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Yeah, I think Lukethewarrior1 may also be the same person as these two.  I haven't checked IPs or anything as I don't like to play moderator, though, so I can't be sure.  Crazy kids.

Yeah CJ, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?  I know you sacrifice your own time, energy, and money maintaining this great engine and forum, but I really want to use it for prying evangelical purposes.  And, I've got all these pamphlets.... :

Rosy cheeks, a lavender shirt, and baby talk.  Also, a childishly bad first attempt at drawing anything decent with paint.  That's about a cute as I can do.

p.s.  I am skipping the previous post to keep this competition thread alive while allowing everyone to avoid drawing weird dragon porn at the request of a 13 year old.  I've only been here for a little while, but it doesn't seem like the best thing for a forum's reputation.

Next:

Something that eats human souls

Also, just a note about Copyright as a lot of people seem to not understand this. You do not need to physically copyright anything it is an automatic process on any original piece of work and last for something like 70 years since it's creation when it's open to the public.

Retention of a copyright actually differs from place to place and even between mediums, (I believe in most places music has a relatively short copyright but is often renewable) but I completely forgot about the fact that the U.S. finally signed the Berne Convention in the late 80's.  That's good to know.  I won't have to waste time, money, or stamps.  Although for screenwriting, I may still send myself a poor man's copyright just to establish the date I completed a work via postmark before sending it to major production studios.  They have a habit of trying to not pay writers and I would just as soon have everything in order.  Hell, even the Tolkien foundation had to sue New Line for money they were owed from the trilogy movies.  Stinkin fat cats.

To Alex, I will probably end up with the US equivalent to your set up for the time being. (also until I am pulling in insane amounts of cash)  I still haven't decided on every detail, but you have all helped me narrow it down a good bit.

Thanks all, It looks like I will try forming a sole proprietorship in May when I move back to Louisiana.  I know attorneys and people in the local government there, and it seems cheaper in general than here in Tennessee even without connections.  I had decided on that a while back for a sort of all encompassing freelance writing business, but it is nice to know that the same plan will work for anything I manage to crank out with AGS as well.

Thanks for the advice.  I really enjoyed both Apprentice games by the way and definitely want to buy Super Jazz Man as soon as my financial situation becomes a bit more stable. 

I am leaning toward trademarking the game studio name and ultimately getting a DBA for the sole proprietorship under which it and my other projects will operate.  I will not be charging for any games until my skills are a LOT more developed if even then, so the trademark should suffice until I actually start doing real business that will more than likely not even involve the game aspect (except maybe as a marketing tool). 

Anyhow, thanks again.  While my freelance writing endeavors don't legally require any sort of business identification, I have been considering forming a sole proprietorship anyway.  Small publishers and production companies are much less reluctant to accept material without representation if they are provided a company name and a TIN. 

Well, it sounds fun, and since you are going the comedic route, you can always parody, satirize,  or just plain make fun of the aspects of your story that feel unoriginal to you.  Look at what Mel Brooks does with movies like Space Balls and Robin Hood Men in Tights or what Matt Groening does in The Simpsons and Futurama.  Keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks, I suspected that might be the case with a lot of people.

Also, if I were to set up a site that accepted donations, would that require any sort of registration? 

It is free or extremely cheap to set up a sole proprietorship depending on what state you live in, so I am still considering doing that even if no one else does.  It could be particularly handy for tax purposes if I did create a donations option on my site or obtain nonprofit status.  The gaming studio would also more than likely be a division of an entertainment umbrella company I am attempting to set up that would cover everything from freelance writing sales to indy film production.  Of course the film production aspect is currently a dream and would not really work under a sole proprietorship, but there's no point in wasting money on govt. registration for aspects of a company that I have no intention of implementing for at least a couple years.  I can just register for it to become an LLC. when I can actually pay to hire people

First off, I am based in the U.S. if that is of any consequence.  Anyway, I am wondering how fellow AGS developers go about forming their studios. i e. Grundislav Games, Crystal Shard, Infamous Adventures, etc...  I have some experience working with the corporations division of the secretary of state and am less concerned with the process than with what type of company I need to form.  Is it common to create an LLC, or would a sole proprietorship be more appropriate since no one is actually paid in the freeware business?  Are either of these even necessary, or do some of you simply copyright the studio name and run with it?  Also, could a freeware studio qualify for nonprofit status, particularly if some of the games made were considered educational? 

I would appreciate any tips in forming my own studio and am also just curious to see how everyone on here approaches the business end of creating and distributing great free games.

