mordalles

Spoiler

Yes, that is correct. You were playing as MIKE in Prodigal 0. I flip flopped ALOT on whether or not I should change his shirt color, but I decided if I DIDN'T, you'd get the connection right away during the opening cutscene. I didn't want that, so I changed his shirt from red to green. But that is Mike, a slightly more SANE Mike.

[close]

Rosie-

I'm sorry this is happening! I say again, when the new version is out, I'd be glad to make a save for you and send it so you can keep playing! It really wouldn't be a big deal, either...I can beat the entire game in about a half hour. :b

Peter-

I PMed you for more info.

[ida]

Hi, BRILLANT game. Spooked me out in places.

Though without checking the walkthrough twice I would have been stuck, as I missed out on a few inventory items for the disguise initially.

[Trisk]

Quick update on the new version, which I hope to have out tomorrow, 11/16/05.

I ported the game up to AGS 2.71 RC3. I'm hoping this will fix some of the strange bugs that certain people have been experiencing.

The most common bug is crashing in the save/load gui. Because of this, I'm going to initialize the STOCK save and load GUIs. If SSH's GUI won't work for you, you can try using the stock AGS GUIs to see if that helps.

You'll access them with:

CTRL-S -this will open the stock save GUI
CTRL-X -this will open the stock load GUI

I'm going to go test the game now. Let me know if this sounds like a plan!

[SSH]

Please post if you do get ANY crashes with this new version, as I'd love to find out if there's anything I can fix in the saveload GUI. I think it was an AGS problem though. Can I ask players to try saving with the stock GUI first, to make sure they don't lose anything and then try saving again with the screenshot GUI? Thanks!

[Trisk]

Well, I just had the savegame crash happen to me while testing Prodigal.  :'(

I'm working with SSH to see if there is ANY way to resolve this, otherwise I might have to remove the savegame module from version 1.1...which would stink, cause the stock GUI looks so bland.  :'(  :'(  :'(

This also may delay my original prediction about releasing Wednesday, as I look into my options.

[Pumaman]

Do you have a savegame file that, when loaded, will break the game if you try to save it?

If you have any reliable way of reproducing the problem please let me know about it so that I can look into the issue.

It's possible that it could be a bug in the module, but even if it is AGS isn't handling the situation very well, so it's something I certainly need to investigate further.

[Fribbi AGDI joker]

I have played this game and finished with the walkthrough and let me tell you Trisk.

"You are the winner on this year for creating such outstanding AGS thriller game of the year 2005.
IÃ,  love it! "

I hope you don't mind adding me in your fanlist *lol* but I can't wait for your next games when they come out.

And now to all AGS game creators. This game is something we must always respect love and remember in future because Trisk has showed us how powerful AGS is and how true genious game creator he really is for being the first to create such a wonderful 3d AGS game.Ã, 

And I am not joking in this time.

Many cheers to Trisk and his team!

I have already mentioned this game in my icelandic website if you don't mind ...http://www.tolvuleikir.is

But it is on icelandic so don't bother go in there unless you understand my language.


The only bug I found is when you are in the oily water you get out of the water you are  with same view when you walk in the oily water. I have to get back into the water to get the normal walking view.

I hope you could understand me.

AGS star is born!

[grandma]

i have been playing this game for two days and find it very interesting.  i enjoy long games and am one who refuse to use any walkthroughs as long as a game makes sense.  so far this game is running very smooth and i have not had any bugs.  i hope you consider sequels as response to the game are positive.  thanks for your efforts to entertain us and keep up the great work. 

[nelinastungeon]

I am not going to comment on quality of sound, puzzles, graphics...

Spoiler

I find the plot and the idea it embodies highly unacceptable from the philosophical and moral point of view.
This is the absolute and total triumph of evil.
The pure all-encompassing evil which transforms the "victim" Jacob  into a villain. The chain of luring good, loving and considerate people into an inevitable transformation into evil-doers is obviously infinite and unbreakable - according to the game creator's (creators') belief.
As a genre, the "horror thriller" has its own inner rules - someone might object - the scarier, the more desperate, the more wicked and beyond all hope - the better.
Many people do not accept such a standpoint.
Anyway, the mere fact that this game has made me think about those matters and state the above disagreement means that it has become an artistic phenomenon.

[close]

[Nlogax]

Hey, I've been playing the game for my last two lunchbreaks- it's great. I've got stuck a coupla times but haven't resorted to the walkthrough yet.

It's pretty darn spooky too! Love these kind of games. Good job.

[Ozzie]

Since I haven't played the game so far I can't answer to nelinastungeon, but I find his post interesting in terms of strangeness...

Nevertheless, I started the game short before I went to sleep and I was amazed what I saw! Also I have never played one of the first two Gabriel Knights I kinda knew that it has to feel that way, so I think your mission to recreate the style and atmosphere of these games is accomplished!
I like to see that some serious effort went into the game! You must be some kind of workaholic, doing most of the graphics, all the scripting, and the story, at such a quality in such a short time span. I heard here many criticisms about the graphics, but I personally thought they are pretty well done, at least in the intro movie....I guess that there are points where they could be better, but at this quality level it's good enough for me to not distract from the actual game....maybe this doesn't sound really nice but I think it's not an easy thing to do!
Can't tell more about the gameplay or such, because I hadn't the time so far to play it further and sadly I won't have it very soon. But it's on the top of my priority list!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

To nelina - PLEASE hide your spoilers with the "hide" tag.

I don't suppose any moderators, or anything, can hide it and hide other spoilers too? As a guest, nelina can't hide it him/herself...

[peter]

Can you send me a save after the jaildoor

Spoiler

when i USE the Aegis on the cell door (near the oilpool).

After a somewhat shocking cutscene the game go back to desktop.
And i can't understand that you all can finished this game and that the game here stopt on my computer ?

[close]

Peter

[splat44]

Can you send me a save after the jaildoor

Spoiler

when i USE the Aegis on the cell door (near the oilpool).

