Flux World is Still Recruiting Background/Sprite Artists

[Galen]

No offense but that's the most broken perspective I've ever seen. I'd advise you to redo it completely rather than (what seems to be) partial paintovers.

[Meistari F]

 But what are those things behind the house that look like wooden planks?  And what is that dark area right above them?

About the planks? They are just part of the house. I don't understand the other question.

[egamer]

Is it too late to register as a beta tester for this game?  If not, how do I go about registering?

[fluxmaster]

And what is that dark area right above them?

I'm referring to the dark rectangle above the planks.  It's hard to tell whether it's dark green or dark brown.  Is that supposed to be a shadow?  It looks as if there's moss growing on the side of the building.

Is it too late to register as a beta tester for this game?  If not, how do I go about registering?

No, it's not too late.  No special registration is required.  Just start testing and post your bug reports on this thread.

[Meistari F]

I'm referring to the dark rectangle above the planks.  It's hard to tell whether it's dark green or dark brown.  Is that supposed to be a shadow?  It looks as if there's moss growing on the side of the building.

I hope you like it but I have fixed the hut image once more now.

Hopefully the final test

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

I feel it's my duty to inform you that Flux World is looking a lot better than Flux Warriors, and much more fun to play.

[Dualnames]

I feel my duty to inform that i just noticed that instead of PM's you contact your beta testers here and viceversa... Darth never there when you want him to.. : Anyway, good job editing that pic. Game looks 6/10 according to me so that means style is considered to be made by pros but still remains unique and makes me wanna play as well.

[fluxmaster]

I hope you like it but I have fixed the hut image once more now.

That's much better.

I feel it's my duty to inform you that Flux World is looking a lot better than Flux Warrior, . . .

Flux Warrior will eventually look as good as or better than Flux World, but that will take a lot more work.

. . . and much more fun to play.

So how far have you gotten into the game?

. . . remains unique and makes me wanna play as well.

Glad to hear that!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

So how far have you gotten into the game?

Not very far at all, which makes my point rather than detracting it. What I meant in a sort of veiled way is, Flux World is more fun to play, more fun to handle, than that extremely odd thing which is the Flux Warior tech demo - and I can tell it from a superficial breeze over the game. Make of this info what you will.

[egamer]

Okay, I've started testing the game, and here is my first bug report:

The NPC's are very small and difficult to click on.

After certain game events, messages come up that appear to be responses to player actions, even though no player action occured.  For example, the message "You wish you could spread your wings . . . " comes up when you click on the sky, but it may also come up after one of the NPC's transports an animal to the temple, which seems inappropriate.

Sometimes the wrong cursor is displayed over a particular barracks, and I have to move the mouse a bit to get the correct cursor to display.

Sometimes a message is displayed for only a fraction of a second and then disappears, before I've had the chance to read it.

When the Hagorian pushes the cart to the left, the Narulung disappears.

The lumberjack changes color slightly when he is cutting down trees to build new barracks.

A few other comments or questions:

Everytime the Narulung is killed, a new one arises.  Is the Narulung like the Phoenix, with only one existing at a time?

The Apoforian inspects the Narulung to see whether it is suitable for offering.  The Apoforian also carries a pistol.  Is the pistol somehow used to check the suitibility of the offering?  This doesn't make a lot of sense.

There are two versions, an 8-bit color version and a 16-bit color version, but most of the graphics are the same.  Except for a few rooms, there is little difference between the graphics of the two versions.  What is the point of this?

In the 8-bit color version, the river flows much too quickly.  In the 16-bit color version, it flows at a more appropriate speed.

A strange bug occurs in the 8-bit color version.  If I press F9 and then walk south, I am in a hardware store.  If I talk to the man behind the counter, I get the exact same dialog as I do at the beginning of the game with the man behind the desk.  I assume that this is a bug, and that this scene is supposed to occur later in the game, perhaps with a different dialog.

Is the man behind the desk at the beginning of the game supposed to be symbolic of a hardware clerk?  Is the room that he is in supposed to be symbolic of a hardware store?  In the game, do you destroy the flux, and, when you do, do you see things for what they really are, in this instance, a hardware clerk in a hardware store?

[fluxmaster]

Okay, I've started testing the game, and here is my first bug report:

The NPC's are very small and difficult to click on.

I agree.  My artist is redoing the graphics, so eventually this should be fixed.

After certain game events, messages come up that appear to be responses to player actions, even though no player action occured.  For example, the message "You wish you could spread your wings . . . " comes up when you click on the sky, but it may also come up after one of the NPC's transports an animal to the temple, which seems inappropriate.

