Hi, me and SupSuper are making a 2D point-n-click adventure game in the style of classic old-school games like The Secret of Monkey Island and Kryandia games. I'm doing the writing for it (puzzles, characters, dialogue, plot) that kind of thing and Sup's going to program it with AGS (adventure game studio) but we still need more people to join the team. Here's what we need...

1. Artist/s - obviously for this game to work, we need artwork. someone who enjoys creating art and would like to be part of a team to make a fun game that the world can enjoy. Here's what you'd be drawing -

"Backgrounds: stupidly detailed full-screen art usually void of animation
Characters: simple pixel art with stupidly large amounts of animation
Objects: possibly detailed art with 2 states: in-game image and inventory image
Misc: other crap which have various states but aren't objects. eg. switches, lights, etc.
Cut-Scenes: Giant static images, conveying EMOTIONS and MOOD, possibly also some anim
the UI: because AGS' standard UI is just plain ugly"

If you'd like to have a go at one of these aspects but not all (so for example, the characters) then that's fine too. Just let us know.

2. Music & Sound - Not as crucial as the artwork, this helps to establish mood and bring the game to life. In order to keep file sizes down and to keep with the retro feel, music would preferably be in MIDI format. Anyone who thinks they could help with this, please let us know.

That's about it, for now. We'll also be working on a website for the game that will have details of the game, the staff, a developer's diary (possibly), screenshots and the game itself when it's done. If anyone can provide free webspace for that then we'd be very grateful.

Thanks for reading

Hi, me and SupSuper are making a 2D point-n-click adventure game in the style of classic old-school games like The Secret of Monkey Island and Kryandia games.
Awesome.
I'm doing the writing for it (puzzles, characters, dialogue, plot) that kind of thing
Will you be doing all the writing? I'd be more than willing to contribute in that regard.
"Backgrounds: stupidly detailed full-screen art usually void of animation
Won't these have to be pixellated as well?
Cut-Scenes: Giant static images, conveying EMOTIONS and MOOD, possibly also some animI don't understand, can you clarify?
2. Music & Sound - Not as crucial as the artwork, this helps to establish mood and bring the game to life. In order to keep file sizes down and to keep with the retro feel, music would preferably be in MIDI format. Anyone who thinks they could help with this, please let us know.
I'd imagine Paul or Liam might be willing to help you with that.

Anyway, I'd love to help out with the graphics, but I'm not skilled at all in terms of pixel art. I could help out with UI, but it couldn't be pixellated and might look funky.

Yeah, i could probably put together some music, not doing much else at the moment. Just tell me the setting of the game (era etc), and what moods you want to convey.

Won't these have to be pixellated as well?not really. it helps to make the important things stand out from the background.
also, whatever you draw will look pixelly, since classic adventure games use a 320x200 resolution, which is displayed with twice its size on screen.
I don't understand, can you clarify?you know, cut-scenes. cinematics, movies, etc.

Well, I could probably do some backgrounds then. What do you need?

The only way I can help is thinking of creative story lines and such. Euan remember when we teamed up and were going to produce that Kingdom Jones game?

Also, I think you mean Kyrandia :p

Also, I think you mean Kyrandia :p
Err... Isn't that what he just said?

Err... Isn't that what he just said?

He said Kryandia, I said Kyrandia ;)

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/legend-of-kyrandia

If you don't have anyone to character designs I'd be glad to help.

I'm probably not going to be much good withthe actual sprites but I could do some static images for cut scenes.

As K^2 can't post here:

<insert rant about not using C++ here>

;)

Hi, all. Thanks for your interest and offers of help. Design stuff is still in progress and I'll get back to you when the main part's done. Again, thanks for the support. :)

I'll have a crack at some music, although as with Liam I'll need to know the mood, era, etc.

Bear in mind though that most of my music ends up sounding like it's from a platform game (Just as well your previous effort was a platform game then :D). Although there are a few slower, more dramatic pieces in the pipeline that I could tweak out.

On the subject, I've always been rather fond of this tune, and I was a little sad it didn't make the final cut of SW2. Is it appropriate at all, and if so any chance of it getting in?

