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Great, thanks! you told me several things i hadn't noticed. i don't have any time to touch it up right now, but i will change the things you guys mentioned within the next few days, and post an update.

Hey guys n gals.

for a while now i've been determined to teach myself to paint digitally, and after lots of funny experiments i have finally produced something i feel happy enough with to post on teh interweb. Its pretty rough, but i want tips on how to improve

be brutal:



i was aiming for a kind of saturated mirrors edge look in the windows- blindingly bright - by contrast to the outside, in an attempt to make it look sort of sci-fi slum like

Its about two hours all told - I'd be interested to learn how that compares to the time you guys reckon it'd take you?  The actual shading and adjustment layers were about 20 mins, but doing the whole vanishing point lines for the buildings took most of the time.

how to improve? i'm still thinking its a bit to bland in its colouring (only one main colour, excluding the clothes of the guy) and i guess its not very visually interesting with all its desaturated noir glory, but... anyway.

much thankings in advance ,

aljo

Working on an entry. when is the actual deadline then - Dualnames should set it in concrete so that there is no confusion. 8th, or are you cutting a few days?

[Idea]

Idea hofmeier

Atmosphere Loominous

Design Loominous

Composition Loominous

Functionality Hudders

Technique Unsurprisingy, Loominous

And wow loominous - that light and those statues - thats one eerie atmostphere. its probably my favourite piece i've seen of yours. to quote dualnames -

Stop entering sprite jams(or bg blitzes) and make a game. Any game. Even a slideshow with such kind of pictures would get a 5 cup rating. That's really beatiful..

A kind of itunes cover flow for top rated games would be cool. or maybe something like the web app at the top of the The Game Institute page, rotating and showing details on top rated games.

I think this has already been suggested, and i have no idea how hard it would be to design (although looking at the elements on certain blogs, such as dualnames HHGTAGS rotating word sphere thing, i'm sure its doable)

IMO one of the worst things about to current games page is how much text there is - it looks almost like a marketing survey. The new site one you have semi designed is much less intimidating to a new casual browser (wow i sound like Nintendo !) but i think a big flashy app full of screenshots would make it much easier to get started seeing what AGS can do than only a pick of the month and award winners.

Anyway i'm all talk and no action, because my web design skills are pretty mediocre by these standards, but i thought I'd throw some suggestions out there. Whaddya think?

I'm no mod, but haven't you already been told a few times not to spam the forums with links to your blog

I'm not quite sure whether there is some actual meaning behind the name jeff Hudson i'm ignorant of (maybe he's some celebrity or lucasarts employee ) - its probably just a random name, but i will also hand throw my ballot in Dualnames box because of its cool twist

whoops, forgot to change the format when i saved, hence the artifacts



And to think, AGS has saved us all from the apocalypse and we never new

Next: Next year - forget Dragoncon, Comiccon or Balticon - what happens at Troll-i-con?

Okay. I'm doing some graphic design as part of a coursework - and i have to create a fictional advert. Its only about an hours work, so i haven't worked on it that much - and i think I'm nearly done, but i realized its actually kind of cluttered. I think the individual elements are, if not brilliant, suitable, but its just too eye stealing and i find myself not knowing where to look first.

Anyway composition isn't my strong point, and i know there are loads of designers way more talented than me, so i seek advice. I want a way to keep all the info there, and keep the web 2.0 look i love so much (sarcasm but ah well) because i think it kind of suits the the idea. Oh yes and its A3 when printed, if that makes any difference. I had to scale it down to be able to upload it anywhere easily On that note i present to you:





My main problem is not knowing where to look i think. I think a viewer first reads it top down, seeing the 'coming soon to East Grinstead', but then i find myself looking at the blurb up top and not the Logo.

I don't really want to have to put all the text on the bottom. i tried that and it just looked empty. maybe i could change the colours of important text so it stands out more? i'm not sure. maybe its all my imagination and it looks fine.

even now it looks kind of empty... not really sure how to fill it up

bah, I've just looked at it too much, and keep noticing more flaws. I'll just shut up and leave it to you guys

Heh heh. Its not top notch writing wise but the idea made me chuckle, and so i just had to do it. I present to you:

Cultens 1997. a story of awakening

It was a rainy night when Jeff was driving on a forsaken forest road. The car radio was playing his favourite song and he was singing loudly along. He was not concentrating on the road too much, and notice a large fallen tree too late to stop. He pulled the steering wheel and set out a course through the forest, not much later loosing his consciousness.

