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Here's my latest bug report:

The Prokatameric Vortex starts out transparent, but, after it knocks down the Gonthanten, it becomes opaque.  Was that intended?

No, that was an oversight.  I'll fix that.

In the dialog with weaponsmaster, a sentence ends with a comma ("worbench,") instead of a period.

You have sharp eyes.  Either that, or you're playing the game in full-screen mode.  My monitor doesn't support full-screen mode, so I miss typos like these.

In the first part of the game every precinct has a distinguishing background, but in the second half all the backgrounds are  the same.  This makes it difficult to remember where you are at any given time.

Each precinct has its own building material.  For example, the building material for Troforia is wood; for Carfurgia it is stone.  I haven't decided what the building materials should be for the second half of the game; that's why all the backgrounds in the second half look the same.  When Fribbi and I decide what building materials to use for the second part, then Fribbi will draw unique backgrounds for each of the precincts in the second part.

If you could send me in the e-mail all of the background images (Bakgrunnamyndir) from the game I would be happy to work more on them. I will then work on the objects (hlutunum) and the animations. (hreyfimyndunum).

That's the reason that I only sent you the backgrounds from the first half; the backgrounds from the second half all look the same.  If you play that special version of the game that I made for you and start the game in the second half, you will see what I mean.

The Katameric Vortex is not transparent, ever.  All the other vortices are transparent all or most of the time.  Was that intended?

No, it was just laziness.  I'll make that one transparent, too.

According to the game, the Latorian carries the cart.  However, the graphic of the Latorian doesn't show him using the cart; it shows him carrying the elephant-sized Regulung in his arms.

I'll fix that.

The weapon cursor for the Donatist does not appear.  The walk cursor appears instead, and it functions like a walk cursor, not a weapon cursor, so it's not simply a graphics problem.

I'll take a look.

The third time that I enter Koinotia, the god of that precinct tells me (as I'm ready to leave) "The next time you enter my precinct, you must provide a soldier to make offerings to the red tribe," even though I have already done so.

Since the Donatist is the soldier who makes the offering to the other tribe, this is probably related to the problem above.

When the player enters the armory, shouldn't he leave his horse, er, I mean the Zunkanten, outside?

I was planning to do this.  Fribbi, when you get to this background, perhaps you could put a corall outside the armory to put the Zunkanten in when the player is riding the Zunkanten and enters the armory.

In Melloria I keep getting attacked, no matter what I do.  I have the the Flux Zapper, the Flugorg, and the Lanvorst.  What else do I need?

Have you tried starting your own business?  Go to the armory and see what weapon you can create for starting your own business.

I think I've figured out the symbolism of the Telnorg and Telmorg weapons.  First, note that the Telnorg requires you to make two offerings, both your offering and that of the other tribe.  Second, note that the Telnorg works all the time, but is only half as effective as the Telmorg, which only works half the time but is twice as effective when it does work.  So I think that the Telnorg represents cooperating or sharing, since when you coorperate or share you always get something, but not as much as you want.  The Telmorg represents fighting, because when you fight you sometimes win and sometimes loose, but when you win you get more than when you share.  Am I right?

You are on the right track.  Your analysis is basically correct, although the exact symbolism is not what you have said.  But it is very close.

Can I get a copy of that special version you made for Fribbi so that I don't have to replay the game from the beginning every time you release a new beta version?

No, I want you to test each beta version from the beginning.  After the first half of the game has been thoroughly tested, I'll consider it.  You might not catch all the bugs playing the special version I made for Fribbi.

Yup, that did it.  Thanks!

I have uploaded new versions of both the 8-bit color and 16-bit color versions of the game that fix most of the reported bugs.  In particular, the fatal error in egamer's last bug report has been fixed.

I am still working on the F9 problem.  I have put in a fix, but now pressing F9 restarts the game in the room with the man behind the desk.  I had wanted it to restart the game in the bedroom.  I have posted a question about this in the Technical Forums to see if there is a way to get it to work the way I want it.  In the meantime, the F9 key does work, just not the way I intended it to.  I have only put this fix in the 16-bit color version; in the 8-bit color version, you must still use the workaround (click on '?' then click on Help) if you use the F9 key.

