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Thanks for the heads-up n0p. I'll try and fix asap.

EDIT: I reuploaded the .exe version. Could you refresh, try again? Works fine here, but it's always kind of hard for me to gauge if it will on other platforms.

Hi Everyone,

I've been busy adjusting Ponderabilia to meet all of your comments on the first version and from here, things are looking up. Without further ado, here's a download link:
Ponderabilia 2.0

New edition changes:
*Sound! Gorgeous music by the amazing Handsfree, Sean A. McCabe, and Clément Reviriego, AGS-ers all.
*Fixed the De Sade bug
*Fixed the cocktail mixing weirdness
*Added easter eggs
*Added extra hints to help you advance through the game
*Countless little nits and fixes

This versions works fine on my Windows Vista, but please let me know if it does for you, too.

Looking forward to you guys having a go. If this works out: I'm working on a complete walkthrough with screenshots.

Hey AGLuva, I'm at the verge of finishing a beta version with beautiful music, fixed issues, sound effects, easter eggs and an alternative ending. Stay tuned for another week or two and it'll pop up. Any help in running through and testing is greatly appreciated.

I'm very glad you've been enjoying the game so far, and that you've managed to get a bit further, too. I don't mind being stuck because of the game being hard, but that only works of course in the certainty that it's not bugging out. I remember spending days looking for answers in the SpaceQuest saga. The electricity room being hidden was a main frustration for previous players, and I've updated the new version to be way more obvious. A lot of the things you mentioned have been fixed by now. One thing I'm not fixing, however, is the dialog display. I realize this may be frustrating, but redoing it to the Lucas Art style would complicate matters, and I really like the literary aspect of them as they are now (In many cases, they function as a masking screen to time animations, btw). Ponderabilia 2 may have different text stylings. In case you really get stuck, may I point you to the Ponderabilia tips and tricks in the hints and tips forum? Monsieur OUXX wrote a rather extensive walkthrough. 

I am very sorry you've been encountering so many bugs, and I've been working really hard lately to improve the current version. Today I finished a beta, with audio in most locations. AGSers (namely Handsfree, Eldogond and Shangsean) have been working wonders to create a score, and the sound really improves the game. As soon as that version is complete, I'll release over the same download link.

If you wish to betatest this version, you can do so at this link:
http://users.telenet.be/wimdehert/Ponderabilia/beta/

I did a complete runthrough tonight, and I didn't encounter any bugs, but that may of course be because I made it. As soon as the audio to the last levels is finished, I'm upping the game to the beta test threads, too. If you want to wait until it's completely certified and bug-free, that's fine, too. Sorry this has been rather piecemeal, but I'm creating this game as a hobby, and I have a crucial lack of time lately.

To all people in this thread, and AGS-ers in general:

I have been positively swamped with talent after posting this request. Lots of people have been sending me tracks and amazing audio, and it looks like the game will have a complete soundtrack in no time. At this point in time I have most of the music covered. If I have contacted you personally, the information I gave you on what we needed is still accurate. At this point in time, and if I haven't sent you a personal message, we only need sound effects, but I figure that is something that we can definitely arrange (unless there is someone among you that breathes foley...)

I would like to thank all of you for the wonderful talent, the hard work and the inspirational mails. In ten years time (and to my shame) AGS has grown from a community of dabbling amateurs to a professional network, and it's great to be able to tap into that. Thanks so much everyone for helping me finish a personal project before I die.

Yah... that was kinda awkward. I got lost with her in the Sri Lankan jungle about ten years ago, and we kinda lost touch afterwards. I think her reaction this morning was: "WTF?".

Full speed on the update now, with beautiful sound composed by AGSers. In other news: the original Nikee found out today's she's a video game character. Probably should have told her ten years ago...

[@Uziel]

@Uziel: When going to the elevator, does the white button show up? if so, the electricity is fixed and you need not worry. I will definitely have a look at this in the revised version.
@HansiThank you Hansi. The version linked is always the latest version I created, so you can't be downloading a previous version. In order to check the version, I'm including the update date in the credits (which you can view through the AGS logo in the upper right hand corner. (Ironically, I usually append the date to the filename, but the Ponderabilia.exe filename link is hardcoded in other websites (not by me), so it needs to point to that exact filename. The new html you coded looks great, and I will be using that one later today. Thanks for that! As for Ankou, I agree, and I'm updating the new version to have another trigger, although I'm not entirely sure what yet.
@Adeel:: My guess is it will indeed be the order of the puzzles. I'm going through all the bugs now and will make sure to included this one. If you feel like being part of the test group, let me know. I'll need a lot of beta testers to abuse the next version.

