Topics

All right, I'm surprised this hasn't popped up yet but here goes.

Heavy Rain. Opinions? Is this the first great adventure game of the new decade or just a throw back to the Interactive Fiction games of the nineties?

I'm personally loving it, but I'd like to see what the hardcore AGS crowd think. 

There appear to be two AGS games to buy on Steam.

AGS game. Steam. AGS game on Steam.

I don't think any other AGS game has ever actually managed to get so far into the world of non-AGS people, so I think this is a real achievement!

Link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/37400/

- Huw

Seriously AGS-folk, I am dissapointed in you.

The biggest political event for the last 4 years is happening in November, and none of the politcally minded folks on these here forums have made a topic!

I implore you to spout opinion, throw mud, and generally harrass each other!

- Huw

PS: And, to have a more normal start to a thread...

Hey folks,

The US presidential elections are up in 6 months time, what do you lot think is going to happen?

- Huw

This is very Tom Clancy, is it not?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7254078.stm

If this is all its cracked up to be, then the applications could be truly phenominal!

- Huw

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7249034.stm

Its pretty interesting stuff - this is the next step in a chain of events that leads back to before WW1. Also, the UK and other countries have had troops in Kosovo in the recent past...

- Huw

Browsing one of my favorite sites - Ask a Ninja - I came across this Halo 3 review. I only realised that our very own Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw appears to have started reviewing games. Although being slightly, well, immature in places - this is Yahtzee we're talking about - It's nice to see that his influence appears to be streching beyond Adventure Gaming.

http://fans.askaninja.com/video/video/show?id=1181368%3AVideo%3A24648&context=user

Be warned. It is very immature and graphic in a couple of instances, although it is humourous and backs up my personal feeling towards Halo 3. (It being mediocre and basically Unreal Tournament 3 without the humour or cool guns, and tries to copy Gears of War too much.)

- Huw

And lo, Huw came once again into the world of AGS to ask another pointless techno question.

Hey all.

I am finally getting broadband! Unless you've been stuck on a slow net connection for as long as I have, you have no idea how pleased I am, sitting in the computer room at my local college, saying that short phrase. The thing is, and to be honest it's not as bad as it sounds, the parents are going for the easy option - a simple upgrade from AOL to AOL. Seeing as AOL UK is now owned by the nice folks at The Carphone Warehouse I am personally not beating my head against the wall at the prospect of having to use an ISP of such poor quality.

The thing with AOL UK now is that they offer 8MB broadband, but with a 10GB limit each month. I play various online games on my narrowband connection, but an upgrade offers access to better games on the internet, the kind you are all familiar with. Will 10GB a month really supply me with enough bandwith to play these games? (Or have I just grasped the wrong end of the stick with this issue and will still be able to play these games even with the bandwidth limit exceeded?)

For the record, I only ask these questions here because I trust you people with computing knowledge.

- Huw

EDIT: ECK! My avatar appears to be broken. I needed a new one anyway. :p This temporary one will do for a while.

Hey all. It's been a while since I've really posted here, but I'm looking for a bit of advice. Simply put, how hard is it to upgrade to Broadband?

I currently have three computers in my house. One is about as old as my younger brother (and he's 12!) and I'm almost resigned to the fact that it will not be able to be upgraded from our current narrowband connection (That's Dial-Up). It, however, runs the current internet connection we have fine. I am considering personally upgrading the internet connection in our house to a broadband connection. How do I go about doing this? Will I need anything specific to make it possible for three computers to use the internet at once? How much will it cost? (I'm talking about basic setup, not monthly fee!)

- Huw

Hey hey hey!

I made this signature for another forum in PSPX, but I think it can be improved... The text mainly. Can't antialias it. Anyway, I thought the picture was kinda cute so I made it into my first signature. Stupid school not having Adobe Photoshop. I'm really pleased in the way I manipulated the fur effect to make a scratched tone.

Any comments and suggestions?


(The KBD is a big nasty boss dragon in the game it's refering to )
- Huw

Greetings all.

I've recently grabbed a copy of Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War, and I'd like to know If anybody else has this game. As it's an RTS, It would be interesting to see how many people there are here, mainly because I need some people to have a few games against before I hit the online chat-multiplayer system and get utterly mashed up.

Also, on a related note, the second expansion is coming out on the 28th of October. It promises to be 10x bigger than Winter Assault, so I might as well say that as well.

- Huw

... Or it's this new driver from nVidia... 

Basically, I installed the new driver for my very crappy graphics card (a Geforce 4 integrated), rebooted and all was fine. Some strange warning messages worried me for a while, but nothing bad occured until I tried running NWN. It refused to work after the opening movies. I check Display settings and I discover I have a second non-existant monitor I can't get rid of. THEN I discover to my joy that in Device Manager I have 4 monitors! (Two Defaults and two Plug and Plays)

Removing the driver is something I can't do, otherwise I would have done it. So....

HELP!

- Huw

EDIT: I have a bucket of rotten fishheads for the first person who suggests buying a new graphics card.

