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Qing, or Quing, I believe. At least, I think so. It ended somewhere around 1910, at any rate. The last Emperor was still a boy, at the time of his abdication. I think he lived on for many years as a caretaker in the Forbidden City. Is this correct?

It is odd that the Damnatio Memoriae did not take, at that occasion. I imagine Artemis was on unfriendly terms with someone else upstairs at the time, and they kept Mr H's memory going, to annoy her.

As for its application now, I must agree that it is the best way to treat these hideous murderers - particularly the types who do so for some warped idea of 'fame'. To oblivion with them, and let them rot. Runeberg had the right idea: 'So give his dark-wrought deed its time, but shroud in night his name as I."
(Trivia: that comes from a Johan Ludvig Runeberg poem about a real historical traitor, and it is very good. So good, in fact, that I can never recall the traitor's name unless I look him up, and then I forget it again. There is a lot of power in verse and songs...)

That said, I do not mind gawping and laughing at these sort of criminals if given the opportunity. It is not as if they are much good for anything else, after what they have done. I have little interest in the man in the video, his fate or his motivations, but I can certainly laugh at him all the harder, as it dissipates his menace. If oblivion is not practical for whichever reason, humiliation is the next best thing. They have revoked what rights they had to be considered serious. Forget, or point and laugh. Maybe install one of those dunking machines from an old fair ground in the prison? Probably not...

Well, now, funny pictures. The screenshot button is a fantastic thing, and one does catch quite a few funny moments when playing. Here, it seems that the make-belief airforce are rather lax in their demands of a decent landing.

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It feels as if not much is expected of me. It is, I suppose, in 'one piece'. Good enough for me, pour in the vodka and point me back up, and I am good for another go!

It is looking better by the day! This is some excellent work, and once again, thank you for doing this.

I do think that the light blue and orange colours looks quite splendid together. A wise choice.

All of the information available on the /ags page looks good. I do think you can get a decent overview of the program from there. If required, I do think it would be possible to insert an FAQ link, but it is a secondary concern for now. My only quibble is if it is entirely 'fair' to claim that the program is multi-platform. A list of platforms on which you can run the editor, and a list of platforms that you can export your games to, might be prudent. That is, of course, a question for later on.

For now, a magnificent work! Well done!

[AWE IN BEING]

I would agree. The unicorn in general depiction is not what it was. Although cute and lovely versions of things are quite alright (and mostly quite inspired), it is impossible to not see that the cuteicorn phenomenon is greatly inflated. Still, other depictions remain, and as I have always been fond of unicorns (I got into fights over the matter in school, I recall, which is an amusingly ridiculous reason on reflection), it is pleasing to encounter them. I do not think the 'proper' unicorn is in danger of being 'forgotten' - provided that it is indeed depicted. Art - games - words. Let the unicorn in.
Dwarf Fortress unicorns, as Danvzare mentioned, are quite menacing, amusingly. They live in 'good' lands, but they were quite capable of wreaking havoc on your dwarfs, kicking and goring. They are less dangerous now, but they are still a threat, particularly since the elves (less wise and decidedly less nice in Dwarf Fortress than in most other depictions) use them as war beasts.

All together, I do hope for better days for the unicorn. There is so much one can do with them while retaining their majesty.
'Cute' things are not a problem - provided that the object of the cute renditions are not utterly overshadowed by a hollow cuddle-simulacrum with all meaning of the old sand-papered off. If nothing else, our children deserves better. And now I feel I must put my crowns where my mouth is, and make some sort of unicorn game.

On angels, it is important to remember that any rendition of them is a vain attempt to describe the indescribable and depict that which pictures cannot reach. Not that it is not worth attempting just because it is impossible, mind. Angels are not 'supposed' to be blazing, all-seeing wheels, but it is 'closer' to what they are than a chap with wings, although not one depiction can be held as more 'right' than the other. An angel unmasked is a terrifying thing, so it is little wonder that they come in veils. Place and purpose is what matters, and I do not think you can get a depiction more or less 'right', only more or less fitting.

Part of the confusion, of course, comes from the term 'cherub', which in modern popular speak is taken to mean exclusively a fat little babby with wings, rather than AWE IN BEING, as it were. Although I imagine that if Cherubim have a sense of humour, they find it most amusing. The little winged children, putti, meanwhile, are more than mere decorations in their symbology, of course. They are very old, and hold so many different meanings. Far more than an adorable 'down-grade' for Cherubim, although one cannot wonder that it has become an impression. Indeed, it is like what has befallen the unicorn; considered but a slightly tacky and sugary decoration. Somewhat vexing.

