Messages

[Original Music]

I think a good alternative would be to create two separate awards, one for Original Music and one for Audio Design, which would encompass both sound effects and non-original music. Even if a game does not have original music, a lot of skill and work can also go into finding the appropriate tracks that fit with the mood/gameplay and using them to enhance the experience. For example, half the music in our game was written and performed by myself while the other half was made up of public domain classical music performances and songs from the 1920s, and the task of curating/choosing those specific tracks and not others, as well as making them work in key moments of the game, took months. But like I said above, this might perhaps be better classified as "audio design" and it would be fair for it to be acknowledged in a separate award.

A nice article has been written, I just stumbled upon it here https://www.pcgamer.com/in-just-2-hours-if-on-a-winters-night-four-travelers-tells-one-of-the-best-adventure-game-stories-ive-ever-played/

Yes! A bunch of people sent it to me when it came out, haha. We've had lots of nice reviews, but this one takes the cake!

[For your consideration:IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT, FOUR TRAVELERSby Dead Idle Games]

For your consideration:

IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT, FOUR TRAVELERS

by Dead Idle Games

AGS Database page | Itch.io page | Steam page

The game was first released on itch.io on March 10th, with a Steam release following on September 21st, in both cases 100% free. An optional DLC package was added with the September release, consisting of a digital artbook + OST for those who wanted to show their support in a more tangible way Windows and Linux versions are available on both platforms, whereas the Mac version is only available on itch.io.

Please consider for:

• Best Game Created with AGS
• Best Freeware Game Created with AGS
• Best Writing
• Best Character (Valérie Winterbourne)
• Best Puzzles
• Best Background Art
• Best Character Art
• Best Animation
• Best Music & Sound
• Best Programming

Well, that is a real bummer to hear, but I totally get it. Thank you so much for your amazing work all these years, and here's to hoping somebody can take on the task. Stepping into that virtual hall and seeing everybody gathered there was one of my favourite things about the Awards, and it would be really sad to lose that.

I was pushing hard for a Christmas release but it doesn't look like that's in the cards.  Well, I didn't want to have to compete with If on a Winter's Night, Four Travelers in the 2021 AGS Awards anyway because it's too good and really you should just play it right now.

Awww thank you <3 Looking forward to the release, everything you've shown so far looks fantastic!

Begotten

That was one messed up movie.

That's the one.



Your turn!

Nope.

Nope, but religious themes are definitely a thing here.

Let's keep it black and white... Your shot actually reminded me of a very similar shot from this movie.

The Seventh Seal?

But I guess this is also why the view editor needs multiple selection and being able to edit properties from multiple frames at once.

Agree, that would also be a very welcome addition. But I guess it would take more work?

I'm not sure this is the best place to leave a suggestion, but right now, the only way to change the delay of a view frame is manually in the View editor, and it can get quite cumbersome if for whatever reason you need to change the values for a lot of frames. How feasible would it be to expose the view frame delay property to the script?

Sorry for not having dropped by in a while This latest revision does look much better, but I think I have to agree with Cassie. It might be a bit of an edge case but I'm not sure having anything on top of the sprite is a good idea...

I think the audio indicator should go outside of the sprite box. In these three cases the icon is clearly visible because the sprite has a large transparent area, but if the sprite is not transparent, the icon will be much harder to see (if not completely invisible, depending on the sprite colours). I think the very first example you posted is the right way to go here.

[used to enforce that agreement]

It's DRM once you are forced to sign an agreement.
So a 3rd party client (like steam) is basically also DRM, because it usually does contain a user agreement when you install the client.
Itch.io can host your games as DRM free. GOG has DRM free games.

I think you're confusing copyright with DRM. A copyright (or a software license) is a legally binding agreement. DRM is a technology used to enforce that agreement. Just because a game or a piece of software is DRM free, it doesn't mean that it's copyright free or that you're allowed to do anything you want with it.

DRM free: when your able to download the game packed as archive, not as an installer that contains a license agreement, and the archive contain the game files itself, not an installer that contains a license agreement

You literally just made that up, that has nothing to do with the definition of DRM.

"Having to install a client to download something is not DRM; preventing you from copying that thing you downloaded is."
True, the client isn't DRM, the game itself can use DRM. Steam does not offer standalone DRM-free installers or downloadable archives, which is what Frodo seems to prefer.

Steam absolutely offers DRM-free installers or downloadable archives, for example for every single AGS game ever. When you click that "Install" button on Steam, the only thing the client does is download the game files to your computer. If it's an AGS game, you can easily check that yourself by navigating your hard drive to the install location, and you will see that the files you just downloaded are the usual gametitle.exe, winsetup.exe, speech.vox, etc.

"By your logic, itch.io would be DRM too, because you have to use a 3rd party application (i.e., a web browser such as Firefox or Chrome or Safari) to download their games."
The licence agreement of a browser itself isn't related to DRM of games.

As stated above, a license agreement and a DRM solution are different things. Frodo's reasoning was that if you need to use a third-party application to download your games, then that application is DRM. Ergo, a web browser would be DRM under that definition.

"Games on Steam only have DRM if the developer chooses to implement it"
True. Steam has DRM free games too indeed. So it depends on the the game license itself.

So the statement "Steam IS DRM" is false. Glad we got to the same conclusion.

[IS]

Steam IS DRM.  I can't even access your game to download it or install it, without being forced to install an annoying 3rd party client.  And games shouldn't be locked behind a client. 

No, Steam is not DRM, and you saying so makes me think you don't actually know what DRM actually means. By your logic, itch.io would be DRM too, because you have to use a 3rd party application (i.e., a web browser such as Firefox or Chrome or Safari) to download their games. Having to install a client to download something is not DRM; preventing you from copying that thing you downloaded is.

If you don't want to install the client, that's totally fair. But you're framing the issue as an ethical one ("I don't support DRM") when it's actually a matter of convenience ("I don't want to have to download a bunch of different clients to get my games").

[if the developer chooses to implement it]

That's a shame.   

Like I said, the game looks brilliant.  But since I don't support DRM, I won't be buying it from steam.

But I'll gladly give you my money when it's DRM-free. 

Can we please kill the misconception that Steam = DRM? Games on Steam only have DRM if the developer chooses to implement it (and I'm not even sure how/if you could do it for AGS). We released our game on Steam just yesterday, and it's completely DRM-free. You can copy the folder, move it somewhere else in your hard drive, or to another computer, and it will play perfectly without the client.

Found a link to all three episodes, maybe there are better links than these, but better than nothing.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x74l6bk
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x74jf5q
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x74jf5s

Ah, I remember finding these when I was looking for it, but unfortunately the subtitles are in Greek and my French is not exactly amazing either, so I had to find it somewhere else

Hope you enjoy watching it, i found it fanastic.
Thanks again Laura for bringing this back to my mind !

I wasn't expecting anybody to know it (and maybe end up guessing via clues and some googling), so this makes me very happy! It really is a pretty unique series

I briefly played with adding an indicator for audio in the frame
Wonder if it's alright or too subtle. I used the existing icon for audio.

Hey, that looks really cool! I personally would be totally ok with this icon, it's not intrusive and it's pretty self-explanatory, I think.

Ian, I believe you should start thinking about taking over