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Please add putting shard in his slippers option in future updates, and option to break his spectacles too . I will restart, I guess.

I really tried to put in all the logical things people would try...

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like blindfolding the first gargoyle, for instance

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I've got to say those never even crossed my mind.  You should have been a tester.

I can't go back now  ,

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gargoyle won't let me. I usually use one save file, which is saved in the enchanter's room.

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I'm so sorry about that!  I'm pretty sure that's the only dead-end in the game, unless you save right before you run out of time during the end-game.

That dead end is there...

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because I didn't want to reanimate getting turned to stone while wearing the disguise.

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Obviously I should have just manned up and done the extra work. 

For those of you who have played already, what was your favorite easter egg or in-game gag?  Was there anything that made you chuckle?  :

Personally, I made myself laugh when I put in what happens when you talk to the curtains on the enchanter's bed.

Stuck:

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I have to take hat, and spectacles for disguise , but thread is too short

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First off, there are two completely different ways to solve this puzzle.  The following hints are for the way you're thinking of.

Little hint:

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You need to attach something to the string.

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Big hint:

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Pretend you're going fishing.

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If you want to try the other way, think a little further outside the box. 

Arj0n just let me know that I'd had the wrong link up on the main post.  I mean it worked but it went to the other site.  If you've finished the game, click here to vote on it.

The previous link didn't have access to the voting stuff.  :: slaps forehead ::  Sorry.    Anyway, it's fixed now.

Thanks to all who have played the game so far!  Glad you've enjoyed it!

There have been a few comments about the mysterious doctor, so here's half an explanation:

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In the introduction, the doctor is playing "two truths and a lie"  He knows what's wrong with Jayra, and he knows what it'll take to cure her.

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If anyone gets fifty points, they'll have gotten the other half of the explanation.

That doesn't explain the rest of the story, but I'll post that after more people have a chance to play the game. 

[Arden's Vale]

Arden's Vale

Short-length Original Fantasy Adventure

Riel must embark on a dangerous quest to save her sister, who is on the brink of death, by stealing a magic stone with healing powers from an evil enchanter.  After infiltrating the enchanter's castle, you must survive sinister traps, talking gargoyles, quite nearly logical puzzles, terrible puns, and finally the enchanter himself in order to get the stone and save your sister.

Game Features:

Really cool heroine.  Meaning your player character.
Programmed responses for clicking just about anything just about anywhere.
Multiple solutions to over half of the puzzles!
Auto-updating in-game hint system that is accessed when you talk to yourself.
Hotspot identifier: all objects that are clickable have their names appear alongside the mouse.  No more looking at the top or bottom of the screen to figure out what's in the middle!
Tongue-in-cheek references to the best adventure games, including some from AGS!
Sweet, sweet animation.
Pretty darn sweet backgrounds.
Gorgeous orchestral music.
Retro sound effects.
A whole lotta love.

Version 1.1 (Released Oct. 7, 2011) has a bunch of enhancements, from improved animations, to new music, to an additional way to end the game!  Enjoy!

Click here for the main page and access to the free download.

It's 3-stinking-thirty in the morning.  I'm just so anxious to get this thing OUT THERE!!!  A whole day earlier than planned, no less.

Prepare to lock this thread, because Arden's Vale is officially RELEASED!!!

Thanks again to everyone for posting such positive feedback and encouragement every step of the way.  I hope that the game meets all your expectations and makes your wildest dreams come true. 

-Antipus

I got the following from www.sierragamers.com, which is Ken and Roberta Williams' site to help people playing the old games:

The (Il)Logic Cliffs

Getting to the top of the Isle of the Sacred Mountain requires you to climb the Logic Cliffs, a series of puzzles that double as CP checks. Much of the information needed to solve the riddles of the cliff is found in wonderfully-cryptic clues contained in the game manual (which are reproduced below).

The first challenge: Only those pure of heart will be able to RISE the cliffs of logic.

The second challenge: A master of languages will SOAR.

The third challenge:
Four men standing in a row,
Third from the left, and down you go.
The rest, in order, move you on,
The Youngest, the Oldest, and the Second Son.

The fourth challenge: The Sacred Four of the Ancient One's philosophy were the emotion 'tranquility', the color 'azure', the creature 'caterpillar', and the element 'air'.

The fifth challenge: Only those of the highest order may ASCEND the cliffs of logic.

In addition to the above riddles, you will need to be able to decipher the ancient alphabet of the Sacred Ones, found here: http://sierragamers.com/aspx/m/634055 (scroll down just a bit)

Good luck!

I used Arj0n's image and htis is what I came up with. I'm gonna change it to the two button thing like you have Darius, it looks a lot better.

Looks great!  Much smoother style.  Watch out for the far (left) arm, though.  It gets hung up in one position for a few frames and looks like it freezes when it should be moving.

Great work!!!

T minus 4 days...

I can't wait to get this into your hands!  That and school's starting on Monday and once I start teaching I will never have free time again.  :'(

The game is in the bug-free-as-far-as-I-can-tell, finished-from-beginning-to-end, just-adding-the-finishing-touches stage.  Intro is sweet.  Ending cartoon is sweeter.  And this is going to be my last post so I can just get... this... thing... out... the... door.

Thanks for the support all along the way!!! You guys are great!

Based allot on how Paper Mario was animated where the feet just swivel past each-other in a silly way.

