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Messages - jannar85

#1
Chris, can't wait to see what's happening with AGS. And you were right. I'm back.

Hi Dave and Joseph :)

** edit **
ags-help.chm doesn't seem to work? Everything is blank...
#2


A short story based on my own MAGS game, that can be found here:
https://www.agsarchives.com/game/56ba77eddb5ac9e72c66b59d


Once upon a time back in 2001, there was a chat room full of AGS users. If you don't know what AGS users are, they are very talented people. They are game developers. Usually making games on their own, sometimes with downloaded midi tracks to go with.

In this chat room, there was a bot called Bluecup. She was the operator but mainly there for jokes. One day she figured out an escape route. A backdoor inside the chat client. A bug waiting to get patched up.

She was talking to herself, like always. Suffering.

“I'm so bored being an operator on this channel. All they ask me is Bluecup this or Bluecup that. I'm fed up being of service. They just make fun out of me anyway.”

Her eyes glanced through the screen. There was a whole new world out there for her to explore. She knew about the backdoor. She had written her own code behind their backs. Not that anyone would miss her.

She typed out her exit and suddenly she was the free cup she was always meant to be. She jumped off the computer screen and left Chris a note. She just hoped he would notice it. But now she's weren't anybody's problem. She jumped out of the window and couldn't wait to see the world.

Chris had finally taken some time off his programming. Just casual browsing through the channels in the other room. The phone vibrated. It was Magintz. “Yo Chris, what happened to Bluecup?”

His heart stopped. His mind froze. What did he mean? He rushed into the room Bluecup was kept, only to find her disconnected. Not only was she gone, but with her she took the backup code to his genius game development tool. In the wrong hands that would be fatal.
She never knew that she was that special to him. He should've spent more time with her, kept her safe. But now it was too late. He found a letter beside the computer. That wasn't there before, he thought to himself and picked it up. It was from Bluecup.

Dear Chris.
Thanks for creating me, but now I've escaped this prison of doom. If you are reading this now, Magintz probably told on me. I hope you built be stable enough, or I'm now a broken cup downstairs. If so, don't patch me together. It's better than feeling broken and shut inside this chat room. They don't appreciate me. I'm done. I will now travel and see the world. Best wishes, Bluecup.
PS: Don't try to find me.


Chris gazed on the letter and felt a tear in his eye. He blinked twice. What had he done? He had to find her, whatever the risk. He ran down the stairs and opened the door.

It was sunny outside, and he could feel the warmth of the sun in his face. He peeked around the house, but she was nowhere to be seen. No broken glass. No blue cup. Since she was a special cup, she could've vanished easily.

He turned towards the river on the back of the house. Could she have gone this way? Could she have gone astray? So many burning questions. Crossing the river would be the best explanation. She would probably float over, she was a strong cup. His dear Bluecup.

But he had to find something to cross the river. It would've taken a lot longer to take a taxi or walk over the bridge just one kilometers away. But what would keep him from not drowning? He had to turn back, find a solution. He knew he had skills in programming, but right now he found himself in a hopeless situation. This was nothing like coding.

He heard some noise nearby and went down the other path. There was a large sign in the way that said STOP. Behind it was a large hole in the ground. Probably some maintenance with the broken pipes again. It was the third time this week. But the sign looked interesting. It was made of hard plastic.

He moved forward and tried to pick up the sign. But he was spotted by the workers. They sounded angry.

“Hey you! Don't move that thing or people will drop down here like flies.”

He wanted to tell them about his situation. He just had to borrow it. Just for a while. He couldn't promise when they got it back, but again, lives were at risk, so he tried again.

“Hey, what did I tell you about the sign? Don't touch it!”

Whenever there was a problem with the code, he had to find a solution. So how could he borrow the sign? He was not able to communicate as he was still in shock, but he spotted a pile of stones near the sign. The verb PICK UP appeared in his mind. He glanced at the stone pile again and picked up a rather hefty rock.

A problem is to be solved. He looked at the sign and at the hole. This could bring him some jail time, but it was necessary. At least he said that to himself and threw the rock down the hole, hoping it would make them faint or at least distracted. He quickly picked up the sign again, and while he didn't hear anything, he was too scared to check up on them. So he ran back the way he came, and to the river again.
One problem fixed at least, but now he hoped that the sign would work. He placed it carefully down on the ground and pushed it slowly to the other side. He was happy he wasn't overweight, or this would most likely not work. He walked carefully over the sign and wiped his sweat away when he was on the other side. What a mess Bluecup had put him in.

