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This guy is supposed to be a blind-as-a-bat old cowboy named "Hawkeye." I'm going for old, squinty, hunched over, etc. Not totally happy with this sketch yet, but can't quite put my finger on why not. It could be the face. Suggestions?

p.s. I'm going for a Herman Toothrot kind of vibe.

p.p.s. It's a little choppy because I was playing with his hunch and just copied/pasted his upper body at a 20 degree angle - so that's why he's missing an arm etc!

I've been playing around with doing a little game in the FoA style. I want, like FoA, for the game screens to be 640x300 (excluding the LucasArts GUI area). Anyway, I was looking at this tutorial over at the FoY website (http://www.barnettcollege.com/tutorial1.htm) and the author says he does all his screens at 320x150, even though (if I recall correctly) the game would run at twice that resolution.

So, my somewhat stupid question is... why do the screens at 320x150 and then enlarge them, rather than just doing them at 640x300 to begin with? What's the benefit?

Thanks!

Some of you may have been following the evolution of Rise of the Hidden Sun over the past few years. In case you missed the most recent update, I'm kind of going back to the drawing board again.

One idea I had was to take the existing artwork and convert it from CMI-style to a more manageable FoA style because it would theoretically be easier to do myself, without having to rely on others for help. The animation would also be easier, I think.

Anyway, here's my first attempt. It turned out like crap. NOTE: This was just a quick test! This will never, ever make it into RotHS in this form.

Feedback, suggestions, or actual re-painting just for fun/instruction are all welcome.

Even though absolutely no one demanded it...
Even though it's been five years since the whole blog thing caught on...
Even though I have less free time today than at any previous point in my life...

I've started my own blog!

Yep, it's true.

Right now you're thinking, "Dear God, what could he possibly have to say about anything that ANYONE would want to read?"

Good question. I don't know.

But here's what I plan to write about...

- The frustrations and occasional minor triumphs of writing a novel
- The frustrations and occasional minor triumphs of designing a computer game
- The frustrations and occasional minor triumphs of raising a son

Also: Sports, TV, movies, music, books, politics, and whatever else comes up....

Just head on over to http://www.chapter11studios.com and prepare to be...

...incredibly...
...ridiculously...
...SERIOUSLY...
...underwhelmed. 

Thanks,
Josh

This is just a quick .avi movie my animator threw together to give a basic sense of the diagonal walk for a character.  The final walks will be 12 frames per cycle, and these are just the key frames.

I think my animation team has the basics covered, but the diagonals aren't quite there yet, in my opinion. Suggestions?

http://www.rattlesnakejake.com/jakediag.avi

Here are the side and front walks, by the way, also only showing key frames.

http://www.rattlesnakejake.com/jakeside.avi

http://www.rattlesnakejake.com/jakefrnt.avi

Hi there!

Some of you may know me. I'm the project manager for Rise of the Hidden Sun, an in-production comedy western being made with AGS. As project lead, I've worked closely with various artists and musicians to get the assets we need for the game. Doing this has been fairly straightforward: I draw sketches of scenes and/or characters, other people with more talent than me make them look pretty.

Pretty soon I'm going to start plugging all those assets into AGS and actually building the game, though, and I just assume I'm going to get stumped along the way with some scripting issues. (In fact I already have... even basic programming is a little intimidating to me.)

So, one thing I'm considering is recruiting some AGS scripting wizards to join the team, possibly even in a paid capacity, to help out. (In fact, PM me if you're interested and we'll talk...)

Anyway, now I get to my question! What's the best way to work on that part of the game design while communicating only via the Internet? Do I provide all of the "stuff" needed and a really detailed design doc, and then send the game files to the scripter to work on and then send back to me?

Any suggestions from people who've done it successfully are greatly appreciated.

Does anyone know where I can find some ripped sprites from Broken Sword 1 or 2?

For those of you who are familiar with my game Rise of the Hidden Sun, what do you think of this potential look for Jake? I'm looking for specific things you like or dislike about how he looks, particularly compared to the current sprites I'm using (see the screenshots at http://www.rattlesnakejake.com). Thanks!

