Messages

Thanks for that post Mr Colossal. It really set my mind back in my skull for a reason since I stopped using AGS probably for almost 6 months now. I forgot why I was here in the first place because I wasn't making any more games due to a number of random reasons that turn out to not be any real reasons at all. I think I'll try to pick up one of those random concepts that is floating in my head and try to put it together instead of procrastinating until AGS 3.0 comes out.

That thread was I think in response to something or another, not just out of the blue, and AGA is my friend, I don't want to keel him. I think I was making a point, ironically about the quality of threads on this forum and such. If I am to remembered for anyone contribution of mine to the forums I'd rather it not be the one (or any other 'whacky, lol!' thing I might have contributed to), as I've talked with many here about things that matter much more, and I hope I was not a negative influence for anyone.

Forgive me, I had no intention of doing any such thing. It was just one of many silly examples of threads created by "oldies" who seemed to no longer post here. I am aware of all your other posting attributes, and I respect every one. I was just sad to see you have departed from these forums since I have always enjoyed and respected your posts to a great degree, even when I don't agree with you (although I would never join in the conversation).

Reading this has reminded me of this thread which makes me miss Helm all the ever more.

Helm should come back, even if it's only for Christmas!

Hey guys, I made a Dinosaur comic to express my feelings about this movie. Enjoy or don't!

Btw, I like LOST.

Spoiler

Plot twist--T-Rex is actually the monster that everyone is running from but he doesn't know it!

[close]

This was one of the things I really liked about KotoR. The streets were bustling with people, but talking to a random citizen didn't yield much besides some generic response.
It's a good compromise between empty streets and leaving the player with too many choices.

I liked that too, except I would've rather had the people doing something besides just walking or standing still in a stiff action-figure pose. Or maybe I just needed to wait 4 more years and play something like Assassin's Creed (which I have not played, by the way).

[1: Animated Backgrounds +2]

I wrote an article about atmosphere in adventure games a long time ago. Here it is:
------------------------

Creating (a believable) atmosphere in adventure games can be a very hard thing to do sometimes. But there are some key things that can boost the atmopshere in your game, and once you know them, they are easy to apply.

Each item is labeled with a number and a plus. E.g. "+5"
+1 (min) Means that this will help the game a little.
+5 (max) means that this will improve the game ALOT.

1: Animated Backgrounds +2
Lots of places in real life are not still life. Trees wave in the wind, lights flicker on and off, doors open and close, and some things are shiny. Having a blank slate of a background can be okay in most places, but making it animated can make it awesome.
E.g. trees blowing, grass moving, water rushing, dirt blowing, lights flickering, fans moving, etc.
2: Animated Objects +2
Self-Explanatory. Interacting with objects in the world, and then having then animate, makes the world seem so much more alive.
E.g. Doors opening/closing, cabinets opening/closing, turning on machines, turning on lights, using computers, using tvs, picking up phones, etc.
3: Animated Characters
3-1: Actions +3
All player actions should be animated. The animations don't have to be a smooth 10 frame animation. They can be simple, but having 1 frame is 10x better than nothing, and have 2 frames is twice as good as one frame. And having 3 frames will make it seem very smooth and believable.
E.g. The character animates for: picking up items, reaching up high, reaching down low, falling down, sitting, opening objects, using objects, etc.
3-2: Speaking +4
People don't just open and close their mouths while speaking to each other; they make gestures. People cross their arms, kick the ground, wave their hands, shrug their shoulders, or put their hands in their pockets.
3-3: Idle +2
People do not just stand idlely on the side of a path waiting for you to trade an object with them. As funny as it may sound, PEOPLE DO THINGS. Nobody stands around doing nothing unless they have a specific reason. But if you can think up a reason for why someone is standing there doing nothing, then that's good, and you're all set.
But you have to make the character animated, no matter where he's standing. NOBODY just stands or sits somewhere and stares straight all day, unless they have a serious problem. People turn their heads, change their postures, move their legs, and other stuff.
4: Sound Ambience +3
Unless the location the player is in literally has dead silence, you need to have some kind of background noise. For city scenes you can have crowd noises. For outdoor scenes you could have the wind blowing or animal noises. For ocean scenes you can have the waves hitting the rocks or sliding up onshore. For indoor scenes you could have the sound of machinery humming or something.
5: Sound Actions +2
Every individual action the player can preform should have some kind of sound. The sound can be loud or subtle, but opening doors, picking up objects, walking around, using computers, etc. should all produce a sound effect.
6: Music +5
In my experience, the difference between a good game, and the difference between an unforgettable game is most often times the music. Great music can stick with the player forever, and improve the atmosphere ALOT. Don't underestimate the use of music in a game.
7: Writing +4
The things people say, or the things people do can be the base for the whole atmosphere. If a serious game suddenly breaks the 4th wall, the atmosphere can be destroyed. If characters do things or say things that are totally ridiculous (and usually the author doesn't know it), then the atmosphere can be destroyed.
The level of seriousness/funniness should be maintained in a game, and kept consistent, otherwise the player will lose his sense of disbelief.

