The Forgotten Element - NEW SCREENSHOT (Rain effects and new Town pic)

[lemmy101]

Lemmy & Binky present

Something is terribly wrong with Seahorse Island.

It's about a thirty suns now since the crops and trees began to wither and die. It has been raining for what seems like an eternity, but the rain does nothing to nourish the soil. The leaves have been gone from the trees outside my office for many suns now. The trees look like twisted corpses. I don't recall ever seeing such a sight as I do now as I write this.

Farmer Haywood has stockpiled the remaining grain, and has begun rationing it to the town. It should last us a while, but what then?

Mr. Clancy came to visit me today. He is looking for a woman--an ‘evil and manipulative creature' is how he put it--a mainlander spy, incredibly dangerous, and should I see or hear word of her I should report to him immediately. It may be my imagination but I seem to be seeing a lot of people around town I don't recognise lately. Out of the corner of my eye, just stood in the shadows--watching. The townsfolk seem to pay them no heed, which I find odd given their inherent xenophobic natureâ€"or, dare I say it, am I seeing things? Has the madness that is spreading across our fair island started to affect my mind also?

The headaches are getting more frequent, my eyes burning with their intensity. I would hope it is just fatigue, but I am beginning to doubt that. Either way there is no time for rest now--I fear it is going to get much worse before it gets better.

- Dr. E. Carter

Entry for Seahorse Island in Widdenfel Travel Guide

This small secluded island is situated six miles off the south coast of Widdenfel and is home of a curious community who have long lost touch with the wider world that flourishes around them.

A very much insular society that looks largely at foreigners as dangerous and untrustworthy, although the sea town of Derry in the North West of the island has recently accepted trade agreements with the mainland, and is developing a more trusting and relaxed attitude to their over sea neighbours.

Curiously, Seahorse Island is perhaps one of the only places in the world that employ the Caste System. The island has no formal government structure of any kind, and it is remarkable to see how this way of life has worked so harmoniously for the inhabitants for over 500 years.

Despite the frosty welcoming committee and unsure glances one would be sure to receive, especially as a woman, Seahorse Island is a remarkable place to visit. The island is steeped in a rich ancestral history, with many beautiful landmarks harking back to the Days of Kings. Anyone with an interest in this period in history, particularly of the Great Siege, should make it their aim to visit Seahorse Island at some stage in their lives.

Hopefully, in the years to come, the local community will become more accepting of influence from the continent, particularly in their attitudes towards gender inequality, and Seahorse Island could become an extremely popular and rewarding travel destination.

Now featuring 32bit rain effects!

Continued after Chicky and Saberteeth's posts until server issues are solved.

[Chicky]

Looks very promising! 'specially the second screenshot

[Saberteeth]

The graphics are great. In which program are you drawing this?

8)

[CaptainBinky]

While there are issues displaying this in the first post - here is the rest of the game info:
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Subject 487b study notes - Author Unknown

11/225 - Subject begins to show initial symptoms. Regular bouts of dizziness and mild nausea are observed within two hours of exposure. Some degradation in cognitive skills leading to confusion about their surroundings. No visible evidence of exposure at this point.

11/228 - Subject's cognitive functions continue to degrade, short-term memory loss and delusional paranoia are observed. Subject complains of severe head pain and becomes highly excitable, requiring sedation. Mild bruising of skin beginning to occur on legs and around abdominal region, and some hair loss has been recorded.

11/229 - Lesions beginning to form over entire body. Subject has become completely detached from real world, suffering persistent hallucinations and paranoia. Have decided to halt exposure before symptoms become terminal.

11/231 - Six suns after initial exposure, symptoms have begun to subside, yet desired states have not yet been observed and subject is submitted immediately for TBMC program. If successful, the subject will then be reintroduced to higher dosage levels once system has had sufficient time to recover.

11/235 - Application of TBMC program was unsuccessful, yet as the subject's rapid recovery from symptoms of prolonged exposure is extremely promising, I have decided to reintroduce agent for higher dosage in preparation for resubmission to TBMC.

Prologue coming soon!

The Forgotten Element Website can be found here:
http://www.theforgottenelement.com

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The Forgotten Element will be released completely free of charge. This is a labour of love and we have no intention of making money from it. The full game is split as such:

Prologue
Act I
Act II
Act III

The complete three act game will be comparable in length to commercial point-and-clicks, with each part being released as and when they are completed. The prologue will feature approx 1 - 1.5 hours of gameplay.

Once the game is finished, we will also be releasing all plug-ins and ALL art assets so people can use them as they wish in their own games. Our only limitation on their use is that they not be used in commercial games.

A preview track from the fantastic The Forgotten Element soundtrack by Nikolas Sideris can be heard by clicking here.