Now, hurrah for the magnificent unicorn - queen of beasts!

This is the Curious Dig.

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It is one of the first AGS experiments that I can recall, and still have lying about. I am fond of it, and I learned a lot. The player is a professor leading a (badly funded) expedition to dig up a lost tomb. You dig up valuables to get score. You analyse and combine them in the workshop to get more score. You break open the main vault, have some sort of final encounter, and you win. It was the general plan, at least.

Of course, it was difficult to make the archaeology-em-up gameplay work, or at least make it work for a tidy little project of this scale. Solving puzzles and finding extra goodies were more fun than sifting through sand and what-not. That, perhaps, is a different experience for a different game.

I am still fond of the idea, mind. Of course, I am wanting for a sort of framework to explain the vagaries, and I have gotten a better idea of how to make the gameplay work. I wanted Time Team rather than Indiana Jones, but the latter simply works for a game in a way that the former cannot.

The Emperor's Cure.

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I think this was a prospective MAGS entrant. I forget the theme, but it was about the emperor on death's door due to illness, and the hapless junior alchemist summoned to whip up a cure, as the master apothecary suddenly died. It was effectively an alchemy game. Crush, calcinate, mix, and do not die, and do not poison the emperor.

It was quite fun, and this time, I learnt a lot about cut-scenes and GUIs and multiple endings. I also discovered Eric Matyas's excellent music archive!

It was, of course, impossible to finish within a month. It was also far too much framing around what was ultimately a basic colour mix-matching puzzle, despite the vast amounts of ingredients and different states. As with the Curious Dig, I may have tried to simulate alchemy too far at the expense of gameplay. Still â€" a learning experience. I became rather fond of the Regency-esque fantasy theme, and of Mr Strom, endlessly bumbling himself up the steps. He will be given future opportunities to serve his emperor, I think.

Disposal.

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A game about bomb disposal, in which you are a technician called to disarm bombs left around the city by a mad bomber.

As always, the problem was in the gameplay. It is difficult to build satisfying puzzles all around bombs â€" or at least with a reasonably realistic approach to bombs. I came to hear that an Ulster bomb-squad had to 'unlearn' some of their techniques, since the contraptions were a lot less fiendishly clever than the training had supposed. Unplug the detonator, and you are done. Which meant having to invent more and more outrageous types of bombs, and the needs of the gameplay clashed with the style.

Still, an idea with a lot of potential. Bombs could be only part of it. Sabotage in a more general sense would work for more variety in the puzzles. Breaking into a compromised reactor to mend it before it goes critical, for instance. Anything that relies on correctly pointing and clicking.

I like the design for this. The best description is that it is Stålenhagian, a sort of futuristic visit to the past. On the one hand, it is quite satisfying to see someone have an identical vision for something that you have. On the other, it is somewhat distressing that they are vastly better at expressing it, and you know that you will be under that shadow, and be a 'rip-off'. Still, a pleasant walk among memories, most certainly.

One idea I liked was to change the game saving system a bit. Rather than having it available all the time, the player would need to click the panel on the NatTech van to bring up the saving dialogue. Which makes the disposal part a bit more tense, with the right music.
I also wanted it to be timed, but timers in AGS are a bit complicated for me. The next best thing is to have limited actions. Every action that takes time to do deduct some from your time meter. If you run out, the bomb explodes.

I shall have to make a demo of this, some day. Might not hurt with some more perspectives on it.

Emergency.

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This is a GUI-test, mainly. I wanted to make a sort of unified GUI that made sense within the context of the game, and I was quite happy with how it turned out. Also, I liked the idea of an android on board a starship taken over by space monsters. The usual space horror affair; twisted creatures stalking the hallways, flickering lights, walls being consumed by kebab, crewmen twisted into fleshy polyp aberrations, and so forth. While the android face it all with the indifference of a machine.
Of course, the player's agency makes him go beyond his programming routines in order to complete his mission, which one could call emergent behaviour.

An idea I shall keep working on, I think. I liked the humour, and the GUI learning experience was invaluable â€" I found a general style I could use.


