ASA: A Space Adventure

[Simon]

The small ratio is a choice to make production easier for me. Because it is 3D, frames are quite long to calculate, and it somehow shortens things to have a cinemascope ratio.
I used the same ratio (cinema ratio) in my original short film, which is being used as the opening movie, so I decided to keep this ratio in gameplay.
Anyway I like it, I think it's more esthetic than 16:9 It's a matter of personal tastes here ! I just hope I'm not the only one to like it...

10 hours????????
Dude, that's extremely hard!!!

Well, I'm not sure, it's an estimation I think I may be too confident !!
And as I said, it depends on the way you play and how good you are with puzzles. If you understand everything fast, you will cross the game very fast and it will be 2 hours long. It's too soon to give an exact number Forget the 10 hours and wait for an exact duration !! I'll tell you when the game is finished and the beta tested by other people ! It's not for tomorrow...

Btw, I want to make a commercial game, so I think it's normal if it has a profesionnal release duration in my case : even if it IS an independant game, I want to make it as good as possible !

[time-killer-games]

Even if it isn't five hours, please, I insist you make this project a commercial release. You don't know what you most likely be missing if you made it freeware. D:

[Simon]

Hey time-killer, I'll do it !

You don't know what you most likely be missing if you made it freeware

It sounds like your experience is talking ! Did you have a great AM project that was free and that you regret you didn't make commercial ?

There are so many games on the forum to try, that I don't have time to look for each of them I'll try ImmortalWind's first !

About the game play time of my game, I've been thinking of it more seriously, and here's a small estimation :
- there are 6 environments on the main ship.
- there are 2 planets
- there are 2, maybe 3, others places to visit.
So there should be around 10 environments in the final game. I think each of them should take more than 30 min (discovery time + puzzles), and you have to add the fact that you might get a little lost and walk here and there on the ship. That should make a good 5 hours minimum.

[time-killer-games]

No, I don't have any experiance with that, I just really think that you could make a lot of money from your games. What I've seen from this one so far.. looks amazing. I downloading the demo now.

[Simon]

I hope you're not being too optimistic with my game ! Please tell me what you think of the demo when you can.

[time-killer-games]

Too optimistic? No way... This is really amazing. How can you not notice the amazing quality of your own game? This is like infinately better than any game I could have dreamed of making myself.

This is also a very popular theme - space. With games like Halo and the likes that are very well known in the US and other countries I'm sure, this game really makes the spotlight.

I played your demo, and it is a bit hard, I still haven't beaten it. That could just be because I'm a casual gamer, that likes to play games without any thinking involved. But not everyone is like that. Check out the commercial game by Christopher Brendel, it was made with AM, A LOT of thinking is required in the game play, and Christopher told me it has been selling great!

Keep up the amazing work!

[Simon]

I hope you're right time-killer ! You really cheered me up !

About the difficulty, yes it might be hard for people not used to puzzle games. That frightens me a little, I'm not sure to find a public, but I think that Myst games were hard too, and they were a big success !

My fear is that Myst dev convinced people with their photo-realistic graphisms. My game is not as fine and beautiful than Myst 2 to 4 used to be in their time (and even now), and on top of that, nowadays, big games developpers can amost make that kind of graphisms in real time. Of course real-time would be a lot of work !

About the difficulty again : in that kind of games, it's true you need to get very involved and think, but there's also a very big part of observation. Most of the time, you'll be stuck somewhere because you haven't discovered an important element, and if you go back on your steps, you'll find a clue.

If, by chance, you were interested in ending this demo, you can find a detailed walkthrough in my precedent posts, in this very same thread.

I had never heard of Christopher Brendel. I've googled his name and found many interested things. Thanks ! His indie games seemed very good, I've seen pictures and reviews of Lifestream.

[reneuend]

I agree with TimeKill. You have the makings for great games.

One of the things I plan on introducing in my future games is tracking if a player is having difficulty with something. If they are, then I will add additional clues in the game to help them out.

