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Howdy Aus!

Excellent work.  I'm impressed how you managed to make it exciting and "action oriented" without including action arcadey bits. 

The puzzles were difficult enough to be challanging but not enough to be frustrating or slow down the pacing.  I was only stymied by that finicky door near the end.  If you fix that, you'll have a definite winner.

Ahhhh.  you need to dress up as the guy in the same room as the red lobster alien

Spoiler

you need to have the alien's poncho and green mud in your inventory

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Hi hi hi,

Sorry don't check this forum very often.

You need to make tea, right?  Don't you need hot water to make tea?  Don't you have a spell that will make things hot?

Spoiler

Use Run Hot on the helmet water.  put the minty teabag in the water. 

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Maybe it's the capitalist in me, but I do believe that the success of any project hinges on marketing.Ã,  If nobody ever heard about your game, for example, they will never play it.Ã,  There's a large game-playing world outside of these forums, and yet somehow they get word of our games and play them.Ã,  This is something I've been wondering about a lot lately, and I wanted to get some other takes on it.Ã,  Ã,  Do you “market” your games?Ã,  Is there some direct, aggressive action you take to ensure that people know the game exists? Or do you just post an announcement on a few forums and let word-of-mouth do the rest?Ã,  (This is what I do)Ã,  I'm curious to hear about other folks' experiences.

Hello Dave!

Nice one!

Hi hi,

This happens often.  You're not alone.

Nobody can really give you your motivation back.  I don't know how ambitious your original game idea was, but it you're doing 3D backgrounds it sounds like a major commitment.  Some advice might be to put it aside for now and try to make something smaller just to get your feet wet.  If you're concerned about making backgrounds and characters, you should give the "Reality on the Norm" series (http://ron.the-underdogs.org) a go.  That's how I got my start.

Brilliant brilliant brilliant.  Not sure what the steam forums are, but the movie could easier apply here.  Or any forum,  for that matter.

This has been happening quite a lot lately.  The Underdogs database must be getting slammed, because it sometimes craps out and the RON site suffers as a result.

The game links are still working fine, though.  If you are looking for any particular game, let me know and I'll giev you the link.

-Dave

I thought isolationists didn't participate in any foreign affairs, including war?

Well maybe that's not the best word.  I meant isolationist as in "we'll go it alone without anyone's approval or help."

[there is a whole big world beyond America's borders, and they don't think we are as important as we believe we are.]

Gosh, I never imagined things would turn out this way when I started this thread!

I had a very interesting conversation with a french guy a few weeks ago.Ã,  I'd like to hear other europeans' takes on it.Ã, 

He pointed out to me that you never see a French flag prominently on display anywhere, except perhaps on government buildings.Ã,  "We are not just France," he said. "We are also EUROPE."Ã,  He went on to say that the french remember all-too-well what excessive patriotism and isolationism did to Europe in the early part of the 20th century, and that America was heading down the same road.Ã, 

I never thought about it that way, and it's an interesting point.Ã,  America is extremely patriotic.Ã,  We are spoon fed patriotism all our lives.Ã,  When I was a kid, I believed all of it.Ã,  I honestly believed that attacking another country because they didn't think like us was the right thing to do.Ã,  The ideal of the rough-and-tough cowboy, laying down the law and enforcing order, resonates very strongly with Americans.Ã,  As I got older, wiser, and more experienced, I realized how juvinile and stupid that image really was.Ã,  If anything, it's extraordinarily arrogant.

Case in point.Ã,  Some years ago, I visited England.Ã,  While there I asked people what they thought of the whole Bill Clinton impeachment thing.Ã,  The responses I got varied from shrugs to rolled eyes to indifferent laughter.Ã,  It was a joke to most people.Ã,  A very funny, ridiculous joke.Ã,  To the rest of the world, we were a laughing stock.Ã,  If this experience taught me anything, it was this one life-altering fact: there is a whole big world beyond America's borders, and they don't think we are as important as we believe we are.

