Messages

About death, I don't believe you could die in The Longest Journey, but I still felt the adrenaline as the mutant thing (sorry, it's been a while) is chasinig you. Sure, you could just stand still and he just towers over you, growling and stuff, but it's still a rush.

I, too, felt a rush, until I found out that I could let the guy pummel me forever and nothing would happen. Which completly ruined the mood of the game for me. I didn't understand why they didn't just allow the guy to kill you and restart you before he was released.

I don't feel that you need to have deaths in a game to give you that relief once you beat them.

It depends on what is happening in the context of the game. The example above is a good one for showing how the mood was ruined, for me, because there wasn't a death. Full Throttle handled death very well in the ending cutscenes, and I was on the edge of my seat. They realised that it wouldn't make sense in this situation to just let you live. So you died, but it was friendly enough to return you to a relatively close spot. Another example that ruined the mood, in CMI, the last chapter you can't die. At first I was like "Oh, shit!", then once I realised that I couldn't die, even though LeChuck was after me, I wasn't scared.

I'm not saying it's required for games to have deaths, I'm just saying, sometime I feel too pampered. If an evil guy is chasing me, with intent to kill me, then I should die.

However, when I'm playing a game, I don't like dead man scenarios. I like to know, that if I stick at it long enough, I'll eventually find the answer;

I think this is where good design comes in. In being able to tell the player they did something wrong. It's the designers job to make sure the player should at least know something is up.

if it can't be done, then Item A should be found within the vicinity of Scenario B, perhaps a few screens off. The best games are those with not so many "levels", like Space Quest had. You progressed, in SQ3, from the Junkyard, to Phleebut, to Monolith Burger, to Scumsoft (with things in between, of course), but the main problem is that certain items needed for certain scenarios were very often found earlier in the game. It doesn't make much sense to me.

I don't necessarily agree, because once again you're building a puzzle outside of the storyline. The focal point of any game should be what's happening in the game. And if the player needs a crowbar that happened to be in this toolshed at his house, earlier in the game, but now he was trapped in a box (for some reason), how would he go about getting that crowbar? Now if you can make it so the player recieved the crowbar in the game to propell the story, and not just to have a crowbar because you knew he was going to be in this situation, that's fine. But otherwise, I say the player should die, perhaps with a clue as to what was needed.

Also, SQ3 is an excellent game. And I like the feeling of going from one area to another. MI games do this a lot. You go from one island to another, and usually you can't leave the island. To me, MI seemed to have a lot more filler puzzles so that you'd have all the items you would need. Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent game also, but I enjoy SQ more.

I don't mind alternate solutions, but once again they have to fit in with the story line. And both SQ and KQ did indeed have an alternate solution or two.

So I just restricted the player until he knew everything the MC wanted to know.

I don't necessarily like restricting the player. It always ruins the mood for me and takes me out of the game when a player is like "I can't go there, yet." It should be a good game designer who makes it known clearly what the player should be doing in the section of the game. Sometime I feel as if I'm restricted because I don't have an object that it wouldn't matter at that time, if I had it or not.

Once again, though. I only think walking-deads should be used in short games, or if used in longer games, make sure the player becomes aware of his state in a relatively short time period. And deaths are good, if the story calls for it, but make it so the game returns the player to somewhere where the player can prevent what's about to happen.

-MillsJROSS

(2) don't let him finish up in Antarctica before having the soccer ball.

That's exactly what I was saying could be a bad thing. You have to build a puzzle around getting an object. And story wise you have to adjust the story because the player needs this object in some far unseen way, that isn't concievable in the earlier stages of a game. It's a lot of work to make sure you have that one item...and I feel if done incorrectly, it can hurt the game.

Another positive about walking dead...when I play SQ, and I pretty much play the whole series once a year...I always get stuck and miss something vital. This is awesome, because this allows me to play the games I love repeatedly. Wheras MI and other user friendly games wear thin on replayability, because you can do no wrong.

"Finally, decide on your attitude towards the player.  I prefer games in which player death is either impossible or very very hard.  On the other hand many games use 'death' as a punishment for failing a puzzle, and in fact rely on a 'death' to tell the player they are on the wrong track.  This creates a culture of saving after every single move, and doing stupid things without caring about the consequences - neither of which sustain suspension of disbelief, and identifying with your character, which can make or break your game.

I find that death is a very useful feature for setting a mood. Everytime I play SQ1, and that droid is chasing me, my adrenaline gets pumping, and I get a thrill. And if I die, I feel compelled to get Roger on his way to safety. In real life you die if you do something stupid. I don't understand why we need to pamper the player if he decides to stick hand in a electrical socket. Now dieing for something that you couldn't predict would happen, is a bit different. But in any event, why have the ability to save in many locals and at different points in the game, if the ability isn't going to be used effectively. You can always go back to a saved game. And these are logic based games, so if it's a game where you know death is a possibility save where you think it's important. In which case, saving becomes part of the puzzle solving process. Which isn't a negative. It allows you to go back and rethink, and see what you did wrong.

