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Yeah, you might be right about the heads being too small, I know many sprites go for abnormally big heads which I'm not so fond of, but these might well be too small.

Also, i've just noticed that Geordi looks like someone's jammed a Harmonica in his face! I probably need to redo the colours at least...

Hey thanks for the advice.

Jim, I've started to take your shading on board but I'm not quite sure about the chest. Hmmm will think on about that. Also you are definitely now my go to man on legs!

Steve, the nose is great here I will look into that. Also I tried the small patches of hair at the sides, which you are quite correct about of course, but I think I prefer without (probably my attempt rather than the concept!)

I'll be experimenting with the above suggestions, but in a bit of a creative(?) fit I started the rest of the crew.



x2


Currently similar issues with shading (which I am experimenting with) and height (Geordi is too big, Riker not big enough etc. which I will change) but what I really need help with is hair generally and composition of Data and Riker's faces.

I know it's a bit of a cheek asking for more advice/help when I haven't taken the last lot on board properly yet but any more guidance would be appreciated as these are obviously still works in progress.

I've given up on Colin a bit recently but have had a go at someone a bit more familiar...



x2


I'm fairly pleased so far as a start, but there is definitely room for improvement especially in the leg area.

I've tried to take on board previous advice on shading etc. but would welcome any further criticism/pointers/advice.

Firstly, I'm no artist, so take these as "suggestions" rather than "advice" and feel free to ignore!

Quick 2 minute edit:





1. Perspective on Chest of Drawers as per Andail's suggestion above.
2. Border/skirting board round top and bottom of wall? This may help by filling some space and negating the need for any texture on the wall etc. but my colours are horrible and it might be better left alone... 
3. You could add a shadow for the light bulb on the ceiling.

Having said all that your original is a background I personally would be more than happy with anyway!

Firstly, as this is millions of times better then anything I could do, feel free to ignore this advice!

It is honestly lovely. The only thing I would say is it looks a little bit empty in the area between the cottage and the tree on the right. Maybe you could put another tree(s)/shed/something in the middle ground to the left of the path?

Just my personal opinion!

"Most repetative unnecessarily telephone based puzzles in a game!"

Colin Simpson FTW!!11! 

Looks good.

The concept art looks vaguely Johnny Depp/Chocolate Factory as well as Zombie, very cool!

Personally I am sceptical of "alternative medicine", however, I am a big fan of the "placebo effect!"

I'm using a somewhat strange definition of "placebo effect" here but my point is essentially this. When I have a heavy cold I like to drink Lemsip. I have been told by many people on many occasions that I would do equally well or perhaps even better (and save some money!) just to take some paracetamol and have a hot drink but for some reason I feel Lemsip (or whatever store own brand) works better. I'm sure there is no scientific evidence for this and objectively it probably doesn't, possibly even demonstrably, but I also feel that if it is benefitting me more than paracetamol & a hot drink then I will take that, even if it is all in the mind!

So in summary if alternative medicine helps I'm fine with it, even if it is completely psychological, and for migranes etc. why not try it, but for anything more serious I would approach with extreme caution and use it as "supplemental" treatment rather than an alternative to surgery/"medical" treatment etc.

Is there going to be another category of "Best Short Game not made by Ben304!"

Just askin'...

Wow, thanks for the edits and advice!

Made a little bit more progress with the shading on top and the shape of the legs but still not there yet.



I've tried to take some of the advice on board.

Ben, your edit of the face is millions of times better than mine but I kind of like the geeky, less realistic look, your guy is too cool for poor old Colin! Still some very useful pointers there though.

InCreator, great tips about hands, shoulders face and shading which I've tried to implement. I still haven't got the legs/feet right but I'll keep trying. Also I know what you're saying about the pose and I will look into this, but at the moment i'm still trying to get my tiny brain round the pose i've got so far!

Jim, did my latest edit before seeing yours but I particularly like the feet and legs, back to the drawing board for me then...

Any further comments appreciated.

If there is one area in game making in which I am even worse than all others it is art (as anyone who played my previous game will testify ).

