Messages

Everything's looking splendid

Let's hope this overhaul can spark some creativity and inspiration, and increase the forum activity a bit. The good kind of activity.

I don't really think your "Quixotic battle" argument is valid, because, well, everything we do is retro. It's not like we would compete better with the huge modern game developers if we just removed the characters.
People that play - and sometimes buy - our games do it not because they want cutting edge technology, but because they like the adventure game retro-genre; the style, the old-fashioned aesthetics, the minimalistic animations, etc etc.

As Mods says, we still have to wait some more.
There is a model being worked out, and we more or less only need CJ to greenlight some stuff before changes will take place.

I'd ALSO say that BASS must be one of the FIRST using that kind of GUI, if not the VERY first.

I would contribute with something, but I'm still awestruck by the awesomeness of your awesome fairytale.

I don't think it's strange to be hesitant to transfer cash to people you've never met, over the internet. I've only ever loaned money to my closest friends.

So, I'll just say good luck, Joseph, and hope that you'll pull through eventually!
Also, maybe you shouldn't worry about or focus too much on making games at a time like this. Nobody here will or should demand that you create games instead of spending all your energy sorting out your financial situation.
Creating games consumes valuable hours that could be spent on working extra or something.

[Lure of the temptress]

Clearly it's possible to love something even though you know it's bad, which is fascinating!

Lure of the temptress will always have a special place in my heart, even though it's a very poorly designed game, looking at it objectively. There is not a single "clever" puzzle in the entire game - they're either completely straightforward (use lockpick on lock, use tinderbox to start fire, etc), or downright dumb (the only way to get an empty flask is to have a character drink its contents - instead of just emptying it anywhere).
There are very long chains consisting of giving random objects to random characters, who will in return give you new random objects to give to new characters.
To defeat the dragon, you have to use a magic potion *yawn*, and to create the potion you need some ingredients that are simply picked up at random places.

Still love it.
But I don't look at it for cues on puzzle design

Game maker studio looks pretty promising. Has anyone had the chance to study it in depth? It's yet to be released, but maybe someone has some info.

How far is AGS from being as portable to these various platforms?

I agree that you should make the game the way you'd like to play it.
Too many aspiring game makers are so conscious about people's opinions they never get around to finish a game. Let alone an original one.

I definitely think there's room for games that you cannot save and load as you please, just to be able to play recklessly. I would enjoy a game that had just one save-slot, or better yet, a constant auto-save system, like modern mmo's. You pick up the game where you left it last time you played, simple as that. That would really force the player to make their choices prudently, and not rush through the game.  

#7, don't ever, EVER restrict a player from playing how they want to play

Sorry, but this is frankly a bit boring advice. The very basic sentiment is ludicrous - you always restrict a player. Unless you're playing some table top RPG. And the dungeon master forgot to create an adventure for you.

I'm not in favour of a system where the game can only be saved at certain instances (rather that it would be constantly saved), but if you went ahead and created such a game, I wouldn't really object. There would be a point in playing it that way, and if a player couldn't cope, there are plenty of other games.

Maybe it's an age thing, but I grew up entirely on Sierra games like PQ, SQ and LSL.
I've played most of the KQ titles, but found them too stressful and annoying. However KQVI is a game I adore, even though I've never completed it. It's a game they could have made so much better, by removing the dead ends and the slightly weird timed events. The artwork, the puzzles and the wonderfully imaginative settings are just lovely.
It's a pity Sierra grew out of the "let's kill the player all the time to add game time" mentality a bit too late.

Thanks a lot for all your valuable input!

The first two Blackwell games suffered from this problem a lot, and is something you once complained about yourself, Andail.  "Painful", I think you called it.  

Ha ha, yeah I remember that It was a clever little mystery, but it was painful because the protagonist could not express what you as a player had already realized, until she had combined the proper clues. It's one thing if you don't play an intellectual character, but when she's a detective you don't want to feel dumbed down.

