Messages

Farlander's response shows exactly how effective these messages are, to the point that we don't even see them as racist but as "fact," even though no legitimate historian or anthropologist would accept them as such.

For example, that all famine in Russia was caused by greed is of course in contrast to the view that all famine elsewhere in the world (such as the US during the same period) was caused by... nature?  And the many times more deaths occuring in Capitalist or colonized countries (this is not rhetoric, but statistics) were natural.  Also, "Soviets" has other issues in it besides just the anti-Soviet stuff.

It should also be noted that "paternalism" is one of the most effective hallmarks of racism--racism isn't just the "crazed hate" typified in hollywood movies, but a structural element allowing colonialism and neo-colonialism to continue.  It isn't necessarily a personal failure as in "You're a racist--a total writeoff" -- but rather something we all face from time to time.  I have studied racism for years, know both the idea that races are a myth and that saying so dilutes much of the very valuable activism, and still I have moments of my own zenophobia and racism.  I just try not to get too defensive when someone points it out.

That said, I also love Tintin.  A lot of people love Tintin, but that doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to create an effective team capable of creating the original spirit (edited not just for PC reasons, but to fit with Herge's more informed later vision).

Both of those said, I still encourage you to try, and at worse, fail.  The world doesn't really NEED a lot more games, so even if you do fail, you should discover new skills you can apply to other things, even other games.  I would certainly play a Tintin game and enjoy it, even if it wasn't "perfectly" rendered.   You might have to a) construct a new story (or use his last story) or b) amalgamate elements from several to allow puzzles to exist that aren't already all spelled out in the more popular books.

So I wish you luck, but since I'm already not working on two other group projects (for now anyway), I can't commit to this one.  It sounds fun, however.

Call me Mr. Stupid mcstupidheadvonstupidofstupidlandwithastupidsauce and stupid on the side, but isn't there already a 3D module for AGS?

[url]http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=22615.0[url]

Wouldn't it be as simple as making the character invisible, setting limits on movement (so rather than moving steadily, either clicking on an icon or pressing a key either turns you to face a direction or moves you a preset distance in that direction), and rendering an interesting world set up to avoid people being able to phaze through walls, etc?

After all, you can look 360 degrees in the AGS3D already.

[s]

On Topic:

A nice room, I like all the paintovers so far.

I disagree "somewhat" with the problem identified being that it doesn't befit a magic shop due to the composition.  The empty composition does detract from the "power" and mysticism of the magic shop idea, but that is what makes the scene quirky for me.  The area seems sort of plunked down in the middle of a clearing and seems completely ordinary and unimpressive (in terms of the composition--the artwork is nice and clean).  This sets a unique mood that differs from the average fantastical magic shop.

That said, the details added in most of the paintovers should be taken into consideration.  They add depth and augment the scene well.


OFF TOPIC:

Just wanted to point out, since no one had yet: It should be "Biblos' Magic Goods" not "Biblos's Magic Goods."  Unless of course it's on purpose, in which case, I'd suggest also making a letter backwards or something to better enforce it.

I believe that is a common misconception, although there is no hard and fast rule in that department.

A name with an 's' on the end is not plural, therefore should be treated as a word that ends in 's', thus having the apostrophe before the s, as so:

"Biblios's Magik Shoppe"  <-- Correct usage

Here's a quote from http://www.write101.com/sample.htm

When you're using names that end in -S, you follow the same rules as with any other name and add apostrophe S:

Chris's car, Bridget Jones's Diary.

However, in the case of Biblical and other mythological names, sometimes the apostrophe after rule is used for convenience.

I believe the QFG char is in there, isn't he?  He has a name in this version, however.

As for female characters, Laura Bow would be interesting to see, and she is a Sierra char.

Regardless, great parody game--I wonder how many people didn't download it due to the fact that it came out on April Fools?

I really need to improve my online grammar and diction.

First of all, I have to say that people tended to overlook FFX because of the production values and the fact that the character was a jock.  Also, the plot was fairly confusing if you didn't have certain bits of information.

