Prodigal version 1.0 released!

[Trisk]

Download the completed game at
prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com

---March 06/05 first announcement---
Hello, everybody! This is my first post on this forum! So what an excellent time to let everybody know about the new game I'm working on! It currently doesn't have a name other than a working title which will NOT be its final name, so for now it is called "Realm of Darkness". I'm rendering the 3D graphics using the Serious Engine, then scaling down to 320x200x256 for input into AGS. Once scaled down, I'm cleaning up the image and adding extra effects using Adobe Photoshop. The end result is excellent looking graphics as you can see here:




(Hopefully the links will work! Never done that before. Thanks, Neole!)

I rendered the picture up to 640x400 so you can see it a little better, but that should give you a good idea of what the game looks like. The sprites are going to be in the grand tradition of Sierra games, and should be similar to King's Quest 6 or Quest for Glory 1 VGA. I've been working on it for around a month now, and have about 40% of the graphics, sound and "look" text in, less than 20% of the sprites, and less than 10% of the puzzles.

As for story, I'm working out what I think will be quite a unique horror/thriller story that will be a bit unlike anything else you've ever read/watched/played. Closest adventure game equivalent would be the first Gabriel Knight. It will have a huge twist ending in the grand tradition of movies like Sixth Sense.


Yours,
Ã,  Ã, Trisk

[Krazy]

Use [ img ] http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Darkness07.jpg [ / img ]

without the spaces to make it work. Looks good by the way.

[Trisk]

---March 11/05 update---
I've lined up a small group of people willing to help me work on Act 1 of the game. Thank you so much to those who were willing to take the time to offer support. I'm currently working with DragonRose to build up a clean, polished intro that will start the story off with a bang, and get its hooks into the player. Thanks so much, DragonRose, you've been a big help already! Here is an early render of the main character's appartment. There is alot of work to do...those walls are much too bare:

[Ubel]

Great work Trisk! The backgrounds look very good. Can't wait for the game.Ã, 

[Trisk]

---March 17/2005 Update---
Rendering work continues at a steady clip. Most locations have been completed at this point, which is half the battle for a game like this. Most of the remaining renders needed are for the intro cutscene and ending cutscene. Rendering work is probably around 80% complete. Here is a screenshot from about half way through the game:


Jacob, the main character, will have many puzzles to solve in this monolithic cliff dwelling. Many elements of the mystery will come to light here.

I've been cranking madly for over a week on completing a very polished introduction cutscene. I want it to get the story moving and the player excited about the game right away! This means I've spared no expense in trying to get as flashy an intro as I can. The intro itself is currently clocking in at over 5 megs uncompressed, which for a 256 color game with no speech is pretty massive! It's going to grow more before I'm done, too.

My brother and I have been working on polishing up various elements of the story, as well. DragonRose pointed out that the main character, Jacob, was pretty flat and lifeless. We have worked alot on fleshing out his personality, as well as his motivations for what he does in the game.

I just crossed 500 sprite frames! That feels like a milestone to me. :b However, I have many, MANY more sprites to do on the game, so expect this number to groooooOOOOWWW!!!

Finally, I'm trying to procure permission from a band to use their songs in the game soundtrack. I won't say which band unless they agree...we'll see how that pans out...if it fails, there is another band or two I will approach. Depends on how greedy they are, since I obviously can't pay them for it...but it would be a great way to advertise the band, which is what makes me hope they will agree. :b

[evilspacefart]

hey nice

[NiksterG]

HOLY COW! Those are amazing graphics! I am very impressed, since I personally can't make a background half as cool as that if my life depended on it. Maybe I'll try the Adobe Photoshop and Serious Engine programs...

[TomPel]

Yeah, amazing  :o! I like ALL of  those rooms! Nice Job

[Nine Toes]

Wow, those backgrounds look really nice, I'm diggin' it!

What type of music are you considering for the soundtrack?

[prowler]

the angles on those backgrounds are quite odd... are you sure the sprites look right in all positions?

good luck with your game

[Queen Kara]

Looks promising.
I like

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Darkness08.jpg

the most / best
The stonework is lovely.
Keep up the great work!

[big brother]

That latest screenshot reminds me of the prison structure in Grim Fandango. The lighting is very moody also. Good work so far! I'm curious what the characters will look like.

