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The car is good, but needs to be bigger... A lot bigger.

This would be to satisfy both scale, and the fact you hinted the car was the focus of the scene. At the moment, the garage door is the focus for me.

Yes, the shading/darkness does look a little messy, and very very dark indeed. I suggest, if you have an original of the background before shading, and of the car before shading to just start again and be more conservative with it.

Though the 'colour' you have there for night is perfect. That kind of grey-blue.

Spoiler

What are the candles made of? Fire? Do any of the references mention fire? Are the references listed in a particular order? Match the order with the order of candles that are on and off. I hope this helps without just outright telling you!

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Someone should set up a Hints and Tips thread...

Sorry, someone already has...

I nominate Ben There, Dan That: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?category=&action=detail&id=1056

1. Beat me to it! I second "Ben There, Dan That!".

2. I also want to nominate "Shoot, I Got Abducted!", but if that is too short or something can I nominate all of Ben304's work so far this year...?

You can get a .zip here. Hosted kindly by lemmy and binky...
Zombie-cow hope to sort the problem pronto!

The original download should now be working perfectly.

Just like to say I've played it and it was amazing. One of the funniest, most easy to get along with AGS games so far this year!

I wish I spawned further on in a level when I died...

Not sure if I'll have time now, but I may have a go at the next one. If there is one!

I agree wholeheartedly with loominous, however I think it would be possible to change the 'camera angle' of the top half, without altering the bottom half. I think getting the top changed is important, as this is will - like loominous has said - convey some of the themes about the assassin and the unicorn better...

I thought this would lighten your work load a little, as you have obviously spend countless hours on it already!

I was pleasantly surprised by it really, however I turned off pretty quick as I wasn't sure what I was doing... I love the idea of an open, large game world where you observe things, yet:

This, along with the fact the 'avatar' is not visible leaves the player wondering how he/she is supposed to play the game.

I was left just randomly clicking on loads of things, whilst every single character said they 'felt watched'. I'm not sure if this would be convincing for a long period of game play. A player mainly wants direction and purpose, something which pulls them into the game world and the story.

In response again to the 'avatar' issue, a player needs identity in a game really. The idea of an observing role is an interesting one, and I think you should stick to it. However it is impossible to do this and still allow the player to have an identity/purpose, and this is what you need to achieve...

Hope all that helped. Good luck.

my next question is, as he moves away/towards the base of those mountains... what's the best way to establish distance.  Or should I just populate the background with some trees and ignore it.

One option would be to use scaling of some kind with regard to walkable areas in AGS. With the nature and size of your sprites though, I'm not sure this would look good...

A more robust option would be to treat the whole of the front section (beneath the foot of the hills) as "near", having the character appear the same size for the whole of that section. You would then need to create a very clear divide between this and the hills, perhaps with a forest and maybe a small town.

Your background will then be split into three distinct areas: A foreground, where the character can walk around; a middle ground, where the forest lies, that is inaccessible but acts as a transition between this middle ground and the next area; the background, which is your mountains and clouds.

The middle ground could even be somewhere the character can travel to (as a different room) by clicking on that area in the background...

I think you need some foreground objects to establish the size of the character. Or some objects along the front of the hills, to separate the distant from the near. Otherwise your character is frankly huge.

But yes, it is improving!

I presume you've used a layer for the room behind the window? Just drag the room down a bit and I think it will look better. The floor looks too high considering the outside view...

Flip the picture horizontally, it makes more sense with the face looking that way. Also, Alarconte's suggestion on colours for the picture would be good too.

You could also simplify the face a little, and the background to the picture. Like so:





And some other colours (sorry, the frame got messed up in these!):
 

I think your style is simple, clean and functional. Whilst still being interesting. All the things you ever need really!

I think your other edit looked great... i.e. before dithering.

This one:


It fits with your character better.

Maybe just simplify the shadows a bit to get rid of the rogue ones you were worried about, for example the object left of the door.

Just finished the demo. Loved it.

Just one thing:

Spoiler

On the second round of the music puzzle, you need the notes on the buttons to change when you get them right, like the first round. Makes it a bit easier...

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He should look like the TV series version. The film one was too "stylish" in my opinion, and didn't conform with the idea that Marvin hates everything about himself.

I agree that the film version looked suitably 'fun'. But it didn't look like it was trying so badly to look 'fun' that it was depressing - which is what the TV one does great.

No, seriously the TV series style or similar would be perfect. Plus, I can see you pulling that off well with your art style! He will be a square robot drawn in your 'never-square' style...

/ramble

That's a Beneath a Steel Sky cursor is it not?

I really like the pose of the guy sitting against the wall...

Are your characters scaled in some way, because it seems like it, and it effects the quality quite severely?

That was amazing, a really great little game!

Not too easy, not too hard...

Your art is really impressive, and I hope we see more stuff from you really soon!

I assume we inside a tent in this scene? Because, if so it needs to be a lot darker, with some kind of distinctive light source... Like a hole in the tent ceiling, or a doorway. That slit to the right looks like a good starting point, though it may be too small...

Also, if the tent is a circular one, which it looks like it is, there are some perspective issues... It doesn't look very round, because of the way the walls are drawn and the objects are placed. Also the grass (floor generally) seems to be running towards the camera/viewpoint. I'm not an expert of perspective though, and I'm sure someone else here will be able to give you the full technical lecture...

Besides those things, you have an interesting and flourishing scene to work with, good luck!

That's better. It is now more consistent. The foreground however (pavement/sidewalk and the bin) are different in style to the car and the sky and silhouettes.

The sky just doesn't work. (I apologise now if you intend to change this anyway)

However, if you leave it there for now, create a layer over it and try and replicate the cloud formations in the same style as the rest of the background it will look good - because its just the fact it is a photo that doesn't look right.

The dark henge silhouettes are good though...

InCreator is spot on. There is no point re-drawing the rest of the background, besides the bench...

Also, as well as changing the bench perspective, change its shadow to match the fence, and, regardless of the position of the sun things will look perfectly acceptable. I think consistency with shadows is more important than having them technically perfect...