Hi all,
I have been working on and off for the last few years on an adventure game I could call my own. I have spent many nights and lots of paper noting down the main premise of the story, the game world, some characters, etc... I have drawn some backgrounds, and completed the first bit of the game in full in AGS. Minus one walkcycle, and some other animations and interactions.
Unfortunately, it has come to the time now when all I want to do is write the story and script the game. I would love to draw the backgrounds and sprites too, but time has got the better of me (well, I'll confess it is motivation rather than time). I also don't have the skill to draw the backgrounds how I would like them - all too often I am resorting to downloading reference images of the internet and tracing them, before modding the features and adding stuff. OK, so I am exaggerating a little; the backgrounds are basically mine, but I'm not a fan of my own work, and I've made some unwise design decisions that I can only fix by starting again.
The game is a sci-fi adventure, of a serious tone. It explores the idea of scientific advancement, the extension of human life and it's social implications, and legacy. Another complication has risen from this however, in that the story has become increasingly more focused and sophisticated since I started - meaning the game I've started in AGS is growing further away from the vision I am forging on paper.
Anyway, I am posting here for two reasons: I want to share my game with the community, but without declaring it "in production" as, although it is, I'm not sure how this development will proceed. Two, rather shamelessly, I'm asking for help. If anyone is interested in helping me save the project I can send you the game so far - and when it is finished - the story in full.
Here are some screenies!
Full Size Here (http://www.freewebs.com/markbilly/mygame.png)
(http://www.freewebs.com/markbilly/mygamesmall.png)
P.S. A lot of my characters look like Guybrush or some BASS characters, which illustrates my sprite-ing ability... :D
You're being a little bit hard on yourself.
Those backgrounds look great, so what if you used reference pics? Have you ever played Pleurgburg? The guy has a square head for god's sake! And it still a great (and serious) game.
(sorry, can't offer help, still learning to draw myself)
Sorry, no help either... haven't enough time for my own BGs.
But, as Twinmoon said, these backgrounds look very nice. I really like them.
The characters look quite good aswell. I think you have a great game in the making here.
I'd have no problems playing it.
There's nothing wrong with the graphics at all. They have this SNES feel to it.
Also remember, graphics aren't what make a game good. It's the game play, storyline and the characters.
Nice use of color in the backgrounds. It really has a sci-fi feel to it; it looks really good. It seems like you need motivation more than people to help. :-)
Guybrush seems out of place in this setting though :-D
Is the game far enough along that you could give it some closure and make the second part later? Sometimes it helps to take these large projects and break them up into separate games (chapters, whatever) so you don't feel overwhelmed. It also gives you a chance to get feedback on the first game and what people look forward to in the rest of the story.
As far as your backgrounds, I think they look more than decent enough for a freeware game. As a perfectionist myself, I can only say you have to temper your desire for stunning visuals with the reality that you're not making any income from the game and that, working on it alone, your best chance of finishing it is to scale things down and keep it simple. Your main character is clearly a Guybrush paintover, but it has a good level of detail to it that shouldn't bother people. There are things to improve in any project, but just bear in mind you're doing this for free without any compensation and then giving it to people to play.
If you're really grinding your wheels, I really recommend you try breaking your game up into parts that are more manageable. It's something I've been doing with Boyd Quest and it helped my productivity to the point where I'm carrying it over to another *project I have almost complete.
*I am being mysterious.
Not really, although this is tried, tested and sound advice.
The game isn't massively long, there are two large open areas, the rest is short sequences and dialogue cutscenes. I'm not sure if there would be anyway to split it up, besides ending the first half at the end of the first large area. And I'm a good way from that yet...
I'm really grateful for the encouragement in terms of the graphics. I am aware they are fairly good, and certainly not bad, but I am unhappy with some design choices. For example, the game is in 640x400 resolution. This increases the workload for the graphics, and has made the characters harder to draw and animate... I also went for a black outline approach, which may look quite nice, but again makes the characters a pain.
Sorry if the digging up of this old thread is illegal, but just to let people know the project has been revamped entirely:
I've established a far more manageable - and attractive - art style, which means development is coming on a lot quicker now, despite having to basically start over.
(http://www.freewebs.com/markbilly/screenies.png)
Oooooo.... Aaaaaaa....
I love it. So the game is in full production now? Excellent
~Trent
PS-Need a scripter? :)
I can script, and I love doing it too. It's nice to have a break from the pixelling sometimes...
Only thing I'm not great at is dialogue, but that's a post production job, really.
You should of waited till sunday (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=36831.0)
Quote from: IndieBoy on Thu 19/02/2009 20:50:28
You should of waited till sunday (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=36831.0)
Yeah, but I'm hoping this
will be released in the future.
Quote from: markbilly on Thu 19/02/2009 20:47:41
Only thing I'm not great at is dialogue, but that's a post production job, really.
Yeah, it's the same thing with movies, dialogue is always written after the movie has been filmed.
Wow, I am liking this ;D.
Strange your saying its more managable because I think it looks alot better :P.
Good luck!
And make sure to finish it!
Quote from: Peder Johnsen on Thu 19/02/2009 21:32:57
Strange your saying its more managable because I think it looks alot better :P.
Lower resolution, mainly.
Quote from: Pablo on Thu 19/02/2009 21:00:44
Yeah, it's the same thing with movies, dialogue is always written after the movie has been filmed.
"lol"
I meant it can be refined after. It's no good writing it all now, or getting someone to help at this stage. They would be waiting days in between each line they wrote!
I'm glad you decided not to give up the game. Personally I had prefered the hi-res backgrounds, but as long as it looks good- which it does - than everything's fine. I'm curious how this will turn out.
Hmmm, as a low-res fan I can only say: Great new look! Nice to see this one back in the makings!
Yeah it's really gorgeous! Don't do like Lucasarts fans, never ever give up!
I'm glad to see this on track again.
Looks great!
Good on you for putting in the time and effort to start again, it's clearly paid off :)
Have to agree with the rest of the bunch... it's looking really good! Keep at it. If you ever lose motivation or get writers/artist 'block', pull out some old or new sci-fi movies to get you back on track. Also showing bits and pieces of your game will get you compliments and encouragement -- use this to keep you positive!
I loved the original thing..but this is wooshing..makes me want to cry.. :P
Wow. Thanks everyone for the compliments, I'm really pleased with how this is coming along now! :)
It's a slow process though, and as ever I've been unreasonably ambitious! :D