After a somewhat shocking cutscene the game go back to desktop.
And i can't understand that you all can finished this game and that the game here stopt on my computer ?

[close]

Peter

Peter, Before using aegis on cell door, save your game and try again.

I've never had that problem.

[Trisk]

Fribbi AGDI joker-

Thank you very much for your most kind comments!Ã,  It is an encouragement to me to work on the sequel! Of course you are very much welcome to post about it on your website. Although I can't read the language, I did check it out and it looks cool from what I can see! Again, thank you!

grandma-

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I WANT very much to do the sequel! I did Prodigal 90% myself, and got pretty burnt out on it. I hope to get a team of AGS veterans together to work on the next one, so I'm not stretched so thin. That is the reason I want/need it to be popular before I tackle another game. So spread the word!Ã, 

nelinastungeon-

Although I appreciate your comments, I have requested a moderator remove this or at least hide the text, as you are giving away a spoiler to the game on a public forum!Ã,  This kind of comment should have been sent to my email, which is readily available from the game manual. Here is what I have to say in response:

Spoiler

While I realise this game does seem to end off very dark and hopeless, as you have noticed, such is the horror genre. movies like "Night of the Living Dead" or "Carnival of Souls" are pervasively dark and end a tragedy.

There is more to note, however, about the ending of Prodigal. We came into the middle of the conversation with Ashley, so we really don't know WHAT Jacob told her and what he did not. There is the hope that Jacob, being an "good" person, will not end up doing what his brother, and all the others before him, did.

Furthermore, we don't have the FULL story yet at this point about WHY the trap is, and IF the other side of it really leads to paradise, as the Demelza believe, or not. We also have the (hopefully) clearly warped view of the Demelza as to WHY this trap was created.

I guess what I'm saying to all this as that we don't yet KNOW the whole story. To leave it off here without playing the "next chapter" would be to do the story injustice.

To equate it to something else, what if you JUST watched Star Wars Episodes 1-3, and never watched 4-6? Episode Three ends off in an incredibly dark way, with seemingly no hope for the entire gallaxy! Without episodes 4-6, it would seem that Lucas has written an appaling tale of betrayal and tragedy!

So the end of "Prodigal" has not yet been revealed. There. That's what I'm trying to say.

[close]

Ozzie-

I actually prolly go farther in the chills side than Gabriel Knight ever does...although there is that one scene in "Beast Within" in the cave...man, that was ILL! :b

Glad you like the game's look, though! It was a HECK of a task for 1 person to pull off! I wouldn't have made it without Edgar stepping in to help with alot of animation late in the project!

Peter-

I PMed you about it. Sorry for the delay on a new version. :/ We're working on it...

Trisk

[MATTANDALEX]

I am so depressed that i have school tommarrow. I mean this is such an awsome game and i just dont want to stop playing. I have to say thanks for adding another game to the list of games i try to get all my freinds to play

[Trisk]

Glad you're having fun! And thank you for spreading it around! The more the better!

[Nikolas]

This is a great game!

And I actually like the character, without the facial features. It looks... well nice.

Well done!

I'm glad that there are numerous games (including this one) that prove that even one person (Trisk) can do wonderfull things that seem commercial (in a good sense).

Well done!

[ness]

Great game. The atmosphere is brilliant. I don't usually play games with the sound on and didn't turn it on until almost near the end but I wish I had listened to it all the way through now. The only bit I got a little bored with was going all over the dwellings back and forwards to find keys, food items etc. But the pace picked up again later so all's well that ends well. And it truly does end well. Great story. You have talent.

[juvinal]

can somone help me?

Spoiler

ive been searchign everywhere for the key, anybody have any clues? the walkthrought that comes with it says that its under the first torch in the cave however i discovered that it is not. one thing when ur searching just after the cave in the stairs your character will jump into the corner of the screen. if anyone can help me with the key please do

[close]

[Trisk]

Nikolas-

Thank you very much for the kind words! Edgar helped alot with the comic book art, and many of the Tsvsgino animations, so I can't take all the credit...not to mention my brother wrote the awesome story. And believe me, it's just getting going with this game! 

Ness-

You missed out on alot of the atmosphere without the soundtrack!  Out of everything I did in this game, I'm most proud and satisfied with my soundtrack. But thank you for the kind words!

juvinal-

Spoiler

To get to the long cave, you must leave the cliff dwellings, go back to the upper elevator room, then head south onto the lava bridge. From there, go west across the bridge to the stone stairway. Head west up the stairs, and west again up the wooden stairs. You will arrive in the long cave. Jacob is a teeny dot in the distance, and the room is a scrolling room.

From here, just click the metal detector under the left torch to get the brass key.

Hope that clears it up for you!

[close]

[ness]

well all i can say is that if i found it atmospheric even without the sound you did a better job than perhaps you thought! i may even go back and listen to the soundtrack but i am usually trying to play ags games on the quiet so as not to get spotted wasting time when i should be working. 

[Nikolas]

Shit! I just finished it! That was a hell of a game. I've already voted! This is a big well created game.

WOW!

[SSH]

Trisk, new AGS 2.71RC4 should have fixed the savegame bug... try recompiling!

[Trisk]

A quick update on version 1.1:

I've ported Prodigal over to AGS 2.71 RC4, and with any luck it SHOULD fix the savegame bug. Now I'm having trouble with the Snow/Rain plugin not working! All my cool rain is gone. It seems the plugin no longer works with any version of AGS 2.71. I PMed Scorporius about it, but I'm not going to wait too long for a fix. I really want to get the new version out, so I may have to substitute the plugin for a lame sprite overlay. Sigh...such is life.

Anyway, I'm going to release 1.1 THIS WEEK, reguardless. So we should have a good fix for the savegame problem soon! Sorry to all who are having to wait!

ness and Nikolas-

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the game! Spready the word about it!   

