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[dull]

Executive Producer Steven Moffat and his Producer wife Sue Vertue were on breakfast t.v. this morning saying there definitely *will* be more 'Sherlock'=)

Anyone seen they've made Sherlock's 'The Science of Deduction' website? It's all a bit silly really, what with the secret messages etc, but they've also made John Watson's blog and the comments between Holmes and Watson  (pretend, of course) are quite entertaining in themselves. What an easy job that must be for the web writer=)

I missed 'Grandma's House' myself, but I thought it was meant to be quite funny. Sounds like I didn't miss much then. On a similar note, tried watching an episode of 'Roger and Val Have Just Got In' since Dawn French usually does great stuff but it was really, really dull=(

[Edit:]

Aw, don't feel sad, I hope I didn't upset you=S

The new design still looks really good! It's straight to the point and easy to navigate - among the main goals of web design. Your little footer is missing in this one though - you should still be able to add it to get your previous box look and still have your main div stretching down to fit the content.

1) I had a quick Google on the scrollbar problem as i've never really noticed it before. This article seems to suggest it's a side effect of fixed width layouts. One solution, they suggest, is to add the following to your style sheet so that your pages all have 1px of scrollable area, even if they don't need it, so that  the scroll bar always shows. I've tried it on your site using Firebug and it works, but if I find you a more elegant solution (ie. not having to show the scrollbar!), i'll let you know. Just add it to the top of your stylesheet:

Code: ags

html { min-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 1px; }

Edit: I should suggest it might be wiser to just live with it. Seems quite a few people are put off by unneeded scrollbars from what i'm reading=S

2) Yeah I get a white flash in IE8 too when I reload, so it's not just you. I use Chrome/Safari/FF though so it's no problem for me, but I don't have a solution for you yet though.

Edit: seems to be a bug with IE (surprise, surprise!). Only suggestion that might help is to set the background colour of your page to a colour close to the main colour of your site so that the flicker is less visible than it is with white. Your main content area is #333439, something around that might help.

Good work, I look forward to the finished game, it's looks really good=)

Not sure if you still need this, but i've done your survey. Not that my crappy specs will be any use to you=P

Glad to see i'm not the only one who thought it was fantastic=)

Haven't had decent writing like that in ages and, for me, the lead actors played it brilliantly. I was completely shocked to find out it was only a three part thing when I sat down to watch it last night: I was expecting a whole series.

Surely they're just testing the reception to a modernisation? I mean, they have to continue after an ending like that!

[even better]

I would like to see either Cowboy Bebop or the Stargate SG-1 series (up to the end of Season 8 - none of that Atlantis crap) translated into any decent game genre.

Just getting the abandoned US release of Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Serenade would be great (though I could just learn Japanese ;-) ), but I suspect the Japanese version is more fighting game than adventure game, so i'd like to see a proper adventure game, maybe in an episodic format, one bounty at a time;-) Not that Spike's martial art skills wouldn't be fun to play. You could even break the series into separate games - fighting, flying-sim etc - rather than trying to shoe-horn them all into one.

There have been so many unsuccessful attempts at a Stargate game, it's depressing. I know Stargate: Resistance is out, but again it looks all action-y, basically just a Stargate themed Unreal Tournament. I might have wanted that a few years ago, but not now. I think the Stargate universe could easily support an adventure game or an rpg like Oblivion. Or even a strategy game - either Homeworld style (last time I checked I think there was a mod out there somewhere) or, even better, a commandos style game were you go up against the Goa-uld with your little SG squad=)

They're both ripe for game ideas imo so i'm surprised they haven't been more successful=S

That is seriously cool! A tremendous amount of work you've put in there, unbelievable. I also hope everyone doesn't go 3D gaga but I look forward to the interesting uses people find for this. Thank you=)

[many]

I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to cause offence!

I'm no expert and i'm as surprised as you that there isn't an obvious alternatives to Iframes, it's been years since I last used them. All i've found so far are php includes. Nowadays I do all my messing around in Wordpress templates which makes things so much simpler.

