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Too bad. It's strange though if nobody else experienced it. The problem showed up nearly immediately when I played the game, and the wrong state was stored in the savegames, so saving/restoring didn't even help. Well, at least I managed to finish the game anyways.

I know that there are workarounds, it's just that I rather don't use them if CJ is implementing a "proper" way of doing it somewhere down the line. I'm sure that as AGS is getting more sophisticated, the GUI handling will become more flexible (especially now that AGS supports templates allowing newbies to use custom interfaces easily) - even though Sierra and LucasArts are still the most popular styles, many great game, like The Longest Journey, use non-standard text displays.

But thanks for the suggestion!

I can't believe that article wasn't entirely satirical. Sure, long games are nice - but only because they have more content, not because they waste more of my time! What's next, an article by James Cameron teaching us to pad out a 2 hour movie to 4 hours running time?

The first Larry Vales game (Traffic Division, is it? The one with the hotel/casino) really ought to be upgraded - especially because it is, as After said, a common reference point.  But also because it needs to be updated. There are some horrible bugs that made the game nearly unplayable for me (for some reason the game got the GUI on/off states backwards, so it froze whenever I moved the cursor off the GUI - I had to move the cursor to the top of the screen after clicking to get the character to do ANYTHING, and most cutscenes behaved strangely as well. (I'd better note that it was a while since I downloaded it, so it MAY have been fixed since, but I doubt it).

I understand. Thanks anyway.

Well, yes, I suppose I could. But as far as I can see, with dialogs I'd have to run script with some variant of the DisplaySpeechAt command for each line instead of scripting  normally?

Could you please say if you're going to add the function eventually (maybe within half a year or so), because in that case I will start scripting normally and just put in the custom values when the function is implemented. It's always a bitch when there comes a quicker way of doing thing, when your half done with the game.

Dave, I'm happy that I didn't upset you with my thoughts on the graphics. Often when I get critical about something it's because I really care about it and want it to be even better.

There will only be two parts to the game, but the second part will be MUCH longer than the first part I released.

Thank god, I'm not sure I would have been able to wait for 4 or 5 episodes, all ending with a "to be continued", without going insane I thought the length of the first chapter was perfect for setting up the characters and getting us REALLY excited about what's to come.

He says funny things, but it's more of a front. He's not very happy about what's happened to him, so he diffuses his misery with humor. There's kind of a nasty bitterness to the jokes he makes.

Yeah exactly, I thought of him as the ghost of some old film noir anti-hero - that's sort-of his tone. I've got great hopes for this character.

Garage: Did you read the "notes of interest" file? That "absurdity with the doorman" actually happened! Sort of. The artist/dog owner puzzle was also based in reality - I witnessed a similar argument in Central Park last year

I did read the file, even before playing, so I was aware of it. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction. What I meant was that they seemed like a different genre, not that they weren't plausible.

Ah, nice to be able to see them. Thanks for figuring out the problem GinnyW.

Very nice work. I certainly see the Broken Sword influence - the locations more than the style, BS used harder dark outlines. I'd like to see what kind of character art you had in mind for these backgrounds.

I really hope that you follow GinnyW's advice and give AGS a try!

Lovely game. Surely one of the, if not THE, best game stories for a long time. A bit annoyed that it's only part one, but I suppose that shows how much I enjoyed it.

The characters were great. I especially liked the Indian lady next door. But I think you need to establish the doctor/analyst better as a character in the next chapter unless you want him to become a stereotype. I assume that you keep visiting him throughout the game, and as such, he really needs some more personality.
The story was intriguing and I can't wait for the rest. The whole family history was really creepy - it could have been distributed over longer time though, as those letters made for a massive read, but I'm VERY anxious to learn more about this Joey character.

The interface was easy to use. But I'm not sure about the notebook - it worked well when researching in the library, but later I found it confusing that you could also use it to ask questions with. Is it ever necessary to use it for dialog to proceed? The doctor seemed to say pretty much the same thing when I used the  notebook topics as with the regular questions. I didn't check if they were exactly the same. For the next chapters, I think you should settle for a single dialog interface - either classic LA style or the LBII style notebook. Or maybe keep "research questions" to the notebook interface while keeping topics relevant to the situation (asking the doctor to hypnotise you, getting the doorman to let you in) in the ordinary interface.

