Rise from the Abyss!

[Barbarian]

Hi y'all.
In case anyone is still following this GIP progress and anticipating this game, thought I'd post a quick update and to let you know that, yes, I'm still working on this project.Ã,  Apologies for the slowness of progress on this project lately... due to some personal things going on in life, plus being a bit busy with my work at times.

I've now decided on a new title for my game: "The Elevator - Rise from the Abyss!".

The First "Chapter (Level)" of the game is now completed (just a few little tweaks and odd n' ends to polish up). As of now (April.06.2006 my time), the game is approximately 50% completed.

I been play testing the optional joystick/controller interaction with good success.Ã,  It's kind of neat to be able to sit back a little from the computer and completely control the game via the gamepad controller. Of course mouse control will be the default.

Most of the main "Jack" character sprite graphics are now completed, along with most of the "Jane" sprites. Currently I have some "Zombie & Monster" sprites in the works, though it's a bit slow going getting that done.Ã,  I been carefully choosing and adding in appropriate sounds effects and ambient noises for the various areas and scenes which really help add a level of depth and feel to the atmosphere of the game. The "Health / Injury" system for my game seems to work quite well now.

No release date set yet. It takes as long as it takes, and depends on how much time I'm able to put into the project during my spare time... but I hope to get the project done sometime within 2006.

I'll keep you updated sometimes about my progress.

Best wishes. --- Don, the "Barbarian".

PS: Thanks to everyone who sent me nice words.

[JRock]

Cool!Ã,  You came up with a good name!

"The Elevator - Rise from the Abyss"

I love it!

Halfway there!!!!Ã,  Ã, Keep up the good work!!!!!Ã,  Ã, 

I caannnnnnnnntttttttÃ,  wait!!!!!!!!!

[Afflict]

Dude the jane character's perspective is all wrong with the background image.

[kOSTAS]

Very Nice work in graphics as I see in the screenshots..!!!
At list is the best graphics which I have seen in a game made with AGS.
Have a good luck in your game.!!!

    kOSTAS

http://www.freewebs.com/gascreations/
   
    MAIL:     xv23m4@otenet.gr

[ShadeJackrabbit]

Very awesome game. Lots of good work. I really like the way your using "stolen" graphics. I myself am doing the same kind of "stealing." You keep working, and it'll be awesome. Also, not sure if this is what you want or not, but Jack always has his head downward, and Jane alsways has her head upward. It's an interesting contrast. One looks depressed, and the other looks happy. This looks like it will be in the "Top 10" list once it's done.

[Barbarian]

Greetings again fellow Adventurers.

Just thought I'd post a quick update to let y'all know that I'm still making progress on my game.
As of the time of this posting (early May.17.2006 my time), the overall game I'd say is approximately around 55% completed.

I'm putting some final touches and fixes on "Chapter One" right now, and soon will begin work on "Chapter Two" (In fact some very early stages for "Chapter Two" has been partially done).Ã,  Also, for anyone who may have played my first, but short, original "Elevator" game, the puzzles within the Elevator has also been changed a bit (to make it a bit more interesting and fresh), and I tried to do away with any difficult "pixel-hunting" elements as much as possible, yet of course there will be some required examination of rooms & areas to find some hotspots / items and such, but hopefully it should be more obvious this time.

Zapper: Thanx for the positive comments. Well, yes, in a way I wanted "Jack" to have a bit of a more "somber and serious" look and personality about his character as the game progresses, and "Jane" to be more "bright and happy" (well, at least at first).Ã,  In "Chapter One", these characters personalities, backgrounds plus a growing bond between those characters will surface to allow the player to have a better sense of them. In following Chapters, certain events or decisions may seriously "test" the "bond / friendship" between these characters, and I want to create an environment in which the player might become involved and "feel" the tensions and emotions that will come out during certain times in the story and gameplay.

