I haven't like worked on my project for like 4 months. So some parts of the game felt really odd now that I caught up with them again.
You may find yourself lost in this topic, but it would be a real mess, if I just went and created many topics inside the CL.
ISSUE #1: CURSOR Fixed
Spoiler
Well, okay it's been constantly bugging me, and it is an issue for me. First it needs to stand out against the background, and secondly against the GUIs.
And that's what I've got for it.
First, yes it's about HHGTG, and indeed it doesn't give any feel that it's from that show/book or any other sci-fi.
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/1-25.png)
Newest Version is
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/1-25-1.png)
Wait Cursor: (I'm mostly happy with that, and it feels okay and all.)
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/2-15.png)
Mostly Fixed.
So there follows:
Spoiler
GUI
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/hitchcopy.png
I think it goes wayyy too much blue too. It used to be totally daft, but still remains rather too much.
There's this room in HHGTG, that well, nevermind how you actually get there, but anyway, there's this room, you need to find a way out. There's no time pressuring you, and you're supposed to be inside your brain, where all is artistic choice actually and you need to find a black particle, which if you examine it means that it's your common sense. A fact that I find totally funny. Now, I haven't gone much drawing it but the sketch. So it's mostly raw and I want to see how certain stuff would actually work in-game.
So here's a pic of the room.
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/1-26.png)
And here's what you should actually get as a resource.
Download link below on this topic.
It kind of gets lost a bit on options screen, but you might wanna change the background to that darker shade of blue like you did on dialog font picture and it'll be fine then...I think.
Quote from: anian on Fri 12/03/2010 00:09:26
It kind of gets lost a bit on options screen, but you might wanna change the background to that darker shade of blue like you did on dialog font picture and it'll be fine then...I think.
If it was more like white? And how does the shape feels? Is it like too much? The 'sensitive' part is at the edge of the pointy arrow, and I feel like it's not really obvious without actually figuring it out whilst hovering.
If you gave it a white outline you would always be able to see it.
You could make it bigger, give it a white outline (suggested), animate it or colour it in some colour that is contrasting to the GUIs. I like yellow on blue, but you should experiment. You could also make the game parser based =P.
Mouse trail and particles eminatimg from the cursor are also viable solutions.
Out-out-out-outline!
Just make it either Green or Red. Id go for red since you use a little of it on the Speech font
Quote from: GreenBoy on Fri 12/03/2010 00:36:17
If you gave it a white outline you would always be able to see it.
One request goes here:
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/1-25-1.png)
Quote from: Jim Reed on Fri 12/03/2010 01:35:35
You could make it bigger, give it a white outline (suggested), animate it or colour it in some colour that is contrasting to the GUIs. I like yellow on blue, but you should experiment. You could also make the game parser based =P.
Mouse trail and particles eminating from the cursor are also viable solutions.
I think it's quite big as it is in-game. White outline done. Yellow seems to be really eye-disturbing color by nature, so I'll skip with that. As for blue, I tried this:
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/1-251.png)
Mouse trail is out of the question. There's no point adding another visual effect. And the game will stick to point and click, otherwise I wouldn't even bother.. :D
Quote from: Jakerpot on Fri 12/03/2010 01:54:30
Out-out-out-outline!
Chip=chip-chip and Dale..Also done.
Quote from: Captain Ricco on Fri 12/03/2010 03:27:24
Just make it either Green or Red. Id go for red since you use a little of it on the Speech font
Perhaps will do.
Any suggestions based on its shape? I think it reminds me a lot of Star Trek.
Why not just make the pointer red, to contrast with the main interface?
Quote from: Alliance on Fri 12/03/2010 19:14:08
Why not just make the pointer red, to contrast with the main interface?
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/1-251-1.png)
Like this?
EDIT:
or even better
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/1-251-2.png)
Yeah, that looks good to me.
You could also animate the cursor, going from light blue to dark blue for example.
I'm also a big fan of the old LEC cross-hairs.
Quote from: Khris on Fri 12/03/2010 19:56:46
You could also animate the cursor, going from light blue to dark blue for example.
I'm also a big fan of the old LEC cross-hairs.
I'm thinking of using a small crosshair instead yes. I'm a fan too. :D
Sorry for the double post. Okay, here's a short of a compromise.
(http://picasion.com/pic18/150de9f40ae63101b78054a35624e9a7.gif)
It animates really faster in AGS.
