Adventure Game Studio

THE GAME IS REALEASED!! - See the thread in the Completed Games section (http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=12273;start=new;boardseen=1)!!

The Story ...

You play as JP, an average everyday kind of guy.  Your best friend is Cosmo McGillicuddy.

You're just making your way through life when one day it's announced that an asteroid is headed towards Earth and the planet is doomed!!  Not knowing what to do you begin to panic!  That's when you remember Cosmo telling you once that he's got an old bomb shelter in his basement.  You try to call him but you can't reach him.  You decide to head over to his place to seek whatever protection his bomb-shelter might offer against an asteroid impact.

Upon arrival to his house you find him not there.  You must located the bomb shelter and find your way into it.

But once you do, you find something more suprising than the incoming asteroid!

What will happen?  What's the suprise?  Will the asteroid destroy the planet?  Where is Cosmo?

Find out in The Adventures of JP and Cosmo: A Friend Indeed.  Coming Soon!!


Screenshots ...

Features ...
- 15 rooms
- Custom GUIs
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/THENEWGUI.gif)
- Custom cursors
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/pointers.gif)
- Fully animated characters
- Over 200 sprites/objects
- Alternative (hidden) ending
- Time limited play
- Fully interactive environments
- Intuitive/Logical puzzles
- and more?

Characters ...
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/00_player.gif)(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/cosmo.gif)(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/00_player.gif)(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/cosmo.gif) This is JP and Cosmo

More characters coming soon ...

Game Status ...
Plot/Story: 100%
Graphics/Animations: 95%
Puzzles: 45%
Game Mechanics: 95%
Music/Sound: 0%

I'm going to add some MIDI music and sound effects after all is said an done.  I want to get everything else done first before I start messing around with sounds.

Expected Completion Date?
The best answer I can give is 2004.  It'll be done when I get it done!

Weeee!!! Super ISO fun! Looks great Darth.

later,
-junc

Excellent, excellent, excellent.

Just walking around looking at the detail you put into the house was enjoyable enough for me. It's exciting. The outlet on the wall upstairs made me laugh.

I'd like to see BG animations, DM. Maybe a drippy faucet, or the fish tank, or a rat in the basement, or the clock....

What's the character's name?

Darth,

I have to say that from playing the short demo for a few minutes that i love it. The graphics are very good, i love the detail that you put into the house.  It reminds me of the perspective used in the game Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Very well done!! I'd love to play a whole game in this style. Don't stop. Hey, even this demo would make a great game.

BG  :)

COO-OOL!
And I'm not saying this because I'm biased in favour of isometry, it is brilliant! I love the wall-disappearing trick (might be nicer if they fade out, rather than pop on or off?).
Reminds me of Little Computer People. Hell, you don't even need to make an adventure game out of it, just make a LCP update in stead.
Either way, I'm gagging for the final, so get your thumb out and finish this!  ;D

Beautiful, Mandarb!  Very professional and clean-cut.  I'm looking forward to see how this shapes up.

Thanks guys!

I think I'm going to go ahead and finish this up.  I might add another room (possibly 2) just to liven it up and expand it just a little.

WanderLady - I will definately be adding some animations in.  Just outta curiousity what outlet are you talking about:

QuoteThe outlet on the wall upstairs made me laugh.

and why did it make you laugh?  I'm trying to determine if I acheived humor without trying ;D

I'll post updates as I have them!  The game has been in this state (with just a few changes I made yesterday) for some time but I've been so damn busy lately!!  Darn real-world gettin' in the way of my AGS time!!

Thanks for the praise!

])]v[

The one on the wall that disappears in the green bedroom. It just gave me a good laugh that you put it there.

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Wed 10/12/2003 16:59:55I'm trying to determine if I acheived humor without trying ;D

Yeah, you did...to me, anyway.

And about music and sound effects - You might not need music if you put in several sound effects.(a creaking floor, the clock ticking, faucet drip, ...)

I also just noticed the reflections on the table and kitchen floor...very good.

Can't wait... :)

Mandarb,

  Wicked. Just wicked.

  As said by others before, very professional...... and fun! Must have taken a lot of planning and testing.  It's nice to see actual work go into a game!

Can't wait to see more.  Innovative, for sure.

Steve

First of all, well done DM. This art style rules. I love it and I look forward to the finished thing, but I have one small problem.

It's not actually isometric.

