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Regarding colour distortion, this may be because Direct3D converts 16-bit images to 15-bit first. I am not completely sure why, but it looks like that was only way to support transparency on textures, as A1R5G5B5 pixel format (15-bit for RGB and 1 bit for alpha channel).
The most straightforward solution that comes to my mind is to convert 16-bit sprites to 32-bit at runtime.

May I make a suggestion to keep the old 16-bit version of Direct3D with the colour distortion, as a hidden setting for compatibility reasons.
I doubt it will ever be used, but it could be useful for a computer which can't run DirectDraw or 16-bit.
There's bound to be at least one computer like that somewhere.

I've been hard at work on this since the contest was announced.



The animation is hilariously bad. It's so bad, I'm actually torn between either fixing it later when I've done more of the game, or leaving as it is because of how funny it looks.
Also, I've just noticed how hard it is to read what the hero says with that text colour. I'll have to see about fixing that.

Ooh, I like that background.
Funnily enough, I've never heard of Aaru. I've heard a lot about Egyptian mythology and how they have to go through those trials to reach the afterlife, but I've never heard anything about their afterlife (basically what happens after the trials). And I've never noticed that until now.

Also, I've just added trophies.
Because clearly our entrants are going to need some gravestones what with them being dead and all .

My best guess is that when you're pressing the key to take the screenshot, the dialog box is being skipped or taken off.

Superhot?

@DanVzare You mean Indy is out of breath from climbing up there?

Nope, and I'm not about to say what I think he's doing there either.

It looks like he's doing something, and that something does not look like twerking.
(His obscured arms adds too much to the imagination.)

Hmm, looks more like a photo than a 3D render.
Phantasmagoria? (I don't know many FMV games.)

Yeah, sorry about the dialog. Put CassieBSG to sleep a few nights ago.  ;-)  Did you play one of the betas, or was the problem with the conversation in this release? I thought I had either corrected the ones I'd found, or left dialog options on, so it could be worked around, if necessary. Did you catch the mugger?

It was on the very last beta you released. So you've probably fixed it since then.
Nope, I didn't catch the mugger. Somehow I managed to skip that whole part of the game.

[23rd February, 2017]

The Afterlife
7th February â€" 23rd February

No one was starting up the next round, so I thought I'd do it.

Ok, you've died. I know it's a real bummer. But don't fret, it's not that bad, because surprisingly enough you've just discovered that there is in fact life after death. But what does this place look like?

Is it Heaven, Hell, Hades, or the local post office?
Show us what the afterlife looks like!

Deadline is 23rd February, 2017. Good luck everyone.


Trophies:

Congratulations on finally releasing it.
I played it. Other than a tiny bug when I exited a conversation early which meant I had to repeat the whole conversation, the game ran perfectly.
Although the dialog... SO MUCH DIALOG!!!

Wow, a lot of entries this month.

1st - Cassiebsg
2nd - AnasAbdin
3rd - Hazel

This was a tough one. So many good ones, I especially liked the one Kconan made, for being the only one who used the shape on its side. But that Cartman just impressed me a tiny bit more with how perfectly he fitted the shape.

There's a stickied thread in the Critics' Lounge full of tutorials that have been posted in this forum.
You can find it here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=30939.0
Most of the tutorials probably don't work anymore, or the pictures are gone. But I'm sure some of them still work, and for those that don't, there's always the Wayback Machine.

I think character art applies to both, the character themselves and portraits if available. Remember, not all games have or need portraits. The Journey of Iesir for example does a great job in showing character emotions without portraits (and I actually prefer this over portraits).

Agreed. After all, I've seen some really incredible character art in games without portraits. But there might not be anything special about the animations on the art.
That being said, if people are having trouble recognizing that, then maybe consolidating them into one category could be for the best.
I wouldn't mind their being a "Best character art and animation" category.

Haha, this is what I get for releasing a game in Jan. of 2016! Forgot about this... thanks to all who nominated "Order of the Thorne: The King's Challenge" for best voice work!

That's what you get for not posting in the "For your Consideration" thread. It's not related to the month of release.

Exactly, just look at Captain D's Space Tunneler which was posted in the "For your Consideration" thread. It got an award and it was posted on the 1st of January. As a matter of fact, almost everyone tried to nominate it at the last year's awards.

If it wasn't for the 2016 release, I would have guessed American Pie, but as of right now, I'm just confused.

Thanks for another great release CW and everyone else who helped bring this new patch to life.

I am definitely going to participate in this.

I've been waiting for another hourgame competition since I missed the last one. I can't wait.

Blackthorn. I pass my turn over to anyone who wants it.

Grok, are you going to pick this up, or should I do it?
Or maybe Selmiak can do it now since the MAGS is over?

I don't want to see the Background Blitz die!