Messages

and even adding accents to the font in order to be able to display French words correctly

It's been a long time since I've been able to access my sent items on the messaging board.

Not that I really need to but I thought I'd let you know.

I delayed my vote to see which pitches would stuck with me. Then I forgot, sorry 

I think I would have chosen Snarky's.

So there's a lot of room for speculation â€" if you don't take the Gospels as gospel.

The period is poorly documented. This speculation is the starting point of many books / comics :
- Da Vinci Code.
- Le Triangle secret: I just read the first comic but learnt that

Spoiler

Jesus had a brother.

[close]

- le Décalogue : it's about Islam. The last episode - which is the first one chronologically - takes place just after Mahomet's death. They discover

Spoiler

a new surah.

[close]

- The Third Testament.
...

In many of these books, they like to switch between past and present to show the impact of a discovery that "will challenge everything we believe in".

After reading "Acts", I wondered if the game would involve anything supernatural and if the prophet Yeshua would come back (the stranger?)

Nice effect on the ice dragon.

Character: Baron.
Plot: Baron
Writing style: Baron.
Atmosphere: Sinitrena.

I'll elaborate later.

Let's celebrate with a Dangerous Derek video (sort of).

[Cassie]

Concept - Cassie
Playability - ildu
Artistic merit - Jack

De grâce

Jacob opens his shutters on a beautiful Wednesday.

His garden shimmers in the spring dew.
It never looked better. This is a comforting sight for the old florist - the promise of a full stall, the promise of better times.

Skipping breakfast, he grasps his (t)rusty pruning shears, a pair of gloves and ties on his apron.
Now he's kneeled in the grass, busy amid the gladious.
The gardener gently grabs a stem and open the blades â€" the first picking of the season!

A small voice emerges from the patch:
- "Don't cut the flowers."

His vision isn't so sharp any more and it takes him a while to notice a tiny figure sitting on the petals, staring at him.

Seconds pass without a move from either side.
He puts his hand forth and makes another attempt.
- "Please".

The old man frowns and mumbles:
"These flowers are mine. They grow in my garden, on soil that I bought, with water from my faucet."

She gets up and crosses her arms, her head barely emerging from the plant. Two piercing eyes are fixed on him.

He brushes the nuisance off with a wave of a hand and closes the blades.

The annoyed gardener proceeds to cut a couple more flowers and put them in his basket. Only after a while does he perceive a sob. He lowers his head and squints.
The puny figure is still there, lying in the grass. The oak leaves which form her dress are torn, dangling miserably on her frail shoulders. Tears stream down her face.

In the morning breeze, an ashamed and confused Jacob leaves the flourishing patch and heads back to the house.

His daughter rushes down the stairs.
"Hi dad, not in the garden yet?"
Before he can collect his wits, she has engulfed a croissant, kissed him on the cheek and left the house.

The rest of the day is spent on a neighbouring plot, as the old man fights the thought that he's losing his sanity.

Thursday opens his eyes on a radiant sun. The majectic garden spreads before his window and the gladius, rhododendrons, tulips, hyacinths, anemones exhibit their colors.
His florist instincts take over. "Time to cut".

Father and daughter meet in the hall.
- "did you pick me flowers for the Bronson's wedding?"
- "not yet."
- "well, have a nice day."

A shudder runs through his body as he slides the bay window.
"Don't be ridiculous."
He silently approaches the rhododendrons and gets his pruning shears out of his apron's pocket. Neck stretched, the ear alert, he watches the garden. Nothing.
"Brace yourself Jacob."
A dozen flowers are removed and carried inside.
He comes back and kneels down. As his hand approches the next row, something grazes his thumb.
The tiny silhouette leans on his knuckle and repeats:
- "Don't cut the flowers."
He's ticked off.
- "I'm a florist, you know. That's what I do for a living."
He could easily throw her out, blow her away like a dandelion. But he'd like to reason her.
- "I promise to replant them. I'll grow even more flowers."
She doesn't step back.
The old man overlooks her desperate attempts to lift his hand, struggling in vain. A distant memory of his brother trying to uproot an old sequoia for laughs comes back to him.
He notices that she's wearing the same oak leaves as the previous day, stitched up with spider thread. He wonders why she didn't fetch new ones.
- "Damn! Am I really daydreaming about the clothes of a fairy?!"
He closes his eyes and shakes his head, as for waking up.

