Topic: The Package

[Dor Hajaj]

Paris, France - December 1988
Neil Hammond is an American exiled journalist, currently working on cheesy low profile stories on a local newspaper.

Hammond, 42, was exiled by the U.S authorities after he revealed a ground breaking story that led to to U.S president resignation. A couple of weeks later it was revealed that the story was only partially true, and the president was in fact not involved. Hammond was subjected to a major media frenzy and became a public enemy which made his life a living hell.

After his life has taken such a major turn, Hammond tried to settle in France and cope with the difficulties of being a foreign journalist in a foreign country.

Our story begins when he receives the wrong package at the local mail service.
This small and unimportant looking package will soon initiate a series of MAJOR events that will change Neil's life forever and make him discover that being in the wrong place at the wrong time, can lead to unexpected events and reveal a force he never imagined could exist...

Partial List Of Planned Features (I will probably add more as i go)

• Full Voices
• Original Music
• Over 100 screens
• Two playable main characters

Development log - November, 16th 2017
It's been a while since my last update, but I'm happy to say that development is still going strong.
I may have underestimated the size of the game, as the first part alone takes approx 75 rooms.
I've decided to add a couple of features to game:

A combat system


A genuine 80's phone

A Phone book

A Birds Eye view car chase


Development log - November, 21th 2017
Added a new room for a cutscene in an early part of the game.

Early and not so gracefull screenshots
http://i.imgur.com/P5W7rxJ.png
http://i.imgur.com/eLr2WKx.png
http://i.imgur.com/7ZvMFt5.png
http://i.imgur.com/EIccLtO.png
http://i.imgur.com/O5eyDr0.png
http://i.imgur.com/WdUtcT9.png
http://i.imgur.com/n2yqKry.png
---
Development log - October, 8th 2015
As much as my free time allowed me i worked mainly on new backgrounds and managed to create 5 more rooms. The biggest problem is of course, time. The rooms just take too much of it, and that is even before you think of doing the objects or God forbid, the
charachters... but i know it's my first game and i guess that's how it should be.

I really hope i can cope with the 100 or so screens that i plan to reach, i really want this game to be a full game with many locations and experiences.
The plan is to have a 3 part game when on the first two parts you get to play with Hammond and on the 3rd one another charachter takes place which combines their stories and exposes the full plot.
Another parallel plot line will take place along the 1st and 2nd parts, and will expose certain events from hammonds past.

One part of the game takes place on a snowy location:
http://i.imgur.com/NqH57od.png
http://i.imgur.com/jCz20A1.png

Another screenshot from a city scene:
http://i.imgur.com/nVjrHto.png
---
Development log - September, 24th 2015
Story - 65%
Puzzels - 40%
Graphics - 30%
Music&Audio - 0%

[Mandle]

I remember the balcony screenie from a while back when you were asking questions about how to do the windows if I remember correctly.

Glad to see that you are working on the game still and after reading the story it sounds really exciting!

Best of luck!

[kconan]

  What a very specific and original sounding plot, I'm intrigued!

[Dor Hajaj]

I remember the balcony screenie from a while back when you were asking questions about how to do the windows if I remember correctly.

Glad to see that you are working on the game still and after reading the story it sounds really exciting!

Best of luck!

You are quite right Mandle!  It's nice that you still remember this, and to be honest i'm still having problems with that balcony[emoji1]

[sketchess]

That's odd. Your pictures are in png format, but on my screen they are blurry. Same thing for the video. May I ask what graphic program you use to draw them? Hmmm.

Wish ya luck anyway.

[Dor Hajaj]

Hi sketchess, thank you for noticing.

After reviewing this, it seems like it's related to the saved files only - when i run the EXE with the nearest neighbor filter the background looks crisp and sharp (despite the fact that when i save them using the F12 they again look blurry).

Using the anti alias filter makes them blurry when you play and also when you save screenshots.
This is confusing, but at least i know the game works fine with the nearest neighbor filter.

And while I'm posting here, I'll add another screenie:

x1 x2 x4 x8

[Rocchinator]

nice job man, that last pick looks like the police department of gabriel knight

[Dor Hajaj]

Thank you Rocchinator!
That was exactly what i was aiming, i loved the angle on that police station so much back then that i had to make something like it.

and again while i'm posting...

[sketchess]

Hi sketchess, thank you for noticing.

