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I just tested our game (1280x800, big alpha blended sprites) on an 8 years old office PC with onboard graphics and a 4:3 monitor. As expected, it worked, but it was too slow. However, scaled down to 800x600 (with sideborders) it was running smoothly and was perfectly playable.
So yeah, I just wanted to say how nice it is that the custom resolution build can run a game at lower resolutions than it was designed for. And how nice it is that this actually works as intended.

In the character properties, set UniformMovementSpeed to "false". Now you can set different values for X and Y. In your example you would set MovementSpeedX to 10 and MovementSpeedY to 4.

I've finished it, now it's feedback time!

This is a very nice game with an intriguing story and a unique atmosphere. The story really made the game for me and kept me playing, most of the dialogues are well-written, the characters are likeable and there's a lot of attention to detail. The puzzles were pretty straight-forward, most of the time finding the right items or hotspots was the main problem. The game gets more difficult towards the end though, with two refreshing puzzles that are considerably harder.

Things I didn't like...

* The animations. I know it's really difficult to animate photographs, but at least the key animations (such as the main character's walkcycle) shouldn't look as awkward as they do. On the other hand it was great that you created quite a few background animations, animals walking around etc.

* The vertical scanlines. They are an interesting style choice, but they clash with the characters that don't have scanlines - I assume that's because of scaling issues? However the characters don't blend very well with the backgrounds.

* Horizontal movement is way too slow. Vertical speed is okay though. You know that you can set different speed values for x and y in AGS?

* Some puzzles/obstacles seemed to be a little far-fetched, but that's a typical adventure game issue.

* And finally...

Spoiler

This weird meteors-from-space thing. I really hoped that this plot would somehow tie in with the ghost story, but it seems to be completely unrelated, which was a little disappointing. It's a nice idea on its own, but it's not developed enough and not integrated into the story, so it feels out of place.

[close]

But despite these shortcomings I had a lot of fun playing Mudlarks. Good job! Amazing job, if this is your first game.

...and now I'm stuck.

Spoiler

I'm in the church basement trying to repair this machine. Something has fallen into the water, but I don't know how to get it.

[close]

Spoiler

Interact with the dog, talk to the man... try to find out what the dog is afraid of. Then you'll know what to do.

[close]

Spoiler

The coal doesn't have the right shape, you have to look for something that is more round.

[close]

Spoiler

There's a round stone lying somewhere, if I remember correctly it's on the second screen to the left.

[close]

Well, if you use a 2d engine like AGS it usually doesn't make sense to render realistic shadows for the characters. They'd have to be calculated in realtime to match the lightsources and the geometry of each room, otherwise they'll look wrong.
So if you want 3d characters with realistic shadows, you have to use a 3D or 2.5D engine. In 2D you can only have fake shadows, such as a simple circular shadow beneath the character, or maybe a rendered shadow with the light coming directly from above, so the shadow doesn't spread across the background.

Spoiler

It's in Vincent's flat.

[close]

Yeah, I also had this bug, but you don't really have to reload the game. As soon as you do something that changes the character's view again (such as picking up an item), everything is back to normal again.

I'm really enjoying this game so far. But now I'm stuck on day 4:

Spoiler

So I have to dress as a doctor before I can visit Pemberton. There's a white coat in the van, but it's locked. I've revisited all locations and I can't figure out what to do, I guess I must have missed something.

[close]

Once again, thank you!

I've posted the second point in the bug tracker. I guess the movement speed calculations should better be fixed in AGS at some point in the future, and it's not that important. After playing around with the settings I got satisfactory results - not perfect, but good enough.

The fixed movement angles were more important, and thanks to your IsoWalk module the walking animations look much better than before.

We're still using it, and haven't had any problems whatsoever. It just works.

Pillarboxing is the least desirable effect. A screen that's filled with content is most desirable.

I have to disagree here. As a player I have no problem with small sideborders, but I don't like it at all when the graphics are stretched in an unnatural way just to fit the screen size, it just looks wrong.
So there should always be an option to keep the correct aspect ratio that will use sideborders to prevent distorted graphics.

Thanks, this looks very interesting! I'll give it a try and report back if it works for me.

[can you limit a character's movement to 8 fixed angles somehow through scripting?]

I'm not quite sure if this is the right forum, but I have a few more advanced questions about character movement.

1. Usually AGS moves the characters freely in all directions at all possible angles. This can look bad, especially if you use diagonal walkcycles. If, in your animation, the character walks at 45°, but AGS decides to move the character at 55°, it looks really awkward, as if the character is sliding. I know it's a common problem in many adventures, but are there any ways around this?
More precisely, can you limit a character's movement to 8 fixed angles somehow through scripting? I'm not talking about keyboard controls, but point & click. It doesn't look too bad at low resolutions without diagonal walkcycles, but if you make a highres game with smooth animations and diagonal views, it looks plain wrong most of the time.

2. When I set UniformMovementSpeed to false, I can have different speed values for X and Y. But this doesn't seem to apply to diagonal movement? You can test this easily by trying to set a very low value (such as -5, which would translate to 1/5) for MovementSpeedY. Now you get a much faster y-speed by moving diagonally than by moving vertically, which just doesn't make any sense. Normally you wouldn't set the speed levels that low, so you won't always notice it, but it makes the movement inconsistent when using different speed settings for X and Y. Is this behaviour intended, or is it a bug?

So generally, while the speed settings work fine for low resolutions and simple animations, I recently got the feeling that character movement in AGS can get quite messy when you try to make it look more real. Does anyone know of any good workarounds? Have I missed something?

But Lancelot is not an idiot. If we dismiss him and continue talking to the Jester he'll put two and two together. Lancelot is too important for us, we shouldn't offend him like this.

>Tell Lancelot that we appreciate and share his concern. But go on to explain that the current lack of information on both domestic and international affairs remains our kingdom's greatest weakness. Therefore we are not looking for someone to steal information or assassinate, but for someone to coordinate the gathering of information, to inform us of possible allies or enemies, to warn us of threats, and to advise us on opportunities.

+1

Although I'm a composer too, I think it does make sense to merge music and sound, and also some of the art awards. What counts for me is the overall experience. The greatest music doesn't help if it's poorly integrated into the game.
We don't need "best composer" or "best artist" awards, the awards should focus on the games.

Question 1:     III, IV, I, II
Question 2-I:   b, a, d, c
Question 2-II:  a, b
Question 2-III: b, d, a, c
Question 2-IV:  a, d, b, c
Question 2-V:   b, a, c
Question 3:     none

[+1]

But we all know what happens to them IF they get caught...

>Once again thank Broomhilde for her offer and tell her that we will indeed think her proposal over. Afterwards summon Jester and Lancelot and ask them what they know about the Yesteryear family.

+1

No need to feel guilty Crimson Wizard, you've done so much for AGS, it's invaluable.
But yes, we'd be very grateful if this could be finished at some point. For now we're happily working with the custom build. Being able to design the game in any resolution, and even more important, being able to play it at any given resolution is just great.