Messages

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Also, how many "blue cups" is the maximum in your rating system - 4, 5?

From 0 to 3.
3= a game that you should force-feed your friends.
2= a game every ags'er should know.
1= a game to kill some time.
0= a game I'm not going to write about. (note: this doesn't go two ways. It doesn't mean every game I don't review is bad!)

Hey Jet, how often should we expect a new newsletter??? Just wondering.....

Whenever a few good games are released. So it mostly depends on the ags users.

You could change the volume of the sound when the player spins around, so you can hear where the phone is.

Talking about unclear puzzles: The lock puzzle, wtf.

Random lock combinations with no clues. Do you hate us that much?

Let's kill whitey.

I find the whole story too blurry.
The first line "I felt my eyes opening," I think you mean eye lids, still what does that mean? Does it mean that he was awake, waiting until something made his eye open so he could get out of bed? Clarify.
You don't have to tell the complete history and political situation on the first page, but you might want to tell that the main character is on Mars. It helps people understand the situation better, makes them visualse the scene.
When the scene changes, make it clear. Write that he got knocked out and describe the clown.
Just a thought, but I think the story fits a present tense better.


"two men (or women) in black coats" (try "two humans")

Two words that I'm suprised haven't come up yet (from Monkey Island II):
Monkey. Wrench.

That's the first thing I did when I saw that water pump...

What program did you use to create the bg's? (and where did you find the Bud Tucker sprite)

There's no magic in a Liger

Deb: What are you drawing?
Napoleon Dynamite: A liger.
Deb: What's a liger?
Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.

[WRITING COMPETITION]

WRITING COMPETITION
November 16th till December 15th.

Fine print.
- Participants will write a story not limited by length unless specified by the month's rules.
- It's impossible for a judge to be impartial in this kind of competition where, for instance, great writing can save a meager plot. So the voting will be public.
- The competition should last a month. After that, we will have five days for voting. These deadlines are not absolute, but try to meet them.
- The object of this is to write a story. It can be a short story with 10 lines, it can be a whooper with 20 pages. It can have no characters, or a myriad of them. It can be in first person, or third; present or past or future tense. Your ONLY limitations are the ones the rules state, if any.
- The winner provides the theme and rules for the next comp.
- The comp-starter may participate. It's happened already, and this voting system should eliminate unfairness. Of course, out of fairness, the comp starter should start it without already forming an idea of the story he may write


Blegh, I bored of those stories about vampires and orcs. It's time to think up a new creature!

Your mission, if you have the SAND to except, is to write a tale about a new, original fantasie creature.
It can be set in a fatasie, modern or sci-fi realm.
It can be shoking story about an alien with twelve mouths, or a fairytale about a glowing butterfly.
But it can't be a mixture of existing creatures, like a zombie dragon or a liger (a cross between a lion and a tiger, and there's magic involved).
Remeber, it's not how cool the monster is but how good the story is that wins the prize.

Yay, me! Yay, democracy!

Very good, but does this fit inside a adventure game? It might fit better in an other medium like a novel or comic book.

That's what happens when a document is converted into pdf. And I think the screenshots are 1x (I didn't do any zooming. It could have happened automatic, though).

Thank you, all.
There are always loads of good games released in the summer. I had easy picking, but from now on I'll review only new releases. As winter nears, the juice seems to run dry in developer land. I can't review if there is no material, so it might take a while before the next one is released, but that depends more on the people that work on games of course.

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Maybe sprite jam (or other competitions) could be represented too?
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I tried a page with sprite jam entries as well, but I didn't like it. Most are low res and zooming never make them prittier. But what bugged me the most was that sprites that overlapped with a background looked like they were part of that background while they were two different entries. People might get confuzzled and think ít's from a game, so I deleted the sprites and kept the backgrounds.

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You mentioned dead-ends/walk deads in Duty and Beyond. There are no dead-ends, when you miss an item you can still complete the game, extra items and subquests are for maximum points only. If you missed an item in the mansion and you need it later for a puzzle it will appear in your inventory for that land.

Yes, sorry. What happened was I got stuck in the game, read the walktrough, drew conclusions too quickly and pressed restart. I replayed it quickly to get screen shots, but then I didn't pay attention to the dialog.

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Also will the newsletter be emailed via an email list if we put our names and email list to some sort of 'subscribe' submit like some websites have?
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Nah, posting it here works better.

[AGS Bulletin]

AGS Bulletin first issue released!

Reviews and walkthroughs of Trilby's Notes, Duty And Beyond and The House That Ate My Soul.

Get it while the ink's still wet.


http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/AGS_bulletin_1.zip

Spoiler

put toilet paper in toilet. Then put pill in mug

[close]

[walkthrough!]

The House That Ate My Soul walkthrough!

