Topics

[WHAT IS IT?!]

On a bet you spend the night in an old abandoned house rumored to be haunted... In the middle of the night you hear strange noises and feel the floor beneath you vibrating, ever-so-slightly. Never one to believe in the irrational you decide to seek answers.

During your investigation in the grand entry room you notice that one of the spindles on the banister doesn't seem to connect to the railing. You give it a tug. To your surprise the stairs begins to move! They seem to be sinking! The stairs continue to lower and reveal a hidden doorway! The stairs, now leading downwards towards the newly revealed door, stop moving and with a final creak, seem to settle in place. You walk down the stairs and with a final, hesitant breath, swing the door wide open.

In front of you is a massive complex, it reminds you of a hospital, or maybe the science laboratory your mother works at... You hear an intense rattling noise just ahead of you. Regaining your focus you remember why you were awoken in the middle of the night. Sheets of cloth cover many items in the room, sheathing possible noise makers from view. You decide to rip all of the sheets off and find out exactly what's causing strange noises. You walk to a nearby stainless steel table with a number of objects on it; you grab a corner of the sheet, take another hesitant breath and rip the sheet off!

You take a step backwards... There, on the table! It's... It's...



WHAT IS IT?!
You tell me! The object of this coloring ball is to render something that could exist in a creepy, subterranean science lab. Is it an instrument of science? An otherworldly creation? Maybe it's a visual non-sequitur! Who knows? You do... You do...

The Guidelines
1. No color restrictions (but I love clever usage of limited palettes.)
2. Rotation and scaling is fine as long as the "general shape" remains the same.
3. Due to the nature of how I created the outline there are several small peaks and valleys that can be ignored as long as the "general shape" of the outline is maintained.
4. Warping the outline is not allowed.
5. An explanation of your creation is not required but can help identify some of the more creative/obscure creations.

The Outline







P.S. Trophies will be made- but they are pending. I'm a busy bee these days. =D FTW!

Has anybody seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ATtrImCx4

Pretty interesting...

[Rules:]

For this Sprite Jam I want to see some famous faces! There are lots of reason you can be a celebrity, an incredible body of work, being a total dick, being related to somebody else whom is famous, they don't need to be a celebrity for any particular reason just sprite-i-tize somebody famous!

Rules:
  * Sprite must fit in a 320 x 200 resolution
  * Color Palette must be 16 Colors or less
  * Celebrity must be recognizable and well known (to be determined by the voters)
  * Bonus points if you do a full "in-game" mock-up
  * One entry per user, feel free to submit more than one entry but please clarify which one you would like to be judged.
  * BTW, there is no "period" from which you must select your celebrity. As long as they are well-known. Napoleon? Sure. Hitler? Go ahead. Mark McGrath? Hmmm- well I did say "celebrity" so he might be out... Brad Pitt? Yup. Amy Winehouse? You've got the hang of it now!
  * Entries must be submitted before 04/26/2010

Trophies will be posted on Wednesday when I get back home! YAYAYAYAY!

Good luck!

[Rules:]

Every great protagonist and every interesting antagonist have a lair. Maybe it's a Detectives Office, maybe it's a Throne Room, maybe it's a basement Laboratory. There is one place where they do their thinking, where they spend most of their creative time. Often we never get to see their lair.

For this Background Blitz I want you to give us a glimpse at the most intimate setting imaginable, the lair.



Rules: Think of a character, either existing or newly invented; I don't care whom it is. Then examine who that character is, what makes them who they are. I will be looking for details. Anyone can slap together four corners, an XBOX and a sofa; I want posters on the wall, do-dads on shelves I want to feel that this is a space in which someone lives, I want to feel that it is truly the base of operations. There is no restriction on the setting, colors, size, anything like that. You can interpret Superman Secret Control Center, a Drug Kingpins lavish bedroom suite, a fringe magician driven to madness by his work, squatting a giant clock tower, a home office for a single mom who happens to be telekinetic.  Whatever, pick a character or create a character and show me who they are, tell me their story by showing me the most private, comfortable and habited place in their life.

