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Hey all...I've been, for over a year, trying to get a 3D animator for rendering monsters in Prodigal 2...in that time I've been totally inactive in AGS, so coming back to it looks like QUITE a bit has changed since I did Prodigal. Version 3 of AGS is out!!! o_O

I looked around a bit for this, but I haven't found much...so can someone please tell me quick if animation loops are still limited to 19 frames? I'm about to have the 3D animator start making walk frames, and if this limit is fixed, I sure as HECK don't want to limit him to only 19 frames.

Again, I did look through some version histories and such but I didn't see anything...can someone please just tell me quick if the artificial limit has been removed?

Thanks a million in advance,
Ben

I'm sure that any veteran AGS developer has felt what I'm feeling right now...is it even possible to get good help on a game project? It always starts the same way:

1) You find someone who is really talented in the art of what you need. They are interested in your project and agree to help you.

2) You share with them sensitive game materials including story elements and art materials. You give them the work you need done.

3) Over several weeks they produce some tantalizing bits of great stuff. You are excited, they seem to be having fun.

4) Something happens. They either get really sick, or move, or some such thing which interrupts their work. This is bad because they get out of the groove of the game for a while.

5) The crisis which interrupted them passes, but for some reason you now notice that they aren't producing much, if anything for your game. You begin to worry, but hope that their explanations of, "I'm really busy with this and that" are true and they will return to your game soon. In reality, they are out of the groove and are sick of working on your project.

6) Days stretch into weeks and you begin to apply pressure because you are stalled waiting on materials you need from them. They get defensive, sighting "hectic life right now" or "just unbelievably busy at the moment" and you get a sinking feeling in your stomach. You now know deep down that you aren't going to get any more from this person, and all the time and energy you spent on them is going to come up for naught. Even worse, you've shared game specific story elements/art/code with them, and now have the extra worry that they may share it with others for "revenge" when you inevitably have to kick them off the team.


It is a cycle I've repeated many times in both Prodigal, and now Prodigal 2. I know I'm not alone, as Himalaya talked about the difficulty of finding a good, dedicated 3D modeler for Al Emmo. (I'm lacking a 3D modeler as well.)

In Prodigal it was no big deal for me. I realized I wasn't paying anybody anything, and it can be hard to share someone else's vision and enthusiasm for a project that is not your own. I figured "easy come, easy go."

It is harder for me in Prodigal 2 because I am actually PAYING for these services and still have had no luck with the people I hire. I find it comical at the same time that I find it frustrating and demoralizing. It's ALWAYS been the same M.O. for me exactly as described above. You get to feeling like, "what kind of idiot do these people take me for, anyway?"

So, now I'm back to trolling 3D modeling websites to try and find someone interested in helping on an indie project...I wonder if indie film makers have to deal with this as well?

Anybody out there had similar experiences? I could use some commiseration right now, as I'm feeling pretty demoralized. 

I've run into the 19 frame limit for walk animations in an individual loop. Prodigal 2 is going to have live actors for its characters, and they have been filmed at the standard 24 frames per second. When I went to load the first animation into AGS, I ran out of frames about half way through the animation...MAJOR bummer!     

I can, of course, drop HALF the frames and make the cycle 12 frames per second, but this kills a TON of the smoothness on the loop, which I really, really don't want to do!

So...sound off- is there anybody else out there who would like to see CJ increase the archaic and outdated 20 frame loop limit in AGS? Please post a reply here!

Thanks a million,
Ben

OK, I've been banging my head against the wall with this, maybe someone else with madder skills can help me. I need to move a car along the middle lane of this street:



Now, because of perspective, it obviously needs to move faster the closer it gets...

I have the animation for the car so it perspective corrects and looks cool, but just moving it as an object, you can't move it any slower than 1 pixel per game cycle, which translates into the car SHOOTING 48 pixels a second down the road. It looks really stupid to say the least...

So, I need to figure out a way to get the car to move realistically, slower in the distance and faster as it closes.

is there a way to make a function that would do this? Ideally, I want to have multiple cars running down this street, all three lanes, so having a function that I could call would be the best way to do it, but it is kinda beyond me at this point...

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

At CJ's suggestion, I'm posting about a problem I'm having to see if anyone else is having it too. I want to be able to do screen transitions by having the "camera" actually pan quickly from one point to another, seamlessly changing the rooms. For instance, in Prodigal 2 I have a bookstore you visit early on. I want to make each isle of the bookstore its own room, and have the main character walk along the end of them, with the camera panning quickly to the next AGS room.