Keyboard bug

For some reason, the game works only properly with a German keyboard layout. Otherwise inventory items can not be combined.
Go to your configuration screen, click on the globe icon, select the language tab, press the details button, add another keyboard, choose the German (IBM) layout from a list and then set it as your standard keyboard. Once you finished playing the game, you can change it back.

Spoiler

House

Pick up rock.
Enter the house and go left.
Go through left corner door.
Pick up the salt and go left.
Pick up potato in the left barrel.
Go right twice.
Look at the cookery books and note the numbers in the curry recipe.
Go back to the hall and go right.
Open the first door on the north wall.
Look at the pencil cup, then pick up the key inside it.
Go back to the hall and go upstairs.
Unlock the second door from the left with the pencil cup key.
You'll hear the two paintings talking.
Get the whistle from the stool.
Talk to the gardener (rights painting).
Swap him the potato to receive a water can in return.
Fill the water can in the kitchen, then go outside and use it on the hole in the ground to get a worm.
Go upstairs and talk to the fisherman (left painting).
Swap the worm for the fishing rod.
Go through the second door again and switch to the gardener.
As gardener, pick up the fern.
Go back, swap the fishing rod for the fern then switch again.
Use the fishing rod on Malcom to get the parasol out of the way.
Go back, swap the stone for the fishing rod and switch again.
Use the stone on Malcom to wake him up.
Go back.
Exit and enter the third door.
Get the hammer from the cupboard.
Talk to Malcom.
Exit and enter the right door.
Use the hammer on the concrete spot to get the porn magazine.
Get the Aspirin out the cabinet.
Go back to Malcom and swap the magazine for a MP3-player.
Go to the nanny (across the gardener).
Swap her the MP3-player for the record.
Go to hall then right.
Go through the first door on the north wall and use record on record player.
Talk to the princess.
Use the safe, code: 135427.
A dark character appears and locks Ben up.

Cell

Get board.
Get dagger from bones.
Talk to boy in painting and swap board for key.
Switch to boy, use board on gap and pick up pick axe.
Return and swap pick axe.
Use pick axe on north wall.
Enter hole and go up the spiral stairs.
Pick up the hook.
Go back and use hook on the door to get a broken lantern.
Get broken lantern and swap it with the boy.
Switch to the boy.
Use the lantern on the hook on the wall.
Pick up the bible and return.
Swap the bible with water can.
Use the bible on the oil on the ground.
Go upstairs and use the soaked paper on the lever.
Use lever then go right.
Pick up the second board.
Leave the room south.

House

Go to the hall, then go right.
Open the second door on the north wall with the key from the boy.
Enter and get the cheese from the mouse trap.
Go to Malcom.
Use the fishing rod on the hook.
Swap the fishing rod for water sprayer.
Switch,  use fishing rod on nest to get egg and go back.
Swap dagger for fishing rod.
Go back to the cell the way you came out.
Use salt on water spray.
Swap second board with the boy.
Switch and use the board on the second gap.
Get mushroom.
Go back, switch, swap mushroom for water sprayer, and switch again.
Use water sprayer on chest to get Blue gem.
Go back, switch, swap gem for cheese, and switch again.
Use the cheese on the hole in the wall next to the mushrooms to get a rat.
Go back, switch, and swap rat for water can.
Go to the hall, then go left.
Swap the bible for a bag, with the monk.
Go to the kitchen, then go right.
Swap the rat with the witch for a key piece.
Go to the fisherman and ask about the key piece.
He wants a water nymph in exchange for a gem.
Go talk to the witch again.
Put all the ingredients in the bag.
Swap the bag for a blue whistle and the bag.
Swap the blue whistle with the fisherman for a pink gem.
Go to the safe and open it for a yellow gem and a second key piece.
Put the gems in the bag and swap it with the monk for the last key piece.
Combine the key pieces, go to the hall and then right.
Open the third door on the north wall with the combined key.
Enter door.

END.

[close]

I don't mind the ripper sprites and backgrounds from a cartoon making program. There is a lack of freedom with those; animations ánd objects that you need, but aren't present. You're a good developer if you can overcome those problems.

Main character is from Bud Tucker in Double Trouble.

Erm, what is your obsession with Hillary? What has she done that makes her such a great leader?
People call her a carpet begger!
You mock Jack Thompson, but she supports him (or visa versa, whatever).

Don't want to come over cross, but I don't see her as THE politicion to kick start the progression. I don't know somebody who is, but is't not her.

well, there is still one big monkey on our back.

Hillary might be populair in the new england area, but she's disliked unanimously by the south and the mid west. Even the big cities in the south east and south west, she isn't taken seriously.
Her conservative viewpoints to compensate with republicans won't work. It's better to find someone who has the balls to be liberal.