Messages

Whoa whoa whoa there, gentlemen!Ã,  Let's keep this "Disney." ;)Ã,  Yes, I owe my team a lot of gratitude for getting everything done on time, but let me assure you they were compensated only with pats on the back.Ã,  Delivered via whip.Ã,  Gah, I've said too much!Ã, 

Oh, and nice to see a few of you were paying attention to the comic.Ã,  :PÃ,  I don't really know what to say...I'm flattered but spoken for.Ã,  Sorry, Norway.

Hey all, I managed to have my game Spooks done in time for release something!Ã,  I know, it surprised me too.Ã,  ;)Ã, 

For those of you who don't know, it's a medium-length adventure about a little ghoul girl named Mortia who's trying to save the life of her goldfish, "Spooks."Ã,  It's also my first game, so play nice!

Download Spooks now!

or

Visit the Completed Game thread!

Finally, here's a little something that'll hopefully encourage you to play the game:

Incentive Comic!Ã,  w00t!



Hey, just in time for Valentine's day, a game about death.Ã, 

[The Ivy]

Hello everyone, my game Spooks is now completed and ready to play!Ã, 

What started out as a little MAGS game quickly took on an afterlife of its own, becoming an 8-month project and a totally original medium-length adventure.Ã,  Thanks to the support of everyone on the forums, I didn't give up after a hard drive crash and a few other setbacks along the way.Ã,  This is my first game, so I hope you all enjoy it.Ã, 

In the Land of the Dead, a day at the Carnage-Val usually means games, rides, and putting up with the rather defective employees.Ã,  However, for a little ghoul named Mortia, things are about to take a dive out of the ordinary.Ã,  When a smooth-talking skeleton convinces her to try a game of darts, she wins the most amazing prize she's ever seen: a live goldfish.

The moment before he disappears mysteriously, the skeleton tells Mortia that her fish won't stay "alive" for long if she doesn't help him.Ã,  So, naturally, Mortia names her new companion "Spooks" and sets out to find him someplace safe to be "alive," although she has no idea what that word means.Ã,  Little does she know that her task will take her from the Land of the Dead to places even more bizarre.

Here are some of the haunts in the Land of the Dead:





Features:

• Innovative use of colour (you'll see)
• A classic point-and-click experience
• A hilariously defective cast of characters
• Hours of gameplay
• Death
• Destruction
• Goldfish

Design, art, and writing by me, The Ivy.

Music and sound effects by The Scorposer

Scripting, debugging, and now hosting provided by the illustrious Vince Twelve.

Word to my beta testers Erenan, Fawfulhasfury, Mordalles, SteveMcCrea, and Venus.

Download Spooks now! (.rar)

Mirror (.zip)

Visit the Games Page!

Check out Vince Twelve's website: http://games.thexiis.com

Thanks once again to the AGS community, I couldn't have done it without you.Ã,  Enjoy, I really look forward to hearing what you have to say about the game.Ã, 

Cheers,

~The Ivy~

Psst...check out a game-related comic here.

The encouragement from these forums has really made this game what it is, a full 8 months after I started putting it together as a MAGS game.Ã,  Look for Spooks later today in the Completed Games thread!Ã,  Woo hoo!Ã, 

Actually, I was just tonight reminded that as my birthday's coming up in a month's time, I'll be able to use Japan's cheap flight deal to go on a holiday to Okinawa if I so desire. So, Vince, you up for Jittens?

Haha, that makes me want to see if anyone else around here wants to have "Cittens."  Having Cittens is bound to be almost as good as creating new life .

...sorry about the pun.  Congrats, Coffee Lady!  Best wishes for you and the wee one.

I love this!Ã,  It makes me nostalgic for when I was in high school.Ã,  What, not everyone here went through a goth phase at fourteen?Ã,  :

I really love the way you've done her hair, like she dyed it herself with awkward results.Ã,  What I noticed right away about the walkcycle is that her arms are too short.Ã,  I'm a fan of how you included the "attitude" in her walk.Ã,  Keep it up!

Oh man, I first saw this back in the year 2000.Ã,  Nice to see it doesn't make any more sense now .

I like it a lot.Ã,  It looks almost like a lodge on top of a mountain, looking out into a thick fog.Ã,  If it's a woodsy setting you're trying to establish, though, you'll probably want to add a few odd trees to the snowy hills (so they don't look so much like mist).Ã,  Maybe a winding path or something in the distance would help too.

I really like the colours, they're in keeping with your style but I'm glad to see more saturated values come through.Ã,  Also, snow isn't easy to draw (and I see it four months a year ), so kudos to you for getting that down.