* Studio audience gasps

An isometric view has three 'dimensions' - one vertical and two at 30 degrees to the vertical. It's hard to explain without an example, but this applet should give you an idea of what I mean:

http://illuminations.nctm.org/mathlets/isometric/index.html

You see? I'm not trying to sound nasty or mean, I still love the screenies.

HOW DARE YOU!!!

Just kidding!

I guess I was mistaken.  I thought Isometric was simply "lack of perspective".

No biggie ... I just haven't come up with a name for it yet!

])]v[

Very nice graphics. I love how the walls appear and disappear to show you more of the rooms as you walk through them.

Not much of a game yet, but I hope the gameplay will eventually be just as good as the graphics!

I actually think the term for that is 3/4 view.

It's a brilliant idea. The sort of thing that could spread like wildfire ... if it's not too difficult ::)
The background uses planometric (http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=10254;start=new;boardseen=1) drawing, but this idea could work with other systems too.
(P.S. "Isometric" means 'same scale' for each dimension, so it only applies to the everything-at-30-degrees technique).

Great stuff!

Wow, I'm really digging the new title. Planometric Insanity. Nice.

One suggestion, though. IMO, the main character looks a bit generic. I think it would benefit the game greatly you played as a hyper cephalic Indiana Jones or Luke Skywalker instead. Hey, that would be cool! You could do missions for Marcus Brody or Yoda, respectively.

Food for thought anyways.

Big Brother - The character is VERY generic.  I'm going to replace him.  I've been thinking of using one of these two characters:
(http://www.twin-design.com/train/graphics/main_forward2.gif) - or - (http://www.twin-design.com/train/graphics/characters/badguy_regular.gif)

Haven't decided which one yet.

])]v[

Holy moly! Good stuff! You truly deserve the rank of Sith Lord!

I think you should use the guy in the hat by the way.

Damn you, Darth Mandarb. I might as well give up on Devco Quest right now.  ;)

Originally, I was going to say I liked the personality you put into new sprites, and the one on the left's tie wiggles funny...

BUT

A brilliant idea hit me!

BEN THROTTLE'S DESKTOP ADVENTURES

(rolls off the tongue nicely, I might add)

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/badguy_ians2.gif)(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/badguy_ians.gif)

It's worth at least a MAGS. What do you guys think?

I think you have too much time on your hands. But then again, I probably would get it so what do I know.

Darth:

are you going to tell us how you were making the walls appear/disappear?
are they objects?

edit:
btw... nice top down graphics. 8) to me it kinda suits rpg style (console rpg) as well.

Quote from: evilspacefart on Fri 12/12/2003 06:05:40
are you going to tell us how you were making the walls appear/disappear?

Yes they're objects.  Each wall is an object triggered by HotSpots.
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/00_hotspots.gif)

This image is with ALL objects removed and the HotSpots trigger some on and some off.  For example; when you step on the dark blue hotspot it removes the wall at the bottom of the living room but it also makes visible the wall at the top of that room.  It does both because you can enter that room from two different spots.  So if you enter that room from the den/office room, where the top wall of the living room would be gone, it will then come back on.

I'm working on a feature (as suggested earlier) to make them fade in and out.  If it slows down too much I won't use it.  I kind of like how quickly then just appear/disappear so I don't know ...

])]v[

QuoteI think you have too much time on your hands.

Not to mention nicks and scratches.

KA-ching!!!

wow darth, thats amazing

thats the edzact style ive been working on for ages! the only problem ive had is the wall on/off thing , ive been trying to draw the camera angle so you can see enough of the room, but not to loose the wall style.

I really hope you dont mind me using this planeometric style, its just perfect for what im doing. If you really do have a problem with me using your unique style then say and i could try and change my current bg's.

again, nice one darth

Quote from: oversizedchicken on Fri 12/12/2003 20:43:18I really hope you dont mind me using this planeometric style, its just perfect for what I'm doing. If you really do have a problem with me using your unique style then say and i could try and change my current bg's.

It's mine I tell you ... MINE!!!!  ;D

I don't mind at all!  In fact I'd love to see what others can come up using this style.  So keep me in the loop :)

])]v[

Look's like we'll have to fight for it! lol jk

Cheers darth, im making a small 1 room kinda game in this style set during the aftermath of the jewlery heist from RESORVIOR DOGS!

Whoo, im working on a low-res mr brown (quentin tarrentino) at the moment.

I'll pm you as soon as ive finished , should be a week or soo.

l8rs

-a chicken

Wow! These screenshots look fantastic, so I'm downloading the demo right now! The pictures remind of those old Japanese games like Cobra Mission, but yours look much better. Good work!