Yeah, I could have a go at some music, as that's my *thing* apparently. I might be able to knock together some sound effects too...

ok, to start you artists off, here's Mad's description on the first "room":
Background: Roman Baths, with white pillars on the outside of the pool.
out of it, i made this basic (crummy :p) concept art.

now let's see what you aritsts make of this. feel free to spice it up or do any changes you find necessary. the picture must be 320x200. also, there'll be 3 characters in the pool so it needs to be big enough and in a good perspective for them to be visible.

I'd volunteer for some of the cut-scene stuff, except I'm not all that good at adding ridiculous amounts of detail for close-ups. If only we could get Shmorky in for that. :p However, as a tip to all involved, it seems like it would be possible to just do most of the stuff in any drawing program and then pixelate it using Photoshop. Looky here: http://www.deviantart.com/view/10335526/?offset=75 Gives it that Monkey Island 3 feel, don't you think?

Edit: One thing I am pretty good at is single-frame expressions and body language, if that would come in useful for anybody.

ok, to start you artists off, here's Mad's description on the first "room":
Background: Roman Baths, with white pillars on the outside of the pool.
out of it, i made this basic (crummy :p) concept art.

now let's see what you aritsts make of this. feel free to spice it up or do any changes you find necessary. the picture must be 320x200. also, there'll be 3 characters in the pool so it needs to be big enough and in a good perspective for them to be visible.I don't have much idea what Roman music sounded like. On the other hand, for some reason a sort of reggae-style tune seems appropriate to me there (Probably all that water. I just have this silly image in my head of Roman nobles on lilos, now)

Woah, ancient Roman music! I only know as far back as the Rennaisance off hand, i'll have to do some research on this. What kind of mood do we have in this Roman bath scene? Relaxation? Humour? Battle?

::Edit::
Paul: http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/muse/

well, since you music artists seem more eager to work than the graphic artists, here:
Music: Classical style, tranquil.

and for you graphic artists: your work doesn't HAVE to be pixelly. whatever you draw will look pixelly nontheless since in full-screen mode, it'll all be displayed with double its original size. so if you start off pixelly, it'll look even more pixelly.
just look at how graphics are done on popular retro adventure games. Sierra games (Space, King's, Police Quest; Leisure Suit Larry), Lucasarts games (Monkey Island, Loom, Sam & Max), Legend of Kyrandia, etc. or even free adventure games (http://www.bigbluecup.com/games.php), those will give you a good idea too. if all of those don't give you a good idea, i don't know what will :confused:

well, since you music artists seem more eager to work than the graphic artists, here:
Music: Classical style, tranquil.*listens to what he's got so far*. Well, it's fairly tranquil, at least. Perhaps you'd better have a listen.

Paul: http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/muse/Oh. No steel drums then ;).

you music artists seem more eager to work than the graphic artists
Not so. I'm working on one right now.

By the way, where's Mocoworm? We could really use him on a project like this.

Just a question, is the background image suposed to scroll around? Or It'll be static as it is?

Paul, what do you use to make that. That's vey good!

Paul, what do you use to make that. That's vey good!
Yes, vey vey good.

Just a question, is the background image suposed to scroll around? Or It'll be static as it is?it'll be static. most backgrounds should be that way unless mentioned otherwise.

Paul, what do you use to make that. That's vey good!Just DirectMusic Producer 7. The "seashore" sound is part of the General MIDI set.

Paul, put the steel drums on the off-beat rather than on the beat and keep them in throughout. It'll have a really nice Reggae feel to it ;).

::Edit::
Like this:

Paul, put the steel drums on the off-beat rather than on the beat and keep them in throughout. It'll have a really nice Reggae feel to it ;).

::Edit::
Like this:I dunno, listening to that it kind of messes up in the bit with the harpsichord.

Besides, I've just finished writing the whole thing.

I'll fiddle about with it a bit if you want, though.

EDIT: 2 is without the offbeat steel drums, 3 has them. I'm not too keen on overlaying the steel drums with the harpsichord, though, so I've left that out. Choose which you think sounds better.

Move the entire steel drum track a bar later in the offbeat one, it's doing the chord progression too early. I think it sounds ok with the harpsichord personally.

