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Sorry, I spelt 'Belleville' wrong. I just thought the stances of the triplettes might be useful to you:

http://i.imdb.com/mptv1.gif

As for the trousers, the way they billow out is good, but I think the hips may be a little too narrow. I think his hips should be wider in the back view than they are in the side view.

That's a great theme for a comic strip. Apologies in advance:

It was a very good humoured and camp way of saying that, but I agree.

In essense there were only two songs in the contest, Lordi's and everybody elses. Every other entry was identical. As far as music goes I don't think Lordi are much better than the rest of the blondepop.

The evident embarrasment of the hosts was evidence that Lordi, though they may not be greatly transgressive, were just different enough.

[HIDDEN IN HIS PAINTINGS!]

I've just become profoundly stuck playing Sherlock Holmes and the case of the Silver Earring and it's started me to thinking about the importance of puzzle integration. (Apologies for the lengthy post, but I'm fueled by 'that-puzzle-was-ludicrous' energy.)

I don't think I'll give too much of the game away by describing the set up of the puzzle: I want to get into an inventor's safe. The safe has a model of Noah's ark on it.

In order to open it I need to lead a series of 8 animals into the ark. The clues I need to work out this order are hidden in a series paintings and a document I recieved by solving another one of the inventors puzzles.

Having read about 5 walkthroughs I am aware of the three problems I had with this puzzle:

1. I can't tell the difference between the developers' drawing of a bear, a pig and a gorilla.

2. Only 4 of the animals have to go in in a particular order, the others are arbitrary.

And most importantly:

3. No one, not even a 'wacky' inventor, would keep the combination of his safe HIDDEN IN HIS PAINTINGS!

The puzzle is un-motivated by it's surroundings. A brilliant inventor would surely be aware that just not telling anyone the code to a combination lock is safer than hiding the solution about his house.

Likewise, locking a door with a key, and then not losing it is the best way of keeping a door locked. That's why very few of us lock our houses with complex coded key pads, levers or arrangements of crystals.

The bit I'm finding tricky is how to integrate obstacles and puzzles into a game in such a way that they are motivated by character, plot and story. I think this is crucial, and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on the matter.

This looks handy. I anticipate many more planometric RPGs!

Is planometric a real word?

I like this character, you've got the teenage s-shape almost right, but the knees could come further forward. Look at the way the Triplets de Belville walk, their skeletons were based on the relaxed slump of black basketball players. I also think the shoulders should  move along with the head-bob.

The shoulders are a bit too low in the back view, so you've lost the sense of the hunch. I also think the arms are a little too straight, the look rigid rather than floppy.

The reason for this?Ã,  As ManiacMatt says, their names are repeated all the frigging time!Ã,  You can't talk to anyone in Syberia without someone saying "Hello, Kate Walker!" or "Thank you, Kate Walker!" or "Blah blah, Kate Walker!"Ã,  That name stuck in my head, but for the wrong reasons.

I loved all the "Hello, Kate Walker " business. The phrase drifts into my head from time to time and makes me feel like crying. But that's easy to do, I'm pretty wimpy.

I think the bottom should wiggle and it should just drift, like a gelatinous Morticia Addams.

My opinion of Europe as a whole was raised significantly last night. The UK entry was awful though: cockneys dressed as schoolgirls. Ugh...

Also the line: "The teachers ask you, 'what did you learn in school today?'". Makes no sense. The teachers were probably there. Teaching.

I think names can be extremely important. Though the accidental origins of 'guybrush' are well known, it's still a distinctive name. It's slightly awkward but likeable. Like all the best names, it gives you a little bit of the character.

I named my character with the intent to have his initials be a sexual innuendo.

Months of wondering... brought to an end.

As far as I understood, Ali's comic was about Schrödinger's cat.

Before this gets locked I want to point out that my comic wasn't about Schrödinger's cat. I wish it had been, I love that little kitty.

Congratulations Anym!

I don't think it's fair, as tempting as it may be, to do td down because of his odd English. My Russian ain't up to much.

I don't understand where this theme is go...? Of cause i respect AGS and creator of this engine but no one serious publisher will not take the game with 640x480 res.

Perhaps serious publishers don't know everything. Why must your game be commercial? How much money is there in the commercial adventure game trade any way?

Free doesn't mean low quality. If you're good with lightwave, why not make an 800x600 game with stylistically amazing but not-as-high-res-as-you'd-like graphics. I have no idea whether a calling-card like that would help you get into the industry, but it would be an achievement either way.

In all fairness, I have seen the burden describe as "the heavens", as well as "the sky and the earth". I believe the world is a little easier to represent visually.

Slander is spoken, not written.

That's fair, though I could claim I imagined you dictating. At least I was right about:  'independent adventure developers = sticklers for accuracy'.

Sorry for cluttering up your thread with my semi-researched assertions. The new site looks better than a doughnut on a cake.

- Ali.

I don't see that AGS being commercial would necessarily equal higher respolutions. CJ would probably just use the money to make Christopia a reality.

I think AGs could do with higher resolutions, but most users of AGS wouldn't benefit from it. If more people started using pre-rendered 3D backdrops then hi-res might become more of a possibility, but I'd rather see other nifty features appear sooner.

Anyway, the most graphically brilliant adventure game in history (CMI) was 640x480 and 256 colours.

This looks great, it has a really 'twin peaks' feel to the graphics.

I'm looking forward to this, good luck!

This site looks great, but since I know:

independant adventure developers = sticklers for accuracy

I thought I'd ask about the explanation of your logo. I don't think Atlas did hold up the world, he held up the sky. He only held up the globe on the cover of an Atlas.

Still, the sleek and shiny logo is too adorable to need to be accurate. I just thought you might want some kind of disclaimer. You know, you wouldn't want a titan after you for slander.

Seriously though, the site does look great. I look forward (as I'm sure does everyone else) to the Tutorial section filling up!

- Ali

What was the process of coloring images for CMI?
I've been trying to duplicate this image to test my coloring.
I can't figure out how there are so many areas with bunches of colors that don't even seem to go together.
One of those yellow knobs alone contains 50 colors.
Was this done by hand?
How were the outlines rendered without going outside the color palette?
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What is the process of creating a background and coloring it in this style while using a limited palette?
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I can't say for certain, but I'd guess that the backdrops for CMI weren't painted with a limited pallete. I imagine they'd have been produced with millions of colours and then limited to under 256 with dithering to keep gradients looking smooth.

is it generally frowned upon to essentially trace over, even though your art is technically original?

Lots of AGSers trace images. Prince of Persia used tracing. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs used tracing! Lots of people trace, I don't think you should worry about it.

I love the observation that we saved just before the adventure game died.

I believe that you were mis-advised on your In Production thread that this would be a good place to ask for someone to contribute artwork.

Instead of drawing you a car (because I'm bad at drawing cars too) I'd suggest you re-work the backdrop so that the road runs from left to right. Then the car would be much easier for you to draw, and your road wouldn't suddenly disappear on the horison.

I'll sign your constitution Andail. I'll sign my name so large that the King of England himself can see:

Ali.

Wait, what does our folk music sound like?

Simon and Garfunkel through a Midi Synthesiser.