Messages

Nice game! The graphics were nicely done and I especially liked the character art.

I also loved how you managed to incorprate the characters better by having them hint you at each stage of the game for the puzzles. The memo was quite an interesting idea and created some fresh puzzles, except all I had to do was click on every option and I'd eventually get the right answer.

Ran into a couple bugs and typos, but I can't remember them all, sorry.

Spoiler

- After the bad guy appears in the closet, when talking to certain objects the main character still talks and sometimes the NPCs talk back, but that doesn't make any sense since the protagonist is trying to keep quiet.

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I think the addition of music would be a nice idea, but I still enjoyed the game is it is.

2x - 9 Colors + Transparency  

Stuck near the beginning:

Spoiler

I got outside the first room and now I'm at gunpoint. I've tried using everything on everything but I'm still stuck.

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This game is pretty amazing. Great work!

I have a couple of comments:
- If it's possible, a drop down animation would be nice.  But then I'm sure you would've implemented this if it was possible.
- When some soldiers die their helmet is over the ledge. (LEVEL 1, bottom floor) It's just a minor graphical glitch.
- Though everything you need to know is in the readme file, it might be nice to have a little GUI tutorial showing you what keys to press when you first start.

Overall, it was very impressive to play and fun too. Good job!

Sites:

www.adventuregamers.com (Commercial and Indie adventures)
www.adventuredevelopers.com (Mainly for Indie developers)

[1. What makes an adventure game absolutely amazing to you.]

1. What makes an adventure game absolutely amazing to you.
a. Good production values and a good atmosphere - This doesn't necessarily mean amazing graphics, sound, or music. This means consistent style with good detail. Pleughburg doesn't necessarily have "amazing" graphics but they have detailed, consistent graphics. Wrap it around with tons of character animations and a good soundtrack and I'm happy to play in a believable atmosphere. The key here is effort I think.
b. Innovation - I admit I'm bored of Walk, Eye, Hand, Mouth. Sometimes it's fun to have other things in adventure games (parsers, new verbs, trust meters, etc).
c. Story - A well told story will complement the gameplay, and vice versa. When they mesh together perfectly, it's a great gameplay and storytelling experience.

2. What makes an adventure terrible beyond all belief to you.
a. Mundane puzzle design - When puzzles constantly fall into fetch/trade quests and fixing broken wires and unlocking doors in odd manners. Yes, I am a hypacrite.
b. Breaking the 4th wall when it's unncessary - I used to think it was funny to break the 4th wall. But the more I did it, and the more I saw other people do it, the more I got tired of it.
c. Unclear goals - When I sit down to play an adventure game, I need a motivation to play it through. Usually it's the story or the introduction that will encourage me to go on. But if there's hardly any motivation, it makes it even worse when the game starts me with no clear goals, and I'm left wandering around. All I feel like I'm doing then is wasting my time.

There are probably so many exceptions that I break my own rules all the time. 

Vincent from Collateral



x3 - 11 Colors

Reference

Yay!
And because this is the first time I won something, I have some questions.
1) How long should it last? A week? Two?
2) Are all the rules set by me, or is there a rule that you have to have in every competition?
Over and out! 8)

I'm probably not the best person to ask but:
1) I don't think there's any set time you have to have, but I think the general consensus is that it should be a week long at minimum.
2) Only mandatory rules I believe would be the supplying of an outline, and you can get as creative as you want with a topic or no topic.

[Monkey Entertainment]

I suppose this competition is over then.

Monkey Entertainment wins!

Honorary mention to Nik with his lobster dinner.

You can review my game...

[*Small is the key here. Overambition leads to underproductiveness and unfinished products.]

Word of advice:
Don't try to make your dream game as your first game. Make one, if not several small* test games to learn how the editor works. *Small is the key here. Overambition leads to underproductiveness and unfinished products.
Keep playing around until you think you have a good understanding to make the game you want to make. Play some other AGS games to see what they did wrong and what they did right.

That's just my opinion based off my own experience. However, you say you have designed other games before so I guess you might know what you're doing.

