Messages

Works fine for me. Maybe a momentary issue...

@WHAM & Theo: Are you two dissing my people and our english accent?

Not just  your people,  but all skandinavians in equal measure. I myself am Finnish and the accent generated whenever we Finns speak english is horrid. This applies to sweder, norwegians and, well, most countries that don't speak english natively.

PLAY THE DARN GAME AND TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT! 

Well the requirements are pretty clearly stated on the website... Can't really complain when they flat out tell you what you need.

Is it ok if I draw a new background for an ongoing game project? I'm currently making a game and it needs a library, so is it ok if I combine that project with the competition, or would it sort of break the rules?

I can't wait to get to play this! Argh!
But I've decided to finish the Lost Crown first, since i started it already (if you've never heard of it, stay away from it! It's bad!)

I'll give it a shot as is. Will post if I can make something good.

I went for 3 years toying with Infection 2, got sick of being bad at making games and decided to do something else to practice. I'm really hoping I can release this game by the end of the year so I can say I've released 3 games in one year. That would be soooo awesome.

Also, as Armageddon said, the darkness / light will play a role in this game and the lighting can be altered during the game, so don't worry. If it's too dark to see, it's like that for a reason.

Feeling encouraged. I've started putting some more work into this and am, at the moment, looking at making 2-3 rooms per week. Some are simpler, though, so when I get to the big, detalied rooms, the pace might drop a bit.

I'm hoping to get all the rooms done by end of september.

Anyway, have a background:

Not a big fan of the odd cartoon overlay vs 3d character thing though. Strange design choice. They're gorgeous illustrations though I also found the fake Norwegian highly disruptive to immersion, but being Scandinavian I'm clearly biased. Will consider purchasing the game once the price tag has relaxed a bit.

I thought of these thing too, but then I sort of realized that there is a good reason for these:
the cartoon overlay is easier and cheaper to give emotions to, when compared to the 3D models. Thus they can show character emotion better without expensive and time consuming 3D animation for all characters.

The fake norwegian is an even easier thing: how ear-shatteringly horrible would the main character have sounded if it was an actual norwegian person speaking english instead of vice-versa? Since most of  his lines are in english, I think this is a pretty good solution. =)

http://www.turmoilgames.com/

Check the link for a new horror/adventure game, that was just released. It's a finnish-made point'n'click game that seems to take some ques from Lovecraftian horror as well as the Thing.

Haven't tried it yet, but bought it myself. The trailer looks pretty darn cool!

Congrats zyndikate! A well earned victory with superb art. Loved the theme too, so thanks goes to Alan v.Drake for that.

If you look at tutorials or guides into making puzzles, one rule will show up often: let the player see the obstacle / puzzle and THEN have them search for the way to overcome it.

So preferrably, the player should be guided to encounter the "key-stuck-behind-some-bookcase" and only then should the player be likely to find the magnet, the string and the stick.

Unless  you are making a one-room game, this should not be impossible to manage. If you want to hide items in earlier rooms, you could even make getting those items a puzzle in itself (item unreachable or somesuch) and the solution to those can only be discovered when the player discovers the other puzzles.

I hope I'm making at least some sense...

[Idea]

Idea - Oraxon
Atmosphere - zyndicate
Design - Oraxon
Composition - Nickynyce
Functionality - zyndikate
Technique - zyndikate

Since the game experience is strongly altered by the light levels of the rooms the player is in, I decided to make the GUI adhere to the same brightness levels as the rest of the game. If the player is standing in the dark, the GUI will also go quite dark (although there is a minimum lightness level to keep it readable), and when the player stands in a well lit room, the GUI becomes clearer and brighter as well.

I did a quick test run with it and it felt pretty good so far. I'm also slimming the GUI down a bit, but don't want to put too much effort into its design yet, in case I do get some external help with it.

Now back to designing rooms!

I'm aware that the current GUI ended up a bit too big and bright, and will definitely tweak it, hopefully so that it can be made a little slimmer and moodier as well. I'm looking to get some outside art for the GUI, so that might be a solution as well.

Will post more as soon as I have something new and interesting. Thanks for all the feedback!

Thanks for the positive feedback! That was fast!
I've gotten a lot of new scripting ideas from the two MAGS games I've worked on this year, so I wanted to put them to good use ASAP.

[- Update 31st of July 2016 -]

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- Update 31st of July 2016 -

Just wanted to post a final update in the thread now that I remembered...

He Watches as it was originally designed is no more, as folks might have guessed from the fact that the thread has been dead for ages. Due to some technical fuckery I managed to wipe most of the game's data AND the backups in one fell swoop a couple of years ago and never recovered the energy to rebuild the game. What art assets I still have (some 550+ images including character sprites, backgrounds, UI elements and other visual effects) I might reuse as part of a smaller game project some day. In all honesty I feel that the game as I envisioned it was far too big and complex to be a one-man project, so despite my enthusiasm and early progress it was doomed to fail one way or another.

Thank you to everyone for supporting and showing so much enthusiasm towards the game!
I hope to release something else worth your interest in the future.

-Tomi "WHAM" Kähkönen

Spoiler

He Watches is going through some changes, and I thought I could list them here, both to explain why the game isn't out yet and what my plans are for the game.

Firstly, He Watches is going through a fairly major overhaul all around. While I do not have the resources, or even intend to, re-draw all of the game's graphics, most of the backgrounds, as well as almost all GUI elements are going through a slight re-design in order to better incorporate some enhancements. To ensure this goes off withthout a hitch, I have started the project over, with mostly all-new AGS scripts, with only a few old elements brought over from the demo build. These enhancements are all aimed at ensuring the game has as high a quality as considering with available resources.