Kostas: Thanx, but, most of graphics so far are "borrowed" from other sources (as explained in previous postings). However, I hope I put it all together in such a way to make it appealling and interesting. It's a little bit difficult in some ways to do it this way, but overall I think the look and effects of the visuals are turning out fairly good. Anyways, the way I'm doing the graphics now (or at least the style of them) I though might allow for a more sense of "realism" to come across as the player progresses through the game, and hopefully this will sort of give a bit of a sense of the player of "really being there".Ã,  Play this game with the lights down low, the volume up a bit and at night-time and hopefully the "full effect and feel" of what I'm going for will probably come across better to the playerÃ, 

JRock: Thanks agian for the moral support. Helps to keep me inspired and working away on this project.Ã,  Yes, I was thinking for a long time on a good name for this game, and actually I thought of that name, "Rise from the Abyss", earlier on but needed a bit of time to "feel" that it would fit my game appropriately before announcing it.

Ã,  Ã, I'm soon (perhaps after a few more days of this posting) about to share an early "Alpha Version" to a few people who's been helping me with some of this project (Mozesh has been helping me with getting some great looking "Zombie Sprites" and Scorposer has been helping with a few sound-effects and he may do some Music / Sounds-Tracks / Loops for the project as well.Ã,  And "Sean" who will be helping me with some backgrounds). So maybe once they have a chance to check out my early "Alpha Version", I might perhaps ask them be able to share some comments here of what they think of the project so far as well (but without giving away too much specifics of certain parts such as puzzles and such ). Or maybe we'll just keep you all in total suspenceÃ,  We'll see!

Okay, gotta get back to working on my project now.

[Candle]

Looking forward to playing it.

[MYKAYEL]

Great work so far!
I CANT WAIT TO PLAY THE GAME

[Bai Karl]

Brialiant! Very promising! Looking forward to playing it.

[Barbarian]

Greetings once again Adventurers.Ã, 

Just a quick update regarding progress of this project:

"Elevator - Rise from the Abyss" is still in production, though this particular month (June, 2006) production for it will slow-down for it. I won't be spending as much time on it this month as I'm currently putting my efforts into a little gaming project for this months MAGs competition.Ã,  Of course, after June is over, I will re-focus my attention and efforts back into my "Elevator / Abyss" project.

Getting feedback from some of the people who have had the chance to try the "Chapter One" (alpha version), overall they all seemed quite impressed and pleased with the game so far.Ã,  (Perhaps a couple of them might even post up a few of their comments here)Ã, 
Ã,  Ã,  They also gave me some good constructive-critisism in which I will use to improve the game, and in that regards I have already implemented into my game many of their suggestions.Ã,  So, thanks again to my "helpers" for their early "Alpha Testing" of my game so far.

Ã,  Ã, And, thanks again to all of you adventure gamers with your continued moral support.Ã,  I appreciate your comments, and I feel confident that most of you will enjoy and be pleased with the completed project.

Candle: Thanks man! You've been supportive of me regarding this project since early on. But, alas, I must ask of you to be a bit more patient, as wait you must. I will TRY to get it completed ASAP, hopfully within 2006.Ã,  :o

Mykayel: Mucho appreciate the supportive comments.Ã,  And yes, you must wait too! Heheh.

Stan: Hey, I feel honored that you put my project into your "favorite games-in-production" list. Thanks for the nice comments and support!

PS: I've already put in around 10 months of my "spare time" on this project, and I know it seems to be taking a long time. But, I think it's better that I try to produce a project of "quality & playability" that I will strive for,Ã,  than to overly "rush" it (which if I did try to overly rush production or if I took too many "short-cuts", the overall game would suffer and not be as good as the vision I have in mind for it).Ã,  Ã, I know that the end project will still be lacking in many ways, but I want to still try to do my best on this with the limited resources and in the way that I've choosen to go about producing it. Still, I think so far that I'm on the right-track in producing a fairly good quality game in which I think most Adventure Gamers will appreciate and enjoy.

[Gord10]

As one of the people who had find chance to play the first chapter where you can download here; I can say the game is really promising

[deadsuperhero]

I have to say, Barbarian, this game looks absolutely amazing.
Question, though: Are those all prerendered, or will a 3D camera be involved?
In any case, it looks great, I really look forward to playing it!

[sergiocornaga]

I'd have to say prerendered as I know the games they come from.

[Barbarian]

Greetings Adventurers. 
   Sorry I haven't had much to post about regarding my GIP here for the last couple of months, so I thought I'd take a moment to let you all know that I have not given up on my project and that I've slowly been making a bit more progress.

   Life, work and other commitments have been keeping me really busy lately, so unfortunately I've not made as much progress as I've wanted to this last while.

