Messages

[Edit:]

Crikey, I wasn't expecting so much positive feedback. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to play the game and post some comments, much appreciated. And no comments about black lines in the art...  

Very cute little game.  I like the animations and choice of colors especially.

Thank you ProgZmax, I'm glad you like it.

This is the game that to me comes closest to what the perfect AGS game must be like since the last half year or so.
Go play it, it's simply great.

Wow. So kind of you to say so Khris, thank you.

For a first game it was awesome! Don't stop now, I look forward to your next games!

Thank you for the positive comments blueskirt, really appreciate it.

Very nice! I like the character designs and the quirky perspective, and the puzzles all made sense and were easy to solve - in terms of what you needed to do, not nescessarily in terms of how long it took me to figure them out
...
Overall a very enjoyable game. Nice style, good puzzles and just long enough. Good luck on your next project!

Thank you for your positive feedback Hedgefield (and thanks for adding the spoiler tags.)

Nice maggie b.t.w., DuncanFx

Thanks Arj0n, kind of you to say so.

Very nice little game! I enjoyed it a lot.

As for the soap... it's not really necessary, is it? At least I could be able to use the monkey on it without opening it first.  :

Er...

Spoiler

Well spotted. I left that bug in just as a test to see if anyone was wily and intelligent and dashingly handsome enough to find it...  : Will have to fix it asap.

[close]

Thank you for the feedback and the nice comments too, Cianty.

Edit: Fixed this and uploaded v0.4. Cheers Cianty.

Still to time vote for this in the MAGS btw, and if anyone could spare a minute to vote/give some feedback on it on the game page, I'd really appreciate it.

[Edit:]

Introducing my first complete AGS game, "Death on Stage." Created for the January MAGS competition, theme "Death."



A young magician 'dies' on stage and must re-invent himself in order to save his dreams of stardom.

Info Page + Download link: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1397

Note: Since uploading this for the MAGS competition, I have added a music track, fixed some typos and bugs, and added a few basic functions to improve the experience based on early feedback I received. Many thanks to those who were kind enough to share their constructive thoughts with me.

Edit: Version 0.5 uploaded, 12.02.11 - a few bug corrections, extra interactions and responses added to characters and inventory items. Hopefully the final version.

I hope you enjoy it.

Edit: 700 downloads! Thank you to everyone who downloaded it so far.

Coverage of the Game:
Freeware Game Pick on IndieGames.com
Indie Games Night 6 Video
Indie Game of the Week on Gaming Mutant
Adventure Gamers' "Following Freeware" Article, February 2011

Hey DuncanFX,
Why haven't you posted your game in the Completed Games Forums here? Or at least entered it in the AGS games database(main site)? You'll get a lot more  viewership and people playing that way. As it is, I didn't even know your game existed until I saw this Hints and Tips thread. Not a mention anywhere on the site, and no finished games credited to you on your profile. I had to Google your game (or click on your blog link) to find it. And I check the AGS site and forum at least once a week for new games.

Hey Piperhcombs,

Thanks for the advice. I've been very busy with other things since I posted the game for the MAGS competition, and have been waiting until I had a free day to drop in some sfx and music, and correct some typos in the game before I posted it in the completed games forum. I guess it would help my chances in the MAGS competition if people could actually find my game easily though... Thank you for the kick up the backside, I shall get these things done and promote the heck out of it ASAP.

PS: Hope you liked the game.

PPS: Oh, now look what you've made me go and do! -> http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=42809

I need some sleep, and you've gone and made me update that stuff and upload it and everything. I hope you're happy!

Now Duncan, what I don't know can't harm me

Well, that's the thing. I have posted some WIP of this background online before, but just never used it in a game. I'm just trying to be transparent here. Don't want people calling me on it later, so I'd rather ask now. :

Started to get an idea together for this, but I have a question. Is it ok to use a background file I started work on a while ago? I know the rules say that everything should be completely new, but I've had this background staring at me from my WIP folder for some time now, and it'd be nice if I could actually finish it off and get it into a game rather than let it go to waste. Thoughts?

February is a rather busy month for me, but I really want to keep the momentum of my AGS learnin', so will probably make something for this - perhaps just a 1 or 2 room offering.

Ooh, someone is actually playing my game! Hope you're enjoying it so far!

You're on the right track with what you need to do/get, but you're just looking in the wrong place.

Spoiler

There might be something in the toilets you could use...

[close]

["Death on Stage"]

Presenting my first game: "Death on Stage"

A game about death where no one actually dies... (I bent the rules slightly and decided upon figurative rather than literal death).



DOWNLOAD HERE

I hope you will give it a go and enjoy it. This is my first AGS game, so the production has been a challenge, but also a great learning experience. Hopefully the next one will be better.

Any feedback you could provide would be gratefully received. Cheers.

Edit: Updated the download for version 0.2. I corrected some typos and added an auto-quit at the end to stop it forcing full-screen users to go to the task manager in order to quit! (newbie error #1).

[EDIT (30.01.11):]

If you're finding yourself a bit behind I can give an extension of a couple of days.

I should be ok, but will ask if I need a little longer. I've made a huge amount of progress today, and should be finished tomorrow as long as I can get a couple of quiet hours in front of the computer.

Most of the game is there, and I've worked out most of the problems with variables I was having before. I just need to add some dialogue for each of the characters, figure out one problem with a puzzle, and then do some polishing in the interact/look responses. Hopefully I'll get it uploaded tomorrow night if all goes well, if not then it will be here on Monday.

