Messages

However long it takes, I'm sure this will be worth the wait!  (This has got to be the oldest "Hey, this project is not actually dead" posts I've ever seen... anywhere, I think!)

use BORG INTELLIGENCE IMPLANT with LONDON UNDERGROUND MAP.

You could present the game and sing a bit while doing? :-)

I'll hum annoyingly in the background while you try to remember what you were going to say, if that will help.

[Koodn]

Sure!  Check your PM    However, I think that for the moment, we do not require any more playtesters after Selmiak!

The full team:

Koodn - Programming, graphics
CaptainD - Storyline, game design, voice acting
KingSeamus - Music
Viking - Music, voice acting
LTGiants2000 - Testing, voice acting
TheBitPriest -  Testing
Splat44 - Testing
Selmiak - Testing

[Viking]

Are there going some sound effects with those verbs?
That should make game even more interesting!

Well, some will have specific sound effects - mainly Roar and Smash (sorry to Hulk fans, but "CLOD SMASH!" is going to resound in your ears soon) - but for others it will depend on whether the particular action needs a sound effect in the game.

The team is growing:

Viking has joined as musician and voice actor
LTGiants2000 has joined as playtester and voice actor
TheBitPriest has joined as playtester
splat44 has joined as playtester (check your PM, splat!)

This was a very good game, I played it ages ago.  I think Duzz Quest also used photographs for the backgrounds (and maybe even characters?) - but it was 3rd person not 1st, and lower resolution than The Oracle.

Actually, yes, I am that obsessive

Hurrah for OCD! 

Radiant can I just ask you, with your Locations count, are they all playable locations or might some of those be rooms for cut scenes etc?

Could we also beat THE clock in the AGS quiz game please? 

Feedback so far from beta testing has been very positive so far, I hope everyone who wants to gets a chance to play it at Adventure-X - it's probably only about 10-15 minutes to play through the demo we have so far including the intro. 

Also we have another musician on board - Eric Galluzo (AGS forum member Viking), who may well also be adding his voice talents to the proceedings.  He tells me that he already sounds a little Trollish...    Also Rob McManus (LTGiants2000( will be helping with playtesting, voice acting and (provided the virtual slave-driving whip is working properly) creating a trailer for Troll Song that will be on show at Adventure-X, and released on the net after that.

If anyone would be interested in joining the beta testing team, please PM me.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a source of information regarding the number of locations and characters in adventure games?  I've tried to find something but been unable to.  I'm interested in for instance how many locations some of the great Golden Age adventure games such as Zak McKraken, The Dig and SoMI had.  Also newer games - and how this related to the games' estimated playing time.

If anyone knows if such a source I'd be grateful if you could post the link; on the other hand, if you've made an adventure game (commercial of Freeware, I don't mind), or been obsessive enough to actually play through a game keeping a record of the number of locations / characters, I'd be interested.  (Partly I want to use this to estimate the overall playing time of the games I'm working on, but I'm kind of just interested in a general sense as well!)

[the old man and the sea]

The database for the old man and the sea doesn't look right. 0,0MB...

It links to the files on Google Docs.  If you have a Google account, you should be able to just click the Download button (not sure if you don't have a Google account thought).  Right-clicking and Save As won't work in this instance.

I kinda like the idea of an adventure game where you unlock abilities along the way - could be a cool feature.

[The Bit Priest]

Just a quick note - The Bit Priest did have his entry up and running in time for the entry but has had trouble getting the game added to the database and also now is having trouble with the forums - I can vouch for the fact that he's made the game, I helped a little with testing. If he still can't get the game added I'll see if I can put it up myself (if he's happy with this - but hopefully he'll get things working soon).

His game was based on The Old Man and the Sea.

Ah, for a moment I got really excited because I thought you'd made a game starring that bum in the airport in Zak McKraken... but this still looks great! 

I aim to take a break from game design / creation so that I have time to play this - looks amazing!

Groovy!  Resistance really is useless.

The intro sequence is really coming together nicely - Tino's artwork is just perfect for this game!  We're trying to get a better demo made in time for Adventure-X than the one we already have.  I've re-voiced the main character too, it wasn't good enough before.

Glad you made it through the process!  I hope you won't be scarred for life... 

I'm not really very keen on multiple endings, to me they sometimes work in RPGs but I can't remember any instances of an adventure game where I felt they really worked well.  Not to say that they couldn't, but to make a game that was genuinely different in separate play-throughs would require enormous effort.  The only replay value I find in adventure games (as much as I love the genre) comes if I replay a game several years after I first completed it.  (The record is SoMI which I've played through 4 times, the final time using the Special Edition, each time with a gap of around half a decade - enjoyed it each time, although I enjoyed the SE less due to its terrible interface - kept switching back to classic mode anyway!)  Considering how much repetition there would have to be with even the most finely crafted adventure game with multiple endings, it would seem more sensible to spend the equivalent time making more than one game - although there's still part of me that would love to see the idea done really well.

One thing I DO like in adventure games - to me Zak McKraken was a good early example of this - is having puzzles that can be solved in more than one way.  It might be quite simple, it using different items to shift dirt (Bobby Piz sign or golf club) and optional things that didn't really affect the game (Use Antique Silver Butter Knife on Two-Headed Squirrel) - I'm going to try to incorporate this sort of idea in my own games, but even this can add a lot of extra work.

[here (6.1Mb)or get it on Lulu.com.]

Just released - Captain Disaster: The Games, The Stories - FREE eBook.



Behind the scenes information on how we've been making the game, along with the original stories that inspired them and a few other adventure-game related goodies.

You can download it here (6.1Mb)or get it on Lulu.com.