My First Big Adventure

Mandle · Sun 15/09/2013 17:27:40

(Download is now the whole Compiled Folder in a zip file as normal)
(Sorry for the newbie issues with the first upload...)

Greetings!

First ever forums post so a little nervous here but bear with me please if possible

The title of this first project has a double meaning:

It's the first big adventure for my protagonist, and at the same time the first humble adventure that I have created myself.

Well...with a little help:

This is a project which was created with the artistic input of two very special students of mine: Masahiro and Moeka...

During the summer break of 2013 I had the honor to combine the talents of both an 11 year old and a 5 year old student to collaborate on this story.

Our theme in the class was once in a lifetime summer experiences and this is the project which grew from that theme.

You will probably not find an especially challenging game if you choose to download our project, but if you DO choose to take part then I hope you can rediscover a part of your childhood that you may have forgotten, or at least disregarded for a while.

I know I did...

If not, then probably my telling of the story needs a kick in the butt, or you are already in touch with your inner child.

In either case please post feedback in the positive or the negative.

Both are appreciated greatly!

CLICK HERE FOR DOWNLOAD

(Download is now the whole Compiled Folder in a zip file as normal)
(Sorry for the newbie issues with the first upload...)

Andail · Sun 15/09/2013 17:37:45

Sounds exciting!

Now tell us how to obtain this game of yours, please

Mandle · Sun 15/09/2013 17:41:46

Sorry, just figured out the BB code...

Download link is now included at bottom of main post

Andail · Sun 15/09/2013 18:58:06

Hello again.
When you have compiled your game and want to distribute it, please include setup and sound files in your download pack. Right now there's only an .exe file.

miguel · Sun 15/09/2013 21:19:47

Welcome Mandle, every new AGSer and specially a game maker is a reason for a brighter AGS future!
I'm anxious to play your game (is the setup file included now?),

all the best!

KodiakBehr · Sun 15/09/2013 23:36:04

I hope your students enjoyed this activity. It's not every day a kid gets the opportunity to make their own videogame.

Mandle · Mon 16/09/2013 10:25:41

Quote from: Andail on Sun 15/09/2013 18:58:06
Hello again.
When you have compiled your game and want to distribute it, please include setup and sound files in your download pack. Right now there's only an .exe file.

Sorry about that. At the moment my host does not allow multiple downloads. I will find another host that does.

Until then is it alright if I leave it as just the exe file? The game does not have sound in any case so all that is missing is the setup. It should still run fine. The default setting is fullscreen mode at 640x480.

Tomorrow I will host the full folder elsewhere

CaptainD · Mon 16/09/2013 10:41:35

Or just ZIP all the files and you'll only have a single file for your host to deal with anyway.

donkeymilk · Mon 16/09/2013 23:35:28

I didn't quite get that .
Are you saying a 5 year old helped you make this?

Peder 🚀 · Tue 17/09/2013 00:29:53

Hey Mandle, why don't you just use the AGSer.me account I gave you?

.

Sephiroth · Tue 17/09/2013 03:22:47

I've been able to play and finish the game, I don't mind the forced fullscreen on my laptop but as others mentioned it would be nice to have the setup file and the game in one Zip download.

The game was short and simple, I haven't encountered any bug and every interaction I tried had a proper answer. I just didn't like the default dialog box, transparent-over-the-head text would have been nice.
The graphics are pretty good considering Masahiro and Moeka, 11 and 5 years old, are the artists.
I liked the whole vision of the adventure, it reminded me of how I used to play when I was a kid, as a father I also enjoyed the 'twist'.

I was intrigued by your choice to involve kids in game making and wanted to say congratulations for the release!

Mandle · Tue 17/09/2013 15:37:41

Quote from: Peder Johnsen+ on Tue 17/09/2013 00:29:53
Hey Mandle, why don't you just use the AGSer.me account I gave you? .

D'OH! Yup I will!

Sorry...I just couldn't figure it out at the time...Probably due to severe sleep deprivation over the last few days, meeting up with overseas visitors on the spur of the moment and work etc.

Off to bed now for about 15 hours hopefully so I will get it sorted tomorrow!

Quote from: Sephiroth on Tue 17/09/2013 03:22:47
I've been able to play and finish the game, I don't mind the forced fullscreen on my laptop but as others mentioned it would be nice to have the setup file and the game in one Zip download.

The game was short and simple, I haven't encountered any bug and every interaction I tried had a proper answer. I just didn't like the default dialog box, transparent-over-the-head text would have been nice.
The graphics are pretty good considering Masahiro and Moeka, 11 and 5 years old, are the artists.
I liked the whole vision of the adventure, it reminded me of how I used to play when I was a kid, as a father I also enjoyed the 'twist'.

I was intrigued by your choice to involve kids in game making and wanted to say congratulations for the release!

Thank you so much for the kind feedback. I'm very pleased that the overall theme of the project was imparted to you despite it's faults.

This project was my first ever attempt at using the AGS game engine and I still do not know how to do a lot of stuff properly. I would be very embarrassed to actually show the code to anyone as it's basically built out of stop-gap solutions to get around all the stuff that I still do not know how to do

However, knowing myself, I knew that I just had to get it finished in some form or I would probably end up stalling on it completely.

For this outing I think I will just leave all the warts of amateur enthusiasm as they are and hopefully come back after some more polished releases and smile fondly, remembering my first excited fumbling arounds during this initial project.

From tomorrow I will start working through the Sammy's Quest tutorials on youtube to really learn some nuts and bolts structure of AGS scripting.

I'm sure I will have a great laugh every time I find how to actually do something that I stuck together with cellotape and plasticine in this release

Quote from: donkeymilk on Mon 16/09/2013 23:35:28
I didn't quite get that .
Are you saying a 5 year old helped you make this?

The game is based on a story created in class, with backgrounds made out of construction paper and hand-drawn characters cut out painstakingly with scissors and pasted into the scenes.

The majority of the art was created by the students I mentioned. They also had influence over the story, especially the creation of the NPC characters and the ways to appease them.

A lot of the overall story arc was, of course, structured by me, their teacher. Case in point being the ending which obviously comes from an angle only grown-ups can appreciate (without giving too much away

)

Importing the artwork and story into AGS and coding it was done solely by myself at home of course.

Both students will now receive their own copies of the game as well as the paper copies of the original story compiled into book-form to take home and hopefully enjoy and keep forever (hehe...the private wish of every teacher I'm sure)

Mandle · Wed 18/09/2013 12:29:03

Quote from: CaptainD on Mon 16/09/2013 10:41:35
Or just ZIP all the files and you'll only have a single file for your host to deal with anyway.

Thanks for the pointer!

The game is now uploaded as a ZIP file containing the whole Compiled Folder, including the setup. And it's 6MB download now instead of 20MB.

Sorry for the newbie issues with my first upload, and thanks to all with the help in getting them sorted!