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Hello old friends,
You may remember me from AGS classics such as Whispers of a Machine and The Samaritan Paradox.

I'm soon ready to release my next game, which won't be an AGS game this time around but still an adventure game (with some RPG aspects to).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2180800/Midnight_Margo/?beta=1

Margo, just a few years out of high school, has returned from a bout of depression. Using a coping mechanism based on viewing life more like a game, she sets out to tie up the loose ends she left behind.

Meanwhile, an unexpected letter claiming to know why she's sad draws her into a mysterious plot.

Midnight Margo is a narrative-driven roleplaying adventure with a touch of absurdity. It deals with topics such as existential anxiety and social conflict, but also offers occasionally dark humour as well as puzzle-solving.

It's super hard to get noticed these days as a solo indie developer, so if this looks even vaguely interesting, don't hesitate to wishlist on Steam.
Midnight Margo will launch on June 18th, with a demo coming on June 1st.

[Top 4 things I'd do differently with Whispers of a Machine]

With Whispers of a Machine turning one full year, I thought it was time to sum up my experiences, and most importantly, share with you some things I'd do differently, because learning from others' mistakes is cheap and fast.
So here are my
Top 4 things I'd do differently with Whispers of a Machine

4.
Not use AGS. Yes I did it. I posted in the AGS forum and said I wouldn't use AGS. Now, the AGS community is the best in the world. I've been a part of it for 19 years and I've made so many great friends here (although I haven't been very active lately, admittedly), so I really hope it will always be a nice play to hang around, even though its members may eventually find other ways to create their games. But what took us (read Joel) months in AGS, namely porting to various platforms, Unity can do with the click of a button. Of course, if your happy with a PC only release it's less of a problem.

3.
Not split the writing part 50/50. Again I must begin with a don't-get-me-wrong-here: Joel is an amazing writer, and has a true knack for writing dialogue - that's not the issue. The issue for us was that every single word had to be minced, ruminated, regurgitated and compromised about before it'd end up in the actual game. Even though the game surely ended up better thanks to our shared writing duties, the process itself was really streinous. I would recommend others to divide the responsibilites more, let one person design the framework/background lore, and one person write the dialogue, and another write descriptions/messages etc, if you need to have more than one person writing the game at all (Ideally one person would be in charge of writing the game and the others would merely offer feedback and the occasional suggestion.)

2.
Not branch puzzles or game content. While it's certainly one of the selling points of the game, I still wonder if the multiple-solutions puzzles were worth it. Like #4, this is a matter of saving time that could be used for other things, so it's not that I think the result was bad per see. The main issue here is that only a fraction of players will ever play more than once (and some will turn to youtube to see other solutions or endings) so for most people it holds little value. Designing and implementing some of these puzzles took ludicrious amounts of time. Some puzzles even let you use two "skills" (or augmentations) in conjunction, and since there are three skills on level three and three skills on level two, you'll do the math and find that what for most players seemed like one solution actually had a high number of possible solutions that they'll never notice, much less care about. I can't help but think of all the time we could have saved on just settling with one solution per puzzle, and use the time to expand the game's length instead of width, if you catch my drift.

1.
Construct the game world so that there's less travelling back and forth. One thing we decided early on was to design a game world that you'd navigate manually, from location to location, like Lure of the Temptress or early Sierra games, instead of having the locations scattered around an abstract map and navigated using a fast-travel screen. The drawback is, obviously, that you force the player to walk around a lot, just to get from A to B. I do believe you can design the game so that you don't encourage the player to revisit all the previous locations every time they get stuck on a puzzle, but I'm not sure we succeeded here. One contributing factor was that you could ask every NPC about every possible topic, and that meant that as soon as you got stuck somewhere, one way to kind of brute-force your way forward was to go back and talk to everyone about every new topic, for the umpteenth time. Unless the writing is absolutely stellar, this routine will quickly turn pretty tedious. One good workaround that many developers use (Dave Gilbert, from the top of my head), is to construct nodes of locations where most of if not all items or clues are gathered. So instead of unlocking one location after another, and have the puzzle-chains stretch across various old locations, you unlock a new area, with a handful of new locations at a time, and put the necessary clues, items and NPC in those locations.
This whole issue has made me question whether letting the player ask everyone about everything is really necessary, but I won't make it a paragraph on its own.

