Messages

Nostra, sometimes the game crashes at random, due to its extreme age.

Try it again, and if it crashes every time, please post any error messages you recieve.

Thanks!

Just want to say I have something.  It won't be near complete, but if I'm lucky, I'll be able to cobble together the beginning middle and end.

I live on the West Coast of Canada though, so do I get until midnight?

Nostra, please see my response in hints and tips.

It's poorly designed, but not a bug.

Actually, the click dectection is quite a bit larger than one pixel.

The problem is the way AGS 2.2.2 or whatever I was using assigns hotspots or whatever you call the little pixel that sets off the hit detection.  It's limited on long objects because you have to pick a spot, and if you put it on the end, it shoots long objects right off the edge of the screen.

To compensate for this, I had to put a spot more toward the middle of the pole.  If you're clicking using the top end of the pole it just won't work.  It's fiddly, and I really wish there was a simple way to fix it and still have it work the way I intended.  It's one of 2 or 3 places with this problem, which seems like a lot, but isn't really for this size of game.  Doesn't make them any less annoying though (and believe me, I tested the game hundreds of times).

All I can say is that it definitely 100% works.  It's just an exact angle thing.  Step Mika out of the way, and slowly move your pole down into the ho... er... wait, that doesn't sound right.

I'd spoiler this, but honestly, it's the kind of issue that shouldn't even happen to begin with, and it's one of about 5 issues I just feel guilty about.

Another tip is to wait until the glint is at its maximum size.

But the key is to focus around the middle of the pole, either slightly above or below.  I know it's solvable by a newbie, because I've had to rediscover the secret to that puzzle several times over the years due to my own poor memory.

Hey everyone,

if you had trouble running the game or with the resolution, could you try one of the three following solutions?

1: Downlaod and extract the newly updated zip with the setup file included:

www.cardboardlogic.com/Games/Edge/edgeof.zip

or

2.  Download the setup file directly and paste it into your game directory:

http://www.cardboardlogic.com/Games/Edge/acsetup.cfg

or

3.  Follow the above link, copy and paste that line into a notepad/textedit document, save the document as acsetup.cfg and copy said document into your game directory.

Please report back with failure/success stories.

I am just watching from a distance, but personally, I've never cared about canon, which is why a huge number of characters "leave" in my game, and why the end leads toward the possibility of alternate Rons where pretty much anything could happen.

I kind of think that if you want a reboot, you may as well write a whole new scenario and new characters, boot it up, run until that idea runs out of steam and then reboot again.  No reason you can't create a whole new community project with new rules and new characters.

But whatever you do, it won't be the first time RON was retooled.  And there may well be no effect.   So do what you like.

One thing: rules?  Defining some games as quality enough and some as not?   These seem like fool's errands an highly subjective.  Personally the games I enjoyed most are the ones by Captain Mostly and others that didn't really fit to the overarching story and basically abused the RON characters as if they were a simple graphics pack.

However, graphical upgrades would always be great.

Score in Edge of Reality is used for many of the jokes, and also to track secret items/extra puzzles.  Plus, the only way to get anywhere near full points is to find the alternate ending.  Then, there is a sequence where you have an amount of time equal to your score to escape.  Basically, score plays an integral part to the plot, puzzles, writing and gameplay.

I don't really know how, but I will see what I can do since I do want it to look as intended.

Sergio, this puzzle requires a bit of bad hit detection, but I swear I know people that had no trouble with it.  Still, it's a little tricky to get right.

Spoiler

Did you "eliminate" the banana pickle man?

[close]

Spoiler

Have you gone "downtown" and gotten everything there?

[close]

Last, most revealing clue:

Spoiler

What did the banana pickle man leave behind?

[close]

If the moderators don't mind, I'd like to answer hint questions in this thread for the time being, and then get a hints and tips thread going if one is required eventually.

I want to hear about the first person to reach Chapter 4!

I have a resource pack with many many rooms in it.  They're poorly drawn, but would anyone want them?

Also, I could export my original characters.  They're really ugly, but with a paint-over, they could be useful.

That's actually a screen resolution issue, as discussed above.  It looks a lot better in 640 x 480 - exactly like the screenshots.

However, I never claimed the game had great graphics.  In fact, I call them horrible in many instances.  Sorry you didn't enjoy it though.  It is a 9 year project, so there are bound to be some bugs like that.

The game is more about extensive content than graphical appearances, I even like it in the lower resolution for the weird retro-look, myself, but if you want what you see in the screenshots, you'll probably have to do what Gilbot reccomends.

Good luck in things!

Gilbot, tried that, it gives me this error:

"ST02 Could not load game file AC2Game.dat"

"You must create and save a game first in the Room Editor before you can use this engine"

I ran the shortcut from the directory in which edgeof.exe is stored and only changed what the online instructions reccomend.

I have to say, the game has worked okay on any system I've checked it on, but sometimes it does run in that ugly 320 X 200 resolution.

What I would love is a batch that I can just set to the best possible set-up, since it would work for pretty much 90% of my players.

You can lock this as the game is out now.

I did include a setup.bat, but it doesn't seem to work.

I would love to include a general setup file for future downloads, but I don't know how to do that.

Sergio, how do I do that?  If you tell me, I will update the .zip ASAP.

Thanks to Alpha2t and Jon for their testing help BTW, your advice was taken on a few problems, and your names are now in the game and the instructions!