This is one of those games where I'm not sure if it's supposed to be funny, scary or just, well, exciting and suspenseful. I don't really see this as a problem, but then, I don't know what you're going for. The music was at times very gloomy, as was the story. The plot is easily as dark as any of the Phantasmagorias. But the graphics and some of the puzzles were very cartoony and "cute" (the dog/artist puzzle comes to mind, as does the absurdity with the doorman).  Is Joey supposed to be scary or cute? I have no idea, but I certainly couldn't take him very seriously. When I first saw him in your RON game, I assumed that bestowers would be a comedy, which it obviously isn't, at least not in its pure form.

I'm not complaining about the graphics, which were actually very nice for a game this size. But it strikes me that most AGS games which TRY to have an element of horror often detract from the mood with their graphics. Pleurghburg being the most obvious example of this counterpoint between story and visuals, but 5 Days a Stranger and the Revenants demo also share it to certain degrees. My issue isn't really with the "quality" or "realism" of the graphics as it is with their style or lack thereof, or maybe rather, the style's incongruity with the atmosphere. The bright colors in these games absolutely SCREAM "happy", "cartoony", "fun" etc. and it kills the mood. I'm not saying that everything should be black and white (although monochrome color schemes tend to work well for dark stories), but it's a good idea to compose a palette of colors for the entire game, and only digress where it's absolutely necessary for the realism of the location.

Another idea is to connect every color to a certain mood and in expressionist manner let those colors dominate in locations where you want to convey that emotion (remember the red light in the brothel of the Lust-murder in Se7en?). In fact, I think this is why I like the green interior of the bar in Songo so much, because it has this strange atmosphere, like something out of The Absinthe Drinkers.
The same way, when using muted color schemes, it's a classic technique to let one single bright color pop up in a symbolic manner (the color red is very popular, like the raincoat in Don't Look Now or different objects, all connected to the supernatural, in The Sixth Sense).

Sorry that this turned into an essay on symbolic use of color. I'm not saying that you should change anything really - I just felt it was a good time to share some things that I've observed lately.  But maybe you could consider it, if you have some truly spooky scenes later on in the game, that haven't been drawn yet.

One bug I encountered, which may be an engine bug rather than a scripting error: I had saved my game after mixing the recipe. But when I later tried to restore it, the game quit,  and I got an error message about an item not being in the inventory.

Looking forward to part 2. (How many parts are there? Are you going to combine them into one game when finished, or will they be separate game files like Book of Spells?)

As long as it's nothing like the movie

You know who the real sinners are? The people who came up with those impossible puzzles in the first place! Jane Jensen is going straight to hell for that cat's hair moustache in GK3.

Vel, if you want me to contribute anything else (not sure what it could be - you can only do so many background tutorials ), feel free to pm or mail me. I enjoyed doing it.

Edit: Great issue by the way. You should work on a consistent layout though, to get a more professional look.

[7 October 2003]

A minor update:

7 October 2003

My monitor broke down a few weeks ago, so currently I'm working on my old 14" in 600x800 resolution, which sucks. I did manage to color a background for my tutorial in the latest issue of the AGS Ezine though, so production hasn't halted entirely. But I've given up on doing anything in Poser until I get my new 19" monitor, because the interface takes up so much screen space that it's impossible to work with in low resolutions.
The same technical difficulties have delayed the website now that I can't test how the tables look in 1024x768 - but I'll probably put together a temporary one before the end of the month. Some new screenshots - I'm currently working on the Sunset Blvd. mansion - should be released along with more story and character info on the website.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot to mention. I've purchased a video-grabber card, so now it'll be much easier to gather reference pictures of Los Angeles. And I won't have to wear out my video tapes or my VCR while sketching architectural details or constantly rewinding when trying to grasp the geography of some location (thank God that Hollywood filmmakers are so cheap and lazy that they never leave town. Once you realize exactly how many Los Angeles landmarks are used as movie locations, you'll never search for still photos again).

