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Here is what I decided to do (and have since done):

I made a version of the game with comic-style cutscenes (3D rendered, not toon-style) in AVI format.  The average cutscene is about 50-70 kilobytes unzipped.  This is much more manageable.  I will have this as the main pack, and have 2 addition packs.  One with a low-res movie add-ons, and one with a high-res add-on pack. 

The only problem is that now that I've gotten more proficient in Blender, I'm going back and re-doing a lot of the already completed AGS cutscenes in 3D   Its an addiction.


Thanks for the advice guys.

-Bill

I have a webserver a friend owns.  He gives me unlimited space just for being my extremely wonderful self

Laura Bow... mmmm....

The game is 640x480 as are the cutscenes.  I really want the full version to be as crisp and clear as possible in the cutscenes, but unfortunately that means filesize.

I am going to finish the demo thing and see what the Hi-Res and Lo-Res filesizes will be.  If the Lo-Res is too big, I'll make a comic-book-cutscene type thing for a Dialup version

Hello to all.

I am nearing completion of a workable demo for my game, which includes basically the intro and first complete level (the game is broken into several levels in various parts of the world).

The game is completely photograph and 3D rendered, so the filesize is getting to be pretty big.Ã, 

After just the first level being completed, the main game file is approx 22mb in size, plus all the cutscenes and so forth.Ã,  One cutscene is about 60mb in size because of its quality and length.

I know some use dialup and some use high speed, and as I would like as many as possible to check out/play the game when it is finished, I was wondering if it would be a good idea to do multiple versions of the game...

For instance, the full version will probably be somewhere around 90-100mb in size when the demo is finished because of all the cutscenes I am making/rendering.Ã,  I am unwilling to remove them from the game because they add to the ambiance and such.

I have re-rendered another version of all the cutscenes to low-res mode, which drops the size about 2/3 of the way.Ã,  The zipped file is about 25mb in size.

So with that said, would it be worth my while to do a version of the cutscenes with just the rendered pics of importance, and string them together like a comic book?Ã,  Sort of a 'click-to-advance' type storyboard thing?Ã,  That way the story still gets across, but the filesizes will be a lot smaller?  I use dialup from home, and know how much of a pain it is to download large files, so I figured I'd get a general consensus on this.

Thanks,

Bill

Coming from my girlfriend, who is an expert in all things girlie:

Tou need to make the breasts spill out more over the top of the bikini, and make the tight clothing dig into the skin more.

-Bill

As I said, that is a very rough draft of a part of the cutscene.Ã,  I will definately change the font.Ã,  Either that, or turn off reflectivity so it doesn't 'glisten' in the firelight.

I can't script 2 versions because it is a Blender rendered AVI, not AGS.Ã,  But the blood doesn't gush.Ã,  The pike hits him, and he goes flying.Ã,  Some blood pops out when the spike comes out his front-side, but nothing too gory or over-the-top.

I'll render another version with blood in a minute and put it up.Ã,  I also re-rendered him a bit, so it looks a little more realistic.Ã,  I also added a sky since that original version...

EDIT: The version with the blood is now online at http://pocmobile.tripod.com

BLAH!  I hate Tripod, but my main server locked me out (the password got reset or something).

Go to : http://pocmobile.tripod.com

I put a link there to click-download the file.

BTW: I made a version with a particle effect blood.  It kicks butt.  I am going to use it.

Hahah

Its not a torture per se.  The EGO character is sitting on a log by the fire when the campfire suddenly goes out.  He looks at it questioningly, when all of a sudden a pike impales him from behind and he goes flying.

Here is a link to the ending of what I have done so far.  I need to do a lot of tweaking on stuff like the reflectivity of his pants, and a bunch more, but you will get the idea.

http://pocmobile.tripod.com/impale.zip

Hello everyone.  I am making a cutscene in Blender which shows 'what might happen' during a mystical vision where the EGO character gets impaled/killed with a large pike.  I was wondering if I should put in a bloody mess where he gets hit and killed by the pike, or if I should leave it bloodless.  I'm afraid of getting too gory and nasty, but I figure that since he is impaled, there will obviously be blood.  At the same time I don't want to offend those with tender sensibilities (Leisure Suit Larry reference ).  So, what do you guys think?  Should I make it bloody, or leave the blood out?

