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So, yeah, my latest game will be a text parser. Being an ignorant, lazy American, I don't really know a whole lot of synonyms for similar words in British English that I should probably include in the game to avoid frustration. The game contains many different sorts of rooms. A kitchen with counters and cupboards, large rooms with night stands, a lounge and a study. The list goes on. The general thing I want to consider is simply the indoor scenario:

Can you help me come up with some synonyms for things that I may not be aware of?

...that is, if it is possible.

I saw that recently I've been getting traffic from: http://www.thesyracusefanblog.com/
on my website. I checked the site, but it has nothing to do with what I put on my site. This happens all the time and I tend to ignore it, but what makes this strange is that I live in Syracuse, and when I visit the site I can't find where the link to my site is, or how it could possibly be relevant.

So, is there a way to kind of search for a link on this site?

Please note: I've taken your suggestions and nabbed a second job, so the going on this one might be a bit slow!

On with this thing, anyway:



It has been years to James. Thousands of years.

When we last left James, he was trapped in an endless nightmare that had taken place in his old home. Since then, he has been dragged through a never ending abyss of darkness by all kinds of tormentors, and was moved away from his home long ago.  

The experience for James has been hell. Yet, things have changed so much in the time that he has been held prisoner. At first he was terrified, and his tormentors enjoyed his fear. Then he became angry, and his tormentors provoked them in any way they could.

And now? Now James is simply broken. Finished. He still becomes scared, angry, and depressed...but it isn't the tormentor's doing anymore. When he can, he rests, but most of his time is spent in an unusual state of mind. He knows very little. He's been handed over to something. Something horrible. It isn't like the other tormentors, though. It keeps him locked away in a cell, occasionally picking on him for entertainment.

The never changing atmosphere, dripping ceilings, and filthy walls certainly don't help.

This constant state of unease keeps James on edge. His emotions are unstable. He finds himself unintentionally screaming during his periods of rest. He blacks out, something pummels him...and then he is chained up. Powerless, James accepts his situation and attempts to rest once more.  Upon hearing something unusual, James is momentarily filled with a feeling so old he nearly couldn't remember it: hope.

This is where the final chapter of this story begins.


Featuring an original soundtrack and (desperately needed) art assistance from Kelma, I present:

Living Nightmare: Freedom

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWsI3yFrKoo



***I will be fixing the text in these little cutscenes, don't worry!

I know this isn't exactly spectacular news, but recently I've become a featured contributor on Yahoo!, giving me a very nice boost that I very much needed. The article that did it for me is below, if you'd like to read it.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8153533/casual_gamers_vs_hardcore_gamers.html?cat=15

Yup. My gmail account has apparently been accessed from China. Google tells me that if this is not my activity (which it is not, of course) I should change my password immediately.

It was apparently accessed on June 1st, and google hasn't alerted me until now. Nothing seems to have been changed...I went ahead and changed all of my important online passwords...

Did someone log in and not find anything interesting? I'm having a hard time finding out just what went on. Did this happen to anyone else?

Do you think I'm safe?!

Ah!!!

I had some spare time recently, so I got together with some friends and we produced a video we had a lot of fun with.

It's something of a parody and we *did* use copyrighted materials, and we're not sure we've done it correctly.

It's here, if you want to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh8tPpJeUYg

Does anyone know if it's done correctly?

I don't know why I needed to make a topic for this, but it really would help me to just write this out.

I'm going through some hard times financially. I'm going into my senior year of college next fall. After getting a degree, I think everything will be okay. In the meantime, though, I've got to make it through a year with very limited resources. It's really hard to find work that will pay reasonably without that piece of paper.

I have a minimum wage job, and I write some articles on the side for a little money. It looks as though that is about to fall through, though. Soon my only source of income will be from the job.

I've got to pay for rent, school, and living expenses. After doing the math, it really seems that I will barely have enough. My parents seem to both be in situations where they are either less willing to help or unable to help. I don't live with either of them because of some step-family issues.

I think I'm just panicking a bit. Still, this is a really uncomfortable feeling. Any words of wisdom or advice out there?

I know these aren't anything special, but I'm having fun fooling around with them. Take a look if you want:

http://domithan.com/?p=55
http://domithan.com/?p=65

[surreal element]

Your task this time around is to come up with a poem, story, or whatever else you'd like to write that is surreal. It can be scary, sad, funny, romantic, whatever you'd like! Just be sure there is some sort of surreal element in your story!

I'll probably make trophies as well. Good luck to you!

I forgot to mention this earlier but I've started to pack up and release a bunch of backgrounds and things that I've decided I ultimately won't use for anything and even some things that were used in small projects. They're mostly backgrounds, and I'll probably keep this up and release more at some point. As many of you know I'm definitely not the best artist around here, but I think that they're some solid beginnings of rooms. Feel free to edit them or whatever you feel like doing with them.

http://domithan.com/?page_id=44

I'm working on this background but I'm really having trouble making it look like rain is rolling down the windows. Any suggestions?