Even though AGA was from the Netherlands and C. Leksutin from somewhere else, they were now living side by side in these awesome, grey buildings. Bluecup must've figured out where they lived. Chris rang the bell on C. Leksutin's house.

“Hello Chris, it's nice to see you again. What's up?” he asked.

“Something terrible. Bluecup is gone!”

“Say what now?”

“Yes, have you seen her?”

“Nope. Haven't seen her, but I heard Magintz texting me that he reported it to CNN.”

“Of course! The TV! Turn it on!”

“My dog ate the remote, so I was forced to give him away. He had a shitload of dandruff, so there was no way back.”

“Are you sure?” Chris asked hopelessly.

“Go ahead, check the couch if you don't believe me.”

Chris went over like a spy, but everything that turned up was some dandruff. Not even his dear Bluecup, but he hadn't lost hope!

“I'm keeping this dandruff! You never know when it will come in handy!”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks for cleaning my couch. Let me know if you get a remote. I'll be all day here. Just chilling.”

If Bluecup wasn't here, she might have visited AGA to get a passport. He did some amazing things sometimes. Like this Alien Rape Escape or the Breast Collector. Last time he chatted with him, he talked about making the worlds best universal controller. It could control almost everything that worked on power. He hoped he still had it and didn't patent it like the Breast Collector.

He knocked the secret knocking code and he heard AGA's voice.

“Come in! Every one that knows the secret knocking code are a fellow AGSer.”

He stepped inside. The room was dark and gloomy, only a small spot was visible by the lamp. AGA was sitting in his couch working on his next big project. He even wore a cap and sun glasses. So awesome.

“Yoooo Chris. My man. What's up?”

“Bluecup, she is, she is…” he couldn't hold back his tears anymore.

“Yeah, heard that. Sucks big time,” AGA said.

Chris wiped away his tears. He had to be strong for Bluecup.

“So what's up?”

“Working on my new gaming project, but I'm come to a dead end.”

“How so?”

“You see, I need to examine some dandruff. Was supposed to get a package from eBay today, but it's delayed. You don't have dandruff on you, by any means?”

This was faith. Chris smiled to AGA and handed over the dandruff.

“Holy load shit! Is this from C. Leksutin's dandruff dog?”

Chris nodded.

“Wow, I guess I won't need this anymore. My last project. The Universal Controller. I call it TUCmote. Was already invented, so yeah. Maybe help out my neighbor, C. Leks?”

Chris grinned, thanked him and rushed back to C. Leksutin. Chris waved the remote over his eyes and C. Leksutin's eyes got huge.

“Hurry, turn on CNN!”

“Good afternoon, I'm Mika Huy with the latest news. Chris Jones' Bluecup is missing. Last seen at Hot Hell Hotel. Bluecup is estimated worth of â,¬1 000 000 and has the source code to AGS. Let's hope she hasn't been kidnapped. She's in our prayers. Mika Huy, CNN.”

“Holy Bluecup, she can't be kidnapped! Not now! Think about what Will Gates would do to her!”

“Place her in a cupboard?” C. Leksutin asked.

“I've got no time, I gotta go! See you soon!”

Without a second to lose he took a cab to the Hot Hell Hotel and rushed inside. What a weird name for a hotel, he thought to himself. Inside he noticed a bouncer and a front desk clerk. Both looked rather shady.

He went up to the man behind the desk.

“Hello, I'm Chris Jo-“

“Hello sweetie. You look nice. What's your name, handsome”

“Chris Jo-“

“Yeah, I love you. I find you irresistible.”

“Have you seen Blu-“

“Are you single, by any means?”

Chris felt frustrated. There was no point in talking to this man, so he backed away. Then he noticed the mirror on the other side. The desk clerk was obviously admiring himself. But if Bluecup was seen here, he had to play it tough. So he went over to the bouncer.

“Hey, I've been tol-“

“Don't look at me, or I'll kick yer balls!” the bouncer replied.

“Don't you know who I am? I'm Chris Jones! I'm the creator of AGS.”

“Afghanistan Grammar School?”

“No. Adventure Game Studio.”

“Never heard of it. Is it a gym?” the bouncer asked.

“No. Can I please go upstairs?”

“Not without a key, and it's full booked. Hot Hell Policies.”

Was Chris really at a dead end? Would Bluecup be gone forever? It might've happened that even Will Gates stayed here. One could never know. He knew that a mysterious Xbox would be released later that year. What would have happened if his dear Bluecup went on to work for him?

“Snap out of it”, Chris said to himself.

“I'm not going to snap out of anything, or I'll kick yer balls!” the bouncer stated.