I'm still working on this one.

Sometimes the wrong cursor is displayed over a particular barracks, and I have to move the mouse a bit to get the correct cursor to display.

I suppose I should fix that one, too.

Sometimes a message is displayed for only a fraction of a second and then disappears, before I've had the chance to read it.

I'll work on that one some more.  In the meantime, simply repeat the same action and you will get the same message again.  You won't loose anything.

When the Hagorian pushes the cart to the left, the Narulung disappears.

I hadn't notices that before.  That should be easy to fix.

The lumberjack changes color slightly when he is cutting down trees to build new barracks.

That's because, after I put in the lumberjack sequence, I made changes to the pallate and then modified some of the frames in the sequence.  That will be taken care of when the graphics are redone.

A few other comments or questions:

Everytime the Narulung is killed, a new one arises.  Is the Narulung like the Phoenix, with only one existing at a time?

Something like that, except that there is not always a Narulung.  There will always be one beast, however, and when that beast is killed and offered to one of the gods, another beast will arise.  If there is no beast that wants to kill you, then the Gonthanten (the "practice beast") will come along and help you practice your skills or show you something new.  That's in the first half of the game.  In the second half, things change slightly.

The Apoforian inspects the Narulung to see whether it is suitable for offering.  The Apoforian also carries a pistol.  Is the pistol somehow used to check the suitibility of the offering?  This doesn't make a lot of sense.

I got tired of thinking up new names for weapons, so I simply called the Apoforian's weapon the "pistol."  I really should have come up with a better name.  It is, in fact, used to inspect the offering to determine its suitability.

There are two versions, an 8-bit color version and a 16-bit color version, but most of the graphics are the same.  Except for a few rooms, there is little difference between the graphics of the two versions.  What is the point of this?

I produced two versions because I wasn't sure which my artist would prefer.  Since Fribbi has been producing graphics for the 16-bit color version, that is the one that I'll most likely use.

The two versions do use different programming techinques for certain effects.  For example, pallate cycling is used in the 8-bit color version to produce the flowing river and ligntning flashes.  In the 16-bit color version, I had to use different techniques to produce these same effects.

In the 8-bit color version, the river flows much too quickly.  In the 16-bit color version, it flows at a more appropriate speed.

Yes, but as I'll probably be going with the 16-bit color version, I probably won't do anything about that.

A strange bug occurs in the 8-bit color version.  If I press F9 and then walk south, I am in a hardware store.  If I talk to the man behind the counter, I get the exact same dialog as I do at the beginning of the game with the man behind the desk.  I assume that this is a bug, and that this scene is supposed to occur later in the game, perhaps with a different dialog.

This is a bug.  The scene in the hardware store is actually the final scene of the game.

Is the man behind the desk at the beginning of the game supposed to be symbolic of a hardware clerk?  Is the room that he is in supposed to be symbolic of a hardware store?  In the game, do you destroy the flux, and, when you do, do you see things for what they really are, in this instance, a hardware clerk in a hardware store?

You do not destroy the Flux in the game.  In fact, when you learn what the Flux represents, you will see why it would be neither possible nor desirable to destroy the Flux.  I will not answer the remainder of this question, as you were not supposed to get to this scene until the end of the game, and you only got there by accident by exploiting a bug.

Thank you for reporting thses bugs.  When I get a few more bug reports I will release an updated beta version.

[Meistari F]

Thanks for letting me know that you liked that hut image. I will now start to redo more of those backgrounds. I think we need a music artist too for this game for the next beta version

[fluxmaster]

Fribbi. before you redo any more backgrounds, could you please play the game first.  If you don't understand what the game is about, you won't be able to do the backgrounds properly.  If you don't have time to play the game, I can explain the symbolisms in a private e-mail so that you will know how to do the backgrounds appropriately.

[egamer]

Here is my latest bug report:

When the lumberjack is cutting down trees and constructing barracks, the wood also changes color slightly, as well as the lumberjack.

When the Narulung appears in the screen with the fork in the road, it sometimes walks above the horizon.

If you walk one screen north of the fork in the road, it takes a few seconds for the Narulung to appear.  If you start to fire your weapon before the Narunlun appears, the game hangs up.

When I click on the enemy Trogorian, I get the message "This is the Enemy Trogorian.  He has taken the sacrifice . . . " even when he has not done so.

I assume that the Telmorg weapon cursor should appear over the Diachorian's barracks, since the Diachorian is the soldier that uses the Telmorg.  However, the cursor instead appears over the fork in the road.  I think that you need to move the hot spot.

