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Indeed. 

And once I got pretty great at Wallies (ollies off the walls), I started looking at large vertical surfaces thinking: man -- I bet I could Wallie  up that and THEN grind that ledge.

Thnakfully, I can't even stand on a skateboard, otherwise, I'm sure I'd either be in the X Games or dead.... Yeah, probably dead.

I'm a very "avoidant strategy" kind of person, I guess, but it's only because I've found some degree of success in doingso in the past.

What I'm getting at is this: get her away from him. Don't make it seem like a permanent thing, though. Just try to get her out more. If she's living anywhere near where you are, take her out for something to eat more often, go on little short trips more often... WHATEVER. Anything to make sure she's not around him as much. Take these opportunities to let her open up. It'll be frustrating to listen to, but remember that you ARE helping, even though it may not be obvious. Especially if this abuse has been going on for some time now, she'll be experiencing feelings of helplessness and see no real alternatives. It's your job to present her with some good, plausible options. I'd not present her with too many, either, so it doesn't seem like you're just grasping at straws. Try to have a few fairly well-thought out "plans" that have some interesting ideas in them and some vivid imagery so that they stick with her for awhile.

It'd probably also be worth your whille to try to get to know some women who have gone through similar experiences (probably not an easy task, but the local women's shelters may be able to help) and ask them about what they did to break the cycle and escape from their situation. This will help you arm yourself with information that you can relay onto your sister, be it in terms of advice or "I know this woman who..." kind of anecdotal information. You may even want to get ahold of your ex-wife and ask her to talk to your sister, given her experience in these matters.

And always remember: as Kinoko sort of alluded to, it's one thing to think "how can this even happen?", but when you're the one who's being abused by someone you love and trust, it's a whole different ballgame.

That's all I got right now. I'm not saying that any of this will help -- I'm only offering what my heart had to say. I wish you and your sister the very best in resolving this ugly situation.

Well, I cheated a bit and used a photo of one of my toys to do this. If that's not allowed (and I suspect it's not), then this is not an entry (but it was still fun!):



(and a second version, to... um... highlight the highlights and the form better.... I personally prefer the first one, even though it's a bit ambiguous)

Again, I stress: if you are going to adopt a style of "thick outlines" then try to stick with it. The pig, the lock thing, the (lightswitch) and the doll have thin outlines. Theposter doesn't even have one (not to mention that yeah, it looks way out of place). And that shadow -- as the others have said: PLEASE fix that. It jumps out at me as being really bad, and takes away from the picture immensely.

I'd also use a slightly darker outline for what I'm guessing is a sheet hanging out from under the bed's blanket (I'd somehow not noticed it before now, but I find the lack of contrast makes it look odd).

And again, considering the walking space. Is there even enough room to have your character walk around the pig to get from the door to the cabinet to the lightswitch?

Please don't consider this one finished -- it still could really use a little extra work to finish it off, whether or not you post the progress here.

Did he Bone your Tale in the Zoo?

Loominus, even though lo_res_man's piece was spectacular in its own way.

Unless the house is supposed to be on the minature side, it looks as if the tall trees are a bit on the big side, maybe. Also, the leaves that are on some of the tress seem too big.

All in all, it looks pretty great, though!

NEXT: Alright then, a game that ABSOLUTELY NO ONE would ever buy. EVER. Even less so than "Virtual Proctology" with "Real-Feel Probe Glove". Yeah.

If you're actually keeping that longpig in there, consider that it does clutter up the walkable area of the room more than a bit. Also, it doesn't really fit the thick outlie style.

And the light switch, I'd say should be coming from a bit lower in the wall (assuning that's what it is). And it wouldn't be likely to be looking like that, either. From the opened light switched I've seen (i.e., minus the faceplate), they more or less look like a rectanglar hole with a vertical piece of metal in the middle; and in the middle of that piece of metal is the plastic switch. To see for yourself, either unscrew a lightswitch faceplate and take it off, or better yet, take a run down to your local hardware store.

Resident Evil 4, of course, seems to be a real step forward, though, whith its pretty much seemless environmental interactions, effectively turning you into a quite the action hero. There's a "context sensitive" button that can do anything if you're in the right spot under the right conditions, but for some things, a lot of the context sensitivity is repetitive (i.e., there might be alot of windows you can jump through, but jumping through all of them probably wouldn't be wise -- and whether or not it would be a good idea is probably dictated by the situation in the game, giving the player a clue to the "should I jump through THIS window" puzzle. Though the solution is a simple yes or no kind of answer, having to think on your feet about whether or not to make that move turns it into an interesting one. But this can only work really well if a lot of the same options are given enough times to get you accustomed to seeing it. THEN when you make a good "window puzzle" choice that really benefits you, you feel pretty smart about the whole thing. The window idea is, of course, just one example.)

Keep in mind, though, that I've not had the chance to play RE4 yet, so that's just the impression I have of it through hearsay and whatever.

Longpig aside (and oh, I do oh so love the longpig, Neil), I think that Eric's got some good advice there. This new style seems to be nice and palatable enough, so try to run with it. Try to make a bunch of backgrounds wth it. For, 5, 6, ten maybe. You'll really start to see the practice paying off as your ideas come out onto the screen.