Story by
Lemmy & Binky

Art by
CaptainBinky
MashPotato
Philip Drake


Code & Plugins by
Lemmy101
Nickenstien

Dialogue by
CaptainBinky
Lemmy101
MashPotato

Sound Effects, Music Composed, Produced & Directed by
Nikolas Sideris

A preview of Forgotten Element can be found in the April edition of Adventure Lantern which can be read at http://www.adventurelantern.com/previews/forgottenElement/forgottenElement.htm

The Forgotten Element forum can be found here.

Thanks to the guys at CGEmpire for hosting! (And thanks to Nikolas to arranging it for us! )

Finally, the Forgotten Element Development Diaries can be found at the Lemmy&Binky blog at: http://lemmyandbinky.blogspot.com


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Prologue completion:

Final Art                 70%
Placeholder art:     100%
Scripting                100%
Dialogue / Story    50%
Plug-ins                 70%
Music                     50%

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We're using a combination of DP Animation, DP II Enhanced and Photoshop. Mostly, Photoshop & DP II for the backgrounds and DP Animation for the sprites (and character close-up talkie screens).

[Nikolas]

But what's especially nice is that in the 1st screenshot, she's carrying a hanger, so she can hang her clothes, should the need arise!

It sounds a little cliche (the usuall I don't have my memory but as it happens I'm the only one to save the world idea...). But with this main character you can't loose!

To be a little more serious the Bgs, look lovely and I would love to see a breakdown percentage of how much way you've got to do...

When the game's out I will have to sent my wife away for a while... *ahem*

[lemmy101]

And I honsetly hope that you animate also her tits while she moves...

Ohhhh yes I refer you to http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=24991.0

We're making sure that particular animation is as smooth as humanly possible

[CaptainBinky]

Indeed . To quote myself, our walk cycles are "20 frames long apiece, and they're nice and dynamic".

Dynamic *cough*, ahem. There's very subtle hidden meaning there.

[Afflict]

Nice graphics BTW...
Her right breast is a little wonky check that 2 inch nipple stand.

I couldnt resist...

[Tuomas]

The forgotten element, eh? It must be silicone. There, problem solved, no need to play the game. Though I will just to see the other characters

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Wow, her balloons are actually larger than her face on the sprite o_o.  Graphics look nice all around.  Was she inspired by Denise Richards?

http://web.syr.edu/~ssgong/DeniseRichards.jpg

[MalleTheRedPhoenix]

I like the graphics, especially the sprites of the female main character.  :o
I look up for this game.

Great work so far!

[SSH]

Trying for the Best Character Art Awards, eh?

* SSH chooses a committe of girls to do next year's awards

by the way, were you bottle-fed as a baby?

[Iliya]

Question: Why is it always raining on Seahorse Island?

Answer: Because it's in Alaska.

Nice graphics guys.

[CaptainBinky]

by the way, were you bottle-fed as a baby?

Hey, if we have to draw 20 frames of walking * 4 directions, plus pushing, pulling, talking, idleing, opening things etc animations all in whatever spare time we can muster, then it's going to be a girl. Nothing wrong with that. Honest. *ahem*

[Nickenstien]

Hehe, that looks like it will be fun!!

The character art definatley looks like its had some special attention given to it 

I cant wait to see her 'animate' Ã, hehe

Keep up the good work chaps!

[lemmy101]

Hey, if we have to draw 20 frames of walking * 4 directions, plus pushing, pulling, talking, idleing, opening things etc animations all in whatever spare time we can muster, then it's going to be a girl. Nothing wrong with that. Honest. *ahem*

It's worth pointing out though, that although the main character might lead you to believe this is solely a cheeky and gratuitous boobage game, we've made a real attempt to write a relatively serious story (though quite light hearted in parts) and the choice of main character and her attire is not quite as arbitary as wangling a "sexy nurse" into the game though it's certainly a huge bonus for development as well as hopefully playing the game!

[Sinister]

This seems like a very nice idea. Though the story might be a little cliche, with this character and the art you offer it's going to be hard (no pun intended) to stay away from this game.

In any case, i hope you do make a great game. Stay away from the traditional single handedly saves the world cliches, and all female hero references. We wouldnt want to see this girl turn into Lara Croft, or into a Resident Evil character.

Keep working on it. Im putting this game on my list for future downloads.

-Sinister.

[lemmy101]

This seems like a very nice idea. Though the story might be a little cliche, with this character and the art you offer it's going to be hard (no pun intended) to stay away from this game.

Thanks for the kind words. The "cliche" thing has occured to us. At the end of the day, a character having no memory may be cliche, but it's an extremelly good mechanic for introducing a character world that the player has no previous knowledge of. Rest assured that the memory issue is not the main plotline for the story.

In fact, as in the edit I've made to the original post. The cliche is, if anything, totally misleading. You'll need to play the game to understand, but we're hoping after finishing the demo, when it's released, it will no longer seem quite so cliche (or perhaps cliche for different reasons? )

[Mordalles]

wow! this is already my favourite ags game ever. hehe.
the backgrounds looks awesome too.

[scourge]

WOW  :o i'm speechless .... lovely ... ruff