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"Listeners, I know your a bunch of filthy perverts, but it's not all about sex."

ten minutes later

"they should have done a pair of shorts, so when you turn around they're kinda translucent so they can see your chasm." 

That's how we know you're a bunch of filthy perverts: you listen to our podcast.

@ben: what's that game you played? With that interesting dithering filter...

Return of the Obra Dinn!

And in an interesting counterpoint to what I posted back then, I now use a perspective grid for everything, even clouds.

The original version is here: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-39_6gUIAA1unL.png

I showed it to Ilyich and commented that I felt the mushrooms had thrown it out of balance, but I wanted them in there to add some colour. He agreed that it was the mushrooms that threw the balance right off, and suggested I put some red on the other side of the image. As soon as I blobbed the red banner in (the only change here) I could instantly see that the balance issue was fixed. I consider it a valuable learning experience!

I had a good time entering the last blitz so I thought I'd have another go! Here's mine!

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/S0T4dLv.png[/imgzoom]

(big thanks to Ilyich who gave me a super easy tip to fix the balance issues!)

This was a very cool blitz to be a part of, I'm really glad I entered. Congrats, everybody!

[GreenBeams]

I have deliberated over this for far too long. There were many great entries this round.

Concept: GreenBeams - I love that the subject of the theme is so strongly tied into your choice of composition and layout - the theme of "a wreck" not only affects what we're looking at, but how we're looking at it; the position, angle and scope of what we're seeing is all tied to this theme. The fact that you managed to achieve such a strong final image while staying true to your bold choices here is very impressive, and speaks volumes about how much work went into the piece.

Playability: Misj' - A hard choice, but there are several elements in Misj's (that apostrophe finally makes sense to me!) that speak of a background designed for a game on a technical level. There's a very clear walkable zone with a very easily readable border in the backdrop which defines exactly how far back we can go. There's also a set of small stones forming a sort of path which are indicative of an exit, a nice, easy to read symbol of "you can walk through here" to show a room exit in a place with no doors, and the considerably high horizon line means that scaling is less necessary (if at all), redolent of King's Quest games and Beneath a Steel Sky. Smart choices for an adventure game scene.

Artistry: Monsieur OUXX - What impresses me most about this scene is how confidently it mixes reds and greens together in a textured, believable image that is quite noisy to look at and yet still easily readable. I also love that OUXX has done almost the opposite of what I usually do in order to make his object of attention stand out - whereas I'll usually try to create a fairly dull, under-detailed environment and then put the detail and colour on my object of interest, here the flat, textureless, dull coloured panels of the crashed helicopter stand out in the exact same way amongst the sea of visual clutter and vivid colours. It's a really nice look at how sometimes doing the exact opposite of what you expect to work can have an equally impressive effect.

No podcast from the two of us this week, but I did join the guys over on Square Waves FM to talk about the first games we played, child labor and the quivering power-squat!

It took much longer to make than anticipated

They always do. Trust me on this one.

Answers from a reliable source! Just what we like around here!

I finished! I really enjoyed this I love how much effort you've put into everything, it really shows. It was a lot of fun to explore the environment, and I think the story worked very nicely too - especially the ending which pretty much did what I expected but then a reveal happened that caught me off-guard and I really liked that!

I played over the course of a few sessions, making a little bit of progress each time, and I got a pretty good amount of play time out of it. The puzzles were pretty much just about right, I think, but I definitely would have liked a bit more feedback. Sometimes it's nice to have more information on why something isn't working, it helps me know what I need to do in order to get it working.

Something unique I really liked is how "hands-on" a lot of the game was. It felt nice unscrewing things screw by screw, cleaning a wound up bit by bit, pressing switches, using disks in sequence. It's small interaction, but it was more fun for me than just watching a big animation and seeing someone talk about it, it made me go "Yeah, I'm playing this!"

Overall, very good work. I had a great time with this, you should be proud of what you've achieved. Thanks for the game!

Ah, wow, this is what happens when I play games when I'm tired! I feel silly for missing that.

Creamy:

Spoiler

Do you have something you could use to stop the lever from moving?

[close]

Spoiler

Yes. You do. You've used it for something before.

[close]

Spoiler

It's something used for sealing things up.

[close]

Solution:

Spoiler

Once the lever is down, use the can of foam on it.

[close]

You're very kind.

I'd like a little hint, please!

Spoiler

I've found my sister in a glass tank, but am unsure how to get her out of there. I've read the plans on how to release a person, but cannot see any hotspots which would allow me to do so. I feel I should use the computer in the room to the right to use the drone thing to move her tank through the window onto the platform, but I don't know how to do that. Can I have a small hint?

[close]

Nope, that interface is amazing, anything but embarrassing! Awesome idea, fantastic style!

[literal]

Ben - you meant that in a good way, right?

I meant it in the literal sense (yes)

I played some of this last night, and some more this morning, and I'm enjoying it a lot so far! You clearly put a lot of time into the game, great work! I love the feel of scavenging around wrecks in order to survive, and this captures that feeling very well.

I do kinda of miss interaction feedback on things, but that's not stopping me from enjoying the game. I look forward to playing more!

Some of the solutions to those puzzles were completely...

Spoiler

batshit.

[close]

Seriously, though, fun game, cute graphics and interesting puzzles. I like the unusual verbs, and that they all got used over the course of the chapter, and I look forward to playing the full game!

This looks fabulous!

I've actually thought about doing some more stuff in the CL, Andail, I learned a lot in there in the past. It's always a "When I have time" thing, though! I don't know if I count as an AGS oldie, though.

Mati: GOOD WORK. Drawing with a pencil is lovely, and you can do it almost anywhere (not underwater). My suggestion is to not get too carried away/ambitious at first, just let yourself draw a little thing every day, and you'll soon get into the habit of it.

Jay: Great topic suggestion, we'll definitely take this one on-board!

Armageddon: DO IT.

Fitz: Haha, every single game you play seems to have "Special thanks: Our wives and girlfriends". There's no doubt that it's hard to make time for personal stuff when you're busy busy busy on a game, and hard to make time for games when you're busy busy busy with loved ones. As for talking about the Williams family: tee hee