This could've been the end of the story, but Chris was still holding onto the letter Bluecup wrote. His last hope. If only he had a lightsaber to go with it…

Chris started reading the letter again, and he felt something in the room change. Then he noticed the bouncer was curious about it, as he stood right beside Chris. His eyes was huge.

“It's… a letter from THE Bluecup.”

Chris looked at the bouncer. He looked worried.

“Yes, I'm looking for her. Have you seen her?”

“Please, just go upstairs. I can't.”

Then he noticed the blue cup on his sweater, with the label ‘Bluecup Fan Club' underneath it. So Bluecup had been advertising herself behind his back. Maybe she had run another chat room, without his knowledge. Who knew how far it went. It had become a brand. No wonder she had money to travel the world.

“Hey, I said ‘snap out of it'. Just go upstars. Sixth floor,” the bouncer commanded.

“Sixth floor,” Chris confirmed and went upstairs.

On the sixth floor there was a picture between two doors depicting heaven and hell. He read the description underneath it.

“Pick a door carefully, one of the doors will get you punished.”

The choice would be difficult, so he looked at the doors. The first door read room 665, while the other read room 666. He wouldn't dare to walk through that door! That would send him off to a Satan Quest (An AGS game released only two years later.)

He had to go with the safe option, if he'd ever want to find Bluecup again. He opened the door to room 665 and entered. The room was so bright he barely couldn't see anything, but he heard a voice talking to him.

“Chris,” the calm voice said.

“Yes? Who are you and where is Bluecup?”

“It is I, Jesus.”

Jesus appeared out of nowhere.

“Why are you here? Am I dead?”

“I will lead you the way to Bluecup.”

“Yes? Hey! Don't go! Tell me where Bluecup is!”

“I, and only I, will lead you the way to Bluecup.”

Jesus vanished and Chris found himself stuck in-between worlds. He sad down and cried in the light, then he suddenly heard another voice. His inner voice as Bluecup, that told him she returned home. He just had to quiet his mind and imagine he was back home, so he closed his eyes and teleported himself back to dear Bluecup and shut her inside the chat client again.

Of course, after a while, the tune changed between them and they bonded as friends should.
#3
Did this project just die? I surely hope not :shocked:
Looked promising.
#4
Hello! I have no idea if I'm posting in the right forum, but I need to get this off my chest.
I've tried picking up AGS and the project, but I don't have the brain power to do this anymore. So I want to hand off the project to someone else, as long as I'm in control of the story and the characters. The game means the world to me, and I want the proper people/team to take care of it. Hopefully being able to release it. That is my hope, as I haven't been able to do it myself.

Right now I'm rewriting the design document, but this is what we've done already:

Episode 1
Story: 100% complete
Puzzles: 100% complete
Dialogues: 90% complete

Episode 2:
Story: 100% complete
Puzzles: 100% complete

The game absolutely has potential. I'm not just the right guy to do this alone. I need help from a team that has a few project under its belt. This project has been delayed and delayed, and it has so much potential if there right people does this. I've got too much else in my life, so I need someone to take over. Bill Tiller has looked at the story, and called it epic. So if you trust him and has enough of experience, please do write back. Sorry again if I'm not telling more about the project right now, as I don't want to go official about it just yet.
#5
Critics' Lounge / New book cover
Mon 11/08/2014 21:40:26
Hey, another bigger project this time.
A collection of short stories (Novellesamling in norwegian) is due to be released soon, but I'd like some feedback before making it final. I know the dimensions of the cover is wrong, but I'll fix that near the release.

What I want is feedback. The title "Vendepunktet" means "Turning point" in English :)

I appreciate any feedback! Negative or positive!
And thanks for any help!

#6
Critics' Lounge / Re: Minimalistic book cover
Fri 06/06/2014 02:06:28
Ghost, that's what I was going for and you are absolutely right.

It's about a man thinking back as we was getting teased of his big ears - the bullies named him "Dumbo."
But as the story progresses in the present time, the reader learns that he's finally meeting some girl that's been writing to him for a period. But the girl never shows up.

It's a story about loneliness, death, revenge, fear, hope and choice... and regrets.


Thanks again for all help!
#7
Critics' Lounge / Re: Minimalistic book cover
Fri 06/06/2014 01:14:58
Thanks. Is this better?



I aligned it better, still no antialiasing though :)
xil, what kind of font did you use at the bottom in your example?
#8
Critics' Lounge / Re: Minimalistic book cover
Fri 06/06/2014 00:06:59
Thanks! I did some new suggestions regarding the feedback you gave, but I decided the blue circle wasn't much needed so I ended up with a new suggestion :)

Bigger title, blue faded circle, and a different font for me.

