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Ok, I'll give it a shot:

A stone with which my life compared:
The uselessness that both have fared.

I gaze, I gape, my maw awide,
My usefulness and stone's: Denied.

These lines seem problematic to me, especcially the last one (the "denied" part).

He drones on, building word on word,
His simile, my wrath incurred,
I tune out, his voice just in background sense,
Unbeknownst to him, I take offense.

It seems like this means that you (or the speaker) have been offended by the words of someone, and "tune out", now only hearing them in the background? If so, it took me several rereads the understand that. I think "background sense" is the problematic phrase.

I stare at it: this useless stone,
It's characters like mine alone,
A double life it lives throughout,
One hidden, under; One open, out.

Love this verse. "Its characters like mine alone".

I muse to myself: If this stone was not,
Would it, in a flash, be forgot?

I think there's a problem with the rhyming here. I'd suggest "Would it, so quickly, be forgot?" or "Would it, quite quickly, be forgot?". It seems to sound better.

I tune back to find no background sound,
His voice is gone, he's not around.
I rise, and stand above my twin,
I pull it out, and look within.

A horde of insects I find inside,
A horde my stone was meant to hide.
They run around, annoyed, distressed,
I replace the stone as I see best.

The stones secret has been kept awhile.
"As useless as the stone" - I smile.

Last 3 verses - gold. I really like them, and they brought a smile to my lips.

Actually, after some rereading while I was writing this, the first verses make some more sense.

There were some minor typos/punctuation errors. I could point them out, but I think you can find them yourself.

Steve, those equations are right out of my physics book. For some reason that struck me as amusing.

Okay, a simple game. there's "velocity", "angle", "x" and "y" for the shell. And also some kind of "gravity". By setting these values, shell flies off and lands.

Now I want to pre-program a shot. To hit one sure target.

x, y, and gravity are automatic/preset.
I adjust "angle". To something random.

How to get correct "velocity" from this?
and vice versa?

If I get this correctly, you want a (hypothetical) game that has the following:
Preset G constant.
X and Y of your object, that can be changed (moving), but let's assume they're preset.
X and Y of point B where you need to get.

This kind of movement (ballistic movement) can probably happen with more than one combination of angle and initial velocity. Also, there is the time factor to consider, a certain combo of angle and velocity will take a certain amount of time, but if you only choose a random angle, there is still more than one option. Should I assume the time is set?

Whee, a hebrew game:).
Nostradamus, I didn't know you knew hebrew. Anyway it'll be interesting to play both versions. Welcome, new-israeli-member-who-i-didn't-know-about .

Happy Birthday everyone I missed (CJ, veryweirdguy, Andail, Petteri).
As for today, happy birthday... Jesus?

Awesome! That really makes me want to hunt down a copy of simon the sorceror. Was there ever a demo?

On this holiday
Spirit of Christmas is here!
Haiku is needed

Merry christmas to everyone celebrating! I only have to wait 2 more days for my Hanuka break.

Heh, maybe I was flipping off someone in the back. (Quite possible, thats where the teachers were standing). Actually it was a spontaneous photo so I didn't have time to get the pose right. These are photos from a school trip btw. Best school trip ever!:D

edit:

I have acquired the ability to float!



Last one.. I promise.

"My game is not ready this christmas.."  :'( Sad.

Brilliant!

I know:D I never seem to have a picture without red eyes. Usually my whole eye is red though, not just the pupils.
Wait, here's a very rare non red eye pic:

Time to post some pics, last one (only one?) was long ago..

it's so hard to pitch an adventure game or produce one yourself all the way, that most games will only be released if they are good.

Wrong. I haven't played a decent adventure game in years. In fact, that it is so difficult to put out an adventure game nowdays leads to stilted design, constructed around the 'please the old school adventure gamers' mentality, just so the game will at least sell to it's target audience.

Or the other way, the game will try to cross-over and you get 3d pushing of crates.

All in theory.. I don't recall many good games that have been released lately, but there are several titles that are in production that look promising.
I agree that designers are careful not to innovate too much because they don't know what the reaction would be, but that applies to other genres aswell. Only thing is, it's easier for designers to take a risk in a popular genre because they know lots of people buy these games, whereas with adventure games, if you steer away from the classic adventure game, designers think people won't buy it.
I think "cross-overs" are a good start, but it's an experiment, so the end product isn't very good. If game designers used the full potential of the new technology, they could make games more immersive and much more fun and exciting, even without including action.

But then I was thinking.. why do we need to advance the graphics so much? Games like Curse of Monkey Island, Syberia or The Longest Journey were beautiful enough, it's not like 2d graphics are always lo-color or something. Why do people immedeately decide that if a game isn't 3d or is a bit old, that they can't enjoy it?

Actually, it's a U.S. thing. Presents aren't really associated with the holiday or it's meaning. It was more of an effort to make sure Jewish kids didn't feel left out when all their other friends got presents and they were just stuck with aftertaste of latka's. So it's quite possible not to know that.

-MillsJROSS

It's not a US thing, actually, "dmei Chanukah" are traditional here aswell. It's usually money though, not presents. And it doesn't neccesarilly have anything to do with the holiday's religious traditions.
But anyway, jelly doughnuts! Yay!

Well, the sketch of lily was done by fruity and the coloring by custard, and SpacePirateCaine helped with turning her into a sprite. However, the main reason we are looking for artists is -
1. this game is rather art heavy, for good reasons, and our artists can only do so much.
2. we need an experienced animator, and the game has no plan of being short on animations either.

