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Not much to say. It's a bit empty at the moment, but I like the deserted atmosphere.
The lights are there to add some surrealism to it.



Pen tablet and photoshop, some custom brushes, no filters.
C&c appreciated.

Yeah, I've been on vacation in Egypt, which is why I've been away from the forum lately.

This was the first time for me in Africa, so it was pretty exciting.

Photo-diary:

Day four: Nothing much. I discovered some weird woman-animal statue in the desert. Had some tea on the hotel.


We practised horseback riding in the desert, which was cool since I've never been in contact with horses before, and suddenly I was gallopping across the dunes without any helmets or protection whatsoever. This tells something about the arabian tourist-guides' sense of responsibility.

I'm not on this particular shot (since I took it) but I probably looked as awesome.


Hold your horses, Amanda!


Father: "Amanda, the monument of Nemnon is rumoured to be located somewhere here. - Amanda, did you hear me? Look at me when I speak to you, damn it!"

[Shortly about the ATC]

Gather your friends, it's finally time for the ATC-deluxe.
Last ATC resulted in - among else - the wonderful game "Two of a kind", after excellent team efforts from many talented people in the community.
Now it's time for the second edition, which will utilise some of the changes that were suggested after the last round.

Shortly about the ATC
ATC is basically a game-creating competition between teams. The competitors are given a certain amount of time, and a set of premises. It will simulate the professional team process, where each member of the team has a specific function, where the work will be under great stress and lack of time, and where cooperation is vital in order to succeed. To enter the ATC is to dedicate a big part of your free time and energy to the making of a game.

The deluxe edition
The major change is that this edition will allow custom teams to enter. This means that you can sign up with finished teams, instead of just individually.
The second big change is that the competition will run for two months instead for one.
Furthermore, this edition will have more initial conditions when it comes to the designing of the game. These conditions will be announced when the actual competition begins.

Before you do anything else, please read through the rules:
http://www.nolore.com/ATC.doc
or for plain text:
http://www.nolore.com/ATCtxt.txt

So, for now, the first deadline you must note is January 20:th, before which you must register in order to pariticipate in the coolest competition of the year.

Time for an old favourite. Last time I did this was one of the most successful and educational activities we've had here, so I figured we could have another go.

The idea is simple; use this rough sketch which I whipped up this morning before my breakfast cereals as a reference; paint it over or just keep it in your mind.
Develop the image into a functional background for a game (as good as it can get; the view and perspective is not perfect for a game anyway).
This activity will run until the end of the year, so take your time.



I look forward to seeing many different styles and techniques.

Your humble and faithful servant is now experiencing his first day as a 24-year-old.

Reporting from Gothenburg, Sweden, where the weather is terrible, the days are short metreologicaly, but long in the dull minds of the young and bored.

I work and study and try to dance the weariness away. My real life committments crave my full attention and prevent me from indulging in AGS any further. I expect to have a gray beard and a chapeau claque any day now. If you still remember me, wish me luck!

Yours truly, Andail

...with background, sword, etc.
I'm sorry to bother you already with yet a non-ags illustration, but I've been working the entire day with this, I need some feedback.

NB: This is the latest update; The first version is not available anymore.
Pen-tablet, 5+ hours. Reference for armour.


Halfway-through sample:
http://www.nolore.com/picmisc/knightoriginal.jpg

So, I still have a lot to do, but right now I can't look at this picture one more second, and my mind is pretty blank.

edit: Shrank the lips according to c&c given below.

I'm not entirerly sure where to use this. I might do a comic out of it, or just put it in my illustration portfolio.

I would love some c&c.

This is in no way an original idea, but I've given it some extra thought lately, so read my proposal and tell me what you think. All in all, it's pretty similar to the producer-idea that was brought up not long ago. But I've tried to define it a bit, and put it in some context.

Basically I came up with it after having discussed RON with Dave Gilbert over a pizza, some month ago. The great thing with RON (and Dave) is that to get included in the RON-circle, your game has to acquire the community's seal of approval.
You can't call your game a RON-game if you haven't undergone a certain procedure.

It's not just the case that the RON-board rejects all ideas that won't fit; mostly they encourage the authors to alter certain bits of their plot/graphics to the better, with lots of help and feedback.
It's like the critics lounge, only in the critics lounge, nobody really follows up whether the person in question actually adheres to the c&c given, and most importantly; in any way, they can still publish their games in the "finished games"-forum.

