Messages

Vlad: now that's a proper nickname for somebody that would fancy my game.
Thank you!
As for the trailer, I'd rather put more work into finishing the game itself; if the process takes too long, I'll think about it -- you know how those updates in the "gip" forum work, just to hear something from outside that will keep you going, heh...

GarageGothic: there are only 2-3 backgrounds based on pictures Dominika took and some drawn by me.
The rest are collages from photos found on the net.
I'd have an uneasy conscience about that, but the thing is they are changed so much that I think of the process as something like "creative recycling"...
for example, check the photo that I used as a base for the lake scene above:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c115/HRottweiler/river.jpg
and some are changed even more.
Of course, I'd never attempt to sell the game - due to this fact - or claim that I "made the backgrounds".

As for the vampire theme, I have to make a disclaimer: I never sticked by the "hard facts" of vampirysm if they collided with my story... it's more about fear of un/death and abusing others. I'm trying to make psyche level rechargeable much like in Fahrenheit; I found it enlarges your immersion if you have to care for characters - for example, to wash their clothes etc.

And - yes! It's a blonde wig Donna wears through the second half of the game to remain incognito. Along with sunglasses it creates a very Lynchian effect... ;-)

Also, I'm sure you cannot look forward to playing Donna more than I do for Shadowplay!

Linus - that's a great thing to hear, thank you! I hope that in the end the game will have something more than style to offer.

AGA is right, I demand from orderators that all non-native speakers BE DELETED FROM THIS THREAD!!... wait, then the thread wouldn't exist.
So, you may stay.

Seriously, thank you for advice - I knew I smelt something suspicious about that OPERATE.
It would be less hassle to change one button instead of two, though.
If I stick with "USE" and "INTERACT" - would it be appropriate?...
Combine, for example, would not suit giving an item to an NPC, or drawing on a map with a pen...

I don't know what a duffel is, but I like the sound of it, so - cool!

Do you have a constant access to the net, Disco? We should arrange a meeting place & time soon, and leave phone contact (SMS, expensive for us abroad) for emergency...

Dear native speakers,

the gui in my game has - among plethora of others - two buttons: one is "use", second is "operate".

"Use" is reserved for using inventory items on other items, hotspots, NPCs, et caetera.

Now, "Operate" is for acting upon an item, hotspot, and so on. For example - turning on a machine, opening a door, reading a book, pushing something.

Recently a terrible doubt has surfaced in my mind - is the word "operate" proper for this functions? Doesn't it only refer to operating machinery?

We're sleeping close  to/in Barcelona on the 15th and on the 16th we drive from there to Benidorm.
We can easily take 3 people with us from there - provided they don't have enormous baggage, as the car - although big - will be stuffed for a 3-week journey.

How about it? Who's willing to go with me and Dominika in my father-in-law's Toyota Avensis?

All the locations are there.
Around 180 rooms, almost all backgrounds animated.
Now I have to finish scripting, rewriting some stuff, writing additional dialogues and descriptions. And composing more music. And also... coping with the new factor I've added into game mechanics. But on this - later.



The game has undergone a considerable graphics advancement, as I managed to pull Dominika into working more on the project. Among other things, she made new GUIs, looking much better than I could ever produce:



This GUI has an animated ECG reading, and also status bars for blood level and... psyche level.
The psyche level is this new factor: an idea I've borrowed from "Fahrenheit": it depicts Donna's mental state which can rise or fall from certain actions. When the psyche level is low, she cannot force herself to do certain actions.

Dominika's input has gone far beyond making better-looking GUIs: she conceived an easy technique to make all character animations from photo-capture. This means much smoother animations and better-looking characters:



Will the game be ready this year? Probably...

Nacho, I think Chrille is speaking about Goldmund's love-hate affair with Blazej.

Wait a moment, who is writing this?!

Dreams of yesterday are today's reality, young pada-something!

We'll arrive From the North on the 16th, burning screeching rubber, still dirty from French roads and Austrian lederhosen!!

By the way, I almost forgot: could you also secure one place for a car on the camping?
Also, is there a hotspot somewhere nearby? I might have to do some work from time to time...

If you include "use" in your parser, be sure to include these commands as well:

- live
- be happy
- solve puzzle

And, last but not least:
- win game

It's only consequential.

