Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Work in Progress / [TAC] Vigilance

Author
Message
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 21st Jul 2008 22:36 Edited at: 28th Mar 2009 15:59
Link
Update: demo is available here

Update of the update: since Filefront is apparently going to shut down, here's a new link to the demo:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=c8ddc6053102fde7d2db6fb9a8902bda

Since tha_Rami and Seppuku put their TAC entries up here, I suppose I might as well do the same.

The game is set in... 2050? 2349? An alternate universe? It's hard to tell when a malevolent superAI has taken over the world and re-written history.

This AI is called the Eye, a paranoid omnipotent being that roams the internet surveying its global empire. There are cameras everywhere. And the Eye doesn't need much evidence to make you UnWanted - that is, turn you into a vegetable.

You play Cypher Mid-015. There are no "people" or "citizens" and there are certainly no "souls". Such words have been mostly removed from the language. Instead, you are all "Cyphers" - meaning "code", or "nonentity". You're a recently graduated Technician: in your new job, it's your task to do whatever the Eye tells you (obviously), specifically to fix anything that breaks in this grimy dystopia.

But through the course of the game, you will be able to join one of four factions:
1) The Neo Romantics. They like poetry and purple cloaks and suchlike, and are determined to bring down the Eye and set up a state free from oppression.
2) The Stewards. They are essentially the Illuminati of this world: they are committed to controlling the world themselves, since they know what is best for humanity. In their eyes, anyway.
3) The Invisible Hand. They are high ranking Eye officials who seek to bring down the Eye and put themselves on the pedestal. Selfish, and very good at breaking fingers.
4) The Blackshirts. This is the Eye's police force, and the faction you will end up joining if you turn down the other 3. You will work to stop the other factions and keep the Eye in control of the world.

The game will be split up into around 7 levels, though this is a bit vague, since the levels when you can roam around the city will also count as "mission" levels if you need to complete a mission for your faction. It seems a little short - but there are 4 factions, and each will approach the same level differently, with different objectives.

And just to show I'm not bluffing, here's a screenshot:



This is the "real world" screen. Big text goes in the big box, with the 0-9 options (this game has no parser) below. The banner at the right will change depending on which page you're viewing; they're mostly just to add atmosphere to the game. You can press spacebar at any time to glance around in case there are any cameras around, but if there are, the Eye will become suspicious of you.

The other half of the game is the hacking segment. The world uses the Net, and you have to hack into certain targets to complete objectives. This is the hacking screen:



The big box with text in the middle is the console. The line beneath is the parser line. To the right is the "on/offline" indicator, and - above that - a little anti-piracy warning which doubles as a trace timer if you have the right software. The "list" box shows all available sites or, if you're logged into a site, all available files on that site. Above that is the Key monitor: certain passkeys are needed to disguise your machine and prevent detection. If you're not legitimately logged onto a site, you will have to log onto the site, quickly steal the key, then log off then back on with the new key.

That's all for now. The "real world" engine is mostly done - it's mostly just a matter of putting stuff in. The "hacking" engine is barely done, but I can log onto servers and sites, plus I have password cracking, site forcing, key stealing and traceing done. There's a lot left to do there, but I think it's manageable.

EDIT: Resized the screenies: I hate it when the window gets stretched.[href]null[/href]

Secretary of Unknowable Knowledge for the Rock/Dink administration '08
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Alucard94
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Jul 2007
Location: Stockholm, Sweden.
Posted: 21st Jul 2008 22:40
Link
Awesome! Looks very interesting.


Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
tha_rami
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Mar 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 21st Jul 2008 23:51
Link
Whoa, looks extremely impressive. Going for a second year of first prizes now, aren't you? The game looks extremely impressive, and the options sound equally impressive. Funnily, I've got 'similar' functionality planned, although the 'net' part will be quite limited as its an intranet in my game.