I say, I like how a pattern begins to come forwards when you put old project pictures side-by-side like this. I really like the Sierra-template, as you can plainly see.

While these games have not been made, I must say that they are still quite valuable to me. All the things I learned, all the ideas they prompted... Time spent well, indeed. Most enriching. Of course, I shall have to make something good enough to release, one of these days.

This thread is most intriguing - and a damned good idea!

Excellent work on the mock-ups!

I shall disclose that I find contemporary web design a detestable development. Sites these days seems to be obliged to maintain a minimum state of ugliness for its own sake. So take this as a luddite's perspective.
It is a very good mock-up. It is as 'up-to-date' as it must be without sacrificing what is important. It is an improvement, rather than an 'update'. It is very navigable now, and with clearer departments. Very well done!

One note, however, is that it may be good to include early in the Engine/Features page some concise information on licensing. Prospective users need to know if they can use AGS commercially or not, and under what conditions. I find this important, it is the sort of thing I want to sniff out quickly, at least. Oh, and it would be worth the while to emphasise that the Adventure Game Studio software is not only free but stand-alone and requires no accounts or dodgy subscriptions.

A splendid job altogether! It is far better than what one can expect in the modern website, and it is a demn'd good start! It is a spring-clean, a breath of fresh air.

There are some quibbles, of course. I imagine that the decidedly corporate illustrations here and there are place holders, and that they will be replaced. Now, they do look quite alright, and are well chosen. I do think, however, that something we produce ourselves would be better. They are very non-descript and minimalistic. In short, they fill precisely the right places, but I think that we need to replace them with our own (tea-muggy) illustrations. Something that is 'AGS-esque' while also professionally presentable.

I could contribute to that, if and when necessary, to the best of my capabilities. It is a future question, but I think it is important.

The text, I think, is placeholdery in places as well, but that is also more a matter of content than arrangement, which on the whole is quite excellent.

Also, I suggest that you to consider incorporating a light-blue shade to the currently white background. It is, in a way, the AGS colour, and it is much preferable to the ordinary plain white which seems to be the modern standard. It would retain the light and airy feel of the current mock-up, but it would make it a lot less searing.

The use of orange as a contrast/companion colour, meanwhile, is excellent!

As a final note, I do think that this is a design that will 'last' for quite some time, meaning that once the site has been done up, and there has been some spring cleaning and re-organising, it will not require big, recurring changes. It is effort well spent. Well done!

On the forums, I am of the opinion that they are excellent as they are. It depends, of course, whether they are practical to maintain like this, but if it is not urgently required, I strongly suggest that no significant changes are made. They work splendidly, and while perhaps a bit archaic (and thus better) as far as the internet at present stands, I do not think they are likely to cause any prospective AGS user to abandon the idea.

^{'SQUARE avatars?! Blasphemy! Blasphemy, I say!'}

It seems to be the general opinion, and I am happy to hear that no significant changes are planned. Of course, if it becomes impractical or impossible to not change them, then it is a different matter.

Thank you once again for maintaining this site. These suggestions, while sincerely meant is and shall be secondary to what is possible and practical for you to make and run. It is the most important.

I shall see what I can contribute in the meanwhile. Stand by. This is excellent work, AGA & Tampie85. Most excellent.

Why, I think it is a manufacturer entirely committed to making distressing dollies. It must be. To what ends, I cannot say, but I certainly would not consider giving any child such a thing.

Then again, last I wanted one, I could not find a toy shop for love nor money. Perhaps these wretched little trolls stole them away.

As for my contribution, I offer spiders.

They really ought not to disturb me, particularly here in the north where they are miniscule and do not have any poison that could harm you.
As it happens, I like spiders. They are magnificent little creatures. Beautiful and mysterious. They know things. They are also very frightening, even though they generally cannot cause me any harm.

I saw a program on television, once, about common house spiders and garden spiders. It was very interesting, but it took me quite some willpower to remain. Once I had gotten used to the pictures, I was not quite scared, but I slowly but surely became nauseous from looking at them.

I had to switch off eventually, because I became terribly sea-sick. Indeed, even now, I feel a pang of discomfort, when I think of tiny little house spiders.
Monstrous fantastical spiders, of course, are terrifying to me. I am quite fond of them in tales and video games, however, precisely because they evoke such a response. Nonetheless, it is peculiar. Tiny little spiders cannot hurt me. Big ones cannot hurt me except for when I sleep. Indeed, I cannot say precisely why they frighten me.

