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The Last Express is a game I remember reading about as a kid, forgetting about as a teenager and remembering and wanting as a twenty-something.

It's notoriously hard to track down, like many older games, however it is now happily available from DotEmu, so I thought I'd share in case there were others out there like myself who found themselves interested in the game but not in possession of a copy.

I've yet to get a copy, but am quite thrilled to see another well loved classic finally easily available for purchase.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ is pretty darn neato 

Very impressive - aside from music issues I played through the game without noticing any gameplay or presentation glitches at all.

It's hard to deny that the open-ness of the code could be a sticking point, but for the most part I think it'd be preferable to not being able to put the games in a browser at all. The ability to run games in a browser overshadows, for now at least, protection of one's assets - particularly in smaller freeware games.

I'm interested in a couple of things - ability to scale beyond manually doing it with browser zooming features, support of things such as alpha channels, the actual conversion process, eventual support for saving/loading, support for accessing other external files aside from save files (such as, but not limited to, translation files and running other .exes from ), support for plugins (such as, but no limited to, ogg theora player) and support for things such as 8 bit colour modes and the like.

Also, ! probably is not the best simple conversion candidate due to the unconventional nature of it. Have you tried working with multiple mouse modes and inventory items?

Once again most impressive work. If you'd like more source code to experiment with let me know and I'll happily send you some.

There are also some lunatics out there who are going to be disappointed much sooner that the world didn't end: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40885541/ns/us_news-life/

Haha wow, people still listen to Harold Camping despite the fact that he was wrong when he predicted the world would probably end in September 1994.

Wait a second, why do I find that funny? That's disgustingly pathetic.

Gullible freaks 

Ben

His storytelling is as good in prose as it is in his games  

Aww, my games are corny and cliched too?  

+1 vote for Tenacious Stu

Yep, that is a useful function, but I decided to answer your question directly so you can use the DoOnceOnly function in the future (it's very handy!)

Good luck with your game, and just for future notice (though I am not a moderator), the best place for simpler questions like these is the Beginners Technical Questions board

First, go to your room and select the Events pane (little lightning symbol).

Select the Enters room after fade in function, click the [...] button and alter the code to look like:

Code: ags

function room_AfterFadeIn()
{
  if (Game.DoOnceOnly("firstroom1"))
  {
    player.Say("Yeah baby!");
    Display("POTATO!");
  }
}

Hope this helps

I think it is admirable in the fact that you're treating it as a "designer's playground". What this does for player accessibility is another story, but as an exercise in creative, out of the box puzzle design it certainly serves as an inspiration.

With "art games" and the like all over the place, though, I don't see why this couldn't be considered an "art of puzzles" game rather than an "focus on a philosophical concept" game.

Will be watching this.

Thanks for posting this! (I don't usually visit Mixnmojo). I just finished the first Deathspank game a couple of days ago, and have both things I like about the game and things I dislike about it, but I am still quite interested in his thoughts as a designer.

Will definitely give this a listen later on tonight.

Haha good lord I can't believe I wrote this cheesy nonsense, but the idea made me giggle too much, and it was 4 in the morning and all of a sudden I was writing and this came out. This is easily the most ridiculously corny thing I've ever written. Sorry  

For you, Ponch  





“This is stupid” thought Heather as she walked along the street, stepping carefully over the joins in the pavement. She couldn't believe she'd been talked into doing this. Sure, it'd been five months since she and Gavin had broken up, and she did miss having someone to spend time with on weekends...

But this?

Ugh.

Somehow the girls had thought a blind date was a good idea. They didn't know any single guys, and her social circle was more like a social square, or perhaps a triangle, but a blind date? She never thought she'd be so desperate.

In fact, she wasn't desperate. Not really. Sooner or later, some little chance encounter, some little moment of happy fate would introduce her to The Right Guy, and she'd be back living a normal life. There had to be someone out there watching over her.

Five months wasn't that long.

The restaurant sign hung ahead of her, and she walked towards it wondering if she'd really get in that much trouble if she backed out now. It wasn't just the thought of going on a date with someone she didn't know, the worst part was that Jenny, who'd arranged the whole thing as though she was swooping in and saving the day, hadn't even actually met the guy. None of them had; he was some friend of a friend, apparently.

Ugh.

The door closed behind her, the last chance at retreat gone. She'd gone too far to back out now. Eyes scanned the room for a table with only one-

Oh God.

It couldn't be him, could it? She searched the room again carefully checking all the tables for someone, anyone sitting by themselves.

“Heather?”

She turned. It was him. She didn't know what she had expected, or what she'd even liked to have seen standing before her, but he certainly didn't fit in either category. He'd never fit. He was old. Not old as in “I'm seeing a guy who's ten years older than me” old, but old. This guy made her dad look young, made her grandfather look reasonable and made the schoolgirl crush on Mr. Hectors back in the seventh grade suddenly feel a lot less foolish. He was old, he was fat and there was the beard. Oh God, the beard.

“Hi, I'm Nick”, he said. He was clearly nervous. Hell, she could imagine what she looked like right now. Red heat seared up her cheeks and neck, betraying any attempt she could make at covering her shock. “Pleased to meet you, Nick” she lied. This was going to be a long night.

