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Right, now that's cleared up, I too have a question.

Do people call you 'paed' for short?

That's almost worth a Zing, darling.

..And Peddles.  Use a password that's exclusive to that one thing.

S0RRY T0 R41N ()n Y0uR P4r4D3 and.. oh, I really can't be bothered.

I'm not going to contridict or confirm anyone else's comments, but I suggest this:

1. Get an Idea of the game you're going to make.
2. Get a style for the art (sprites and backgrounds).

I've got the style nailed, myself.  As for a plot, I'm in the dark.  Once I have those those sections sorted, I'll worry about getting the software to work.

I'd also suggest playing as many adventure games as you can.  Not just the standard Sierra or Lucas Arts fare.

Anyhow, Good Luck and whatnot.

[AGAIN.]

Scummie, I'm a bit disappointed you're as close to Futurama as you are.Ã,  Moreso that you're link is via Billy West (Greatest voice actor.Ã,  Ever).

But, more importantly..

FUTURAMA? BACK?
I'M SO EXCITED I WANT TO CRAP MY PANTS.
AGAIN.

EDIT: I meant to say disappointed that you're that close and never told me.

You should know that's it's a heluva lot cheaper to change your name by statuary decleration rather than deed poll (about £8 compared to about £50).

Statuary Decleration mean's I'll have to leave the house for something other than work.  I've got it done to just the two inconvenience these days (Thank you, Oddbins. Hello, Brittens).
I'm not about to try to complicate matters more than I have too.

Now, if this Statuary Decleration worked via MSN and PayPal, I'd be set..

My name is Ian Welch.

The only reason I wouldn't release a game with that name in the credits is because it's a pretty lousy name and I want to change it by Deed Poll

I find nothing wrong with Ian Welch. However, it would probably pale in comparison to a name like Deed Poll.

My full name is...<GASP>....Babar Ahmed Kemal Mohammad Khan. That's not including my tribal names. BEAT THAT!

I didn't plan to change it to Deed Poll.Ã,  Ã, That's just the system in the UK you use to legally change your name.Ã,  Considering I have the plan to spend an entire year changing my name once a month*, Deed Poll and possibly Deep Doll might get a look in.Ã,  Amongst Guybrush Threepwood and Evil Mister Meanie Pants.

*(Deed Poll gets cheaper if you use it more than once).

On the forums here, a lot of people seem to use "nicknames", so people tend to associate a nickname to a certain person after a while.

At Brittens last year, I called most people by their forum names.  Or at least a derivative of such.  IE, AGA was Aggie.  DaveGilbert managed to find away around that, tho.  Damn, he's sneaky.

Are any of our games in the "Best Freeware Adventure" section?

EDIT:

Apologies if:
Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment
Galaxy Lander (Arcade Adventure)
Minds Eye
..are AGS games, I've been away for a while.

The first sounds like something Pesty would knock up because she's got the afternoon off.  The second sounds like something ProgZMAX would do because he's got a tea break and the third sounds like something David Bowie's manager would cook up to rake in some more cash.

My name is Ian Welch.

The only reason I wouldn't release a game with that name in the credits is because it's a pretty lousy name and I want to change it by Deed Poll to something cool.  As for the security issues, if you own a website, the chances are that you're name and address are available to view if you check the right sites.

Darth, I agree.  I think the filters and stuff is there to save people time.  They should learn how to do it without filters first, tho.  Since Hammy is still learning, I was trying to get him/her to practice at the basics first.  There's no reason to learn how to run before you walk.  I'm sure you could recreate all the filter effects without using them, it's just time consuming.  However, you know how to get the unfiltered version looking right before applying them.

Hammy, I can't stress this enough.  Avoid Filters, textures and other such Photoshop-esque bloat*.

It's time consuming I know, but drawing the stuff by hand will get much better results.  At the moment, it looks like you just got a few photos and cut and pasted sections as a collage and then drawn the castle in with a permanent marker.

*(Yes, I know it's Fireworks.  It's still bloat).

Name:    Tomas   
Posts:    2 (0.003 per day)
Date Registered:    17 April, 2004, 03:48:39 PM

You really have been lurking for sometime.  Welcome and whatnot.

As for the sprite, I only really have one issue.  That's the hat.  It looks more like the comedy-sized Russian officer's hat than a Nazi hat.  I know Adolf was a square-headed midget with a rod up his ass, but his hat usually looked like he hadn't borrowed it from one of the bigger kids in the playground.

As for head-size and stuff, let me ask you a question.  What style are you going for? In general.  Personally, I can't draw realistic characters worth a damn, so I've given up trying.  I now concentrate on on making them look okay in a cartoon style.  If you want the realistic look, it's going to take a lot of practice.  Cartoon style will take almost as much practice, but you can blag your way round the hard parts by saying that you've found your style.  In my opinion, I think it's best if you imagine the style you want and run with it for a while, getting it as close to what's in your head as you can.  After that you can start experimenting with new stuff.

Also, from the size of the sprite, I'm guessing you prefer 320x240 resolution (lo-res, old skool style).  Even though there's less pixels, that doesn't mean there's less work.  I find a larger resolution means that I have more room to play around and need to analyse each pixel less.  If I were you, I'd experiment with the same character, but double the size, just to see which you feel more comfortable with.  Disregard this paragraph if you've got your heart set on it being lo-res.

And as for FOY.  Join the club. We've been waiting for what seems like forever.

Good luck, etc.

Isometric is the view used in UFO: Enemy Unknown (X-COM), Fallout and Little Big Adventure.  I think you mean symmetrical, DonB.

Assuming he does mean symmetrical, I'd have to agree. The rails for the ball to run down look a bit dull.  Also, the lighting could do with some work, everything looks a bit flat at the moment.

Ooh, and this:

Er, I'm confused. Where's the floor?

From the looks of it, i'd say you've used Flash or some other vector based art program.  My advice, harsh as it may seem, is to learn how to use it.  Try using the line tool instead of trying to draw stuff with the brush tool.

I'd also suggest looking at your picture and thinking to yourself "What can I do to improve it?".  After which you try to answer it logically.  Not just "I don't know, I can't be bothered to think about it".

Odd.
Vel sacks me, and then publicly bad-mouths me, yet he still uploads the ezine to my server..

But in all honesty, I thought it was funny.  Reading the comments here before the ezine, I was rather disappointed by the lack of bad-mouthing in the ezine.  Besides, Vel also mocked himself with the "..not paid, only commanded and constantly bugged".  Never a truer word.

Good luck with all the future issues, Vel.  And again, sorry for delaying this one.

Pardon?

Most American video games have techno type music, which I have to say, just about anyone can write.

I have a challenge for you.  Pick an American video game, and a certain section of it, and write a "Techno-type" piece of music to fit that scene.  Since you think anybody can write it, I'd assume 24 hours is plenty of time.  Let's see how many people think it fits well.

Also, it's not just down to graphics, story, music and whatnot.  It's gameplay that really makes things do well.  Evil Genius had neat graphics, and good plot and perfect music.  It also had a sense of humor. It still got let down by the fact that it wasn't as fun as it could be.

Ninjas:

What commercial games are you thinking of that have a bad story or music?

Remember, a lot of non-adventure games don't require much of a plot.  It doesn't mean they don't put effort in, tho.

And as for music, the quality is good.  Sometimes it just seems out of place.

As much as I like to help, it's partly my fault that Vel's not released his Zine.

So, I'll just be an avid reader.