A mod has been erased by your signature because it was larger than 600x120
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 22nd Jul 2008 00:40 Edited at: 22nd Jul 2008 00:46
Link
Well, my "inter"net has a maximum of 4*11 sites (so 44) for any one level, but I'm hoping to have sites that run on into the next level: my plan is to let the player visit sites from previous levels, perhaps find new side-missions or stumble upon some bank-accounts they hadn't noticed before. While this is kind of cool, it does limit my virtual internet - though I don't think I'd be capable of making more than that, plus I don't think it'd add *that* much to gameplay.

Quote: "Funnily, I've got 'similar' functionality planned"

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

Also, this post is a sig test.

EDIT: Okay, that sig didn't work. I put some other stuff in the sig and went over the 200 char limit. This time it should work.

Also, I'm using this image for the moment as the official picture of the Eye: I generally fade the alpha in a circle so you only get the iris, not the rest of the eye. Problem is, I downloaded it without permission and while it's fine as a placeholder, I'm not allowed to submit the game if all the media isn't copyrightedly accounted for - does anyone have a similar picture that I could use? I'd take a picture of my own iris but my camera doesn't focus well when doing closeups.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Seppuku Arts
Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 22nd Jul 2008 01:39
Link
Sounds great, good to see the competition out there - of course too late to steal ideas. (just kidding) I like what you're going for, nice system, I like the idea of the freedom.

"Experience never provides its judgments with true or strict universality; but only (through induction) with assumed and comparative universality." - Immanuel Kant
Back to top
Profile PM Website
tha_rami
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Mar 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 22nd Jul 2008 13:13
Link
Or, alternatively, get permission from the creator of the photo. The problem is that a photo as the one you use is nearly impossible to get with a normal photo-camera, since it seems extremely close up and zoomed.


A mod has been erased by your signature because it was larger than 600x120
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Dazzag
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Cyprus
Posted: 22nd Jul 2008 14:12
Link
Oooh, looks interesting. Will keep an eye on this one. Arf!

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Inspire
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Dec 2006
Location: Rochester, NY
Posted: 22nd Jul 2008 19:35
Link
This looks very nice.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
draknir_
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Oct 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 23rd Jul 2008 01:57
Link
Awesome, a hacking game! Do it right and you'll surely be crowned with the corresponding virtual laurels.
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 24th Jul 2008 16:34 Edited at: 24th Jul 2008 19:50
Link
Okay, I've progressed (a little) on the Hacking front: any documents found on a site can now be read by typing "read blog.txt" (or whatever), I fixed a few bugs in the Hack List popup window, and added a few files to a virtual site to allow the plot to progress a little. Not much, but it's all a bit fiddly (plus the "read blah" function took me hours to figure out).

Anyway, to keep people interested, here's a piece of music I made in Anvil (see attachment). It'll probably either be used in the exciting bits, or be in part of a playlist in the Hacking sections.

EDIT: Jon Miles of milesresearch.com has kindly allowed me to use some high-res iris photos. He was using them as sample images for an incredibly cool camera specially designed for taking extreme-closeup pictures of eyes, so I now have the "face" of the Eye. Uh... yes, the... face... hm.

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Back to top
Profile PM Email
wind27382
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Feb 2006
Location:
Posted: 27th Jul 2008 04:50
Link
i'll be looking forward to this

wind
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 29th Jul 2008 14:08
Link
Okay, li'l update.
Chapter 1 is almost done. This is in 2 parts: the first is in the "real" world (so a regular multiple choice IF game) wherein you are sent on a mission by the Eye. The second half is in the "hacking" world, where you have to continue this mission and track down some heretics who have been rooting around things that are supposed to remain un-rooted-in.

