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Old 06-09-2007, 08:28 AM   #41
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The backgrounds do look a lot nicer now. Good work by the current colorist! I also applaud your final choice of character art style. She looks excellent. Any chance we could have a look at Jake himself? I take it you've sorted out the scale issues with the characters that you reported on in one of the early installments of Adventure Architect?

I would offer that scrolling backgrounds are generally a pain, and that the constant panning as you walk around makes it difficult to appreciate either the backgrounds or the animations. My recommendation would be to go with something like the Monkey Island-style scrolling, where the camera is fixed while you're on one screen, and only scrolls over to the next one when you walk to the edge of the screen. You get the sense of one connected scene without the constant movement.
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Old 06-09-2007, 08:39 AM   #42
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I also applaud your final choice of character art style. She looks excellent. Any chance we could have a look at Jake himself?
Yes, but I'm going to save Jake's big coming out party for the final Adventure Architect installment.... I figured Jackal would like to have at least *something* new just for that article.
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Old 06-09-2007, 08:39 AM   #43
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My recommendation would be to go with something like the Monkey Island-style scrolling, where the camera is fixed while you're on one screen, and only scrolls over to the next one when you walk to the edge of the screen. You get the sense of one connected scene without the constant movement.
That sounds more like the scrolling in Sierra games, actually, in which the "camera" moved over by a full screen's width very rapidly when a character got to the edge. Of course, that was actually a result of the fact that SCI1 didn't allow rooms bigger than 320x200, so two separate screens would be joined by this fake scrolling.

LucasArts games' scrolling was rather good in that they didn't scroll when your character was walking in the middle of the screen, but only when he approached the edge. Still, they did have very wide single screens, impossible in SCI. Plus they scrolled rather slowly, unlike Sierra games in which the screen-scrolling could give you whiplash!

It seems to be rather a fault of the AGS engine that large rooms start scrolling when the character is in the middle of the screen--as you said, SCUMM rooms only scrolled when the character was on the margin. Not something that I think is easily fixable, unfortunately.
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Old 06-09-2007, 05:23 PM   #44
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It seems to be rather a fault of the AGS engine that large rooms start scrolling when the character is in the middle of the screen--as you said, SCUMM rooms only scrolled when the character was on the margin. Not something that I think is easily fixable, unfortunately.
That was something with LA games that tripped me up a couple of times. In both Hit the Road and MI1, I missed an important section and stalled in the game because I didn't realize I could go to the next screen. It was probably more my fault because I didn't move Sam or Guybrush over far enough to see.

I'm slightly venting and making a case why scrolling screens are kind of nice sometimes.
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Old 06-09-2007, 05:37 PM   #45
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No, no, it wasn't your fault. I'd say it was poor design on their part.
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Old 06-10-2007, 12:41 AM   #46
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It seems to be rather a fault of the AGS engine that large rooms start scrolling when the character is in the middle of the screen--as you said, SCUMM rooms only scrolled when the character was on the margin. Not something that I think is easily fixable, unfortunately.
That's the default behaviour of AGS, but its not hard to script up manual "viewport" movement in exactly the way that one wants. Josh... if you need a hand with this, let me know (I feel a module coming on!)
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Old 06-10-2007, 07:07 AM   #47
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That sounds more like the scrolling in Sierra games, actually, in which the "camera" moved over by a full screen's width very rapidly when a character got to the edge. Of course, that was actually a result of the fact that SCI1 didn't allow rooms bigger than 320x200, so two separate screens would be joined by this fake scrolling.

LucasArts games' scrolling was rather good in that they didn't scroll when your character was walking in the middle of the screen, but only when he approached the edge. Still, they did have very wide single screens, impossible in SCI. Plus they scrolled rather slowly, unlike Sierra games in which the screen-scrolling could give you whiplash!

It seems to be rather a fault of the AGS engine that large rooms start scrolling when the character is in the middle of the screen--as you said, SCUMM rooms only scrolled when the character was on the margin. Not something that I think is easily fixable, unfortunately.
I just tested my memory against Monkey Island. When you get close to the edge of the screen, the scene pans quite rapidly over to bring you back to the middle of the screen, while the character keeps moving. Compared to this, Sierra-style scrolling has pros and cons. Exits can be easier to find, but if you hit the edge accidentally you have to go back to the previous screen, which can be more time-consuming. I think it's worth experimenting with different scroll modes (as SSH says, it shouldn't be too hard to code in AGS), such as an in-between solution where exiting to the right scrolls over to put the character at 1/3 from the left, and test whether some sort of scroll indication (e.g. cursor changes to an arrow at the edge of the screen) is helpful or just annoying.