[Trisk]

---March 25, 2005 update---
The first act of the game is very nearly complete! All rooms are loaded, all puzzles are working and complete (though untested by anyone but me), and all sounds and music are complete. There are a few minor details that need cleaning up, but they are very small things like a couple of spelling errors and a few missing animations. 603 sprites is the final count for this part of the game! Expect this number to increase rapidly now, however. Act one features Jacob by himself most of the time...Act two will have many other characters he'll be dealing with, and act three will find him back to being by himself.

I am mildly thinking about releasting act one as a demo...I'll see what my testers think after they have played it.

Work has stalled for a few days while I play with my brand new PSP...so fun! :b But I'll be back at it again by Monday for certain. I began running a few coding tests to see how I can make NPCs walk around and use scripted movement routines...looks excellent so far. AGS is an incredibly well designed engine, as if you needed to be told that.

Niksterg- you can buy Serious Sam Gold at Walmart and other places for $10. (Plus, it has my levels on it!) You need to learn how to render in it though...it takes a while and I've been doing it for 4 years now. If you've ever rendered in 3D, it would be easy to figure out, however. I'd be glad to offer a few pointers for you if you want...

Mr. Hyde- The soundtrack is probably closest to Doom3 or Silent Hill. Not so much music as it is "Aural sounds". Groans, screams, whispers, and unearthly sounding tones are all a part of the soundtrack. There will be a couple of old blues songs throughout the game, in reference to movies like Evil Dead, and Stephen King's fascination with this kind of music. The main character, Jacob, is very fond ofÃ,  these old songs...and as an added bonus, they are public domain!:D Because sound plays such an INCREDIBLY important role in horror, all of it will be .mp3. The vox file will be included right along with the game, as it would kinda...well...stink without music. :b

Prowler- Yes, the sprites look fine. I keep the camera angles low enough that perspective doesn't become a problem.

Queen Kara- Thanks! It's great to hear that all my hard work is paying off.

Big Brother- I will see about getting some screenshots from the actual game. I modeled the sprites specifically after the style Sierra used in Quest for Glory VGA...but made them my own creations. I'm fairly proud of how they are turning out, as I've never animated before.

Well, that about does it for this time! Keep the questions coming! I'll try and get an actual in-game screenshot or two for next time, instead of just the finished backgrounds.
Trisk

[Trisk]

---April 1st update---
I'm deep into working on act 2 of the game! Act 2 will be the hardest part to complete, so I expect to be cranking on it for quite a while. I have nearly all of the 3D rendering completed for it, however, so alot of the work is just plugging the graphics in...that and coding. :b

EDIT:

I'm changing these controversial screenshots to stop this weird trend of bashing the game's sprites. I can guarantee that you won't have a problem with how they look in motion once you see the game. I've showed the game to literally DOZENS of people at this point and NOT ONE has said anything other than that they sprites and animation looks great. The screenshots I had up here were poor because I hadn't rendered light in those shots yet, and were therefore a stupid representation of the final game.

If you want to see how the sprites look, go play Prodigal 0!!! it can be downloaded from

prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com




This is an early concept drawing I sketched out on my Prodigal Notebook (TM) representing one of the game's final areas. I'm no real life artist, but this shows a fairly accurate representation of the tusks surrounding cliffs that make up some of the end of the game.


Get used to seeing this symbol alot! Figuring out artistic styling to go along with the peoples and story we wrote was very hard, but the Aegis sort of popped into my mind just as it appears here. I like its design because it has a plethora of hidden meanings relating to the story of the game, as sharp players may notice...yet they are never pointed out by the game. You can just draw parallels from it if you think about it. Or maybe I'm the only one that'll see the connections. Awe, who cares? I like it anyway! ;b

My brother and I are still thinking up cool new elements for the story! The result, however, is that I have to IMPLEMENT all those cool elements into the game, which means more rendering, more animating, and more coding. Still, I think the end result will be worth it.

One of my friends, who is a very talented musician, as well as the most sought after violist in Minnesota, is doing some music for me! As I stated before, this game won't have alot of music per se, but there are times when I need tribal drums or a very nervous kind of rhythmic sound...stuff that is beyond my ability to do as a guitar player and foley artist. That is where he comes in! I may put up a couple of audio tracks in the critics lounge, if I can figure out a place to put 'em that I can hotlink to them.

Finally, I suddenly realize I hadn't yacked about the story yet! So here is a synopsis of the introduction:

-------------------
Jacob, the main character, gets a call from his brother. They haven't talking in years...in fact, they haven't talked since their parents died. Jacob had been out of the country researching a book, and Mike took all the inheritance and ran off with it.