The beauty of IF lies in the fact that it is never obvious what you can do with an item.

Are you still working on this?

I'd like to use this great plugin in my game, but are you planning to make it possible to set horizontal boundaries like you can do with vertical? It would be perfect, because using guis to cover "dry" areas makes it impossible for other animations to display correctly (they get covered with guis as well).

But there is a difference. You can hurt NPCs with being rude, even when the programmer didn't script their emotional system.
No single line of the code - but a big difference for the player.

EDIT:
Helm, would you like the 'fake option' better, if the scene went like that:
DO YOU WANT TO HELP HIM?
->NO
(the protagonist) - I think, ah... I just...
(the NPC) - Well?
(the protagonist) - Yes, of course I'll help you!

This would reveal much of the protagonist's psyche: he wants to say "NO", you act as his will at the moment, yet he agrees. Mmm?

Helm, you cannot imagine how much I disagree with your shunning of "fake options"! To the point of foaming my mouth! (calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean)

THE STORY OF A GAME IS WEAVED IN THE PLAYER'S BRAIN, NOT IN CODE!

Sure, the "why wouldn't you want to help?" is absurd - not because it's a "fake" option, just stupid.

Imagine a situation: in a game, you break up with your girlfriend. You can end a farewell phone conversation with "I just lost my time living with you, never could be what I wanted to be", or "I still love you, just need some time to sort things out", or "I got a better biatch!1". After each choice, the avatar says it and hangs the receiver. On the level of the scripting, no option is saved and no option has any influence on the way the story proceeds. Do you really think it would be better to leave the choice out of the game, just because it "pretends not to be linear"?

I really hope to have Dominika and Sara as well...

Hey, I thought you were after me, not my wife, bastard!!

We're not booking, because there's a small dream of going to Benidorm by car, seeing some Europa on our way... we're not sure if Evil Bosses will allow us so much time in summer (we'd need around 2 weeks including Mittens, I reckon). If not, we'll fly by plane and anally rummage Farlander.

Farlandero! I heer you speakin ello to me in spikers!
Surprise!!!!!!!
Ello to you too! And biutiful Loreno! Mucho love!

That's a great farewell blessing for somebody whose train is leaving in five minutes.

Hello Meeks,

My MA thesis was about computer games approached with tools of literary theory.
Here, you can use it if you find it interesting:

http://www.geocities.com/hermann_rottweiler/magisterska.zip
Please note that first chapters are at times a bit boring for people who play computer games, because I had to explain my old University tutors what exactly are adventure games. Also, it's been written in 2001.

Be sure to check "GTD" threads in the "popular threads" section of these forums, also. Some great theoretical stuff there.
Maybe you could create another GTD thread? That would be fantastic.

"Although they are largely an intellectual medium, some adventures are accompanied by a little tune that plays throughout the game."

Hahaha, I love it.

Thanks for the link - it's very interesting.

I need to write my monthly column for a magazine, and driven by laziness I got and idea to check if I said something witty on the old forums, so that I can translate it and present to the editors.

Alas! Lo and behold the tragedy of the mortal forums!

I managed to login to my ezboards profile, but most of the posts are deleted ("unknown user, post non-existing").

Is there a backup of our happy past somewhere on the net?

Another suggestion: you said you liked the frame the way it was because it seemed worn and not quite so pristine... But the rest of the room looks pristine, and I think that's why it doesn't seem to match. You might at least make the walls a little dirty, or at least dirtier the nearer you get to the door.

Yes, the corridor is very bare; my main concern so far was the damned stairwell. Adorning the walls isn't any problem now, I should do it.

Also, why not darken the downstairs area (as I suggested in the first paragraph) and then make the window transparent? If you really want to make it look menacing, you could add a black area that animates, toggling on and off, to make it look like the lights downstairs are flickering. This would be visible through a transparent window.

Well, it's a very good idea, but I'm afraid I've overused the flickering lights effect in my game already :-) The effect I've come up with for this stairwell it's the kind of unnerving type of light very quickly changing brightness - it looks like in the old silent films, very atmospheric.

Thank you for your suggestions!

Oh, and Tomas... I know you just probably typed "stairwell" into Google image search, but I must admit I was slightly amazed that you managed to find the original image.

Heh, I too was impressed; but note that it's actually the only image that comes up in Google which has the proper perspective.