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[Abduction]

Ok here's my game..

Abduction

It's what I call an "Arcade Adventure"

Screens:




Download:
Download Link! (Rev.3)

I made some last minute changes so this version isn't properly tested. I really hope I haven't broke it.
More info later when i got time.

EDIT: Ok it's 23:41 now (at least in the UK ) I'm updating this because there was a problem with the configuration.
Also this version is slightly enhanced with more sound effects.

EDIT: 1.10 10:56. There were some serious bugs in the earlier releases. They should be fixed now. Also fixed some issues with sounds not playing. If you downloaded an earlier version you might want to get this. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I'm using AGS 3.1, with a resolution of 800 x 600, 32bit color depth

I want a video (ogv) to be played at startup, which works fine in window mode and when switching to Direct Draw in Fullscreen.
But if i change it to D3d9 it won't show up in fullscreen mode.
Of course I could fix this by changing permanently to DD5 but it the game is very sprite heavy and starts to lag.

Yeah, just finished my game from start to end. A few animations are still missing but it's a good feeling.
I think it's way to easy and short but I think at least it's fun.
And it might be one of the first games with native gamepad support (which I strongly recommend using).

I've got only one problem:
I'm using a mod for the music which is free to distribute but it's not creative commons so I don't know if it is ok to include it in the game. I've tracked down the author and wrote a mail asking for permission  but haven't got an answer yet.
So on the one hand I'd really like to use it because it fits the game perfectly on the other hand I don't want to snub the author cause I know what it feels like to see your own work in someone elses distribution.
Still I feel it should be ok if it's properly credited.

Maybe you guys can give me some advice?

I'm also using an audio sample which is property of konami. But it's clearly used as a parody. I think it's fine under US and German law but I don't know about UK law as it seems to be somehow stricter in this aspect.
I'm just asking if there's a policy about this when posting an AGS game.

Really like the style!
Will definitely check it out.

Strange thing the whole concept is VERY similar to my own mags game which should be (keep fingers crossed) released tomorrow.
Must be a funny coincidence because I've never heard of your game before.

The animation itself is correctly done. Does only look a bit weird because there are no legs and arms.
Only a minor thing:
The right leg is swinging to the front too fast compared to the left one. You should add a frame or make the swinging range smaller.

None of the art in this thread is part of a mags game. It doesn't even have the same style.

Just a quick question: How do you handle 2 point perspective? Does it still look good?

Don't know actually, never tried before. As these BGs are for a sidescroller kind of game. But I think this will get hard in 2 point. When I really need perspective I'll make a 3d layer in PS.
If my game should rely heavily on perspective, probably I would make a model and render it and add grass, trees and stuff later (could also do it in Vue but I don't have the horsepower to render this kind of stuff)..
But I won't do it personally because it's an incredible amount of work.



Edit by ProgZ (post combining):  Please don't double post.  Edit your post to add new information unless a few days or more have passed from the initial post.

Your character seems to have stiff legs or something. Normally you bend your legs when you lift them from the ground. The highest point of that bend is reached when the opposite leg is aiming straight down. the rest seems to be fine.

Actuallly, I'm working at a mags game so no time until 1st of Oct.

[Puzzle Design]

How about...

Puzzle Design

It's the heart of every adventure game still there isn't a competition about it.
It could feature a problem and you have to come up with a creative and plausible way to solve it.

Things start to come together for me. Someone mentioned Flashback earlier. Tested it a long time ago and gave it another try. Great concept by the way. I wonder if more adventures were made this way.
I think with a little more polish in terms of handling this could really make a great Action Adventure (with two capital 'A's!!) game.
Actually my upcoming mags game already has a similar gameplay.

Well for the animation I really liked the smooth rotoscopy look of flashback or out of this world. I think I'll try to do this.

EDIT: ...and I did

Thanks Ryan, I thought something looked weird there, but couldn't really put my finger on.

Anyway, I made a sprite test. Wasn't that easy but it could work this way. Sorry for the animation it's still not quite right but I was too tired to fix it.



I'm still not sure it will work with the BGs but so far it's the best I could come up with.

Like it a lot!
My fav is No.4. You can really create a whole story just by looking at the picture. Very inspiring!
The color scheme is also quite cool in the last picture.

