Messages

I love being criticized, I'm masochistic in that way. But in all seriousness you always learn something from it. Even if it's really, really bad taste, and not constructive in any way, you still learn that one more person actually cares. They actually care enough about your work to let you know just how much they think you stink.

And as strange as that sounds, in a weird and twisted way it's a beautiful thing to me at least. Isn't evoking emotion in others what all of us strive for? We all want to mean something to somebody, and we want our work to be remembered. But the further you stretch the limits, the more you stand out and produce something truly unique, the more the group of "haters" will grow. It's just the nature of different things appealing to different people. I'm sure even the greatest pieces of art in the world has a dedicated group of haters who want nothing more than seeing it burned.

So you can follow all the conventions in the book, create something bland and unoriginal that nobody either loves or hates, or you can create something different, cool and unique that will be loved as well as hated. I'll pick the latter, any day of the week, taking the criticism like a man and hopefully learning from it.

Hint for Stalker:

Spoiler

Read carefully what is written down on the invitation card.

Hint 2:

Spoiler

There is an actual skull on the card. Maybe you should keep a close look at it?

Solution:

Spoiler

Look at the invitation card in the bathroom.

[close]

[close]

[close]

Hint for Khris:

Spoiler

You need to defeat all three robbers. Try talking to them, see if you can figure out any weaknesses. Don't forget, Nancy has a special ability you can put to use... You're also on the right track with the DVD, you might need something from the tool box the robbers put on the counter in the convenience store.

[close]

Excellent work guys, bought the batch yesterday, played through PISS and Nancy so far and got started on Patchwork.

I have to agree with Fitz about PISS, marvelous writing, intriguing world and unique characters. So much imagination has been poured into this game! I finished it yesterday but I'll definitely have a second go after I've finished the other games in the batch. Then I will try to really exhaust all of the dialogues and make different choices. I got some serious Planescape Torment vibes from PISS, has it by any chance been of some inspiration to the game Ben?

Nancy was really fun too, felt like a genuine flash to the past wacky adventure. I laughed out loud more than once. Nice going Technocrat, cool seeing you do something different from your usual sci-fi repertoir and excelling at it!

Wow, how could I have missed this? Looks great, love the art and the setting! Keeping an eye on this for sure.

I'm seriously considering calling in sick to play this tomorrow.

Your games have been a big inspiration to me Grundislav, I'm really looking forward to experiencing the final chapter of the Ben Jordan saga!

Ok, just wanted to update to say that I'm moving through the first part of the book-world, and am making steady progress.
Here's a screenie:

As you can see, this parallel fairy-tale world differs slightly aesthetically...

Looks great! Love the lighting in that scene. "book-world", eh? I'm intrigued!

That's a mighty fine-looking team, Joel!

Good luck with the game

Nice team, Krusbert!
Is that avatar of yours Kathy herself?

Thanks guys!

Daniel - Oh, I wish it was! But alas, it's part of an acrylic painting by the brilliant comic artist Phil Noto.

*edit Now it's Kathy actually!

[Shane "ProgZmax" Stevens]

I am very excited to announce the newly assembled core team of Kathy Rain!

Shane "ProgZmax" Stevens - You heard me! I feel very lucky to have the sprite master himself on board. He will be making character designs and animations.
Nauris Krauze - The man behind the gorgeous backgrounds in Resonance! I was most fortunate to get Nauris signed up for creating the environments of Kathy Rain.
Sten Oom - A friend of mine, a newcomer in this field but with a serious talent for lifelike movement, Sten will be helping out with some additional animation!
Joel "Krusbert" Staaf Hästö - Lastly, I will reintroduce myself. When I'm not at my daily job I will continue working like a madman on story, puzzles, game design, coding and overall project management of Kathy Rain.

Looking splendid as always, 304. Played all your games and I'm looking very much forward to this one

Oooh, placeholders...
Might sound strange, but I do actually love the look of it just as it is, Krusbert.
A more simplistic graphical approach, a style of it's own.
That highway scene looks very, very cool!