I will be considering "polish/technique" or how GOOD the image looks beneath "depth/usefulness" or how much detail and thought has gone into the image.



The contest will be running from whenever you read this until the 23rd of April.


Voting: Same as the last time, we will hold public voting after the contest has concluded and a majority vote will determine the winner! Here are the criteria for voting.

Idea - How strong and original is the concept? Is it a good response to the contest topic?
Technique - How well executed is the background as a piece of art within the chosen style?
Usefulness - How well would it work as an adventure game background, and how useful would the background be in a game?

See if you can figure out all of the games:

http://www.arcadeaid.com/challengingstage/quiz.htm


I only got 12... =' [

A few hooligans logged into AGS IRC Using MS Comic Chat 2.5 and the results were mildly hilarious. I'm still working on putting it all together but it starts like this:

UPDATE:

Okay, so I took the advice below and simplified the image (actually I just stole ProgZ redraw) and I started animating slowly and patiently... It turned out like crap. BUT, I felt like I gained alot of experience with animating. The thing that seemed to work best was to animate the outline, fill in values and then just do a color overlay on a new layer. The only thing really being animated then is the outline and it's just paint by numbers from there.

So in my pursuit of a realistic(ish) walkcycle I came up with a new gameplan. I took a video of me walking, and semi- rotoscoped. using the process I stumbled on I was able to animate this little guy in about 3 1/2 hour. I did do it double size and reduced so there is probably some cleanup in order but I wanted to get an outside opinion on it; after pouring over this guy for HOURS I would appreciate any criticisms.



UPDATE 2: For some reason, the GIF is stuttering on the last frame and it's making him look like he has a PIMP walk... It's actually smoother than that. And his head is missing...

UPDATE 3: Will work on trying to make his jacket seem "less stiff."

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ORIGINAL POST:

So typically I'll focus on characters before anything else, then I make the rest of the world around them. I've really been wanting to make a throw back to my favorite noir films, so I drew something in my sketchpad, brought it into photoshop and sprited it up. No problems so far.

Then, I tried to make a walkcycle and for probably the past week I've been pushing pixel after pixel and its all crap. Either I get a really wooden walk where the character looks good, or I get a semi-decent walk where it winds up being a 10 color affair and you really can't tell WTF is going on.  I'm really not an animator at heart so maybe i'm going about this the completely wrong way and this is entire feasible.

What i'm really looking for is ideas on how to simplify the character without losing the integrity of it visually. Essentially I want to avoid it looking "cartoony" and I just can't figure out how to do that either; simplify without going cartoony. Keep in mind that all I have for background are thumbnail sketches so there is really nothing to "fit it into."

         

So any tips/tricks on animating a detailed character, or any suggestions on a different art style I could switch to before I get in too deep?

What is a Photoshop Phursday?

Photoshopping isn't drawing a completely new image -- It's editing images to create a new image, such as editing one image or combining several images. The contest usually lasts for a million years. Also, you don't have to specifically use Photoshop -- Paint Shop Pro, MSPaint, Piestation Genesis or any other programs can be used. Please make sure your image doesn't exceed the width of the screen or the screen will fall off.

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This weeks  topic is:
"Where's Waldo?"

The object of this topic is to insert "Waldo" the famous adventurer into various scenes! Something fun easy and simple to get this competition back off the ground!

The person that places Waldo in the funniest/most awkward situation WINS!


Girls Gone Wild + Waldo = PARTY!



Deadline is the 25th of March(ish)

[There is NO time limit, for the song.There is NO format limit. As long as we can play the tune and grade it, you're good.There is NO reason to submit your piece anonymously. If you wish to do so, PM me a link to your piece and ensure that the place it is hosted at keeps you anonymous.Your entry MUST be submitted by, at latest, 11:59 P.M. EST (-5 GMT) on October 6th, 2008.]

Welcome to the n^th Annual Tune Contest. This time around I wanted to make sure that regardless of your instruments, style, or creative process-- everyone will be able to contribute. This means leaving the doors as wide open as possible, so:

There is NO time limit, for the song.