[lakerz]

I bow down to your greatness trisk!    Prodigal is an amazing achievement for AGS.  I agree with others that the beginning grabs you by the throat, the middle is not quite as gripping.  Oh, but what an ending!  I encountered no bugs, had no issues with the GUI, just two days of great gaming.    That Peter guy is a maestro with music too!  This may be the best AGS game I've ever played.  Definitely top 5!

[Ozzie]

What can I say?
I played through the game one and half a week ago. I sat before the flimmering monitor nearly non-stop, the hints of a story, the atmosphere, the want-to-know-what-happens-next chained me on the seat, the right hand firm on the mouse. Another reason was that the game never frustrated. I'm more than a little bit surprised that not only a few had problems figuring out the puzzles. I thought that most of them were pretty obvious, if not too easy. I'm actually a guy who reaches pretty fast to the walkthrough - probably caused through impatience on my side or failing to see any rational reason why I should waste my time running across the screens searching for well-hidden items or another hint. That's because most worlds in adventures are too empty, have too little to offer to keep the player motivated through longer times where you remain stuck. I can't name an adventure, except probably some short 10min. AGS Game, that I solved without the helpful assistance of a walkthrough.
And, a bit regretfully, I even used here one,

Spoiler

in the part when you're stuck in the elevator and have to open the toolbox with a stone that lies on the ground, but you can only pick it up if you had lit the torch before. Since I inspected the ground some times before I didn't thought about looking at it again. Also, I had the feeling that I was trapped in a dead end, so I just had to be sure that I went the right way.

[close]

The game has another weakness that many others named already and I want to confirm it. In the middle part of the game, at the cliff dwelling, there's too much walking in comparison to things to do. Puzzles in this part are much too sparse.

Spoiler

After I played through the game I understood why it wasn't possible to really die, also graphically you got your head cut off and got squeezed. But I think it took something from the atmosphere away and/or disappointed because it wasn't more than a imagination, instead of a hindrance. It felt like a missing challenge and for pure effect it got a bit stretched too far. When the "The End" screen appeared suddenly after a stone block squeezed the player under its mass, just for the purpose to get thrown back into the game some seconds later, was a bit of an atmosphere killer. Probably a better solution for such seemingly deadly situations would be to reset the player in a position shortly before the death trap snaps and asking himself what just happened ("What was that?"). I think this would remain logical enough because you don't really die, you just get pushed back and can only get further until you tricked your imagination! Well, just a thought....

[close]

And I found a bug by the way, I'm not sure if it has alread been reported!

Spoiler

After you left the...guy who tells you much backgound information, after the cutscene, the GUI, which tells you the name of the hotspots the mouse is hovering over, is turned off. You have go for example to the room with the radio to turn it on again.

[close]

Oh, and about the ending, I can only say, wow!! It is truly the most impressive part of the game, the last 5-10 minutes! It's like the endings of all Fincher and Shyamalan movies are thrown together, it blew me away so much, with the power of a hurricane, really!! I was shocked the whole evening after the game was over and left me thinking when human forget all their principles and get insane, kinda. It was honestly the best ending I ever encountered in a game, I can claim that.

So, thanks so very much for this unique and extraordinary experience, if the term art really means still something in this world, this adventure proves that computer games can really be a work of art.
I will surely promote this game under my friends. 

[Nikolas]

One other thing to ad:

The final song of the game (Alone, by Shadowplay), is a really great, amazing choice which is very much into the game, although probably not written for it (?) Still one of the best AGS games!

[Trisk]

Prodigal v1.1 is finally out! You can download it from the game's main page, or from here:

http://prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com/download/prodigalv11.exe

A list of fixes:

V1.1
-Fixed a typo on the wooden stairs light that caused a game crash. Thanks to Stefano for finding this bug!
-Fixed a zone line problem in the “Oily water” area of the cliff dwellings. Thanks to InCreator for first reporting this!
-Many users are reporting strange behavior in the game. Jacob disappearing, getting stuck outside of walk-able bounds, crashing on game save, etc. Ported the game over to AGS 2.71 RC3 in the hopes that these odd happenings will stop.
-Upgraded several GUIs to high-color sprites to make them easier to see. Also fixed a couple GUI buttons to increase visibility.
-Added backdoor cheat codes to allow users who are experiencing problems with SSH's save/load GUIs to be able to use the stock AGS save/load GUIs. Simply hit CTRL-S to save and CTRL-X to load. PLEASE do try to use SSH's save/load GUIs first, though…just use the backdoor if you have problems. EDIT: SSH recommends saving with the old GUI first, in case of problems. Please DO use the normal one as well though. Without it I won't know if this fixed the problem or not.
-Added a clipping cheat. If it becomes necessary, I will tell people how to activate it. This should help if people have problems with Jacob getting stuck outside walkable bounds.
-Fixed frame mismatch on the storage room guard's knockout animation. Frames now display in correct order.
-Fixed a bit of sloppy coding with the portcullis in the dining room of the Cliff Dwellings. Looking at the portcullis will now yield a close-up, just like using it will.
-Ported up to AGS 2.71 RC4. We hope this will fix the glitching savegame system, as well as the many, many odd glitches being reported.
-The snow/rain plugin has stopped working with v 2.71 of AGS!!! ARGH! As a result, I had to remove the excellent plugin and make a sprite based rain sheet that doesn't look nearly as cool. If the plugin is ever fixed, I shall create a patch to add it back in.
-Fixed odd bug in “cancel” button on savegame GUI. Not sure when this happened…
-Added a real icon to the executable file. No more stock icon! Now you can create a decent shortcut, too!


So anyone having problems can go download now! Let's hope it'll fix 'em all! Let me know!




lakerz-
Glad you enjoyed it! We had fun making it, and hope we can do the sequel!

Ozzie-
Thanks for all the kind words and well composed thoughts!

