Topics

So for my new game, I am working on the town's police station outside..  I have never done an outdoor scene before, and the shadows and a few other things are kicking my butt, so I figured I would post the current incarnation to get some tips..

The grass and sidewalks are still undone, so that is why there are just solid colors.  Several things also don't have any shading or shadows yet, I am still just beginning on this piece.  Keep that in mind

Things I am having issues with:

The railing shadow.  The shadows from the tree on the ground.  The side of the building on the left and its shadow being cast.  The shadow sequence in the alcove under the front door.  I am afraid with those long shadows it almost looks like it is sunset, but it is not supposed to be.  Its supposed to be midday.



Any advice is appreciated. 

Thanks,

Bill

So as some of you might remember from the thread taking place over the past few days, I am changing the graphics in my new game from modified photorealistic to straight pixel based. 

I just finished my first screen solo (Markbilly got me started on the one in the last thread, which helped a lot), and wanted to get some C&C on it.

I believe the perspective for the room is right on (it's not a player-walkable room, just a scene with a dude at a desk), but I know there are a few errors..

I am learning a lot, but I still don't quite feel like I have the shadows thing down.  I tried as best as I could for the lighting and shadows (especially on the carpet), but I am sure there is room for improvement.

Also, the scene of the parking-lot seen through the windows..  I know the perspective is screwed up there, but tried about 4 times to fix it and couldn't get it right.  This is about as close as I was able to get.

Any help, tips, comments, anything at all will be greatly appreciated. 

And after the last thread, this forum is simply amazing for improving art skills.



**EDIT** Oh, and its a Police Chief's office, thus the badge pictures. 

**EDIT** Also, the chair does not have to be finished, since something will be placed over that immediate area (an object in-game), and the player will never see the chair.


Thanks!

Bill

So in working on the female spriteset from the past few days, I have learned quite a few things about drawing characters..

This made me go back and revisit the main character artwork, to try and make him a little nicer for my upcoming Episode 3.

I have an OLD and NEW in the image below, and would like some critique, and maybe some ideas on how I can make it fit better into the backgrounds of my game.  One of the comments I get consistently from people are the way the art feel of the background (rendered photo-realistic) doesn't mesh well with the pixel-art sprites for the characters.  For game 3 I am trying to fix this, but I REALLY like the way the backgrounds look, so I don't want to change it up.  I was thinking about running the pixel art through the same conversion/filter that I run the background images through, to see if it works well, and I have attached the screenshow below.

I am really getting into this art stuff, so any help on making myself better will be appreciated!



This shows my old character sprite from Episode 2, marked OLD, alongside my new redesign, marked NEW.

The new one has re-done hands which look less blobby, broader shoulders, closer arms to the torso, closer legs, and a turned-out foot to make it look more casual.  I also adjusted the look of the collar on the jacket and redid a bit of the shading on it.




This image shows my 2 images on a background from my new game.  I sort of like the way the pixel art looks on the photo-realistic backgrounds, but I get negative feedback about it saying things like it takes away from emersion and it doesn't fit.  I want to have as good of a game as possible..




This is the same set as above, but run through the conversion filter I use for my backgrounds.




This is that set on the same background.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill

[The Murran Chronicles: Episode 3 - Lifedrinker of Landsdowne]

The Murran Chronicles: Episode 3 - Lifedrinker of Landsdowne

Website: http://www.billandnicole.net/games

Teaser video: http://www.billandnicole.net/games/ep3/murran3.wmv


NOTE (3-3-11) :  See my last post : http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=37524.msg571278  for info on the new screenies.


Plot/Storyline
-------------------
Shortly after your adventure with the mystery in Montana, you are given a case involving mysterious deaths in Landsdowne, Massachusetts. The bodies of two men in their early twenties have been found recently, and according to local authorities both dead men looked to be in their seventies when their bodies were found. There is no explanation as both men were thought to be healthy, and in the prime of their lives. Add to this the odd reports of a pack of animals roaming the town at night, and you have your work cut out for you. Is there some sort of vampire creature on the loose as some of the town rumors suggest? What is behind the rumors of odd goat-like creatures that have been seen after nightfall? Are the two related? You are thrown into the midst of an age long battle between good and evil as you investigate the case of the Life Drinker of Landsdowne.
 