I can't do this with a fullscreen object, because it obscures the characters in the room.

What I'm finding is that 4 frames just isn't enough and looks too jerky and goes by too quickly to have a good effect. I'm wondering if anyone else thinks that the 5 frame animation limit is too few?

If there is anyone else who would like to see CJ put more frames into the background animation, please sign in here. He said if he knows there is a demand for it, he will "up" it on his list of things to do.

Thanks,
Ben

Geeze. I finally am sitting down to begin coding again after a year and a half...and AGS feels like a foreign language to me!  :

...Some things have changed in AGS' newest version, I see. I always have made my intro and cutscene rooms start at room 300...yet when I'm doing that in AGS 2.72 it calls it a "non-state saving" room AND an "Extra non state saving room..." What in the world? I understand what non state saving is, but what is an EXTRA non state saving room?

Further, what are the ranges for these new rooms? I looked over the manual a bit and didn't see this info...

Also, does AGS still have problems with alignment of sprites on 640x400 games? (e.g. you can only align every other pixel, 320x200...so if your sprite needs to go in on an odd pixel, you have to enlarge the sprite...)

Thanksya fer yer help,
Ben

I'm sorry if this is a repeat thread, but I didn't see another thread mentioning this.

I used AGS 2.62 for Prodigal, and this is the first time I'm coding with the new command structure introduced in AGS 2.7. I haven't learned all of the new commands yet, so I NEED the context sensitive drop downs when I'm working on a script...but they don't always work! ARGH! This is really driving me nuts, because it makes something that would normally take me 2 seconds take 5 minutes as I then have to go into the help files and figure out what the command is. What is going on with this? Is this a bug, and if so is there a work around?

(It doesn't always happen, but every time I enter a script, it is a dice roll as to whether or not it'll work. Even if it worked in the SAME script 3 minutes ago, it may not work.)

Any help would save my sanity,
Trisk

I'm porting Prodigal over to AGS 2.71 RC3. In my testing of it, I noticed a small, easily fixed bug involving the legacy code. I thought I'd note it here in case anyone else has legacy code in their games.

I started Prodigal on AGS 2.62, so the first half or so of the game has all the old style AGS coding in it. While this wasn't a problem with AGS 2.7, 2.71 RC3 has a bug with legacy code in relation to:

SetCharacterProperty (EGO, CHAR_IGNORESCALING, 1);

This USED to show Ego at 100% size, ignoring walkable area scaling. On AGS 2.71 RC3, however, it shows him as 50% size, for some reason...suddenly he was very, very itty-bitty.

Easy enough to fix, though...just replace with the new code:

cEgo.ManualScaling = true;
cEgo.Scaling = 100;

Just a quick note to any others who are porting up to 2.71 RC3.

Trisk

So...here I am...my project of 11 months, my baby, Prodigal, has been released. I've completed the course, I've run the race. The game is out. It is pretty much bug free...(knock on wood.) I've announced it, and all is grand and stuff...

For the last 11 months I've been waiting for this day, and yet now that it is here, I'm realizing something else: for 11 months I've lived, walked, talked, ate and slept AGS. It was what I did to the exclusion of all my other hobbies. And now it is over...and I don't know what to do with myself!!! ARGH!!!

So now I've got to try and remember my old hobbies. Things like:

1.) Closing my eyes and running full tilt until I smash headlong into something.

2.) Stab needles through those little meaty webs inbetween your fingers.

3.) Sharpening ALL pencils in the house, even the mechanical ones.

4.) Trying hard to remember how to eat. (Where does the food go again?)

5.) Sitting. Alone. In a chair. Alone. Bored. Crying. Alone.

6.) Learning how to live without "Mystery Science Theater 3000" playing CONSTANTLY in the DVD player. Seriously, every time I worked on Prodigal, MST3K was there.

7.) Doing laundry. (So THAT'S where that Gouda smell was coming from!)

8.) Stumbling clumsily into the light of the so called "Real World" and trying to shield my pasty, AGS coding skin from its horribly positive effects. Bonus points if women DON'T run screaming at the sight of me!

9.) Standing dully under a stream of pee-warm while rubbing sticks of scented fat and lye over myself in a strange pagan ritual called "showering."

