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Looks inviting.
Graphics look really good, quite masochistic, unless there's some simple way to make so good-looking backgrounds.

I hope that story keeps up the quality graphics shows us.

I wouldn't say that forum has gone boring, but game production is dried up indeed.

My review:
It was a summer of ghosts this year, with very little of noticeable coming out, and even though autumn brought some new games, either ready or closing to deadlines, it's still not what it used to be.

Ah, and there's no blood. No new rebellious noobs trying to run over every moderator and veteran user. Almost everyone is supertolerant and understanding now, and so even every attempt to provoke mess fails pretty quickly.
If someone comes in guns blazing, (s)he finds no resistance, everyone tries to understand him, until moderator simply mops whole thread up. I'm not complaining, just analyzing this.

Any hardcore oldschool moderation I see at all is Darth Mandarb's work at Games In Production where spamming and rule ignoring won't last a day. But it's almost only place where misbehaving occurs, anyway.

I've been Critics Lounge resident for 4 years, and this is one place that's gone down. There's no more superb entries, no noticeable quality in entries, and no-one cares to C&C any story or music thread.

Competitions and activities have gone through strong change. Photoshop friday, background competition and tune contests have suffered strong abandonment lately, but Animation and Sprite compos are very strong with many entries.

There's 2 forum corners that have always been quite a mess and still are: Popular Threads and Hints & Tips.

Gengen is same as always, including a rant, latest world news discussion and technical help request always on first page.

I wouldn't say that this has changed much during 4 years.

But a weird feeling that something has gone missing from old-good-AGS haunts me lately. Is that v3.0 that I can't force myself to like, or old veterans not making any games anymore, I don't know.

There's a few times where I've been insulted and criticized (in not a very good way) by older members and that has made me overly-cautious. I mostly lurk the site but I'm afraid of replying or starting a thread in fear of being put down and have my feelings hurt. It's hard feeling accepted by the community when it is focused on every move you make... a bit like a very stern dad figure.

You'll get used to it.
After all, your "start" wasn't that bad.

I remember myself not realizing the size and difference of world and people around it when joining the "club" and stepped into way too many buckets before getting whole act together. You can't like everyone and everyone won't like you. So you have to filter a bit.

I categorize AGSers like this:

Artist (admired ones)
Techie (CJ's evil henchmen or module makers)
Helper (People from beginners tech)
Musician (Professional and honored ones, quite unproductive though)
n00b (teH newbs)
Game Maker (loved ones, productive people)
Talker (generic gengen babbler, useless ones)

You have shown yourself as talented Artist - having a place in community instantly, so I wouldn't worry.

You scare me, Slava.
Especially if your signature below avatar and post is truth.

Anyway, think twice about using communist propaganda in your signature. World is wide and for me, it's as offensive as for someone seeing nazi slogans and swastika around. Even if it's a joke.

Pretty boy? Yes he does.

This mouth, eyes and lack of nose make him look VERY much like 1st-gen AGI character.
Remind me of Michael Jackson...

The character is really nice. He looks way younger than guy on poster, I'd say he's from 18 to 22 at most.
I actually don't think that you should make him older, he looks very likeable in a way he is. But early twenties is what I would stick to when using him. Head could be a pixel thinner, thinking about it, it looks too much like melon right now.

I could make a nice edit of my ideas, but you supplied only zoomed version of your concept.

His boots need some work, they look like something poor fisherman of our age would wear. How about large metal straps like on roller skates? Infact, I think that coolest futuristic footwear should be somethings rollerblades look like...



http://www.blackdiamondsports.com/photos/RollerbladeTwisterIIPro-2T.jpg
or
http://www.productwiki.com/upload/images/rollerblade_zetrablade.jpg

Minus the wheels, of course.

Heh, I hail nationalism in Europe with both hands. There's quite a lot of tiny countries (such as one I live in myself), whose nation can simply blend to non-existence when being too liberal.

