Dualnames gets about a bit

Gnome's Lair have a post about a Hitchikers game... WAIT A MINUTE! Don't steal my staff, you sneaky gnome!

Install a AGS

AGS 3.1.2 Final is up in the forums, and is expected to be the version that gets released shortly. By the way, the picture is what came up in a google image search for "final" in case you are wondering...

Ben There, Won more stuff

Ben There Dan That won JayIsGames's best freeware adventure award. Looks like the competition didn't include any other AGS games, though.

More Gilbert Goodness

Sexy Dave Gilbert video up over on bytejacker: find all about Emerald City Confidential in this video interview!

Timeless blog post

After Ivy, its Dave Gilbert's turn to do a guest blog post on bytejacker and he bemoans his unusual daily schedule. Or maybe brags baout it, I'm not sure...

Wig-Wam-Bam

Title is a courtesy of Babar Longshorts.

-Games that got released (or I didn't take any notice of):
-Re-Agent Orange:
Too hard to rhyme anything with orange, but this game is really a very enjoyable funny attempt of a game. Helme and DrWhite have teamed up to make this cute little funny game, and according to my professional opinion, they sort of succeded. Okay, the art might not be perfect, but everything is drawn in a stylish way.


-Love is not a competition, but I'm winning..:
Let's have a look at the competitions that are going on ,or just went on.

-Finished:
MAGS (Drugs Theme by bicilotti):
Well, this is a self-promo, but well somebody has to do it. Unfortunately I made a really hard-to-make entry, but no one (almost Ryan) entered the competition but me. So I won by default. The entry's name is Winner's Don't Do Drugs:
But it should be like Winners win by default..:P










Colouring Ball (Hosted by Indieboy):
He whose name shall not be told, drew this and won.











Fortnightly Writting Competition (Trihan, Dualnames):
Uncle-mum has won the competition and well, that's it. Thanks to all those who posted an entry.

-Still on the run:
So which one should you enter to get yourself a cool prize?
-Background Blitz([hide]Ben304[/hide], 28 Jan-11 Feb):
He has won the last blitz and he's hosting this one. Do not say his name by any means. The theme is similar to the nature of he who's name shall not be spoken or written.








-Animation Party(Lyaer till 29th of Jan):
You get a boy and a girl...can you make a party out of the them? So far a cool looking blood party entry has been posted. Watch it:





-Tuuny Tune Contest (visy January 2009):
Can you make a Space AGE tune? Come on!! Take that Arjuuguitar and make a theme.

-Sprite Jam (Space Pirate Caine-till 7 of February):
Space Pirate Caine is wondering, if you can sprite a famous adventure game character?

Well, do you feel lucky..
eh..punk?
Entries so far:

Adventuress game Studio

The adventure game equivalent of Harry Knowles (though probably not in appearance!), The Adventuress, has posted about how fabulous AGS is and the video tutorials I mentioned a wee while ago.

Get your vote on

Well, the AGS Awards final vote is still open and so far 81 people have exercised their democratic whatnot. Some categories have clear leaders but others are neck-and-neck so your vote DOES count! I can also exclusively reveal that the Awards Committee has chosen the winners of the Best Innovation and Lifetime Achievement awards.

Also, don't forget to send me CHA files, animations, backgrounds, funny dialogue for acceptance speeches, etc. Also, if you'd like your voice to be used to present an award I'm looking for voice acting volunteers.

AGS summary!

Well, the Wikipedia article on AGS is OK, but for a more personal (and less wikified) account, this fab new review of all things AGS is a must-read.

Getting animated on youtube

Densming's excellent series of video tutorials for AGS has continued with some lovely gems on animation and sound:

H.A.M: Hats, Androids, Mika

It appears that February is coming hot for AGS..well, at least I hope it will.

-Hatmaker's tale:

MashPotato has just told us about her new project, she's working on. And she's giving out her development blog to free eyes .. The artwork is low-resolution but of very high quality..and well the game looks really really cute. It's about slimes and books. And castles. It seems like a really cheerful adventure, we'll have our hands on, when it's done, that it managed to put a smile on my face.