The foreground trees seem kind of unlikely; just imagine that those black branches are the very tops of trees and you'll see what I mean.Ã,  Unless there's a sharp drop off in the foreground, they're far too short (and making them taller would obscure your picture somewhat).Ã,  I suggest drawing them like the shorter trees you have next to and across from the house.Ã,  Also, I'd get rid of the black tree in front of the short tree on the left; for a second it looked like the tops of the foreground tree's branches were brown.

Good luck with this, I look forward to seeing any improvements you make.

Hey Pesty, that's adorable!Ã,  And it does kind of look like a Yorp from Commander Keen...

Real life is my AGS.

Hey buloght, I finally had time to finish this game, and I have to say it was the best I've played all year .Ã,  It's a little gem of a game, totally unexpected, and it kind of felt like finding $20 on the sidewalk.Ã,  The art was practical and cute, the puzzles were mostly intuitive, and it was just long enough to leave the rest of us wondering "Who is this buloght guy?"

Also,

Spoiler

"Here Claws, read my mind!"

[close]

had me laughing out loud for a good while.Ã, 

My only bit of unsolicited advice is about some of the interactions.

Spoiler

For example, I felt like "use shovel on water" should have done something at the beginning, as it's not obvious that you can use it with the map to move around (at least it wasn't to me).Ã,  Later on, "use telescope on cliff" didn't make as much sense to me as, say "use telescope on Captain Bloodhook."

[close]

These are just nitpicky things to think about; like I said the game was fantastic, and it's even more amazing that you got it all done in time for a MAGS.Ã,  Hope to see you around the forums .

This is looking superb.Ã,  I loved the original Elevator game, and I was thrilled to see you'd started working on a sequel/extension.Ã,  Looks like you've got the original creepy atmosphere captured in this version.Ã,  I have to say, while I was playing the first one, every noise or change in the little message screen made me think "Aaagh, what was that?"Ã,  Heh, for those who haven't played it, I dare you to try it alone at night.

Good luck Barbarian!

Bumping this thread to attract some hardy beta testers.Ã,  Please PM me if you're interested!Ã,  Thanks guys.

I think this BG could benefit from some more muted colouring.Ã,  Here's what I mean:



I cut the black edges and replaced them with darker tones of the surrounding colours.Ã,  I also cut the saturation of the rug a lot.Ã,  If you leave the colours looking like they came right from the MS Paint palette, they're going to end up hurting your eyes.

I also changed the doorways to give you an idea how arches might look.Ã,  The kind of angular doorways you have now don't make much sense architecturally.Ã,  If you google a few pictures of castles and cathedrals, you'll see that arches are fairly trademark of medieval buildings.Ã,  I just drew some in roughly, but you can imagine how the shading on the stones might work (you've got a good handle on that ).

I saw your latest edit and I think darker could be good...just think about the mood you're going for and hopefully you'll get some ideas.Ã,  Good luck!

This game looks great, I really like how you're experimenting with different/unusual settings like the underwater thing and the security camera view.Ã,  I wish you luck in getting this game done.Ã,  My only other comment is that the "walk" cursor looks like you're trying to use a pair of pink pants on something.Ã,  Could be an interesting feature, that.

I think her nose should be a different colour than the other dark outlines on her face.  Right now it doesn't stand out enough.  Also, her stance in the front view looks really unnatural.  I imagine you want her to look like she's leaning on one hip, but right now it just looks like she's been horsebackriding.  I recommend finding a reference photo, even though this is a cartoony sprite.  Good luck!

[best game]

I thought Soviet Unterzoegersdorf was one of the most underrated games to come out this year.Ã,  The dialogs were funny, the concept was original, and the Russian voice acting was top notch.

The changeable music feature was very cool, and I especially enjoyed being able to broadcast propaganda whenever I felt like it.

I'd recommend this for best game and best player character, and it's really worth checking out if you haven't already.

Looks like your sprite and my sprite belong in the same story.Ã,  I'm not sure who I'd bet on.

Heh, ProgZ, I like your style. 

And the rest of you have made some good points too.  I'll probably end up using my real name in the credits of my game, just because it might be one of those things I'll have to brag about at some point.  Plus, really, I won't feel like I've lived up to my life's potential until google knows who I am.

So yeah, I'm Erin Robinson.  Nice to meet you all. :-,

I was just curious about whether any of you would publish a game with your real name, first and last, in the credits.  I've seen a few people do this, but lots of others just stick with their forum names. 

A big part of the whole internet safety thing is not disclosing personal information, but are names such a big deal?  Other than being google-able, can someone really do you harm if they know your name and happen to live in your area?  Also, what if you wanted to prove to someone that the game was yours?