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I want to marry this game. Any estimates on when it'll be finished yet?

Still aiming for late 2017, thought that might not be super realistic.

Here's a sneak peek at the Main Title Suite, which you'll hear appropriately enough, on the title screen!
[embed=720,405]http://youtu.be/FY2guu2tP1Q[/embed]

A mysterious glowing hole opens up in the New York City subway. What lies beyond?

Episode 106

Adventure legend Brian Moriarty joins us for a chat, and yes, we ask him about LOOM.

Maybe I'm chiming in a bit too late in all this, but as another commercial AGS developer, here are my thoughts:

AGS is and always has been great and easy to use. I appreciate the fact that people went ahead and continued to develop the engine and add new features after it went open source. Personally, I can count the number of times I've thought "man, I wish AGS could do this" on one hand. Then again, my projects have never really been ambitious to the point of requiring the engine to do anything crazy.

As it stands right now, I'm fine with the current version of AGS. If development on it is abandoned, that's fine with me. I'd much rather it stay as is than have Crimson Wizard or anyone else who decides to take on the responsibility suffer any sort of emotional breakdown over it. That's just not worth it.

Does AGS need anything more? Maybe? But I can't really think of anything that it absolutely NEEDS for my purposes.
Is this opinion completely egocentric? Absolutely, but again it's my opinion, and I'm presenting it from the point of view of my needs, which are probably similar to a lot of other devs.

It seems that the community at large is pretty happy with most of the things AGS can do currently. Those who can accept what it does do well with it. Those who want other things go on and use other engines. That's just how it goes.

I don't think AGS should have a Premium Edition or be monetized in any way, because quite frankly, the demand for AGS point and click adventures isn't high enough. You're not going to get thousands of developers flocking to buy this new and improved licensed version of AGS. You might get twenty, if you're lucky. So it would effectively be a waste.

Anyway, that's all I've got to say on the matter!

I'm working on an HD game and it's taking forever to paint the backgrounds, I'm really curious how much you're putting into painting one of these rooms, on average.

It takes me on average about a day and a half or so depending on the complexity of the background. But also keep in mind that I'm painting them at 960x600, so it's really not that high res.

Your game's looking great, btw!

This is a great module, thanks so much for making it!

It's made me reeeeeeeally tempted to use it...

Haha well, this is created with science, not magic

It's a jungle out there, but sometimes it's a jungle in there too.

Someone made a module that supported this a few years back, but unfortunately all the links seem to be broken.

[learn to let go]

After being used to working alone and handling pretty much all aspects of game development since I started using AGS in 2001, my first real team project was Shardlight. I learned a lot from that experience, and can offer you a few points of advice.

1. Most important, and hardest: learn to let go. You're used to doing everything yourself. You want to have complete control and micromanage everything, but you can't. You have to realize that there are other people on the team who are just as dedicated and capable (sometimes more so) than you are. If you have an amazing idea that you love, and everyone else on the team thinks it doesn't work, it's most likely because the idea is no good, not because the rest of the team is wrong. Be receptive to feedback and don't get upset when things don't go your way. It's not your project, it's the team's.

2. Communication is vital. Nobody can read your mind. You have to be SUPER CLEAR about everything you want. Don't be afraid of sounding condescending (but obviously, don't actually be); what seems obvious to you may not be to anyone else. If you have a specific vision, make it as clear as possible to the other team members. If you're doing a sketch for a background to provide to your artist, for example, make sure you indicate what everything is. If that door absolutely has to be in that specific spot, point that out. Otherwise it's just going to lead to confusion and anger. Send a weekly email outlining what you did on the project, and encourage the rest of the team to do the same. This helps keep up morale and motivation.

3. Be flexible. Games never end up exactly as you plan them, and this is amplified even more when working on a team. There's a lot of new ideas and opinions that are going to be floating around. Listen to them. Embrace them.

4. Make a point of focusing on the positive. It's very easy to just be in critique mode 24/7, but that can get tiring very fast. For every "I think this needs work," make sure to emphasize something with "you did a great job on this!"

Hope that helps!

Interview with HeyPoorPlayer

I'll see if I can figure out what's going on. If anyone knows anything about RSS feeds, please let me know!

I do update it, and I see the new episode on the podcast app. Not sure why you wouldn't be able to see it!

Episode 105

A Post-GDC Wrap Up and general catching up.

Out of my price range, unfortunately, though it would be awesome to check out some hot springs.

Visiting a falsely(?) accused prisoner at the Bow Street Gaol.

Yes it is!

I spoke to a few pres outlets at GDC, and one of them already did a writeup!

iDigitalTimes Preview

Bumping this to say if you enjoyed Shardlight, consider voting for it in the AGS Awards!

Hurrah! Thanks to all who nominated Shardlight!

Ditto!