Spoiler

You actually CAN pick up the stone before lighting the torch. I do it all the time in my playtesting!Ã, 

As for the bug...ACK!Ã,  I just released v1.1, and hadn't noticed that one! Well, it isn't too severe, I guess...if a new version ends up getting released, I WILL fix that though. Thank you!

[close]

And I'm glad you enjoyed the ending! There is still alot of story to tell, so stay tuned!

Nikolas-
I was OVERJOYED when Shadowplay said I could use "Alone," because it does FIT so perfectly! It seems as if it was written for the game! I HATED having to cut the first verse out, but it was needed to make it fit entirely.

You can download the full song FREE from Shadowplay's website! Just head over to

www.theshadowplay.com

[Nikolas]

Yes, Trisk I found that out a little. Later.
But it was fucking great! Of course it would be unfair to you (the direcotr) not to mention that your orchestration of the finale is excellent. Honestly the choice of the song+the ending+the conducting of the whole scene=Perfect!

I did download did and I went out shopping listening only to this one track (6 minutes). Well I had one heck of a time. And scenes from the ending kept coming to me in flshes.

Man oh man!

[peter]

Thanks Trisk i can now go further when i use the Aegis on the  cell door

but did get maybe a other bug?

I did not can take the receipt ( i did all before in the WT and did ask all at Arch-Lord ).
I did can get in the kitchen.
I did get back again to  talk with the fat Demelza (Arch-Lord)
and then i did can take the receipt?
When i go back in the kitchen the guard keep saying he want his Aegis but i did give it before.
The book with the Aegis are there not anymore but i can go in the kitchen.
I have finished this excellent game

Thanks

[Iv4n]

GReat work Trisk! Are the old saves compatible with the new version?

[Necro]

Just found some time to play this game, Awesome!

Nice cinematic sequences at the begining, loved the use of FMV, puzzles were not too hard or obscure, and the close up art work was very cool, all topped off with the perfect ending, I loved if from start to finish.

I'm trying to think of any area's where it could be improved, but there are not that many at all, only little things that bugged me like...

Spoiler

...finding that damn stone on the ground (its infuriating stuck in a room) , and the metal detector (I was at least expecting some beeps to help me out to tell me if i was hot or cold), and some camera angles didnt help, i found the tv puzzle by complete accident, i was trying to look at the bed.

[close]

... but as you can see they don't really amount up to 1/1000th of a percentage against this game.

I have played some great AGS games this year and this is a definate contender for the best game of 2005.

congrats

[Trisk]

Nikolas -

Yes, they are an awesome band. I really wish I could buy their CD...but that'd be hard to do since I'm in the US and they are in Australia now. The other songs on their sight are great too. Check 'em out!

Peter -

Spoiler

I don't THINK that's a bug, you may not have talked through all the dialogue topics with the Arch-Lord. He has to tell you where the recipe is before you can pick it up.

[close]

Iv4n -
Sorry, no. Old saves will not work with Prodigal 1.1. Because the game is ported up to a new version of the AGS engine, AND because I changed the global script to include the cheat codes, the engine will crash if you try and load a Prodigal 1.0 savegame.

I was really hoping to have the code so clean that new versions wouldn't be needed. And from my end, it was. Nobody has found any show-stoppers that were my fault. All the odd crash bugs people experienced were/are from AGS 2.7...which CJ has hopefully fixed with this version. 
Necro -

Glad you enjoyed it! I guess how you like any puzzle is a matter of personal taste...I like single room lock-in puzzles because you KNOW the answer must be right there in front of you...it is just a matter of puzzling it out. Sierra used these on many of their games, such as the inn in King's Quest 5, or the Sea Slug battle in Space Quest 4. 'Sides, I included a walkthrough in case you get stuck on anything. 
Laters!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Heh, just had to say this: in Sierra's games you didn't always know the answer MUST be in front of you. You were always wary you hadn't picked up something you needed, and always wondered whether you were in a dead end...

[xenogia]

Trisk I was wondering if you could tell me how you did the whole ingame fmv thing I was wondering if you can email me how you did it at dean.thomson@gmail.com

Thanks

[Traveler]

Trisk, excellent game, I just finished it. The ending is simply amazing. 

I, too, wouldn't mind a quick description as to how you did the full motion sequences in the game. Are they painted on screen frame-by-frame?

[Trisk]

Eh, good point Rui...  Maybe I shoulda thought of some areas in Lucasarts games instead.

xenogia and Traveler- While the in engine FMV thing isn't really hard to do, or that difficult to figure out how to do  it if you are an AGS programmer, I don't really feel inclined to give out a "trade secret." It took me days of research into all available methods of in game FMV to find. Sorry.

Traveler-

Glad you enjoyed it!

[strawberrypicker]

Hi, I experienced 2 errors consecutively, the 2nd one causing the game to crash. Here's what happened:

Spoiler:

Spoiler

After I talked to the wise old Demelza in the lone cave dwelling and saw the cutscene on Alexander Demelza entering the portal,

[close]

all the active object labels disappeared. (i.e. All the active objects' labels won't come up even when you move your mouse over an active object)

Then after the cutscene and the active object labels disappearing, I walked back into the (spoiler):

Spoiler

room with the radio playing "Walk In" (i.e. the antichamber to the dining room),

[close]

and the labels came on again.

Then when I exited this room and went into (spoiler):

Spoiler

the chamber leading to the caves where the dig is (i.e. the one with the big barrel and the aegis symbol over the cave door),

[close]

the game crashed and gave me this error message:

[Trisk]

strawberrypicker-

The first bug with the hotspot bar is a known issue. Since it doesn't bother game play at all, and comes back on soon thereafter, I'll only fix it if a new version needs to come out. Thanks for reporting, though!

The second bug is an AGS issue, and has nothing to do with Prodigal or my programming. Just restore your game and try again and you should be able to continue with no problems. If it happens again, do what CJ recommends and post that screenshot up on the tech forums.

hopefully you can get through the rest of the game with no issues!

