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Hmmm... lets see, been feeling rather ill, yet still had to go to early morning lectures. Then when I was looking forward to going home, the train was cancelled and I had to arse about for an hour 'til the next bus. Still feeling ill, and have another early morning lecture tomorrow too.

But hey, its my birthday soon, so it can only get better, right? 

I was wondering about that too, but...

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Pay attention to the in-game dates. About three weeks have passed between their initial meeting and the love confession, if I recall correctly.

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Also, Carla is lonely, Lucas is lonely, and its quite possibly the last day on earth?

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Fair enough, but,

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call me cynical, but I think three weeks is a bit short a time to fall in love with someone. And yes, I can see why they might want to take comfort from each other (in this case, sex), when faced with the possibility that the world might end the next day, but love? I think it just seems a little abrupt because they don't really touch on what has happened in those three weeks. And her ending up pregnant? Isn't he meant to be dead? I really don't want to know what the sprog ends up like...Ã,  :o

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I was concerned about the action sequences in this game, but strangely they didn't bother me. However, if you're gonna buy the game, you might want to invest in a gamepad, or get it for a console if you have one. The action sequences mostly consist of pushing the two analog sticks in various directions, and there's occassionally some button bashing. It may sound off-putting, but I actually found it did help immerse you in the game more. The movements used for actions are meant to simulate the movements you'd make carrying out those actions, and in the action sequences the directions often correspond to dodges or blocks to that direction. Seriously though, the action sequences may sound daunting to a traditonal adventure gamer, but they really aren't that bad.

At any rate, its not billing itself as an adventure game (though it has some adventure elements), more an interactive movie, and in that respect I think it does pretty well. The story is pretty good, and paced well, though some bits are a little off:

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After chasing him relentlessly fo half the game, Carla quite easily jumps over to Lucas' side. And after hardly knowing him any length of time, declares she's in love with him and jumps into bed with himÃ,  :

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Other than those points its a pretty good story, and I'm glad I got the game.

Urgh! I can't stand any sort of creepy crawlies! I would just stand there frozen, and call for my brother to get rid of it. I'm not so bad lately, and can squish the smaller ones, but anything bigger than an inch and I run and hide.  :o Thankfully we don't get particularly nasty bugs here in Northern Ireland.

As for weird phobias, I don't like sitting with my back to a door or window either. I also have this weird phobia about having my throat obstructed or constricted. I can't swallow pills of any size, because I'm convinced I'm going to choke on them (and usually do, because I get myself so worked up), and I don't like having tight jewellery or clothing round my neck, because I feel like I can't breathe. Its weird, and my GP always gives me funny looks when I say I can't take pills.

I'm planning to make a cutted off arm as an inventory itemÃ, 

Discworld 2: Missing Presumed... 

Me and my new nephew.

Just right click on the link and 'Save target as'. It works then.

Aside from providing lots of free (and darn good!) adventure games to fuel my addiction, I have managed to recover some of my enthusiasm for creative pursuits. I still don't write as much as I used when I was younger, but I am writing more than I did a few years ago. And I'm also pleased to say that its given me motivation to improve my drawing. I'm still not very good, and I don't get a lot of joy drawing on the computer, but I've really begun to enjoy simply sketching. It used to be that I couldn't go anywhere without a notepad in case I had an amazing idea, now I can't go anywhere without a sketchpad either!

Seriously though, this stuff isn't all due to AGS. I did it myself, and I proud of myself for having done so. AGS was simply an excuse I needed to pursue my goals. And a darn good excuse too!

I can't really give a technical answer here, but I've got a Sempron in my own PC, and I haven't noticed any difference between it and the Pentium in the Dell I'm using right now. It's pretty much just a matter of brand names. Look it up on http://www.aria.co.uk. People quite often make comments on items, or ask questions about them. I find it quite useful for scoping out something I'm looking to get, whether or not I actually buy it from there.

I can see it now (in IE), but can't add a flag. It says:
'Internet Explorer cannot open the site http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/aga/map.php?action=add.
Operation aborted.

The enhanced version is great - I really liked the extra sounds etc. The game is lots of fun, and pretty impressive for the amount of time it was made in.

I have to ask though, what's the maximum number of points and easter tapes possible? I managed to finish with 200 points, and 1 easter tape. Have I missed anything?