When he opens them again, she's gone.
Jacob lifts his hand and looks under. Nothing.
"Stop acting stupid."
He moves his hand towards a rhododendron.
The blades enclose the base of the flower. Yet his fingers are shaking.
*CLIC*
He glances left and right and proceeds.
*CLIC CLIC*
"Maybe I shouldn't watch?"
*CLIC CLIC CLIC*
"And cut yourself a finger? That's a stupid idea."
*CLIC*
His resolution strenghtens
*CLIC CL-
- "Aaaahhh!"
She was hugging the stalk of a rhododendron. The very same stalk that he had started to chop.
Now she writhes in agony. It's hard to see if she's hurt because she's bent in two.
He looks at the blades in his hand. They are only covered with sap.
When his glance comes back to the ground, he can't find her.
He begins to comb the grass, to no avail.
"Is she playing tricks on me? Is she dead?"

Odette Arby has never seen her neighbour drink alcohol since she moved in.
Yet, here he is, drunk as a fiddler at 10AM.

His daughter wakes him up on the following day.

The sun breaching through his windows carries the insolent smell of roses, a smell he usually enjoys.
- "You gotta cut these flowers or they'll be wasted."

He drags himself  to the garden.
"Of course I should cut them".
He advances a trembling hand.
The light seems to fade out slightly.
"Then why won't I?"
He drops his tool and begins to cry.
(In a low voice) - "What am I gonna do, little fairy?"

On the same afternoon, a truckload of flowers arrives at "Lindy Weddings".
Jacob pops the trunk and takes out several flowers baskets, to the relief of his daughter.
She greets him with a smile and comes to help.
But after a while, she raises an eyebrow.
- "These aren't our flowers?"
- "No."
She puts her hands on his.
- "What's going on, dad?"
- "A little fairy deterred me from picking them."
...
She thinks for a few seconds.
- "Is it because they were planted by mum?"
His eyes fog up.
She frees him of his basket and sighs skywards.

Proposition for April:

GNRBLEX (Steam Version)
It says "This is a commercial game" but it's free.

Here's the teaser:

- What's the cute animal behind the glass?
- It's a GNRBLEX, also known as a 'mind maggot'.
- Why the nickname?
- You don't want to know.

Spoiler

There is, in fact, a secret ending! So if you think Derek doesn't deserve a happily-ever-after, you can always insist that he attempts the stunt without the proper equipment...

Will definitely try it!

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Prick may appear in the full version of the game. And after the various sordid details of Noriko's personal life that are revealed in her conversation with The Chief, I am impressed that you still see her as boring and conventional. You, sir, must live a life of excess that I can only admire from a safe distance. I tip my hat to you, Creamy! (roger-monocle.gif)

They're not boring by any means and their sexual lives are probably more hectic than that of Prick.

I was refering to their personality. Noriko, Harry and the chief seem more professional.

To me, Prick is this fascinating mix of an heroic loser, like Roger Wilco. He does the weirdest things and is regularly ridiculed - especially in the latter instalments - but somehow gets the job done and provokes contradictory feelings.

This review wasn't meant to sound negative. I truly enjoyed the game and will gladly play the last part.

If it feels right, I might reduce the number of dragon's lifes and sick people.

...or make the fireballs and the zombies faster. Once you understand how to beat the last two bosses, they are pretty simple.

I finished all the games, which means it's review time:

Sandi Knievel: Stunt Rider by Slasher:

Spoiler

An original concept. The mountain of mud is the level that I prefered because it lets you test different configurations on your own. The other parts are OK but more directional.
I couldn't help eating the continental breakfast before the final race just to see the outcome 

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Whack-a-Soul by PlayPretend

Spoiler

It plays well and the presentation is top-notch. The wormish voices are cute.

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FATMAN - The Survival Tale of Jim Woods by TheManInBoots

Spoiler

A long game with creative mechanics. Every ennemy kills you instantly. Fortunately there's an autosave.

There's space for improvement IMO:
Swinging your sword is neat but it can easily get stuck.
It could use more feedback. I had to use hints from the forum too.