One thing I was learning at the time I played was Jungian/Joseph Campbell myth structure (for film class), which I believe are absolutely necessary to understand the game.  For example, the feminine side of the self is the anima, which all men must combat in order to find themselves.  An examination of this in the main villain and then in the main hero reveals a lot, and you don't need to overanalyze--it's all there on the surface.  I don't have to explain to people who know the story exactly how literal the Japanese writers took this (at least in translation).  When you follow the whole structure into Jungian analysis of the "self", most of the rest of the plot falls into place.

That said, it wasn't my favourite.

Favourite FF : FFVI (or III in the states)
Favourite Character : Fire Elemental, Final Fantasy IV (or II in the states) "Was it flame?  I will show you how."
Favourite Location : Terra Cavern (barely) FFI -- entirely due to the awesome music.  Visually speaking, it would have to be the temple on the moon FFIV, especially the last bit before you fight Zeromus.
Memorable Moment : Waking up in the world of ruin/the edge of the cliff (same point in the game) FFVI -- I won't reveal anything about it, but the first time this happened, I cried.  It was amazing.  Second place goes to the bit where black mages explain the concept of mourning the dead (FFIX).  I've never seen it put that way, and placed in the mouths of such innocent characters--great.

Although I like what people say about the plot, I just got bored with FF7 and never finished it.  I barely made any progress at all in FFII (JP), FFIII (JP) or FFVIII either, so I can't speak for those.

Best "joke" game in a long time.  Amazed actually it wasn't simply a prank.

I played through the "story" mode and was consistently impressed and amused--wasn't really convinced it had been done in AGS for a while.  With some further tweaking this could be a really fun and somewhat pointless game!

One question--all the bosses seem to have a variety of special moves--are these accessible through some key combination?  I don't think I accessed any of them.

He-man, I am working on a juggling show (artsy style object-manipulation) with a friend, would you mind if we used that music?  It's awesome, and fits the mood of the show just about perfectly!

Okay, it's not terribly important, but I had a few sources to add to what I said in a post a little while ago and wanted to share them, because I think it may inform people about the history of manga in general and the use of symbolism.

It is generally assumed that manga's "western" appearance is a form of self-loathing and western love.  Few sources that seriously study the art-form will say this, however, because the history just doesn't quite support it.  Many societies look to others for inspiration and loath aspects of themselves, and Japanese people do often look to the "west," but it is not a unique or all-encompassing phenomenon.  Anime and Manga often mock other cultures as well.

However, in another post, I said that hair colour was related to shading time, which is still possible.  Original manga hair was left blank or partially shaded.  This didn't just save time shading the hair (blank is faster than any other method I could imagine), but made character identifcation easier.  Maybe speed was not the main (or even the slightest bit a significant issue), but most sources I have found say it is not an issue of envy of the west or any such silly thing.  It may still be so, but people have to realize it isn't "just wrong" to use a variety of sources that you may or may not agree with to form your opinion.

Here are some sources.

http://www.umich.edu/~anime/info_haircolor.html
http://bosp.kcc.hawaii.edu/Horizons/Horizons2001/69LinkPastPresent_Anime.html

Here are some key quotes:

"Back when artists were just starting to draw what we would consider "manga" today, they only had three options for hair color: black, white and grey. It would seem that, when trying to draw Japanese characters, only black could be used, but shoujo manga artists started to leave the hair of their Japanese characters un-inked. Doing this allowed the reader to distinguish between characters easily, and it also helped balance the page and make it more artistic. However, the Japanese characters were still presented as looking traditionally Japanese, and the reader accepted them as Japanese."

Even traditionally Japanese anime characters can have hair of any color, even colors that don't traditionally appear on any real human! Like with manga, assigning different hair colors to different characters allows the viewer to recognize which character is which. Hair color has also traditionally been used to indicate some part of the character's personality.

Hair color is one symbol that can indicate a character's personality type. Although hair color can symbolize different personality traits, it does not have any relation to the ethnicity of a character.

I also reccomend this book.

Despite the fact that I say this is a continuation of the debate, it isn't for me, I just wanted to share that info and people were right in saying the original post was not the place for it.

Perhaps this could lead to further debate about cultural appropriation and national pride issues related to art, however.  Just an idea.

Well, as a juggler, I of course would like to post some amazing juggling thing, but as much as I like to, the only must-see videos are Elsewhere's.