Will be definitely on the lookout for this one.

I agree with what Trampoline has said. This game looks and sounds like a good one to keep an eye on.

I agree too
The simplistic style is nice, even though you see it as placeholder at the moment. If you decide to go for another style I wish you good luck with finding artists/animators for your team.

I'm really glad you guys like it! We'll see how it turns out, the issue for me is not only the quality of the graphics, but the time involved in creating them. An experienced artist would be able to produce not only art of a higher overall quality, but at a much greater pace than myself. If I did it all on my own I would need time to learn all the necessary aspects of drawing, animating and then spend a large amount of time on actually creating the assets. It would take more than a few years to get there judging by other similar one man projects, and I want to get the game out within a reasonable timeframe. I'm still not completely disregarding doing it all by myself but the plan right now is to try to involve a few more people.

I remember you showing interest in AGS, it's good to see that you got a AGS project going, Krusbert.
The story sounds interesting and I would have offered to help if I had any free time to spare.

Good luck, keep us updated!

Thanks Daniel, I'll be updating this thread regularly. Best of luck with your own project!

On a side note I rewrote the synopsis, it was too long and unfocused. The new one should be clearer and hopefully more thought provoking.

Nice to see you guys making solid progress! IMO this is probably the most promising AGS game currently in production.

I'm not very surprised, since I know you Daniel from way back when we went to school together, where I quickly learned you are an extremely talented and dedicated guy. I had no doubt you'd do very impressive things in the future.

Well done on assembling a team, keeping them motivated for so long and creating what I'm sure will be a great game I'll buy it!

We already talked, but I'll say it here as well:

This game is very promising, the graphics looks great and the story is intriguing. I'd definitely buy the full game just from playing the demo. The puzzles are the weakest point of the demo in my opinion but I'm sure you'll be able to use the feedback from everyone here to improve those aspects of the full game.

I also love the fact that it's set here in Sweden!

This is probably the most overall enjoyable free AGS game I have ever played. Amazing work Goldmund!

Solid writing with a truly engaging story and perfect puzzle balance/difficulty. I like how you stay clear of all hollywood conventions and formulas with your characters, it truly feels like a breath of fresh air. The puzzle balancing/difficulty is perfect in my opinion. Varied puzzles, fitting in the story with just the right amount of hints to get you through them. I did get stuck at times, but never to the point of it being frustrating. This is the first game in a long time in which I didn't resort to walkthroughs at all, because even when stuck I had gotten to the point where I trusted your puzzles to be fair, and it turns out I was right.

Works like this truly inspires me to make my own game even better, although I really hope it won't take me 10 years to finish it

[Project:]

Project: Kathy Rain

Details:

Kathy Rain, a sassy college student with an extraordinary talent for digging up the truth returns to her hometown after being gone for many years to be dragged into a great mystery, a legacy of her recently deceased grandfather.
This project is commercial and you can read more about it here

Positions needed:
2D Background artist(320x200 resolution, 32-bit backgrounds) - Preferably the backgrounds should require minimal scaling for 70 pixel height characters. Many backgrounds will also be first person closeups of objects which the player can use and manipulate. The current design adds up to 32 different backgrounds.
2D Character artist - 32x64 characters matching the aforementioned backgrounds, preferably combined with the animator role. Currently adds up to 18 characters of varied importance.
2D Character animator

All positions filled!

Deadline: TBD

Comments: Either send me a PM or reply to this thread if you're interested. Please also provide some samples of your work.

[Synopsis:]

[embed=960,540]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oxhUgUhq3g[/embed]

She is riding her motorcycle, speeding quickly through the desert. The bike lets out a roar. The wind is caressing her hair, struggling to free itself at the back of her helmet. She is wearing red-tinted sunglasses and a black leather jacket. Her face is displaying a subtle smile, reminiscent of the Mona Lisa. Extensive mods and ornaments decorate her bike. "Katmobile" is engraved in script onto a metal detail upon the front. This bike is her baby, that's for sure. 

