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Try removing the bright white contours on the snow (especially around the door). They give the image a very pixelated look when not antialiased against the dark color of the wall.
Also, I think the problem with the snow by the door is that the snow drift is concave rather than convex. Actually it looks like it's flat against the wall at the top.

Otherwise it's a great image!

But I do think the 10% figure is way overestimated.

According to the Kinsey report 26% of women by the time they are 45 has had some homosexual experience, whereas about 50% of men have. These are the numbers I have at hand now. I'm not sure if these figures are sexual encounters to the point of orgasm. I seem to remember that that figure was a bit lower, but certainly over 40%. I won't argue that few of these people would call thelmselves gay or bi, but behaviour and identity are different things.

Personally, I think bisexuality in most cases is bullshit. Granted, there are certainly people who are bisexual, but I've known far too many people who claim/claimed to be bisexual but they "prefer" one sex or the other.

So by your definition, the attraction to each of the sexes must be equal for a person to be a bisexual? No wonder it's easy to dismiss bisexuality if you see 0-2 on the Kinsey scale as straight and 4-6 as gay. Tell me this: If you preferred, say, brunettes, and you met this incredible person who had all the qualities you could wish for in a partner except she was a blonde, would you totally abandon all interest you had in her, just because of her hair color?
Of course you can prefer one sex or the other, just like you can prefer people with a certain hair color, people who are into certain types of music, or who dress in a certain style of clothing. All these things matter, as do thousands of other little details, and yes, we all have preferences. But to let them get in the way of your happiness is plain silly. To me, being bi means that gender doesn't matter any more than hair color or other external factors. In my opinion, hetero- as well as homosexuality is gender-fetischism where gender suddenly overrides all other qualities, external as well as internal.

Many gay people say they're bisexual because they don't want to or are afraid to admit that they are homosexual.

That's funny. In my experience it's the other way around, that bi people identify outwardly as gay, not to be excluded from the gay community, leading to funny identities such as "lesbians who sleep with men". And while it might not be the case in a college environment, people in general seem to be much more uncomfortable with bisexuals than with gays - while gay people are being domesticated, marrying, adopting kids and becoming "straights with a twist", bisexuals are still seen as sexual outlaws, as promiscuous, non-monogamous and spreaders of AIDS.

I could go on, but I won't, since this is so much off-topic from the original thread. It's just that these statements really piss me off, you know.

Try fleamarkets and garage sales. I often come across old games in places like that. At least you can get the boxes and manuals. If the disks turn out to be broken (they often are after 10-15 years) you can download the game as abandonware with a good conscience.

I'm currently writing a thesis on the representation of bisexuality in movies, so I've spent a lot of time studying the theories of the sexual continuum. I was just reading about the two sociological approaches to the gay/straight binary: The essentialist one, which assumes that sexual orientation is somehow defined by nature, and the social constructionist one, which argues that homo- and heterosexual identity and behaviour are social roles, society's structuring to define a well defined "other".

Interestingly, the idea of a gay brain or a gay gene (which has not, I should add, been proven in any way) seems to be most popular with scientist who themselves are gay. There seems to be a need to justify a same-sex object choice by claiming it to be a condition rather than a choice. The logic being that you can't discriminate people, if they can't help what they are. And that actually seems to be the case. Statistics show that people who believe that sexual orientation is an in-born quality, are much more comfortable with gay people as teachers etc. (it's not contagious, they won't turn your children gay) than those who consider it a choice (some of those wouldn't even fly on an airplane with a gay pilot!) So yes, maybe the essentialist approach is one way to deal with homophobia.

But in my opinion, it's a cop-out, which misses the whole point of the discussion. Why search for the causes of homosexuality (or heterosexuality for that matter)? And how will you use the conclusions you reach? If you DO discover that it's hereditary, should we try to eliminate these genes?
Why aren't people asking if it's genetic to dislike brussel sprouts, or if vegetarians have different brains than meat eaters? And why is sexuality considered a static state when it's quite obvious that tastes can change with time - A few years ago I hated tea, now I drink four or five cups a day. Why is sexual object choice treated as so much more important than - not to mention different from - other matters of taste and preference? Because it's related to the structuring of gender difference, to patriarchal rule and thus to economics and society as a whole?