-Edge of Reality is now reality..?!:

Well, yes, indeed. One of the biggest AGS projects (time as size) ever, and the biggest RON game ever to come out, this is probably the best way to revive the RON series. And that is be releasing a game that contains all the elements of RON games we loved. It's weird that this one started as one of the first RON games, and now it ended up as the last one. Nine years in production, but Mika is the playable character on this one, and she's on her way to solve mysterious disappearances that are occuring at the neighbourhood.

-Annie Android: Automated Affection or How to get laid with a robot:

Ben304, has finished another short little cute game. This one is as good looking (and even better) than his previous one, and this one has a weird but yet attractive story to tie in his sprite magic. Annie Android, a female robot, really wants to bang the rocks with Mailbot but she has another partner.

-Things to check out:

Yahtzee is going to run a Gameshow..with two co-hosts. A gameshow you'll see him talk, instead or hear him. Hope he puts a full stop every couple of paragraphs. Go here to see more info or Alt+X. The show is called Game Damage unless I got brain damage.

3.1.2 RC2

Release-elect AGS 3.1.2 is nearly ready for inauguration as CJ put out Release Candidate 2 yesterday. A few bug fixes are in and a couple of new plugin API functions.

What's up Ashley?

-Make me a Ninja depth blitz hitchhiker entry:
Well no, not really..but well if you can, you could win all the competitions!!

Sprite Jam(by buloght 17-23 Jan):
Well, after winning loominous buloght with is wondering what is needed to draw a cool ninja (if you can see him first).

Blitz(by raddicks 10-24):
dRaddicks is wondering what happens when science fiction meets history. Help him realize..it's chaos!!

Fortnightly Writting Comp(by Trihan and ..):
Well, you'd be long time gone from the forums if you didn't know who would choose that kind of theme. Can you post a hitchhiker's entry about anything you wish and as long as you wish?

Colouring Ball (13-27 Jan by Indieboyd):
I'd wish to know what is the theme of this competition...

That's all for now...Good luck to all nominees by the way.

Post poll

Well, the poll on type of posts overwhelmingly favoured a mix of long and short. Which is good, because that's what you've got and will keep getting!

New poll is up, with some of the games that might have expected nominations in the AGS Awards listed and you can choose which one most deserved SOMETHING. Of course, there were a few that got some nominations but should have had more and maybe that can be the next poll after this one. I'll probably make the winner the next Pick of the Month if it hasn't been one already.

Give me your poor, your walkcycles, your animations

Over in the competitions and activities forum, I've done an appeal for art, sound, dialogue and other assets for the AGS Awards Ceremony 2008 game. Please read it and send me your CHA files, animated GIFs, backgrounds, etc. for the awards game!

Most nominations ever

I'm a bit of a stathead, so here's some more stats on the AGS Awards (see also the Wiki page)

Both Ivy and Le Woltaire broke the previous record for the most nominations. Ivy got 15 with Nanobots and Little Girl and Le Woltaire went one better with 15 for A Second Face and one for the Dust to Water demo.

If you add up all-time nominations, this is the Top 10:

Yahtzee 53
Grundislav 36
Dave Gilbert 35
Herculean Effort 32
AGDi 26
Le Woltaire 24
Ivy 22
Chrille 18
Crystal Shard 17
ProgZMax 17

So Grundislav has leapfrogged Dave and Herculean Effort up to 2nd this year while Ivy, Le Woltaire and Progz have entered the top 10.

Zombie cow molests dinosaurs

Ben There Dan That has won the prize for game most likely to mock disabled dinosaurs in Mersey Remakes's annual awards. Hmmm.

Wintermute goes open-source

Mnemonic, the guy behind Wintermute (the OTHER Adventure engine!) has announced that its is open-source from now on and he's working on a new engine codenamed WME2!

Remake my game, AGD.