Wow!  Very nice.

Did anyone else kinda think the original pics looked like Jesse Bains, the death angel from the old Police Quest series of games?

Hahah, I noticed the leg did bend in the wrong direction.  Oops!  

I re-did the EGO animations for walking, and re-did all the other goodies like hair and some various other stuff.  I think it looks better/more natural now.  I also think it'll fit into the game a lot better.  I'm getting fairly proficient at Blender now.  Its a heck of a program.  I'm going to be using it to make some cutscenes and so forth too.  Hopefully it won't be too novice-looking:)

Thanks again

Bill

I will re-do it and keep from leaning forward as much.Ã,  I thought it looked kinda funny.

As for the rounding, I tried that and it made him look like a beanpole :)Ã,  I'll try that again.

EDIT : WOW!  That F9/Smooth thing made him look GREAT!  I don't know what the difference was between what I did before, and this, but it looks great!  Thanks for the advice!


Bill

I don't have a drawn version yet, I'm just unsatisfied with the rendered version I have...

Here are 2 screenshots.  This particular one is unfinished as of yet, as I still need to smooth out the textures and get rid of the forward-facing white blur around the edges.  But this is basically what he looks like. 

I am also not liking the walking animations much.  But I think it has something to do with how I animated him...

[UPDATE]

Hello everyone.Ã, 

The game I am making is almost ready for a demo to be released.Ã,  In the meantime I have one question I was hoping to get some advice on.

The game itself is 640x480 and uses nothing but digitized photographs and rendered backgrounds, so its "realistic".Ã,  The main character I am using was rendered and painted in Blender.Ã,  However, I'm not too happy with him.Ã,  I honestly feel I could do a better job drawing a character for the animations and so forth.Ã,  And I don't really want to re-animate and render this guy.

The question is do you think it would look odd or funny to have a photo-realistic game-environment, objects, characters, etc, but have the EGO character be hand-drawn?Ã,  I could make him look as nice as I possibly can, but it'd still be obvious he wasn't rendered and/or photographed like the other stuff in the game.Ã,  I think it would be a big contrast, what do you think?

Keep in mind the game is a serious sci-fi/fantasy genre game based on my series of books that I wrote/am still writing (so it has lots of depth, background, and character development). I.E: I am not trying to go for a humorous feel here

UPDATE

I decided to keep the rendered look, and spent a few hours re-animating and re-rendering the model in Blender.Ã,  Instead of using plain colors for everything, I downloaded and used some texutres for the sweater material, the jeans, the skin, the eyeballs, the lips, the leather shoes and the hair.Ã,  I think it looks a lot better now.Ã,  Still not 100% sure of the walk animation, but I think its getting there.Ã,  Keep in mind I need the character to be shiny for a lot of lighting effects I am incorporating into the game.

Criticism welcome.







Thanks much,

Bill

Mikey needs a bigger stomach too

Make sure that if you do the game, Paul Sr. is always bitching at Jr.  Also make sure Jr. disappears for a few hours during the middle of the day for no reason

I love the concept of the game, I agree with BT, make the game in the same style. I'd be willing to help you with backgrounds and original ones.

replie if you are interrested. Ã, 

Thanks, but the game is on the backburner for the moment.  I got sidetracked with another project

one of those things I've just never figured out how to do is to color single pixels in photoshop.Ã,  even when the brush size is set to 1 pixel, it's actually coloring about 3 pixels.Ã,  I can adjust the dithering(? i think thats what its called) down until its only affecting 1 pixel, but then it's only got like 1% opacity.Ã,  so...is this a capability of paint that is unmatched by photoshop?

You can right-click on brush, and choose the 'pencil' tool.  It does 1 pixel coloring.

I like the idea of the old man carving a monsterous ship.  It would be a good humor element.