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I'm not saying that we should riddle our games in verbs and cursors to create a false illusion of complexity, but I'm tempted to think there is something satisfying in trying lots of different combinations of actions; the more you are clicking on the mouse, the more you feel as though you are doing something rather than simply watching an interactive movie.

The problem I see with having more verbs/cursors is that in order to keep immersion up there has to be a unique response for almost every interaction, or else you feel even more restricted than if the options weren't there at all since you see you CAN do them, but the game's not LETTING you.  However, if the varied responses are present, than this could be a big boost to the game--it all comes back to choosing the right interface for your game

Robvalue: I played the beta version a while ago, but if I recall correctly

Spoiler

Look for things that glow yellow

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Hmm, lots of things to think about

One thing I've always disliked about the default Sierra system is having to open a new window to get to the inventory and having to press "OK" to select an item.  That's at least 3 clicks, 5 if you accidentally select the wrong item at first and have to go back to the regular cursor in order to select another.  Far too many!

On the other hand, I personally don't have a problem with the Sierra cursor interface (assuming that there aren't too many extra cursors to cycle through), and I don't believe it is inherently flawed--it's just that few games take advantage of having separate cursors for Talk and Interact.  I agree that the Broken Sword interface is the best one if that's the case (that's the one I've used for my games so far).

That said, I still think it could be improved.  One of the things I like about the BS interface (which was also mentioned) is the default walk when you're not clicking on a hotspot, and I was thinking that this could be combined with the Sierra style to make a more comfortable interface.  You would have Examine, Interact, and Talk cursors that would cycle normally, but when you click anywhere that's not a hotspot, the cursor would briefly turn into the walk cursor (just to indicate that the walking action is beginning), then default back to whichever cursor mode you were on before.  It would eliminate the walk cursor, making cycling much faster and thus less of an annoyance if you accidentally miss a mode.  I could swear some games do this, but I can't remember which ones (possibly The Longest Journey).  I can't think of any drawbacks to that interface at the moment (assuming, of course, that separate interact/talk actions ARE needed).

Keep the articles comin', Vince!  Reading this one made me think of the default-walk-thingy I just described, which is what I will probably use in my next game unless I can think of something better--these articles have been very timely, I must say

Hehe, thanks WHAM

Thank you very much for the edit, Knoodn   As I mentioned above, I consciously decided to make a waddle instead of normal walking movements, but seeing it actually done, it's given me something to think about.  I'll probably have an edit up in a few days.

It seems you can't even call a game just "good" anymore without the hounds being let loose.

The thing is that according to the official blue cups rating description, 3 cups = "a decent game", and 4 cups = "a good game"... so technically, if you think it's a good game it should deserve 4 cups in your eyes

I've yet to hear anyone explain to me just why this particular game deserves four cups. Not "It's better than some of those four cup games!", but actual concrete examples of this games superior quality. The quality that the panel looks for when rating a game. All areas of the game. So help me out, here. Give me examples of the excellent gameplay mechanics that lift this game above the rest.

I don't want to take this thread entirely off-topic, but I was under the impression that different areas could compensate for others when assigning a rating.  For example, looking solely at the graphics, Trilby's Notes doesn't look like a 5-cup game to me, but I assume the gameplay and story make up for that (haven't played it, so I don't know from experience).
Anyway, I think BTDT does excel in areas of immersion and the overall fun-quotient

And please, just so that no one misinterprets me, I'm not arguing with the board rating; I understand that, in the end, it's a person's opinion, just like mine.  We just happen to differ in this case

Oops, I should have chosen my words more carefully, I didn't mean he was actually a slug, just that he resembled a slug... so I kind of like having the blobby "legs" on him, although the suggestions and that edit is much appreciated
I did make some changes according to suggestions:
-third "leg" is smaller on left leg extension frame
-eyes rotate more evenly

Thanks for the help!

I'm currently trying to make walkcycles in the NE, SE, SW, NW angles for this little sluggy guy
Here is the side walkcycle so far:
  2X
He doesn't have the usual alternating arm/"leg" movement because I thought a waddle would be more appropriate

Crit appreciated, thanks!