This is not an excuse to be unfriendly or racist though.
But if someone wants to keep to his own, and doesn't harm others by doing this, why should we care?

Japan has defended itself like this for centuries, being TOTALLY isolated...  and opened its cultural borders only few centuries ago. That's why they have still so much different and interesting left in their culture. Is that bad? I read recently a book about Russian frigate "Pallada" and how It took long trip from St. Peterburg to Japan in 1853. Quite a reading, I must say, and recommended, too. It describes Japanese nationalistic paranoia to a humorous extent.

Thanks, Ashen.

I've updated the thread again and put help request into first post.

Title says it all.

I want to make some button onto my gui, and little help (not AGS text, but on a image) to change whenever mouse is over button.

For example, there's a disk shaped button, and when mouse is over it, a text "click here to save your game" appears.

How do I do it? Browsing help didn't help much.
I know how to change button graphics/label text, but can't figure out what the function is, to determine if mouse is over particular button or not.

I'm using older AGS, not 3.0

Lower lip seems a bit too unnatural for me.
I don't believe that it's really that extruded, though it's hard to say based on those photos.
I suggest you to try to move skin a bit inwards directly under lower lip. Lovecraft has quite unnatural facial shape, but you went maybe a bit too far.

Also, upper lip should be extruded (pulled outwards a bit), same for area under nose.
Look at the photos. Especially second one from first row. Low light makes his mouth area shade like ape's, which is how humans look. It also suggests that his mouth wasn't so plain and straight as it's on your side view.

Excellent model, though, I wish I could model like that.

Point of my off-topic and useless reply to this thread is that I don't think a tune contest could achieve much (or any?) participation, yet alone competition, if you make so straight rules. Country is first - non-digital (very hard to make on typically used software), and second, very specific genre. This doesn't leave much options to contestants. Maybe I'm wrong, but I really gave a thought about it and simply don't know where to start.

I'm sorry for littering the thread and I hope that you'll still get some entries, but this theme doesn't leave much room for most of our musicians.

This theme is totally out of my area. I couldn't make country/western or even anything barely similar.
This requires a real guitar, and a skill to play this. And singing? And equipment to record it digitally.
AND, some knowledge about country music overall, which I don't have... does anyone here listen country anyways?

Really though theme, that is. I have to skip this one.

I've always thought that Others, if they exist, are something on nano scale. Like intelligent electrons or maybe bigger, like bacteria or virus. Maybe even plants, intelligent fluid or some form of energy. If they're better and more advanced than us, word "insect" comes into mind. Aren't insects most amazing things on our planet? Like ants with ultimate body structure, cockroaches with extreme vitality, and so on?

Being a life form superior to human -- I don't really imagine that this could mean soft, weak body of a human or even anything similar.

And if they're mammal like, why do people always imagine them as intelligent and advanced?
There could be planets with life, and primates on them running around with rocks and sticks. The others. Still trying to figure out how to make a fire. Wouldn't that be fun?

Whatever they are, if we knew them and where they lived, it wouldn't be long until someone starts calling them terrorists and sending in the marines to introduce our nice concepts of democracy to them.

What a frustrating game!
And how original still.

I made it to the last level, and kind of grow tired of trying. There's two major mistakes in overall design: Time limit/reward and random cables. Time limit/reward is worst, since stealth games usually reward patience and careful planning, not senseless rushing through guards and cameras. You cannot enjoy lurking in the shadows and watching that stupid guard walking around with no idea. Why? There's no time! And game is extremely unforgiving when making a mistake.

I failed several maps many times when tripping into laser. What happened was that laser respawned on my position again and again quickly depleting all alarm "lives". Game was over even before I had a chance to understand what happened.

Even if tazer/alarm limit would be for a SCREEN (I mean multiscreen levels), it would be much nicer to play.

A bit more better balanced sequel, with more (and shorter) levels, with less need to play same levels again and again to get everything out of the game would be still a good idea. IMO, difficulty should be an option. There could be "very easy" mode with no tazer limit, for example, and slower lasers/cameras. I know that there's a suit for this, but if I can play well enough to get that suit, I won't be needing one, anyway.