I am also looking into raising 2000 - 3000 � of money in order to fund voice actors, original music, sound effect equipment, some external art for the game, paid testers etc.

So why am I putting all this money and effort into the project?

Here in Finland, I am currently looking into starting up a small one-man company called WHAMGAMES during the coming few months, with funding mostly secured by the fact that my employment has been continued permanently and I am getting a small pay raise. This, in addition to some possible external funding, are going to allow He Watches to be my first commercial release, with an planned price range of 10 - 15 � (intended price subject to change in order to reflect overall quality and resources spent on the project).

"Well damn", some of you might say, "I wanted to play this game but I don't want to pay!". Well, as the game began it's lifecycle as a freeware game, I can see where you are coming from. This is why I am planning to release a non-commercial freeware version of the game as well. This version will not have most of the resources I will have to pay for myself, that is, some audio, music, and almost certainly voice acting will be missing from the game. The paid version will also come with some extra material, such as a separete digitally released soundtrack, concept art and more. Thus even those who do not wish to spend their hard-earned money on He Watches will be able to play and enjoy the game, while those who wish to get more quality and wish to offer support for this and possibly my future commercial projects can do so with a reasonable price. The early demo I released last year has received plenty of insightful feedback and has allowed me to make improvements to many aspects of the game, which I hope will make the game even more enjoyable than the early 2011 demo could convey.

With these changes in mind, the game is inevitably delayed once more, as I do not wish to release a half-hearted game as a commercial release. I am currently working on a more accurate timetable and future version plan, on which I will base the future of this project. Once it has been constructed I will release it here and I hope it will answer many potential questions.

If you have any questions about the game or it's developement (or anything else for that matter), just ask away and I will answer either in this thread or via PM or e-mail.

However this turns out, I already feel I need to thank you all for supporting me in learning how to develop my games (I am looking especially at you, Khris!) and for all the moral support and feedback I have received. I could never have hoped to have the skills needed build a commercial-quality game without you guys!

- Tomi K�hk�nen aka. WHAM

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- 26.01.2012 -

I've done my first interview as an "indie game developer", thanks to CaptainD!
LINK: http://www.pcgamereviewsandnews.com/2012/01/captaind-interviews-wham-currently.html

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The demo has been released, download link below:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?category=&action=detail&id=1477

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WHAMGAMES 2011 presents

The year is 2008 and the player takes on the role of Sarah MacDonald, a young woman born in London, now living with her parents in the Scottish countryside, working hard to finish her education. Almost a week ago, Sarah's boyfriend; Oliver, went missing without a word. Knowing the young man's interest in going on long trips in abandoned places without warning, nobody worries at first. However, a week without a word is a long time and Sarah finally begins to worry.

Maybe Oliver is just fine and is out documenting some abandoned building, as such is his hobby, or perhaps there is something far more sinister at work. Can you see through the deceit and find the truth?

An optimistic idea of a release date is December 2011!
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! No... 

FEATURES

• Manage your fears, stay away from the dark
  
• Interact with your environment as well as other characters
  
• Solve puzzles and find clues to uncover a hidden truth
  
• Enjoy a haunting classical ghost story with a twist
  

STATISTICS

• Character graphics done: 1,1 / 5
  
• Room graphics done: 30 / 60
  
• Story script and documents written: 70+ pages
  
• Lines of script written: Lots and lots
  
• Cutscenes done: 10%
  
• Project activity level: In full swing
  
• Nervous breakdowns so far: 1,5
  

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Since a lot of people have been showing so much interest in this project, I thought I could reach out to the community for some collaboration.
Here is a background with a bunch of empty picture frames:

If YOU want to have a shot at getting a little bit of yourself into He Wathches, fill up one or more of the picture frames with your own artwork following the guidelines given below and send your donation to wham@whamgames.com via e-mail.

Guidelines:
- Picture should not look too out of place in a 1920's or 1930's setting
- I might slightly modify some pictures to maintain certain themes and ideas in the game
- Picture frames can be extended vertically if you wish, but please take dimensions of the room into account
- Some material might not be used in the game or in this specific room in the game, so don't get upset if your painting is not show in-game

[close]

I entered this thread in search for pr0n! I demand satisfaction! 

It was Quake - released a few months later - that many considered lacking in comparison - more advanced technically at the price of being brown, ugly and dull.

Technically Quake was far more advanced than Duke Nukem, with actual 3D instead of the faux 3D Duke's engine was producing. 3D character models instead of 2D sprites, while less pleasing to the eye, was far more smooth in comparison. Even with all the brown, Quake was exhilarating and exciting in an all-new way, and was superior in many ways. The only main difference was in the attitude of the games, with a more serious, broody horror setting of Quake catering to a whilly different audience than Duke 3D's "pig-cops, explosions and pixellated titties" -approach.

It's the same thing as today: Duke Forever, when compared to other modern games, has an interactive and detailed world, is silly, macho, technically at a disadvantage and is hard to take seriously. The only reason it will never be such a cult classic and a success as its predecessor, is due to the changed attitudes of modern day gamers.

I stand by my earlier fanboy statement: "Hail to the king, baby! This rocks!" *plays the old Duke 3D menu theme music on the speakers for the umpteenth time today and starts playing Duke Forever*

I hope we're still close enough to the original topic...  Sorry monkE3y_05_06

I expected a new Duke Nukem game, and I got a new Duke Nukem game. It's crude, was released too late, could have looked better, has low-end macho humor, and is incerdibly sexist in the way only Duke can create.

I love it! The gameplay is lacking and slightly sub-par compared to other modern games, but then again, Duke Nukem 3D's gameplay, and graphics, were lacking and sub-par when it was released and the game was still F****n awesome. I give it a "F*** yeah" out of ten.