Messages

Is is actually possible to get two dice in the fight?

I had that in for a while* but it made the fights extremely unbalanced- so right now, no, you always use one die and power up by crafting weapon bits.

Also for the start: It might be nicer to choose the class first and then power it up with the dice.

Nice idea, noted down!

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* And with several attempts too- there was a gadget that gave you two dice for one fight, there was one weapon upgrade that added the extra die, and there was the idea that a "max value" (strength or agility 12) would give the extra die to melee or ranged combat. Since I had very little time to balance things, none of these made it into the "prototype" that is v1.0.1.

Since you specifically mention being used to a tablet, ArtRage Studio may be worth a try. It has good tools, pressure sensitivity is good, and if you can live with using the old 2.6 version (current is 4) you can even get that one for free. It does NOT allow you to make "classic pixel art" though but depending on your preferences, it's a nice piece of software.

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I love cake! Gimme!

That is a good idea; the whole interface could use some streamlining. I'll get there for sure

Just keep in mind that you don't need to loot every location you can and there's a "good location" for the specialists:

Spoiler

Cadet = roughly equally, slightly below average chance, everywhere
Scout = Quiet House, tests AGIlity
Trooper = Parked Car, tests STRength
Mechanic = Trashcans, tests INTelligence

[close]

What cassie said- those chunks are also called artifacts. If you have non-aliased sprites, you need a solid background colour that is unique; most often "magic pink" is used
(RBG 255 0 255).
If your sprite has aliased edges, you may want to switch to 32bit colour depth and import the sprites using alpha transparency.

What I don't understand is where the 5 comes from...

Ah, okay- that is the reward- the amount of scraps that was rolled and that you will get from that card. You don't see that roll, which *is* a bit inconsistent. But it's what you'll get, and the higher the reward the "harder" the test.

Played it twice last evening, always dying

I don't quite understand how the calculations are done on how much I have to roll to loot. The trash cans seemed impossible for me.

Thanks for playing, cat- the game is intentionally hard but you'll get a feeling for it quickly.

Each card that tests your skills in some way has a description on the card text itself; the manual included in the download also states the formula.

The trash cans allow you to loot 2D6 (2 six-sided dice) of scraps, and the base difficulty is 10 minus your agility. You need to roll equal or higher than base diff. + reward with 2 dice- this is true for all skill tests, and only the skill that is tested changes.

Let's say you rolled a 5 for your reward and have an agility of 6, then you would have:
10 + 5 - 6 = 9
and would get the reward at a roll of 9 or higher on 2D6.

Hope that helps you out

Sometimes a certain Invader class will have a hard time getting anything from a loot card- since almost all classes focus on a certain attribute, there is one type of location almost tailor-made for that class, while the others have it harder. Where the Trooper can easily get scraps from a parked car, which tests strength, the Scout is probably less lucky there, since she has the lowest strength.

Great vitality, very good for battles!

The Trooper is also the potentially fasted character in the end-game: Since winning a fight moves on instantly a well-equipped Trooper can steamroll the Gauntlet if he doesn't run into
a trap too early. In the Gauntlet, the Trooper can outrun the Scout regardless of AGIlity and, arguably, is faster than a Cadet relying on First Contact, which balances his less-impressive speed during the buildup phase.

[Are the decks random?]

I so want to see the feature-length animated movie of this.

I'm only in it for the cow tossing!

Can I quote that on the coverbox?

--

And to answer a couple of chat/pm/mail questions:

Are the decks random?
No. The cards in each deck are always the same; they are just shuffled into a random sequence. You will, for example, always find 3 Teenagers in the Suburbs.
They are just at random positions.

Where does equipment come from?
Weapons, Armour, and Gadgets are drawn from three (invisible) Stockpile Decks. There are 8 unique weapon bits in a Stockpile of 8, 8 unique armour bits in a Stockpile
of 10, and 11 unique gadgets in a Stockpile of 40.

Do the class skills use differently weighted dice?
Again, no. The game uses the same die for every class; it's a custom D6 with 4 "success" and 2 "fail" icons.

[I'm using default settings for sound and adding an options panel wasn't my first priority for a MAGS game, but I'll make one.]

Ahhhhmmmm... cough... cough... cough...
Guess I find bugs everywhere... sorry...
I just run and crashed the game (first try for both even!)
Was trying to run in windowed mode with both sounds off (guess no one thinks of checking for 'no sound' bugs?
I got the following crash info:
in "room1.asc", line 19
Error: Error running function 'room_AfterFadeIn':
Error: Null pointer referenced

That is correct, you're crashing the game the first time it tries to play a sound file. IIRC this is a very rare thing- not really a bug but an inconsistency in AGS. I got it reported once, from a user running a different game of mine on a non-Windows system. Personally I have no idea how to fix that- AGS states that any sound failing to load is just "quietly ignored" and you are the first one to report that crash.