They are at their most frightening when they are moving. Spidery locomotion is a very discouraging sight, and I do not know why. They seem incapable of moving except in startling bounds or with a quivering, purposeful creeping with their long, sleek legs... O, Lord.

They are usually content with sticking to their dark corners where we are out of each other's sight and mind, but when they do creep out, it is quite unpleasant. Even if they do me a favour by eating flies and insect, I still catch them and throw them out (gently, I shall add) when I see them. These rooms are simply not big enough for the two of us.
Perhaps it is something about their geometry. I do not know. Their forms are wretched to me, and it is not their fault, and it is utterly silly, but I cannot help it. Poor little things.


I should, of course, include a picture of a spider for the thread, but I am becoming sea-sick, and I cannot bear hunting for a good one right now.

A footnote on Sweden to keep in mind is that there is a rather disorderly row afoot regarding its portrayal. The kingdom's position on matters political makes it a focal point of a vaster system of debate â€" and an object of much shouting. There are interests at work, here. So, while reading the newspaper, keep in mind:

Do not immediately assume that a piece on Swedish politics is true. However, do not dismiss it as a falsehood.
The kingdom is neither a failing state on the brink, where crime and violence is all-encompassing and the only thing that now matters is to revoke everything for the sake of a woke revenge upon the present.
Nor is it a shining exemplar of progress where all is well and splendid, smeared and calumniated by servants of dark forces within and beyond.

There are problems in legio, and many different interests lies in enlarging or diminishing these, depending on the reflexion they may cast on the parties involved. The image of the nation, and what must be done to preserve or expose it, will undoubtedly become a rather ugly question in the coming years.

As an example, I believe that a cinema once wished to include things such as the Bechel test in their general rating system, presumably to premier pictures that were better at representing their women characters. That, however, was presented here in the aether as a sort of state mandate, that all pictures were to be officially rated by feminist standards.
Mind you, my battered memory is unreliable, but I recall that misunderstanding to be most vexing. Then again, many who simply read the loud head-lines at the time did not seem to care much for a correction. It complemented their picture of the situation, and the correction was rather less snappy.

It is what happens.

As for the rest, I am still chomping the cud. For now, I shall say that I must agree; it cannot be forbidden to criticise or raise a grievance. It may well include a motion to ban or forbid the object in question, which can be met on its own, but a critique on its own? I disagree.

Of course, that is also a part of the reason why it should not be an immediate call for a ban, because it must also be possible to disagree with a criticism raised. Such as a critique should not be read as a demand for a ban, nor should an objection be read as a demand for silence.

One could say that there is an 'implicit' effort of a ban or redaction within a critique, but the terms are sufficiently vague to not build a premise thereupon, for where shall we go, if we thresh out implied wheat and throw assumed chaff? It is a dreary thing, and we have quite enough of it, I shall say.

["What does Blue-on-blue mean?"]

"What does Blue-on-blue mean?"

On Lara Croft:

I am very fond of Ms Croft. She is, of course, very pretty, and the games does well to show it off. That said, I would consider it a 'bonus', perhaps. Even if she was more 'practically' dressed, I would have enjoyed our time together. I like the gameplay, and her character. Indeed, I disagree with Babar earlier; I DID want to be Ms Croft, and felt the part when I played.

Mind you, I have not played the latest games. For want of interest, I think. I may have gotten the wrong impression, but they were presented as 'Young Ms Croft trapped on an island with violent criminals, having an utterly miserable time', which is not what I want from Tomb Raider. I want exciting adventure! Tombs! Treasure! Pistol gymnastics! That I- well, Ms Croft-, is also pretty while on the job is a splendid addition.
Of course, I also get the sense that the world of Tomb Raider is slightly more glamorous than ours to accommodate for all this. If it were more real and practical, it would possibly kill the mood flat-out. Those splendid adventuring shorts are perfect in a world where there is no tetanus.

On Valkyria Chronicles:

The uniforms are stupid, but then the entire setting is. It is a fairy-tale featuring mechanised warfare. It strangely fits, in an odd way. I dislike it because it is not evenly spread. The chaps get to wear what passes for practical kit. It would have been fine as far as I am concerned if there were some muscles on display, thank you.
Of course, most characters hardly being a day older than 15 would have helped, too, but I think that is simply an anime-esque convention that disagrees with me.