[strawberrypicker]

Thanks for the reply; I restored to an earlier point and managed to get through the whole game. I've finished it the same day I reported the bug! 

It's a great game, and IMO, one of the true full-length games out there. The ending suggests there's a sequel, & I can't wait! 

There's another little piece of feedback I'd like to give:

Spoiler

I absolutely loved the artwork for the entire game, but the flashing rooms in Ulasigi Ela (including the prison where Mike was held) made me feel sick. Maybe there's some other way to convey the same effect of madness/evil without using flashing lights?

I believe people with epilepsy would have a problem with the flashing lights too. (Um, no, I don't have epilepsy, but for some reason I can't play games where 3D panning is involved, or there are lots of flashing bright lights - they make me nauseas and unwell, and I feel sick for quite some time after that.)

[close]

Other than that, everything else was fantastic. Oh, and my favourite room in the entire game?

Spoiler

Call me sick, but the room with the numerous corpses of Jacob wins hands down 

[close]

[Tzupy]

http://www.geocities.com/tzupy_hp/error.bmp

Spoiler

i keep getting this error after i unlock the cell door and try to use the aegis on it

[close]

[Tzupy]

i found out another bug
it's the wave surrounding the character like he's in water

LATER EDIT:
i went into the water and the wave disappeared
and i could open the cell door

[m0ds]

Looks and plays great, I certainly haven't finished it yet but it's a great download - I'm glad I've had a go! I will play it further! You've put great effort into this and so far its slick and professional! Its a shame you wont discuss FMV though, because it really has made the gameplay much more exciting. I'll have to explain what I know.

For an FMV sequence like one in the game, i.e. when we zoome back from the mirror, you will need a program that animates motion aswell as renders still images. I'll use Bryce as an example because its really the only one I've used and I know it can do both. You'd need to build your scene, carefully planning where any camera motion will go and also where any additional art (like a picture frame) will go. You would normally have to import that artwork into your 3D motion proggy, like Bryce - and place it in the scene. With Bryce you take pot luck as to whether it will come out clearly or not, perhaps Trisk has a special method but this is the part I don't think he's willing to give away (boooo!)

Then you'd take all the static shots of your scene, before rendering the motion, making sure that the motion points start and end in the same or similar position as your static renders. It's also noteable that you won't really see any characters in FMV shots, simply for the fact that they're 2D and the FMV motion is made in a 3D prog in a 3D world, so you'd have to do some crazy camera trickery or sprite model trickery to get a 3D effect to work. In AGS its pretty self explanatory. Playing an AVI or what not at the end of start of a scene, depending on the movement. For example

// start video
INTRO FMV - Camera zooms into house window
// load room
ROOM 1 (static shot of where last FMV motion finished) - Man walks out of closet into his room. Realises he's insane and walks back into closet.
// start video
OUTRO FMV (contiuning from same position, or even a new camera position from within the room) - Whole room shakes, closet falls over.

Anyway Xenogia - it's funny you should be asking this, I thought you had it implemented many moons ago into your game!!! Back to this game, I am extremely impressed with it - and am having fun playing I had a strange error saying it couldnt find the intro_room.crm to start with, but after trying to load the game about 5 times it just went into it and worked.

[Trisk]

strawberrypicker-

Spoiler

I'm sorry to hear you get motion sickness. I don't know if you've tried some things, but doctors recommend sitting closer or farther from your monitor, having lights on or off, increasing or decreasing monitor brightness...changing things like that. Often, one combination will help the problem.

Ulisigi Ela flickers by displaying light moving across bump mapped textures, which makes the scene seem to shimmer. The effect is cool and spooky, but I can see why it would make your brain go "What the heck are you doing to me???" Wish I could offer more to help, but that is the best advice I can give you, straight from the doctors at Bioware.

[close]

Tzupy-

Ack! Those are both bugs, alright! Crud. I can see why I never got the crash bug...neither I nor my testers prolly ever thought of trying to open the door again after it was already open.  Still, a bug is a bug. Rats.

As for the water sprites in the tower, can you reproduce the bug? If so, can you please give me the steps you went through to get it to happen? I thought I'd fixed all the bugs with that darn pool. Bleh. 

Thanks for the reports!

m0ds-

Yay! Glad you are having fun! You're half right and half wrong on your guesses about the FMV. The rendering set ups are much like how you describe, however, you WILL see some character sprites on the FMV frames later in the game! ...but I cheated, adding them into the finished frames using Photoshop, and some of that crazy camera trickery you mentioned.  Still, it works, and that's what's important.

However, when I said "in engine FMV", I meant IN ENGINE FMV!!! There are no .avis or .flcs in this game. I didn't like the flicker and pause they caused when they'd load, not to mention the HUGE file size they were. The FMV is absolutely being done by the AGS engine. I is proud of how I figured it out.      Took lots of work, though. And lots of hours wasted in dead ends that didn't work or didn't look right.

[Candle]

Here is the new updated game split for those on dialup .
Just download to one folder and run the bat file to join them.
http://z08.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=15847
http://z08.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=15855
http://z08.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=15864
http://z08.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=15871
http://z08.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=15881
http://z08.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=15889
http://z08.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=15894
zip file
http://z08.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=15895

[Tzupy]

Here's how i got the errors :

I saved the game before opening the cell door. When i tried to open it, the game crashed. I restored the saved game (the screen was the close-up of the door) and when I clicked outside to view the character I saw that wave. I hoped that the door would open, but the game crashed again.
The next day I started the game from that sequence and it worked

So, I don't know if it was really a game bug

P.S. Good game, though a little weird in the end

[Trisk]

Hey, thanks GBC! I do appreciate it!

Tzupy- I'm not sure what that would have been...but I don't think it was the game. I don't THINK there is any way for the code to have caused that...I did have alot of problems with the code for the water, though. Is it possible you clicked on the door FROM standing in the pool, or were you out of the pool when you clicked on it? If you clicked on the door from standing IN the pool and that happened, then it was a bug. Otherwise, it was an AGS thing.