Edit: Uh oh, I'm having some nasty premonitions here. I was just reading an article on Jane Jensen's new as-of-yet-untitled project, and I'm beginning to worry that we're working with some of the same paranormal/philosophical themes. I'm sure that Jane is going in an entirely different direction with it, but still...
What will set the games apart - I hope - is the way that I treat these themes as metaphors for everything in the game rather than just the solution to the mystery. It's much more focused on the characters and their growth. And as such, the supernatural serves as a frame and an abstraction rather than THE enigma essential to the player's enjoyment. Maybe this sounds obscure, but I'd rather not reveal too much. Remember how the idea of bloodlines ran throughout GK3, not just in the mystery but in the details as well, how Grace's mother were trying to set her up with a boy, the connection between viticulture and genetics etc. THAT's more or less what I'm trying to do with Shadowplay - tying everything to the main theme, but on different levels of abstraction.

GarageGothic for president

on second thought lemme add something:

LOL, I preferred it before the second thought

I took it that you ment if they portrayed a female wrongly people would get upset and say "why is the female lead so stupid" or some such. As in a designer fears to create anything but a strong female character for fear of the backlash that the game demonizes women.

Well, I think "demonize" is a very strong word. But I don't think they would get away with a female Guybrush. As somebody else said, she would probably be perceived as just another dumb blonde. Also, I don't think we'd have a character like Laverne unless there were two other player characters in the game (both male and just as imperfect as her).

Edit: In a way I can't help feeling that the modern female protagonist - April, Kate and, to a certain degree, Grace - are somewhat of a return to the non-specified characters of  early text adventures. More of an avatar through which to interact with the game world than an actual character.

The puzzles are related. Once you solve the vodka puzzle you'll be able to get rid of the drunk.

This is from a previous post by Nelinas:

You have: Bottle (B), RG and YG. Use B on RG, RG on YG, YG on B, RG-YG, YG-B, RG-YG, B-RG, RG-YG,YG-B, RG-YG, YG-B, RG-YG, B-RG, RG-YG.

I know that something similar to this is already mentioned in the future.txt file, but as it's really important for my interface, I hope we'll see it soon:

The ability to specify coordinates and widths for text windows as for any other gui. I'm aware that there is a problem with large amounts of text overflowing the window if set improperly, but as long as you keep track of your own message length it shouldn't be a problem.
I'm trying to create an interface similar to GK1's, where all text is shown as subtitles in the letterboxed area of the screen, and it isn't really possible with the current setup, unless I use DisplayAt for everything.

An alternative could be the possibility to set a permanent (x, y, width) for the Display and DisplaySpeech - as well as normal dialog - commands (prefereable custom values for each character for the speech, or at least for player character and NPCs, as it would really make it easier to set up custom dialog screens (e.g. GK1 interviews)). It would be tons easier than using DisplayAt for every single message.

(Also, maybe I've missed something, but could it be possible to turn off talking portraits for Sierra style speech, and get normal LucasArts style talking view along with Sierra speech?)

Thanks for reading this CJ,
GG

I'm not saying that anybody is making games that are sexist or whatever. I'm merely saying it's HARDER TO IDENTIFY WITH FEMALE CHARACTERS.

I don't really agree with this. I find it much easier to identify with females than with most male characters - and if I have a choice between a male and female player character, I ALWAYS choose the female. HOWEVER, I often find male characters more INTERESTING than female, and I think this is where we are missing the point.

Maybe it ISN'T about identification. After all, who REALLY identifies with Guybrush, or Manny, or even Gabriel? Surely I can't be the only person groaning when my character does something incredibly stupid and gets in trouble because of honor, threatened masculinity or other personal hang-ups (as a non-game example, could you imagine a female Marty McFly (Mary McFly?) having such an issue with people calling her "chicken"?). In fact, male characters are often so idiosyncratic that I find myself totally disconnected from them - from an identification point of view - and see them more as a fictional character in a movie or a book. Whereas female characters often have so little personality that it's easy to project yourself into their bodies (that ended up sounding dirty, but you know what I mean).