Damn it! This looks superb! Just walking around the house was great- nice touch with appearing/disappearing walls.
One suggestion though- make the character's movement a bit faster :)

See first post for updates!

])]V[

Stop wasting your time posting here and get that mother finished already! Want want want!

BTW: still looking gorgeous of course, but you might want to do something about the doorways. I mean, see the living room downstairs (with the telly), it has a very obvious entrance, However, on the 1st floor (or 2nd floor depending on where you live), if you're standing in the hallway and the middle wall is invisible it can be a bit hard to discern where the doorways are. Sure, you have the light thing going on, but maybe something a tad more obvious. No, sorry, I can't think of anything either. But I am splitting hairs. So feel free to ignore me.  ;)

Wow, I love the demo. That's such a nifty style.
I bet, with a little programming, you could make the walls fade in and out instead of blinking on and off. Unless the game's only 256 colors...

Just to let everybody know, I've done up a little article about this game on "A"
http://www.sylpher.com/a/art.php?artid=51&PHPSESSID=1bca019f5df47bc13d6be5b20354db35

And from the stuff I've seen, this game is gonna rock...

I have updated a lot of the screenies since last posting them.

Here are the updates +1 new screenie.

Updated:
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/screenshot_upstairs1.gif)
The upstairs.
* Added some doors to make them more obvious and easy to locate when walking about.
* Added in 'exterior' elements as well (grass, garage roof, driveway)
* no more stairs to 'attic' ... now it's a secret 'suprise' room!!  But how do you get in it??  

(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/screenshot_downstairs.gif)
The Groundfloor.
* Added in 'exterior' elements (bushes, address plaque, driveway, garage)
* Changed the kitchen around to make it better (dishwasher, oven/stove, etc.)

(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/screenshot_basement.gif)
The Basement:
* Added dirt surrounding a subterrainian level!
* lowered the little mop-bucket room (bottom right)

New:
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/screenshot_thegarage01.gif)
The Garage!
* This is where you go if you exit the open door at the top of the groundfloor level.
* Ignore the player character in this shot, he's completely redone now.

This will be the last new screenshot(s) until the game is released.  I'm not going to spit out a release date 'cause nobody ever makes it!  It'll be done when I finish it!

Progress Meter
Graphics: 98% (I think I'm done ... but there's always the little ones that pop-up!)
Story: 100%
Puzzles: 100%
Coding/Scripting: 60%
Music/Sound: 0%

The music is my biggest setback!  I can add in sound effects myself, but the music will knock me down.  Since this is free I might just snag some midi of songs I like and toss them in there.  We'll see ...

I have 1 person who is beta testing stuff for me ... anybody else interested?

Thanks!

])]V[

I'd be very interested in betaing. Sign me up!

Email: veryweirdguy@yahoo.co.uk

That's coooooool... Make sure to do some graphics in that style for me, Arizona Scott will need them...  ;)

The graphics in this game easily look like some of the most impressive AGS work I've seen. Really top quality.

Penguinx - thanks!  Talk about motivation :)

Here's the newest GUI update.  I wanted to try something a little different with this:
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/THENEWGUI.gif)

It's like a normal popup GUI only instead of opening by the Y location, it opens by the X location.  Just move your mouse to the left side and it pops-up!  It's pretty cool and functions flawlessly!  (at least on my machine)  The Actions (walk ... take) have cursors that are the colors of the little 'bullets' next to them.  So you know what mode you're in.  (I don't like the feet, hands, eyes, etc as cursors.) (thanks James Kay!)
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/pointers.gif)

Just give me a little bit longer and maybe I'll release a small, playable demo :)

What do you guys think of the GUI?

])]V[

Seems pretty cool, but you could have right-click change the mode, like in the SCI1 GUI... Unless you already have right-click do something else...

Looking cool as ever!
The new GUI looks cool there, just hope it doesn't interfere with clickable objects in that general area. But I'm sure you already thought of that.  ;D

Can't wait.

Yo Darth!
Your game is looking too freakin good!
I am totally diggin on the art style and the design of your cursors and custom GUI interface. WOW!
Daniel
Winebarger

AGA - the right click still scrolls through the cursors.  I was going to change it to pop up the GUI but then I realized (after testing) that I just don't like it that way.  Sometimes knowing I have to click 2 times to get back to walk is much faster than selecting it from a GUI.

