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A tutorial, eh? Well, I don't have any plans as of yet, but I will make my "advice" kind of step by step...

That's a good idea, though. Next time I make a 320x200 background, I'll save it as I go and describe the process.
(If it's any good, I'll post it in the tutorial section on the Herculean Effort website.)

Well, the Find might take a year, but it will be commercial length and all. It will pretty much be professional quality.
(It's going to be hard to finish it sooner, since our artist is at college most of the year)

We're using 3d studio Max 5.1 to do the backgrounds and characters (don't worry, the characters will be cell-shaded, so they will look cartoon, but still have very smooth animation). Everything will be high res, maybe not quite as high as Runaway, but still very detailed. (640x480)
We're not too sure about voice yet, but for music we're getting (possibly 2) bands to play in a lot of it.

The Find will be divided into 5 chapters, two of which we have completely planned out (exact puzzles, etc.). We will keep you guys updated with our progress (unlike with Apprentice, kind of just sprung that on you) and we'll post screenshots and stuff as we go along.

By the way, we have a winner in the secret bonus puzzle contest! Congrats to Necro! We will post the announcement on the site shortly.

If any of you would like in-depth art advice on sprites or (horrors) even backgrounds, we would be more than happy to help out.
We can help with various styles (like DOTT, or Indy, not so much Sierra).
Go over to our forums at http://herculeaneffort.myikonboard.com
and post in the General Discussion under the sticky topic "Ian's art advice."
Thanks.

Spoiler

If you try to take the sandwich, she won't let you. You need to switch her sandwich with something else, so she won't notice it's gone.

[close]

Yeah, it works all right. As I said, it's a hard puzzle.

THE APPRENTICE UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE!
hooray!

You can download it from the medium-length games page on AGS or from our website: http://www.sonic.net/~schlae/herculeaneffort.
The update features many bug fixes and a secret bonus puzzle!

Also, there's a contest regarding this new puzzle! Check the news page on our webpage for the details.

Spoiler

You can't get the sandwich unless you distract the highwaywoman. In your conversation with her, she will mention that she wishes she could count sheep, but the sheep in the field are too far away. You need to herd them (with the broom from the closet) closer to the fence.

[close]

If you want to have the walking and speaking at the same time, you could do this:

Make an animation of a character walking and talking at the same time. Use the 'SetCharacterView' to change the character's normal walking view to the 'walking and talking' view. Then use the 'DisplaySpeechBackground' function. Your script should look something like this:

 SetCharacterView (EGO, 15);
 MoveCharacter (EGO, 250, 150);
 DisplaySpeechBackground (EGO, "Hello, world!");
 while (character[EGO].walking) Wait (1);
 ReleaseCharacterView (EGO);

You can use the RemoveOverlay to remove the background text. The overlay ID is returned by the command.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I just made this off of the top of my head.

1, 2, or 8. Me, I like 8 best.

That's no broom, son! That's the longest turd I've encountered! And...he's...eating...IT!


Sorry for the stupid response.

you're too kind, trap.

Yeah, in the update I fixed that bug -- the one where you can take the oregano twice. That's probably why the Master wouldn't return.

Which order did you get the ingredients before doing the cheese puzzle? I tried looking for the bug, but I didn't find any. We need to know so that we can fix it for the update.

Nice! I really like that second one.

You might want to make the sword in the first one darker, so the text is more readable, though.

If you are referring to the update, it's not out yet.

Hmmm... Sounds sort of like a bug.

By saying "why isn't the master coming back", do you mean that you are still waiting for the master to return from his journey even after obtaining those two ingredients?

Spoiler

Actully, there are two ways of cleaning out the coffee grinder.

[close]

Spoiler

Poke them??? You little devil, you!

Oh, yeah, I made that puzzle, didn't I?

[close]

If you're stuck, you can post questions at our forum at: http://herculeaneffort.myikonboard.com

We're almost done with the update, which will fix a bunch of bugs (including all the freezes), and add a huge secret bonus puzzle!

We encourage you to post any ideas you might have for future games or puzzles. We'll definitely consider your suggestions.

Set it to trumpet? Ummm, can you just turn the steel drum volume up, because that's how I meant it to be.

The main theme is supposed to be a little on the quiet side, but still recognizable.