So when Mike calls, and what's more sounds scared, Jacob is more than a little stunned. Mike asks to meet with him, and hangs up suddenly. Jacob is unsure, as he is still very angry with Mike, but he also loves his little brother and decides to go.

Mike is somewhat incoherent at the meeting, talking about a religious order that he's become involved with. He makes Jacob promise to come looking for him if he should dissappear, then hands him a golden amulet of some sort. Jacob gets upset at Mike's continued evasions to his questions, and storms off.

A few weeks later, the police contact Jacob and tell him they found Mike's car abandoned on a remote section of road near a thick forest. There are no clues whatsoever reguarding the reason for it being there, or Mike's whereabouts. Jacob remembers what Mike told him, about needing Jacob to come after him if anything should happen. A bit nervous himself, Jacob heads to the place where the police found the car.

At first, he finds nothing, just as the police found nothing. But as night falls, he can make out a light twinkling through the trees. Somehow, he knows this must have something to do with what happened to Mike...it is just strange that the police didn't mention it didn't they know about it? Jacob strikes off into the forest and the game begins...

---------------

So there ya have it! I'm gonna post this in the critics forum, so be sure to give me your opinion over there!

That's it for this update! Laters, all!
Trisk

[Ozzie]

That's strange, I expected that the sprites would be rendered models. So, they do not look bad, but they don't fit really good with the backgrounds.
It's not terrible, but other way would have been a better decision, I think.

Great backgrounds, I haven't said it yet. I'm amazed of the quality, the many details, it looks professional, really.
That's a problem when many amateurs try 3D art, it looks so amateurish, everything so bare, so liveless. This here is totally different.

[.]

I think that sprites wont fit in too the bgs are very good and sprites umm are good too but they dont fit in

[Trisk]

---April 12th update---

Several posts ago I mentioned I was trying to line up a band to get some professional music into my game. I'm pleased at last to make the formal announcement:

The Australian band "ShadowPlay" has given me permission to use several of their tracks in the game! When I approached them, I figured I only had a snowball's chance in hell of getting their permission. They are SUCH good musicians. It turns out they are a really nice bunch and gave me the go-ahead to use their music! They even offered to help in any way they could!

Now trust me, folks...if you haven't heard ShadowPlay, you NEED to. They have the most hauntingly beautiful goth metal sound I've ever heard. The melodies stick in your head forever once you've heard them. Go right now to their website at http://www.theshadowplay.com. Go on...I'll wait for you here.

As for the game, progress continues to be made. I'm doing lots of code heavy things right now, as well as going back and getting images and sounds I've been meaning to. I'm racing to get the first part of the game up to alpha-quality level. There are now 45 sound effects, and 13 music tracks in the game. This number will continue to grow.

Peter Thomas has agreed to join the team! Welcome, Peter! His insite has been invaluable.

Now:

Kristjan and Ozzie-
The sprites look just fine in the game. The reason Jacob appears to stick out like a bright blue sore thumb is because I hadn't yet rendered light levels in that room yet. I chose to take the screenshot there so that he would be clearly visible...but I can see it also makes him appear pasted on. This was a bad decision on my part, I guess. Trust me on this: nobody I've shown the game has had any problem with the sprites, and I'm confident that when you play the game you won't either.

[Trisk]

---April 20th update---

Work continues at a brisk pace! The middle portion on the game is quickly taking shape. This means adding TONS of dialog trees. The middle portion of the story has all the character interactions in it, which means lots and lots of coding.

I've also spent the last week going back to the first part and adding all the incidental animations and ambient sound I've been meaning to add. Bugs flitting around lights, shadows moving in doorways, fire crackling in the fireplace...

All of which brings the current sprite tally up to 1383! And there is still so much to do.

Edgar Rocha signed on to draw some character closups for the game! Thank you so much Edgar! He submitted the first two to me, and they look absolutely fantastic! He captured the classic Sierra style of character art PERFECTLY! They look much better than I ever could have hoped to achieve, and will lend vast amounts of glitter to the game! Thanks so much, Edgar!

I also finally went out and bought myself some decent sound recording equipment, and have spent the last several weeks driving and walking all around the area recording sounds to go in the game. You get some pretty weird looks from people when you are standing in the middle of a swamp with your arm outstretched holding a microphone, believe me. :b

Originally, I had mock-up sounds inserted from Serious Sam, but I'm very proud of my new stuff. Not only does it fit the locations better, but now I can say I've made 100% of the sound in the game myself...well, almost. 95%, at least.