Here are the pics if anyone cares:
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/spr00213-1.png)
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/spr00218-1.png)
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/spr00219-1.png)
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/spr00222-1.png)
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/spr00228-1.png)
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/spr00230-1.png)
I think you've got a lot of unexploited potential creativity-wise with the UI. For instance, you could use the most famous logo character for the series as either a verbcoin or a cursor, like so:
As a basic pointer
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/panic_cursor.gif)
His hand
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/verbhand.png)
or as a generic verbcoin reference to choose actions from
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/hhgverbcoin.gif)
There's a lot to be said for plain icons and cursors in a common, uncomedic game, but this is Hitchhiker's Guide. Think over the top and eye-catching and silly! Also, don't double post!
I quite like that animating cursor! Just one small thing: it looks a bit odd when it goes from smooth transitions to that sudden transition in between red and blue. Maybe you should have it animate back and forth? Also, out of curiousity, are you going to have it animate like that all the time or when it's over a hotspot?
EDIT: Thank you for your PM ProgZ :) Deleted some text.
I feel like that Menu is a bit TOO blue... it's overwhelming. I also like ProgZ idea but depending on you game that bit of "branding" may or may not fit in. Either way, I don't think I can add any suggestions about the icon that haven't been said but I really think that you need to develop that menu/GUI more-so than even the cursor.
I think I'm going to stick with the cursor as it is and have it animate over hotspots. There's a hotspot label. And yes, we do agree ProgZ, I really have yet to grasp the feel on some parts of the game. And that is a really letdown.
I'm going to think as totally silly indeed. I think I'm going terribly generic with the GUIs.
Progz: Is it okay if I start another topic, or is it better to just you know, rename this one and change the subject towards the GUIs?
I feel my verbcoin is fine as it is, it also has a babel fish, and it's rather silly. What bugs me most is the GUIs design. However great idea with the verbcoin Progz, might even end up using it.
I don't think you need to change anything, just post your new work and carry on. It's all for the same project so I have no problem with it all being lumped together. Like I said though, generic is fine for more mundane or serious games, and I have nothing against arrow cursors or whatnot. I just think you're missing an opportunity to let your creativity produce something really weird and interesting for the game, and as long as it's user-friendly it can be as zany as you like.
Quote from: ProgZmax on Sun 14/03/2010 14:40:55
I don't think you need to change anything, just post your new work and carry on. It's all for the same project so I have no problem with it all being lumped together. Like I said though, generic is fine for more mundane or serious games, and I have nothing against arrow cursors or whatnot. I just think you're missing an opportunity to let your creativity produce something really weird and interesting for the game, and as long as it's user-friendly it can be as zany as you like.
I actually changed the verbcoin. Listen, if I thought your point was wrong, I wouldn't bother. I think the GUI is functional alright. But indeed there's a lot of space for creativity, and there's no point really letting it flash by.
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/4-8.png)
I'm using the hands that get coloured when the mouse is over them, for look and use and the mouth (tongue in specific) gets coloured, and represents the talk interaction.
There's a label anyway, so it's not hard at all to get used to/figure out.
You can have one of his hands holding an eyeball and the other hand holding a wrench or something. That way both show pretty obvious differences.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/hhgverbcoin2.gif)
Quote from: ProgZmax on Mon 15/03/2010 02:26:59
You can have one of his hands holding an eyeball and the other hand holding a wrench or something. That way both show pretty obvious differences.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/hhgverbcoin2.gif)
I used to have this wrench on the older version of the gui (I think I borrowed that from LL), so it seems like a really nice idea, and I've actually embraced it. ;)
Sorry for the DP.
BUMP
ISSUE 3# Maze Room
There's this room in HHGTG, that well, nevermind how you actually get there, but anyway, there's this room, you need to find a way out. There's no time pressuring you, and you're supposed to be inside your brain, where all is artistic choice actually and you need to find a black particle, which if you examine it means that it's your common sense. A fact that I find totally funny. Now, I haven't gone much drawing it but the sketch. So it's mostly raw and I want to see how certain stuff would actually work in-game.
So here's a pic of the room.
(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/1-26.png)
And here's what you should actually get as a resource.
downloadable playable version of the room below.
