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I just started playing the earlier Ben Jordan games and am really enjoying them. This looks great, too!

I'd love to play this!

I've been playing around with doing a little game in the FoA style. I want, like FoA, for the game screens to be 640x300 (excluding the LucasArts GUI area). Anyway, I was looking at this tutorial over at the FoY website (http://www.barnettcollege.com/tutorial1.htm) and the author says he does all his screens at 320x150, even though (if I recall correctly) the game would run at twice that resolution.

So, my somewhat stupid question is... why do the screens at 320x150 and then enlarge them, rather than just doing them at 640x300 to begin with? What's the benefit?

Thanks!

There is a tutorial or at least a walkthrough of a background Miez made for Fountain of Youth, give a search for that and check it out, he says some nice stuff.

I looked for that but unfortunately the FoY website seems to be down. Hopefully that's just temporary.

Some of you may have been following the evolution of Rise of the Hidden Sun over the past few years. In case you missed the most recent update, I'm kind of going back to the drawing board again.

One idea I had was to take the existing artwork and convert it from CMI-style to a more manageable FoA style because it would theoretically be easier to do myself, without having to rely on others for help. The animation would also be easier, I think.

Anyway, here's my first attempt. It turned out like crap. NOTE: This was just a quick test! This will never, ever make it into RotHS in this form.

Feedback, suggestions, or actual re-painting just for fun/instruction are all welcome.

I'd just like to say that I've played through most of the first episode now and I'm absolutely blown away. I cannot wait for the final game. Great work, Duckbutcher!

90% of all blogs are utter crap, but then again 90% of everything is utter crap

Ah yes, Sturgeon's Law. Very true.

No, but it might be lame to carefully prepare a post with such an emo title and post it across every adventure forum. Not that you'd do that, though.

Not every forum, just the good ones.

Even though absolutely no one demanded it...
Even though it's been five years since the whole blog thing caught on...
Even though I have less free time today than at any previous point in my life...

I've started my own blog!

Yep, it's true.

Right now you're thinking, "Dear God, what could he possibly have to say about anything that ANYONE would want to read?"

Good question. I don't know.

But here's what I plan to write about...

- The frustrations and occasional minor triumphs of writing a novel
- The frustrations and occasional minor triumphs of designing a computer game
- The frustrations and occasional minor triumphs of raising a son

Also: Sports, TV, movies, music, books, politics, and whatever else comes up....

Just head on over to http://www.chapter11studios.com and prepare to be...

...incredibly...
...ridiculously...
...SERIOUSLY...
...underwhelmed. 

Thanks,
Josh

This isn't the critics lounge, but that pic could be improved a lot.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts. Feel free to PM me when you have a minute!

*snip - removing outdated artwork*

Also, thanks to everyone who has PM'd me or asked in this thread about my health. I'm scheduled to have the surgery on October 30 which should hopefully get me up and moving in the right direction again once I get past the initial recovery. Knock on wood, right?

This looks terrific. The story/world sound interesting and the artwork is very atmospheric.  And did I mention I love the name? Looks and sounds like the real deal!

Any cameo appearances, exept Murray? What can you say about the sequel ("Curse of the HIdden Sun")?

Re: More cameos, yes, definitely one more in addition to Murray, but they're just for comic effect, not part of the story, and I'm being selective with them.

Re: Curse of the Hidden Sun, yes, I have the story all mapped out, but right now I'm not even thinking about the sequel. Too much to do beforehand!

So err... was that a no you dont need what you asked me for or what?

Sorry m0ds. Check your PM.

I had sincerely hoped (and planned) to release the demo by December 31 and the first episode by March 31, but things have really slowed down due to health issues.

It's not because of a lack of resources or anything like that. Most of the art assets, dialogue, puzzles, music, etc., are either done or nearly done. The issue is me feeling well enough to sit in front of the computer and put everything together. Some days are better than others, and those are the ones where I get stuff accomplished.

Anyway, this is a roundabout way of saying it's very unlikely it'll happen before the end of this year, but I do hope and expect to have both the demo and the first episode done next year. Sooner, if my health improves.

*snip - removing outdated artwork*

Woah you're a professional animator!

Ha! No, not me. I have a team of very good animators. I just tell them what to draw. (And isn't that the most oversimplified description of a project manager... ever.) 

*snip - removing outdated artwork*

This is all really helpful. Thanks everyone!

I think adding diagonal views is a very delicate decision. The straight side views and front/back views are very forgiving when it comes to perspective issues, but I think the diagonal views are more "exposed" in this respect. Also, we're talking doubling the amount of walk sprites.

I'm only going to do diagonals for Jake. The other characters will just get the four standard directions. Thanks for the suggestions!