OK, assuming I interpreted the forum rules correctly (specifically this part: "If you can provide a detailed synopsis with screenshots or prelimnary sketches, feel free to start a new thread asking for help") here's my formal call-to-arms for some new blood to help out with Rise of the Hidden Sun: A 'Rattlesnake' Jake Dawson Adventure.

First things first, a brief synopsis:

Arizona, 1869. An ancient Indian legend, a mysterious secret society, and a down-on-his-luck cowboy with a knack for finding trouble are about to cross paths in Rise of the Hidden Sun, a new point 'n' click comedy adventure game in development by Chapter 11 Studios.

With nothing to his name but his wits, his six-shooter, and a tattered old treasure map, 'Rattlesnake' Jake Dawson needs you to help him win the greatest treasure hunt the Wild West has ever seen -- because the very fate of Western Civilization is at stake, and Jake isn't the only one on the hunt...

Who is the deadly outlaw Mary Jane Clayton, and why has she devoted her life to finding a legendary lost city of gold? What is the mythical Hidden Sun, and why will a murderous secret brotherhood stop at nothing to get it? And perhaps most importantly of all, is Jake willing to sacrifice everything to stop them from succeeding?

Aaaaaaand now some screenies:

 

 

Finally, the positions we need to fill:

Animator
The animator will create character animations and in-game action sequences emulating the project's established artistic style. He or she will also have the opportunity to design and animate entirely new characters. We are looking for traditional 2-D animators.

Pencil Artist
The pencil artist will be responsible for creating background artwork based on our existing concept sketches and design notes, and must be able to emulate the project's established artistic style. Access to a scanner and familiarity with Photoshop or a similar program are required.

Colorist
The colorist will be responsible for digitally coloring background artwork. Proficiency with Photoshop or a similar program is a must, as is the ability to emulate the project's established artistic style.

Musician
The musician will help define the sounds of the game: background music, overture, and in-game sound effects.

We already have people working on each of these areas, but the more contributors we have the faster we'll go!

p.s. The area of biggest need is animations, not because we don't love our current animator (we do!!) but because that's the least-far-along part of the project!

Please PM or email me (chapter11studios @ yahoo dot com) if you're interested.

I'm having a hard time using my mouse to draw the precise walkable areas I want on any given game screen. I've been considering getting a Wacom writing tablet with stylus for other reasons, and just wondered if it was possible to use that with AGS to define the walkable areas, too -- i.e. instead of being limited to using the mouse.

[Screenshots]

Arizona, 1869. An ancient Indian legend, a mysterious secret society, and a down-on-his-luck cowboy with a knack for finding trouble are about to cross paths in Rise of the Hidden Sun, a new point 'n' click comedy adventure game in development by Chapter 11 Studios.

With nothing to his name but his wits, his six-shooter, and a tattered old treasure map, 'Rattlesnake' Jake Dawson needs you to help him win the greatest treasure hunt the Wild West has ever seen -- because the very fate of Western Civilization is at stake, and Jake isn't the only one on the hunt...

Who is the deadly outlaw Mary Jane Clayton, and why has she devoted her life to finding a legendary lost city of gold? What is the mythical Hidden Sun, and why will a murderous secret brotherhood stop at nothing to get it? And perhaps most importantly of all, is Jake willing to sacrifice everything to stop them from succeeding?

When completed, Rise of the Hidden Sun will feature:

- A simple Sierra-style point 'n' click interface
- More than 100 beautifully illustrated game screens
- A full musical score and sound effects
- Thrills! Chills! Spills! Laughs?
- An engaging story told in four downloadable episodes

Screenshots







Sample Character Sprite



Progress

The story of Rise of the Hidden Sun will be told over the course of four episodes. The first three will feature cliffhanger endings that flow into the grand finale of episode four. Work on episode one is nearly complete:

Story: 100%
Puzzles: 100%
Dialogue: 100%
Game Screens: 50%
Music: 100%
Sound Effects: 20%
Animation: 25%
Scripting: 10%

Status Update: February 28, 2009

You didn't think we'd abandonned this project, did you? Here's where we're at:

1) To take advantage of the 1024x768 screen resolution now available in the newest version of AGS, we're in the midst of repainting and re-sizing many of the original screens done several years ago. This is going very quickly, and has been outsourced to a wonderful and enthusiastic artist in Poland. 