There's probably more I'd do differently, but on a whole I kind of like the game so I don't wanna drag it through the mud completely.
Thanks for listening and see you around!

[The team]

AI was embedded everywhere. In our cars, in our homes. In the clothes we wore. For some of us, even inside our own bodies.

Dreading the Singularity, mankind abruptly put an end to AI. The result was a worldwide technological collapse.

Generations later, Vera, a federal homicide detective is sent to rural outpost Nordsund to investigate a string of murders.

Vera soon finds herself pulled into an invisible war about technology and religion. While some want to awaken the Singularity, seen as a last deity in a godless world, others are vehement technophobes.

Whispers of a Machine features handpainted 640x360 graphics and an exciting story with existential twists.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/631570/Whispers_of_a_Machine
https://www.gog.com/game/whispers_of_a_machine
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whispers-of-a-machine/id1452404930?mt=8


The team
Petter Ljungqvist (The Samaritan Paradox), Writing, Art
Joel Staaf Hästö (Kathy Rain), Writing, Programming
Jacob Lincke, Music and Sound Effects
Ivan Ulyanov, Portrait Art
Dave Gilbert, Voice-over Direction
Pontus Lund, aka StillInThe90s (Camp 1), Additional Animation

The game is published by

This topic has been moved to The Rumpus Room.

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[1.]

Here are the entries of this round. Please use the poll to help decide a winner.

1.
You're tasked with finding survivors in an arctic research facility. All you have in your inventory is a gun, with only one bullet. You'll face various enemies, and the question is always - should you use your one remaining bullet, or is it possible to find another way around them (using your wits and environmental puzzles)?

Eventually, you'll end up trapped in a sort of life-preserving chamber, unable to get out. The single bullet can be used to end your otherwise eternal existence in this chamber. If you've already used it, the game won't end.

2.
Convicts sentenced to multiple life sentences must serve them, in full, doing hard labor in the toxic wasteland around the Ross Peniplex, where genetically modified pets gone feral prey among mirages projected by discarded AR equipment. Only a completed lifespan and natural death counts as time served: the prisoners are then cloned to resume their sentences.

Clemens' last lifetime didn't count, since he ended it by blowing himself up. In fact, because he took out the prison's memory banks in the explosion, he must restart his sentence from the beginning â€" and he has no idea why he did it. Who had he become?

An existential Cyberpunk RPG-adventure in the style of Planescape: Torment or I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, with graphics created through a combination of 3D renders, photobashing and AI-supported DeepDream generation.

3.
Karma Quest (working title)

You play as a brave knight out on a quest in this RPG style game.The twist is that whenever you are killed by an enemy you are reincarnated as one of the enemy types you have already killed and must fight the knight at the skill/power level he was at when he killed your enemy type last.If you die you are reincarnated as a different enemy type he has killed and repeat the process.Only when you win against the knight are you worthy to be reicarnated as him again and able to continue your quest.Karma is a bitch!

4.
La Torsion

It starts with Bert Sartre feeling strange, unable to enjoy sex with a local barmaid, and culminates in a part where he must shoot an Arab or commit suicide.

To facilitate a sense of living for the moment, the game forgets about actions that happened more than five minutes ago. Most of what you do is inconsequential and some puzzles rely on this. There's a commitment UI where you can decide that two or more game events will have meaning. This links the events and gives poor Bert a release from disgust.

Also, there's an existential twist.

5.
At the funeral of writer Martin Dyer, prayers and eulogies are had. A shout rings from the back of the Church. The mourners turn to see Martin lying naked on the flagstones, crying. The coffin is empty and the Cancer is gone.

You play as Martin, upon release from hospital (all clear), as he finds out what happened to him while a crazy cult forms around the man who just might be the second coming. The question is: is he?

6.
“They” had come and destroyed everything Samantha had ever cared about.  “They” were cruel, uncaring and unmerciful. “They” were the instrument of a despotic ruler who was accountable to nobody.
Samantha longed for revenge, and her opportunity has at last come; however the only way she has a chance for revenge is to become one of “Them” herself.  In doing so, Samantha will be forced to question everything she has ever known, and the ruler's true identity will dismay her.

Time's up for this round, use the poll to help decide a winner!