Finally, I decided the look of the game is solid enough in my mind to start working on my GUI art. It will remain close to the AGS original in functionality, as I am making a Sierra-style game, but the graphics will be all my own. I'm still going back and forth in my mind about if I should use a Sierra-style options menu, or if I should leave it the more simple AGS bar. There is something to be said for simplicity...Anyway, I'll have a screenshot ready for next week's update...

Laters,
Trisk

[Abisso]

Wow! It's simply....AMAZING. I mean, the fact that you thought those characters fitted in the backgrounds! In fact, they're totally out of place. This is a problem of using 3D mixed with 2D of course. I suggest switching to 3D, even for the chars, even if I prefer 2D (seen how are the 2d graphics!)

[Trisk]

Read the entire thread before you make off-hand, insulting comments please, Abisso. Some people already made this comment, and I responded to it.

[Abisso]

Sorry for my harshness. 

Anyway I read the entire post. The fact that others made the same comment, is not a good reason for not making it myself. And the problem is that the chars are drawn in 2D. No other solution to make them fit the BGs, than to make them 3D!

[Peter Thomas]

I have to stress guys, these screenies aren't the best indication of how the sprites fit the backgrounds.

I'm a (I have no idea what my technical name is, so let's just say that I'm involved in the game), and I've seen some of the beta-versions of things.

The animation is outstanding and the sprites do work well. Actually seeing them interact with the bg's is a lot different to just seeing them glued in a screenie.

Now, I have to admit I've only played with a limited number of examples, so I can't defend every single background. But from what I've seen, this is definitely promising - and it works well! Assuming things follow on the same path, I think you're in for a very pleasant surprise

[Ozzie]

Sorry for my harshness. 

Anyway I read the entire post. The fact that others made the same comment, is not a good reason for not making it myself. And the problem is that the chars are drawn in 2D. No other solution to make them fit the BGs, than to make them 3D!

Actually, I take it back that it wouldn't fir the backgrounds when I think of that the characters would be shaded - haven't thought of that. So?

[Trisk]

---May 15th update---

Whew...haven't updated for a while...but that isn't because work has slowed any on the game. The entire middle portion of the game is finished now! Everything is starting to take shape beautifully. The game now has over 1600 frames of animation, over 60 sound effects, and 21 music tracks. I'm also over 100 rooms! Woohoo!

Bex has joined the team! She's helping with animation cells and some monster designs. The animation help is much appreciated! This project has expanded far beyond what I'd originally intended, and trying to do everything myself was beginning to get overwhelming...I'm going to have my hands full just rendering all the 3D locations for the final part of the game.

Edgar and I are working on the "revelations" cutscene number 1, where alot of the back story (at least, the back story that will actually be visible in this game) will be revealed. He's doing a fantastic job! He's really helping the far-reaching story of this game come to life! Peter Thomas is also working on spooky music for this part of the game, based on a concept midi file I sent him.

So what's next? Lots'n lots of complicated 3D rendering. Making the last part of the game rendered in the Doom 3 engine will make it look fantastic, but as anyone who's rendered graphics in Qradiant can tell you, Doom 3 is a complex, somewhat clunky engine to render in. All complex geometry must be rendered in patch meshes instead of brushes...very different from SeriousEd. Still, patch meshes look great once you're done, so onward I will go!

Finally, after alot of deliberation, I've officially named the game! As I stated before, Realm of Darkness was NEVER meant to be the final name of this game. I needed some kind of working title, and looking up at my games shelf, the first one my eyes rested on was "Realms of the Haunting", so I just whipped up a quick name based on that. So what have I decided on? It is called "Prodigal"! A name that fits the game in more ways than one, and will hopefully be memorable at the same time!

So there! I'll update as I get more into the 3D renders of the final moments of the game.

Trisk

[Trisk]

---June 15 update---

Lots has happened in the last month! First off is the release of Prodigal 0, and tangential minigame to the main game of Prodigal! If you wanna check out the what I've been working on for so many months, now you can get a sneak peek! And as an added bonus, those of you who play Prodigal 0 will understand several points of the main game better!

So go download today! Which brings forth another point, Prodigal now has a website! Thank you so much to [lgm] for taking the time to not only host my game(s), but whipping up a nice little website for them as well! Surf on over to

http://prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com

And check it out, as well as d/ling Prodigal 0! Yeah!

