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Hm, it seems you have spent an unfortunate amount of time on details, while neglecting perspective and light/colour scheme. My advice is to paint the whole scene again, with hardly any colours or lighting. Then you decide on the light source, and start painting surfaces hit by that light. Remember that the light source must be the brightest part of the image - the light emitting from it can't be brighter!

Okay. First of all, should I implement any of the features discussed here, this post would turn out a massive spoiler for my upcoming game. So if you want to avoid having what could be a key twist in the game plot entirely disclosed at this point, stop reading.

Spoiler

Basically, the idea is pretty simple. You all know how we've had dozens of threads and hundred of posts discussing how games treat player options - especially dialogue options - to alter the direction of the game, potentially leading to different paths/endings.

Normally when we discuss this, we agree that most games execute this poorly, and that the various choices often tend to result in the same outcome, making the whole liberty of choice concept a mere chimera.

I've got an idea for my game that could possibly be perceived as rather controversial, and since it could be a deal-breaker to some people, I want to talk about it here. At one point, well into the game, the protagonist will be asked a question concerning his background. The player will choose an option, believing that one is true, and the other false, and that he has possibly failed to notice which one is which. What the player doesn't know is that this option in fact determines his background.

On another occasion, a side character will ask what the protagonist thought of their last encounter (which took place long before the beginning of the game). The player can now choose to pick options that will suggest that they had a romantic affair (among others). More options detailing the protagonist's thoughts and reactions on this affair can be chosen subsequently. All these responses will not only describe what the player thinks happened, but they will help shape what actually happened. By now, the player should realize that this is the case, and will understand that the blankness of the main character is intentional - not only is his neutral persona reflecting the idiosyncrasies of other characters, but he's actually - in part - being written during the course of the game.

Don't confuse this with RPG-stories, where a brand new character enters a world and may have their personal background partly made up by the player. In such scenarios, the personal background is just a decoration - what happened before the start of the game is not relevant to the game plot. In my scenario, the background events mentioned bear great significance to the plot - not necessarily in how the game is played (there won't be a myriad of paths/endings) but how the story elements will be read and perceived.

The part that may be confusing is that the player has no knowledge or insight in the scenarios at hand, so the choices will be made rather blindly, prompted by gut feeling.

Example: A female character approaches the protagonist and asks him why he left her (at one point in the past). The player can then choose to have the protagonist say "Because I was afraid" or "because I didn't like you", or even "I didn't leave you, you left me, remember?". The player must make this decision without any information or context, and the chosen response, whichever it is, will be the truth.

Has this been done before (it may have been done to death already, I don't play many games and could easily have missed it), and more importantly, should it be done? Will it break some sort of fourth wall? Will it just annoy players to learn that the background story isn't set in stone when the game begins?

Thoughts?

[close]

Woah, I'm super-impressed that Cleanic solved it! You're gonna love my GiP, Cleanic, ha ha, *pitch*

I still don't quite agree with the second-layer description of the riddle, but it was ok.

Yeah, the F's are pretty obvious (F being a fail grade), especially since you confirmed my being on the right track with letters building a word.

Although two letters that have to do with admiration? I'm lost there.
Edit: Unless it's simply two A's.
FAFA? Nope, still lost.

How does that make a difference? How do I go about checking whether the sound clip is playing?
Btw, I should mention that I need to check this for other purposes, not just to lower the volume.

PS:
Ok I found in the manual that I have to first check that the soundclip != null before. Feels a bit strange, but ok.

Okay, I might have been sitting for too long with AGS today, but I can't wrap my head around this issue.

I have a sound playing in one room. I'm using a global variable audio channel (bells) to play the clip in.
In the next room, I want the volume to go down, so I've got this:

if (bells.IsPlaying == true){
    bells.Volume = 50;
}

Now, this works perfectly if the bells clip is playing, but if it isn't, AGS gives me a null pointer referenced error and shuts down. I can't for my life see why. If the bells sound isn't playing, surely it would just return false?