The AGS-community produces a lot of games nowadays. Unless you want to go with the popular opinion, there's no easy way to find out whether the game is worth playing or not. If the plot develops halfway through the game into something really thought-provoking and ingenious, people might not give it a try due to bad graphics. Etc.

We have certain game "companies" already. Screen 7 hosts a plentitude of projects, Monkeygames as well.
But what do they actually do? They collect the developers and hand out logotypes. They don't focus on specific genres, they don't have criteria or standards, and I don't think they even try the games before publication.

This will be a bit like production companies, only the guilds won't do much more than provide feedback, and in the end, a seal of approval. The game will afterwards be included in said guild's game "catalogue" if you will.

The feedback itself will - in contrast to the AGS critics lounge, or the games in production forum - be private, which will lead to more "tailored" c&c, and it also won't spoil the game for potential players.

Some advantages in short:
1. The guilds will guarantee that their games hold a certain quality. If a player tried one of their games and liked it, they will probably like the others as well.
2. Guilds can specify genres and styles, to suit certain target audiences.
3. Guilds will give personal and extensive c&c, and can be as restrictive and harsh as they please, in order to fit their standards.
4. Guilds will gradually grow and gain recognition, giving their games invaluable promotion. A famous guild's seal of approval will be a precious feat, and will be a great incitement to create better games.
5. Guilds can build up their own stocks of backgrounds, sprites and music, without worrying that someone takes it without deserving it.
6. Games that generally don't appeal to the masses, like art-house games or graphically "impaired" games, will stand a greater chance of hitting.
7. In the end, guilds can turn professional, and finance projects in order to put it on the market. They can compile collections of their games for cheap prices, etc. This is rather hypothetical, so don't get all heated up about this money-thingie

Hopefully, this will lead to more and better games, simply. I reckon that three quarters of all started projects, fail because of lack of feedback and proper incitement. A developer who is a part of a guild, might feel more committed and encouraged to finish their project.

Sometimes I ponder about what I'm doing here. I try to calculate how much time I spend on creative projects and good discussions, and how much time I just kill because I don't have anything better to do.

Why is a community like this so addictive? Is it because I develop as a person? Most of the time, I highly doubt I develop anything at all. It may sound harsh, which is not my intention, I do enjoy being here. There are some benefits I can pin-point directly:
1. Improvement in English communication. This is pretty important, since I intend to teach English one day.
2. Improvement in art, as well as other specific areas. The critics lounge has been extremely valuable for me. Before the days of AGS, I was a traditional painter, quite esteemed, I might add. But my computer graphics were useless, even compared to plain n00bs in the business. People like Pessi, Igor and Geofkhan have been perfect role models, and my backgrounds are now beginning to look satisfactory (in contrast to my three first games).
3. The real life aspect of the community. The mittens meeting have all been awesome, both because I enjoy travelling and seeing new places, but mostly because the people there are all my dear friends. In Goldmnund I found a soul-mate, no less.

Apart from this, I must deem most of my activity here a mere pastime. When I chat with the mittens-people (or other AGS-friends) on irc or msn, I feel pretty indifferent afterwards. It's fun while I do it, but it doesn't make me grow in any way.

The forum itself attracts my attention in sometimes uncomfortable ways. My presence is a clear indicator on how my ordinary life is going. Not just because I'm busy and lack time during real life projects I enjoy, but simply because the inspiration it gives me, makes me forget the community. During periods when I'm very involved in the student union, or taking funny courses, or date a girl, or just meet a lot of people, the community doesn't fill any purpose for me. Again; it's not just a question of whether I have the time or not, it's more a question of inspiration and zest for life.

In the beginning of my AGS career, I sort of enjoyed the social (or should I even say hierarchical) advancement I made - just as every other member makes during their time in a community.
The sense of being gradually more recognised and respected was an incitement to be present often and really try to write good posts.

I have spent a huge amount of time on the project that is AGS. What would and could I have done instead? Would I have played computer games? Watched porn?
Sometimes I wonder if the time I spend on AGS is a buffert, to consume the computer-dedicated time I would have spent on substantially worse things. I haven't touched a computer game in years, and I think I can thank AGS for that.

Maybe I'm unusally reluctant to waste my time, and people in general don't see it as an issue at all? Is it unncesseray and fruitless to assess what you gain from everything you do?

So what has this community given you?
A sense of belonging somewhere, recognition? Improvement in specific fields, art, music etc?
Share some great moments.
Discuss the phenomenon of addiction.