    I may not be able to include all the elements into my game as I originally thought ( it's a fairly big project and requires a LOT of time and effort on my part  - though I  did have some wonderful help in some aspects of my project from a few of the other AGS members as I believe I already mentioned in some of my previous posts), but still overall I'm fairly pleased with how my project is shaping up.  And once the adventure-gaming fans out there get a chance to play my game when it's completed, I think (hope) it will be an enjoyable gaming experience for them.

    Still no estimated time to when I feel the game might be ready for release (it takes as long as it takes), but I do hope to release it sometime within 2006.

    I'll probably post another update in the near future (perhaps including a new screen-shot as well) after I get some more significant progress made.
=====================================================

Question about the possibility of releasing this project in "Chapters":

   I have "Chapter One" of my game pretty much completed, and have been making some progress into "Chapter Two".  The file-size is growing fairly large already, and as I make more additions it keeps getting bigger.

   So, here's a couple of questions for anyone who might have interest in my game:  Would you like to see "Chapter One" released first, as a "separate" game in itself? Which would mean that the overall file-download-size would be a bit smaller, and which also would mean I could probably have "Chapter One" of my game ready for release very soon (perhaps within a couple of weeks of the time of this posting).  Keep in mind that "Chapter One" by itself would probably be able to be played through by an experienced Adventure Gamer in probably about a half-hour (or less).

   Or, do you prefer to wait until I can include all the Chapters I tentatively had in mind into this project (about 3 Chapters / Perhaps 4 as an "alternate ending" or as "bonus Chapter)? Which would mean a longer game-playing-time, but it would also make for a larger overall file-size to download, plus it would take a LOT longer to wait until the overall whole game, including all Chapters, is completed and ready for release.
=================================
 
   Thanks for any feedback.
"Onwards to Glory!"  8)

[Nikolas]

I think that I would personally prefer to have the whole game released with all the chapters. Somehow the 1st chapter would seem a little...'small' to be released alone, without this meaning that the 1st chapter is not a great part and not worth playing. I was privilaged enough to give it a try and I have to say that I was really impressed. But the ending in the 1st chapter would have me hanging out for more ...

Keep it up.

And thank you for the updates. You are one of the few members thatg are really updating their projects every once in a while, and it is great!

BTW, I was playing the other day the game Obscure. Do your graphics have to do anythign with that particular game? I'm in an extra slow connection so I'm not able to check the whole thread to see if you have mentioned it before.

Keep it up!

[Barbarian]

Nikolas: Thanks for the feedback.
I think you're right that it's better to release it as a "bigger / more complete" game rather than in "Chapters".Ã,  So, it'll just have to take longer before I can release the whole thing then.Ã, 

Yeah, some of the graphics I've "borrowed" from the Obscure game, as well as some other various sources (Such as Half-Life 2 and Silent Hill 4 to mention a couple). I'm trying to blend the various graphics in such as way though that it still looks good together and hopfully will fit in with the overall "feel" of the game that I'm striving for.
---------------------------------

And now for a little more "eye candy"... I present a new screen-shot from Chapter 2 that shows Jack in a very creepy room.
(Note: this screen shot was re-sized and saved in jpg format, so the quality is much lower than what will be seen in-game.)

[MYKAYEL]

Is'nt that last background image from Silent Hill 4: The Room? Well anyway..good work so far.
And don't you even think about speeding up your work just because of the positive comments. Take your time and make an awesome game.  Have thaut about making multypel endings?

[Barbarian]

Mykayel:Ã,  Thanks for the comments.Ã,  Yes, I don't intend to rush production, but I'm back to making steady progress on it now. I'm still hoping to have it released for sometime within 2006.

Ã,  Ã,  Yes, the most recent image I posted above was "borrowed" from Silent Hill 4.Ã,  Ã, 

Ã,  Ã, I was still planning on making "multiple endings". Well, at least 2 different endings. Depending on some choices made during gameplay will depends on how things turn out for the player.Ã,  Also, I'm planning to throw in a couple of "easter egg" type of bonuses / surprises as well.

Ã,  Ã, Okay, it's back to working on my project now.

[CosmoQueen]

Aw man you have no idea how scared I was playing "The Elevator"!! This looks ten times scarier!!!

[calacver]

Awesome, barb, good work!