A video game should offer enjoyment and challenge. Not early balding.
This is a bit too frustrating and tough for my taste.

But still very nice addition to Yahtzee's portfolio and AGS games overall.

Thanks for this... er... compliment.
Anyway, official Henri thread is again unlocked and I also added a yet unseen screenshot to it.

Link is in my banner.

[How important is it to include separate "look," "talk," and "hands" commands?]

How important is it to include separate "look," "talk," and "hands" commands?

I'd say this depends more on the game itsself. If you don't need them, you're better off not using them.
In AGS, making a two-mouse button-click system is a tiny bit more difficult than using default Sierra-style, but there's way too much games which include full 9-command LucasArts verb list, and rarely any of those are needed.
This is what sucks, in my opinion. Even some original LA games didn't really need this long list, and all it donated was more difficulty. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, for example. There was only tiny bit of things you had to either "give", "pull", or "close". And all of them could have been worked around with simple "use" aswell.

I somewhat dislike meaningless complexity in GUIs. If it has purpose, why not. But to simply be there...

Do I really need to worry about the 286s in the audience?

In 2007? Rarely. Being able to play game on 133Mhz Pentium with integrated 2MB videocard is extreme user friendliness, yes. But that shouldn't be reason to make game not as good as you want or could, or tune down any fireworks. Majority of potential players and their systems should be your priority here. Again, clear thinking is best option here. There's no point in game that most people cannot play, but shitty game that works on everything won't be played either.

How comfortable are you with me tainting the Adventure Game format with other genres?

Doesn't that depend on genre? Many adventure games have an arcade sequence, and puzzles, that can make whole another game, like some sort of jigsaw puzzle or so. As long as there's way to skip the arcade sequence and difficulty in anything else isn't neckbreaking, you can include whatever you like, without further worry.

I think that most people liked casino minigames in Leisure Suit Larry. Even if you sucked at it, you could save and reload and cheat your way through. But not so many liked the bike fighting in Full Throttle.

Whatever you decide to include, please, for the love of god, don't include a stupid maze. So many 90's adventure titles have atleast one idiotic, pace killing, illogical maze in them. Kyrandia? Shadow of the Comet? Igor: Objective Uikokahonia? Eck.

Let's agree that Adventure Games are NOT dead.  Which would you prefer: nostalgia, or continued advancement of the genre?

Look at Yahtzee's games - Trilby series, Ben Jordan series, anything popular. Your answer is there. These games are not about nostalgia, they're simply superfunctional. The graphics is just as much as it's needed to create atmosphere and make a visual point. Neither mspainted backgrounds or overdetailed pre-rendered 3D will do any good, if it doesn't function right. You have to find a balance of some sort. What you can do, do it best, and don't go for things that wouldn't turn out so well.

However you describe this "continued advancement of the genre", only thing to avoid is a powerpoint slideshow, and that's what all these fancy new 3D games are. Click to see next render, without any real gaming or immersion in it. Everybody can hire a good artist, but not everyone could make an interesting game.

EDIT: Also, I totally second what ProgZmax said about commercial games. If you're trying to sell something, you have to make it 300% as good, because - and I don't know even why - first reaction on a commercial game is dislike.

Congrats Obi, and I'm glad this is finally over! 

Funny to think someone still uses MX 440. Can you really play ATOTK with this at acceptable framerate?
I remember this card being last in GeForce series without heating problems. From 5 series, overheating and factory overclocking becomes a standard. Especially on cheaper models.
I ripped mine apart, connected fan to a USB cable and made myself desktop fan.

It wasn't that horrible card, but incompatibility with DirectX was quite common. Expect more in the long run.

Cannot see any image, mate.

Try this
http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/upload/upload.html

Hypercam2 is very common and simple to use.

Sounds like alot of futher work on this screen.
But about brightness, I think that I have to run most of old BG's through levels adjustment.

Destroys regions though