Fribbi, I have created a special version just for you where you can start the game at any point, not just at the beginning.  This will enable you to look at parts later in the game without having to play the game through.  I have sent you an e-mail telling you where to get this version.  In your version, if you use this feature, pressing F9 will restart the game at the title screen, not in the room with the man behind the desk.  If you do not use this feature, pressing F9 will work as in the normal 16-bit color version.

PS. Why does this always happen when I write "u"?  But "you" appear always instead

This forum automatically converts certain abreviations to their full spellings to discourage their use.

I am trying to use SetRestartPoint() to set the point that the game will go to when F9 is pressed.  If I put the function in my room script the game hangs up when the player presses F9.  In a previous thread, a user suggested executing the function at the first idle moment after the room is entered.  I have tried this, but there is one problem:  The room where I want to execute this function has no idle time--it is a cut scene that automatically loads the next room.  So pressing F9 restarts the game in the next room, not the cut scene where I want it to start.  Is there a way around this?

I am using version 2.72.  Does this function work better in the latest version?  I don't want to convert my game right now, although I may later.  Is there a way to get this to work in the version that I am using?

Yes, that's a good start.

I've just sent you an e-mail explaining some of the secret symbolisms of the game so that you can draw the remaining backgrounds correctly.  You need this information to do the remaining graphics for the game.  Remember, everything in that e-mail is secret, so don't repeat it on this forum or discuss it with anyone who has not yet completed the game.

From the e-mail you may notice that the names Narulung and Shultung are very similar to the Icelandic words for what their respective precincts symbolize.

As explained in the e-mail, all buildings in Troforia must be made of wood, and all buildings in Carfurgia must be made of stone.  I would also put just a bit more space between the barracks.  Otherwise, it's looking good.

Here is my latest bug report:

When trees are cut down in Melloria to construct new barracks, the trees and the barracks shift in place.

I'll fix this when the graphics are finalized.  This particular animation is very tedious to get right, and any fix I did now would have to be redone later if and when the background and sprites change.

In the first half of the game, whenever new barracks are built, a road is built to the barracks if the barracks are not already on a road.  But in the second half, when the Vortex Builder barracks are built, there is no road there already, yet no road is built out to them.  I don't know whether this is a bug or not, but it is an inconsistency.

That's a bug.  I'll fix it.

The Vortex Builder constructs a new vortex in Melloria, but when I click the eye icon on it to find out the name of the vortex, no message comes up.

I'll add a message.

The second time that the Samgiang takes me to Koinotia, after I have obtained the gift basket, upon entering Koinotia I get the following error message:

An error has occured.  Please contact the game author for support, as this is likely to be a scripting error and not a bug in AGS.
(ACI version 2.72.920)

in Lumberjack (line 6)
from Room 16 script (line 63)

Error:  SetObjectFrame:  invalid object number specified

Could you please e-mail me a saved game file from the point right before this happens and tell me exactly what you did after saving the game to make this happen.  Thank you.

Here is my latest bug report:

When I click the eye icon on the Hagorian, I get the message "THe Hagorian carries no weapon," even when he is carrying the cart.  Although I'm not that the cart can be considered a weapon, I think that the message should indicate that he is carrying the cart.

Good idea.  I'll add a message for that.

When I am shooting at the Narulung, in some situations where the crosshairs icon with the arrow pointing left should appear, I get the Telnorg icon instead.

I'll have to fix that.

Here are some questions and observations:

The Telnorg weapon always seems to work, provided that we use it in conjunction with the gold mirror and the Atlenort weapon.

Correct.

The Telmorg, on the other hand, sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

It works fifty percent of the time.

So the Telnorg appears to be the superior weapon.  Is this observation correct?

Superior?  Well, you can't use the Telnorg all the time, as you've noted below.  If you do, you die.  To complete the game, you must use the Telmorg at least once.  It's also possible to complete the game using mostly the Telmorg.  Note that each successful use of the Telmorg increases your approval rating twice as much as each use of the Telnorg.  As for which weapon is superior, that is a value judgement.  When the symbolism of the weapons is understood, some will argue vehamently for the Telnorg being superior, others for the Telmorg.  Are you a Democrat or a Republican?  Labor or Torry?  Christian Democrat or Social Democrat?  This game is not about politics, but your political party may certainly influence your opinion of which weapon is superior.

