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If I'm not mistaken some guy at Double Fine submitted, basically as his job application to Double Fine, Grim Fandango coded in XNA, so that it'd run on the xbox.


Not really related to what you are saying, but still. Although isn't XNA no longer being supported by Microsoft now, or something?

I feel bad for insulting you, because the only thing YOU've ever drawn are bad cards.
Still, with that face, you probably deserve it!

(I'm really late this time, I don't disagree if I'm disqualified...even 24 hours seems to be giving me issues)

So you keep a record of the hookers in town?
So are you in the business, or just a really poor guy?


(was a little late, dunno if this counts)

I think Photoshop's "Indexed Colours" mode is technically 8bit. However, I think you can manually edit the palette to make it fewer. I also sometimes save as a gif, which allows variable numbers of colours also in the save wizard. Another thing I do for speedy colour reduction is set up and save a gif (or image with Indexed colour mode) with a palette I already like, then copy a high-colour image into that image, which automatically sets all the colours to be the ones that have been indexed (doesn't dither, though).

In conclusion, Photoshop is really not the ideal tool for fine-tuned palette handling. Also, that plugin is pretty old, so maybe when it came out, Photoshop did only allow reductions to 256 colours.

Snarky, the tool I linked allows for dithering at 8bits, 4bits, 2bits and 1bit colours, and also has certain preset dither patterns, and sliders to vary them. That functionality isn't currently in photoshop, at least not as easily as it is to do with this.

Not sure how useful this is for you all here, as I learnt of this tool from these forums, so you might already know about it:
http://download.cnet.com/DepthDither/3000-2192_4-10644079.html

It really is sad how you're passing on your obsession for overeating to the rest of your family.

Still, better joining you than inside you!

(Still have no idea if you're even fat )

I don't know this "Silverstone". Did she get a look at your face as well?
You should offer your services to constipated people!

(I'm giving up the rhyming, and combining my lining )

Hey, at least I exercise enough to keep control of my flubber!

So, how's life at the insane asylum?


(Just got in in the nick of time, although I've no idea if you're even fat )

I had the Showdown Effect from a humble bundle, then got another steam key as well, so if anyone wants, do tell! Taken!

Oh...errr.....emmmmmm

Stupot? MORE LIKE EWWWWW POT!

Heh...be interesting to see a more organised version of this. Be hilarious if we could've had some sort of tiered tournament, but I guess it is a little difficult to judge the quality of an insult.
I hereby sign up...ya filthy mog!

It voids the warranty on your phone, and could potentially brick it. I spent a tense hour or so when I did it, but it all worked out for the best!

But thanks for all the suggestions so far!
I'm messing around with Battle Colors now, it IS a fun little game, especially for requiring NO permissions at all!
I'm assuming you meant this Wifi Analyzer, which obviously requires network permissions, but is pretty cool. I'm also eyeing the GPS Status app, despite it being a lite version with ads, because it DOES look cool, and that is exactly the sort of useless information I like to have around.

I haven't installed any SMS program thing yet because I can't yet figure out how to disable the default SMS program so that it doesn't break SMS handling (I tried one, and it would open up both the default and the new one, and then when I disabled the default, nothing would open).

R4L, unfortunately, being an off-brand local phone, I haven't found any good custom ROMS for it yet, although I'm not too bothered by that.
I should probably get a gameboy emulator or something. I just realised that it could have on-screen controls AND a full-sized screen, so it just might work. And thankfully I have no friends with iPhones .

I think I've found a good music player conforming to my requirements, though. Xplay music player isn't a lite version of anything, handles FLAC, has a nice widget, can edit tags and stuff. It requires network permisssions (I think to get tags and cover art from the net), but doesn't complain at all if I disable the Data Connection.

Indeed!
FREEEEEEEEEEdom!

From Eurogamer:

One thing that will be replaced is the audio, which unfortunately means the protagonist's voice-over by Tim Curry is no more. Why is that, you ask? As it turns out, the original audio files simply weren't available

Oh I don't really see the point then. Why not do a new game?

Butbutbut...surely anyone with the original game's CD and a copy of SCIStudio VGA can get all those things? I am certain you can rip graphics using it...that isn't possible with sound? Or is it a legal matter?

[free]

Hey everyone!

From 2009 up until about a month ago, I had a Nokia. It was cool, did most everything I wanted, and I got irritated when people people told me to "get a smartphone" ("IT COUNTS AS A SMARTPHONE! It has inbuilt GPS and maps and voice recognition and internet and emailing and messaging and all that! It has a keypad instead of touchscreen because I PREFER that!").

Anyhow, considering the horrible Nokia app store, and the fact that  wanted to get into dev, I recently got myself an android smartphone. It was an off-brand one, but with nice enough specs (Android 4.2, a 1.2GHz Quad Core, 4GB ROM/1GB RAM, etc.). It came with a ton of bloatware, so first thing I did was to root it and remove most of that.

What I'm looking for now are apps that would be an improvement on the functionality of the ones that came with it (phonebook, lockscreen, etc. stuff like that), but is also free - because I'm a cheapskate- and also ad-free and not requiring network access if possible - because while I have wifi at home, I'm a cheapskate with a horrible data plan (also the reason I'm less interested in the more "social" apps and social aspects of specific apps) - and preferably not a lite version of a better app. Sorry in advance for the long post, hopefully it'd be helpful to others as well.

First off, stuff I already got:

I got GO LAUNCHER EX (and a whole lot of associated GO apps), but I gotta say, I'm somewhat unsatisfied with it. It IS all swishy and cool and all, but it comes with loads of extra things I don't want, a whole separate interface to get backgrounds and themes and fonts and then some bits that I DO want it asks money for or tells me to upgrade to pro versions. If someone has a recommendation for a replacement, I'd be happy to hear!