I think we're asking the wrong questions here, that's all I'm saying.

This isn't really a hint question, because I've already solved the puzzle. I was just hoping that someone could tell me HOW I was supposed to solve it without trial and error:

Spoiler

When you make Oscars legs, how do you know which position the thing on the left is supposed to be in? I'm not sure if it's a material selector (some of the colors look like wood, metal and so on) which WOULD make sense, but when you pick them up, it always says "wooden legs" on the inventory item, and Oscar just tells you that they're incorrect, now what they're supposed to be like (does the model number have anything to do with it? I couldn't see any connection)

[close]

I still think the colors are too bright, especially those orangy brown pants. Have you tried inserting the new character into a background yet? I think you will find that the darker, muted colors of the small of your first version (not the rendered guy but the pixel one) fit much better with the backgrounds.

I couldn't see the pic in the message, but cutting-and-pasting the address seemed to do the trick. The face looks better on the new pic. I preferred the darker and more muted color scheme of the first though.

Edit: Just took another look. There's something about his eyes/eyebrows, he looks too worried I think.

Woohoo, a Prisoner game. Yes, the stone boat, of course. I'd forgot about that.

The new No. 6 character looks great. Reminds me of the style in Future Wars. The face needs touch-up though, but that shouldn't be too difficult. Just make the face longer (get rid of the left column of pixels in the face) and perhaps add a nose, even if it's just a 2 pixel line slightly above the mouth.

I think anyone interested in mysterious, surreal games would enjoy this, even if they don't know the series (shame on them!) But more importantly, you should try to make it feel new to those familiar with the original episodes. Few of the original plots would make much sense as interactive stories (although I do think a Degree Absolute episode, structured entirely as a dialog tree where you try to break down No. 2 would be amazing) . One episode that WOULD work is the one where No. 6 plays on No. 2's paranoia by pretending to be a spy sent out to report on No. 2.

The episodic structure is essential to the whole idea of the series (a new No. 2 each week, The Prisoner always failing to escape). But remember that the series had a new theme for each episode (democracy, paranoia etc.) and that it actually got more an more symbolistic as it proceeded. I would recommend looking into some of the writings on the series. I can recommend a few books if you're interested (I wrote a paper on it once).

If you need any feedback on your story/puzzles from someone familiar with the series, I'd be more than happy to help.

Good luck. I can't wait to see this finished.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I also took the absence of 5.25" floppys as a sign of a later release. I mean, even Colonels Bequest and Codename: Iceman had those, years later.

I'll install and check the version number.

Looks great. Especially the boat and the town. The night one is too dark to really see on this monitor. I would put in some more contrast (moonlight on one side of the boat, perhaps silhouetting it).

Portmeiron, eh? This wouldn't happen to be a "The Prisoner" game, would it? Looking at the pics I would guess not (no boats in The Village), but I think the plot would be a great premise for a game.

A few days ago I found a copy of Space Quest 2 in the bargain bin of a local supermarket for the equivalent of 1 US$. Naturally I bought it, even though I already have the SQ collection. But now I'm unsure if it's identical to the 1987 original.

I looked it up on MobyGames but couldn't find any info on the packaging, manuals etc.

It comes on two 3.5" DD-floppys, there is one Space Quest 2 manual (black text, white paper, no pictures), one of the generic Sierra manuals and one mail-in card for InterAction Magazine subscriptions. No comic as I've seen mentioned in some places.

The outer sleeve looks like the original (nothing to suggest this should be a budget release nor magazine quotes etc.). The inner box is plain white. Not the yellowish one with the mountain and pine tree photo from early nineties.

Can anyone confirm if this is the original? It's not that I'm a collector or anything (although I DO own a lot of the old Sierra titles), but I'm just curious if it's actually one of the 1987 batch that's survived (on store shelves none-the-less) until now, still wrapped and in a near mint condition box.

I also hope I'll be able to come. But I'm currently working on my thesis (originally due on 1 August, now a month later), and I'm not sure that I'll be able to spare the time.

