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A bit of - rather irrelevant - preface. Being a fan of Cthulhu Mythos and Lovecraftian fiction in particular, I've been translating one of FFG Arkham Horror novels into Russian for my friends, and started to make illustrations for it just to feel some change of activity. And having some time ahead which I could invest into actual game-making, I decided to stretch my drawing muscles by turning one of the illustrations into a pixelated background.

Here it is (the illustration itself):


The sketch it's based upon:
[imgzoom]http://cave-progz.narod.ru/asylum_sketch.png[/imgzoom]

And now the background itself (black silhouette featuring in all the pictures has been added as the character base for reference - and for general creepiness as well ):
[imgzoom]http://cave-progz.narod.ru/asylum01.png[/imgzoom]
flat colours
[imgzoom]http://cave-progz.narod.ru/asylum02.png[/imgzoom]
textures and basic shading
[imgzoom]http://cave-progz.narod.ru/asylum03.png[/imgzoom]
global lighting

I do not consider the piece finished (only half-way, may be), so, I included earlier stages just to be able to return back to them in order to correct any issue. So, please. any pointers regarding what could be improved? Or just a direction?

I've got some idea for a technical demo (who knows, maybe some day it will result in a viable game), which demands a top-down view.
Here's my attempt on making a generic animation, a base for other walking animations:

Original size:        2x:

And somewhat slower:

Original size:        2x:

Has anyone ever concerned themselves with this kind of animation? Any tips on making it better and - frankly speaking - more natural-looking?

And how'd you go with shading with this kind of animation. I tried something on the hair, but I'm not pleased with how it has turned out.

P.S. White borders are GIF imperfections.

Hello everybody!

Recently I've decided to develop some graphical style of my own which could be suitable for making games. Having tried different approaches and directions, I've come up with the following backgrounds (two of them were posted in Background Blitzs)







My first and foremost question is what kind of images should I stick to (they are bit different in approach) or should I try something very different? And, of course, I'll be very grateful if any of the professionals around here could point out main flaws and hints how to get rid of them :-) .

Looking forward to your (constructive) criticisms.

Using one of the latest AGS 3.2's I've come across the following problem when it came to the essence of this version - the sound.

The point is, any sound (ambient or just a sound - I mean the internal type of the audiofile) is almost inaudible when the music is playing.
When I check them together on different tracks using sound editors - everything sounds quite okay, because sounds are twice as loud as music initially. But when it comes to actual gameplay/-test, the result is quite queer - the sounds are very quiet.

I've already tried to adjust the volume manually via the script, using Game.SetAudioTypeVolume - Sounds at 100, Music just at 40, but it has little effect apparently.

Is there anything else I should have known about the new sound system? I just remember I didn't have similar problems with previous 3.1.2 (but I didn't use a great deal of sounds then, too).

[The Secret of Chunky Salsa]

Ladies & Gentlemen!
Cavemen ProgrammerZ proudly present...

The Secret of Chunky Salsa

In this game you play as Colin, a son of a humble chronicler from the farming village of people called "Bearders" because of their tradition to wear beards of unusual sizes.
The grave danger imposed onto the village sets him forth on the adventure to save his compatriots...

(for more information about the game background and gameplay info look up the ReadMe)

         

GAME FEATURES:

Resolution: 640x480

- Blood feuds.
- The power of love.
- Eldritch abominations.
- Farmers.
- Beards of unusual size.
- Chunky salsa.
- An ancient war

+ 2 endings

Translations: Spanish and Russian

Download (29.1 Mb)
(the host is Russian, so please click the floppy disk icon to download)

EDIT: Current version 1.3 (look up changes in ReadMe)

[It's 2010 and Hourgaming is back!What's an hourgame competition?]

!Hourgame saturday!

I, as a host of this new competition, won't be original and just cite the rules given before:

It's 2010 and Hourgaming is back!

What's an hourgame competition?
The purpose of Hourgame Saturday is, to encourage the amateur game-making, or to put it bluntly, to make you tear your ass off your chair and finally make something.
In this activity your task is to make an AGS game within a strict and a very short deadline (i.e. one hour).

When will it take place?
This hourgame session will take place on Feb 13, 2010, Saturday (what a coincidence!). It will start at 19:00GMT and participants will have an hour to make their games + 15 minutes to beta test / upload (i.e. deadline is 20:15GMT).
The time has been tested by several competitions already, so I think, it is generally suitable. If not, see below.

How do I participate?
A theme is set by the previous week's winner and by the contest's host in event of his/her absence. It will be annouced on IRC* and here.

Additional infos
- While it is not forbidden for the theme-setters to participate in the activity, their games cannot be voted for (to prevent accusations of cheating and to discourage regular participation).
- Instead, theme-setters are encouraged to draw trophies for the contest's winners.
- Making your game from scratch is strongly encouraged, though it is not forbidden to use music or artwork from public sources if you are allowed to (e.g. using public domain music tracks in your game is OK, but not really necessary). It is also possible to use a pre-existent AGS template for your game (e.g. that Verb-Coin GUI template).
- You cannot use the stuff you've made earlier, because this competition is about making something new.

Uploading:
Suggested hosts to upload your entry to are:
- TerranRich's ShutUpload
- http://www.mediafire.com/
- http://www.sendspace.com/
- http://www.rapidshare.com/
- Or your own place.

Voting:
Just tell us your favourite game (and possibly a couple of less favourite ones), and hopefully someone will do the counting.

Important: please post here if you'd like to join but the timeline is not ok for you! Slight changes are always possible!

* Is there anybody willing to help me announce the theme in IRC?