When he opened his eyes slowly regaining his strength he tested his car, but it wouldn't start. He stepped out of the vehicle and looked around. The trees were dimly lit by the moon alone. He had no idea where he was.

         Aching, black and blue, he stumbled from the shattered wreckage of his car. He looked around, At thick darkness that all but surrounded him â€" a moon swallowed in the abyss of night, car headlights dead after the windscreen smashed under the absolute force of iron-like trees and an engine failed with a guttering snore.

        "Surely the road has to be somewhere near" he thought with a frantic sense of urgency.

        His eyes letting him down â€" he turned to his other senses. It was eerily still, save for a soft wind that echoed like a soft wind chime through the trees. On a whim he felt inside his shattered car, feeling along the door, into the glove compartment. His hand clasped around an icy metallic cylinder, and he scrambled for the button. A luminescent glow, almost like some lightsaber beam in the absolute darkness, tore ahead of him. He spun, watching as the light carved a path into his surroundings.

   Using his car as a guide â€" he walked in the direction of the rear of the car â€" hoping that would lead him back to the road and to safety. He began to walk, legs aching, eyes begging to slide shut into oblivion. Feeding of what little strength remained he resisted his bodies caressing calls for sleep, and pushed on.

        After five minutes he turned back â€" he can’t have come this far, no matter how fast his car had been going. He must have spun around during the crash. He spun on the balls of his aching feet and turned back. Another five minutes, and he was truly lost. His torch carving a beam into a nothingness of identical pine trees and leafy ground.
Desperate now, frantic with a dull eerie chill, he was aware of only his feet â€" left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. A dull repetitive plod through the woods.

        Suddenly his world seemed to come into focus. Ahead he saw a dim light, flickering like a flame through the undergrowth. He moved on, focused only on the flame. It grew, and before long he was within hearing distance. A gentle hum, like voices â€" singing? Met his ears.

        He plodded on, and the sound got louder, and louder until he couldn’t focus on anything else. Words? He couldn’t distinguish them amid the crackling of a fire. Closer and closer now, his body still aching, his mind still struggling to focus.

        Then he heard them. The wood opened out, and in the clearing were a dozen or so figures â€" gathered around a fire. He stopped and stared as the chanting continued.

        “#include <iostream> using namespace std; int main() { cout<<”Sentence”<< endl; int number = 0; cin >> number; return 0;}”

        All of them were chanting. Huddled round the scorching flamesIt was the chanting of everyone â€" all gathered around the fire.

        And then he saw something else. Sitting in the middle of the fire â€" like something out of a horror movie â€" was a figure he had never seen before. Yet somehow, in some deep corner of his mind, he knew its name.

        And suddenly he knew everyones names, conceived in a moment of magical tension amid the crackling flames. There was M0ds, and Progzmax and AGA, C.Leksutin and Gilbet V700a. A myriad of names of people he didn’t know, yet knew so well.

       And in the centre of the fire â€" sat Chris Jones.

       The chanting went on. Lines of strange words, one after the other. He sat there for at least an hour, transfixed by these people as they sat stock still, mouths flittering in a blur of constant motion.

       And then it happened. Above Chris Jones, hovering above the crackling flames, their shined a flashing light, and like a sword forged in a blacksmiths oven, their appeared a cup â€" shiny blue in its wondrous glory.

       Chris’ eyes flashed open, and one by one the others did the same. All turned, and stared at him, at Jeff.

       Suddenly he was awake. He felt naked under all those piercing stares. Chris stood, reaching up, cradling the shining blue tea mug. And with it in his arms, he uttered in a booming voice “cJeff.Setasplayer();”

       A strange feeling washed over Jeff. He felt like he was sitting In a roller coaster as it spun round and round, loops and flips, corkscrews and 50 foot drops. He felt himself lose control.

      “cJeff.ChangeView(1);” Chris' voice seemed even more booming then before. A crashing cacophony of rumbling bass

       Jeff felt his body change. His clothes changed first. What had been a dirty black shirt, stained with mud and twigs and sweat slowly changed to become a white jumper â€" its arms a pinky red. Then he felt himself change, becoming an almost lego like figure â€" made of big squares. He tried to scream.

       He only heard Chris Jones utter 4 more words, and then he heard no more. “I name thee Ego”


So that’s how it happened eh? I always figured AGS was created in Chris Jones’ basement.

