WOOT! Over 2000 downloads!
Hey I’d like it announce that I’ve finished my first game!
I’m Sonicrumpets AKA Nathan O. and I’ve been lurking about sense 2004 but have been very quiet and didn’t want to go shooting my mouth off without something to show for it.
So with out further a due I give you,
Professor Neely And The Death Ray Of Doom!
In the game you'll take on the role of Professor Neely a retired college professor and famed inventor who is unwittingly lured to an odd house and held against his will by a mad doctor.
Your goal is to escape and stop the events that are about to take place.
Features Include:
Wide screen aspect ratio
Retro low res 320X200 resolution
Sounds and music for every location.
Play with no fear of dying as you can’t.
alternate solutions to certain puzzles.
Special hidden mini game!
Also GRUNTS !
Download the game (http://www.filefront.com/17655163/ProfNeely.zip)
Downloaded file is a 17.86 MB zip
More info at my blog (http://sonicrumpets.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html)
Screen shots
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_fNFYjCaiFbo/TOv7A9SnnZI/AAAAAAAAAIM/50hKk87qiHg/srn%20shot2.png)
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_fNFYjCaiFbo/TOv7A5m5yTI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/3J3h-JIaTgg/srn%20shot%201.png)
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_fNFYjCaiFbo/TOv7u3Xjk2I/AAAAAAAAAIU/XtBDkS6iipI/srn%20shot%203.png)
Please message me if I failed to post this correctly or have goofed up the game in some manner :)
Thank you and I hope you all enjoy the game!
*edit*
You can now find it on the ags games page!
*Changes*
Added labels to the cursors so the player can easily tell what mode they are using.
well what can I say...WOW
It really got me...very well done for the first game
Enjoyed it a lot, to be honest I did not want to stop playing this game, but I had to
Very addictive
GRUNTS technology fits very well for me
Congratulations :)
Very very nice :)
Looks DOTTy! Downloading.
*Snake downloads and plays right away
This game is really friggin good, especially for a first game! Besides some spelling errors, the game is pretty much flawless.
Good lord, it looks amazing. I will be downloading this in the near future and giving it a go.
-Bill
WTF? Out of the blue! :-D
Looks gorgeous.
EDIT: I must say I love the style of the backgrounds :
- perspective-wise they're a strange mix of simplistic perspective (Maniac Mansion) and more realistic perspective (DOTT)
- color-wise you used just enough tones to make it look smooth, but flat surfaces still use only one color, old-school. I like that!
--> A strange style + another strange style = a great style!
Are the spelling errors on purpose (as some sort of joke) or are there one million billion misspellings? If it's not on purpose (hard to tell for a non English speaker) then I'd recommend you have it proof-read by a native English reader (not me, obviously :D) for version 1.1.
I like the weird Akatosh-like humor ("Dear professor, you received an award of some sort. Don't be silly you've invented plenty of great things!").
Quote from: Monsieur OUXX on Wed 15/12/2010 09:19:01
I'd recommend you have it proof-read by a native English reader (not me, obviously :D) for version 1.1.
That's really funny. I thought the same thing.... turns out he's actually from the states.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/06089628989857559596
still playing the game, ill get back on some critique later-on.
Looks great! Love the graphical style, prefer games where you can't die, and am intrigued by "Advanced GRUNTS technology"! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Could you tell where did you borrow the music from? 2 tracks are familiar to me from somewhere, but I can't exactly place their origin in my memory.
Anyway, really cool game so far.
Quote from: sonicrumpets on Tue 14/12/2010 20:00:42
Also introducing advanced GRUNTS technology!
Did you achieve that effect using a module or a plugin? You might want to release the source to allow others to make Globliins-like talkie games.
All you need to do is assign the sound to one of the talking view frames :)
Quote from: Khris on Wed 15/12/2010 15:46:38
All you need to do is assign the sound to one of the talking view frames :)
Well I thought there was somethign more considering the name "GRUNTS technology" lol.
@sonicrumpets : The backgrounds and character design are gorgeous, but the character's animation is a bit below the rest, which is a pity, considering the overall quality and immersion. I'm sure you'd find plenty of artists ready to help you making him look less stiff. Also, it's a pity he has only 4 views, because in the isometric view of the house the "missing" diagonal views would make it look perfect! Post your character in the "Critics Lounge" and see what happens ;-)
Wow it’s good to see that people seem to like the game!
If you downloaded it and have enjoyed it than thank you! Because letting others play this game and enjoy it is what makes it worth it.
Now it looks like I have some explanations to give,
1. Advanced GRUNTS technology
I may have played this up to much (as a joke). It also looks like I miss judged the grunts as gradualy becoming annoying (that’s why they are off by default). Anyhow I love banjo-kazooie and when I realized that voice acting was a bit out of my means I went for the banjo-kazooie style grunt noises.