Here's the story:

For the last two years, I've been argueing with my parents over broadband. We currently, to my usual disgust, have an out-dated, over-priced and very, VERY slow AOL dial-up connection for £16 a month. The reason why we haven't updated the connection? Unclear usually. The reasons have been:

1) We can't afford it
2) We don't need it

and, their core argument,

3) Dad's computer can't handle it.

I also have a sneaking suspicious of a fourth:

4) You'd use it too much.

I'll make the situation clear. We have three computers, two of which have basic, but usable, specs. My dad's, however, was built in 1995. It has a mighty 44mb of ram, runs Win 98 and has no USB slots. So, my mission is thus. I need:

a) A cheap BB supplier which does not require a switch of phone line
b) Technical advice on a router and a modem (ideally, something that can run 3 computers at once, without ANY FORM of computer-opening)
c) Imcriminating evidence of Dial-Up being ferverently crap.

I do NOT care about speed. Just faster than this AOL crap-fest.
- Huw

Dungeons and Dragons rocks. It has done for the last 15 years, ever since the original pen-and-paper system came out, to the delight of Monty Python-starved university students everywhere. Two films, two amazing game series (Neverwinter Nights and The Elder Scrolls/The Temple of Elemental Evil) , a tv show and an MMORPG later, I just have to ask...

     How many people here actually play? Who do you play with? Any daft stories? Gimme details, people!

- Huw
PS: Other than NWN, I've never played any DnD game unfortunatly. I'm just being nosy. 

[Evil Christmas!]

Previously, on Photoshop Phriday:

Photoshopping isn't drawing a completely new image -- It's editing images to create a new image, such as editing one image or combining several images. The contest usually lasts for a fortnight. Also, you don't have to specifically use Photoshop -- Paint Shop Pro, MSPaint, or any other programs can be used. Please make sure your image doesn't exceed the width of the screen.

See this link:
http://www.somethingawful.com/photoshop/

And for other examples, see here:
http://www.worth1000.com/

-------------------------------------

Hey hey kids! (Krusty laugh)

Welcome to the christmas edition of Photoshop Phriday! It is my honour to present this to you (Thank's Vince!), and hope you all get into a suitibly wacky mood as I present:

Evil Christmas!

That's right folks, your task, if you choose to accept it, is to create an EVIL christmas scene. This would include:
*Santa Clause getting jumped by anti-christmas fanatics!
*Bloodthirsty Vampires pulling live children out of their stockings!
  AND...

THIS!



Seeing as this IS christmas, you get SLIGHTLY longer than normal as a present from me...

YOU HAVE UNTIL SEVEN PM GMT ON NEW YEARS DAY 2006.

As always, good luck, have fun and enjoy Photoshopping!

Meh-ry Christmas!

- Huw

This has taken me around two hours to get to this stage. Paintovers/fixes tips and tricks for improvement gladly welcome 

Orig. Size.
   

BIG size


EDIT:!!!
*slam's head against rock*
Next time WARN ME... Give me a sec...

EDIT2: Fixed. Mental Note: If ever at Brittens, shoot (in the shoulder so he doesn't die ) CJ for implementing bmp rule with flashing sign

Hey.

I've had this plot swilling around in my head for a while now, and through a couple of months of long boring thinking, I think my mini idea for a game is whole enough for comment.

First of all, I should explain my inspirations for the idea. One was an article over at Adventure Gamers (I think... it's the one with the FOY article) as part of a long series about how to make your game (I think) different, and it went on about character development. The author had a distinct hate of "samey" characters, and went on for a while about how shallow characters with so often goofy emotions seemed to dominate the major games at the moment. (Exeptions, Yahtzee's "Day" horrors and Ben Jordan) I, while reading this, decided to shelve my other ideas and concentrate on a game with "depth".

And the other inspiration? Pleubeurg: Dark Ages, which proved that graphics arn't everything, and you can have serious horror in a game.

And so, enough fobbing, here's my idea.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

His names Joe Black. He's a retired police detective that lives in a small two roomed flat in the small town of Rocky Hummok. Although he's a celeberity, for a reason we'll soon see, he's a notoriously reclusive character, and hates company. The only time you can see him is when he takes his weekly trip to the grocery store at the bottom of his apartment block. From what he tells Kyle, the owner of the store, and possibly the only person that Joe talks to, (occationally) he spends his time writing an anonimous column in a newspaper, for a small amount of cash.

And how long has he lead this life?
Ten long, loney years.

He used to be a young, brilliant detective in the city of Remming, just fifty miles away, with a young wife, several friends and a fantastic job. So what made him throw it away?

The biggest case of his life.

The case that nearly destroyed the city.

The case that ruined Joe Black.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, what do you think?

- Huw

Heh. Please don't mock, this is only my 20th or so go. It's suppost to be a train station with a train in it. It's streached, so don't go on about blockiness. The original picture can be founcd here: http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/trains.PNG

And this is my first go (I used a combo of Paint and PSP 5 for this )

What do you think? Good or bad? Improvements or tips? I accept destructive critisism, cash or cheque.

Ok. My personal two favorite adventure games are Discworld 1 and 2. In them, when you rolled over a thing you could look at or interact with (even a person or item) it would display a piece of text over the object (like if I were looking at a house, rolling the mouse over the house would make the words "house" appear in the middle of the house hotspot)

I want to emulate this. How?