[Trisk]

Just a quick note...anybody surfing onto the Prodigal webpage might notice something new available for download...and that is all I have to say about that!

[Candle]

Hey N/P Trisk still waiting on the guy to get finsh. lol

[Tzupy]

I was out of the pool

I think this is an ags "thing" because other game crashed just like this one

or my pc crashes my games because i play a lot and he's sick of me =))

[Dan]

Hey Trisk, just wanted to let ya know that this game rocks!

I loved the atmospheric music and sounds, closeup art scenes, 3D room rendering, and the ending was just superb.  Also one of the few games that I just couldn't stop playing until I completed it.

My only (hopefully constructive) criticism of this game would be...

Spoiler

The metal detector. The clues regarding the location of the key didn't really help since those are some big areas to search, I found it got a little tedious after a while. As someone mentioned before, some kind of "warmer, colder" indication would have been great.

[close]

...but I guess thats more of a personal preference thing.

Anyway, keep up the good work. Looking forward to the sequel

[Steph]

Wow. I just played through the entire game and just had to comment. Really fun to play. Played straight through...the puzzles were logical, the graphics were beautifully done, and the story was engrossing.

The ending though...what a disappointment. To go through ALL that work, for basically nothing. Good for the surprise element, not so much for the satisfaction level. It's akin to the kind of feeling you'd get from working on that big term paper, only to have your computer crash on you the day before it's due. I guess I'm just the type of person who likes to get rewarded for my work, but I really wasn't feeling the ending.

Spoiler

An option to refuse Mike's hand would've been nice, IMO.

[close]

Despite the ending, great job on the game itself. Very well done, especially for a non-commercial game. Looking forward to more offerings from you. Hopefully future games'll have more satisfying endings?Ã, 

A bug report though:

Spoiler

I went into the tower a number of times, and one of the times I came down, the character didn't show. No way to go back up, no way to go out. All the interactions responded except "walk". I had to quit and restore. I'd already visited the prison, I believe, when this occured, but I hadn't opened it. Not sure if this makes a diff.

[close]

[Trisk]

Steph-

You are revealing end of the game spoilers in normal text and hiding bug reports?!? What is wrong with this picture??? I've already reported to the moderators asking them to hide or delete your post!

Spoiler

The ending is "To be continued," which you should know if you watched it all the way through to completion. Things are in dire straights, but this is part one of a 3 part story!

[close]

As for your comments on the bug, that is an AGS thing. The only thing you can try is to hit CTRL-J to activate no-clipping mode, then try to walk onto a walkable area and turn no-clipping back off. No-clipping mode is NOT supported by me, however, as you can easily break the game with the cheat.

Dan-

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you had fun, and it makes all the hard work worthwhile! You aren't the first person to have that opinion about that puzzle. Some people seemed to get it right away, and some people were really confused by it. I tried to make it as thoroughly clear as I could in the game text where you should look, and the positive search area is actually huge all around the torch...I'm not sure what else I could've done. Perhaps like you said, a warmer colder system...but in my (extremely) limited understanding of metal detectors, they just beep when they're over metal...

Actually, this is sort of another relic from a cut puzzle system. You were originally going to use the metal detector to find bullets all over the place in every room, to prepare for the shooter section of the game. (see the shooter I uploaded to my website, prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com, for more information about this.) When this shooter section got cut, I nearly cut the metal detector too, but decided it would make an interesting puzzle on its own...

Tzupy-

I'm 99% sure that is an AGS bug. Especially when it magically clears itself up, that tells you as much.

[skyfire2]

i played this game to the end and it's really fun. the beautiful renders and the story and everything else makes the game incredibly immersive. some puzzles were a little too hard but there's a walkthrough if you can't figure them out. over all, prodigal is a very well made game and it is definatly worth playing.

[Steph]

Steph-

You are revealing end of the game spoilers in normal text and hiding bug reports?!? What is wrong with this picture??? I've already reported to the moderators asking them to hide or delete your post!

I didn't figure it gave away too much. Just that I found it dissappointing. No specifics and all.

Spoiler

Unless you mean the hand thing. But the hand thing isn't really anything you can control anyway, being a cutscene and all. The prison is sort of a game thing that you have to find, so w/ that I felt compelled to hide it. But I guess I'll err on the side of caution in future.

[close]

I didn't know it was 3 part. Looking forward to the rest of it.

[T_ed89]

WHAT a good game. Everything was really amazing, but the best was the story, probably one of the best endings I've ever experiend.
I also really admires the one who did the close-up character art.

The only thing I can find to complain on is that it was quite many bugs, but it's understandable in a such large game as this is.

Do really hope that you produces some more games...

[Trisk]

T_ed89- Hopefully you were playing version 1.1? If so, and you were still having bug problems, please let me know. I might try to port it up again to the latest AGS, as those bugs are NOT from me, they are AGS bugs.

Glad you enjoyed it though! Spread the word! It's awards season! And I wanna make a sequel!!!



Please, if anyone else is having bugs happen in version 1.1, let me know. I need to know if I should make yet another port up to a newer AGS.

Talk laters,
Trisk

[SSH]

Great game, Trisk, now taht I'm finally playing it. I hope you haven't heard anyone complaining about the save/load now with v1.1. Anyway, I'm having great fun with this, but the only thing I'd say is that some rooms it isn't obvious where the exits are: e.g. the bedroom in the cottage: it took me ages to work I  needed to go to the far left of the room. Maybe the IF-style room description could give some hints on this?

[Trisk]

SSH- Yeah, I'm sorry about that. People have noted it to me before, and they and you are right. My excuse/reason is thus:

1) This is my first game, so I was bound to make at least ONE freshman mistake...
2) Because this game is rendered in 3D, the door in the 3D space that I had modeled was over on the left. So to me it seemed obvious, simply because I'd spent all that time rendering it and I knew the rooms like the back of my hand. It never occured to me that what was a given to me because I knew the room, would NOT be a given to anyone else...