Also, there's nothing wrong with your graphics aesthetically. I really like them. I only meant to suggest you might be able to get away with less or at least smaller, repeatable ones, but really I don't have much to base that on so please ignore me.

I didn't intend to say "don't do it like that" without at least offering an alternative, sorry. My web design skills are a bit rough around the edges but i'll try to help you out as best I can. Looking at the image you posted above, it now looks like you're happy for the content to stretch down so long as your images tile with it. It's essentially the typical three column layout. The only stumbling block for me is your navigation and the fact it doesn't have a repeatable image like the rest of the sidebar. I would normally use clear: both; in my style sheet to get the footer underneath everything - you've probably done that - but it leaves a gap if the content of one of the columns is shorter than the others.

I've had a quick Google for "three column css layout" from the past year to see what's new these days. One of the links I found is quite promising as it aims to solve the issue i've just described above. I'd thought of using two divs for the sidebar and that's what it looks like they're doing. It's actually not new, it's from 2007/8, but it's one of many similar ones out there, just search for "three column css layout". I've only skimmed it, but it might be useful to you.

The Perfect 3 Column Liquid Layout

Article on equal height columns explaining how it works

I'll have a play with it myself when I get a chance. Of course, without the iFrame, you're back to the problem of how to have a single navigation across all pages (without having to edit each page) and the only simple solution i'm aware of are the includes. If I can find you a better solution, i'll post back (unless someone who knows more about this can chime in, please). I really like the website your trying to build, keep at it.

The site looks really good, but yeah, ditch the iFrames. I'm sure i've left a few Geocities sites of my own in my wake.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but Peder have you just used a php include there? I was going to suggest that, but i'm no expert.

I get some of the content on the About page bleeding past the bottom image in Safari/FF/Chrome. Peder's suggestion of building with relative sizes would help there as the content area would grow to fit the content. Might have to change some of your graphics - you probably should anyway, since you don't really need to have all those; alot of it could be tiled. If you want to stick with scroll bars, the CSS overflow property would let you do that.

Looking good so far=)

That's mental! love the music=D

Not gonna happen, sorry, just far too much else going on right now=S I look forward to the other entries though, this is a great theme=)

Love the animation. I like how he chews on one side of his mouth so one eye screws up. Must be a well done burger.

Well, I got the impression the pigeon finds food 'around a burger restaurant' so that could be outside. Don't think i'd be chewing my burger quite so happily with a pigeon flapping around in the room. Unless I was doped up on whatever they put in the burgers;-)

Happy happy joy joy=)

I could probably finish mine in a week - yes, i have an entry, i've kept quiet as i didn't want to let anyone down - but considering how busy i've been and how little i've done so far, it's doubtful.
Don't hold the door open on my account, but i'd try to get an entry in if there is an extension going;-)

That's one confident captain, with a swagger like that. Looks a little bored the way he's staring dreamily off into space. Maybe needs a little bounce of the antennas as his face is quite static imo.

Looking really, really nice tho;-)

Wow, this is looking really, really good!=)

Loved the animation and lighting in your little cutscene. Yes, good luck with this, I look forward to it=)

I mean, why set up a Twitter page telling people to go to the forums when they can just be going to the forums and finding out what's new quite easily in the first place?

Good point actually. I find myself on the Recent Posts thread throughout most of the day. Wouldn't want to see an exodus because people wouldn't have to visit the forums for updates=S I use an rss feed too, but I prefer to be here 'in person' =)

[@Tuomas:]

@Tuomas: I only started using Twitter a few months ago myself, but I love it. I always thought I wouldn't have anything much to say on a regular basis - and who wants to know what I had for breakfast anyway? (coffee, if your interested ) - but once you start using it, you'll find yourself with stuff to say. I find it good for when I want to comment on something but I don't have the substance or the time for a full blog post. Looking forward, i'll be using it to announce projects i'm working on too.

