The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Remake(RELEASED)

[Dualnames]

16/5/08<()>
Well, Marvin talk. What do you think i should do.. Go with the movie version, go with the radio series version or make a new version?

I think the TV series is the best choice to go with.. Not quite sure what to do. We had a debate over this at the stickam room, but has lead to nowhere, apparently. So that's why with the post. Help me.
I'm feeling very depressed.

[Jared]

Well, I'm not any sort of uber-fan so I have no idea what you mean by the 'radio series' version - was the character slightly different? But in terms of design, I think the film version is brilliant, and it was how Douglas Adams wanted him to look - a robot that has been designed to look fun and happy, but carries itself in a very depressed and subdued manner.

[markbilly]

He should look like the TV series version. The film one was too "stylish" in my opinion, and didn't conform with the idea that Marvin hates everything about himself.

I agree that the film version looked suitably 'fun'. But it didn't look like it was trying so badly to look 'fun' that it was depressing - which is what the TV one does great.

No, seriously the TV series style or similar would be perfect. Plus, I can see you pulling that off well with your art style! He will be a square robot drawn in your 'never-square' style...

/ramble

[Arvhus Hoth]

Honestly speaking, Marvin just can't be like the movie, it just didn't fit in, he looked weird and not as comical, you kno with the attitude. You shud make an ordinary robot but put lots of character in it, thats Marvin's secret actually.

[yukonhorror]

In the thought of making him designed as happy, but obviously not.  His bottom is four wheels with the hubcaps as daisies.  His middle is a sphere of a big yellow smiley face not just  , but  , but the depression comes in his facial expression and his hunched over shoulders and his arms dragging (bad posture).  Also, he has to move REALLY slow.  Maybe have his arms sway like a gorilla when he walks cause he is to depressed to give them any support.  In addition, maybe have a crude scratch mark across the daisies and the smiley face as though marvin tried to scratch them out.  OOH I just had a thought, instead of a big yellow smiley and daisies, the wheels and his midsection can be the green little smiley they have on all of the books.  I think you know what I mean.

THe other way to go is to have it fit his personality and make him goth/emo.  How you make an emo/goth robot I don't know, but it's a thought.

But my original thought with this game was to make it original with respect to looks.  Even though your recreation of the movie Marvin looks very good, I say ditch it.  Or modify the crap out of it.  Smaller head, many bright colors, a permanent frown, etc...

[Dualnames]

I'll agree with most of you of ditching Marvin's movie looks. So I'll ditch it.
TV series must be then, I'll try and make an edit for Marvin and maybe post it so anybody can decide a little better. Till then carry on posting if any ideas of he should be like. Reference images accepted.

[yukonhorror]

SEMI OFFICIAL poll of the day. 

For those familiar with the original.  Should we add in the footnotes or not?  Those familar will know what I am talking about.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Have you played Discworld? Both DWI and DWII had those "footnotes". Arguably DWIII had them as well, but Lewton's noir-style voice-off-narration blended with them so well they're not really distinguishable.

DWI and DWII, particularly DWI, had a sort of off-story character, like a teacher, who "said" the contents of the footnotes while pointing to a blackboard. DWII merely used his voice-off at suitable times, i.e., to introduce the concept of the wandering store.

Something like this might work - not unlike the "guide" in the TV series, I recall it worked similarly. I remember that in DW, at least, it did not detract or move away from my gaming experience - I got to enjoy seeing that bald, spectacled guy.

[Cyrus]

Yes, that would be nice.

[Dualnames]

Wow, I'm making this game and I don't know what this is all about. So what exactly are footnotes? And what exactly are the footnotes in HHGTG? I've played DWIII but I can barely realise what are you talking about here.

EDIT: Made Trillian, and Marvin. Lucky bastards. I might start working on HOG some time soon.
Will post a teaser and a pick of all characters. And bic? Trillian is supa-sexy as you asked.

[Alarconte]

I don't remember discworld game's footnotes (I played DW1 and 2) (apart from What ocurrs to the people to walk in The Shadows xDDD), maybe some profund Displayed text when look?


But, in the terry pratchett books, footnotes are the BEST!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

When you went in the Shades before you had to go there, for instance, you got the "teacher/historian" telling you about the Shades being the place where curiosity not only killed the cat but also tied it's feet down and threw it in the river.

It's the perfect place to put these little tidbits which aren't *necessary* for the game but which make it so much fun!

[yukonhorror]

As for Gilliam, I loved the footnotes in Good Omens.  They were hilarious. 

