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Seems like my estimate of (4-6 hours) is a little low. All the better.

I've only seen one complaint about length (on the AGS database games page).

Oh wow.

(Was gonna write something about direct control and the British East India Trading Company, but no need making this thread any more OT.)

Running the risk of schadenfreude, I'm glad Saddam is dead (hopefully not a double), and that his execution was public.

This is what I was referring to:

The US not only does not pull in the resources of other nations…it does exactly the reverse. We pump billions and billions of dollars annually into those nations that host our facilities, and the minute any one of those nations decides we are no longer welcome, we pack our bags, leave and turn those billion-dollar institutions over to the host country. (Look up Subic Bay and Clark Air Base in the Philippines for some recent examples)

Now, let's suppose the U.S. went into Djibouti with the Marines, and stole every single thing that's produced there in a year…just grant the premise and say we stole every goddam thing they make. If we hauled away all of Djibouti's annual wealth, how long would it run the U.S. Economy, which is 7,481 times greater?

Well, 8,760 hours divided by 7,481 gives you an answer of 1.17 hours. In other words, it takes the U.S. 1.17 hours to produce what Djibouti produces in a year.

If the US really did go in and steal everything that the bottom thirty countries in the world produce, it might power the US economy for two or three days.

Conversely, the billions and billions of dollars the US spends annually in aid, rent, etc. â€" plus uncounted billions more from private American charities â€" would supply the entire GDP of Djibouti for hundreds of years.

In addition to the GDP issue, there's the prohibitive cost of a military operation. I'm not convinced looting countries is so financially justifiable.

Of course the whole argument should be read in context.

Here's an interesting read:
http://www.ejectejecteject.com/

(scroll down to the title that says)
End U.S. Imperialism Now!

Out of curiosity, how many hours would you say it took you to beat the game (start to finish)? It's hard for me to figure since I know all the answers.

Aside from the off-topic, if anyone has played the game and wants to post their thoughts (negative or positive), feel free. I've seen these mini-reviews in other Completed Games threads, so I don't think it would be inappropriate.

I concur. Keep up the good work!

Maggie,

Spoiler

How does the postal service deal with dogs?

[close]

Let me know if you need a bigger hint.

And it isn't silly to say that if those classics were made today they would have the full voice BUT the exact same graphics???

I assumed you didn't mean just speech, but higher production values in all aspects (modern team then -> modern team now), in which case the game would be more expensive (modern pricing).

Steel Drummer:
Played it and our song is not used. You can listen to it here for comparison:
http://herculeaneffort.adventuredevelopers.com/previews/music1.mp3

Yes, and you would pay $49.95+ for each one.

I meant the title music. When the screen says 'Super Jazz Man' and then it fades out to the restaurant. That song has been used a lot in other AGS games, like Family Treasure and that fighter with Sierra characters.

No other game uses this song. Maybe it reminds you of another one, but I assure you, it's original.

Thanks for your purchase!

I hope the quality lives up to your expectations.

The focus of the game is the writing and story progression within classical adventure gameplay. For economy's sake, we opted against graphics that push your video card's limits, full voice, and orchestral score. Granted, I doubt many developers can offer all that for the price we're charging. Considering it took roughly a year of work (1.5 counting the slow times) to finish, I feel like I should be able to afford a sandwich from selling a copy.

On the bright side, it won't take too long to download, which will make it easy for people with slower internet connections (something characteristic of a lot of retro gaming fans).

Because I have an interest in all areas of the Japanese games industry, and how its products are rejigged and repackaged for consumption in the West. It can be a very telling way to judge how western eyes view something primarily manufactured for an eastern audience.

Translation: whacking it to cartoons of little girls.

And you read Hustler for the articles, right?

We thought about a demo, but we figured that we've already spent so much time making the full thing, we'd rather not delay it further. For the AGS community, I don't totally see the point of a demo. Most of you are already familiar with the standard gameplay mechanics and our level of quality.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, something about Hanukkah, etc! 

That's a pretty broad statement.

Keep in mind that scientists like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Boyle, and Faraday professed the Christian faith. Bacon, known as the "father of inductive reasoning", also practiced Christianity. Much of our modern science is built on the foundations these men laid. To say that Christians want to spread ignorance would seem a hasty generalization.

On a further note, it's highly embarassing for a comic book superstar like Miller to turn his comics into panel-by-panel translations of films. If he had any real love and faith for the medium, he'd keep his comics comics. Now all he's saying with his actions is 'I wanted to be a film-maker, not a comics artist!'.

Money it's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit


For the Gladiator thing, here's a tidbit from imdb:
"The real-life Commodus was in fact the only Roman Emperor in history to fight as a gladiator in the arena. However, he did it several times, not just once. Also, he was not killed in the arena but was strangled in his dressing room by an athlete named Narcissus."

I don't think even that can be agreed upon. Humanism (generally that of the cosmic variety) considers selfishness as a virtue. The tip of this iceberg being that the need for self-actualization exists on a personal basis, and thinking/acting for the good of a group dilutes it.

Yea it's good that no one ever tried to make a cartoon version of Jay and Silent Bob or any of the cast from Clerks. Thank God.

Bluntman and Chronic, what?

The monkey attack system took you 10 hours to get through? I guess it could be slightly more difficult if you've never played rock-paper-scissors before. But still, I think it took me less time to beat the whole game.

Since he relies so heavily on the curve command, I'd say he's taking shortcuts most real pixel artists wouldn't. It takes good technique to draw a smooth looking curve in low res. Between using curves at a higher res and the video compression, he bypasses AA and other techniques. He could also save a lot of time if he bothered learning keyboard shortcuts. Oh, wait that would be cheating, right, since it makes it easier.

From a less specific art standpoint, his piece is uninteresting. He picks his colors when he's working against a white background, which will monkey with the perception of other values. Some of the lighting is weird, since the front windshield has a glare from a backlight, yet the hood doesn't show this. It's fairly obvious he's drawing from a photo reference. At the same time, I've never seen a sports car look so drab and unexciting.

If you want to use the novelty of a shitty program, there are worse out there. Some of my first experiments with pixel were done in a QBasic program that used the arrow keys to move the cursor (+ and - to change colors between the default EGA palette). 

I would speculate that he hasn't posted the BMP anywhere because it looks significantly underwhelming at full size without compression.