Behold, the great contributions to this competition (interestingly, exactly 10, like last time):

#1

Haunts
The tombs of the old royal necropolis are connected by the ghost roads, so that the spirits who knew each other in life can visit each other. They are not for mortal feet; only the dead travel them. And now you: Hunted. Hungry. Half-mad.

Make your way from tomb to tomb, getting the ghosts to lead you ever further by offerings, threats and trickery. Gradually piece together a history of blood and betrayal, generation by generation, to find a path through the crumbling network of ghost roads, face the Forefather, and ask him your question.

#2

During the Reconquista, Ponce de Leon attacked a farm manor.
His home burnt, parents and siblings slaughtered, only Benilyas and the old maidservant Alda escape. Puzzling their way to the coast, they join with Ottoman pirates. Looting cities and helping other refugees, they learn de Leon travelled to the Americas, and follow his path.
Moors...Pirates...Conquistadors! Young spoiled Benilyas and vengeful old Alda's epic adventuring, cultural mashings, team puzzles, naval combat, exploring the New World, and collaborating with local tribes to kill de Leon.

#3

Two lovebirds at the turn of the 20th century. He, an engineer, has been away on business for months. She, carrying their child, writes him every day. One day, he invites her to come in West Virginia. She packs her case and takes the first train.
On her arrival, she learns his death in the collapse of a mine. Showing up in the middle of his funeral, the poor woman  discovers his family and receives mixed welcome.
No one's heard of her. More worrisome, her  lover's been dead for two weeks despite the recent unearthing of his body. Who was she writing to lately?

#4

Your long lost twin sister knocks on the door after 35 years. A joyous reunion. Until she takes over your life, your job, your husband, and accuses you of being the imposter.

The burden of proof falls to you as you embark on a quest that takes you right back to your place of birth. Discover the truth about the sister you never had in this twisted adventure that examines the loose threads binding love, family and our own sanity.

#5

Taking influence from cheesy young adult novels, create an RPG adventure centered around teenagers living in the suburbs, but not all is as it seems.

Supernatural entities are creeping into the world, but only our protagonists can see them.

Gameplay would focus around going to class to gain skills, making friends to join your party, and hunting monsters at night in the streets of your sleepy home town.

Can our heroes save the world in time for third period?

#6

Imagine Maniac Mansion, but with a randomly generated mansion. The layout and the rooms would all be randomized, making some puzzles impossible and others possible. You could play the game twice, and not have any of the same puzzles.
In one playthrough, the kitchen won't have a microwave, in another the kitchen has a microwave, but it's broken. What objects, items, and rooms are available will be different each time. Thus giving you an adventure game with unlimited replay value.

#7

Eupolemo the Metaphysic is on top the Tower of Babel when Jehovah is going to destroy it! He must escape, but God confused all tongues, now the guards and doormans speak unknown foreign languages and don't understand him! He can only count on his Easy-Speak-For-Dummies© book to learn pippian cockney, hurrurian gesturing, q'quintsian phrases and more to reach the ground floor and go out! But he must learn fast… before the wrath of Jehovah drops upon his head!

#8

The case of the hidden letters (a Christmas story)

Christmas is around the corner. Santa tells Pefty to go to Praiser Town and find the hidden residents letters to him. Praiser Town's residents are set to disprove Santa's existence and his "knows all", so every year they hide their letters instead of sending mailing them. It's up to Pefty through highly detective skills of investigation and interrogation to locate the hidden letters! And in all secrecy, because the residents must not know what Pefty is up to or doom the world!

#9

Death Show

Two death-row criminals go on a virtual-reality game show in which they must overcome obstacles and solve puzzles to find the exit. The winner will gain his or her freedom. The game show's theme this particular week is fantasy land.

The player will be able to switch between controlling the two criminals. One is a woman, a wrongly convicted English teacher. The other is a man, a hardened gangster. Will the two despise each other at first? Yep. Will respect and sexual tension gradually increase between them? Uh-huh. Will they eventually join together to break out of the game entirely? Maybe.

The game will feature three possible endings: the woman betrays the man and escapes on her own, leaving the man to certain death; the man betrays the woman and escapes on his own, leaving the woman to certain death; both escape together and “ride off into the sunset”.

