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Very, very nice There's lots of interesting details on pic (especially crates, barrels, etc.).

In addition to what YakSpit already said:
My guess here is, that she started adding details right away. That's why pic lacks a bit of consistence. Usualy it's better to first sketch out the whole location (nothing fancy, just a few pencil strokes) and later, when the basics of pic are set, add details. This way it's much easier to work out composition.

Another useful thing would be varied outline  thickness- she's already doing that, but very randomly. It is recommended to use thicker line on the foreground objects or objects that are in focus and closer to viewer- it adds depth.

Anyway, really good effort! Looking forward to more

At the moment:

Siddharta
Manu Chao
Bob Marley
Foo Fighters

Commercial adventures are so overrated

Look at Gilbert Goodmate. As an amateur freeware game, it'd be, without a doubt, very successful. And i'm sure authors would feel great after completing such a huge project and get positive response. After all, the whole thing worked on their enthusiasm as they didn't get payed (in my opinion the difference don't lie in "commercial" or "freeware" title, but in whether people are getting payed *while* they are making the game or not).
But as they went commercial, the response was much less favourable- with some relatively bad reviews and constant complaining of people that the animations are stiff, that characers don't look good in comparison with backgrounds, that voice acting is bad, etc.. Boloney.

Not to say, i highly doubt they made any money with it in the end (if they did earn something, it certainly didn't pay off for 2 years (or more) they spent on making the game). In some interview they even said, they are completely feed up with adventure genre. No surprise.

My opinion is- if you don't get a *really* good deal with possible publisher/company, sponsor, or whoever... don't do it. Go freeware.

Fantastic  :o
Walking and turning animations are fluid and in short- perfect!
Agree with Farlander about the part when she sits down. It looks a bit fast and unnatural. If you'll observe yourself as you sit down, you'll see that body needs some support- usually you'll hold your legs (or seat). Also, the body will try to stay balanced, so you'll lean forward. here's a very quick example of how you could achieve more fluid animation- this way you could also do some great follow-through animation with her hair.


Anyway it's great!

neole hasn't been uploading pictures for a while. hope he's working on some masterpiece...

Nah... right now he's probably lying on some sandy beach in a shadow of a palm tree, drinking tropic cocktail and watching cute hawaiian girls playing volleyball

Once again - great work! I really like your style- details and lines

Hm, what bothers me with that second pic is girl's pose. The first one was very dynamic, while that second one looks a bit stiff. But since it's not that big of a problem, it's up to you if you'll bother to re-draw it.

If you will, here are some things that i think could be fixed: the way girl holds the cross at the moment suggests it's quite heavy, but the cross itself looks very light. Either make her pose more relaxed, or draw a bigger (heavier looking) cross.
Another thing: from this picture it's not completely obvious what the girl is doing. My first impresion was, that she is laying down the cross, but i guess she's just holding it.

I drew a few quick (very rough) figure suggestions, that i think would make pic more dynamic and interesting to look at (note that the figure proportions are diferent than on your pic- i was just too lazy to print out your drawing and work on it ):
http://maniac.adventuredevelopers.com/figures.jpg

Oh, that looks very nice- great pose! Agree that breasts without nipples just look wrong, so the new version is much better and um... sexier.
My small criticsm would be, that figure looks just a *little* bit out of balance (because of legs beging a tad too forward).
Here's a quick rotation edit- i also fliped the image, so that it's more visible what i'm talking about (flips are always useful to check out possible mistakes you did with anatomy or pose).
http://maniac.adventuredevelopers.com/lady1a.jpg

But what the hell, the difference is hardly noticable- and it's actually perfect as it is!

I think, it's not about game being "conventional" or "unconventional". It's about how well it does what it does. Simple as that. Dark Hero is great, because it captures player's interest and it gives you a reason to play on. Dada on the other hand is trying to be "art" just for the sake of being "art" and it also means more to author than to audience. Game-play wise, it's actually just as conventional as Dark Hero, except the puzzles are not as thought out and it feels rushed.

About games as art- it's certainly possible. You exposed Grim Fandango as an example of an "artistic" game and i agree (ICO could be also mentioned here), i'm also familiar with Peter Gabriel's project. But you see, they all took advantage of interactivity&multimedia and there was a lot of thought put into designing them. Even if they borrowed something, they did so, to make the game even better experience. That's my only grip with Dada- it doesn't have any developed concept (except, obviously, for Dada-style art) and it tries to be too similar to classic (static) abstract art: music is there, but it doesn't bring much to the atmosphere... puzzles are there, but again, they don't bring to the atmosphere. Trying to capture *temporary* mood with games, only means project will be rushed, instead of actually being designed with thought and trying to evoke some feelings in player (and that's the only way to keep them playing- after all, that's the essence of games). Such way of "development" may work in paintings, but i don't think it translates well in game.