America is a baby compared to the rest of the world.Ã,  A very rich, spoiled and arrogant baby.Ã,  I love living here, but I really hope it grows up sooner than later.

original:
http://www.davelgil.com/ags/cibo.gif

All joking aside, the tax relief the rich get when the republicans are in power is a strong motive for them to keep voting that way. 

My uncle, for example, has more money than he knows what to do with.  I remember him saying before the 2000 election: "Man, that Bush is such a moron.  I'm going to HATE to vote for him." He voted  for Bush because his primary concern is the wellfare of his own wallet, and by extent the wellfare of his wife and children. 

It's sort of understandable, but also not so because he is so insanely wealthy to begin with.  The tax increase isn't going to hurt him that badly.

In any case, I will sooner or later commence a new ATC competition. I hope people will be inspired by the progress made by Dart, Dave & co in "two of a kind". I hope plenty of people will see it as a chance to show us what they've got.

Sorry, I came to this thread quite late.Ã,  It is interesting that you bring up the ATC, as it was such an amazing experience for myself and for the other members of the team.Ã, 

While the ATC was on, we were all majorly jazzed.Ã,  We were excited.Ã,  We were determined.Ã,  We were GOING to make that deadline, come hell or high water.Ã,  As the deadline approached, our enthusiasm increased.Ã,  I'm sure I can speak for the entire team when I say "it frigging consumed us."Ã,  I wrote dialog every chance I could get.Ã,  The artists kept sending me their work faster than I could incorporate it into AGS.Ã,  The day before the deadline, we were up all nightÃ,  communicating via IRC and working like mad to finish.Ã,  It became less about winning and more about just going the distance.Ã,  And we did it.Ã,  The game was missing a lot of dialog, it had quite a number of bugs, and a bunch of corners had been cut, but we frigging did it.Ã,  The game could be played from beginning to end and we squeaked it in just before the deadline.

If the experience taught me anything, is that a team-built game CAN work, and work very well.Ã,  With the ATC, our team complemented each other perfectly.Ã,  I know that my personal strength is writing.Ã,  My scripting is so-so and I can't draw or compose my way out of a paper bag.Ã,  My team had a fantastic coder, three great artists and a very talented musician.Ã,  It was OK that I couldn't draw or compose, because the other team members made up for it.Ã,  I was incredibly lucky, and I thank whatever random chance of probability that threw us together.Ã,  I could not have done it without any of them.

That would be my ideal of a perfect "guild", or team.  A group made up of dedicated individuals of different skill sets who can come together and make something great.

Incidentally, you might be wondering... if the game was so close to completion, where's the bloody game?Ã,  Well, it's interesting.Ã,  Without the deadline to spur us on, we had much less motivation to work.Ã,  Self-imposed deadlines are completely ineffective, as there is nothing at stake.Ã,  We ARE seeing the light at the end of the tunnel though.Ã,  All the major bugs have been squashed and we are just fine-tuning.Ã,  I think we need another deadline, Andail. :-)

[Dave Gilbert:]

Dave Gilbert:

I'd say not responding to the charges that he was weak or a flip-flopper was a very wise move.Ã,  In advertising, acknowledging your weakness to the audience is bad.

Oh you're definitely right about that.  It's like if someone calls you ultra-defensive, and you respond with "No I'm not!"  Kerry did the right thing in not addressing the charges that he was "weak",  but at the same time he never did anything to disprove it either.

Instead, Kerry ignored Bush - he let Bush's advertising focus solely on the flip-flopping.... and now Bush is screwed.Ã,  Kerry appeared stronger and more determined than Bush during the debate.Ã,  "Flip-flop" was Bush's ultimate move but Kerry swept it aside in one hour.Ã,  All that negative campaigning, virtually a waste.

Yeah, NOW Kerry swept it aside.  NOW he comes across as being the strong and intelligent man that he really is.  But how come he didn't show this side of himself five months ago?  Is his recent performance good enough to change peoples' minds in the time we have left?  I really hope so, since George Bush scares the living crap out of me.  I guess we'll see.