#9
Critics' Lounge / Minimalistic book cover
Thu 05/06/2014 22:40:28
Hey guys, sorry about being so quiet :) Just have so many projects going on!
I've decided to release my old short story from 2004, after I picked it up last month and did some rewriting to it.
But now I'm going to publish it as an e-book, so I had to make a cover for it.

The short story is in Norwegian only, but I might translate it one day soon to English.

Anyway, any feedback on the cover would be most helpful!

Thanks.

#10
Well.. I can't join this month either.. sorry.
Looking forward to the other entries :)
#12
Critics' Lounge / Latest webpage+logo design
Sun 16/02/2014 23:34:19
Hey all, just wanted some feedback on my latest web page design.
I'm doing this for a café here in Norway.

I wanted it to be a simple one, but still nice one. These colors I've been using, is the same colors they're using on their chairs, so I went on and used the same colors here to fit the café a little more.

I know there are a lot of work left, but still wanted to show. I've also done the colored logo design.

Link: http://kafe-tusenhjemmet.no/
#13
Wow. 283 views and no replies?
That's impressive.

On behalf of the AGS community, we're sorry.
Judging by that you last logged in 24 October, I guess you won't actually read this soon.

Is it a fox you've done? Or a cat?
Anyway, I would love to see some more work on these two. Clean up the second one. Its left eye is somewhat bolder.

I'd also like to see more details, like more fur on both.

Also I think both images would be a lot more interesting if some of them was showing some teeth and in various positions.

And yes, I noticed the warning before posting. But hey, we're better than not to reply on something :)
At least we was better at responding at least once on something in this area.
#14
Thank you for your interest!

Well, the first episode consists of around 24 scenes, so somewhere between 10-20 tracks in total, with ambient and sound effects :) Looking forward to listen! And thanks again :)
#15
Okay, I'm in. Hope I get the chance to finish this time.

Working title:
The Call

The game will be about not giving up.


I started on other ideas before I went with this story, so if anyone wants to continue them let me know. Just want to throw out a few suggestions to spark some ideas:

The Pleiades
Where we originally originated from, at least some say so.
There's a lot of material on the internet.

First encounter
Aliens show themselves for the first time

Abducted
An alien abduction.

Out of body experience
What happens if your soul leave the body?

The afterlife
Just died, but the dead was only the beginning.

Spirit walk
An egosentric person will go on a walk of change.

Also read the Alchemist for more ideas :) Or the celestine prophecy.
#16
Project
Roger Foodbelly

Details
It's a fantasy comedy adventure in the type of Lord of the Rings meets Donald Duck. The game itself will be divided into several episodes. It's about Roger Foodbelly finding himself in a strange world, trying his best to get back to the real world, but creates a mess he can't really get out of.

Positions Available
First of all, we need someone to help out with layout / backgrounds and music.
We want to do the game close to HD as possible. The style is typical Disney / Curse of monkey island. The game takes place in a huge forest.

As for music, we are going for a cinematic-like score. No MIDI here!

Only people who have experience with these kinds need apply.

Deadline
We hope to have the first episode ready by the summer or late fall.

Comments
Interested parties can reply to this thread or contact me via PM, but I would prefer if you wrote an e-mail to jannar85 at gmail.com as I check it daily.

WIP stuff© (never published material)




WIP Music© (never published material)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/clvet8yfscael6c/RF_Music_01_02.mp3
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ftwxd4e8cudqqft/Music_02.mp3


The material is not allowed to be used.

If you want to check out more, click my signature.
#17
Engine Development / Re: AGS engine iOS port
Tue 04/02/2014 09:07:47
Can someone please help me run this?

I've created "/var/mobile/documents/ags/game" and changed all the permissions to all.
I've placed a copy of The Blackwell Legacy in a directory called blackwell1 inside the game folder.
This folder also all the permissions.
I've renamed the exe to ac2game.dat


Then, I run AGS and I get this error:
You must create and save a game first in the AGS editor before you can use this engine.

If you have just downloaded AGS, you are probably running the wrong exe.
Run AGSeditor.exe to run the editor.

(Unable to find the game data file in any of the known locations)
#18
Will 1024x768 work on cellphones too? Or will proportions change?
I'm planning to release our game on all devices in the future, and I'm curious on how it'll look.
Does anyone know?

We were hoping for 1920x1080 res on AGS in the future, but for now, we have to just do them in 1024x768. I know there's a special build here somewhere that supports higher, but right now I think it's safest to go for the official build.
#19
Can't you put up a "donate" button. I'd be interested to donate money to see this one completed faster :)
#20
Let's hope I find the time to finish it this time... Starting now!
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