This is not the most recent, or the best, but the reaction is the most inspiring.  He's not the first dancer (that guy is only passable), but technically the third:

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/robotdance.wmv

Here is the site that came from

Believe it or not, this is from the original site, so he's just hosting on ebaum's world--not likely stolen in this case.  If you don't like going to ebaum's world, however, you can still get it from the kollaberation site, here

If you saw it when it first went around the web, I apologize.

Yes, digging up old threads = wrong

I would be remiss, however, if I didn't link to this parody of the Chris Bliss vid that's been making the rounds.

First, you can read Jason Garfield's article here.  Jason is an angry, angry man.

I tend to agree--before I was easier on the guy, but it's really quite bad, from a juggler's perspective (though he does a few very tough moves, and some bits are well choreographed).

Then, watch Jason's video either here, or mirrored here.

Basically, a superior juggler did the same routine but with harder tricks, more advanced choreography and more original material.  Not to prove he's better, but to prove how Chris is not all that great.  You can trust me when I say that this stuff is not just copied from Chris Bliss--if anything, it's the other way around.  It's not live, but Jason could almost certainly have done it live with a little more prep-time.

Anyway, I don't hate Chris Bliss or anything, most of my videos are much less choreographed, but I have to show people what's out there.  It's my thing.

http://jasongarfield.com/pennradio.html
http://jasongarfield.com/pennradio/BlissDiss2.mov
http://www.lpbk.net/jugglemirror/BlissDiss2.mov

It is a common myth that the colourful hair in Anime and Manga is a result of worship of the west.  Naranjas is probably referring to other issues, but on this particular one, the myth is really not grounded in reality.  My understanding of the history is that because manga was all black-and-white, inking hair became a real pain.  Everyone has black hair, making a lot of black ink.  For simplicity, artists began leaving that area blank.  It now looked as if their characters were blonde or somesuch.  As colour came in, artists began to play around with it, since the hair was not black anymore anyway, with reds and yellows and purples.

It should be noted that non-japanese rarely have bright purple or pink hair anyway--and if they do, it may be a colouring style indirectly influenced from Japanese pop-culture.

Japenese trends do emulate North America and Europe sometimes, but probably about to the same degree (or less) that North America are now emulating Japan, from their workplace programs (more popular in early 1990's and 1980's), to popular culture and animation styles.

Back on topic, the problem with the original sprite is that it doesn't have the level of abstraction of "classic" manga, or the realism depicting an actual Japanese face.  Obviously Manga is diverse and you can do any style you like, but from a first glance of something "attempting" to be something else, it feels a bit too in between.  The paintovers take the art in a more realistic direction (I think, the origial sprite isn't appearing for me), but you could go far more abstract as well, larger mouth, differently shaped head, perhaps taller.  You may not like this idea, but it more apes what we generally see in the Manga style over here and thus will seem more "mangaish" going the other way, towards "authentic" Japaneseness will mean black hair, black eyes, etc.

I think it's a very nice sprite, and I can see you going either way.  Which is what other people have said, more or less, probably making this a useless post.

C'est la vie.

Let me put it this way: "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

I really want to see someone tested on that one.  About something really trivial.  Like in the future, saying that pizza is better square-shaped is continually censored--no one is killed for it, but people are killed for defending people's write to say so.

Really, we are always that one step closer to a better world.

Ooh, or better yet, I want to see some people dying for my right to threaten them with their life.

Death to supporters of free speech!


Oh and no hard feelings, guy I never heard of.

Um bspeers... are you addressing me?

I was going to link to that "you're so vain" song*1, but then, you might take that seriously as well.

Instead, just "no"

You don't even have paws.


Oh, and just to keep things on topic--cat with nunchaku?  Pretty durn close, but it's still just a costume.  Still, maybe I can sleep easily at night now that this national nightmare is over, or at least weakened in immensity.

*1 - The line about "you probably think this is about you," not the vain bit, that would've been rude

The US government would never do anything wrong because they are angels made out of gold.

I don't mean to make this political or anything, I just have trouble imagining how angels made out of gold could orchestrate this level of deception, and why.  It's not as if the US has needed a reasonable justification for war in the past--just about anything will do--but you are asking me to believe that angels made out of gold did this?

