Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! - Update 13th February

Ali · Mon 26/12/2005 21:42:26

NELLY COOTALOT: Spoonbeaks Ahoy!

Pre-amble:
All-too-recently (Edit: About a year ago) I decided to make a game with my girlfriend as the hero for a Christmas present (she loves adventure games, I'm not just the worst boyfriend ever). Needless to say, I didn't finish it in time. She was happy with just a demo though, and I submit it now for cutting and brutal examination. I'm aware that I'm on well-trodden ground making a pirate game, but my aim wasn't to be startlingly original. I just wanted to make a game that would be fun for my ladyfriend and hopefully for other people too.

Plot:
Nelly Cootalot, fearsome pirate and lover of tiny and adorable creatures, is charged by the spirit of a dead buccaneer to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a fleet of birds known as Spoonbeaks. Her adventure will bring her face to face with the nefarious Baron Widebeard as she uncovers corruption and wanton punning in the Barony of Meeth.

Screenshots:

Features:
640x480 Resolution
Verb Coin Interface
The opportunity to aquire morally dubious items for minor aristocrats
More skull imagery than you'd expect in a game that centers around cute animals
Real-time particle effects courtesy of Akayumo's Particle Engine.

Demo:
The aim of the demo is to get a hold of a map of the Barony of Meeth. The demo's puzzle(s) won't actually be in the finished game, they're just there to give you something to do.
http://themonkeyhut.tripod.com/Nelly_Cootalot.zip
(Use 'Save Target As...')
If you're not using Internet Explorer:
http://www.xtrafile.com/uploads/cb29de7b39.zip.html (Thanks to GBC!)

Update 13/5/6:

Well, progress has been slow because I've been very busy with other projects. I haven't forgotten about Nelly though, and I don't want you guys to forget either so here's a quick update.

After realising I'd missed my original optomistic deadline, I decided to rethink the weaker parts of the plot. I've added new rooms (drawn new backdrops) and worked out new puzzles where they were needed. The completed game should now be comfortably medium-length. I hope.

I'm glad to say that m0ds has agreed to use his magic fingers* to create some midi tunes for the project. You can hear what he's been up to on this thread:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=26241.0

Update 1/10/6:

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy is currently about one 'pick-up' interaction away from being playable start-to-finish. I still have to script the final cutscene and plenty of non-essential interactions, but the gameplay itself is in place.

Also, here are some of the latest tunes m0ds has worked up:

Main Theme

General Exploration

Uh-oh!

The game now uses Akayumo's Particle Engine for some special effects too. I'm tempted to set myself a deadline for completion, but I'm so busy at the moment that would be foolish. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I can ask for beta-testers.

Update 19/12/6:
The game's so nearly finished I can taste it... no wait, that's metal. Is that bad?

It's missing a few music tracks and a couple of sound effects, but the bulk of the work is done. Check out the statistics below. I plan release the game in early 2007, depending on how long beta-testing takes. My plan is to make sure everyone has forgotten about it in time for the 2007 awards.

Update 13/2/7:
The music is complete, and it's all gorgeous. Huzzah! All that remains is dropping the tracks in place, and a wee spot of beta testing.

Statistics of a now pretty damn accurate nature:
Plot/Dialogue: 100%
Background Art: 100%
Character Art: 100%
Animation: 100%
Scripting: 99%
Music/Sound: 100%

*Fingers may not be magic.

Hammerite · Mon 26/12/2005 21:44:59

Aw... thats sweet

scourge · Mon 26/12/2005 22:09:28

heya, the graphics are great. Hope the game goes well!

Ali · Mon 26/12/2005 22:20:48

Quote from: HillBilly on Mon 26/12/2005 21:58:45
The .ZIP don't seem to be a valid archive to me. Is this happening to anyone else?

The previous demo was compressed in Power Archiver, this .ZIP was compressed in Winzip: http://themonkeyhut.tripod.com/Nelly_CootalotWZ.zip
(Again, 'Save Target As...').

I hope maybe that helps.

ildu · Mon 26/12/2005 22:27:28

Looks really nice.

Squinky · Mon 26/12/2005 22:55:16

Although it looks really awesome, I am unable to use either on of those zips. Which is a bummer, because I love pirate games and this looks nice...

Ali · Mon 26/12/2005 23:05:29

In a last ditch attempt to validate the word 'available' in the thread's title, here is the demo as zipped by Windows XP's compressed folder function:
http://themonkeyhut.tripod.com/NellyXP.zip
If anyone has successfully unzipped the demo, or can explain why this might be happening, please let me know!

HillBilly · Mon 26/12/2005 23:07:49

Neither one of the latest versions worked, sorry. I'm using firefox, if it's of any relevance.

EDIT: Yes, that's the problem. I downloaded it via IE and it worked fine.

Ubel · Mon 26/12/2005 23:37:30

Ali, this is pure awsomeness! I just so very much love this game already! The style of these graphics is so adorable and fun. And I love all the animations, they're so smooth and nice to watch. All in all, I really like the look of it.

This is just the kind of game I'd love to play.

Good luck! I'm waiting to play this one.

Kweepa · Tue 27/12/2005 01:20:00

Those graphics are freakin' awesome! Beautiful style. Lovely animations too. Please finish!
I too had to use IE to download.

Candle · Tue 27/12/2005 01:48:56

Here is the Nelly_CootalotWZ.zip on a free site that should let everyone download it.
http://www.xtrafile.com/uploads/cb29de7b39.zip.html

big brother · Tue 27/12/2005 04:29:24

Oh man! This art is tops, sprites AND backgrounds! I love the style! I know this isn't the CL, but I would suggest dropping the "Nelly Cotalot" from the title. "Spoonbreaks Ahoy" is original enough without having the odd proper noun preceding it.

Ali · Wed 28/12/2005 11:50:24

I'm starting to feel self-conscious about how many times I've posted in my own thread, but thanks very much for the firefox friendly link GBC. I hope you don't mind if I add it to my original post.

Many thanks for the feedback from those of you that managed to download the demo. With regard to the title, I chose the 'Nelly Cootalot' prefix because 'Spoonbeaks Ahoy' is a profoundly obscure half-reference to a comedy series called The Mighty Boosh. So you see to me it doesn't sound original, and I like long titles anyway.

ManicMatt · Wed 28/12/2005 14:22:53

Neat game you are cooking up! Playing it made me forget about all my woes... which means you managed to capture the audience, so to speak!

Mozesh · Wed 28/12/2005 15:44:07

He sure does, I just loved the demo.
Really great atmosphere, style, smooth animations and you just gotta love those characters

scourge · Mon 02/01/2006 21:19:46

heya, awesome game. I hope you finish this. I love the graphics and the idle animations rock. Its a very interesting and awesome style!

ThreeOhFour · Tue 03/01/2006 11:58:19

Pirates rock. Your game design rocks. I am very much looking forward to the completion of this game.

SSH · Tue 03/01/2006 14:46:00

Links seem borken to me, but here's a mirror: http://www.americangirlscouts.org/agsuploads/files/Nelly_Cootalot.zip

btw, good of you to follow in the Princess Marian tradition of games as presents to the "other half". However, you'll need some work to bring your gfx to the Princess Marian standard

stu · Tue 03/01/2006 17:07:19

wow, that's fantastic.
the style you have for the graphics is tops, and the animations are nice and smooth.
good work!

Dr Lecter · Tue 03/01/2006 18:24:55

Nice

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! - Update 13th February

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