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they told me to

Are you aware of this module?

Well that would've been very useful to have before I began.
Unfortunately, it would probably be more effort to start using seeded random numbers at this point. But thanks for pointing me towards that module.

I haven't updated this thread in over a week. Time to update it again.

I've added "Meetup" locations, which are locations where one of your suspects wanted to meet up with someone. You can usually find a few items there, including a stashed weapon.
[imgzoom]https://orig00.deviantart.net/c528/f/2018/186/6/4/meetup_location_by_danvzare-dcgcwkj.png[/imgzoom]

I've also been adding some variance to objects you find in rooms. I'm hoping to add a lot more varieties, and even include some variations for items you pick up.
[imgzoom]https://orig00.deviantart.net/dc04/f/2018/186/8/d/room_variance_by_danvzare-dcgcwl2.png[/imgzoom]

As you can see, I haven't gotten around to adding a possible picture to the wall, or even variations of the wallpaper. But that's next on the agenda.
You may notice that something else has been added to the clock though. The game now keeps track of the day of the week, and gives you a timelimit of one week to solve a case. I still need to do some testing to make sure a week is enough, but based on how the game works, a case should take a maximum of five days in the absolute worst case scenario. Still, testing is important.

Neverwinter Nights?

[1st: #6]

1st: #6 (Because it's detailed, and it's animated, and it utilises the palette brilliantly.)
2nd: #21 (Because it's an ingenious design.)
3rd: #5 (Because it looks incredible!)

If I had to buy one though, it would definitely be #21. That thing could come in useful during one of my adventures.

The Hobbit? (I'm fairly sure the answer is at least a Text Adventure, I just don't know which one.)

realised they were actually

Some shameless self-promotion. Although it's related to adventure games, which is why I'm posting it.

Resident Evil?

Dark Earth?

It looks like you're about to run out of space.
Also, I'm really curious to know what type of adventure Roger has been going on, that's required him to visit the outside of that shop so many times.

Damn, that looks incredible.

Is that a mockup, or is that an actual screenshot of a game using your graphics?

In fact, if you Google "verb coin" I find that the majority of relevant results are criticism of the UI style, or discussions about whether it is any good. So, yeah...

But even if you don't agree with that impression, I think your assumption is way too strong:

-People's expectations are based on experience: if they are familiar with a certain design they will rarely complain about it even though it is clearly inferior to alternatives
-Many adventure games have poor UIs (whether verb coin or not) â€" the standard of comparison is low
-Adventure game UIs receive little attention overall (few reviews even mention exactly what sort of interaction style the game employs)
-There are too many confounding factors (other elements of game quality, age of the game, etc.) to identify an overall trend

A quick Google search for me yields nothing but people asking how to program one. But that's just Google being Google. If you find so many results about people criticizing the UI style, then clearly plenty of people are criticizing and discussing it. Like what we're doing right now.

Also I think you're right about my assumption being too strong. Your reasons why are good. But those reasons pretty much makes this whole discussion meaningless.
This debate is an act of futility. We may as well be arguing whether DC is better than Marvel, because all we're doing is spouting opinions with nothing to back them up with other than more opinons. (And I already know someone is going to disagree with that, which is my point exactly.) And what's worse, the more we argue, the more we'll believe that we're right.

So at this point I have one of three options. I can abandon this thread, and let everyone argue until either the conversation dies down or the thread gets locked, and this will become another thread people will reference to point out that verbcoins are bad, despite no conclusion ever being reached. I can switch sides, and start to fight against verbcoins, because no one else here is ever going to switch sides, and at least I'll be able to say I'm open minded. Or I can keep up with this meaningless fight. I'm leaning towards the first option.

Either way, due to the reasons Snarky listed, there is no proof of whether or not verbcoins are bad. So all we've got is conjecture.
Unless someone is going to disagree with the reasons Snarky listed, in which case, where is this proof of verbcoins causing people to dislike your game?

Alright, I've been thinking about this for quite a while, and I think I've finally found a way to settle this debate once and for all.
We've been arguing about opinions here, such as whether or not the verbcoin covering what you've clicked on, being important. And we've been basing these opinions on our previous studies of design. But as we all know, what's considered best practice in one book, can be considered worst practice in another book. Just look at the oxford comma, or indentation style for programming.

So we need to look at facts. Now correct me if I'm wrong here, but if verb coins are truly a terrible interface, then people will be complaining about them. We'll see a lot less favorable reviews for games which use them, we'll see clearly less sales for games that have verbcoins, and we'll no doubt find loads of complaints about how people just couldn't get into the game because it felt clunky for some reason.
Point me towards all of these things, and I will gladly admit to the verbcoin being terrible. I'll have to, because all of the evidence will be pointing that way.

We do have a thread about verbcoins every couple of months, and they generally show that using a verbcoin will prevent a substantial amount of people from playing your game. Bear in mind that AGS forum users are more knowledgeable (and more tolerant) of different GUIs than players on the internet in general.

Is that true though?
Because from what I've been seeing, it's seems more likely that the opposite is true. With the users on this forum being less tolerant, and the casual players not really giving a crap, so long as it's clear how the interface works.

