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Something I've done on nearly every background I've ever done (that no one's ever seen....in games I've never finished!) is to have some silhouetted objects in the foreground that the player can walk behind. Things like pipes, shelving, furniture that would make sense in a corner of said room, so on. I'm not sure how you could apply that here, but if the school is intended to look a little dysfunctional then maybe some cables hanging from the ceiling to inticate that lights may not work well. You could have a light out to create a little shadowing maybe?

Thanks, Peder!
I just came by to let everyone that I've been talking to know that I'm still back, I'm writing, and if you responded to me and haven't heard back, I'm still trying. Just moved to a different state, and finding new, rent-paying work has been a (pardon my french, unless you're french, then pardon my blatant profanity) real bitch.

Just to get a little dialog going;

I really think there might be a (very) specific niche of people that may be intrigued enough to read a book on AGS. That's OUTSIDE of the community here.

If it weren't a ridiculously long read, would you check it out?

If it were something for which I charged a nominal fee, would a couple free chapters ever at least ENTICE you to read something?

Anyway, this isn't intended to be a "give me $10 for a blow through fluff book of pictures" sort of deal, though it's also not a technical manual, so I'm really trying to give some content and entertainment. I've had AMAZING responses and feedback thus far, so if you have anything to say, say it. The worst that could happen is that it DOESN'T end up in a book.

If I could suggest something... Try http://www.lulu.com. If you want to publish for free or commercial, they will do that for you either for Ebook or paper(hard)cover books. You can even get an ISBN for the books as well. Just a suggestion.

Is this book meant to be sold, or will it be freely available?

I actually looked at lulu via the link you sent in the pm. I've read about it before, and I do like it! As to selling the book...I'm not sure. It will depend on a few things, most of which I don't want to share just yet, but I'll say if it pans out, they're pretty cool surprises. I'm definitely not expecting to make any real money either way. I just want the experience.

Also, I plan to order one in print.

Thanks, guys. And, I am enthusiastic. The first batch of PMs have gone out, but that doesn't preclude anyone intentionally. I just picked some people I remember. I know the unspoken forum rule about I should PM you if for whatever, but if you have anything to add (an opinion, an idea, an essay) please, PM me. I'll be sending some more requests anyway. Thanks, all.

First off, this site looks AWESOME! Hats off to the designer (I don't remember who it was, but I remember seeing the sample).
To those who remember me and my ever-starting new projects, hi. I've honestly missed coming by. I recall my (very) cameo at
Mittens 2009 (?), and meeting a few of you, and it may sound ridiculous, but this forum, all the projects I participated in
(that I'll assume never saw the light of day), and the few people that took the tiny bit off time the web required to get to
know me, or at least talk to me a little, meant a lot to me during a very tough time of my life.

I've been doing a lot of blogging, of my own and for others' sites, and I've contributed in some ebooks (almost all of it based
on fitness and/or strength and conditioning stuff). I feel ready to write my own ebook, and I want it to be about AGS...the program,
the games, the history, the community (first and foremost), and the success it seems to have brought some people.

I don't know if you guys all really appreciate it (I'm sure you do, but still), but I pop in every now and then, maybe every 6 to
12 months, and I see this game is on Steam. Another game got mention in PCGamer. Wadjet Eye...just, damn.

And Resonance...what a beast of a project. I read about it in Forbes.

This is running long, but like I said, I missed ya's. Anyway, I want everyone that clicks this to know about my plans. I'm going to
TRY to get interviews with a LOT of folks...not just the Dualnames(es) and the M0Ds(es), but the Cyrus(es) (do you remember that guy? He just messaged me! About something I posted in '10 no less! Refreshing!) and the...ooo, is Icey still about?

Just a heads up. I really think this would be a win.

EDIT
1) Does anyone live in SC? I just moved from FL, and that would just be a cool thing.
2) I just saw that I can share posts on FB. How cool! I don't want to, but I LOVE the face(book)lift!

Having read that review and talked to my brother after he finished it, i feel compelled to chime in on finding the spice for the stew recipe...I think the puzzle worked on me perfectly, as I searched that area like crazy the first time I was there, and when I found out what I needed, it just clicked for me.

Thanks. I did, of course, Google the problem, and saw some of that, which lead me to my theory about Win7 64 bit being the problem. I guess I'm just hoping the right person will read this and happen to have that amazing, forehead-smack-causing answer.

So, wanting to try using a tablet, and being broke, I found one on Craigslist. The price was so right, so when the fellow informed me (at the very moment we were about to trade money for item) that it used a serial connection, I decided to bite the bullet and get a converter, which had worked for him, as he demonstrated. Now I've just spent about 3 hours fighting this beast, and I just can't get the drivers working together. It's a serial Intuos 2, and I have Windows 7 64bit installed...any thoughts?

I feel like there's a possibility the my OS being 64 bit has something to do with it, but my computer savvy has it's limits.

Also, I have a good serial / USB cable. It's got the neat little box on it that the cheapy ones don't.

Thanks in advance. My Win7 is a legit copy, so I'm not too keen on having to switch to something else over this.

Just finished, and I gotta say, that was so awesome! I find that the timing of a lot of adventure game humor distills the jokes fairly often, but you've done a great job making me laugh when I was supposed to laugh. The ending scene especially. You've already heard all the praise on the visuals you'll ever needs, but I was particularly in awe of the 3D parts. It was just blended so well. What I believe caused the sprites to seem "glued on", as it was put, is the thick outlines. I felt like they were meant to be stylish, but they served to separate everything. I would say this will be a non-issue when you go up to 640x though.

