Starting out

[Nick2726]

A friend of mine and I decided to try out hand at making a point and clicker as a sort of tie in for a webcomic we were planning on doing because the artist we found is going to be going through Basic Training soon. I downloaded AGS but was crestfallen to discover that you have to draw the backgrounds yourself as neither I nor my friend have any artistic ability.

Are there are solutions that a couple of people who have little to no experience with free hand drawing or paint programs could resort to? We'd really appreciate any help you all could give us.

Thank you.

[LeChuck]

You're making a webcomic without any artistic ability? If you're making a webcomic, you're going to have to resort to some kind of art, no? Wouldn't the best thing for the game be to have the game look the same as the comic?

If you're really desperate though, and photoshop and google image search and throw some images together. I'm warning you though... ain't gonna look pretty.

[Nick2726]

Well, we have an artist lined up, but she won't be available for another six weeks due to Basic Training you see.  thought we could do the game in the meantime but I didn't realize the backgrounds would have to be composed ourselves.

[Khris]

I'm just curious: did you expect AGS to come with hundreds of ready-made backgrounds, sprites and stuff?
You want to make a point and clicker so I assume you've played others before; what did you think their graphics came from? Just wondering, is all...

[Nick2726]

Hey, this is my first time doing this. I didn't know what to expect, all right? For the record, no, I didn't think it would come with all I needed but I thought it might have some basic templates I could modify or something.

[Dualnames]

Nick please don't think bad about Khris or the rest of AGS, we're helpful people, most of us at least. You'd be surprised to know that Khris is helping a lot and this community would be half helpful without him. He is sarcastic sometimes, but he's seen everything. Welcome aboard.

[Nick2726]

I didn't question his ability, Dual, but I have to admit I don't appreciate his tone. It's a minor point however.

[LeChuck]

I didn't question his ability, Dual, but I have to admit I don't appreciate his tone. It's a minor point however.

No offense, but he said what everyone else was thinking... You are, however, welcome to share your problems on the board once you've got the art stuff figured out.

In the mean time, why don't you make your game featuring crude mspaint art until you've got an actual artist? That's what I do, then just replace all the art when the game's somewhat up and running.

This is a great way to figure out if your spites / backgrounds work or not. You can save yourself a lot of work and heartache by using simple paint art until you've nailed the gameplay elements. It all depends on how polished you want it to be, of course.

[Khris]

No offense, sorry.
You see, there's even a pack of ready-made sprites and backgrounds, Instagame, targeted at beginners. The download should be somewhere around the forums.
However, it's pretty particular (desert planet, some alien sprites). But, afaik two games were made using those graphics so far.

AGS offers everything needed to make a professional Point'n'Click game, except sound and gfx. It's a serious, very sophisticated engine, not some Klik'n'Play style proggie with dozens of clipart and samples.
Hence my astonishment that you were "crestfallen".

But, like LeChuck already mentioned, it's perfectly possible to get started with the game mechanics and puzzles using placeholder art.

[Nick2726]

Thank you for your help all of you.

I apologize if I seemed too much of a jackass.