Adventure Gamers - Forums

I am also at Cobolt-5 and ready to go.

Sefir - 17 November 2015 05:00 AM

It is just one day before the deadline. So how is everyone doing?

Have you managed to defeat the thief yet, or he is too tough for you? 

I’ve managed to defeat him. Thank god my notes from before were good. I retrieved the password rather quickly and entered it correctly on the first try! Yay for deciphering Anterran!

I’m now trying to solve the coloured balls. I’ve found three coloured balloons on Keppler, so I’m thinking they’re relevant. I’m still looking for the fourth.

Should have some more time this evening. The Autumn AG Challenge is no longer killing me.

Congrats everyone! You have almost finished the journey! I would like to say that there are 2 possible endings in ASA (a few more if we admit the gameovers as endings - like being killed by the thief for example!). So get ready for the next and last stage

Becky, thank you very much for your kind words about the music. I love the work of Stélian Derenne for ASA. It is probably not perfect (does perfection exist?) and might not please everyone (matter of tastes), but he really worked hard and for free. He now receives a % of the sales of the game, which is only a small reward.
It was probably very difficult for him to compose the soundtrack, because of his fulltime job, and because he had no idea what the game would look like in the end. Indeed during the creation process, I sent him a document with pictures of the game and descriptions, but he didn’t have the opportunity to play ASA while working on the OST. He had to rely on his imagination (and my obscure explanations) to compose the tracks!

Stélian is a music composer from Belgium who also works on sound design (he is behind the sound effects in ASA of course). He is part of the Karreo group who supports music-related artists (karreo.com). You can watch (and listen) to Stélian’s Music Showreel from 2014 here:

I would like to invite you to listen to the ASA OST in streaming on bandcamp:
http://karreo.bandcamp.com/album/a-space-adventure-asa
There is no big risk of spoil now.
Please leave a comment if you like it!

My favorite tracks in ASA are probably the main theme (A Space Journey) and Kepler (Odd Arrival), but there are several others that I find excellent in the game. I think the main issue with the soundtrack is the fact that the music loops endlessly, which is sometimes boring when you’re stuck with a puzzle. But this is a problem with ASA, not with the work of Stélian

I have been working several times with Stélian in the past. Here’s a selection of the things we did:

- soundtrack of 2011: A Space Adventure (spoilers inside the film!) and ASA game
- Think I Don’t, music video for Stélian’s album ODES:

- The Congolease, cooperation with an association:

- Ecosystem, short film from 2008:

and I also made the CD covers for his albums ECGOS and ODES.

I think it’s a good example of cooperation, and a good way to help each other! Stélian has also worked (with other composers from Karreo) on the soundtrack of my next game Catyph.

You can learn more about Stélian Derenne and his other works on his website: http://www.stelian.be
Enjoy!

TimovieMan - 18 November 2015 12:05 PM

I’m now trying to solve the coloured balls. I’ve found three coloured balloons on Keppler, so I’m thinking they’re relevant. I’m still looking for the fourth.

Didn’t find a fourth balloon, so I just brute-forced it. Took only two attempts.

I’ve now reached the Cobalt-5 coordinates. If Cobalt-5 is a satellite, at least. Haven’t gone outside yet.



Is it me, or was the thief’s walk towards us rather awkward (especially compared to the first cutscene in the game)?

TimovieMan - 18 November 2015 04:41 PM

Is it me, or was the thief’s walk towards us rather awkward (especially compared to the first cutscene in the game)?

This is probably more a problem of animation. Animating 3D characters is quite difficult and requires good skills that I still don’t have, unfortunately (but I don’t give up). I’m not as good as the guys from Pixar, if you see what I mean
The best, when working with humans, would be to have a studio of motion capture at home. Well, I say it as a joke because motion capture is still something for the industry, but in fact it is possible to tinker self-made motion capture at home already, using a Kinect and the good softwares, and I will definetely have a look at this possibility someday!

In ASA and Catyph the characters are animated by hand like puppets.
How does it work? When the 3D model of a character is done (using the box modeling technique introduced earlier), the character still cannot move. You need to link it with a tool named “biped” (in 3dsmax). The biped looks like the skeleton of the character, but in fact it is both the skeleton + his mucles somehow, and it is what allows the character to move and be animated.
Then we use the 3dsmax timeline to place keyframes that will define the main poses of the character.

You can see a video that shows the biped and an example of handmade animation here:

Jump directly around 12:00 to see the biped in movement.
I would like to say that it is quite a difficult exercise that needs a lot of observation and imagination to decompose the full movement with its intermediate poses. Most 3D animators need time and experiment to get a good skill.

Sefir - 18 November 2015 06:15 PM

Fourth Baloon (No5), Colour Purple. That’s the only one that you actually need to go outside the Ark to find it and it is most likely that many of us have already found before. It is in the water, to the end of the village.

I missed this one. And actually, I was looking for balloon No3, not No5. Does No3 not exist?

Simon_ASA - 19 November 2015 05:21 AM

I would like to say that it is quite a difficult exercise that needs a lot of observation and imagination to decompose the full movement with its intermediate poses. Most 3D animators need time and experiment to get a good skill.

Well, as long as you see him approach you from the front, the animation is fine (which is probably why it looked good in the opening cutscene). It’s just when you see it from the side (when he walks from the left of the screen to the center) that it’s a bit more awkward.

Nothing gamebreaking, and I understand the difficulty in achieving a good motion. It’s just that it came across as a little jarring considering the photorealism everywhere else.
Like I’m expecting FMV or something…

TimovieMan - 19 November 2015 06:14 AM

Does No3 not exist?

Indeed!

TimovieMan - 19 November 2015 06:14 AM

It’s just when you see it from the side that it’s a bit more awkward.

Yes I know…   I wanted him to look surprised to see you enter this room and act as such… as if he didn’t believe that you would come so far.

Good luck everyone, and I hope you’ll enjoy the end of ASA.
I’ll be right here if you have questions.

I take this opportunity to share one of my favorite Fanarts of ASA, illustrated and watercolored by my friends at the Atelier Sentô. If you never heard of them before, and if you’re a true adventurer, you might want to learn more about their work full of inspiration, and their game in development The Coral Cave.

In ASA and Catyph the characters are animated by hand like puppets.

To tell you the truth, for an indie, I found the animations to be quite good, and quite enjoyable to watch.

I do hope you consider an android release, with some minor changes this marvelous game would see a wider audience.

Simon_ASA - 20 November 2015 08:23 AM

I take this opportunity to share one of my favorite Fanarts of ASA, illustrated and watercolored by my friends at the Atelier Sentô.

I first saw the picture, and immediately thought “that looks like those guys that are doing The Coral Cave”. Seems I was right.

Very recognizable style, and great skill and artistry!