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One thing to check for the Username bit is to make sure you've got it right.  The name displayed in forums doesn't always match the username.  For instance, if you wanted to ignore Pumaman, you'd have to ignore CJ as that's the username listed on his profile. 

There shouldn't be any browser-related difficulty with this, but you might try an alternative if you're desperate to rid yourself of PM's by this person (e.g. using Internet Explorer if you're using Firefox, etc.).

I tested mine on Internet Explorer (PC), Firefox (PC), Safari (Mac) and Camino (Mac).  No problems every time.  I just input the user name (lower-case, incidentally), clicked change profile and it stayed (but with corrected capitalization).  Quite convenient as I was able to ignore Farlander on multiple OSes and browsers.

If it still doesn't work, you might try wishing.  It's always worth a shot.  I agree on the games database.  It's amazingly useful but easily abused and not easily fixed up. 

Another benefit of the episodic system.  You know not to get the rest of Bone unless your problems are addressed, and feedback can be incorporated into pending episodes.

There was also the recent one-room game: Elevator that used graphics from Silent Hill 2 and sounds from AITD4 (to great overall effect, IMO).  You're not likely to have the legal pirahnas leaping down your pants because of a freeware game, particularly if you slap some note on the game saying where you've borrowed elements from. 

Additional buttock-protection would include a statement to the effect of:
[Legal Disclaimer]Simz 2 belongs to EA/Maxis and not me, they didn't give me no permission fer this, so don't bite my ass.  To EA/Maxis, mad respect. Peace out.[/Legal Disclaimer]

It's generally not frowned upon either, if you do the referenced game justice as well as having something inventive yourself.  I'd rather see self-made graphics of almost any quality than borrowed ones, but to each their own.   

This started out as an excellent thread.  I was trying to understand the point of view of Shitar and actually found it to be much like my own concerning the US.  Sometimes we're aware that the actions of our country are not right, with others we're uneducated about the facts and wrongly believe what we did was right.  With many world events, both sides might think they were in the right and, ultimately, it often can't be proven either way. 

It's interesting to hear from Greeks, particularly about the bias in their education system.  It's essentially the mirror image of our own as far as nationalistic views.  Oddly enough, after 12 years of basic education, we're (at least in my schools) given the impression that Greeks are superior, or -at least - more cultured and intellectual.  We're invited to admire Greece because its citizens think lofty, philosophical thoughts and began the spread of civilization and democracy.  Honestly, I haven't heard much else about Greece in recent history, apart from olympic events that vaguely flitted past.

The best thing we can do is communicate as people without the manipulations of media or distortions of government.  If someone from the US voices support for the decision to use nukes, invade Iraq, or other unpopular views, we often get a chance to hear from the other side.  The American impression of Serbia is an excellent example.  Unfortunately, I'm distracted from rethinking my concept of Serbs by the incessant jingoistic nationalistic narcissism shat out by LBUJI.  The way the thoughts are expressed and the ideas therein remind me of the opinions of others I discount the most.  This rancid ethnocentric ranting makes me want to avoid thinking about the Serbian point of view at all (despite the contradiction that implies).

And not to mention other sports Volleyball about 7 medals 2000 Olympic gold.Waterpolo about 6 medals 2005 WORLD champions.

Can some killers do that, do you bealive in GOD if you do you know the answer.

This person would be challenging me to rethink my perspective or at least be able to form decent counter-arguments except that I refuse to debate perspective with somebody who states that (paraphrased as I understand it here) those who believe in god have their proof that Serbs aren't killers because they did well in various sports.  I'm hoping that's rhetoric and not defining proof.