10.) Underpants: your friend.

Even with all these ideas, I'll probably end up like all the other out of work AGS coders: a homeless bum lying in the gutter with a broken mouse clutched in one hand, and an empty bottle wrapped in brown paper clutched lovingly in the other...dreaming up sequel ideas.

Trisk

prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com

(Got any ideas to add to my list?)

Prodigal is finally out! Get your horror/thriller fix today! Turn down the lights, crank up the volume, and download from the AGS webpage in the "Full length games" section,Ã,  This link right here.

Filled with FMV, a sterio .mp3 soundtrack of spooky music and sound, character art by the soon-to-be-legendary Edgar Rocha, an epic story spanning centuries, and 3D rendered art by yours truly, Prodigal is a game like no other!

If you enjoy it, spread the word!

And let me know what you think!

real_trisk[at]yahoo[dot]com

Trisk

Hey everyone, can I get your opinion? I'm near release for my game, and Steve Mccrea just pointed out that rar files are quite a bit smaller than zip files. I've always known this, but I've always avoided rar figuring that alot of people don't have the ability to uncompress it.

Am I wrong to think that? Have any of you ever released a rar file, and if so, did alot of people not know what to do with it?


for example:
I just compressed all the Prodigal game data, minus the music.vox file, and with Kzip I got a 42 meg file...but compressing the same files with Winrar yielded a much smaller 31 meg file! This would save alot for the people who are still on a modem! (like me)

I have a room where I want to tint Ego. However, he is animated, so I do a lockview and then run an animation cycle. He remains tinted while on his normal view, but when the lockview is called, he is suddenly full bright and untinted. I have tested with a reduced light level, and the same thing happens.

I even tried changing his main view instead of doing the lockview, but as soon as his animation starts, the same thing happens.

Is this a bug in AGS, I'm guessing, so there is nothing I can do about it?

Trisk

Hey guys! This is pretty much a stock GUI I found on a tutorial webpage somewhere, but it doesn't work at all. The game just crashes when you try to save...stating problems in the code lines...then "Error: DeleteSprite" or something of that nature. The problem is, it doesn't display it all the time, sometimes it works...And if you try to save over a game you already made, it will act like it worked, but won't save at all! It also won't display the confirmation GUI...guh, this tutorial is so bad it makes my head hurt...and it was the better one I could find...

If there is a better tutorial out there for making your own save/load GUIs, could anyone turn me on to it? I got this one off of

http://www.twin-design.com/agsezine/9/tutorial.cfm

So without further ado, here is the code:

Code: ags

function sgs_getslots() {

  int i = 1; //Loop counter starts at 1

  while (i <= 6) {

    if (GetSaveSlotDescription(i, sgs_struct[i].t)) { //Slot exists

      sgs_struct[i].spr=LoadSaveSlotScreenshot(i, SGS_WIDTH,  SGS_HEIGHT);

    }

    else { //There is no saved game for this slot

      StrCopy(sgs_struct[i].t, ""); //Blank description

      sgs_struct[i].spr=SGS_EMPTY_SPRITE;

    }

    

    SetLabelText(SAVELOAD, 6+i, sgs_struct[i].t); //Set GUI label to description

    SetLabelColor(SAVELOAD, 6+i, SGS_LABEL_COLOR); //Set GUI label color

    SetButtonPic(SAVELOAD, i, 1, sgs_struct[i].spr); //Set button to have screenshot pic

    i=i+1; //next slot

  }

  //Get current game ss, too

  Wait(1); //make sure the screen is updated

  SaveGameSlot(100, "temp"); //Save current game in temp slot

  sgs_struct[0].spr=LoadSaveSlotScreenshot(100, SGS_WIDTH,  SGS_HEIGHT); //load up screenshot

  DeleteSaveSlot(100); //Delete tomporary slot

}

 

function sgs_close() { //This cleans out sprite cache and eliminates memory leaks

  int i=0;

  GUIOff(SAVELOAD);

  SetDefaultCursor(); //restores cursor back to how it was

  while (i <= 6) {

    if (sgs_struct[i].spr != SGS_EMPTY_SPRITE) {

      DeleteSprite(sgs_struct[i].spr);

    }

    i=i+1;

  }

  sgs_saveload=0;

}

 