Atmosphere in games comes down to 3 things:
GRAPHICS: Animations, characters, objects, backgrounds
AUDIO: Sound effects, ambience, music
WRITING: Story, dialogue, etc.
Either of the items/sub-items can improve the atmosphere in their own way, or on the contrary, destroy it.
----------------

Haha, nice job JBurger! That looks awesome, and I'm flattered you'd take the time to do that to my little scene. But as GG points out it's not the right style for this game. Think less Gabriel Knight and more Police Quest 2 (but darker) -- almost no gradients, a very restricted palette (I think as is this scene is around 70 colors total), and a purposefully "flat" appearance to things. You can be in charge of the VGA re-make though. ;-)

Yes, well you can still achieve a similiar effect (perhaps my edit was a little too dramatic) pixel-pushing and using no gradients, unless you don't want this kind of lighting scheme which I totally understand. The main reason I made the edit was because it looked like there was no lighting, and I thought the scene looked kind of undistinguishable from night and day.

I like your style and I tried to do a sloppy edit:



The main thing I changed was the lighting. First, I darkened certain sections like the car and some of the signs, and then I added a blue tint to most of the outside sections. I also added a slight yellow tint to the lighted sections and the top of the cars to help define them. Also, I tried to make the lights on the signs fade out a little. Hopefully this helps.

[Scene in the rain]

Mockup Blitz

Your objective is to create an adventure game mockup. This means that you must create a scene exactly as it would look as if you were playing a game. You must design the interface, the main character (if 3rd person view) or any other characters, and the background.

Example: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/18137.htm#

-

THEME:
Scene in the rain

New Theme:
Film Noir Games
definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir

RULES:
Create a background that is set in rain.
There must be at least two characters on screen.
(if you already made a mockup with the old theme, feel free to submit it)

New Rules:
Simulate an adventure game set in the style of film noir.

Inspiration:
Google Images
Flickr
No restrictions on palette or size. It's your choice whether or not to use grayscale.

Have fun!

[What is the golden ratio, and how does one use it in composition?]

2 Questions:

What is the golden ratio, and how does one use it in composition?
All I know about the golden ratio is that it is equal to 1.61803399 and it can be used in composition to achieve certain results. The only real info I've picked up on it is here.

So, how often should you apply the golden ratio to a picture, what uses does it have, and should you always put the focal point on it?

What elements can be used to strengthen a composition?
Off the top of my head, I can only guess
- Perspective: lead the eye to the focal point. What if you dont have/know what your focal point is?
- Lighting: Draw the eye to the focal point with darkness and brightness.
- Golden Ratio? Put objects in certain places on the backdrop?
- Foreground Elements/Overlapping objects: Create depth in the picture.

As loominous said, shouldn't someone finish this one up? It's been about 12 days. And thanks for the comments everyone.

Any chance that someone could post a savegame with all the levels and minigame unlocked? I'm getting really sick of replaying the same sections again and again, trying to save on tazers and alarms without even knowing how many rooms I still have to go.

But that would just spoil the fun. Achieving it yourself makes it all worthwhile. I would recommend beating the game once, not caring about ranks or anything (listen to the tips in this thread or use a walkthrough if you have trouble), then play through a second time when you have a firm grasp of the gameplay to unlock the secrets.

Choosing the right skills and level route make all the difference when trying to get a "T" rank.

Also, to the person who wondered if this game had any relation to the other games:  beat a certain Heist with a certain outfit and you'll get some serious John DeFoe action going on.  If you want to know more, you'll have to come to the Official Unofficial Forums, though.

-J

You mean this?  - Spoiler screenshot: http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/4352/welderbr7.png

Here's my unofficial walkthrough with hints for people who are stuck and so forth.

Excellent work Radiant. If I may make some suggestions:

Spoiler

Flit: Not a necessary skill, but very useful in certain areas. Probably most useful when a camera spots you and you use it to slide under the camera.
Gecko hold: This upgrade I'm pretty sure is necessary to beat LVL 6 with a rank of T (that's how I did it, and I dont think you can otherwise). You can use this upgrade to hide yourself in all those places where there's open light.
Sidle: Not the most useful skill, but definitely very helpful in all sections with the laser beams. I would certainly recommend getting it to reduce the chance of error when walking around lasers.
Reasonable doubt: You should get this one later on after getting all the essential skills. This skill really helps if you are aiming for a T rank on all missions. Lots of potential alarms are avoided with an extra second or two given to hide for each guard.

I would recommend getting (in roughly this order) Roll, Locksmith 2/3, Sidle, Gecko Hold, Flit, Reasonable Doubt, Into Shadow, and Forgetfulness. And it is possible to get all of those listed in one game.

Another trick: Rolling off the edge of a screen gives you a speed bonus, as Trilby rolls into the next screen. This can save several seconds each screen pass.

I also have a list of the rest of the costumes, if you would like that.

[close]

what so wearing a particular costume and pairing it up with a particular skill while on a particular level makes it easy?

Yes, but drop the particular level part, and you won't really get the skill or the costume until you've beaten the whole game.