...does that make sense?

I *think* (knock on wood) that that is the only room that does that to you...the rest of the game SHOULD be smooth sailing (knock on wood.)

Anyway, I'm glad you are enjoying it, though! Please let me know if you find any other rooms that are hard to understand like that! I might release a version 1.2... 

[Trisk]

Reloaded just reviewed Prodigal! Heres a bit of what they had to say!

"With Prodigal it is very clear how much effort and time went into developing this very excellent adventure game, in such things as the different graphic styles seen in the game."

"The story itself really drew me into the game and really made me want to keep playing."

They finish off the review saying: "If you are looking for a lengthy adventure title, that really has had a lot of effort put into development, look no farther than Prodigal, a worthy adventure game that you should definitely check out."

Sounds great! You can check out the full review at http://www.reloaded.org/download/Prodigal/142/




For those of you who don't know, www.reloaded.org is a website devoted to various freeware games made and distributed over the Internet. They post reviews and make download links available for people. It is a great site to find free games, and get a guage of their quality before downloading!

[Gord10]

Congrats, Trisk I know Reloaded.org well, they had reviewed my game, too.
Edit: Edited "Trisky" to "Trisk". I thought it was your nick.

[Trisk]

Just a quick note:

LGM said Prodigal was killing his bandwidth, so we made a slight change to the websight address, and the Prodigal files are now up for download on Filefront.

Please! If anyone was linking to the Prodigal files from their webpage, update your links to the filefront links! The old links will stop working soon, if they haven't already!

New website address:
http://www.lilgryphmaster.com/prodigal/index.htm

New download address:
http://files.filefront.com/Prodigal_11/;4673456;;/fileinfo.html

We apologize for the inconvenience.

[Seleceus]

To the entire Prodigal crew:

I've just finished the game today and must say; "You've done a fantastic job!"  Thank you all for another great AGS game. 

[splat44]

Reloaded just reviewed Prodigal! Heres a bit of what they had to say!

"With Prodigal it is very clear how much effort and time went into developing this very excellent adventure game, in such things as the different graphic styles seen in the game."

"The story itself really drew me into the game and really made me want to keep playing."

They finish off the review saying: "If you are looking for a lengthy adventure title, that really has had a lot of effort put into development, look no farther than Prodigal, a worthy adventure game that you should definitely check out."

Sounds great! You can check out the full review at http://www.reloaded.org/download/Prodigal/142/


For those of you who don't know, www.reloaded.org is a website devoted to various freeware games made and distributed over the Internet. They post reviews and make download links available for people. It is a great site to find free games, and get a guage of their quality before downloading!

Trisk,

Our offerts is leading somewhere.

To the entire Prodigal crew:

I've just finished the game today and must say; "You've done a fantastic job!"  Thank you all for another great AGS game. 

Selecceus,

I'm sure the Trisk wouldn't mind me posting since I've took part of the beta testing.

Thank you for your kind words.

[Trisk]

Thanks, Splat44!

For those of you who might have been living under a rock and missed the AGS awards, (tsk, tsk...where were you?  ) I'd like to announce that Prodigal took home the "Best Story" award for 2005! So if you are looking for a game whose tale will stay with you long after you turn off the monitor, well...look no further than Prodigal!

My brother penned the story for both Prodigal and Prodigal 2, because I realized early on that I wasn't gonna be able to write much of a story. So this award goes out to his awesome skills! He came up with a doozy of an idea, and it is just getting going in Prodigal! I don't think anyone has conceived of what happens next!

So vote "YES" in the Prodigal 2 sequel campaign, and cross your fingers and hope that chapter two will come out! 

laters,
Trisk

[splat44]

Hi Trisk,

Where can we vote for a sequel?

It migh be best to provide a link.

Regards

[babyjoe]

My god...I've just started playing this but am scared already! Brilliant stuff!

[Afflict]

it looks goo dbeen playing about 10 minutes...
The character doesnt fit the scene that well but hey its a good game!

[babyjoe]

I loved this game when I first started playing it but found it lost it's edge when I had to start running errands. There was no fear anymore and it turned into a comedy if anything, lol...Was this intentional?

[Nikolas]

I loved this game when I first started playing it but found it lost it's edge when I had to start running errands. There was no fear anymore and it turned into a comedy if anything, lol...Was this intentional?

Have you finished it?

If not play a little while longer...

And please tell me that you're not using the walkthrough, provided by Trisk himself, becasue that would mean that you are prepared for what's to come...

[Trisk]

I don't have anyplace to vote for a sequel, splat44. It was just a joke.

Babyjoe, while the middle part of the game is definitely less on the chills aspect, this is very much intentional. And yes, there is a bit of humor in the characters. Don't worry though, the game will get much scarier later on again, and stay that way 'till the end.

This story isn't ALL horror, and was never really intended to be. Prodigal 2, while it will (if it gets made) certainly contain some scary and gruesome scenes, will be even less horror overall. That's kinda why I billed Prodigal as a horror/thriller.

Anyway, beat the game and you'll understand a little of why the middle part is there. Play Prodigal 2, and you'll realize the story couldn't exist without it.

Nikolas-
Yeah, I realize there is always a risk of someone abusing the walkthrough if you include it with the game. I tried to keep story elements out of the walkthrough (I think...) but you just have to hope that people will just use it if they get stuck, and not just burn through the game using it.

[babyjoe]

Oh right, brilliant!

No, I'm not using the walkthrough, although it IS tempting! lol

[fanton]

HEY>..FOR THE INVENTORY ITEMS:
try adding a stroke  (an outlike) for each item. something like white or yellow or a dark brown. or add shadows for each item.

