Background Blitz: Fan Game Location (voting open through 3/3/2014)

[Snarky]

Miez, do you need more time to finish a pixeled version of your entry?

Eh, I'll just extend the deadline to over the weekend regardless, in case anyone else wants to do a last-minute entry!

[Miez]

Yeeeeerzzzz! I do need that. I was going to enter, way past the deadline, anyway. But this is cool! Thanks

[oraxon]

Excellent topic, and great pix everyone!

Updated with more info:
Exits: Downward to return to the taxi, to the right toward the monuments, to the upper-left to try the front of the house.
Hotspots: Tree, Left Support Girder, Right Support Girder, Left Window, Center Window, Right Window, Hillside (under house), Distant Mountains.
Walkthrough: Examine windows. Find Vandamm and Leonard. Overhear them discuss Eve. Wait until Vandamm and Leonard exit and Eve enters. Use coins, one at a time, on Center Window and then Right Window to draw Eve out onto the balcony. Watch out, Leonard comes back! Click on Hillside to hide under the house! "Use" the Right Support Girder to climb up. Your hand is cut during the climb. Use handkerchief to stop the blood. This automatically examines the handkerchief and you comment on the monogram. You can try to Talk to Eve, but unfortunately, she doesn't hear you and walks back inside. You'll have to find some other way to signal her...

[Eric]

I accidentally played the first part of that game as George Kaplan!

[Snarky]

Nice one, oraxon. But let me remind you of the rule that you should indicate (in text or graphically) at least one exit and one hotspot with a useful interaction in the image. (I suppose that goes for Lasca as well.)

[oraxon]

Ha! You got it, Eric!
Thanks for the reminder, Snarky. I updated the entry with far too much info.

[Lasca]

Me to did a update.

[Snarky]

OK, well the weekend is over, and without an ETA on Miez's final version I'm going to have to call it. In any case there are a lot of great entries, so let's get to voting!

(I'll just include the pictures here, not the additional descriptions. Refer to the original posts for more details.)

TGames: Swiss Family Robinson

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[imgzoom]http://tomsgamepics.webs.com/photos/undefined/Fan%20Game%20BB.png[/imgzoom]

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selmiak: Kill Bill

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[imgzoom]http://selmiak.bplaced.net/fangamebgblitz.png[/imgzoom]

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Daniel Eakins: The Twelve Tasks of Asterix

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[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/JBj4XX4.png[/imgzoom]

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Mad: Goonies

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[imgzoom]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab12/Mad1978/1eyedWillie.png[/imgzoom]

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gameboy: Hot Fuzz

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[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/rUe71qd.png[/imgzoom]

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Miez: Jack Vance's Durdane (final version submitted shortly past deadline)

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Working version:

[imgzoom]http://www.miez.nl/tmp/fangame_sketch.jpg[/imgzoom]

Final version:

[imgzoom]http://www.miez.nl/tmp/durdane_gui.gif[/imgzoom]

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Lasca: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

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[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/QjAehdN.png[/imgzoom]

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oraxon: North by Northwest

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[imgzoom]http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/054/6/7/fangameversionofexistingip_by_oraxon_by_oraxon-d77r8g7.jpg[/imgzoom]

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The categories for evaluation are as follows. Pick your favorite entry for each category. You're also encouraged to provide additional feedback in any format you like.

Concept
"I wish I'd thought of that!"
Is the idea for the picture a cool, creative response to the contest challenge? Does it adhere to the rules of the Blitz?

Artistic Execution
"Wow, you're a regular pixel/Photoshop Rembrandt!"
How accomplished is the entry on an artistic and technical level? (Things like visual composition, color balance, skill of depiction, personal style, etc.)

Playability
"Oh! I wonder what would happen if I..."
Would the entry work well as a background in an AGS adventure game? And would that screen be an interesting one (gameplay-wise) that you'd like to visit as a player? (Do walkable areas, exits, walkbehinds, hotspots, etc. make sense? Does it seem like it would offer a suitable amount of interaction density? Do you feel the urge to point and click around the scenery?)

Let's say one week for voting, until the end of Monday, 3. March.

[CaptainD]

Wow.  Some amazing entries!

Concept: Mad.  Would make a great game.  Also Daniel Eakins because I think Asterix as an adventure game could be superb.
Artistic Execution: Selmiak and Oraxon - both breathtakingly atmospheric.
Playability: It's got to be Gameboy.  Just how would you use those heads as an inventory item.  Also Daniel Eadkins - I'm already imagining a puzzle to bring that bust down on the receptionist#'s head - and Mad because it looks like you may just have SEVEN playable characters!

[Eric]

I never got farther than this with my aborted Darjeeling Limited attempt. Sharing to show how skilled Lasca is, comparatively, in bringing Wes Anderson to the AGS screen:



Concept: Daniel Eakins. Are we allowed to give credit for GUI in this competition too? I love the idea of playing as Obelix and Dogmatix too! Close second goes to Oraxon.
Artistic Execution: Lasca. This is lovely.
Playability: Mad. I want to play this game.

Such amazing work this round though. I can't believe I didn't vote for Selmiak or Gameboy in any category, for instance. And I still want to know what Miez's is from!

[Miez]

Ah crap... I did finish mine
Serves me right for being too slow, I guess

I will share my work nevertheless (because I really liked the theme of this one. Great job Snarky!)



