Messages

The majority of ZANY WACKY puzzles in adventure games are just "This is funny, put it in" it seems. DoTT has some intersting puzzles like changing the past so the statue has it's other arm up so Nurse Edna can't grab onto it but I don't remember how you decide to do that if you even do.. Getting the vomit off the ceiling just happens when you're playing around using everything. I never made the logical leap "This will shake the house and knock the vomit off the ceiling..." I was looking for something ANYTHING to scrape it off with.

Perhaps these puzzles were a stretch, but they did provide clues. When talking with Green Tentacle he emphasizes the volume of the band and the effects. In fact, playing the demo song causes the entire room to shake (Bernard even comments about the volume after this action). If you leave the music on, and go back down to the lobby, you will see that the room is shaking.

It becomes apparent later in the game that you need to find some way to see Dr. Ed putting in the safe combination slowly. By looking at the monitors upstairs, you can see that the security camera gets a good angle of the safe, but his hands are moving too fast. By talking to Edna, she tells you about the features of the system, but she won't let you use the VCR. It's obvious you must somehow get rid of her. The game visually emphasizes the fact her chair has wheels through her idle animation, where she constrantly slides back and forth along the controls.
When you push Edna, she grabs onto the arm of the statue and rebounds. In your conversation with her, she even gives you background about the statue. Dr. Ed and the twins both talk about their handed-ness. The main reason this puzzle is misunderstood is the fact you could solve it before you needed unhampered access to the security system. Making a puzzle only solvable when the game character "understands" the logic can be seen as a frustrating flaw for the player. 

By giving visual or verbal feedback, the game encourages the player experiment with their surroundings. The rewards are hints that give the player direction on the puzzles to solve. The game mixes up the methods of instruction, sometimes explicitly telling the player the goal, while other times it lets the player discover the goal by herself. Because the game world was so rich with dialogue, art, and music, exploring the actions was half the fun.

Still, who do you think the boy will ask on a date (the answer is D)?

Depends on which one puts out.

The latest edit is a good direction to go, although I would raise the crotch of the pants slightly and shorten the arms in relation. I would also try to make the feet look less like flat bricks. The desaturated colors are visually pleasing, but I'd be afraid they'd blend in too much with a background. I'd give the contrast and saturation a little bump.

Ultimately, you need to pick a style you're satisfied with and can easily replicate.

There only "right" here pertains to your vision for the character. Doing this for you would merely be guesswork on our part.

Loominoused!

Overlapping elements aren't a bad thing at all. They make a scene visually interesting. However, as Steve noted, they can make things confusing, especially where you have intersecting tangents. Generally you want contrast between the overlap of two shapes. When they line up, that's when problems occur.
If you end up picking the sketchy sprites, you need to be careful about the exterior AA (unless you plan to have an alpha channel). Personally, I would pick a sprite style that would stand out from the background a little more. The forms of the sketchy guys are a little ambiguous. It might be interesting if each character was tinted a different color (matching their respective speech text).

Would like to give this cute creature a kiss

I would feel better not knowing this.



It's cool that you're keeping everyone up to date on the progress.

Eeesh.... There's a lot of dialogue, music, and a bit of animation at the end. Perhaps a video could be made? Perhaps Gregor could have a video made?

Can you run Linux on a Mac? I think there's a version of Apprentice that works under Linux.

It MUST be visible?

What if he's scratching his butt?

Surely I'm not the only one to find this latest edit titillating?

I think it's cartoon enough not to worry about proportions. I like the fact the forearms are thicker than the upper arms. I would focus more on making the shapes dynamic and interesting and lose some of the detail (double wrinkles on the clothing, etc). Varying the line thickness could make these sprites winners! (Like make the exterior lines thicker than the interior detail lines.)

Your shades are too close in value, especially if simplicity is your goal. At a higher res, you could lose the buffer shade in every region and not be able to tell the difference.

Drop the black outline around the jaw and the ear. If you don't use black consistently, it'll just look weird.

Try to resist AAing on the 45 degree pixel lines; it makes them look unecessarily blurry.

I think the pose itself is very static. Visualize your sprite as a series of curves connecting basic geometric shapes.

Good start.

[Cid Dethro]

Cid Dethro: lead vocalist for the pop metal band, Steel Angel
This total poser wears his signature feather headress and steel boots to every concert.
9 colors
80x80, 2x zoom

The way his arms move remind me of pulling taffy.

Sweet. Free link for the HEP folk!

Almost every line of dialogue included the word "Emo".

I wrote a theory about its meaning below (perhaps additional viewings might reveal more):

Spoiler

The machine is life, and it's whatever you make of it. The old man (Proog?) finds it dangerous and intricate. When he's crossing "typewriter key" bridge, he performs an odd dance, while Emo just plods along. There seems to be a strong connection between human will and any change in the environment (almost like the machine is serving them), lending to the overall dream-like quality of the piece (I think "Elephant" refers to the grand scale on which it occurs). Unexcited by the old man's clock-like vision, Emo starts to create his own environment (two of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Colossus of Rhodes, which appear menacing and organic). The old man's final plea "It is there" could either refer to "the beauty of this place" or to the claim that "nothing is there" on the left or the right (although I'm not sure what that was about).

[close]

Obviously, this idea doesn't encapsulate the entire short film (can't explain some occurrences). I'd love to hear anyone else's take on it.

Little blonde guy? What little blonde guy?

Perhaps the female norns can be pink and wear bows on the top of their heads.

I think my focus will be putting content on the SJM page...

Apprentice 3 is like the runt of our creative litter, neglected but not forgotten. Don't worry, that puppy will become a giant soon enough.

Gotta ditch these metaphors.

[world]

We're working on new tutorials. Actually, we could probably put some of Greg's old ones back up, just that mine were a bit crappy and needed reformatting.

Few quotes I found regarding our logo:

Since the figure of Atlas supporting the earth was often used in the title pages of early map collections, the name has come to be applied to a volume of maps.
http://www.sculpturegallery.com/sculpture/atlas.html (not the most credible source, but I'll take it)

This one is better:

As part of the 11th task of Hercules:
"Atlas agreed to help him if Hercules would support the world on his shoulders while Atlas got the apples. The old man did not wish to resume his burden, but Hercules tricked Atlas into taking the world back." (emphasis added)
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570023/Hercules_(mythology).html

In all fairness, I have seen the burden describe as "the heavens", as well as "the sky and the earth". I believe the world is a little easier to represent visually.

Slander is spoken, not written.

Glad you like the new design, the praise belongs to Darth.