And it was long. It wasn't that Heather was bad at breaking the ice when it came to meeting new people, but this wasn't your typical thin layer on top of the pond. Breaking this ice would have required a dedicated team of sappers with 3 months to tackle the task. This ice would have sank the Titanic twice, and then threatened it with a beating if it ever showed up around these parts again. She hated the awkward silence as she ate her meal, staring intently at the plate so she didn't have to remind herself of what was sitting across the table.
She fought with something to talk about, anything, but what did she have in common with him? She'd tried to bring up the usual topics earlier, movies, music, sport... none of them had gotten very far and she'd resolved to filling her mouth so she'd have a reason to avoid trying to make conversation.

Food, however, does not last forever when dealt with in the intended manner, and as she placed her fork and knife on the plate very gently, to avoid drawing any attention to the fact that she didn't have an excuse for not talking anymore, she looked at him and thought “There's something... familiar about that face.”

“Have I met you before?” she asked, figuring the question was innocent enough. She could always pass it off on a case of mistaken identity if the question went nowhere.

“Most certainly” he said, eyes twinkling as though someone had just told a funny little joke, and only they had heard it. She studied his features again, wondering where or how she'd seen him. They must have met at some point and she'd forgotten; he sounded very certain of the fact.

“Need a hint?” His pupils sparkled and his cheeks pushed up into little red balls either side of his nose. “What would it mean if I said 'Ho, ho, ho'?”

Ah! Now that he'd pointed it out she could see it. He did look like the archetypal Santa Claus. “Do people tease you about looking like Santa a lot?” she asked.

“All the time.” came the reply. There was something in his tone of voice... “Oh, do you do mall appearances?” The look he gave her was amused and yet it seemed like he had been expecting this answer. “Not exactly” he said “More like they fill in for me.”

“Haa haa” she said “Forgive my rudeness, Mr Claus, I was unaware I was in the presence â€" or should that be presents, hah â€" of someone so great.”

“That's quite alright.” he said with a little smile and went back to his food. “Oh come on!” said Heather. “That's a not fair. What do you do? I know I've seen you somewhere before.” He looked up again and stared at her. “Haven't I already told you?” he said. “Oh be serious,” she said “there's no way you're Santa Clause.”

“Christmas 1994,” he said, studying her face as if he was trying to gauge her reaction “You wanted the dollhouse, the one with the pink roof and the rocking horse, but instead you got-” “Books.” she interrupted him “And socks.” “No way you could know that. Who told you that?” she demanded.

“You did, Heather.” This wasn't funny anymore. This was creepy. Had this guy been stalking her? Was he threatening her? Oh God was she going to die? “Look!” she said, driven more by fear than anything else “This isn't funny. I want to go. I'm leaving. I'll pay for my meal, here, this ought to cover it.” she placed the note shakily on the table “Goodnight.”

“Heather,” he said looking at her now not with the face one would expect from a stalker or a rapist, but with a calm, peaceful expression “What about last year? When all you wanted for Christmas was for Gavin to stop going out drinking so often? What about three years ago after going out with that group of guys you'd met on a tour, when you were drunk and lost, scared, with three men following you down the street, and all you wanted was a taxi right then and there to take you away? You never told-” “Anybody.” she said. “Except I probably whispered it under my breath. Begged. Pleaded for help. Who are you?” she said.

“I told you, Heather.” She stared into his eyes, looking for some betrayal of his thoughts, some reason to believe that he was joking or there was another explanation. “Do you remember the taxi that came down that street and picked you up?” “I do.” she said “That was you?”

“Sometimes I prefer to give the presents people really need,” he said “rather than the ones they think they want. You don't always have to write it down in a letter.”




“The worst part is,” he said as they leaned against the railing, watching the sun as it rose “Is that nobody really believes. Oh sure, the kids believe at first, but then they don't get the presents they wanted, and suddenly Santa Claus isn't such a swell guy.” The cool morning breeze made her shiver and she pulled her jacket tighter around her. “You can't just give them presents, then?” she asked. “Really, now,” he said, smiling at her “What would the world be like if we all got what we wanted?”

She leaned in closer, telling herself that she was merely trying to keep warm against the chilly morning. “It must be lonely if nobody really thinks you exist.” she said. “People still have a belief, if not in me, in the existence of something more in general,” he said. “ Sooner or later, some little chance encounter, some little moment of happy fate happens to someone, and they believe, if not in me, then in the concept of someone good out there, watching over them. Sometimes the taxi cab that arrives in time is a much better present than the dollhouse with the pink roof, or the rocking horse. Caring about people, Heather. That's what Christmas is really about.”

She turned to look at him, and he held her stare. She knew what she wanted, despite the big round belly and the little red cheeks, despite the fact that he made her dad look young, made her grandfather look reasonable and made the schoolgirl crush on Mr. Hectors back in the seventh grade suddenly feel a lot less foolish, and yes, even despite the beard. This felt right. She leaned in.

As their mouths parted she whispered across his lips, so quietly that even the morning breeze had to strain to hear it, “Ho, ho, ho...”