There are a few problems, though:
- I haven't implemented a music system yet because, well, I don't have much music.
- My testing cycle has been less than thorough: basically, I've gone down the road of "if it works now, let's hope it'll always work!" This means that there are certain options in the multiple choice section which may be dead-ends, or lead to the wrong page. But I'm not sure.
- The hacking segment is in real-time (as opposed to the "print to screen once then wait for input" method of the IF segments) so I have to update the visuals each loop. This is okay most of the time, but when I open certain information-heavy windows (such as the "messages" window, which prints lots and lots of text) there's a noticeable slowdown and it's slow to pick up keystrokes. The obvious solution is to just put in a "wait key" command, but I don't want the game to pause when you look at your messages: that would dull the tension.
- The hacking parser is AWFUL. The idea is that it looks at the entry buffer, strips out each word (separated by spaces) and then analyses those words. It works alright some of the time, but other times it simply will not recognise its commands! I'm not at all sure what's going on here - but Dazzag posted some parser code on Game Design Theory so I might have a look at that.

Anyway, that's that - I'm working toward releasing chapter 1 as a demo for all you folks but I'd rather not specify a date since they have a habit of sort of... sliding.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Dazzag
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Cyprus
Posted: 29th Jul 2008 15:39
Link
Quote: "I haven't implemented a music system yet because, well, I don't have much music"
Wouldn't worry about it. I can count on one hand the number of old school parser text adventures that had music. And none, off the top of my head, that really added to the game because of it. Of course being really clever and having the music change when things get exciting or when the tension mounts would obviously be pretty cool, but just looping the same old thing will get old fast in a game like this (where there is a bare minumum of sound effects).

Quote: "there's a noticeable slowdown"
Look for the D3 text DLL. Is on these forums somewhere. I use it all the time. Not so obvious with small amounts of text, but the sample code that comes with it shows how amazingly faster it is than DBP text once you use *loads* of text. This is all the more obvious if you start shadowing or outlining text (3 to 5 times the text amount pretty much).

Quote: "The obvious solution is to just put in a "wait key" command, but I don't want the game to pause when you look at your messages: that would dull the tension"
Yikes. Even before using the D3 text DLL I had DarkMUD going on a fairly slow machine with a full moving plasma cloud going on in the background while showing quite a lot of text on the screen. And it was fine for text input. I think the input mechanism is in the code I last posted in the 2008 compo thread. Nicked it from the forums a while back and modified it.

Quote: "Dazzag posted some parser code on Game Design Theory so I might have a look at that"
Thats where the input box is. On the downside though I have posted gamebook code (ie. choose an option), and string handling code (that I nicked for forum and modified) to help with parsing strings, but not actual full whack code for parsing properly. That stuff is the more complicated stuff.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 29th Jul 2008 18:21
Link
Quote: "Wouldn't worry about it. I can count on one hand the number of old school parser text adventures that had music. And none, off the top of my head, that really added to the game because of it."

I plan to have music: the hacking sections, especially, would benefit from a bit of techno or whatever. But I'll leave it for now: it's not integral to the experience.

Quote: "there's a noticeable slowdown"
Well, after looking at my textwrap function, I found the problem. See, I'd got it from code snippets, and while it did do what it said on the tin, it was taking a word, printing it to the screen, then taking the next word and printing that to the screen and so on. So I got rid of it and wrote my own:


People can use it if they want. Basically, instead of printing word-by-word, it stores each line in the textline() array. Then it just prints all the lines stored in textline() at the end - which means it uses a lot less "text" commands. Now, there are no slowdowns when you view messages in the hacking section.

I also fixed the parser problem. I don't know what the entry buffer was doing to my poor little strings, but that must have been the problem. The new code now reads:


checkABC(f$) basically looks at an array of characters. This array contains every character on the keyboard (so letters, numbers, symbols etc.) So a character only gets from the entry buffer to buffer$ if it's a "normal" character (which prevents silly characters like the "returnkey" character ending up in there). This seemed to fix it. Only problem is, I had to jury-rig a backspace-key option into it, but that seems to work too.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Dazzag
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Cyprus
Posted: 29th Jul 2008 18:35
Link
Quote: "Basically, instead of printing word-by-word, it stores each line in the textline() array"
Yeah, thats pretty similar to what I posted in my example on the 2008 compo thread a while back. Also does colours (should have used types though...) and pretty much no calculations on the drawing routine (only when you add new text to the screen), plus doesn't loop through the entire string. Oh and includes the ability to plonk EOLs (using a different char in notepad) into it. Even so all routines should use the D3 DLL to speed all text drawing up.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 31st Jul 2008 17:28 Edited at: 31st Jul 2008 17:35
Link
Okay, the demo is up!