As for how they are done well all I do is in repeatedly execute always see if a character is talking and play a random grunt.
Like this :
function repeatedly_execute_always(){
if (Grunts ==0){
// Make egore grunt
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
if (cEgore.Speaking) {
int EGOREGUNTS=Random(5);
if (EGOREGUNTS==0){ if (IsChannelPlaying(7)==0)PlaySoundEx(19,7);}
else if (EGOREGUNTS==1) {if (IsChannelPlaying(7)==0)PlaySoundEx(20,7);}
else if (EGOREGUNTS==2) {if (IsChannelPlaying(7)==0)PlaySoundEx(22,7);}
else if (EGOREGUNTS==3) {if (IsChannelPlaying(7)==0)PlaySoundEx(23,7);}
else if (EGOREGUNTS==4) {if (IsChannelPlaying(7)==0)PlaySoundEx(24,7);}
else if(EGOREGUNTS==5){if (IsChannelPlaying(7)==0)PlaySoundEx(21,7);}
}
.
If you assign a sound to the talking view frames it gets to repetitive Because they’ll always play in the same order.
2. Misspelled words
Damn! I thought I nipped this in the bud!
I seriously tried to get this taken care of and I’ll be the first to admit I’m a terrible speller.
Sadly the text was ran though a spell checker and a English major *sigh* I apologize for any offensively bad misspellings (I’m mildly dyslexic so I can’t always tell). In the future I’ll run my scripts though a tougher editing process.
3. The music Is from this site
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/ (http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/)
I used the following
Arcadia, Dream like, Frost Waltz, Laconic Granny, Machinations, Mysterioso March, Ominous and Scheming Weasel slower.
I think that’s all of them.
4. Animation not up to par.
Again I’ll apologize for this one but it was a case of me growing as a sprite animator and not wanting to go back and redo all my animation as It wasn’t to my current standard of work. ( I did all the animation In MS Paint)
This Is what I was going to do, I ‘m not sure it meshed well with the existing art.
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_fNFYjCaiFbo/TQj9JweuplI/AAAAAAAAAIk/tgF4H5ZrFm0/caracter%20line%20up.jpg)
In the end I decided that I just needed to release the darn thing as I sat on the project for a year or so and the animation never got a full second pass.
5. I’m glad everyone likes the backgrounds and art
I did the first pass in MS paint and then did all the shading and shadows / highlights in Jasc paint shop 8.
It’s good to get feedback and I can’t wait to see what others have to say!
Thank you for playing my game!
Sonicrumpets, there is one thing I should point out.
After having finished the game, I should tell you that for your next game, please use different cursors entirely, rather than one cursor with different colors, as it is much easier on the player.
Ah the cursors , well your right.
I have a much better system planed for my next game, simple left click interact and Right click to examine/deselect inv. It’s working out better that the pared down Lucas arts thing I tried for this game.
OK, Because I truly care about what you folks have to say I've Added labels to the cursors so the player can easily tell what mode they are using.
Also They now Go from Grey(inactive) To Color(Active).
Hopefully this helps.
Quote from: MiSaNtHrOpE on Thu 16/12/2010 05:00:32
please use different cursors entirely, rather than one cursor with different colors, as it is much easier on the player.
It's not an issue in itself, but there should be an indicator somewhere on screen to remind you what cursor you're using in case you forget, or when you're still getting used to it. Or at least write it on screen briefly when the player changes function with the right click. Apart from that I like how minimalist and elegant it looks.
Even if I couldn't find the mini-game (till now ;)), I had a lot of fun with this game.
I like the style and the sound, when talking etc. was very funny, also the difficulty of the puzzles is right â€" well done! :D
There was only one thing I didn't understand quite right, when I was asked to
Spoiler
insert disc 2!?
Did you hide something like this somewhere?! ???
I would really love to see more adventures of Prof Neely!
I found it weird that I had to unlock the front door. Surely, if you want to lure someone into a trap, the first thing not to do is hamper their way to said trap, the front door should have been unlocked. :)
Also, I think I found a bug in there:
Spoiler
When the fridge has electricity, use it once to get the sandwich, then, use it a second time, while the sandwich is still in the tray and you'll never be able to get the toaster.
I'm not done with the game yet but I think it's pretty good for a first game.
Thanks for the feedback . About the disk 2 thing , that’s actually a ripped off joke from the original monkey island “the stump joke”
http://miwiki.net/The_Stump_Joke (http://miwiki.net/The_Stump_Joke)
Although After re reading this wiki page I’m not sure why I thought It would be a good reference, as the reaction to such a joke seems universal.
As for the bug with the toaster, well I might get around to it but as It won't actually prevent anyone from completing the game It’s not a top priority but I will test it and see if I can find a reasonable fix.