Um, nice interface and I like the tracer effect on the character, but what exactly are you asking for criticism on in regards to this room? Maybe I'm missing something, but all I could do was pick up the particle on the desk? From the screenshot I expected that you would keep walking through the doorways and off the sides of the screen only to appear at a different entrance to the same room until the particle appeared. If it's the room layout that you want feedback on, could you please describe the gameplay of it in a bit more detail?
Since it's work in progress the only thing I would point out in terms of artwork is that the scroll speed of the staircase should be slower than scroll speed of the room (walls). At the moment it seems to have the same parallax depth of the lamps.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Thu 25/03/2010 15:51:37
Um, nice interface and I like the tracer effect on the character, but what exactly are you asking for criticism on in regards to this room? Maybe I'm missing something, but all I could do was pick up the particle on the desk? From the screenshot I expected that you would keep walking through the doorways and off the sides of the screen only to appear at a different entrance to the same room until the particle appeared. If it's the room layout that you want feedback on, could you please describe the gameplay of it in a bit more detail?
Since it's work in progress the only thing I would point out in terms of artwork is that the scroll speed of the staircase should be slower than scroll speed of the room (walls). At the moment it seems to have the same parallax depth of the lamps.
Seconded
P.S. I will edit this post when more information is given.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Thu 25/03/2010 15:51:37
Um, nice interface and I like the tracer effect on the character, but what exactly are you asking for criticism on in regards to this room? Maybe I'm missing something, but all I could do was pick up the particle on the desk? From the screenshot I expected that you would keep walking through the doorways and off the sides of the screen only to appear at a different entrance to the same room until the particle appeared. If it's the room layout that you want feedback on, could you please describe the gameplay of it in a bit more detail?
Since it's work in progress the only thing I would point out in terms of artwork is that the scroll speed of the staircase should be slower than scroll speed of the room (walls). At the moment it seems to have the same parallax depth of the lamps.
Nice points there. For one I can't decide whether it's better to have the black particle stand there being the only interactive part of the game, or whether I should add more hotspots, so you see you gave an answer to a question I didn't make. Wondering however wouldn't it be hard to actually trace the black particle, and wouldn't you end up a 'try everything on everything' tactic?
However combining this problem with what you said about entrances, how about either do what you said, having the particle appear, or ... move the particle in different spots on the room so it can actually end up obvious and end up into a game of see the differences. As an in-joke, your common sense requires you being able to observe doesn't it?
On the entrances account, There are two, but I could use left and right.
Also on the tracer effect account, are the colors okay?
As for the background itself, should I actually go ahead and color or does black and white(with adding shades) seems better to you?
Solutions-Add more hotspot thingies.
-Entrances.
-Fix scroll speed of the staircase.
Before playing the demo I felt the background might be at too steep an angle, but after seeing it in game I think it works. The only thing I would suggest is that if proportions are at all valuable in this room to make the doorways tall enough that Arthur could walk beneath them with a foot or so clearance. If any sort of realism is unimportant since this is in his mind, may I suggest making the doors wavy or otherwise more unrealistic to accentuate the strange surroundings. I love the foreground and top parallax and look forward to seeing this colored.
I don't think I ever played that far into the original Infocom version, so I'm not sure how its maze works. The walkthrough I could find just said "walk around until you find the particle" but didn't explain what triggers its appearance. Are the room descriptions identical? Do you walk around at random or is the maze geographically consistent (i.e. can you map it by dropping items like in other text adventures)?
I think it would be cool to add some element of interaction (and test the player's understanding of his surroundings) beyond just pixel hunting - for example, if there's a finite number of rooms that all look the same, you could perhaps push the stacks of books around as a means of marking rooms you've already visited. Another option would be to have every version of the room be slightly different - e.g. in one the flower is wilted, in another there's no puddle on the floor, or the spiral symbol on the banner is flipped horizontally.
The black and white works pretty well to set it apart from the rest of the game, but considering that you're inside Arthur's brain (as dull as he might be) the location seems oddly impersonal. In the midst of the surreal antics of HGGTG ("Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it!") this - I suppose - extraordinary location seems frightfully ordinary.
Of course this could be an artistic choice, but I think a lot of fun could be had adding elements that describe his personality and possibly his hidden sides. Being John Malkovich-style. I realize that this may be straying too far from the Infocom game, but I can't help think "Wait, you put me inside someone's brain, and this is it?".