Hello all. I'm finally working on the last chapter of those silly Living Nightmare games I've made. I'm planning on putting some serious work into this one. I wanted to discuss a few things beforehand though. Please feel free to give me input. I appreciate everything.

The majority of the third game takes place entirely within a sort of coma/dream. The setting of this dream is a gigantic, old mansion. James (the main character, if you're unfamiliar with all this) will occasionally be pursued throughout the house by something, but whether the player knows what it is or can even see it is yet to be determined.

Here's a few things I've learned as well as a few things I'm curious about:

I've learned:

*The scariest things are generally those which cannot be seen or explained. I received a lot of constructive criticism that as soon as the player had seen what he or she was supposed to be afraid of, the game instantly became less frightening.

*Puzzles absolutely need to make sense, regardless of the context.

*I need to make sure that the story is as clear as possible. I can see that the story in the other games can look incredibly disjointed when it's not being read by...well, me.


What I'd like feedback on:

*Simple puzzles are boring. It would be wise to change my generic 4 verb interface entirely. Action sequences would be lovely. What do you all think of a text parser? I like the idea of giving the player tons of options as far as what to inspect and interact with, and even hiding a few easter eggs within the commands.

*What would you make this presence following James look like, if anything? I would like to make some chase sequences...but how can I do this without letting the presence be seen? Could I maybe imply that you're being chased but the pursuer is invisible? (ie. As you're running away, a lamp falls over behind you, perhaps you hear footsteps closing in on you...)

*What other types of action sequences might fit well into a horror game?

Sorry for the long post, but thank you in advance for any help! I look forward to talking about this one.

Yay. It's here!

I forgot is the story of Jeremy, who had once aspired to be a great artist. Several nights of hard work at his current office job have lead him to fall asleep during his work. When Jeremy dreams, he finds his old world waiting for him as it once was. Guide Jeremy through his dream and see if maybe you can help him to remember what he has forgotten.


This is a fairly short (takes me about 15 minutes to "speed run" it) game, fairly straightforward as well. You should note that I've made a 5th verb for this game. When Jeremy "thinks" about something, he can bring up memories about his past life or even come up with ideas on how to solve certain puzzles.





Here is the page for download:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1414


Hope you enjoy it!

If you didn't know, I'm a pretty big fan of street fighter. I love playing it when I can. I'm a member of the forums over at shoryuken.com. I made a video today purely as a joke, but I've already gotten messages from several board members complaining about what an idiot I was for saying such stupid things. The video also quickly gained a handful of thumbs down(s?).I thought the joke aspect was blatant, but I guess not. See for yourself if you like:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGQAa_I06XE

Was it really THAT hard to catch?

So yeah I've been doing this show and it's been a lot of fun, but often times I review older games, and in the future I may do other non-ags indie games,so I can't post here in the games forum each time one is complete. If it's okay, I'd like to keep this post, and simply update it each time a new one is created.

My two most recent, 3 and 4 are up,

Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MULkCf-FAX0
and Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4exWIzALB24

If this is unacceptable I can do this elsewhere or on my site or something. Please enjoy.

"I forgot" is the story of Jeremy, a man who has lost his way. When he takes a secure job instead of following his dreams, Jeremy's past comes back to haunt him.

I won't say much for now.

Title says it all. I'm having issues with a walk cycle once again. For the sake of the game, I need this character's strides to be rather short, so I can't simply paint over the lovely sprites Jim Reed Made me for Living Nightmare: ED.

This is what I've got so far. I've done the up/down cycles without a hitch, but the side view is killing me. It looks like there's 1 or 2 frames missing, it looks like he's stomping his foot down rather than gracefully moving forward like normal people do.

Paintovers, tips, etc. more than welcome.

(Note: I will make the sort of 'bobbing' effect once the sprite is complete.)

So I've been extraordinarily busy with school and whatnot (bagged myself a 3.73 overall GPA so far, woot!) but I've decided I really, really miss making AGS games, even if it's not my greatest talent. I'm working on something that will require MUCH simpler graphics, takes place entirely in first person (I hate animation with a burning passion) and uses an even smaller resolution than what I've been working with.


Here are several backgrounds I've drawn up so far, all scaled up 3x.









I'm actually pretty happy with them all, but I want to keep improving. I guess what I'm asking for are some pointers, little things that I can add or tweak that go a long way with my style. I've already learned so much from asking for help here in the CL, such as the glass effect, the washed colors, perspective, and how I draw my windows. I'm excited to take it a step further, especially when you consider what this style evolved from!

EDIT: Just realized I uploaded a few with artifacts. Derp. Sorry about that, just ignore them I suppose.

So here's what happened. I started up my PC which I run windows 7 on. I bought windows 7 fair and square. I have the physical box and everything to prove it. After about 5-6 months of using it, my PC just started up claiming that this copy of windows is not genuine. After a while, it seemed to go away after I clicked "ok" on a few bits of text I didn't read. I ran slui.exe, it said that the genuine check was successful...

so what the hell happened there?

I was walking through the mall and I quickly caught the last few seconds of a news flash about riots breaking out because of tuition fees in the UK. I was just really curious as to what had happened. Sorry for the overly dramatic title.