The most important thing is to not go with the default scrolling in AGS, which is motion-sickness-inducing.
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Old 06-11-2007, 01:14 PM   #48
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The most important thing is to not go with the default scrolling in AGS, which is motion-sickness-inducing.
I'm curious if this is the general consensus. I personally have no issues with the default scrolling function, but I'm not particularly attached to it, either.
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Old 06-11-2007, 02:41 PM   #49
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Is it possible to make Jake Dawson gay?

What?

We need Brokeback Mountain 2.
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Old 06-12-2007, 03:44 AM   #50
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Is it possible to make Jake Dawson gay?
Hmmm. Since a big part of the story focuses on his romantic entanglement with a certain rival outlaw-cowgirl-treasure-hunter, Jake will have to remain closeted for the foreseeable future.
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Old 06-13-2007, 02:53 AM   #51
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Perhaps he's in denial...
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Old 06-20-2007, 08:32 AM   #52
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Here's the new Rattlesnake Jake theme music, which will accompany the intro/options screen when the game loads. I was looking for "Indiana Jones, but funnier and more cowboy-ish."

I think the composer, Jesse Hopkins, nailed it!

http://www.rattlesnakejake.com/rattl...jake_theme.mp3 (5 MB download)
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Old 06-24-2007, 08:03 AM   #53
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Haha, I like it! Gives me an Indiana Jones, a Back To The Future 3 and Cannibal: The Musical vibe! Awesome!
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Old 06-28-2007, 04:12 PM   #54
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That was something with LA games that tripped me up a couple of times. In both Hit the Road and MI1, I missed an important section and stalled in the game because I didn't realize I could go to the next screen. It was probably more my fault because I didn't move Sam or Guybrush over far enough to see.
The only game where I've ever completely missed a screen was in the first Discworld game. I remember I was walking around for ages getting completely frustrated, looking for the Archchancellor's office, because there was nothing that indicated to me I could go left at the top of the first flight of stairs, to find a new screen with the door.

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...a big part of the story focuses on his romantic entanglement with a certain rival outlaw-cowgirl-drag queen-treasure-hunter...
How's that? Transvestism was all the rage in the wild west, don'tcha know. In fact, Annie Oakley = Arnold Oakley, true story.


I love the background art for this game, it's really pretty.

*considers visiting the Underground forum more frequently than lone occasions when the moon is blue.*
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Old 07-31-2007, 06:25 PM   #55
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I'd like to introduce my new favorite character.... Burro!



And for those of you with Quicktime installed, here he is in action:
http://www.rattlesnakejake.com/burro_test.mov (right click to save to your desktop)

The cowboy in this little test movie isn't Jake, by the way. It's another character named Hawkeye, who has a very small role in episode one.
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Old 08-02-2007, 03:50 PM   #56
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Sweet!
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Old 09-02-2007, 05:07 AM   #57
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Default Rise of the Hidden Sun - minor update with new artwork

I apologize that the updates have started coming at a slower pace than before. I'm currently having some health issues that are taking their toll on me mentally and physically, so work on RotHS has slowed a bit as a result. But not stopped! I promise you that.

Anyway, here is the final colored version of a character many of you have seen before in sketch form. This jolly old guy is a prospector that Jake meets near the entrance of the haunted gold mine in episode one. He's a fountain of knowledge about local legends and Indian ghost tales.

This particular frame is the start of a song and dance routine (yes, really!) that Jake must endure before he can suss out some valuable info from the prospector.

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Old 09-02-2007, 09:44 AM   #58
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This particular frame is the start of a song and dance routine...
*perks up, excitedly*

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Old 09-03-2007, 07:00 PM   #59
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Stinky Pete strikes back!

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Old 09-24-2007, 05:51 AM   #60
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Stinky Pete strikes back!

Whoa, that's uncanny. (And unintentional!)

Anyway, here's something new to whet your collective appetites: The burro/donkey in action:

http://www.rattlesnakejake.com/donkey-wide.swf

(You need Flash to view it.)
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