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What amazes me, really, is that Gadler also has been completely dormant for a good 8 months... I wonder if this is just some sort of odd internet time-hole in effect. He and the thread disappear within roughly 2 weeks of one another, and reappear 8 months later, like a concieved and then reborn baby!

Either way, the sprite *is* really good, as is expected of Dan Clarke - and it doesn't seem to have elicited much of a response when it was originally posted.

She kinda reminds me of my grandmother, really, except mine line dances and doesn't, to my knowledge, garden at all or wear a big black capey-thing.

I kinda wonder what happened to the ol' TLOTLL game, we were hearing quite a bit, then it got kinda quiet.

I'd say it looks pretty good - especially since it was done entirely digitially, which I find tends to be a tough task at that size, without the use of a tablet. (Even with, I prefer the old-fashioned pencil-on-paper technique for general portraiture).

The only thing that really caught my attention as something that could stand a little attention is the extra 'unfilled' pixels that show up at the points of their hair (specifically, the hair hanging over the neck), and the white line surrounding their head where the black and blue touch - it looks a little out of sorts as the line doesn't exist anywhere else, so either adding the line around the rest of the image, or getting rid of it altogether should do the trick.

Facial-feature-wise, it looks just fine. The expression is a little hard to read, but people are often like that in photos, so it's no problem at all. Other than that, and the usual 'double-pixels' (particularly on the jawline) type of criticism, I'd say it looks great.

Good work.

There was a similar thread to this on New Years'. I don't think I'll post the whole thing here on this thread, because it's gratuitously long and a bit tangental (you'll have to read one or two other posts on the thread to understand why I was cogitating about the X-Box and Gamecube and what-have-you), but feel free to click on over here if you want my analysis of it.

So erm, how did you discover this ... or had I better not ask?

Heh, it was something I remembered from biology class back in High School. My teacher thought it necessary to let us all know that we were the lucky ones that got to enjoy the act, and it stuck with me (for the same reasons, I imagine, that it did with you). The Koalas and Lions thing I managed to find as definite examples by googling "mating is painful". They're the first and third pages that come up.

...I suppose it would sound a little odd without foreknowledge, wouldn't it?

Sounds like a pretty sound philosophy to me. I tend to overanalyze things like many others, I suppose.

Anyway, I didn't really intend to join in on this particular topic, I seem to have gone somewhat off topic as it is. I'm going to step back and let the people who want to debate do so.

I suppose I should clear up, for the sake of posterity, that my only real point in my previous post is that 'Bad sex doesn't necessitate the lack of reproduction'. I'm personally on the 'pro sex for the sake of sex' side of the fence as it were, but thought that I'd clear up the whole misconception that things that don't enjoy sex avoid it.

If nature made sex unpleasent, nobody would have children

I beg to differ on that point, actually - Humans are one of the few living creatures that have an enjoyable sexual experience. For many animals it's painful (Koalas, Lions, etc), or feels like nothing much at all (for the creatures whose nervous systems or reproductive organs are less developed, like insects). The natural instinct to reproduce is the reason most living creatures have sex and give birth (Which, I am told, is far from a pleasant experience while it's happening). That's why most animals go into heat - their biological makeup, along with certain environmental factors, tells them 'you're ready to go, so get to it quick'. Only certain mammals, such as primates, have sex because 'it feels good'. The rest are just doing it because they're biologically predisposed to doing so.

My guess is that even if sex sucked for humans, like it does for much of the rest of the animal kingdom, we'd still go on doing it (though probably a lot less), because the greatest urge for most humans is to 'leave their mark' - through progeny, usually.

What style of music was it, Petteri? To me it sounds a bit like 'Call on Me' by Eric Prydz. This is dance music, however, and wouldn't likely be playing on your average 'top 40'/pop/alternative kind of station.

I believe what Fernekk is looking for is a handful of midis that aren't from existing games, but have a 'game-like' feel to them. There are plenty on the net to find. Don't worry about people misreading your message about Amateur music, everyone makes the odd post where things can be easily mistaken to mean something else. Upon a quick google search for 'original midi', I came up with This site, which has some nice music and a note saying that with permission, they can be used for non-profit works. As long as you don't intend to go commercial with your game, it may be a good place to start. This site could also be a good place to look. The keywords you'll want to keep in mind are 'stock' and 'royalty free' music.

Good luck finding what you're looking for.