Move the entire steel drum track a bar later in the offbeat one, it's doing the chord progression too early. I think it sounds ok with the harpsichord personally.I see what you mean now. I know what I did. I moved the steel drum track forward half a beat, when it should have been back half a beat. It makes the harpsichord bit sound better now, too.

How about this?

Well, seing as you did a happy, jolly piece i decided to go for a more sombre mysterious sounding one.

Well, seing as you did a happy, jolly pieceBear in mind my previous comment about all my music sounding like it comes straight from a platform game ;). 95% of my musical influence that doesn't come from my parents comes from computer games and TV theme tunes. A lot of my musical knowledge comes from opening up Sonic MIDIs to see what makes them tick. My weak points are 1) atmosphere and 2) melodies (If I have to bash out a melody, it's typically a case of looking at the chord progression and the rhythm, factoring in a certain degree of randomness, and sticking with something when it sounds good).

Having said that, there's a lovely, atmospheric piece of music I once started writing that ground to a halt when I couldn't think of a decent melody for it. I'll fish it out of DMP7 for you to have a look at and see if you can recommend anything.

EDIT: <Babs from Chicken Run>Bingo!</Babs>

UPDATE

Okay, I've been doing a lot of design work but here's some details as to where we stand...

The game is set across 6 time periods and various countries and characters with a large plot running throughout the game and mini-plots in each of the time periods. I am currently designing the 2nd time period section and programming work has begun with SupSuper having already programmed the first section (with placeholder graphics).

Paul's tune was used for the bath section while M3ntal's was used for the two screens that followed that. For you musicly inclined people, we need two music tracks for the 19th century manor house (one for upstairs and one for downstairs). There should be a classical feel to the music but without sounding too dramatic (think Mozart, Beethoven and the rest of those guys) with the ground floor music sounding more cheerful and the upstairs music sounding a bit more mysterious.

If anyone has any art for the roman bath scene that'd be great. Also, it'd look better if it had the left and right sides of the bath drawn in (I know that Sup's concept didn't show that so I thought I'd mention it)

also, here's abackground tutorial i found for you artists: http://www.hot.ee/increator/draw.htm

For you musicly inclined people, we need two music tracks for the 19th century manor house (one for upstairs and one for downstairs). There should be a classical feel to the music but without sounding too dramatic (think Mozart, Beethoven and the rest of those guys) with the ground floor music sounding more cheerful and the upstairs music sounding a bit more mysterious.
You want to take the ground floor Paul ;)?

Also, i'm dying to do something with the drum track for that last one you did, can i? can i?

::Edit::

I decided to start a string quartet, but MIDI orchestral instruments notoriously sound bad on most sound cards. Can a few people see how this sound on theirs?

I've included an MP3 of how it sounds on mine (ie how it should sound) for comparison.

http://katbox.iconrate.com/tunes/Game-2.zip

There should be a classical feel to the music but without sounding too dramatic (think Mozart, Beethoven and the rest of those guys)*points out that Beethoven was actually a very dramatic composer, belonging to the Romantic school of musical composition rather than the strictly classical one*

But I know what you mean.

You want to take the ground floor Paul ?Sounds good to me.

Also, i'm dying to do something with the drum track for that last one you did, can i? can i?Go ahead, knock yourself out :).

I decided to start a string quartet, but MIDI orchestral instruments notoriously sound bad on most sound cards. Can a few people see how this sound on theirs?

I've included an MP3 of how it sounds on mine (ie how it should sound) for comparison.

http://katbox.iconrate.com/tunes/Game-2.zipI see what you mean, there's one hell of a difference in sound quality using my sound card.