#10

A first person horror game taking place in broad daylight. The player finds themselves locked in a garden surrounded by an unclimbable fence, and the only way out is to explore the garden further.
It's a beautiful summer garden filled with walls of blooming bushes and green trees casting deep shadows in the strong sunlight, but the player is not alone. There is an unseen horror stalking the player, it's presence known only by the rattling of leaves it makes when it moves through the bushes, and the player has to keep their distance or be instantly killed while collecting items and solving puzzles in order to get the key to open the garden gate. The entire premise is built around the contrast between the beautiful, serene environment and the paranoia and horror of being hunted by an unknown monster.

[80 words.]

Time's up for this round, use the poll to help decide a winner!

Are you an ideas kind of person?

Have so many great game ideas that you likely won't ever use all of them?

You now have the opportunity to prepare the perfect elevator pitch, and see if it's as good as you've always thought!

The Rules

• Write a great game pitch in roughly 80 words.
• The pitch should fit a very loose description of "adventure game" (this genre is rather broad these days).
• Send it to me via PM.
• The entries will then be published here anonymously, and we'll vote for the winner.
• The deadline is two weeks from now, meaning I'll close the activity on Sunday 6th.

As a fun side activity, after the competition is over, people may guess who wrote each entry

You can post here for questions or comments, but the actual pitch should only be sent to me via PM.

Good luck!

Behold, the great contributions to this competition:

#1

Welcome in Grand'Teslan

Gyada walks amnesiac in the streets wearing a straightjacket.
Did she escape from an asylum?
She can open every locks, except the ones on herself.
Is she a burglar?
She can't rest.
Nightmares of the city named Grand'Teslan that cry blood harms his mind.
But seems too real.
What secrets hide his freakish inhabitants? Why Gyada is bound to this gory place?
Help Gyada to solve the mysteries of Grand'Teslan, and free herself… and his soul!

#2

Twin Peaks in Oxbridge setting, as an adventure/life-sim:

During university entrance interviews at Clarendon College, one of your fellow candidates vanishes without trace. But when you return for your first term, you discover a clue…

To investigate the disappearance you must delve into the many intrigues and mysteries of Clarendon (from secret societies to academic vendettas to designer drug rings), while also attending lectures and tutorials, finding friendship and romance, and taking part in student activities (drama, sports, parties…) and college traditions.

#3

☼‡§Glory Master!§‡â˜¼

This game is like FF RPG FPS adventure inland of Overlandia, where wicket shadow wizards The Borgias have conquest.  There is being teh Battle for points that get you moawr power, and spellz for teh vanquishment of arch mages.  U r God Beast, a man of handsome musculer kharisma.  U saving teh objectified Sexy Ladys with cunning & brutality.  Theirs fellow beta heroes who follow in ur cause, and u spend moste ur time a loan in there manly company.  Teh game has a serius, melancholy town.

#4

A prank at school ends up with jimmmy dying and is sent to the pearly gates. There's no red carpet for him there so he immediately head for the "Hell-evator" with a "We both know how this will play out so I'll just be on my way" Saint Peter stops him and thinks for a while and decides that Jimmy should stay in heaven because he would probably enjoy hell with its sinful ways. So the main objective is to piss off GOD so much that he sends you back to earth.

#5

Ithaca's Quest

Back in 15th century at Florence, a teenager called Antonio always loved the arts, but his destiny was to be a pizza baker, as his family tradition did already for over 400 years. After the unexpected death of his father, Antonio gains the inheritance money and he decide to direct a theatrical production of the first printed Homer's Odyssey. Now Antonio must find and convince the villagers to be actors, dancers, painters, and musicians with the magic of solve puzzling.

#6

Adam is an ant (a worker ant, to be precise) with a problem â€" while all the others are hard at work like a proverbial… well, ant â€" he just wants to lounge around playing pointandclick games.  However when the termites overwhelm the soldier ants, only his ingenuity - honed by his experience of playing adventure games - can save the colony.  Using only what he can find in the natural surroundings, Adam must make a machine capable of defeating the termites â€" The Termitinator!

