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Let me put it this way: if a close friend of mine approached me, told me they were raped by person X and asked me whether they should post it on the internet to warn other potential victims, I'd tell them "yes, do it". I hope that's clear enough.
Granted, there's a very slim chance that this close friend is actually deceiving me, that there wasn't any rape, and that they're asking me just to play some sick game or whatever.

There's also the possibility that this close friend could be taken to court for defamation of character and convicted based on their lack of evidence of the rape, which in turn does harm to them.

What we need to do is somehow remove the stigma that prevents rape victims from pursuing legal action immediately after the rape, when there is the best chance for conviction of the offender.  Acting too late, while done with the best of intentions, could result in more harm to the accuser.

I guess what I'm saying is similar to what Jared says.  I can appreciate that the intent is to warn others of a possible rape situation, but doing so openly and publicly without evidence puts you at risk of being on the wrong end of legal action.

DBoy, why don't you save up some money to commission people to help you make your game?

Good article.  I find this quote interesting:

"It was kind of weird: We got accolades for increasing the exposure of what was called the 'adventure game,' and then we got blamed on the other hand for the death of the adventure game, because it was too big and too hard to top it." -- Rand Miller

It's true, the game did expand the possibilities for adventure games, but it also served to kill traditional adventures.  3d was becoming more popular, for one, and many of the leading adventure game studios were laying off their art teams in favor of 3d artists.  But Myst generally had a different perspective on adventure gaming.  There were no characters, there was no inventory.  The whole game was about interacting with the environment and exploring it.  As they put it, they were more akin to world-builders than storytellers or game makers.  Myst was so popular that many studios wanted to emulate it without any idea of how to go about doing so.

These Myst games, while being more built on the world than the narrative, are mostly puzzles.  The worlds are fantastic, but removing the puzzles would remove much of the mystery and intrigue from the games.  At times, the puzzles were frustrating (I got stuck on the final puzzle in Riven, and gave up on it for years until I was able to find the answer on the internet), but they were in depth and interesting.  I kind of miss the days of games like these that required pages of hand written notes and diagrams in order to solve everything.

I think the game's legacy is just coming into view now.  There are games like Dear Esther (that many will say aren't really games) that tap into the same ideas of world-building and exploration, while expanding on the narrative and storytelling elements.  There are also a lot of open-world, sandbox games that owe a lot to these games, even if the gameplay is largely achievement-based, or more closely compared to action-adventure games or shooters.  Myst was definitely far ahead of its time, and I think we'll be seeing more of these types of games in the coming years.

Stupot+, I'd give Riven a go.  I loved that game.  The world is so much bigger and more immersive than that of Myst.  I highly recommend it.

Awesome!

Congratulations, Diamond16!  I really enjoyed your track.  It was very ethereal and worked well with each of the pictures that inspired it's creation.  Well done!

I'm looking forward to the new theme.

RaGG, have you been able to listen to Adeel's track yet?

How much did it cost?

It's been said on the previous page, it cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $200.

I'll refrain from commenting on that, as he seems to be happy with his purchase.

you think a woman looks better if she has a tail and cat ears

Aren't they skunk girls?  They look like skunk girls.

I'd really like to know how much.

I'd be interested as well.

Oh, i get it now. You all aren't able to extract the zip ? I recommend you to please update your file archives. If updating it doesn't work for you then please use 7-Zip.

I managed to extract it using 7-Zip (I had to download 7-Zip first).  Not bad at all, and I'm glad I took the time to figure it all out.

Perhaps you could try uploading to Soundcloud or Bandcamp next time so others can stream it?  Just a tip, I find it's much easier than downloading.

Updated the link and tested it.

Doesn't work with the Windows Media Player but it works with Total Video Player.

I wasn't able to extract the MP3 file.  I'd really love to listen to your track.  Please, try to find a format that will work! 

@bbX1138: i don't get your point, this is tic tac toe & it's supposed to be a typical game in these situations to just waste time "Kindly note that this game is a mystery/comic game".

Well, I was just being silly really, but the two people who played that game of tic-tac-toe (aka "noughts and crosses") don't seem to have been trying to win and then gave up after about twenty seconds of play. Either it doesn't make sense or it's a brilliant bit of storytelling through background design that will only make sense in time.

I think the O's noticed they were going to lose, and then quit. 

all the elements of the scenery are animal parts of the body, animal products -- or excretions

Gross, but it works.

Everything I've seen in here so far looks pretty good.  Keep it up, guys!  I'm looking forward to playing at least a few of these when the month is over!

[Story Elements/Idea]

There's some nice work in this thread!

1) Story Elements/Idea - TGames
2) Atmosphere - jwalt
3) Technique and composition - Anian
4) Functionality - Anian

Good work, guys. 

This is a pretty nice idea. 

I landed on The Lost Prince Of Lorden - Part 1.

I've downloaded, but have yet to actually play.  It looks good from the screenshots, and previous comments seem generally favorable.

I look forward to playing and rating this game, and will post again once I have done so.

I decided to use this image of lava to inspire a tune.

Lava Tune

Hope you guys like it!  I had finished the track and it was over 4 minutes long, so I created an edit to fit within the contest guidelines.  It's probably better now, the previous version started out quite slowly.  This was a lot of fun, and I'm happy to have participated!

I really liked the guitar work in Sunny Penguin's tune, and the somewhat oriental nature of Diamond16's tune.  Unfortunately, I was unable to listen to Adeel's tune.

Very well done, all around! 

About the head size, I think the head on the right is more proportioned at a first glance, but I haven't measured it out.  It just feels a bit better to me.

As for the other animation, not bad at all!  I really like the look of this game, its beautiful!

Keep up the good work!

I played every single GTA game but to be honest I much preferred Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption. I will be getting GTA V though (on PS3), and give it a try. Maybe this will be GTA game that I'll actually manage to finish.

I've only completed Vice City, actually.  And yes, I used cheat codes. 

I think I may also prefer Red Dead Redemption, despite being a fan of the GTA series since the beginning.  I remember when I first played GTA3, it blew me away.  I never imagined the game being as much fun.  I've gotten every main series GTA game to date, and this will be no exception, although I doubt I'll get it when it comes out due to money issues.  I will be getting it for my XBOX, though, and I don't have a subscription to play online.  I wish I did, because I've wanted to play multiplayer like that for a long time now.

A couple of these images seem off.  The issue is that the camera is too high, and the character looks unnatural in the room:





Basically, these rooms will look better if the camera is lowered.

The character also looks a bit blurry in these images.  I'm not sure what you could do about this, but you might want to look into it.

Other than that, things are looking pretty good so far.  Keep working on it!

Those look fantastic, Icey!  Good work on the coloring!

Also, congratulations on the email from Nintendo.  Good luck with the games!

My only major complaint about this is that the rocks to the right of the house look glossy.

Aside from that, it looks good.  Keep working on it and improving it.

Icey, the art looks great.  Good job on the characters.