There is NO format limit. As long as we can play the tune and grade it, you're good.

There is NO reason to submit your piece anonymously. If you wish to do so, PM me a link to your piece and ensure that the place it is hosted at keeps you anonymous.

Your entry MUST be submitted by, at latest, 11:59 P.M. EST  (-5 GMT) on October 6^th, 2008.
_{Unless an extension is declared, of course.}


Without any further ado, allow me to present...

The Score

If you've ever seen a movie, you know how much the music effects each scene. It can make us feel scared, make a fight more intense, calm and soothe us, give a sense of scale, grandeur, wealth, and enhance any visual experience infinitely.

I want each submission to include a scene/scenario. It could be a fight you had with your girlfriend, a landscape pan in an epic western, a serious scene in comedic sitcom. Just post (or PM) the scene along with your song. Feel free to post the song first and feel free to post the scene first, or at the same time.... whichever.

It doesn't have to be a script, it doesn't have to be a novel, just something for us to visualize while listening to your piece. Just set up the scene that you're about to...

SCORE

Voting
Once every song is submitted there will be a period of voting, where I would like to ask everyone voting to vote based on these criteria:

1. Quality of the Scene: 1-2-3-4-5
2. Quality of the Song: 1-2-3-4-5
3. Quality of the Product: 1-2-3-4-5
4. Over-all Score: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

1.  Rate the scene described on it's originality, it's vividness, it's power. Whatever you like. Just rate it on a scale of one to five. Five being the best end of the scale and one being the worst end of the scale.

2. Ignoring the scene, rate the song on how well it sounds, how well you connect with it, its imagery, its flow. Rate the song, like the scene, on a scale of one to five.

3. This score will reflect how well the song relates to the scene. If it's a touching scene between a father and his three year old daughter after his wife has just died and you don't really think the heavy metal blaring fits it very well (even if the song is very well executed) then give the over all product [the song and scene, together] a low score... unless, of course, the father and daughter just gunned down all the doctors because they poisoned his wife, they I will question why it doesn't fit in your mind...

4. Taking into account your previous scores and the way the other songs rate in your mind, assign a number one through ten. One being the low end and ten being the higher end. The difference between this score and #3 is that in #3 you are simply rating how well the song matches the scene, this score is the be-all-end all, how you feel about EVERYTHING. Theme, Tone, Pace, Connection, Imagery, Instrument use and everything else.

I am asking you to rate EVERY song in this manner. Once the voting process is finished I will tally the scores.

Example Voter One, #1+#2+#3+#4=X    X/4= Average Score One
Example Voter Two, #1+#2+#3+#4=X    X/4= Average Score Two
Example Voter Three, #1+#2+#3+#4=X    X/4= Average Score Three

Avg. One + Avg. Two + Avg. Three = Y      Y/3= Song Score


People that submit songs can vote, they cannot score their own songs, however.

Any questions?!

UPDATE 5/30/2008:

With less than one month to produce a game in order to qualify, we must decide on a game concept. Please choose one of the already listed unless you have a very original and viable game concept. VOTE NOW!

Voting ends 1:00 A.M. May 2nd, GMT!




Adventure Developers (www.adventuredevelopers.com) has started having contest. There are currently two contest, one for design, and one for art. The design contest is open to all engines and systems.

So, without any further ado; let's get started.

The two main goals thsi thread is going acomplish is to nail down a direction for the game, and more importantly get a list of contributors going, as well as a core directional team.

I'm just going to go off the top of my head as to what positions we need to fill.

--Story Director(s)/Writer(s)
--- Will be required to take the concepts the team agrees on and create a dynamic
---engaging storyline, dialogue, character arc and plot.

--Artistic Character Lead
--- Will be in charge of designing and "painting" the characters involved in the story.

--Artistic Background Lead
--- Will be in charge of deisgning and "painting" the barkgrounds to be used in the game.

--Artistic Animation Lead
--- Will be in charge of animating the characters and objects created for use in the game.

--Music Director
--- Will be in charge of the musical style and the creation or acquisition of music for the game.