The ambition expressed in this thread can be summarised to:
1. The player should not be able to advance the game without understanding it.
2. If the player understands the game, he shouldn't have to wait for the protagonist to catch up.

But I guess it's not really possible to provide a perfectly player-driven gameplay without implementing a) special tools, like the deduction board in Sherlock Holmes, b) some sort of text parser, or c) have all locations and objects turn into notes or memories (which can then be combined near-infinitely).  Being a fan of simplistic controls, I'm not sure I'm in favour of either of those.

I even have hopes of releasing this on phones or pads in the future, and want a very simple GUI. Otherwise I was actually considering having a supporter character, like a Watson or something, with whom you could discuss the case as you progress. The discussion topics would be typed in via a text parser by the player, and "Watson" would ask you what kind of conclusion you would draw from certain facts and circumstances.
However, I'm scrapping parsers now, and also my game doesn't really have room for a side-kick...

It's best to just write here and hope he'll notice it sooner or later. I would not approach CJ in other ways, facebook or similar, as he wants to keep his private life separated from AGS.

I'm also not very fond of notes and memories and stuff, mainly because it's been used so much, and also because  it doesn't really feel intuitively right to me that the game should make notes for the player. I mean, either the player finds the information interesting, and notes it, or he doesn't, and forgets about it.
If the player isn't prepared to commit to that sort of mental labour, there are plenty of other game types
One option is an in-game note-writing function, like you say Anian, that the player is in control of.

Apart from this, I'm not really into a brand new game system or GUI, I'm rather into finding story-elements, situations and puzzles that rely on the player to solve, using their own intellect.

While the Sherlock Holmes game looks innovative and clever, it's not at all what I want for my own game. The problem is I guess I don't really know what I want

I’m currently designing a detective game (yes, after nearly a decade of little or no AGS-activity), and have thought a bit about how to implement deductive reasoning in the advancement of the game.

What models have you encountered that you really like?

Usually the player will see/hear the character draw his/her own conclusions based on finding or combining inventory items. This means that even highly “logic-propelled” games can be solved by trial-and-error clicking on stuff, until you’ve stumbled upon the proper trigger to forward the plot.

Puzzles in these games are typically confined to very isolated events (escaping a room) or finding hidden objects, while the reasoning itself takes place through protagonist monologues (“aha, that’s why the butler couldn’t have done it!”) or even entire cut-scenes.

I know some designers have explored a middle way by using notes and memories as inventory items; these items can be combined and examined to yield new clues. But how can I give the task of actually drawing the conclusions entirely to the player?

If the game universe was completely open, like some kind of ultimate GTA-like sandbox model, and every door could be lockpicked, every NPC interrogated, shadowed, threatened and eventually arrested and brought to jail, then all this wouldn’t be an issue. The game would simply end when the culprit was behind bars, and you’d be rewarded for it.
But with a finite number of locations and options, you still need to “steer” the player. How can you unlock a location based solely on the player’s own incentive to visit it? How can you give the player the opportunity to suspect a character, without telling him explicitly that the character in question is suspicious?

How can you give the player the opportunity to say “but Alice would never have tasted the poisoned T-bone steak, because Alice is a vegan!” without using memories or notes as inventory items (which could hypothetically be tried by just clicking around randomly)?

Lovely use of colours and depth there, mode7 Really nice atmosphere.

Grim, since you've removed the content of your original post, do you want the whole thread removed or something?

[Work more and talk less.]

I'm not looking for attention,

Yes you are. You crave constant, 24/7 attention and feedback. Maybe it's a subconcious thing or something, but it's still a fact.

As plenty of people have told you already (repeatedly): Work more and talk less.

Good job!
Money is useful.

As per usual, I'd like to come, but it's a very huge maybe.
It would be nice to continue the production of "100 days to Ragnarok" with Esseb, just to mention one reason

I don't know who you spoke to, but exhibitors have to be finalized about 3-4 months before the convention even starts.

It's also about eight thousand dollars to get a booth at PAX, which is why I never do it.

I don't think such trivialities are gonna stop Icey from appearing somewhere to pitch his game