Metaphorically speaking, of course.

And it can be downloaded here.

This is the first level, so you're guided through most of it, but it should at least give you a feel for the game.

Edit: forgot to tell you how to use it, oops... Basically, it's a .rar file. Unzip (or, indeed, unrar) it somewhere, then double-click the "Vigilance demo" shortcut in the folder. I only really made a shortcut so that I could have a nice icon, so if it needs to be an .exe then I can change that fairly easily. If that doesn't work, just go into the next folder and click "Vigilance.exe" - that'll do it.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
tha_rami
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Mar 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 2nd Aug 2008 00:11
Link
Okay, I checked it out. I was impressed by the contrast between the complexity of keeping yourself wanted and unsuspected and the simplicity of the controls. I don't know why, but the font/coloring didn't appeal to me and that was the main reason I didn't keep playing (and I got UnWanted twice because I didn't pay enough attention). I like the story, and the setting.


A mod has been erased by your signature because it was larger than 600x120
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 2nd Aug 2008 13:45
Link
Hmm, well, putting in an option to change the text colours is easy enough - what sort of colouring would you like? Black on white?

I thought the green on black gave it a sort of ambience, but readability has to come before ambience in an IF game, of course.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Inspire
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Dec 2006
Location: Rochester, NY
Posted: 2nd Aug 2008 20:36
Link
Dude, that demo was so sick! The hacking bit was especially fun, although I would make some of the files and texts a bit more complicated. For example, breadcrumbs.txt, and secrets.txt. The contents of the first one is way too cheesy and lame, you should make it like some sort of code. I would comment on the second one, but I forgot to read what it said...I would also make up some filenames, instead of the generic .txt and .exe. I would replace those with something more fitting...

The hacking bit was really fun though. The story sounds awesome, but there are a couple things. I am really not trying to flame your game or anything, I'm just giving you some hard criticism, and I hope that isn't a problem. When recieving messages during the hacking part, alot of them were formatted really weirdly. Almost all of them were like:

"Hello, Cypher, This Is Your Great Granddaddy, Care To Join Me For A Game Of Checkers And Some Apple Juice?"

Also, I really didn't feel like the Eye was something to be feared, considering that it was taking the time out of its busy day to talk to me, some technician dude. He was also emailing me...if you are going for the whole "fear the Eye" thing, you might wanna change that.

Sweet game though, keep up the good work!
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Roxas
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Nov 2005
Location: http://forum.thegamecreators.com
Posted: 2nd Aug 2008 22:09
Link
Aww.. Can you please add set window layout command when the game goes to windowed mode... Im using wine layer on linux and it does not regonize that DBPRO calls this automatically

I cant play without window borders because it makes the program pretty buggy. Thanks.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
tha_rami
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Mar 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 3rd Aug 2008 01:13
Link
Quote: "Also, I really didn't feel like the Eye was something to be feared, considering that it was taking the time out of its busy day to talk to me, some technician dude. He was also emailing me...if you are going for the whole "fear the Eye" thing, you might wanna change that."

I disagree there. The fact it talked to me made it even more frightening to me. The Eye is 'all-seeing' and can probably talk to thousands of people at once.


A mod has been erased by your signature because it was larger than 600x120
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 3rd Aug 2008 21:18
Link
Quote: "Aww.. Can you please add set window layout command when the game goes to windowed mode... "

You mean like this?

It might also be a problem with the intro movie. The intro is a separate executable, so when it finishes and the main game begins, it goes to windowed mode.

Btw, forgot to mention: you can skip the intro by clicking, or pressing esc. Though I wouldn't advise using esc because that might also quit the main game.

