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the games won't be anything that special themselves, much like RON.

oh yeah, this sounds very inspiring

I think it's a bad idea to get into too much self-referencing. AGS is to make adventure games with, not AGS-community-centered stuff that nobody outside us will get. I wouldn't mind a few games because obviously I'd get the references, but I don't think it should become something like RON.

Thrash with female vocals? Closest thing that comes to mind is Megace, and I bet you don't sound like Megace. Can I listen to any songs?

what do you play?

This has been more or less covered in this thread but I think it's useful to underline clearly: exactly because many or most ags games do not strive  to be sold, there's certain conditions between user and creator that do not have to be met. There is no consumer, as there is no product. This means that one can move away from the 'let's make a professional quality game, 1990 style!' and more on to 'what do I really want to do? What do I like to see in games?' That's a whole different perspective from which one creates games (the one where you really don't cater to any type of target audience and just hope people will like it since you like it), as you're excused to indulge in various odd or personal wants in the design. These games are for me the ones that stand out more than their attempted commercial ones. For example, I found Anna (first OROW competition) far more intriguing than say, the Stargate game and Aaron's Epic Journey more worth my attention than the Kings Quest remake or Apprentice. We have a very special niche, freeware developers, and that makes for some idiosyncratic apportunities as long as we don't get in the mindset of freeware being a stepping stone to commercialware. This might be a training ground for some, but it's also a whole different ball... park ...ground... something... you catch my drift.

Played a little. Flashback and Out of this World are two of my all-time faves so it was exciting to see something similar done in ags.

This is generally good, although one big cliche as it seems, story-wise. The colours are gray. Maybe not the best idea to travel through a gray game, really. Respawning enemies aren't nice, any way you cut it. Just make the firefights a bit more dangerous and skill-based ( instead of buttonmashers) and have the enemies stay dead.

The controls are mostly responsive, for ags action game no less. It's a bit silly you can't just walk off a ledge ( to death or safety, whatever ) and a running option would have been a must for a flashback clone.

The adventure-lite elements are a bit too lite for my tastes, and even flashback had a proper inventory to prevent needless backtracking. It's a way to prolong gameplay time, but if an early speedrun is 12 minutes and 5 of them are backtracking... we're not talking commercial quality length anyway so why bother with irritating the player?

After the 'oh wow, this is like flashback! and it's made in ags!' effect wears out, the game's respectable but predictable, polished but unexciting. Haven't finished it yet though, maybe it'll get much better later on.

Which is another reason why AGS is free. If it wasn't, it'd have to constantly keep up with all the "competition"; there'd have to be 3D character support, 25-channel surround-sound audio and all the rest of it. At which point it becomes a job, not a hobby.

Don't forget lens flare. We need the lens flare.

Mordalles, your post was edited for txt-style spelling.

Becky is one of my female slaves.

I am not wearing any pants

Browsing for random pixel art there is good for when you want to test your sanity. Although things are getting somewhat better over time. Don't post on their forums, personally.

what the hell am I doing in your sig, pablo? Take that shit off.

ManicMatt slain.

jesus christ

I personally have no problem with 3d adventure games, in fact I await for a few good ones to appear in excitement. But what I ment above is that the crossover appeal is such an afterthought that you get lame executions where the only thing being utilized in 3d is pushing crates... stuff you can do just as badly in 2d. I want 3d adventure games where I pick up pebbles and manage the arc of the throw and velocity to hit someone's window to wake them up, or an adventure game where I have to successfully shadow a person in a busy street, trying to actively not be seen by physically hiding etc. Stuff that would only get boring-ish implementations in 2d but would shine in physics-based 3d. Not just pushing crates.

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.

yes, after 15 pages, this has to be pure 100% on topic

[loneliness]

Nikolas was loneliness
Ghormak's was elation
Geoffkhan's was mourning
Pesty's was AWESOME

nikolas's 'sorrowful' for geoff's entry is sufficiently close. Nothing else is from his guesses.

geoff's 'feeling sorry for oneself' is sufficiently close to 'loneliness'. Nothing else is.

Gore is spot-on with loneliness for nikolas's entry. Also, longing and mourning are sufficiently close for geoff.

Pesty's 'sad' is close enough for geoff. Same could be said for Nikolas' entry. Again, hope or triumph or joy are not the same as elation, so no points for gore.

Damien's 'lonely' is spot on for Nikolas, and that's it.

Tallying up, we have

Nikolas: 2 spot on, 2 sufficiently close.
Geoff: 3 sufficiently close.

The winner is clear, congrats to Nikolas. I liked your piece, was wonderful to see you work within a more classical tonal framework. My favourite entry was Ghormak's, but he created problems for himself by not going with 'hopeful' or 'victorious' or just plain 'happy' for his theme. I've listened to it countless times and it gets me pumped up every time, doesn't make me feel 'elated'. I go to the bathroom to feel 'elated', jerk!

So nikolas, congrats, and the next tune compo is yours. Make it a good one.

girl on girl? that's kinda excluding!

Here is my critique:

Try to not draw things as the symbols you have in your head. Actually study reality. Sit down and try to draw a human face as it is, not as you imagine it to be' Don't go 'eye, eye, nose, mouth, it's a face!' Stop thinking of symbols and try to interpret reality pretty much as realistically as you can, for many years. Many, many years.

I'd never cheat on you with her, petter