About The Game
------------------------
Life Drinker of Landsdowne is in 640x480 resolution, running in Hi-Color mode.   This game will be almost twice as long as the second game, and will have much more content, many more characters: some with dynamic locations, and 3 different endings depending on the paths and choices you make as the player.  

This third game in the series will be the first to not feature the police cruiser as your primary mode of transportation.  Dust off those walking shoes, there is much to see in the town of Landsdowne.

This game will also feature something new to the Murran Chronicles: day and night cycles.  Explore the town during the day, and return to places as night for a whole new look at them.  


Progress
----------------
Story 100%
Dialogue 100%
Graphics 90%
Character Art / Animations : 85%
Puzzles 100%
Scripting 100%
Music/sound 100%


Old Screenshots (CLICK A THUMBNAIL FOR THE FULL IMAGE):

   
 


Thanks,

Bill

Murran Chronicles Episode 3 (shameless plug) is coming along wonderfully, and I figured I would ask here if anyone wanted me to include their stuff in my game.  Here is the info:

The game takes place over several days, and in the evenings (there are separate day and night cycles in the game) you and your partner can visit the local pub which has open mic nights for all artists.  I am having poetry readings, musicians, bands, etc. 

Not to spoil anything, but the pub is kind of the central hub for a lot of the nefarious activity going on in the game.  As such, the player will be spending some time there on several nights.  Due to this, I figured I would ask if anyone wanted me to include any of their poetry or songs (can have singing or not) in the game.  If you want, I can also do an actual character of you performing the poetry or song (or you can send me one in hi-res if you have one, this way you're doing the performance yourself ). 

I was going to stick some random poetry in there that my wife had done over the years, or some of my buddy's band's music or some other free content AGS users have put online over the years for open use, but I figured this might be nice for someone wanting to get their content in a game.

If you want to have it in there, please let me know.

Thanks,

-Bill

Many thanks for the help in this forum with the front view of my new lady-character, but now I am unhappy with the side view I got.

Here is the front view :


Here is the side view I have to go with it:


I am not happy with the way the hair looks up near the forehead..  Its almost too large of a brow.. The right leg looks slightly wrong somehow (it is supposed to be turned slightly away from the 'camera'), and the breasts look too..  I don't know.. Large?  Or maybe not proportionate..  I don't know.  I think its a good start, but I just can't place what is wrong with it to fix it.  I am hoping someone can provide an outside perspective to this.

Thanks in advance,

Bill

So with Kastchey's help from my earlier thread : http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=37490.0  I came up with what I think is a good female sprite.  It fits into the existing character sprites great!

However, I animated it into a walkcycle, and something doesn't seem to be flowing..  Its 6 frames long (7 if you include the standing still frame which isn't in the below animation).  It almost seems jerkey..  Like something is missing, and I think it is a frame when the one leg passes the other on the forward stride..

EDIT NOTE: This is the original, updated one is below..



Anyone have any thoughts for it?

Thanks,

-Bill

Hello everyone.  I have hit the bane of my existance head on..  Women..  Well, drawing them, rather..

I am not very artistic, and am lucky enough to have (through the help of people critiquing, suggesting and painting-over on this forum) gotten myself a workable male character sprite set to use in my past two games.  All my moving, walking, acting characters in my Episode 1 and Episode 2 are male characters.  All females were just standing still and I was able to use still images rendered into cartoony shape for the games.  The only problem is that these characters, though stationary, were not blending in well with the game.  They obviously stood out as they weren't uniform with the other people in the games...

For my new game (Episode 3), I want to make ALL characters myself.  I want them all to be hand drawn sprites so there is a uniformity, and I can animate and move them.  I am looking to have a much more comprehensive experience with this game.