Maybe I should look at the Steam reviews for the Day of the Tentacle remake, and see how many complain about the verb coin that was added and how the interface was changed. I'm sure I'll find loads
...
And after doing a quick search, no one has mentioned it. See, no one cares. Only us elitists do.

I can't even find anyone complaining about the option for a verb coin when looking at the reviews and the forum discussions for Randal's Monday.
None of the reviews on the GOG page for Curse of Monkey Island mentions the verb coin or interface either!
Please, someone, correct me if I'm overlooking something here, because even I'm starting to find this hard to believe. Surely someone would at least mention it!

Behold!
The probably authentic skull of the first vampiric walrus!
[imgzoom]http://orig00.deviantart.net/c8c5/f/2018/178/f/9/fwn6zw4_by_danvzare-dcfkgmz.png[/imgzoom]

Sorry, I couldn't find the lower jaw.

If someone is making an adventure game where there really are custom interactions for most objects, with a huge variety of actions, or where there's a lot of specialized information to bring up about objects (perhaps you carry some kind of scanner that can present useful data, idk) then perhaps a "verb coin" or some other kind of pop-up menu/display would be warranted. Sure.

I couldn't agree more.
You see, verb coins aren't perfect. But the whole discussion on this thread has proven that no interface is perfect. I've heard compelling arguments for why you shouldn't use any of the common interfaces. No one uses the right mouse button on the left-click right-click interface, no one would think of clicking twice with a single-click interface, the 9-Verb interface has too many options that usually go unused, the Sierra interface involves you right clicking a whole bunch of times, the text parser requires you to guess what the designer expects you to write. They all have problems, and some interfaces solve the problems that the others have.
As your comment suggests, you need to pick the right interface for your game and your audience.

Although with how you and Babar have been talking, I was starting to think that a verb coin killed your parents or something.

Another update.
I've finally finished all of the UI elements. Well, all of them except the logo on the main menu. And I guess there's always room for improvement.
[imgzoom]https://orig00.deviantart.net/205f/f/2018/177/f/7/menu_by_danvzare-dcfhoy5.png[/imgzoom]

Relying on context menus for essential functionality is very rarely a good idea. (An application where you had to right-click to bring up a context menu for everything you wanted to do would probably be a terrible UI, too.) As shortcuts they can be fine.

Yeah, you're right, relying on menus for essential functionality is a terrible idea, and results in some of the worst UI desicisons ever.
That's why we use it for everything. Including Real Time Strategy games (click on a building and a list of options of what you can build with a building appear at the side), MMORPGS (I don't even need to mention the number of menus you'll get from clicking one thing on World of Warcraft), and The Sims (which has been using a context menu since the first game).

But yeah, you're right. You can't rely on menus for basic gameplay. It's been tried and tested too many times, and proven to work each and every time. Which just goes to prove that it not only doesn't work for Adventure Games, but games in general.

They typically take up far more screen space, for example, and usually cover up the thing you clicked on.

Yeah, because the verb coins ALWAYS has to be huge. And we can't go covering up the things we clicked on, because otherwise we'll have no idea what we clicked on with our ultra short memories! And as we all know, it's utterly impossible to place a verb coin slightly off center. It always has to go directly over the thing you clicked on. Yep, there's just no way to solve any of the complaints you have with verb coins. And they're definitely 100% valid complaints

I suppose you're right, verb coins are irredeemably terrible.

Well, this proves what I've always said: verb coins are a terrible UI and should never be used!

The Verb Coin is not a terrible UI. What makes it terrible in most cases, is having to hold in the left mouse button to make it appear. It should appear as soon as you click on a hotspot.
If that was the case here, everyone would have figured out the system as soon as they tried to click on something. Since it's quite literally a single-click system with more variety.

If you truly think that Verb Coins are terrible, then you must hate the pop-up menus on windows, which appear every time you right click on something. Since other than the buttons being reversed (and instead of the choice of buttons being context sensitive, the actions the buttons do are context sensitive instead), they're basically the exact same thing.
You click on something, a list of actions you can do with it appears in a menu, you click on one of those, that action is executed.

This is making me worry, my current project uses the verb coin. I didn't realise there was so much dislike for it. But I would struggle to replace it even if I decided to change it to something else.

I was planning on having a text box pop up explaining how to use it, at least.

Don't worry about it too much. This is a forum for Adventure Game enthusiasts. We're all a bit elitist when it comes down to the simple things.
Just make sure that the verb coin comes on whenever you click on a hotspot, don't make people hold the left mouse button like on CoMI or Full Throttle.

Also, a tutorial never hurts. You can easily put in an extra room, which includes detailed instructions on how to complete the very simple puzzle in it. The tutorial could be something as simple as picking something up, looking at it, talking to someone about what you just looked at, combining the item you picked up with the item you got from the guy when you told him what the item looked like, and using that combined item on a slot in the background. The tutorial could even be optional, with players being given the option as soon as they start a new game.
I actually recommend a tutorial like that for the left-click right-click interface as well, to force people to use that damned right mouse button.