Messages

I love bad films. We use to get together and watch movies at school, sometimes really good ones, sometimes the opposite. But Battle Royale is not in any way a bad movie. That's saying Hana-Bi is a bad movie.

Onward to the movies!

Cabin Fever - we saw a pirated version, so it may be a rought cut. Either way, we all laughed our brains out. "Pancaaakes!" I don't know if it's meant to be fully serious, but it fails in every aspect anyway.

Commando - homoeroticism un masse! Must see! I second the proposal above! See!
"I had to let him go.." *shivers*

Every 80's horror-flick, apart from some special ones. The world pre-3d was not as cheesy as the first 3d tryouts, but it's pretty cheesy anyways. Especially this one!

Those inclined for anime may want to watch the modern classic Orutsikudödji (sp?). Made anime banned in Sweden! I recommend a drinking game - drink for every panty shot! It's pure wtf-material.

And if you say you havn't seen "Plan 9 from Outer space" I'll bloody wallop you into the next century.

I second. The music is some kind of agro-ska. Impossible to stand still too. And the lyrics is quite ok in some songs.. like 'Bounce'.. ingenious

"..She had so many friends.. *undescribable sound but similar to a chicken coop*.."

Ingenious!

I think we're seeing a trend in arcadification, where's gameplay is once again focused on simple straightforward fun. Probably a result of nostalgic values, but after a rain of realistic driving games, we've now Outrun 2, Burnout 3 and a bundle of others where physics doesn't matter more than skidding into a wall doesn't mean you crash horribly. Shooters, platform games, everything is on the move again. I think, with the evolution of technology, gamers sought more than just the same gameplay in neater graphics, and the first real ambitios projects in the new age of gaming we're almost real-life simulations, huge and free such as Shen Mue. Developers set the aims to incorporate as much features and abilities as possible, blending together different kinds of genres to multigenre gaming; some rather good results such as System Shock/Deus Ex and Morrowind. And we've been through that now. It is time to refine the development and keep only those functions that enhance gameplay and fun. I think the industry is actually doing that. Some are even breaking the graphics-tabu using stylization, 2d etc.

Heh.. line of interest:

subject/place/important-thingie-------------------------object/place/important-thingie2

Line of interest is a straight line between for instance the protagonist and a hot co-ed. When you place the camera, you should always keep on the same side of that line while altering angles and zoom. You usually start with a placement-shot, and then mix between different angles to focus on specific parts in a dialogue or whatever your portraying. There's ofcourse not forbidden to break the line, if you do it clearly enough to be readable, or with a specific intention to fool the viewer.

http://www.errantstory.com/d/20050506.html - here we have two breaks in the line of interest, enough to confuse readers throughly. The elf is placed to the right, and walks away in that direction. Fine by me. But then she arrives at the bar from the left, adressing the barkeep. And in panel 4, this barkeep is saying her reply to the left side of the page. Now, this is a comic trick, she's actually turned towards the elf, which is placed in the previous panel, albeit it was rather poorly executed, and I doubted it was Poe's intention. Either way, when dealing with cinema, every picture is placed ontop of the other, and such footage would make the viewer assume the barkeep adressed the wall, and be a bit confused about how the elf arrived at the bar from the first place.

Now, you can break the line in such ways, by making another establish shot, like for instance showing the others in the background when she's arriving towards the bar or similar.

Ugh.. me ranting..

I'd like but I doubt I'd be able to attend. But you never know..

Another cat? Well ofcourse, because cats rules. Especially kittens, older cats are more noble sages that mutter when the little ones rule.

Ofcourse you don't aim to portray reality. Reality sucks, that's why we engage in different forms of entertainment in the first place. Me myself am I sucker for fairytales, but the story is the main focus despite of which genre you prefer. Puzzles can be boring (A locked door.. dammit must find a key.. or a fireaxe), but when they hinders logical thought they cease to be boring and fall into the perfectly stupid category. (I have a fireaxe, and I can see I'm not anorectic.. so why can't I just cut down the god dam door?! There's zombies around, what do I care about property damage.. etc). It's all in the design, and frankly, you always tend to fall in the trap of making silly puzzles out of one reason:

Fear of Simplicity.

A puzzle can be clever and well thought out, but it is enough? Will challenge the player enough, or will it turn out to be too easy? When you make the puzzles, you have the solution clear, and backtrack to the problem. Since you know the whole process, the puzzle seem so obvious in your eyes, when in realisation, the player facing it might think in completely other terms, just because of some obscure detail in the background, or perhaps what your character said or heard. And I'd say, hinting the solution in some way, explain why it will not work in normal ways, is essential to put the player on the right track. Why, because the worst puzzles are those where you're assumed to do a specific task out of no apparent reason, just so another solution might work and so on and so forth.

"I can't open the door.." But can I pick it? Use wire on door!
"What the-  the lock is completely trashed. I doubt a lockpick could fix this!" Dang it! SO what now? Look at the door.
"It's an old oak door. The handle and hinges are rusty." Hinges? Hang on.. what do I have in my inventory.. no screwdriver.. a quarter? Use quarter on door!
"It's too thick to fit into the screws" Oh man! So close.. wonder if I can find something thinner, or perhaps make the quarter thinner..

Imagine these replies being "I can't open the door" "That doesn't work!" "It's an old oak door. The handle and hinges are rusty.." and "That doesn't work!" I'd go frickin' mental. Feedback! Feedback! Betatest and add feedback! Nothing wrong with having an actual solution where you must balance three cookies on your head, as long as it's clear why this works and why everything else doesn't!