Oh, how she loves being on the road. Yet, when thrashing through the highway veering across the vast desert countryside, this day is strangely bitter sweet for Kathy Rain. "How did it ever come to this?", she thought sullenly. "Returning to my roots after all this time. God, it's not like me. But I owe it to him. To those sad eyes and warm hands. I owe it to that stubborn kid I used to be."

Synopsis:

Kathy Rain tells the compelling story of a strong-willed college girl with a knack for detective work and a Harley who returns to her hometown after being gone since childhood. Set in the 90's, Kathy starts investigating a local mystery and the legacy of her recently deceased grandfather.

As she follows a trail of clues he left behind, questions emerge... What was Joseph Rain really looking for that night all those years ago? What turned him into a mere shell of a man, confined to a wheelchair? What secret did a suicidal young artist take with her to the grave, and why are so many people in Conwell Springs going mad? The truth is dark and sinister...

Features:

320x240 (4:3) resolution with crisp pixel art graphics
4,000+ lines of dialogue
Full English voice acting directed by Wadjet Eye Games' Dave Gilbert
Original soundtrack
40+ hand-drawn environments
Compelling narrative with eerie plot set in the 90's

Notes:

Kathy Rain is being developed by Clifftop Games, a small indie studio located in Stockholm, Sweden. Published by Raw Fury Games!

Kathy Rain Website
Clifftop Games Website
Clifftop Games Twitter
Clifftop Games Facebook page

Steam pre-order
GOG pre-order
Humble Bundle pre-order
Green Man Gaming pre-order

Will be released on May 5th for Windows and Mac! If you are unsure about a pre-purchase, try the demo on GOG or Steam!

Team:

Joel "JSH" Staaf Hästö - Writing, puzzles, game design, coding and project management
Shane "ProgZmax" Stevens - Art direction, character art and animation
Nauris Krauze - Background art
Tove Bergqvist - Portrait art
Daniel Kobylarz - Music
Dave Gilbert - VO Direction

Progress:

Story/Puzzles - 100%
Scripting - 100%
Graphics - 100%
SFX/Music - 100%

Development Diary:

July 17th, 2012
Publically announced the project.

July 31th, 2012
Core team assembled, all positions filled.

November 29th, 2012
The project is progressing slowly but steadily. Tove Bergqvist joined the team to help out with the portraits. New art style revealed!

February 16th, 2013
Daniel Kobylarz joins the team as the composer. Added a few new screens and updated some old ones with the latest art changes. Started early with some VO auditions for the lead parts.

October 5th, 2013
The project is still very much alive and moving forward. Now cranking up the pace, hoping for a 2014 release!

February 2nd, 2014
Development goes forward with the first chapter of the game nearing a releasable state. Unfortunately, a 2014 release starts to look slightly optimistic. Late 2014 is still the target, but a possible postponement to 2015 is likely. Negotiations with different distribution partners have been initiated.

April 24th, 2014
There's been some good progress since the last update! Day one is in very good shape, Day two is fully playable from beginning to end, and work has begun on Day three. Also started to look for more testers.

January 18th, 2015
The game is a few months away from alpha, with most of the game being playable now. A 2015 release looks possible, but can't be guaranteed due to external dependencies. An indie publisher startup based in Stockholm has expressed interest in the game and could be a possible future partner.

April 22nd, 2015
A publishing agreement for Kathy Rain has been signed with Raw Fury Games! The initial release of the game will be for Windows and Mac, on Steam and most other common digital distribution channels.

April 6th, 2016
Announced a release date! A detective is born on May 5th, 2016!

Hi all, I'm a swedish 24 year old professional game programmer.

I've been playing AGS games for years but haven't had the urge to make one myself until now.

Game design is a big passion of mine, and I can't wait to make an adventure game just the way I want it.

Stay tuned for an announcement when I have some solid progress!