2) The re-painting is happening simultaneously with the work by our new animation lead, Wyatt Miles of Flash Potatoes, LLC. Many of you will have seen his work on Dave Gilbert's Emerald City Confidential. Wyatt and his team are nearly done with the first 90 second cutscene, an animated movie that opens the game. Expected completion date for that is April, and when it's done I'll post it here as a bit of a teaser trailer.

3) Wyatt is also working on the in-game sprites. These are coming along well, and you can see the Jake sprite above.

In summary: Work continues, it's going really well, but no, I'm not yet ready to announce a release date. Sorry!

This is supposed to be an underground cavern in which part of the floor has collapsed, leaving several little islands instead of one long even floor. For the most part I'm happy with how this is coming along, except that I don't really like the way I'm doing the vertical lines/colors here to show depth. Any suggestions?

Hi everyone,

In honor of St Patrick's day, I wrote an article about my favorite place in Ireland. Here's a photo of it:



And here's the article. I hope you enjoy!
http://www.smartertravel.com/advice/adventurer/advice.php?id=317330

Not that we ever really went anywhere, but our website was down due to some technical problems. Now we've found a new Web host, though, and the site is back up and running. You can find it here: http://www.chapter11studios.com

Oh, and I may as well plug my *other* adventure project as well: http://www.theamericanadventurer.com (it's a much different kind of adventure)

OK, I'll shut up now.

Cheers,
Josh

All right, all you doubters, haters, and fence sitters... watch the first 9 minutes of Serenity online here: http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/index.html

Then get to the theater and see the rest!

I strongly suggest getting yourself over to the local cinema to see Serenity this weekend. I saw an advance screening in May. Let me tell you... BEST. MOVIE. EVER.*

* - Well, best scifi movie of the year, anyway. It deserves your $10 and two hours. You won't regret it!

Go!

My adventure travel article this month is about hiking and horseback riding in the Sierra Nevadas, which I visited last month.

As always, I would GREATLY appreciate it if you could forward that link on to family and friends who might be interested too. Every click makes it a little easier for me to convince my boss to keep sending me to write these articles!

Edit: Here are some pics from the experience.







You can read the article here:
http://rd.smartertravel.com/?r=i9255c35p779n12792&u=abcdefghij

Also, this month I'm unveiling my shiny new website to support my travel column. You can find the website online here: http://www.theamericanadventurer.com

Thanks!
Josh

Earlier this week, Adventure Gamers posted my new "Adventure Architect" column on the topic of implementing a GUI for my game. Most "advanced" users of AGS will probably not be impressed, since I just used the standard Sierra-style GUI, but there might be some interesting stuff in there about what the thought process was for choosing this over some of the other possibilities.

The other thing of note is that I tried to fancy up the GUI to give it a unique look even though it's not revolutionary. Anyway, if you're interested, give it a read here: http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,532

Hey hey!

As some of you know, in addition to working on Rise of the Hidden Sun, I also have a day job as a travel journalist. My most recent article (just posted today!) is about California's Big Sur -- driving it, hiking it, camping it. I don't think it's my best work because I had to pull this article together on the fly when my original travel plans fell through, but it turned out okay.

Why am I telling you this? Because, as always, it would be great if you all could read and/or pass this on to friends who enjoy traveling -- every click brings me a little closer to ensuring I get to keep doing this in the future! Plus I think it will be of interest to people who like outdoorsy pursuits. ;-)

Link to the article:
Big Sur delivers dramatic views on a small budget
http://rd.smartertravel.com/?r=i8776c35p779n11473&u=abcdefghij

Thanks!
Josh

Is AGS limited to GIF for transparent image formats or can it use other formats like PNG?