[Simon]

Must be quite difficult to code, but great idea renuend !

[reneuend]

I plan on making it simple by counting mouse clicks from the time the player clicks on a puzzle.

Lets say the puzzle is to unlock a door. The first detection would be when they try to open the door. Set a variable = 1. From then on increment the variable as the player presses the left mouse button (Use keyguard for this). When the variable reaches a range 10 - 30 keypresses, give some kind of clue when they click on certain objects. Eventually, set a max count like 100. If the variable hits 100, don't increment any longer and just provide the simplest hint (or if you want, present the answer!). I'm hoping this will be fairly simple to implement.

[Sedani Studio]

I just wanted to comment on how much I enjoyed the demo, even though it there was more video than play. A few comments:

(1) the overall aspect of the game is quite professional, but I would use different cursors than those provided with AM. They just seem rather basic given the overall cinematic sophistication of the other elements of the game.

(2) while on that topic.... the sounds that the buttons at the end of the hall made when pressed were all identical and sounded almost like something from an 80's video game. Again, the tone seemed out of place, and as I player, I would have appreciated more variety.

(3) in order to find the memory module, I found the navigation to be a little clunky. In other words, you're walking down a hallway and walk right by it, but the only way to get to it is to walk past it (in either direction), then turn around and click on it a hotspot. It seems a cumbersome way to access that frame. In reality, since you're just walking past it, why not create a connecting frame between the center and end of hall? From there, simply turn left (or right, depending on your initial direction) and there it is. That seems more natural to me.

Please take my comments with the understanding that I know your work is in progress. Hopefully, I can someday make something that amazing!

Do you mind sharing what video editing program you are using? (My apologies if this has already been posted)

Thanks!

Sedani Studio

[Simon]

Hi Sedani Studio !
Thanks for giving your point of view, I really apreciate. I'm quite aware of the limitations of my demo, but that's always good to have new opinions !

1 - Thanks ! About the cursors : in fact I already posted a request about an optimisation of AM so it can support better quality cursors/invetory incons. Don't know if that's possible. I use the current cursors during game dev, and I'll update them with new ones in the end if there was this new feature in the soft.

2 - The sound is WIP, and I didn't really work on it. I'll get help from friends who also create the music.

3 - Yeah you're right ! I'm gonna add an intermediate frame here ! I already thought of it, but noone noticed it before.

To conclude, I have to say there will be much more gameplay than video in the full game, on the contrary of the demo...

[Sedani Studio]

I'm very much looking forward to the final product!

On a personal note, my parents were in the movie theatre watching "2001: A Space Odyssey" the night I was born (which I finally watched and ended up getting into about 26 years ago). This project reminds me of that movie, so there's a personal connection for me and I'm excited to see how it turns out. I love the mysterious element that the cube introduces.

Best of luck and keep us posted!

[Simon]

my parents were in the movie theatre watching "2001: A Space Odyssey" the night I was born

That's an amazing story ! I liked the anecdote

I hope you enjoy the project as much as the movie lol
But I'm not so sure

[Simon]

For those interested in this adventure, here are 3 new exclusive screenshots

[Harvester]

I'm wondering if you have been to some secret state-of-art space bases somewhere to take these awesome photos

Harvester

[Simon]

lol !!
A secret base that I'd love to visit, because I still have a lot of pictures to make, and it would really be faster to take photos

You convinced me to add another picture

[Simon]

People not familiar with 3D may be curious to see the following picture. It shows the process of creation of 2 environments from the game, starting with 3D modeling (the shape of the different objects of the scene), then 3D render (the basic aspect of the scene, with textures and lighting), and the final picture (which is the previous 3D render improved with some special effects and color balances).
Easy ! (i'm joking, it takes a lot of time in real life !)

[reneuend]

Impressive!

[Vengeance66]

Wooooooooooow!

Really nice screenshots...

[Simon]

Hey thanks Vengeance66 & reneuend !