With some GUI elements:
[imgzoom]http://www.miez.nl/tmp/durdane_gui.gif[/imgzoom]

For those that are scratching their heads and going "what the hell kind of fan game is this?" - I took Jack Vance's "Durdane" for inspiration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durdane_series). The location pictured is the Brassei Junction way station.

[Miez]

My votes:

Concept - Daniel Eakins, the Asterix comics would make a great fangame base.

Artistic Execution - oraxon, this was a hard one to pick as there are fantastic entries ... but I like the painterly style in this one.

Playability - gameboy, when can I download this game, plz?

[Eric]

OMG that is beautiful, Miez. Shame I already cast my vote!

[cat]

OMG this is jaw-dropping impressive, Miez

[Snarky]

Ah, that's great Miez! Yeah sorry, if you'd asked for another extension I would have held off... but since I listed your WIP among the competing entries, people can still vote for you if they want. (There's a very good chance I'll do so myself!)

Wow.  Some amazing entries!

Concept: Mad.  Would make a great game.  Also Daniel Eakins because I think Asterix as an adventure game could be superb.
Artistic Execution: Selmiak and Oraxon - both breathtakingly atmospheric.
Playability: It's got to be Gameboy.  Just how would you use those heads as an inventory item.  Also Daniel Eadkins - I'm already imagining a puzzle to bring that bust down on the receptionist#'s head - and Mad because it looks like you may just have SEVEN playable characters!

All good choices, CaptainD, but much as they might all deserve to win, you'll have to pick one favorite in each category, or the tallying of the votes won't work.

[Janos Biro]

Concept: selmiak: Kill Bill.

Artistic Execution: Miez: Jack Vance's Durdane.

Playability: Mad: Goonies

[Mad]

Concept: Lasca. Great movie that would make a zany gaming experience.

Artistic execution: oraxon. It's got everything going for it: great composition, excellent colour scheme,  and superb brush work!

Playability: Miez. So much to see, so many hotspots to click, and I want to explore them all!

These were really hard choices to make, 'cause all the other entries were excellent as well.

[Misj']

Concept: Oraxon - Because it's Hitchcock; and there's no competing with Hitchcock

Artistic execution: Miez - I love the fact that it uses a lot of colours without becoming screamish. Plus it has a dynamic feel to it, that I often miss in low-res art these days.

Playability: Miez - Clear walking-areas, lot's of objects to interact with, exits, and a clear goal (get on the balloon-thingy). The other entries depict a scene, this one a story.

[CaptainD]

All good choices, CaptainD, but much as they might all deserve to win, you'll have to pick one favorite in each category, or the tallying of the votes won't work.

Oops sorry.  Okay, now it's even tougher to choose... but...

Concept: Mad.  Would make a great game. 
Artistic Execution: Oraxon - just edges it for my.  Amazing colours and technique.
Playability: It's got to be Gameboy.  Just how would you use those heads as an inventory item.

[Snarky]

I'm really thrilled to see so many great entries. Thanks also to Eric for sharing your wip, which looks like it would have come out very nicely as well. It's tough to decide on the votes, since there are many strong contenders in each category. That said, knife to my throat....

• Concept: Daniel Eakins â€" you had me at Asterix. Also, your screen with all the arrows in all directions suggests a corridor maze, and I'm a sucker for mazes in adventure games. (Runner-up: oraxon, because I can't help but try to imagine N/NW as an adventure game now)
• Artistic Execution: Lasca â€" I really like how you've managed to make a flat, (mostly) outline-less Flash-like style in low-res. It'd be really interesting to see some character sprites on this screen. (Runner-up: selmiak. The cleanness of the pixel art is a perfect fit for the scene, and the colors are gorgeous.)
• Playability: Miez â€" as others have said, it's a screen where you almost can't help yourself wanting to click on everything. Just at a glance I already find myself anticipating puzzles and interactions, and imagining the next-room-over for each exit. (Runner-up: Lasca. Just seems really well constructed, and for whatever reason I'm always excited to see a bookshelf in a game. I've not seen The Life Aquatic, but when I see this screen I imagine the game as a detective mystery.)

Other feedback:
TGames: not bad! I think your technique is getting better, and the palm looks particularly nice the way you've drawn it. I'd recommend looking at some other games that use simple cartoon graphics to see how they do shading; the soft, faint shadows in this screen don't really work well with your style. You might also want to raise the perspective, so that instead of looking down at the beach, you're looking more straight at it, like in the entries by Miez, oraxon, selmiak and gameboy. (The thing to keep in mind is where in the picture the horizon is.) That usually makes for more interesting backgrounds, and also fits better with most character sprites.

Mad: Nice work! Now how long did you spend on the character sprites relative to the background itself?  I think you could maybe do more with the lighting here to make it more dramatic (or cinematic, if you prefer).

gameboy: Haha, I guess I've forgotten most of Hot Fuzz. I wonder whether having so much of the screen be sky is the optimal composition here. Maybe some more stuff in the distance, and perhaps a foreground layer to frame it? I also don't feel like the exit (or exits? I'm not clear on whether I can exit to the right) is ideally constructed: yes, there's a road running off-screen, but I get no sense of what this screen is connecting to, if you see what I mean? I love the scene you've chosen, and it's really nicely rendered, but out of all the entries this feels like the one that might benefit the most from some relatively simple changes in composition, in order to work better both illustration-wise and gameplay-wise.