[Edge of Reality]

Edge of Reality

EDIT: (download updated: Feb 1 2009) - Please tell me if this solves your various resolution issues, everybody!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Yes, that's right, Edge of Reality, the Longest Reality-on-the-norm game (both in production and potentially in gameplay) is complete.  Nine years after I started this project, I have fixed most (not all) of the bugs, piled on extra content and made a second, very cool ending.

You already might know how long the game has been in production.  Why should you play it?

Good question.  It may not work perfectly on your new advanced system (may need a few changes to your resolution set-up, for example), and it will occasionally crash (save early and save often).  But it is a unique game, which is why I finally completed it after all these years.

If you've seen the trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpQU76sUGdY) or the original, funnier trailer (http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=aDOl_reVnH0), you should have an idea that a lot went into this game.  Some of my testers thought the game was nearly over around the end of the first chapter.

Ha I say.  Ha followed by Ha, and potentially Hoo.

There are, in point of fact, four fairly long chapters and 1 that splits into two.

However, the game is more than the sum of its parts.



STORY

Edge of Reality picks up from early threads in the RON universe, just after the death of Davy Jones.  Reality has been hit by disaster after disaster after delicious cake, and our friend Mika is just starting to put it all together.

Our story begins, however, with never popular Scientist, Dr. Ronald Emeritus, historo-physcicist who has collected the chronicles of Reality in a secret book.  However, just as he begins his first glimmers of understanding, something arrives in Reality.  A mysterious, disembodied something.  And it's not happy.

No.  That's not right.

It's happy all right.  For all the wrong reasons.

Beginning with the startling disappearance of Reality characters, Mika must make her way through the sleepy town to unravel a mystery and reach Thakbor the Great before its too late (that rhymed!).  Her journey will take her right to the Edge of Reality: to the outskirts of town, the new city centre, the woods, the beach, the deep ocean, even other dimensions.  What she finds is alternately ridiculous and unsettling.

Because things get weirder as you reach the edge.

Style



Think everything from Yahtzee style insult humour to Captain Mostlyesque psuedo philosophical avante-garde anti-jokes.  Everything from Sierra style puns, to graphically violent Sombreros.  Disembodied heads of celebrities.  Iraq jokes.  The goofy cavalcade of poorly drawn villains and the burning embers of despair, all in one incredibly ugly package.  Once you get past the first chapter, it just gets weirder, and I think, funnier.

There's more to Edge of Reality than that though.  While not exactly the best RON game ever made, it is long, and deep.  You'll find lots to click on, and messages for nearly half the interactions you think of (you are actually rewarded for clicking on everything).  Half the fun I had making this game was going back to screens I'd forgotten and running through the various interactions.  There's a lot of text here, and while a lot of it is either drab or outdated, there's a fair share of bizarre lines and clever zingers.  I enjoy playing it just for that.

But there's more.  Numerous secrets, including a dramatic secret ending, hidden items that you collect to unlock alternate modes of play, and 4 optional mini-games (technically more like 5, if you know where to look).  There's lots of way to "die" in the first half with no real consequences (you immediately come back to life) and then in the second, more challenging half, ways to actually be killed that bring menace back into your adventure.

Multiple characters, optional paths, and many puzzles that can be solved in any order is just part of the draw that kept me plugging away.

Just remember to save your game first.  Much like a crowded slushy turnpike, there are bound to be crashes.  I could not fix every bug, and some just crash the game at random.  All gameplay should work without error messages though.  Feel free to report anything with a clear message like "Line 20011.  Wrong Side of Cube For Flotsam Test."



PLEASE though, read or at least skim the instructions first.  Some important gameplay info and known bugs are included in there as well as a cavalcade of jokes and just strange ideas to get you set up for the game's odd mood.

The game is HERE:

http://www.cardboardlogic.com/Games/Edge/edgeof.zip

It may not be your blue cup of tea.  It may not be your game of the year.  But it is different and distinct, and I think worth playing through for a uniquely twisted take on RON, and for more puzzles than you can shake an anthropomorphic monkey wrench at.

To remind you, check out the trailers above.

Are you ready to reach the Edge?

Hell, even the people who actually own the character took a good 10 years to put together a sequel.  And one of those was George Lucas, Mr. Unnecessary and slightly crazy sequel himself.

Okay, except for a date issue, the "final" version is done, and all the bugs I could fix are out!

Just the final beta is left.

Beta testers, expect a link in your PM boxes to the beta version.

I'm aiming for a quick Beta test, so please, testers, don't be afraid to ask how to solve particular puzzles.  I'm aiming to hit my deadline!

I don't know.

Must be 2000 then.

I put those dates in there probably a few years into the development, so it's not surprising I got them wrong.

I'll change them in the game, thanks!

I'll be happy to get you the first steaming hot slightly disquieting copy for your purusal, oldbie.

However, please don't worry about breaking it.  It is currently held together with bits of re-used gaffer tape.  You know the kind that's been on the floor for a really long time and has all the dusty bits clinging to it and therefore doesn't stick to anything?

Basically what I'm saying is that breaking my game would be about as difficult as kicking a lost baby in the groin.  The only thing stopping you would be your sense of good will.

Stay tuned next week when I shoot it into your hands with an expensive potato and/or airgun.