It's nowhere near as bloated or confusing as FB etc. You just get 140 characters to say something, and you see a timeline of all the 'somethings' people that you follow have said. There's more to it than that - trends, retweets, mentions, lists, various Twitter clients etc - but it's up to you how involved you want to get.

The best thing about Twitter, as TerranRich said, is following other people. I follow a handful of 'famous' people I like from the telly, but I also mainly follow Indie developers and the author's of blogs I read. It's a great way to get to know people and feel involved, even if there have been no major announcements.

--

I fifth(?) markbilly's suggestion: An AGS feed of the games page would be awesome. I don't think a general AGS feed would be very useful though, as I'm more interested in individual developers, so i'll follow their own feeds.

I haven't done the whole self-promotion deal myself, but here's my two cents.

As well as what Ascovel said - taking an active part in indie communities - for me personally, a really solid website for the game and the developer is a big sell. I know there's the games pages here, which are great, but I don't think it could hurt to create a dedicated website to show off your creations (if you have one already, i've missed it, sorry). If you can get people to your site, they might be inclined to look at what else you've done while they're there.

There's plenty free hosts around but a proper domain name looks better. Saying that, you can do a lot with a free blog such as wordpress.com to begin with, then move onto a self-hosted blog like wordpress.org when you have your own webspace. Before I jumped ship from Blogger, they were offering free custom domain names so maybe you could go that route instead.

As for the site itself: gorgeous screenshots, obviously, maybe wallpapers, video clips and a demo too. But what I really like to see is the developer's creative process (hence the suggestion of running a blog): Keep a development journal, talk about all the funny little issues your having and show some work in progress stuff, sketches etc. If people send you fan artwork, put it up there, talk about it, encourage friendly competitions between your followers - artwork, comics, stories - and maybe make some of your own (the Wolfire guys have a regular comic for example). If you show the game off publicly or it gets mentioned in a review, shout out about that too. All this keeps people interested and enthusiastic about the game even if it's still got a long way to go development-wise. Of course, do all the social networking stuff too - twitter, facebook group and so on - and update regularly. Respond personally to comments and emails to show people what a friendly, approachable developer you are=)

Your updates don't have to be exhaustive - you don't want to give too much away - but the personality that comes across is more important. If you can communicate what you're about and show your enthusiasm for creating games, then you'll encourage enthusiasm in your followers. Personally I like quirky, friendly developers who clearly love doing what they do, professional or otherwise. I'm the kind of person that will happily give you free publicity if I like what you're about. I'm in the process of overhauling my blog (in a dark and distant corner of the web), but once it's done I plan to write more regular reviews, so i'll add you to the list;-)

As an example of all of the above, look at The Dream Machine by Cockroach Inc. It's an absolutely gorgeous game on its own, but I think the guys behind it are awesome. Their blog is full of all the stuff i've mentioned, and they even sent me masks of the main characters. You don't necessarily have to go that far, but personal touches like that blow me away. What about offering x-game inspired blog icons etc?

It's all hard work, obviously, and I can't talk from experience myself (i'm happy toiling away in obscurity, yay!), but these are just some ideas;-)

Looks great and categories is a great suggestion=)

If you really have absolutely nothing better to do, a Mac version would be nice. It'd make me stupendously happy and i'm sure lots of people..*voice echoes*..hey, where'd everybody go??

*ahem* Probably easier if I figure out how to do it myself, though I suspect i'd have to create it outside AGS (Xcode or somesuch).

Okay, that's my little project for the coming week=)

That's amazing, really. I've just completed a degree where we - a class of a similar number of students - got so bogged down in the planning and asset creation for months, that we didn't even finish the game. The end result was a lovely environment with a wolf running around, but not much else!

That your students have managed to keep up their enthusiasm throughout is a good sign. Now they've been bitten by the AGS bug, I hope we'll see some of them on here in the near future=)