You are welcome. Kind of have an eye for such details.
But boy looking the pictures diffenrent on my 'unprogressive' device. Much more neat.

[Darth Mandarb]

badeyedeers - please review the forum rules before further posting.

Dor Hajaj - please contact me (via PM) when you're ready to post an update and I will unlock this.

[Dor Hajaj]

This room is a part of a cutscene:

[Dor Hajaj]

Hi!

So I have this scene in the game, where the main character is being chased by assassins, and his only way to escape is to try and escape them by a car. They chase him, and at this point the plot goes in two ways - if you escape, you get to a certain point but if you are caught, they capture you and lock you in their trunk which will lead you to a completly different place (and to the need to escape the trunk)...

So I really want anyone who can and willing to play this scene, and I would REALLY appreciate any thoughts you may have on how to make this a really enjoyable chase.
Any feedback is appreciated!

The following is the the download link to the minigame:
Download

Thank you!!!

[Shadow1000]

I tried it but I have no idea how to move or accelerate. I see that the arrow keys do something and maybe the mouse(?). How about some instructions?

[Dor Hajaj]

Sorry.. My bad..
I disabled the mouse - you can use the arrow keys to move the car, there is no acceleration or braking options.
This is part of my need for feedback - what do you think would be the best? should the car accelearte, brake etc.? use the mouse?

Thanks!

[Egmundo Huevoz]

This game looks really nice, I hope you release it soon!
Would it be too much to ask for the code of the combat system and/or car chase?

[Dor Hajaj]

I wouldn't mind posting the scripts but I still feel they are a bit premature.
For the car chase (or any chase) you can make a character follow you using:

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. function room_AfterFadeIn()
2. {
3.   cAssassinsCar.FollowCharacter(player, 0, 5);
4. }

I used this in rep_ex function to check if the player was caught:

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. function room_RepExec()
2. {
3.   if(player.IsCollidingWithChar(cAssassinsCar))
4.   {
5.     player.ChangeRoom(313);
6.   }
7. }

[Egmundo Huevoz]

Actually I arrived at the same code, the only difference being that I use "Arethingsoverlapping". Do you use the mouse to move around? Because I find the arrow keys (at least how they're configured from default) to be too choppy, and often instead of turning in the street corner, i just collide against the buildings.

I'm guessing your fighting script is still a work in progress. Would be amazing if you posted it after you finish it.

Thanks for your replies, man. I'll keep an eye out for your game.

[Dor Hajaj]

Yeah, the combat system is still in progres...
And so does the car chase scene, I intend to add passing cars and some obstacles to interrupt the player and the chasers.

I think you should carefully place the walkable areas to avoid collision with buildings. Keep them as narrow as possible.
Also, and i'm not sure about this though, keep the image you use for the car with the minimum possible of transparent areas(the ones ags chops when you import the image) - I think the whole transparent area around the car is still considered as the actual car, so for example, you might collide with it a bit to early.
Maybe it affects the collison with building and so on.

About the mouse -  I didn't feel it gives the right "feel" when someone chases you, if you don't hit the right point (the walkable area) the car just stops.
The keyboard is a bit choppy, but it's not realy GTA so I hope it is still something you can enjoy within the frame and context of an adventure game.
Thanks for you interest!

[Egmundo Huevoz]

I'm working on a combat system myself. With help. Like, A LOT of help If I ever finish it, I'll gladly give you the code. What sort of combat do you have in mind?
As for the cars, I think the narrower the walkable area, the more difficult it is to turn in the corners. I think I'm just gonna use the mouse, but instead of clicking, just holding the button.
BTW, I don't know if I told you already, but your drawings are GREAT. Do you draw on top of a picture, or is it all imagination? Either way, it's amazing.

[Dor Hajaj]

Thank you
I draw mostly from my imagination, sometimes I use an image as a reference for objects that are difficult for me to visualize.
I did at some point use a real image and cropped it so I can integrate it with the background.
An example for this would be:

I'm not sure it will stay like this, but for now it works for me.

About the car movement - I think you should look at the car chase scene in the Fate Of Atlantis, If I recall correctly, the cars did not cut through corners there. I'd love to see how your car chase would look like, didn't think about holding the mouse, just hope it won't tire the user.
For the combat - I'm still looking at some ideas I have.
Wish I had more time to work on this.