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Good example Baron. Setting the tone is important and I think that can be done quickly and easily. Love 'Ben There Dan That' and its balance is spot on.

The book I mentioned was about pacing and making the mundane interesting. I think there are many examples of too many jokes spoiling the plot etc, and was looking at various sources to combat that.

I think its time to put this topic to bed. There are better minds than ours (at least mine anyway) that have discussed the right way to present humor, and I suspect we will be going round in circles if we continue.

I shall leave you with this courtesy of Monty Python. Its an example of how to set your tone, pacing, not overloading your audience with rapid-fire jokes and finally how to make the ordinary interesting (think 'My dog has no nose' isn't funny? watch this).

The Funniest Joke In The World

Now if only I had a tenth of their talent.

Hadn't considered the realistic look being out of place, but looking at it again I think your right. I'll rework the body shape to make it more cartoon like.

As for the colours, I think your right. The character is supposed to be a witch so I was experimenting with greens and purples but nothing seems to fit.

I'm gonna take a break from it, and rework it tomorrow with fresh eyes.

A new character that I'm thinking of calling Kitty Lighter. Having trouble with getting the colours right. Any suggestions would help. Ive included two versions so you can see the colours I'm experimenting with.

I'm also not happy with the hands, Ive tried fixing them but cant seem to get it right (I always have trouble with them) taking a break from it and Ill tackle them later.

What do you guys and especially gals think of the look?

Wasn't sure if this should go as a separate post, but hopefully putting it here is ok.

I have updated my original post with a weekly update on progress, which includes a new screenshot and examples of the main characters walkcycles.

Also DM is coming back : see here

[cat]

Yep the no tail is deliberate.

Thanks cat, Intense Degree, selmiak and Mandle your input really helped with refining this.

Now that I have Tabata's approval (she is a mouse-fetishist after all) I think I can put this one to bed. Not at the animation stage yet, just wanted to get the look of the character down.

I've chosen the name Angelina suggested by Mandle (in a PM), thanks to all who had suggestions. I'm working on adding more female characters so I will probably use the other names at some point. Who knows? maybe Tabata will deem one worthy of her name...

The vast majority of the characters don't have a reflective dot in the eyes (see my post in Games in production for examples): here

Even the ones that do, it doesn't show up too well when converted to a sprite.

I'm happy with the hair colour, I think it fits the look I'm going for.

Point taken about the highlight on the nose...

Reworked it and slightly altered position of legs and line of torso. Also gave it a little recolouring.

Put in the other two characters for reference (no critique on them please).

On slight side note, trying to think of names for this one. Was originally going to be 'Fifi', but I don't think that fits this look. Suggestions? (PM me if not critiquing the art, so as not to be off topic).

Simple rotate...



better?

reworked the image a bit, opinions?

They paced their real side splitting jokes well by making sure there was a "cool down" period in between filed with "just a chuckle" jokes before hitting you with the next "killer gag"...

That reminds me of something that was in a book on magic theory (about showmanship not actual illusions) called 'Strong Magic' by Darwin Ortiz . One of its suggestions was waves of performance, start off slow, hit your peak, taper off then repeat with each peak slightly higher than the last.

Cheers Mandle, you've reminded me of an old book I haven't read in over a decade, Im going to have to dig it out now

Hi all,

Joined about a week ago (though Ive been using AGS for about 3 months), thought Id better introduce myself.

I'm a man in his forties, currently in a long term relationship with my couch (although its refusing to talk to me at the moment). The last time I programed a game it was Othello/Reversi on the old BBC Micro (yes I'm that old), using BASIC and assembly language.

I'm an enthusiastic amateur programmer, mostly experienced in Visual Basic. Its been over 5 years since Ive done any serious coding.

I think I've got a good visual eye, but I find it difficult to imagine places and characters. I'm better at drawing than painting.

