Messages

I wish I had all of my old computer games WITH packaging.  I think I've lost most of the boxes to mildew and flooding.

Well, you can't expect Bush to accept money from Chavez when, in the pledge announcement he called Bush some kind of vacationing playboy ( I forget the exact quote).  I mean, I would accept the money, but I don't imagine Bush would.  I doubt Bush will accept any money...after all, in his eyes, we're the country who donates money.  We're the rough & tough cowboy nation!  yee haw.

man, i despise that man.

Andail & SSH...my friends and I have been joking about the same thing.  But this time Bush won't be able to create a war to distract the American people from his incompetance.  Or maybe I'm giving the American people too much credit...

I've been meaning to post something about this.  I don't know if everyone in other countries is hearing about what is happening in New Orleans and Mississippi, but cities have literally been wiped off the map.  80% of the city of New Orleans is under water...not nice pool water...gasoline filled, corpse ridden disease infested water.  One of my best friends is from New Orleans, everyone in her family is now homeless.  Their businesses are destroyed.  Her mom and brother are driving up here to DC to live with her and her husband in a tiny one bedroom apartment.  Worst of all, there are thousands of people still trapped in New Orleans and can't get out.  The bridges out of the city have been destroyed.  They have a mini-city in the Superdome (a football stadium), but without water, bathrooms and food---and no clear presence of police/government/aid workers it's largely chaos.  The original evacuation "plan" created by the city depended on people having cars and their own transportation---guess what, a lot of poor people don't have cars or money to get out of the city.  So what you have is the impoverished, mainly African American residents of New Orleans trapped, left behind, homeless and in many cases--dying.

Sorry for the rant, but this is all quite upsetting.  I know it's not as bad as the Tsunami, but a tragedy is a tragedy. 

I'd really recommend reading that article by Ron Gilbert.  The risks are severe, and the cost of producing, distributing and advertising an adventure game are serious.  I personally think that it's possible to build interest in adventure games as a niche/retro market, but I also think it will take time.  I'd go with Chris and other people's advice---get a dedicated team together and make a commercial product.  If it sells...that's something you can show to investors. 

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't played any of these games.  I've got to start downloading them!

Sequel?  Naaaa.  I have thoughts for a prequel, staring Jorge and Brunhilda, the hired servants seen in the initial scene of the game (for whatever reason they live together as roomates, but neither speak the same language.)  But the chances are slim to nil that I'll ever make that. 

I do have a game design in the works for something entirely different...

Look looks good Farlander...I'm definitely going to play around with real skin tones.  That's a great starting pallete.  Thanks!

what is this pixelation website you speak of?

Me neither. 

Yeah, the boy I did very quickly and he needs much more work.  I actually need to make him look more depressed, sickly, and mentally handicapped.  Looking sickly is fine, I guess I could experiement with real skin tones though.  I just wouldn't know where to start.

I'm really happy to hear so many people like the game.  Keep the comments coming, I find them very helpful (both for future game designs and for self-esteem issues). 

InCreator: I'm glad you didn't let the first impressions get the best of you.  As for those nasty bugs and quick ending---I'm going to sit down tonight and fix the bugs and hopefully make some changes that will extend the end of the game.  I should have done this last week, but I needed a little time to detox after the mad rush to get it out there.

esper: My girlfriend actually told me that I should sell Emily Enough, but I didn't do it for two reasons: 1) As "professional"  as EE might seem to some, it's really lacking compared to most commercial products.  If I were to sell a game, I'd want to be damn sure that it didn't have bugs, and could rival some commercial adventure games.  I don't think EE can.  2) I don't want the responsibility that comes with a commercial game.  I just wanted to release the game and be done with it.  I don't want to have to make constant updates, pay for a server/website to host it, do all the formal things you need to do when owning a "business" etc. 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the encouragement and I might release future games as "commercial" products, but right now I just want the most number of people to play this without worrying about money.

Snarky: I'm sorry about the whole Ed Gein thing, yes of course Pete is based off him.  Perhaps I should have altered his back story a bit, but it just didn't seem like a big deal at the time.  As for it being funny...well, who said it's supposed to be funny?  Only a sicko would find that all funny...you sicko.   

Sorry I haven't written back, I've been out of town.

You think they have green faces?  Are you sure it's not just a trick of the eye because of the green background and green shirt? 

LJUBI: Like aussie said, working in higher res is very time consuming.  These low-res chars were made in a fraction of the time it took me to make just one character in EE.  As cool as higher resolutions look, it's just unmanagable for one person to make a good looking game in a reasonable amount of time.

Yeah, I kinda want a small mega-manish quality to the next game.  I figure if I'm going to go low-res...why not go all the way?  I will work on the foot a bit more...there are just so few pixels to work with, it's difficult.

Thanks for the tip on the BBCode...I should have checked that first.

This is my first foray into low-res character art.  Any thoughts?  I didn't put a definite "mouth" on his face...i'm not sure if it's necessary.  How's the shading?  Is his left foot screwed up?

Edit: I've added a second character.  A small boy.  Any C&C on both characters would be helpful.

But if it's right in the middle of the summer, flights will be ridiculously expensive.  I for one, probably couldn't afford it.  I like the idea of the first week of September.  Of course, I don't go to school.

Like our furry friend said, you should really plan out your plot beforehand.  If you plan on seeing your game to fruition, a lack of planning in the beginning can turn a short-term project  into a long-term project.

As for how to actually come up with a plot...I like to first think of setting & characters.  What interests you?  Do you like historical games, futuristic games...a game about a distopian urban nightmare...whatever floats your boat.  Flush out some interesting characters and a setting that interests you and many times a story will naturally come together.

If you want some good examples of a game design, check out some of Al Lowe's here: http://www.allowe.com/gamedesign/index.htm

I am specially interested in meeting Anarcho, because even having a totally different opinion than me into some issues, he is obvious intelligent and tallented, I really like him.

That's awfully nice of you to say Farlander.  I would very much like to meet you too, I'm sure we'll be able to put our differences aside.   

Seriously though, I've always wanted to visit Spain and this seems like a great chance.  I'm not sure how I'll run this by my girlfriend/domestic partner, maybe she'll come along.  Do you all talk about adventure games the whole time, i.e. will a non-AGSer feel super awkward?

[MITTENS 2006 INFORMATION]

MITTENS 2006 INFORMATION

(If you don't know what mittens is, please read the wiki)

* Mittens this year will be organised by Farlander.
* It will take place in Benidorm, Spain.
* From Wed 16th August to Wed 23rd August 2006.
* You must be 18 years or older to attend.

Link to the camp site that we'll be staying at

Maybe it's just because I got beat up so much as a little kid, that I don't care for "beating" initiations... :'(

You make fine points.   But for every person who can stand the punishment, there could be plenty of others who are so turned off by a first impression that they find some other hobby or forum or group of people to associate with.  I just think we should be as welcoming as possible, so that we can attract non-hardcore adventure gamers in addition to the normal monkey island freaks.

All I know is that when I first came here, I didn't know what a "sticky" was, and I didn't know that there was an individual "sticky" for the rules to each section fo the forum...I had read the forum rules, yes,  but it can still be a bit confusing ( It didn't make sense to me that a question about paint shop pro would be in the critic's lounge).  Not everyone is familiar with netiquette, or standard internet rules.

And you can't expect every person who visits and posts on the forum has to read through the manual first.  That's ridiculous (at least in the non-technical threads).