To finish up, I'll say, that walking deads and deaths are more applicably used in shorter games. If I had to replay a 10 hour length game again because I missed an object or died, it would infuriate me.

To the defense of older Sierra games...the older games were shorter because of issues with how big, in bites, a game could be, with the technology at hand. And so, to me, it seemed walking-dead helped lenghten those games. Where a longer game today is by far much much longer, it wouldn't be a smart idea for there to be a walking dead with the game length expectations everyone has. The old SQ KQ games are beatable in a couple hours, with all the dialog. Games now are five (and sometimes more) times the gameplay length.

And when you really look at it, I feel it would be easier to design a game with walking deads, because otherwise you have to create puzzles to make sure the player gets a certain item. And this sometimes can hurt a game, if it's not done correctly. So my take is, if the  game is relatively short, than walking deads are acceptable. As long as it doesn't take too much effort on the player's fault to find out he's walking dead.

-MillsJROSS

She's already eighteen and therefore legal, the only law that has been broken are rules mandated by the school system. I wasn't really talking about legality, though. I was more just pointing out that people tended to call the 25 year old, in this scenario, a sleeze. But it seemed there was no, or not nearly so much, negative feeling towards the girl who actively was seeking the 25 year old out. Now, as her teacher, it's his responsibility to make sure nothing happens. But if he wasn't her teacher, legaly there would be nothing wrong with their union. And even if she were underage, as long as she had consent from her parents, there would be no illegal acts committed. As the parents are probably the only ones who could press charges (Still assuming that he's not her teacher, and that their sex was consentual). This strays from the topic a bit, but I just felt people were viewing the 25 year old too harshly comparatively to that of the 18 year old.

-MillsJROSS

Why would anyone become a teacher, if they couldn't get sex from easilly moldable youths?

There was a teacher in my highschool who had some sort of sexual relations with a student...he was well over 40, I'd almost argue over 50, but I can't remember too well. He was most certainly fired. The thing I didn't understand about the relationship, other than the overwhelming age difference, was the fact that he was just a drivers ed teacher. So the girl must have REALLY wanted that drivers liscence.

But honestly, at age 20, I see all the upcomming college/university freshman, and while a good many of them are attractive, I don't have any interest in them based on maturity alone.

However, that being said...I don't see why there should be some arbitrary number for being able to have sex. I see no reason why the eighteen year old seducing the twenty-five year old is somehow not the sleezy person, and everyone blames the twenty-five year old. Now if the twenty-five year old cajoled an eighteen year old into having sex, I'd agree.

However, even after saying that, a teacher and student relationship should never cross that line.

-MillsJROSS

I'm not so sure the graphics for SQ6 would work so well for some of the earlier games. I'm not saying the graphics couldn't be spiffed up a bit, but I can't immagine the cartoony Roger trying to get away from the exploding robot. For SQ6 the graphics were good, because it was, probably, the most wacky of all the games. There wasn't one room without a joke in it, where the earlier ones, while still funny, also maintained a more serious mood throughout the game.

However, that said...I'm a huge SQ fan, and I wouldn't mind getting an even newer version of SQ1. The VGA version was a huge inprovement, but it's graphics aren't good enough to deny it a total revamping. So do what you want...if you make it, we will come.

-MillsJROSS

I'm still waiting for our master debating skills to be seen by all...and for vicously penising to be used in a game.

-MillsJROSS

Anyway, who cares what people say behind your back? It's what they say to your face that matters. And I don't think #ags should be turned into a high school drama...where people go around getting angry because of something someone said while they weren't there. Just except the fact that people may or may not talk about you when you're not there.

-MillsJROSS

The community has given me somewhere to go to kill time. Without it, I undoubtedly would be sitting in front of my computer screen playing minesweeper, or something similar, just wasting my life away. At least here, it seems like I am doing something, instead of just wasting away. The community has inspired my creativity.

It's really a great place. I don't take part in it nearly as much as I used to, but I almost, without a doubt, check the forum everyday. Mittens was a great experience, easily one of the best times I've had.

The community has also yielded a resource of people who could concievably help me in my dream to actually make a commercial adventure game, and, with any luck, make a living out of it.

It's just a fun place for me to go. I've learned, I've matured (somewhat), and I've enjoyed my stay.

The community also has given me herpes...but it's worth it...

-MillsJROSS

Should we go all VH1, with "Remember the AGS history?" The only thing about getting together something with all of AGS's history, is that the oldbies cannot alienate the n00b's with jokes of yesteryear. Ergo if we no longer have that control of information, life as we know it could...possibly...be very similar, only people will know things.

Eh...if people are interested I see no harm in telling them what happened in the past. The question is, how does one go about doing that? Do we give AGS life stories on the founding members? Or talk about what happened in the forums? Or when games came out, and how they effected the community?

The only real problem I have, is I can't remember too much. I remember some of the bigger things, moreso in the past, but after a while forum life just melds into one big mush of events. But that could just be me...

In any event good luck to anyone who wishes to go forward with the idea of writing down AGS history.