--Scripting/Code Lead
--- Will be in charge of compiling all components into a functioning game.


Whether a Lead or a Director, does the work himself or gets help from others is entirely up to the the team and him/her. As far as I can recall, that's the list. Any shakers and movers out there have some words to share?

[[Here is where some people get lost. Essentially Mike realizes that he is a pawn being used by YOU the player. He accepts and embraces this concept and ideally throughout the course of any further games, the player will be able to interact directly with Mike, making him(the avatar) another tool that the player can/will use to solve puzzles.]]

Here's how I formatted this. There is a top half and a bottom half, the dividing line is the red outlined and bolded text. The top half is "Pitch Script" look at game I've begun to create. I am posting it here for story suggestions, Things that seem glaringly bad, etc... Reading the top half is going to vaguely walk you through the Plot, Events and Scenes in this game. Before you read the top half I would like to point out that the purpose of this game is to determine whether a series based in this universe would be compelling and feasible. It's not too ambitious but it's no cake-walk either.

The second half is going to be a more detailed walk through. As I have written and rewritten scenes I have already begun to think of cutscenes, dialog, puzzles and etc... that would fit. If you would like to tell me what you think of m ideas, let me know.

Secondary to having the material I am revealing be criticized, I am also interested in having the community help me to develop what they feel is an entertaining and compelling universe for these characters to inhabit. NOW, before you begin reading the plot I am going to try and explain the world at large, so far.

SETTING:
     In this world, the unusual is the usual. Mankind lives in harmony in a modern, if not advanced human society. Humankind, as far back as can be remembered, has evolved to tap into our latent genetic resources buried within our DNA; effectively granting the majority of the population with a menagerie of "powers" and abilities. These abilities range from as superb of endowments as being able to fly, down to reasonably mundane abilities such as having the telekinetic capacity to alter the hue and shade of the pigment yellow on/in any physical object.
     With no wars and no critical or terminal illnesses and ailments, low crime rates, and a booming united global economy; It would appear that Utopia exists here and now, but no gem is flawless.
     Enter; Our protagonist, Mike, is one of the few unlucky people to have inherited recessive genes from his parents, rendering him quite powerless, or so he believes.



GAME PREMISE/PLOT:

Mike is working at (a dead end job.) Mike is wholly disenchanted with his job and the current possible futures open for him to pursue. Frustrated, Mike begins slacking at his job; his superiors notice the productivity drop and decide to let Mike go.

Mikes two longtime friends and roommates have squandered their "earnings" and it just so happens that they were counting on his paycheck to cover the payment of a "LONG overdue utilities bill." Faced with the need to earn $83.62 before the check they(Mikes Roommates) already sent as payment resolves making their bank account negative (subsequently shutting off virtually EVERYTHING in the house;) the three friends go their separate ways to try and earn the money.

The clock starts ticking.

Mike enrolls in a medical study which is promising to pay $200 cash to any applicants that meet the requirements necessary to participate in the study. Hoping he'll pass the requirements to get into the study, Mike signs the waiver.

During the screening, Mike is given a series of acuity tests (cognizant, physical, stress, pain-tolerance, etc...) Finally, Mike is asked to wait in the lobby. Mike waits until he is called. He is given $200 cash and is told that, "The Company will be in contact with you."

Mike rushes to the bank, tries to figure out how to deposit the cash into his bank account and... the clock stops, the utilities are paid. Mike drives home and goes to bed.
*Window Shatters*
*Lava Lamp Shatters, blooming into a flower of blue, and acid green before the filament snaps*
*Darkness*
We hear shouts of "Ow! Hot!" Followed by a scuffle and ultimately a loud thump.
Then, Silence.

We fade in from black; Mike is strapped to a cold metal table, in a medical patients gown. Lucky for Mike he is able to slip free of his bindings. Trapped inside this foreign room, Mike must escape. Escape the room,  the facility, without being spotted by anybody he sees.