I'm using default settings for sound and adding an options panel wasn't my first priority for a MAGS game, but I'll make one.

(I admit that I personally use that little volume knob on my speaker more often than the volume sliders in any game )

That's *hard*!

There also Construct Classic- very similar to GM in general layout but a bit more sophisticated when it comes to effects and interactions:
http://www.scirra.com/construct-classic

The software is no longer in development (C2 has taken that place) but I had a lot of fun with it.

Since you explicitely ask for something supporting C#, XNA is also worth a try. Yes it is also no longer in development but it's free, it works, and it gets the job done.

[Ghost]

Ghost bows.

Aaaaaaaaand released!
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=50690.0

I made it i made it.... [/happydance]

[Alien Cow Rampage: Orion Needs Your Milk!]

Orion is home to a peaceful race of blue-skinned aliens who have made it their mission to provide the most delicious, refreshing, enjoyable drink to all of the universe: Milk, from Earthling cows. The Orionese are respected as the biggest providers of this creamy-white essence of all that is tasty in the universe.
As great as this sounds, your job as an Invader is much less glorious. But there's nothing else you'd ever want to do than visiting Earth, meet the benevolent cows on their own turf, and ensure that there is always milk.

Your last mission has just gone bad. After a crash you find yourself stranded- the mothership's far away and you have hardly any gear. But you're an Invader. You can still make this work.

Lost Craft presents:
Alien Cow Rampage: Orion Needs Your Milk!
A single player board game

Get ACRONYM Version 1.0.1!

In an original boardgame that could be described as the jumpsuit-clad cousin of Chainsaw Warrior and Munchkin, you're an alien on the run. Within 12 hours you need to make it through a mazy suburbs, abduct cows from heavily guarded pastures, and brave an Earthling military base in order to catch a ride on your mothership.
There is little time.
There are many dangers.
But you CAN make it, and there are always cows.

Roll dice! Flip through cards! Find the cameo! Play an actual board game, only on your computer!
No choking hazards despite small parts, and no cleaning up the table afterwards!


No, really, we totally come in peace! Want a milkshake?


Be an Invader! Pick your class, roll your stats, and crash-land into adventure!


Abduct cows! Their milk is udderly delicious!


Fight, Stun or simply charm trigger-happy teenagers, gun-crazy ranchers, and the Men In Black!


Avoid devious, nefarious, ingenious Earthling traps!

Please note that this game was made for MAGS (June 2014, theme "Alien Invasion") It was literally invented, designed, and written within 4 weeks. It's a robust and fun little game but it lacks the balance that any solo board game needs in order to really shine- I hope to add much of that based on player feedback, and would love to improve this little romp through a world where the milk must flow.

Lots of thanks to all my brave testers, and a big hooray for JasonB, who provided some kickass music!

Enjoy

This makes me wonder... What if the world actually ended in 2012 and we all are living in afterlife? 

We don't. Half Life 3 has not yet been released!

I agree. And that is why I HAVE these games

A year???!!! seems like an awfully  long time

Agreed, but how would you feel if you bought a game and are then told that one month later it's available to everyone for free? There has to be some sort of "exclusiveness" and the first sale's games have almost all made it "back into freeware" by now. Or not, but that's up to the author.
There's this huge database of quality freeware AGS games RIGHT HERE though. Should cover your adventure cravings for a good six years! RAM Ghost is pretty cool (and was part of the first Bake Sale). And there's a series of games where some guy runs around in a barn. I think cows are involved at some point. Also try Don't Push The Button. We still need someone to tell us how to beat THAT ONE.

I got it now. This is the prelude to Ninecraft!

2 and 4 are a bit understated. I think in a more detailled style they would be terrifying because they are very close to familiar animals, and just a bit "warped". Very close to uncertain valley. But in your style they are "merely familiar" (no offense)- I see what they're supposed to be but they are not scary.
1 would be my favourite. That's really a solid shape, a direct threat, something familiar totally made into an unnatural monster. 3, as cat already said, is also something I'd not want to meet in a dark alley.
The giant head is well executed too, just a bit too goofy-looking.

All of this is absolutely subjective. I think you got a got clean style but there's room for more (see granary, who really nails it).

Congrats to everyone and the winners in particular- that was a really cool entry April!

...and arjon deserves a trophy for thread content presentation! Admit it, you make tiny little graphs and bars for everything, right?