Thanks man. I don't have a website, but perhaps link through to this thread?
TabloidReporter
The next game on my list is FALLOUT New Vegas, but after I'm sure ill be in the mood for some retro gaming. Ive got Sanitarium on the top of that list. "But I like the look of the game...very haunting. And if you need voice work at some point down the road, I'd love to help. Story work and voice acting I love...it's all the practical programming and art aspects I have trouble with." Ill definitely be taking you up on that! I'm just doing quick scratch voices with my own voice, but getting some different voices in (that aren't mine!) is something I wanna get to when I'm further in production.
Nothing graphically going on so far. Ive been heading back to the 'ol pen and paper, and have been spending some time working out the puzzles. I dont want them to just be 'puzzles for the sake of puzzles', but want them to have a logical reason for being in the game...a logical reason for the working the way they do. Puzzles in the game shouldn't take you out of the game-but suck you in.
So far, the puzzles I have come up with are pretty snazzy (I think at least!), and fit really well in the game world. I'm almost going at it backwards, with designing the levels, and then designing the puzzles to fit into the levels. But I think that if people wanted 'puzzle games', they would play puzzle games...adventure games are about the world, the 'feel' of the environment, the story...I think that puzzles shouldn't 'feel' like puzzles. They should feel like things that the character does in the world to move forward. For example, a sliding puzzle (where you make a picture) should never appear in a game where it doesn't make sense to have one. Why would someone build a lock that could only be unlocked by sliding some pieces to form a picture. BUT, you could modify a sliding puzzle to be a puzzle that required you to re-wire a keypad.
Im also a fan of having to use a pen and paper and take notes during adventure games, so Im trying to incorporate the 'need' to write things down to complete some puzzles. A combination, or a circuit drawing, or something.
But Im rambling on here! Time to get back to the grindstone.
And mazes...they should be banned from adventure gaming!
Didnt get tons done this weekend, as I was away in the mountains:
HOWEVER! I did manage to get the inventory up and running. Instead of having a 'backpack' or something, Maracheck uses something called a HSD...a Hyper Storage Device. This device can demolecularize any item (assuming it has a certain mass), store it, and remolecularize it whenever it is needed. Some nerdy sci-fi'ness for what is essentially a backpack.
Game-wise its a normal inventory, but it has a really cool 'opening' animation, where it opens up and the inventory is holographically displayed. Havent added in the items yet, but the inventory 'opening' and 'closing' works perfectly.
Worked more on the look of the hologram. The previous version was a little chunky, and didnt quite have that sleek techno feel to it. So I added tons of crap to it.
this is absolutely impressive! Can't remember when the last time I have seen such a well designed isometric perspective game. And the first adventure I know since the wonderful Sanitarium.
Really great stuff, also your new hologram inventory.
(Seems it's worth to visit the english forum frequently ... . Shame on me. )