[Here is where some people get lost. Essentially Mike realizes that he is a pawn being used by YOU the player. He accepts and embraces this concept and ideally throughout the course of any further games, the player will be able to interact directly with Mike, making him(the avatar) another tool that the player can/will use to solve puzzles.]
In the process of escaping Mike discovers that, at times, he gets "compulsions." Usually these compulsions pan out for him in a positive way. In retrospect; Mike realizes that at every major conflict or crossroad in his life he has felt this "compelling force" guiding his actions. Throughout the game Mike has been surrounded by people doing "super human feats" while he himself does not seem to have any of these abilities. Mike decides that he DOES have a power, he can communicate with beings from another dimension! {a THIRD dimension?!} This enables him to break the forth wall and communicate directly with the player and ask for/give help to  the player explicitly.

Following his escape, Mike makes his way home, it's the only place he knows to go, and Part (1) is over.


{This game is to set up the world/universe, and demo the style of this game world. Also it is to develop a repeatable process to produce content for a possible series.}

I will post more specific details in an Edit, most of the details will hopefully make it into the final product so unless you are interested in giving suggestions or constructive criticisms, please do not read further so you don't spoil your experience with the finished product.


This is that "bottom half" I was talking about.I'm going to block out scenes in greater detail than above. I am doing this for several reasons, one of which is to involve my adventure gaming peers to help me develop something of quality, so feel free to leave thoughts/additions/dialog/puzzles/comments/revisions, etc...  If you do not wish to have the game spoiled in any way, do not read the following.


CUTSCENE 1
We see the outside, font of a small house in suburbia. Birds are chirping, it's sunny. *BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP* a home smoke detector is ringing.

The screen is black for a moment. Now we see a close up of Mike, his head on a pillow. His eyes flutter open. We cut to a full view of his bedroom, the alarm goes off. Groggy, Mike stands up.

Scene 1
Mike is standing in his bedroom. Visible is a bed against the right corner, a window above it on the wall to the right. Next to the right corner is the door to Mikes bedroom, a dresser with clothes hanging out of the partially open drawers is visible in the bottom right of the screen.

*the player may interact with objects in the room, this could be a good spot for a tutorial, perhaps this could be where he picks up an item that he won't use until near the end of the game*

Once Mike clicks on his bedroom door he is taken to a hallway. There is a door directly in front of him, it leads to "Flambé 's" room. To the right is another door, this leads to the bathroom. The player may explore both of these areas. To re-enter his own bedroom, there is a welcome mat the player may click on. The hall way continues to the left.

As the player walks to the left the screen pans. Mike is now walking by a connected kitchen. There is a fridge on the right side, nestled between some counters cluttered with garbage. There is a sink slightly off center to the right, at the back wall of the kitchen. There is a stove on the far left wall. Flambé is in the kitchen throwing bacon in the air, tossing fire at it, then watching it fall into an very large pile of cooked bacon on the counter*This would probably be a looped animation*. The ceiling looks scorched. Mike may interact with some objects here, as well as Flambé. he hallway continues to the left.

Mike is now in the living room. "Keggar" is on a couch, remote control in hand which he periodically clicks, facing the player. *By having him face the player that puts the television out of sight, saving me from having to animate a television, as well as offers a more engaging conversation with Keg* Mike can interact with some objects, including Keg. In the back right corner is a computer. The main part of the left half of the screen is Keg and the couch, though the front door is also visible on the far left wall.

After interacting with everything he can/wants to, the player will leave the house by interacting with the front door.

CUTSCENE 2
A small driving sequence as Mike heads to work.

*Ordinarily it would probably be best to NOT to a "traveling" cutscene, but with the length of the game in mind I think it might benefit from a small extension. It also speaks something to the dedication when a team puts a nice little touch like that, of good quality in a project*

Scene 2
*NOTE: This is the scene I need the most help at. This is the "Mike in the Workplace" scene. I sincerely want to establish how boring Mikes job is, or why he doesn't enjoy going to work everyday. However, if I make the workplace scene too non-entertaining, people will stop playing. At the same time, if I make it too engaging and interesting than they player probably won't understand Mikes boredom. I've considered dropping this scene, but it serves as a catalyst for the later events, plus it introduces Masinissa Perfututum, Mikes boss. A re-animated skeleton of a roman warlord whom will play a larger role in broader series. So the challenge is to illustrate a really lame work place, without being really lame.*

At some point during the workplace scene; Mikes boss, Masi, informs Mike that he is X down on his quota of (n.) This is the eighth time that Mike has been under quota and if he can't get two (n) by the end of his shift, he's fired.