Spoiler

I get that it's probably about letters being added to form a word, and then there's something about the ending of the word, etc etc... am I on the right track?

[close]

This topic has been moved to The Rumpus Room.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=47097.0

I give up. Is it a cheese?

Just posting to confirm that I'll definitely attend! Both trip and accommodation sorted out.
Looking forward to meeting you all

I'm seriously considering attending, seeing now that Ryanair will fly me to London for virtually nothing.

Any suggestions where I could stretch out nightly are appreciated.

Beautiful graphics indeed, well done!
The plot sounds imaginative and quirky too

People tend to ask this question often, but I don't quite understand it. Surely you will notice if the character is big enough once you import it into your game? If the character appears too small on the screen, make him bigger. If he's too big, make him smaller. You can make placeholder sprites at first so you won't have too much work re-making it.

Congratulations! Now you can finally stop being annoyed with other adventure game-related crowdfunding campaigns... 

Oh and I'll try to be there, however unlikely it seems at the moment!

Edit:
Hehe, guilt trip accomplished

This topic has been moved to The Rumpus Room.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=47023.0

You're calling the objects from the Global script using their object name, which won't work. Use the object ID number instead. (Only use oTV and similar within the room)

Sorry.

Anakin Gilbert is "Gnatlike Brain"

Please name your kid Anakin. Or Lando. Either one is good. 

Or Lando? As in Or Lando Bloom?
Bara-tching

I've only briefly tried out the prequels, but I've spent slightly more time in Skyrim. I'm level 17 or something, playing as a sneaky archer, and switch to one-hand and shield in melee. I should add I only play some hours a week, tops.

I had Lydia for quite a while, but then she disappeared. I think I told her to stay and wait in a location that was closed and sealed afterwards. So I looked up how to find another one, and I'm now accompanied by a female spell-caster (forgot her names) who's absolutely insane. If she as much as smells an enemy, she fills the entire scene with ice and fire, until everything is dead. It has lead to some incidents where towns people's got hurt, and turned against us. Then some days later, I found Lydia waiting in my town house. So now she stays there and guards our home, I guess.

What I like with Skyrim is that there's plenty of freedom, and I can play any darn way I want. If I want to skip all the crafting and alchemy and stuff, I can manage without. I can choose an armour that looks pretty, and I can take quests that I'm interested in. I don't have to play "optimally"; I can choose to play it safely and slowly.

All the home styling and decorating is kind of nice, although it's not really what keeps me playing.

I think the scenery is nice. With the dawnguard addon I can ride around in the forests and hunt with my bow. Whenever I find a cave or some remote tower, I can choose whether to enter it or just ignore it. I also like the feeling of fighting, in its simplest sense. The battles are confusing and chaotic, just like they are in real life. I block with my shield, and I can feel the impact of weapons against it. I can swing and miss and feel clumsy, but a good hit almost resonates in me.

What I don't like is that most enemies scale with you. This means that I never really feel that I'm improving, at least not very tangibly. Sure, I learn new techniques, but I've yet to experience how a certain enemy is at first too hard, but if I return much later has become vanquishable. I guess I prefer games with "zones", where you shouldn't enter until you're good enough, however unrealistic that may be. I just like the feeling of suddenly being superior, having trained in other battles.

I think I will soon grow a bit tired of it all, because it is getting a bit reptitious. I don't think any of these first person RPGs are ever going to give me the pleasure Baldur's Gate gave me. With Baldur's Gate, battles were about tactics and calculations, about knowing your spells and skills perfectly, and analysing your opponent. It was about trial and error. With Skyrim, I often just rush into the fray. If that fails, I load again and play sniper with my bow. I don't need to set up my team perfectly, I don't need to predict what protections and counter-spells I'm going to need.

Looking cool, Nefasto, the graphic style is improving!