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Wow.  If only my archaic computer had bluetooth.  Well done.

It's already Sunday here in Japan, so the press release probably won't be updated on Sony's official site until tomorrow morning when the business day starts.  Just be patient.

Does this mean that the deal I was hearing rumors about with Nintendo has fallen through?  I was really hoping to port Linus onto the DS...

It's about time you made a game about a religion that people care about.  Looking forward to this.

I would like you to make something that YOU wanted to make, not I.

Agreed.

I can come up with some ideas and scenes, but I can't flesh it out into a proper story.

Start with something small.  Make a one room game.  Look at some of the past entries into the OROW competition and see how they fit a small concept, a small story, and a few challenges into a short, easy to produce, and, in some cases, quality game.

Otherwise, using whatever other talents like art and coding to help someone else bring their game idea to life can help you learn about writing your own game.  Writing good adventure stories and designs takes just as much practice as graphics and code.  Good luck.

More like M. Night Shyamalan...

?

My macaroni cheese is never done because I'm a perfectionist.

At one point I think Leonardo even had his arm chopped off by Shredder and needed a robotic replacement!

Yeah, but that was before George Lucas quit writing for the Turtles and started working on his own cinematic projects.  "Star something-or-other"...

Until you guys trailed off into nonsense about Montana, that was the funniest podQuest yet.

Would you believe that after I made A Man of African Descent Seeks Reprisal (in 10 minutes BTW), Bradless actually PMed me to ask for some advice on making games?  Too bad his version of the game won't be eligible for that certain AGS award unless he puts it in the AGS database.  Or I suppose someone could put it in for him...

I think the interface is clean and non-intrusive but also gives more than enough feedback to the player to be useful.

As for the unresolved issue, I would say that a background object or hotspot that has no use in the game other than decoration should not have any notification on the status bar. 

The contextual text on the status bar is there to help the player know when he's found something that can be interacted with.  So when text appears on the status bar he knows that he's found something of importance.  If the status bar has text constantly (like "Walk to", "Look at"), it has kind of lost its usefulness in that I have to actually read the whole thing to know what my click is going to do.  If the text bar is empty and something only pops up when I'm mousing over something that has a meaningful interaction (like "open" "close" "interact" "talk" "pick up") then the appearance of text is a clearer visual indication or interactivity.

I'd just leave out something like "Take painting" -> "I'm not an art thief."  It's pretty much useless.  Though some old-school adventure players might still yearn for such things...  I am not of the opinion that "waste time clicking on things that do nothing" is an interesting puzzle.  Just let a right click examine the object, and leave the status bar blank indicating that a left click will just be a walk-to command.

This way it's clear that a click when there is no text will be a walk command and every right click is a look-at command.  There's no need to indicate these two commands with text on the status bar.  Keep it clean.

At least, that's what I'd do.  (and kind of close to what I am doing in my next game...)

In panel six, I have no idea in which order the bubbles are supposed to be read.  I think I got it the wrong way around.  Oh well.

Looking good StoryGamer!  Like GarageGothic said, there are a few graphical issues with the perspective on the walkcycles.  There are also lots of walk-behind issues in the apartment at the end of the demo, but it's a nice work-in-progress.

I'm definitely looking forward to learning more of the story.

What do a bicycle and a duck have in common?

They both have wheels, except for the duck.

And that pretty much exemplifies why reviewers can't be unbiased.  Different people value different parts of the game.  Review scores are pretty much just people assigning a number to a subjective experience which they approached with subjective expectations.  Reading a review can be informative, but a number rarely tells me if I'm going to enjoy the game or not.  Look back at your favorite games on GameRankings.com and see if they all scored in the upper 8's or 9's.

However, this Destructoid article is full of a lot of conjectures that need some citations to back them up.  It really comes across as rambling in some points.

I forgot Sherylin Fenn... the cherry moment from Twin Peaks, anyone?

I've been watching Twin Peaks for the first time (currently about halfway through season 2) and I just think she's gorgeous.

Ok, so the aborted fetus' adventure doesn't sound like such a good idea, but I don't think that sensitive issues should be avoided because they're sensitive.  I would love to see a game that explores some sensitive subject matter in a mature and thoughtful way.  Wouldn't it be interesting to see games starting philosophical or moral discussions the way that some movies or novels do?  Not that ever game needs to do that.  The first job of a game is, after all, to be fun.

Anyways, I think not enough games have non-corporeal beings.  Yeah.  Either those or pirates.

Ah, I see.  Good point.

You're right.  Darwin loves you more.  Well, he would if he were gay.

Hating a good looking guy is healthier than thinking to yourself that the dude is a fox?