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While this is definitely beyond my current goal of simply returning to some basic competency at making my ideas happen in AGS, it's very cool to see more detail on this side of programming!

(and ~1101 = 0010)

No wonder I stayed away from writing code all these years 

Very useful example, thank you!!

These look like superb additions. I've absolutely been considering trying out AGS 4 (but I figured that I should relearn a little bit of programming so that I don't pester you about things that are problems with how I write scripts and not the latest version). But these and other new features have me very interested to try it out.

The cheat sheet is very useful, too! May I ask for an example of how to use the bitwise negation operator in syntax? Would it be something just like:

Code: ags

int FirstValue = 1101;
int SecondValue = ~FirstValue; //this sets SecondValue to 1011

That clears things up a bit, thanks! You can see I wasn't joking when I said I'm very rusty at doing this. I'll link to your explanation in my post!

After over a decade working on other people's projects I have finally begun working on a new game of my own conception and design. I thought it would be interesting for people to see what obstacles I come up against, how I'm approaching things and what I learn along the way, so I have started doing some development logs over on my trusty old blog. I'll link them here in case anybody here is interested:

Devlog 1 - Assessment of the situation and initial thoughts

Devlog 2 - Very first steps of writing code and trying to prototype design ideas

Devlog 3 - Relearning how to use the AGS editor.

Devlog 4 - AGS is my friend again

Devlog 5 - Getting it right.

Devlog 6 - Occam's Razer

Devlog 7 - Late to the party

Devlog 8 - Putting it to the test.

Devlog 9 - Taking direction.

Devlog 10 - Progress, again.

Devlog 11 - Systems!

Devlog 12 - Dynamics

Devlog 13 - Nobody will ever grasp exactly how much effort I have put into getting the tiniest things feeling good.

Devlog 14 - Coming together

What a great idea for a module! Superb stuff.

May I quietly add my enthusiastic praise for adding support for different blending modes in game. One of my most wanted features, I am delighted that 4.0 will support this.

This is awesome 

This kind of surreal vibe feels like it fits the dithered EGA palette aesthetic super well, great stuff.

I also never worry too much about what front & back walkcycles look like too much compared to the side ones because you see them for such a short time in comparison. I try to make them look nice, sure, but if they're a bit weird I never stress too much. Lots of people hate my walkcycles though so maybe my advice ain't the best 

The atmosphere in these screenshots is superb!

If you're trying to actually pick an art style, what I've always done is try to find a sort of goalpost. What do you wish your game looked like, what's your favourite style? Once you have decided that, try to analyse examples of that style and see what you actually like about it - the colour choices, the way they make shapes, the way they detail things, and see what you can lift from that to apply to your own work. When I do this I never come close to the style I'm trying to imitate, but I usually add a few tricks to my toolbox that I can rely on to make things happen faster, or to solve problems that would otherwise take me ages to solve. But if you don't actually have any specific elements that you're trying to achieve and you're just casting out for "I want to make drawing backgrounds easier" it's not that straightforward to provide any guidance.

For me a big part of it is identifying the bits that kill my motivation or that I find extra tough and then finding workarounds. This changes every month, of course, but when I'm working on a scene and I get up to the bit that just bums me out I try to find alternate ways of handling that step. Are there specific areas that you struggle with?

This looks superb!

Glad to know you enjoyed it @cat!

For me:

Spoiler

Yes, both the fact that Mr. de Winter's emotions over Rebecca's name being mentioned were actually much more complex than simple grief at her passing, and also that Rebecca deliberately infuriated Maxim with her lies in order to escape the slow death of cancer (and, in my imagination, set her memory up to haunt the rest of his life with her presence/means of death)

[close]

Very much agree that it's a great book. 

Fantastic. Any objections if I upload this to archive.org for archival?

Be my guest!

Hello folks! The lovely Eduardo Moreno Martin emailed me and asked me if I would consider releasing this little old thing for free, as it's impossible to find anywhere online! I'm quite happy to do so, but don't have a solid hosting solution at the moment, so anybody interested, here's the Dropbox link, in true, classy, indie style! 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w6g5u1m61tvli6e/FallingSkywards.zip?dl=1

Enjoy!

Also unsure by what you mean by "more suggestive", but the first thing that caught my eye is how uniform in colour the tiles are, some variation might be nice.

Adventure! Treachery! Nostalgia! FOUR different player character outfits, technically! Truly an epic tale for the ages. 

When we read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier everyone in my book club expressed quite shocked delight at the twist. Completely recontextualises the story and characters in a wonderful way.