AGD Interactive has released King's Quest I remake, apparently of the classic Sierra game, doing again an awesome job on every part. If you see the comparisons in the graphic part of the game, it's really outstanding..hope they remake more of those classic adventures most of us loved back then... So grab your crown, King Graham wannabe and go here to get your free copy of the game.

-WOW behold Zork will pawn you, noob!:

Remember the text adventure Zork? Yes, the infocom one. No?! Well, nevermind me. A groip of certain individuals are making what appears to be unexpected. A version of the Zork as a browser based MMOwhatevery.. I'm not lying..check this out.

AGS Awards Noms summary

A Second Face: 15 nominations
Ben Jordan 7: 11
Limey Lizard: 11
Nanobots: 10
Ben There Dan That: 7
Little Girl in Underland: 5
Once Upon a Crime: 4
Road Racer: 3
ColourWise: 3
Life of D Duck II: 2
QFG2VGA: 2
Man Boy vs Doctor Sock: 2
Damsel: 2
The Jackyard: 2
Sydney Treads the Catwalk: 1
Chatroom: 1
Quest For Yrolg: 1
PlumberBoy: 1
Super Pitstop Racing: 1
Dust to Water (DEMO): 1
Games Galore! DEMO: 1
Space Pirates: 1
Shoot, I Got Abducted!: 1
Beauties And Beasts: 1
The Vacuum: 1

AGS Awards Nominees!

In Alphabetical order:

Best Game Created with AGS
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Ben There, Dan That!
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Nanobots

Best Gameplay
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Ben There, Dan That!
Nanobots
The Vacuum

Best Original Story
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Ben There, Dan That!
Nanobots
Once Upon A Crime

Best Dialogue Writing
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Ben There, Dan That!
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Nanobots

Best Puzzles
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Ben There, Dan That!
Nanobots
Once Upon A Crime

Best Player Character
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben There, Dan That!
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Nanobots
Sydney Treads the Catwalk

Best Non-Player Character
"Dan" from Ben There, Dan That
"Groth" from A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz
"Lucky Lemming" from Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard
"Magic Smiling Cat" from Little Girl in Underland

Best Background Art
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Little Girl in Underland
Once Upon A Crime

Best Character Art
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Little Girl in Underland
Nanobots
Once Upon A Crime

Best Animation
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Life of D. Duck II
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Nanobots
Quest for Glory II VGA: Trial By Fire

Best Programming in an Adventure
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Chatroom
Nanobots
Quest For Yrolg

Best Sound Effects
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Life of D. Duck II
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Road Racer v1.3

Best Music
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Man Boy vs Doctor Sock
Quest for Glory II VGA: Trial By Fire

Best Tutorial or Documentation
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
ColourWise
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Nanobots

Best Short Game
Beauties And Beasts
Damsel
Little Girl in Underland
Man Boy vs Doctor Sock
Shoot, I Got Abducted!

Best Demo
Dust to Water (DEMO)
Games Galore! DEMO
Space Pirates

Best Non-Adventure Game Created with AGS
Castle of Fire
ColourWise
Road Racer v1.3
The Jackyard

Best Programming in a Non-Adventure
ColourWise
PlumberBoy
Road Racer v1.3
Super Pitstop Racing
The Jackyard

Best Voice Work
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
Damsel
Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!
Little Girl in Underland

AGA-ro-phobic

Apparently it's all AGA's fault. Yes, everything. He's worse than Bernie Madoff, Osama bin Laden, George Bush, the IDF and Russell Brand put together.

3.1.2 RC1 already

CJ's not hanging about on the 3.1.2 release and has already made it into a release candidate. There's various bug fixes in this version and little new functionality.

Also, last day to vote in the AGS Awards nominations!

10 out of 20 best adventures from AGS

Indigames.com have done a round-up of 2008's best indie adventures and 10 of them are made with our beloved engine. This just proves that Barak Obama should make CJ his Secretary of Adventures. Or something.