That new version is actually a very fun style, and matches what you just said.  If you'd like to make it any more realistic, try bouncing the whole character up and down a pixel, instead of just the arms.  Another thought is that your legs are going backwards and forwards at the same rate.  You could try using all the frames when the leg moves from the front to the back, but skipping a frame when going forwards.  That helps get rid of the forward/backward broken record feel.

My philosophy is that the walkcycle is what the player is going to see over and over and over again.  Even if every other animation stinks, a good-looking walk will make a player much more forgiving.  Keep up the good work!

As is always the case, things are taking longer than I'd planned.  But thankfully, as is sometimes the case, things are working out even better than I'd planned.  I'm about half-way through the introduction sequence now.  And I'll be using a lot of the same resources in the ending cartoon, so it should go even quicker.

It's all Ali's fault, you realize.  I posted something a while ago in the critic's lounge asking for some help on some of the game backgrounds, and Ali sent me to an educational and terribly humbling background workshop.  Gracious, my art stinks!  I wanted to just redo all the backgrounds in the game, but the thought of retracing hotspots stopped me.

So here's the first background of the intro, version 1:



I literally spent hours on that stupid tree. And it just looked stupider and stupider.     So then I decided to try a sketchbook approach to the whole thing:



That didn't match the style of the rest of the game in the slightest, but at least it wasn't insulting to those of you who have ever seen a tree before.  And the matching brown textures in the next intro screen looked even better, but then I ran into problems with all the dialog that's supposed to go on.  It just wouldn't look good just slapped on top of those screens.  So I scrapped 'em both and went for the KQVI letterbox look.

And way, way too many hours later...



And we have a winner!  The lighting actually looks like it's bouncing off of something that isn't perfectly flat.  And the LIGHT adds the depth to the scene (that and the cheap blur).

So thanks, Ali.  But boy, I hate you.   

[Open question:]

Busy week...  Got a ton done, including fixing most of the reported bugs.  Several of the bugs required a bit of extra animations to really fix well.  It pushed me over the 1400 sprite mark, but it's made a huge difference in the end game portion.

For the next week, I'll working on music and the introduction / ending cartoons, as well as sending out the next build to the awesome beta testers (thank you!!!).

Open question: This game is openly and happily retro.  Would it be funner to have "real" sound effects or should I use fake MIDI musical sounds like in the old school Sierra games?

Good to see you're nearly done with this.  I've been keeping an eye on the project since you started and look forward to giving it a play when it's ready.

I've been keeping an eye open for it for a looooong time--I simply cannot, CAN NOT wait to play it.

Arden's Vale has been posted in production for a long time without getting a whole lot of response in the forums.  I can't begin to tell you how encouraging it is to know there are a few more people out there excited for the game to come out.  That's really made me push that much harder to get the thing out the door.  We're really almost there!!!

ProgZmax: No, that's not a person, it's a Rosella doll (from either KQ4 or QfG2, depending on how you look at it).  I like the additional texture in the hair and the way you've lit the clothes with just a few colors.  I'll see what I can do to imitate that.

Bad news all around, though.  Putting the new-and-improved treasury in really clashes with the old-school hallway I've got, and since the hallway is a scrolling room, it's hard to make the floor there have more detail.  For now, I think I'm going to have to keep things the way they were...  At least with the floor.

I'm still working on the other one, though.  THANK YOU ALL for the feedback so far...

Thanks, SuperDre.  I hope you'll like it.

COMING REALLY, REALLY SOON!!!  I've just finished a week-long "animation blitz" going through all sorts of not-entirely-necessary but really sweet animation sequences and sprite work.  Looking at the game stats, I just hit 1,300 sprites and 18 GUIs.

If I wasn't such a stinking perfectionist, this game would have been out last year.

So here's a shout-out for more beta testers for final beta!  Send me a PM if you're interested!!!  It'll start within a week!

Here's the treasury-in-progress:



The biggest change is that the perspective was off, so I redid the walls to match the rug and new floor.  That offset the door, so I had to kill the cool stairs.  :: sighs ::  I'm planning on adding KQVI-catacombs-esque symbols on each of the floor tiles, and improve the stony look.
I've added some cheap blurry foreground elements to give the room depth.  They're not final, but I wanted to get a feel for whether they would work.  Do they help?  Should I add more or take them out?

Additionally, I'm working on an establishing shot for the game's splash screen or the intro, whichever works best.  After going over countless YouTube how to draw videos and the tutorials that Ali suggested, here's what I've got:




I may be opening another can of worms, but any suggestions? (Lighting, perspective, coloring, etc?)  Both of the pics are works in progress, but I didn't want to progress too much further without some more helpful feedback.  Thanks!!!

Thanks, all!  Happily working on the treasury with a sort of mix of Arj0n's and NickyNyce's ideas.

Any suggestions for the rocks and castle grounds?

I'm not an artist myself, and was hoping for a bit of help or advice on adding some texture to room backgrounds.  I've got some rooms that "work" in the game, but aren't really very interesting.  The first is near a force field.



In-game, the screen isn't awful, but I wince every time I look at the rocks, and there's just nothing going on behind the force field.  The actual background is below.




The second background that really gets me is below:



Towards the end of the game, you break into the enchanter's treasury.  The treasures in the back alcove are fun, but there's really nothing else to the room.



The floors and ceilings are particularly soulless.

What I'm hoping for are some recommendations or tips.  How do you make unimportant parts of the screen less boring without distracting from the important parts?  Any tips on lighting or textures?  Any examples of either I could borrow from?