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Imague

PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:15 pm
by cc89
Finally, after months I've completed my first game, lol. Anyway, this is Imague, inspired by the DreamState games by Marcelino Franco.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:06 am
by Simon
after months I've completed my first game


HI ! So your game is finished ? Good ! Congrats !
Tell us more, then !!! story, place, hero, kind of game, puzzles, etc... ! Why this title "Imague" ? Sounds nice.
People won't give their opinion if you don't share more info ;)
And they can't react on the way you used AM with these pictures only !

I personaly don't know Dreamstate, so you see, I can't really react on your pictures because I can't compare your game to anything. You could start by explaining what is Dreamstate, and why you chose that game as a reference ? I'm sorry, but I'm too busy to have a look by myself !

What I could say, is that your game seems very conceptual, which can be a very good thing. And also, don't take it bad, but the textures aren't the greatest I've ever seen :p I tell you this not as a criticism, but to help you improve your work, maybe for your next game !
I have absolutely no objection against simple shapes (spheres, box, pyramids...), basic 3D can be beautiful !
BUT I prefer clean textures than agressive ones, you see what I mean ? To summarize : basic 3D calls basic textures, ok ? :idea:
And I know how difficult it can be to work nice textures, so, why make things hard when you can make them easy ? ;) Just remove all textures and work on lighting and colors !

Wait, pictures speak better than words, so look at this game, Kairo : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92938414&searchtext=
See ? Simple shapes, but nice colors, no textures, and that's great :) Easy, I'm sure you can make it ! It's not too late for some modifications, even if you thought your game was "finished" ! I personaly always come back on my old "finished" works and improve them from time to time when I gain skill. An amateur project, when it is question of 3D, is rarely finished, trust me.
Cheers !

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:45 am
by cc89
Thank you, Simon. Dreamstate's plot is this: You wake up to find yourself in your own dream, and must escape from it. Imague is inspired by Dreamstate, however you find yourself in a strange place, not a dream.

I chose Dreamstate as a reference because I like adventure games based on strange, surreal places, like Labyrinth Of Time and Myst.

I do see what you mean about the textures. Looking back on them now, I could have done a lot better. Guess I didn't want it to look too drab.

I checked out that Kairo game too. Looks great, might consider buying it.

Thanks for your critique!


And for puzzles, there are a few. A couple of combination puzzles, with hints strewn around the place.


For the title, "Imague" was just a fancy name I made up, and I thought it suited the game.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:15 pm
by Simon
Thanks for the details. Do you think you will upload your game somewhere ? I wouldn't have much time to try it, but maybe others here would be interested ?

By the way, I took 15min to illustrate the ideas I tried to explain earlier, and you'll find a picture below. That's just some IDEAS, ok ? So there's no problem if you don't like it because you didn't want to do that.
But it's mostly the process that I want to explain :
1/ original : your own pictures.
2/ new render : I modeled quickly the same scenes than yours (it's a bit different, I did fast). Alsmot no textures, everything is white except a few elements. Then I just added a few coloured lights to make an ambiance.
3/ photoshop : I improved step 2/ in photoshop (in fact, in after effects, but it's the same here. Can also use the gimp), changed levels and hue. Then I used some photos on layers to make false textures (skies, stars, etc...). This is an easy process, and makes good results. And it keeps the "dreamy touch" that fits to your game.

Hope this can be useful someday, if not to you, then someone else here on the AM forums....

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:19 pm
by cc89
Those are brilliant ideas, thank you Simon. :) Will definitely consider using them in a future game.
I'll be uploading it, just need to wait for a response from one of the admins here.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:58 pm
by Gumbro
cc89, can you tell us which software did you use for rendering the images?

I'm all in for calm adventure games, it's something I would like to do myself, so hopefully this one will be available soon.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 11:18 pm
by cc89
To Gumbro: I used Anim8or version 0.95 to render the images.

I like calm adventure games too, like Myst and the DreamState series.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 2:11 am
by reneuend
You completed it? Where is the link to download it?

It's nice to see a game completed...it's been awhile.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:32 am
by cc89
To reneuend: It has been a while, yes. I've sent Mystery a pm about the game.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:25 am
by Candle
we don't host your games you have to upload it yourself,

PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 7:50 am
by cc89
Ah. My apologies for bothering - it's just that on the games page it said "To submit or update a game, please contact one of the people above (click the name and then click 'email' or 'pm')."

And besides, it won't turn the project into an .exe file, I used the free edition of AM 4.6.0 to create the game.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 4:37 pm
by Simon
Yeah, you need to buy the full version to make EXEs...

PostPosted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 3:59 am
by reneuend
cc89.

I've been combining your contiguous posts. Please edit posts instead of bumping the thread.

Thanks!

Your game looks nice.
If you want to share, I guess you could put the project in a zip folder and upload it to a service like Mediafire.com. This will allow others to try it out.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:37 pm
by cc89
You can download Imague at: http://www.mediafire.com/?0ndlogqfi6oxuj0

Please note that it has been compressed as a .rar file.

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:18 am
by Simon
I played it and finished it in less than 10 minutes :)

1/ too short (but I know how it's hard to make a long game)
2/ graphics need to be improved (I already told it before)
3/ but the game itself was interesting ! Quite easy to beat, but difficulty is well balanced.

==> Good work ! I liked it, but be careful for your next game not to rely on "finding the good door". I circled through doors looking for the blue key, then once again to go back to the stone ball.

Hope that helps for a future game ;)

Re: Imague

PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:17 pm
by FireOrange
Interesting game so far. But I'm not able to solve it. :| Will there be a walkthrough soon? :wink:

I'm going to write a little review of Imague then.

Edit: OK, I solved the game now. It wasn't so hard. :wink:

Re: Imague

PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:40 pm
by FireOrange

Re: Imague

PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:26 am
by cc89
Thanks for including my game in your blog. :) I was able to understand the review after I translated it.