James Kay - the GUI pops up at mouse.x=5 and none of the graphics (that you need) extend to that edge of the screen!  So it never gets in the way.  Which is one of the reasons I decided to do it!

Pirate - Thanks!  I'm anticipating Razors in the Night as well!!

I have (as usual) added a few more screens/graphics here and there.  This will extend the time until release but trust me ... they make it better!!

Still truckin'!

])]V[

Well ... it happened.

My hard drive took a crap on me and I lost everything!

HOWEVER!!!

Being the intelligent person that I am, I had it backed up!!!!

** breath a collective sigh of relief with me **

I won't be working on it for a few days as I'm going to be getting a new computer set up and getting everything working again.

Darth's Tip for the Day
BACK UP REGULARLY YOU SUCKAS!!!!

I can't tell you how relieved I am that I have made a habbit of backin' stuff up.  I have CDs on CDs of backups.  Which I was starting to think was such a waste.  Guess who's happy now??

Cheers,
])]V[

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Sun 25/01/2004 20:23:41
Guess who's happy now??

Cheers,
])]V[

I have absolutely no idea  :P

Good to hear you made a back-up. This is one of the games I'm looking out for.

Whoa Darth,

nice one with the backup's, maybe i should backup my work ... nah

lol l8rz

-a chicken

Phew!
Man! You gotta love those backups! Close call! See what a few CD-RWs saved you...A lot of work...right?
I would be pretty bummed if you had lost everything  because I think your game is going to be something else.
Nice one
Daniel
Winebarger

The Story ...

You play as JP, an average everyday kind of guy.  Your best friend is Cosmo McGillicuddy.

You're just making your way through life when one day it's announced that an asteroid is headed towards Earth and the planet is doomed!!  Not knowing what to do you begin to panic!  That's when you remember Cosmo telling you once that he's got an old bomb shelter in his basement.  You try to call him but you can't reach him.  You decide to head over to his place to seek whatever protection his bomb-shelter might offer against an asteroid impact.

Upon arrival to his house you find him not there.  You must located the bomb shelter and find your way into it.

But once you do, you find something more suprising than the incoming asteroid!

What will happen?  What's the suprise?  Will the asteroid destroy the planet?  Where is Cosmo?

Find out in The Adventures of JP and Cosmo: A Friend Indeed.  Coming Soon!!


Screenshots ...

Features ...
- 15 rooms
- Custom GUIs
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/THENEWGUI.gif)
- Custom cursors
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/pointers.gif)
- Fully animated characters
- Over 200 sprites/objects
- Alternative (hidden) ending
- Time limited play
- Fully interactive environments
- Intuitive/Logical puzzles
- and more?

Characters ...
(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/00_player.gif)(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/cosmo.gif)(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/00_player.gif)(http://www.twin-design.com/thehouse/graphics/cosmo.gif) This is JP and Cosmo

More characters coming soon ...

Game Status ...
Plot/Story: 100%
Graphics/Animations: 95%
Puzzles: 45%
Game Mechanics: 95%
Music/Sound: 0%

I'm going to add some MIDI music and sound effects after all is said an done.  I want to get everything else done first before I start messing around with sounds.

Expected Completion Date?
The best answer I can give is 2004.  It'll be done when I get it done!

This is going to rock... SO HARD...

I can't wait to play the game Darth, it looks amazing.

Looks sweet, cool title...cool art....

Keep it up man...

OOoh yes, awesome ! It's so... So cute hehe ;D These screenshots are full of details, I'm sure it will be a pleasure walking around in this house.

I'm really looking forward for this game (since I tried your gui eh ;) )

If you need another tester give me a pm

Do you mind if I cream my pants? ::)

This is definately one of the games I'm looking forward to, and I just can't wait to see it completed...

Well ... the game is completed (I think!)  I decided to keep the older character I was using just because the blue shirted fellow was so deeply entrenched in the game (too many animations created and I didn't feel like starting over!)

I'm looking for some Beta Testers before I release it completely to the public.  I've played it through so many times I don't know what does and doesn't, might and might not be working!

Soooooo ....

If anybody is still interested in testing for me either PM me or respond to this message and I'll send you a link!

It looks like it's going to be about a 5MB download total.

* Ended up being about 20 rooms (about 16 playable rooms).
* Too many sprites to count
* Lots of animations
* Some cut scenes

I'd be more than happy to give your game the once-over, it's looking very promising so far but I'll tell you whether I think it's ready to be unleashed on the public! I can only receive files from a server or on MSN Messenger however, PM me and let me know how I can get my hands on it!