Yes, I've decided to add another chapter to the still moderately interesting saga of Tulle's world.

But! This time I've learnt a lot from my previous mistakes, I've studied other games as well as computer graphics en masse.

So, TW4, or "Lady Rogue" which is the production title, will be a comedy (in contrast to its prequel) and will have little in common with the other games except the world it takes place in, and that the protagonist is a thief.

So you play a young female thief, in fact she's the only remaing descendant to the great Tulle, and she's on a secret mission.
A wedding is to take place in Triliman, capital of Thendor. An important wedding, meant to reconsile with an age-old rival nation by uniting their blood lines. Alas! The crown jewels get stolen the night before the great ceremony, and without them, no wedding can take place.

Who's better suited to track down and find the thieves than the local heroine thief herself?


Triliman, introduction scene


Candale, the bridge from the Town of poor to the town of rich.

So far, I keep a pretty good pace, but the road is incalculably long, and I can't give a deadline date except for sometime in early 2005.

This is more or less a solo-project, so far I believe (or hope) that Ghormak will do the music.
I might, however, be in need of an assistant artist, so if you believe you can do graphics my style, and have lots of spare time, give me a PM.

If you're not familiar with the concept, click the link in my signature.
At the moment, it's so under-developed that I almost feel ashamed for all the important entries I've missed out.
If you have a good suggestion on how to improve it, reply here.

Otherwise, what I mainly need now is contributions. Just PM me an entry that you think is important enough to be in the only AGS-community-terms compilation out there.

Please feel free to rewrite already existing entries. Many of the current articles are far too brief.

Some guidelines for entries:
* Keep it eloquent and pertinent. Use very subtle humour if any. The more high-brow lingo, the better. Don't be affraid to be lengthy; the current average article length is far too short.
* Personal entries should concern people who've done extra efforts to help/improve the community. Game-creators will have priority, as well as historically important members before currently active. If the person have been member for less than a year, they might not be relevant enough. This is just a rough measurement, though.
* Games need to have been somehow groundbreaking for the time of their release, or specially nominated/rewarded/reviewed, etc.
* The articles can be slightly argumentative, albeit not apparantly subjective/biased.
* Write about anything that concerns the history of AGS, the community, the various "companies", the zines, the in-jokes or set expressions, basically anything you can come up with.
* Don't write about yourself or your own creations
* Please include pictures.
* Check spelling before sending.

Contributors will be credited on the page.
I look forward to reading your articles!

[The AGS Team Challenge 2004 is under way!]

The AGS Team Challenge 2004 is under way!

The teams are as follows.
Names underlined denote team captains.

TEAM 1: Creative Minds

Member Writer/Designer ------- Vel
Member Scripter-------------------Redwall
Member Musician------------------Petteri
Member Artist----------------------Alpha
Member Artist----------------------InCreator
Member Extra----------------------Pixelcat

TEAM 2: The Big Eye Team

Member Writer/Designer--------ScottDoom
Member Scripter-------------------Sinitrena
Member Musician------------------Iqu
Member Artist----------------------Fawfulhasfury
Member Artist----------------------Eggie

TEAM 3: Team Tiger

Member Writer/Designer--------Babloyi
Member Scripter------------------Tanker
Member Musician-----------------Peter Thomas
Member Artist---------------------Evil
Member Artist---------------------Miez

TEAM 4: Cold Shoulder

Member Writer/Designer-------Lazy Z
Member Scripter-----------------Zor
Member Musician----------------Eldkatt
Member Artist--------------------osc
Member Artist--------------------TikiTikiMan

TEAM 5: Fatal Error

Member Scripter-----------------Ginny
Member Musician----------------Minimi
Member Artist--------------------LostTraveller
Member Artist--------------------Daz
Member Writer/Designer-------Bassfisherman

TEAM 6: Epileptic Fish

Member Writer/Designer------Dave Gilbert
Member Scripter----------------YOke
Member Musician---------------BeserkerTails
Member Artist-------------------scotch
Member Artist-------------------Dart

TEAM 7: Team Awesome

Member Writer/Designer-----LGM
Member Scripter---------------Releasethefrogs
Member Musician--------------Eigen
Extra Member------------------Alky
Member Artist------------------custard
Member Artist------------------Donny Brook

Agenda
The competition spans over five weeks, and a link to the game must be handed in before 12:00 greenwich time on August 14:th, to
petter_andail@hotmail.com
subject "AGS team challenge"

* Within three days, each team should have responded to this thread, presenting a team captain and a team name. A contact email address must be enclosed.
This is obligatory.
A mascot or some sort of symbol/picture is optional, but recommendable.