There's a long tradition for flawed males, way back from ancient Greece (Aristotle defined tragedy as the story of a good man coming to a tragic end because of a small but fatal flaw in his character), over the courtly romances of medieval times to the film noirs of the 1930s and '40s. But there isn't really ANY tradition for female leads outside the genre of romance (how about a Jane Austen game? Anyone?) and - to a degree - the gothic novel, which is mirrored in Phantasmagoria (still, here the female character is very much a representative of the reader, a subject through whom to experience the horror).

Could it be that male designers are afraid of creating flawed female characters? Aside from Laverne, I can't remember a single game where a woman was portrayed any less than "ideal". Grace was always way ahead of Gabe, and although Kate Walker and April Ryan showed emotion, it never got in the way of their mission.
In traditional fiction, the woman has always been either the love interest, the object to be won by the male lead, or the femme fatale, the siren luring him to his destruction. Transferring these stereotypes to main characters aren't enough. I'm not sure that men and women are as different as some people claim (at least I feel as alienated from my male friends as my female), and maybe we SHOULD'T be afraid of writing female player characters as "guys with tits". As long as they are non-stereotypical guys with (non-stereotypical) tits No people are alike, and I see no reason why female characters should be considered a league of their own. In fact, the moment that you see a character first and foremost as a woman, maybe you should consider rewriting her and draw forth some less trivial characteristic to describe her persona.

After working with Poser 5 for a month and a half, I must say that the new features are somewhat disappointing.

Sure, at first they are VERY cool. Playing around with the cloth, hair and face room made it all seem very exciting... until you realized that it was so poorly implemented. It's simple things like how you can't import faces to the face morph room, only export them - so you'd better be sure your characters face is exactly as you want it before closing down the program. Or the cloth room, which really is a pain to use compared to the old comforming clothes, and takes ages to render, just like the new strand-based hair system.

Not to mention the new Poser 5 standard models, Don and Judy. Don is REALLY nice compared to the old Poser dork, but Judy is terrible. She has absolutely no body morphs unless you count her boob size and the 10+ morphs for her vagina!!! But maybe that reflects the needs of most users

The only new feature I've ended up using - and LOVING - is the materials room where you can set up how all the surfaces will render. The new cartoon lighting node is immensely helpful for the Shadowplay art style. Instead of coloring everything by hand, I just have Poser do a flat-color render, which I combine with a sketch style render in Photoshop.

But no matter how nice the renders look, animation is where the true test is. I never trust Poser art for games until I see it moving. When I first started out working on the Shadowplay art style, I focused on detailed textured and tons of morphs. But what I've come to realize is that none of this matters. The true tool of characterization and individualization is body language. And that's where many Poser made games fail (the Curse of the Jade Sphinx and By the Sword demos both show examples of stiff and generic animation).
Although Poser has a fine walk animation designer and some nice pre-made poses, the only real solution is to study your own movement and animate as if you were doing classic animation. Poser does help by smoothing out motion and creating in-between-frames. But there are no short cuts in good animation.

Nellie beat me to posting what I actually meant to say.

But hats off to The Inventory if they bring some attention to all the great - not to mention finished! - amateur adventure games out there, rather than uncritically praising games in production, just because they share the name of a once-succesful game series.

Not that I mind reading about these titles (in fact, I've read the KQIX preview four times or so, and the FOY interview was great) but to be honest, that SQ7 preview read like a press release. And as somebody else pointed out, few of the technical details on pre-rendered backgrounds and characters and comparisons with EFMI made much sense.
I respect that the person who wrote the article didn't have a lot of insight into the technical side of things. But maybe someone like m0ds, who actually KNOWS how games are made, would be better suited for the job. Or at least having someone like that proofread the articles. Otherwise you'll become a publicity tool for the game designers.

I LOVE The Inventory. I've read the back issues countless times and I'm always looking forward to the next. Just beware of mindlessly quoting other people's self-praise.

Ok, so it's one thing that nobody ever uses those "Notes" pages at the end of game manuals, but this page from the Post Mortem manual is ridiculous:


What were they thinking? Who writes their notes with correction fluid?

It makes as much sense as that blurb on the back of the GK box: "Includes a bound and illustrated graphic novel". Oh, as opposed to those text-only graphic novels?