Quote: "Dude, that demo was so sick! The hacking bit was especially fun"

Thankyou! I was never quite sure whether I was too simple or too arbitrary - though I think the balance is about right atm.

Quote: "although I would make some of the files and texts a bit more complicated. For example, breadcrumbs.txt, and secrets.txt. The contents of the first one is way too cheesy and lame, you should make it like some sort of code. I would comment on the second one, but I forgot to read what it said...I would also make up some filenames, instead of the generic .txt and .exe. I would replace those with something more fitting..."


I admit that breadcrumbs.txt was rather simple, but its purpose was just to point whoever found it to that site. On the other hand, if the person who discovers it can break a code then perhaps they would be better suited to joining the rebels... hm...
But I think secrets.txt needed to be absolutely clear in its message, since I don't want the player accidentally joining a faction that they don't like but will then be stuck with for the rest of the game. Though I guess the name "secrets.txt" was scraping the bottom of the barrel... The .txt and .exe file extensions were also a bit of a no-brainer: it just seemed the logical thing to do. They're easy enough to change, but I thought that a certain level of familiarity would make some aspects of the hacking more accessible. (I mean, if I hadn't put in any help popups I'm sure many people would get confused. I certainly would, hehe!)

Quote: "but there are a couple things. I am really not trying to flame your game or anything, I'm just giving you some hard criticism, and I hope that isn't a problem."

By all means criticise!

Quote: "When recieving messages during the hacking part, alot of them were formatted really weirdly. Almost all of them were like:

"Hello, Cypher, This Is Your Great Granddaddy, Care To Join Me For A Game Of Checkers And Some Apple Juice?""

Well, you had 2 people contacting you: Artemis the Blackshirt officer, and the Eye. Now, Artemis knows very little about Hacking (I wanted to have an officer that pretended to know everything better than everyone else but actually knew very little in those areas) so I had to switch your main contact to the Eye fairly quickly, so you could get some decent instructions from someone who knows what they're talking about I'd decided early on that the Eye would Always Speak With The First Letter Of Each Word In Upper Case, almost as though it was constantly announcing itself.

hehe, I got the idea from the way some people talk on these forums...

Quote: "Also, I really didn't feel like the Eye was something to be feared, considering that it was taking the time out of its busy day to talk to me, some technician dude."

Quote: "I disagree there. The fact it talked to me made it even more frightening to me. The Eye is 'all-seeing' and can probably talk to thousands of people at once."

Rami has pretty much said what I had in mind: the Eye is essentially a series of lots of functions and individual entities which are also united as one sentient being. So each of these miniature entities can hold conversations with citizens and contact them, but they are all aware of all other Eye entities (so you couldn't, for example, digitally "catch" one of them without the others knowing about it). Basically, the Eye is a digital Hive Mind. This means that when you talk to the Eye you are still talking to one entity (because all the mini-Eyes are connected and share thoughts) but you can still hold a coherent conversation with this entity because it has allocated a certain part of its processes for just that purpose. This allows it to talk to thousands of people at the same time without being distracted by each conversation.

Uhhm... maybe I should just have said that it can talk to lots of people at once. That would have been a lot simpler...

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Inspire
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Dec 2006
Location: Rochester, NY
Posted: 3rd Aug 2008 22:46
Link
Quote: "The .txt and .exe file extensions were also a bit of a no-brainer: it just seemed the logical thing to do. They're easy enough to change, but I thought that a certain level of familiarity would make some aspects of the hacking more accessible. (I mean, if I hadn't put in any help popups I'm sure many people would get confused. I certainly would, hehe!)"


That seemed to make it too simple for me. Maybe it's because you are showing this game to a forum of computer programmers, so it doesn't seem complicated, but still.


Quote: "Rami has pretty much said what I had in mind: the Eye is essentially a series of lots of functions and individual entities which are also united as one sentient being. So each of these miniature entities can hold conversations with citizens and contact them, but they are all aware of all other Eye entities (so you couldn't, for example, digitally "catch" one of them without the others knowing about it). Basically, the Eye is a digital Hive Mind. This means that when you talk to the Eye you are still talking to one entity (because all the mini-Eyes are connected and share thoughts) but you can still hold a coherent conversation with this entity because it has allocated a certain part of its processes for just that purpose. This allows it to talk to thousands of people at the same time without being distracted by each conversation.

