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Did an overhaul and made their height 16px (could get it down to 15 if I drop the white outline but I like it).  I think they lost a bit of the charm they had when they were 19px tall... but I still like 'em!

[Electroschokker]

You didn't violate the rules.  However; since you seem to think you did, and bumped the thread anyway, make sure you don't do this on any other threads.  Just PM the author as the rules suggest.

Electroschokker - I'm going to lock this as the first post is now broken (no images displaying).  Let me know when you have that sorted and I'll re-open the thread!

Those are by far the best ones yet. I'm just not sure about the white outline though.

Easily removable... I just thought it would help to separate them from a similarly colored background!  Well that and I rather like how it looks

Still a work in progress:




Working on the entire set (and many more animated ones) as well.  More to come...

[shse]

something new?

Something old actually... it's called "reading the forum rules". 

shse - Please do not dig up old threads.

Very nice work!  I would have recognized this instantly (even without you telling what they were!).

Have you done any character work for this size backdrops?  I'd be curious to see...

I think I have to agree with the consensus here... I'm having a hard time picturing how I would use something like this.

Let me explain (in a constructive way)!

Unless you're using a monitor with an INSANE resolution each window in your dev-hub is going to be painfully "small" and outside of what normal websites would be designed to fit in fluidly (I design almost all my sites to be fluid but I don't worry about less than 1024x768 resolutions).  So you get that scroll-bar within scroll-bars look which is just useless to work within (not to mention incredibly annoying to the end-user!).

Now... if each of the mini-windows was purpose built for a specific function and the sites run in each window were purpose built to work in that lower resolution I could see this being something more useful.

A few months back I did some work for a company (can't give specifics as I signed a non-disclosure agreement) but they had a 60" LCD running at 1920x1080 that they had in the lobby of their office.  I designed a full-screen interface that pulled in some aggregate data from 4 different sources and displayed it in four distinct zones on the screen.  It was updated every 10-15 seconds, seamlessly integrated with no scrollbars and was quite functional (and damn pretty if I do say so myself) because each "window" was purpose built to work within the space provided!

If you could work towards that (which might not be feasible with your intentions for this hub) it might make it more effective. 

I don't think the concept of what you're trying to accomplish here is bad... just the execution!

Maybe if when you focused a window it would expand to fit more of the screen and the others would shrink back (but still be clickable so they could then expand out)?  That might make it more manageable!

something like this:

Agreed. 

It's just something I prefer. 

I've had instances (well, in web development) where a "GUI" becomes available and when my QA team were testing they missed the gui entirely 'cause the screen didn't change in any way (think of the small javascript alert in browsers, if the resolution is high enough that can easily get lost on the screen).  It's even more confusing if the background actions are blocked by the GUI's presence and they aren't seeing the GUI.

So the solution I've evolved is to "fade" the screen so the user/player knows something has happened.  Granted this probably isn't as much an issue in lower-res games (particularly if the GUIs are large-ish) but just something to think about!  In the end, with things like this, I let my testers/QA people tell me what works best!

No problem!

As for the color depth/alpha issue you could always do something like this:



This way you can leave the settings as they are and still achieve a similar effect.  Both have their charms ... but I personally prefer the 32bit option

There is no (very little) contrast between the items and they seem to get lost in the mix...

I did a paint-over to illustrate and idea on how to pull them apart so they read easier.  I'm not sure if you're sticking to any restrictions (color depth, no alpha channels, etc) so this could be modified to suit any restrictions you might be adhering to.

Your Original:


My Paintover:

- I upped the contrast of the GUI items
- created a mostly transparent white overlay to "wash out" the background when/if a GUI is activated
- added a little drop-shadow effect to the guis
- darkened the outline of the text

Just some ideas!  Hope it helps

[Karens]

Karens - Your first post no long contains any in-game screenshots.  Please update it according to the rules so I don't have to be evil-moderator-guy and lock this!

thanks for the update!

The second screenshot appears more of a title/menu screen so please add another "in game" screenshot please (as per the rules). Thanks!

The game/concept sounds lighthearted and silly... I think it sounds interesting.

Please secure more stable hosting for the images pronto!

Thanks.

Is that an update to this thread?  It's been two years...

The Game Maker: Studio looks very promising indeed.  I am very curious how it can publish to all those different platforms just from the "click of one button" but if they can actually pull that off I would probably shell out the 99 clams for it.

I have been, for quite some time, seriously considering writing my own game engine in javascript.  I am in love with the language and its flexibility.  I know it used to get a bad rap back in the day but it's come a long way.  My only problem is while I'm great at making stuff work on the web with functions and the like... actually putting together an engine isn't something I even know where to begin!  I watched the first vid Rick posted awhile back (and actually watched the entire thing) but still was left a tad in the dark if not completely intrigued.  I have been messing around with HTML5 and CSS3 and coupled with javascript I think there's very little that can't be accomplished once the sound issues are worked out.

I would love to be involved in a project like this.  I specialize in user-interfacing so, if nothing else, I could lend my expertise there

[forum rules]

This is the third time you've done this.