 

function sgs_do_save() {

  sgs_close(); // Close the GUI

  Wait(1); //Make sure the screen is updated without the GUI

  SaveGameSlot(sgs_selected_slot, sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t);

}

 

 

function sgs_check_do_save() {

  if (sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].spr != SGS_EMPTY_SPRITE) { //already a game there

    sgs_saveload=3; //Record that we are in the "confirm" state

    CentreGUI(CONFIRM);

    GUIOn(CONFIRM);

  }

  else {

    sgs_do_save();

  }

}

 

function sgs_save() {

  SetLabelText(SAVELOAD, 0, "Save Game");

  sgs_saveload = 1; //changing this int to 1 means save game.

  sgs_selected_slot = -1; //Make the currently selected slot "none."

  sgs_getslots(); //call another function to get screenshots loaded

  CentreGUI(SAVELOAD);

  GUIOn(SAVELOAD);

  SetMouseCursor(6); //Use the pointer cursor

}

 

function sgs_load() {

  SetLabelText(SAVELOAD, 0, "Load Game");

  

  sgs_saveload = 2; //changing the int to 2 means load game.

  sgs_selected_slot = -1; //Make the currently selected slot "none."

  sgs_getslots(); //call another function to get screenshots loaded

  CentreGUI(SAVELOAD);

  GUIOn(SAVELOAD);

  SetMouseCursor(6); //pointer cursor

}

 

function sgs_interface_click (int button) {

  int labl; //loop variable

  

  if (sgs_saveload == 3) { //CONFIRM dialog

    GUIOff(CONFIRM); //turn off GUI either way

    sgs_saveload=2; //Back to save state

    if (button == 1) { //OK

      sgs_do_save();

    } //else Cancel, so do nothing

  }

  else { //SAVELOAD dialog

    if ((button == 14) || ((button == 13) && (sgs_selected_slot < 0))) { //Cancel or OK with nothing selected

      sgs_close();

    }

    

    else if (button == 13) { //OK

      if (sgs_saveload == 1) {//SAVE the game

        sgs_check_do_save();

      }

      else { //LOAD

        sgs_close();

        RestoreGameSlot(sgs_selected_slot);

      }

    }

    else if ((button <= 6) && ((sgs_saveload == 1) || (sgs_struct[button].spr != SGS_EMPTY_SPRITE))) {

      if (sgs_saveload == 1) { //SAVE

        if (sgs_selected_slot > 0) { //If a different slot was already selected

          SetButtonPic(SAVELOAD, sgs_selected_slot, 1, sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].spr); //Set the old slot back to its saved picture

          if (GetSaveSlotDescription(sgs_selected_slot, sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t) == 0) { //Get the old slot description back, too.

            StrCopy(sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t, ""); //If there is no description, use and empty string

          }

          SetLabelText(SAVELOAD, 6+sgs_selected_slot, sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t); //Set the GUI label to the old description

        }

        SetButtonPic(SAVELOAD, button, 1, sgs_struct[0].spr); //change selected button to have current game screenshot

      }

      

      sgs_selected_slot = button;

      WaitMouseKey(20); //check for double-click

      if (IsButtonDown(LEFT)) { //Double-click

        if (sgs_saveload == 1) { //Save

          sgs_check_do_save(); //causes a save immediately

        }

        else {

          sgs_close();

          RestoreGameSlot(sgs_selected_slot);

        }

      }

      

      //We now highlight the selected slot by setting it's corresponding label color

      

      labl = 1;

      while (labl <= 6) {

        SetLabelColor(SAVELOAD, 6+labl, SGS_LABEL_COLOR); //whatever I said it was

        labl=labl+1;

      }

      SetLabelColor(SAVELOAD, 6+button, SGS_SELECT_COLOR); //again, whatever I said it was

    }

  }

}

 

 

 

 

function sgs_on_key_press(int keycode) {

  int len;

  if ((sgs_saveload == 1) && (sgs_selected_slot > 0)) {

    //only run this code on condition:

    //a) doing a SAVE (sgs_saveload == 1)

    //b) a save slot IS selected (sgs_selected_slot > 0)

    len = StrLen(sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t); // Get the current length of the slot description

    

    if ((keycode == 8) && (len>0)) { //Delete key pressed and there is something to delete

      StrSetCharAt(sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t, len-1, 0); //Erase current character

    }

    if (keycode == 13) { //ENTER is pressed

      sgs_check_do_save();