Dualnames,

I thought you played the game (a bit).  During certain parts of the game (usually non-important), you would get the response but there would be (footnote 1) in parentheses next to the statement.  They were usually quite funny. But how to add them was something I wasn't sure about.  But having a cutscene with the guide opening up and saying what the foot note is could be fun.  Go to the BBC4 site referenced in the script file and you'll be able to read them all.  An example is:

Spoiler

when you listen to Hey Jude, it has a little blurb about the beatles in the footnotes.

[close]

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

As for Gilliam, I loved the footnotes in Good Omens.

Gaiman.

[Dualnames]

Actually I think this game would actually be half good without the footnotes. They're important and it's quite fun to watch even for me. The question would be.. do they blend enough or not?

[yukonhorror]

As for Gilliam, I loved the footnotes in Good Omens.

Gaiman.

actually pratchett

I get terry pratchett and terry gilliam mixed up a lot.

Neil Gaiman is funny too though.  It's hard to say who wrote what in that book.  Now if you could figure out how to make THAT book into a game, I would play it. 

As for footnotes, I think if you have a little blinking light or something then the player can click on it if he so chooses, or he can ignore it.  Make it the player's choice of whether or not it blends in.  It could be a subtle as a little word (footnote #1) flashing at the footnote moments or as explicit as the whole screen being filled with a decision box of whether or not the player would like to read the footnote. 

[GarageGothic]

Oh, definitely keep the footnotes. They're half the fun as Dualnames also said. But I think it would be a bit too intrusive to just cut to the Guide as they do in the TV series. What about having a little icon of the Guide itself flashing in the bottom corner of the screen whenever some topic is mentioned - similar to yukonhorror's suggestion? If you click on it, you get the footnote. In fact, you could have an in-game Guide where topics are added (unlocked) as you progress through the game, so you can always go back and read the stuff you skipped. SSH's Hypertext Module might be of use.

[Dualnames]

Oh, definitely keep the footnotes. They're half the fun as Dualnames also said. But I think it would be a bit too intrusive to just cut to the Guide as they do in the TV series. What about having a little icon of the Guide itself flashing in the bottom corner of the screen whenever some topic is mentioned - similar to yukonhorror's suggestion? If you click on it, you get the footnote. In fact, you could have an in-game Guide where topics are added (unlocked) as you progress through the game, so you can always go back and read the stuff you skipped. SSH's Hypertext Module might be of use.

The SSH hypertext module is already in use. And a version of the Guide as seen in the tv series exists. It's an inventory item and if you open it you get a text and an animation as well. I've managed to animate 21-46 entries so far. Nothing too cool but it does the trick. I actually like that this game is very open. You can do anything, almost. So unlocking the entries one by one actually makes this game not so good and open as I want it.

Yukonhorror:nice suggestion, but always hated blinking things on games(especially radio signals in Metal Gear Solid, despite you could skip em they were bothering me a lot).

Garage Gothic: Half of the Guide as it is now can be seen at the demo. Just open it and press space(even at the menu).

Just to let you guys know of my idea about notes and the problem about when they blend. There's the part when Arthur and Ford get flushed from the Vogon ship and the entry of space comes in. This is a must thing and I think footnotes should be included anyway, without blinking icons and stuff. If the player still wants them off I'll put a cutscene thing and he can press escape to skip them. But as a fan of the books myself I must say that I don;t think someone would hate to see the entry of space at this point. Am I thinking wrong?

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

So unlocking the entries one by one actually makes this game not so good and open as I want it.

There's good reasoning behind that decision, but I'd like to mention that a huge guide full of entries right from the start might not make for fun reading. Unlocking entries gives some pacing - if everything's available from the word go, it might be daunting and players may just not bother with the guide at all.

Then again, having a huge encyclopedia ingame worked for Ringworld, oddly enough. And I still have my Encyclopedia Frobozzica from Return to Zork, but that of course a different matter, as it's actually a book.

Well, your call. Also a suggestion based off several suggestions already made - maybe you could do a "verbose/terse" option, similar to a text adventure. If verbose is on, you get the footnotes - maybe in regular speech, or maybe as the Guide - in which case it'd be remarkably like the Caverns (I think that's the name) game Helm made for a OROW comp, with a Freud option.

[Dualnames]

Actually I recall still that the Guide (in the books contains millions and millions of entries) is a huge book. For example Magrathea entry is entry number 68324 or sth.And in the game the entry is like 32. The guide is a tool for gaining knowledge(in-game hint book), players can play the game and never use it. They might not finish it, but they might try all things and figure it out. That's the magic of this game, you can do things and then again you can just sit there. Events still will go on though. You can go and see all entries at once or see no entry at all. The Guide is barely small sized. And some entries are tiny.

That cavern bit. Well never played it. Is there a possibilty you give a link here or just inform us?