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I think this Game Of Life would make a much better adventure...

Sierra actually came close with their turn-based "life" game Jones in the Fast Lane. I'd love to see a remake of it, though The Sims has done much of it already.

This is a good game, I'm having fun playing it, but - and I may be just daft - How do I access the last scenario? The PC Power Failure one? I played and completed all the others...

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've been working on it since October after all (It may not look like it but: meh  ).

Sorry but the last scenario isn't available because it wasn't actually implemented. I wanted to but I didn't have time in the run-up to the deadline. Since I documented it in my university report and wanted to create a sophisticated scenario, I included the button there anyway.

Also, shouldn't there be more scenarios and harder than just "easy" or "very easy"? :-/

If I had the time and this was a professional product, yes! Right now I've got two more assignments then two exams and I'm done, so we'll see what the future holds. I've certainly enjoyed creating this so there is a strong possibility I'll add to it in the future but there's a great deal that I would like to do.

Thanks for the comments.

Nice, neat game/piece of edutainment.  However, I did think your explaination as to why floppy disks are no longer used a little iffy, maybe some revision is in order. Other than that its fine, serves its purpose well.

With the vast range of technical issues, it's inevitable that people will find parts they don't agree with so I tried to find a balance by making them qute general. It's that's also mixed in with my admitted rush to get it done so it was bound to happen. That said, what do you think about my statement in the sim of "Since floppy drives aren't in use, they've been replaced by CD-DVD drives and most people have an extra hard disk drive."? That's been my experience.

One little bug - when you enter the second corridor from the first corridor, you cannot walk anywhere. I'm guessing this is an issue with character location not matching up with walkable areas. This means that in order to leave the corridor you need to use the manager's door, go back out into the corridor and then walk.

Other than that was smooth - certainly an interesting concept.

Sorry about that. It's working ok for me right now, though, and I haven't modified much since I uploaded the current version ... there's a single line of walkable area missing which I've fixed but that's it.

Take a whole day off from the project, it'll make you feel a LOT better. Try and do another activity to keep yourself busy (Exercise is good - it will helps your brain), but don't worry if you think about the project during the break, just don't actually work on it.

When you return to the work, reasses the individual parts you were working on and study what is wrong with them and whether you want to remake them from scratch.

I'd love to see a proper cop game, but obviously they always have to border between adventure and simulation since there's so much that a real officer has to remember and abide.

I use Firefox and haven't had any pop-ups or malware from it, but that's the second time I've heard that. :-/ Any suggestions for another decent one?

Sorry, vent over. This ever happened to anyone else? I'm normally hitting ctrl+s every five seconds.

I've developed that habit over my time in using computers. Save early, save often. Hell, I still copy and paste most major forum posts I do due to that sh*tty habit of Internet Explorer not reaching a page and my post not still being there when I hit Back.  :o

The fortunate part of re-doing work that you've lost is that, typically, you've already done the "mental work" in how it's set out so you know exactly what you're, forgive the term, 'reproducing'.

Is it not worth PMing him then? I could use some music for this.

I've had a similar idea for an adventure game and it's one I doubt I'll ever make since it would require fantastic visuals to do justice. It was partly inspired, naturally, by real life stress where I was having crazy dreams (Including dreams of dreams ) and was worried about what control I had over my subconscience and mental state. Iron Maiden's awesome "Dream of Mirrors" was something that I really related to at the time - the track itself is about a man too scared to sleep!

I think Lucas Kane from Fahrenheit (aka Indigo Prophecy) is a good reference for the style, though the adventure would be more puzzle based rather than mini-games.

The adventure would be about a normal person who has a series of harrowing nightmares that crack away at his sanity and soon cause all sorts of delusions and mistakes in the real world. Each series of dreams and nightmares would be a whole gameplay segment so there's a HUGE variety of locations and puzzles that could be implemented.

By the end, they're be turning into a half-mad, Fight Club-narrator style insomniac, convinced that they shouldn't sleep. I'd rather avoid the involvement of some paranormal\evil forces and focus on psychology but it may be a necessity for the plot (Just because "Yay I'm cured" is too easy of an ending  ).

There's a lot of potential in there and, it may sound cliche, I really do think that such an absorbing game, well-written and "directed", could really help the genre.

PCs are so utterly complicated that a simple answer is sometimes not possible. I can't believe the amount of problems that I've solved with a reboot without making changes, nor the few times that a program hasn't run and then has run without problems the next time. 

They are fickle beasts, in short. Understand as much as you can but know that you won't understand them all.