[close]

The Mind by HanaIndiana

Spoiler

A fine-tuned card game. I don't think I've played anything like that before.
I had concerns about the AI but Elska did all right actually.
I finished the easy mode after several tries and called it a day (hard enough for me!).
The dismissal mechanism adds a bit of strategy. Just perfect!

[close]

Barn Runner: Pucker Factor by Ponch

Spoiler

What a huge MAGS game! I liked the top-down sections. The banter was entertaining. I must confess that I missed Prick though. These characters are more conventional.

[close]

Dangerous Derek's Livestream by JackPutter

Spoiler

A solid entry. The puzzles are fair but the game especially shines with its depiction of an obnoxious Youtuber. A very personal nitpick: I would have enjoyed some kind of twist at the end. Who said crash?

[close]

About my own game

Spoiler

Thanks for the nice comments. It was bound to be short since it was mostly made in the last week of March. As they say, the important thing is to take part 

There aren't any episodes 2-6 yet, are there?

No, you're right 
I quickly saw that I wouldn't be able to connect this game with the demo. Since I still wanted to reuse the original cast, I came up with an hypothetical backstory and a fake episode number.

[close]

And the arcadey bits weren't too hard, which is good for me since I'm not very good at arcade games.   

True. I remember some hard top-down sections in a previous game so I was anticipating them nervously.
But this time it went well

Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Yesterday at 17:19

    In terms of character movement, I found keyboard controls give much more immersion and worked well in the "Cat Lady" for example, because having to keep hold keys to move character around gave more connection with her. I never tried playing adventure game with joystick or gamepad, so cannot tell about that.

I actually remember someone telling me that the only adventure game they liked, was Escape from Monkey Island, because it had those type of controls. The guy felt a disconnect from the character in most adventure games due to having to point and click to move, and as such preferred even the tank controls over it.
While I don't share his opinions, I did find it quite interesting. Perhaps direct control of the character could be the future for adventure games?

Personally I didn't enjoy the controls in Monkey Island 4 or Broken Sword 3. I found them cumbersome and more suited to action games.

An interesting alternative is to have an onscreen character that you can't move, like in The adventures of Valdo and Marie or more recently An eternity reflecting. When done right, being immobile doesn't bother me that much and it allows for more varied camera angles.

[Character]

Character: JudasFm. It's short yet you can already get a glimpse of the personality of No. 3 and the protagonist.
Plot: JudasFm. It feels like the beginning of a good story.
Writing Style: Baron. Always a pleasure to read.
Atmosphere: Reiter. Not sure about what's going on but it's ominous.
Best Action in the Dark: Baron. Genils have the weirdest ideas.

Here's my entry:

[imgzoom]http://creamy.r.c.f.unblog.fr/files/2020/03/image2.png[/imgzoom]
Brothers & Wreckers â€" Episode 7

This episode was done on my own because Flugeldufel was busy this week (unlike me).
I had a hard time getting anything to work with the Easy3D module.

Good luck guys.

I'm in too. Blame it on containment. It won't be a point and click either.

But laudanum helps, for a while. Makes the pain go away, for a while. And brings sleepless dreams, sometimes...

I get some House of Mirth vibes even if Lady Winterbourne doesn't seem to face the same problems as Lily Bart.

We won't be using Sierra-style portraits in the end, however, since we find Lucasarts-style dialogue looks better integrated and cleaner.

[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/NfLXLpf.png[/imgzoom]

Neat portrait. I agree that you probably don't need them with your skilled writing and such animations.

I'm concerned about all the asshole Hamsterkäufer leaving the rest of us without any supplies.

Yes, that is annoying. Two days ago when I went to buy groceries, it was quite crowded and most of the people jam-packed their shopping carts. A few days before that I couldn't get any toiletpaper.

It's getting a little crazy here too. Friday the supermarket where I usually go was packed.

Nurseries, schools and universities are closed. All gatherings with more than 100 people are forbidden.

[Broken Windows - Chapter 1]

Since it's already late in the month, I propose another game in the meantime:

Broken Windows - Chapter 1

"There's no shortage of fan-games oozing with love of the golden classics on AGS.
Yet, they are not fairly distributed and some popular series get overlooked over time, such as Sierra's Police Quest.
Fortunately, you can count on GOC Games to recapture what made it so special."