When the Narulung has been taken to the temple, the look message still says "The Narulung has been taken down by the Troforian vortex."  I think it should say, "The Narulung has been taken to the temple."

Message "The Trogorian has removed the heart from the Narulung and presented it as an offering to the god of Troforia," even when the enemy steals our sacrifice before it can be presented to the god.

When the gold mirror is the selected inventory item, a pair of blue elipses appear in the icon bar instead of a gold mirror.

In the screen with the big building ("hut"), the protagonist scales with distance, but the Gonthanten does not, so when they are close, the Gonthanten appears about half the height of the protagonist, but when they are near the horizon, the Gonthanten appears taller than the protagonist.

The message says, "The Gonthanten would like you to follow him . . . ," but, in fact, he follows you.

After "following" the Gonthanten to Skefalia, firing my weapon, and seeing the Reflective Vortex, when I try to go south I get the message "Please collect a piece of the vortex before leaving Skefalia."  What vortex am I supposed to collect a piece of, and how do I do it?  Clicking on either of the two visible vortices has no effect.

You have written of the "Parallel Flux Universe."  So is there a one-to-one correspondence between entities in our universe and the parallel flux universe?  In other words, is everything in the PFU symbolic of something in our universe, and is everything in our universe symbolized by something in the PFU?  So does the man behind the table at the beginning of the game in the PFU correspond to a shopkeeper in a hardware store in our universe?

[fluxmaster]

Here is my latest bug report:

When the lumberjack is cutting down trees and constructing barracks, the wood also changes color slightly, as well as the lumberjack.

This is the same issue as before, and will be fixed when the graphics are updated.

When the Narulung appears in the screen with the fork in the road, it sometimes walks above the horizon.

Noted.  I will work on this one.

If you walk one screen north of the fork in the road, it takes a few seconds for the Narulung to appear.  If you start to fire your weapon before the Narunlun appears, the game hangs up.

Another problem for me to work on.  In the meantime, please wait for the beast to appear before firing your weapon.

When I click on the enemy Trogorian, I get the message "This is the Enemy Trogorian.  He has taken the sacrifice . . . " even when he has not done so.

This one should be easy to fix.

I assume that the Telmorg weapon cursor should appear over the Diachorian's barracks, since the Diachorian is the soldier that uses the Telmorg.  However, the cursor instead appears over the fork in the road.  I think that you need to move the hot spot.

I'll have to tweak that a bit.

When the Narulung has been taken to the temple, the look message still says "The Narulung has been taken down by the Troforian vortex."  I think it should say, "The Narulung has been taken to the temple."

Another easy one to fix.

Message "The Trogorian has removed the heart from the Narulung and presented it as an offering to the god of Troforia," even when the enemy steals our sacrifice before it can be presented to the god.

Likewise.  (See why I need beta testers!)

When the gold mirror is the selected inventory item, a pair of blue elipses appear in the icon bar instead of a gold mirror.

I've noticed that too, and I don't know what's causing it.  I'll look into it some more.

In the screen with the big building ("hut"), the protagonist scales with distance, but the Gonthanten does not, so when they are close, the Gonthanten appears about half the height of the protagonist, but when they are near the horizon, the Gonthanten appears taller than the protagonist.

This is another one of those graphics issues that will be fixed when all the graphics have been redone.

The message says, "The Gonthanten would like you to follow him . . . ," but, in fact, he follows you.

In the 3-D game Flux Warrior, the Gonthanten (as well as the Narulung) chases you to your destination.  He always gets on the opposite side of you that he wants you to go, and by simply running away from him you are taken to your destination.  It took me months to write the code to do that, as it requites taking several turns to go from one precinct to another, and, at every turn, the beast has to move to a new position in order to chase you in the right direction.  Furthermore, if at any time you go off course, the beast must reposition himself again to try to get you on course.  I didn't want to spend months rewriting this code for AGS, so I simply used the build-in FollowCharacter() method to have the beast follow you instead.  So, when you get the message that a beast wants you to follow him to a particular precinct, simply go there yourself and he will follow you.  And pretend he is chasing you and you are running away.

After "following" the Gonthanten to Skefalia, firing my weapon, and seeing the Reflective Vortex, when I try to go south I get the message "Please collect a piece of the vortex before leaving Skefalia."  What vortex am I supposed to collect a piece of, and how do I do it?  Clicking on either of the two visible vortices has no effect.

That message is not supposed to come up until later in the game.  There is another vortex that you haven't encountered yet that you will need to collect a piece of.  This is a fatal bug, preventing the player from getting any further in the game.  So please suspend beta-testing until I can get this fixed and upload a new version.