Ha - foiled at last!

edit: also i'm not sure how accurate my history is - i probably got some AGS oldies wrong, or some dates, but you get the idea

edit two: crap. i forgot that the moon was mentioned, and then i said there was no moon. just imagine the clouds came in and swallowed it up..... yeh thats the one....

[Idea]

Idea - Ghost

Atmosphere - Loominous

Design - Tough call between Kastchey and Loominous - but i'm going to go loominous for his incredible knack for making us believe that blobs of colour are masterfully textured trees (not to forget the hazy heaven like quality of the light cast onto the shrooms and the leaves)

Composition - Loominous

Functionality - Kastchey - It could take a bit of tricky code/animation to make it work, but it could be made to look awesome with constantly flowing streams. It could also be a cool puzzle - get across the constant flow somehow.

Technique - I was going to vote loominous - but then i realized that jerakeen had made CRACKED GLASS! my kudos (and my vote) for something I could never in a million years do convincingly. I think there are a few inconsistencies in the thickness of the glass, but its still brilliant imo!

The cake and the Lie
Hillbilly and the Sister(mother)
My secret Identity and Yo mama!
Chris Jones and the nerdathlon-cult-following
Aljoho and the Should-actually-be-working-on-his-game-ers
Dennis and the Din makers (nostalgia - whoo! I wonder how many people, probably only English?, recognize this reference from their childhood)

Uncle-mum - those are some scary undead eyes!

Anyway, I thought i'd join the club and scare you all with my hip new facial gang signs in the form of an animated GIF



it burns your eyes if you stare it it too long - too many repeats.

I'm no authority (except within my own big head ) and its not really anything to do with me - but assumedly the runner up (Wyz) should have the honour. (would a mod like to suggest/enforce something?) something similar has probably happened before.

Idea - Ghost (makes me want to whoop GLaDOS again! )

Atmosphere - Bog (the spookiest image 6 (i think, maybe a few more on the totem) colours can create. looks post-apocalyptic.)

Design - Geratuza (the lighting wins me over in this one - looks very alien)

Composition - Geratuza (jagged-spiky glowing-bobbles galore!)

Functionality - Geratuza ( i can see some very believable exits, hidey holes etc, although walk behinds could be a pain to create)

Technique - toss up between Geratuza and Ghost - i like the simplicity of Ghosts, but the eerie, sketchyness of Geratuza's. Hmmm.... ill go Ghost - it wins because I really like the jagged silhouette of the windmill.

Thanks a lot guys!

Being a Brit I managed to neglect looking on the US Ebay - so thanks Garage for that - thats just what i was looking for. I saw similar on the UK ebay but a bit pricier and and only as a bid (can't stand bidding and its too uncertain because I have a concrete deadline for the project) I'll also try check out some flea markets (or car boot sales, which the UK is ridden with).

I was also looking at some modern gears (the cheapo plastic types) earlier which i think i might try, and then use a drill to boar several holes around the edge and paint them (thanks Dan)

I live in a relatively small village so dumpster diving is a difficult - however i could take a trip to London or Brighton or even some nearby towns and who knows what poo-ridden wonders i'll uncover . We also do have a local scrapyard/tip which my narrow mind also managed to forget.

Cheers again guys you have given me plenty of ideas. I'll be sure to post something in the Crit lounge when i get it done.

I've been googling for ages and all I can find is suggestions of 'but an old watch on ebay and take it apart', which is crazy expensive because they appear to be so popular...

surely a 'fashion' that practically has a cult of artists and fans surrounding it would have at least some market providing craft tools - i mean just a search on deviant art provides pages and pages of results of people using cogs and other steampunk-centric items - surely they didnt all dismantle second hand victorian stopwatches bought from eBay .

I want to create some crafty things for a project, but dont much fancy scissors and cardboard...

an indie game forum may not be the most appropriate forum to ask this on, but i'll give it a shot anyway.

Anybody know some decent market - or an alternative - that i could try. Metal - wood - plastic - card: anything will do because I could easily paint them.

Thanks

-Aljo

Votified

Who said the undead couldn't be cute, cuddly and, well.....elephant-ish - in a 'oh crap! run for your life!' kind of way.

I present to you:

I'm by no means an expert but I happen to have had a similar problem just the other day:

the pavement towards the vanishing point shrinks faster than the road does (i.e if you compare the proportions of the road and pavement in the front to those right at the end, i think you will find a big difference) I think you will need to about half the size of the road at the end of the street to get the proportions right.

also the pavements themselves are slightly different sizes (only by a pixel or two) but it becomes very noticeable towards the distance