Messages

It was true until Geocities got taken down.

Now your crazy website cannot haunt me any longer!!! 

Happy birthday Akatosh. 

Aww, actually, the borders ruin the screenshots totally for me as well. And the fact that she looks like she's floating above that box in the fourth one. And how she's always on her tiptoes.

But hey, awesome rendering man, you got some cool talent, and this ain't the critics lounge so it is me who is in the wrong 

Good luck getting those bugs winkled out! 

[Voting Categories]

For this activity, I ask you to present us with your impression of the topic 'Ruins'.

Do feel free to take this in any way you wish; I am hoping to see everything from the crumbling remains of an ancient city or temple to the shattered shell of a crashed spaceship in a crater.

Please have your entries in by November 23rd, as I will be asking for votes after this date.

Please also keep in mind that your background should be AGS compatible - in other words, minimum resolution of 320x200.

Voting Categories I've taken the liberty of stealing these from Misj'

Idea: Was it an original/creative interpretation of the theme?
Atmosphere: Was an interesting world created? - Did the scene evoke a feeling?
Design: How well the individual elements are designed, from clouds to doorknobs.
Composition: How well the elements are combined to create a pleasing whole, and lead the viewer to the points of interest.
Functionality: How well it would work as a background, with clearly defined entries and walkable areas, as well as a good viewing angle (this also includes introductionary shots of an area as long as a player character can be present in the scene).
Technique: How well it's rendered (within the chosen style!), in no way meaning the more elaborate the better.[/u]

Be creative, and I hope to see some inspiring entries!

Thanks Misj'

Interesting to read your thoughts on the background. Initially I had thoughts of a piece where we see an extreme low point of view (Ie, camera sitting on ground and looking upwards) at a single glowing flower, which was surrounded by evil looking trees and shapes, with only the light from the flower holding back the darkness in a single spot.

Sadly, my imagination paints a far prettier picture than my hands.

As for your comments, I nearly drew 'heavenly rays' lighting up the statue but felt it would overwhelm what I thought was a lovely understatement in a solitary candle. It would be fun to do a 'choose alignment' screen in a novel and interactive way such as this!

Seeing as nobody else entered (I felt the topic was quite an easy one to think of a concept for, so I don't feel it was the topic...) I'm glad I spent a few minutes throwing this together just so somebody made use of the topic. I will thank you for your comments, start a new competition and hope for more entries

What do you mean, holodisk player?
I want my own clone of the beetles, thanks!

Yeah but a clone of David Lee Roth running around my spaceship?

That's just asking for trouble!

It looked way cooler in my head, but thanks anyway

And yeah, pink is a pretty badass colour, despite its undeserved wussy reputation 8)

Felt like a break from background touch ups and thought this might look cool.

Turns out I was wrong.



Didn't really get the colours I had in my head... and turned out nothing like I had imagined it. Then again, nothing ever does.

A bit rushed, but my competition entries always are. Still, submitting it for fun anyway 

I like how it is specified that the glass bottles are made out of glass. I guess it's good to make sure we know...

Actually, I'd just like to have my own tricked out spaceship with flames painted on that I could jet around in and do moon flybys on my way to PizzaMeteor for a large 3-topping and a Comet Shake.

I will race you to PizzaMeteor in my spaceship with racing stripes and the number 304 painted on when this time comes. Last one there buys the shakes!

As for meteors and stuff hitting Mr Space Elevator, I am aware there are tons of little rocks and stuff zipping around up there like mosquitos in Uncle Randy's swamp (otherwise how else could you see so many dang shooting stars?) but there's loads of satellites floating around up there. Surely if having satellites is ok and fine then a space elevator would be fairly safe as well?

Of course, if you're 3/4 of the way up to space when the one in a million asteroid does hit the elevator, you're going to need a parachute.

Or you know, ProgZ and I could come and do cool action movie rescue scenes with our tricked out spaceships  

Edit: While listening to Van Halen and Whitesnake on our holodisk players, of course!  8)

What about the ability to put a list of links to reviews and the like?

This would be particularly good for those with commercial games.

Yeah, I was just gonna bring up RLATBTAT and the beard option, which by the time I played it was among the funniest moments I've ever had with an AGS game.

It is nice to know I'm not the only one who found it hilarious 

Richard Longhurst and the Box That Ate Time had the phenomenal 'beard' stat.

Pity your stats didn't stay with you past the start screen 

Thanks Peder and Jim!

Glad to hear I'm unwittingly contributing to the fight against the MacCormack regime 

The Adams family (lol)

Du nu nu nunn! *click click*

Sorry 

Well, I've never heard of U.S. doctors doing that, at any rate.

Seems to be more common than you might hope:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27342269/

Admittedly, only 2 percent of these listed admitted to using sugar pills, but they are not the only form of placebo.

Mainstream doctors do NOT prescribe sugar pills. They use placebos in lab studies when testing medications and other similar procedures, as a control.

Once again I return to Wikipedia and once again it suggests the contrary:

Doctor-patient relationship

A study of Danish general practitioners found that 48% had prescribed a placebo at least 10 times in the past year.[2] The most frequently prescribed placebos were antibiotics for viral infections, and vitamins for fatigue. Specialists and hospital-based physicians reported much lower rates of placebo use. A 2004 study in the British Medical Journal of physicians in Israel found that 60% used placebos in their medical practice, most commonly to "fend off" requests for unjustified medications or to calm a patient.[99] The accompanying editorial concluded, "We cannot afford to dispense with any treatment that works, even if we are not certain how it does."[100] Other researches have argued that open provision of placebos for treating ADHD in children can be effective in maintaining ADHD children on lower stimulant doses in the short term.[101]

Hooray! Thanks Ponch 

Thanks $1 and Dan!

From wikipedia:

Mechanism of the effect

The phenomenon of an inert substance resulting in a patient's medical improvement is called the placebo effect. The phenomenon is related to the perception and expectation which the patient has; if the substance is viewed as helpful, it can heal, but if it is viewed as harmful, it can cause negative effects, which is known as the nocebo effect. Placebo effects are a scientific mystery.[24] Their basic mechanism has been investigated since 1978, when it was found that the opioid antagonist naloxone could block placebo painkillers, suggesting that endogenous opioids are involved.

The terms 'medical improvement' and 'heal' are listed in here, making me think it is a positive effect. Perhaps I have interpreted this incorrectly, however.