Thanks Bogdan! I've been playing around with it for a bit tho, and it's mostly geared towards platformers, which is completely different from what I'm looking for. It must indeed be a musician I'm looking for...

Thanks Ghost! I'm not above the free library, either, so feel free to PM me. Also, if you liked Ponderabilia, please rate. It hasn't got enough ratings yet to show up.

Do you know of any decent and free libraries online? There seem to be plenty, but a lot them are useless. No idea what the most popular ones among the AGS developers are...

Thanks so much, Monsieur, I had a great time reading it, and it captures a lot of the essence of the game. I'm still going to create an entire walkthrough with the entire story in it, but this is a real help to new players. It's amazing how much sense you managed to make of it.

To be completely honest, I'm looking for a bit more than sound effects. The lead characters in the game need to have a little tune that is specific to them (I'm talking about the characters of Ankou, Syph, the Shaman and the Oracle), and I would really love to have a specific intro tune that is unique to Ponderabilia. I know this is a lot to ask, but I'm really determined to make this into the best possible game.

I recently launched a first version of Ponderabilia in the freeware section, and at this point in time it is completely soundless. The original soundartist I had recruited did not come through, and I still think it would be a major asset to the game to have decent sounds running. I have a list of sounds required, and am currently looking for someone that is willing to create the music and effects in exchange for their name in the credits. All help is very welcome. Thank you. (Should you wish to check Ponderabilia out to have an idea, it's listed in the Games directory and currently has several threads running in the forum)

[Adeel]

Thanks for the rating Adeel! If a couple more people rate it it may actually have a public rating. I'm glad you liked the graphics. Since this is a project that took so long in the making there are a lot of things I'd do differently by now (for example, the intro room was created back in 2004, the final room with the oracle in 2012). Getting puzzles to exactly the right difficulty is tricky, of course; I remember needing ages to solve the "plunger against the wall/climb plunger to avoid acid" in SpaceQuest 2. I'm now reworking some aspects to drop more hints. I wholeheartedly agree on the sound issue: if anyone has some experience in the sound department, feel free to ping me!

As for the story: it took me ages to write out the scenario (which is over 80 pages of in-game copy, by the way. ), but it's original in its entirety. Fun fact: Nikee exists, and lives in Belgium. I'm glad you liked the humor by the way. It's not easy finding a tone that appeals to different people... I'm also the author of this Man Card and Guidelines and a lot of people fail to see it's meant ironically.

Furthermore, I'm very inclined to make the next game even more explicit, but I may need to recruit a female author for character development (no offense, but women are a lot better at that.) Later this year we're expecting twins, so I imagine having a bit less time, but I'm quite motivated to elaborate on this and make a series out of it.

Shadow1000: I can imagine getting into the "flow" can be somewhat tricky. All the characters, locale and puzzles make sense within the scenario, but this won't be very obvious from the start. As for the trial and error, I'd really like to get that out of the way completely (it's pointless and annoying), so if you could tell me what really came down to trial and error for you I'd try and revise. I'm redoing all the exits that aren't painfully obvious atm, too.

Cheers,
Moloko

[Monsieur OUXX]

I'm fixing the De Sade bug as we speak (found out what was causing the trouble: if you went to speak with Syph before inserting the brain a variable took the wrong initial), and the repeat points bug. In fact, i'm having a go at fixing all of them and incorporating everyone's suggestions (except for those that suggested doing an entirely new game). Monsieur OUXX: I do read my messages, and try to respond to each and every one of them. Was there one you didn't get an answer to?

I can see why that is insanely annoying. Will try and fix ASAP.

[Monsieur OUXX]

This is turning out extremely impressive, Monsieur OUXX. The walkthrough you're writing is a pleasure to read, and it goes a lot more in-depth than I had hoped for. Very anxious to see how you will finish it. Once it's finished, perhaps we can make it into a .pdf with little known details, screengrabs and a map?

[@n0p:]

@n0p: Congratulations! 806 Points is pretty impressive, and will most likely be an impossible score after the next revision. Glad you stuck to it to the end, and I hope you enjoyed the story. Please rate is when you have the chance. So far it remains unrated. If you feel like it, do send me a list of things that bothered you or were unclear. I'll try to make the entire experience smoother for future players. I'm taking tips storywise, too. I heard some great ones already.

@selmiak:Don't worry about the brain brothers. They will give you the appropriate tips when you're fully prepared to take on Syph.