*The puzzle/challenge that follows will be virtually if not impossible to win. It is necessary for Mike to lose his job*

Mike gets fired, or if the player does win, he quits.

Scene 3
Mike walks into the house through the front door. Keg is still on the couch, remote in hand. Flambé i also sitting on the couch, periodically stuffing a strip bacon into his mouth, front a large plate. The player may explore again, but there is nothing new, he will eventually talk to Flambé and Keg. Conversing with the two roommates, Mike reveals his lack of a job. The two roommates double take each other and proceed to have very coy and innocent dialog choices. It's obvious that something is amiss. With the proper prodding the pair breakdown into tears and confess; they've squandered their earnings and they've been hounded by the "Services Company" about a two month overdue bill.

*My composer suggested this dialog.
Mike: What could you possibly have spent that much money on!?
Keg: Haven't you noticed our new TV?
Flambé: Er- Bacon?*

The two were hoping to use Mikes paycheck to pay it off, Mike reveals that his bank account is empty. The utility bill includes Electricity, Water, Heat, Cable, Phone, Sanitary Services, some ludicrous and silly other services, and is apparently VERY important.

The three pool their remaining money together and come up $83.62 short. They have until 1 AM tomorrow to have that money in Mikes account. The three agree to split up and try to gather up some cash. Flambé and Keg, jump up and exit. *Now would be a great time to introduce a countdown timer* Mike, head in hands, plops on the couch to think for a moment. He turns on the TV and we hear: "Do you need money fast? Are you willing to submit your body to science?"

CUTSCENE 3
The screen becomes a simulated TV and a commercial airs encouraging anyone willing to help out in medical research to arrive promptly at 8PM to qualify for the study. Those that do qualify are given $200 cash due to the time dedication required.

Back to Mike on the couch "That's it!"

~Hard Cut~

We're in a very sterile and empty waiting room. A toady woman with red hair sits behind a small windowed counter tapping her nails. There is a plain gray door to her left on the wall. Mike enters, looks around quick then shrugs.

Scene 4
The player may explore th area, there is nothing or little to interact with besides the receptionist. Mike has a conversation with her and gets signed up for the screening, to see if he meets the requirements for the study. A woman in a nurse-like outfit enters through the gray door and issues a "follow me" to Mike. Mike follows he through the door.

Sub-Scenes 4
*the receptionist, in a bit of exposition, tells Mike that he will have to perform well in a series of tests in order to qualify and  thereby receive the money. After being led through the door the player must play through a series of mini games designed to evoke a specific aspect of ones keenness in various senses. (intelligence, physical, hand-to-eye coordination., stress, pain-tolerance, etc...)*

After passing all of the tests; we are back in the waiting room. The gray door opens, the nurse woman walks through, followed by Mike. She tells Mike to wait here until the results are conclusive.

CUTSCENE 4
Mike is sitting in a chair. Mike is sleeping in a chair. Mike is reading a magazine. Mike is laying in the chair, the magazine is on the floor. Mike is reading another magazine. Mike is doing push-ups. Mike is sitting in the chair, head on his chest with a small stack of magazines on the floor. *All the while, the possible countdown timer would be ticking.*

The receptionist says: "Sir... Sir... SIR."

Mike snaps up, looking at the receptionist, then stands up.

Scene 5
Mike may explore and interact with the waiting room, nothing has changed. After talking with the receptionist, he receives $200 Cash and is told that "The Company will be in contact with you very soon." Mike is free to explore again. Clicking on the main door allows him to leave.

Scene 6
Mike deposits the money

EDIT: To Be Continued, I'm getting carpal tunnel...