I must say that the entire ambience of that game irritated me. I do not know why, it was as if it was on the edge of two levels of idioticness, which made it feel inconsistent and only brought forth the most stupid aspects of both. It was irksome. All that could have been all-right if the gameplay had been more along what I expected.
Rather reminds me of the Brothers in Arms games, now that I think of it, but far more anime than I can stand up to at once. Same strange mismatched mood, same shallow squad command functions, the two have more in common than one would think.
I was mostly irritated by the hair-dos, I confess. I really wished that I could march my stupid platoon off to the regimental barber and give them all a sensible hair-cut.

I still think it is jolly poor form, I must say. Falling out takes a certain grace. Like a cat.

Of course, the term 'revenge porn' may not be entirely applicable, no. Irrespective of the fact that it was not yet invented, I shall add.

["It is supposed to go beep?"]

"It is supposed to go beep?"

It is an odd picture. I have the distinct impression that the attributation to Marat was added later, to lend it some historical feathers. Hardly needed to, it is a decent picture on its own. Good old Eddie should have considered another title.

While I would disagree that such pictures are sexist ipso facto, I can see why it is poor form to bring them up in discussions such as this, if it is something that disreputable sorts do to short-circuit a discussion. It is best not to do so.

As for the GTA V picture; the game was a phenomenal success. It presumably made Take2 & Company enough money to rival most countries. Still, I do not think that picture really did have anything to do with it, for or against. I still find it silly, as it depends so on the context, but its role in the conquest of GTA was no doubt microscopic.
Goodness, they were in the enviable position of being able to simply say that the game was coming and they would still have sold copies in the millions. I bought it mostly because it looked jolly fun on video.

EDIT: We-hell, that could explain it, I suppose. If it is inspired, I would say it is one thing. If it is her likeness, however, then that is rather poor form on Eddie's part.

Ha. Possibly. Or more likely a warning. 'This could be YOU. Take a break.'

EDIT:

As for box arts, I do think that they matter. Of course, it is more about the general marketing material, I suppose. That stupid man on the Cyberpunk box would have been less tired if he had not also featured on so many advert splashes and what-not.

No, I still think that box art does matter. It is, or could be, an encapsulation of your game. Even if the prospective player is not so reliant on the box now as we once were, it is just a waste to make it the most dull thing your marketing squad could come up with. Not to mention that the box art is generally the same art that features in advert splashes, and on the icons you click in the digital game shelf these days. If anything, it should be an invitation to think even more on the matter, as it will make so many different appearances. It is not vital, and I do not think that bad box art has ever made me decide against buying a game, but it does matter. If nothing else, it tells you how deep the fingers of the marketing board goes, I suppose.

As for getting used to controls, I have cut my teeth on rather complex games, such as flight simulators with vast arrays of button combinations and what-not. It has done tremendous things to my muscle memory! Of course, I must remind myself at times that I have practiced it for most of my life, while newcomers must start from the beginning. While it can sound absolutely precious when someone complain about a slightly more-than-basic control set-up, I resolve to keep my mouth shut, because everyone has to start somewhere, and it is jolly well harder than it looks. It is a threshold that may be higher than what I can imagine, but it is there. I can understand why anyone would decide to do something else, rather than learn it.
I could probably become very well versed at golf, if I learned all the nuances and practiced it. Of course, that effort vastly outpaces my interest in that sport, so I do not golf. I imagine many people who do not play electric games feel the same.

As for Lavrov mentioned earlier, it is a common Russian name that sounds a lot like Larry. I did not know that there was a current Lavrov of repute. Having seen him now, I can only agree. I want a different Leisure Suit Lavrov.

Context on the GTA picture:

They are brother and sister. They hate each other. They are the children in the GTA V character Michael's awful, awful family. He is jolly awful himself. Conceited, selfish, mean, whimpy, etc. He largely has the family he deserves. Their relationships improve later, though, along with the characters.
The boy in the picture is particularly dreary. He mostly sits around playing 'Righteous Slaughter' and shouting abuse at the other players. They are all unhappy in that household. Michael is part of a very generous witness protection program, but the big Winewood house and the luxuries attached does not stop them from driving each other apart. A divided house of odious, unhappy parvenus. It is quite painful to watch, I must say. Michael was my favourite, but damn it all, did I want to reach my hand in through the CD port and throttle the man!

