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No offence taken, Sluggo What you said was true enough anyway

The other thread:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=18750.0

Although I don't mention the AIDS and so forth until about... um... page 18/19/20, I think?

Wow - thanks Bt, that hit home...

And you are most definitely forgiven for that flagrant emotional outburst I just hope it hasn't seemed like I've been trying to rub any of this in your face.

But yes, you are right. During the awkward 'waiting period', I'd come to realise that it wouldn't render me useless to society, and wouldn't inhibit my capabilities to love, care and support others. Although I'd always remained hopeful, I had come to accept that - should worst come to worst - I would still be the same person, and I still had a life to live, no matter how it ended.

And believe me - this is the best gift I could ever have been given. Let's hope I'm not speaking too soon...

Heh, um... Sluggo... I'm gonna have to assume that you didn't get around to reading my other thread. Otherwise things would be pretty self explanatory.

In any event - there was a very very real chance that I had HIV. There still is a possibility, I'll have to get tested in another 3 months. I was just happy that my initial fears were somewhat squashed.

Shabz, the worst thing about all of that was the fact I had to read it three times before I got it :/

Well I've decided I'll just go out to the clubs tomorrow night. I would've anyway, but now I'm not gonna refuse when people offer to buy me drinks. No. They can offer all night and I'll never say no.

If you're interested, it's called "The Beat", in Fortitude Valley, somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. Be on the lookout for the happiest guy in the whole damn place. I'll be wearing a scarf. I don't know why. I just decided then that I will...

And I'm serious. Anyone visiting Australia for a couple of cross-continental hours for St Pat's day tomorrow should come out with me. Yes, it's a gay club. But as shabz said: you don't have to come...

No, bt. You did not turn me on. We were on the same ATC team. I just don't believe in work-relationships.

You DID read Old Man And The Sea... RIGHT?

um.... what percentage of the test does this count for?!!

*runs to library*

Heh. I love that comic. If only life was that simple. I mean, really, that'd be great.

And yes, that was the easiest test I've ever taken. Let's hope they don't make it any harder between now and 6 months!

SSH - I trusted you!! And you let me down! My parents didn't take kindly to that statement at all

Oh well, I guess at least it's off my chest.

Dragon - Dun worry 'bout it. Nobody was really nice to me anyway. I just said it to make myself feel better. Reverse psychology or something like that.

*Hi fives Kinoko*

Oh, and shabz, now that I've got a negative result, I never have to fear again. I am obviously immune to HIV now, so I don't have to be careful ever again. Quite a relief :p

That's right folks.

Got the results of my HIV test back, and as far as the doctors can see, I'm in the clear.

Of course, this has only just hit the three-and-a-bit month mark, so I'll have to go again around 6 months just to confirm it, but yeah.

YEAH!!!!

Nobody has to pretend to be nice to me anymore. You can save your pity for people who deserve it!

My god, I feel as though I could run around the word right now...

The thing most puzzling me is why the two panels above couch-boy's head (the flat white one and the black one with white border) have swapped positions! Gah! You have to make a game of this now, just so I can solve this damn puzzle!

In the new pic, you've gone back to the old door (I really like the updated door in the original), I don't know if that was intentional or just something you forgot about.

Loving these unusual updates. Keep them coming

wow - I'm surprised the black lines have been critted! I think they add loads of atmosphere and work tremendously well. My recommendation: leave them well alone

The one thing that did stick out to me is the gradient/shading on the door. Assuming the lightsource is the tv, it's a little bit off, and even forgiving that, I don't think it quite suits the rest of the style.

Apart from that, welcome to the community, and for a first bg, you've obviously put in some effort! Hope you enjoy your stay here

Craig. Definitely craig. I used to like the name until I met one. Now it just seems ordinarily common to me. Definitely craig.

I'd say that's definitely going in the right direction. You've already done most of the shading in your pencil sketch, so you don't really have to do all that shading again with your colours.

For some uncanny reason when I saw it I thought "ooh! that'd look cool in a "Bert the Newsreader" remake." Yeah yeah, I don't know where that came from either, but it DOES look cool either way. I'm guessing from the style that this would be somewhat more serious than BtN, though...

Yeah, your options are definitely limited here. I've read over the "pack her suitcases and drag her out" posts a lot, and I gotta tell you, I don't think they'll work.

He is the one beating her, but SHE IS THE ONE STAYING! If you drag her away, all she's going to see is her heartless brother taking her away from the man she loves, and the man who loves her. Just because you take her out of the situation doesn't mean she's going to suddenly see the light and put everything in perspective. I've been there alongside women who HAVE been physically taken away, and every single time that distance just convinces them how much MORE they need their abusing male figure to survive.