First of all, it is highly unlikely that golden beings of any kind would be able to hire enough people and pay them off, considering their limited mobility and the likelyhood of them being dead.  It is hard to breathe when one's lungs are made out of gold.  Also, I think gold was the weakness of the cybermen or something, so even that is ruled out.  The only way I can imagine golden beings creating this elaborate a deception is if they were robots, and that's just science-fiction hooey.

Also, they're angels, lets not forget.  Angels always do what's right, even if it seems bad in the short-term.  Like murdering every last citizen of Soddem and Ghommorah.  I can't spell them because I have too much faith, btw.  So even if they did fake the crashes (with some sort of golden angel magic) it would have to be in the better interests of God.  Or Dick Cheny (Dick is God, which is why his heart is so bad, like in the Bible).

Also, the president of the gold angel children (they're also children, I forgot to mention that) of perfectdemocracyfairnesspowerland, who is also the best soccer player in the whole world would never allow Americans to die, as he did through slow response in New Orleans, or through beligerance in the continuing war in Iraq that even the majority of soldiers want to end.  Or by executing people.  Mostly because he is not alive (being made of gold) and an angel.

Also, I like freedom.

EDIT

I Forgot to mention that angels are neither alive or dead, being the scion of God (Cheney?) himself, so that just makes the problem more problemy.

EDIT EDIT

I just looked up "cat nunchucks" on google and there was nothing even remotely related!  Mostly nunchucks or a cat!  Maybe I should have looked up neko nunchuku.  Hang on, I'll just check that.

EDIT EDIT EDIT

Useless!  Sorry to move from the subject of this thread, but that is seriously some kind of social problem akin to this gold angel kerfuffle.  Kefuffle should be the name of someone's cat.  Here are some effective commentators on 911 and the problem with conspiracies  : http://www.zmag.org/content/Instructionals/shalalbcon.cfm  -- Please read the whole article, and also find some pictures of a cat with nunchucks so we can finally put this ugly time behind us.

I don't want to hijack my own thread, but just as examples of some of the improvements, that particular maze now includes an optional map-getting puzzle and an instantaneous teleporter that allows you to bypass it--I'm not hinting how to get them though, these are just examples you'll see when and if you play again.

However, that's all I'll say on the subject, no need to take the point of this thread away; such being telling me how great I am and setting up inflated expectations only to be dashed horribly on our wedding night.

I seem to have veered off course.

Ahem.  Yes.

I remember playing the demo of this. The paint bomb never worked properly... and neither did the colour swatches sheet. And picking up the church screwed up my inventory. But it was damn good fun.

Yes, thanks to extensive beta testing when it was closer to being completed, those things have been fixed.  Except the paint bomb, since there never was one.  Though I can see how the game could lead one to believe that--there might be a bit more to that puzzle that I wouldn't want to give away...




BTW, even though I know it was a pun, I still cringe every time I see that "Greatest RON game" subtitle.  I'm not getting rid of it, because it is technically correct and just amusing enough (for me), but it does raise my hackles.  And they're already pretty high up there. Wink-face to myself.

Ready for the greatest Reality on the Norm Game ever?

In terms of size, that is.

Probably not quality.

Definitely not.

DOWNLOAD THE TRAILER HERE:

FUN TIME IN HAPPY LAND

I'm not going to write a huge description.  Taking place some point in the RON series, this was originally created in 2000, or 1999 or something, envisioned as a more bizarre response to the first Reality on the Norm game, taking the word "reality" quite seriously and "norm" quite figuratively.



A deep storyline embedded (shown, not told) in a ludicrous adventure spanning multiple islands, and possibly other worlds/universes, this is probably the longest RON game ever made.  Back when it was originally beta tested, it already far outstripped the competition possibly having more content than all the others combined.  This was the game that broke all the limits of AGS when it first came out.  But all that would be nothing without humour and depth of character.  Which this has.  Neither.



Or some... maybe.  And some violent deaths.  Outdated comedic references and politics combined with just a touch of spite.



This game was scripted in version 2.22 of AGS, and due to programming conventions, could not be safely upgraded, meaning all the new content is in that same format, bugs n' all.  Extensive testing has revealed no deadly bugs, and bug testing continues, as does addition of content until release date.