Currently out of work and bored I wanted something that would combine art & programming whilst I search for work, so I'm currently getting to grips with AGS and Illustrator. Not only that I have to learn creative writing.

I'm genuinely surprised (in a good way) by the generous and courteous responses to my handful of posts. You get so used to abusive comments elsewhere on the net, that this is like a breath of fresh air.

Thank you for melting a cynics heart.

Designing a new character for my adventure game based on Danger Mouse, not entirely happy with it. I like the face and hair, the torso perhaps needs recolouring, but the legs are all wrong. Ill work on that issue.

Do you think the character fits, and what do you think of the look?

Please note I'm not aiming for sexy, but I am trying to get a Lara Croft type vibe.

I don't think I'm looking for the Holy Grail (claps two half coconut shells together).

Doing a little research into it I looked at stand up comedians. They craft jokes that they find are funny, but very few would do an act without testing them out. They do their act before smaller audiences, refining, and sometimes dropping, jokes along the way.

So testing seems to be an appropriate method of polishing the game.

I like what tzachs says about the beginning of the game, setting your stall out early on seems like a good idea.

At the moment I think my approach should be to :

1. Get a rough draft of the game together.
2. Test out sections of the game with differing groups.
3. Refine based on reactions, and perhaps repeat 2.

More or less what tzachs is suggesting, though I think a wide range of people would be more fitting.

Or maybe I'm just over thinking. Hold on Ive just seen a shrubbery salesman...

I get what your saying Slasher, I'm aiming for a sort of 'Dead men don't wear plaid' sort of thing, mixing and mashing lines together. At the moment I'm proceeding with lines of dialog and a story inspired by the original episodes. I'm writing it without worrying if lines from the source would fit. Just thought it might be nice to have some of the original voices in there, but its starting to look like a lot of work for very little result.

The game is supposed to be as close to the original source as possible but with hopefully new and unexpected elements.

The reason I'm looking for subtitles is I had an idea about using the original voices and I didn't want to have to transcribe 90 episodes.

Darth is right, should have asked people to PM me.

Anyway for those that are interested in viewing some backgrounds that are wider than the 640x400 resolution the game is in heres a link.

http://imgur.com/a/Oelri

Well it seems that the general consensus is 'Do a game you think is funny'.

Its definitely a starting point but I don't know if thats the full solution. I like Trapezoids suggestion about replaying past games to get a feel for what works, that feels like more of a way to tackle the issue.

Would a struct help?

Code: ags

Struct DialogOpt {
    int OptionNumber;
    int SpriteNUmber;
    bool OptionOn;
}

that way it doesn't matter what your sprite numbers are. A simple function to return the option number from the sprite number would be all thats needed.

No problems with you not using my suggestion, like I said I'm new to AGS so this feels a bit like dipping my toe in the deep end.

Good luck with your game (looks good).

I'm new to AGS so my comments will probably be superseded by better suggestions.

Just an thought but if I were tackling this I'd change the Button.NormalGraphic. Id have a function with something like..

if (button.NormalGraphic==1)
{
    //do whatever it is image 1 corresponds to
}
else if (button.NormalGraphic==2)
{
    //do whatever it is image 2 corresponds to
}
etc

Perhaps have an array storing the image sprite numbers, then when you click 'left' load each buttons image with the sprites one down the list, 'right' one up.

You could change the array to reflect the dialog options available, or have a second array of boolean values to say whether each option is available.

I'm probably not making myself clear but I hope you see the approach I'm thinking of.

Monkey Island?

Serious suggestion "Fall of the Planet of the Apes"

Enjoyed all the films, though the Tim Burton one had some cringing moments (Charlton Heston iconic Line, and 'Ape Lincoln' spring to mind).

Of the old films the 1st is a classic, after that "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" is one of the better ones.

Thanks CaptainD but that site doesn't have any actual subtitles for Danger Mouse (I have done searches on most subtitle sites). The ones it says are for Danger Mouse give you subtitles for something else. Thanks for the effort though.