Uhhm... maybe I should just have said that it can talk to lots of people at once. That would have been a lot simpler..."


Well, the player is supposed to fear the eye, right? Well, I really felt no sense of consequence. I appreciated the whole thing with the old guy in the beginning, but I still felt like I could do anything without being caught in game, which kinda ruins the effect. If the Eye is so smart, he seems to be overlooking alot. Although I did not open the book that you get, in fear that the game would arrest me because a security camera saw me or something.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Bizar Guy
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 20th Apr 2005
Location: Bostonland
Posted: 4th Aug 2008 00:03
Link
Tried the demo, very nice. My only real complaint was that when the eye talked to me it had a lot of emotion... I dunno, I guess I'm more afraid of the idea of being controlled by a cold emotionless machine than a computer that sounds like a madman.

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
tha_rami
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Mar 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 4th Aug 2008 01:48
Link
Quote: "Well, the player is supposed to fear the eye, right? Well, I really felt no sense of consequence. I appreciated the whole thing with the old guy in the beginning, but I still felt like I could do anything without being caught in game, which kinda ruins the effect. If the Eye is so smart, he seems to be overlooking alot. Although I did not open the book that you get, in fear that the game would arrest me because a security camera saw me or something."

Lol, I got thrown into the abyss and plugged into some ubermachine twice for being too suspicious. I've learned to fear the Eye.


A mod has been erased by your signature because it was larger than 600x120
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Roxas
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Nov 2005
Location: http://forum.thegamecreators.com
Posted: 4th Aug 2008 14:38
Link
I usually use set window layout 1,0,0 but not sure how it looks in windows

But its not necessary to add that because i can run your game fine in virtual desktop.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Dazzag
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Cyprus
Posted: 4th Aug 2008 16:21
Link
Damn, would totally love to give this a try. Looks good. Just don't have the time Moving back to the UK in a week and then will have a weeks holiday, so will have time then Not sure what Matt's thoughts on comments on a demo from a judge though. I mean giving criticism on a demo might be seen as unfair. I'll keep it as vague as possible then. "Going well, keep up the good work!" should suffice I would imagine ... Hehheh, screw it, love the idea BTW, so can't wait to try out the implementation

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Seppuku Arts
Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 6th Aug 2008 16:26
Link
Awesome demo - Interesting opening, having the movie is a good for the atmosophere, sounds like it could be creepy.

"Experience never provides its judgments with true or strict universality; but only (through induction) with assumed and comparative universality." - Immanuel Kant
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Diggsey
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Apr 2006
Location: On this web page.
Posted: 13th Aug 2008 00:32
Link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_(anatomy)

Wikipedia images are not copyrighted I think, so it should be OK to use it any from there.

[b]Yuor signutare was aresed by a deslyxic mud...
BOX2D V2 HAS HELP FILES! AND A WIKI!
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 13th Aug 2008 13:36
Link
Nah, it's okay, I managed to find some iris shots elsewhere. Thanks anyway, though!

Thanks for commenting, everyone - progress has been slow because my summer has been mostly devoted to reading due to school etc. but it should pick up.

Quote: "Lol, I got thrown into the abyss and plugged into some ubermachine twice for being too suspicious. I've learned to fear the Eye."

You have to be on the ball quite a bit to avoid the Eye: for instance, if you were late for work (ie. didn't go STRAIGHT there) then the Eye starts asking questions, and if you screw that up then you're instantly doomed. Maybe I should have more consequences for what you do, though... The problem, of course, is that the player has to have some leeway so they don't get frustrated, but it also needs to be constricting enough that they're careful and worried.

Quote: "But its not necessary to add that because i can run your game fine in virtual desktop."