Again, i don't think movies should be compared to games too much. Sure, they use similar mechanics at some points, but interactivity is what separate them appart so much. In other words- what work in movies won't necessarily work in games and vice versa.
Btw, i'll be away for a week or two, so it may take a while before my next reply

Glad to hear about Dark Hero! I was playing the demo and loved it

About Dada- It's not that i didn't like the game... i just didn't really care about what's going on. I figured the whole game was more of a personal search. However, in my opinion, such experiments translates much better in paintings, music or poetry than in games where the audience isn't just a passive observer, but they need to interact too (and so they need to be stimulated in some way to play their part). Also the process of making a game is much less personal and direct than with painting a picture. For a game, you need to first create graphics, then put them in AGS and then script it, etc.... while for a painting you just need some colors and canvas to directly "pour" your temporary feelings in picture.

Not that i don't think it's possible to create a good abstract game- quite contrary (some scenes in Dada, for example, were great)... but in my opinion, it shouldn't mimic already established rules of classic "art", but create some completely new mechanics, that would make an advantage of interactions.

Oh, this looks absolutely fantastic! Great details and the whole atmosphere is just... magic! Can't wait! :o

Btw, i love the idea of silent characters!

Interesting idea DGM! I won't say i loved the game, but i certainly appreciate the experiment.
If you don't mind some critics: i understand this is an artistic game... but as with 80%-90% of modern art, i have a feeling the "art" is just a word used by people to cover up the fact they actually don't have much to say. True, you opened up some interesting topics and there are some wonderfully executed scenes (the first one and the one with abused wife for example)... but in whole, i think it's not developed enough. It doesn't really explore the advantages of interactivity and it feels a bit rushed. Instead of pulling you into the atmophere&hidden messages, puzzles seem forced and only alienate the player from the action on screen (to the point, i didn't feel anything while playing the game).

Anyway, hope you don't mind the critic. It's interesting as it is... i just feel it could be even better. I know you tried to keep spontaneousness of, let's say, painting an abstract picture- but i think games (or movies) are different medium and they need to be more thought out (and as a result take more time to make) if you wish them to be effective.

Wonderful! From the lateast ones i like "O'er The Peaks" the most- really great use of colors.

Gorgeous Pessi! You really got Watterson's stille down!

Danny- you never read any of those beautiful Calvin&Hobbes comics??!! Run to the nearest comic book store and buy it NOW! It's a classic and certainly my favorite comic. I mean, this should be obligatory read in school... Pure genius i tell you.

It's great to hear your experience Ionias!
For me, working on adventure is a pure free-time hobby and must say i like it this way best- no pressure and completely free hands to do whatever you want.
Of course, if i'll find a way to get some fair money out of this, without alienating a larger group of players, i'll go for it without thinking twice (if nothing else, it would be nice to pay something to people who are puting their talents in this game without expecting any profit)... But there's no point to even think about that, until the game isn't completely finished

Really cool idea!
Must say i liked the sketch version even better- all those tiny lines made the pic even more interesting.

I'll just join the praise here- fantastic! Love the main character and the whole "magic" feel. Really great!

Great web site! It's easy to navigate and that Daisy interview made my day.

Sorry for a bit late reply... i guess i should read chat forum more often.
I'd say it's all about preferences and what kind of animation you are after.
Personaly i prefer classic approach: to draw everything on paper- from sketch pencils to inked animation. I use Flash just for coloring, since i found out, that any unnecessary editing on computer just double the developing time.

On the other hand, Flash is ideal for creating paper-like animation, where you use symbols and tweening option. The results may not be quite as smooth and organic as with classic animation, but it's *much* faster (you just need to draw separated body-parts and move (or rotate) them around.

Svetac, hvala za kompliment! Mmg, sem iz Slovenije- stara jugo braca
As far as i'm concerned, Balthazar was (and still is) one of the best cartoon series- freaking geniuses!

Thank you all! I was never really thinking about going commercial with the game. As Neole said, selling the game on our own or over internet-publishers most probably wouldn't really pay off.
As for bigger companies... i don't know. There's Humongous Entertainment (Put-Put, Spy Fox, Freddy the Fish...) which, i think, could be a perfect publisher for Ignac and they might be interested (while Ignac isn't strictly intended for kids, it still fits nicely in their concept of low-budget point&click adventures).
But then again, if there won't be some really tempting "numbers" involved (or Bill Gates won't knock on my door with big sack of money), i'll rather keep this game freeware... in good ol' AGS spirit.

I don't think the scanner is a problem here. It's probably just the program that is trying to be too user-friendly... Btw, which one are you using?
I'd say "super fine" is probably 600 DPI anyway... but you can also try to search for some "Advance" option, or something like that, where you'll be able to adjust DPI resolution manually.
However, "super fine" will most probably do the trick