Cool. Reminds me of something I found the other day while researching my game. The real Simon the Sorcerer: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus

Edit: as it says in a related article: "Also the name of the lead character in the 'Simon the Sorcerer' series of computer games. Simon the Sorcerer (in this context) is a teenage sorcerer, dressed in a pointy red cloak and hat. He has to use his logic and magical skills to solve puzzles as you progress through the game. "

I wonder if the original also had a pointy hat full of stuff?

These are the ones that came to mind, not to say that they really are the best. The top four pretty much inspired my game:

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, 1920)
Don't Look Now (Roeg, 1973)
Sunset Blvd. (Wilder, 1950)
The Third Man (Reed, 1949)
Easy Rider (Hopper, 1969)
La nuit américaine (Truffaut, 1973)
Psycho (Hitchcock, 1961)
Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich, 1955)

I agree RickJ, I probably will have a disclaimer, not just because of the religious stuff, but because whenever you mix fact and fiction you need to tell people which is which. I even considered adding footnotes (not sure how to incorporate them within the game, so maybe it'll just be a document on the side) like Alan Moore did in From Hell, to acknowledge my sources and specify which parts are made up.

I wonder why so few amateur games make use of ambient sounds. It seems that to most of us, sound just means incidental sound effects, when opening a door, firing a gun or breaking a window. The silence in between is covered up with music.
It can't be because of file size. A good quality looping ambient sound can be made at around 100 or 200k, and often they can be used in multiple locations (traffic noise, birds singing etc.). Is it because they get too repetitive (as if midi music doesn't!), or are they too difficult to record?

I got really into ambients while working on maps for first person shooters. They create so much atmosphere when used properly, and help to define the room. Try standing in an empty room, close your eyes and just listen, you'll hear so much more than silence. And that was just an empty room. Imagine a train station, or a park, or a busy office. How come we often just worry about the visuals when sound is so effective?

I'm even considering the possibility of scrapping music altogether (maybe except for a title and end credits tune) and just have ambient sounds in my game, letting the background noise be the score, as David Lynch often does in his films. It'll take some work recording it and mixing it just right, but I'll think it'll be worth it.

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll end up using Camera Obscura, most people seemed to like that, and it's really grown on me since I came up with it yesterday. So much can be read into it.

I liked SSH's suggestion about Teatro Oscuro though, and I'm still considering it. It reminded me of the Danny Elfman anthology (can you say that, or does there have to be more than one artist represented in an anthology?) album "Music for a Darkened Theatre". I even made a map for a 3d shooter once, which I called "The Darkened Theatre". Plus it makes me think of the Club Silencio in Mulholland Drive for some reason.

Thanks CJ.

Maybe when (if?) you implement the possibility to use different fonts with different characters, this could be added as well. I think the best way would be to use some kind of html-like code in the dialog text.

As I've already asked you to help me with feedback on a game title (I decided on "Shadowplay"), I might as well ask for your comments on these suggestions for company names. I saw somebody else started a thread like this a week or so ago, and I hope you're still up to it.

Here we go:

1) Toys in the Attic

I really like this phrase, but lots of people have already used it. I got it from The Trial on Pink Floyd's The Wall, but apparently it's also an R.E.M. song as well as an Aerosmith album. Plus tons of other things. I like the creepiness of it, and I love how it suggests that adventure games are the toys of my childhood that I retrieve from the attic by making my own games.

2) Pandemonium Shadowshow

I know it's really Shadow Show, in two words, but I think this looks better. It's a reference to Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show in Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes (thinking of it, "Something Wicked" might be a good name as well)

3) Camera Obscura

Not sure that I like this, but it came to me while walking to the train this morning, and I liked the sound. The meaning on the other hand is more, pardon the pun, obscure. It means "The Dark Chamber" and it's a sort of early camera (although it doesn't store the image) that projects an image upside down on a wall or a canvas so an artist could trace the image onto a drawing or painting.

Your comments would be appreciated

Did anything happen when you arranged the stones and pushed the spindle? As I recall, the correct positions for the stones vary from game to game, so if you just follow the walkthrough, that might not be the correct combinations. I don't remember where you got the hints for that spot in the game, maybe Plato's dialog?

Edit: Squinky, as there is an AGS version of King's Quest, that doesn't really change that it is primarily a hint-forum for AGS games