    }

    if ((keycode >= ' ') && (keycode < 127) && (len < 18)) { //Normal character

    //add this character on end of string:

      StrFormat(sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t, "%s%c", sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t, keycode);

      sgs_flash=0; // This will force an update of the label

    }

  }

}

 

function sgs_repeatedly_execute() {

  string sgs_desc;

  //Save dialog typing flashing cursor

  if ((sgs_saveload == 1) && (sgs_selected_slot > 0)) {

    if (sgs_flash == 0) { //When flash count is zero, display text with cursor

      StrCopy(sgs_desc, sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t); //Copy actual text

      StrCat(sgs_desc, "*"); //and add "*" for cursor

      sgs_flash = 20; //set flash countdown

      SetLabelText(SAVELOAD, 6+sgs_selected_slot, sgs_desc);

    }

    else {

      sgs_flash = sgs_flash - 1; //decrease count

    }

    if (sgs_flash == 10) { //When flash count is ten, display text without cursor

      SetLabelText(SAVELOAD, 6+sgs_selected_slot, sgs_struct[sgs_selected_slot].t);

    }

  }

}

Any thoughts?

Edit by strazer: [ code ]yfied.

Hey everyone! I'm pleased to announce the release of Prodigal 0! This is not a demo, but a TANGENTIAL story relating to Prodigal! In addition, those of you who've played this will know more about the story of Prodigal than those who don't!

This is a great way to see what the world of Prodigal has in store for you, without having to spoil any of the game's cool surprises! As such, it is a short game, 5-10 minutes of play...but it'll give you a great example of what the game will be like when it releases later this year!

Head over to
http://prodigal.lilgryphmaster.com/index.htm

And click on Download today!

I'm starting to get close to a release of my game, Prodigal. As such, I'm beginning to ponder several problems, one of which I have no solution for. First, how do I get my game noticed by the general AGS game playing community? Having never released something before, I have very little street cred in the AGS world...something which I can understand. These forums are FILLED with people who haven't ever made an AGS game...as, apparently, is the #AGS irc channel. 

So my solution to this was to make a second game, a short game called Prodigal 0, who's story ties INTO my main game, Prodigal, but is ultimately tangential to the actual storyline. That means it isn't a demo, it is its own creation. But it will fill in a couple of blanks when you play Prodigal, because you'll go "hey, that event happened in Prodigal 0!"

Great so far! So I build the minigame...3 screens, 1 puzzle, and a taste of what's in store for Prodigal...and then I hit my second, larger, problem.

I have no webspace, and 0 knowledge of how to build one. I know there is a list of free servers over in the "games in production" forum, but most of them are pretty poor, and again, I have no knowledge of how to utilize them...and I don't know anyone who does. What can I do? Well...I can turn to the AGS community and see if someone would be willing to put my game up in their webspace. WAIT! I have no street cred! Nobody who can do that will help me! ARGH! I'm caught in a loop!

So I'm kind of stuck, here. I can't get credibility without releasing something, and I can't get help releasing something because I have no credibility! Help!

So I guess what I'm asking, therefore, is how do I get out of this circle? Is there some kind AGS soul who will trust the new guy enough to play through my alpha and see if they are willing to help me host this game? If nothing else, you'll get to try a new AGS game before it comes out...and you might even enjoy doing it, too!

Otherwise, how am I ever going to get people to believe that I'm not just another guy who has a great idea and does nothing with it?

Thank you for listening to my rant-o'-frustration-and-plea-for-help,
Trisk

I'm confused again.Ã,  : I think this must again be easy but I don't get what I'm doing wrong. For my intro cutscene, I don't want the player to be able to click through the text. I've got alot of sound, music, and animation timed to the time it takes text to dissappear on its own.

the first thing I tried was passing a DisableInterface() and EnableInterface()Ã,  in the script. Didn't work. I could still click through every bit of text. Is this a bug? It seems from the help file like this command SHOULD be the one to use...but it doesn't do anything.

Then I found the SetSkipSpeech(2) option, which works great for the speech text, but I can still click through the naration text boxes.

I suppose I can live with just using SetSkipSpeech, because most stuff is timed to speech, but I'd sure like to just cleanly disable the interface... I've looked over the BFAQ and help files, as well as searching the forums, but I haven't had any luck...

Any ideas would be really appreciated!
Trisk

Hey guys, we've been brainstorming on a list of apt names for our game, which was up until now called "Realm of Darkness." It is time it got its final moniker.