.02

It's quite nice, albeit rather fuzzy. You manage to achieve and maintain a rather spooky atmosphere, but that laugh just took it all away IMO. The puzzles are a bit on the odd side aswell, which can be good to make some kind of dream logic nightmare, but I felt I finished the game more out of coincidence than actual puzzle solving (apart from the brick-picking then..).

But it has promise!

The task of game development faces the same problems every other entertainment media development faces; will it sell?

Big companies like easy money with not much risks involved. This game will probably sell about this and that, thus make it. That leads us into a world where innovative systems and gameplay is hindered by the corporate machine, but it's not as we can blaim them. I wouldn't be that keen on throwing my money on something that might be the greatest thing since sliced bread, atleast not ALOT of money.

The task of renewing the industry has always been in the hands of enthusiasts, with some smaller money support often, and sometimes a big fat load of cash. But in many senses, there are games sticking out from nowhere and gaining a rep. in the business - enough for big spenders to warrant a sequel: bigger, better, not newer. Even "huge" companies such as Bioware has not until recently worked with their own intellectual property, since a big name may warrant greater sales.

..but my point where, the innovations will always come from the side, wedging it's way into the market, and sooner or later be a part of it. Just as movies, shows, books (ok, perhaps not books, but it's such an old medium, we've been through alot of development allready in literature, so we're basically at the post-post-post-modernistic stage if you want to be innovative).

I like the word "warrant"..

Well, my first impression is: why simulating such a horrid piece of gameplay?

The second, judging from your descriptions, I'd say you make up a simple grid of x and y coordinates, set as simple local variables, and add and subtract as you go through intersections. Perhaps an actual animation of the car turning, then having just using the inset direction systems of the views.

Please post code.

82% - Must resist urge to say "Hail to the king, baby".. but on the other hand, cynical bastards do tend to survive, atleast until they're fudging up the main protagonist through their egoistic behaviour, thus rewarded by poethical justice.

Las: Well I've been studying for 2 years now. It better be

jetxl: More will come. Update every tuesday!

Andail: Thanks! Your comic-project seems quite interesting. I would very much like to make a guest entry

Helm: Since I do not work, this is like a fulltime job within my studies. So 4 pages a week it is. It is a rough deadline, I know, but I'll trade some imagery tweaking to practicing storytelling as much as I can now.

lgm: "Reminds me of Bone for some reason" I love you. I'll take it up the ass if you'd like.

Fmarais: Glad you enjoyed it

Is it just me that can't beat it. There's got to be something to do with that dog. That vapour cloud is so convenient, but what to do? Oh, what to do?

I think C++ is the way to go. Not that I have any particular programming experience, but C is the base of every much all other systems out there.

..oh, and Qbasic RULES!

[DISCLAIMER]
Hello there. This is a shameless plug. Yes. Indeedy. In a way, it might fit into the critic's lounge, but in the same sense, it does not because frankly, it has nothing to do with AGS. Ok, now that we're through with that, let's get to it.
[/DISCLAIMER]

This might interest those with an interest in comic, but perhaps more those inclined to make their own.

I am currently working (or rather studying, but in a practical sense.. eh, whatever) with this webcomic-project entitled Cogs and Robbers. I think the site itself explain what the deal is, and now since the first major update is on the loose, I thought I'd share it with you (read: advertise).

The reason I'm dropping this onto you is because I know (knew?) most of you, and you're among the more friendlier, or rather resonable, communities out there. And after that smooth appraisal, here comes the request for your participation: If you like what you see, you're very much welcome to spread the word to friends and family with a similar interest. Ofcourse, I'll try this scheme at other places too, aswell as nagging friends back here, but any suggestions of places to sell your soul are welcome aswell.

I also seek to establish a pack of regular readers to partake in discussions with, even though in what sense is currently in the planning stages. Either way, if you send any feedback or similar (by mail or through this thread), let me know if you give permission for me to include the discussions in the process documentation (see the site for explanation)

Thank you for your attention.
Feels good to be a whore.
- Linus aka 2ma2

That solution is sick. I mean, really. Wow.

Be very careful entering sound effects and/or simple animation. I've seen some experiments using the formula, and I'm not that impressed. Whenever you start using anything other than virtually a still frame, you fudge up time, thus NOT making the reader choose their own pace. I know you talk about structured and userbased progress, but I'm talking single to single frame comprehension here. The very core of sequensial communication lies in seclosed moments, brought out of time. Incorporating movement/sound/effects deludes readers oh so little, yet oh so much. I don't think you such experiment with multimedia just because it's a webcomic. A suggest you only make experiments with page layout and readability for screen usage, and leave comics as comics. Otherwise it is a toon.

I think Squinky is unbeatable with that satiric wonder

It's hella easy to crack, and the lesson is actually highly interesting. Albeit, I have cracked the cypher, but I can't manage to get it to work anyway. I've tried uppercase, lowercase.. dammit!

EDIT: Nevermind..

Steve: Yeah, I agree to an extent, but on the other hand, I give some commercial games not even that decree of attention. The question is almost "Are you ready to spend 10 hours on one game?"

Ginny: The sectors can be utilized in several games, a trend I've seen being used more and more efficiently. Whilst the games before made me angry for showing a "To be continued", I can now see games making a seclosed game, making each chapter more or less independant, or enjoyable on their own. Even though, it ruins the posebilities of more open ended gameplay, such as multiple paths.