Since all three downloads were broken it might be possible, that a frustrated guy, kept clicking on the download button because he insisted in playing these games...

At least it is a funny thought for me, that a guy continously clicks on a download button while he angrily shouts: "I want to play this!"

Sounds like me when I was trying to download "The Farm" a few months back.

Screens look good.  The extent of your character development is up to you, but I usually prefer to err on the side of having too much before starting than having too little.  Just remember that you don't have to include all of it in the game itself.  Let it dictate your characters' actions, and include the more outlandish bits if your characters have particularly odd quirks that may not make sense without knowing about their pasts.  Typically, it helps to use your basic premise and plot line as a skeleton, allowing characters to do their own thing within its context as long as they do not stray too far from the original idea. 

I would be glad to look over whatever you come up with if you like.

Also, RickJ has some good advice about developing character history.  Since most traditional plot revolves around some sort of conflict, knowing your characters inside and out lets you see how they would naturally react to that conflict.  Often times, writing like this will be what takes the story to places that even you as the writer did not expect.

Writing a couple pages of back story for major characters (that your audience may never see in any way) always helps create a richer story in screenwriting, and I would assume it does the same in creating adventure games. 

If you decide to write up a script as Mods suggested, there is a free Word template that makes formatting a little easier here   http://www.cvisual.com/film-techniques/film-script-templates.asp It formats to the professional British standard, but is pretty close to the U.S. standard as well.  As for the order in which you create puzzles and dialogue, I personally like to develop story first and let gameplay elements fall into place as naturally as possible, but someone who has completed a few games may be able to help you a little more with that.

I believe that five days a stranger took my innocence as well.  It was painful at first, but then it started to feel really really good.   

Hey, while I have yet to complete a game, writing is something that I do know pretty well.  I would have to agree with Snarky that you might need to add some more compelling elements to your basic plot.  Even doing a considerable amount of work with your main  character alone can set a fixed genre game like this one apart from others.  The Space Quest series comes to mind. Ultimately, somewhat cliche elements of the setting and plot are transformed into a unique parody, largely by the decision to present the game world from the perspective of a dumb but lucky custodian rather than the typical hero.  I'm not saying to copy these games, just providing an example of how a well placed main character can do a world of good.

Anyway, if you are looking for a sort of outline form to put all of your story and puzzle ideas together before starting the project, Al Lowe has posted his design file for Leisure Suit Larry 5  at http://www.allowe.com/gamedesign/Larry5%20Design.pdf  While this format is extensive, it is a product of one of the greats (in my opinion).  And, if you are hoping to commission artists and such it gives them a very specific outline to follow.

I hope this helps, and good luck with your first game.

Thanks for another really cool, immersive game.  You better stop putting out so many good games or you're gonna have a big creepy man crush on your hands.

Well, I have officially given up on my entry.  My lack of experience and crazy overzealous decision to attempt adaptation of Invitation to a Beheading, by their powers combined have defeated me.   

Ahh, server errors, of course.   Thanks for the link.  I know they don't update terribly often, but the 1 year hiatus along with a downed forum got me worrying.  I also know two or three other small developers have picked up this project and ultimately abandoned it, so I was afraid there might be a curse.  Anyways, thanks again.

Howdy, I am a relative Noob to AGS and am very interested in practicing my nonexistent development skills with something like RoN.  And, as much of this discussion seems centered around making RoN more accessible to little green sprouts such as myself, it seems appropriate that I add my two cents.  I do like a lot of the canon based ideas being tossed around.  It also may be helpful to put together an illustrated "family tree" in order to display important characters, their relationships to one another, and their current state of being(alive/dead/zombie).  Each name could also be linked to their section in the wiki/written summary for further character information.  Also, in order to minimize these complications in the, new entries could be treated sort of like the short films on channel101.com.  Basically, RoN members could vote on each new game as to whether they deserve to influence the canon or not.  Anyway, those suggestions may be complicated or difficult to implement.  I'm just excited to start contributing to the RoN community as much as I can.  

I apologize ahead of time if this has been extensively covered, but does anyone know the status of the mmgames remake of King's Quest IV?  Their last update was a video posted to youtube one year ago to the day, and their site seems to have been abandoned.  It would be a real pity for this project to be dropped once again.

It's like masturbating in a pixelated time capsule.

Out with the old, in with...the old.

An experiment in socially crippling psychological regression.

We drink alone.

Where nerd meets nostalgia.

Like the games mom used to make. (If your mom is Roberta Williams)