I don't know if I can really offer any useful insights, as I'm going through a rather reflective period at the moment. However, up until now, my main focus is to enjoy life as much as possible. I am aware of the brevity of life, but this does not make me depressed, it simply prompts me to jump at chances I might otherwise miss by procrastinating. I aim to have no regrets. As Darth Mandarb says, I accept even the parts of my life that weren't so good, because they shaped who I am today. I try to see something positive in everything, and I usually spend most of my day laughing my ass off, and thats no bad thing! It doesn't bother me that I haven't done anything to change the world, because I know that my life has had effects that I can't even begin to dream of. I'm happy if I can even make the slightest difference to someone else's life, but I'll be just as happy if I can make a difference in my own. I may be only 22, but I feel I've lived my life to the fullest, and I'll continue to do so.

In my opinion, the issue of using walkthroughs tends to be game specific. If I'm really enjoying a game, and the puzzles have been comprehensible so far, I'll usually leave it for a day, in the hope that something sensible will occur to me (like the wine bottle puzzle in BS3 - I was on top of the world after figuring that out!). However, if I'm at the point of simply clicking everything in the hopes of getting lucky, then I might as well save myself some time and look up the answer on the internet. Unfortunately, as most tips are in the form of walkthroughs, I find that I'll accidently spoil some puzzles while trying to find the one I was stuck on. Its why I like the hints and tips forum here - rarely does anyone give out the full solution, and quite often, while waiting for an answer, you have a brainwave and work it out anyway.

When I was younger, I was lucky enough to find a walkthrough to the Secret of Monkey Island before I bought the game, because it is pretty tough for a first time adventure gamer. I agree with Helm, that when you were a kid, you had nothing much else to do, so it was rewarding to spend stupid amounts of time trying to figure out a puzzle. Now that we're all grown up (well, most of us ), we don't have the time anymore, and its so much harder to get into the game world, that tough puzzles can easily disturb the suspension of disbelief.

Anyway, in general I just prefer to find some hints (the hint system in Myst 4 is a good example, because you don't have to leave the game), but if a game is riddled with incomprehensible puzzles, or timed puzzles, I tend to keep a walkthrough to hand, simply so I can progress in the story. While I do enjoy solving puzzles, my main motivation these days for playing a game is the story, so I will use a walkthrough simply just to find out what happens next. It just really depends on the game, how impatient I am to get ahead in it!

Congratulations!

And loads of kudos points, for having the cojones to do it!Ã,  8)

<Sigh> I really did want to enter this, and I was working on a game, but my computer went up the left again. And after spending all morning formatting it and reinstalling everything, I just didn't have the heart to start over.

Ah well, it's obviously quite a popular activity, so I guess we'll see another one again soon. Good luck with your entries people, and I look forward to playing them.

I've hardly started any new threads myself. Actually I think the only ones I've started were in the Critics Lounge, and Completed Games Announcements. I read the forum rules when I joined, and generally tried to follow them. The one point I thought most useful was:

Before posting here, I urge you to make a game or some contribution to someone else's game. The General Forum is a place for adventure game CREATORS to talk about non-adventure stuff -- please respect that and understand that you must earn a place here.

There seem to be a lot of people joining, and getting really excited about the possibilities that AGS offers, then get bored before actually doing anything. Then post random rubbish, in an attempt to gain status by posting lots. I can't say I read much in the General Discussion forum anymore. I actually enjoyed it, when there were numerous intellectual debates going on. If I want to know about your hobby/pet alien/etc. I'll ask you.

P.S. These are general observations. I am not referring to anyone in specific, so don't assume I am.

I might possibly maybe enter.Ã,  Unless I'm doing research for my dissertation (like that's gonna happen!).

Have you tried switching between running it in a window, and running it full screen. Bit random, but I was having trouble with a game (not an AGS one), on my TFT - the graphics were a bit distorted. I switched the game settings from full screen to windowed (or maybe vice versa), and it sorted it. Don't know if it applies but its worth a try.

Sounds interesting. Shame I haven't had a lot of inspiration come my way lately... I hope I can come up with something for this, but don't hold your breath!

Woo! My webspace is working again! So, here's my meagre efforts.
Click!

Just some bits of artwork I've been fooling around with for Connie. The background is pretty much a finished product, but I may polish up the sprites. Or then again, maybe not. I'm not much of an artist, so these things take me a while to do. If it takes too long to do the art, its not worth the bother!