*edit*
Ok. I’ve tested the toaster bug and the blueprints are Unaffected by this so as It doesn’t break the game(only an Easter egg/mini game) my call is not to fix this with a new version However if more serious bugs show up I will make a update.
Thanks for the feed back!
Nice game so far -haven't finished yet, but I'm enjoying it. I liked the bug squishing -sure it wasn't very challenging, but it was a good excuse to explore the house. The music adds atmosphere to all the locations I've played, and the sound effects (ie for stepping on different surfaces) make the game come alive. Some of the animation is a little out of place (Egore's walk compared to the professor's, for example), but most of it I thought was pretty good. The backgrounds were amazing, but sometimes a little too complex for your sprites (the angle of the stairwell really calls for diagonal walking loops, for example). I say all this to help you with your next project -visually this project is quite good, and your attention to detail (sounds, small animations) grabs and keeps the player's attention.
Oh, and that jumping screaming cup on the AGS splash screen was awesome! Is there any chance CJ can use it for the next version of AGS so I can watch it every time I run the program? I'm sure he'd pay royalties....
Loved the game, except for some of the issues that have already been mentioned. The disk 2 thing really bugged me though, because the screen flips and most of the ending screen dialog is unreadable. It kinda killed the tension, which you don't want to happen during a climax!
Don't have a problem with the joke itself, just used it at the absolute worst time :)
Your artwork is brilliant, I really look forward to whatever you make next.
Just started playing this during lunch, I like it a lot so far. Nice style! I really appreciate the attention to detail.
Very nice first. I had a surprising amount of trouble with the puzzles, which were crafted for one solution where it seemed many others would work, forcing me to try this that and the other thing before finding the intended path.
The art is fabulous.
The game did kick me out at one time though, when I accidentally Talked to the "Jamed Door" and it gave me,
"An error has occured. Please contact the game author for support, as this
is likely to be a scripting error and not a bug in AGS.
(ACI version 2.72.920)
in Global script (line 717)
Error: RunDialog: Cannot run this command since there is already a NewRoom command already queued to run."
Quote from: sonicrumpets on Wed 15/12/2010 17:43:06
3. The music Is from this site
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/ (http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/)
I used the following
Arcadia, Dream like, Frost Waltz, Laconic Granny, Machinations, Mysterioso March, Ominous and Scheming Weasel slower.
I think that’s all of them.
Thanks, surprisingly good stuff to be found on this site.
Loving this so far.
As for the spelling-- no offense, but it's really poor. But if you want to release an update, PM me and let's talk. Being currently unemployed, I have far too much time on my hands. But yeah, if you send me your script, I promise a typo-free edit in at least a few days, at most a week.
I always avoid playing a game once I find out it may be littered with typos or bad grammar and I wait for an update.
I'll play this once I hear of an update. Graphics do look fantastic!
Thank you all again for the feedback criticism and informing me of bugs.
So here we go.
Quote from: Jenie on Wed 12/01/2011 18:55:59
The game did kick me out at one time though, when I accidentally Talked to the "Jamed Door" and it gave me,
"An error has occured. Please contact the game author for support, as this
is likely to be a scripting error and not a bug in AGS.
(ACI version 2.72.920)
in Global script (line 717)
Error: RunDialog: Cannot run this command since there is already a NewRoom command already queued to run."
This little bug Is due to the fact that the talking to object joke makes Neely walk towards the objects x/y origin and in this case tigers a room change. Yes I know that that’s easily discernable from the error report but I’d be a fool not to recreate it myself so I could see precisely what was happening.
Anyways this is an easy fix.
Quote from: saluk on Thu 06/01/2011 09:03:01
The disk 2 thing really bugged me though, because the screen flips and most of the ending screen dialog is unreadable. It kinda killed the tension, which you don't want to happen during a climax!
Don't have a problem with the joke itself, just used it at the absolute worst time :)
This also is an easy fix and I will seriously consider doing so.
Quote from: BaptisteTheFool on Sun 16/01/2011 04:23:39
As for the spelling-- no offense, but it's really poor. But if you want to release an update, PM me and let's talk. Being currently unemployed, I have far too much time on my hands. But yeah, if you send me your script, I promise a typo-free edit in at least a few days, at most a week.
Thanks I appreciate the offer and may indeed do exactly that when and if I get around to releasing a updated version.
Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Sun 16/01/2011 04:55:20
I always avoid playing a game once I find out it may be littered with typos or bad grammar and I wait for an update.
I'll play this once I hear of an update. Graphics do look fantastic!
If you are waiting for a new version you might be waiting a while. I’ll be the first to admit that the game itself was not made in a conventional manner has a few misspellings and the code is often messy and plagued by wandering tidbits of old now unused things ( like a pool of piranha and a giant library maze and some nonsense about Egore being a controllable character).