So far, I have used the Telnorg in preference to the Telmorg nearly all the time.  The only reason I can't use it all the time is that a waste heap accumulates whenever I use the Telnorg, and if the waste heap gets too big I can die from it.

Ah, yes, there's the rub.  You can also die if you try to use the Telmorg exclusively.  It's gun discharge can be toxic.

The vortices all seem to move in sync with each other and with whatever beast is chasing me beast.  I'm sure there's some significance to this, but I don't know what to make of it.

Yes, that is significant.

I notice that whenever I use the Telmorg weapon I loose the cart, but I gain it back whenever I use the Telnorg/Atlenort/Gold Mirror combination.  Also, when I use the T/A/GM combination, we make the sacrifices of both tribes, not just of our own tribe.  But it's not clear exactly how we get the cart back.  Does the other tribe give us the cart back?

Yes.

Does that have something to do with the dual offering's flattering the other tribe?

I'm not sure that flattering is the exact word that I would use, but that is the general idea.

I've made it to the second half of the game, and the second half looks to be a lot more interesting than the first.  Whereas in the first half you use the flux to knock over animals, in the second half you can actually shape the flux.

Is it possible to die in the second half of the game?  I haven't encountered any death scenes in that half so far.

No, once you obtain both the stone and wooded towers, you can see the deadly beasts approach from a distance, so there are no deaths in the second half.

The Ergaltist carries the workbench.  There is also a workbench in the armory.  I assume that these represent different things.  If that is the case, shouldn't they have different names?

Probably.  See my previous response about the "Pistol."

The Latorian carries the cart and so has the Cart cursor.  The Hagorian sometimes carries the cart.  Shouldn't he have the cart cursor in those instances when he is carring the cart?  Do those two carts represent the same thing?  They do look identical, so I assume they are the same.

Yes, they are the same.  However, the Latorian permanently carries the Cart, so he is represented by the Cart cursor.  SInce the Hagorian only carries the cart when we are on good terms with the other tribe, I decided not to use the cart cursor to represent him.

A couple of bugs to report in the second half:

In the armory there are paintings on the wall that represent your memories.  But two of them were out of order.  The painting of the Regulung is shown before the painting of the attack in Melloria, even though the attack in Melloria came first.

I'll have to fix that.

At a later point in the game there is a blank space on the wall of the armory.  Should there be a painting there?

Yes.  I'll fix that, too.

Those latest images are excellent!  They're the best I've seen you do so far.

I'll upload a new beta version as soon as I can, but it won't be for a few days at the earliest.  I want to fix as many bugs as possible, including the fatal bug that egamer reported.

EDIT:  I've uploaded new versions of both the 8-bit color version and the 16-bit color version.  I've fixed most of the major bugs reported, including the fatal one.  In addition, the 16-bit color version includes Fribbi's latest graphics.  I modified one of the backgrounds slightly to add an extra path leading north and to make the signpost more legible.

I am still unable to fix the problem with restarting the game using the F9 key.  Until I do so, you can still use the following workaround:  After pressing F9, move the mouse to the top of the screen and press the '?' button.  The mouse cursor will be invisible, but as the button is near the top of the screen, you can still figure out where to position the mouse.  Then press the Help button.  The mouse cursor will still be invisible, but the button is near the bottom of the screen, so you can again figure out where to position the mouse.  I fill fix this problem as soon as I can.

Here is my latest bug report:

When the lumberjack is cutting down trees and constructing barracks, the wood also changes color slightly, as well as the lumberjack.

This is the same issue as before, and will be fixed when the graphics are updated.

When the Narulung appears in the screen with the fork in the road, it sometimes walks above the horizon.

Noted.  I will work on this one.

If you walk one screen north of the fork in the road, it takes a few seconds for the Narulung to appear.  If you start to fire your weapon before the Narunlun appears, the game hangs up.