Hamelkart is Nacist look his avatar and signature

And I'm guessing the the desired word is "Racist".  I can't make heads or tales of his signature, but assume that the Racist accusation is due to the Iron Cross-like avatar.  I've yet to see anything thoughtless or offensive from Hamelkart.  Maybe I've been reading the wrong threads.  I discounted the avatar as having a different meaning for him, much like I wouldn't assume somebody wearing an Independent shirt was a racist because of the symbol. 
It's a strange accusation from someusing using the nick: WhiteNigga

Oooooo...  PowerGlove II: No Glove Required

I'm skeptical, but it could go either way.  If the games are able to use the controller intuitively, then it could be a lot more immersive.  If the games have to bend themselves to the technology so that most games become demos for the tech, then we've got another Powerglove, Lightgun, Eye Toy sort of thing.

I felt like drawing Asterix the Gaul and so I did, in glorious 20 colors!

Bloody awesome.

(Corey, nothing in rules said Original character.  The drawing's original even if the character's been around for awhile)

Sorry for the blurriness - entirely operator error.  Always save a backup.  Argh.

(Edited for horizontal compliance, but more difficult to read given that I erased the "Meanwhile" box in the middle.  Two scenes, same time.)

[Goodbye Kitty]

That blob frightens me to my core.  It really does.

Here's:


Goodbye Kitty

There's a big difference between *having* a cliché and *being* cliché.   If you're gonna avoid 'em, there's very little left to enjoy.   There are also somethings that aren't cliché but thought of as such.  For example, your character's parents die and he seeks vengeance.  Neither parents dying nor wanting revenge are clichéd but extreme examples of real-life happenings and the reactions they cause.  Using such an occurance as your only plot device of merit. . . that's cliché.

What matters is that the experience as a whole surpasses the limitations imposed by being common.  DOTT is comprised primarily of them but the game is anything but.

Not exactly anti-cliché.  Some of those games have something that puts them outside the world of cliché: Lack of plot (TIM, The Sims, Sim City).  They do have definable goals that may buck the usual trends somewhat, but having no characters or not having to provide motivation for the player (other than passing a puzzle), isn't something easily implemented in an RPG or Adventure.  Similarly, some FPS games could be said to avoid cliché (rarely), but it's usually the ones that more-or-less forego the plotline altogether.

The others have very clichéd motivations, even if the overall concept or development thereof is unique.  You still have characters who are transported to a strange new world, whose world has gone askew, who have to fight an ancient evil, etc.  If Silent Hill 2 counts as a non-clichéd game then a multitude of games are less restricted.  While I haven't played 1/3 of the games on the list, I still think saying TIM is without trite elements is like saying the same for solitaire.

I just finished that adventure game based on the books. And it inspired me to steal some puzzles and teknieks. (Halo stole the whole world!)

Well, what da ya know. Playing games can inspire to make games.

Quite true.  Though on the Halo note, the Ringworld circled a star, not a planet - right?  See, it's only 95% stolen.

I would argue that a game using all of the cliches would be quite enjoyable. 

It would be an interesting challenge to come of with just such a scenario (the non-cliche RPG), though I envision I'd only end up with a rip-off of Don Quixote.

Bah.  Did one, couldn't overcome the previous problems with quality (in fact, in some ways worse) and scrapped it.  Really liked this script too, I'll just have to do it on my own for my own edification. 

Definitely liked your version of it CoolBlue, Buttercup rocked. 

Ah, perfect (and no I hadn't found it).  It actually reminds me of what I found frustrating about it.  The interface was a touch clumsy and there were a good number of pixel hunts and try-try-again sort of things.  It's good to know that the story/sound got a good rating.  I like the style of the graphics, just wish they weren't so damned mis-matched and dithered.  Anyway, being a bit of an Aliens fan, I'll hafta pick this up.  My finger's twitching over the buy button out of morbid curiosity. 

Thanks for the thorough replies, between abandonware, purchase, screenshots and review(s), it's quite a lot of help.  Thanks much (though I'm slightly disappointed that there are no personal anecdotes).  When I bought the game it was $30, so the auction would be quite the bargain.

So people... relax before feeling mocked. Here there are no mockers.