[BerserkerTails]

Your SUPREME DICTATOR speaks!

Well, it looks like the contest is over. It's a little unfortunate that we didn't get more entries than we did - there was plenty of steam at the beginning, and I thought it was going to be a bloody battle, but even with the 5 entries we did recieve, I am impressed with the results, and dub this competition a success.

The entries were all awesome, and though I've only actually played 1 of the games (2 if King's Quest on Dreamcast is the same as the computer version of KQ1), I have heard enough to know where you folks are coming from. It's nice to see the anger and spittle flying in regards to some of our favorites.

I judged this contest on both 'truth in advertising' and the quality, imagewise, of the edit made (Don't worry, even though I haven't played any of the graphic-intensive games in the entries, I did my homework).

So, without further ado (as there has been plenty ado so far in this post), I announce the winner of the contest.

I think we can all agree that "Quest for Glory: Shadows of Betaness" is about as true as it gets - the text masterfully edited on the box by BerserkerTails states simply but eloquently what I think the adventure gaming public would fervently agree with, and the box itself, even (save for a 'moby games' watermark in one corner) is pretty damned convincing.

Congratulations, BerserkerTails, and great work, all of you.

No need for thanks, Darc, you made an entry to the contest that best fit the theme - just remember to be fair to all entries regardless of 'sound quality' when judging your contest.

Again, great music from all of you.

[Edit:]

Living in Japan, I'm subjected to the best and worst that Anime has to offer. Personally, I don't really like to back it into a corner like most people do. Anime is just so diverse, just like animation from the rest of the world. In America, we have both crazy-ass stuff like Ren and Stimpy, and serious things like the Animatrix (Though admittedly this was heavily 'influenced' by the serious cartoons of Japan).

In Japan, one could even venture to say that the genres are even more diverse, with strange childrens' serieses like "Crayon Shin-chan" or "Daa! Daa! Daa!", all the way up to powerful Realistic serieses like "Berserk" or "Jin-Roh", and - as Mr. Hyde mentioned, porn as well. Anybody that's seen my artwork probably realises that 'anime' is a big part of my art form as well, but I in no way attempt to call it Anime or Manga except in the fact that the comic I write is written in Japan, in Japanese. The style is simplified, which was a convention that many contend was concieved of by Atom-Boy/Black Jack creator Tezuka Osamu, and though prolific in the Japanese cartoon scene, it is by no means the be-all and end-all deciding factor of Japanese animation.

I'm a fan of all animation. I'm also a cartoonist by trade, so I suppose that makes sense. I just don't think we need to pigeonhole Anime, it'd be like saying 'I don't like movies made in the USA' - doesn't work.

I'd like to also add that anything made by Studio Ghibli is worth a watch, in my humble opinion, aside from Spirited Away, they were also the ones who created "My neighbor Totoro", "Castle in the sky" (Mentioned by Pelican), "Porco Rosso", the recently released "Howl's Moving Castle" and many, many others. Don't watch it because you "like anime", watch it because it's just good animation and storytelling.

Edit:

In America, we have both crazy-ass stuff like Ren and Stimpy, and serious things like...

Whoops, didn't actually mean to leave a quotable like that, I was just going to try and think of something that would serve to get my point across and left it so I could finish working my thoughts out. Honestly. My bad.

[Darcness]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it would appear that the music contest has come to a close. Three great entries, three neat interpretations of the theme I set forth.

Oz, as always your music is among the top class of composers on this board, your samples are top-quality and you have an amazing grasp of musical theory. You truly captured 'sinister' in this competition. The Don feels that this is a very necessary part of his image and congratulates you. He was heard to say, "This is what it sounds like when my temper has gotten the best of me. others would be well advised to listen for this music, and stand down when it starts playing."

GeoffKhan - a musician and a gentleman, in both body and song. Like Oz, you have the ubersamples, and your music is always top-notch. This more classical representation of our Don has pleased him much, as it portrays him as a fair and cultured man. He would like you to know that you're a good boy and would like to sit down with you and discuss a canneloni sometime. Working with you in the ATC is to be an awesome and eye-opening experience.

Darcness - This is the kind of music that I expect to hear for the Don in his every day dealings with his people - you have captured the Don's many sides in one piece. The piece may be in midi, but it serves its purpose well and because it is neutral enough to convey both his subtle power over people, while not being too fearsome.