-MillsJROSS

I just just hope the Hurricane doesn't push back the FSU vs Miami game this weekend. Or kill people...but mostly the game thing.

-MillsJROSS

So when are we getting the log...I am waiting with anticipation, so I can go back to memory lane. It's only been two weeks, and Mittens already feels as though it was loooong time ago. Which is why I'm proposig someone win the lottery and make a Mittens Utopia, where we can live and frolic forever! Or at least until the money runs dry.

-MillsJROSS

Take my tip: Never mention its name in the credits. Or say you're using AGAST/Sludge. AGS has become n00bware.

I suppose "new" people using AGS and producing games could be a bad side affect. Unless, of course, by n00bware, you mean immature games. In which case, AGS's history is steeped with n00bware. Let's not forget ANDY P3N15

It's really sad when people take themselves too seriously. AGS is an empty canvas for me to put whatever I want on it. Should I be censored because I happen to want to make a joke, albeit immature? As said prior it's intended audience was geared more for mitteneers...most of whom are some of the more, if not most, influential members of this community. I don't think it's a waste of their time.

The only problem in anyone's thinking this game is a waste of time, is that if they played it and didn't know what to expect...one might come to the conclusion that they had a lack of sense. The game's name is '3 Minutes a Fart'. If that doesn't give people some inkling on what level of maturity the game is on, how am I to think of them?

-MillsJROSS

I think the best time to go would probably be in the winter. Although, it would be nice to be there during the warmer periods, it might not be financially feesible for a lot of AGSers over on this side of the world. It's also an issue of availability. I think a good amount of people attend a university, and it's not so easy to get time off in October or January, as some classes you're only allowed to miss 3 or 4 days.

If it's winter over there it'll be cheaper for us to get flights. I think the main issue is planning. Those of us outside of the country have to get flights as early as possible, and perhaps plan to all go one flight per country. I quickly looked on priceline to see how much a flight to Brisbane was and it was actually less than the cost to NY, this year. Of course, I didn't check to see if it was on a friday, and the ticket wasn't for a whole week, so I'm not sure how accurate that is.

I think we should probably plan on going to a place with a big international airport, b/c it probably will be cheaper, though I'm not 100% on this. And I'm sure Las will be able to tell us, considering he's studying business.

In any event, I can't wait for next year in Australia. Mittens is awesome, and I can't wai tto attend another one.

-MillsJROSS

59. Watching Grundislav get hit in the nuts in dodgeball

-MillsJROSS

38. Trying to cook hotdogs by fire.
39. Finding out that smores aren't as universally known as they should be
40. Fighting for supremacy in Risk.
41. Fighting got supremacy in chess with Andail...what a close game!
42. Arm wrestling!
43. Schooling Eric in Fransico in poker and winning nothing.
44. Looking at all the new and upcomming games from fellow mitteneers.
45. Going from one place to another for a pool table, and never finding one, other than the kiddy one.
46. Getting out of the ice cold shower only to be told that the faucet works backwards.
47. Waiting for 17 hours, just Eric, Jess, and myself, for the other mitteneers to come.

Easily this has been one of the highlights of my life.

-MillsJROSS

Ize you want 640x200 not 600x480.

To do this...on MSpaint...press ctrl+E and that should bring up the attributed menu.

-MillsJROSS

Well, for paint, just set the attriubuted to 640X400 pixels for rooms. For objects in those rooms, find out how big they need to be, make sure they size up in the actual room, when you're drawing everything. Make the objects the size they need to be...if your animating an object make sure that all the pictures for the animated object are the same size, and when importing to the engine click the set to 640x400. That should relieve you of any sizing issues, as far as the engine is concerned. If this didn't answer you're question...please explain in more depth and I or someone else will try to answer your question.

-MillsJROSS

Yes there is. Or at least my version, which is sorely outdated, 2.55, has 299 rooms available. It's possible that CJ increased the engines capabilities, but I'm not sure. The best way to find out...go into the AGS help file and search for limits, go to System limits, and it should list everything limited for the version of AGS you have.

-MillsJROSS

It's really a matter of how someone acts...there are a few people, in my mind, who are forever noobies, and then there are those who aren't a newbie for very long. A lot of it has to do with whether or not you produce a game or help in the game making process. It also helps to be mature, most of the time, bouts of immaturity are fine and can be fun, just don't do it too much.

The people who I think move out of newbie status quickly are those who post something mature, well though out, and interesting.

Are you a newbie? I don't really know you, or recall something you've writen, and sought out for your insight in the forums. So, to me, the answer is yes. That doesn't mean I don't like you, that just means I haven't seen what you can give to the community. So show me/the community something that will make us respect and know who you are, and you will achieve the brotherhood you are looking for. And above all, don't piss people off. People might think you're a newbie, but that doesn't mean people don't like you, they just don't know you. There are some people, very rare, that aren't newbies, who don't hold much respect. So forget newbie and oldbie, just try to be a nice guy, and we'll like you.

-MillsJROSS