#7

A story about a guy who is inexplicably immortal.
The game would be a bit like one of Telltale's games, what with the constant decision making. But the story would be about someone from the Victorian era who for some unexplained reason, becomes immortal. The game would take place over a large period of time. At first he won't know he's immortal, but then people realise he isn't ageing, and then he watches his family die of old age. It fast forwards to the modern day, where he has become a celebrity as an undying man, and an oddity that scientists can't figure out, but that people generally leave alone, and we get a nice little love story that seems to end the game, but then it fast forwards again into the future, where there's a nuclear war and everyone except him is killed. Then it fast forwards into the future again, humans are long since gone, all animals have long since changed or evolved, and he's still alive, completely and utterly depressed. Finally it fast forwards again, Earth is a barren rock, and the sun is getting bigger. He gets enveloped by a supernova and then into a black hole, but he can still think because he's still alive somehow. And so he thinks to himself about how the thought of an afterlife is the worst thing he can imagine, because having lived for an eternity, he hates the thought that so many other people want what he considers to the worst fate imaginable.

#8

A Scythian warrior wishing to prove herself ends up travelling along the silk road alongside an exiled Greek scholar in the quest for a relic of tremendous importance,
the Ur-shanabi, the plant Gilgamesh himself  searched for, which is said to grant immortality. Together they will fight bandits, explore lost tombs and
visit fabled cities such as Babylonia and Persepolis on an epic journey that will make them both question everything about their beliefs and perceptions of the world.

#9

One of the world's biggest game creators has gone missing. A boy thinks that there are clues hidden in his games that will help solve the mystery, and is set on solving it. The game would switch between playing the games to look for clues and investigating the real world. All the while, the main character will have to deal with run-ins with the police as he trespasses to investigate areas, and with his troubled home life, living with his mom who just went through a divorce.

#10

Omniball

In Lewis Candon's world, Luckmeters are used to rank society from 'A' to 'F' according to a person's innate luck. The A-Grades tend to be CEOs and lawyers. On the opposite end is Lewis, an unemployed F-Grade about to take a job where society has deemed he can work safely -- the Omniball lottery.

On the morning of his first day, fellow F-Grade, Brad Pearson, approaches Lewis with a potentially life-changing idea. They're going to rig the lottery.

This topic has been moved to General Discussion.

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This topic has been moved to General Discussion.

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This topic has been moved to Critics' Lounge.

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[The team]

AI was embedded everywhere. In our cars, in our homes. In the clothes we wore. For some of us, even inside our own bodies.

Dreading the Singularity, mankind abruptly put an end to AI. The result was a worldwide technological collapse.

Generations later, Vera, a federal homicide detective is sent to rural outpost Nordsund to investigate a string of murders.

Vera soon finds herself pulled into an invisible war about technology and religion. While some want to awaken the Singularity, seen as a last deity in a godless world, others are vehement technophobes.

Whispers of a Machine will feature handpainted 640x360 graphics, an exciting story with existential twists, and multiple endings.

Visit the Steam page and put it on your wish list!

The team
Petter Ljungqvist (The Samaritan Paradox), Writing, Art
Joel Staaf Hästö (Kathy Rain), Writing, Programming
Jacob Lincke, Music and Sound Effects
Pontus Lund, aka StillInThe90s (Camp 1), Additional Animation
Ivan Ulyanov, Portrait Art
Dave Gilbert, Voice-over Direction

The game will be published by


Thanks for checking out this thread! Please write a comment and share your thoughts, or lack thereof.

This topic has been moved to Beginners' Technical Questions.

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[Extra vision]

I've always thought it's a pity that more seasoned developers tend to stop using the community, at least for the developing part, and I've also always thought that people should receive far more c&c on game and plot ideas, not just art & music and other assets.

So here I am, letting you all in on the very fundamentals of my upcoming game.
I'm working on a game currently titled God's Algorithm. The plot isn't super original - it's a sci-fi where technology has been kind of reset, in an attempt to stop AI - and its catastrophic consequences - from happening.

You play a federal agent tasked with investigating a string of murders in a remote rural town. Obviously, the government has an ulterior motive with sending you there, but yeah, you get it.

Anyways, the government has secretly gone against the high-tech policy and equipped their top-ranked agents with cybernetic implants. So you have special powers. Now, this isn't ground-breaking in any way; Donna and other games before have used special skills to break up the "use inventory object A on hotspot B" kind of monotony.

Here's a list of some special abilities I had in mind (copy-pasted from my GDD):

Extra vision: This is a powerful tool that allows the agent to see in darkness, and furthermore it highlights bodily fluids and other organic residues, effectively combining night vision and blacklight. It is the augmentation of choice during technical forensic investigations.

