Messages

First of all, congratulations and good luck with whatever you choose to do.
I was wondering if you have things happening in your life that are time consuming and might make it a problem for you to raise a child, such as studying in university or something like that. My mom left university some time after having me (which I feel kinda guilty about, but I know I shouldn't), but she was much older when I was born anyway, and she was married, so the situation was very different.

I find a point system, a visible one in any case, somewhat distracting from the illusion of the game. I agree that it might be useful for some humourous effects, but I don't think it's rewarding to the player to see numbers change, as much as it is to see the story progress, or some kind of visual/dialog reward.

Also, consider this for showing progress in a game (though it may not apply to all games) - In Grim Fandango there was a carved-looking drawing on the save game screen, and when you saved or loaded a game, if your game was further along then more of the drawing would be visible and fullt focused, while the reast was dim or perhaps completely dark (can't remember now). The drawing itself was of a four year journey of a soul through the 8th underworld, quite parallel to Manny's journey, but with a sense that it's universal to all sould who pass.
Later, that drawing also appeared ingame somewhere, something which made the save load screen even more symbolic.
Amazing how little parallels and connections can make a difference. But that's something for another thread, methinks..

Yeah, correct:). He could ask any question to which he knew the answer would be yes.
Oh, yeah, gesture was what I meant.

I have to post this riddle my friend asked me today. It took me the whole hebrew lesson to figure out. But I'm kinda slow;)

A devil wants to get back to his home, hell. He needs to pass a bridge gaurded by a man who will not let him pass. The man is smoking a cigarette, and looks pretty annoyed.
How can he get to hell if the guard won't let him pass?

I was sure it was a commonly known riddle. Hope lo_res_man doesn't mind me posting the answer:

Spoiler

He takes out one pebble without showing it's color, then let the other pebble fall out, showing that it's black, which means that the pebble he chose must be white (since the queen is fair and all). She won't be able to say he got a black pebble without revealing that she cheated, so she lets him go.
As I said Steve was close, except his idea was more like proving that she wasn't fair.

[close]

The version I heard was about a mother telling her kid how to handle the canibal who lived in the nearby woods or whatnot. The idea is the same though.

[EDIT] Heh, just about to post and he posted:P nevermind though

Here's a nice riddle:
John Doe lands on Mars and sees a little Marsian. He asks him "Have I arrived in the rocky area?" (or some other area). The marsian, in reply, simply rubs his belly. John knows marsians understand some english but he doesnt understand their jests so he doesn't know if that meant yes or no.
How can he find out what the jest means by asking one more question?
(could be several answers)

Ooh so many beautiful backgrounds.
Venus - I really love your work (I tend to lurk in the bg blitz/sprite jam threads), this one didn't seem as good as your other stuff though.

* Best Idea - SteveMcCrea. One word- Dinersaurus;) Followed by Neil Dnuma's crushed diner.

* Best Design - Rel. It left me in awe for quite a while, really fitting the atmosphere of a post-apocalypse time. Andail's was great too, but he isn't entering anyway.

* Best Functionality - Floskfinger. The AI droids/robots sold me:).

* Best Technique - Neil Dnuma. Darth Mandarb and Floskfinger had great ones too.

You people are so damn good!

I know the answer, but then I've heard the riddle so that's not fair;). Steve basically said it though.

Btw, the competition idea sounds nice. The old puzzle time competition was about original/adventureesque puzzles, this one seems to be about logical thinking.

Btw, I noticed a voiceover comp was held 5 times, but I only found out now, and I was wondering if anyone was gonna bring it back.

I can sympathize with starting very ambitious projects and not finishing them. There is a point in CoveredInSLUDGE's words though - if you think of a story you like so much that you just can't bear to see it be buried along with other stories and never be made into a game, well, then you might just finish a project, however big it might be. There's one project I'm working on in a team with some people that is like that. Though it's been going really slow we all really want to finish it someday, it's too dear to us. It may take years.. Hah, and if one of them reads this, well they'll get this quote: "It may take years, it may take hours, but sooner or later, we push up flowers.."

Nonsense farl, make a tutorial, I haven't seen many on composition. Of course, it's all about planning ahead and some thought, but still.
And as for the picture, the proportions do seem kinda wrong, unless this is a small people door into a giant's room. I like the colors on your newer version better.
Also, why not add some more stuff to the room? it makes it feel much more alive. An empty room looks rather incomplete unless it's to show a very minimalistic design style that the person living there chose.

Woke up at 5:30 for some reason and fell righ back asleep. Then got up at a quarter to 7, got everything ready in 10 minutes, and ran out to school. Walked several steps, changed my mind and stayed home (I have stye and it's quite painful right now:P). Decided I'd go to the chemistry test in the 5th hour and go back home, then go to the doctor.
Skipped work also. Sat home all day:P.
Then my friend came over at around five to prepare for some test. And told me something that was good to hear . Yay, my mood went up quickly.
And now I'm off to walk the dog.

Well, this turned more into a "how was my day" rather than morning:P. That was fun.

Heh, exactly what I used. Btw, it's probably the same with walkable areas, walkbehinds and regions, right?

Thanks:) I downloaded them all right now:D

Yay, hi everyone:)

Where can I find these audio interviews, mark?

Hard to say.. Something about Apprentice 2 being out I think. Maybe a bit later than that. But then again my memory sucks:D

Fruity I've been living a busy life, mate. School, work, gym, and long walks every evening with my friends and my dog... Time flew by. Btw, I'm waiting for that email.

Sorry for my long absence. What's new, anyone care to update me?

Ah, not quite the style that comes naturally to me, but who knows, maybe I'll come up with something, after all it's just the setting that's limiting me.

Congrats Gord! I'm gonna see what the new rules are, hopefully this thing will gain more popularity.

I vote for Lonely Star (Gord). Amazing story, and right up my alley theme-wise.

nikolasideris, I can't download the file for some reason, I just get a page about RapidShare. Rui sent it to me but I thought you should know.

I'll just post again in 3 days to remind you that voting starts the 26th, but I think this competition should just be handled like the puzzle time .

Not really a background you could walk in, but it would work as a start-up-screen or a screen for a cutscene.
(...)
cheers
nihilyst

nihilyst, I love this picture. It looks like there's a huge cloud in the sky, like the first step of a storm.
I'm a huge fan of atmoshpere and dark lighting etc, like Jade, Neutron, and Floskfinger's pictures, but I'm an even bigger fan of unusual angles, even if they aren't exactly working backgrounds. It looks a little odd that there are black outlines on the tombstone though, it just kinda stuck out so I mentioned it.

Nevertheless, the others look mystical and spooky.

A picture I took a few days ago:

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/IMG_0069.JPG (its quite large)

No, I'm not in a field with millions of flowers