[Overview]

Overview

Techs was created for my final year university project. I've used AGS to create a 'serious' production that acts as a "simulation" where the user is an IT Technician and has to solve different computing problems in each of the five scenarios. There's a full tutorial and introduction sequence too.

The following release is not a full game but rather the final 'prototype' that I created since I had a deadline (29th of March) that I had to stick to but I do plan to continue to develop it in the future. This version doesn't have music due to the possbile legalities that I wanted to avoid for the hand-in so simply hum your favourite tunes while playing.

Feedback is welcome - indeed, interest may spur me on to do more with the simulation.

Screenshots

Title Screen:


Tutorial:


A help request:


Problem analysis in progress!


Download.

I'm not a fan of horror movies or games in general - and Yahtzee's work was very atmospheric indeed - but one professional (Sorry, you'll have to buy it ) game that springs to mind is Fahrenheit, aka Indigo Prophecy:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/indigo-prophecy

A few comments:

- AGS is definitely useful in creating educational games, though due to their limited requirements I honestly think most engines are capable. Personally, however, I find AGS easy to use which means production would be focussed on the important parts (Educational issues) rather than technical. You'd probably need a good artwork foundation though, since I think the main problem is keeping a child's attention which I can imagine being easier by using Flash to create effective animations.

- Just today I've finished my IT helpdesk simulation, "Techs", as part of my final year project for uni. It's a serious simulation intended to educate amateur IT support workers.Send me a PM and I can show you the report or just the research if you would like.

- Speaking of the research, I asked here for "Serious usages of AGS" a few weeks ago and one game recommended to me was a French language project that "CP" was developing but she gave up on it. It was certainly interesting to read about though.

- Another bit of research that springs to mind is a chapter in "Game Design" by Bob Bates (2004) where he analyses all of the gaming genres, one of which is children's games. It's worth a read if you can find it, or try another book if you can.

- Oh, and one memory I have as a child is that using loads of colour is fantastic. I can't remember anything about Disney's Sleeping Beauty (Or was it Cinderalla?) except that the fairy godmothers had very bright individual clothing. I think people underestimate how primary colours can make a huge difference with children who are naturally still adapting to the spectrum.

I think that it's pretty good and a suitable point to ask for suggestions.

I'm no artist, but you definitely need to flesh out the skin tones.

I bet Axl storms off the stage after two songs or fails to turn up at all. Or then he just jumps into the crowd and starts beating up his own fans.

I saw "them" (The new GnR) in 2002 and they were fantastic, though - this was when I was "mildly" into metal and didn't know any of their stuff beyond recognising the name of Welcome to the Jungle. They did turn up an hour late but they had an amazing presence and atmosphere. I regret leaving it early, since I was paranoid that 60,000 people leaving would be absolute chaos but it's never that bad when things finish.

Since the old Leeds site was near some homes (WTF? I don't know) the organisers were only allowed noise until before 1AM but Axle didn't agree. "I didn't come all the way to f**king England to be told to stop playing!"

I've been to Leeds twice (02 and 03 if I recall correctly) and Download once (05), all were fantastic. Download this year is looking awesome - if I hadn't seen Iron Maiden last December then I definitely would have signed up by now, but I'm just waiting for a few more bands that I definitely want to see. It can take a lot of effort in terms of travelling and money, that's all. 

Line-up at present:
Head-liners: My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, Iron Maiden.
Confirmed: Bowling For Soup, Bring Me The Horizon, Buckcherry, Devil Driver, Dimmu Borgir, DragonForce, Dream Theater, Enter Shikari, Evanescence, Gallows, Killswitch Engage, Korn, Lamb Of God, Machine Head, Megadeth, Marilyn Manson, Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Shadows Fall, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Turbonegro, Velvet Revolver, Wolfmother.

Here's a pic of Download 05 which had around 109,000 people:

Haha, this looks hilarious. I've seen a few designers be asked in an interview about they themselves making a game about games development but I've never seen any for real.

Can you get any testers who ask you to "tighten the graphics on level 3"? 

What did the cannibal's wife do to her husband when he came home late for tea?

She gave him the cold shoulder. :

I'm sorry.

I've only seen the first and sixth pages of this thread, but I really, really like the concept and the LucasArts-style graphics. Keep it up! 

Thanks for the interest folks.

I'm going to be doing approximately five scenarios in total, possibly six if I have the time. I'll definitely be continuing to develop it after the project is handed-in because I've really enjoyed it.