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Requests for actors are usally posted in the Games in Production board, you might want to check there.

I know that Erwin_Br's game 'Bad Timing' is looking for voice volunteers at the moment...

Well just to put this to rest, I'll reply! After all I had the email notification thing turned on, so I was alerted to the new post in the thread.

Thanks for the comments Joelman, and I'm sure Erwin and Proskrito will also be grateful.

I'm not sure I'm really enough of an authority on the style to do a tutorial, but I'd be interested to know whether anyone else is creating backgrounds as vector artwork before converting to bitmap...

t

Just an aside on Under a Killing Moon (UAKM).

I remember when it was 'eagerly antipated' (it was released very late as I recall) and I heard a sales pitch by a rep from Access Software. You've got to remember that this was before the era of FPS's, even pre-DOOM (just).

The guy had a really hard time explaining what UAKM's free-roam environment was like, and in the end said imagine "The 7th Guest" but being able to go anywhere you liked. I think people just couldn't visualise the concept in their heads!

Oddly enough, of equal importance in the pitch was the fact that Margot "loony bin" Kidder was in it...


Hmm. Sorry - I thought that anecdote was going to be more interesting than it turned out to be.

t

I don't think the sprites look bad either - I'd just thought (when I thought your game was AGS) that it would be a fairly simple modification to make.

Am I the dickwit to whom you refer, AGA?

t

However, on the subject of the BT character sprites - you may benefit from the next release of AGS, as it supports alpha blending.

One of the AGS-related issues the artwork suffers from is the nicely anti-aliased backgrounds clashing a bit with the non-anti-aliased (aliased?) foreground characters.

With alpha blending you could have smooth edges to your characters which would help marry the foreground and background.

Not that this should hold up the demo's progress, but it might be worth considering for the real game.

t

How about:

SSH Enterprises

or

SSH Creative

If you need a logo for whatever you eventually decide, let me know.

It's refreshing to see some original thought going into artist promotion!

I would question however the validity of releasing any promotional game as 'shareware'. For a start, very few AGS games (only 2 I believe) have gone this route, to limited success.

Moreover, I think there's an expectation from the public that a promotional 'freebie' would be just that - free, and perhaps released on an enhanced CD single/album.

Not that I don't think it's a good idea to do a game - I think it's fabulous. I just think whomever gets involved will be doing it for love, not money.

Then again, you could always blag a pile of CDs from your A&R men to hand out to participants...

t

What an interesting and surprising set of responses!

Coming off the heels of the previous AGS discussion about our love/hate relationship with puzzles, I'm surprised that many of us prefer a game mechanism that could make many puzzles more drawn-out and torturous.

I agree that descriptions of scenery items add texture to the game world, but I (for one) prefer efficiency in puzzle-solving so as to maintain an overall suspension of disbelief in the game.

As I say, these thoughts were initially prompted by replaying FoA. I tend to think LucasArts' decision to only label pertinent items was deliberate (rather than laziness) and I certainly wouldn't call the puzzles obvious...

But each to their own!

t

PS  - While I think of it Big Brother, the forest in Apprentice was another example of what I'm on about. Hands up how many people were trying to get into the forest?

Oh, just me then...

Well even if you get a "It's a rock" kind of response, I think it's at best useless and at worst confusing, UNLESS the 'rock' has some purpose in the game.

I guess my lament is focused on people using hotspots to identify the set-dressing...

Quick game design opinion time!

I've noticed that in a number of AGS games that background items are often 'named', even when they don't actually play any part in the game. I've seen various examples, but strangely the only one that comes to mind as I write this is the water leak in Apocalypse:Vel.

It's something that doesn't seem to happen in commercial games. I replayed FoA recently and noticed that while the backgrounds were full of details, only 'workable' items had names. I found it a timesaver in solving puzzles, as you aren't wasting time trying to use every object in your inventory with a non-functional background item.

Perhaps it happens in AGS games due to the way it works (in defining hotspots etc.) or maybe people like to explain just what the object is that they've drawn in the background.

So the question is, do we like this practice of assigning names to apparent objects that are never used, or not?

t

PS - I'm excluding deliberate 'red herring' items in this - they're fine in moderation!

It's great - the chord structure reminds me of Danny Elfman's stuff.

If you're using it as a looping background, then maybe the up tempo drums that start about 2/3 of the way through could be a touch too dramatic. On the other hand, if that phrase could be triggered on an a dramatic event in the game it would sound great.

I for one don't have a copy of LSL3 to hand. Maybe you could post some of the existing jokes to establish the style?

t

On the one hand Mr Colossal is right - after all, DOTT, The Dig, Sam & Max etc. were 256 colour and looked great.

I do think though that support for higher-colour depth (and particularly alpha support for sprites) may encourage the better artists amongst the community, thus resulting in better-looking AGS games.

I don't mean to do disservice to those of any artistic ability, and I certainly don't want to fuel the 'good graphics aren't important for a good game' debate, but if AGS's profile is to be raised in the games press (which is already starting, and must surely be good for CJ) then anything that enhances front-end presentation has got to be good.

t

I hope DOS support stays in - I *still* can't get Win executables to compile properly, so I can only test games-in-progress using the DOS option...

I had this too, and CJ recommended I delete my cookies before returning to the site.

In the end I just use Opera 7 to access the site, and have no problems...

Maybe you could sharpen the end of the broom to make a dragon-lance (requiring a visit to The World's Second Largest Pencil Sharpener or something), or - even better for small boys and brooms - find some sock ears for the broom and transform it into your trusty steed. This should give you added height/velocity to attack the dragon's weak spot...

I'd love to see alpha channel transparency for sprites - it would particularly help 640x480 hi-colour games.

Currently if you have a lovingly anti-aliased background, there's quite a jarring effect with the non-antialiased character slapped on top.

Not that I'm complaining or anything   ...but I think that alpha support would open up the creative possibilities. And as GeoffKhan says, the alpha channels could be held in a seperate 'mask' PCX/BMP - so no need to change file formats (in the unlikely event that that's the hard bit)...

t

Fuckin little asswipe candy-asses.

Well quite! Do you do children's parties?

It's interesting that you're a graphic artist by trade, yet it's the backgrounds you're having most trouble with.

Out of interest, what do you consider 'good enough'? Comparable to commercial releases perhaps, or maybe comparable to the better AGS game graphics (e.g. Apprentice, KQVGA)?

t

On a related theme to kids of today, games of yesterday, nostalgia, etc., some of you might get a kick out of this article.

http://www.egmmag.com/article2/0,4364,1338730,00.asp

While not adventure-related, it's the reactions of some modern-day youngsters to games like Pong, Mario Bros, etc.

t