As for FCotW2, I wasn't totally idle but worked on a few more backgrounds and integrated them in the game. I noticed however that my original deadline for finishing all the artwork was ridiculously off. Ups! :) Oh well, we are getting there slowly. I'd love to tease you with some of the completed screens, but I guess it's better to pace myself and hold the good stuff back until we get closer to the release - I don't want to spoil the surprises after all. :) For now I give you a new "character" in the game:
I admit it, I've been a lazy bum these past few weeks. At least I had the chance to catch up on my library of unplayed AGS games. In particular a couple of commercial projects were released recently, that are all well worth playing: the AGS bake sale bundle (a collection of 14 very cool AGS games and you can choose how much you want to pay for it!), Anastronaut and Metal Dead. Check them out if you have the money, they are worth it! As for FCotW2, I wasn't totally idle but worked on a few more backgrounds and integrated them in the game. I noticed however that my original deadline for finishing all the artwork was ridiculously off. Ups! :) Oh well, we are getting there slowly. I'd love to tease you with some of the completed screens, but I guess it's better to pace myself and hold the good stuff back until we get closer to the release - I don't want to spoil the surprises after all. :) For now I give you a new "character" in the game: You can look forward to more characters, screenshots and a first, short teaser trailer in the next few months!
I hope you all enjoy mini-games, because FCotW2 has a few of them, depending on your defintion of the word. There's a nice little time-waster akin to the arcade game in part 1 that will probably end up being optional. That one I've actually programmed a few years ago and I've been waiting since then to include it in one of my games. Just have to polish a few rough edges.
I've also finished a small sliding game that will be part of a puzzle (oh the horrors!), but don't fret, it shouldn't be too hard and will contribute some variety to the gameplay. So here we are, in the year 2012. May it be a good one!
As you may have noticed, I announced FCotW2 in the AGS forums now. The game's title will be "Unfamiliar Territory", which is fitting both literally and figuratively. There will be three playable characters (at least for a small section of the game) and two paths through (a part of) the game. At least that's what's planned currently, things are subject to change 'till the release. I've also posted FCotW1 in the AGS Forums For Your Consideration Thread. It would be cool if the game was nominated for the AGS 2011 Awards, so if you have played and enjoyed FCotW1 (chances are you did, if you are reading this blog), please consider nominating it in the categories you see fitting. Christmas has come and gone, so belated Holiday Greetings everyone! And it's high time for a quick status update too.
During the weeks leading up to Christmas I didn't have much time to spend on FCotW2, but in the past few days I've been much more productive: the graphics for the final few rooms are more or less complete now and I've also made a detail plan for the final puzzle(s) of the game, which are shaping up to be quite complex and a real highlight. I've also scripted the most complicated parts of these puzzles already, which required me to dig through the documentation and learn some enhanced AGS stuff. Anyways, I'm proud to say that after some trial-and-error I've found a solution that works like a charm. I'm really looking forward to you guys' opinions once the game's out! In other news, I plan to officially announce "The Far Corners of the World: Chapter 2" on the AGS forums soon. As part of this announcement, the title of the new chapter and a short summary will be revealed. Of course the corresponding parts of this website will be updated too. Now enjoy the final days of 2011 and have a Happy New Year! but it's something, isn't it? Yay! :) Argh, the AGS forums are broken. Still - or again, whatever you prefer, really. And on a weekend too! Where will I waste my life now?? Let's just hope the site is up and running soon.
In the meantime of course, the AGS game database isn't available either, which means FCotW1 cannot be downloaded currently. Now we can't let that happen, can we? So this seemed like the perfect time to upload the game to some alternative platforms. I'm happy to tell that FCotW1 is now also available on gamejolt and I've also changed the download link on this site directly to the file on mediafire. Oh, and by the way, these new downloads are for the new version 1.1 of the game, which fixes some bugs, most of them minor but also a possibly game-breaking one that occurred when you left Gwen without speaking to her after meeting her in the staircase for the first time. That's what you get for simply ignoring women! When the AGS forums are down, productivity soars: the teaser trailer for FCotW2 is complete and ready for AdventureX! The teaser's runtime is 1:25 Minutes and it shows some new locations, animations and characters but nothing too spoilery.
Next on my to-do list: work on some new animations, namely a diagonal walk-cycle for Jeff! Thought I could do without one, but it gets increasingly harder, thanks to some crazy background angles that I'm to stubborn to scrap. Not sure yet if I'll manage to make the animation good enough to go into the game, but as always I'll keep you updated. Big news! "Far Corners of the World: Chapter 1" will be one of the exhibits at AdventureX 2011 that is taking place from Saturday December 17th to Sunday December 18th 2011 in Didcot, UK. You will be able to play the full game there, read some designer notes about the series from yours truly and as a special treat you can watch an exclusive teaser trailer for FCotW Chapter 2!
Apart from FCotW, a lot of other great games will be exhibited at AdventureX, and there are talks by the creators of Discworld Noir and the indie gem Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy. You can find further infos and buy tickets for the event on the official website. What are you waiting for, make your reservations now! The weekend's almost over, so how did I fare? Not that bad actually. I haven't finished the newest background yet, but I'm getting close, and I really like how it is shaping up. Chapter 2 should be a definite graphical improvement over chapter 1, if only because more time and effort go into each screen. I was also able to finally play a few of the other recently released AGS games, namely Murran Chronicles 3 and The Visitor, both of which are highly reommended.
Another huuuge background done and imported to the game. I've worked on this beast for a couple of weeks, because of its impressive size and complexity that required careful planning and also because I was quite busy recently. A lot of stuff going on at work and, oh, there are new Dexter episodes that demand viewing. Anyhow, I'll try to finish at least another background over the weekend. We'll see how THAT goes. :)
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