I rename you "Calin Elephantsittingonface"

Haha, aaahhh, this.

Hey, I was like 17 and trying to figure out how to do stuff. Who needs plots and puzzles and stuff when you're making a training game?

Anyway, the reason I didn't add it to the database is because I remember everyone always saying not to put your "learning games" in the DB, and this isn't exactly a well built game

Leafshade, the elephant told me to tell you that it will sit on you if you call it fat again.

Computer games have a lot of money spent on them.

Here are some numbers http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Video_game_costs

Some bigger figures: http://www.digitalbattle.com/2010/02/20/top-10-most-expensive-video-games-budgets-ever/

I can see the reason people compare it to Myst, however games like Riven and Myst rely on quite a bit of exploration and walking around. I managed to somehow get away with making Shifter's Box extremely linear - whilst you could travel between places whenever you wished to, you only actually needed to go backwards once in the entire game.

While this works for a short game, I think it would stick out quite noticeably in a fuller length game. I've some ideas to try at some point in the future which could be comparable to the design in !, in which I tried to give you access to a number of areas at once without the tedious walking around that bores the hell out of me in adventure games. For me, cutting down this tedious walking around time is very desirable - if only it can be done well! If we all focus on eliminating the parts of adventure games we don't like in this manner, we're bound to come up with some cool new ideas at some point.

Because innovative puzzle design is a bitch. No, really, she is. She still hasn't returned that shirt she borrowed, and the cds you left at her place are now scratched beyond belief.

In order to innovate in a puzzle, you not only have to come up with a new way of presenting your gameplay, you also have to balance it and indicate it's presence and solution in a way that makes it not too obscure that you're never going to understand what the hell is going on, and not too obvious that it's not even really a puzzle anymore. With standard inventory related puzzles, we've got tons of examples of what not to do and what to do, it's easier to compare our efforts to a precedent.

Go and have another look at the Frantic Franko thread - there's a game packed full of so many twists on classic puzzle design that it's worth playing just to get a different perspective on the craft of building puzzles with unusual logic. My time spent playing the demo, however, was a blend of "This is creative stuff, there is some real potential here" and "Man, there's a lot to take in and none of it really works as I expect it to." This made it hard to get into the game; as much as I enjoyed seeing ever stranger and more unexpected twists of logic, I was held back from getting drawn in because I felt completely lost much of the time.

I think, then, that perhaps the ideal solution is not to create games absolutely *full* of totally new ideas, but to weave new ideas amongst familiar gameplay, and I think after reading the Franko thread again Igor would probably agree with me here (feel free not to). Snakes of Avalon, for example, saw a much more palatable blend of the unexpected with the familiar, and thus I enjoyed it much more, despite probably having less exciting concepts in it.

Fair enough, although I would point out that a child naming himself "Racing Car" is either extremely well concealed rebellion at a surprisingly young age or a kid having a bit of fun. Clearly he feels that the name is more inspiring than that which his parents gave him.

If I appear to be a bit relaxed with regards to the issue, it's probably because I think there are a lot worse things that could influence a child's upbringing than having an additional name, and that are a lot more common throughout the world. You've made your point clear enough, and I still can't help but chuckle at the child who names himself "Racing Car"

I've paid for games without voice acting. Yes, even adventure games - Time Gentlemen Please and Super Jazz Man are both commercial AGS adventures without voice acting, both very much worth the money I spent on them and both voiceless. Voice acting is often nice, but also can be horrid and ruin a game.

As for cost, it totally depends on the game. Usually I hold out for specials or buy older games, but every now and then I'll find something that piques my interest and enthusiasm enough that I will pay much more for it than I would for a game that catches my attention in the normal "Oh, that looks interesting" way.

Meta-meta?

I reserve judgement until I not only see but understand this concept.

I personally think are a lot of undiscovered "gimmicks" left out there, as long as one is willing to look for them. But I don't really consider this sort of thing to be a gimmick, just creative puzzle design. Insult Sword Fighting was basically a creative twist on a standard dialogue puzzle, and the wondrous time stuff in DotT was a very clever twist on item combining (combine inventory x with time = inventory y). Provided we, as designers, are willing to search for new creative twists like these, I don't doubt that new, more creative forms of puzzle design will occur. I still design around inventory items, but every now and then I try not to and see where it leads me.

Meta-game puzzles are quite interesting to me - take for example the cursor puzzle at the beginning of Frantic Franko.

But sometimes nicknames are taken to the point where people's original names are never used anymore, how is this different? I had a friend at school named Craig that everybody called Frankie - friends, teachers, family. He referred to himself as Frankie almost all the time. One day he rang me up and said "Hey Ben, it's Craig" and I spent about 10 minutes thinking "Wait, I don't even know anybody called Craig!" before I recognized his voice and realized it was Frankie. Whose name is/isn't Craig.

I don't see how this is different to being in possession of both an English and Korean name. Heck, if someone gave me a name from their own language, I'd gladly call it my own when dealing with them. I understand the reason for division on the issue, but still don't see it as a problem, just a peculiarity.

In other news, the strangest first name I have ever come across was the name "Goondy". Yes, his parents called him that.