I don't have the answer, I'm afraid. I wish I did, but I don't. What I can tell you is that directly being involved in an intervention will probably cause more harm than good. Can she be dragged out by some friends, or the authorities? Absolutely. That may work. But don't get involved in this kind of thing yourself. Physical abuse isn't the sort of thing you can play around with and make grandiose plans of rescue and escape. You need to take this totally seriously, which I'm sure you will do to your absolute best ability.

God, that's awful, Yak. It must be horrible having nothing tangible to do to show her the reality of what's going on.

I've had a number of [female] friends/work colleagues/aquaintances etc who I've been 99% sure were being abused by the male figures in their lives. It was near impossible to get any of them to open up about it, and on the odd occassion that they DID say something, it was always followed by something like "but it never would've happened if I'd just been more patient and not worried that he was at the pub all night". It always sounded so stupid to me, but I knew that to them it was a very real reason.

As for advice, there's really nothing anyone can say that you wouldn't know or haven't tried. You've done everything in your power (aside getting physically involved, which I would waggle my index finger at), so the only thing you can do is to keep showing her options, without being patronizing or dictatorly about it.

I wish there was more we could do. I really do. Best of luck, yak.

I just tried that myself, mixing the acrylics with the blenders, and it does give a really nice effect! I'm definitely gonna muck around with it some more...

As for looking how it's supposed to... I guess that's really for you to decide. I don't know what you were after. If it was simply a grassy hill with a blue sky and some clouds, I'd say you've got it perfectly. If you were after the 'pretty' factor, then I think you've got that, too. Anything else, though, is really beyond my judgement.

I agree with Pablo I think this is the style you should be aiming for, since it seems to come naturally to you, but that shadow is not right and really does grab more attention that it should because of it. All that needs to be done is make the darker parts of the shadow the same colour as the lighter part, and it'll look fab.

Also, I'm not 100% keen on the door-poster. It's a really different style to everything else in the room, and it actually took me a while to figure out that it was meant to be a part of the picture.

Apart from that, I'd say you've found your niche I like the monkey-island doll idea, I think that's cute. A sort of "easter-egg". Keep up the good work!

Main crit: there's nothing to crit

The sky's quite nice, I like the cloud effects, but apart from that there's nothing to really look at. It's hard to criticize just a patch of green grass. But, having said that, I think the horizon is too high. I've never seen a semi-serious painting where the picture is just split across the middle and the top half is blue and the bottom green.

I agree with lgm, though. You picked a beautiful texture. It looks like you've picked one of the acrylic or conte brushes?

I actually think that background's pretty groovy. It reminds me of a flash game I played a while ago, that was kinda fun; I forget what it was called, but I remember thinking the backgrounds were so quirky and they complemented the plot and character of the game. I guess as long as this isn't meant to be too intense and realistic, then this wacky style would work wonderfully.

As for crits, there's something about that outline that's bothering me. As interm said, it should be a little thinner in the back, given perspective. Right now, if you cover up the floor-line and everything above it, it almost looks like this outline is lying on the floor, but has propped himself up on his elbows and is looking at you. Maybe it's just me, but that creeped me out for a second

And, still talking about the outline, I'd maybe make it a little less angular. I know you've got curves etc, but it looks as though each of those curves is just made up of some smaller straight lines. Given the scrawliness of the light and door, I'd say it's just a little too 'proper' for the theme? But maybe that's just me. It's not a big deal for me, really.

But I wouldn't be worring about your drawing skills obsessively yet. If it's your first background, then there's no point expecting yourself to draw like a professional artist. It's just not realistic yet, and you'll end up being too hard on yourself. Relax; make a game that's fun to play, and you'll learn as you progress

It's all to do with copyright, which - on the whole - means you can't use a song from an album or suchlike, unless you get express written consent from the producer/composer/company etc. And even then, if you DO write to them, chances are they'll just tell you to go away, since if they WERE going to let you use it, they wouldn't have put copyright on it in the first place.

Of course, if you really REALLY wanna use a well-known song, then I would encourage you to write and at least give it a shot. You could be pleasantly surprised.

Though practical advice is to use royalty free music or, indeed, write your own. It's the only way you can be sure you won't get sued. And if you look around, chances are you'll be able to find something equally as good anyway. There are plenty of musicians on the forums who'd be happy to work with you, as long as you could give them some foundation and assurance that they won't be making music for a game you'll just abandon in three months...

agree with stuh's second point - if you cover up the house and trees, it's easy to imagine that you're in a plane flying 10,000 feet above the amazon or something, and those 'skinny' rivers would - up close - be much much much bigger. And then there's that itty little house that throws the perspective off, which seems to suggest that the river is no wider than the door.

I love the image as a whole; I think the style is fantastic. The river just looks like it needs to be a bit wider, since I can't remember the last time I saw a house with a river no wider than the front door that ran nearly the whole way around the house...