All things aside I’m currently have a lot on my plate and I honestly can’t say when I’ll have the time to pump more effort into Neely. Especially when I would be more interested on the Neely sequel and two other games I’ve been working on that I’d like to finish.
But I’ll tell you what If you can find the instance of Inexcusable misspellings and other parts of the game that don’t cut it please PM me and I’ll try to get a fixed up version out eventually.
Again Thank you for all your comments I appreciate the reception the game has had and your input lets me know that you earnestly enjoyed it because you wouldn’t bother giving me input if you didn’t.
this looks absolutely great, looking forward to playing it, I don't have the time now :(
Really neat little game. I've played it for around 20 minutes so far and really enjoying it - definitely shades of DOTT and Maniac Mansion there. I'm not usually all that spectacular at adventure games but progressing through this one just nicely.
Nice retro feel, maybe a few troubles with the puzzles, but I still liked it.
Finished.
Great background art. Funny grunts. Good length. Nice puzzles, though the interface was a bit confusing at first (I played the original version).
It's a shame you rarely provided custom comments for interactions, even for looking - it was irritating to read "There's nothing special about this or that" over and over again. Otherwise the game shows that you've put a lot of effort into creating it - it's polished and good looking.
To be honest I wasn't particularly engaged by the plot and characters. Finding out puzzle solutions was what kept me playing rather than the story or writing.
Hey, this was a cool little DOTT-clone! I particularly had fun with the books in the library, and the diary and day planner. I didn't come across the hidden mini-game or the "Insert Disk 2" Easter Egg, but I found the puzzles quite easy. I don't think I was ever stuck for more than a minute on anything. I ended up blowing up the house. Are there multiple endings?
Must have taken a lot of work to do, and I'm very glad you decided to release it. I think the complaints show that a bit of polish can make a world of difference to the player experience, but I'd much rather have the game with some rough edges than not have it at all.
Quote from: sonicrumpets on Mon 17/01/2011 23:37:16
But I’ll tell you what If you can find the instance of Inexcusable misspellings and other parts of the game that don’t cut it please PM me and I’ll try to get a fixed up version out eventually.
Honestly, the misspellings and punctuation mistakes are everywhere. I could tell that you're dyslexic just from watching the intro. It's perfectly understandable that there should be mistakes, and I'm fine with making allowances - just like you'd excuse a wonky color palette in a game made by a colorblind artist - but if you want it to look professional you're going to need a copy editor.
Pointing out a few errors here and there (e.g. "curtain" is "curten" in your inventory) isn't going to make a difference. Someone has to go through the whole script from beginning to end fixing each mistake.
This game was really fun! I haven't beaten it yet, though. There was a bit of a problem.
Spoiler
When finally making it into the mad scientist's evil lair, after he trips into his own laser and evaporates, I walked up to the control panel of the computer. First time clicking Use, it gives me a funny message (use this disk), clicked it again for a similar message. I understand that's a joke, but then I click it a third time...
The game locks up and the sounds repeat. It also causes a blocky-sounding click inside the tower of my computer. I'm forced to ctrl + alt + delete and cancel the program. This happened a second time when I tried it again.
Ok comments noted
1. Ok lets talk spelling again.
I don’t have the time to fix the glaringly bad spelling errors and bad grammar right now. I’ll make sure my next game Is spelling error free. If one of you wants to fix it enough pm me and I’ll dump the script or what ever and give you a editor credit.
2. Game locks up.
“The game locks up and the sounds repeat. It also causes a blocky-sounding click inside the tower of my computer. I'm forced to ctrl + alt + delete and cancel the program. This happened a second time when I tried it again.“
Dude I’m sorry about this problem, what’s happening is AGS is using this-
“eCDEject - ejects the drive tray if the drive has the ability. This is a feature you'll play with to start off because it's neat, and then realize that it has no real use in your game. Your script does not continue until the drive is fully ejected. “
I suspect that this is not getting along with your hardware The best I could do is remove this from the joke.
Oh... that was part of the joke? The reason why the CD drive didn't open is because my case has a little door, a cover, over where the disk drives are placed. That's pretty hilarious actually. If the cover was open, and the drive opened, I would have gotten a huge kick out of that.
That's actually pretty clever I'd say. Ha ha!
Finally got around to playing it, and finished it.. It's a fun game, looking forward to any new game from you.. hehe.. good luck and thanx for the entertainment...
Downloading !
Just finished this and I LOVED it! The graphics were amazing and I loved all the sound effects and the music. And the dialog was so cute and funny! And I liked how the puzzles were creative and yet easy enough for someone like ME to figure out. Very fun, I look forward to your next game!
Maybe another adventure with Professor Neely? ;)