EDIT: Every time I attempt to compose a classical piece, I always have to try and drive Pachabel's Canon out of my head. Usually I fail. :rolleyes:

Today I finished scripting the first room of the 2nd time period.
Anyways, to provide as an incentive for you artists, here's a screenie. The placeholder art you see is all drawn by me (except the characters, that's included with AGS). Anyways, if nobody gets any art done, that placeholder art will become permanent art. Now do you want to play game that looks that bad. Do you? DO YOU?!? Thought so. :p

Every time I attempt to compose a classical piece, I always have to try and drive Pachabel's Canon out of my head. Usually I fail. :rolleyes:
Heh, the bane of many a composition - thinking you've created a really cool new piece, then realising you subconciously nicked parts of other tunes. I've made a fair few myself that friends have commented "hey, isn't that the riff from..." and i hadn't even noticed ;). Check out Fury from my website (http://katbox.iconrate.com/tunes) then listen to Mysterious Times by Sash, and you might realise they have the same chord progression and very similar synth lines. I figured i could get away with that one because they are still different enough, but i've had to bin at least 10 compositions due to this very annoying phenomenon in the past.

::Edit::
Go ahead, knock yourself out :).

Heh, the bane of many a composition - thinking you've created a really cool new piece, then realising you subconciously nicked parts of other tunes. I've made a fair few myself that friends have commented "hey, isn't that the riff from..." and i hadn't even noticed ;). Check out Fury from my website (http://katbox.iconrate.com/tunes) then listen to Mysterious Times by Sash, and you might realise they have the same chord progression and very similar synth lines. I figured i could get away with that one because they are still different enough, but i've had to bin at least 10 compositions due to this very annoying phenomenon in the past.I have to admit, it doesn't bother me overly. I accept that musically I'm not a very original composer. On the subject of chord progressions, Flying High (in all its many, many versions, from when it was still known as "Star Worms B" and lived on level 7 of Star Worms II to the two versions here (http://bootcamp.keenspace.com/other.html)), which I'd still argue is the best thing I've ever done, is based on the chord progression of Let Me Entertain You.

I've always thought unoriginality is a little bit underrated myself (Just as well, when I have a music collection featuring Oasis, Dire Straits and heaps upon heaps of computer game music). A good chord progression (for example) is usually still a good chord progression after using it for something else, is my philosophy. I'll admit that it's not exactly wonderful artistic integrity, but I reckon I'm unlikely to steal anyone's limelight when my main aim is just a bit of fun.

Having said all that, I do want to try and avoid PCS (Pachabel's Canon Syndrome) this time.

::Edit::

Nice drums :).

Well, seing as you did a happy, jolly piece i decided to go for a more sombre mysterious sounding one.
Isn't it a bit... Arabic?

Isn't it a bit... Arabic?Between us, we're almost on the right longitude ;).

Yeah, Roman music is very Egyptian in style. The Romans kind of took over where the Egyptians left off, so as a result a lot of their music and instrumentation is very similar.

Funnily enough, most Roman music was written by the Greeks.

Meh, the Romans got most of their culture from the Greeks. The Romans were essentially barbaric.

So were the Greeks. So were most of the cultures around at the time. They may have been civilised in some ways, but were barbaric in many others. We're a lot better nowadays although there's still a high degree of barbarism around now.

And yes, I know a lot about the greeks and romans as I studied Classical Civilisation at A-Level.

Meh, the Romans got most of their culture from the Greeks. The Romans were essentially barbaric.So were the Greeks.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you don't know what the word "barbarian" originally meant.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you don't know what the word "barbarian" originally meant.
Referring to the Barbary Coast, is it not?

Referring to the Barbary Coast, is it not?
It is indeed not.

It's an ancient Greek word used to describe anyone other than Greeks.

In fact it derives from an imitation of their speech, which supposedly went "bar bar bar bar".

So were the Greeks. So were most of the cultures around at the time. They may have been civilised in some ways, but were barbaric in many others. We're a lot better nowadays although there's still a high degree of barbarism around now.

And yes, I know a lot about the greeks and romans as I studied Classical Civilisation at A-Level.

Well yes, but the Romans really didn't have any culture. They just took it all from the Greeks. The Greeks at least developed their own unique culture.


It is indeed not.

It's an ancient Greek word used to describe anyone other than Greeks.

In fact it derives from an imitation of their speech, which supposedly went "bar bar bar bar".

Oh yeah. I remember that from last year, but I was using in the way most people incorrectly use it.:p

In fact it derives from an imitation of their speech, which supposedly went "bar bar bar bar".