The only thing which is flawed IMO is the walk cycle.
First thing is I think it would look much better if you would use a hand drawn sprite instead of a pixel art.
Second is the actual animation. Did you ever notice how your legs became longer while walking them out? I didn't
There are some good walkcycle tutorials in the sticky if you wanna give it another try.

Anyway the rest is just great work!

Weiter so!!

[I KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO MAKE SUCH BACKGROUND]

I can see some nice elements, there. It's a style I always found myself trying to master and never did on the rate I wanted.

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/spacecadet2copy3.png

This is done using a very similar technique but with a twist. You're in a good way. But you must look the picture and judge for yourself. Does this look fake?

And yes it does. The grass is very nicely done in places. And I love the door on the right, but it needs more work. Its a better background than what you did on the first pictures. I'm not too judgmental, I'm just trying to point you in the right direction.

There are some elements that make it so that the background seems fake. It can never be real of course, but it can look as though.

1. Reflections on the water
2. Door on the left needs more shadow
3. Tree on the front near the left door looks wrong. If you can somehow remove it, it would fix lots of staff.
4.Did you use burn on that "chimney" or whatever that thing is (on its top), cause if you did, you shouldn't have. At least not in that amount.
5. Where the hell is the sun? I feel some consistency on the lighting would really make the picture benefit.
6. I can't decide whether the window or that thing over the window is wrong. You should remove it.

On a side note:
I KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO MAKE SUCH BACKGROUND

Actually it's not that hard. It's only a question of know how and resources. The cool thing is that I could just extend my canvas and some masks and the background could go on in any direction without much editing.

Tried to fix some of the things you mentioned.
It might be a tick better but I think this BG is used up now. I don't know if PS has a layer limit but I'm going to hit it soon if I add any more stuff.




@cianty
I'll do some sprite experiments later on

Ok, I've experimenting with realistic trees and grass. This is what I've come up with so far. I used this BG to try out various approaches so it's kind of a mess in this picture. But I like the atmosphere.
Basically for grass and trees I use brushes which I edited in a external document (colors, patterns, blending effects) and then use the clone brush to paint them into the scene. Most of the grass in this scene is done the traditional way though. But you can see the difference e.g. under the tree in the midle or the foreground.



actually I think I might be interested to use BGs of this style in a game. But writing and puzzle design are some of my weaker sides. So if anyone is here who thinks: "This perfectly fits my game or the game I always wanted to do" feel free to contact me.

Graphics and animation about 90%
Most of the custom coding is done but a lot of scripting is still missing.
Sound effects and music are still missing completely
And menu design is also down on the priority list.

I feel I can make it but it's going to be a hell of a ride - actually it has been all along. But the experience I gained is of great value.

I have a project but something completely different. These are just for fun and practice. I've got an idea though.

Ok one last..



When I compare this with the bathroom one I can really see some developement. I started mixing image sources with gradients and the results are quite neat. So I think this is the closest you can get to realistic with this technique.

Grass still gives me problems even though it got better.
The boat still doesn't look good. But at this time I was to lazy to do one myself so...whatever.

Time is 4h+ so this is on the edge for me. But a lot of things in this BG are reusable and I was experimenting along the way.

@ProgZmax
Right. These are no game backgrounds. Not yet so the really interesting stuff is still missing

@Sughly
Interesting. Have never thought of that. Actually If i was going to make a 1st person game I'd definitely render it.
For these BGs I'd rather go for a "sidescrolling adventure" (this is also why there is so little depth).

Thanks Ryan Timothy for the edit and everybody else for the hints.

The edges edit and the extended shading do improve it!
As for the blood of course you're right and the shadow accuracy in this pictures, well there is not really much.

As for the lack of depth. That's a good point. I think that still could be fixed. If this is going to be in a game, I would go for parallax anyway. So additional layer would be added.

Please keep in mind that the first two screens took about an hour and the last one about two.
So I already knew I was taking trade offs in quality. Especially the details.
Actually this was all about speed. Some of the things I learned while I was working with ags, is the less time I spent on graphics and animation the more time I have to actually make the game. Backgrounds would usually take me about a day (5h+), without the objects. This could speed up the process while maintaining an acceptable visual quality.
I came to realize, making games means making compromises. And this is my approach here.

Ah and about the grass brush...hm haven't seen it used that often. Well but I'll try to make some custom ones., which might look nicer.

Good point, though. Already thinking about which kind of characters would fit. I'm not quite sure yet.