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I'm going to go upstairs and mess around with AGS a bit to see if this is the case, but for other beginners who might be wondering: would that not draw the board behind the boxes?

I only get WYSIWYG options if I set my theme to AGS Compact, and not AGS. Maybe this is the issue some are having?

EDIT: Nevermind, I see above where you say it should work for both. Still, curious.

Basically any time you have characters, objects and walkbehinds arranged on a plane seen from above (which is most of the time), this is the case you want.

I admit up front that I might be talking out of my ass here, but I can see some instances where that might not be the case. Say you have a shelf that a character can tip over, and things that are on the shelf. The things on the shelf would need to have a lower baseline than the shelf, though that's not physically the case. Right?

Now say you have a two-by-four that overhangs a stack of boxes on which it sits on top. Would it be tricky to set the baseline so that the board appeared on top of the boxes, and yet the character would walk behind it in the proper manner at the places where it overhangs? Like I said, I'm perfectly willing to accept "You are talking out of your ass" as a response. I haven't gotten far enough into game making myself to have encountered a situation like this.

I really like the departure lounge, it almost has the feel of Broken Sword. However, I do feel there is a slight clash of styles on closer examination. The glass effect on the window doesn't quite gel for me and the outline-free central column is more classic Warner Bros than the rest of the room.

Perhaps try using different coloured outlines - perhaps a light colour for the glass in the foreground?

I'm very pleased to hear from you, as the Nelly Cootalot game has beautiful, stylistic graphics, and has been one of my favorite aesthetic experiences in playing AGS games.

I need to start reviewing my posts to point out where I've cut corners or know that I've been lazy beforehand -- the glass effect I assume you're talking about is the view of the buildings in the background? That was, unfortunately, a corner cut so I could meet the deadline of the competition, hastily lasso selected shapes fill bucketed grey. In a better version of this background, I'd hope to draw better buildings, and also make better (animated?) clouds. Would that improve the effect?

I like the idea of things that aren't outlined, but I agree with you that it doesn't mix well with the rest of the image -- the rug is also bothersome for the same reason. A color hold effect on the linework would get me the benefits without being stylistically jarring.

I really like the departure lounge, it almost has the feel of Broken Sword.

This was, by the way, very kind of you to say. So kind that I will ignore the overwhelming sense of modesty that makes me want to reject the comparison (if I could ever achieve backgrounds 1/10th as nice as those in Broken Sword, I'd pack it in and call it a day). The style of this one was inspired by watching The Illusionist on three successive days (if I could achieve backgrounds 1/100th as nice as Sylvain Chomet's, I'd etc. etc.).

Thank you!

Tried for something a little different with this background for the recent competition. I'm still using Illustrator, but using brushes created from scanned lines to attempt a hand-drawn feel. Does this work at all?

Way to go, WHAM, and congrats also Yoke on a strong showing. I hope to see both of these backgrounds in-game soon!

Basically I want to create my own adventure (Twin Peaks game based on the Lynch TV series)

This got my attention! I'm curious as to where you're planning on picking up the story (feel free to keep this to yourself)? Good luck with learning! Those tutorials are great, and there's also a PDF by densming that I found useful.

Of course the issue here isn't whether 'minorities' (aren't there almost as many non WASP people in the US as white these days?) deserve to be elected leader, it's whether the current political system will actually allow them to.

This is the issue. Even after having elected a black president, we still wind up with $#!% like this:

Z-index in CSS, for instance, simply uses a stacking order number. I'm guessing it probably works much like I anticipate BaselineOverridden would. An object with a z-index of 1 is behind one with a z-order of 2, etc. An object with a z-index of 10000 is on top of everything.

...Well, now that you mention it, so it is. But it's established on the vertical dimension, which makes it non-intuitive for sleepyheads like me. 

Z-depth is background to foreground, the implied third dimension.

Entering the final day of voting and I think WHAM's about to run away with it!

I'll follow suit and cast my vote for LTGiants. That was a nice, professional job.

My second place vote goes to Baron, though the Ghost of Phil Hartman bit just made me sad that Phil Hartman is dead.

It's a little slow at times and the character development is a little awkward. How they randomly change to a completely different person from one episode to another.

I've only seen the first episode of the TV show, but the comic is the same way. The writer has admitted he's winging it from issue to issue, and despite the popularity of the book, I think it shows, so I gave up on it. One issue, the old man would be accusing the sheriff of leading everyone into disaster, the next he'd be berating others for not following the sheriff loyally. Plus, I found Black Lady Ninja a fairly shallow character, an anti-cliche that somehow still played to stereotypes.

I also have alcohol visible in my bg. I bet Eric would have added that in later as well?

I have alcohol visible in my foreground! Well, maybe it's a glass of sweet ice tea. Depends on who's asking.

EDIT: Or...maybe it's a bucket of sweet ice tea. Should have made that lemon wedge larger!

[WHAM]

Since my esteemed colleagues have already weighed in, I suppose I should as well!

Idea: WHAM. Who is this Lord Wilcox, and why's he got such a fancy liquor cabinet? I NEED TO KNOW.
Atmosphere: Yoke 2.0.  One of the folks on my dissertation committee is a writer for those Agatha Christie games, and I could see this working well there. How is a Victrola player somehow ominous? I dunno, but you pulled it off.
Design: WHAM. There's a nice cohesiveness to this game room that suggests the world beyond it. I like the subtle things, like the different racks, the placards beneath pictures, and the abandoned cards.
Composition: Yoke 2.0. Kudos for perspective and choosing a good angle, both horizontally and vertically, to view the scene from. This is something I struggled mightily with in my background (I have to draw perspective lines, and still fail to get it right).
Functionality: TIE. I think both of these would work well in game. They'd be two different kinds of games, but both would work well nonetheless.
Technique: WHAM. Having tried and failed at pixel art many times, I have nothing but respect for those who can create objects out of nothing but tiny, tiny squares.

I hemmed and haw'd over each of my choices. Excellent work, the both of you!

Aw man, I was waiting to watch that one live when they scrubbed the launch the last time. I didn't know they'd rescheduled.

Ponch sheds a tear like Iron Eyes Cody every time Bart Simpson utters his trademark, "Don't have a cow, man!"

Oh man, don't even say the C-word. I literally just had a shiver run up my spine remembering (Though we did eventually figure out a cause -- horrible reflux caused by a milk protein allergy. Mom went dairy free, and things have gotten much better.).

I didn't get as much done tonight as I'd hoped for aforementioned reasons. This image still needs a good polishing, a pile of steamer trunks, some perspective correction, and five characters that I've hand-drawn but not scanned and colored. But I want to enter, so let's pretend it's not still a work-in-progress, shall we?



If you're at all on the fence about anything, vote for WHAM and Yoke! They had two less days for their entries!

I'm sorry for still not having submitted, guys. My son's teething, and I think they should start every parenting manual with, "The week that your child cuts his first teeth is going to be the longest, loudest, most sleepless week of your life."

I'm going to submit whatever I have finished at the stroke of midnight tonight. It might not be polished, but I don't want to hold up the voting process any further. Thanks for your leniency in extending the deadline, Misj'.