Another problem for me to work on.  In the meantime, please wait for the beast to appear before firing your weapon.

When I click on the enemy Trogorian, I get the message "This is the Enemy Trogorian.  He has taken the sacrifice . . . " even when he has not done so.

This one should be easy to fix.

I assume that the Telmorg weapon cursor should appear over the Diachorian's barracks, since the Diachorian is the soldier that uses the Telmorg.  However, the cursor instead appears over the fork in the road.  I think that you need to move the hot spot.

I'll have to tweak that a bit.

When the Narulung has been taken to the temple, the look message still says "The Narulung has been taken down by the Troforian vortex."  I think it should say, "The Narulung has been taken to the temple."

Another easy one to fix.

Message "The Trogorian has removed the heart from the Narulung and presented it as an offering to the god of Troforia," even when the enemy steals our sacrifice before it can be presented to the god.

Likewise.  (See why I need beta testers!)

When the gold mirror is the selected inventory item, a pair of blue elipses appear in the icon bar instead of a gold mirror.

I've noticed that too, and I don't know what's causing it.  I'll look into it some more.

In the screen with the big building ("hut"), the protagonist scales with distance, but the Gonthanten does not, so when they are close, the Gonthanten appears about half the height of the protagonist, but when they are near the horizon, the Gonthanten appears taller than the protagonist.

This is another one of those graphics issues that will be fixed when all the graphics have been redone.

The message says, "The Gonthanten would like you to follow him . . . ," but, in fact, he follows you.

In the 3-D game Flux Warrior, the Gonthanten (as well as the Narulung) chases you to your destination.  He always gets on the opposite side of you that he wants you to go, and by simply running away from him you are taken to your destination.  It took me months to write the code to do that, as it requites taking several turns to go from one precinct to another, and, at every turn, the beast has to move to a new position in order to chase you in the right direction.  Furthermore, if at any time you go off course, the beast must reposition himself again to try to get you on course.  I didn't want to spend months rewriting this code for AGS, so I simply used the build-in FollowCharacter() method to have the beast follow you instead.  So, when you get the message that a beast wants you to follow him to a particular precinct, simply go there yourself and he will follow you.  And pretend he is chasing you and you are running away.

After "following" the Gonthanten to Skefalia, firing my weapon, and seeing the Reflective Vortex, when I try to go south I get the message "Please collect a piece of the vortex before leaving Skefalia."  What vortex am I supposed to collect a piece of, and how do I do it?  Clicking on either of the two visible vortices has no effect.

That message is not supposed to come up until later in the game.  There is another vortex that you haven't encountered yet that you will need to collect a piece of.  This is a fatal bug, preventing the player from getting any further in the game.  So please suspend beta-testing until I can get this fixed and upload a new version.

You have written of the "Parallel Flux Universe."  So is there a one-to-one correspondence between entities in our universe and the parallel flux universe?  In other words, is everything in the PFU symbolic of something in our universe, and is everything in our universe symbolized by something in the PFU?  So does the man behind the table at the beginning of the game in the PFU correspond to a shopkeeper in a hardware store in our universe?

Yes, there is a one-to-one correspondence between everything in our universe and in the Parallel Flux Universe.  I won't answer the rest of this question because, as I've said before, you are not supposed to encounter the scene in the hardware store until the very end of the game.

Fribbi. before you redo any more backgrounds, could you please play the game first.  If you don't understand what the game is about, you won't be able to do the backgrounds properly.  If you don't have time to play the game, I can explain the symbolisms in a private e-mail so that you will know how to do the backgrounds appropriately.

Okay, I've started testing the game, and here is my first bug report:

The NPC's are very small and difficult to click on.

I agree.  My artist is redoing the graphics, so eventually this should be fixed.

After certain game events, messages come up that appear to be responses to player actions, even though no player action occured.  For example, the message "You wish you could spread your wings . . . " comes up when you click on the sky, but it may also come up after one of the NPC's transports an animal to the temple, which seems inappropriate.

I'm still working on this one.

Sometimes the wrong cursor is displayed over a particular barracks, and I have to move the mouse a bit to get the correct cursor to display.