You have written of the "Parallel Flux Universe."  So is there a one-to-one correspondence between entities in our universe and the parallel flux universe?  In other words, is everything in the PFU symbolic of something in our universe, and is everything in our universe symbolized by something in the PFU?  So does the man behind the table at the beginning of the game in the PFU correspond to a shopkeeper in a hardware store in our universe?

Yes, there is a one-to-one correspondence between everything in our universe and in the Parallel Flux Universe.  I won't answer the rest of this question because, as I've said before, you are not supposed to encounter the scene in the hardware store until the very end of the game.

[Meistari F]

I will start playing the game once again soon.  I made a mistake when I saved the game in last time when I was playing the game.  But the monster are always killing me when I load the game. I just have to start this game again. I think you should upload a new beta even I haven't redo all of the images.  That monster bug wich has now be mentioned has to be fixed so I can play it again. I wonder, has anybody here finish the game here without any trouble?

Here is a new image for the game. It is the bedroom wich appear in the intro.



Strange..
I'm falling in sleep when I watch that image..to late .....ZZZzzzzz!




Hehe just kidding. I hope you like it.

[fluxmaster]

Those latest images are excellent!  They're the best I've seen you do so far.

I'll upload a new beta version as soon as I can, but it won't be for a few days at the earliest.  I want to fix as many bugs as possible, including the fatal bug that egamer reported.

EDIT:  I've uploaded new versions of both the 8-bit color version and the 16-bit color version.  I've fixed most of the major bugs reported, including the fatal one.  In addition, the 16-bit color version includes Fribbi's latest graphics.  I modified one of the backgrounds slightly to add an extra path leading north and to make the signpost more legible.

I am still unable to fix the problem with restarting the game using the F9 key.  Until I do so, you can still use the following workaround:  After pressing F9, move the mouse to the top of the screen and press the '?' button.  The mouse cursor will be invisible, but as the button is near the top of the screen, you can still figure out where to position the mouse.  Then press the Help button.  The mouse cursor will still be invisible, but the button is near the bottom of the screen, so you can again figure out where to position the mouse.  I fill fix this problem as soon as I can.

[egamer]

Here is my latest bug report:

When I click the eye icon on the Hagorian, I get the message "THe Hagorian carries no weapon," even when he is carrying the cart.  Although I'm not that the cart can be considered a weapon, I think that the message should indicate that he is carrying the cart.

When I am shooting at the Narulung, in some situations where the crosshairs icon with the arrow pointing left should appear, I get the Telnorg icon instead.

Here are some questions and observations:

The Telnorg weapon always seems to work, provided that we use it in conjunction with the gold mirror and the Atlenort weapon.  The Telmorg, on the other hand, sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.  So the Telnorg appears to be the superior weapon.  Is this observation correct?  So far, I have used the Telnorg in preference to the Telmorg nearly all the time.  The only reason I can't use it all the time is that a waste heap accumulates whenever I use the Telnorg, and if the waste heap gets too big I can die from it.

The vortices all seem to move in sync with each other and with whatever beast is chasing me beast.  I'm sure there's some significance to this, but I don't know what to make of it.

I notice that whenever I use the Telmorg weapon I loose the cart, but I gain it back whenever I use the Telnorg/Atlenort/Gold Mirror combination.  Also, when I use the T/A/GM combination, we make the sacrifices of both tribes, not just of our own tribe.  But it's not clear exactly how we get the cart back.  Does the other tribe give us the cart back?  Does that have something to do with the dual offering's flattering the other tribe?

I've made it to the second half of the game, and the second half looks to be a lot more interesting than the first.  Whereas in the first half you use the flux to knock over animals, in the second half you can actually shape the flux.

Is it possible to die in the second half of the game?  I haven't encountered any death scenes in that half so far.

The Ergaltist carries the workbench.  There is also a workbench in the armory.  I assume that these represent different things.  If that is the case, shouldn't they have different names?

The Latorian carries the cart and so has the Cart cursor.  The Hagorian sometimes carries the cart.  Shouldn't he have the cart cursor in those instances when he is carring the cart?  Do those two carts represent the same thing?  They do look identical, so I assume they are the same.

A couple of bugs to report in the second half:

In the armory there are paintings on the wall that represent your memories.  But two of them were out of order.  The painting of the Regulung is shown before the painting of the attack in Melloria, even though the attack in Melloria came first.

At a later point in the game there is a blank space on the wall of the armory.  Should there be a painting there?

