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I see this bit was fixed in the sequel so that you can right-click, which was the way I had originally attempted it.

Thanks.  Not used to this interface.

This is really sad, but I've tried every key on my keyboard, all three buttons on the mouse, pressing and holding, scrolling...the only options I can get are quit (CTRL+Q), walk to (left click), save, restore, and quit (the banner).

What magic spell must I utter to Look, Talk, and Use?

I think the problem with your pixelized version is that you've given it too low a resolution.  I might go for a low resolution header, but only if it wasn't too hard on the eyes (i.e. pixels shouldn't be as big as you made them in the pixelized header).

I'm all for a hi-res banner, though.  If you're familiar with the banner at http://sourceforge.net/ , I think it could be similar (gradientwise) to this and shaded using the same blue that you see in the AGS splash screen.  The little people are a great idea, too, but a bit larger.

Yes, the phone dialing would definitely make it twice the adventure, just like the card catalog in Monkey Island 2.  That was awesome and I wasted an hour or so reading every single card.  I loved 30+ cards that said "SEE ..." (each one was a play on words or a joke) and lead to an infinite loop of recursion.  Gotta love that...

I am using a TTF font.  To be precise, it's the Caslon Antique font found in the Curse of Monkey Island (downloadable here: http://www.scummbar.com/resources/downloads/index.php?todo=Fonts).  I believe I imported it at 26 or 28 pt, to allow for less pixelly letters.  (Any smaller and the comma and period looked funny.)

I looked through my code and didn't see the variable for the height, but it appears the manual mentions this.  Unfortunately, I would need to rewrite the entire DialogOptionsRenderingInfo class.

Reducing the size of the font doesn't seem to help.

Edit: I found an option in the general settings that allows me to set a gap between the dialog options.  It's listed under Dialog.

A logo with an image of a ship and a sea monster (could be as simple as a single tentacle reaching over the ship).  The logo should look adventurous, not demonic.  Preferably, the image should be contained (or mostly contained) within a common geometric shape, but do not let this stand in your way of creativity, as it won't disqualify your entry!

A high-resolution PNG (512x512) is great; an SVG is even better.  Along with this, a monochrome bitmap of the same image (black and white, no gray) is requested (to be printed in the manual).  Don't worry about alpha-channel transparency if you don't know how to do it; I can do that part afterward.

Odd Sea Games's first game is The Odd Sea, which is based on the Odyssey, as you might guess if you're good with word puns.

If you win, I am willing to list your name as the logo designer in the credits, as I believe every artist deserves credit for every piece of art they make.  I will also, of course, feature the logo on all Odd Sea Games products.

A winner may or may not be chosen at my own discretion.  Competition ends April 4th at 23:59:59GMT (that's early in the evening for America, just so you have the heads-up).

Click the link below to see what I'm talking about:
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1082/oddseaexample1.jpg

There's a blatant cognitive bias at work here, too, and that's this: The adventure gamer takes everything. The adventure gamer has learned, over the years, that inventory items are ALMOST ALWAYS either necessary or rewarding in some way. Therefore, he has adopted a behavioral policy of taking everything he can possibly acquire. A designer can pretty much assume that, just by leaving something on the floor or on a shelf, the player will take it.

There is a good example of isolating this behavior in The Vacuum. (Possible spoiler below):

Spoiler

The gun in The Vacuum is a great example of adding a bit of serious consequence to the question of "Take it? or Leave It?" - which is normally a no-brainer.

[close]

Of course, a system of inventory limitation would add more necessity for reasoning. Otherwise, I think it's safe to assume that the player will always choose to take something, whether the item's necessity is obvious already or not.

Showing us the "key" before the "locked door" is usually the less effective means of puzzlery, isn't it?

Good point, and Sierra does a great job with this implementation.  However, one of the things which I loved the most about Monkey Island was that it was not necessary to ever fall back on a previously saved game, and yet the puzzles were still just as difficult.  One way they work around the problem of the answer being right in front of you is that they throw in a much larger collection of items from the start, some which may never prove useful, and another is that the correct object to use is often either not yet acquired when requested or else an entirely unexpected substitution, such as the application below from Secret of Monkey Island:

Spoiler

...using the grog to open a lock...]

[close]

Thanks.  I did all of those except the third part of the third hint.  That will help.

I figured it out.  Looks like my problem was that when I increased the resolution, the GUI objects were made larger by extending their borders.

I resolved it by deleting the objects and re-importing them.

Thanks!

This is the problem with rooms that will only be visited once: The user only has one chance to pick things up.

What are some creative ways to "force" the user to pick things up?

A very non-creative way is to hold some sort of variable in your game that does not let them proceed until they have picked up the item.

One creative method is to hide an item within another item that is required in order to proceed (such as the file hidden inside the carrot cake in Secret of Monkey Island).  A more ridiculous example of this would be the gorilla envelope from LeChuck's Revenge.

Another commonly used method is to automatically actually reward the user with an item when a mission is completed, usually through dialog: "Thanks for helping me.  Here, take this, since I don't need it anymore and I want to thank you."

Anyone have other creative methods of doing such?

Is there any way I can set the position of the dialog choices higher to prevent the last dialog choice from being cut off the screen?  The y's j's, p's, q's, and g's are all being cut off.

Thanks!

A tiny Link chugging a gigantic can of monster about 50 times his size.

The energy drink is only 31 times his size at 501 pixels high.  It should have been about 299 pixels taller.  Then again, are we talking height or volume?



A cocktail-style shrimp 50 feet tall chasing after a boy torturing an ant with a magnifying glass.

I'll have to replace the one I'm playing with this version...thanks for the announcement!

Are there any additional challenges in this release?

The graphics look awesome, btw.  Can't wait to hear the voices.

Anyone ever notice there's a crown cursor in the pie shop?  According to the manual, this means there's a puzzle that needs solved VERY quickly.  I could never figure out what the puzzle was.

All I know is I've been stuck for years in the castle.  I get to the laboratory and the wizard kills me.

Did I miss something in the pie shop, or somewhere else?

I'm using the Verb Coin template from build 3.1.2.82 at an 800x600 resolution.  This causes two of the GUI graphics, gVerbCoin and gInvUnderlay, to appear a few pixels too far to the left, but gOverhotspot and gInventory appear fine. :o

This should be fixed in any upcoming releases.  In the meantime, which lines do I need to alter to fix this?

When I was young, we played Monkey Island and King's Quest.  We didn't have the Internet, and all of us would gather 'round the computer at once to watch each other play and help come up with ideas.  Adventure games are much more fun when you have multiple people working on them.

I've gotten the first couple minutes of the plot down to specific details.  There are still a few parts needing worked out in the next part, like how the protagonist will act in the next setting when confronted in the awkward manner that is to come.  I've decided I won't begin programming until I have a full plot.

I'm not about to code yet, but the rooms I've worked on are ready to be drawn and so are five characters, which will need to be animated smoothly as well.

If anyone is interested in drawing graphics for an ancient Greek-themed game, they can contact me at odd sea games at gmail dot com (remove spaces and switch for a . and an @).

If I have all the images for my game drawn, and then find out the artist can't animate, are there people at this forum that would be able to animate the graphics I already have?

I haven't had any graphics designed yet-- just want to make sure such animators exist in case I end up with someone who doesn't animate before I actually have anyone start drawing.