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Nice article Vince, I know it's given me things to think about on the project I'm working on now   In fact, I immediately opened up my GUI and looked for for problems!

See, this is the problem right here. If your adventure game needs to have a cursor with a one pixel mark (so you know exactly where you are pointing), your game is already broken. If you're pointing at a man and you need to differentiate between his nose and his moustache and you can't make out where your cursor is hitting him, you need LARGER hotspots. If those hotspots would collide, you need to increase the size of your art.

I agree with LeChuck here   I don't think anyone enjoys pixel hunts; bad icons can make it worse, but having a pixel hunt there in the first place is already bad design.  If you make hotspots large enough, I think you can get away with icons that are not exactly defined.

As an example, here is a portion of the GUI I'm currently working on:

After reading the article, I took a look and wondered if these were good icons.  I think the hotspots for the walk (the middle of the X), examine (the middle of the magnifying glass), and talk (the end of the balloon tail) are intuitive, even though they are not all in the same locations or have pixel-precision... perhaps others might not agree, though?
The interact button, on the other hand, is more ambiguous and I'll try to come up with something better (already your advice is paying dividends )

Thanks for the article!

It's shaping up quite nicely, Ghost!

A few suggestions (I think some may have been mentioned already, but forgive me, I haven't read the entire thread )
-the sprites could use some higher contrast
-the environment tiles could use less saturation; when the sprites are on top, they lose a lot of visibility
-adding a slight hue (instead of a pure greys) would look more attractive, I think.  I'm not a fan of pure grey, the eye craves colour!
-this is entirely subjective, but I find the colours of the GUI a bit drab.  I made a quick edit:

-I warmed up the tones and increased contrast so things are a little more matched up.
-removed the pure grey
-made the wooden slats of the background bigger.  Assuming this is a table, having the slats so small messes with the scale of the board, I think.  The edit scale isn't ideal either, but it's just to show what I mean

Hope this helped, good luck with the project!

To the reader: thanks for having read this long and dull post

I honestly found it interesting   Thanks for all that effort!

Chu Chu Rocket!

Nik's the musician for TFE, Subspark
Speaking from the art side, things have been a bit busy for us lately, but we hope to go back on full speed ahead soon

Pipercombs:

Spoiler

You'll need something to walk over the lava

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If you need more nudging:

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Get one of the wood planks from the boarded-up fish shop

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I need a hint on how to put the

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hanger at the window, i have lighter, scissors, glue, hanger and cut the poster

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what now???

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You need something to connect the hanger to the TV

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Yarooze:
As a hint to point you in the right direction:

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The makeup woman said that she and her fish were on a diet, and that fish looks awfully hungry...

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Sounds interesting, and I like the clean style of the backgrounds   Good luck finishing it up!

I LOVED IT.

That is all




EDIT: on second thought, I will expand upon my affection for this game   Hilarious dialogue, fun art style (the sprites were so cute) and animation (as Lemmy said, fabulous walkcycles), and puzzles of just the right difficulty.  Spiffy job, Dan and Ben!

Thanks Ivy

About all the comments about the ending, I feel I have to say thank goodness for beta-testers

Spoiler

I had the ending in mind as worked on the game through the week (the original idea had the player character as a bit mean, but not psychopathic... for example, the blonde's eyes would have been irritated by rubbing alcohol, and not permanently blinded.  Things obviously changed as the week went by ).  However, as the creator it seemed obvious to me that the player was insane, and I thought saying so explicitly at the end would wreck the joke.  I asked Nickenstien about it and he thought it was a good ending, and suggested using a newspaper headline as the revealer.  I liked the idea as it made it less explicit than if the narrator revealed it, ran with it, and added the sub-heading article about the pageant as further evidence that the player had a grossly distorted view of reality... and it seems that it's what people ended up liking the most!  It just shows how having an outside perspective helps

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I'm glad you enjoyed it!  Thanks for playing

Why don't more people put uplifting music in their games these days?

You can't get more peppy than The Ventures

Have you changed the positions of the edges of the room?  Maybe your player isn't changing rooms because it never "leaves" the area

EDIT: oops, I think I misread your post and now see you've checked the room edges; however, if the bottom edge is too far down it might cause a problem, have you tried moving the bottom edge up a bit?