Messages

Did I really say something wrong?

What did I say that anyone here would get mad at?

Nothing I said is directed at anyone here. What silly joke did I make?

Hehe, relax buddy, it wasn't aimed at you.
I've already had to remove some posts here, and had concerns expressed in pm's regarding the tone in this thread. It's just a bit sensitive territory, is all.
You'll know when I direct my remarks at you

[Again:Since this is a potentially inflammatory area; * Stay on topic! * Avoid one liners that don't contribute! * If you want to write silly jokes, go to the rumpus room!* Be extra polite when debating!Thank you.]

Again:
Since this is a potentially inflammatory area;
* Stay on topic!
* Avoid one liners that don't contribute!
* If you want to write silly jokes, go to the rumpus room!
* Be extra polite when debating!

Thank you.

[Note to everyone:Stay on topic, and no moderating if you're not a moderator, please. If you think someone has crossed a line, use the Report to Moderator button, otherwise let people debate.]

Note to everyone:
Stay on topic, and no moderating if you're not a moderator, please. If you think someone has crossed a line, use the Report to Moderator button, otherwise let people debate.

Average playtime tests how difficult the game is, not necessarily how "big" it is in terms of content and material. You can make a puzzle or two that are super hard, and that might increase the playtime by hours.

It depends on what we mean with size, of course.

Hey guys!

#24 chiming in hope some people still remember me!

I play adventure games every once in a while but I rarely visit these forums as I don't have time to make games. I have loads of ideas for games but life just takes too much time. Hopefully when I achieve financial independence I'll be able to make a game or two

I'm currently pursuing a PhD in computer science and make websites on the side!

Sorry for the shameless plug but these are two of my websites that I am most proud of:

http://musicdiscipline.com
http://www.bigbasstabs.com

Long time no see, MonkeySpank!

I thought that game length was measured by how long it takes to play from start to finish when you know exactly what you need to do to finish it. Because not all players play the game the same way or take the same amount of time solving the puzzles.

I think this is the "official" way we measure game length in the database, and probably the best. I should add that you're not supposed to click away all dialogue and cut-scenes, but play the game the way it's meant to be played, only never get stuck on puzzles.

Of course, it's still not perfectly fair, because some games rely heavily on puzzle complexity, and they may appear very short when stripped of all puzzle-solving time.

PS:
I thought it might be nice to show you guys this chart I made, showing all visitable locations in TSP:

I demand regular updates in this thread.

Where are you now? Kitchen? Bathroom? TELL US

Machinarium and Dropsy would be non-existant using that method. I might be splitting hairs here, just saying that no one method is very foolproof, and especially counting just dialogue line seems slightly off target considering we're dealing with games here and not books...

There are so many factors to consider when it comes to the size of a game. In terms of "physical" size as in amount of locations, then you have Other Worlds by Alkis, and Pleurghburg by Chrille, which both have well over 100 locations.

A game can also be big in terms of interactions, dialogues; basically things to do and see. Resonance by Vince isn't very big in terms of game universe, but has lots of stuff going on, various computer interfaces and technical features along with a gameplay that's divided between several characters, and that makes the game meatier.

I haven't played Heroine's Quest, but something tells me there's a ton of stuff to do in there.

Then of course a game can take long time to finish because it has many and complicated puzzles - most people finish my game, TSP, in between 5 and 10 hours, which I think is in the top percentile of playing time amongst AGS games.

I'm regularly bringing up source criticism in school, and all the surrounding stuff; urban myths, conspiracy theories, etc. One thing I've noticed is that it's damn near impossible to convince someone who's just seen a youtube clip about whatever conspiracy that it is only that - a conspiracy theory. It's like they need to some time to be un-programmed, and then some couple of days later we can talk calmly about it again and they'll agree it looks a bit fishy in hindsight.
We have some kind of innate proclivity for embracing alternative versions of what is commonly known, as if we're let in on a secret.

Like Darth said, any theory, no matter how crazy, can sound plausible and even convincing after some smooth talking, some charts and a bit of math. It's extremely hard to protect yourself against a really skilled conspiracy theorist...

Cool, link to the doc coming up!

Cool, thanks for your input!
If you're interested, I would gladly share the design document with you guys, and you could give me some feedback on the ideas? I trust you don't run away with any potentially marketable ideas, but I count on you to say if it's been done to death already

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. 

Snarky, you're absolutely right!
I threw that comment out very carelessly, and as you say, artists have painted with clearly visible brush strokes before the 19th century. My point was, either way, that doing so requires a lot from your painting technique.

Not that it matters a lot, since Lasca's picture was more of a sketch than a finished painting anyways...

And now that I look back at my own edit I don't really think it's a very good paint-over, so I don't know what I'm doing here, frankly

I'll come back with a better edit at one point!

I couldn't really tell if your face is supposed to be old, or if it was sloppy brush work that made her skin look a little aged...

Anyhow, based on the presumption that she's supposed to be fairly young, here's a start:


I find that many beginners tend to use various brushes and let the strokes be visible even though there's no real plan or thought behind the brush work. If you want to have visible brush strokes, go for a specific brush and a certain width and stick to that; there's a reason we didn't see brush strokes until the 19th century's impressionism - it's simply very hard to do it right. In the meantime, go for soft, smooth brushes.

I probably went a bit too far with this edit, but it's hard to stop painting once you've started!

Please ask if there's anything you wonder about, I might return later to explain a few things.

Hello Lasca,
I think your portrait looks mostly fine, in terms of anatomy, proportions and perspective. Shadows and highlights are mostly correct, in regards of those same criteria.
The only adjustments I'd make would be to soften her nose a bit (women tend to have a more curved nasal ridge).

It also strikes me as a typical exercise portrait, in the sense that it's rather plain and generic. If you want to make a more dynamic, interesting portrait we can discuss that too!

Mandle, that's correct, and if you take into account MKennedy's 2nd post, you'll find that the results are the same.

His approach was to find out the probability of getting a specific number 5 times in a row, then multiplying by 6 to get all the possibilities.

PS:
Here's another one:

Roll a standard die. If you roll 6 it means you get a reroll (adding the 6 you already rolled). This can, theoretically, go on forever. What's the average result of rolling this die?

Cool, time-laps thread!

My own son is 5 months and it's awesome, even though I'm not sleeping that much, or have much time over for... well, anything.

Also, the red carpet arrival was a wonderful surprise that put a smile on my face. When the game crashed and I had to log back in, arriving by limo a second time still made me smile. Nice work, whoever put that in there.

Snarky put it there, but Daniel Thomas painted it, based on my line-art.

I think everything went perfectly; you could always nit-pick about floor space or whatever, or that not including lesbian imagery is somehow too "pc", but all in all this was as smooth as it gets.

Great event and a big thank you to Snarky who made it happen!

Had to leave halfway in because of child-related stuff and also I had to go to bed.

Still happy that TSP got nominated in the first place, didn't expect to win anything so no major disappointment there.