* Two weeks from now, each team should be able to show one screenshot, and a short "blurb", or plot outline. These items will be presented on a Screen 7 website (hosted by Mods)

This makes:
July 7:th----------------Project officially starts
July 10:th--------------Deadline for team name and captain (failure to this leads to disqualification)
July 14:th------------------Obligatory status report, see post below
July 21:st--------------Deadline for presenting plot outline and one screenshot (optional, but failure will result in heavy point reduction in the jury's decisions)
August 7:th ------------Deadline for final status report.
August 14:th-----------Deadline for handing in the games to petter_andail@hotmail.com. No games delivered after this date will take part in the competition

General rules
There are no restrictions in terms of resolution, game-length or other technical details. The plot should follow the designated theme, or suffer point reduction.

All teams must see to it that their projects are kept secret, so that the risk of plagiarizing is minimized. A forum with passwords is preferable.

Team members should respect the short time period, and keep updated and in contact with their captains. If a team member fails to show up, the team captain can apply for exclusion (PM me), and if the team reaches three members or less, a stand-in might be available. This can also be the case if a team member misbehaves or fails to cooperate.
In order to exlude a member, there must be obvious reasons for this, and not just a general disliking. This is after all an exercise in cooperation.

Vacancies will be announced in this thread. Teams cannot request particular people for stand-ins.

No team must at no circumstances use outside assistance in their projects. This also goes for templates and plugins. Everything must be made from scratch by the team-members. Certain standard elements, such as the default font, may be used.
Also note that artwork or music created prior to the time of this competition may not be used. Hypothetically, a team member can have made an entire game based on mystery, but never released it, but still no material from this game may be used in the new one.

Team functions
* A team member is allowed to take part in work in other areas than the one they signed up for.
* No team member has formally more power in the designing of the game - regardless of area - except for the team captain. The other members' functions should be established within each team.
* Formally, the team captain can make unilateral decisions, and can assign tasks to other members. This is
to save time, and make sure the captain can eventually - if needed - force certain assignments to be carried out. This function should be used with care, considering the team spirit.
* The team captain is elected by voting. No initial team position is favourable when electing the captain.
It is recommended that the voting is carried out immediately and without campaigning too much.

Documentation
Along with the finished game, a document must be attached with proper credits, details regarding number of locations, characters, inventory items and maximum amount of points (if featured). 

Judging

After August 14:th, the games will be tried and evaluated by a jury. The jury is elected by me, and will be secret, so that no kind of lobbying can occur. Games delivered later than this deadline will not participate in the competition, but might still get an honourable mention on Screen 7.

The jury will look at and award:

* The plot in relation to the subject; Mystery
* The overall plot and playability
* Graphics/music
* Technical features

Disqualification can be imposed for the following reasons:
§1. Exceeding obligatory deadlines, or failure in following vital instructions.
§2. Less than three active teammembers credited in the final documentation. This being a competition in cooperation, at least three members must take part in the creation to count as a team.
§3. Including material in the game that is not originally created by a team member.
§4. Any sort of sabotage towards other teams.
§5. Plagiarism.

There is yet no deadline for the jury's final decision.

Note!
Only reply to this thread if directly instructed to. Use the chat thread to discuss rules or team issues.

Finally, remember that time is your worst enemy right now. I can't enough stress the importance of getting started ASAP!
For this reason, bear in mind that your team captain will have to make many unilateral decisions to speed up the process.

Special thanks to Vel, for his great initiative to commence this project, and to Scotch, for taking care of the team drawing.

I just wrote.
You can do the same.

http://www.esseb.com/andail/treaty1.doc

If you liked it, let me know.
Asch, who am I kidding

[Practically, you don't have traditional copyright,]

Here's a thread where you can publish material you wish to share with the community.

Have you drawn a background, animated a character, designed a GUI or constructed a puzzle?
Do you want other people to be able to take part of your creations?
Reply here.

Just write a short description of what you are donating. Include a link, and a line that says who shall be credited and when it was created.

Ex.
Futuristic Background, 640x400, hi colour
http://www.thelinktothepicture.com
Made by Petter Ljungqvist 2004

Images shall be linked, not displayed.

