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I haven't done a lot of cultural stuff lately.

Although I have to say Stratford upon Avon was a pleasant experience for me. I was there one year ago, and the weather was wonderful and everyone was happy. The play we saw was so-and-so, but the weather was great!

I'm sure the parents already hate themselves enough for leaving the kids alone without anyone else even mentioning it.

It's not only about blaming the parents, it's about steering the debate in the right direction. It's not like people are suggesting that the perpetrator should have his penalty reduced (if he gets caught) just because the parents were neglectful. It should still not be taboo for public media to point out that parents are responsible for their children.

There is a lot to do with all of them, frankly. The muscular guys seem to have their muscles outlined rather than shaded, which looks odd. Also, all their faces need more nuances and tones to become more human.

The hippie character has a very odd posture which doesn't look very natural. I gave him a major revamp:

original:


edit:


I'm no expert at pixel art shading, so maybe Progz can show some better techniques.

Anyway, your characters are full of...character...and seem fun and original, but you can definitely spend some extra time there pushing pixels

You must distinguish between narrative elements and underlying facts. In Blair Witch, we knew that wicked stuff was happening, it was a part of the background story. But the suspense was built pretty much on the absence of explicit gore and "snuff" stuff.

When you avoid depicting the horror graphically, the viewer/player will fill in the details in his mind, often creating a much more powerful suggestion. Being forced to imagine the horror is more powerful than having the gore shoved in your face.

I'm not debating this to make you get rid of those snuff elements, but I don't want you to confuse two vastly different genres.

That was a pile of crap. The embarrassing fact is not that the eurovision itself is such a horrible event, it's the fact that schlager in Sweden is extremely popular, and all sorts of media devote months to it every spring.
I hope Sweden's pathetic position this year can put a damper on the whole phenomenon in the future.

From your post in the chat-forum:

My ideal game is the first AGS snuff game.

Silent Hill (Facing own demons) + resident evil (Zombies, infection) + 3D backgrounds + American McGee's Alice soundtrack + 100's of color photos depicting beheading, rape, cannibalism, murdered children, shrunken heads, trench foot, torture, hanging, dead and desecrated nuns, mountains of naked corpses + every conspiracy theory you ever heard of + machine guns + Klansmen, all this added up making sure the plot doesn't make any sense at all, it just keeps getting weirder and weirder until you climax.

I'm working on it.

As far I as I remember, Blair Witch was mostly about some kids wandering around an empty forrest.

There is a huge different in actually depicting the frightening/appalling elements and keeping them hidden and only alluded to. Both can create horror, but you need to make a decision.

If my parents did that, they'd have taken a baby monitor with them.

That's good, but soon enough they should let you spend at least some time on your own!

People, get with the program, this thread is for reversed yo mama jokes.

Colour perspective, man, colour perspective.
With such a deep orange atmosphere, distant objects are bound to get an orange tint, and get a bit washed out. So lower the saturation and the contrast of those clouds and hills and give them a hint of orange. It'd increase the depth of the image a lot.

Good background.
My only gripe is that most of the backdrop has smooth, curved lines, whereas the house has straight, crooked lines. If you could make the shapes of the house consistent with the shapes of the landscape, it'd look more harmonic.

Hermits, cults, beheading? That's quite another story.

Why mix deep wartime atmosphere with B-movie-sque  horror cliche?

The whole premise of the game, being a "snuff game" is to have a plot like that. I don't think it's B quality, I was thinking it was more Blair Witch esque. The plot has to stay but I will try to make it more serious.

I don't remember anything snuff-esque with the Blair Witch. I don't remember any gore or cheap explicit violence whatsoever, just a subtle, unnerving sense of discomfort and suspense.
Your cut-scene, and whole theme, seem completely opposite to what Blair Witch was about.

Nah, actually baseball seems like a fairly sensible sport. I enjoy throwing balls, so I think I could learn to appreciate it if I gave it a try.

Having studied at least a bit development psychology:

It's no mental disorder, nor is there an asshole gene being passed.

The phenomemon you describe is very common, and is some sort of defense mechanism which in turn stems from a typical psychological progress of a son and his parents. A son typically undergoes the oedipus stage, where all his sympathies go to his mother, but when this stage passes around late puberty, the feelings can be almost reversed, and the break up with his mother can be very deep and sometimes hard to mend. If the parents are in conflict, he may side totally with the father (after having initially sided with the mother 100%). Psychological mechanisms like this tend to be fuelled by their irrationality, so the less reason to side with his father, the more focused will his hatred be towards his mother and all those who support her.
If he deep down realises that his father's behaviour is despicable, his subconcious devotion to defend him will be more profound.

Watch The Squid and the Whale if you want a good example of this mechanism. It's a very good movie.

I hate that shit!

Yeah, Wtcq, calling football "shit" isn't very polite towards those millions of people, some very young and poor, who happen to take delight in said sport.
I think you should apologise for insulting such a vast demographic group in such a rash and thoughtless manner.

Make a game with that stuff if you find it easier, it can be good training for you. Just remember to give proper credits.

To say "Bad topic." and to claim that participation only depends on the topic is not to voice an opinion, it's to pretend that you're stating a fact. Quite impolitely worded, at that.

It's not a fact that the low amount of contributions in this activity can be blamed on its topic; it's simply a matter of seasonal fluctuation. Activity is low at the moment, in all competitions.

If you find that the topic doesn't suit you personally, that you find it hard to pull off, that's one thing. Then just refrain from participating; pouring negative energy into the thread will hardly help it.

Now, let's not post here more unless you have a contribution; threads on this board should be kept on track as much as possible.

Cyrus, I think you might have exhausted this community's information regarding that project by now.

Bad topic. Sometimes there have been tons of entries. It all depends on the topic.

Who are you to pass judgement like that? Participation fluctuates on this board, and has been a bit low lately in most activities. There's absolutely nothing 'bad' with this topic, I think it's imaginative and inspirational.

Zyndikate, that was arguably your best background so far
All votes for the Zyndikate!