I suppose I should fix that one, too.

Sometimes a message is displayed for only a fraction of a second and then disappears, before I've had the chance to read it.

I'll work on that one some more.  In the meantime, simply repeat the same action and you will get the same message again.  You won't loose anything.

When the Hagorian pushes the cart to the left, the Narulung disappears.

I hadn't notices that before.  That should be easy to fix.

The lumberjack changes color slightly when he is cutting down trees to build new barracks.

That's because, after I put in the lumberjack sequence, I made changes to the pallate and then modified some of the frames in the sequence.  That will be taken care of when the graphics are redone.

A few other comments or questions:

Everytime the Narulung is killed, a new one arises.  Is the Narulung like the Phoenix, with only one existing at a time?

Something like that, except that there is not always a Narulung.  There will always be one beast, however, and when that beast is killed and offered to one of the gods, another beast will arise.  If there is no beast that wants to kill you, then the Gonthanten (the "practice beast") will come along and help you practice your skills or show you something new.  That's in the first half of the game.  In the second half, things change slightly.

The Apoforian inspects the Narulung to see whether it is suitable for offering.  The Apoforian also carries a pistol.  Is the pistol somehow used to check the suitibility of the offering?  This doesn't make a lot of sense.

I got tired of thinking up new names for weapons, so I simply called the Apoforian's weapon the "pistol."  I really should have come up with a better name.  It is, in fact, used to inspect the offering to determine its suitability.

There are two versions, an 8-bit color version and a 16-bit color version, but most of the graphics are the same.  Except for a few rooms, there is little difference between the graphics of the two versions.  What is the point of this?

I produced two versions because I wasn't sure which my artist would prefer.  Since Fribbi has been producing graphics for the 16-bit color version, that is the one that I'll most likely use.

The two versions do use different programming techinques for certain effects.  For example, pallate cycling is used in the 8-bit color version to produce the flowing river and ligntning flashes.  In the 16-bit color version, I had to use different techniques to produce these same effects.

In the 8-bit color version, the river flows much too quickly.  In the 16-bit color version, it flows at a more appropriate speed.

Yes, but as I'll probably be going with the 16-bit color version, I probably won't do anything about that.

A strange bug occurs in the 8-bit color version.  If I press F9 and then walk south, I am in a hardware store.  If I talk to the man behind the counter, I get the exact same dialog as I do at the beginning of the game with the man behind the desk.  I assume that this is a bug, and that this scene is supposed to occur later in the game, perhaps with a different dialog.

This is a bug.  The scene in the hardware store is actually the final scene of the game.

Is the man behind the desk at the beginning of the game supposed to be symbolic of a hardware clerk?  Is the room that he is in supposed to be symbolic of a hardware store?  In the game, do you destroy the flux, and, when you do, do you see things for what they really are, in this instance, a hardware clerk in a hardware store?

You do not destroy the Flux in the game.  In fact, when you learn what the Flux represents, you will see why it would be neither possible nor desirable to destroy the Flux.  I will not answer the remainder of this question, as you were not supposed to get to this scene until the end of the game, and you only got there by accident by exploiting a bug.

Thank you for reporting thses bugs.  When I get a few more bug reports I will release an updated beta version.

I hope you like it but I have fixed the hut image once more now.

That's much better.

I feel it's my duty to inform you that Flux World is looking a lot better than Flux Warrior, . . .

Flux Warrior will eventually look as good as or better than Flux World, but that will take a lot more work.

. . . and much more fun to play.

So how far have you gotten into the game?

. . . remains unique and makes me wanna play as well.

Glad to hear that!

And what is that dark area right above them?

I'm referring to the dark rectangle above the planks.  It's hard to tell whether it's dark green or dark brown.  Is that supposed to be a shadow?  It looks as if there's moss growing on the side of the building.

Is it too late to register as a beta tester for this game?  If not, how do I go about registering?

No, it's not too late.  No special registration is required.  Just start testing and post your bug reports on this thread.

The final Hut image with much better gras and path texture

The textures on the grass and dirt path are much better.  But what are those things behind the house that look like wooden planks?  And what is that dark area right above them?

