Sniper and Spotter Being Patriotic

[Blondbraid]

I thought it might be well about time that I posted another screenshot, it's been a while since the last one.

I tried making this otherwise unassuming alley look a bit more interesting with some papers on the wall along with a propaganda poster depicting a soldier utilizing the well-known strategy of charging into battle alone and with nothing save sheer machismo to protect his torso from bullets.

[Blondbraid]

I made some new sprites for two of the enemies the protagonists encounter, trying to strike a good balance between silly and scary while giving also them distinct and disparate personalities:

And since I already got the steam up, I made a new animation for the spotter as well:

As you can see, he's in a bit of a tight spot and weather he gets out or not, well, that will depend on the player...

As of lately my work pace with this project have varied, and I doubt I will be able to complete it this autumn (seeing that November is almost at an end), but on a positive note I estimate that I'm now about halfway done and have put the most difficult parts behind me, so the release will hopefully be around before too long.

[AnasAbdin]

I can't imagine having to hurt this guy in the game please tell me he won't get hurt in the game.

[Blondbraid]

I can't imagine having to hurt this guy in the game please tell me he won't get hurt in the game.

It's heartwarming to see someone care about the spotter's well-being (His commanders certainly doesn't!), but since the game takes place in a war he is certainly at risk and it is possible for him to die, as seen in the GIF's in the critic's lounge thread (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=52409.0). The spotter (unlike the sniper) isn't thrilled about being dragged into a war and is mostly just trying to survive. He certainly isn't going to go on a Rambo-rampage (If he were, I'd be working on a FPS, not with AGS! )
But do not worry, if you wish to keep him safe it will be possible for a keen player to finish the game without killing him even once!

[Blondbraid]

Today Svetlana Alexievich recieved the Nobel prize in litterature! (Saw it all on TV! Though she didn't wear a ballgown, since she stated that it would feel wrong to wear jewels and finery when her writing is about the horrors of dictatorship and war)
Her book, War's Unwomanly Face has been a great source of facts and inspiration to me, and portrayed aspects of war that usually are omitted from games, usually not very brave or heroic aspects. One such aspect is the pointlessness, but also absurd, silly situations bordering farce, something which also gets omitted from many anti-war stories.

For this game I wanted to have a comedic tone, since I think that the silliness is just as important for the anti-war message as the horror. Countless war propaganda have asked soldiers to shed their blood for their country, but not a single one have asked them to soil their pants for their country.

Here is a new screenshot:

This shows one of the many ways the player can die if they are careless. Nihilistic maybe, but not all deaths can be meaningful and heroic sacrifices that leaves the mortally injured hero alive just long enough to hold a dramatic monologue.

[Kumpel]

Really cool surrender pose you got there. I think maybe a slightly shivering movement of the arms/hands would give it a bit more tense.

[Blondbraid]

Really cool surrender pose you got there. I think maybe a slightly shivering movement of the arms/hands would give it a bit more tense.

Thanks, great that you like it, Kumpel! I have been thinking of adding some hand movement to the animation myself.
I suppose that I got the idea for this scene because many action movies and games have a scene where the hero is captured by the monologue holding villain, but the hero just comes with a cocky comeback and/or punches the bad guy in the face, so I wanted to try and go in the complete opposite direction and have a tense scene where the protagonist is genuinely scared, but not entirely without a bit of humor though.

Now, I know this doesn't look very good, but do not worry. The background in this screenshot is not in it's finished state and will look different in the completed game.
Any thoughts?

[AnasAbdin]

The script is hilarious!

If you haven't mentioned that the background wasn't complete I wouldn't have guessed. It looks like the old cartoons style

[Blondbraid]

The script is hilarious!

If you haven't mentioned that the background wasn't complete I wouldn't have guessed. It looks like the old cartoons style

Great to hear that you find it funny!
Anyway, here is a new screenshot with the completed background, you can compare it with the screenshot above.

I've been doing my best to make it look nice and interesting...
well, as nice and interesting as a decayed eastern-bloc industrial town can be.

[AnasAbdin]

The completed background is indeed awesome. I like it
I see the script hilarity is escalating

[Blondbraid]

The completed background is indeed awesome. I like it
I see the script hilarity is escalating

Great to hear!

Here is a new image of the spotter, which is from a scene where he finds himself in the midst of gunfire and, upon hearing the thunderous sounds, and knowing that he is a soldier in one of the greatest wars in human history, an epic battle between fascist totalitarianism and communist autocracy and a war which saw many great heroes sacrifice their lives for their homeland, he reacts quickly and takes an immediate measure without a single hesitation.

Well, he isn't terribly interested in posthumous medals I suppose...

[SilverSpook]

Lol, this sounds like some cracking good satire!  I have tried like 12 games recently and realized I can't even play war or fighting games anymore that glorify or turn war/violence into a party.  So this game looks right up my alley!

The animation is excellent and thorough as hell too!