However, whilst my backgrounds are getting a bit better my character art ... leaves something to be desired.

Here is my attempt so far at the main character sprite, which is very much a work in progress at the moment.



In short, i'm fairly pleased with the basic shape of the top half so far, but I just cannot seem to get anywhere with the whole legs/feet area. Any help/tips as to the basic shape of the lower half would be very much appreciated, as would any advice on finishing the top half!

At the risk of further confusing the issue, Mamba Games Website (UK based games publisher) says it will be shipped on 16 April 2010.

Take your pick I suppose!

[a lot]

With respect to everyone here aren't we taking this a little bit too seriously?

I know that a lot of time and effort goes into most finished games (even mine, although that may appear hard to believe! ) but at the end of the day I haven't paid anyone anything to rate my game and I can't see that the panel has a duty to review any or all of the games released. If this site held itself out as a review site and offered some kind of promise or indication that all games made would be reviewed then that would be one thing, but speaking personally, I'm just glad of the exposure games can get here rather than just 20 or so of my family and friends!

I don't know who the panel members are, but my guess is that they are just a bunch of guys (and guyettes of course) who work and have other commitments and are doing the community a favour by the ratings they do give. To be honest, if I was on the panel and saw complaints and people trying to hold me to account I don't know how much longer I would stay on it!

Basically this whole thing is really just a hobby to nearly all of us (although seriously draining and hard work at times) and I doubt very much whether those who have produced commercial games are particularly concerned with their blue cup scores!

That's great news that I hadn't heard. Perhaps you could explain how water based life made it onto land?

Through a series of gradual, step by step changes.

Thanks for clearing that up!

Actually evolution has been pretty much proven.

Scientific fact: Gene mutation does occur in all species during transcription.
Scientific fact: These mutations can give an organism a higher chance of reaching the age of maturity without dying.
Scientific fact: Given a long enough period of time and constanty changing environmental factors (which we do have on earth), one species can end up looking and behaving radically different to its predecessors. (and no, there is no difference between microevolution and macroevolution, it's the same thing.)

There is not one thing that cannot be explained by evolution. (And don't give me that irreducible complexity stuff like bacterial flagellum or the eye, because believe it or not it can be explained!)

That's great news that I hadn't heard. Perhaps you could explain how water based life made it onto land?

Must recommend both the Ben Jordan and Barn Runner series of games. Definite Must Plays!

Also, what do I have to do to get on the sexy list?

- Ponch

You, my friend, are firmly on the sexy list!

I have to agree with those who have said that it is some and some. It seems to me that when people (maybe mostly Americans) talk about the "British" accent they are talking about the "Oxford" or "London & Home Counties" posh English accent, i.e. Joanna Lumley and I can well understand why people think that is sexy! However there are plenty of other accents in Britain which range from lovely to listen to to grating on the ears.

I suppose it's the same for America, some accents sound fine to me and others are horrible! (personal preference of course) and just as you cannot judge everyone in a nation as stupid you can't really say they all have sexy or pleasing accents.

Personally I prefer both together.

"Smaller" thoughts and comments such as "The door is locked, I can't open it" come best from the player, but larger sections of text/narrative are better in text boxes/narrator format.

Declare a variable called e.g. Bullets with a value of 6.

Then every time the player uses the gun:

1. Bullets = Bullets - 1
2. check If Bullets == 0 then remove it from the inventory

(Sorry for the pseudo code which is a result of lazyness!)

EDIT: Ah I see 2 Ninjas got in before I did and explained it better!

As far as I know Display commands cannot be removed without a mouse click/keyboard.

The way I have got round this is simply to create a dummy character called cNarrator (or whatever) with an empty view, or at least one with the transparency set to 100, who can say the lines for you. So...

cRedpants.Say("I'm just going out to see my friends");
cNarrator.Say("You're Mother shouts: 'Don't you be home late my lad, your'e father will be angry'");
cRedpants.Say("I won't");
cRedpants.Walk(602, 427, eBlock);

There might well be a much better way to do this and if so I would be interested to find out too!