There are forum rules you need to read, and follow, them.

Is it really that hard of a concept to grasp?

I am unlocking this thread since screenshots have been provided.  I humbly implore ye, o' readers of this GiP thread, to stay on topic and not comment on the graphics.  If this gets out of hand I'm going to just prune off-topic posts.

- Sith Lord Darth Mandarb [evil moderator]

[please]

Could you post a Dr. Fred GIF or animation?

You have already asked this on several occasions.  And it has been replied to.

Do you guys have any more Dr. Fred pics available, or maybe any new Nurse Edna pics from the game? Also, has Dr. Fred been fully animated, yet?

Well, Dr. Fred looks almost completly like in Dott. We changed the skincolor (back) to blue, the animation will also be the same.

How about a Dr. Fred image or animation?

The animation of Dr.Fred will be almost the same as in Dott. We only changed the face a bit (and the color of cause). 

Will you please stop digging up this thread.  Your enthusiasm is admirable but for those of us waiting for word on this game it's annoying to see it show up on page 1 only to find out it's just another Dr. Spengler bump.  You aren't breaking the rules, so I'm not going all moderator here (other than trying to keep this thread less cluttered), I'm just asking!  See?  I asked it like 3 posts above;

Dr. Spengler ... How about sending a PM to the author next time or just let him/her update this thread it when they're ready to?

Pretty please?

One of the things I miss about games from back in the day was they were freakin' hard!!

Games today seem to practically walk you through them.

I was, a few years back, working on a murder/mystery game (on a train) set in the late 1940s.  I gave the player a notepad and pencil and it was up to them to take their own notes to solve the murder.  I didn't hold their hand at all.  They had to draw their own conclusions, discover objects/clues, take their own notes, follow their own gut.

This mechanic works very well until you get to interacting with NPCs.   Because there's just no way for the player to just "say whatever" and have the computer reply to it (well there is, but I didn't feel like programming the AI for it!).

So I solved that by using this method: There were countless items scattered through-out the train; some were clues, some were objects that could you make use of, and some were just fluff added in to give the game more substance.  If the player character picked up something that was flagged as a "clue" it would then be added to the "talking points" (but they'd have no idea it was a clue flag, that was invisible to the player).

For example; if you talked to the conductor but hadn't interacted in any way with the wrench on the floor, you don't have any questions about the wrench in the dialog tree.  However, if you notice the wrench (look at, pick up, etc. basically you just need to "notice" it in some way), and then talk to the conductor, you will be able to ask about it.  (this has been done before I'm sure)

It makes the game incredibly difficult, yes.  But that's what I was going for.  No "hints" or anything like that.  I loved the concept/idea that you could play for an hour and have accomplished nothing if you didn't pay attention and make an effort to actually use your brain.

I also added in an invisible "friendship" meter to all characters you will interact with and based on how you treat them it may help/hurt you later in the game.  For example if you treat Mr. Smith rudely, later on he won't be so willing to help you (but some characters respond differently, some might see politeness as weakness, etc). 

I also made the murder victim, culprit and weapon different every time you play to make the game VERY replay-able. 

I digress...

Yeah man, you REALLY need to stop interpreting "lack of responses to threads" as "lack of interest" in the project.  Just because people aren't gushing doesn't mean they aren't waiting for it.  I almost never play demos, tech demos, etc.  I want the whole thing and will wait for it.  And I very rarely actually post in GiP threads even if I'm extremely interested in the project (unless they break the rules ).  So if tons of people aren't clogging your servers (of an incomplete game) I wouldn't read anything into that.

As others have already said; just go dark and work on finishing the game!  That's the best way to accomplish what you want!  I know it's a little discouraging when you aren't getting page after page of praise for a project you are so committed to but that's just the reality of 90% of the games in production.

And I think you might actually be discouraging a lot of people by FLOODING the forums to give attention to the project:

- 31 January 2012
- 07 March 2012
- 07 March 2012
- 08 March 2012
- 20 March 2012

And two GiP threads (one locked) for the same game:

- 18 February 2012
- 01 February 2012

Enthusiasm is great (and should be applauded) but too much [over] enthusiasm tends to annoy people and put them off.

I understand what a lot of people are saying about adventure games not lending themselves to multi-player (which is, I suspect, the primary cause for the lack of overwhelming interest).  However; I love the concept of multi-player and would love to see somebody come up with something new that could work within an adventure game setting.

So why stop?  If you're passionate about it (which you clearly are) don't stop just because you aren't getting the attention you think it deserves!

Me personally I am working on several things that nobody knows about and I prefer it that way.  Less stress, less distractions, more focus on the project.  In the end it's up to you but I'd encourage you to stop worrying about advertising and start worrying about just finishing it!

Good luck bud!

Yeah my mock-up was extremely unfinished! 

It doesn't even have a proper navigation in place. 

I wasn't suggesting to use it exactly (though you're welcome to, of course) but more to take pointers from it (as Eric suggested).  It needs a lot of polish before I'd consider it really "useful" as it were.