You all made great music, and I'd like to start off with the cliche 'it was a really tough choice, and in my eyes, you're all winners' line. Still, I think that the song that Darcness provided was, though in midi, the closest to my original idea, which was consequentially made by listening to Torna a Surriento on Nick Stellino's (A PBS italian Chef who includes an italian music CD with one of his cookbooks) Glorious italian cooking CD.

People always seem to be under the impression that midi is inferior to the high-quality sound of the mp3s we get here. Admittedly it sounds a bit outdated, and if we were all lucky enough to have 300+ dollar music software, we wouldn't have to settle, but you have to work with what you have, and Darcness did the deed well.

Congrats, Darcness.

Thank you, Oz.

As he said, I won't be basing my decision on what file format I recieve the song in, it's all about how well it fits the theme and actual quality as a song.

Puts on his crazy-hat and Joins Einoo
That's right, boys and girls. Wave of the future.


Bam! I'm noticing a distinct "You are odd and hard to understand" vibe from these tests. That's cool, though.

Yes, compete! The Don is waiting for more theme music, and those who don't join can expect to find a hard drive with copious bad sectors on their pillows on January 18th. Great music so far with awesome interpretations of the theme. Keep 'em coming.

It doesn't happen when I'm nervous, but for whatever reason when I'm stressed or frustrated, my nose gets really itchy. I've had to pause video games before because my nose was driving me crazy.

I have to say, that is one awesome longpig. And I'd actually venture to say that they were daisies, most likely a wallpaper design?

Assuming you're going for a semi-overhead or isometric sort of style in the outside view, the info Niel posted is perfect, and should probably be taken into mind. I'm going to focus on the interior views, and give a few comments to get you started.

The biggest issue with these backgrounds is the lack of walls/ceiling in the indoor rooms - just having one wall and a floor makes it hard to fathom the actual dimensions of the room. There is also an issue with sparseness - there's just nothing in the rooms. This could, of course, be handled with objects, but usually tables, bookshelves, posters and other things which are just generally 'filler' material and eye-candy should be made as part of the background. As-is, there's just not a lot there, which doesn't make for a very interesting gaming experience. For an idea of what to do with your interior, I'll refer you to The Tutorials thread, at the top of the Critic's Lounge Forum. There's a lot in there to learn. Good luck.

I think that the problem with the books has less to do with size, though books do indeed tend to be different sizes/shapes/thickness, but that they're all untextured - even the spines of books usually at least have text, if not the edge of a piece of artwork or something, assuming that the dust covers haven't been removed (And even in that case, they'll still have the name of the book). This is most noticeable in the book at the end of the line. Depending on the books on the shelf (Because of the inherently high resolution of 3D images), you have a good chance to give the room's owner some personality through their choice of reading material.

Otherwise, One thing that sort of throws me off is that the light from the desklamp is abnormally powerful - it's not throwing off so much light that it turns the things around it a pale shade of white, but desklamps tend to not have so much wattage, and throw off a much softer light. It looks perfect on the back wall, and the level of light warmth from the bulb is just right, but the sharp shadows thrown on the floor and wall from the desk, chair and shelf seem a bit unearthly to me. Being the only visible light source, aside from the light coming from upstairs, I'd almost gather that the room should be a lot darker.

One last thing I noticed was the ceiling of the room - it seems a touch too smooth to me. It's by no means a definite rule, but I find that most ceilings are textured in some way; be it pockmarked with holes, like a corkboard or cottage-cheesey, like the ceiling in my bedroom. Texture adds flavor, and as it is, the whole room seems a bit over-smooth. Sterile, if you will. It has the feeling of an early-to-mid 90's CGI feel to it (Mind's eye series, that sort of thing).

Nonetheless, the room looks pretty damned good, especially as an incomplete render.

[A pack of hot dogs]

Actually, I'm pretty sure that you get the hair of a three-toed sloth in Flight of the Amazon Queen, though I can't say with conviction that I remember whether it's only got three toes or not.

You could really list just about any absurd thing, but what about stuff that we see every day but just for whatever reason has yet to be used? Lessee, here... What about:

A pack of hot dogs (Absurd-ish, but still easy to come by)?
Origami paper (admittedly not all that common, but...)?
A computer mouse or keyboard (To my limited knowledge, you've never been able to actually carry one around seperate from a computer)?

That's all I've got.