Messages

Allright guys, thanks!

EDIT: Hey, it works! That's a great feature. I like my invisible duck better now, when it's more... visible;)

Thanks Miez, Adrian! Wow, 13 entries so far, this must be one of the most popular Color Balls ever

BTW, how do you guys do this 'x1 x2 x3 x4' image trick?

That moment when you realize the GPS is wrong and the Evil Duck stole your lifebelt:
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/dkf782W.png[/imgzoom]

EDIT: Oh dear, I forgot to switch her invisibility mode on! Fixed! Now she's the Invisible Evil Duck

Some great work you're doing here, DKH.
It's a unique experience to witness the process of creating a game from start to end.
And, as Trampoline said, a fellow AGSer can learn, get inspired, or just be entertained.
Honestly, you had a brilliant idea with this.

IMHO, links to your streamed videos should be permanently glued somewhere on the forum, and the videos themselves should be preserved for all the present and future AGSers to watch & learn & get inspired.

Cheers, and keep them coming!

[left]

I often wonder if they scanned in the Mechinarium artwork, and if they touched it up at all later.

Yeah, those guys from Amanita know how to rock with their pencils & tablets... 

Here you are:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JimMcGinley/20091202/3694/MIGS_Day_1_1015am_Machinarium_makes_claymation_look_efficient.php

According to this, the artist drew with his left (in his case, secondary) hand

[Hristos]

Well Hristos, if you're going to stick through thick and thin with 320x240, you're good without tablet. But if you've ever thought about going hi-res (I mean 640x480 or above ), do yourself a favor and buy a Wacom tablet (preferably Intuos). Or if you can't afford one, get one of those tablets Eric and Frito suggest. Long, long time ago, in the last millenium, I was painting with a mouse... Those are painful memories. I don't want to remember

First and foremost, painting with tablet will save you tons and tons of time (compared to painting with mouse). And if you're going to be persistent about developing your drawing/painting skills, the investment will pay off sooner or later. Tablet itself isn't that hard to get used to. Getting comfortable with Photoshop (or its equivalent) is the real problem.   

As for the scanner... A good one costs much less than a good tablet. Also, as long as you're not afraid of a bit of photo retouching, you can take photos of your drawings with almost any digital camera (except maybe camera in older mobile phone) instead of scanning them.

Yeah, props for the videos, DKH. It's nice to see fellow AGSer at work! Good luck with your MAGS project

[These days the forums are thronged with facial hair, and 640x480 is still considered hi-res]

The same moment I had this seemingly brilliant idea for a pirate game, you've posted the news of Nelly sequel. I guess I can be glad Nelly II is (more or less) approaching completion

I released the original Nelly game in 2007, if the word 'original' can be applied to a pirate-themed adventure game. Back then no one on the AGS forums could grow a beard and 640x480 was considered hi-res. These days the forums are thronged with facial hair, and 640x480 is still considered hi-res.

So true

For me, Nelly is one of the faces of AGS. I have very fond memories of playing Spoonbeaks Ahoy!. Also, I'm a fool for all things marine, so this is going to be a must play x 2.

EDIT: What's the resolution? Judging from these screenshots it must be hi-res (640x480 ) at least?

Looking forward to this.
Only problem is that my own lifetime project also features airships and vast amounts of lying to strangers with no consequences.

I feel for you.... Now I'm glad I'm pursuing my pirate project for three days only!

Yeah, I saw the closed thread already. Anyway, thanks for the compliments Atelier;) Perhaps I should add that I've drawn few more rooms (I think 5 or 6) back then in January, but I still haven't got time to work on it since. Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever will. It was meant to be a full-lenght game. I guess it would take about 2-3 months to complete (working more or less daily). Unfortunately, I have very little time to spare nowadays :/ I wish I could make the full lenght version one day, but honestly, I doubt it.

EDIT:
@Anian
Thanks a lot for playing and for pointing out these bugs! If I'll ever make this game into a full-lenght feature, I'll make sure they won't reappear PS: Sorry it took me so long to reply :/

Thanks Ponch! But where can I find this MAGS thread? (You don't mean January MAGS thread, do you?) I've checked the forum twice and somehow still can't find it :/

Kudos go to you as well ddq. There weren't any major changes since we've finished working on it. I'm sorry for such a long delay. As they say, "life happened" (it still does) But I guess better to upload it late than never. Thanks for everything. If I'll ever be in need for a coder again, yo're my first choice, man!

Kasander presents

Jonah's Place

a one room adventure game

See that poor little girl in pink dress? She found herself trapped, all alone, in this strange, unfamiliar place. A place most unsuitable for little girls... Can you help her find a way out?

Jonah's Place was brought to you by:

Kasander: screenplay, art, animation
ddq: coding
Kevin McLeod [of incompetech.com]: music


DOWNLOAD LINK
ALTERNATE DOWNLOAD LINK
file size: 13 MB

IMPORTANT: This game runs in 1024x768 resolution. Therefore it won't run on small screen monitors (like 800x600).

I hope you'll enjoy the game, or at least, some aspects of it. If so, let me know! Cheers!

PS: My sincere thanks goes to the one and only ddq. Without him, I'd be lost... just like a like a little girl inside a giant whale  
PS2: This is my very first AGS game. It was made for January MAGS (theme: pub). At the beginning, I'd planned full-lenght (10 rooms) game, but as the deadline was approaching, I had to scale it down. I've abandoned the overblown script and all the rooms except one. So for the last two days, me and ddq concentrated on making this one room playable (and hopefully, enjoyable). That's all, folks. Now go on and try it!

Calin, Kasander, Eggie, Cleanic, how's it going? Or is it not?