TRAILER IN WMV

Everyone who says the "west" can take it while arabs can't is full of it.  They are ignorant of the facts.  Newpapers and TV media continually censor stories and images they think would be offensive.  Each year an agency in the US publishes a list of the top censored stories, and they are always meaningful and intelligent, unlike these childish cartoons.

In the particular case of these anti-mohammed cartoons, the exact same newspaper refuses to print cartoons that would make fun of Christ for risk of "causing an outcry".

I'll repeat that.  3 years ago, the exact same Danish paper blocked satirical images of Christ.  Now they're big on "free speech" which isn't free and costs money.

Why?  Because they're hippocrates.  Excuse my terrible spelling.

The quote about "causing an outcry" is from one of the few factual articles that have come out since this debackle started.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=9771

News media censor all the time.  It's unavoidable.  Any crackpot with a stupid idea or offensive cartoon can't get in because there is limited space.  A handful of pages, or 48 minutes of air-time or what-have-you.

In fact, the only case in which this would be a "free speech" issue would be if we had free speech to begin with.  We don't.  We have speech for the rich, powerful and popular with a few scraps for the not-so-much.  Now if they were online cartoons that anyone could post and Muslims protested the internet, THAT would be stupid, not for muslims, but for the individuals doing the protesting.  Even the internet isn't a "free" domain--many sites are continually censored from search engines (like pro-Tibet sites on the chinese Google site, or Gay rights sites through various web-blockers), but at least there isn't a strict limit on publishing space.

Here is my opinion on the matter, flat-out:

There is no free speech.  If you want to fight for free speech, don't start by bashing muslims, that will get you nowhere.   I emphasize, the comics WERE published.

Start by fighting to get something published that actually WASN'T such as many stories about the US/Canada in Haiti, or maybe East Timor, or even Mumia Abu Jamal's writings.  They actually ARE censored, and unlike this Danish dude, they actually have some impact (other than the reaction by the muslim communities) and aren't just about some ignorant dude's desires to make fun of someone's religious/cultural views.

But I say don't even start there.  You're also not going to get far.  IF you actually care about free speech and not just about seeming self-righteous, do something significant.  Fight for "free" speech.  Instead of corporately owned media with the right to censor anything that doesn't fit their agenda, fight for media owned in public trust, not in corporate or state hands, but by an independent non-partisan non-profit body democratically owned, publically funded with a mandate to report the news of the majority.

It was Aristotle I believe who said that in any society, the rich are few and the poor many.  This means that democracy is rule by the poor (according to the Greeks from whom we get the word).  So fight for a media of the poor.  If you're not doing that, then I'm sorry to say, all your arguments for free speech will a) miss the bigger issue, and b) fail, because newspaper companies and governments will print whatever they want and only that, no matter how much you complain.

Some people may be intimidated out of publishing a cartoon, but that doesn't change the overall field.  It's still as centralized as it was.

Now if you excuse me, I have some offensive images of christ fallating Tony Blair I have to send to my local newspaper .

Not meant to personally target or offend anyone in this forum.  That was all general rambling.  Please at least read the hotlinked article.

Is the room animated? If not, make the first frame black.  Make the fade-in technique instant for that first room, then after fade-in, do the fading effect.  If you do it right, the cursor should blink a bit and that's all.

You would also have to set the background frame to frame 1 (vs frame 0) immidiately after setting the screen black for fade-in.

Also, I don't know if that would work in this instance, but you should also be able to set up the events before you load the room, such as in the previous room, but I don't really know how, off the top of my head.  That's because I'm ignorant though, not because it's particularly tricky.

I believe it was Gravityyy that originated the idea.  Yahtzee and others contributed to the concept (there was, as usual, some disagreement between Yahtzee and others on how the game should be organized, then Yahtzee made the first game and it was pretty-much resolved).

Uninterestingly, my idea was to name it "Reality" for some 4th wall bending situations.  Yahtzee added "On-the-norm" which I didn't get, being outside of England.

Spoiler

I think I made like the 10th game or something, a large unfinished demo of Edge of Reality, which, after like 5 years of not working on it much is actually nearing completion.

[close]

EDITED THE MATHMATICAL/MEMORY ERROR.

Ps : It's more that such and such "on the" such is not really a construction for place names over here, so it just didn't make sense.  To me.  At the time.  I like cake.

Also, it's got considerably more content now.  Sorry.