Messages

Yeah Iqu, that was what I saw.  It looks pretty sweet.  How goes the progress on that?

-Dave

Woah!  Impressive!  Although I'm stuck already.    I'll keep plugging away though, since I refuse to break down and ask for hints merely 2 hours after starting the game.  I'll give myself 4 at the very least!

Nice work here.  Some great dialogs (especially with the highwaywoman) and that intro is fantastic! I'll write more when I play more...

-Dave

Wasn't somebody making a Mortal RONbat?  I remember seeing an animation of the Bum fighting...

-Dave

Spoiler

Syberia had lots of potential.  It was gorgeous to look at and had great atmosphere, but it wasn't very interactive.  Lots of pretty screens and nothing to do in them.  And the puzzles... oh the puzzles.  They stretched rationality to its breaking point.  My personal favorite is "I'll give you this key if you send me into space!"  Er... uh?

And the ending bothered me.  I agree with "the journey being more important, etc" but STILL.  The ending didn't feel natural.  I honestly felt like there was a whole bunch more game left.  I was thinking, "Yess!  Now things are gonna get interesting!" and then wham - closing credits.  

And... the boyfriend...
Not much character progression there.  He was an annoying jerk when he called at the beginning of the game, and he was still an annoying jerk at the very end.  No sympathy generated here.  I mean... Kate was only gone for what, three days?  And he's complaining about her "neglecting" him?  Puhleeze.  Get a life, dude.  Every time that cell phone rang I groaned.

[close]

Ohh... my... god...

I think my brain just broke.

Strangely enough... Discworld Noir.  That was the inspiration for "The Postman Only Dies Once."  I loved how it recreated the feel of a classic black and white noir picture... the grittiness, the hard-boiled interior monologue, the smart back talk... plus using the notebook topics as inventory items was a brilliant touch.

Just as an early FYI, Rosa and Joey are going to be interviewed in the first episode of AGTV, which (according to Alkaline) is coming out on the 14th.  :-)

Was this really necessary?  True, her enthusiasm is strasospheric and her posts read like John Moschitta after a double expresso, but I don't see why that's a problem.  Remember Squalman in his day?  RPG Creator?   I mean, come on people.  Why is Yuffster so bad?  She's not insulting anyone.  She's not ranting.  More than half of her posts (at least the ones I've read) are actually about adventure games or adventure game making.  Why is this an issue?  It's only been a short time.  Give her a chance to calm down.  

Heya Pesty.  Your game sounds nifty - very original.  And Pancake is a cute character!  Although she kind of looks like she's dancing instead of walking. Maybe it'll look different when she moves across the screne...

Tads is a great language for creating text adventures.  I used it all the time in college, but never made anything worth showing.  

Is it still supported?

-Dave

Welcome to the oldies club, Dave.

Wiigii!  I'm 27 and I'm an oldie.

Jesus CHRIST somebody spiked my coffee.

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Methinks you've had too MUCH coffee.  :-)

Just joshing.  Your enthusiasm is very welcome.  Just don't burn yourself out.

Ha!  Brilliant tunes.

I want my own theme music, too.

Gosh, this takes me back.  I spent an unhealthy amount of my childhood playing Infocom games in the basement.  It was freezing down there in the winter, and the only heat would come from a portable heater that was next to my feet. It would clunk when it got too hot, and then would shut off briefly to cool down.

It's weird.  Back in the day, there was no such thing as a walkthrough.  I played Infocom's "Spellbreaker" for months, not making any progress, plugging away for hours at a time... AND ENJOYING MYSELF... before I finally broke down and ordered the hintbook (which were quaintly called "Invisiclues"  because the hints were invisible until you used a special pen).  Nowadays, I get frustrated and reach for a walkthrough after maybe a few hours of being stuck.  Usually even less than that.  

Has the internet sapped my attention span?  Or maybe I'm just older and just don't want to waste the time anymore.

I dunno about this.  I like what Activision did with Zork with "Grand Inquisitor," but people tend to forget that the original trilogy wasn't all that interesting to begin with.  Cardboard cutout NPCs, nasty mazes, no plot, and instant death at every corner.  The puzzles were clever, though.  I'll give it that.    

Admitedly, Tierra managed a major feat remaking the bland world of KQ2, but at least they had something to work off of.  Zork 1 doesn't even give you that.  Just lots of caves, some monsters to kill, and some treasures scattered about.  If you can flesh that out and make it interesting, more power to you!  :-)

If you want to make a VGA remake of an Infocom game, why not go for one that's a little more compelling?  About a year ago, someone once told me about a adventure version of "Wishbringer," I would have loved to see that.  Or you could make a brand new Zork altogether - it doesn't have to  be 360.

I can't believe I'm still talking about games I played when I was 10!

Ha!  I got you all licked.  When I was eight, I programmed games in BASIC!  On an Apple IIE!   Wiigii!

I don't remember a damn thing, except that we had to give each line of code a number, and I think the commands "gosub" and "hres" were in there somewhere.  And who can forget that the "$" was the symbol for a string?

Ahh... geek memories...

-Dave

I remember Timequest.  It was made by Legend.  You can get it off underdogs.  Very interesting game, with some wonderful time travelly puzzles and a brilliant endgame.

I vaugly remember playing the Bill & Ted game at a friend's house.  Was this the one where you had to jump over paint cans a la Donkey Kong to get to the top of Michaelangelo's scaffold?

-Dave

Yes, we adventure game makers grow finer with age.  Like wine.  Or cheese.

I know what you mean.  In my game, I have a character that can easily turn into the "zany sidekick" stereotype if I'm not careful.  He's the ghost of a murdered 1920s lounge singer named Joey.  He makes a few wisecracks, hits on the main character (who is female) and in general acts like the sleazy lowlife he is (or was).  But the humor has a reason for being there.  Joey is making these jokes to prevent himself from going insane.  He's not happy about what's happened to him, and there's an edge of bitterness and nastiness to the jokes he makes.  It's a balancing act.

That's what makes the Gabriel Knight games so good - that wonderful balance between seriousness and humor.

Nope.  Dave Gilbert is my name.  No relation, although I have a 5 year old second cousin named Ron.

And by "thing" do you mean Reality on the Norm?  If you want to check it out be wary - there are about 40-50 games up there!    But most of em are pretty short.  

And as for how old I am... I recently turned 27.  Most folks around here are younger.