I've taken a look at your game, and I have a couple of questions for you.

In the intro to the game, the man behind the table speaks of the "ever present flux," and says that "the flux contains many vortices."  This suggests to me that the flux is supposed to be everywhere, and that the vortices are merely part of the flux.  Yet in this thread you state that "the flux manifests itself in the form of vortices," which suggests that the vortices themselves are the flux.  So are the vortices merely part of the flux, [or] is the flux nothing more than the vortices?

The Flux is everywhere, but it would be difficult to draw the Flux everywhere, since it would cover up everything else.  The vortices are part of the Flux--they are the places where the Flux is strongest, and its effects most noticeable.

Think of gravity.  Gravity is everywhere in the universe, but it is strongest near the surface of planets and stars.  The areas where gravity is the strongest we call gravity wells.  The area where the Flux is the strongest we call vortices.

You state that everything in the game is symbolic of something else.  Since one of the meanings of "flux" is "change," is the flux symbolic of change?

No, but that is a good guess.  The Flux is symbolic of something more concrete than that.  In fact, every vortex is symbolic of something very specific.

I came up with the name Flux after magnetic flux.  The Flux permiates the Parallel Flux Universe like an electromagnetic field or a gravitational field, changing the way objects behave.  But remember, you don't have to know (or care) anything about physics to play this game.

Excellent questions, by the way.

The first one's better, but I don't want that path going south (unless you can make it very indistinct).

The first image is good, but could you add some texture to the road to make it look more like a dirt path?  Also, since the player will not be able to travel south from that screen in the first half of the game, it would be better not to include the path leading south, or, at least, to make it very vague.

The second image adds a new room to the game, which makes for a lot more walking.  In the game, it is necessary to walk from one precinct to another many times.  By the time you get to the end of the game, you'll wish you didn't have to do so much walking.  So I don't think that adding an extra screen to walk through is a good idea.  In fact, if I could reduce the amount of walking in the game without breaking the overall concept, I would do it.

I hope your new year went well.  The Fluxmistress and Fluxmaiden are both doing well.

Thanks, Fribbi.

EDIT:  Since paved roads have a special significance in this game, could you please add dirt paths instead of roads.  Thanks.

Thanks, Fribbi.

In the first image, there is a road leading southbound.  Where is that supposed to lead?  Troforia is to the north, and there is no path leading there.  In the second half of the game you will be able to travel south from that screen, but not until then.

Also, roads, like everything else in this game, have a specific symbolism, so I don't want then constructed everywhere.

You made the second image two screens long, but there is nothing to do in the right half of the image.  But adding the doorway was a good idea--I'll definitely use that.

Thanks for providing the images.

One of the purposes of beta testing, for this game, anyway, is not simply to find bugs but to test the game for playability.  If the game is too difficult, then, rather than write a walkthrough, I would prefer to make the game more intuitive so that a walkthrough is not needed.

you should make people understand they can not enter in the house again once they get out in first time.

Actually, this is not true.  You can go back into the house at any time by clicking on the question mark icon, then clicking on the help button.  In fact, if you click on the door to the house, a message will come up telling you to do just that.

My intention is for the game to have a very good help system, at least in the first part of the game.  Whenever you're at a loss as to what to do, you can always click on the question mark icon and then the help button, and it will bring you back to the room with the man behind the desk.  You can then ask him questions.  The questions will change depending upon what part of the game you're in at the time.  In the second half of the game, clicking on the help button will bring up a message telling you which NPC you should talk to for more information.  I think that this is a lot better than providing a walkthrough at this point, although eventually one may be provided.

If you have time for some more testing, try using the help system whenever you're at a loss as to what to do.  If you don't find the help system very helpful, tell me what questions you'd like to ask, and I'll add them to the help system in the next beta.  (And I'll give you the answer in the meantime.)

I'll also try to improve the positioning of the main character when entering a room in the next beta.

Sorry for the delay, but the Fluxmistress recently had a baby, so I've been a bit busy.

I've just posted a new beta version on my website.  This version fixes all the bugs that have been reported so far and upgrades one of the backgrounds.  Only the 16-bit color version has been upgraded.