That being said, I have realized I am Horri-bad at drawing female sprites..  I started with the base of my male character (which is what I do with my male sprites, and change them size/complexion/clothes-wise), and tried to make it female..

Here is what I came up with :



The sprite is 640x480, and I think the waist looks kinda off, the breasts don't look proportionate, the shoulders might be a little to broad, and the legs...  I just couldn't get them right..   The face..  That is the face of my main character with redder lips, blue eyes and long hair..  How can I make the face more feminine?  Maybe higher cheek bones, or a slimmer face? 

Does anyone have any suggestions for me on how to make this lady look more feminine?

Thanks in advance!

-Bill

I am in the middle of working on the 3rd game in my series, and have come across a slight dillemma..

In Murran Episode 1 and 2 I took precautionary measures to not let the game progress if the player didn't have a required item.  For instance, in Talons of Terror, I made it so that if the player didn't have the end-game-item needed (or the items required to build it on the spot), the end-game-confrontation did not occur.  This kept the game from dead-ending (in this case LITERALLY dead-ending )

In episode 3, I have a bit of an issue that one or two items in the game are found very early on, but not used until the end of the game.  Not giving anything away, but by the time you are needing these items, you are.. lets just say.. somewhere else, and are unable to get them any longer.

How do you, as a player, feel about dead ends in games?  One thing I used to HATE about the old Sierra games of old were the dead ends.  But at the same time, I used to LOVE the feeling of getting through something which would've been a dead end had I not had the foresight to get, use or do something beforehand.

Should I go ahead and include the dead-end in the game, or does it irritate you as a player to have to go back and restore a prior saved game to continue?  I can personally go either way with it.

Thanks,

Bill

I did some looking through the forums for information on how to use speech files in conjunction with the written dialog for my game. 

I found the &## command is what is needed (I am using AGS ver 2.72 if it matters), but am a little confused as to how to do it..  Do I need to insert the &## command to each and every string of dialog in my dialogs in the game?  Or do I need to run a script from within the dialog option?

For example..  Say a character Gary has the following dialog-

gary: I don't know what to say..
gary: Hmm..
gary: Well, we could do it that way, I guess.

Would I need to use &## on each line?  Or do I need to run-script on each line to call the voice file?

Would it be-

gary: I don't know what to say.. &##
gary: Hmm.. &##
gary: Well, we could do it that way, I guess. &##

Would that work?  Or will the game display the "&##" text?


In room messages, I am assuming I do it as:

DisplayMessage(##, &##);

Is this correct?

Thanks in advance, and I know I am using a slightly outdated version of AGS, but its what I learned with and I feel comfortable with it

Thanks,

Bill

The Murran Chronicles Episode 2: Talons of Terror v1.1

STORY :

After the experience in southern New Jersey, you are moved to another division of the FBI and promoted to special agent status. This new division investigates the stranger cases, and this is one of them. Cattle have been mutilated, taken long distances from their farms and eaten by something. There have been sightings of large creatures in the sky and three unsolved murders within recent months. You are thrust into an investigation ripe with intrigue as you explore Montana while trying to solve the mystery of who or what is killing the cattle, and why three people have turned up dead. Could it be a creature thought extinct millions of years ago? Or do the Sioux Indians have something to do with it?

UPDATE LOG:
v1.1
-----
- Fixed crash problem if gun is drawn in the Sheriff's office.
- Fixed crash problem if gun is drawn with inventory window open.
- Fixed scaling issues with Arsay on some screens on Day 3.


INFO:

Talons of Terror is in 640x480 resolution, running in Hi-Color mode, and is a free download.  This was my second game using the AGS engine, and is much better (in my opinion) overall than the first game.  It is longer, more professional and polished and a much better experience overall.  There was rather extensive beta testing on this (special thanks to all the testers who helped iron this thing out, add a few more puzzles, and make it a much more enjoyable experience overall).

The game focuses on the experience from a story-telling perspective.  I try to be as immersive as possible (with some light hearted quips and such mixed in, along with a bunch of hidden and not so hidden references to Adventure Games of old).