Copyright disclaimer:
People donating material here may not add further restrictions, such as "oh, you can't use my background because I want it to only be featured in good games." or "You may only use my character if you have already released at least three games I can look at".
If you wish to remove your link, just say so. As long as it's here, anybody is free to use it.

Practically, you don't have traditional copyright, since you can't demand people that have used your character in a game to take it down.

Still, people are urged to include the originator in the credits. Failure to do this may result in  their name ending up on a black list.

not very innovative concept, but hey, it could be useful for some game I do some day.



There are parts I'm less satisfied with, for instance the border between the sky (which might also be too bright) and the trees/bushes. I guess I could have done some more smearing.
Additionally, the whole image kind of inclines to the right, making it look like heavy wind or something.

This is what it looked like some hour before the final version, just for documentation:

Not much to say, just another painting to practice my pen tablet skills.
There are plenty of things I'm less satisfied with, so don't be affraid to give some harsh c&c

My first try with my new Trust pen tablet.
It's done without any references, so I'm aware of his anatomy being a bit distorted. The guy can handle some zooming in, the rest is pretty slovenly done.
Don't be too hard on this, my first attempt

[Why?]

As Farlander stated recently, there might actually be room for a beginners' critics lounge.

Why?
Lately people have tended to publish material seemingly not given more than two minutes of work. The lounge has become a tool that people use as a shortcut around personal experimenting, around the method of trial-and-error.

Important
I know that a lot of humanitarians are just about to post a reply with the word "elitism" in it. Just note that I am mainly getting at how little energy people seem put in their creations; not necessarily how skilled they are.
You can easily see by a picture if the artist did a sincere attempt to do something good, even if he/she isn't very good an artist.

Why, again?
I fear that the lack of seriousity discourages people who really want to learn and share their knowledge to even be associated to the critics lounge.

As the critics lounge is now the second biggest forum, it is well justified to be split.

The big question; who will decide which forum is appropriate?
Nobody. And there will be no moving of threads between the two forums.
Nobody will say "this piece does not belong here". However, the criticism will be much harsher.
Just like with the beginners' techincal, the beginners' forum will be a sanctuary from judgemental attitude. No piece of art can be too bad, simply put.

The regular forum will be for people who have put down a lot of time and energy in their creations, and who are truly interested in learning how to be better, who can accept sometimes harsh criticism and a demanding audience.

The regular forum is for people with a clear purpose and aim (the song is about to be recorded for a demo album, the essay is about to be published somewhere, the background is meant for a game in production) and who can recieve feedback in the perspective of this purpose; "that background is good, but doesn't go with the style of your game" etc.

The regular forum will provide more demanding criticism. There could be open discussions regarding techniques, genres and disciplines. There could be more tutor-based teaching, more long-term projects.
Eventually, it might attract more serious artists/musicians/writers, maybe even from outside.

The other forum will be for people with a more casual attitude; people who want to see if their creations can be used for anything at all; if a piece of art looks promising, and who don't care very much about lengthy discussions, preferably just a re-make by a better artist.
The feedback will be less extensive, less technical.
Preferably, your very first attempt in a certain field will end up here.

A second alternative
Another way of bringing more order into this would be to have one individual art-forum, and one for music/writing.
This will have two good effects:
1. More musicians and writers might be encouraged to share their creations
2. More room will be given to the art-threads, which will survive longer and thus be given more attention and perhaps more extensive discussions.

However, it will not at all effect the quaility of the publications.

To sum up:
My goal is to create a forum that simply gives a more serious impression. That's basically all.

Please tell me your opinions. I may be addressing a situation that nobody else has considered a problem, or a problem that can't be solved without somebody shouting elitism.

You're the lead computer artist in your game company. The concept artist has just sent you his newest sketch. Now it's up to you to make something useful out of it.

Basically you may change it however you like, alter the style or remove parts. Just colour it or make a brand new piece of art.

The concept sketch for these two weeks is:

http://esseb.com/andail/concept.jpg

Deadline: End of April

Last night was scary
jogging homewards, the broad and endless street to my home
and in the midnight mist were lights of blue and red
and sterile white

and automobiles of different sorts
and orange men, trying to open the distorted metal
- that once was a person's car

and an immobile mass of people
as still as in police quest, standing silently, with stretched necks
once I was the officer, questioning them (you remember?)
now I run by, because nothing beats a midnight run, even when
you're drunk.

Someone was wounded, dunno if he's dead
and I'm just hung over

Happy easter