All of these fit in one way or another to the plot. So what grabs you the most? When considering, note that this is a horror/thriller style game...so I want a name that sounds both highly intriguing and a little macabre. Feel free to suggest something along these lines if you think it sounds cool...

So what name grabs you the best?

Realm of Darkness (The old working title.)
Dominion of Obscurity
Dominion of Shadows
Circle of Darkness
Ring of Darkness
Ring of Shadows
Ring of Obscurity
Cycle of Darkness
The Last Stand of Darkness
The Cycle Remaining
The Cycle Lingering
Bastion of Sanity
Darkness Unending
Chains of Darkness
Liberation from Darkness
Chains and Liberation
The Chains of Liberation
The Agony of Liberation
The Symptom of Agony

Let me know what you all think! I'll really appreciate it!

laters,
Trisk

I'm sorry if this is repeating something there is already a solution for, but I've looked everywhere in the BFAQ and in the AGS help file, as well as searching in the forums, but I can't find a solution to this madeningly simple problem.

I'm using the custom inventory GUI, and I haven't really made any modifications to it yet. At several points in my game, I have the player combining several items to create a different item. I use a simple script to do this. At the end of the script, I use an AddInventory command and two LoseInventory commands. Viola, items combined.

The problem is, when I LoseInventory the item that WAS the mouse cursor, the cursor changes to the WALK icon, and you can't interact with the inventory any more until you click on the arrow button. There has to be a way to stop AGS from doing this? Why would it ever change to walk in the inventory?

I suppose in the script I could just manually return the mouse cursor to an arrow, but I'd have to add that code into EVERY combination script, which seems really inefficient to me...

Any help would be awesome!
Trisk

Hey artistic type guys! I'm having a TON of trouble drawing this character's eyes. I'm doing the animations in the SIERRA style, so they need to look like something Sierra would've done. I've tried EVERYthing I can think of to make pudge-ums' eyes look decent...but I'm still not happy with this. If anyone could make a suggestion, or better, fix them up for me...I'd REALLY appreciate it.



Note the skin tone pallette is limited to the colors you see on him, both on his face and hands. This is a 256 color game. :b

I don't know how to make the image display double size...sorry 'bout how small it is. Import it into your favorite graphics editor to get a good look at it.

Thanks a ton!

Trisk

Hey! I'm trying to really make this intro special and unique, so I want it to really get the player intrigued. Can you read through this and tell me if this interests you to find out what happens next? Thoughts, opinions, and questions are welcome, though I may not answer if it violates the carefully guarded secrets of the story... ;b

---------------
Jacob, the main character, gets a call from his brother. They haven't talking in years...in fact, they haven't talked since their parents died. Jacob had been out of the country researching a book, and Mike took all the inheritance and ran off with it.

So when Mike calls, and what's more sounds scared, Jacob is more than a little stunned. Mike asks to meet with him, and hangs up suddenly. Jacob is unsure, as he is still very angry with Mike, but he also loves his little brother and decides to go.

Mike is somewhat incoherent at the meeting, talking about a religious order that he's become involved with. He makes Jacob promise to come looking for him if he should dissappear, then hands him a golden amulet of some sort. Jacob gets upset at Mike's continued evasions to his questions, and storms off.

A few weeks later, the police contact Jacob and tell him they found Mike's car abandoned on a remote section of road near a thick forest. There are no clues whatsoever reguarding the reason for it being there, or Mike's whereabouts. Jacob remembers what Mike told him, about needing Jacob to come after him if anything should happen. A bit nervous himself, Jacob heads to the place where the police found the car.

At first, he finds nothing, just as the police found nothing. But as night falls, he can make out a light twinkling through the trees. Somehow, he knows this must have something to do with what happened to Mike...it is just strange that the police didn't mention it didn't they know about it? Jacob strikes off into the forest and the game begins...
---------------

A word about Jacob: He is a writer, an author of history books. Not very popular history books mind you, so he is sort of a starving artist. He is somewhat short, a fact that Mike, his younger (and taller) brother used to tease him about mercilessly. He is engaged to be married in a couple of months, and is hoping to escape the tragedies of his past. This entire situation has dredged up alot of bad memories for him, and will create its own share of bad memories too, before the story ends.

Let me know how it all strikes ya!
Trisk