To go further, here's a picture of one of my 3D scenes. It's all in french, sorry, I made it to explain to a friend. But I think you can see a little how it works, going from the 3d viewports (the satellite view to the penultimate pic), to the final render (what I use in the game, after adding some fx and color adjustments).

[reneuend]

You're amazing Simon! If I had your talent, I'd be selling my games!!!!

If you ever sell one of your games and it happens to be in French, I'll take French courses just so I can play it!

[Simon]

lol I'm not SO amazing But thanks...
There are a lot of great 3d artists everywhere (much talented than I am), but they don't have time to make a game all alone...

I hope I can sell this very game (2011: A Space Adventure) when it's ready ! And you won't need to take french courses, I'll try to make an english release first

BTW, is someone here interested in correcting my english scripts ? Most of the game scenario is based on optional texts you find here and there (like the one you can find on a memory card in the demo).
I'm doing all I can to translate it from french to english, and most of the work is done, but I'd prefer it to be perfect for the release in sept/october.
The text correction would be volunteer, I can't give money for it but I would add your name in the game credits of course...
This is an important task ! When I read something in french, I don't like to find misspellings or grammar mistakes !!!
Please don't accept this request if you're not good enough in english

[Vengeance66]

Simon,

This is amazing!!! Nice work!

I can offer you voice acting if you like

But, I can't offer you in French, since I don't have someone who's speaking French :/ But, English? For sure!

[reneuend]

Hey Simon,

I'd be glad to proof read your english scripts. I'd also be glad to help with any coding, or beta testing.

[Vengeance66]

I'm in for testing also!

[Simon]

V66 :
I don't really need voice in the game in fact... but, as there is a numeric diary with text, I thought it would be interesting if an english voice was reading it for you...

The thing is that I plan on making this a commercial game, but I can't afford paying you for your service... Sorry...
All I can do is add your name/society in the game credits, to make some advertising for exemple.


reneuend :
Great ! Can you send me your email address in a private message ? I'll send you the script !
I hope you understand that this text will spoil you the discovery of a big part of the game.

I'd also be glad to help with any coding, or beta testing

I'm sure you would There will probably be beta testing when the game is finished. Just wait sept/october.
About coding, I'm trying to do easy things in my game, so right now I could always do it by myself... It doesn't mean I won't need help until the end
Also, there are still some other problems I wish I could solve ; they're described in the troubleshooting section. But I know you already noticed them...

[Vairon]

Your work is really good!

I see that you are using the Vue software, right? Do you use other programs? (Like 3D Studio MAX, Bryce, Maya...).

Some software of post- processing? (Photoshop, Lightroom...).

This project is raising many expectation, is very exciting.

Best regards, Vairon.

[Simon]

Hey no, I'm not using Vue

[Simon]

Hey everyone, I'm not sure, but I might post my game on steam greenlight. It's a new program on Steam for indie game makers.
http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight/

It's not launched yet, but soon (end of august). What do you think of it ? Some of you are using steam sometimes ? I'm not fond of dematerialization, I like to have a box with my game, but that's a good way to make good sales nowadays.
I would be proud to have my game on steam..

During the registration process of the game on steam greenlight , I will be asked the system requirement.
So... What kind of computer is required - according to you - to make an AM game run ?
A windows-PC, of course, but is windows 7 absolutely necessary ?
Note that I chose to make a game in 1024px resolution, and also, the 360 panoramics use huge pictures (4096 px).
Generally, when a game runs on my laptop, then it doesn't require a strong hardware, and my game runs perfectly on my laptop...

So, minimum system requirement would be...
- windows 98 or more recent
- core 2 duo ?
- graphic card with xxx MB of memory
- 2 GB ram ?
- audio card

My config is
- windows 7
- core 2 duo t9300
- geforce 9500M GS 512 MB
- 3 GB ram

I noticed that my brother had an error message and no sound within the game on his own PC. The message said that a program was already using the audio card (and it was not the case), or that old audio cards didn't support huh... I don't remember the following...
And my brother is gone lol. I wonder if it was not something about audio channels...