It is a good picture in context. I knew who they were before I saw it, so it made sense on its own, and describes their hideous relationship. But without that context, it is a different matter. As a stand-alone piece of marketing, it is a miscalculation, because what sort of impression are you meant to take from it?

[Blondbraid]

Oh, goodness, look at these cool cats!

Blondbraid: It is such an amusing idea, while it is also faintly terrifying. She would be an excellent character in a game about perilous genetic splicing! It is something about the eyes.

Sinitrena: I am quite fond of low-resolution art, and that is one damned good lion, I say! I like the colouring, all the peculiar shades of... Well, lion.

Gilbert: D'awww, bless! That is a cat with a plan! It is adorable, and quite true to the original. There are so many possibilities with this character. It is very well done!

Misj: The first image is very, very moving. It is quite sweet, and it is also a splendid portrait of the cats. I think it is magnificent. The second, too, is splendid, and it has so many possibilities as a sprite and a character. The pet rat is an excellent little bonus.

Frankly, these were all magnificent (and I rather feel as if I entered a disguised rabbit at a cat show), and I think they all have splendid uses. This was a very good leg of the competition. But, as I need to decide, my favourite, by a whisker's width, is Misj's cat pirate. It is a splendid glaring of cats, all together!

I shall have to give Graphicsgale a go. It seems to be all that I need. I shall have to continue working on this sprite, however. Make the feline traits stand out somewhat more, if I can. Of course, it is his 'ambling around the house' sprite; the proper outdoor sprite would require a nice frock coat, a hat and a stick and I do not know why I do this to myself now that I see that I must animate that, too...

Herp Alpert's song Spanish Flea has become rather a theme tune down the office. I like it, and play it a lot. It is nice.

My colleague, however, mistook the title as 'Spanish Fly' for a long time, and he was blissfully unaware of the aphrodisiac of the same name. It was quite amusing, and it took a while before I had the heart to tell him what it meant.

'Put some Spanish fly on, would you?'
'This calls for some Spanish fly!'
'All we need now is the Spanish fly!'
Etc.

It was rather funny, although I do feel like quite the villain for neglecting to tell him, poor chap. He went a rather fetching shade of red when I finally apologised and told him. We really ought to make a variant of the song titled 'Spanish fly' some time.

I shall confess that I do not at all mind some physique on display. Many things benefit from a pleasant view. However, my condition is that this should be evenly spread. To take the obvious example, armour should be of equal consequence to both sexes present. If it is of little importance, then let it be so, but do spare me the tin canned gentlemen if the ladies can deflect shot and sword with nought but their magnificent abdominals. The other way around is a most rare beast, but equally unwelcome. One could make a stand in defence for sensible designs, but what is sensible depends on the setting and the tone.
Of course, it helps to ensure that these characters are indeed characters, rather than furniture. Even palace guards, that are the closest thing to live furniture, could have a moment in the sun. Not to mention, clothes and gear that passes for practical can make a character look terribly pretty all the same.
Is in an old chestnut, I admit, but I am fond of it â€" it has never let me down in conkers yet. A better man than I would reject titillating impracticality outright, no doubt, but Gunga Din is not available at present. All that I require a clear and equal rules on the matter, and a consistency in how this imagined world's sensibility differs from ours.
Not to mention, there is a time and place for everything. What-ever the woman in the provided picture is doing, I imagine it is not the correct place. Unless, I suppose, the world that character inhabit works like that. I cannot say, but it is not exactly what I think of when I think of Prince of Persia. Goodness me, chaps, what is wrong with flowing shawls of silk? It would be perfect!

As for chaps being uncomfortable with revealed male physique, I simply say humbug! It is a both or neither situation, gentlemen, and that is that. Frankly, beginning to enjoy male physique is not going to do wretched things to you. If anything, it will enrich your views. Wrapping them up in plate and pouches even though armour seems to be entirely optional just to serve those sentiments seems exceptionally silly.

Then again, I was always a wretched old sinner.