Yeah, I did know that (from Classical Civilisation, again) but I'd forgotten about it.

Well yes, but the Romans really didn't have any culture. They just took it all from the Greeks. The Greeks at least developed their own unique culture.

But they had a distinctive political system... a distinctive political system that was doomed to failure, but distinctive nonetheless.

I just like to say "The Greeks were philosophers; the Romans were engineers" - with the good and bad points implied by each - and leave it there.

Just to show this isn't dead: We finally got a background artist!

We still need character artists though. Somene, anyone, pleeeeeeease.

I could give it a go if you want.

Just to show this isn't dead: We finally got a background artist!
Sex. Who did that?

Sex. Who did that?

Lots of people, since the dawn of time, FutureWorm. Lots of people did that.

*runs for cover*

And by the way, philby, Sup'll send you the design docs and we'll see what you can do! :)

And by the way, philby, Sup'll send you the design docs and we'll see what you can do! :)Send them? I'm lazy, I'll just post them.

The only restriction is that you keep the characters to scale with the room backgrounds (obviously). You can use the only one we got above.

current progress-

The main character (at least I presume so, as he's got tons of sprites :eek: )

His head, with many expressions, is complete.
His standing still body is half done.

The head is quite large compared to the body, but that's the only way I could do it without making him taller than the doors, or else have no room for expression. :p

Quick question, The three people in the pool don't have their togas (I presume the second and third have togas as well, as no clothes where given) on while they're in there do they?

The sprites in the attachment are at x2 their actual size, if you haven't gathered that already

current progress-

The main character (at least I presume so, as he's got tons of sprites :eek: )

His head, with many expressions, is complete.
His standing still body is half done.

The head is quite large compared to the body, but that's the only way I could do it without making him taller than the doors, or else have no room for expression. :p

Quick question, The three people in the pool don't have their togas (I presume the second and third have togas as well, as no clothes where given) on while they're in there do they?

The sprites in the attachment are at x2 their actual size, if you haven't gathered that alreadyHe's not the main character, he's one of them. He's a player character though, if that's what you meant :p

They're not "tons of sprites", it's just Standing, Talking and Walking. I just decided to be specific on what directions and such would be needed to avoid unnecessary work.

And nope the people don't have togas while in the pool. That's why the two other people in the pool don't have clothes description since you'll only see them in the pool.

Anyways, very nice work, keep it up :)

double post edit

Also, I decided to show here some screenies which we showed on the AGS Forums but the thread was closed because apparently "art is what matters" and since the art shown is placeholder art, it doesn't matter. Hopefully you'll ignore the art and look at what counts ;)

Captions:
legacy1.gif - Lots of crazy responses!
legacy2.gif - When we say "responses to every interaction", we mean it.
legacy3.gif - No boring grey dialogs here. Completely remade UI.

Fine then, he's got tons of sprites compared to the other characters. :p

sorry, when I read "Half-Visible Looking Right (inside pool): Standing, Talking" I didn't register the colon. I thought you wanted them in the pool and standing out side the pool.

Btw, by tradesman do you mean that as in builder/carpenter/electrician or as in a man who trades goods?

Btw, by tradesman do you mean that as in builder/carpenter/electrician or as in a man who trades goods?"more like a person who trades goods at markets" - Worm Mad

I think we can take them. (http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=26214)



Edit: Well, I say "we". Obviously I personally have contributed nothing.

The fact that superblob didn't realize that the sprites would need to walk up and down as well as left and right does not inspire me with confidence. :p

The fact that superblob didn't realize that the sprites would need to walk up and down as well as left and right does not inspire me with confidence. :pActually that was jerms.

*Long time away from the forum
*Tried to read all of the posts on this, but should say I failed to aquire all that's written here....
*Anyway, I'm listening to the music samples posted.
*If I make an attempt, will it be considered? I have some pieces written in MIDI.

Erm... *ashamed*
May I help?

Since Mad is permanently gone from the forums...

*SUDDEN RESSURECTION OF DOOM*

To sum it up:
- We still need backgrounds. (our background artist mysteriously disappeared)
- We still need characters.
- We still need music.