That's just it.Ã,  For the longest time, Kerry himself never gave any real reasons why he should be elected other than "I'm not Bush."Ã,  Most folks didn't knew anything about him because he so rarely ever SAID anything about himself.Ã,  He didn't defend himself, didn't attack Bush, didn't really do much of anything really.Ã,  And the Bush team took full advantage of Kerry's inactivity to talk about how lame Kerry was.  If you're among the uneducated masses who never really pay attention to the real issues, who would look more presidential?Ã,  Sad but true. 

You're right.Ã,  Those aren't good reasons per se.Ã,  But it is the main reason, I think, why Bush is killing Kerry in the polls.

Why do people hate John Kerry?Ã,  That's easy.Ã,  As a former Kerry hater, here's my take.

For months the Bush team blasted Kerry with negative ads, portraying him as weak, flip-flopping and unfit to be president.Ã,  They would get on TV and do nothing but attack attack attack.Ã,  And what did Kerry do?Ã,  Practically nothing.Ã,  He sat and took it.Ã,  His team would occasionally offer a half-hearted rebuttal, but nothing really hard hitting.Ã, 

Personally, I was freaked out.Ã,  My friends and I were like "Okay, any minute now he's going to come out and kick ass.Ã,  Right.Ã,  Any minute.Ã,  Just you wait.Ã,  He's just biding his time.Ã,  Come on, Mr. Kerry.Ã,  Mr. Kerry, where the hell are you, Mr. Kerry?Ã,  Bush is killing you, Mr. Kerry.Ã,  Why are you wasting your time on the Regis show? Why don't you say anything?Ã,  Why has John Edwards dropped off the face of the earth?Ã,  WHY AREN'T YOU FIGHTING BACK!Ã,  ARRGGH! You WIMP. You total PUTZ.Ã,  How can you be losing to BUSH, you MORON.Ã,  etc etc"

So basically Bush was saying Kerry was a wimp for months, and since Kerry never fought back it made it look like Bush was right.Ã,  Kerry just seemed like such a nonentity.Ã,  It was kind of admirable for him to take the high road and not go on the offensive, but it backfired in a big way.Ã,  Again, I just pray it isn't too late to turn things around.

I'll tell you the main reason - and that's the republicans are the best spin campaigners in the world. 

For example, one year ago it was predicted that we'd be over $480 billion dollars in debt by now.  It turns out we are $420 billion in debt.  Rather than worry about this, the repubs announce "We're doing great! Due to our strong and decisive leadership, we're $60 billion better off than we thought we'd be!"  And all the uneducated yokels buy into it.

Also, there is a lot of money behind the republican party, and they control the media.  Most of the media in this country is very right wing, and tends to bias their coverage in favor of Bush.  If you don't believe me, look at the 90s.  The media were like attack dogs.  If Bill Clinton got a hangnail the media would be all over him, portraying him as being weak and ineffective.  Under Bush, the media can't seem to say enough good things about the administration.  It's quite worrisome.

Personally, I don't get that argument. If he can't out-debate someone then should he really be representing our country? Can you just imagine the things he says to other world leaders!?

It's not just that.  The right-wing camp keeps making the argument that Bush is a strong and decisive leader, and that he is capable of managing a war as a result.  The debate put a massive hole in that, since Kerry came across as being light years more strong and decisive than Bush.  If there was more time, this could really turn things around for Kerry.  I only hope it's not too late.

Going into the debate my vote was for Kerry. Not to elect Kerry, but to get Bush out. I must say that Kerry performed very well and I no longer feel the guilt of giving my vote away to someone I don't like.

There's actually a website called www.kerryhatersforkerry.com!  I was a frequent reader because that's exactly how I feel, but no longer.  I was so impressed by Kerry the other night that my opinion of him completely reversed.  Or flip-flopped, if you will.  I'll be proud to vote for the guy now.

and my hairy leg, and my sandwich, and my soul patch, and my Dave Gilbert's arm!Ã, 

Oh yes.   I'd like that back, by the way.

It wasn't so much as how stupid Bush was that floored me, but how strong Kerry was.  It gave me hope again that we might see the last of GW.  Any non-americans want to give me political asylum if he wins?