The game is growing rapidly still. I'm most deficient in animation cells, so I've had to take a time out from doing the main game and start trying to catch up on animation.

the game now has 80 sounds, 26 music tracks, 130 rooms, and over 2600 frames of animation! Everything is starting to take shape beautifully!

When I began this game, it was specifically designed to be like the classic Sierra games, using 256 color graphics and such...however, today I decided I was doing it at the detrement of the game. there are alot of special effects I'd like to be able to do that simply aren't possible, or are at least 10 times more difficult, using 256 color graphics. So I began the process of converting the game over to high-color.

Several of the rooms that looked especially dithered were reinserted in high color, but for the most part, I will be keeping the 256 color rooms for consistencies sake. Then there is the fact that the game is already over 30 megabytes...converting EVERYTHING to high color would make it over 60.

The conversion helps the game's graphics in several other key areas as well. First, I can tint sprites to better match room colors. So if everything is lit by an oily yellow candle, I can reflect that on the characters. Second, this game uses tons of light and shadow to create its otherworldly environments. (See Prodigal 0 for an example of this.) With 256 colors, the game was always struggling to find an appropriate color for the light level. Now that I'm in high color, everything stays smooth and consistent. Nice!

Next up: tons and tons more spritework!

[Trisk]

---July 25 Update---

After slowdown for a few weeks due to RL conflicts, Prodigal has resumed production! We are entering the home stretch to an alpha build! With only one area left to render in the game, things are coming together! I also took a time out and went back and inserted all the cutscenes that I hadn't done yet, and added some game logic to places that didn't have it yet.

So what is left? Well, I need to render the final room, then put it into the game, add all the sprites for it (with the help of the incredibly tallented Edgar), render the end cutscene, and put in the credits! Not much left at all!

The game now stands at:

Over 3100 sprites
Around 150 rooms
Around 100 sounds
27 Music tracks

The compile is over 60 megabytes of gaming goodness! Yeeha!

I probably won't update again till we hit alpha...which shouldn't be longer than a couple of weeks!

[Trisk]

---September 09 Update---

Prodigal has hit the Alpha stage of developement! The entire game is complete from beginning to end! Version .1 has been posted to a secret web page for the beta testers to begin working on it!

So far, only two of my beta testers have completed the game, but they both really enjoyed it.

I've since fixed over 20 bugs and issues, and have added several spooky elements to the game, as well as beginning to rework several of the early cutscenes to make them higher quality. I want to make the game so polished it shines!

The game is standing now at

4300 sprites
Around 180 rooms
Over 100 sounds
Over 30 music tracks

The compile is now over 100 megabytes! Thank goodness for .zip compression!

If you think you might be interested in Beta testing Prodigal, AND have previous experience beta testing games, send me an email at

real_trisk at yahoo dot com

be sure to include what project you did Beta work on!

laters,
Trisk

[Ozzie]

Cool! It's nice to see that it comes to an end. Whoa, and it seems to got quite huge! There must have been much work involved, and much enthusiasm needed. 
I played the Prodigal Teaser just a week ago and I asked myself how the game is doing. I'm really anticipating this!!!

[Iv4n]

Woah! Pretty neat! Looks awesome and so proffesional! When will be the release date then?

[esper]

No, seriously, I have to agree. The sprites look great, and the backgrounds look great. They just don't look great together, and light levels will only lessen the not-looking-so-great-togetherness thereof. Believe me, you have some beautiful backgrounds. So did I, but I chose to go with crappier looking 2D backgrounds for the sole reason that I can't render people. I knew this would be a problem from the first post, when you showed your beautiful backgrounds and said you had VGA sprites lined up. Don't jump down people's throats... Yes, he was a little rude, but even top-notch game professionals require criticism. In a less-rude manner, let me second what these others have said.

On a different note, the Serious Sam engine rendered these? These bg's look way better than even what the HalfLife Hammer engine can do. I use the free version of Caligari TrueSpace, but it's a bitticks to work with.

[Ozzie]

It actually doesn't look TOO bad. The playable Teaser proves it. The lightning actually matters quite a lot. Prodigal 0

[Trisk]

Have you actually played Prodigal 0, Esper? ANYONE who has played the game has no problem with the sprites. That includes my Beta team. I'm removing those %#@$ pictures from the post to stop this really pointless arguement. As I said before, it is those pictures that look weird, not the game. Go read Peter Thomas' post on this thread. He has played the game, he can back me up. (And thank YOU for backing me up too, Ozzie!)

