Messages

Thanks, blueskirt! Glad you dug the tunes. I just finished recording a couple new ones last week, but now that I'm close to releasing the game, I might have to save them for the levels

(Also, just updated the main post with a call for testers.)

(Just updated the main post--the latest build of GESUNDHEIT! will be playable at this year's Nuit Blanche in Toronto!)

Crap, it's been a long time! Just updated the main post with a couple new screens.

As stated in the top post... I just finished a new version of the demo (v1.1) that gives you an option for keyboard/mouse controls, as well as an optional aiming crosshair, and snot stains on the ground. Here's the new version...

http://www.underwaterbase.com/files/gesundheit_demo1.1.zip

And here's a replacement index.dat that should unlock all the demo levels in the new version...
http://www.underwaterbase.com/files/v11index/index.dat

It'll save your key configuration, too. I haven't posted it on my site yet, because I want to see if anyone finds problems with the keyboard controls... so yeah, if anyone tries it and notices anything odd, let me know!

I know the controls and crosshair make things a bit easier, but maybe that's a good thing--if the controls are kinder, then I have room to make the puzzles more cruel...

I figure I'll make it so you can switch from the pause menu. I can't really think of a more efficient way to the shooting than the mouse, though, so I guess it'll be a mouse/keyboard combo. And maybe when you choose keyboard controls, both mouse buttons will become shoot.... sound reasonable?

Yeah, that was really cool of them to post it!  They're swell!

(And as for what's new with the game, I'm currently trying to figure out some keyboard movement, because some people have told me they'd prefer to have that option. I'll add that to the demo, and then probably start slowly making stuff for the "fuller" version, which will be released, uh, in the future.)

Just uploaded a new version (1.0.1).
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=863
I fixed the save bug, which was a really silly error on my part, and tweaked the level 12 walkable so that the red guy can't eat you through that wall any more. Thanks JBurger and BOYD1981! If anyone notices any other weirdnesses, let me know...

And thank you, Chicky.Period.!

Arggghhhh, that save bug thing sounds really annoying. JBurger, I just PM'd you. Is anyone else having this problem?

EDIT: I was just playing with some things, and I started having this problem too. Bah!!!

EDIT (March 19): Just uploaded a new version, with that bug fixed. Thanks for finding it. New version: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=863

Layabout:  You're much too kind! (Obviously haven't run into the save bug yet!)

Thanks, hey! I'm glad people are digging the art style. When I went to my illustration instructor in September with an early version, asking him if I could work on it for a class project, it just had lame placeholder graphics, and he told me he'd let me do it as long as I made the graphics look more like my drawings. So I owe it all to him.

Snake: Thank you kindly! Yeah, I definitely want to have more monster types (maybe even a boss or two), traps, and power-up objects in the final. I'd like to keep the controls down to just the two buttons, though, so I'm thinking of ways the power-ups could be tied to the level location, or something you touch, and fit them into the puzzles that way. I've got a little sketchbook I carry around with concept snots in it.

Ali: Never played Psychonauts. Just looked it up, though, and it seems interesting. My old roommate had an Xbox. If only I'd known about it then...

Hey you guys, thanks for all the love (and the beta testing)! I tweaked some little things the testers mentioned (I just hope I didn't mess something ELSE up). The demo has twelve levels and a tutorial, and is 39 MB.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?category=5&action=detail&id=863

I also threw together a website just now for my pretend game company at http://www.underwaterbase.com. Hmmm, now that I think of it, I only registered underwaterbase.com a day and a half ago. Hopefully it's worked its way around the internet by now...

This is great! My girlfriend and I stayed up late last night getting maybe halfway through, and we have plans to continue tonight (romantic, eh?). Thanks for making this!

Last update before demo release... let's start with another screenshot...



Well, it's later than I thought it would be, but I've got a 12-level demo done, and recorded another handful of music tracks, and now I just need some beta testers to look at it. I've had some of my friends test it already, but that was a while ago and there's some new stuff anyways, so it could probably use another round.

I'm also curious about what kind of system requirements this thing has, since it's 32-bit colour and there are sprites with alpha channels all over the place. The zip's also kind of heavy, at 37 MB. But if anybody feels like testing, let me know and I'll be eternally grateful!

UPDATE (Jan 4, 2007):

So I've changed the name of the game from "Yummy Snot" to "Gesundheit," which I think I'll stick with (hmm... or maybe it would look good with an exclamation point, haha). Hopefully the new name is less, uh, stupid-sounding? 

Last month I finished the 10-level beta version that I had planned on releasing, but when I passed it around to some friends I learned that the tutorial and the early levels need a bit of tweaking, just to soften the learning curve. I still handed it in for my independent project at school, though, and it seemed to go over well.

Now for some new material. Here's a screenshot from one of the later levels:



And here's the player character:

And here's an mp3 of the title music I recorded with some second-hand instruments (it was good fun): http://www.matthammill.com/files/music1.mp3

Now my goal is to release a demo within the next month or so. Fingers crossed!

TheMagician: Thanks! The monster is made out of a bunch of flat shapes... no toon shaders, just simple light from the front.  I drew the shapes in anim8or with the spline tool, and then assigned the scanned textures to each body part. I used bones to make the body curve and the knees bend and stuff. The bones all rotate around the z-axis, so the shapes stay flat (although you could get cool stuff happening if you used all the axes... like Parappa, or something).
-matt

Haha, thanks all! Maybe I'll downgrade the title to a "working title," though... hehe.
And Ali--yeah, when I was first starting to set up the bones in anim8or, I was getting all these random kneecaps and ears blasting off in crazy directions and stuff. I quickly gave up on the "painting" bone weights thing and just went with those ovals of influence. Good old ovals.
-matt

UPDATE JULY 19, 2011: Gesundheit! coming to iOS

Now that this has started to pop up on a couple sites, I'm relieved that I can finally talk about it! Um, a rather large update/change--Gesundheit! is being published by Konami soon for iPhone/iPad!

I realize it's been a very very long time since I've updated, so here's the backstory: Late last year/early this year, things were going swell with the AGS build of Gesundheit!, and just for fun I passed a beta to this iOS dev studio called Revolutionary Concepts, who I'd worked with previously. We started bouncing ideas back and forth about what a hypothetical iOS version might look like... and pretty soon after that it just happened that there was some time in both our schedules to actually start making it.

At this point I was still planning to finish the iOS and PC versions maybe around the same time, but the iOS version quickly expanded into all my available time. We basically rebuilt the game from the ground up. It was great working with the devs--having actual programmers handling the programming on iOS freed me up to focus 100% on design and art stuff, which was awesome. I got to redo high-res animation from the original scans, make new maps, environments, cutscenes, and other stuff like that. And then Konami came on board as publisher... Anyway, now it's gotten to the point where the iOS version far outshines the PC one, and I'm not entirely sure what my plans are for the PC build. I've put it on hold for now, and it's going to take some figuring out.

At the moment I'm still crunching in prep for the iOS launch (it'll be out really soon!) but I wanted to post an update here, and also to say thanks to everyone in the forums who have kept me going over the years with their interest in this game!

---

In Gesundheit!, you're an allergic little pig who sneezes yummy green snot, which you use to lure evil booger-eating monsters into traps--all while trying to avoid being eaten yourself. The graphics are a combo of handmade illustrations and digital animation, and there's an original instrumental soundtrack with xylophones and recorders and kazoos and other fun stuff.