In that case, I won't add it, since I'm not totally sure how it works. (The help files are not the most lucid of documents...)

Quote: "Awesome demo - Interesting opening, having the movie is a good for the atmosophere, sounds like it could be creepy."

Yes - the idea was that you'd hear the song without the words, and recognise it - and then it would be parodied in a bizarre, macabre way. Plus the words give you a sense of what's going on.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
nackidno
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Feb 2007
Location: Där solen aldrig skiner
Posted: 13th Aug 2008 14:57
Link
This game is kinda creepy imo. The story, the design, everything is just so bizarre. And the imaginations I get in my head is none to speak of.
You got really great atmosphere in this game. It got me hooked for half an hour. A text based game have never entertained me so much as this one.
The EYE creeps me out.

Really great job Kiwi!

- Elias, Damezean, Nackidno, Wonderboy

AntocGames - http://antocgames.se.nu/
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Inspire
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Dec 2006
Location: Rochester, NY
Posted: 13th Aug 2008 19:33
Link
I didn't even get in trouble with the Eye once...lol.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 14th Aug 2008 16:14
Link
Thanks Nakidno - with a little music (hopefully subtle) I hope to make it even more atmospheric. The other 2 TAC demos had really good use of music and I hope that I can also get something like that working.

@Inspire: haha, you played well! Hopefully, I'll be able to make it so that you'll inevitably get in trouble with the Eye if you choose a rebel faction. (ie. you'll have to complete a mission for the rebels which will contradict what the Eye wanted, which will make everything rather risky.) If you ally yourself with the Eye, of course, then that won't be so much of an issue.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
tha_rami
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Mar 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 14th Aug 2008 20:52
Link
Hey, Darth Kiwi, take it easy eh. I only had music in the intro at this moment. Oh great, reminds me, I need to add music triggers to the engine.

But admit, it's pretty sweet music.


A mod has been erased by your signature because it was larger than 600x120
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 14th Aug 2008 22:28
Link
It is sweet music! And, when it was there, it was very effective.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 28th Sep 2008 13:16
Link
Hmm, um, I have a confession to make. As I get closer and closer to the end of my A-levels (this is my last year of highschool) I end up with more and more work and more things to concentrate on - which leaves me less time to make games (ie. Vigilance). And with university rearing just over the horizon, both a bright beacon of joy and a menacing deadline, it's becoming fairly clear that grades have to come first. I'm almost on track with them as it is, but I slipped up in History ever so slightly, which has handicapped me in the year ahead - and even if I were bang on target, it would still be a challenge to get the grades I want.

So I'm afraid work on Vigilance has now stopped. I may revive it for next year's competition if I have enough time then. I feel kind of guilty doing this, especially as, along with Rami pulling out, the list of TAC entries is dwindling a bit. But, well, unfortunately I have other things to concentrate on.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
tha_rami
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Mar 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 28th Sep 2008 21:37
Link
Sad news, but I hope you will finish the game outside the contest anyway.


A mod has been erased by your signature because it was larger than 600x120
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Jetherit
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Dec 2008
Location:
Posted: 4th Jan 2009 03:39
Link
How do you save? >_>

My friend has gotten rather in to it, and wants to know how to save, if you've facilitated that yet.

From JASS to Q-BASIC to Java to C++
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Darth Kiwi
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Jan 2005
Location: On the brink of insanity.
Posted: 28th Mar 2009 15:42 Edited at: 28th Mar 2009 16:00
Link
Ah - sorry for the late, late response. I didn't implement saving because I wanted to get something playable out there. Due to the nature of an IF game, though, I thought it wasn't too much of a problem because you can get to where you were pretty quickly by not reading the text and just re-doing your previous responses.

Edit: since filefront is apparently going to shut down, here's a new link to the demo:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=c8ddc6053102fde7d2db6fb9a8902bda

This has also been updated in the first post of this thread.

Secretary of Unknowable Knowledge for the Rock/Dink administration '08
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-11-24 09:59:28
Your offset time is: 2024-11-24 09:59:28