The music was also great, but sound otherwise was the big detractor for me. Effects were so sparse that when I did hear sounds, they seemed out of place. And, though it's not a must, decent quality voices would've really added to the already great polish.

That's pretty awesome! Thanks a bunch. It's just cool to me to see how a particular scene came about.

Your bit about the importance of thumbnails got me really thinking, and it'd be really awesome to see a bunch of thumbnails you may have for a background that ended up in the game. I always find composition to be my biggest weakness in background attempts, especially on really interesting backgrounds. Maybe one you had the most trouble with, if you don't mind my request...?

I just think this thread is great, and that this might add to the tremendous help you've been sharing.

Thanks for this though. Great art!

[Sprite animator]

Hey, all!

I've been working and working on filling the hole in my heart (hard drive) where Jerk Perkins used to live, and I'm happy to say, it completely got away from me! I've managed to stifle my enthusiasm until the plot was at least first draft "done", and it's now time to start getting a team together. My initial plan was to get a game or two out first, as that seems to be the way to get everyone to see you're actually serious, but just about EVERY project I've either started, or gotten behind, has fizzled to some degree. That, coupled with the requirements I'm going to be asking of team members, means opening the wallet! That's right, these are PAID positions.

What I'm looking for now...

Sprite animator

I'd like to do this game at 640 x 400 AT LEAST. Any higher would depend on the Spriter and BG artists' abilities, but no lower than this.
The best way to describe the character style I'm looking for would be to show you...



I'm already working on some character concepts, but I have a lot of artistic shortcomings that can obviously be improved upon.
I have a few other concepts at this point, as well as a partially assembled design document to share with anyone interested.
To be clear...

I need ONE person to do sprites for now. Animations and all.
The game will be 640x res, with larger characters (think Curse of Monkey Island)
Though YOUR final art will be in the game, I do have a general idea of what everyone / everything already looks like, so I'll be throwing drawings at you too!

Background Artist

I'm not a great background artist, and have no cool examples for this, but if you've read thus far, you probably have a rough idea of what I'm looking for generally (640x, so on...), so let's get to the interesting stuff. The game has a sort of medieval setting, so there'll be some wooded area, first off. In fact, a lot of wooded area, but I'm sure we can figure out a way to cut back. I have high hopes for some VERY large scrolling BGs in certain areas, and there's a location planned where the artist would have a lot of room to get very creative, visually.

More Info

I have a lot more info available on the game, but seeing as I'm so far out from even getting art together, I'm choosing to not get over excited and start talking about things that aren't even close to happening just yet.

Money is something I will cover personally, between myself and the artist, but I will say this:
I don't like to pay up front (I'm sure no one does), as I've been burnt before.
I DO think getting paid as a lump sum in the end sucks, especially on a long project, so I like to use milestones.

The Prologue

There's sort of prologue game ready to be made, a one room demo / team trial, which will serve as a good way to see if this project will work for you, so if you're interested, let me know. If we get the short game done, but you don't want to continue on, I pay you for your great work, and find someone to take over.

If you're interested, or have any fun questions, just shoot me a PM.

Thanks for reading, and let's make a game!

When animating, does anyone find it easier to animate before shading? I don't go too crazy on the shading, but I usually have 3 shades of each basic color. I've been shading each frame as I go for, literally, years, and now I'm wondering if that's what a) causes me to get burnt out and take months off at a time, and b) makes some of my animations too stiff. I feel like if I weren't so worried about all the little non-moving details it might help me focus of getting from one frame to the next faster, while it's fresh on my mind.

I only ask because I'm so far into the project I'm working on, and I'd hate to stop and try a new way to find out it sucks.

It's so infrequent that I have the time anymore to play games, so whenever I see a new one from Ben I jump at it immediately.
All I have to say is ~swoon~
Looked great, played great, sounded EXCEPTIONAL, and was very well written. You two are a top notch team!

Enjoyable, the continue system is cool. One question though:

Spoiler

Is there any way to know which tiles fall off when you step on them in the hallway, or is it trial and error?

[close]

Spoiler

The ones with the worst cracks fall.

[close]

I made the mistake of downloading on day one and not following the thread.
No need for a save game though. I liked playing what I played through thus far.
I can see the work you put into this, DN. Cheers.

Oh, wow, Mods. I got all those Epic Mega games ones from some promotion at blockbuster when I was a kid. My family lived in my room playing those for weeks. Jim, this looks pretty cool.

Not that Awakener wasn't fun, cause it was, but I never thought I'd play through a second time! This is so awesome! This is great. I just got two facebook friends who had never played an adventure game to play Awakener, and they loved it. Great way to spread the love!

Thank you, sir. And I'd like that too.

I just got my project studio back together (it's been eslewhere for almost two years) and would really like to try my hand at Voice acting.
Just a heads up, you'll really have to have worked with voice acting already, as I have no idea how to format the end product to send you,
but I'm super interested in trying.

If you'd be interested in having me try your project out, just PM with something to record for you.

My normal accent is a really flat sounding western (american), but I can convincingly affect my pitch, and I'm willing to try out other accents, but no promises.

Thanks for your consideration.