[Blondbraid]

Lol, this sounds like some cracking good satire!  I have tried like 12 games recently and realized I can't even play war or fighting games anymore that glorify or turn war/violence into a party.  So this game looks right up my alley!

The animation is excellent and thorough as hell too!

Why thank you so much!
When I first got the the idea of making a darkly humorous cartoon game about the second world war, I was very unsure whether it was a good idea.
They do say that comedy is the hardest genre to write after all, and I have a hard time coming up with good games to compare it with when it comes to the tone I'm aiming for, since most war-games are power fantasies glorifying war, and the few anti-war games that are out there tend to go with either a somber and serious approach or drown the player in sentimentality, pulling their heartstrings as if their life depended on it. But the problem for me is that the action war-games also do this, but here the audience get to see destruction and horror (Bonus point if a cute girl/child/dog is killed off just to make the badass hero angry!) in order to rile up the audience along with the protagonist and make them want to take revenge and make it fun to kill the enemies.

So instead of showing the horrors of war, I wanted to depict the pointlessness of war, pompous propaganda against a grey and slightly gross backdrop, idiot commanders, arbitrary orders and Kafkaesque absurdities.
And maybe a bit of slapstick humor.
This little game may not be on par with The Good Soldier Š vejk, but I do hope it will get at least a few good laughs as well as provoking some thoughts.

[Blondbraid]

Just finished some sprites for a new character!

This is, for all intents and purposes, a shaky and rather paranoid old babushka called Maria who is found wandering the city, and whom the spotter is forced to ask for directions towards the glorious Lenin statue. His task is somewhat obstructed by her nervousness, lack of focus and the fact that she has no clue what Lenin looks like. In case you are wondering about the reason for Marias behavior:

Spoiler

Marias skittishness may have something to do with the tiny fact that he's neither old nor a woman but in fact a german deserter who disguised himself as an old woman and now desperately tries to keep up the lie. Maria is his real name though.

[close]

Depending on the player the spotter may or may not be oblivious to Marias true identity.

This character is meant to look a bit like a baglady, with an ill-fitting outfit cobbled together from worn and patched old rags likely found lying on the street, and trembling and shaking with shifty eyes. While the spotter certainly won't enjoy talking to Maria, I do hope the player will.

[SilverSpook]

Nice work!  It communicated the paranoia well there.  You can feel the Stalin coming through the pixels!

[AnasAbdin]

LOL for a moment I thought that was the spotter in drag.. er.. rags! You know scared and in disguised
Your characters are ALIVE I can feel their emotions.

[Blondbraid]

Nice work!  It communicated the paranoia well there.  You can feel the Stalin coming through the pixels!

Great to hear, since the nervousness is an essential part of this character.

LOL for a moment I thought that was the spotter in drag.. er.. rags! You know scared and in disguised
Your characters are ALIVE I can feel their emotions.

I'm happy to hear that!

Originally most of my characters just started off as an idea for a joke, but gradually got more fleshed out personalities and backgrounds as I kept working on their sprites and writing their dialogues. Mostly I try to give them temperaments and personalities that contrast against both of the protagonists, and with Maria I thought it would be fun to have the relatively calm, carefree and honest spotter face someone jumpy, scared and a terrible, terrible liar. (And I suppose I got inspired from the beginning of this scene from Monty python: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxGqcCeV3qk)

Spoiler

And, what with Maria being a German deserter and all, I wanted to play with the spotter's expectations and have a seemingly old woman, an innocent civilian to protect actually be a soldier from the country he's at war with, but this man has no wish whatsoever to fight the spotter. As for him being disguised in drag, his clothes aren't actually that far from what some soldiers actually wound up wearing during the winter and I have even read notes about German soldiers stealing women's fur coats in order to keep themselves warm. Maria had to make due with a cloth coat though, I'm not good at drawing fur articles .

[close]

Ironically enough this is probably the most polite and equal footed conversation the spotter will have in this game.

[Grok]

I really like your latest animations. Great work.
It's a big project you've taken on here, on a difficult subject and in a difficult genre, but if you can pull it off, it could be very good.

[Blondbraid]

I really like your latest animations. Great work.
It's a big project you've taken on here, on a difficult subject and in a difficult genre, but if you can pull it off, it could be very good.

Thank you!
When I first started this project I did not consider it especially big, and the finished game will probably take less than an hour to play through, but when I first got the idea I was a bit hesitant at first since, as you wrote, it is a difficult subject and in a difficult genre. Humor is a very subjective thing and at first I was worried that making a comedy about a dark subject matter might be a bad idea, but the all the positive responses here have really given me the confidence to see this through, and even if it's been a lot of work, if my game makes at least one player smile, it will all have been worth it!

[Blondbraid]

So I thought it would be about time to post a new screenshot!
I had a hard time coming up with a good puzzle for this room, and I hope the players will like it.

I wanted the text on the flag on the floor to be in Russian, although Cyrillic script is all Greek to me. If anyone sees any inaccuracies in the text, let me know!