Wake up Maggie, I think I've got someone to vote for you...

As well as the AGS Awards (aka "The Rogers"), there's also "The Maggies", the award for best MAGS game of the year. Head over to its thread, play all those tiny wee games and vote for mine as the best!

Christmas post resonates

Well, some of you may of missed this becuase you were with your family or some other claptrap on Christmas day, but here it is again: not only did Vince XII give you a resonance poster, but he also signed up Deirdra Kiai to help with the game. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT, PEOPLE?

Fame! I'm going to AGS forever!

LimpingFish has updated his "AGS in the media" blog once again with lots of fab magazine scans. We're famous, collectively. Kinda.

Temple of Blackwell

Well, the Fountain of Youth team have tided us over with a short game called Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Spheres and Dave Gilbert has given us some more previews of Blackwell Convergence. What a new year present! There's no downturn in AGS production, that's for sure!

Happy New AGS!

Well, I'm back from my vacation and CJ has popped up with AGS 3.1.2 beta 1 in the meantime (as well as kicking off the awards nomination process: what a star!)

Vote now or the kitten gets it

Vote for change, vote for the bailout, vote for history in the making but most importantly, VOTE, darn it! The AGS Awards voting for the nominations process is open and some of you lovely people have already voted, but if you haven't then go RIGHT NOW and check out the lovely all-new voting page that CJ crafted for pure nothingness and vote vote vote! For more details check out the voting thread and the For Your Consideration thread.

Dualpost #1

-Games to wait for:

Taxi (Source Available):

Lately the community can't cease to amaze me. Zabnat (also known from Odot Tamat) has written, scripted and designed a grand theft auto engine. And it looks and plays smooth and lovely. He's even handing the source code for free.

Second Face Sequelled:

Woltaire can't stop once he's getting started and is already working on the sequel to second face the eye of Geltz. There's more nudity and sex on this one, that's what I hope.

Limpish Fish is now .. Hallow?!:

Well, limping fish has surely overcome all obstacles in making something look totally professional. A horror sort of game this one, and I need some spooks. Hope the estimated date of release won;t scare me.

-Competitions on the fly:

Photoshop Phwednesday by Eggie(ends on 14/1/09)

One entry so far, according to which an AGS member won't have a good year.

Background Blitz(10-24):

Raddicks after winning zyndicate's previous blitz,is hosting this blitz. See some Star Trek and make a sci-fi based bg.

Colouring Ball:

Twirlly has awarded among the rest prizes, the first prize to Indieboy. Another stickamite bites the dust.

MAGS Drugs(till the 25th Jan):

After bicilotti has won, he has set a new level in games adding drugs. Try no to get an overdose.

Twirlly's Animation Competition:

Well one entry with Santa, so one gold prize. Lyaer.

Pirate Jam(Till the 16th Jan):

Space Pirate Caine has requested only inhabitats of monkey island. Ahoy there.

-Thing to check out:

Ivy is going to write on Bytejacker..woohh..Bored to check more stuff, it's my birthday today anyway, so I hope SSH won't mind me taking the rest day off.

AGStein

Well, it appears that dkh has worked some serious magic. He's bringing 3d to AGS. Time to have some Wolfenstein clones...check the video in youtube. Go here for more info on that.

Back In Time

Hello, and whatever..on to some AGS action:

-Games To Play, before the end of day:

Les Miserables:

Chris Tolworthy has just released this and you can get it for a reasonable price here. If you helped and forgot about it, let the man know you want a free copy. Also if you buy it you get the future two installments of the story for free. Dante's Divine Comedy is on its way. The game of course is about the famous book by Victor Hugo.


-Competitions on the Fly:

The italian guy has taken the liberty of winning the MAGS. SSH hopes that you haven;t helped him win, but my minions did their job right. Kill the opressor!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! If all goes to plan, by the time you read this the AGS Awards nomination process should have started. If not, wait for CJ to tell you where, on the forums. This is another scheduled post: as you read this I'm probably on a plane to Spain!