If you find the project interesting, and can be relatively dedicated to the project (no need to work on it all day of course, we've had on-off periods ourselves), PM me about it.

I couldn't agree more, Mills, I don't see adventures as games that are different from other genres because they appeal to the human intellect, but rather because they entertain in another way. I don't want to try defining adventure games, to every rule I might make up there might be an exception. Suffice to say that I play adventure games for the story, to put myself into another world.
Although some non adventure games (not talking about hybrids) have stories, the games themselves and the gameplay (in adventure's case, puzzles etc) aren't there solely to advance the story. That's what I consider adventure gameplay, playing through a story, having an effect on the outcome (or seeming to have an effect on it), and if that calls for some action sequences or some "different" gameplay, then I'm cool with it.
The first step, I guess, is to understand why we play adventure games (all the different reasons) and why other people don't.

I too have been met with confused faces when I told someone about what adventure games are and how they are played, or offered someone to play. People don't seem to get what is "gamey" about these games, and I believe this is due simply to prejudice, because these games aren't mainsteam, a game is defined as something that has some sort of action in it, and people are reluctant to try anything else, sometimes. It's not too different with music and films. I know that some people won't even try to watch a film, just because it's old, or because the name sounds boring, or it's not the genre they usually watch. Although tastes can be argued here, it's this kind of stubbornness that can drive me nuts. I try to be as open as I can to things I haven't tried, be it games, films, whatever.

Btw, an adventure game in virtual reality would be..  *drool*

It looks really good with the pose and all, but it does look kinda like he's going to be sick, because he's blocking his mouth forcefully. If his grip wasn't so strong, or if we could see some more finger seperation (the index finger at a slight distance from the others). Perhaps only the index finger should cover the mouth, and thus some of the mouth will be visible, while the other fingers are slightly below. Try the pose out, to me it seems more natural that way.

Have to say, I'd love to see the final outcome of this, this should work very well for a comic splash screen.

You should see some of the 7 year olds here:P. Nah, just kidding, she migth be a bit older, perhaps 8 or 9.
And those two sketches work for me aswell, maybe it's just their size.

Isn't it a known fact that we fall for those who are worse for us? I know I have, numerous times, so why can't Manny? It's a mistake every man, woman or skeleton can make.

As for what I'd change... I can't think of anything in particular right now. I'd make Grim longer, and savor every new moment of it.
I'd like to see Membrillo's heart of a twelve year old child in a jar.. In fact there must be dozens of places that weren't explored in grim that I'd like to see.

I think you have a point there - if adventure games were popular games that all companies wanted to produce, we'd have many bad or mediocre quality games. Whereas right now, it's so hard to pitch an adventure game or produce one yourself all the way, that most games will only be released if they are good.

Otherwise, I think adventures don't so much need to change, but they need to take advantage of the tools we have now, not just graphics wise, just for the sake of having 3d or something, but actually utilize the new technology to improve gameplay, or perhaps just make it different. If a game's story doesn't require any such new gameplay, it doesnt matter if it's in 2d or 3d. I'm all for graphics for the sake of story, and for the sake of immersion.

[What is this project you ask?]

Fello AGSers!
My teammates and I are looking for some people to join us in a game project.
What is this project you ask?

The game is called Try Not to Breathe (TNTB for short), and it's set in a world similar to our own, and yet different. The main character, a seven-year-old named Lily Dale, sets out on a journey through a surreal world of strange gardens, deep forests, old legends, unique characters, and much growing up on her side, accompanied in most parts by a helpful creature, whose true identity she only discovers at the end. This story strives to scare you, to surprise you, to make you laugh and cry, and perhaps even evoke some deeper thoughts about the universe.
We're starting production, however, with the game's demo, which takes place some time before the game, and focuses on other characters in the same universe. The demo is about Emily and Janice, two sisters living far apart, who both experience a tragedy, and.. well, we won't tell you what happens then.
I really can't elaborate too much on the story without giving away too much, if you're interested PM me. I can garauntee it's interesting in a special way.

So what do you need to know about the game and the demo?
The resolution - 320x200
Color depth - 32bit
Full game length is not precise yet, but it's a pretty big project. Demo will be about 10 rooms, 5 characters, not very long gameplay.

People on the team:
FruitTree- story writer, artist
Ginny- story writer, programmer
Rui 'Shodan' Pires- dialog writer
custard/Privateer Puddin`- artist
N3TGraph- music and soundfx

edit- There are some people who either used to be on the team and aren't anymore, or just haven't been active in the team much so I didn't write them down. You know who you are, so if you see this, just holler.

Positions we are looking to fill:
A background artist or character artist that can turn concepts into quality 2d graphics, an animator, or a combination.

Some examples of what's been done on the project:
Sketch of Lily, the main character, by Fruity - http://custardsclutter.com/tntb/lily.png
A tune written by N3TGraph - http://custardsclutter.com/ft/upload/introtune.mp3
Some concept art (Fruity) - http://www.custardsclutter.com/ft/upload/ronald200402.GIF
Another character concept sketch (Fruity again) - http://www.custardsclutter.com/ft/upload/gardener.jpg
A background sketch by Al_Ninio (highwaygal), coloured (pretty much roughly) by custard - http://custardsclutter.com/tntb/lalala.png
Another background by FruitTree and custard - http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/house3.jpg

And some lines of dialog, just for the heck of it (by Rui):
"You're my brother! You're not supposed to go around disappearing like that!"
"In the end, Lily, we either blame the whole world or we forget to place blame at all. Blame is such a tricky thing."

Adieu, folks:).

edit: Sorry Al_Ninio, got all confused with the different versions on the sketches![/b]