Eric the Anteater [Release date announced]

[Anteater]

Introduction:
Eric the Anteater is a point and click adventure game (who would have guessed?) set in a surreal fantasy/sci-fi world. It will feature over 100 rooms and lots of puzzles.

Screen shots:








Story:
Eric is just a typical punk rocker/surfer dude/hippie who happens to have an alien spacecraft crash land right in front of him. What starts off as a close encounter becomes a lot more as Eric must transcend time and space,  attempt to rescue not one but two damsels in distress, and contend with an evil insect as he fights to save the universe...

Features:

• Tons of areas to explore, over 100 screens
• 800x600x32 graphics
• Seamless FMV
• BASS-style interface
• First- and third-person segments

Distribution:
Eric the Anteater will be shareware, but don't worry, the only thing the unregistered version will have is nag screens and such. The game will be fully playable; practically donationware.
The price to register the game will be $5.00 USD, probably through Paypal.

Release date:
February 10, 2009. I originally wanted it to be done by this month, but I was unable to.

One last thing:
I'm using lots of public-domain textures in my renderings. So, if you notice that some of the textures seem familiar, understand that I attained them legally and I did not plagiarize them.

All of the above is subject to last-minute change, but now that I'm almost done I'm pretty sure I've got everything straight.

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[Alarconte]

Character style remember me a lot of Little Big Adventure, Gorgeus games!

You say it get more than 100 rooms but... how progress you done?

[Baro]

Wow, that's really psichodelic. I love it.

[dirk delshire]

Ahh, the beauty of simple polygons. Hopefully you 'll have a great story to back them up. Good luck.

[Anteater]

Thank you for the positive feedback!

You say it get more than 100 rooms but... how progress you done?

I'm about 40% through the rooms' scripting. I've done 57 rooms so far, but several rooms will need to be expanded due to the story's progression.

[ambientcoffeecup]

Now it's Eric's job to rescue her, no matter what the cost.

No way!

I mean I appreciate this game is not trying to be a masterpiece of modern gaming literature but please pull a better one than that. Guy meets random person who mysteriously disappears with no foul play apparent yet HE MUST SAVE HER NO MATTER WHAT THE COST.

That's a crazy concept at best and I mean, you can have sweet-ass 3D rendered screens with great gameplay but I'm not going to touch it with a barge pole unless there is something that trumps the atrocious storyline like supremely awesome puzzle play.

On a lighter note however, because I don't want to be a dick about something that LOOKS good: You're screens are looking pretty sweet. I'm not a fan of the homecook 3D rendering, it always feels blocky and badly polished but you know, it looks as good as it can and is definitely on par with if not better than a lot of the old PS1 output.

[Anteater]

I mean I appreciate this game is not trying to be a masterpiece of modern gaming literature but please pull a better one than that. Guy meets random person who mysteriously disappears with no foul play apparent yet HE MUST SAVE HER NO MATTER WHAT THE COST.

The story is quite a bit more complicated then that; that's just the introduction to the story and a way to motivate Eric to actually do something besides eat pizza and play Double Dragon at the local arcade. I don't want to give away the main plot line.

[ambientcoffeecup]

Hey that's fine if it's true but up until just then we have to take your word for it because the Story section of your post seems pretty specific in that he tasks himself with the self-sacrificing rescue of a disappearing alien who he only just met (despite the fact a disappearing alien would not be the STRANGEST thing.)

[olafmoriarty]

Some people have what it takes to make a game without a very original story. Look at Mario, or the Zelda games. Both franchises use the same plot you're describing for Eric here: The hero has to go out in the world and save the maiden, and that's his only purpose in life. Also, both franchises are wildly popular.

However, the Mario/Zelda developers have a couple of things people like you and me don't have: fame, power, great story developers and swimming-pools full of money.

With great power comes great expectations, and that's why Zelda and Mario games still sell. I doubt anyone buys Zelda games for the thrill of saving a princess in need. We buy Zelda games either because we remember from past games that these games tend to be great, or because all the big game reviewers remember that, and therefore gives every new game in the franchise lots of attention, including long reviews often available before the game is released. And if these are positive, of course I'll give the game a go.

For all that I know, you may be the greatest game developer of all time. It's possible. But how am I supposed to know that unless you actually tell us what makes this game interesting? You don't have a big name, so you probably won't get bucketloads of reviews, and I assume you don't have that much of a marketing budget either. As long as the game is shareware I could download it and give it a play, of course, but that brings up two new problems. One: there are several new AGS games every week, and playing all of them would take tremendous amounts of time. Two: 32-bit, 800x600, hundred rooms? Sounds like one heck of a file size! Sorry, I'm not downloading something that big without being really intrigued by it. Some people may download this game for the graphics alone (they're fascinating), but I'm not one of them.

And I'm sorry to say so, but I have to agree with ambientcoffeecup on this one: "The hero has to rescue the girl no matter what the cost" isn't interesting enough.

I understand that you don't want to give away your main plot line, but I have a hunch that your game would gain on it if you gave away a little bit more. Of course, spoilers are unwanted, but if you tell us some parts of what makes your story unique, that would be a stronger encouragement to play it.

Look at the story descriptions of a couple of all-time AGS favorites: A cat burglar and a group of strangers is imprisened in a manor by some invisible intelligence. A young paranormal investigator goes to Scotland to investigate a murder of two children, and the villagers suspect it's the work of two witches. A fearsome pirate must investigate the mysterious disappearance of a fleet of birds. A ghoul girl must find a way to help her new goldfish to not die, though she has no real idea what life and death are. Twin private investigators in a town where everybody has superpowers must find a mysterious crystal. Et cetera, et cetera. All great examples of intriguing and interesting stories that really makes you want to download the game. Also, note that none of these descriptions spoil very much of what the game is about.

I guess what I'm trying to say with this way-too-long post is: Good luck with the game, but please remember that before people download and play your game, the plot is probably the most important aspect of the game, and the more intriguing and original it is, the more people will download it and give it a try. That goes for all games, but especially for games with very large file sizes. You may have awesome puzzles and amazing plot twists, but that doesn't really matter as long as you don't get people interested enough to actually download the game and try it. And having a good story is vital to achieve just that.

[Anteater]

Well, it seems I should update the story section of my post then.  Thank you for the very detailed response, olafmoriarty.

[ambientcoffeecup]

Sounds good pal.

[neon]

Hey! A game with a snowman. I love snowmen. Can't wait to download it. ;-)

[sergiocornaga]

Please finish this, I promise I will play it. The visual style reminds me of the "cutting-edge" 3D animation VHS tapes I used to watch as a child, often featuring characters constructed of simple shapes like yours is, with similar trippy scenery to yours- often with no explanation as to why at all.

I also like the story for some reason.

[Ghost]

Anteaters are my most favorite animal, with the possible exception of the giraffe, and I like these quirky cartoony style. It really brings back memories of when a 2x speed CD ROM was all the cutting edge, and I can't help but smiling when I see the little spiky dude.

Plus, surfer dudes are waaaaay coooool.

Best of luck, I'm really looking forward to this!

Only one little thing- I understand you're aiming for a simple, low-poly style there, but for an anteater, Eric has a surprisingly beak-like snout. I'd mistake him for a bird or hedgehog were it not for the title of the thread- but that's minor crits.