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The Pacifier?

I've done all sorts this week, including giving the backgrounds another pass, adding interactivity to the rooms, making inventory icons, and working on yet more animations.

[imgzoom]https://twentyquidamusements.thecomicstrip.org/files/black_friday_2/walking_animation.gif[/imgzoom]



So yeah, I've been jumping from task to task with little rhyme or reason. But progress is coming along brilliantly. It feels awesome to be able to playthrough the game and not see a bunch of quickly sketched-out placeholder art.

I've still got a few more inventory icons to do, and of course there's always more animations. But after those tasks are out of the way, I'll probably concentrate on all of the little coding details for Act 2. Things such as when you use an item on the wrong object, or when you click on a hiding spot while being chased.

[Dirk Gently]

While Falk is a very sympathetic character, the plots in Columbo tend to be resting on convenient errors and are rather forced.

If you're ever interested in the epitome of forced convenient errors, may I recommend Dirk Gently. It was originally a pair of books by Douglas Adams (known for making Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) that manages to tie together a series of completely random and unrelated events into somewhat compelling mysteries with brilliant humour to boot. It even got two TV shows, one by BBC 4 (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and another one by BBC America (which I didn't enjoy as much).

But as for proper head scratching mysteries that can be legitimately solved by the viewer without trying to anticipate the inevitable twists that the writer will shoehorn in. Those are unfortunately quite rare.
May I recommend Veronica Mars though. It had three seasons, followed by a movie, followed by another season. I found the individual mysteries to be quite engaging, and the overarching mystery to be solvable in my opinion. Although I'm probably not the best judge for those kind of things. 

Could it be Ash vs. Evil Dead?

Yes, you got it! 
Your turn.

This is the same reason I hated the female Thor, because Tor is a men's name, and while some writers could have used the naming to show the characters explore their gender identity or similar,
it's clear that they're just throwing "exotic" names around without doing any research and this just being another example of Americans being blind to any culture outside the US.

Personally, I've always hated the female Thor being called Thor as well. Although for a slightly different reason.
I mean, Thor is HIS NAME, it's not a title that you take on like Captain America or Wolverine. Beta Ray Bill got the powers of Thor, and did he change his name? Of course not, otherwise I wouldn't have just called him Beta Ray Bill!
And sure, that's a rather obscure character now. But it just goes to show that the writers back then knew it was a name and not a title! 

Sure, you can keep calling the comic Thor (I think they did that when Beta Ray Bill took the mantle), but when Jane Foster got the powers of Thor she shouldn't have stolen his name! She's her own person damn it! 

Speaking of which, something that grinds my gears is the removal of individuality in the female-version of characters in comics. She-Hulk used to be her own character, now she's just the female version of Hulk. X-23 used to be an awesome character, but now she's just the female version of Wolverine (right down to having her title changed).
Imagine if they did this to Harley Quinn and just made her into a female Joker! Everyone would be outraged! 

Taking the example of movies, I got annoyed when a friend rejected my suggestion to watch Shawn of the Dead because "Zombie movies are stupid", and they wouldn't listen that this wasn't that- I mean, yes, I can understand not wanting to watch zombie movies, and I can understand the perspective of someone who thinks that sort of movie is uninteresting, but to be so totally close-minded to just a label is weird.

But on the other hand, if you have already seen several films of a genre and not liked any of them,
or in the case of zombie movies, think that reanimated dead who hunt and eat people is a ridiculously stupid and unrealistic concept that you hate, it's probably not worth trying to nag them into watching a zombie movie.

Well it's a good thing that Shawn of the Dead isn't a zombie movie then. It's a romantic comedy. 

Some of the screenshots remind me of Westworld.
Is there a TV series based on that film?

There is a Westworld TV series, but no, this isn't from that.
It's not American Horror Story either.



So far, all of the images I've been showing are from episode one. There were a total of three seasons before it came to an end.
Also it's part of a somewhat popular franchise, which includes movies, games, and comics.

I thought that last screenshot would've given it away, since you have a good shot of the main character. Hopefully this one (also of the main character) will help. 

One of the NCIS programmes?

It's not even within the same genre. 

This week I've been working on the animations and the backgrounds.

Here are some examples:
[imgzoom]https://twentyquidamusements.thecomicstrip.org/files/black_friday_2/screenie7.png[/imgzoom]



They're just a first pass, and I do intend to improve on them. 

I also got Act 1 mostly finished. Other than a few missing animations (and quite a few animations and graphics that need another pass), it's pretty much playable without issue.
Act 2 is where a huge chunk of the game will take place, so it should take a lot longer than Act 1.

No guesses? Well have another screenshot anyway. 

Criminal minds?

Nope.

I guess it's my turn then.

Thanks for this. I would've never noticed it otherwise. And the more free stuff I collect, the better. 
Now the real question is, will I ever use it? 

[Severance]

Hey I know that show, it's called Severance.
Brilliant show, highly recommended. It's like an episode of the Twilight Zone stretched over an entire TV Show.

Army of Darkness?

Another week, another update.

Say hello to the main cast.

From left to right we have: Scott, Alex, Chad, Katherine, and Kevin.
At the beginning of the game there will be a character change mechanic, to allow you to change between Katherine and Kevin. But it's mostly just there to setup the story. Throughout most of the game, you'll only be playing as one character. I'll let you guess which one. 
(If you know how Slasher movies play out, you should be able to guess easily.)

This week I've been mostly polishing up that first act. Drawing character sprites, refining backgrounds, making animations.

*tries to lighten the mood* 


What grinds my gears, is those foil sheets of pills you get from the doctor.  Usually 10 or 12 pills in a sheet. 
Each pill is sealed in it's own separate 'pouch' in the sheet.  And when you open the 'pouch' to get the pill, the pill ALWAYS breaks in half!  Grrr!   

Fun fact, those foil sheets are there to prevent you from overdosing.
Apparently the solution to accidental suicide is to make it inconvenient.

Let's face it, Larry Vales has pretty much been forgotten. It's sad, but true.
We've had a few prominent AGS characters over the years, Davy Jones, Oceanspirit Dennis, and Ben Jordan, all come to mind. But the main mascots have always been Roger and the Big Blue Cup, and between those two the Big Blue Cup clearly won out since Roger was redesigned not so long ago.

The anime look though is a big no-no. 
I personally like manga/anime and that whole homogenized style, but having that style represent AGS would be a huge tonal clash in my opinion. It'd be like Call of Duty using Pixel Art for their boxart, or Nintendo having HR Giger draw all of the artwork on their websites. 

I've always associated the Chuck Jones style with adventure games, probably as a result of Day of the Tentacle. So take that for what it's worth.

It's not to my preference, but it's not horrible. Personally I'd need to see it without this effect, to truly know though. It doesn't seem to have been applied very well on the character.

Just looking at it though, it kinda reminds me of Dink Smallwood, and I think that game looked fine as it was. So maybe this effect is a bad idea.

Another early game I’m pretty sure I finished with no hints was The City of Lost Children (great game no one talks about). But that might just be that it was a relatively easier game.

I've got that game!
I found the PS1 version in a pawn shop for dirt cheap a couple of years ago, and bought it on a whim.
I got stuck instantly. 

It doesn't help that pressing the interact button will always yield a response, even when you're not next to something that's interactable. And the English voice acting was quite offputting as well, reminding me of the terrible voice acting from Cbeebies. 
But the setting and aesthetics was awesome.