I am really proud of this game, and hope you take the time to download and play it.  The file size is about 25mb.  No voice acting, but maybe in Episode 3.

WEBSITE / DOWNLOAD:  http://www.billandnicole.net/games

SCREENSHOTS:

     

I have looked through a LOT of messages on here, trying to find out what my problem is on my custom inventory GUI.

I have a button called "Use".

When clicked, I want this use button to change cursor modes to whatever mode will allow me to Use, Activate, etc, the inventory item's "Interact Inventory Item" code...

Its driving me nuts..  I've tried the interact mode, use inventory mode, etc, etc..  Nothing works..

Any advice?

Thanks,

Bill

EDIT ** Solved my own issue shortly after posting**

Used the code :

int trans = object[2].Transparency;
while (trans < 100) {
  trans++;
  object[2].Transparency = trans;
  Wait(1);
}


I guess it was that rounding issue, changing to use < 100 in the code helped out.

Sorry for the needless post.

-Bill


-------------

I am having a bit of a problem fading an object out.  I am basically fading an object in, waiting 4 seconds, then fading it out.

The object fades in fine, but I can't get it to fade out, and for the life of me, I don't see any problem with the code..  It is just reversing what the original did.  I even tried other methods to fade in that I found in older forum posts, but nothing is working.  Any help is appreciated..

CODE:


// FADE IN

object[2].Transparency = 100;   
object[2].Visible=true;

int a =100;   
while (a){     
object[2].Transparency=a;
      a--;
      Wait(1);   
      }

// DONE FADING IN


Wait(160);   // WAIT 4 SECONDS


//FADE OUT

while (a){     
object[2].Transparency=a;
      a++;
      Wait(1);   
      }
object[2].Visible=false;

// END FADE OUT



Like I said, it fades the object in fine, but won't fade out.  It just sits there waiting, then hits the visible=false command and the object vanishes. 

Thanks in advance.

Bill

Hello all,

I just finished my second game in the Murran Chronicles series (and second game ever in AGS), and am really happy with the storyline, plot, etc. 

I am looking for a few people to volunteer to be my beta testers to perfect any glitches, bugs, etc that might have made it past me.  My first game was a little glitchy at release, and I want to avoid that happening again.

I will, of course, add you to the credits as a beta tester, and you'll have my undying gratitude for taking the time to do this.

Please PM me here if you would like to help out and I will forward you a link and info.

The game's information is in this "In Production" thread : http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=37000.0

Thanks so much!

-Bill

Last Update : Tuesday, March 10, 2009.

Update March 10, 2009 - The game is now in Beta Testing!  Thanks to Leon and Cosmicr for hopping on the Beta Test bandwagon right out of the gate.  (If anyone else wants to help beta test, please send a PM for info). 

-----
Update March 5, 2009 - Added 3 new screenshots, updated complete % numbers, and ETA of date for entering Beta testing (1 week)

--------------


The Murran Chronicles: Episode 2 - Talons of Terror

Website: http://www.billandnicole.net/games

Plot/Storyline -  After the experience in southern New Jersey, you are moved to another division of the FBI and promoted to special agent status.  This new division investigates the stranger cases, and this is one of them.  Cattle have been mutilated, taken long distances from their farms and eaten by something.  There have been sightings of large creatures in the sky and three unsolved murders within recent months.  You are thrust into an investigation ripe with intrigue as you explore Montana while trying to solve the mystery of who or what is killing the cattle, and why three people have turned up dead.  Could it be a creature thought extinct millions of years ago?  Or do the local Sioux Indians have something to do with it? 

STATUS
-------
- planning/designing...100%
- scripting....................100%
- graphics....................100%
- music........................100%
-puzzles......................100%

The game is much more in-depth than Episode 1, and is a LOT longer.

Screenshots (CLICK A THUMBNAIL FOR THE FULL IMAGE):

     

     



Thanks!

Bill

Hi everyone, I have a bit of a dillemma..