IQ-boost: Activating this will temporarily increase the agent's intelligence. This does not make the agent more learned, but in dialogues it may enable her to point out contradictions in others' arguments. Chiefly, the agent will use it to solve discrete logical problems, math, ciphers etc. It can not help the player to understand the overall plot.

Healing: This releases anti-toxins and/or antibodies into the agent's bloodstream. It can also discharge nanoparticles to wounded areas to speed up coagulation and prevent scepsis. It cannot heal serious trauma, hydrostatic shock, excessive bleeding or other injuries that would typically kill a person instantly or within seconds.

Muscle boost: This implant increases muscle effect very briefly. It gives the agent the explosive strength of a bodybuilder, and the speed and dexterity of a professional athlete.

Lie detection: Activating this while talking to people will make a sincerity-meter appear as a GUI. When people tell lies, the sensor will react. Only explicit lying can be registered - not whether people withhold the truth, or hide their hostility towards the agent.

Persuasion: This is a weak power that may influence others' attitude and disposition toward the agent, via subtle discharges of hormones and electroencephalic signals. If nothing major is at stake, the target is more likely to agree with the agent, and will cooperate more easily. It is comparable to being persuaded by a close friend or relative, or someone you're strongly attracted to, as opposed to just a random stranger.

What I can't come up with is a good system of implementing these powers. One way to add another dimension is this (also from the GDD):

A number of cybernetic augmentations, or implants, are available to Vera, to assist her in her work. The implants are grouped into three different “builds”. Depending on how much Vera uses implants within a specific build, they will gradually affect Vera's mood and behaviour. In some dialogues, certain options may appear or disappear depending on how far Vera has progressed in a specific personality alteration.

Analytical
Extra vision
IQ-boost

Introverted, antisocial

bodily/corporeal
Healing
Muscle boost

Authoritarian, self confident

empathetic
Lie-detector
Persuasion

social, sensitive

The personality alterations are mild, and in-game mostly noticeable during dialogues, in which options may appear/disappear depending on Vera's current build. They're an unintended side effect of hormonal and synaptic redistributions in Vera's brain, comparable to the effects of modern hormone-adjusting medications, or a woman's menstruation.

If Vera constantly changes between implants of different builds, the alterations will cancel themselves out, and she will not experience any effects.

This opens up a discussion of the "I" of the protagonist - how much is going to be made up by the artificial effects of her implants, and how much is just her? Also, it will encourage the player to try out different builds. Obviously, the game will have to present ways to solve most of the puzzles staying within one specific build.

Another system I had in mind to make it more tactical was to let the player "load" a set of implants each morning, pretty much like wizards (mages? can never remember) can choose which spells to cast that day in traditional D&D, and force the player to rest and begin a new day should they need other skills, and also put in effect a highscore table of who can solve the game with the fewest days used (the protagonist would be able to rest at various designated resting places). The disadvantage here is that the player would spend more time resting-waking-trying all skills on all things just to find out the fastest way, which would promote rather repetitious and tedious gameplay.

A third way is to implement a battery meter that will measure how much the implants have been used, and either disable them altogether or maybe demand new bio-batteries regularly, just to add some kind of restrictions. In Donne, the player had to regularly drink blood to charge the powers, but to my mind that system didn't really add anything, since there wasn't much skill or action involved in the drinking-blood routine.

I also thought about letting the player choose one or two initial powers, and then "unlock" more powers throughout the course of the game; problem is I have no idea how to integrate this into a typical adventure game setting (in an action game or RPG you would just introduce a credit system or even let the player find power ups along the way). Since the technology is forbidden in-universe, there wouldn't be an established system of buying or unlocking powers. Unless there's a black market for them. But then there's still the problem of currency...

Ah well. Thanks for reading about the problems I'm facing. If you have any feedback I would be grateful!

Surprised to see there wasn't a thread about this already, because I felt I saw this after everyone else in the whole world did.

I have to say I wasn't completely blown away, which I kind of expected to be, considering all the positive reviews and write-ups I've read.

My pros:
I think the scenography was mostly awesome, with great attention to detail and an overall "real" feeling to it, as opposed to the prequels where everything felt computer modelled and plastic. Great settings and cool locations.