Mushrooms (1st post!)

Hey Darth!
I would be more than happy to give your game a test run.  
Just Pm me with the link!
Daniel
Winebarger

I would love to beta for you man, and this time I actaully will do it.  I Promise ...

I'd love to Betatest this one, as I've been looking forward to playing it for quite a while!  ;) If you need any more betatesters, please send me a link!

hey darth,

im on half-term and need somthing to do. can i beta test pweeese  ;D

cheers

-nath

And while you're at it, you can put me on the beta tester list aswell. :P

WOW!!! This game look AMAZING!!!!!!

You have lot of applicants now, too bad I came home so late tonight. If there's still a place for me, I would love to beta-test your game too.

Dorcan - I sent you the link even though you hadn't yet asked!  And now you ask!  Convenient ;D

I sent out the links (via PM) to those chosen to BETA test!

As soon as I get feed back (and effect any changes requested/required) I'll post up in the Completed Games board.

If you didn't get a PM for beta-testing I'm sorry, I only wanted so many and didn't expect to get so many requests!

I'm putting together a website for the game (including a walk-through).  As soon as it's ready I'll post the link in here!

Thanks so much for the interest!

~ d

There really should be a sound playing when you get a new PM
In fact it took me about 30 min to post the previous message as I was chatting on MSN at the same time.
Yup, convenient as you say ! Now I'm excited like a little girl  ;D

Edit :

Hehe I really enjoyed what I've seen so far, and as I'm stuck now, I think I will go to sleep... it's getting late.

Some bugs & remarks:

Spoiler

We can't skip the generic & the mouse cursor should be hidden

Save & Load buttons doesn't work

You can take the roll of paper by clicking on it with the interact mode, when it should be with the take cursor. Same thing for the whisky and other minor objects.

When the GUI containing the hotspot description pops up, we can't right-click to cycle cursor mode, as the cursor is OVER the GUI.

There are some region problems when walking toward the bathroom at the upper level, which make walls not dissapearing sometimes.

You can take as many empty jar you want from the shelve at the basement

Instead of interacting with the mop bucket when clicking on it, the cursor interact with the shelves

The "Golf Club" description GUI stays until we look at something else. I think you should change the way the description GUI works, making it dissapearing when the mouse cursor moves for exemple

[close]

Dorcan - Thanks!  I have added all items to my to-do list!  Oddly enough I realized some of them awhile ago, but had forgotten because there's so much else involved!

I have created a small, silly little webpage for the game (with 1 new screen shot!)

The Adventures of JP & Cosmo - A Friend Indeed ... (http://www.twin-design.com/friendindeed/)

Feel free to check it out!

~ d

Rock on Darth! I have played and sent you a pm. It's looking really great...

Exactly what I expected it be.
Absolutely fabulous!
I sent you a pm.
Daniel
Winebarger

Thanks to all who have BETA tested so far!  I've made LOTS of fixes/changes/etc.

With your help, we're making this game even better!

To those who have DLed the game, there are two MIDI files in the zip file.  Those are needed in the game, so make sure you get them unzipped into the right spot (I'm not exactly sure where that is?  In the compiled folder I would guess.)

~ d

Geh... I played it just an hour ago... you got a PM

edit-> oops... i forgot to mention: you spelt refrigerator wrong (in the game it's refridgerator) :P

The Adventures of JP & Cosmo - A Friend Indeed ... (http://www.twin-design.com/friendindeed/)

I have added (to the main page) a list of all the changes/fixes/bugs that have been reported so far (as a result of the beta-testing) and most have been dealt with!

I've also added a little development page which is the background story on the development of the project.  Just in case anybody was interested.

Thanks for all the help so far!

~ d

I'm really looking forward to this one, Darth.  Hurry it up!... those eyecandy screenshots are so sweet it's giving me a cavity on my retina! ;)

I just post this to make JP and Cosmo come back to the top of the threads, cos I've played it and I really loved it!

And to apologize to Jeremy (Darth...) because I am an awful beta tester! I've been playing and I haven't seen all that bugs! I just played and played, sorry Jeremy ^_^

Congratulations Dorcan... It seems you're a great beta tester, thing we must add to the fact that you're a great artist! :)

THE GAME IS RELEASED!!

See the thread in the Completed Games section (http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=12273;start=new;boardseen=1)!!

Thanks to all those who helped me out!

**sniff**

I couldn't have done it without ya!

~ d