I also got PitchLab Guitar Tuner and smartCHORD, in one of my "I really should properly learn the guitar" moments- the first has a tuner (more like a any sort of audio-note identifier) and loads of cool visualisations to help you. The second also has a tuner, but it isn't redundant, as it has loads other stuff: a ear trainer, nicely displayed chord list, a digital guitar thing, and stuff I don't even understand yet. Neither of them require any sort of network access, so I am really happy with them.

Still in the musicky side of things, I also have 2 "sequencers" Loops! and Plasma Sound, although the first seems a bit complicated for me (not that I'm an expert at using sequencers anyway), and the second is more of an enjoyable playing thing, messing about and making bloops and bleeps with the associated visualisations. Again. neither have any network access, and are absolutely free, which I love.

Because I'd like to be an astronomy buff, I also got Google Sky Maps, which is incredibly cool, as it allows you to see names of stars and planets and constellations in real time as you point your device at the sky. It is also totally free, but requires network access permissions, although I've switched off my data connection and only have it use my GPS, and so far I've had no issues.

For games, the one I play the most is Simon Tatham's Puzzles, recommended to me by Hajo/dasjoe, which have 34 puzzle games in one (including Sudoku, Minesweeper, Mastermind, Sliding tile puzzle, etc.), totally free, and again, requiring no network permissions. Some of the games don't seem to have been properly ported to the phone (Minesweeper requires pressing down and waiting to mark a mine, and some of them have a large amount of stuff on-screen making it difficult to press them accurately), but still, the ones that do, work great.

Instead of the default Google Maps, I'm using MapFactor: GPS Navigation, which asks for network permissions, but after I downloaded the maps at home on my wi-fi, it had no problems working without internet.

The default calculator had separate screens for normal and scientific mode, so I got RealCalc Scientific Calculator instead, which again is totally free and requires no network permissions.

Another utility I got is the TeslaLED Flashlight, because I wanted a free flashlight program for my phone that also did Morse code, and it suits me perfectly! Again, no network permissions required, and it even has this hilarious "Police Mode" where the screen flashes a bright alternating red and blue, that I want to abuse some time while driving.

So what I want:

Games! I've realised that at least for me, most actiony games aren't worth it on a phone. I have a 5 inch screen, but even at that level, it isn't all that fun, so I mostly go for puzzle games. I had bought the recent Humble Mobile bundle, but out of those, unfortunately, only Carmageddon, Time Surfers and Punch Quest worked, and currently I only have time surfers still on my phone. So if you have any suggestions, even ones to prove me wrong about my opinion of actiony games on a phone, or if you know of some free adventure game that works well on a touchscreen phone, please do tell!

Replacements for the system apps I have already. As I said, I'm not too happy with GO LAUNCHER EX and the rest of the stuff, so maybe a nice free launcher, and a screen lock with a similarly cool wiggly gesture unlock thing, maybe some Phonebook that includes a country field in the address (for some bizarre reason, the default one doesn't), and a birthday field that shows up on my calendar, and speaking of, a calendar app that syncs with the contacts, and be nice if it has multiple calendar systems (Gregorian, Islamic, Chinese, etc.), and shows the moon phase (there's that astronomy thing again), or at least another app that shows the moon's phase (preferably in a nice widget I can have on screen), a nice clock with alarms, stopwatch, timers, and some way of easily showing multiple time zones so I can keep up with everyone, etc.

A good music player. I'd definitely want one that can handle FLAC, which the default does, but it doesn't seem to be able to edit tags (of FLAC or anything else).

And anything else you suggest! As I said, I'd much prefer free stuff, and stuff that doesn't require a data connection (if it asks for network permissions, but doesn't require using it, that's okay too, I guess. I have adblock installed for the phone as well, but so far I'm not sure if it HAS blocked anything or not ). I've set it so that I can download stuff outside of the Google Play store as well, so that is not an issue.

Yeah, basically everyone who wants to participate signs up with their strengths, gets randomly divided into teams, and then has a fixed amount of time to make a game- AGS Team challenge.

We should have an ATC instead. Haven't had one of those in years!

I can!

I am really sorry for all this haranguing, it's just that I really like your pixel art (when I can see it ). I'm not suggesting that you use EGA colours, I just said it was kind of unfair towards you to compare your piece to the voodoo lady's house background that you linked, because that was using the EGA palette, and I'm not suggesting that you should switch over to the EGA palette.

I also do not suggest you use a grey base, and I don't think anyone else was either. That would obviously look bad. The idea was simply to stay away from pure black and pure white. In your case, perhaps a dark blue would worked, which I think is what you used.

Also, as far as I understand, cat's point about the bright highlights you were using (on the floor, for example), was that while it is helpful (in terms of visibility and making out the shapes in the dark background), that isn't how light works, and if you had the image not be so dark, you wouldn't have to compromise on that.

Yup! Heh..Hiding the king behind the pillar didn't seem to make too much of a difference.

But the edit I did didn't remove the black base. It is still there! It shouldn't appear washed out or grey, because it is not. My image contains the exact same number of unique colours as your original did, I've just spread them out over the entire range, but the black is still at black. I suppose there can be some leeway in using a black base (since the black doesn't so much represent any specific surface, as it does the basic canvas). But even in the image you linked, light levels were picked from the entire range, although it is a bit unfair to you to compare to that, as it is an EGA shot.
http://www.mobygames.com/game/fmtowns/secret-of-monkey-island/screenshots/gameShotId,501381/
This one of the same location also shows how despite it representing dark, everything is clearly visible and has levels covering the entire range (it actually has higher brightness levels than the graveyard one ).