[RELEASED] Donna: Avenger of Blood - PHASE 2 (nudity warning!)

[Queen Kara]

Ditto!
Keep up the great work!

[Goldmund]

Thank you and thank you! 

Yesterday I got a job in the biggest Polish science-fiction magazine.
It's for a 3 months probatory period, but it's a job nonetheless and I can finally make things I love with a lighter conscience.
The work put my participation in Mittens in question, but at least I can - and will - finish Donna!

(I hope...)

There's really not much left in terms of locations, the game still misses lots of animations and music tracks. But it's nothing in comparison with scripting the whole story together. Please keep your fingers crossed for me, as one of the largest (and one of the longest in production) AGS games is nearing the completion.

[Helm]

Excellent. Good luck with the new job and donna.

[Goldmund]

Well, this is to notify everyone who thought Donna is dead, that she isn't.
She's undead.
(A pun! A pun!)

As I had some free time today, I uploaded again the images for the initial post, who seemed to be lost among some internet samum. I'm not quite sure if the trailer can be downloaded from the geocities, though. Is it against their policy? Will they burn my mini-rabbit? Only time will tell.

So, back to the un-dead thingy: around a month ago I returned to the making with strong determination (one of the results you could observe in the critics lounge), using up my evenings and nights, so that I can arrive at work late and with blood-shot eyes.
The skeleton (all rooms and interactions crucial to the play) will be finished shortly. This year, I think. It's around 150 rooms by now, all I need is - maybe 15 more.
Then, I will make all missing animations, music etc.
Will early 2006 be a happy year (early is not a year, but bleh) for 2 Donna fans?
I strongly believe so.

[The Book]

At last, some good news I already started to think of "Donna" as another promosing game that died before it was actually born...

[2ma2]

2 fans? Who's the other one

[FruitTree]

that'll do just fine 

[Nacho]

3 fans! And I hope there's going to be a lot of nude gay images without fat.

[Pet Terry]

Add one more fan into your list. I'm not sure if I told you this at Mittens or not, but Donna looks extremely awesome and I'm looking forward to it!

[AlbinoPanther]

Fan you need support we give

6 fans well not bad

[Andail]

Fan you need support we give

6 fans well not bad

Oh, don't push it. Goldmund would hate if Donna turned out mainstream.

[FruitTree]

that's the consequense of making a good game I guess 

[skw]

Ah, I don't believe I didn't post anything in this thread before. I saw the trailer and listened to tracks a few months ago and as it wouldn't pass in English, I say it simple in Polish: "Wykurw!".

Donna's probably the only game who really scares me. I almost pissed my pants when I was watching the trailer at night, home alone. It's strange, odd, it's mysterious. Bloody great job, Goldmund, buddy.

Good to hear you're slowly finishing it, good luck and keep posting!

[Goldmund]

Ach, wykurw! Pozdrawiam rodaka 

Thank you for the fan support!
Together we can... I don't know... break three very thick sticks!!

This post is to tell you that the trailer is available for download again, thanks to Fuzzpilz & Esseb (I'd like to remind you, that the latter shouldn't be bothered about bicyclesforslugs, for it's not HIS server!).

[Bionic Bill]

it is good to hear that you're still working on this.

[Nikolas]

I had missed this thread and this game at all, up to now!

This seems like a great great game!

The atmosphere is great the music as well.

One question though: In the trailer I saw a womans portrait (not Donna), who probably was Franka Potente and probably from the movie Run Lola Run? Am I right? Cause if this is the case then it makes me much more excited than I already am as I love Franka and I adore Tom Tykwers work (on which you seem to know about, from a directors point of view).

Keep up the good work and I hope that this game will be released in 2006.

[Goldmund]

Heh, yes, Nikolas, it's Franka from "Run, Lola".
But the connotations with the movie kept getting me distracted from my story, so finally I gave her Patricia Arquette's eyes and now she looks like this:

[Goldmund]

All the locations are there.
Around 180 rooms, almost all backgrounds animated.
Now I have to finish scripting, rewriting some stuff, writing additional dialogues and descriptions. And composing more music. And also... coping with the new factor I've added into game mechanics. But on this - later.



The game has undergone a considerable graphics advancement, as I managed to pull Dominika into working more on the project. Among other things, she made new GUIs, looking much better than I could ever produce:



This GUI has an animated ECG reading, and also status bars for blood level and... psyche level.
The psyche level is this new factor: an idea I've borrowed from "Fahrenheit": it depicts Donna's mental state which can rise or fall from certain actions. When the psyche level is low, she cannot force herself to do certain actions.

Dominika's input has gone far beyond making better-looking GUIs: she conceived an easy technique to make all character animations from photo-capture. This means much smoother animations and better-looking characters:



Will the game be ready this year? Probably...

[Vlad]

Now that's a game I'd like to sink my teeth into.

I've scanned through some of the previous posts (yea, should've read them all carefully, I know) and I'm happy to see that things are rolling again. Can't wait to play this unusual (but brilliant) game.

In the meantime: can we count on you to make an updated trailer that sheds some light on the new features and improved graphics?

[GarageGothic]

Excellent news, Goldmund. Donna is a game I've been looking forward to pretty much since joining these forums, and it's great to hear that the game is nearing completion.

The new screens are beautiful. Did you take the background pictures yourself, or are they stuff you found on the internet? I remember the hallway picture that you posted in the critics lounge, where the stairway image could be googled, but I'm wondering if this is the case for all backgrounds? Either way, I'm impressed with the uniform and very distinct style you've managed to create.

The psyche level sounds like an intriguing gameplay feature, especially knowing how much effort you put into character development and the psychological/philosophical aspect of the vampire theme. Just be careful that it doesn't lead to walking deads (how appropriate for a vampire game...), if the psyche level gets too low, there's no alternate solution to the puzzle and no way to raise it again until you proceed.

Keep up the good work. I'm happy to hear that it won't be too long now. I so much want to play this game.

Edit: Is that Donna wearing a wig on the first two pictures?