As for the renders, yes, that is Serious Engine. I can hardly wait for Serious Engine 2 to come out in October. Then I'll REALLY be able to do good stuff! WHEE!!! The end of the game was rendered in Doom 3, due to its superior ability to render animated lighting. I don't think I have any shots of that up here, though. There is at least one on the website.

Iv4n, the release date is "When it's done". I'm still estimating a fall release of the game, and I don't see any reason currently why that won't happen. There are some things in the wings though... ...look here or on the webpage for more updates if anything should happen.

prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com

laters,
Trisk

[En garde!]

I am sort of part of the team, so I guess there goes my objetivity, but, seriously... the problem is that the backgrounds look too good? That's ridiculous: the game is the sum of all its parts, from the music to the dialogues, and, in its totallity, it works. The sprites are "alive" as much as original Gabriel Knight was, through the storytelling.

[Mordalles]

wow, so far the backgrounds look really great! i wont say anything about sprites before i download the prodigal 0, so dont worry trisk. hehe.

like the lighting.

how big will the game be in zip format, since I'm still on dial-up. and would really like to play this game.

combined by darth - please folks, lets stop the double posting!

Have you actually played Prodigal 0, Esper? ANYONE who has played the game has no problem with the sprites.

i aggree with esper, after playing the prodigal 0. the sprites doesn't really fit in with the backgrounds.

its a bit bright. even with the shadows and stuff. if you put a bit more detail in your sprites, and make the colours a bit less bright, it would fit in much better.

however, the game looks really impressive. and i wouldn't worry about it.

i really love the way you did the gui. looks amazing.

[Trisk]

Anybody out there willing to beta test Prodigal? Send me an email! I need beta testers who are willing to work through the game and COMMUNICATE!! The only thing holding this game from release is lack of testing!

email me at:

real_trisk(at)yahoo(dot)com

get your name in the credits!

-Trisk

[splat44]

Hi Trisk,

Yes, I am interested and post you a PM

Check your Private message (PM).

[TheCheese33]

I am definately interested. I have e-mailed you. Please respond with a yes or a no.

[Trisk]

---October 25 Update---

Prodigal is in the final phase of testing! With any luck, we'll have version 1.0 in the next couple of weeks! A few scraps to clean up, and then add the names of those who helped beta test (and remove the names of those who were no help whatsoever.)

When I hit release, I'll be announcing it from the mountain tops! It looks like the final build will clock in at just over 50mb. I'm sorry to those of you who have modems (I have one too, so I feel your pain.)

This game features a ton of digital sound, music, and FMV. I've done everything I can to compress it as much as is possible, using Kzip to shave off another 2 megs over what any other compression program can do. When you see and hear the world, I think you'll think it is worth it.

Expect the final release announcement soon, both here and anywhere else I can find to put it up!

Trisk

[Kweepa]

using Kzip to shave off another 2 megs over what any other compression program can do.

Completely off topic: does Kzip do 2 megs better than Rar? Rar can get 10-20% better than Zip for AGS games, and Ken Silverman's (the author, unless we're talking about a different Kzip) web page suggests that Kzip is only "one or two percent" better than Zip. I'm not skeptical, just curious. I suppose I should just check it out, but I'm not at a usable PC right now.

Looking forward to the release...

[Mordalles]

hey, trisk, im looking forward to the release.

im a bit stuck with prodigal 0, and i wanna finish it before you release the game.

so, can you help me? 

Spoiler

i have the flint and combined it with the screwdriver, but he says he needs tinder before he can use it with the portal.
what must i do? please!

[close]

thx, and its A REALLY COOL trailer you have when you walk far right. i like it!

[Ozzie]

Again off-topic: I found out that 7zip could even compress slightly better than RAR-compressing does.

I'm awaiting the release of Prodigal for quite some time now. I hope it gets as excellent as I think of it!!

[Hammerite]

hey, trisk, I'm looking forward to the release.

I'm a bit stuck with prodigal 0, and i wanna finish it before you release the game.

so, can you help me?Ã, 

Spoiler

i have the flint and combined it with the screwdriver, but he says he needs tinder before he can use it with the portal.
what must i do? please!

[close]

thanks, and its A REALLY COOL trailer you have when you walk far right. i like it!