My game has one puzzle in particular where you need a special item.  This item is gettable in a very logical way (IE: The item is where it would be in reality, its not a random object in some room somewhere).  The problem is that the player in question (for reasons I can't go into because it might ruin a bit of the game) normally would not take this item.  Its not something they would ever get or use.  Except for this one puzzle when they get to it...

Do you think it would be cheesy for me to restrict the ability to get this item until the player finds this puzzle and needs to figure out how to solve it?  The item WOULD (100% for certain) be found otherwise.  IE: Its somewhere the player would interact with anyway.

My only concern is that by disabling the ability to get the inventory item, the player might not think to go back and get it from here, and might get confuzed..  I was thinking a possible way to handle it would be that when they find the item before the puzzle it says something like "This shelf contains a, b, c, d and e.  You don't want anything from here now," or something similar.

Anyone have thoughts?

Thanks,

Bill

Recently I've found myself thinking of an adventure game from the early-mid 1990s that I loved.  I can't remember the name, the publisher or much about it, but I do remember it was some kind of sci-fi thing.  If I remember correctly there were 3 monsters or mutants or something, but they were detectives or police..  I remember one was a vampire, and the guy could turn into mist.  I am probably wrong, but the name Psysomething has been coming to mind, like Psylocks or something, but I can't remember...

I have no idea why this game has been popping into my head lately, but its been driving me nuts not being able to think of the name..  Anyone remember this game?

Thanks,

Bill

I spent the past 2 days with about 6 hours of sleep total, working almost exclusively on the character sprites for my game (which I think came out amazingly).  I have the side-walkcycle and front-walkcycle done, and then moved onto my back-walkcycle...  Many hours staring at little dots on the screen with little to no sleep (my wife has been sick and I took vacation time from work, so I have nothing to do) have put me in a sort of stupor..  When I went to sleep last night, I was satisfied with this back-walkcycle.  When I opened it this morning, I almost choked in surprise.  It is simply attrocious..  Notice the rapidly changing crazy shading/shadows, notice the difference in the arm and leg widths, notice the difference in armpit and pelvis heights, notice.. just .. how horrible it is.. 

It really is amazing how skewed your perspective is when running on no sleep and with really tired eyes..  I had to post this just to laugh at it..  I have since re-done it properly



-Bill

CHARACTER VIEWS:
------------

Edit: Fixed the picture link.  Sorry for the confusion




I am working on Episode 2 of my series, and wanted to re-do my main character to make it look a little smoother.  The old one was a little rough in retrospect. 

I am overall satisfied with how the proportions and 'feel' of the character came out, but I feel it is missing something.  I did this with the help of the tutorials out there, and tried to make a conscious effort not to have the shading be "pillowy".  The light source is above and south of the character for this.

I am not satisfied with the hair either..  It looks a little.. wormy I guess is the best description.  Anyone have any suggestions for how I can spruce this up?  The pants around the crotch area also..  I was unsure how to add detail at the pants-crease without making it look.. pornographic I guess is the best word?  I am also worried the legs are too short, as the pelvic area seems aweful long..

Finally, the face.  I want to add more detail to it, but am unsure how to go about doing so. 

Any help, suggestions, tips, etc will be most appreciated.  I am excited to try out this whole pixel art thing.

Thanks!

-Bill

Hey everyone.  I am currently working on the Murran Chronicles Episode 2 : Talons of Terror (shameless plug)

Anyway, I have the plot, story and dialogs all mapped out and am doing the actual game.  I realized that as it stands, I only have 3 puzzles in the entire game.  All are logical, well thought out and not just a simple "get A and use it to get B" type puzzles. 

I realized though, that without more puzzles, it really feels more like a detective type game where you are unravelling the mystery by talking to people and investigating the scenes..  It feels like less of a standard adventure game..

So as adventure game players, how do you feel about putting puzzles into a game just for the sake of having more puzzles?  I would do my best to make them well thought out, or make them at least fit the context/flow of the game, and not be random puzzles for no reason.

So my question is, should I add more puzzles, or just go with the very few puzzles as it stands?

Thanks,

Bill