EDIT (30.01.11):

The game is finished functionally! It works as intended from start to finish, with all the puzzles and dialogue in place. I just need to add some more interactions (extra "look at" text, etc) and the closing scene and I'm done. I think I'll forego music and sfx right now, because I havn't even begun to think about them, and unfortunately I won't have many responses for "wrong" actions (using items in the wrong place) yet. I can always add them later on if I fancy it though, so no biggie.

Will upload tonight.

Been really busy with other (very exciting) commitments the past few days, but finally got back into this properly last night. Have been scripting like a mad man since and now have all of my rooms, hotspots, objects and NPCs scripted (minus direct conversation). Just need to work on scripting the dialogue and puzzles now and try to keep track of which variables are going where and when - definitely not helped by the time pressure!

Hopefully I can finish that by saturday night, and allow myself some time on sunday to re-draw my GUI and maybe even get some external playtests done. Hopefully...

Is anyone else still working on something for this one?

Congratulations Zetsaika, I look forward to giving this a go (will have to wait until I've finished my own entry first ).

Mister L, in case you want another set of ears on it, here's my take:

In the family genes
(There is) a glimmer of a dream
To bravely sail uncharted seas

Taking chances ooh yeah (the ...)
the highs and lows we'll take the lot.
and right before our eyes
we'll find happiness and peace of mind.

Maniac Mansion, Maniac Mansion
The Eddison family dream
Maniac Mansion, Maniac Mansion
that's (so ideal)

Let us know if you ever find out the official version, would be nice to know who was most accurate.

My brain just simultaneously said "Phew, only a week left..." and "Aaaaa! Only a week left!" Got so much done, but still have a lot to do. Must crack on...

I've just ordered it, so will report back as to how it runs, etc. Never played it before, but I've heard a lot of good things about it. Taking its time to download - just over 1.4GB.

Edit: It runs perfectly fine for me on Windows 7 64-Bit, with only a few visual hiccups, but due to the unique visual style of the game, its hard to know if they were present in the original or not. Looks like a very interesting game nonetheless. Very reminiscient of Myst in some ways. I will definitely give it more time when I have some free.

Hey Snake, thank you for your positive comments, its very kind of you to share them. As for the time travel/alternate dimension theory - hmmm...

[@Tabata:]

Oh my, so many replies...

@Tabata: Thank you for the suggestions. As soon as I have the character that has to go in that space finished, I'll add some of that stuff to help frame him.

@theo (& @Mad): I know you probably won't like it, but I've actually grown quite attached to the black outlines. Although I appreciate why I should get rid of them, I'm not sure I really want to yet, lol. When I get some of the characters into the scene though, I'll be better able to decide whether or not to change them. Don't lose hope yet!

@markbilly: Thank you very much. Your positive comments are very much appreciated.

@Calin & @Mad: Thank you for the paintovers. Although they both take the lighting in different directions, they've both given me a new perspective on my approach to the backgrounds. Thank you Mad too for the tips and the postive comments, they are again greatly appreciated, although your door handle is unsuitable for the "period" of the game... (*mustn't give away too many spoilers...*) I'm glad you like the odd perspective too, because - as this is a MAGS game and time is running short - I'm recycling it for some of the other rooms.

@Cuiki: Thank you for the comments. Re the corridor background, it is just under the length of two screens, so it will scroll in the final game, and due to the way that I've drawn the strange perspective, it shouldn't *crosses fingers* look too odd from any viewpoint. Oh, and I wasn't intending to use the toilet water as potion ingredients, but now you've given me a disgusting idea...

In general, I'm starting to regret using Graphics Gale for my pixel work, as I'm finding the palette interface rather frustrating for fine tuning. I guess I'll stick with it until I get all the backgrounds done though, then I can give some alternatives a go for the final drafts.

Thank you again, all.

Ok, the stonework in the corridor is driving me nuts right now, so I've moved onto detailing another room - the toilets! I've learned from my errors with the corridor and think I've managed to avoid any here, but I'd appreciate it if someone could take a look at this and highlight anything I might've missed.

x1 x2

Also, if anyone has suggestions for other details I could add, I'd be grateful. I've been trying to think of how to fill the wall on the back-right. There will be a character stood in front of it, but I still think it might look too empty if I don't add something.

This sounds right up my alley concept wise, but it's going to take me too much time to get up to speed on the basics to get this done by end of month. To this end, although I will not be able to complete a game by eom I will set goals to read materials and understand the basics (characters, global scripts, room scripts, dialog scripts) so I can participate in a future endeavor.

Hi Ian. Why not give a one or two-room game a go? If you come up with a nice basic idea, you could make it as you read along with the tutorials. I've read through the tutorials and watched Densming's videos a number of times, but it hasn't been until I started actually working on something that its begun to stick in my brain.

The deadline of the end of the month would probably help you to keep pushing yourself forward too - its done wonders for my productivity.

Thank you Ali and Matti, I appreciate the feedback.

I gave the "straight block" version that ProgZmax favoured another few attempts today and still didn't like the results - especially when I also combine it with the other backgrounds I've drawn and not posted here yet. As much as it might be more realistic or whatever, it simply doesn't "fit" with the style I've adopted in my opinion.

Therefore, I gave the version above another shot, making the stones smaller and moving them closer together as suggested. The first tests look ok, but it makes the wall becomes very "busy" as a result. Perhaps when all the final details are added (hanging banners, etc), it'll balance itself out though. I'll try to post a version tomorrow after I take a fresh look at it.

Thanks ProgZmax, I will take a look at that link and give it a more considered attempt.