Spoiler

I think you have to look at the portal because he'll say: 'it's dry like tinder' or something.

[close]

BTW, I'm seriously looking forward to Prodigal!

[Ozzie]

hey, trisk, I'm looking forward to the release.

I'm a bit stuck with prodigal 0, and i wanna finish it before you release the game.

so, can you help me? 

Spoiler

i have the flint and combined it with the screwdriver, but he says he needs tinder before he can use it with the portal.
what must i do? please!

[close]

thanks, and its A REALLY COOL trailer you have when you walk far right. i like it!

Spoiler

As far as I remember you have to use the book or paper on the portal so you have a material that you can light properly.

[close]

[splat44]

Hi,

I must warn you that demo version have bugs.

So far what you've done in demo will not apear in the full version.

I know, what I'm talking since I did took part of the beta version and I must that Trisk done an excellent job.

To all when to play with the demo, go into it but it worth to wait until full version comes.

Believe you wouldn't want to miss it.

Regards

[Mordalles]

thx for the help.

must say i really like the atmosphere of the game. thats what i look for in games, atmposphere. a lot of commercia games just lacks that atmosphere.

[Hammerite]

The only problem with Prodigal 0 was that I didnt know what the hell was going on? Will this all be explained in Prodigal?

[Mordalles]

well, from what i could tell, you're looking for a woman or girl (he says you haven't found "her" yet when you quit the game), and you are somewhere between 2 worlds.

its actually making me kinda curious. wanna know whats going on. i like these kinda games.

[Trisk]

OK, I don't know how to do the hidden text trick, so I'll just write the answer to the problem with Prodigal 0 here. Use the BOOK on the portal. Instant tinder!

As to what the heck is going on...Prodigal will explain what is happening in Prodigal 0. Prodigal 0 is just a taste of what is to come in the main game! I made it confusing on purpose. :b The main game won't be like that at all.

I'm wrapping up Beta testing. I'm pretty sure we're bug free at this point. (Knock on wood) I need to do a final pass through the text to remove any speelling heirrors, but other than that, we are on track for release next week!

Spread the word!
Trisk

BTW, I'm including a full walkthrough along with the game when you download it. No more getting stuck and having to hunt around online for answers! Hopefully you all will like this...? :b

[Mordalles]

yay, good news. of course we'll like it!

[Ozzie]

Hm, an ingame hint system would be a better idea, but that would mean more additional work of course. Make it like you think. I'm just curious if I will peak every time in the walkthrough when I get stuck for two seconds. Probably I will. 

[Mordalles]

haha, yeah, ive realised that if i have i walkthrough my mind just don't want to think. its as if my mind knows theres a walkthrough, so why do any work? haha. but i think giving us a walkthough is cool.

[Trisk]

Well, you always have the option of deleting it. :b

The reason I decided to do that is because of my experiences playing games like Pleurghburg. I ended up searching the internet for a LONG time to find a walkthrough of the game. Some of the more esoteric AGS games can be monsterously hard to find walkthroughs for...so I wanted to make sure mine wasn't that way.

I want you to enjoy the story, not get stuck and give up and go do something else...

Laters,
Trisk

[Trisk]

---Monday 11/07/05 Update---

Its 12:10 in the morning where I am, and I'm so tired I can hardly type. But I am VERY proud to announce that at long last Prodigal is locked down at version 1.0!!!

The Beta has been loooong and frustrating, but the game is finally complete, and I am reasonably certain it is bug free. I've cleared it with lilgryphmaster, and we are gonna post it on Tuesday!

Turn off the lights, put on a pair of headphones, and get ready to enter the horror world of Prodigal!

Oh, and lemme know what you think!

prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com

Trisk

[Mordalles]

hey, theres 25 minutes left before its wednesday here! wheres the game!
i cant take it anymore! 

[Trisk]

---11/09/05 Update---

Prodigal version 1.0 is released! Sorry it was a day late...totally my fault. For some reason I couldn't get the file to upload to the webmaster. My computer kept bombing out halfway through the upload. By the time I finally got it to him, there wasn't much left of Tuesday. But it's here now! Go download it now! Turn down the lights, crank up the sound! It's time to enter the world of Prodigal!

prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com

If you like it, spread the word! And drop me an email! Now I gotta go figure out what I need to do to get it converted over to a completed game in the AGS webpage...will the moderators lock this thread, so I need to start a new one over in the completed games forum, or will they move this one over? Time to go check it out.

yours,
Trisk