Messages

Thanks for the link Snarky!

RickJ: I'm not sure if giving the player too much freedom in messing around with the story is a good idea. Multiple paths and alternative endings are overrated. You can give the player a lot of freedom to move around and explore the game world but storywise it might be overkill to make a branched structure with paths the player may never even take and that would just be a waste of content. Instead it would be better to deliver a predetermined story with one clearly defined path the player has to take, adding the occasional illusion of choice that doesn't interfere with your well thought out plot. What I think is essential in a story based adventure game is to tell a consistent story and not guessing what the player might want to do in a certain situation.

You already won mate.

[Bohnito]

Ok, time to announce the winner. All entries are really great. I had a hard time deciding which is my favourite, but in the end my vote goes for Bohnitos cyber-chicken.

This makes Bohnito the winner of this contest. Congratulations!

Thank you guys for participating!

Steel Drummer: There was no official change of rules. The voting was my idea. Apparently it's not forbidden so I thought a little variation won't hurt.

Pierre_RGN: the voting is not over yet(-> first post).
Also if you think your sprite doesn't look as good on the forum background you can still change it.

Sorry SilverTrumpet but you didn't participate in the contest so unfortunately your vote doesn't count.

Voting time!

Sparkys sprite is 195 pixels in width but I'm going to accept it because those extra pixels in the middle don't give the sprite any unfair advantage over the others. It would be appropriate though if you kept it within 128 pixels.

It never ocured to me that anyone would take either list literally and use them for story templates.  :   I suppose there are some who would have made such a futile attempt and are now, presumably, grateful for your warning.     Perhaps you could illuminate everyone futrher about the monomyth.

There are sources that can do that better than me. The obvious place to start is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth. Also http://www.monomyth.org/.

I think progressing  through an adventure game by developing or tranforming the player character in some profound way would be more interesting than the common "aquire all the inventory objects, use them in obscure and non-obvious ways, and click through all the dialog" type of game play. Instead of the game's ultimate goal being a material object such as a treasure or princess perhaps it could be something intangible like the PC growing as a person, discovering his/her own worth/place/purpose in the universe, discovering things grater than self, and/or discovering the meaning of life... etc, etc.

I second that whole bit.

What I would find interesting is to take games made by people who were not aware of the monomyth and see to what extend their story follows the steps that Campbell described.

Joseph Campbells monomyth is a description of recuring elements in myths, not a template for writing a story. At least that's how I view it and I would like other people to view it. It is certainly a great thing to draw inspiration from but trying to strictly follow each step is a sign of lack of creativity and can lead to an artificial and forced plot. One needs to know how to properly use the monomyth. I don't consider myself an expert but I think I read enough about it to know that misunderstanding of the monomyth leads to misuse of it. It's a really interesting topic to discuss but before talking about the application of the monomyth in games people who are new to the concept should be made aware of the various meanings of each step and usage of those steps in different stories.

That looks great. I have nothing to crit really. The "lack of details" is no problem for me. Like Jon said, this sketchy look would make a very nice graphical style.

Also does he count as a creature?  I probably should have paid more attention to the objective.

He does, no worries. I meant "creature" in a general sense: animals, humans, aliens, plants, zombies etc.

That lady nailed it

Authors@Google: James Randi

[Objective:]

Objective:
Draw a creature that is part organic and part machine. Organic and machine parts must be visible.

Restrictions:
24 colors + transparency
128x128 pixels

Submission phase ends on friday 5.10.07 at 8:00 PM GMT.

Winner will be determined by voting:
- Voting begins on friday 5.10.07 at 8:00 PM GMT and ends on saturday 6.10.07 at 8:00 PM GMT.
- Only participants are allowed to vote.
- Participants who withhold their vote give their voting right to the host who votes on their behalf.
- In case of a draw the host picks the winner out of the submissions with the most votes.

Thanks Brad.

51 colors


2x     

2. stop being a perfectionist(this means a lot coming from me). you'll never be a 100% satisfied with what you do. Go for 90%.

How... how did you know?  :o

It was kind of apparent from your post.

Using fullstops is really not that hard.

[one]

Is there a cure?

1. don't work on dozens of projects at once. pick one and focus all your energy on it.
2. stop being a perfectionist(this means a lot coming from me). you'll never be a 100% satisfied with what you do. Go for 90%.
3. stop whining and get yourself together soldier! youre not the only one going through an inspirational drought. if nothing what has been said works for you maybe a good kick in the ass will. come on, we want to see what you've got! don't let us wait forever!

What exactly is the problem with bold letters?