I need help now getting the ingredients for the potion:

1) How do I reach the scales in the pond?  I assume I need to use the mesh cos it said it was a good idea but it's still too deep for it to reach.

Spoiler

Pick up the branch in the previous screen on the Siren island. It's on the bushes in the middle of the screen. Use it on the mesh and then use the net on the pond.

2) How do I get the Iris?

Spoiler

Okay, I can't remember exactly where all 3 flowers are and which one is which.
1) There are the flowers next to the campsite south of the bungalow.
2) There are flowers on the Oracle island (I think) in one of the outside screens.
3) I think the last flowers MIGHT be on the Minotaur island in the room with the fork in the path.

Sorry if I got it wrong. I can't remember since it's been awhile.

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Here's where I downloaded it from.

http://nifflas.ni2.se/index.php?main=02Knytt_Stories&sub=04Get_More_Levels

"Sky Flower" comes included with "A Strange Dream."

(save for that one where when you go left you enter the same room from the right, whatever it was called, that one was fun)

Do you know what it was called?

He's talking about "Sky Flower." That level only goes vertical with no horizontal screens.

Nice level Ghormak. I loved the music and the little creatures afraid of the rain. The only thing I didn't like was that some of the tiles appeared to be in the foreground while actually being in the background. I jumped on several tiles and fell to my death because they looked exactly like the ones I was standing on. 

[What's for dinner?]

The subject is: What's for dinner? (Or Breakfast, Lunch, Second Breakfast, Elevensees, or afternoon tea, if you prefer)




RULES:
Draw a meal using the outline as a guideline.
You may alter the outline and add other objects to alter the shape.
Colors: (max 64)

Have fun!

Call me dumb, but I can't find the octupus under water

Spoiler

Go to the up-right room and the octopus will be on the top-left rock. Move your mouse until it appears as an object.

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I'm now stuck with the mechanism in the maze. I have put the cog in.
Now I don't get what I'm supposed to do with the stone plate to make it work. Do I need to find another item in the maze? I've wandered around in the maze and it seems to me like I've been everywhere in it.
Please give a direct answer, not hints.

Spoiler

You need to put the horn in the stone plate. The horn is found in the farthest right room, going as far up as you can. The room is filled with skeletons and bones if I recall correctly.

[close]

http://xkcd.com/228/

ahh... xkcd...

So that's where you got the name for your new game! I think some plot details might've been spoiled now, especially regarding 2 of the playable characters.

I have also noticed that sometimes out of the blue a random game (usually really old) will get 10,000+ downloads in one week while the other games get 0-1000.

I've always wondered why...

@Nostradamus:

If you mean the oracle island:

Spoiler

Use your notepad on the greek inscription at the bottom of the statue. You need to find someone who can read it to you.

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* How do you go around testing your own game? I assume that everyone does so, of course there are beta testers in many case but I think you always have to test yourself too. How do you do it? I mean if your game is quite long you can't go through it over and over again to test a puzzle pretty far in the end.

Usually after I design a scene, room, or puzzle, I immediately test it to see if it works or what needs to be tuned.
If the puzzle is pretty far in the end, just have the character start there or teleport using Debug features.
(For alpha-testing) When I test my game, I keep a piece of paper next to me, and anything I see that is wrong or could be improved, I write it down on the paper (If I try to remember it, I always forget). After I'm done testing, I fix it up in the engine, crossing off every item on the paper, and then I repeat the process over and over until I find nothing on the paper next to me after a test.

* How do you handle your rooms? Do you complete every room and then go to the next or do you make all rooms and then start coding and such.

Usually I take it one room by one, but I might not finish everything like hotspot descriptions, etc.

* What do you use for the start menu? Do you use a gui or a background? And what do you do with the buttons like "start new game"?

I personally decide not to use start menus most of the time, but if I do, I probably use a background with hotspots/objects. If you want the buttons to animate, I usually use objects.

* How do you fit in your objects?

Uh, I don't know what you mean by this.

* Where do you gather your background info and needed facts?

Usually in one, if not several *.doc files.