What follows is barely a suggestion, more of an crazy idea that I'm throwing out there: Another way to set it apart from the not-inside-someones-brain part of the game could be to do a straight-out homage to the Infocom game. Mock up a text-adventurish yet mouse controlled interface, and design the maze as a purely text based section of the game. I'm thinking huge green text on black background (possibly inspired by Sam & Max: Reality 2.0), but maybe substituting symbols for words, or having the text start as gibberish and let words descramble as you proceed (showing that you're getting closer to your common sense). Interactions could be something like dragging the words in the room descriptions around to make new meanings, sort of like Today I Die (http://www.ludomancy.com/games/today.php).
Quote from: ProgZmax on Fri 26/03/2010 22:08:19
Before playing the demo I felt the background might be at too steep an angle, but after seeing it in game I think it works. The only thing I would suggest is that if proportions are at all valuable in this room to make the doorways tall enough that Arthur could walk beneath them with a foot or so clearance. If any sort of realism is unimportant since this is in his mind, may I suggest making the doors wavy or otherwise more unrealistic to accentuate the strange surroundings. I love the foreground and top parallax and look forward to seeing this colored.
I think indeed the doors need to either fit Arthur or not fit him at all. Valid point there, ProgZ.
It's not dead obvious whether he can actually pass them or not.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Fri 26/03/2010 22:55:15
I don't think I ever played that far into the original Infocom version, so I'm not sure how its maze works. The walkthrough I could find just said "walk around until you find the particle" but didn't explain what triggers its appearance. Are the room descriptions identical? Do you walk around at random or is the maze geographically consistent (i.e. can you map it by dropping items like in other text adventures)?
The original is actually more random than Mods could presume I am. You are in the room, supposedly Arthur brains, and you go either north or south (2 directions anyway), at some point RANDOMLY it appears on the room. When you go north or south, you're in the exact same room, but it's like entering it again.
Quote
I think it would be cool to add some element of interaction (and test the player's understanding of his surroundings) beyond just pixel hunting - for example, if there's a finite number of rooms that all look the same, you could perhaps push the stacks of books around as a means of marking rooms you've already visited. Another option would be to have every version of the room be slightly different - e.g. in one the flower is wilted, in another there's no puddle on the floor, or the spiral symbol on the banner is flipped horizontally.
I'm thinking of actually playing with 'find the differences' style with the whole maze puzzle.
Haven't however really decided yet.
QuoteThe black and white works pretty well to set it apart from the rest of the game, but considering that you're inside Arthur's brain (as dull as he might be) the location seems oddly impersonal. In the midst of the surreal antics of HGGTG ("Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it!") this - I suppose - extraordinary location seems frightfully ordinary.
Of course this could be an artistic choice, but I think a lot of fun could be had adding elements that describe his personality and possibly his hidden sides. Being John Malkovich-style. I realize that this may be straying too far from the Infocom game, but I can't help think "Wait, you put me inside someone's brain, and this is it?".
I'm actually thinking of making this whole room, Arthur's personal paradise. I think however the only place Arthur's paradice is is his home. And I don't want to use his home. Instead I'm thinking of making this into something else. Throughout the game, Arthur is searching for the tea. If you've seen ice age (any part), you'll get the idea of how something can motivate. So I'm thinking of actually adding a tea, as a walking tea. Running actually. That will run through doors into different versions of this room. So Arthur will actually have to trap it somehow. And at that point he'll gain his common sense.
Quote
What follows is barely a suggestion, more of an crazy idea that I'm throwing out there: Another way to set it apart from the not-inside-someones-brain part of the game could be to do a straight-out homage to the Infocom game. Mock up a text-adventurish yet mouse controlled interface, and design the maze as a purely text based section of the game. I'm thinking huge green text on black background (possibly inspired by Sam & Max: Reality 2.0), but maybe substituting symbols for words, or having the text start as gibberish and let words descramble as you proceed (showing that you're getting closer to your common sense). Interactions could be something like dragging the words in the room descriptions around to make new meanings, sort of like Today I Die (http://www.ludomancy.com/games/today.php).
I'd love to add this element into the puzzle.
New Version of the room
Download (http://www.mediafire.com/?j1yzegyqmzt)
It's very barren, it feels most of the game is broken, but the puzzle should work alright.
Hint&Tips
Spoiler
The point is to match the descriptions and enter the door,
Then pick up the particle that has appeared on the table by the book