[AGS HELP WANTED] Scripter wanted - exchange with GFX/SND/MSX

[Schedina]

Greenthings!

I have a bit of an ambitious project going on - I would love to make another game like 'Maniac Mansion', but not in the vein of 'Day of the Tentacle'.

Instead, I would like to make a game that 'mimics' the original Maniac Mansion as much as possible, when it comes to graphics, visuals, sounds, style, GUI, atmosphere and so on.

Some differences are of course inevitable and thus, acceptable. I have my whole story planned and most of the big house envisioned, I have thought long and hard about different types of rooms and how it all ties to form coherent puzzles and such. Basically, I have a 'vision' I want to realize, but alas, I lack the scripting skillz to do it.

(Believe me, I tried!)

I am more of an 'artist type', so I can almost easily create and generate lots of graphics, music, sound effects (using real sound chips and my own mouth and so on, so the sounds will always be unique, or 'original art', if you will) and such, but also, background graphics, animations, sprites, characters and so on.

I am a bit limited when it comes to modern times, but for this type of 2D adventure games, á la Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken and such, I think my abilities reach just barely.

Of course my graphics are nothing amazing, there are much better artists around, I also can't do the modern 'midi' type stuff, as I use real sound chips, like Yamaha's FM synthesis chips and of course the magnificent C64's SID chips as well.

I have practiced the Commodore 64 graphic format quite extensively, so although I can probably never quite reach Maniac Mansion level of Gary Winnick's amazing talent, I hope to at least be able to create relatively similar room art with 'my personal flavor' added.

It will all become clear when I upload my tiny preview project I made with AGS, that has only a few rooms so you only get a small taste of what I want to create, but it should be enough to understand the style, visuals, sounds and such. I might want to even add some musics to it, á la Monkey Island 2:LeChuck's Revenge - obviously I can't compose music as good as that, but using the Yamaha OPL technology, the sound of the music should be similar, and perhaps the music might be relatively acceptable, who knows (can't judge my own stuff).

My proposal is as follows:

 - You script my adventure game for me to my specifications, with communication back and forth, and I will take your ideas into account, but I will have the last say on everything. I will treat you kindly and in a friendly manner, but it is my project, so what I want and say, goes. My logic rules the project, but the main goal IS to make the player to have fun, feel good and excited and all that, so I am always open to ideas and if my ideas are unacceptable or can't be made to work, that is perfectly acceptable just as well.

I want us to have FUN with this project, so it's not gonna be any kind of sweaty thing, I want you to also be excited about being able to bring a game like this into existence to delight generations to come.

 - I will then do the same for you graphically/musically/aurally, within my limitations, of course. I can't make MIDI stuff, but I can give you mp3s of real Yamaha chip-generated music and SID (and other methods)-generated sound effects for YOUR project. I think it's fair if it's one project per one project - so you help me create my game, I help you create yours, we're even. Anything more we can then negotiate separately, I would not mind if we make multiple projects this way, it would probably be exquisite fun!

Some caveats!

 There are things I won't do, things I might have to be heavily persuaded to do and so on. If I think what you are planning is stupid, it's hard to find motivation to keep going (happened in the past..)

 There are things I don't know HOW to do, and might not be able to learn. I can't do MIDI stuff, so what you get from me is GIFs, BMPs (MAYBE PNGs), mp3s and maybe WAVs, and that's about it. Anything else is going to be a struggle, impossibility or a negotiation at least.

Some other points..

 - I think we can negotiate through difficulties, I like to think I am flexible, but I also have very strict walls, beyond which I just won't go, no matter what. Anything 'wrong', 'unjust' and 'unethical' would be good examples.

 - ANYTHING political and you can just find someone else immediately. I won't do politics of ANY KIND for ANY REASON.

 - Any 'message' can go to the toilet right away. Just stop. No messages. Just FUN GAME, ok?

- I will work very hard and endeavour to flow my finest self into any project I am involved with, I won't give you anything I am not pleased with, I am not going to be lazy about it. I will prioritize quality whenever I can, and give you the best stuff I possibly can.

 - As soon as we both agree that we could at least try to work together, I will be glad to give you a gallery of my graphics so you can decide if I am good enough for your project. Mind you, I am best at Commodore 64 format (16 fixed colors, 160x200 or 160x240 (I don't mind, which) resolution), and have worked a long time with 160x200 and 160x240 resolutions, but I will be glad to use more colors than 16 or even less!

 (I have dabbled a bit also in 320x240 and 320x200 Monochrome, which means only two colors, black and white, and trying to make things look good by just dithering a lot - like old Macintoshes used to do it)

Sometimes I have tried weird techniques, like making some 'gradient sky' with some 'painting package', then converting that to 160x240 and editing it down and using 256 colors with it - the results are sometimes pretty ticklish!

So, if any of this sounds good, please contact me and maybe we can give it a try..

I will be glad to send you materials of many kinds, from my pen drawings of the concepts and such, to my AGS project that technically works and is 'completeable', but consists only of a few rooms, so it's extremely tiny, but still gives a bit of a 'taste' and easy understanding of what I am trying to do (you just have to multiply the scale in your mind to about 20 to 50 rooms instead of a few and so on)

I would love to just casually, with no time limits or such, try to see what we could come up with together.

There is the idea of just making a 'test game' first, it could consist of maybe 5 to 7 rooms or maybe even 10, just to see if our collaboration works.. so if it does, then it should be easy to expand that to 20 or 50 rooms, right? (Not easy as in toil, but in concept)

I have lots of ideas, so it's frustrating to not be able to express them.

Oh, I have also made unrelated 'demos', which are small 2D 'stories' with just programming in basic (easier than scripting, let me tell ya!). They also showcase my music, graphics, animations, sound effects and so on, so I would be glad to share those as well if you choose to accept this mission.

One more point - I want everything to be 'casual' instead of 'achievement-oriented', so no deadlines or anything too strict, absolutely no money, nothing 'corporate' or suffocating - just free-flowing creative fun and such. I would like to have a very uplifting creative environment, in the style of the old Atari corporation, where they didn't even have to wear shoes and so on.

I am seeking that kind of relaxed atmosphere, where we can just brainstorm things freely and see what happens when we conk our heads together and come up with ideas that we then manifest into reality.

Feel free to ask questions and whatnot, I appreciate your contributions, whatever they may be.

The only real requirement is that you are actually able to script better than me, and can bring this dream into reality before I depart this world, and can accept my limitations as well.

Within those constraints, I plan to work as hard for you as you are willing to work for me, so in the end, it's all going to be equal.

Thank you for your time, and I wish you a fun summer regardless!

Sincerely,

 - Schedina