[Nodnerb]

Hey, I just finished this game, and it was truly astounding! I loved the entire thing - it was very creepy, atmospheric, and immersive. I was very entertained by the plot, and I love how it developed. The mysterious nature of the game was excellent! This is just the kind of game I'm always looking for! The graphics were great too - and the music!! You should be proud!

My one complaint:

**SPOILER**
There was one part that was just TOO hard. Where you have to find some way to get the guy to accept the barbecue chicken, because the bowl isn't fancy enough... ARGH! How are you supposed to know that you have to look at the bookshelf 3 or 4 times before you can take one of the plates? Other than that, I don't think anything was too hard, or needed the walkthrough. But that part did.
**END OF SPOILER**

Excellent game, and I hope you continue in this field - you'll go far!

[Trisk]

Fanton- that's an idea for the sequel. :b

Nodnerb- FYI, you can hide spoilers by typing [ hide]spoiler text here[ /hide]. Just remove the spaces after the open brackets.

Spoiler

Well, it was supposed to be kind of funny that he was such a dip, although I did notice alot of people get stuck at that point. The ellipses in the discription text was supposed to give you the hint that there was more to see. It's pretty hard to make a game that NOBODY gets stuck on, so I included the walkthrough to keep frustration down. I figure the player can decide when they've had enough and want to look it up.

[close]

-Ksirt

[Tonik]

Note that I am still playing the game, but I have to disagree regarding the music. In my option, it destroys your attempt to create a scary atmosphere, and is plain annoying; inside the house for example (bathroom especially).

However, the graphics are very good and the use of 3d in the cutscenes work out well. I cant comment on the story because I havent finished the game yet.



cheers

[Trisk]

reloaded.org, a great sight to find freeware games, has interviewed me about the developement of Prodigal! Learn all about the game's production and history! Learn how Prodigal started out as an AGI game! Learn the inspirations for Prodigal! Learn about how the games rich audio environment was developed!

It's all there for you! Just head over to
http://www.reloaded.org/interview.php?IntID=21&GID=142

And drop me a line to say what you think!
Trisk

[Mordalles]

man, that's awesome, trisk! going to check it out now and learn from the master. 

[scourge]

Good stuff Trisk!

[splat44]

reloaded.org, a great sight to find freeware games, has interviewed me about the developement of Prodigal! Learn all about the game's production and history! Learn how Prodigal started out as an AGI game! Learn the inspirations for Prodigal! Learn about how the games rich audio environment was developed!

It's all there for you! Just head over to
http://www.reloaded.org/interview.php?IntID=21&GID=142

And drop me a line to say what you think!
Trisk

Hi Trisk,

Thank you for your kind words you used regading what did during that interview.

Wow, it certaintely for contributing as much.

Oh, I also see you are working on 2nd version?
That great and all the best with it.


Cheers

[Hammerite]

i dont really understand how you can make a sequel to Prodigal, it had that kind of ending, you know?
what kind of thing's going to happen.
[crosses fingers]please more character interaction!![/crosses fingers]

[Trisk]

Hammerite-

Did you watch the end all the way through the credits? The story keeps going until the game takes you back to windows...and once you see that, you should know why there should be a sequel. 

In less broad terms, I'd say Prodigal was only the PROLOGUE to a much larger story. You've been introduced to many concepts (Ulisigi Ela) and characters (Alexander Demelza) that really didn't have alot of point in this game. They are all setup for the NEXT game. Plot threads abound in Prodigal when you start to gather them up. And they ALL go someplace!

It would be a great disservice to Nathan's excellent story to NOT do a sequel. There are so many questions left unanswered! 

Anyway,

[Hammerite]

is that where the bloke who you play as in the first (sorry forgot his name  ) talks to that girl on the bench because wouldnt it just be almost the same?

[splat44]

Hammerite,

Sorry to interupt but I'm sure that Trisk have a plot in the sequel.

Examply:
Girl finding what happens to her's boy friend and might some how break some curse or something.

Is that right Trisk?

[Hammerite]

AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaH,
i see now,

[GarageGothic]

Spoiler

Or maybe it's rather about the other dimension beyond the cell. Remember, the guy isn't stuck there forever, only till someone else comes along. But I'm sure that other place is something quite difference than the paradise it's made out to be.

[close]

[Trisk]

  I have no comment. 

These are some interesting thoughts, however!  Not that I'm sayin' they're right or wrong, mind you...but they are interestin'.

And what about the World Walker Chief? Where does he fit into all this? Anybody have some guesses?

[desimaui]

To the authors and makers of "The Prodigal", I say good for you. This was one of the most enjoyablel games I have played in a long time. There are some realy creepy parts to it and that shows the talent of the creators. If there is a sequel, I hope Jacob's girlfriend somehow finds a way to avoid going through what Jacob did and that Mike gets his!!!

[splat44]

To the authors and makers of "The Prodigal", I say good for you. This was one of the most enjoyablel games I have played in a long time. There are some realy creepy parts to it and that shows the talent of the creators. If there is a sequel, I hope Jacob's girlfriend somehow finds a way to avoid going through what Jacob did and that Mike gets his!!!

Yes, I agree this is one of the best game.

If you see my previous post and that exactly what I am hoping regarding Jacob's girl friend if a sequel being done.

[Ratty]

Hi, I just got done playing Prodigal and must say it is an excellent game. I can't wait for the sequel.

I just had some minor questions about the graphics. In the opening FMV, there is some minor tearing when the camera pulls away from the mirror and turns. Much later in the game in the areas with lots of light flickering (such as the door standing over the abyss and the war weapons pillar room) there is some rather severe flickering/tearing going on there. Is this normal or is it something wrong with my computers display settings?

[GarageGothic]

Is this normal or is it something wrong with my computers display settings?

I don't remember having any problems, but tearing is quite normal in AGS games. You may try to activate the "Use 85 Hz display" option in the game's setup. Unfortunately the Vsync feature - which might eliminate it entirely - can only be activated through script code, so only the developer can implement that as a fix.