Now, on what happens in Metro: Last Light. What happens is, the player arrives (after a wild boat ride) at a flooded station called Venice. It is a rather seedy pleasure palace sort of station. You visit a show, featuring trained giant rats and can-can girls, and then follow the chap you want to get a hold of.
I seem to recall that you almost get spotted by the man you are following, and have to duck into a dancing girl's room to hide.
At that occasion, you can pay her a few bullets for a lap-dance, if you wish. It is about as far as it goes, and she mostly just... Ambles around, frankly. It is a stupid thing to do right then, since you are under time pressure in the story to catch up with the villains. Then again, Artiom was always a few generals short of a stavka, perhaps. It is mostly just there, and it is not very good. I am unsure if it came with a karma penalty, but I imagine it did. You could hardly blow your nose in that game without getting a 'bad' ending. It was a nice respite from giant spiders for me, at least, but if the intent was arousal, the scene was a failure. I appreciate that the villains decided to wait so that I could catch up... Time and place. It would have been fun under different circumstances (and indeed a different tone), but the circumstances just made it rather dumb, instead.

They could make a Leisure Suit Lavrov game instead, I suppose. Or perhaps I could. Hmm.

The only sex scene I recall occurs later, when Artiom and Anna (Expert sniper, initially dismissive romantic interest and superb kidnapping victim, recently rescued by our mute hero, because of course) are held in quarantine together (the villain has released a disease on the metro, because of course he would), and since they have developed feelings for each other (because of course they have), they pass the time. It is supposed to be romantic, I suppose, but it is not. Now, video game characters porking is always a difficult thing to model. 3D characters do not have mass, and it is never as clear as when two models need to closely interact. They solve it by going into Artiom's POV, but that method does not really help. Even a few text boxes would have been more evocative. It is quite amusing, particularly since the game takes the scene quite seriously.
I cannot say that I object to the scene (only that it could have been done so much better), but the circumstances around it are so stupid that I cannot help to laugh. I care little for originality, but it is all so terribly stock and uninvolved that it becomes utterly boring. And making such things boring to an established sinner like myself speaks of greater problems. Chief among which is that I care so little for Artiom and less for Anna. I do not know her, what there may be to know. The game did not spend much time to get us acquainted. I suppose Artiom is having a lucky day, but even so, I feel more like a peeping Tom trapped in his head. Artiom is a mute vessel of a man, and it feels more like riding inside the most accident-prone man in Moscow than it does playing as him. Partly because of constant POV-shots where you are not in control. Such as when he is porking.
Metro is one of those games where you need a yo-yo on hand for when it decides you are done controlling it for a bit.

As you can see, I cannot say I recall that game very fondly. The story was particularly idiotic, even beyond my pain threshold. Artiom's visit to the elephant was only part of its problems. It is simply a stupid, basic game, which would not be a problem if it did not insist otherwise and made itself even dumber by being blind to it. Mr Gluchovskij must have had a rather bad day.

There is a time and place for everything, but if you wish to include a sex scene, it is particularly important that it fits in. Since it is such a naked scene (Ha! Ha!), there is very little you can hide it behind if it does not work.

Oh, and another thing! That Bioshock Infinite cover-art is indeed one of the most stupid things I have seen. Of all the evocative things they could have put on the box, marketing chose that. I understand that box-art is of declining importance, but it pays to make it a neat summary of the game or the mood it inhabits. The 'man-in-game-on-box' design philosophy use so very little to tell you so much nothing, and it is a pity.

["They did not imagine - they remembered."]

"They did not imagine - they remembered."

This cat has been languishing on my hard-drive for years. With this competition, I thought it high time to re-design the sprite, with the aid of some sketches. Here is the concept sheet.

Agent Strom, the kind of hero the Empire deserves.



I am unsure if this is a permissable entry, as the sprite is based on the most excellent Roger Ego sprite included in the also most excellent Sierra-esque beginner's template. Nonetheless, I am quite happy with it.

Tail absent, at present. I dread to animate it. I have to find some nice, light-weight program with onion skinning.

Damned good entries this leg, by the by.

My greatest participation in the grief for Mr Cat, Misj'. What a magnificent cat, and it is a very splendid image. Very moving, I say.

It is the most dreadful thing to lose a dear cat (or any sort of cat, if any other sort there be), but yet, when all is said and done, it is still worth every single moment. All cats fare well, and what is the hurt to the light they bring? My deepest sympathies for the surviving brother; treat him for me, if you have the opportunity.