Messages

I am very curious to know... what are your top three design recommendations? Reply with your own. General or specific. Brief or verbose.

Mine are:

1. Decide what kind of story you want to tell and stick to it. Let that story influence everything you do: graphics, sounds, GUIs etc.

2. Think out of the box. Don't do a (probably not as good as the original) copy of your favorite game. Drop genres. Do something new. Get inspired by books, movies or wierd people on the subway.

3. Have someone correct your language. Everyone always makes embarrasing speling mistakes.

I can just agree with you, Jockstrap and Andail. Another aspect is that it takes more time (and thus game-design work) to build up other emotions than instant fun. I am currently working on a game project set in a depressed, dark surreal setting where I've noticed that it's a fine balance between going crazy and doing it just right. I am aiming to induce a feeling that you are losing control of yourself and has noticed that it takes much longer to achive that effect than being funny.

They look great. Did you make them yourself?

Yes, I did. I actually made the white costume for the project.

Are you talking adventure games in general, or AGS games specifically? Recently or historically?

Both and both actually. I am not sick about cute games at all as the matter of fact, it just struck me that a majority of adventure games seemed to share a certain style and wanted to discuss the issue.

Yes, of course. Vertigo it is. I miced them up, for some reason. You are all of course right in that there are titles which are different and that are very nice indeed. But still... the majority of titles seem to share a certain style, both graphically and how the story is told.

Well, of course there is the drawing reasons. But it still doesn't quite explain why there isn't many Sandman (http://www.kupla.net/fest2003/sandman.jpg, Marvel Comics) game for instance. Or comics, err, games with darker moods. An illustration doesn't necessarily need to be humoristic, even though illustative-style is easy to make.

I am kind curious... why are there so many adventure games who are of the corny cartoonish type? It's not that I do not like fun stuff, but it seems that the form (graphical point-and-click) has merged with a genre (funny and absurd cartoons). If I go to an average book store, there are books with stories that are similar to the majority of adventure games but they do not constitute 90 percent of the titles. (Perhaps too much, but you get my point.)

This is of course caused by the history of the game genre, which during it's golden age was made for a target audience of kids, adolecents and young adults. Because these were the kind of people who was buying entertainment software at the time. And guess what kind of stories catered to this kind of audience, a kind that the target audiences parents were likely to buy at christmas as gifts... cartoonish fun.

I get the feeling that there are lots of interesting stories that are left untold. And I also get a feeling that many game makers still are making games for kids, perhaps because they are kids themselves or want to remember how it was back then... Nothing wrong in that, but if you are thinking of making an interactive story... think original. Don't make a game which already has been done, over and over again.

Over and out.

Force majeure II: the Zone - September 2005.

I am not participating very actively in the community, but I agree. There are lots of threads here about things that not will be completed. Many people dream of being someone who makes games, but not to make games. Posting here puts you in the first position.

I'd say: moderate. This forum will lose it's use if there are lots of posting about games that aren't really in production other than in the posters mind. I worked six months on my game before revealing a single screenshot.

[52]

I thought I'd just give a report on how things are going so far and post a few screenshots. There will be a web page for the game soon, where you'll be able to sign up as a beta tester.

So far, there are 34  46 52 detailed rooms with an original CD-quality soundtrack. As you see below, the game is not made in the traditional cartoon style. :o The game is quite linear in the beginning, but divides into several intertwining sub-episodes. If you enjoy works by authors such as Philip K Dick, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, works by filmmakers such as Tarkovskij or David Lynch, or music like the Silent Hill OSTs or Future Sound of London, you probably will enjoy the Zone as well.

If you want some information on the live roleplaying game which is the first part of the story, please visit: http://interactingarts.org/force/



Screenshots


Inside the old laboratory


Answering the phone


Rendezvous


Exploring the ruins


Printer problems


Rendezvous II

I the unhandled_event function, I want to create a default event when a certain inventory item is used. But how do I know which one the player used?

Another suggestion is to simple make big images from the beginning and them scale them down (never the other way around).

I suspect it didn't work because "Run script" commands are always executed last in the interaction editor list

Do they? That's very odd, I think.

It worked!

Thank you strazer!

adding a wait(1) between enabling the bg frame and the displaying of the message should do it.
Because displaying a message doesn't actually update the screen behind it.

I see. But as you can see in the scripts above, I already did that.

Hmm did the other stuffs (Display message, dialog) get executed?

Yes, no problem there.

Go to the Compiled folder and run the game directly instead to test it.

Well, I'll do that. Thank you.

I have a room where there is an area you can look at, and if you do there is the following interaction:

Code: ags

Look at hotspot
- Game - Display a message (0)
- (?) Conditional - If the player has inventory item (11)
-- Run script [No 1, See below]
-- Game - Display a message (11)
-- Game - Run dialog (17)
-- Run script [No 2, See below]

Script no 1:

Code: ags

Ã,  // script for hotspot1: Look at hotspot
SetBackgroundFrame(1);
Wait(20);Ã,  Ã, 

Script no 2:

Code: ags

Ã,  // script for hotspot1: Look at hotspot
SetBackgroundFrame(0);Ã,  
Wait(20);

I want background frame 1 to appear for the duration of the dialog, then switch back to frame 0. But when I run the game, nothing happens. Why is that?

Every time I fire up the editor and try to run the game, it hangs. The application opens, but then there is nothing. I see the window of the game, but no graphics or anything. After switching back to AGS with alt-tab, then I can at least close it down. Second time and thereafter when I run the game, it works with no problem.

Has anyone had the same problem?

[Facts]

You are the sole survivor of an unknown catastrophe, trapped in an air-raid shelter. Escaping your confinement, you face a delusional reality known only as the Zone â€" a place where your own mind is your enemy. The city is in ruins: explore a dreamy landscape through the eyes of a lone wanderer trying to piece together fragments of the past.

Force majeure II: The Zone is an audio-visual interactive story by Leo Nordwall set in a ruined city where everything seems uncertain. The Zone is experienced from a first-person perspective and is navigated by pointing-and-clicking. Photos, drawings, 3D renderings and live video footage have been integrated into a unique visual experience. The soundtrack is over 70 minutes long and features new tracks in the tradition of electro-acoustic music, ambient and electronica.

While there are plenty of interactive works and games that entertain by providing puzzle solving, action and slapstick humour, the Zone is all about exploring the unknown territories of the mind. If you feel that issues such as philosophy, poetry, metaphysics and art is your cup of tea, the story might interest you. If not, the irreal meanderings of the Zone is best left alone.

Force majeure: The Zone is produced by Leo Nordwall in cooperation with Interacting Arts.


Facts

Play time: 1,5â€"2,5 hours
Number of locations: 75
Soundtrack: Over 70 minutes
Platforms: Windows XP (Mac OS X and Linux ports are underway)

Game web site with screenshots, music and video downloads: http://interactingarts.org/thezone/


Screenshots


First encounter


The Concrete Ziggurat


Our special place


Inside the old laboratory


Answering the phone


Rendezvous


Exploring the ruins


Printer problems


Rendezvous II


A dangerous Zone dweller