No sabes nada.  Necesitas chingarte.  Siempre estas chupando los pechos de la cabra. [edit: corrected and written 20x by hand per request]

It's an active-x control.  If it's not loaded, you can download the file..  say from here... and register it.  You copy it to the Windows\system32 folder (for XP, \system for '98), and register it by punching regsvr32 \windows\system\msflxgrd.ocx in your command line or start/run dialog.  It depends upon how picky Windows is being whether or not it's case-sensitive. 

If you've already got the file there, make a back-up.  If you get an unable to register error then it might already be registered and just need freed/reassigned.  This can be accomplished by tossing a /u after the regsvr32.  Afterwards, it may be necessary to have "regsvr32 /s . . ."

This happens since the file's a control for sharing input information among workgroups and isn't often loaded on a standard PC (unless you've installed a program or package that uses it).  For distribution of the AGS sound manager, having it install that file might be useful.

That would be quite cool.  Less for downloading purposes and more for tracking.  Personally, I'd rather take a mule hoof to the ribs than use eMule.  Regardless, assistance is appreciated.

I've been trying to find a game for awhile, one that I used to own but got rid of after some frustration with beginning it.  It was based off the Alien(s) movies and was primarily an adventure game (I believe it had some action or strategy elements).  The company name is Cryo and I'm thinking it was released (or initiated by) Broderbund. 

I've finally managed to track down the name: Aliens: A comic book adventure.  I've yet to find it on any abandonware site or for sale anywhere.  In fact, any site claiming to have information about it or a review that I've come across has no info or is 404. 

What I'm wondering is whether anyone else has tried the game, particularly enough to endorse or mock it derisively.  I'd like to try and find it second-hand or something but want to know if it's worth playing or if my memory serves me and it actually does, in fact, suck.

It's brilliant, Fawful, but had to save and view as the animation isn't looping.  Huh.. looks like possible file corruption as Windows image viewer doesn't display it after download, I did get it looping by saving and viewing with Media Player though.

As Yak pointed out, there are some perspective issues which need addressing.  I didn't touch those in my edits.

Who said what?

Everybody seems to have pin-pointed everything I would've suggested.  Again, the black lines.  I notice as you've improved the picture, more black lines are getting dropped.  The dark outlines would look alright if everything had them but with the smoother look of the pic overall, those door outlines need to blend a little more. 

The perspective is fine for an old-style Sierra game (a-la KQIV) but you've essentially got an orthographic look there - it's tilted to show depth and 3-dimensionality without using diminishing points.  It's the blending of the two that's throwing it off.  If the doors were all the same height (more like the left one, assuming the characters are pretty small) then it'd help a bit.  Otherwise, the whole drawing's perspective needs tweaked.

The columns' bottom has already been addressed but there's an inconsistent look to them.  The furthest back look fairly 3-dimensional, but the ones towards the left look like rounded flat objects.  The best  thing to do is start the base with an ellipse and work up from there (you could do the addition to the columns on another layer and just merge the final product in order to avoid redrawing everything).  --unless-- you're going for an effect of having the columns emerge from the wall, in which case you'd just use 1/2 of 3/4 of the ellipse's bottom starting at the wall.

The private bath in the back clashes quite a lot with the perspective but this might be addressed simply by adjusting the doors.

Textures generally aren't recommended as they tend to make pictures look 2-dimensional, but you've used them to great effect.  They actually add something to it.  The main texture-type problems are near the west doorway, they don't blend well with the bottom (probably because they were done at different times).  I can almost imagine it's a wet-look effect except that it ends so suddenly. 

The line at the bottom of the pool (after all, with water that clear, we could be able to see through it a little, right?) is really easy to address.  Take the pencil, select a color matching the border of the pool, set it to low opacity (like 25-40%) click one corner of the bottom, shift-click the other side on a straight horizontal path and photoshop'll draw the line evenly between the two points.