Good acting generally, and fun, interesting characters. Adam Driver as the bad guy was excellent - he was creepy already in Girls, so with the premise of some kind of conflicted Sith apprentice, it was a recipe for greatness.

The cons:
The script/plot. The reason I was underwhelmed here is that it didn't feel like anybody - Abrams, more specifically - had put any kind of original thought in it. It felt like they had a script meeting, and everybody was like "just make it star wars-y" with all the plot elements of the first movie (ep. IV) recycled but much bigger. Seriously - another death star, only much bigger? And they squeezed in the destruction of the entire republican system in a fifteen second segment that was as understated as an establishing shot of someone tying their shoelaces.

I just wish they could have thought a bit outside the "blow up a giant super weapon by attacking its weak spot" box, because this instalment has enough fan-serving nods as it is, what with all the famous characters re-appearing. When the resistance stab planned their attack against the whatever-oscillator, they must have had the deja-vu of their lives. The bad guys of Star Wars design their bases like Gillette design their razors; keep making the same stuff, only larger.

Another thing that always strikes me when I watch Star Wars is that every weapon blows up just as much as is necessary for the plot. When a Tie Fighter shoots at e.g. the Millenium Falcon, there's seldom more than an insignificant dent, but when they steal a Tie Fighter in the beginning of the Force Awakens, they can pretty much demolish the interior of that flight base. An X-wing has a wing span of some meters, but when it starts blasting inside the oscillator tunnel, it's as if some kind of WMD just went off.

It's like everything that flies has much better shields than stationary things, which seems odd. Why not put shields on all the vital parts of your base, especially the key parts of your super weapon. You have the power to attract a sun's rays, but take fire from tiny fighters and your whole damn planet blows up?

Another thing that disturbs me - and this has been brought up by others - is that despite the vastness of all the systems and planets and space bases in the Star Wars universe, all the vital characters keep bumping into each other all the time. Moreover, in this instalment the main characters couldn't travel anywhere without stormtroopers and Kylo Ren showing up seconds later to blow everything up. It's like in Larry II, where you wish you could just be given time to explore and play around for a while when you've reached a new location, but the bad guys keep showing up and you're forced to escape and it gets really repetitious and exhausting.

When the final scene came, where the girl - good character btw - finds Luke after a surprisingly uneventful journey, I wish the movie could have been more about just that; a long quest to find Luke, a lonesome girl traversing the strange and diverse worlds of the galaxy, maybe a touch of existentialism and also a more deep inward exploration of the Force, instead of how she just kind of stumbled over it.

This topic has been moved to Recruitment.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=52899.0

While researching for upcoming game projects, I've read up on AI and the future of robotics and super computers.

Read this:
http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html

It's a very long article (in two parts) explaining and predicting how our world will pretty soon face the emergence of some super intelligent entity, which, thanks to the exponential pace at which it will be able to improve its own intelligence, may reach god like properties.

I would like you to read it - if you haven't already (or other similar writings - there are plenty) - and share your thoughts here.

I do have some reservations, but I'll hold my own questions and reflections until after you've got a chance to ingest the theories.

This topic has been moved to Adventure Related Talk & Chat.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=52079.0

While taking a little break from AGS, I've decided to give traditional board game making a shot.

I haven't got any experience in this field, at least not when it comes to commercial productions, so it'll be fun to start from scratch.

Has anyone here developed/published any board games? I'm interested in all tips and tricks of the trade.
I've got a pretty clear idea of what kind of game I want to make, but I'm also interested in hearing what you look for in board games, which ones you like specifically and what you think is currently lacking in this field.

PS:
My game will be something of a "euro game", as it's apparently called, just to narrow it down for you. 

Since we've had some threads asking about long time members lately, I thought we could make this thread about trying to get oldies to return to the community, if only to say hi in this thread, and maybe write some lines about their current situation.

Anyone can write in here to add the names of long gone members!

I can think of too many to count, but here's a few just to get the ball rolling: Where in the world is Unilin? Rodekill? LasNaranjas? Ghormak? Helm? Goldmund? Mr Colossal? Pesty? etc.

(I do have many of these on Facebook, but let's pretend they're just gone without a trace and I have no idea what they're up to...)

This topic has been moved to Critics' Lounge.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=51824.0