Keep it up!

I do like the new lock, though. Still, I'm bothered by the lack of a doorknob or obvious door-openning handle. And if it's menat to be a prison room, you'd think the lock would be on the outside. 

As far as the bed goes, it's a little stiff. It's an opprotunity in the picture to get some more flowing shapes and get out of the rigid lines of the wall, door and cabinet, so why not use it by having some sheets, blankets hanging off the edge of the bed or at least some wrinkles/ loose folds on the surface? And to further spruce things up, some curtains could be added to accent the window and get some additional organic shape into the picture.

(Ugh. My art teacher once said I should have been an interior decorator. Damn her.)

Something I was thinking about just now that COULD be a major leap for the genre would be if voice recognition could be incorporated into gameplay. This would essentially be an evolution from the parser (possibly coupled with "point and click"), and if enough options were recognized (and the game had enough variety for what you could do in any given situation),  this could add an awful lot of flavour to a game.

A game that piqued my interest lately, in how it was described to me by my brother, was Return to Mysterious Island (or something like that). I haven't read up much about it yet, but the way he described it anyway, it sounded marvellous. A whole lot of different options available for you in terms of what to do, and a lot of them with very real different outcomes, depending on the choices you make. In short, I guess that making games have more actual, meningful options could be a way of heading in the right direction (which relates, again, to my first point).

Adventures could also make a leap forward with some really cunning AI from characters in the games, as well as from the games themselves. This could be done legitimately, though keen programming... An alternative, though, would be for developpers to diligently "cheat" a bit, with ongoing developpment. To explain better, let me illustrate a possible example: picture an adventure game that's played online (or that certain portions on the game need to be played online) and that the game would upload information about EVERYTHING the player had done to that point. This data could be collected and patterns of what the player did (or didn't do) could be analysed (sp?) and the game could be changed appropriately. Say, for example, that a lot of players tried to use a given item on another (but there's no effect), then chances are there's something that the developpers missed -- figure it out and change it accordingly. OR, say that a lot of players are frantically clicking or not doing anything useful at a given part of the game, then it may be a signal to the developpers that a certain part of the game is a sticking point, so they can get back in there and provide an extra clue or two at that part for the players who get stuck. All of the feedback the developpers would be getting would give ample opportunity to make an interesting ongoing adventure for palyers, definitly on a single-player level and quite probably on a multiplayer level, too. All of this would be in an aim to better understand what EXACTLY the player wants to do in a game, and actually letting them have the freedom to do it. It's the difference between hitting a window, smashing through it, tapping on it, openning it, or blowing on it to fog it up and then drawing little faces on it. It's about realism through depth and immersion without the need of realistic graphics (hough they could still be used).

On the other hand, on could argue that some games have been pushing the enveloppe in the adventure genre by merging with other genres, and thatthey've been doing it for a long time. There are plenty of games out there that are very adventury in spirit, though most would not think of them in that light. Deus Ex, Arx Fatalis, Ultima: Underworld, Planescape:Torment, Resident Evil 4, Metoid: Prime (1&2)... all are examples of adventures being absorbed into a different format, as all have elements of the traditional adventure, at least in my opinion.

Less than a month more, and it'll have been running for a year. That HAS to be a record of some sort, no? 

It's fine, if sparse.

Of what it there, I agree that the door looks ill-proportionned. It looks odd in relation to both the height of the cabinet and the height of the walls. Make it taller, and it'd look better, IMO.

Also, the door might do well with a better handle/ knob.

Oh, and the right part of the carpet is only darker red halfway down in the boarder.

I believe that's a phone.

I'm blind. 

Actually, I couldn't see it with the low amount of contrast before I moved my head closer to the screen. For blind, sexy idiots like me, you may want to up the contrast of the parts of the phone a little more.

I'm liking the look of this. What's that dark thing by the podium thingee, though?

Also, the lighting is, well, weird. Consider where it could be coming from, and it seems odd that the plant that close to the wall could be sending shadows in that direction.

(and there's no shadow going with the top candle on the table, but I just assume that's part of it being unfinished.)

Still, it has a very delightful cartoony kind of feel to it that I'm very much liking. And the change of carpet colour is a vast improvement.

... or the more graphic version:

NEXT: Monkey Island 5000: Guybrush in Space

It's Alzheimer's. Not Old timers or whatever.

Then again, maybe you forgot. 

Oh dear... I'm sorry if I came off as badgering you about that. I'm just not all that well-versed in the digital art terminolgy part of things, I guess, so I was having trouble following your instructions due to that fact (no fault of your own). So if you don't feel up to showing how you did the graphics, I totally understand.

Back to the graphics, though. Well, now that I can see them again, I was going to suggest shading for a moment, but when I tried doing a quick paintover, the improvemnets were minimal. I'm continually amazed at how slick you've made these look with the style and with the contrasting colour selection.

My sox remain knocked off, but I'll lay off now so that someone else can offer their critique.

I'd still like to get an idea of how things look, step by step. If you COULD post some step-by-step shots of the process as it's unfolding, I'd be greatful.

Also since 2dadventure is down, you may want to re-host the picture above (and any others, for the time being) somewhere else.