Nope. I have to concentrate on other things this month. This months theme was still too narrow for me anyway, without option to invent one's own cryptid or legend. So good luck to whoever is participating;)

I think I might have mistakenly voted twice :/ I've stayed late until morning hours last night and had browser set on this thread, and mindlessly voted again few minutes ago, then had this deja vu feeling. Sorry for inconvinience.
I don't know if this needs to be fixed or something (I suppose it does), but I had this overhelming need to clear my concience, so I could look forward to sunbaking in heaven.

"Scary tales" like The Hook are urban legends as well as the one about spider eggs in chewing gum, but the forumer would arguably make a better game plot than the latter*.

Never! This is the first time I hear about spider eggs in chewing gum, honest. Now this is something I'd like to see in a horror movie. This makes all the "Hooks" and "vanishing hitchhikers" really chewed-up I mean, how many clones of Friday the 13th can one see  
Funny thing, I was just reading about other urban legend involving chewing gum (the one I can remember from my childhood) just before I've read your answer.
Anyway thanks for quick reply;)

About definitions (last time, I promise):
Looking for clues I stumbled upon scientific paper on the subject (over 150 pages of great read, based on research gathered in several countries over the course of some 20 years). According to author, the difference between "the proper legend" and "the urban legend" is that while "the proper legend" (myth/tale) resurfaces at some point in time and lives on, perpetually, for years and centuries, the urban legend is more of seasoned nature. Either it appears and then disappears forever, or appears and vanishes only to be resurrected after some period of absence (and it usually gets changed a little to match current times).
Seems like it was this difference that really bugged me. I can sleep calmly now;)

I'm still undecided about participating, gotta think about it.

PS: I hereby announce an urban legend about certain AGS forum member attacking Poland as a hoax.
Poland is yet to be attaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Only games based on existing legend? That's a pity.... I was thinking about making up some hoax photos.

I find the definition of urban legend blurred. According to oxford dictionary it's clear: a "humorous or horrific story or piece of information circulated as though true, especially one purporting to involve someone vaguely related or known to the teller."
Or better one, from other site:
"A story, generally untrue but sometimes one that is merely exaggerated or sensationalise, that gains the status of folklore by continual retelling. Such stories, which may be old and cliché-ridden, are often given a degree of plausibility by being updated in a contemporary setting, or by the teller's claims of personal involvement."

On the other hand I've found Bermuda Triangle as an example of urban legend on wikipedia. It's obviously based on some facts and hypothesis (real ships/people disappearing, unlike in "hook" stories). Are mysterious stories like Bermuda Triangle, Mary Celeste or the one about Jean Grenier (http://askipedia.com/?p=384) urban legends or are they rooted in facts too much to be called that?

I'd be grateful if someone could make this clear to me.

I just tend to throw all the legendary, religious, paranormal and other imaginary stuff to this bottomless chest labeled "myths". Hence the trouble with definitions.

1) Poland.

2) Petrol station = "Stacja benzynowa". Benzyna=petrol, stacja=station. So talking informal it's usually "stacja".

3)  Kilometres.

I'm shamelessly bumping this thread. Sunday is good day to check out on Jan MAGS games. And it's the last moment to do so (almost!). So if you have some spare time (and haven't tried them already), play and then

(by sending PM to MAGS Host). Thanks for your attention!

My vote goes to Tabata and her Evil Queen refusing to wear 3D glasses (2D FTW!). If I had a second vote, I'd go for selmiak's branch-sniffing creature

[Controls]

Your action sequences reminded me about Indy Jones and the Last Crusade (fighting) and Secret of Monkey Island (taunting). Nevertheless, I find them refreshing, and think it's a nice idea to break the puzzle-solving routine. I found the addition of taunts most enjoyable. I think it fits well into your game's genre (which seems to be a tongue-in-cheek spy/secret agent comedy). You could put even more emphasis on taunts, so they can be more abstract, confusing, or maybe even multi-leveled. And I don't really mind if they are longer than the actual fight. I mean, it's not Mortal Kombat, right? 

Controls:
Controls are ok, but there should be some kind of introductory tutorial (like at the beginning of IJ&LC , for example) in which player can get familiar with them, so in the real fight he can fight instead of looking at descriptions at the bottom of screen.

I didn't notice if the use of taunts has any impact on a fight. I'd like to see my character taunts confuse the opponent (and vice versa, if I fail to respond properly in given time). It could be like in this quote that our fellow AGSer Tabata had in her signature: "If you can't convice (ie: beat the crap out of) them, confuse them". When our hero is down and beaten, perhaps some sharp and unexpected taunt should be his last (ass-saving) resort, so he can turn the fight around. 

Difficulty
I've played the fight about six times, managing to win it only twice. It's all too fast for me... And I've played (and WON) MK 1&2, Street Figter 2, Double Dragon and few others, so I have some pixel-ass-kicking experience (it wasn't so long ago...or was it? ) ).

I've managed to win my first fight only by >punching (9), advancing a step (6), then repeating< and after this, I thought, "phew, this is way too easy". Well, I wasn't right, because when I tried to kick in the next fight, I found out that mis-timed kicks are punished severely. Opponent kicked back, the hero flew all the way to the edge of the screen, then I had to try to fight all the way back (without success, not even once in six fights). I like the fact that kicking is powerful, but IMO the punishment is too severe.

Perhaps a kind of (optional?) "slow motion mode" would make it easier for players like me, and more enjoyable...But I guess you'd need more character frames then. Or the easiest solution: possibility to change the difficulty of action sequences in Options menu.

Errors I didn't notice any;)

I hope this helps. Cheers and keep on working!