[fluxmaster]

Here is my latest bug report:

When I click the eye icon on the Hagorian, I get the message "THe Hagorian carries no weapon," even when he is carrying the cart.  Although I'm not that the cart can be considered a weapon, I think that the message should indicate that he is carrying the cart.

Good idea.  I'll add a message for that.

When I am shooting at the Narulung, in some situations where the crosshairs icon with the arrow pointing left should appear, I get the Telnorg icon instead.

I'll have to fix that.

Here are some questions and observations:

The Telnorg weapon always seems to work, provided that we use it in conjunction with the gold mirror and the Atlenort weapon.

Correct.

The Telmorg, on the other hand, sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

It works fifty percent of the time.

So the Telnorg appears to be the superior weapon.  Is this observation correct?

Superior?  Well, you can't use the Telnorg all the time, as you've noted below.  If you do, you die.  To complete the game, you must use the Telmorg at least once.  It's also possible to complete the game using mostly the Telmorg.  Note that each successful use of the Telmorg increases your approval rating twice as much as each use of the Telnorg.  As for which weapon is superior, that is a value judgement.  When the symbolism of the weapons is understood, some will argue vehamently for the Telnorg being superior, others for the Telmorg.  Are you a Democrat or a Republican?  Labor or Torry?  Christian Democrat or Social Democrat?  This game is not about politics, but your political party may certainly influence your opinion of which weapon is superior.

So far, I have used the Telnorg in preference to the Telmorg nearly all the time.  The only reason I can't use it all the time is that a waste heap accumulates whenever I use the Telnorg, and if the waste heap gets too big I can die from it.

Ah, yes, there's the rub.  You can also die if you try to use the Telmorg exclusively.  It's gun discharge can be toxic.

The vortices all seem to move in sync with each other and with whatever beast is chasing me beast.  I'm sure there's some significance to this, but I don't know what to make of it.

Yes, that is significant.

I notice that whenever I use the Telmorg weapon I loose the cart, but I gain it back whenever I use the Telnorg/Atlenort/Gold Mirror combination.  Also, when I use the T/A/GM combination, we make the sacrifices of both tribes, not just of our own tribe.  But it's not clear exactly how we get the cart back.  Does the other tribe give us the cart back?

Yes.

Does that have something to do with the dual offering's flattering the other tribe?

I'm not sure that flattering is the exact word that I would use, but that is the general idea.

I've made it to the second half of the game, and the second half looks to be a lot more interesting than the first.  Whereas in the first half you use the flux to knock over animals, in the second half you can actually shape the flux.

Is it possible to die in the second half of the game?  I haven't encountered any death scenes in that half so far.

No, once you obtain both the stone and wooded towers, you can see the deadly beasts approach from a distance, so there are no deaths in the second half.

The Ergaltist carries the workbench.  There is also a workbench in the armory.  I assume that these represent different things.  If that is the case, shouldn't they have different names?

Probably.  See my previous response about the "Pistol."

The Latorian carries the cart and so has the Cart cursor.  The Hagorian sometimes carries the cart.  Shouldn't he have the cart cursor in those instances when he is carring the cart?  Do those two carts represent the same thing?  They do look identical, so I assume they are the same.

Yes, they are the same.  However, the Latorian permanently carries the Cart, so he is represented by the Cart cursor.  SInce the Hagorian only carries the cart when we are on good terms with the other tribe, I decided not to use the cart cursor to represent him.

A couple of bugs to report in the second half:

In the armory there are paintings on the wall that represent your memories.  But two of them were out of order.  The painting of the Regulung is shown before the painting of the attack in Melloria, even though the attack in Melloria came first.

I'll have to fix that.

At a later point in the game there is a blank space on the wall of the armory.  Should there be a painting there?

Yes.  I'll fix that, too.

[egamer]

Here is my latest bug report:

When trees are cut down in Melloria to construct new barracks, the trees and the barracks shift in place.

In the first half of the game, whenever new barracks are built, a road is built to the barracks if the barracks are not already on a road.  But in the second half, when the Vortex Builder barracks are built, there is no road there already, yet no road is built out to them.  I don't know whether this is a bug or not, but it is an inconsistency.

The Vortex Builder constructs a new vortex in Melloria, but when I click the eye icon on it to find out the name of the vortex, no message comes up.

The second time that the Samgiang takes me to Koinotia, after I have obtained the gift basket, upon entering Koinotia I get the following error message:

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 Lumberjack (line 6)
from Room 16 script (line 63)

Error:  SetObjectFrame:  invalid object number specified