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Final set of screenshots before I release the Prologue, in a week or two, maybe earlier depending on how things progress. I've written the theme music, and will probably cannibalise some more music from one of my earlier games too

In this first part there won't be any major brain-taxing puzzles to solve, it will simply be a case of sketching out the scenario and indicating the main gameplay elements. There will be a couple of surprises though...

the graphics have a very gallic (and psychedellic) flavour

un projet très intéressant

looking good. some very interesting, unusual and quirky graphics here

some scenes pretty much light themselves. celeste's diner was NOT one such scene. still, i'll probably only be using the exterior for the establishing shot, and i haven't got the heart for another marathon render to re-do the opening animation, so it will just have to do

top left is the diner exterior. top right is the new female character, and some of the opening scene dialogue. bottom left shows an early version of the inventory screen. and bottom right shows a walkable version of the diner's interior. there will be exits off to the right into the kitchen, and maybe outside again if i decide to open that up for any reason

currently the main characters are:

> jenni l'amour, 28, astrophysicist
> aphrodite (daffy) merryweather, 21, jenni's best friend
> dr ignatius grimes, wrinkly old dude and evil miscreant
> nameless, dr grimes' biologically engineered "assistant"

Huh. How much money have you spent on the art for this project? How much do you intend to spend? Does that mean it'll be released commercially?

i haven't spent any money specifically for this project

i have spent a SHEDload of money over the years for scenes and props and suchlike, but that's because i do 3d art first and foremost, and as anyone who does that for a hobby will tell you, it's as addictive as any hard drug, and costs as much money too. the games writing is just another creative outlet, and i use the scenes and props that i've already bought

however, the game itself will be released for free. i'm not looking to make any money out of it

...

as to progress, i've now set up the opening prologue: i've created an intro movie (well, i say "movie", but it's a fairly simple 2 second zoom shot establishing location) (it did take 14 hours to render though due to some stoopidly complex lighting and reflections), added a second (non animated at present) female character into the mix, and storyboarded the opening segment. how much of that i'll actually be able to implement, well - we'll see

the overall scenario is slowly starting to form in my head too, although the details are still vague, like a dream (or a nightmare)

i'll post some more screenshots over the next day or two

looks wonderfull! Good luck with this! Just make sure to have a gamma slider in the game. 

it's an interesting idea, but there will be a mixture of different environments and lighting conditions in the game, and i'd really prefer it to be played with the graphics as intended. in the main it's specifically designed to be played at night in a darkened room for maximum atmospheric effect. on a properly adjusted monitor there should be sufficient detail in all the scenes

as a sidenote, i'm currently working on the prologue, which will be set in a diner, whose interior is brightly lit. however, at some point in this scene i'm planning on turning ALL the lights off...

the visuals look impressive!  are they yr own 3d models or did you get them from somewhere?

as i've said i don't take any credit for the models used in the game (although the character face morphs, animations, and lighting effects are all mine). the two environments you're seeing in the images above are the "victorian haunted house" exterior shot (slightly modified for some of the window textures) and "haunted house" interior, both available at the DAZ store

thanks for the replies all. to answer some questions:

1) i run a 3d adult art forum, and the first two games are available for download there for free. members have to be 18 or over to join the forum itself, and because of the nature of the games, also have to specifically request to join a sub-group in order to have access to the downloads (although this is mainly to prevent people from trying to hotlink to the games). i'll provide details by pm to anyone who would like to play them, but i really don't think the games themselves are suitable for posting on this forum particularly as members here could be as young as 13

2) of the screenshots i've posted for this game, only the top left one is a straightforward render. the other three are taken from what will eventually be the game itself, with the jenni character moving across pre-rendered backgrounds with walk regions defined (you'll notice that those three shots all have cursors in). one of the major things i learned from the 2nd game i created was to not use fancy camera angles for such scenes, otherwise the characters can look as if they're sliding drunkenly down the deck of a sinking ship

3) her animation consists of 8 frames in each movement direction (using all 8 directions), and 4 frames for the idle animation (again using all 8 directions). they're a compromise. they do sometimes look a little jerky (and especially when the figure is displayed at 100% size or more), but on the other hand i don't think i'd have the patience to sit and render any longer sequences. dialogue will also be animated for all the in-game characters, although not lip-synced or voiced

jenni herself is based on vicky4.2, with a custom morph which i created specifically for this game. i take no credit for creating any of the other sets or models that will be used in the game. they're all commercially available, mostly from daz or renderosity

4) i have a LOAD of ideas for this game, but as we all know, there's a big difference between having ideas and actually implementing them. what i'll probably do is what i did with the first game i produced, which was to release it in small self-contained chunks - in other words, the first release comprised both ACT01.exe and ACT02.exe. finishing ACTO1 triggered ACT02, but in the first release ACT02 was simply a "placeholder". the second release comprised ACT02.exe and ACT03.exe, ACT02.exe replaced the old "placeholder" version, and ACT03 then became the new placeholder. and so on and so forth. that game eventually comprised 5 acts, which could be played all the way through in sequence or each as stand-alone games

it lead to rather sequential gameplay, but it had the big advantage that i could work on, and release, each chunk separately, without really knowing exactly what was going to happen in the next one

i've already pretty much made the template for this particular game, and i'll be using that to create each individual act in the game

5) as to whether there will be combat or not, on balance i expect not. AGS is a great system, but not really suitable for implementing arcade style action. when i started off i had some vague plans for a kind of resident evil "inventory management" style game, where any combat just involved pointing a gun at some shuffling and groaning zombie type characters (shuffling so that they wouldn't have to move too fast across the screen) - but i rather think i'll end up going for more psychological horror

What were the other 2 games that you made? and can you post a link to them?

regrettably they're unsuitable for this forum, due to high levels of sex and violence

the intention is that this latest offering be kept a little more subdued in that respect, whilst still retaining a distinctly noir-ish edge

House of Whispers, Release History:

24th Feb 2008: Version 1.0 of Prologue released

The latest version of House of Whispers can be downloaded by Right Clicking the link. SaveTargetAs, then unzip to a suitable location on your hard drive. If prompted, reply OverwriteFiles=YES

Current Work in Progress (as at 25th Feb 2008):
> Bug corrections to V1.0, with the possibility of a V1.1 being released
> Some enhancements to the interface to be incorporated into the general Game Template
> Storyboarding Act I




I have already completed two other games using AGS - the first a multi-part first person view adventure, the second a more conventional third person romp. Each time I've learned new techniques, and each time I've been astounded by the depth and quality of the game engine. V3 has taken it to another level, and AGS is certainly the equal of (and in many cases better than) many commercial games-writing packages

Like the previous two games, this new one will be an adult adventure, with the in-game graphics created using Daz Studio. The mood will be dark and gothic, along the lines of Silent Hill and Resident Evil, and may include both sexual and violent elements, so be warned

These are early screenshots. Top left will probably end up as the load screen. The other three shots are in-game scenes from the early part of the game. The main character, Jenni L'Amour, is already fully animated, but the game itself is still in the early phases of development, and in particular I've yet to decide what style of gameplay to aim for - whether it will simply be a "traditional" adventure or whether I'll try and add some form of combat into the mix

More to come as the game progresses