Spoiler

p.s. You can find the most awesome secret if you play lvl 8 with the cream suit. I'm not going to spoil its awesomeness, but trust me, it's awesome.

[close]

Well, I've just finished the game with a second run through to get perfect marks on all 8 levels (which I just did) and all 6 costumes. And I have to say, it's much more fun the second time around (at least for me). After finally understanding the gameplay, I could purchase the skills that actually mattered which created some great scenarios where I finally had to fully utilize all the skills. That being said, my favorite level is probably LVL 2 (the museum).

More comments! (and more SPOILERS!)

Spoiler

- Is being invisible 100% of the time with the ninja costume + certain skills a bug? I could dart through every level with it and the only thing that could stop me was the laser beams.
- Bug with the "Sidle" skill using certain costumes. On some costumes, when Trilby slides he's still in the pinstripe.

[close]

I have also heard there are more secrets besides the 6 costumes, but I have yet to find any.

For those of you frustrated with the game, all you need is one costume to get rid of half your troubles, and one skill to get rid of the other half. Once you pair up that costume with that skill, you can breeze through every level and it's nearly impossible to lose (I'M not KIDDING!).

[*SPOILERS* Don't read unless you've finished the game.]

Any day when a new Yahtzee game is released is a good day.

First impressions:
- Great visual style. The graphics are a huge improvement over 1213, and the animation is probably the best Yahtzee has done to date.
- Great music, well done mods!
- I really enjoyed the gameplay, but got angry a lot due to frustration, and by the time it was over, it felt like I was just getting used to the gameplay and it wasn't put to its full potential.

I certainly enjoyed the game, but I felt it could've been a little longer with a little stronger story.

I'm probably wrong about alot of these due to confusion, but here is my long list of comments and critique:
(p.s. I liked the game alot - this list is just for... critiquing purposes!)

*SPOILERS* Don't read unless you've finished the game.

Spoiler

- What is the purpose of loot? I wasted like 900? RP buying a 25% loot bonus skill which I couldn't figure out why, because I never used my loot.
- Some skills I didn't even bother checking down below (like locking picking LVL 2) because I thought the skills were listed in increasing order of cost, so I didn't buy LV2 lock picking until it was too late.
- The difficulty curve was a little on the hard side, causing some sequences to be very frustrating. I think a little extra time after being spotted by cameras or guards to hide again would be nice. The icons in the corner I didn't really use because I was always staring at Trilby wondering if he was in the shadows or not.
- When you get captured and are about to be brainwashed, I didn't even know that scene was playable. I barely even started to read the instructions before I died. And then the second time I just finished reading the instructions before I died again. Maybe tell the player the scene is playable and what they must do before throwing them into it.
- It was hard to tell what were the benefits of going back and replaying earlier scenarios. I didn't know if I was getting more RP until I tested myself. And even then, I still didn't know how much more RP I was getting than before, which caused me to consider if it was even worth it going back. It might help to have a screen where it lists what the current loot, RP, alarms, zaps, you used out of the maximum, so you know your goals and what you are trying to achieve or gain.
- Graphical glitch with nearly all (or all) of the guards who sit at desks being drawn in front of Trilby.
- What is with the seemingly random use of different color wires just to trip the player up and make him lose alarms? If there is a way to get around it, somebody please tell me.
- And one last question if anybody can answer it for me: If I want to get all the secrets in the game should I continue after I finish or replay and try to get the best scores?

[close]

Either way, I'm still going to be playing this one a while longer and trying to unlock the secrets. 

If you know what Bioshock is, you have to watch this:

Bioshock Halloween: http://youtube.com/watch?v=YEqZkglTVYE

Still have that layer, so I can look at it? Remember that what curves does is let you change the "brightness" of individual channels, each RGB channel being a greyscale image. So if you only want to change the colours, you need to set the curves adjustment layer to 'color', just like you would if you wanted to do an ordinary 'color' layer.

Yeah I think I might've forgot that color part. If you want the layer, I guess I could email it to you.

(Off topic, could you phrase those sentences as "how often do you think one should..."? The current phrasing makes me sound like an oracle or something, which, while stroking my ego, makes me rather uncomfortable, as I'm just a happy amateur like most here)

Haha, sorry. I'm never sure how to address you. I'll keep that in mind in the future.

Well, thanks for answering my questions.

Wow, thanks for the edit. I really like what you did with the red gunfire and changing the engine colors to cyan. However, I have to be honest, I'm not too fond of the somewhat purple-ish factor of the lighting on the bright areas.

I edited it with a couple of color layers and one curves layer for the redish sections, but for some reason that curves layer decided to darken the whole picture "tearing" dark sections into pure black. I tried to fix it manually.



I had a couple of questions:
- Back in your first edit I was wondering what exactly the glow around the planet was. Of course I assumed it was the atmosphere but it just made me curious because I had never seen it drawn separated from a planet like that with a gap.
- Regarding your color scheme, how often should you try to include the whole range of hues when making pictures? All the time? Only when using warm/cool contrasting colors?